The Twilight Guard

In ancient pony history, the Pegasi spent their free time engaged in the activities of war. It was their specialty. Since the birth of the sun and moon, this was what pegasus ponies were born for. Under the rule of the alicorn princesses, these gifts had been suppressed. However, when the Great War began between the ponies of Equestria and the zebras, the blood spoke, or so the elders of the Twilight Guard told the young. The blood spoke, and the natural talents of the pegasi re-emerged. The Wonderbolts, Shadowbolts, and chiefly Rainbow Dash herself were considered proof of that.

In the darkest hour of the war, the Ministry of Awesome made a decision in secret, a decision that would not even be revealed to the other ministry mares. Pegasi were gathered in a secret location. War heroes mostly, skilled fighters all. They were given their instructions. They were trained to be the best. They were educated in the history of their people. Most importantly, they were drilled night and day to be the best. The weak were killed to preserve the integrity of the unit and to keep the secret safe. The Ministry hoped never to have to use these ponies. They got their wish. The Twilight Guard grew to concern even Rainbow Dash herself. She ordered the caves sealed, trapping the one thousand warriors in what she had hoped would be their grave. However this decision was what saved them. The heavy Stable-Tec doors that had been put in place on Rainbow Dash’s orders, combined with the thickness and strength of the bedrock were the saving grace the Guard needed.

When the megaspells hit and scoured Equestria of surface life, only those underground were spared. The Stables held true and protected their inhabitants. Unbenownst to any, the same technology protected the most feared fighting force seen in pony lands since the founding of Equestria, when the pegasi agreed to lay down their arms and join the earth ponies and unicorns in peace. The Guard found enough plant and wildlife living in their cave network to sustain them. But they could not sustain their entire population of one thousand. Their numbers dwindled. Ponies starved, and emergency measures were enacted. The unisex nature of the Guard and its brutal training (only one in three pegasi brought for training survived, and another one was usually deemed too weak by the end and killed to protect the secret of the unit) gave rise to a policy of strength. Weak foals were killed to preserve the core power of the Guard. Extra armour and weapons stacked up, as the number of suits of heavy steel barding that was supposed to be the Guard’s trademark began to outnumber the ponies who were intended to occupy them. Now, numbering only a few more than two hundred, the Guard was at a crossroads.

Some wanted to try and escape the caves. Some believed that they were still waiting for summons from the Ministry. None even realised the war and indeed the world had ended in a balefire holocaust. So, as councils deliberated, and eventually decided to stay locked away, the Guard trained. They trained long and hard, further honing their skills, and passing them on to whatever children and grandchildren were deemed worthy of life in the Guard.

This was what they had done for some three hundred years. Undisturbed. Underground. Now, beneath the surface of the earth was not normally a pegasus-friendly environment, but these ponies had gotten used to it. After all, it was all they’d ever known.... all their parents and grandparents and great grandparents had ever known. When the bombs fell, the Twilight Guard was sealed in their headquarters in the tunnels and massive underground caves beneath the once-great pony city of Stalliongrad. Never intended to be unearthed, never really intended to even see combat, never spoken of outside of Rainbow Dash’s office, and even then in hushed whispers.

This is the history of the Twilight Guard. My people. My brothers and sisters in arms. Our ancestors set us training for a war that passed us by. A war we didn’t know had ended. A war that, if we were to see the surface again, we were guaranteed to win. After all, three centuries of intense training and brutal discipline does wonders when facing a war, and it was a war we were determined to see, at all costs.