Training royal guards has never been easy. No one can simply slap on a piece of armor and call themselves fit to wear it. The royal families understand this and know that only the most trusted trainees will proceed to be called royal guards.

This is no exception to the royal guards of Princess Twilight. Shortly after the battle against Tirek, Princess Celestia enlisted some of her royal guards to train other ponies to be Twilight’s guards; and in turn, those trainees have taught other ponies to become royal protectors themselves. Twilight’s Sister-in-law, Cadence, had even sent Flash Sentry to help out with the training, and the result of that was giving Twilight a family to raise. Over 3 generations of royal guards have been enlisted, and they have done their jobs well, but the 4th generation brought on a new recruit; one that still shocks even the most highest ranking of officers. This generation has brought forth a princess to recruit, Princess Starburst Sparkle.

“Alright squad,” the squad trainer, Gunnery Sgt. Thunderhead, called out, “you have worked hard these last few months and trained well. You’ve learned about discipline, bravery, and chivalry; and mastered all concepts of each. In all my years of training I’ve never seen a more capable group of royal guards like the ones I see before me today.” His recruits felt pride and determination as they heard him speak,
for they knew that today was the last test to determine whether or not they were ready to start their days as protectors of the Princess of Friendship herself. They all grew anxious to show what they had learned and were confident that they would succeed

One pony in particular was more anxious and confident that the rest. ‘Today’s it’ she spoke to herself in her mind. ‘After today, I will be one step closer to becoming Captain of the Royal Guard; after today, I will make my mother and father proud; after today, I will no longer be made fun of because of how small I look. More importantly; after today, I won’t be looked upon as another princess that can’t take care of herself and be treated as such.’ Starburst sat there at attention, listening to the rambling of her superior officer, feeling her pride grow from his words, until she heard him finally say……

“Here’s your final test recruits, a run through this obstacle course.” He stood to the side and pointed his hoof to show the guards the course in which they must all run successfully. The course had high walls to climb, hurdles to jump and finished off with a close-quarter combat test with the Captain himself, Flash Sentry. “Whoever can finish this course in less than 5 minutes will be called members of the royal guard; and before you say anything, I don’t expect you to beat Captain Sentry.” Some of the recruits wiped the sweat from their brow when they heard this. “The only thing you have to do is land a single hit on him,” Thunderhead continued to explain, “while avoiding him from hitting you. If he lands a hit on you, or you fall to the ground, you will fail the test.”

Starburst’s heart jumped a little when she heard him state that part. You see, she had a bit of a condition that tended to show up uninvited, and it could very well ruin her chances here today. During her years of training while working along her friend Golden Delicious at Sweet Apple Acres, she would tend to push herself too far and her body would suddenly shut down on her. It has happened to her hundreds of times, and the first few times scared both her friends and family, because she would literally fall to the ground unconscious, no matter what she was doing at the time. Regardless of her worry, she knew that she couldn’t let it stop her from achieving her lifelong goal of becoming a royal guard.

“Now then, when I blow this whistle, we will start down the line, until everyone runs the course. That means that we will start with you, Jet Thrust, and we will continue until Princess…..”

“Ahem” Starburst gave the trainer a glare.

“Sorry, RECRUIT Starburst Sparkle.” the Sgt. corrected reluctantly.

Starburst smiled to herself ‘At least being Princess has its perks, I’m still in charge of everypony in the ranks.’

“Oh and before I forget, absolutely no flying and no magic. Does everypony understand?”

“SIR YES SIR” they all responded.

“Uh, sir permission to speak freely.” one the recruits spoke up.

“Granted.”

“If I may say, I believe it is unfair for the final obstacle to be a fight against Captain Sentry, mainly due to the fact that he may go easy on Starburst, her being his daughter and all.”

Starburst was about to call the guard out for stating such asinine statement, but her father spoke up and interrupted her. “Recruit, you are not here to complain about what is fair or isn’t fair, and it certainly is not your duty to point out such affairs either.” Flash Sentry started. “However, I will put your mind at ease by telling you that I will not see her as my daughter when she steps up here, instead I will see her as another recruit. She has chosen to do this, and she will either earn the right to finish this fairly, or not at all.” he finished, with a wink towards Starburst.

Starburst simply smiled at her father. She still remembers the day that he convinced her mom to let her do this. Her mom really never enjoyed the idea of her doing something that could hurt her, but her father convinced her to at least let her try for it, but at a cost. She knows that if she fails this, then she will no longer be allowed to try this, and she knows that there will be no talking her mom to let her continue to pursue this dream of hers, at least not anymore.

“Alright if there isn’t any more questions, Jet Thrust get into starting position.” Without hesitation, Jet got on the starting line and waited for the trainer to blow his whistle. “Ready, set…..” immediately the trainer blew his whistle and Jet took off like his name would give him credit for. He blazed over the walls, jumped over all the hurdles in record time. He reached Flash with still 1:30 minutes left on the clock. Without hesitation he grabbed the fencing sword and shield used during combat training and set his sights on the Captain, and in a flash, lunged at him with great speed and determination. Starburst watched in amazement at how much of a hard time the recruit was having to land a blow on her dad. Alas, in the end he managed to juke around Flash and counter-attack him in the side. The impact simply bounced off Flash’s armor, but it was enough to tell the fellow Captain that the recruit had bested him, and with thirty seconds to spare. He reached his hoof out and congratulated the recruit.

Without hesitation the next recruit was up and ready to begin. Starburst just sat by and watched as recruit after recruit went up and faced her father, a couple of them lost to him, one recruit actually sprained himself when he failed to clear a hurdle correctly. Finally, after half an hour it was her turn.

“Recruit Starburst, take position at the starting line.”

“Sir, yes Sir!”

Starburst anxiously got into position, she could feel herself getting nervous, and started taking slow and steady breaths to calm herself. She took in one last deep breath and shot off like a rocket when she heard the whistle blow. Starburst easily made it over the climbing walls in record time, she jumped over each hurdle with ease, and she quickly grabbed her equipment and charged at her father within seconds.

Flash Sentry was impressed, he really had to pull off some of his best defense towards Starburst. ‘She might as well be given her rank on the spot, she has me beat.’ he thought, smiling on the inside. He was filled with so much pride that he gave her his all, confident that she would trip him up somehow; and he was right, as she managed to get him to fall backwards with a upper slash.

‘I got him down now I just need to……’ everything went black.

Starburst awoke in a sudden daze. ‘What happened?’ she asked herself. She looked up to see her father looking down at her, as well as the trainer and some of her fellow guard recruits. Right then and there, Starburst knew what happened and the thought of it made her stomach twist into knots. “It happened again didn’t it?” she asked with a heavy heart.

“I’m afraid so recruit,” Thunderhead stated “and I’m afraid that means that you fail.” The trainer knew this news wouldn’t boast well for him, so once he stated the results to her, he stepped back and prepared for the worst. Instead, all he got was a tear filled face of the pony princess.

“Please sir, this whole thing means everything to me, and if my mom finds out I failed then she’ll never let me try this again. Besides i knocked my father down that has to account for something, right? PLEASE!” Starburst had tears streaming down her face, she knew that this was all she knew, her only skilled passion (other than dancing but she didn’t really want to go professional with that).

“Look Starburst, I can’t just give into your sob story; mainly because i have to agree with your mother. You claim to be able to defend yourself and you can, there’s no denying that. However, if your father had been a real enemy and you were really fighting, you blacking out the way you did would have been the end of you. You’ve promised me hundreds of time that you will learn to stop that from happening, but until I see proof of that, I’m afraid I can’t let you do this anymore. I’m sorry Princess, but I have to ask that you take off that gear and return to your mother’s plan for you.”

With those final words, Starburst’s world came crashing down on her. For what seemed like forever, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t think, all she could do was hate. “SO THAT’S IT? JUST LIKE THAT I HAVE TO GIVE UP AND FORGET EVERYTHING I’VE WORKED; MY ENTIRE LIFE TO GET IS THAT IT?” The trainer reeled back, he knew that this would happen and he was prepared for the worst. “I BUCKING HATE YOU, I HATE YOUR STUPID RULES, I HATE BEING CALLED PRINCESS, I HATE MY STUPID CONDITION, AND I HATE MY MOTHER FOR GIVING ME ONLY ONE CHANCE TO DO THIS!!!!!!!!!”

“STARBURST SPARKLE! YOU WILL SHOW RESPECT TOWARDS YOUR MOTHER.” Flash stated. “I know that she can be unreasonable about this, but you will not speak such things about her! Do I make myself clear!?”

Starburst turned to her father and was about to say something, but before she could bring herself to say something, her heart stopped her. She knew that what her father said was true, and her heart was stricken with nothing, but grief at what she had said. Without saying anything she started crying again and shot off into the sky, back towards the castle.

“STARBURST.” Flash called out, only to have his words fall on deaf ears. Flash felt terrible about snapping at her like that. ‘Why does being a good Father have to do this to me?’ He beat himself up about it on the inside, but realized that he needed to find her before she thinks of doing anything too hasty. “Sergeant, escort these recruits to the barracks and have them fitted for their armor. Congrats to all of you for completing your training. DISMISSED!”

Without hesitation, the newly drafted recruits saluted their superior officer and headed over to the barracks, with the Sergeant leading them. Flash watched them for a few more second before he shot off towards the castle, hoping that he could find Starburst and talk to her before she does something that both of them will regret.

Author's Note

I hope that y'all are enjoying it so far, and don't forget to read the rest