It was the first day of guard duty for Obsidian Aegis. He had just finished advanced training the previous day; the hard and rigorous regiments preparing and hardening his body for whatever the princesses may need, no matter how physically demanding. He was also mentally trained, teaching him the basic tactics and wielding techniques for the various weapons available to the Royal Guard should they be needed. As he was a Pegasus, he was also given the aerial combat training regiments to teach him how to counter and combat an aerial assault on the castle.
Obsidian virtually galloped past the castle gates, the emblem of Equestria hanging on the large banners hanging on either side of the open drawbridge. He moved quickly, cursing to himself as he rushed to reach his goal of the command barracks behind the castle. He he mentally slapped himself for having overslept on his first day, nearly ten minutes late for duty despite having flown at his maximum speed. He also cursed his alarm clock for not going off, having thrown it against the wall in frustration before he had run out of the door. He finally reached the command barracks and looked up at the large grey building, the same banner as the front gate hanging above the entrance.
Obsidian pushed the door to the barracks open and stepped inside the stout grey building. After checking in at reception and being told he was late, he proceeded to gallopto the office of the Capitan of the Royal Guard in order to be briefed for his duty, nearly colliding with a pony with a mail-cart in his hurry. Pushing the office door open, Obsidian stepped inside and saw Shining Armor sitting behind his desk, looking up at him as a small squeak from the door hinges betrayed his entrance.
“You’re late,” said Shining Armor, causing Obsidian to visibly tense up. Shining then looking back to the paperwork on his deck, clearly interrupted in the middle of a task. He lifted his hoof and pressed it to a pad of ink, then pressed down on one of the papers, leaving a black hoof-mark on the paper as he signed and then placed the paper aside.
Obsidian observed as Shining opened and sorted through a nearby folder, seeing his picture paper-clipped to the front. Shining Armor started reading off his details; "Name: Obsidian Aegis. Gender: Male. Eyes: Grey. Mane: Blonde. Build: Average" Shining looked at the new recruit. He indeed had an average build for a soldier; lean but muscular, with his well-toned muscles slightly visible beneath his light-blue coat. Then he looked at his flank, wanting to see the mark that distinguished him from all others. His cutie-mark was of a large light-grey shield embossed with a flowing red ribbon, depicting his protective nature. Shining Armor wondered how he'd earned it, and made a mental note to ask later.
Shining looked up to Obsidian, and asked “Obsidian Aegis?”
Obsidian stiffened up and saluted, barking out “YES SIR!”, his deeply booming voice taking Shining slightly off-guard. Shining returned the salute, then signaled for him to be at ease. Obsidian let himself relax slightly then seated himself after he was invited to by Shining, sitting on the floor as he awaited Shining‘s next command.
As Shining continued to look through his folder, he suddenly stopped and looked up at Obsidian, asking; “So, why did you want to join the Royal Guard?”
Obsidian relaxed slightly more, and said; “Ever since I was a little colt, I’ve always wanted to protect ponies, sir. So what better place to protect ponies and all of Equestria then the Royal Guard, sir?”
Shining smiled at the sentiment, then nodded. “So why are you late?” Shining asked, causing any tension that had relived itself from Obsidian to return in a moment and causing his irises to contract to the size of pinheads.
After a short but awkward silence Shining cocked his head at Obsidian, requesting a response. “I…I…” Obsidian awkwardly stuttered, unable to form the words as he was being stared down by his commanding officer.
“…Overslept?” Shining finished flatly, causing Obsidian to tense up further as he nodded. He closed his eyes tight, bracing in expectation of the harsh reprimand that was sure to come.
Instead of a berating shout however, Obsidian heard a calm response of; “At ease, soldier Just don’t let it happen again, yeah?”, followed by a soft chuckle. Obsidian cracked an eye open, looking at the softly smiling face of Shining Armor. He was completely surprised at the reaction and relaxed slightly once more, put at ease by the calm voice of Shining Armor. Had this been his drill sergeant in basic, he would have virtually chewed his wing off for being even a minute late!
Obsidian stood completely still as Shining circled him, looking him over. Shining stopped at his right rear side, and suddenly asked “Where’d you get your cutie mark?”
Obsidian was slightly taken aback, not expecting such a personal nor casual question from his commanding officer. “Sir?” he asked, slightly confused by the question.
“I asked where you got your cutie mark, soldier.” Still unsure of why Shining would ask this of him, he recounted his cutie mark story to Shining; “Well…”
~ ~ ~
Obsidian, at the age of ten, looked down at his younger sister of eight from the cloud. He said in a whining tone; “But I don’t want to!”
His sister Summer Storm rolled her eyes at him as he rested on that fluffy mass of floating water, and said with a mocking tone; “C’mon you chicken! You said you’d take me to the ground, and show me around! You promised, you promised!” Summer started flapping her dark-yellow wings rapidly and jumping around on the ground, before making the sound of what she was imitating; “BA-CAWK! You big chicken!” She followed it with a loud, constant laugh and continued to hop and flap around while Obsidian looked on in disdain at her actions.
Obsidian rolled his eyes at his sister’s immaturity, but finally gave in; “FIIII-NE! I‘m coming!” he shouted down from the cloud. He stepped off the edge and slowly lowered himself, flapping his wings to slow and balance his decent to the ground as his sister looked on with a huge grin.
“YAAAAAAAAY!” Summer shouted, then started bouncing in place on her hooves. She stopped hopping around, now only bouncing in place, but couldn’t stop her wings from flapping in her excitement. The smile of anticipation on her face was huge, and grew only larger as her brother finally landed softly on the ground and moved towards her.
Moments later the two foals entered the dark forest ahead of them, the lighting quickly fading as they traveled under the interwoven canopy of trees. “Oooh this is so cool!” shouted Summer, a huge grin crossing her face as she looked around the dark forest, her youthful enthusiasm manifesting as her wings continued to flap in her excitement. Her fascination with the rarely-seen ground was quite extensive as she constantly pressed deeper into the woods, wanting to see more and more of the unfamiliar landscape. All of this much to Obsidian’s dismay. He didn’t like this. At all. A feeling deep in the pit of his stomach told him something wasn't right here, and that they needed to leave now.
“OK, we looked around! Come on, let’s get back to Ponyville before our parents notice us missing and we get in trouble!” he said with authority, trying to get his sister to leave this place without revealing his own strong unease at the situation. Instead, and to his dismay; Summer pressed in deeper still, ignoring his demand and leaving him only able to follow her closely. A few moments of traveling later, Obsidian heard a soft growl and stopped in place, his sister completely oblivious to the sound. “U-um, Summer? We need to leave.” Obsidian said, a hint of panic in his voice.
Summer frowned at him, flicking her tail in annoyance as she said; “Aw, c’mon you chicken! Can’t we just stay a little longer? This place is so cool!”
“NO! We have to go NOW!” said Obsidian, hearing the growl starting to get louder and more threatening. Summer heard it too now, her ears flattening against her head as she saw the glowing yellow eyes appear behind her brother.
“RUN!” Summer suddenly shouted, and just like that they were off at a gallop. Obsidian almost bumped into the timberwolf; the towering creature made of living wood, feeling the rough bark of its body scrape against his side. He let out a yelp at the minor pain as the close contact pulled out a few strands of hair, it getting caught in the cracks in the rough surface of the timberwolf's bark-skin. He and his sister ran at a full gallop for want seemed like forever, unknowingly heading deeper into the forest as the timberwolf constantly trailed them. They occasionally heard its jaws gnash at the air, eager to sink its teeth into the young ponies’ flesh, and the sound causing them to whimper in fear and press themselves to run faster.
Moments later both foals looked ahead and saw a dead end, the path ending in trees too thick to get through on all three sides. As they reached the end both started to panic, running around in desperation as they looked for any hole they could fit through and escape the beast quickly closing in on them, its jaws still gnashing in anticipation of its pony meal. Summer was hiding behind Obsidian now, shaking in fear as she cowered behind her big brother. Realizing there was no escape, Obsidian instead felt his survival instincts shift their focus, feeling tension in his haunches and rear legs. If he couldn’t run from this beast, he’d fight it!
With a howl of rage, the intensity greater then what the timberwolf threatening them could have mustered, he shouted "FOR EQUESTRIA!" as he charged at the lumber creature. When he was in range, the timberwolf lunged at him; intending to bite him with its teeth of pointed logs, but instead was met with two hooves kicking hard into its lower jaw. Obsidian bucked into it as hard as he could and felt the impact as his back hooves met with the wooden jaw, the recoil of the collision vibrating through his rear legs. The timberwolf howled in pain, feeling its jaw loosen as some of the vines attaching it broke at the hard buck. As the timberwolf was dazed; Obsidian reared back and kicked again, this time breaking the remaining vines and causing the lower jaw to fly off of the timberwolf, smacking against a nearby tree trunk.
There was complete silence for a few moments before a soft whimpering was heard, the timberwolf quickly turning tail and running away at its defeat. Obsidian breathed hard; somewhat winded from the exertion of running, and then putting all his force into the two bucks. He felt his adrenaline fading as he sensed the danger leave; the timberwolf barely visible now in the dark forest, its large form but a murky speck in the darkness.
He looked back to his sister a few yards away, her still shaking hard and covering her eyes with her hooves. He approached her and placed his hoof on her head, unwittingly causing her to scream and flare her wings instinctively, ready to take off. She calmed down instantly upon seeing his face, and wrapped her hooves around his neck when she realized it was him, crying into his shoulder as she let it all out. Suddenly a very bright flash of light lit up the surrounding trees, originating on his flank. Both he and his sister looked back at his flank, and as the light faded they saw a red-ribbon-embossed silver shield appear on his flank. His face lit up with a smile at the realization; he'd just gotten his cutie mark.
The two foals spent the next half-hour finding their way back to the entrance, following the light as it got brighter towards the exit. After breaking the tree-line, the two immediately took flight and landed on the clouds above. They never shared their story with anyone else at the time to avoid getting in trouble, and the origin of his cutie mark was never divulged for many years.
~ ~ ~
As he finished recounting the tale of his cutie-mark story, Obsidian looked up at Shining armor’s face and was greeted by a dim grin on the latter’s face. “Well, that’s quite the tale. Glad to see we’ve got such an instinctively protective guardian for Equestria." His tone then shifted to a less awestruck one as he cleared his throat, and asked;" Do you know why I asked you of where you got your cutie-mark?”
Obsidian shook his head side to side, followed with “No sir.”
Shining moved himself up to the front of Obsidian and looked him in the eyes. “I asked you so you might calm down and relax a bit. You’re more tense then my sister before an exam!” Shining said with a grin. Obsidian let loose a soft chuckle as the captain did the very unprofessional action of giving him a brief noogie. “Enough chit-chat though, you need to get on-duty. You don’t need to worry too much; there‘s nothing really going on right now that requires us to be too on guard, and as such you will likely only be needed for standard patrolling. You will be patrolling here…” Shining Armor said, dragging his hoof along the south wall on the map, “..and here.”, then pointing to the south-west tower. Obsidian nodded, and was dismissed from the office with a salute, Shining Armor wishing him good luck on his first day.
After Obsidian left the office, he headed to the armory. Before he was permitted to enter, he was asked by the unicorn to stop and submit to the uniform spell being cast on him. Obsidian nodded his consent, then watched as the unicorn's horn started glowing with a soft yellow hue. He was always fascinated by this spell; he looked down and watched his hooves as he felt the familiar tingling across his whole body, watching as his hoof changed from light-blue to white as the spell took effect. His vision blurred momentarily as his eyes changed from grey to a stunning blue.
The spell complete, the unicorn caster stepped back and nodded, allowed him to proceed. He moved onwards, stepping up to the armory window and acquiring a standard-issue set of golden armor and a golden helmet with a blue crest. The armorer came out and helped him put it on, tightening or loosening the various straps and buckles until Obsidian confirmed it was comfortable and fitting properly. As he left the armory he placed his helmet on his head, now looking like a proper guardian of Equestria should.
~ ~ ~
Obsidian spent the first half of his shift either patrolling the south wall, or standing outside the south gate watching for any potential trouble from the Everfree Forest. Hours in his muscles started to fatigue from the constant walking and standing but he pressed on, ignoring the soft ache starting in his flank as he proceeded on his patrol. As he passed by the south-west rampart, he looked over and saw Ponyville. As Obsidian saw the large windmill softly spinning, he felt a pang of homesickness.
Obsidian had grown up near there, in the house just next to that windmill. He remembered the small of warm bread constantly entering the house, and the fresh bread they used to have as a colt. He remembered a particular time when they’d gotten 2 whole loaves of bread from there and made sandwiches to take on a picnic, and the fun he had that day. Even though he was supposed to hold a stoic expression throughout his shift, Obsidian couldn’t help but let a small smile cross his face as he continued on his patrol, more memories flowing through his mind as he observed his surroundings.
~ ~ ~
At noon, the twelve gongs of the nearby clock-tower announcing its arrival, Obsidian was dismissed for lunch. He traveled to the mess hall, and proceeded to place a bowl of tomato-noodle soup, a large slice of fresh bread, a large red apple, along with a small bottle of apple juice and a large chocolate-chip cookie on a tray. He proceeded to sit down at a table, alongside a few of his fellow guards. “Hey, how’s the first day going?” one asked.
“How’s the 'Equestria Defender' doing? Those walls would have surely conquered us all if not for you watching them!” another jeered, a large grin crossing his face as he poked fun at him, clearly being somepony who knew him since childhood. When he was younger, he would always wrap a blanket around his shoulders and claim to be The Defender of Equestria, donning a clear bowl as his Helmet of Justice.
“It’s going fine, but I had to kick one of the walls to keep it in place!” Obsidian exclaimed, causing the others to chuckle. He ate his lunch while continuing to banter along with the others, occasionally flapping his wings when the conversation got particularly exciting. A half-hour later, the bell rang to indicate the half-hour mark and the end of his lunch break. The conversation had distracted him somewhat from his lunch, him having only finished part of it. The rush to get back to his station caused him to stuff half of the large cookie into his mouth, tasting the distinctive flavor of Sugarcube Corner’s unique recipe.
~ ~ ~
After Obsidian clocked in and returned to his post, his mind soon after returned to memories of his past; especially the time he'd saved his sister in the forest, the memory brought back to him by recounting it to Shining Armor earlier. He suddenly stopped moving and jerked his head to the side as a very faint rustling in the distant Everfree Forest knocked him out of his reminiscing and took his attention, causing him to tense slightly and prepare himself to take flight and alert the others if more happened. Given the forest's distance from the castle, even a small noise or movement that could be observed from the distance must be something massive moving through the forest. After a few minutes of tense observation, with his wings flared open in preparation of take-off, nothing more did happen. He sighed in relief as he proceeded on his patrol.
Nothing else out of the ordinary happened for the duration of his shift, except for a small piece of stone falling from the wall and startling him. Finally, as the sun had started to lower in the sky and the clock-tower gonged five times, Obsidian stopped patrolling and headed to the armory. He surrendered his helmet to the clerk, and felt as the armor was loosened and removed, leaving him bare once more. As he checked out, the same unicorn from before cast the reversal for the uniform spell on him, and he watched as his hooves changed back to their natural light-blue color. His eyes again blurred as they desaturated to their natural steel-grey color, and he saw as the unicorn gave him a nod - indicating the reversal spell was complete and that he was dismissed. He then left the castle after signing out, spreading his wings and taking off as he headed to his home in Ponyville.
~ ~ ~
He arrived at his home ten minutes later, and was greeted out front by his three foals; one filly and two colts. After hugs and kisses were given all around, he looked up to see his wife Blooming Sprout standing in the doorway, him seeing a smile on her dark-green face. He approached her, but almost tripped over the galloping foals as they ran past, engaging in one game or another. He rolled his eyes with a smile, and continued on to his goal.
Upon reaching Blooming, Obsidian met her lips with a soft kiss, then wrapped his hoof around her and pulled her into a hug. “So how was your first day of guard duty, 'Guardian of Equestria'?” she asked softly into his ear, a small smile on her face as she eagerly awaited his response. He told her with enthusiasm that despite it being pretty lackluster, it was nice to know that all of his fellow guards were nice, and his commanding officer was a great guy. His wife’s smile grew slightly at her husband’s happiness, still holding him in a hug. She was happy herself that he was finally able to live his dream of protecting Equestria… if only in his own little way.
After playing tag with his foals for a while, Obsidian heard his wife call them in for dinner. They ate the daffodil-grass sandwiches and a fresh garden salad, all but the bread gathered fresh from the garden his wife so lovingly tended to; the bread being fresh from Obsidian’s favorite grain-mill and bakery. While the children discussed their day at school, their parents listened in interest until it was bedtime for the children, as tomorrow was a school-day as well. The children begged him to stay up for just a little longer to finish their game, and with a roll of his eyes Obsidian looked to his wife to see what she had to say on the matter. When she nodded softly and Obsidian told his children they could finish up, an uproarious cheer from the three nearly deafened the parents as the three foals ran off to finish whatever game they were in. Obsidian and his mare chuckled softly, happily watching their three children playing in whatever game they’d come up with; two flying in the air with their feathered wings while the other ran along, quickly catching up to the other two on hoof, his earth-pony speed allowing him to keep pace with them on the ground.
Five minutes later the foals were in bed, still panting from the game they were playing even after they’d brushed their teeth and gotten into bed. They asked for their bed-time story, and upon their demands Obsidian once again donned the small clear bowl and told of the origins of his cutie-mark, marveling at the gaping mouths even as this must have been the hundredth time he’d told them it. After ending the story at him and his sister flying off into the sunset while only slightly dramatizing the event, he saw as the three foal’s eyelids fluttered shut with smiles on their faces at the happy ending. He removed the bowl from his head and set it aside, knowing he'd be using it again soon. The foals shuffled slightly as he kissed each on the forehead before leaving the room, leaving the door open a crack so some light could seep in.
He then walked to his bedroom, seeing Blooming already laying on the bed with her reading glasses on as she read over whatever non-fiction book she was reading now, though she loved ecology and botany books the most. He went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth before climbing into bed himself, sighing in relief as his tired muscles finally had a chance to relax. He leaned over and gave his wife a kiss on the back of the neck, getting a soft sigh from her at the sensation. She set down her botany book and glasses on the side table before turning over to him and planting her lips on his. “Glad you had a good first day, dear.” she said softly after breaking the kiss, putting her hoof through his mane affectionately.
Obsidian smiled as he looked into her eyes, and replied “Thank you. I love you." Both simply looked at each other with a soft smile, as Obsidian felt the hoof go down from his mane, and finally down across his cheek before breaking contact with him altogether and ending up on the pillow beside him. "Goodnight, Bloom.” he said as he felt his eyelids start to grow heavy.
“I love you too, and goodnight dear.” Blooming said, turning away from him as she got comfortable. Obsidian rolled over on his back, staring at the ceiling as he thought of his day. Not bad for the first day of The Equestria Defender. he thought to himself, a chuckle escaping his lips as the old superhero he’d imagined himself as as a child came to his mind. At that thought he felt his eyes start to grow heavier, eventually closing as he felt his body relax, drifting off to sleep as he rested. For tomorrow was another day of protecting the land as the Defender of Equestria.
