The Guardian

by Karrakaz

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Romance, Fluttershy, Rarity, Slice of Life, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 31019

The search to find the right pony to serve as your bodyguard can take a lifetime. Finding the pony you want to spend your life with can take just as long. Fortunately for Rarity, she finds both in one pony.

The search to find the right pony to serve as your bodyguard can take a lifetime. Finding the pony you want to spend your life with can take just as long. Fortunately for Rarity, she finds both of these qualities united in one pony.

Nothing is ever easy, however. And in a way, the journey to happiness is never truly over.

This story was tagged as 'dark' for minor blood, and off-screen death in certain scenes. Not enough to really shock, but I thought it prudent to mention regardless.

This story is dedicated to Monochromatic, who has become a friend to me over this last year.

Enjoy.

Published 2015-06-04 18:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-23 18:59:14 UTC

A Muddy Mess

Rarity was annoyed. Scratch that, Princess Rarity was furious. “How dare he do this to me?” She grumbled to herself whilst marching through the castle corridors. She came to a halt in front of a statue depicting her father, The King of Unicornia after a hard won battle against... She snorted. Ancient history, whichever enemy he had been fighting against. And yet the old coot still acted like they were in the middle of a war!

King Diamond the Third. Stalwart hero of Unicornia and defender for all that is right, just and fair. Depicted here after his monumental victory against the savages of the northern wastes.

These were the words engraved on the plaque at the base of the statue. Rarity merely snorted again. Just and fair? Not where his daughters are concerned, apparently.“I have my own life, you know?!” She yelled at the statue, turning around and giving it a kick with her hind hooves. The polished marble was unaffected by her rage, neither a splinter nor crack to be seen. Rarity’s hooves, however, hurt with the reverberations of her strike. She limped off towards the training grounds, forcing herself to walk as normal though each hooffall made her wince. She would never dare raise her voice against her father in that manner, of course, but at least the catharsis helped her cope. The warrior king was old and respected by all. Though not very wise she thought sourly. A lady’s sensibilities should be respected, and she should not have to be stalked by some... some brute!

Her father had asked, nay, ordered her to cancel all of her plans for the day in favor of watching several sweaty, muddy, ponies work themselves to the bone in order to impress her. Normally that would have been fine. As long as she did not have to participate in those little exercises in futility she couldn’t care less what the guards wanted to show her. Noblessé oblige and all that.

Today, however, was a very bad day for her. She’d had plans, weeks in the making, for a trip down to the southern city of Canterlot with some of her friends. Because of its location on the borders with Pegasopolis and the free states of the Earthpony Federation, it had become a major trading hub, and as such, the stores were sure to carry the latest of fashions for her to enjoy. She lit up her horn and adjusted the mantle on her back. It wasn’t uncomfortable per se, but a lady should have options when it came to garments. While the purple mantles clearly denoted her status as a member of the royal family, she dearly wished for more variety.

As she walked through the last few hallways that would lead out into the courtyard, she wondered what options remained to protect herself from being bored to death. The entire day would be for naught, that much was certain. She already knew what the guard had to offer. Most, if not all of them, regularly competed for her affections at the bi-monthly tournaments her father held, after all. And although she would, without a moment’s hesitation, admit that their skills were impressive; she simply wasn’t the slightest bit interested in such displays. Mock battles and first blood surrenders might be exciting for the masses, but she had seen so many that they had become rote and dull. The prospect of having to spend an entire day watching them was further soured by the inexorable fact that it was going to rain today. That had been another reason she had wanted to go to Canterlot. It was said that the weather there was regulated by Pegasi and the ponies living there never had to deal with snowstorms or even rain if they did not specifically wish for them.

When she finally stepped out into the courtyard, she was given a glimmer of hope. Fluttershy, her best friend and closest confidante, was seated in the royal box. She was watching two of the burly guards wrestle each other to the ground in the pit down below, wincing every time one of them landed a blow.

Thank goodness. At least I shan’t be alone.

Her relationship with the pegasus had started off on a peculiar hoof. Fluttershy was the daughter of a minor noble in her father’s kingdom, who had fallen in love with one of Pegasus soldiers he fought alongside in the war. When they finally announced their marriage, it had been a big point of contention in the country, with an overwhelming majority concerned that the unicorn bloodlines would be diluted. King Diamond had blessed their marriage after finding out just how valorous the pegasus had been on the battlefield, after which the contention had died down and they’d had a daughter.

As a ‘half-breed’, Fluttershy hadn’t had an easy childhood. From what Rarity had heard of her history, she had been bullied at every school she had gone to, and when she inevitably failed, her parents had decided to homeschool her. Combined with the fact that both of her parents had been veritable heroes in the wars they had fought in, had molded Fluttershy into a pony that was demure, easily frightened, and sometimes too kind for her own good. Rarity knew better than to let that fool her, however, as her friend possessed a solid iron core when she deemed the situation important enough. Their very first meeting had been a fight over a hoofservant which Rarity had admittedly been treating a little too harshly. First impressions hadn’t stood in the way of a powerful friendship, however, and she couldn’t be happier that she wouldn’t be alone at the very least.

“Fluttershy, good morning, darling,” she called out, making her way over to the box and depositing herself squarely in her father’s chair. It was well worn and a little uncomfortable because of that, but such things were to be expected when it saw use at least twice every day.

“Good morning,” the pegasus replied, not taking her eyes off of the two wrestling brutes. She didn’t look happy, but then, Rarity imagined Fluttershy was dealing with a selfsame feeling she was. Or likely she felt even worse. Even now that she had grown up, being a pegasus in a country mostly inhabited by unicorns earned her a lot of odd looks, a problem she would have been able to forget, at least for a day, if they had actually made it to Canterlot.

She put a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder and smiled at her. “I take it you’re as dreadfully upset about this whole ordeal as I am?”

Fluttershy nodded, still keeping half an eye on the two stallions treating one another as ragdolls.

“Not to worry, darling. We’ll make a grand time of it somehow.” After a few minutes of silence in which Fluttershy didn’t deign a response, Rarity started to feel uneasy. Ever the socialite, silence, no matter how comfortable, weighed on her mind. “So,” she began, trying to talk away the mood that seemed to hang over them. “How are your parents?”

“Why aren’t we allowed to go?” Fluttershy asked, completely ignoring Rarity’s question. It was a little disrespectful if one took proper etiquette into account. Where her friends were concerned, however, Rarity didn’t, though that didn’t mean that she was happy with having her own question ignored. “My father insisted I choose one of the Royal Guard to be my bodyguard today,” She answered with a thin smile. “Something about flaring tensions with some country or other and how he is afraid for my safety.”

Fluttershy let out a sigh “Oh...”

“What is the matter, darling?”

Fluttershy gestured at the wresting ponies down in the mud. It had started raining and both were having trouble keeping their footing in terrain that became increasingly more treacherous. “At first my parents were completely fine with me going to Canterlot, and then today they told me that I’m not allowed to go without an escort....”

“So you’re here to look for somepony to guard you as well?” Rarity hummed thoughtfully. “Well, perhaps if I choose my bodyguard swiftly, we can convince your parents that one bodyguard is enough for the both of us, and we might be spared an entire day of boredom.”

Fluttershy didn’t look convinced. In fact, she looked rather worried. “But isn’t that dangerous? What if you pick the wrong pony and they can’t protect you when it’s needed? Not to mention how upset your father would be if he found out you’re ignoring him?”

Rarity huffed irritably. “Not all of us are as obedient as you are, Fluttershy. If you really wanted to go, you could easily have ignored your parents and just gone.”

“Like you did?”

Rarity regarded Fluttershy, noting the look the pegasus was giving her. Ahh, there’s that iron core. They stared at each other for a while, the fight going on down below forgotten for the moment.

Just as Rarity softened her gaze, Fluttershy broke. “I’m so sorry, Rarity. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, darling, I’m afraid you’re quite right.” Rarity got off her father’s resting place and weaseled onto the bench Fluttershy was sitting at. “Even if I picked a bodyguard this instant, my father would still make me watch the training goings on for the rest of the day to make sure that I’d picked the right one, maybe even test them himself.” She nudged Fluttershy with her shoulders and paired it with another smile. “So what say you we make the best of what we have?” A smile and a nod was all the response she needed from Fluttershy. “Silver Platter?”

“At your service, Princess.” Her personal attendant appeared next to her, almost without making a sound. That had always bothered her. Silver had been taking care of her since she was a foal, and she considered him to be more of a father figure than her own father had been. The aging unicorn stallion had practically raised her, and had always attributed the many streaks of silver in his otherwise dark brown mane to her antics growing up. Yet despite all that, a grudging respect was as high as her affections for him went. He was a servant to her father's whims... as it seemed she was as well.

“Given that Fluttershy and I are going to be stuck here for the next few hours, would you be so kind as to inform my other friends that we sadly won’t be joining them today?”

“As you wish, Princess.” Silver Platter bowed and turned to leave.

“Oh and Silver? Could you be a dear and bring us some refreshments while you’re at it?” Rarity added after a moment of thought, halting the stallion just before he passed through the doors.

“Refreshments coming right up, Princess.”

Rarity and Fluttershy watched the squad of guards deemed worthy enough to become bodyguards go through their early morning exercise. According to Captain Aegis, it was just the warmup before they were presented for Rarity’s judgement, a tidbit of information that made her angry with her father all over again. Over the course of several hours they ran obstacle courses, did pushups, sparred with one another, and generally did everything that bored Rarity so terribly. She passed the time by idly chatting with Fluttershy about everything from speculation about the fashion in Canterlot they were missing out on to what had been going on in both their lives, annoyed at the fact that she was being made to wait whilst she could have been doing a dozen other things.

They were still talking and giggling amongst themselves when the Captain came up to them once again. “Princess.”

Rarity ceased her giggling and took a second to reconstruct her composure. “What is it Captain?”

Aegis snapped a salute and donned his helmet. “The guards are ready for your inspection, Princess.”

With a sigh and a nod, Rarity sent him on his way. “Time for me to go play the good princess, darling. Would you like to come with, or...?”

Fluttershy was already shaking her head.

“That’s what I thought. Sit tight, darling, I shan’t be long.” A familiar dread crept through her as she followed the captain to the river of mud the grounds were turning into. Part of being royalty meant having to get down from her pedestal at times to show that she was interested in the plight of those that served her. She wouldn’t have minded, if it hadn’t been for the rain and the mud which left stains on her otherwise pristine coat despite the umbrella a servant held up for her. It made it hard for her not to frown in distaste, much less present an appreciative smile for the guards. She managed it, but only because of the hundreds upon hundreds of hours of practice foisted upon her by her mother.

“Guards! Stand at attention! At the end of this day, one of you shall be so privileged as to become the personal bodyguard of her highness, Princess Rarity. I want you all to show her your very best!” Aegis yelled, making Rarity want to close her ears. Verbal assault was another thing she wasn’t too fond of. “We remain unseen—”

“Ours remain unharmed,” the guards replied as one, bringing one foreleg up to their chest in salute.

Rarity inspected each of them in turn, giving them a light smile before moving on to the next pony. The important thing is to make them feel needed, even if you aren’t being genuine She remember her mother saying. Easier said than done when you’re standing knee deep in mud, mother. This is positively horrid. Regardless, she continued with her inspection. Surprise came in the form of three mares she had never seen before. Which made sense when she thought about it. Mares wouldn’t necessarily want to compete for her affections, although it did make her think. Perhaps she could show her father just how useless this entire endeavor was if she picked an unknown whom her father would never approve of, and be done with the entire charade by the end of the week. The thought made her smile widen just a smidge.

It was obvious that none of them would even be here if they weren’t at least competent, but the last one in line, a unicorn mare only slightly larger than herself already looked winded despite the fact that all the guards were wearing was a simple underlay without any actual armor. And while staying clean in this sort of weather was impossible —something she was reminded of when she stumbled and almost landed face first in the mud— the mare’s purple coat was especially dirty. Sweat and mud clung to it in equal measure which made her look altogether more unkempt than the rest of the guards.

Rarity’s smile turned into a smirk. She skipped the last few in the line and went straight for the mare, coming to a halt in front of her. She sized the mare up, making herself a little bigger to look her in the eyes and watched for any other signs of fatigue or weakness.

The only thing that greeted her was the same thousand yard stare all guards had. Rarity shifted her stance to be more casual; stretching herself like that would be murder on her muscles if we wasn’t careful, and regarded the unicorn once more. Even if she couldn’t find anything, there was something about the mare that made Rarity suspicious.

“Your name and rank, soldier?”

The unicorn saluted. “Twilight Sparkle, private first class, Ma’am.”

There was something in her tone of voice that felt off to Rarity, disrespectful even. She sneered at the mare and may have pressed her muzzle to Twilight’s if the mare hadn’t been as dirty as she was. “You are to address me with the respect that is owed, Private Sparkle.”

“My apologies, Your Highness. Please forgive me.” One of Twilight’s eyes had twitched in annoyance before she spoke, and though there had been no trace of it in her voice, the involuntary spasm wasn’t lost on Rarity.

“Captain,” she said, beckoning Aegis over. “Are you sure Private Sparkle is skilled enough to even be among the selection?”

“She wouldn’t be here if that weren’t the case, Princess.” Despite his words Aegis looked similarly unhappy with Private Twilight’s apparent lack of respect.

Rarity snorted dismissively. “Then how is it she already looks winded? Private, I would like a further test of your abilities... let’s say... twenty laps in full armor?”

Twilight’s jaw trembled and for a moment it looked like she would argue, but when she didn’t and simply turned around, Rarity audibly cleared her throat. “Did I say you could start yet, Private?” The annoyed sigh and the rolling of the eyes weren’t lost on her either, and she would have doubled her punishment if the captain hadn’t stepped in and done it for her.

“That makes it thirty laps, Sparkle.”

Such a pity that Captain Aegis isn’t available... Rarity thought while watching him berate the disrespectful mare. He was one of the few stallions who used his head, and as a result had quickly risen through the ranks. Unfortunately that put him out of her reach, as the kingdom was short on good officers. Her left ear twitched when she thought she’d heard her name and she turned both of her ears in the direction of the talking pair.

“This is manure, Captain. We both know she’s just a bratty princess who likes to throw her weight around.”

That did not sit right with Rarity. It did not sit right with her at all. With a dark look she turned to Twilight once more and stalked up to her while debating whether to have her imprisoned for insubordination, or executed outright.

Once again, however, Captain Aegis was just a little faster. “Fifty laps, Sparkle. Another word and it’s a jail cell for you.”

Twilight Sparkle wisely kept her mouth shut. She briefly disappeared into the barracks to don her armor and then started her penance, followed for almost half a lap by Rarity’s angry looks. Of all the ignorant little... She let out a sigh and plastered a semblance of a smile on her face before turning back to the other recruits. “The rest of you may begin sparring. One pair at a time, please. If I am to choose a bodyguard from among you, I wish to get a good look at everyone’s technique.”

There were a few snickers among the assembled guards which were dealt with just as swiftly as Private Sparkle had been. Even so, when she figured out the unintended innuendo in her sentence, her embarrassed blush reached all the way to her ears.

By the time she returned to the box her embarrassment had faded somewhat. It had been replaced by an overwhelming desire to be clean, and seeing the basin filled with water, and a maid waiting to help her with just that made her want to kiss Silver Platter for being so thoughtful despite their history. If there was something she hated more than wet mud it was that same mud drying up and caking to her fetlocks. “This is such a chore...” she told Fluttershy while sitting down with a sigh. A genuine smile graced her lips when she dipped her hooves into the warm water. “It’s been hours already and they’ve only just started. Where are they going?”

The nine guards that had remained after Private Sparkle started her run, were leaving the field, filtering through a side door in the barracks. She had expected them to begin their sparring right away, having waited long enough for them to finish their infernal warm-up period. Seeing them leave the arena only made her more impatient. At least, until Fluttershy’s soft voice came from next to her. “They’re getting their weapons and armor.”

“Whatever for?” The look she got from Fluttershy after that made her feel like a foal, and a dumb one at that. It should have been obvious that their merits as a bodyguard weren’t so much dependant on wrestling as they were on skill at arms, though for some reason she had expected they would be doing exactly that. “So... more like a tournament than I would’ve expected.”

“Hmm hmmm...” Fluttershy hummed thoughtfully, looking equally disheartened by the prospect.

They watched in silence as the guards returned, taking up their positions on either side of the field and turned to her with a salute before the first pair moved forward and crossed swords before beginning their fight. After the first *clang* of steel against steel, slashes, blocks, parries and strikes quickly flowed together into a dance that Rarity found herself rather intrigued by, which in and of itself intrigued her even more. Is it because I have to choose one of them? she wondered. Or perhaps because those long speeches father holds sap all energy and attention for miles around?

Although she couldn’t come up with an answer, she found herself interested in the goings on of what was essentially a tournament battle for the first time in her life. It ended far too soon when one of the guards dodged left when he should have dodged right and got a minor cut on his foreleg. Aegis declared the winner after which the guards bowed to her once more, and the second pair took up their places at the center of the arena.

The second battle was much less interesting than the first, and Rarity found her attention drifting. Perhaps that first battle had been a fluke, merely interesting because everything else that surrounded her looked drab and uninviting. For a moment she let her eyes drift over the purple speck on the far end of the field. Twilight Sparkle was still running laps, and though fifty was a lot, it wasn’t unheard of. Even from a distance, Rarity could clearly see the mare’s laboured breathing, and smiled grimly. Serves her right for behaving like a dumb mule.

The second and third fights could not hold her attention, and the fourth was only mildly interesting; drawn out by both fighters dancing around one another more than they actually fought, and when Rarity took a moment to look over at her friend she found Fluttershy transfixed, not by the fight, but by Private Twilight who had just taken up her spot on the right side of the field. Following Fluttershy’s gaze, Rarity once again felt the anger well up within her. It wasn’t obvious if somepony weren’t looking closely, but the mare appeared to have seriously tired herself out during the run. Rarity was looking closely.

“Unbelievable that they would let a lousy unicorn like that into the selection process,” she said with a huff. “She’s clearly not fit or disciplined enough to be in the military, much less in this ‘elite’ pool of guards I am supposed to pick from.”

Her pegasus friend looked away from the guard and back at her. “Why? Didn’t she do everything she was ordered to do?”

Rarity let a little of her anger show on her face. “She was being disrespectful and outright rude to me, the princess of the country! Soldiers aren’t supposed to do that.”

“So you dislike her because she’s different?”

The iron in Fluttershy’s voice made Rarity wince. Given her childhood, it was an understandably sore spot for her, but even so... “No, darling. I dislike her because I am here to evaluate and choose one of these ten ponies to be my bodyguard.” She pointed at the mare trying to catch her breath. “Having a bodyguard that is disrespectful could very well cause more harm than good in social occasions. And just look at her. If she’s already exhausted just from running around a little, she obviously doesn’t have what it takes. I simply don’t enjoy having my time wasted.”

Fluttershy regarded her sadly for a moment before turning back to watch the fight, leaving Rarity to deal with a sudden uncertainty. What if I did single her out? Well, if I did it was because she already looked weak, wasn’t it? She shook her head and focused her attention on the battleground where the fourth fight had just ended. Tired as she was, Private Sparkle would lose soon enough; and if she did manage to win... Well, that would be a reason re-examine my stance on the matter, wouldn’t it?

The maid finished up her task just as Private Sparkle and her opponent made their way to the center of the grounds, leaving Rarity with wonderfully clean hooves, and free to focus her full attention on the upcoming fight.

The first strike made it clear that the fight would have more in common with the first one than any thereafter. Both Twilight and her opponent swung low and blocked each other's swing with their own, the force of the collision making the both of them lose their magical grip on their swords, which flew off in different directions.

Twilight, tired as she looked, was still the first to react, running up to the stallion she had been pitted against and bucking him in the chest. It didn’t visibly harm the stallion, though it did take him a moment to catch his breath. In the short few seconds it took him to do so, Twilight used the momentum of her kick to see herself to the other side of the arena, where she picked up her opponent’s sword. Another second and she had turned around around again, lunging at her opponent like a mare possessed, likely seeking to end the fight as quickly as she was able.

The stallion jumped back, only barely dodging the blade. He slid backwards a little further due to the mud and picked up Twilight’s blade before she had a chance to lunge at him again. They traded blows, parrying and dodging strike after strike, which made it hard for any of the spectators to determine the outcome of their mock fight.

It quickly appeared as though the stallion had the upper hoof. Twilight was visibly tiring and her reactions slowed just a smidge. They were still evenly matched, but every so often he would get in a slash or a strike that came just a little too close for comfort. Twilight retaliated by kicking him in the chest again after a well executed parry, before jumping back to give herself some breathing room.

“Oh my goodness... Rarity, you have to stop them.”

Rarity flicked an ear in Fluttershy’s direction though her attention remained riveted on the fight going on down below. “Whatever for, darling? This already is one of the more interesting matches and... dare is say it, exciting!” For the first time in her life she wondered what it would be like to be in an actual battle. Minus all the blood and the dying, she was starting to believe that she could actually enjoy herself. Perhaps I should take up fencing? She snorted daintily. That was a slim chance at best, but she begrudgingly had to admit that she hadn’t expected Private Sparkle to hold her own against the larger stallion. For better or worse, it excited her, at least until she realised that she was, in that respect more like her father than she would have liked. It dampened her excitement somewhat, but could not entirely snuff it out.

“Lunges aren’t allowed in mock battles! She could kill him!” Fluttershy all but shrieked, fearfully watching the battle rage on.

That made Rarity pause. Surely I don’t want ponies to die in some mock battle, do I?

Before she could call everything to a halt however, Aegis spoke up. “Milady Fluttershy, Your Highness. I have trained these ponies until every single one of their legs felt like lead, and then made them train some more. They have near enough perfect control of their bodies as well as their blades. You needn’t worry.”

Fluttershy still looked worried, but Rarity, for her part, took the assurance for what it was. She wasn’t an expert on the workings of swordplay after all, and this fight was swiftly becoming the highlight of her day.

The two combatants circled one another, making feints and testing each other’s defenses with half-hearted slashes, waiting for an opening.

Though neither fully committed to an attack, Twilight was getting increasingly sloppy. Several strands of her mane had gotten free from the ponytail she had tied it in, and her movements were becoming sluggish. Finally the stallion spotted an opening and lunged.

That’s when Twilight did the unexpected.

To Rarity, it seemed like the entire thing played out in slow motion. While both guards had been letting their swords do the talking for most of the battle, Twilight suddenly screamed and charged right at the incoming blade.

Fluttershy shrieked.

Twilight’s horn pulsed and her magic touched the stallion’s magical aura, applying pressure from the side of the blade which altered the arc of his swing. Unfortunately... she wasn’t quite fast enough. With an agonizing slowness, Rarity watched the blade shear off several of Private Twilight’s loose hairs before connecting with her skin just above the left eye. For a moment, it seemed to Rarity like time had stopped. One of her would be guards was going to be killed in a training exercise.

In a rush everything returned to normal. Twilight twisted her head around the main impact point of the blade and brought her own down low alongside the stallion’s legs, sliding past him through the mud. She ended up near the edge of the arena, springing to her hooves and turning around, ready for more.

She lowered her sword after a few moments, left eye closed whilst blood ran down her face in rivulets, washed away by the rain which had only become more intense during the fight. The stallion didn’t move for a few precious seconds before he slumped and fell over sideways with a muted groan.

Rarity wanted to applaud. Whatever else Private Twilight had done, her fighting style had been both skilful and exhilarating to watch. That final move in particular... Fluttershy didn’t share her opinion on the matter, looking both horrified and angry. And she wasn’t the only one.

“Restrain her!” Aegis’ voice thundered over the grounds, making several of the guards rush forward and encircle Twilight. The mare did not resist, letting her magic fade after which the bloodied blade fell to the ground. The captain himself looked furious, but walked over to the wounded stallion first, inspecting the damage that had been done to his underling before helping him to his hooves. He assigned one of the mares to help the wounded guard to the infirmary and walked over to where Twilight was standing, his paces stiff with unexpressed anger.

Rarity, and much to her surprise, Fluttershy as well, hurried towards the stairs leading down into the mud. She wanted to know what was going on. Twilight’s display had been nothing short of spectacular, yet it was clear she had once again disobeyed the rules.

“Get some shackles on her and throw her in a cell. No food or water for three days.” They heard the captain say when they finally arrived at the scene, making their way through the perimeter of remaining guards.

Rarity’s first thought was to countermand the order, but the small part of her that was still seething at the disrespectful unicorn stopped her. Instead, she turned to the captain and asked “What is going on, Captain?”

“The captain rounded on her and inclined his head in respect. “My apologies, Princess. I am afraid that further selection will have to wait, whilst we clean up this mess and imprison the traitor.”

Traitor? Before Rarity could give voice to her question, Fluttershy stalked up to Twilight. When compared to the much larger unicorn, their difference in size was almost laughable, although Fluttershy’s anger gave her a great deal of presence.

“How dare you!” She screamed in Twilight’s face. “It isn’t enough that you kill enemies on the battlefield? You have to cripple your allies too?!” She drew back a hoof and slapped the unicorn in the face. Twilight did not respond in any way, which only put fuel on the fire of Fluttershy’s outrage. Slapping the unicorn in the face quickly gave way to punching her in the chest, which had even less of an effect than Twilight’s kicks’d had on her opponent.

Fluttershy prepared to strike again when Rarity caught her hoof with her magic. “Enough of that, darling. A lady shouldn’t lower herself to such things.” She waltzed up to her friend and embraced her lightly, a gesture Fluttershy gratefully accepted. “Captain, what is she talking about?”

“Private Sparkle’s attack severed several tendons in Private Ward’s legs. With luck the doctors will be able patch him up for him to return to active duty after revalidation. If not...” Aegis hung his head.

“If not... what?”

“If not, Ward will likely never walk again.”

Only when the stark reality of his explanation became clear to her, did Rarity understand just where Fluttershy’s anger had come from. With an audible —and most unladylike— grunt she spun around and drove her own hoof into Twilight’s cheek. Unlike Fluttershy’s futile blows the blow at least turned the unicorn’s head a little. As much as she wanted to keep going until she got a reaction from Twilight however, she restrained herself. Her words had been directed at Fluttershy, but that didn’t mean she should not endeavour to live up to them herself.

With the ‘lady-like’ hostilities over, Aegis stepped forward and let his gaze drift over his subordinate. “Private Sparkle, you are hereby charged with treasonous actions against the crown. You are stripped of your rank, and you will be imprisoned until such time your fate is decided by the king. Dismissed.”

“Yes, Sir,” Twilight said before she walked off, escorted by several of the guards she must have trained with for years. Outwardly she looked completely impassive, as sturdy as a brick wall, and with just as much emotion. But while her facade may have worked on most anypony there, she couldn’t ward how she was feeling out of her eyes, and Rarity had caught just a glimpse of the storm that raged on the inside.

Twilight Sparkle was afraid.

As well she should be.

They watched the procession move off before returning to the observation box, all of them dirty, wet, and unhappy with the way things had gone. “What will happen to her now, Captain?” Rarity asked Aegis while the same maid that had done her hooves just moments before came back with several towels and helped the princess dry herself as best she could.

Aegis looked like a stallion that had aged several decades in the span of a few minutes. He slowly took off his helmet and placed it on the floor in front of him before answering. “She will spend a few days in jail while I inform the king of the incident. After that she will likely be executed for treason.”

Making sure Fluttershy was alright and waving the maid off to tend to her friend, Rarity sat down next to him and looked out over the training grounds which offered a sad sight without anypony making use of them. “I’m afraid I do not understand, Captain. While it was certainly wrong of her to injure her opponent, I cannot fathom how it constitutes treason.”

Aegis looked over his shoulder towards one of the guards near the door. “Swift Wind, get me something strong, would you?” After the guard had saluted and disappeared through the doors he looked back at Rarity. “As you know, Highness, we have conscription laws in place demanding every able bodied pony to serve in the military for at least five years. Outside of that, everypony can become a soldier in our fair country if they so choose, but even with all of that, good soldiers are hard to find. While training accidents can and do happen, intentionally harming, or worse, crippling a soldier has always carried a hefty penalty.”

Rarity mused on the information for a while. “And if he is not crippled, will she be spared? They were fighting for a lofty position, after all. Isn’t execution going a little far?”

Aegis shrugged, a thoughtless gesture which made him stiffen up and bow repeatedly a second after he realised what he’d done. “My apologies, Princess. I meant no disrespect.”

“Sit down, Captain. You’re making me nervous.” Rarity smiled reassuringly until he finally sat down. “I am not about to hold something like that against you. I am sure it has been a trying enough time to even get them ready without a tragedy like this happening.” She put a hoof on his foreleg, wondering if what she was about to say was the right thing to do. “Please understand, I don’t mean to intrude on protocol, but I think a little leniency may be called for.”

He looked relieved and did as he was told which made Rarity giggle. He seems so much more... alive, why can’t all guards be that way? A brief glance at Fluttershy revealed that at the very least, her friend was also coming down from the anger she was wrestling with and Rarity felt like things would be alright.

“Some may call for leniency, though I doubt that the king will see it that way. Some ponies will no doubt be happy about this event, while others won’t be happy about losing a mare with such promise to the noose.”

“She was promising, then?” Rarity heard herself asking. The question came as a surprise, even to herself. Normally she wanted nothing to do with soldiers. They were unkempt, coarse, and aside from the ones inside the castle, almost always smelled of sweat. Not to mention that she was asking about a traitor. And yet she couldn’t deny being intrigued by the mare; if only because of how she had handled herself in a fight. “My apologies, I know this must be asking a lot, but I must admit I am intrigued.”

Aegis looked at her curiously, before remembering his manners and bowing politely. “What do you wish to know, Princess?”

Who is she? Who are her parents? How and when did she get selected for bodyguard duty? how did she pull off that last attack? The questions tumbled over themselves in her head in their rush to be the first one that made it to her mouth. “Everything.”

The captain scratched his head. “I don’t know much about her life prior to her joining, but I had heard that she has had trouble with authority figures before, as you noticed today. That said, I haven’t had any problems with her myself. Though it was listed as the reason, she was at the bottom on the recommendation list given to me by the castle’s drill sergeant. The worst of the best doesn’t sound like much I’ll grant you, but making it here at all speaks volumes about her capabilities.”

“And such things don’t usually happen?” Rarity asked while motioning Silver Platter closer. “Could you get me a nice wine, Silver? This whole mess has gotten me thirsty. And some more fruit juice for Fluttershy if you could?”

“Certainly, Your Highness.” The greying attendant bowed and took off without so much as a whisper while Rarity turned back to the patiently waiting captain of the guard.

“To answer your question, Princess. No. Soldiers with authority issues are only ever recommended for bodyguard duty if they have something truly unique going for them.” His gaze drifted over the dark spots in the mud where blood had mixed with the soil. “Unfortunately, that means that things like this can occur, although thankfully not often.”

“What did Private Sparkle have going for her, Captain? Given the... ahem... issues she had were deep seated enough to extend to the royal family, she must possess something truly marvelous.”

Before Aegis even had a chance to respond, Silver Platter proved his status as the most efficient caretaker in the castle once more, at least in Rarity’s mind. The aging stallion returned with the drinks for the ladies and Swift Wind in tow. The younger stallion was smiling sheepishly before levitating a bottle with a label of a red pepper surrounded wholly by black to his superior.

“The young sir had gotten himself lost in the wine cellar,” Silver Platter explained while pouring Rarity a soft cherry wine before carrying the rest of his cargo to Fluttershy. Rarity had an inkling that her friend would appreciate the company more than the drink, but that was just as well. Besides, Silver Platter deserved a few more breaks.

“I would have to say potential.”

Rarity turned back to Aegis who had already emptied a quarter of the bottle he had been handed. “Pardon?”

The captain took another swig from the bottle before gesturing to the grounds with a hoof. “Private Sparkle was very... badly trained when she came to us. To the point where I couldn’t believe she’d ever had any training at all.”

“And had she?” Rarity followed the captain’s example and drank from her wine after asking the question; if only to keep her own curiosity at bay.

He shook his head, his expression turning sour. Apparently his drink wasn’t agreeing with him. “No, not from what I've been able to gather. She had been a reservist. Went through basic, of course. Everypony does. But they had her serving as a clerk somewhere.”

“A clerk? That seems... odd. She doesn’t seem...” Rarity made a circle with her hoof, trying to find the right word. “Soft enough? I would expect a clerk to be a rather dumpy looking sort.”

Aegis nodded. “That’s what I thought, until we ran the first competitive trials. Sorting the wheat from the chaff if you will. I fully expected her to be among the first ponies to fail, but her progress was astonishing.”

They fell silent briefly while Rarity mulled over the information. The worst of the rain had subsided and the sky was clearing up, allowing for some scattered sunlight here and there. She glanced over at Fluttershy briefly, finding her friend in a deep conversation with Silver Platter. She knew, because the attendant had sat down, a breach of protocol he would have never let happen otherwise.

“I surmise that she is devoted to her training then?” She asked swirling the drink in her glass but refraining from taking a sip. She wanted to savor it, just like she savored the second hoof account on the life of a pony she was becoming more and more interested in.

Aegis scratched his head again and took another swig, unable to stop himself from treating Rarity to an apologetic smile for the way he drank, which she swiftly waved away. “I wouldn’t say ‘devoted’ so much as ‘zealous’. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her rest. She’s always training in one way or another.”

In the silence that followed, the sun finally chased away the last of the clouds and bathed the castle grounds in its warm light, just in time for them to see a pair of trainees run up to the box. They bowed towards Rarity before turning to the captain. “Captain, a massive bar fight has broken out in the trader’s district and the town guard is asking for our help.”

Aegis sighed softly before getting up and taking his helmet in his magic. “By your leave, Princess.”

Rarity nodded and got up herself. “Keep me apprised of any developments.”

“As you wish, Princess.”

After Aegis had left with his recruits, the rest of the wine disappeared quickly. With the selection process postponed there was no reason for them to stay in the confines of the observation box, and she was starting to feel a little peckish. “Enjoying yourself, darling?” she asked, walking over to Fluttershy and Silver. The attendant got up and bowed to her and then Fluttershy before taking his leave, while Fluttershy offered her a weak smile.

“No, not really.” She looked back at where he had been, but the attendant had already vanished. “Talking about it helped though.”

Rarity smiled back at her and all but dragged her onto her hooves before guiding her down the steps and towards the doors. “Well, I think a meal will do us both good, and we can talk some more. For instance, I would very much like to hear about how you knew lunging was forbidden in training fights.”

A Royal Pain

Being her father's daughter —that is to say, a princess— was far from easy. Quite the opposite actually. Being a princess meant that she had the obligation to maintain her image. Time that belonged, ‘not to herself, but to her people’ as her father put it. It was one of the few things she didn’t question, and perhaps even agreed with him on.

In theory, he should have been the one to attend the ribbon cutting that was held the next day— a grand opening for the newest wartime museum where several iconic artifacts of the previous rulers of Unicornia would be displayed. King Diamond, however, occupied his time with training, tournaments, and the burdens of rule. In practice, it meant that, unlike a bodyguard, which Rarity did just fine without, her schedule loomed over her on any given day.

That wasn’t to say that she minded so much. Getting out of the castle—even if she were still flanked by a platoon of guards— was always a welcome change. And the following days were filled to the brim with time consuming, albeit uneventful appointments. Acting as an intermediary between the easily spooked envoy of the Zebras to the east, for example. The poor mare would have called for war between their countries if left alone with her father and his brusque demeanor for more than a minute. Lastly, and certainly least in Rarity's opinion, was the evening banquet on the second day, to which all of her father's high ranking supporters had been invited.

When she was younger the dinners had seemed far more grand. The fancy dresses, the elaborately prepared food, the somewhat racy conversation. It had all seemed like a lovely dance of movement and sound she had found to be quite delightful. Over the years, however, the friendly looks she had always gotten from her various ‘uncles’ had twisted into lecherous leers. Not only that, but her father had gone and completed the betrayal she felt by hiring a dozen ‘professional’ mares for every dinner he had held thereafter.

It felt as though she had been reduced to no more than a piece of flank for the dukes to ogle. A nice piece of flank mind, she did take good care of herself after all, but still no more than a pretty face. The feeling was further compounded by the fact that her own friends had long since stopped attending the gatherings and so the banquets had turned into more of a punishment than anything else.

To say that any such a ‘party’ put her in a bad mood would be an understatement, and the following morning did not do much to improve it.

“I want you to meet with them personally. Dine with them, make smalltalk, that sort of thing. Give them the attention I would have given them myself had they been at the banquet last night.”

Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t come up with anything that wasn’t either whining or simply an outright groan. Eventually she settled on a simple word that never the less conveyed some of her frustration with the pony seated across from her. “Father...”

Diamond was treating the whole conversation as if she were just some servant to be ordered about. Worse, as though she was merely somepony to be used. Somepony whose opinions didn’t matter. It was infuriating. Even if she shouldn’t have expected otherwise after having been called into her father’s office. It was off-limits to all but Bulwark and herself, which showed in the piles upon piles of dust and long neglected scrolls.

“Father,” Rarity repeated, trying very hard to keep the anger she felt out of her voice. “I already made plans of my own for this afternoon and—”

“Cancel them,” Diamond replied disinterestedly. “This is more important.”

Rarity took a deep breath. Having her wishes be ignored was a common theme while talking to her father, but he was still the king, and one who was quick to anger at that. “And why is it so important, if I may ask?”

Her father let out a deep sigh and lowered the scroll he was reading to look at her. “Because, my daughter, when one rules a country, intelligence is vital. A ruler needs to know what their enemies are planning, and where their supporters stand. The world is full of ponies who would backstab us in a heartbeat if they thought it would improve their standing.” He put the scroll down and stepped around the table until he was next to her. “Which is why I want you to meet with them and gauge their disposition.”

Rarity looked at the floor, feeling some of her anger ebb away. Her father might have been inconsiderate and often times downright rude, but he wasn't stupid. As much as she hated the way he treated her, seeing him harmed—or dead— was not what she wanted. “And what am I supposed to do if their disposition is... unfavorable?”

Diamond rolled his eyes. “Smile. Thank them for their continued support, and inform me of your findings when you get back.”

“Yes, father.” Rarity got up and made for the door. She was still a little miffed about having her afternoon appointments so rudely dismissed, but at least she still had some time for herself in the morn—

“Oh, and another thing, Rarity. I want you to sit in on open court this morning.”

Her anger boiled back to the surface and she had to swallow a few times to keep herself from expressing her frustration. “As you wish, father.” She didn’t have to ask for the reasoning behind that particular request, his answer was always the same: Because you need to learn what ruling is like. Not that she was actually allowed to do anything besides observe, but her father brooked no argument on the matter.

Court was uneventful, as she had expected it would be. There were the standard accusations and even an arrest which at the very least ensured that it did not become boring, but Rarity was still not happy with the way her day had been filled in for her.

After it had ended, she barely had enough time to take a proper bath and groom herself before having to rush to the carriage that would take her to the place her father’s supporters would meet. It was an upscale restaurant that frequently catered to the nobles, and as soon as she stepped inside, she noticed that some of her friends were also present. A welcome distraction, although her business would be with their fathers more than the girls themselves. She would have loved nothing better than to talk to them about Canterlot, and ask about everything they’d seen. Instead, she sat down at an elongated table talking to a pair of... ‘generously sized’ stallions. That wasn’t even the worst of it, as both of them oogled her flanks more often than she was comfortable with, though they at least kept their hooves to themselves.

“Good day, Princess. How fares the king?” One of the dukes, who went by the name of Heavy Set asked, trying to keep an eye on both Rarity and the food that he had ordered mere seconds ago. It was common knowledge that he liked good food and pretty mares. In essence, he was the ponification of gluttony and Rarity's dislike for him bordered on loathing.

She had to will herself to sit still under his obvious glances. Fidgeting would only let them know she was uncomfortable—which she knew could later be used as an excuse for hostilities. Father will most certainly be hearing about this, she thought darkly. On her face however, she placed a demure smile. “He is as busy as ever. If it isn’t discussing law or rule with his counsel he is either training himself to exhaustion or encouraging his guards to do similarly.”

The second duke, Mint Swirl, was one of those stallions that believed his children should share his last name, and there were a great many of them. From the way he was looking at Rarity, it very much seemed as though he would love for her to be the mother of his next children, even if he was old enough to be her father twice over. It made her even more uncomfortable. "So busy that he cannot spare the time for some of his most trusted supporters?" the stallion asked good naturedly.

"I'm afraid so," Rarity replied without missing a beat. "Yesterday’s banquet was sufficiently hectic that many important duties had to be put off until today. I'm sure you can relate."

The duke nodded disinterestedly, his eyes roving across her back without having even the decency to be subtle about it. “And has he given you permission to find a good strong stallion? Stars know that a beautiful mare like yourself should have a strong stallion as a husband. One you can depend upon in rough times such as these.”

Rarity shuddered internally. Not in your lifetime, you piece of manure. The duke had married three times and none of those marriages had ended well for the mares he had proposed to. She had heard rumors that he had poisoned his second wife, though proof had never been found, and the first and third had nothing left after their divorce from him. “Some would disagree with that statement, duke," she replied with a hint of a smile. It was a smile she had fought hard to bring forward, but would hopefully strengthen her position a tad. "I do not believe the times are as dire as some ponies say, and even if they were..." She paused to take a sip of wine that had been put in front of her. "My love life has been at my own discretion for a long time. That being a given, I am sure you of all ponies can understand that finding the right partner can be the search of a lifetime. I intend to get it right the first time.”

"I understand," Mint Swirl said jovially, although his expression was one of a pony who had just eaten something particularly sour. It only lasted for a moment, and the next he was already smiling again as though nothing had happened. “Though I believe that love at first sight is just a fairytale, Princess. You need but ask our fair king.”

His seemingly casual remark hit Rarity like a kick to the gut. “My mother’s banishment had nothing to do with a lack of love,” she replied hotly.

“The rumors paint a different picture,” Mint Swirl said with a shrug, picking up his wineglass and swirling it around before taking a sip.

In the back of her mind, a small voice told her that antagonising him would only cause problems, but she couldn’t find it within herself to forgive him for spreading lies about her mother. It was with a venomous glare that she replied: “Rumors? Like the ones that suggest that you ruin your wives when they no longer interest you?”

The hulking stallion did a spit take, coughing as some of the wine disappeared down his airways and scowling at Rarity. “How dare you imply such a thing!”

For a moment it seemed as though he would lunge across the table and attack her; a notion that her guards seemed to have guessed at as well. Before anything happened however, a pleasantly deep voice spoke up. “It’s not an implication, Duke. More like common speculation. That doesn’t mean that the princess, or anypony of note actually believes it to be true, but you know how ponies gossip.”

All three of them turned to the new voice, Rarity smiling gratefully upon seeing who it was while the dukes each barely suppressed scowls. Filthy Rich, despite his name and shockingly unregal brown coat, was a lot more pleasant on the eyes than either of his peers and very much unlike the other nobles that always got an invitation to her father’s parties.

Not only was he one of the only ponies to have worked himself up from a lowly commoner to the lofty position of baron, but he was an earth pony. Under the previous king such a thing would have been impossible, but her father did not harbor the same prejudices as most of his subjects did, and had given Filthy Rich the title on the basis of his excellent tactical insight and mental acumen. Technically, he fell under the dukes in the chain of command, but being one of the richest stallions in the entire kingdom meant he had the means to afford a sizable army of his own. He was ambitious and a staunch supporter of her father’s expansionist ways. And he was more polite and charming than any of the stallions currently at the table, possessing a shrewd mind for politics on top of everything else.

In short, he was one of the most dangerous stallions she knew; and he had just saved her from making a huge blunder.

“Baron Rich,” she said by way of thanks, holding out a hoof to him and adding an almost imperceptible nod to the smile she graced him with.

“Princess Rarity,” he replied, bowing and kissing the hoof she held out for him. Her favor towards him merely adding another item to the long list of reasons he drew the ire of the other nobles. “A pleasure to see you again. My deepest apologies for my absence from our sovereign’s party. There were troubles at home I had to deal with.”

Rarity titered and smiled at him again. “Think nothing of it, Baron Rich. It is always a pleasure to see you. I hope they didn’t have anything to do with bandits this time?”

Just like that the hostilities from a moment ago were shoved under the carpet and left to shimmer while the conversation returned to a semblance of respectability.

The baron sat down next to Rarity, though he kept a respectful distance. He shook his head. “Nothing so serious, though the subject is better left undiscussed lest we spoil our appetites.”

“That might be for the best,” Mint Swirl groused.

Though she was happy to talk with him, adding Filthy Rich into the mix made her task much more difficult. For all his strengths, he was greedy, and the most likely to enrich himself off of other’s suffering; and for all his support, he could hardly be called loyal. It was merely one more part of her obligation towards her father, she supposed. Ensuring that there was enough enmity between her father’s supporters, not so much that they attacked one another, but enough to keep them from banding together against their sovereign.

The food arrived, brought out in great quantities which would keep most of her table partners occupied for a long while. It only gave her a little time, but she took what she could get. With a small apology she got up and made her way over to the other side of the restaurant where Strawberry Swirl and Moondancer were seated at a smaller table close to the window. The mares were laughing amongst themselves and smiled at her when she made her way over to them.

“Good day, girls,” she said, returning a smile while swiftly sitting down. “How was Canterlot?”

Moondancer mock swooned. “Oh, Rarity, it was marvelous! There are more Pegasi and Earth ponies there than I’ve ever seen." She grabbed her bag with her magic and levitated a colorful dress out of it. “Look at this, I found this for a few bits at one of the market stalls, and that was just the first one! They had the most gorgeous dress designs and hats, and... and... oh I can’t wait to go back.”

“What about you, Strawberry?” Rarity asked, scooting over to her side of the table. “Did you find anything?”

Strawberry Swirl shrugged and looked out the window, making Moondancer giggle.

“She found a coooolllttttfrieeeennnnddd,” she singsonged before giggling again.

Just like that she had Rarity’s undivided attention. There wasn’t a lot that could make Rarity forget about her obligations, but juicy gossip regarding her friends' lovelives was one of the few contenders. “Ohhhh goodness! tell me everything, darling. Leave nothing out.”

With a look towards Strawberry—who turned as red as her namesake, and avoided their combined gaze—Moondancer began recounting the tale of how they had met a pegasus skirmisher.

“He was flitting around for most of the day, like, everywhere we went, he found some excuse to be there.” Moondancer giggled and pretended a gruff tone of voice. “Hey again. Just... waiting for my sergeant.” Her imitation wasn’t very good. “And then, right before we went to dinner, she fell down, or at least pretended to—”

“I wasn’t pretending!” Strawberry Swirl replied hotly, the red of her blush reaching all the way to her ears.

“Right, right,” Moondancer replied, although her real answer lay in her smile. “So, she almost falls down, and he dives for her, swooping her right off her hooves.”

Rarity gasped. “He didn’t!”

“He totally did. Saved her from being trampled by a bunch of fighting minotaurs, too.”

The more Rarity heard about all the things that had happened in Canterlot, the more she yearned to go there herself. The girls had apparently had all manner of exciting adventures, and all she’d done is watch a few ponies bash each other about the head, and two of them nearly kill one another. Actually... come to think of it, she’d had her fair share of excitement as well, hadn’t she?

It once again drew her thoughts back to Twilight, wondering if she would have won cleanly if it hadn’t been for the punishments Rarity had heaped on her. She almost missed the tail end of Moondancer’s tale in which, it seemed, the mysterious pegasus had kissed Strawberry right on the lips before dropping her off and flying away with an entire platoon of Pegasi.

“She’s not listening.”

“Nah, she’s just overwhelmed by my amazing storytelling. Right, Rarity?” Rarity looked up and came face to face with Moondancer who was leaning across the table and grinning at her. “Aren’t you jealous? Strawberry is so lucky!”

Rarity chuckled to herself and gently shook her head. “I’m terribly jealous of you both, darlings. I wanted nothing more than to see Canterlot for myself, but alas, it was not to be.”

Moondancer let herself fall back into her seat and took a sip from the drink she had. “Why did you have to stay at the castle anyway?”

“My father is insisting I get a bodyguard,” Rarity said with a mild disgust. It was subtle, but between their little group of friends the small sneer was like a scream at how unfair it all was and how she was angry with her father over it. “—so I had to spend the day watching a bunch of brutish stallions beat each other senseless.”

Strawberry perked up and looked around the room. “Did you pick a cutie?” she asked, scanning the guards stationed near the entrance to the restaurant.

Her example was followed by Moondancer whom quickly gave up and asked: “Which one is it? Did you pick a hunk of a stallion that ‘guards’ you everywhere? ” She had never been one of Rarity’s more subtle friends, but the way she was wiggling her eyebrows made Rarity want to groan.

“Honestly, girls. I am not about to let the first stallion that looks the slightest bit attractive mount me.” Rarity huffed haughtily. “Besides, the entire ‘choosing a bodyguard’ thing was cancelled.”

“Huh?” The eyebrow wiggling stopped and was replaced by a look of concern. “How come? Was one of them sick? Was the castle attacked? Were you attacked?”

“Well, there was this mare in with the rest, who was a bit... cheeky, actually. The captain made her runs laps as punishment, but that wasn’t the exciting part of course.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “You see, when she finished her laps, they paired her up with this big brute of a stallion, and she...”

“What did she do?” Moondancer asked, also leaning forward, closely followed by Strawberry until the three of them were only inches apart from one another.

“They started going a little... wild, shall we say? He very nearly took one of her eyes out, and she in turn beat him quite thoroughly”

Strawberry leaned back with a disappointed sigh. “That sounds normal for the guard. Why did it get cancelled?”

Rarity smiled a predatory smile, enjoying telling her tale much more than she had anticipated. “Well...” She drawled, drawing the word out to rekindle Strawberry’s interest. “She... ‘won’ by slicing through the tendons in his leg. If I am to believe the captain, she may have crippled him for life.”

Both girls gasped. While Strawberry clasped her hooves to her mouth, Moondancer leaned in even further. “Don’t stop there! Why did she do it? Did she say or do anything afterwards?”

“I...” Just like that the enjoyment Rarity felt telling her friends the story drained away and was replaced by the familiar confusion she had been wrestling with for days. “I don’t know why she did it.”

Moondancer humphed. “Maybe he was her ex colt-friend. I’m not saying I wouldn’t do that to that slime Blue Blood if I got the chance... ”

“No, I don’t believe that was the case.” Rarity shook her head, remembering the fear in Twilight’s eyes. “She didn’t say a thing, surrendered without a fight, and I keep thinking about why she would do something like that if she knew she was going to be imprisoned for it.”

“Maybe she didn’t know?”

“Or maybe she wanted to get locked up.”

Rarity frowned thoughtfully. Could it be that simple? “Seeing as she might be executed for treason because of it, I doubt that was her intention.”

Strawberry Swirl shrugged before taking another sip from her drink. “Who knows, some ponies are weird like that.”

When she finally let herself drop back into her seat, Moondancer looked as pensive as Rarity herself. “It’s a good thing you didn’t pick her then, isn’t it?” she eventually asked, turning around to look at the guards stationed near the entrance again.

“I...” Rarity trailed off before she had even good and well begun her sentence. Moondancer’s question added another dimension to her thoughts about Twilight. Could I have chosen her? Would I even want a pony like that guarding me? “Yes...” She finally said when Moondancer poked her in the foreleg. “—it probably was.”

Before they had a chance to talk about the more lighthearted subjects, Heavy Set began shouting at the other table which meant that Rarity’s break was officially over. She implored the girls to come by when they had the time, telling them she desperately wanted to know more about all they had seen in Canterlot and of course, gossip about Strawberry Swirls paramour. After that it was merely a matter of hurrying over to the other side of the restaurant before the stallions got it into their heads that swords would be more efficient than words.

She arrived at the table post haste and smiled demurely at the two standing stallions. “Gentlecolts, I am terribly sorry for my brief disappearance, how is everything going?” From the corner of her eye she could see Heavy Set breathing heavily and though Mint Swirl appeared calm for the most part, his posture belied a pony that could explode into violence at any moment. The only pony that was still seated was Filthy Rich, who drank his wine before looking up at the dukes.

“I was merely saying that relying on basic cavalry to carry our campaign to a successful end is a dated concept at best and that only dated ponies would put their trust in them.”

“They are what got us this far.” Heavy Set said, visibly trying to restrain his volume now that Rarity was present.

Rarity sat down before speaking. Though the baron may not have appeared to need it, this was the perfect time to repay him for the favor from earlier. “I think that what Baron Rich is trying to say, is that all of us look for ways to ensure victory with a minimal cost to life, correct?”

Filthy Rich smiled apologetically and nodded. “Of course, that is what I was trying to say.”

It seemed to mollify the Dukes, at least enough to sit down and resume their meal. The rest of the evening had Rarity feeling like a kindergarten teacher, tasked with making sure the children she watched over played nice; smoothing over arguments when their bickering inevitably grated on somepony’s hackles was just a part of that. And if that wasn’t bad enough already, her conversation with her friends had made it all but impossible to keep her thoughts from drifting to Twilight.

Four hours later, the meeting was finally over. Rarity bid the stallions a farewell and told her friends not to be strangers, after which she could finally get into the carriage bound for the castle.

Silver Platter was already waiting for her at the gates and she hugged him gratefully after he told her that her bed had been made ready for her. She had a hard time remembering most of the subjects that had come up at the restaurant, and was no surer of who would or would not support her father now than she had been in the morning. The only thing that stood out clearly was Moondancer’s swift dismissal of the ideas that had plagued her.

Strawberry is right, obviously. A mare like that can’t be trusted to be a good bodyguard, can she?

Exhausted and tired though she was, she couldn’t seem to get herself to stop thinking about it. What was it that even made her give a mere commoner a second thought? She resolved to stop thinking about her. It wasn’t getting her anywhere, and for all she knew the mare would be hanged soon enough.

Which would mean I’d never have any sort of resolution, wouldn’t it? She scoffed at the idea as soon as it formed before examining it anyway. It was true that there was nothing to resolve. Rarity herself hadn’t been affected by their battle barring a few minor inconveniences. She had no reason at all to be interested in the fate of a lone soldier.

And yet...

She needed to get some information, even if she had to go down to the jail and talk to the mare to get it. Yes, that was a splendid idea. After breakfast then. After all, going right away might give the wrong impression. It wouldn’t do for a princess to seem consumed by the fate of a lowly guard, even if she was.

And she couldn’t forget the appointment with Bladespinner. Although... fencing was not very high on her list of priorities so, perhaps the jail first?

No, no, she had to carefully maintain her image. First she would go to her first fencing class, and after that, talking to that unimportant commoner so she could finally put all of this behind her.

I refuse to let you haunt my thoughts for a moment longer, Private First Class Twilight Sparkle.

A picture of a purple unicorn in full combat gear, doing battle with several enemies resolved itself in her mind’s eye. And then another, and another.

Damnit...

Morning in the castle was a cursed thing for Rarity. Her bed always seemed to change from ‘most comfortable place in all of Unicornia’ to a disguised bale of hay, and half as comfortable. She suspected it was conspiring against her along with the sun that always seemed to know just where to be in order for its light to pierce the small gap between her curtains and land right on her face.

Despite the deal she had made with herself, sleep hadn’t found her. In cahoots with the sun no doubt. Damned fickle things. She had tossed and turned throughout most of the night, and even the few hours of sleep she had gotten were fitful and restless. With a long groan she turned away from the light and tried to capture sleep one more time.

Only to be rudely interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Princess?” Even though the sturdy door, Silver Platters deep baritone was unmistakable, as was his barely checked impatience.

Which means it is past time to get up.

With a sigh Rarity dragged herself out of bed and opened the door with her magic, allowing the stallion to enter. Silver bowed curtly and immediately ushered in a pair of maids that set about cleaning up the biggest mess in the room— her pile of clothing; while she slipped into the bathroom for a bath. Good hygiene was important for a Princess after all.

By the time she stepped back into her room, squeaky clean but horrendously under styled, her room no longer looked like a hurricane had blown through. She walked over to the dresser and ran a comb through her hair while she looked at the stallion who busied himself with tidying up. “Good morning, Silver.”

“Good morning, Princess. I hope your sleep was a restful one.”

Rarity cringed inwardly. Whenever her attendant uttered those words, it either meant that some disaster was about to fill her schedule, or that her father wanted something from her. “It wasn’t, unfortunately. What's happened?”

“Your father has requested your presence at the breakfast table post haste,” Silver replied, magicking over her purple cape. “He seems to be in a particularly sour mood today.”

Her father’s apparent impatience put Rarity in a sour mood as well. As a princess she had to look her best, and was not being given the common courtesy of time to style her mane? Simply abhorrent. Making sure that she looked at least presentable was the number one priority, though it didn’t stop her from grumbling. “You’d think that after siring two fillies he would have learned that we mares need some time to get ready.”

“I imagine it is because he is very strict with himself and thus with his daughters as well, Princess. It would probably be best if you didn’t make him wait.” Silver replied, getting her crown ready and smoothing out the cape. It put him closer to her than she would have allowed most ponies to get, but she was grateful for his help.

“You are right, of course,” she said with a sigh. “I just wish he would at least find the patience for me to at least style my mane.” After dragging the comb through her hair one last time, she shot silver a questioning glance. “How do I look?”

“Beautiful as ever, Princess. Possibly better than when you do style your mane if you’ll allow an old stallion’s indiscretion.”

Rarity smiled while she reached for her make-up case with her magic. “You’re being paid to take care of me, Silver. Not kiss my flank.”

A pair of maids stepped into the room, looking haggard as though they had sprinted the whole way. Silver silently directed them while keeping most of his focus on his conversation with Rarity. “I don’t believe that’s what I was doing, Princess. Though I may not be your sire, I believe I should be allowed some pride in the fine mare you’ve become.”

Rarity smiled. “Certainly more than my father does, Silver. Thank you.” She lightly applied some lipstick, followed by some eye-shadow. Even when rushed, she wasn’t going to appear before her father without at least that much.

The stallion shook his head. “You shouldn’t speak ill of your father. He does love you, but being a king and ruler hasn’t been easy on him.”

With her make up done, Rarity was about ready to depart for the dining hall; styling her mane would have to wait. “I know. Though you’ll have to agree that it hasn’t exactly been easy on us either.”

“Regardless, best not keep him waiting any longer.” Silver motioned her along with a hoof, though he was smiling in spite of his stern words.

Rarity briefly smiled back before taking off at a canter. With her bedroom being the only room in one of the many towers of the castle, she had the breadth of the castle to traverse, and she was already late.

The dining hall was large, imposing, and mostly empty. Paintings, stained glass windows and tapestries depicting major battlefields and victories were everywhere; a testament to her father’s interests. The center of the room was occupied by a beautifully carved mahogany table that served as the private table for the royal family and their closest confidantes. When Rarity entered the room, it seated only two ponies: King Diamond himself, and his closest aide and bodyguard: Bulwark, usually referred to as ‘the Bull’.

Even from her spot near the door, Rarity could tell her father was stressed. His shoulders were bunched up and his greying hair was a tangled mess that somepony should really straighten out with a comb. Before approaching the table, she briefly stopped and told one of the maids to bring her a comb before sitting down opposite her father.

She nodded to Bulwark, even though she knew the dark brown stallion wouldn’t respond. Since her earliest memories he had always been an impassive but imposing presence; always in the background, and only ever moving if it was to protect her father or eat. She couldn’t remember ever hearing him speak. Despite never uttering a word, Rarity could not deny that Bulwark’s loyalty to her father was strong and unyielding as the walls that protected their castle.

“You’re late, Daughter,” Her father said, before taking a sip from a mug filled with of what she presumed to be wine.

She had to suppress a snide remark. It would be all too easy to blame him for her sleepless nights but she knew it wasn’t, not really. “Good morning to you too, Father. I hope you’ve slept well.”

King Diamond sighed and rubbed his temples. “Daughter, I don’t have time for pleasantries, but if you must know, I slept rather poorly.”

“That makes two of us,” Rarity replied gruffly, sitting down opposite her father. “I’ll get right to the reason you dragged me out of bed for, then: Both Mint Swirl and Heavy Set are complete and utter pigs, but neither of them have the spine to go against you, unless they were pressured. Filthy Rich seems to agree with your views on everything, but there’s something about him that makes me uneasy.”

“Very good, Rarity,” her father said with an appreciative nod. “But that isn’t why I called you here. We need to talk about something much more urgent.”

Just then the maid returned with a brush which Rarity took in her magic before walking around to the other side of the table. “Very well,” she said while dragging the brush through his mane. “I assume you’ll tell me at some point.”

Her father sighed again and let her take care of his mane. “Forgive your father his impatience, Rarity. It’s been a long night.” He took a large draught of wine from his goblet, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Ruling is stressful, my daughter. Very stressful. More than I really want to burden you with. Which is why I try to keep you sheltered from the worst of it.” He laid his mug down on the table, flashing her an annoyed look. “So will you please explain to me why you are flouting that by not choosing who shelters you from the physical dangers? Do I have to pick your protector as well?”

“Father...” Rarity set down the comb and returned his look. “Does this really have to be the topic of our conversation this early in the morning? I haven’t yet had a chance to eat.”

There was a long moment during which the two held each other's gaze, neither wanting to look away for fear of appearing weak. Her father was the first to blink, and he smiled at her for not being cowed. “Very well. Forgive your father for being worried about his heir.”

Rarity let out a very unladylike snort. “Apparently not so concerned as to keep me from having to deal with those lecherous dukes that call themselves your allies.” She took a seat next to his, and let the cooks deal with her change in position.

“Yours as well, daughter. Never forget that there will come a time for you to ascend to my throne, and when you do the friends and enemies you have made will remember you.” He took another sip of wine, nodding to the steward who refilled his goblet. “But enough of politics. Tell me, how fares your pegasus friend?”

“She is well. Apparently her parents are making her take self defense classes, though it seems she still can’t stomach the sight of blood. I haven’t had the chance to catch up with her in the past few days due to my own obligations, but it seems she has found herself after opening some sort of nursing home for wounded soldiers.”

“Well, it is good of her to care for the weak.” The unspoken sentiment was quite clear. Her father considered her friend to be weak, and rather useless. Pegasi were supposed to be a proud warrior race, and Fluttershy was decidedly neither.

Taking a few deep breaths and willing herself to be calm, Rarity settled for a polite smile. “It certainly is, she is a kind soul in a sea of warmongers.” She let her own hidden barb settle for a moment before switching topics and asking, “Have you heard from Sweetie Belle?”

Her father grunted, though he seemed proud of his younger daughter. Moreso than Rarity had ever seen him when he talked about her at least. “She’s still taking to her training like a duck to water. Her instructor told me that she’ll make for a fine commander once she finishes her education. Among the finest he’s ever trained, even.”

That’s how it always was with her father, Rarity reflected, accomplishments were the only thing that really seemed to matter to him. “And have you spoken to Sweetie Belle about her friends? Or her emotional state?” She asked, sighing heavily. “Oh that’s right, last I remember she never wanted to talk to you again for forcing her to go to that horrid place.”

The king slammed a hoof on the table making the cutlery rattle. “Mind your tongue, young lady,” he growled, looking at Rarity heatedly. “It was a good change for you, and it will be good for her.”

Rarity matched her father’s gaze with the same intensity and anger. “I certainly came back changed, father, though I’d hesitate to call it a change for the better. One loses something important when they begin looking at battlefield tactics as ‘necessary sacrifices’ when other methods are available. And it isn’t something you can ever really get back.”

He seemed slightly surprised at her response, and gave her a grudgingly respectful smile, which frankly irritated her. Him respecting her only meant she’d gone further down the path he wished her to tread, and damn him for it. “Very true, my daughter, and yet those are the kinds of sacrifices that are often needed to keep the country from falling apart. Never forget that.”

“I don’t ag—”

“Regardless,” her father continued, cutting Rarity off before she could good and well get a sentence going. “That wasn’t why I asked you here.”

Rarity pouted at him. She felt like she was being played for a fool, and it didn’t sit right with her. Her father was still the king however, and throwing a tantrum like she had done when she was younger would only serve to incense him. Rarity thought herself a mare above such behavior, and so she simply began anew. “Please do enlighten me, father. Why did you summon me, if not to talk about getting me my personal stalker?”

Her question was met with a chuckle, followed by a more genuine smile. “I suppose I tipped my hoof a little early with that one.” He waved a hoof disinterestedly. “Fair enough, fair enough. Let’s start with something more congratulatory.”

Rarity waited for him to continue, sifting through what she remembered of the past week that would actually merrit her father praising her outright. Nothing came to mind.

“I don’t know how you manage to do it every time,” Her father continued, smiling. “But dukes Heavy Set and Mint Swirl have both come around to pledging their staunch support, and Baron Rich told me about an idea to pave over all major roads thanks to your insights.”

That was a surprise. Their meeting had only been the previous day, and she hadn’t expected her father to have received word from any of them, much less pledges of support. Never the less, she allowed herself a smile and a nod. “Thank you, father. I am doing the best I can for the good of the country.”

Diamond laughed, surprising only due to its rare nature. “Heavy Set even offered to send some of his best cooks to the castle. According to him, you didn’t touch your food throughout the entire evening. Was it because you were busy working your charms on him, or simply because he got to everything before anypony else could?”

“I... had a lot on my mind,” Rarity replied, smiling back at her father. “Though I’m not sure how I should feel about his offer.”

“Hmph.” Her father waved a hoof dismissively. “Take it for the compliment that it is. It merely means you haven’t yet succumbed to his ‘charms’.” Her father’s last words dripped with a mixture of sarcasm and amusement which was another rare thing for him. As a king he was usually much more serious, though she had heard rumors that he used to be an all round pleasant pony before taking up the burden of the crown.

“I’m glad you approve, father,” she said, leaving him to his enjoyment while she dealt with more pressing things. For one, she was actually hungry, a problem that to her relief was remedied as quickly as it had sprung up. One of the side doors into the dining hall had opened and allowed several servants into the room, all carrying domed trays which they quickly filled the table with before levitating off the domes as one before departing again.

Rarity wouldn’t have been relieved had she known what was being served for the meal. In fact she might have simply ignored her father’s summons altogether. There were several nice, comfortable dishes like croutons, asparagus, and even a few tastefully arranged pieces of broccoli; but none of it could distract from the truly foul dish that sat in the center of it all.

Meat. For a brief, horrifying moment, she took it for a pegasus, but a closer look revealed it to be a griffon. The carcass had been plucked, roasted, and served on a bed of assorted vegetables in the most shocking and tasteless arrangement she had ever seen on a dining table.

“A gift from our neighbors to the north.” Her father said simply. “He was an assassin. And he might have succeeded if not for Bulwark.”

At her father’s sideways nod Rarity glanced over at the dark brown stallion again. Bulwark had taken one piece of the meat and was devouring it with a gusto that made Rarity queasy. It made her all the more aware of the spiked tower shield that rested against the table next to the bodyguard, and she imagined she could see the blood on the spikes.

“Excuse me,” she said, shakily getting up from her chair and backing away slowly. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Sit down, Rarity.” Even though Diamond sounded calm, she could read the intensity in his eyes and could only guess at the repercussions if she didn’t comply. Slowly she sat back down onto her chair, keeping her eyes away from the sickening noises Bulwark made as he emptied most of the plate. Then, to her horror, the king himself took one of the last strips of meat and ate it. “This is something we do to remind ourselves that not every species is like our own.”

Rarity turned away from the table and dry-heaved before scowling at her father. “By stooping to such barbarous levels yourselves?”

“By trying to understand one of the basic things that drives them, yes.” Diamond said, offering the last strip of the meat to his bodyguard. “Had he bested Bulwark and myself he would likely have done the same thing right then and there.”

“I still don’t see why I have to be a spectator to this... this... euwh!”

"I heard you inquired about a fencing lesson. How good is your swordplay?” Her father asked, completely ignoring her once again.

“My swordplay?” Rarity blinked as she tried to make sense of the sudden gearshift. “What does that have to do with any of this?”

Her father rang a small bell and immediately an attendant came running into the room with a pair of swords situated on a pillow. Diamond slowly, almost reverently picked up one of the blades before tossing it towards Rarity, letting it clatter on the still empty plate in front of her. “Pick it up.”

All Rarity could do was gawk at him though her mind was running a mile a minute. What in the sister’s names does he think he’s doing?! it quailed, though she refused to show weakness in front of him. Any hesitation on her part would only make him that much more convinced that she should do as he said, while losing to him in a swordfight would only reinforce the same idea in his mind. Silent defiance then, was the only recourse she had left, looking at him as though he had gone mad while mentally clutching all the composure she could muster and using it as a shield against his fiery gaze.

It didn’t last.

“I said, PICK IT UP!” Diamond roared, bringing the second sword level with her nose.

Rarity’s composure cracked before shattering into a thousand tiny little pieces. She began shaking like a leaf, trying and failing to obey her father’s command. Her mind was reeling both from the sudden hostility her father displayed as well as the idea that he actually wanted to fight her; not at all helped by the memory of Private Sparkle hacking through two of a stallion’s limbs. he may never walk again... The sentence echoed through her mind and for a brief moment she was convinced that her own father intended the same fate for her, or worse.

It made it difficult to focus on anything and as such difficult to keep her magic consistent enough to actually lift the sword, let alone be able to fight with it.

When her father growled after her fourth failed attempt to lift the sword, she panicked in earnest, upending her chair in her scramble to get away from him and the sword he was still pointing at her.

Her backpedalling quickly turned into a dash for the door, which ended in a stumble when Bulwark blocked the exit with his massive frame. Not like this. Not here, not by him! The panicky voice in her mind kept screaming while she looked at the massive brown colossus of a stallion before spinning back around and facing her father. Diamond nigh on strolled towards her, lazily holding both swords in his magic and looking rather too calm for the situation he had put her in.

He tossed the first sword at her feet and thrust his chin towards it. “Pick. It. Up.”

Despite her shaking, Rarity managed to keep a hold of the sword when she picked it up again, though she couldn’t for the life of her remember how to hold it properly. All of the instructions on basic swordplay she had received during her training at the academy seemed to have abandoned her. Finally, she simply leveled it in front of herself, determined to lash out at any attack he threw at her.

Her resistance was short lived. With a single swing Diamond knocked the sword out of her magical grasp, making her stumble and land on her rump before once again making her stare down the length of his blade. She didn’t shy away this time, she didn’t even blink. If she was to die at her father’s blade she was going to go out with at least some measure of grace and dignity. Though that didn't stop her from being afraid.

After a few tense moments, Diamond lowered his sword and sighed. “Do you see this, daughter?” He asked indicating her sword. “This is pathetic. If you had been the target, that assassin would have succeeded and you would be the meat served at the high emperor's table. You would never even have been able to defend yourself.” He picked up both swords and floated them back to the attendant before offering her a hoof to get up.

Rarity briefly deliberated slapping it away, but took it after a moment of hesitation and stood up. All the fear and terror that had made themselves comfortable in her heart had been flushed away leaving only an empty void that was swiftly being filled by anger until she was trembling again, but for a very different reason.

“Now that we've established that you are of no use in a fight, I'm going to tell you the following, and I'm only going to say it once,” her father continued, as if the entire ordeal had been nothing more than a diplomatic aside. He sauntered back to the table and motioned for Rarity to take her seat as well. Only once the chairs had been put back in their proper places and all three of them were seated again, did he speak. “You are going to pick a bodyguard before the end of the week, or I will pick for you.”

To say Rarity was angry would be an understatement. She was livid, and though she did not outwardly show it, every single portion of her mind that wasn't wishing to feed her father his own sense of smug superiority was thinking of ways to spite him. One way or another she was going to make him regret putting her through that humiliating and terrifying charade.

Her anger was replaced with a sense of satisfaction when the solution presented itself to her clear as day. She could satisfy her curiosity, and agitate her father in a single stroke, without having to so much as lift a hoof. Rather brilliant if I do say so myself.

“Alright,” she said, aiming a demure smile at him. “I accept that I should perhaps be a little more concerned about my own coat and that having a bodyguard might not be the worst thing in the world.” At the very least for next time you decide to do something like that you miserable old coot.

Diamond smiled back while filling up his plate with somewhat more normal fare. “I’m glad to hear it. Trust me, Rarity, it really is for your own good.”

“I understand, father. If I do choose somepony however, I want your promise that you will support my choice. Going through the trouble of finding a suitable bodyguard only for you to disagree with my decision, would defeat the entire point of letting me choose in the first place.”

Her father waved his hoof dismissively. “Fine. Fine. As long as you don’t pick some smarmy young colt who has never held a sword in his life, you’ll have my blessing.” Now that his demonstration was over and he had seen to her change of mind, the subject seemed to bore him and his focus drifted back to his food.

Rarity nodded her acquiescence and got up from her chair. “Of course, father. By your leave, I would like to start my search right away.” Alright so it isn’t much of a search, but I would like to get out of here sooner rather than later.

“Don’t you want to have something to eat first?” Her father motioned towards her still empty plate. “You have my word that we won’t be eating any other ‘barbarous’ food.” His smile was infuriating, but Rarity bore it. Angering him now was pointless, and would only make her life that much more difficult.

Smiling sweetly, she bowed towards her fath— her king. “I do apologise, but truth be told, after everything that’s happened in the last half hour, I’ve all but lost my appetite.”

Diamond grunted before spearing a stalk of broccoli to his fork. “I understand. Very well, best of luck.”

“Thank you, father.” And with that she got up and strolled towards the exit, her mind abuzz with schemes and anticipation.

She had almost reached the door when two giants of stallions stepped forward and saluted her. Her father called out to her before she could even begin to figure out what their intentions were. "Ah, yes, one more thing! I thought you should get used to somepony following you around, so I assigned you two of my best guards. They'll be with you until the moment you pick somepony."

Rarity couldn't prevent the groan that escaped her. She turned around and, though she feared she knew the answer, asked, "And if I don't choose anypony?"

King Diamond shrugged. "Then consider the two of them my choice."

For a long moment, Rarity weighed the pros and cons of throwing a tantrum right then and there. It wasn’t very mature, and would definitely anger her father. On the other hoof, he had never denied her anything she wanted badly enough to get angry over, and might even reconsider siccing the two ruffians on her as guards. In the end, she came to the conclusion that it would lose her more than she would gain, so she sighed and walked out the door. She made no illusions that either of the stallions would really listen to anything she had to say, and resolved to find the captain to resume the bodyguard selection process. The sooner she was rid of the two brutes her father had no doubt saddled her with, the better.

If there was one thing that her father had been right about, it was that Rarity had expressed an interest in fencing. Now, more than ever, did she feel a desire to be able to protect herself, and the fencing instructor her father kept on retainer would hopefully help her with that. Who knew, if things went well, perhaps she would even be able to persuade her father that she could learn to defend herself.

The old stallion was purported to have taught the king everything he knew about sword-fighting, and if she were to believe the rumors, was still the best sword fighter in the kingdom. After what she had seen Private Sparkle do, she couldn't help but find it exciting. In her mind, she was already an accomplished swordsman, defending herself from droves of assassins and unwanted suitors alike.

When she arrived at the training room that the stallion had claimed as his, however, she found that the reality was a lot less glamorous... and more shouty.

"That was his own fault! He shouldn’t have lowered his guard! Now get out! I don't want to see any of you here again until you've learned how learned to parry properly!"

She was almost flattened by a group of ponies vacating the room at high speeds, while the offenders were immediately pushed into opposite walls for coming too close to their princess in the eyes of the brutes her father considered bodyguards. Rather than address either party, she decided to let them sort themselves out, and stepped into the room.

While her own room in the castle occupied an entire spire by itself, the room she stepped into was at least thrice as large, if not more. It was spacious and brightly lit with windows covering most of the available space on two walls. Besides that, however, the decorations and furniture were sparse. Two tables up against the walls with some small shrubbery on top of them, a single chair against the back wall, and a floor that consisted entirely of wooden planks rather than the hewn-stone plates that made up most of the castle’s floors.

It gave the room a warm and pleasant feeling, which Rarity couldn’t say for the stallion that occupied it. The old unicorn stalked back and forth through the room, sucking away the gentle happiness wherever he went, while he grumbled to himself.

Rarity coughed politely. “Excuse me, Sir?”

The stallion came to a halt and looked at her with a hostility that was as surprising as it was unnerving. “What do you want, filly?”

Filly? Rarity snorted and stuck her nose in the air. “I’m an adult mare thank you very much, and I’ve come here for a fencing lesson.”

The room was silent for a while, though the stallion’s mood seemed to clear up immensely. When she finally saw him smile, he seemed like a different stallion altogether, younger, more vibrant; more in line with the pony she expected lived in a room such as this. “You must be the princess,” he said with a small nod towards her. “I was wondering what kept you.”

Rarity showed him a somewhat embarrassed smile. “Terribly sorry about that, you of all ponies must know how my father can be when he gets something into his head.”

The stallion nodded. “Stubborn as a mule, and one hell of a swordfighter.” He walked over to a stand that Rarity hadn’t noticed before and looked between it and Rarity before taking out a pair of short swords. Though smaller and less ornate than the ones her father had used, Rarity got the distinct impression that she wasn’t going to like what happened after she picked it up. “Well then,” the stallion said, tossing one of the swords towards her. “Let’s see if you’ve got any of your father’s talent, shall we, princess?”

“Sir... before we begin, how should I address you?”

“My name is Bladespinner, but as long as we are in this room, you will address me as ‘teacher’. Understood?”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, sir.” Bladespinner arched an eyebrow, making Rarity want to roll her eyes. “I mean... yes, teacher.”

He lunged the moment she finished her sentence, and the only reason for Rarity’s continued existence after he landed was the fact that his sword stopped short a mere inch from her chest. Rarity’s gasp and surprise came a microsecond later, and the stallion narrowed his eyes. “Don’t stand around like a startled fawn. You’re supposed to block my attacks, now move!”

And move she did. Or rather, she had to. For what felt like an eternity Bladespinner drove her onward around the room, striking or stabbing with every move he made. She backpedaled, backpedaled some more, and on several occasions freaked out and jumped out of the way when her rump made contact with a wall. She was out of breath before long, but the stallion didn’t seem to care, and drove her onward relentlessly, not giving her even a second to rest.

And that wasn’t all. Not only did he leave her with nowhere to turn, but his running commentary on her progress was humiliating to say the least.

“Dead. Dead. Major artery cut, you’re bleeding to death,” the stallion kept saying while almost lazily slashing and stabbing at her. It almost felt like he was just taking a leisurely stroll through a park where it not for the sharp implement in his magic trying to wound her time and time again. And it continued in the same vein. “Dead. Crippled for life, and still dead. Dead. Dead. DEAD!”

“Shut up!” she yelled finally, which put an end to his attacks. Rarity sank to the floor, gasping for breath and dropping the sword that had been a hindrance more than a help for most of the chase. A small idle part in the back of her mind wondered how ponies like Twilight Sparkle were as deft with their swordwork as they were; she couldn’t even seem to block a single attack with the damn thing. The rest of her couldn’t believe that she’d ever wanted to learn how to fence, and at that moment, couldn’t believe that she’d had the strength to get out of bed that morning.

“Completely useless, I’m telegraphing my intent clearly, and you still can’t follow. Are you even paying attention?” Bladespinner growled in disgust and put away his sword, hanging it back onto the standard before turning to her and glaring. “You’re not a mare. You’re not even a filly. A pile of manure is more capable than you in a fight, if only because you can use manure to blind your enemies.”

Anger boiled in Rarity’s chest, but she hadn’t the breath to actually respond. Once she did though, she would let him know just what she thought of him and his training. He was going to get what was coming to him, she would make sure of it.

“You can’t parry, you can’t dodge... you can’t even run away properly! And not a single attempt at a counter attack!” Bladespinner leaned in close and peered at Rarity’s face. “Are you sure your father sired you?”

Had Rarity held her blade at that moment, she would have separated Bladespinner’s top half from his bottom half. Possibly to then hack it into little bits for good measure. With a supreme effort of will, she grabbed the blade lying next to her in her magic and screamed at him while swinging it low. “Who the hell do you think you are?! I am the princess, and you will treat me as such!”

Bladespinner contemptuously swatted the blade out of her shaky magical grasp. “That is just one of the reasons you fail. Your father, at least, was smart enough to realise that you cannot command an enemy not to attack. Royal blood flows just as quickly on the end of a blade.” He retrieved the sword from the far end of the room, and put it back next to its sister sword. “You’re wasting your precious time here, Your Highness.”

Rarity trembled with rage, but quelled it and kept it hidden while she walked out of the room, not sparing another moment of acknowledgement to the stallion. Just you wait until father hears about this, she thought darkly.

Her father, as it turned out, thought very little of it. “If he feels like you’re not ready, then you’re not ready,” had been his response, and while Rarity had avoided screaming at him, she had made it all the way back to her room before the haze of anger lifted enough that she remembered about her self-made promise to check in on Twilight Sparkle.

It can wait. She told herself. I’ve just had a rough time, and it’s not like she’ll know I was planning on coming anyway.

She lay down on her bed, and found to her consternation, that she couldn’t help but wonder if Private First Class Twilight Sparkle could beat Bladespinner in a fight. And then she found herself wondering how many enemies the big purple unicorn could take on at once. And then...

Then she buried her head in her pillow and screamed.

Breaking Out and Hiding In

Rarity had managed to remain polite and gracious towards her father, and had even kept herself from screaming at that idiot, Bladespinner too terribly much. That didn't mean however, that all of the fear frustration and anger just disappeared into thin air. Screaming into her pillows hadn’t helped, and to find that, on top of it all, she still couldn't get a certain lavender unicorn out of her mind, was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

The mixture of the frustration, anger, and remnants of the fear she had felt wouldn’t leave her alone and her bed quickly became too small. She got up, and grabbed the nearest object, a standing lamp made from some very expensive crystals and enchanted wood, and proceeded to destroy her room with it. Her mirror was the first to taste her fury, shattering and spraying shards of broken glass across the room when the entirety of the lamp went through it. It was by no means the last thing to perish in the storm that followed; her bedposts, the door to her walk-in closet, and especially the painting of her father were all savagely beaten and left for debris while she searched for something else to take out her anger on.

By the time she was done, it looked like a tornado had raced through her room. Rarity stood in the middle, a grim smile on her face. It felt good to cut loose; necessary, even. She didn’t know how she would have survived if she didn’t let out all the frustration that built up while dealing with her father.

A small splintered stump was all that was left of the lamp. It, more than anything had felt the full reach of her anger and rage. With an almost giddy sense of relief she propelled it towards a window, shattering it and completing the destructive romp she had waited for.

After it was over, the emotions that came over her were mixed. On the one hoof she felt satisfied exhaustion; on the other, she felt bad about her behaviour, necessary though it had been. A princess didn't act in such a brash and destructive manner, and she could clearly picture the frowning face of her mother.

She put it out of her mind and focused on the pony that she couldn’t seem to forget about. Though her frustration had been diminished, the questions still gnawed at the back of her mind, and she was more determined than ever to get some answers from the mare.

The prison in the outer reaches of the castle courtyard could barely be described as such. A small though sturdy building held a grand total of three prison cells and a single desk for the ‘warden’ to sit behind; but then, any bigger and many unicorns would probably have objected to its construction. The capital city, Solaris, so named such because of the ancient order of unicorns that had borne the sun on its unending cycle. Back before the wars, and the mysterious twin sages whom had taken that power from them. Despite the bearers themselves having been rendered powerless, the city was still considered a holy site by many unicorns, which was probably the reason her father had chosen it as his capital in the first place.

And if that means that prisoners never see the capital, then so much the better, right father?There was a lot she could say about her father, most of it unpleasant, but he wasn’t stupid. Any rebellion in the making would have to contend with the fact that a majority of unicorns were uncomfortable with the idea of having to attack the sacred city, which was just another layer of protection the king had surrounded himself with.

She hook her head softly and marched onwards. Managing to leave the guards that her father had assigned to her behind had been a troublesome endeavor, but a necessary one. If either of those oafs got wind of what she was planning, her father would be standing in front of the prison before she even got there. Fortunately, Diamond, true to form, had chosen two of the biggest and strongest guards he could find. While it might be considered boorish, Rarity was of the opinion that those kinds of ponies were nothing more than dumb brutes, capable of little besides standing around and occasionally hitting something really hard.

Of course, the fact that neither of them had questioned the noise coming from her room after she had told them she needed to rest didn’t help their cause. Slipping out through the window had been somewhat of a harrowing experience, but with her linens, a little magic, and whole lot of luck, she had managed to get down to the ground with only a few minor scrapes and bruises.

The warden, a short, stocky, brown nosed stallion that, judging by the flabs on his belly, had never actually seen combat, quickly got to his hooves and bowed when the princess stepped into his little sanctuary of filth. “M-Majesty! What in blazes brings y’ out ‘ere?!”

His shrill voice was grating, but Rarity carefully kept her face from twisting in disgust. The stallion had obviously gone for too long without a bath and, just like the building itself, reeked of manure, rotting food and other excretions she’d rather not think about. “I’ve come to see the prisoner,” she told him calmly, waiting for him to get his face off of the floor.

“Which’n you lookin’ for, Majesty?” the warden asked after picking himself up. He scrambled towards the cells ahead of her before skidding to a halt and rushing back to get his keychain.

Rarity rolled her eyes and walked up to the first cell, sparing the occupant little more than a glance before feeling bile rise in her throat and quickly moved on. Whatever the stallion had done had apparently long been forgotten and he had more or less fused with his bunk, possibly contributing to the atrocious stench of death wafting out of the cell. She didn’t know which was worse, the fact that the cell hadn’t been cleaned out, or the fact that the warden didn’t even seem to care about the state of his prison. The second prisoner wasn’t in a much better shape, but was a lot, well... a lot livelier, and scarier as a result. The mare inside the second cell looked at Rarity with eyes so cold and devoid of emotion that it was easy to imagine her as a monster haunting the nightmares of foals. When the mare hissed and flung herself forwards against the iron bars, Rarity involuntarily took a step back.

The warden was almost as quick, jumping in front of his princess and banging on the cage. “Quiet y’! Don’ make me come in ther’” Whether it was the noise he made or some history Rarity wasn’t aware of she didn’t know, but the pony inside the cell slunk back, hissing softly. The warden turned around to Rarity and bowed again. “Sorry ‘bout that, Princess. Nopony knows what’s gotten into ‘er, but if y’ ask me, th’ poor mare’s been possessed.”

Rarity suppressed a shiver and quickly moved on to the final cell which had to hold the only reason for her presence here. The third cell was clean, for a prison’s definition of clean. It didn’t have so much as a single stalk of straw on the floor, but then, such things could be considered food if one was desperate enough, and Twilight had been placed on a no food interment. The unicorn mare herself, however, made the stallion in the first lockup seem rather lively by comparison; It made Rarity seriously reconsider her idea.

Calling Twilight Sparkle a shadow of her former self would have been generous. Though Rarity had only seen her once before, she couldn’t remember Twilight having quite this many injuries when she had left the training field. The former guard was huddled in the far corner of her cell, her mane and tail listlessly hanging around her. The rags of what had once been a prison uniform covered little but had apparently offered the mare what little protection it could. In the spots where cloth was missing Rarity could easily make out scabs and even open wounds; Twilight legs, back, and neck, were all covered in grime and blood. Being led away in chains after her supposed victory had obviously only been the start of her hardships.

“What happened to her?” She asked the warden, affecting a dispassionate tone while she silently gnashed her teeth.

The stocky stallion spat on the ground and glared the prone unicorn. “She got what she deserved ‘s what happened, Majesty. Ain’t been an hour gone by that she’s not had a beatin' from 'visitors' wantin’ ta make sure she don’t forget what shes done.”

“That’s what I thought,” Rarity replied coldly. She swept a hoof towards the door and leveled a glare at the warden. “Leave us, and the keys.”

“B-but, Majesty, I gotta—”

Rarity scowled at him, though it probably had more in common with a death stare. “I said leave. Go have a drink and don’t come back here before noon.” The warden looked between her and his keyring before laying the thing down on the floor and bowing before hastily making his retreat. Only after she could no longer hear the clopping of his hooves did Rarity relax, slightly. She sighed out loud and turned back towards the mare on the other side of the bars. “Twilight Sparkle?”

The mare cringed, slowly unfolding herself and spinning around while she got up. She landed in a defensive stance, which unfortunately only held for a few seconds before one of her hind legs gave out, dumping her face first on the floor. She blinked tiredly and stopped moving, apparently having resigned herself to another beating.

It made Rarity’s blood boil.

Aegis is going to have a lot to answer for if he allowed this to happen. She thought grimly, sweeping up the keys with her magic and opening the door. She did not even consider the possibility of a ruse until it was too late. The moment she stepped into the cell, Twilight charged forward from her prone position, swinging a hoof at Rarity’s head. Rather than receiving the blow she flinched for, Rarity found herself without breath when the former guard ducked and delivered a low blow to her ribs instead. After that, she quickly found herself overpowered and hogtied with her own cape.

In some ways it was impressive that Twilight could still function like that after having gone without food for several days. Mostly Rarity was furious that the pony she was about to show mercy had dared treat her like this. The biggest part of her, however, was screaming in utter revulsion at the dirty floor her face was being pressed into.

“What are you doing here, Princess?” Twilight's angry voice asked her from somewhere above her, which would have made her do a double take had she been able to move.

It took a few moments, but eventually Rarity managed to gather her thoughts. Rather than answer her captor’s question however, Rarity asked, “Why didn’t you run away? You could have been long gone by now.”

Twilight Sparkle snorted. “Run away? In this city? The guards would catch up to me before I’d even set a hoof outside the castle walls, even if I was well rested. Now, why are you here?”

Rarity bit the inside of her cheek, wondering what would happen to her now. “I came to see you how you were faring, but I can see now that it was a mistake.”

“To see me? So you can what? Gloat? Take a few potshots at me yourself? What?!”

She’s insane. Rarity thought to herself. Or is she? How would I feel if I’d been thrown in prison and beaten non-stop? “I... uh...” Rarity cleared her throat uneasily. “I wanted to see how you were doing. Traitor though you might be, as a Princess I care for all my subjects.”

She had hoped to placate Twilight Sparkle with her words, but the derisive snort told her that they had missed their mark rather badly. “Try again, Princess, I’m sure you can come up with way more convincing lies than that one. Unless you want me to snap your neck.”

“You wouldn’t!” The words were out of her mouth before she had time to reign them in, and she cursed herself for her stupidity. She ineffectually scooted around a little using her shoulders until she could look at the singular window which Twilight had moved towards, looking even dirtier than before.

“Princess,” Twilight said tiredly, “my captain has already told me I’m to be executed. Do you know what they would do to me if I murdered you?" Rarity remained silent, trying not to consider the implications of Twilight's words. "They’d execute me,” Twilight continued, laughing coldly without a trace of humor before looking at Rarity over her shoulder. Now that Rarity could see the guard’s eyes, she added ‘exhaustion’ to the list of ills Twilight suffered from. Her eyes were bloodshot and had bags underneath them the size of which inadvertently made Rarity shudder to think about. “Please tell me, Princess, why shouldn’t I be done with you now? I’m as good as dead, anyway. They might even kill me quicker.” Another humorless laugh. “Would at least put an end to the beatings wouldn’t it?”

“Is that what you want, Twilight?” Rarity replied as calmly as she could. “Do you really want to die? Do you really want to kill me?” This wasn’t how she wanted to die, alone with a desperate mare on a dirty floor. “I don’t think you’re a murderer, Twilight Sparkle. I think you’re just as scared as I am, and that you would like nothing better than to simply go home to your family and forget about the whole mess.”

For a moment Twilight’s eyes softened, and Rarity could swear she saw tears, but the unicorn angrily shook her head and looked back at the window. “And then what? You were my last chance to prove myself. I don’t have a family anymore.”

“And then...” Rarity huffed into the dank dirt of the cell floor, uncertain how to persuade the tall unicorn. “Look, this is terribly uncomfortable, do we have to talk like this? I think you’ve made your point, my life is in your hooves. Is it really necessary to keep me tied up?”

Twilight didn’t move for the longest time, and only spoke just as Rarity started to think she was being ignored. “I suppose not.” The larger unicorn spun around and walked towards her, biting down on a knot and unraveling the bonds with an almost gentle tug on the cape. “There. Better?”

“Much.” Rarity said, as she stood, rubbing her hooves against the chafed parts of her legs where the cape had bound her. “I won’t try to run, I promise.”

A tired grunt was all the response she got. Twilight sat down on the spot, apparently no longer bothered by the fact that Rarity could likely outrun her if it came to it.

“Well then. I...” Rarity hesitated. “I’ll take my leave, assuming you don’t intend to actually take my life, that is.”

Twilight let out a long drawn sigh and lowered her head onto her hooves. All the fight seemed to have drained from the lavender unicorn. Her posture, which had been intimidating moments before, deflated like a badly made souffle and the tail end of her imposing presence was a strangled laugh. "I don’t think I could take another step, much less stop you if you decide to run," She said, rolling over onto her side. An act of submission Rarity realised. She’d learned all about it in the academy her father had sent her to. Tales of soldiers exposing their weak points to their enemies, a plea for a swift death. “I’m sorry for what I did, Princess. Just... don’t make it last too much longer okay?” Twilight swallowed heavily and closed her eyes. “I don’t think I could take much more of this.”

“There will be no execution,” Rarity declared with all the gravitas she could. “I’m not about to allow such barbaric behavior when I’ve taken the throne, and I can tell you for a fact that my father wouldn’t approve of it, either. Regardless of whether that poor stallion is crippled or not, nopony deserves this kind of treatment.” She made her way to the least dirty part of the cell, laying her cape down to sit upon.

The former guard laughed another bitter laugh. “Your father wouldn’t?” She pushed the keys towards Rarity with a hoof and left them lying there. “He ordered my execution himself, but it’s nice to imagine that the country will have a kinder queen in the future.” The sarcasm in her voice was so thick it dripped off the sides, and it took Rarity all of her willpower not to kick the mare in the guts and leave her to the noose. Why don’t you? the insidious part of her mind whispered. It’s not like she’s done you any favors.

Because it would be wrong. I’m a better pony than that. She told herself with determination, only for the little devil on her shoulder to laugh. Oh yes, look at benevolent princess Rarity, saving a mare from an execution to suit her own needs. You were going to let her take the brunt of it as soon as her presence got your father good and mad. She gritted her teeth in suppressed fury. I would never do that.

Twilight smiled weakly as though Rarity’s private thoughts were an open book to her. “Doesn’t matter what I think, Princess. Even if you are better, it’ll be too late for me anyway.” She punctuated the end of her sentence with a cough and closed her eyes, that infuriating resigned smile never leaving her face.

Wants to be like that does she? Fine. Being her mother’s daughter —a born and bred diplomat— several lines from inspiring speeches made themselves available to her, but perhaps there was more of her father in her than she would like, as the only words that actually made it as far as her lips were: “Get up, and follow me.”

She marched out of the cramped cell with her head held high, despite all the dirt and grime that clung to her coat; Will have to get back at her for that sometime. and made it as far as the entrance to the building before she realised that Twilight wasn’t doing as she had been told. She marched back to the cell, growling softly. “I said, follow me!”

Twilight refused to move, or perhaps she simply didn't have the strength. Damnit.

Rarity stared at her, at a loss on how to respond to such behavior. Finally, she cleared her throat, and in a commanding voice, said: “Twilight Sparkle, as your princess I am ordering you to stand and come with me!”

That got a response, even if it was just a confused mare clumsily scrambling to her feet through deeply ingrained training.

“Good, now you will follow me out of this cell, and we are going to get you cleaned up.”

Twilight merely looked at her incredulously. “But... they’re going to execute me—”

“No, they are not. Now come with me!” Rarity held out a hoof, making clear she expected Twilight to take it.

“But—I don’t understand! They’re going to kill me, princess, you can’t stop them!”

Rarity stood tall and proud as she could, trying to imitate her dear mother. “You wouldn’t take my life earlier, even though you could have. But you are a criminal, one who has struck down a fellow soldier, and now you’ve struck your princess as well.”

Twilight winced. “And that’s why they are going to kill me!”

Rarity merely looked down at her impassively. “I’m afraid that’s impossible. You see, as princess, I am far more important than a lowly soldier. You were right to fear what would happen to you.”

“So you’re going to make this hell last even longer out of spite?” Twilight asked, eyes downcast. It was an unbelievably rude thing to ask, but there was no fight in her words, so Rarity skipped past it.

“No,” she replied. "As a matter of fact, I am going to make it your responsibility to make sure nothing happens to me from now on.”

Twilight looked up at Rarity as if she was a snake about to bite her. “W-what? You... you can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but I am.” Rarity replied without a hint of humor. “I have some sway with my father. I’ll tell him what you’ve done and that I’ve decided on my own punishment. He will listen.” Her eyes twinkled in the darkness, and she held out a hoof. “Now, you can come with me, live a life of purpose, or die here with none. What exactly do you have to lose?”

Twilight still looked unsure, but hesitantly took the proffered hoof, nodding her head in acquiescence. “My life is yours, Princess.”

“And mine is in your hooves, or will be once we sort this out. For now lets get you someplace to bathe, and possibly sleep and eat as well.”

In the back of her mind, Rarity knew that she was being rash. Pardoning a prisoner who hadn’t been sentenced yet was one thing, but defying one of the kings rulings was a different beast entirely, one she wasn’t sure would work out well for those concerned. Yet, when she compared the image of Twilight Sparkle Soldier first class—the one that had gotten stuck in her mind—to the pony giving up on life and nigh on begging for a swift end out of sheer misery, her blood boiled. She would be damned if she let something like that happen if she could prevent it.

She came to a halt in the doorway once more, agonizing over a sensible way to get Twilight to her chambers. Overruling a single overweight warden that wasn’t well informed, or smart enough to know about regulations, had been a calculated risk, helped by a good amount of sheer luck. Most of the guards, however, knew that the king would protect them if they disregarded her orders to maintain the defense of the castle; and many of them would, as her father was at least more popular among the soldiers than she was.

The rattling of the keys made her ears perk and she turned around just in time to see Twilight at the second cell door. Twilight unlocked it and stepped back, letting the crazed mare out of the cell. The mare eyed her suspiciously, then cautiously moved past her before knocking Rarity to the side in her mad dash for the exit.

“What in Equestria do you think you’re doing?!” Rarity yelled at her companion. “She was imprisoned for a reason! She’s dangerous!”

Twilight shrugged, looking every bit as tired and worn down as before, with the exception of her eyes; they shone with a renewed vigor. “Good. That means that more guards will leave their posts to chase her.”

“Why would you eve— Oh...” Rarity found herself at a loss for words, which wasn’t something she was used to. She didn’t like it. “Well, perhaps you could inform me the next time you’re about to do something stupid.”

Her outrage was met with a tired smile. “My apologies, Princess,” Twilight said, bowing lightly. She almost fell over when her hind leg buckled, but managed to recover before Rarity stepped forward in worry. “Shall we go?”

Rarity put the hoof she had extended back on the ground and nodded. “Let’s.”

Some time later, after many harrowing near misses with panicked guards ponies who had to be fended off with orders from the princess to search various parts of the castle (Parts which were conveniently far from where Rarity herself was.) they arrived at last at the final obstacle. Her own personal guards, standing between her and her bedroom. All this time, and they were still under the impression that they were still guarding her.

“Any ideas for this one, Sparkle?” Rarity hissed, cautiously peeking around the corner. The guards were presently dozing against the walls near her door, which boded well for her safety if there ever truly was an attack on her person in the middle of the night. Perhaps father is right. I do need a bodyguard, the rest of these fools are useless. She looked back at Twilight who did not prove to be much more adequate. The unicorn was slumped against the wall she was supposed to be hiding behind, only half managing to stay upright in her fight with fatigue. Then again... She mentally chided herself. Don’t kick a mare when she is down, Rarity. Lest we forget that is why she is so fatigued.

“Sorry... Princess.” Twilight replied, clearly on the brink of collapse. “I’m no good to you like this. Maybe if you turned me in your father would—”

“Enough of that!” Rarity snapped back. “This is my will, and I will not be balked at by anypony. Not even my father. He wants a strong heir, so he’ll get one.” She surreptitiously peeked around the corner again, trying to think of something, anything to get past them.

Like any plan, all of hers seemed to fall apart the moment they came into contact with the enemy; with the enemy in this case being those two brutes that had been foisted upon her. Even if she wasn’t impressed with their intelligence, not even they would simply let it slide that the Princess they thought they had been guarding came back to the room she was supposed to have been in. They were going to need help, and quickly.

Unfortunately, it seemed like everything would come crashing down. Her ears picked up rapid hoofsteps coming up the stairs; even if it wasn’t a guard, a maid screaming her lungs out would doom them just as surely. Skilled as she might be, Twilight was in no state to overpower anypony, and Rarity herself was demonstrably bad at combat in general. I really wish I had taken those combat lessons now... Twilight blinked tiredly before dropping into a combat-ready stance with a soft grunt.

The hoofsteps stopped and Rarity could easily picture a guard with his ears perked in their direction. Slowly the hoofsteps began again, and it wouldn’t be long before they came face to face with the pony that could end all Rarity’s plans with nary a sound.

Three steps. Rarity took a deep breath and held it, trying to keep as quiet as she could.

Two steps. Twilight tensed and lightly shifted her shoulders in preparation.

One last step.

Everything happened all at once. A pony with a soft yellow coat and a long flowing pink mane jumped up the last step, brandishing a sleek silver dagger. Fluttershy! Twilight moved before Rarity had even opened her mouth, jumping towards the perceived threat and shoving her into a wall. Or at least, that had been her intention. At the very last moment, her hind leg gave out and she ended up merely knocking Fluttershy aside before hitting the wall herself.

Fluttershy stumbled but managed to regain her footing and shifted the dagger to one of her wings with a dexterity that made Rarity gawk. Twilight wasn’t as fast; she slowly got back onto three shaking legs, clutching her head with the last one and blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision.

Do something! Rarity’s mind screamed at her, so she did. Fluttershy took a hesitant step back, keeping the dagger between herself and Twilight who was swerving from side to side dangerously. Somehow the Pegasus managed to look brave and deathly afraid at the same time. Before she could turn and run for help however, Rarity stepped forward, interposing herself between her friend and her... bodyguard, she supposed. Fluttershy stiffened for half a moment before she realised who she was looking at.

“Rarity?”

Rarity put a hoof to her mouth. “Shhh, not so loud.” She stepped forward and smiled a disarming smile. Fluttershy looked past her at Twilight and only put the knife away when Rarity shook her head. “Hello, darling. What brings you up here?”

“I uhm...” Fluttershy trailed off. She looked at Twilight with a mixture of pity and anger, before shooting a questioning glance in Rarity's direction.

Surely she isn’t still angry about that whole crippling thing? “Yes?” Rarity prompted her, putting a hoof to her cheek to focus Fluttershy’s attention on herself.

“I overheard that somepony had escaped from the prison, and I thought...” The Pegasus leaned in and shielded their conversation from Twilight with a wing before whispering: “I thought she was trying to get her revenge on you. Are you alright?” Her eyes flicked back in the direction of Twilight again, although the pity had won out over anger.

"Darling?" Rarity turned Fluttershy's face towards her once more. "Twilight needs someplace to rest and clean up, but we cannot get into my chambers with those two oafs in the way."

"Two oafs?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

Rarity nodded. "My father was 'concerned for my safety' and now there are two big burly stallions in front of the door. I had to sneak out through the window before I could even-"

"Out the window?!"

Rarity hastily silenced her friend with a hoof, peeking around the corner to see if either guard had been alerted by the outburst. They had not, though one of them snorted and shook himself, standing up a little straighter. She slowly removed her hoof from Fluttershy's mouth and whispered, "Yes, out the window. But that isn't important right now. Could you distract them so I can get my new bodyguard inside?”

"Your new b-hmphf!?"

Rarity's hoof returned before Fluttershy could give them away. "Later," she hissed. "Really, darling, all you have to do is use a few of those flirting techniques I showed you. They'll be eating out of your hooves in no time."

Fluttershy paled, but before she could say anything Rarity shushed her. Fluttershy nodded in understanding before urgently whispering, "I-I... I can't do that. What if they want to do... things? What if I have to..." She paled even further. and looked as if she was about to be sick.

There was a moment of silence while Rarity thought about her friend's response. I should really have seen that coming. She's probably the only pony that wouldn’t be comfortable with a little social flirting.

She was about to tell Fluttershy to forget about it, but Twilight made it rather difficult. The purple Unicorn had dragged herself back to their little alcove, but was finding it next to impossible to stay upright. “Princess...” She did not need to finish her sentence for Rarity to get the gist of it.

“No.” Rarity said determinedly. “If Fluttershy cannot create a distraction, then I shall simply have to do it myself.” She turned to her friend, smiling apologetically. “Sorry, darling. I should have realized it would be too much for you. Could you please take Twilight into my room instead? I am about to get myself into a lot of trouble with my father but I need somepony I can trust to make sure that Twilight Sparkle gets a little bit of rest at least.”

Fluttershy bit her lip, looking between her determined friend and the sickly looking guard before shaking her head. “No, I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?” Rarity asked. “You know that—”

“I’m sure. You’d get into trouble right?”

“Well, yes but...”

Fluttershy took one last look at Twilight before shaking her head vehemently. “I said I’ll do it, blow out the candle.” Before Rarity could even ask her what her plan was, she stepped out of the alcove quasi-confidently; the trembling of her legs barely noticeable.

There was nothing left for Rarity to do but blow out the candle and hope that her friend wouldn’t bungle her distraction action. Twilight had fallen over with a soft thump, and while she’d had the presence of mind to curl up in the darkest part of the alcove they had been hiding in, Rarity wasn’t sure how much longer she would remain conscious. Any successful plan required her to stay hidden in the natural shadows, yet she couldn’t help but wonder if her friend was doing alright, and found herself peeking around the corner before her mind could come up with a proper reason why she shouldn't.

"Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed when she rounded the corner into view of the guards both of which immediately righted their posture. "Please, you have to help me! A crazy mare almost hit me downstairs in the hall! I think she escaped from the dungeon! And now...” Fluttershy hesitated briefly. “Now... she’s after me!”

To Rarity, the guards once again proved their less than stellar intelligence when they didn’t ask Fluttershy any questions or even stopped to consider the validity of what she was saying. Instead, the princess had to press herself against the wall to avoid being spotted while they ran past the alcove. She waited a few more moments to be sure that the guards were far enough away before telling her companion to follow her and stepping out of the shadows. She walked up to her demure friend and smiled. “Marvelous thinking, darling,” she said, looking back over her shoulder to see what kept Twilight. "That should keep them busy for a while at least."

When Twilight did not emerge from her hiding spot, Rarity groaned and walked back, only to find that she had been right in her assessment of the guard's condition. Malnourishment and sleep deprivation had taken their toll on the unicorn, though thankfully, the shadows had obscured her unconscious form from the guards.

Rarity lit up her horn and pulled the unconscious pony from her hiding place with a grunt, which roused Twilight enough to make her eyes flutter open.

"Sorry, princess," she mumbled faintly.

"Apologise later," Rarity snapped, hoisting Twilight up to her hooves and supporting her until she had found her footing, which took longer than she would have liked. "For now, I'd rather you pony up and walk the last few feet to my room, can you handle that, soldier?"

Twilight nodded mutely, and limped along to the best of her ability, leaning against Rarity's side every step of the way.

Rarity's ears perked when the ominous sound of four pairs of hoofsteps came up the stairs. They had barely even made it halfway across the hall and would surely get caught if they didn't get some form of help. Things were simply moving too slowly and Twilight was too big and heavy to simply pick up. "Fluttershy," she whispered urgently. "Stall them!"

After half a second of indecisive fidgeting, Fluttershy nodded and made her way towards the noise, and Rarity heard her say "Oh my goodness! I thought she had snuck past you somehow. Did you find her?" Before she could hear the responses from what she assumed were her guards, however, the door to her room closed with a slam. Rarity let loose the breath she had not quite realized she was holding, relieved that she and Twilight had managed to reach safety without being caught.

When they finally came to a halt inside her room, Rarity’s first thought was to make sure Twilight took a bath. The mare reeked of prison, exhaustion, and more prison, and she was hesitant to allow Twilight anywhere near her bed. At least, until she smelled herself and had to resist the urge to scream, throw up, or both. How do ponies manage to live through such an experience? Looking over at Twilight, she had to come to the conclusion that many of them probably didn't.

After that the decision became much simpler; Twilight got the softest spot in her bed (The maids could always clean it up afterwards) while she herself took a much needed bath. Perhaps, after washing the smell of incarceration from her coat, could she come up with a new plan to hide Twilight whilst the mare recovered.

Already, having a bodyguard was proving to be as big a hassle as she'd always feared.

Having a bathroom adjacent to her bedroom—especially one that came with an extra large sized bath—was a blessing, one she had never fully appreciated until the moment the tub was full and she lowered herself into the warm water. Washing away all of the grime and dirt would take some doing, but for the moment she was happy enough simply relaxing for a little while; It had been an exciting enough morning, even without the life threatening situation, after all. Recalling Twilight standing over her with a killer's intent in her eyes made her sigh heavily and put question marks behind everything she'd done. What am I even doing making a mare like that my bodyguard? I should have just—

Her thought was interrupted by a soft knocking on the door followed by Fluttershy cautiously peeking around it. Rarity belatedly realised that she hadn’t actually closed the door to the bathroom, but let the oversight go with another sigh. “Do come in, darling, but close the door would you?”

Fluttershy did as she was asked and sat down near the edge of the tub. It, like everything in the bathroom, was a display of opulence. The entire floor was made of inlaid marble slabs, each of which had a ruby at its center. The gemstones in turn housed a small heating spell, making sure that one never got cold hooves in the room. Further extravagance came in the form of a mirror that spanned the entire back wall of the bathroom. Even the bathtub itself, rather than being furniture, had been hewn straight into the rock. It allowed for a much bigger bath and made it easy for ponies to sit and talk to the occupants if they did not feel like getting wet.

More than one of the parties Rarity had held for her friends had been spent entirely in the bathroom.

It didn't take more than a moment after Fluttershy had sat down for the tension to spill out of her. "Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed. "I can't believe I lied to those nice stallions like that!"

Rarity couldn't help but smirk. "And you were marvelous, darling! I’d go so far as to say that you're a natural at the whole ‘cloak and dagger’ thing.” When Fluttershy paled and furiously shook her head, Rarity laughed. “Don’t fret, darling, I’m only teasing. There actually was a madpony that escaped around the same time. You were doing them a favor by alerting them to the danger.”

“Is she—” Fluttershy inclined her head towards the bedroom. “— mad, on top of everything else? Why would you ever make somepony like that your bodyguard?”

Rarity’s bout of levity was short lived and she shook her head with a sigh. “No, Twilight Sparkle is not mad.” She let her mind wander for a moment before thoughtlessly adding, “Although the pony she let escape most certainly was.” She broke the water’s surface to hold up a hoof. “I know what you’re going to say, but it was for the best. That mad mare can’t have gotten far, and we needed the guards to chase her if we wanted to have any chance of making it back here.”

The way Fluttershy felt about her—and especially Twilight’s— actions was clearly written on her face, but the fact that she did not vocally disagree only made it that much more difficult for Rarity to justify her own actions to herself.

“I did what I thought was best,” Rarity said, huffing softly. “You wouldn’t have been able to simply leave her there if you’d seen what they were doing to her.” At Fluttershy’s uncomprehending stare, she continued, “You haven’t taken a good look at her, have you? She was being beaten, and denied food or sleep for three whole days! She could hardly stand when I arrived, and yet she managed to make it all the way back here on her own power.” There was an admiration in her voice that she couldn’t, or perhaps wouldn’t suppress. Twilight might not have done much to prove that she was worthy of being her bodyguard just yet, but she had certainly proven herself to be resilient and resourceful when the situation called for it.

“What are you going to do now?”

Fluttershy’s question dragged Rarity out of her musings and she shrugged before realising that it was probably hard to see with her shoulders underwater. “Make sure she recovers, I suppose. If I want her to become my bodyguard, she has to be able to protect me.”

"Even though she's injured somepony?"

It was Rarity's turn to look indignant. “I'm not saying that she is a saint, Fluttershy, but I do not believe that she deserves to be executed for what could easily have been a training accident."

Fluttershy lowered her eyes to the floor, looking cowed by the ferocity in Rarity's voice. "But it wasn't an accident, was it?"

"So you would rather see her killed?"

"I didn't say that, but..."

"But you don't want her to get away with it without being punished?" Rarity asked, waiting for Fluttershy to nod before she continued. Fluttershy needn't have responded. It was a rhetorical question, Rarity already knew the answer. "How would you punish her then? Cut off her legs as well?"

“No!”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know!” Fluttershy snapped back, in as close to a yell as Rarity had ever heard. “All I know is my best friend has broken a traitor out of her cell and wants to make her a bodyguard, and I’m worried! Why would you do that?”

“I already told you—”

“No, you told me you saw her beaten and sleep deprived in a dirty cell. I want to know why would you go to a dirty cell to begin with? What would possess you to do something so dangerous?”

Rarity was glad she hadn’t told her friend exactly how dangerous the situation had gotten. Rather than acquiesce, however, she drew herself up to her full length, for all the good that it did in a bathtub. “Because I admired her skills. If I have to choose a bodyguard, I want it to be somepony who knows their craft as well as I know politics.” And not at all because I got a mental image of her stuck in my head.

“That’s it?” Fluttershy demanded. “You broke her out of prison because you think she knows what she’s doing? Rarity, if she knew what she was doing she wouldn’t have injured her opponent!”

“Forget about that then,” Rarity said. “I wanted to ask why she did what she did, but rather than explain she begged me to...” She hesitated, unsure whether or not she even wanted to repeat what Twilight had told her. “She begged me to end her life because she couldn’t go on,” she said at length, frowning at the water. “It just made me so... angry.” Even thinking back on the state Twilight had been in made the anger spark in her chest once more. “Call me sentimental if you wish, but I refuse to leave anypony to die like that.”

Fluttershy frowned in worry. “Fine. So you couldn’t stand to see her die. What are you going to do now? You can’t hide her forever, and your father won’t just say it’s okay for her to be a traitor just because you want her to be your bodyguard.”

“My father promised me he would support my decision, so after Twilight has had some time to recover, I’ll present her to him and then...well... I suppose I shall just have to convince him that she’s worth it, won’t I?”

Keeping the injured unicorn hidden while she recovered was more difficult than it should have been. After news of Twilight's 'escape' reached the king's ears, the entire castle was subjected to a thorough search for the escaped traitor. Rarity only managed to hide her bodyguard to be by claiming that she was going to take a bath whilst they searched her room, and threatening anypony that might have gotten the bright idea to take a peek in the bathroom with beheading.

There were questions as to why her room was such a mess, obviously, but those were quickly laid to rest when she told the ponies asking them that she was the cause of it, and that she would demonstrate how she created it on their faces if they did not leave it be.

Fluttershy did not ask as many questions, though Rarity promised she would explain everything at a later date. Despite her original objections to what Rarity was doing, she quickly mellowed out when Rarity had asked her to help take care of the unicorn. Within the span of a few hours, she had independently decided that Twilight needed to be cleaned up and gotten a sponge. Minutes after that, she was already holding a one sided conversation, expressing her outrage for what had happened in the prison and her apologies for expressing her doubt in the first place.

Twilight awoke from twenty-eight straight hours of sleep with a grumbling stomach, looking much more capable. Procuring enough food to stave off starvation without arousing suspicion, however, still lay outside of those capabilities.

Even with Fluttershy's help smuggling in some extra food whenever she came to visit, and Rarity doing what she could between crucial appointments, they could not keep up with the voracious appetite of a large pony that hadn't had any food in close to four days.

They got a much needed reprieve when King Diamond threw a big banquet for a delegation that heralded the subjugation of the northern neighbours of Unicornia: the Empire of the Frozen Crystal. It was a party of such importance that, as a princess, Rarity could not afford to remain absent. She was supposed to sit beside her father when he gave his victory speech, and was expected to say a few words herself; while it prevented her from taking any food to Twilight, it tied up her 'guards' which were supposed to go where she did, giving Fluttershy a free run of the palace.

Fluttershy ate for three that night, making many a dish disappear from the buffet table and returning them completely devoid of the food they had held. While a few of the staff must surely have raised their eyebrows at the missing food later in the evening, it didn’t look like anypony was any the wiser.

By the time Twilight felt mostly fit again, they were nearing the end of the week, and with it the deadline the king had set for Rarity. Which was just as well. Rarity was getting rather sick of the state of her room. Having kept maids out for almost a week meant that it wasn’t as pristine as it could have been— meaning that it was a mess. It also meant that she personally had to make certain that Twilight appeared before the king at least somewhat presentable, though she found that she actually enjoyed that part more than she thought she would have.

“Stop squirming, darling,” she said, smoothing out a few crinkles. “You’ll ruin the dress, and quite possibly your hair.”

Her only response was an agonized expression that bordered on a scowl. Although Twilight—in Rarity’s opinion—looked quite fetching, she also looked extremely uncomfortable. She was wearing a beige dress that Rarity had picked out for her; and while she had outright refused to even touch the high heeled boots that came with it, calling them unmaneuverable, it hadn’t stopped Rarity from dolling her up and making her wear them anyway.

Her coat shone due to the half dozen conditioners that Rarity had poured onto it in the bathtub during the several vigorous scrubbing sessions she had undergone—another experience Twilight hadn’t been comfortable with— and her mane had been done up in a stylish ponytail; that much was at least efficient, although she had no idea if she was even going to be able to move quickly enough in the dress for it to matter.

“Are you sure this is necessary, Princess?” Twilight asked, squirming despite Rarity’s admonishment.

“Absolutely,” Rarity replied, letting the comb she was holding rake through Twilight’s tail one last time. “The biggest part of anything to do with royalty is decorum, and I’ll not have you looking like one of those oafs while I convince my father that you’re deserving of being my bodyguard.” She finished up the last stroke and put the comb back onto the dresser. “Now then, are you ready to go?”

Twilight bit the inside of her lower lip. The small part of her that appreciated looking beautiful after the trials she’d faced, was drowned out by the rest which screamed that everything she was wearing restricted movement and wouldn’t protect her from attacks any better than a wet paper towel. “If I must,” she groused in reply.

“You must,” Rarity said decidedly. “Come along now.”

“As you command, Princess.”

Forseen Complications

If she had ever been more tense or nervous than she was right now, Rarity couldn’t remember the time. Walking— Marching through the castle, with her bodyguard-to-be in tow would have raised eyebrows regardless of who she had picked, but having that pony also be a convicted criminal raised said eyebrows a few inches further, and had her barking orders at any guard that made a move to restrain Private Sparkle.

They listened, to an extent, but it didn’t prevent the two mares from picking up an entire flock of guards on their way to the dining hall where Rarity was sure she would find her father this early in the morning.

She didn’t doubt that Twilight could handle herself, but unfortunately, the mare currently looked more like one of Rarity’s friends, rather than she did a bodyguard. With her mane done up, and the beige dress hugging her flanks, she turned heads other than just those of the guards, and Rarity had to admit that it was only partly due to her efforts in making Twilight look fetching.

But it was all in favor of Rarity's plan.

First she would introduce Twilight as one of her friends. Her father had never really bothered to learn any of their names and was generally uninterested in them, and so wouldn't look too closely. Then, after taking a meal together, Twilight would excuse herself and slip out to don her armor. She would then walk back into the room, startling the king and thereby showing that, if she could hide that she was a bodyguard from him, she could easily blend in and stay close to Rarity at all times. Any would-be assassins would be in for a nasty surprise if they thought she was unguarded.

Twilight had expressed her concerns about the plan more than once—insubordination being one of her more persistent problems—but Rarity had waved them away. Her father needed to be handled delicately, or they would be in big trouble. At the very least he is going to have to admit that she is better than the idiots he selected, she thought darkly, casting a glance back at the two muscled stallions that followed them not so much with a concerned frown, but rather a smitten smile, brought on by the pretty mare that had suddenly emerged from the room they were supposed to be guarding.

How they had become guards at all was beyond Rarity; perhaps their strength had been enough to sway her father. Even had that been the case, she doubted a similar thing would work for Twilight.

Rarity reached the limit of how much she was willing to tolerate at about the same time they reached the doors to the dining room, and turned around to their unwanted entourage with a scowl. "Enough is enough. If any of you are that concerned about what we will be doing, you can wait out here. Twilight Sparkle and I will be entering the room unaccompanied." She cast a glance over the assembled guards. "Is that clear?"

She did not get the same fervor and devotion her father commanded in the guards in his employ, but they nevertheless all made their acquiescence to her command known in one way or another. With an inaudible huff, she turned and opened the doors, beckoning for Twilight to come along.

The dining room felt a lot bigger than it did usually, and upon reflection, Rarity guessed that it was probably because she was anxious. If she had to have a bodyguard, she didn’t want it to be those idiots her father had assigned her, and from the guards she had seen a few days prior, only Twilight had really made an impression. She smiled politely at her father, hiding the frown that wanted to sit on her face. Twilight had made more than just an impression, but because of that, she was also considered a criminal. She held on to the knowledge that she had a good plan, and could adapt to the situation if necessary.

Like so many plans, it did not survive contact with the enemy.

“Good morning, father,” she began smoothly, sitting down and mentally preparing herself for the conversation that was about to come; persuading her father would be anything but easy. It took her a while to realise that her father wasn't looking at her, but at some point right behind her. She uncomfortably cleared her throat. “Father?”

Diamond frowned lightly while giving Twilight a once over, but it cleared up when he looked at Rarity. “Good morning, daughter. Who is this? Another friend of yours?”

Rarity cleared her throat and nodded. “Why yes.” She turned to Twilight and nodded. “Why don’t you sit down, darling?”

“Have we met before? You look familiar.”

“Of course you’ve met her before. She’s—”

“Is she a mute?” Diamond asked brusquely.

“No, of course not.”

“Then let her speak for herself, I asked her the question, not you.”

“Never in person, Your Majesty.”

“Hmmm.” Diamond sat back and lifted a few blood-daisies to his mouth with his magic, chewing slowly while his gaze remained on Twilight. “Are you sure? Maybe you're one of the painted mares I had hired for the ball a few days ago?" He smirked. "If you are, I could use a diversion from all the paperwork they saddle me with these days."

Next to her, Twilight stiffened, her breathing growing shallow. Rarity herself almost choked on the sip of wine she'd taken. "Honestly, father!" she all but yelled "How can you even compare her to one of those... hussies?"

Diamond chuckled softly and waved a hoof. "Apologies, forgive an old soldier his jokes."

Rarity didn't know if it was the joke, the fact that the 'escorts' had long since been a sore subject for her, or because she now had a bodyguard and felt a little safer around her father as a result, but Rarity could not contain her tongue. "In very poor taste I might add. Bad enough that there's no female of influence save for myself at any of your gatherings, but the hiring of escorts shows just how little respect you have for me, or mares in general,” she said hotly.

"I have the utmost respect for them." Diamond replied, the light tone gone from his voice. "They are as valuable to me as any soldier, and masters of their craft. Their services have helped me uncover a lot of scheming, and it is you that doesn’t respect them enough by thinking that I only hire them because they look ‘pretty’." He smiled at Rarity. “Which is also why I want you there.”

Rarity didn’t like being compared to a common whorse, nor did she particularly believe her father saying that those mares were essentially spies. She didn’t know him to be crafty enough for something like that. "So I am another tool in your bag of tricks, then?"

"A masterpiece,” Diamond said with a smirk. “You've indirectly saved me many a headache, Rarity, which is something you should learn before you take the throne yourself." He gestured for wine to be poured, nodding at Twilight slightly more respectfully. "Like the sword, your sexuality can be a tool, and in the right circumstances can save you from a lot of trouble.”

“That’s a horribly jaded way to think, father.” Rarity said, glaring daggers at him.

He chuckled appreciatively. “Perhaps. As a king, I cannot afford to have weak points, however, too many ponies would take advantage of our country if I did.” Diamond nodded to a nearby servant who was waiting to refill his wine. “So she isn't one of mine. Is she yours, then? I had thought you preferred the rougher sex, but I won't begrudge you this one, so long as you still produce an heir when the time comes.” He let his eyes wander over Twilight once more. “She is quite beautiful."

“W-what?! No!” Rarity felt her face go red-hot with embarrassment. “I’m not... she’s not...” She realised that she was stumbling over her words and grabbed the wine goblet, draining it in a single go and almost choking on the liquid when some of it went down her airpipe. “She’s a friend!” she said quickly, reaffirming it with: “Just a friend!” when her father nodded knowingly.

“Some of the best romances have started as such,” he said casually before taking a sip of wine. “Just try not reveal anything too important during the pillow talk. I remember when your mother...”

Rarity hid behind her goblet, ears burning. Gone was the perfect plan she had spent days coming up with, all thanks to her father’s infuriating segues. To make matters even worse than they already were, Twilight was smiling at her; one of those knowing smiles that said that she was, if not openly enjoying her father’s rhetoric, then at least interested in learning more about the royal family.

With a wave of her hoof, Rarity called the servant to refill her goblet. She needed time. Time to gather her wits and put the pieces of her plan back together. Turn all of this to her advantage somehow. “Father please!” She said. “Can we at least try not to dishonor my mother?”

“She did a fine job of that herself, daughter.” Diamond let out a deep sigh. “But I suppose you are right. I do miss her, despite everything. At times, I regret sending her from me.” He shook his head. “Sometimes the crown weighs very heavily, and makes the stallion beneath very cold and hard. Forgive me.”

“I will, if you stop rambling for a moment and listen to me.” Rarity said, pouncing on the opportunity to segue into her original reason for being here. “I’ve made an important decision, and I would like your blessing, as you promised me.”

Her father cocked an eyebrow but nodded after a time. “Alright, I’m listening.”

“I’ve chosen a bodyguard, as you requested.” Rarity hedged carefully. “My choice is a very accomplished private, but there was a bit of trouble, and I had to intercede.”

“What kind of a lousy bodyguard would need you to get them out of trouble?” The king asked suspiciously. “If you’re telling me he was being inappropriate with you I’m fully prepared to deprive him of some choice bits to keep that from happening again.”

“She, actually, and no, nothing like that.” Rarity said quickly. “But I would remind you, you did promise you would support my choice. Are you prepared to accept my decision?”

“You’re hiding something.” The king said, bluntly. “Out with it.”

“Not until you answer me, father. You placed this decision in my hooves. This is my very first royal duty. You’ve said yourself in times past that what royalty declares to be so is so. I’ve made my choice, will you abide it?”

“I won’t do a thing until you tell me why this is so important all of a sudden.”

“Because I believe a grave error was made, and I won’t have my choice taken from me because of it.” Rarity said, refusing to break eye contact with her father.

“Name the bodyguard, or I will name one for you, daughter. We can talk about your intercession once I know who it was for.”

Rarity took a deep breath, and spoke the name. “Private Twilight Sparkle.”

Diamond stared at her, his head whipping to the mare at her side, viewing her in an entirely new light. "What were you thinking bringing a traitor into my presence, Rarity?" he growled. The muscles in his neck straining against the sudden tension of barely contained anger; he looked like he could explode at any moment.

"As I’ve been trying to tell you—" Rarity glanced back at Twilight. The large unicorn had tensed along with her father, but she looked uncertain, rather than angry. "You did promise, father..."

"Enough! Bulwark, take care of her!"

The hulking stallion seated next to the king was up in an instant, armed in two, and upon Twilight in the third. He almost knocked Rarity over when he brushed past her and she turned around just in time to see Twilight jump back, dodging the first of Bulwark's attacks, that put a dent in the floor.

For so big a pony, Bulwark was remarkably quick, and his second strike would have put several holes in Twilight had she not dodged that one as well. The spiked shield sailed through the air inches from her head while she rolled to the side. Bulwark's third attack was even closer, one of the spikes slicing through the hem of Twilight's dress. It was no contest. Rarity had her doubts that Twilight would have been able to take on Bulwark even at her full strength; right now, unarmed and stumbling about in the high heels Rarity had foisted upon her, it was a forgone conclusion.

Rarity averted her eyes from the slaughter waiting to happen, choosing to glare at her father instead. Diamond, it seemed, was just as upset as she was, and for a time, theirs was a battle of wills, played out in silence. The questions of how long it would have gone on, or who the winner would have been, went unanswered. Their line of sight was broken by Bulwark who stumbled into the side of the table after one of his more vicious attacks missed its target. The stallion was on his hooves quickly, and chased after Twilight once more, but the tension between Rarity and her father had been broken.

“Father—”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Diamond said, turning away from her and watching the spectacle that was Twilight getting nicked by one of the spikes on Bulwark’s shield, tearing a gash on one of her forelegs. Though he probably hadn’t anticipated the mare to pick up a chair in her magic and smash it against the stallion’s head, leaving him dazed. Had Twilight had a weapon, that might have been a concern, but as it was all it bought her was a few seconds of respite.

Rarity ground her teeth. The bastard looked like he was enjoying it. She spared a glance for Twilight who, while acquitting herself admirably considering she still hadn’t fully recovered, was starting to lose focus. It wouldn’t be long before Bulwark pulverized her. Rarity set her jaw and stuck out her chin. "You gave me your word, father! Is the king’s word worth nothing now?"

Her father nearly fell from his chair in shock, and turned back to her with a furious glare. "My word is not the issue here! I will not rescind an order I have given, and I will not let you place your safety in the hooves of a traitor!”

"Then you are no fit ruler, if you cannot even keep your promises to your heir!"

Diamond slammed a hoof down on the table, making all of the silverware rattle. "Listen to yourself. She nearly crippled an able-bodied soldier. She should have been struck down on the spot!"

Rarity swallowed heavily. She was treading on thin ice. She had seen her father angry before, but never like this. Still, she couldn’t back down, not now, not if she wanted to be a better pony than her father wanted her to be. "And that makes her a traitor?! Isn’t injuring others what soldiers are paid to do anyway?!"

"Not the ones they are supposed to fight alongside!” Diamond bellowed. “She nearly cost a good stallion two of his legs!"

"Just as it nearly cost her her life to even perform the technique she used to do it!” Rarity shot back before continuing in a softer tone. “I was there, father. I thought he was going to kill her, and if she hadn’t done what she did, he would have!” She leaned forward a little, looking her father straight in the eyes. “Would he have been a traitor too?!”

Diamond had no immediate reply, leading to a momentary silence across the table, which Rarity used to press on.

“You told me that you didn’t want me to pick a ‘smarmy young colt who had never held a sword’.” She swept a hoof over to Twilight. “She isn’t ‘smarmy’, she certainly knows how to handle a sword, and she isn’t a colt.” She could see the hesitance in her father’s eyes, and barreled on, not giving him time to form a reply. “She’s even held off Bulwark this long. Without a weapon no less! If she had been an assassin, you would have been impressed, but instead, I want her to work for us. For me.” She leaned over and smiled at her father surreptitiously. “You know it would be a waste to have her hanged, father. She’s deserving of a second chance.”

Diamond was silent, brooding as he watched Twilight desperately dance around his seasoned bodyguard. Rarity held her breath. Though she had not been struck down yet, Twilight was on her last wind. She realised, only now, why the mare had been adamant about not wanting to wear the high heels Rarity had picked out for her, it made walking more difficult, let alone dodging in a fight. Twilight had managed so far, but it had cost her a great deal of energy, and each of her subsequent dodges became slower and less skillful. Two stumbling dodges after that, it seemed like she had found her limit, and was knocked to the ground by a headbutt from the larger stallion.

It turned Rarity’s blood to ice in her veins and she reached out across the table. “Father! Please!”

“Bulwark, stand down,” Diamond said at last, looking away from the spectacle and back at his daughter.

The giant halted his advance immediately, his shield mere inches from crushing Twilight’s head. He righted himself and put the shield on his back. If not for the accelerated breathing both ponies and the sweat dripping from Twilight's face, Rarity could almost have convinced herself that nothing had happened.

But something did happen. And it would have cost Twilight Sparkle her life but for a single moment. Rarity evicted the accusatory thoughts from her head. She had kept the promise she’d made. How she had done so or how much time it had taken didn't matter, only the result did.

“Very well, daughter. Your king keeps his word, despite his better judgement. He defers to yours, hoping it will prove correct.” King Diamond turned to Twilight Sparkle, his visage an impassive mask. “You, traitor, will have your sentence suspended. Your execution will be carried out the moment I hear my daughter has been harmed in any way. Serve her well, her well-being is in your hooves, as yours is in mine.”

Twilight bowed solemnly. "I understand, Your Grace." She walked over and stood behind Rarity rather than sitting down again, an almost perfect mirror of Bulwark who kept his eyes trained on her while doing the same.

Diamond’s gaze lingered on her for a moment, before he downed his glass of wine with a grimace. He turned his head back to Rarity, a wry smirk on his face. “Well, I suppose you’ll want to get her outfitted. She’s not much of a deterrent in that getup.”

Whereas before it had felt appropriate to put Twilight in a dress, his comment made Rarity aware of just how out of place it felt. Rarity picked up a blood-daisy herself, and waved over the servant, who had wisely stayed out of the way during the entire spectacle, to refill her goblet once more. “Yes. But—”

Diamond dismissively waved a hoof in her direction. “Yes, yes. I’ll tell the guards. She can’t exactly protect you if she’s being hauled off to a cell every time she passes one of my men.”

With any and all thoughts of having a proper meal with her father before revealing Twilight having been ruthlessly shut down, Rarity found that she would rather be anywhere but here. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, father, I think I’ll take Twilight to the armory so she’ll be better prepared to do her job.”

“Fine, fine.” He stood, walking over to her, and gestured for her to rise. When she did, he gave her an awkward embrace. “My misgivings aside, I’m proud of you, daughter. You spoke as a queen would, and you stood your ground when it mattered. Well done.”

Rarity did not have a reply, or rather, worried that she might say the wrong thing were she to do so. Instead, she got up, nodded to her father, and left the room with all the grace and elegance expected of a princess. It was a symbol that everything within the room had gone well, its execution only slightly marred by the fact that Twilight Sparkle’s legs were trembling as she followed. Given that the mare had just fought for her life, however, Rarity was willing to overlook that fact.

When the doors opened, they walked into a wall of guards, all of whom were pressed up against one another in what Rarity figured was an attempt at listening in to the goings on in the room. They swiftly disentangled themselves and prevented Twilight— and by extension, Rarity—from moving any further. At least, until the king’s voice thundered orders at them from inside the room.

“Princess Rarity has chosen Private Twilight Sparkle as her bodyguard, and isn’t to be hindered anymore than the princess herself is. See to it that every guard in the castle knows, you lazy louts!”

Just like that, the group scattered in all different directions, leaving Twilight and Rarity to continue their journey uncontested.

“Well,” Rarity said when they had passed from the main hallways and into the section of the castle that lead to her room. “That went rather well, all things considered.”

The incredulous look she got from her bodyguard when she looked back was almost a declaration of disrespect; and therefore a crime by itself. “‘Well’ she says,” Twilight muttered darkly, and although she was muttering Rarity had keen hearing. “How did it go, Twilight? Oh, it went ‘well’, I only almost got killed, and got my ass handed to me because the princess wanted me to look pretty.” It was followed by a few expletives that colored Rarity’s cheeks with equal parts embarrassment and indignation.

“Twilight Sparkle!” She said, stopping dead in front of the stairs that led up to her room. “Such language might be common, and even accepted in the barracks and out in the field, but I won’t have those kinds of words pass from the lips of my bodyguard, is that clear?”

“Crystal,” Twilight replied, scowling at Rarity and almost biting the word in half before it had left her mouth. “I was just waiting for a chance to ask if you wanted blood on your carpet, or if I should go to the infirmary first.”

Only now did Rarity take the time to get a good look at her brand new bodyguard. Twilight’s dress—what little was left of it— hung around her in tatters. Bulwark had obviously come too close for comfort on more than one occasion. The neat bun Rarity had done her mane up in had come undone and from the looks of things, that too had gotten in her way during the fight. Last, and perhaps most importantly, were the noticeable quakes in Twilight’s otherwise steady posture, as well as the trail of little droplets of blood that formed a somewhat macabre trail, almost like breadcrumbs, all the way back to the dining hall. Especially now that they had stopped moving, Rarity was suddenly very much aware of the blood running from a small wound behind Twilight’s left ear, and from the gashes in her front legs.

Other than the shakiness in her legs, Twilight did not seem worried about her injuries in the least, but Rarity didn’t feel the same way. “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed, moving to Twilight’s side so that she could support her guard if it became necessary. “Why didn’t you say anything!? I could have sent for a doctor. Should I send for a doctor? Can you make it up the stairs okay? I can support you if it’s really needed.”

Twilight snorted with amusement. “Who would you send?”

Rarity looked at her bewilderedly. “W-what?”

“To fetch a doctor.”

“Why I would send the nearest serv...” Rarity’s sentence petered out as she looked around and came to the discovery that she and Twilight were the only ones in the corridor. “I guess that’s not much of an option... is it?” She asked sheepishly. “Well then, should I run to fetch a doctor?”

Twilight shook her head. “You can relax, Princess. These...” She lifted each of her forelegs in turn and inspected them. “Are relatively shallow wounds.”

“Uhm... you also have one behind your ear, and it is bleeding a little more seriously,” Rarity helpfully supplied, pointing out the spot without actually touching it. This was about as close to blood that wasn’t her own as she’d ever been, and earlier experiences had been a skinned knee at the most.

A purple hoof traveled up to softly dab at the wound. “Ah, so there is...” Twilight said almost absently. She dabbed the wound again and put her hoof down. When she put weight on it, her leg buckled, but before Rarity could step in to keep her upright, she recovered. “I should be fine, though I’d really like to get out of this dress and under some sort of shower,” she said said through gritted teeth. “If... that’s... alright with you, Your Highness.”

Just like that, Rarity realised that she’d not really been acting like a princess, and her posture stiffened considerably. Despite that, however, she made the only decision that seemed feasible, princess or no. “Forget the shower Twilight Sparkle. This is partially my fault—”

Twilight barked. “Ha! Partially?”

Rarity fixed her with a glare for a few moments. “Perhaps mostly my fault, so I will allow you to use the bath in my chambers again.” She looked Twilight up and down, trying to ignore the small, but growing, pools of blood on the floor. “And after that, We’ll need to get you something to wear.”

“As long as it’s not a dress,” Twilight playfully replied, though she bowed her head when Rarity glared at her again. “Apologies, as you wish, Princess.”

“Hmmm, I suppose not for day to day activities. But you do look fabulous with just a little effort.” Rarity looked her up and down, considering. “I don’t suppose they make much in the way of lightweight armor you could wear under a gown? Something with harnesses for hidden blades should you need them?”

Twilight began to nod, but ended up shaking her head. “It does exist... but it doesn’t offer the same amount of protection. Besides, those sorts of tricks are for Assassins. Soldiers should wear their armor openly.”

Rarity had her own opinions on the matter. The more she thought about it, the more she felt for the idea of having a bodyguard that didn't look like a bodyguard. For now, however, she saw fit to keep her ideas to herself. “I see. Let’s just focus on getting you out of those rags for now.”

Author's Note

And so it went, that Twilight became Rarity's bodyguard...

Only now, the updates for this story are sadly going to slow down even more. I simply have too much on my plate to work on it consistently. Not to worry though, I won't let it languish too long, and I've at the very least started outlining the next chapter. :twilightsheepish: