The Celestial Guard

Swift Hooves body lay on a bed in the ICU, hooked up to a vast majority of machines. The doctors on call at the time had a hard time looking at him, due to the severity of his wounds. They had counted it up, four broken ribs and all four legs broken. It was a miracle that he was alive.

                                                                  Swift Hooves opened his eyes, squinting as the white light pierced his eyes. He looked around, seeing strange machines huddled around him, making strange noises, a rhythmic beep could be heard. He felt numb, possibly some kind of painkiller, he still had the injuries from the fight but he hag no idea where he was. He needed to get out of here and find Celestia, if she was still safe. His horn glowed as he mended his legs and ribs, wincing as he felt the bones snap back into place. He got out of the bed and began to walk towards the door. Then as he was exciting he bumped into a large white alicorn. She looked at him with shock etched on her face.

"How are you, Celestia?" asked Swift Hooves, unsure to why she was shocked.

2 hours before,

As Celestia left her study, a guard gave her the report. A severely injured unicorn had appeared in the garden and was found by Spike. He was being held in the ICU while doctors were trying to stabilize his vital signs. No pony could see him, not even the Princesses, until he was ok.

                                                                So Celestia spent her time tending to some complaints about the water supply to Cloudsdale and other pegasus settlements. However, she could not take her mind of the injured stallion, who was he and how he get here?Also, who attacked him and why?

                                                               The others had not told Celestia or Spike what they had found, nor had they heard of the stallion in the ICU. They had just considered it irrelevant, the trail had gone cold and even Cadence had no more will to pursue this "Swift Hooves" anymore. Princess Luna was walking down the hall when she bumped into her sister. She noticed that her sister was in deep though, so deep in fact, that she had ignored Luna entirely.

"Sister, is there something that troubles you?"

Celestia looked up, at last realising Luna's presence. "Yes, have you heard about what happened in the royal garden?"

"No, we have not been informed. Was it serious?"

"It seems that a unicorn stallion appeared in the garden, severely injured. Twilight's assistant, Spike found him and alerted the guards."

"Do we know who this intruder is? How did he get past the defences undetected?"

"No, we don't know anything about him yet, he is still in the ICU, I wouldn't be surprised if he was there for a month", Celestia looked out a window overseeing Canterlot and all the busy ponies. There was something else troubling her, Luna was going to find out.

"It seems that there is something else bothering our sister, may we ask what is also wrong?"

"When the doctors described his injuries, they sounded familiar, but I am unsure where or when I remember them from.

"And this is what has been bothering our sister?"

"Yes it is, it sounds silly doesn't it?"

"A little, but it could be your overworked mind playing tricks on you."

"Never thought about it, maybe I should take a break.", Celestia grinned, eliciting a certain fear from Luna

Luna started to sweat. "That is not what we meant sister, we would not last ten minutes having to deal with your duties."

"I'm sure that you could handle it, sister, right?", Celestia's grin started to morph into a trollface. When she saw Luna's eyes beginning to bulge, she immediately reassured her, "don't worry I'm not that cruel."

"Says the mare that banished us to the moon."

"I didn't banish you, I banished Nightmare Moon." Celestia showed her trollface once again. Luna swore that she saw her sisters cutie mark change into a weird, twisted smiling face, it scared her.

Meanwhile in the dinning hall,

Twilight, Cadence, Shinning Armour and Spike all sat around a table. Spike was telling them about the garden accident that he encountered while they had been sleeping, in his own way that is.

"He bared his fangs at me and I just brushed him off like a fly. He didn't have a chance against me!"

"Spike, ponies don't have fangs, nor would one attack you, nor would you ever win in a fight. I seriously doubt that you could break all a stallion's legs.", countered Twilight.

"Why not? I'm a dragon!"

"And a baby one at that."

"I'm still a dragon!"

"Who can't fly, and has a magic breath that sends paper and does little else."

"I can cook eggs with it!"

"Eggs require very little heat to cook, and that is why I only let you cook them."

Spike was sent into despair." Whhhhhhaaaaaaaaattttttt??!!"

Cadence giggled, "I think you went a little far there, Twilight."

"You should leave the little guy alone, he's only a baby.", teased Shinning Armour.

"Screw you guys!"

"Awwwwwwww, we care about you a lot, its just fun to tease you."

"Really? So you don't just only allow me to cook eggs because I'm weak, right?"

Twilight paused for a second, "Yes......yes, I wouldn't have it any other way." It was obvious to everyone but Spike that she had just lied.Shinning and Cadence grinned. For Spike, it was probably better for him to lied to, in order to preserve his ego.

              Luna entered the hall, approaching the others, taking a seat next to Twilight.

"Have you heard about the garden?"

"Yes we have Spike was just telling us.", replied Twilight.

"Yes, we talked to our sister about it, it seems that we have no idea who this mystery stallion is."

Cadences eyes gleamed, "What if it is this Swift Hooves?"

"That would make no sense, I failed to move him to our time period. "replied Twilight nonchalantly.

Shinning Armour sighed, "Why are you pursuing this again? I thought you said you would leave it alone."

"But wouldn't it be adorable to see Princess Celestia, the mighty ruler of Equestria, being flustered by a stallion."

"Yes, and then she would get so distracted from her work that Equestria would fall ap-".

Suddenly, a royal alicorn voiced boomed throughout the castle.

"I THOUGHT YOU DIED!"

The collision of a hoof with somepony's face echoed in the hallways. All were quiet and quite shocked.