The End is Never-ending

I looked at him, reluctant to climb on his back. “What are we doing here?” I asked, worried about what would happen if we got busted.

“Just do it, I have something to show you. Now, climb over or I’ll drag you across.” He said. Whatever he wanted, he was sure that I wanted to see it. I climbed onto his back.

Standing on somepony is very unstable, At that moment, I gave credit to all the cheerleaders and circus acts that stacked ponies on ponies. I put my forehooves over the top of the fence and gripped it as well as I could. With a small hop off of his back, I launched myself up.

I only managed to one of my back hooves up onto the fence. From there I was just hanging on the best I could. I held on, trying my best effort to get at least a majority of my body over so if I did slip I could be on the opposite side of the fence.

I would say I got about to the halfway point, so if gravity took it’s course, I could fall on either end. That is, until Snowflake decided to help me the best way he knew how to. He pushed me onto the other side, making sure I’d get over.

The problem with his help though is that he didn’t hold back enough. He pushed me completely off the fence and I hit the ground hard on my said. I exhaled quickly when I hit the ground, not expecting the impact whatsoever. There was a groan in pain as Snowflake flew over.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to help. You alright?” He said, offering a hoof up. I took his hoof and slowly arouse off of my landing spot.

“I’m fine.” I said, breathing a bit harder than normally. “Mission accomplished.” He smiled and examined our surrounding like we were in some barren wasteland. “Come on, this way.” He said letting go of my hoof and trotting towards a nearby alleyway.

I stumbled up behind him. It was extremely dark, only light being on each end of the alley from a few lit windows. “Where are you taking me?” I asked very sincerely.

“You’ll see.” He whispered. For about another thirty minutes, I followed him through city streets and alleyways through Canterlot. Normally, I wouldn’t do this and I wanted to turn back. Snowflake was sure though, and I wasn’t just gonna leave him out here by himself, nor trust my memory to lead me back correctly. If anything came up, we were safer together anyway.

We did make it to the destination unharmed. It was a simple hill above a field, I questioned what was so important about it. “What’s this?” Snowflake looked east and smiled. I looked and realized that it had a faint glow. Celestia either was preparing to raise the sun, or was in the process of it.

My mind was panicking, we were almost for surely caught once we go back now. “Right on time.” Is all Snowflake said and turned back to the field. I had no idea what he meant and turned to the field myself.

All of a sudden, dozens of royal guards came marching out onto the field. “Every morning, they come here in the crack of dawn and do these things. They’re guards in training.” I looked on, concentrating hard.

It was hard to make them out since the sun was just raising, but you could see them all line up to whom I assumed to be their captain. You could hear a faint noise as they all began to do exercises. I had decided to stop counting each rep they did after fifty.

“They do a hundred each morning, all in sync with each other. If the captain catches a single pony out of unison, they restart till they can all complete a hundred together as one.” Snowflake explained.

Luckily for us, nopony slipped out of line. They continued to switch little exercises, doing a hundred flawlessly of each. Afterward, they all spread out among the field. “What are they doing now?” I asked, since apparently Snowflake had already witnessed this.

“Sword practice, different maneuvers, stances, all of it. Pegasus have to keep their wings in a take off position at all times.” He said, imitating the way pegasus prepare to lift off correctly from the ground. “Unicorns aren’t allowed to use their magic at all.” He explained.

“How do you know all this?” I asked.

“I’ve been watching them for a whole week now, seeing if there was a day that they didn’t come out and do this.” He turned to me with a smile. “They come out everyday and do these things.”

“That’s crazy. Do they get any time for breaks?” I asked him.

“I’m not sure, not during the time I’ve seen them. I usually fly back every morning when they split off by race.” He said.

“Wait, they split off by race? Isn’t that wrong and segregation?” I asked, now concerned with the royal guard doing exactly what they pledge to protect ponies from.

“It’s not like you think. Each race of pony has different features obviously. This naturally provides each race with unique opportunities of training. Unicorns usually work with precision magic. Pegasus work to be agile as they flow through situations. Earth ponies practice hard and quick combat movements.” He explained to me. I let it all sink in as I watched on. They moved so graciously with their swords. Fast, but not spaztic. Clean swipes and quick jabs. In a way, they looked as if they were dancing.

After they had been working with the swords for a bit, Snowflake stood. “Alright, we gotta go. You can’t fly over the city sadly.” I looked over to him, not wanting to leave anymore. He was right, I definitely wanted to see this.

“Why did you take me here?” I asked before I moved at all.

He was silent for a moment, before a small sigh leaked from his mouth. “I wanted to show you this to see how serious you were about being a royal guard. As well as to let you know that I promised to help you get there any way I could.” I thought about what he said. Slowly I turned my gaze away from my friend and out into the field once more.

I closed my eyes for a moment, imagining my father out on the field, practicing this every day till he earned the title of a ‘Royal Guard’. I thought about what I said about being my father’s legacy and turned back to Snowflake when I opened my eyes and stood. “I’m dead serious about this, Snowflake.” I smiled. “Let’s go, we’re gonna get into trouble if we’re late.”

Honestly, at that moment, I didn’t care about trouble anymore. We had both proved something that day to each other. Snowflake had my side in life, and I was going to be my father’s living legacy.

We turned and headed back towards the area. “Race ya.” Snowflake dared. I shook my head.

“I don’t even know the way back, I’d have to follow you.” I said with a smirk.

“You’re just afraid I’d win and need an excuse to get out of it.” He said answering my smirk with his own goofy smile. “No, but in all seriousness, let’s pick up our pace. Don’t wanna get busted.”

I nodded in response as he took off and I followed right behind. In the back of my mind, all I could think of was the guard training. That’d be the easy part of becoming the legacy. The hard part, would be earning the legacy name after performing something my father would’ve. That would be the hard part.