The sun was setting to Gleamings' right as she stood in front of the large gates to the castle. A large group of stallions in their late teens had gathered around her, waiting for the same thing: being let in to become new recruits.
"Aren't you a little small to be a guard?" a yellow Pegasus with brown hair leaned down to ask. Gleaming merely huffed in response and continued waiting. By now she had managed to gather quite a bit of attention as several of the stallions had decided to look at the small, light-brown earthpony filly. Some noticed the two swords fastened to her saddlebag (one clearly to large for her) and decided not to pay much more attention to her, but not enough of them she thought to herself.
Luckily they all stopped and looked towards the gate as it started to open and a guard in full armor walked out to address the crowd. " WILL EVERYONE WHO WISHES TO BE A NEW RECRUIT PLEASE FOLLOW ME?" he shouted out and started walking, followed by the group. Around the premises several guards kept an eye out, making sure nopony went the wrong way as the first guard led them around the castle and towards the training grounds near the eastern wall. "EARTHPONIES GO THERE, PEGASI OVER THERE AND UNICORNS OVER THERE" he shouted again, pointing to three different buildings as did.
Gleaming made her way towards the earthpony building with 3 other stallions, all casting her a couple of looks they thought were very discreet.
"Stand by that wall, please" a guard said as he brought up some empty files. "first one, come up" he said without looking up. The first stallion, blue with purple mane walked up. "Name?"
"Round table, sir!" The guard wrote it down, once again without looking up.
"Colouration?"
"Blue coat and purple mane, sir!"
"Eyes?"
"Blue, sir!"
"you aren't a recruit yet, stop calling me sir" the guard said boredly without looking up.
"yes si- i mean, yes" The guard sneered at this.
"Special talent?"
"wood carving"
"cutiemark?"
"hammer and chisel"
"Ok, go through there and give the captain this" the guard said, giving the new recruit a document from under the desk and pointing to another door. Round Table went out it as the guard asked for the next one.
"Next" he called, Gleaming now the only one remaining. She walked forward.
"name"
"Gleaming Edge"
"Col- wait a minute..." He looked up over the counter. "You're not allowed to be here?" He looked at her confused before standing up. "Wait here" he said as he left the room, leaving her alone. She sat down and started waiting.
After a few minutes the door opened and the guard returned with a mare. "i'm guessing she's the one?" The guard nodded and the mare leans down. Her coat is cream coloured and her blue mane put up in a manageable bun. She leaned down to Gleaming with a smile. "Hey there. Are you lost?"
Gleaming looked at her without any discernible expression before simply answering with a deadpan "no".
"Do you know where you are?" the mare continued.
"Yeah, the castle training grounds. Who are you anyway?" Gleaming asked back, a hint of toxicity in her voice.
"Oh, excuse me" the mare said apologetically. "I'm Opal and work with the public relations of court in matters concerning foals. Now, would you be so kind as to tell me why you are here?"
Gleaming looked at Opal again. "To join the guard" she said simply, not letting the mare out of her sights.
"I see... You are aware that the guard does not accept foals, right?"
Gleamings' look had now gone over to a full blown stare. "I don't have anywhere else to go. You either let me join or I force you to accept me."
Starting to feel a tad uncomfortable, Opal backed off a bit while the guard merely continued to look at them with confusion. "Say, where are your parents? I'm sure they're very worried about you."
"Dead"
"Well there are plenty of orphanages that could-"
"I'M NOT GOING TO A BUCKING ORPHANAGE!" Gleaming suddenly screamed out and both the guard and Opal recoiled heavily at this. "The only thing i have left now is my dad's sword. you think an orphanage would let me keep it? You think an orphanage would allow me to continue training?! No! The only place that would allow me to hone my skills is here and you better. Let. Me. In!" Tears in her eyes, Gleaming hissed the last couple of words through her teeth, still staring at Opal.
"Why don't you come with me and we'll talk to the princess, ok? Maybe she can clear this up" Opal signaled to Gleaming and the guard to follow her as they went outside and towards the castle.
Celestia was drinking tea in her chambers as a knock was heard on her door.
"Yes?" she asked out and opened the door with her magic. One of her door guards entered and bowed.
"Excuse me princess, but miss Opal wishes to have a word with you. She says it's urgent."
"Let her in, captain" Celestia answers, putting her cup down and putting on a calm, warm smile. It appeared getting some peace and quiet would have to wait. She watched as the chief-of-public-relations-relating-to-foals entered followed by a light-brown foal with bloodshot eyes. Celestia watched as Opal bowed deeply, though noted to herself the filly kept standing and looking back at her with a flat expression. Strange, she thought, as she had clearly recently been crying.
"Please, there is no need for that my little pony. Now tell my why you are here."
Opal stood up. "Yes princess. This is Gleaming Edge-" she nodded down at the foal, who was now sitting while looking flatly at Celestia "- and she appears to want to join the royal guard. She says it's the only place that would allow her to 'hone her skills', as it were. " The princess remained motionless throughout the tale.
"You are aware the royal guard does not accept foals, Gleaming Edge?" she asked after a little while.
"Yes" Gleaming answered.
"Yet you attempted to join anyway. Why did you try to join?"
They looked at each other for a while, Gleamings expression slowly getting angrier until she finally cracked "I have nowhere else to go, ok? Dad's dead and all i have of him is his sword and now i have to either join the guard or go to some stupid orphanage. Guess what? I DON'T WANNA! They'll never let me practice, or train or allow me to excel at the only thing that would allow me to feel close to dad. Only the royal guard could do that for me..." She was now heavily crying, but still hadn't stopped looking straight at Celestia, who in turn hadn't change her expression at all. She signaled the rest to leave and they did so silently.
"So you came here to find a place to live that would also allow you to train? I'm guessing it's swordsmareship you practice, correct?"
Gleaming nodded.
"You cannot join the royal guard i'm afraid, but let me think about a different solution. would you like some tea?"
Gleaming shook her head as the princess gestured to her teapot.
"Very well" she said as she took up her cup and drank a small sip, silently looking to the side in thought. After several minutes (and a refill of her cup) Celestia looked back to filly who was no longer crying though certainly looked rather miserable. "Are you aware of the praetorian?" Gleaming shook her head. "Not surprising; they haven't existed for over 800 years. The Praetorian were my elite bodyguards while the royal guards guarded the castles. As time changed the need for a specialized unit for protecting the princess went away and the group was disbanded, however i feel you might be the key to restoring them. As far as i can tell you seem to value you skill with a sword highly. Am i correct?" Gleaming nodded. "However the royal guard cannot accept you as you are too young. But if i were to reinstate the Praetorian i could let you live and train here at the castle with the goal of becoming one . Does this sound good to you?"
It took a while for the words to sink in, but as they did Gleamings face slowly started to form the first smile she'd have since she was left alone and she suddenly jumped forward to embrace the Princess, shouting "THANK YOU, PRINCESS! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" as Celestia warmly hugged her in return.
Author's Note
Yeah, a quick introduction to the main character and her background. More to come at a later date. Shouldn't be a long story, two or three chapters max.
Let me know what you think 