We're in the courtyard next to the barracks of Canterlot Castle; almost the entire Royal Guard came to watch. I'm standing opposite of Steel Wing, his teeth clenching his sword and his wings flared, with my own sword levitating beside me. Behind my chest plate the jewel on my necklace glowed with my horn, assisting me the best it can. As captain, Shining Armor is standing to the side and acting as judge. If he sees a pony lying on the ground for more than five seconds or a pony is struck on the head just once the match is over. Whenever there is a challenge of switching rank, he has to be there to not only referee the match but to see his potential new recruit.
This isn't just to switch rank, though. Actually, Steel Wing can't just become a medic like me if he loses this. I would just then be switched from the Medical Assistance Division to the Guard. We in the MAD help out in hospitals usually, though in the very rare occurrence of war we would serve to heal the wounded. Steel Wing is one of the lowest-ranked members of the Guard, but even he got to perform tasks for the princess. Normally, he just stood at the main gate, though. But at least he was protecting something.
Shining Armor's horn lights up with violet as he raises a bubble around us so our fight would neither go out-of-bounds or be interfered. He reaches a comfortable pace to maintain the bubble and finally announces, "The match between Steel Wing of the Guard and Peaces of the Medical Assistance Division will now begin!"
Faster than I can register Steel Wing launches at me, his wings beating and pushing him forward even faster. I raise my sword up in defense and we clash, a loud clang piercing the air. I try to push back but Steel Wing proves to be stronger than my magic, pushing me and causing me to drag dirt behind my hooves. He pushes harder and harder, building up the dirt behind me legs to make movement difficult.
I finally realize that brute strength won't win me this, so I switch it up. I roll to the side and drop my sword from my magic, making Steel Wing take a dive into the dirt. I light up my horn again, necklace glowing in unison, and release a sweet aroma, the scent spreading farther and getting stronger with each second of casting. When Steel lifts his head up to fight back he immediately relaxes, his head relaxing to the hypnotic scent.
He fights it, though, and keeps the sword clenched in his teeth. He takes a deep, hard breath through his sword and lunges at me again, aiming right for my helmet. I reflexively stop casting the aroma spell and put up a small shield in front of my head in defense. He swings down at the shield and shatters it with no trouble, however the shockwave pushes me back enough to dodge his blow. He takes another swing, I duck. He swings again and I move away. Then he swings once more to break another shield, then again and again and again.
Finally, I'm up against a wall. My sword is on the other side of the battleground, too far away for me to reach with my magic. Steel Wing stands a few hooves away from me, bringing his sword up and ready to strike me down. In a last attempt I put up another shield in front of my head. Steel Wing swings down the hardest yet, not only shattering my shield but striking hard on my helmet. The blow was enough to push me off my hooves, forcing my head to the ground and making my ears ring. My vision blurred and senses dulled for a brief moment of time. I could somehow make out Shining Armor's words.
"The match goes to Steel Wing!"
I heard uproar from the surrounding guards after witnessing their comrade succeed. I venture a look up to see Steel Wing extending a hoof out to me, sword dropped from his mouth and a smile on his face. I return his smile, and his hoof, as happily as I can, though it probably looks solemn. He didn't say anything, though, except "Nice match." before picking himself up in the air and flying over to his congratulators.
I shake off the dirt and turn to the opening archway of the MAD building when I feel a tapping on my shoulder. Shining Armor's behind me, carrying a serious tone, yet a friendly demeanor in his stance.
"Follow me." He says with a reassuring smile, "I wanna talk."
I follow him to the Royal Guard building and up the large staircase to his room in the tower. He opens the door and invites me in, though it takes me a while to feel comfortable enough to be in the personal chambers of the captain. He takes off his armor and sets it in a closet against a wall. He lets his blue hair fall wherever it decides to go and puts on his red suit, probably more out of habit and custom than want. He looks at me, still awkwardly standing in the middle of the captain's room with my borrowed armor on.
"You can take that off, you know." He says with a chuckle. "You can just hang it up on the hanger there, I'll return it myself later." I do so, using my horn to lift my helmet and body armor off and levitate it to the hanger he pointed to. My brown hair falls lazily on my face, wet from the sweat of wearing that helmet, suddenly blinded by the strands. I shake my head, trying to get it to poof again like it usually is, but I make do with brushing it off my face. Shining invites me to sit next to him at a coffee table, insisting on giving me a drink of tea until I finally accept it.
He waits until I'm more relaxed to speak. "Your cutie mark, it's a peace sign, right?" Despite his invitation into his room, and the fact that he invited me in the first place to talk to me, I jump when he spoke. I looked down at my cutie mark even though I knew what it looked like. It's a peace sign alright, with the colors green, yellow, and red in sequence. I force myself not to jump again when Shining Armor speaks again. "What does it mean?"
I gather up the courage to speak for probably the first time in several hours. "It means to cause and maintain peace. I don't like fights, verbal or physical. It spreads hate and I want to do my part in stopping that hate."
Shining smiles, "That's a good answer. Why those three colors?"
I think for a moment before answering. "You know, I actually haven't quite decided what they mean yet. Though, after putting some thought into it, I guess they could represent the three different kinds of ponies. I know the colors don't exactly match with them, but that's a suitable answer to me for now. I try not to favor or look down on any one kind of pony. Racism is one thing I can't stand." I take a sip of tea when I realize that I ended that bitterly.
Shining nods, accepting that answer. A second later, he turns more serious and looks me dead in the eyes. "Why do you want to become one of the Guard so badly? You're already part of the force as a medic."
I set down my cup on the coaster, looking away from his eyes. "It's... kind of a long story."
"We have time." Shining replies, "Besides, It's kind of a policy of mine to get to know the guards under me. You seem dead set on becoming one of the Guard, so you joining may very well be an inevitability. May as well get a head start on it."
I take a deep breath and sigh, knowing that I was going to have to share. It wasn't a big secret or anything, but it was still a little embarrassing to tell my life's story. I take another breath and begin.
***
It starts back in my foalhood, when I lived in Seaddle. I wasn't popular by any means, but I had several friends. I couldn't tell you how I met them or how long I've known them, but I had them and to me that's all that mattered. Besides them, though, there are two main things that happened in the same year that has been driving my whole life.
It's my second grade year. Not a few months after it started my parents divorced. They were young when they married and I was born soon after. They didn't realize that their love wasn't forever and that their constant fighting was putting strain on me until I was a few years old. They tried to set apart their differences for me, but they just couldn't keep up with it.
My mom was the one who moved out to the other end of town. I still got to see them both by moving from house to house every week and I still went to the same school. It wasn't so bad. Considering my age, I took it rather well. My mom tells me I've always acted older than my age, even when I was just a tiny foal. I guess it shows in those kinds of times.
Anyway, the second thing happened at the end of the same school year, when all of the other foals were learning their special talents, earning their cutie marks, and the unicorns and the pegasi of my class were learning how to use their magic and wings. I was the only unicorn that couldn't even levitate a book by the end of the year.
My mom was the one who took me to the doctor to get me checked. Physically, I was healthy. However, it was then I found out I have Magic Deficiency. It's not uncommon, so I'm sure you're familiar with it, but it's when a unicorn doesn't have as much magic as the average unicorn. Most cases it's just by a small amount and is hardly noticeable and even curable with some extra training. However, mine was worse. I have only half of the magical prowess of a typical unicorn, making my deficiency much harder to overcome.
I was horrified, of course. I felt even worse about it as the years went by until graduation from elementary school. I had only then enough magic to levitate a book, two if I was concentrating hard enough.
After graduation, I ended up switching high schools. My parents agreed that I wasn't seeing my mom enough once school started to get harder and I was spending more nights at my dad's house for convenience's sake. With the change, I wasn't going to the same school as my friends and eventually I lost contact with them. For a while, I was in a bad slump, borderline depression. I no longer had friends to talk to everyday and my magic was abysmal to my classmates.
Man, was I surprised when six random ponies walked up to me, all together at the same time, and talked to me. I was sitting by myself at the time, as was usual since starting the year. They were friendly, weird, kind, and very different in personality. They would always go back and forth with each other and then return to normal the next second. Soon after, I was part of their group. To my further surprise, there was more than just the six of them. There were at least ten of them and they all were just as weird and different as the six I had met. In a matter of days my life seemed to do a complete flip again, this time for the better. They didn't bother me about my Magic Deficiency, thankfully, or the fact that I was still a blank flank. They took me in with open arms... actually, it was more like they took my hoof and dragged me in. I won't complain, though.
Another year went by and I had gotten especially close to one of them in particular. His name was Tofu. His talent was, well, tofu. He could make some very interesting things with the stuff, not to mention make it taste delicious! His family had moved to Seaddle from Fillydelphia after his father died. He was relatively new to the school as well, so we were in pretty much the same boat. His mom invited me to spend a whole week with them while my parents when on their separate vacations. I was still pretty naïve back then, so I didn't find that strange at all.
The week passed and my parents met with me after school at my mom's house. They presented to me a gift, something they got for me while they went on their "vacation." Inside the box was the very necklace you see on my neck here. They arranged for me to stay at Tofu's house while my parents set aside their differences for me long enough to get me this necklace. The doctor told them time and time again that while there were ways to overcome MD in normal circumstances, there were only remedies in trial mode to fix a case like mine and were not proven to actually work. They couldn't accept that and did research of their own. After many, many years of searching they found out about a rare jewel with magical properties embedded into it. If kept close to the body it was able to feel the strain a unicorn feels when using too much magic. It'll resonate with the unicorn's horn and amplify their magic to a necessary level. They were only able to find this much, which in actuality is a small amount. With the jewel, I was finally able to do things like a regular unicorn could. The jewel does put extra strain on my horn, though, so I still can't maintain magic for long, but at least I was on par with the rest of my class.
My life had taken a magnificent turn to counter the terrible, and I was happy once again. I earned my cutie mark a few days later when I accidentally used my magic to increase the volume of my voice. It was so loud that it forced everypony in the area to stop whatever they were doing. I did it to stop two of my friends from fighting, one of the few times it was an actual fight and not just playful banter. I'm normally quiet, but with that outburst I had lost myself, my only goal at that moment being to settle the argument myself. Thinking back on it, it wasn't any of my business so I should have just let it be, but by interfering the two of them were so shocked that they completely forgot what they were fighting about and made up. I relaxed back to my usually quiet self and turned to go to class when the same two friends pointed out my cutie mark.
My school years continued happily, hanging out with friends and barely surviving high school. When I finally hit the last four years, however, I started to feel pressured. My dad was leaving little "hints" that he was expecting high hopes for me. He would train me in magic regularly, pushing me harder than I was capable and then getting frustrated when I couldn't keep up. Being his only child, and his only son, he started pushing me harder and harder. My mom said she would be content with whatever I did in life as long as I was happy, but in a way, that didn't help lift the stress. On top of that, I was constantly being reminded that I was still weaker in magic than my classmates, making me the underdog. After thinking things through, during my final year of high school, I decided I wanted to be in the Royal Guard. I told everyone it was because I wanted to protect the princess, and in a way that was true. The day after my graduation I signed up and got the role of medic.
***
"That's a nice story." Shining remarks while pouring another cup of tea, "It's always hard to share your life with someone, especially to a stranger like me."
I went to respond when he cut me off.
"However, that doesn't answer my question." He turned on his serious stare again. My eyes locked with his before I could turn away, paralyzing me.
"What do you mean?" I ask with confusion. "I told you, I want to protect the princess."
"A noble cause, but nothing in your entire story built up to that other than your parents' expectations of you. Your Magic Deficiency, your parents' divorce, your making new friends, all of it's just details of your life that happened before signing up for the Royal Guard. Even your reason is weird." He said, still staring into me.
I can't look away. "What do you mean?" I repeat.
"You said that you had told everyone you wanted to protect the princess and that in a way it was true. That implies that you had a different motive."
I make another deep sigh. Shining finally stops his staring when he knows I'm defeated and lets me collect my thoughts.
"Don't get me wrong, I do want to protect the princess. It's my ultimate goal." I look down as if I were admitting to a crime, "However, it's an entirely selfish reason. With everything my family and friends have done for me, and the pressure my parents were putting on me, indirectly or not, I wanted to repay that. My friends turned my life completely around and my parents gave me my saving grace from my MD. My parents wanted me to be the best I could be, so I plan to do just that. I want to make a name of myself.
"I don't have to go down in history or anything, but I want to have done something very important, something that would make me recognized by the populace. When I die, I want everypony to think, 'That pony died doing something great.' I thought that moving through the ranks to one of the princess's personal guards would do that. Who makes a better name in the troops other than the captain himself? When I found out I would be in the Medical Assistance Division, I was heartbroken. Sure, we help out at the hospital and that's pretty big, but not once have I been recognized outside of my nurse's uniform. I'm not even thanked sometimes. Staying a medic won't get me into a high position like I want."
Shining Armor kept quiet while I ranted, making sure to take in everything. Finally, he sets down his cup and faces me. "That's not a bad reason at all."
I look up at him, shock on my face.
"However," he continued, "I do have a problem with one thing..."
Without even waiting for a reply, he gets up and walks over to the closet, the same one where his armor and sword are kept. He opens it and lifts his sword up with his magic and hovers it over a raised hoof. I look on in horror as he strikes himself, cutting a wound into his hoof and letting the blood ooze out.
"Captain!" Instinctively, I race over to him and light up my horn and necklace and place my horn on the open wound. My first spell warms up the wound and numbs the area, preparing for my second spell that closes and heals the wound. It's not a complete heal, but it does the job enough where a few days rest will be all that's required and the patient won't feel a single thing all the while. When the wound closes I lift up my horn and stare horridly at Shining. "What was that for?!"
"Do you realize what you just did?" He asks me, "You just helped somepony. And not just anypony, the captain of the Royal Guard!" He walks past me, leaving me in his cold wake as he sits back down at his chair. I stand there, still frozen at what he just said and trying to piece together the meaning.
"But..."
"It may not be the glamour you were hoping for," Shining interrupted, "but being a medic is one of, if not the most important job of the entire Royal Guard. You have the potential and the abilities to heal the wounded and cure the sick, something not that many ponies can attest to. If for some reason one of my stupid guards trips and falls down a staircase, you're there to help him through his concussion. You may not be the toughest fighter, and you may not be the princess's personal guard, but you help the citizens of Canterlot every single day. Without you and the other medics, there would be nopony to help them but the few doctors on hoof!"
He gives me a moment to let everything he said sink in, though to him it looks like I'm just staring at the floor like it's the most terrifying thing in the world. He had raised his voice for his speech, practically giving me a lecture. It left me more stunned than his stare had. He sighed and calmed back down.
"I won't stop you from becoming one of the Guard, and I would be happy to have you on the team, but I thought that you should know what I think of the matter."
Several minutes of silence followed before I finally spoke again.
"I... I don't know anymore. Thinking about what you said, and what I did to help you, being a medic does exactly what I want. I'm doing the greatest good a pony could do for the world, and here I am complaining. But, now that I think about it, is repaying my friends and family what I really want now? I think now... I just want to improve my magic. I want to live up to my cutie mark, now. I want to maintain peace across Equestria. I can still do that by healing ponies, but maybe that's not enough for me."
"Do you like helping ponies?" Shining cut in.
"Of course I do. It's one of the best feelings in the world. But... when I healed you, it was purely on instinct, what I'd been trained to do. Maybe..." I trail off again for several more minutes. I smile for the first time since this morning and give a definitive answer. "I still want to help ponies, I want to maintain peace across Equestria, and I still want to be the best I can possibly be while improving my magic and overcoming my deficiency. I've decided."
I turn to Shining and salute to him, "Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard, I, Peaces of the Medical Assistance Division, hereby vows to work hard on my training to become the best medic I can be. I will also work hard to become one of the Guard and become the very wall that protects our fair land of Equestria and our Princesses Celestia and Luna, all in the name of maintaining peace, harmony, and helping ponykind everywhere."
Shining smiles at me and nods in approval, "Well said, soldier. I would be happy to train you in magic in my spare time if you so wish. I may not be as good as my little sister, but I'm not captain for nothing. In fact," he adds with a snide smile, "I just decided you and I are off-duty. Let's get a start on that training now, Peaces."
My face must have very noticeably changed to ecstatic because he laughed when he put his hoof around my neck. It feels weird to be suddenly on a personal level with the captain, but the way he nonchalantly called me by my first name rather than rank was strangely comforting. We walk out of his room with smiles on our faces and head for the training grounds below.
***
Author's Notes
I wanted to write a story that featured my OC, Peaces. This story had to show his personality, at least some of his abilities, explain the necklace and his cutie mark, and be readable. I think this fits the bill.
You can probably tell if you read this and then any of the Persona: Harmony chapters that this was not looked at by either of my pre-readers before submitting. There are two reasons for that:
1) I wanted to know how far my writing has gone so far. I've started several ideas for stories and practiced a little with those while Persona: Harmony was being looked at and I've gone through two writing classes since beginning to write the first chapter of P:H
2) I wanted to see how writing in the present tense feels and if I am capable of it. I've tried in the past but failed horribly as it just feels awkward to write like that. I think I did okay here, but please feel free to note any incorrect tensing so I can fix them.
I used this vector for this picture of Peaces. I think this is the most editing I've done on a vector to fit my character yet. +1 to attention to detail. My art is still crappy, so don't feel bad about pointing out glaring flaws.
Also, my first time using cover art. Yay for trying new things!
Don't forget to comment, and criticism is greatly appreciated!
