MLP FIM: Season 4 Rise of the A.M. (a what if story)

Chapter 1: An Old Enemy Returns

"Long ago, the three greatest kingdoms of Equestria were founded. The first, Canterlot; where friendship and royalty rain supreme. The second, The Crystal Empire armed with its Crystal Heart, hope and love are its greatest dynasty. And third...

"The Sapphire Kingdom." said a young foal grinning with pride.

"Yes Mark, The Sapphire Kingdom." said his father kindly. "Where loyalty, honor, and great sacrifice never dies. Together the three great kingdoms rule over Equestria in unison and in times of utmost peril they joined together to keep evil away..."

"Come on dad, just one more page!" pleaded Mark as his father used his magic to close the book.

"Not likely mister," said Mark's father. "Young foals need their sleep."

"Father, why does the king need you out at night?" asked Marks little brother yawning sleepily.

"Because it's my duty to the kingdom. As Captain of the Royal Guard I have to make sure my men are given their orders to patrol and protect everypony."

"I bet your the greatest Captain they ever had." said Mark.

Their father smiled warmly at his sons, said goodnight, turned off the light and headed downstairs to gear up and head out into the night to join his fellow guards on patrol.

5 years later...

It was a cloudy day in the Sapphire Kingdom. The wind wasted no time in making its presence known to the inhabitants. Since rain wasn't a problem, stallions and mares continued on with their day as usual. A young 10 year old unicorn with dark green eyes, black mane, unique pointy ears, dark blue fur and matching horn was in a classroom listening with all his might to the teacher lecturing the class on how a mark, or in the girls case cutie mark, appears on ponies Pegasus and unicorns alike when the time is right. Each mark is different and will affect what the he or she does with the rest of their lives. At least that's what everyone got out of the lesson.

When class was dismissed the young unicorn galloped off, his ruff sack bouncing on his back as he headed toward the place he always went to after school was over... the training field; for those who were there would be coming close to wrapping things up for the day. His brother Mark was busy running laps with the rest of the Royal Guards in training. The drill sergeant watched the new trainees with a piercing gaze and blew his whistle loudly when he spotted someone falling behind. When the last runner made it past the starting line they all waited for the sergeant to speak.

"O.k. that will do for today!" he said casually.

At once everyone on the field either fell to the ground or gave a loud sigh of relief.

"Excuse me cadets, but no one ever said this would be easy! Now, get in a line!"

Almost immediately they all straightened up and got into formation. The Sergeant passed the line surveying each of them carefully as if to see if they would pass out within the next second.

"Your teamwork needs more practice." he said finally.

"Sir, may I speak for a moment sir!" requested one of the Pegasus

"Go ahead." replied the sergeant.

"Most of us were ahead of everypony else during the optical coarse."

"Then, as the leader of the herd, why didn't you order someone to aid those who had fallen behind?"

"It never crossed my mind sir."

"Here's a lesson for you to keep in mind Simon Streaks. No one, I repeat no one gets left behind! As a leader you need to make sure everypony can keep up!"

"Yes sir, it won't happen again sir!"

"Stop saying "Sir" more than once."

Simon stomped his left hoof in response and said no more. A girl Pegasus a ways away was giggling at what was happening and the sergeant rounded on her. After he let everyone go, the young unicorn called over to his big brother. Mark finished his conversation with one of the unicorns and went over to his little brothers side and together they headed back home. On their way, the wind's speed seemed to have picked up making their manes and tails dance.

"Man, I wish those weather junkies would give it a rest already. Training is over." Mark grumbled

"They did say that today the kingdom was due for an overcast and a chance of wind," said his little brother. "If they were to stop then it would throw the whole schedule off."

"I know that," said Mark irritably. "Anyway, what about you Arthur? Do you have an idea for what do you want your mark to be? You've been talking about how you couldn't wait for this day to come?"

"Oh, umm... not yet. I don't know what I want to shoot for," said Arthur.

Mark sighed.

The following days passed with ease. Several of Arthur's classmates came to school with delight written all over their faces as they showed off their marks to the rest of the class. One sunny afternoon, King Sullivan assigned an urgent job for Mark and Arthur's father to go on with small squad of guards to aid him. He left the two boys in a hurry telling them that he would be back and that while he was away, one of the neighbors would watch them. The two brothers waved goodbye to their father as his shining dirty gold armor glimmered out of sight with his companions trailing close behind. A whole week passed until the small team returned galloping into the kingdom at top speed. Their armor scratched, singed and broken in some parts. King Sullivan came storming out of the castle, his only action so far was to get the returning soldiers inside safely from countless worried eyes.

"What happened?" he requested when the group was inside the halls of the castle and the doors from behind them shut.

"We were ambushed!" spoke one of the unicorns panting heavily. "Your majesty, it was... them."

King Sullivan looked at the guards in disbelief.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes. Your majesty, she was with them. We saw her."

"Where is the captain?"

Now the guards began to grow teary eyed as one of the Pegaguards made his way to the front and gently placed down a dirty gold helmet that had multiple scratch markings and the right cheek side was gone.

Chapter 2: A Fresh Start

It has been 7 years since that day when the Cloud brothers lost their father. King Sullivan took the two boys in and trained Arthur as his apprentice while his older brother, Mark, continued his training with the royal guard. He was determined to become captain just like his father, but in the end; a grey Pegasus named Crimson Shield took the position. As expected, she took the job with pride and vowed that she wouldn't let the kingdom or her comrades down. Seeing that Mark was just as good at leading as she was, Crimson promoted him to be the one who lead his own unit of Pegaguards on aerial patrol.

While the old captain didn't return with the rest of his team on his last assignment, someone else did. King Sullivan's big sister, Safire came back to the kingdom. Sullivan knew where she had been ever since his inauguration as king. She was with the rest who had been banished. The outcasts were lead by her husband Night Blade. After she had explained why she was running away from them. The king welcomed her back with open hooves. At first those who knew who she was were hesitant at giving her a second chance, but her warm personality she gave off in time made them trust her again. She came to Arthur's room one day as he was studying a difficult spell. If preformed right, he create a bubble shield around him.

"Oh, hello your highness." he said loosing focus and turned quickly to bow.

"My brother wishes to speak with you," said Safire casually, but there was a tinge of liking across her face as the words "Your highness" were thrown at her.

Even her eyes seemed to have glowed with a trace of longing. "May I suggest relaxing? It helps magic flow much easier without restraint." She added trying not to stare into the trainee’s eyes.

"Rrright, I'll do that next time," said Arthur eyeing her curiously.

In the Throne room, King Sullivan was finishing up writing a letter of response when his apprentice came in and bowed deeply when he approached the throne.

“What did you need me for your majesty?” asked Arthur keeping his head down in respect for the king.

“I have asked you hear to discus certain things I have noticed about your time spent here,” began Sullivan. “Please stand.”

“The spells are getting trickier, but don’t worry; I should have them figured out in no time!” said Arthur thinking that his struggle with previous spells are the reason as to why his mentor sent for him.

“No, no. That’s not the reason I called you here,” said Sullivan holding up a hoof patiently. “Your studies are important to you that much is clear. It is your social life that might be uh… struggling.”

“Oh, well, I’m far too busy for any of that sir,” said Arthur.

“I was afraid of that response. Arthur, just because you are my student, it doesn’t mean that you have to lock yourself away from the outside world. There is nothing wrong with taking time off every now and then. Do you understand?”

“Yes, your majesty. I understand,” said Arthur rubbing his hoof on the solid blue tile. “Tell you what, I’ll start my social life right away… Right after I perfect this bubble shield spell. I think I almost got it!”

“ I don’t think you will have time for that,” said Sullivan stopping Arthur in his tracks as he turned and was about to gallop out of the room. “Which brings me to your next assignment. A good friend of your brothers is about to set off on an important task and I’d like you to accompany him.”

“I would be honored sir, but what friend of my…”

But before Arthur could finish, the doors from behind him flung open and inside swept a brown Pegasus with a blue main peach fuzz on his face and tail. He was wearing an orange jacket and glasses. He made a lap around the vast space before landing easily beside Arthur whose mouth was open wide with shock.

“Little Brother!” called out a voice.

Galloping toward the three was Safire who looked just as appalled as Arthur was and annoyed with the Pegasus who was straitening his glasses.

“I’m so sorry for this ones rude actions, but there was no stopping him once he decided to take off in the halls!”

“Rude my right hoof!” protested the Pegasus. “I told you specifically that the king had a task for me to do and now I’m hear to receive it!”

“No harm done sister. I do have a job for him. And an important one of that.” said Sullivan treating the sudden interruption as if it was just a gust of wind that had now subsided.

Safire stayed inside ready to use her magic incase the Pegasus decided to take flight again.

“Arthur, this is Simon Streaks,” began Sullivan. “You will remember him from the days he spent on the training field with your brother for a chance to join the royal guard.”

The Pegasus had just noticed Arthur and made to shake his hoof.

“Hey there kid, I didn’t recognize you for a moment!” He said smiling. “You heard the king, it’s me the one and only!”

“Don’t tell me you actually got enlisted!” said Arthur, unsure if he wanted an answer.

“Nah, I gave that dream up years ago,” said Simon and he pointed to his mark indicating that two lightning bolts were in plain sight. “Now at days my job is with the rest of the weather Pegasus in the sky.”

“So you’re the one I can complain to when we have faulty weather,” said Safire grinning notably at him.

“I’ll have you know that I am highly respected up there,” said Simon Streaks.

“And he is a part of a very gifted bunch of flyers in our kingdom,” added Sullivan his amber eyes twinkling. “Yes, straight to it! Simon, if I’m not mistaking, this time around the Equestria Games are being held at the our sister empire, The Crystal Empire.”

“That is correct your majesty,” said Simon calling Sullivan by his title for the first time since he had arrived.

“You and your team will be attending as always I presume to represent our kingdom as well as other gifted mares and stallions.”

“As always, we will aim to bring home first place awards.” Simon said proudly.

“Win or loose I am confident you will give it your best effort,” said Sullivan kindly. “Arthur, I want you to join him as a special guest to watch the games in the top box as my representative.”

“You’re not going?” asked Arthur.

“Alas, I would love to, but something has come up that has to be attended to. So I am counting on you to…”

“Say no more,” said Arthur straitening up and looking important. “I won’t let you down!”

“I know you won’t, but while you’re there try to interact with our neighboring kingdoms.”

“Your majesty, you can count on me!”