Bold: Brave Beginning

In the gloomy midst of the Everfree Forest, in a small clearing between the sickly green, daunting trees, and the acres of darkness that cloaked them, there lay a large boulder, and behind that, lay Strongbolt Stonewing, his body was.pure white with the exception of the mud and leaves that clung onto him. He had spiked, lime green hair that ran down to the top of his neck, and deep orange eyes which shot from left to right frantically, he occasionally raised his head to check behind his stone cover. He whispered to himself, "Where are you Shiera?"

He heard a rustling in the trees on his left, then from his right, his eyes followed the sound.He swallowed, and in a far braver, clearer voice, he said, "Get a grip Strongbolt. You've dealt with plenty of guys like this."

But had he? He thought to himself. This creature was different, intelligent. It used the darkness like a camouflage, only it's piercing red eyes could be seen. It's voice shifted and changed from male to female, old to young. It's body was just a cloud of black smoke that came together to form what appeared to be a stallion. The thought of it made Strongbolt shudder.

He relaxed for a moment to gather his senses and take in his surroundings; dead trees encompassed him, their last leaves slowly decaying. He looked up, the fog was thick in the sky, yet, just thin enough to see the moon. He stared at the luminous sphere for a while then said, "I really hope you know what you're doing Twilight."

He looked down at his hooves and thought back to the day before.

He had awoken to the sound of a distant ringing, he rubbed his eyes and groaned, the ringing came closer.

"I hate mornings." He said.The ringing was next to him now.

"Strongbolt?" said a sleepy female voice.

He hit his alarm clock and the ringing stopped.

"Thank you." said the voice again. Strongbolt turned to his wife, she lay peacefully beside him, her long golden mane never looked any different to the day before, compared to Strongbolt's, which was reduced to a green frizzy mess every morning.

Strongbolt got up, and said, "Good morning to you too, Shiera." She smiled, and half-opened her glistering purple eyes.

"Last day," she said, "tomorrow we'll be on a train to Ponyville."

"Yeah, well I've got to get through today first." He called back from the kitchen.

Strongbolt and Shiera's house consisted of mainly three rooms: their bedroom, which was empty. with the exception of a few suitcases and bags, the bathroom, which had also been emptied and the kitchen, which connected onto the front door.

Strongbolt walked across the marble floor to the cupboards, they were desolate.There was only two apples left in the entire house.

Strongbolt shrugged and said, "That'll do, I guess." Before sitting down at the wooden table in the center of the room. Shiera walked in slowly from their bedroom and joined him, he threw her an apple, which she caught with her pink hoof, and began eating, Strongbolt copied.

Once they had finished, Strongbolt asked, "You'll be alright here while I'm gone, won't you?"

Shiera smiled. "I think I can manage." She replied sarcastically.

"Just checking." He said innocently, and put his hooves up.

Shiera shook her head, still smiling. "You should probably get going, you've got to be there by eight thirty, right?"

"Yeah, I'll make it, don't worry."

"I wasn't." she admitted.

Strongbolt stood up and trotted back to his room.

"Your uniform is in the bathroom!" She called after him. Strongbolt combed out his hair and put on his armor, he glanced at his helmet and shook his head, he did not like wearing it, he thought it made him look too formal.

He quickly stretched his wings before walking back into the kitchen, kissed Shiera goodbye and left for his last day of work as a royal guard.

The sunshine shone bright upon Canterlot, Strongbolt placed his hoof on his forehead to shield his eyes, he observed his neighborhood from his porch. There was a row of houses, one of which was Strongbolt's, stretching to his left and right that curved around part of the mountain, they all mostly looked the same: round marble structures, with two windows at the front on either side of the door, and two at the back looking out onto the cliff edge, they had slanted purple roofs with a chimney sticking out of one side. Connecting these houses was a light green road that split off into each of the gardens, which were separated by white picket fences, and curled around up to the front door. The road led all throughout Canterlot until it reached the Castle that stood proud atop the mountain; it could be seen from practically anywhere in the city. From Strongbolt's point of view, the sun appeared to balance on the spire of the main tower, which made sense, considering that was were Celestia rose it from. Strongbolt took a deep breath and embraced the day.

He followed the road for a few minutes until he reached the small district outside of the castle, shops, libraries and observatories lined the pathway on either side. At first they obscured the view, but then, they appeared  to move further aside, when Strongbolt came closer to them, as if they were dramatically revealing the Castle. Strongbolt looked up at the great white walls and half-smiled, it never ceased to amaze him. The gate at the front was open, then again, it was rarely ever closed: Celestia wanted everyone to be allowed access to the Castle. Strongbolt proceeded past the guard's outpost, up the cobblestone path and into the main hall. He continued up the red carpet and turned right towards his station.

"Stonewing." A voice called from behind him.

He turned slowly to face Shining Armor, the captain of the royal guards, who stared at him for a while with an emotionless face, then, he smiled.

"Good to see you made it on time." He said.

Strongbolt grinned at him. "You think I'd be late on my last day?"

For a moment his smile flickered. He cleared his throat, and said, "Oh, yeah, I remember now." He seemed disappointed.

"Something wrong?" Strongbolt asked.

He scratched the back of his head. "What? Of course not..."

"You sure?" Strongbolt inquired.

"Well, it's just, I'm going to miss you not being around here. We've been friends since pre-school, and the rest of the guys are a bit too obsessed with the job, you're the only one I'm able to have a proper conversation with." He confessed.

Strongbolt looked at him for a while with his head tilted slightly.

"Hey," he said, "don't worry about it, I'll always come visit. It's not like I'm dying."

Shining Armor's smile was back. "Yeah, I guess so." He said.

They had arrived at the guards quarters, Strongbolt looked up at one of the clocks on the wall. Shining Armor followed his eyes. "I should get going." He announced.

"Alright, see you tomorrow?"

"Sure thing." And with that, he was gone.