At first, there was the Equestrian Militia. As the fledgling nation grew beyond its first city, the Canterlot Patrol was born. Through countless centuries, the rule of the Sisters grew, and so did their enemies. Soon, Canterlot Castle was given its own contingent - the Royal Guard. Within the Royal Guard were the Honor Guard, highly trained bodyguards charged with safeguarding any high profile political targets.
Once upon a time, there had been two positions of equal stature. Both were the highest rank of any guardspony in the entirety of Equestria. A thousand years ago, they were the Guardian of the Sun and Guardian of the Moon. Then, Nightmare Moon was banished, and with her went the need for two separate escorts. Now, the most important guardspony in Canterlot is simply known as Princess Celestia's Personal Guard.
His name is Bastion.
He was expected to stay with her every hour of every day. He ate when she ate, slept when she slept, walked where she walked. There were no weekends and no breaks. There was no time for family or friends. His only companion was a rotating partner, chosen randomly from the rest of the Honor Guard. Each day was a different pony. Nopony could do what he did for more than a day. To be a personal guard to the Princess required a deep and abiding loyalty few ponies had. It required untold sacrifice, eschewing everything in the name of protecting that which was most dear.
There was no bed reserved for the Guardian of the Sun. Instead, he slept on the floor outside of whatever room she slept in, wherever she went. He was the only pony in the entirety of Equestria allowed to burst into Celestia’s personal chambers for any reason, and one of precious few allowed to disobey a direct order for the sake of securing her safety. He had to be close enough to leap to her aid under any circumstance, and right now that meant sleeping on the cold marble floor outside her chambers.
He was awoken by tap on his shoulder. Groggily, he raised his head from his hooves and looked around. Given that it had been a polite tap and not a loud noise or frantic shouting that roused him, he did not expect anything particularly interesting, but always checked anyway. Yawning, Bastion rose and assumed the standing position he would likely maintain for the rest of the day. He gave a sleepy nod to the guardspony that had accompanied him throughout the night.
"Did anythin' happen?" he half asked, half mumbled. It was a routine question, one that was always met with the same answer.
"Not unless you count the mouse I saw scurrying around at midnight."
Bastion nodded once again, stifling another yawn. Occasionally, being a guard was exciting. The thing they failed to mention in boot camp was just how occasional that excitement was. Ponies thought being a guard was difficult due to apprehending criminals and hunting down assassination plots. In reality, the most difficult part was remaining vigilant in the face of unrelenting, constant boredom.
"Shift change is in a half hour," his companion mentioned.
Of course, other guardsponies had breaks. Other guardsponies had days off and time to rejuvenate. Other guardsponies had a pub to visit, families to return to, friends to talk with. For Bastion, every minute he wasn't within ten meters of the princess was carefully accounted for. The longest period of time he was away from her was during the half hour shift change in the morning, the one time he was allowed to take a shower, clean up, and trade in his armor for a freshly cleaned set.
A boring, thoroughly uneventful thirty minutes passed, before Bastion heard the unmistakable clip-clopping of hooves coming up the stairs to the Princess's royal chambers. Another white-furred guard like himself trotted towards Bastion and his companion, giving him a nod. Wordlessly, Bastion slipped away, walking down the stairs to the Royal Guard washroom. A maid was waiting for him, and helped remove his armor before he entered the marble room.
A half hour really wasn't much time for a morning routine. A quick shower, a visit to the bathroom, and brushing his teeth was all Bastion could manage. The last few minutes were spent putting his fresh suit of armor on. Like clockwork, he was back at Celestia's chambers, and properly relieved the nightshift guard from his post. The sun had only just begun to rise, and Celestia was still going through her own morning routine. This morning, however, she seemed particularly chipper, as Bastion heard the doors open a full ten minutes earlier than usual.
"Good morning, Aegis. Good morning, Bastion." Princess Celestia happily trotted down the stairs, managing to make barely restrained skipping look regal and majestic.
"Greetings, your highness," said Bastion, speed-trotting to keep up. "Something in particular in store for today?"
Celestia smiled in her all-knowing, mysterious way. "Oh, I'm sure you'll find out later."
Many months ago, Bastion had quickly learned (much to his chagrin) that being the Princess's personal guard didn't mean anyone actually told him about what was happening. Furthermore, memorizing her personal schedule was often worthless, as she seemed fond of re-organizing her day on a whim. So, Celestia's vague hints, while annoying, were not unexpected.
"Of course, your majesty." He sighed and continued trailing the Princess towards the dining hall, eager to feed his grumbling stomach.
It was past lunch time when the next shift change happened. Normally, Celestia would be taking a carefully planned break from her courtly duties in a specially constructed tea room while Bastion’s companion guard was relieved from their eight hour shift. Today, however, Bastion found himself trailing behind the Princess as she personally greeted a pair of ponies escorting a small purple unicorn filly. They did not look like nobles, and Bastion caught himself wondering what unusual circumstances were at play.
However, it wasn’t his job to worry about whatever madness the Princess saw fit to immerse herself in. His job was to keep her safe. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and scanned the area for threats. As usual, there were none, although somepony could conceivably leap from the two loose curtains on the other end of the hall, grab onto the chandeliers and hurl themselves at the princess.
Bastion preferred his ears to his eyes. His primary objective was to alert the princess of possible danger. Given that she was several thousand years old and unimaginably powerful, her only weakness was the fact that she was not omniscient. An assassin’s only hope was to catch her off-guard, before she had a chance to throw up an impenetrable shield. All she needed was a split second, the barest of moments to reflexively assemble her defenses. Bastion’s purpose was to give her that moment, that extra tenth of a second she needed to gain the upper hoof. To that end, his sense of hearing was more useful than relying on peripheral vision that could only point in one direction.
At least, it would have been, if his ears hadn’t been full of a young filly’s shrieks of joy and an unending torrent of questions that stopped only when she remembered to breathe. Bastion had never been fond of foals, and this one was no different. Gritting his teeth, he did his best to edit her cacophonous voice out of his hearing, and focus on any errant snaps of a twig that would betray a potential adversary...
He wasn’t able to escape the clutches of the young filly until after dinner. Celestia had elected to have some of the castle staff show her to her room, much to his relief. As he accompanied the Princess towards the evening court, she seemed to notice the slight change in his demeanor.
“Not particularly fond of Miss Twilight Sparkle, are you, Bastion?” she teased.
“So you did notice,” he mumbled.
“Just so you know, she lives here now, and has been given free reign to explore the castle at her behest, so long as she doesn’t go anywhere dangerous.”
He huffed, but said nothing more.
Celestia frowned as they rounded another corner, trotting down a long, dark hallway. It was one they had walked down many times before, as a shortcut to the courtroom. “I know you aren’t much of a social butterfly, but I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed. You worry me sometimes, Bastion.”
Bastion felt his heart tighten. Was she dismissing him? Was he falling behind on his duties? All that mattered in his life was protecting her. All he had was his sworn duty to defend her. The only thing he sought in return was her approval.
“You do a job few other ponies can do, and you do it incredibly well, but at a terrible cost,” continued Princess Celestia, her soft voice echoing through the deserted hallway. “You know not of love, or friendship, or even the camaraderie the rest of the guard enjoy. You have no existence outside of your job, no purpose beyond your singular duty. You are obsessed with it, striving to do your best at that one thing to the exclusion of everything else. While your devotion is deeply appreciated, I fear it is not healthy.”
Not… healthy? It was his special talent, it was his duty, it was his purpose! Why on earth would the Princess want anypony else as her personal guard? Even she admits that nopony else could do what he did so devotedly.
Celestia turned her head, stealing a peek through a window to the starry night outside. “I know you don’t care for foals, but I had hoped against hope that you’d take a liking to young Twilight. You two have much more in common than you realize.”
If he wasn’t confused before, he was now. A royal guard having something in common with a young bookworm? Perhaps the Princess had had a bit too much cider at dinner.
The princess sighed. “I apologize for my error, Bastion. You are one of a kind, and I deeply appreciate the job you do. I just thought I could make it less… dull.”
As they continued down the hall in silence, he did not understand why she seemed so troubled. Had he done something wrong? Had he failed his princess?
That night, he could not escape the seeds of doubt that had been planted, whispering questions in his ear, and it was a long time before he fell asleep.
Bastion was awoken by the worst sound imaginable.
Then again, everything being on fire would have been worse, so it was probably the second worst. Or maybe the third worst. Either way, it was bad, because he had been woken by the sound of that accursed purple filly.
He hadn’t actually caught what she was saying, but as he opened his bleary eyes, he could tell it was still an hour until sunrise, and she had apparently decided to loudly accost his companion.
“But when is she gonna be uuuuuup~?” whined the small terror. Apparently she was so excited about today, she had managed to get up before Princess Celestia, which was no small feat.
“She’ll be up when the sun comes up,” explained Rook wearily.
“Well, duh,” said the filly, “she’s the Princess of the Sun! Of course she’ll get up when the sun comes up. But when is that gonna beeeee~?” She hopped up and down on her short little legs in a manner that would have been cute if she hadn’t just woken Bastion up from what had already been an annoyingly short rest.
“About an hour,” said Bastion, slowly picking himself up. The filly’s ears perked up, and she seemed to notice him for the first time.
“Were you sleeping?! Guards aren’t supposed to sleep! Guards are supposed to guard things!”
Bastion rolled his eyes. “Kid, Celestia isn’t going to be ready for you for at least an hour, probably longer, now go back to bed.”
She tilted her head. “But I’m not tired...”
“Then find somewhere else to go,” he growled.
The filly seemed to catch the hint, scampering back down the stairs, calling out “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!” as she descended the spiral staircase.
It was going to be a long day.
The castle was on high alert. Every available guardspony had been requisitioned to guard the newly arrived Saddle Arabian dignitaries. Once again, Bastion found himself alone, guarding the door to the meeting room where Celestia was discussing matters of utmost secrecy with the Saddle Arabian diplomat. He had been instructed to forbid anypony from entering, and the room had been sealed by a soundproofing spell.
It had been a rather uneventful day, all things considered, until Bastion spotted a certain purple unicorn filly approaching. She seemed to recognize him, and immediately beelined for his position.
“Is Princess Celestia in there?” asked Twilight, sitting down next to him.
“The Princess is not to be disturbed,” he said as mechanically as possible.
“Oh, well, I guess she’s still busy, then.” The filly slumped to the floor and idly scuffed the carpet with a hoof. “She said she’d be teaching me magic today.”
Bastion realized that he had been standing in front of the door for over two hours, and that it was likely that Celestia was now late to an appointment with her student. He fidgeted, not entirely sure how to handle a filly who had nothing better to do than sit around and bother him.
“Hey, where’s your buddy?” she asked.
Bastion blinked. “Huh?”
“Don’cha have a buddy that helps you guard the Princess?” She pushed herself on to her haunches and looked around. “I don’t see anypony else. Are they invisible?!”
It was such a ridiculous question, Bastion almost laughed. What actually escaped his mouth was more of an exaggerated snort.
“What’s so funny? Are you laughing at me?” she demanded, stomping a tiny hoof indignantly.
Trying not to groan, Bastion facehooved. He couldn’t see a way out of this one. “No, I’m—look, I don’t always have a buddy,” he explained.
Twilight let out a enormous gasp. “You’re guarding Princess Celestia all by yourself?!”
Bastion nodded.
“Wait a minute,” asked Twilight, squinting at him, “you were here yesterday too, but this morning you had a different buddy, I know you did because I’m good at remembering things like that. Are you always guarding the Princess?”
“Every day,” he confirmed.
“Don’t you get any breaks?” she asked, mortified. “Even the Princess takes breaks! She told me so!”
Shaking his head, Bastion shifted his spear to his other hoof. “Equestria is relying on me to keep the Princess safe. I accompany her everywhere she goes, no exceptions. I eat when she eats and sleep when she sleeps. I am always right outside her door, ready for anything.”
A lightbulb seemed to turn on behind the filly’s eyes. “You mean, you sleep outside of the Princess’ room every night? Don’t you have a bed? Isn’t that uncomfortable?!”
“My duty to the Princess is more important than a bed.”
“Well, uh… I bet you’re really popular because you do such a great job, right? I bet the Princess tells you every day how amazing you are!” asked Twilight, as though trying desperately to justify his job to herself.
Bastion hesitated. “Not… exactly.”
Twilight gasped in horror. “That’s terrible! You work so hard to keep the Princess safe!”
Without warning, the young unicorn dashed over to him and threw her hooves around him in a tight hug. Bastion sat there, dumbfounded, as Twilight nuzzled him.
“Don’t worry, mister, I want to impress the Princess too, only I want to impress her with all my books, because I love books, and reading, and studying, and I’m going to become the best unicorn ever!” Twilight finally let go and started prancing around him. “And when I do I’m going to tell her how amazing you are and then she’ll tell you how amazing you are and we’ll all live happily—”
At that moment, the doors between them opened, and Celestia strode out with a Saddle Arabian diplomat.
“And—oh, hello Twilight. I’m sorry, I’m afraid we’ll have to begin our lessons tomorrow. Why don’t you go find Miss Pumpernickle? I’m sure she has something for you to do.”
A small part of Bastion felt a bit sorry to leave the purple filly behind, as he once again took his place by Celestia’s side.
Later that evening, the night shift had already shown up, and Bastion was preparing to sleep. He had just laid down when he heard the tiny clip-clopping of hooves ascending the staircase, followed by the small visage of Twilight rounding the corner. She was carrying a pillow in her mouth, for some reason. She walked up to him and deposited the large red pillow in front of him, smiling as she did so.
“I know you hafta sleep all the way up here, but I thought a pillow would make it easier,” she explained, nudging the pillow towards him.
He looked towards his partner, shrugged, and sat down on the pillow. Almost immediately, the filly wrapped her hooves around him in another hug. For the first time in a long, long while, Bastion was unable to keep a small smile from crossing his lips.
Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all, he thought.
Author's Note
While the cover art for this story depicts a unicorn, I deliberately wrote the story so the guard could be of any race, which is why he never performs any magic. Like the rest of the guards, his coat is white while wearing armor, but the mechanism behind this is left open, as I never mention his coat color when he is out of uniform.
