The Celestial Guard

Swift Hooves woke to the repetitive sound of a hoof knocking on his door. He felt exhausted and he tried to ignore the knocking, but it only got worse. With an almighty groan, Swift Hooves got out of the bed. His long mane was tied in thousands of knots and it had lost it's shinning, replaced by a dull gold. The door opened and a guard looked in.

"Princess Celestia requires your presence in the throne room."

"okay, just give me a sec."

"No we must go now, and I have too accompany you."

"Fine.", sighed Swift Hooves, heading out the door. His horn glowed in his usual green aura. The aura then seeped down his neck and onto his mane. In an instant the mane assumed its previous condition, reflecting light in gold. The guard stared at him in shock with a jaw that could have touched the floor.

"What is it?"

"I've never seen magic like that! What is it?"

"It's basic reconfiguring magic. Surely you have heard about that?"

"No, actually I have never heard about it."

"Wow..."

"Yeah, whatever", said the Guard, slightly agitated.

They walked down the hall and before they entered the throne room, Swift Hooves spoke up.

"What's your name guard?"

"It's Flash Sentry sir."

"Not a bad name."

"Thank you sir.", Flash Sentry moved towards the door and opened it. He walked forward and bumped into Princess Twilight.

"Oh my, Princess Twilight I am so sorry! Please forgive me!"

"It's ok Flash Sentry.", Flash Sentry sighed in relief and walked over to where he could stand guard by the door. Twilight's eyes swept over his flank, then she realised that her sister-in-law was grinning at her. She quickly resumed her position beside Cadence and tried to ignore her sister-in-law sly grin. Swift Hooves stood for a moment, confused at what happened, of course, mares were a mystery to him.

"Ahem."

Swift Hooves looked over to the pony who made the noise, when he realised it was Celestia, he stood to attention. "What is it that you wanted to discuss with me?"

"I would like to discuss your plans here, have you decided what life you will lead here?", Celestia seemed slightly stressed, almost afraid to hear his response.

"I don't think I have of a choice Celestia.", Swift Hooves motioned towards the faint cyan glow around his cutie mark and then pointed to her cyan glow as well. " I would like to carry on being your personal bodyguard."

"I would very much like that, sorry for forgetting about that.", Celestia's face had lit up, now she was smiling.

"No worries, 2000 years does that to ponies", grinned Swift Hooves.

"There is also one other thing I would like to ask, and I forgot to ask yesterday, how exactly did you get here?"

"From what I remember, there was somepony who sent me forward into time, but I couldn't make out who it was."

"Hmmmmmm....strange, well I have other business to attend to, Flash Sentry will show you the barrack, you are allowed to use any facility you want in their. Tomorrow you can reassume your position."

"Thank you, I will check that out now.", Swift Hooves turned to the exit and walked along side Flash Sentry, not seeing the mosaic above the exit.

Celestia almost squirmed with delight as he left, but she was a princess who had to have higher standards then the ones she had at that moment. She felt like a little filly, it was only until now, with the return of Swift Hooves that she felt whole. She was stuck deep in though when Luna coughed in order to get her attention.

"We have a meeting with the town councils in ten minutes sister, we best not be late."

"Its always the town councils isn't it? Causing trouble with the treasury."

"We guess so, but we have not been accustomed to it as you have been."

The two sister awaited for the town councils and braced themselves for a lot of shouting, cursing and fighting.

Meanwhile in Twilight's chambers,

Twilight was at her desk, writing a letter to her friends, telling them about Swift Hooves and his peculiar arrival here. Hopefully rumour hadn't been spread by the Royal Guards, or anypony for that matter. She could only barely imagine the media firestorm that could brew if word got out. For some reason Celestia had never though of it, which was odd, Celestia though of everything, she had too as the ruler of Equestria.

However, Celestia's last thoughts would have been about the media, because she was trying to hide her giddiness from everypony, even her sister. The day was coming to an end and Swift Hooves had come back from the barracks, apparently something had happened there, but she wasn't concerned about that right now because he wasn't hurt by it, she was just tired and could not stop thinking about him. Celestia and Luna walked down the corridor to their respective chambers, Celestia heard the incredibly loud snoring of Swift Hooves and giggled in a very filly like manner. Luna gave a sly smile.

"So how long has thou two been dating?"

"What?! Who said that we were dating, are you working with Cadence now?"

"No, not yet, but you do act like it."

"No I don't, we are just friends."

"Well, that means that we must ask his intensions. Does he wish to steal your virginity from you?"

Celestia stopped walking and just stared at Luna, "You sound just like our father Luna, he could never bring himself to trust Swift Hooves. Also, you will never ask about his "intensions", you got it?"

Luna grinned, "Yes we do sister, you have a crush on him."

Celestia grew even more flustered and almost stomped her hooves like a little filly in a temper. "Goodnight sister!"

In a certain printing press in Canterlot,

A violet coloured mare sat at her desk, her mane was red, very long and was twirled around her neck. Her name was Quick Quill and she was the greatest freelancer in Equestria, deciding what story to follow next, should she follow a lead on the sex trafficking problems arising or go and discover more about the undercover "human" cult believers. What the hay is a human anyway?! As she flicked over to the next sheet she saw it, it was THE next story. It was a lead coming from a Royal Guard, called Bright Eyes, talking about a rather unusual intrusion into the castle two nights ago. Apparently Celestia warmed up to this intruder unusually quickly and already trusts him more than any other guard. This was going to be one hay of a story!