“Okay, just breathe pony. You can do this.”

“If your little sister can get into the best school in the land, you can DO THIS!”

Shining Armour sweat profusely as he charged his spell again. A magenta glow encased his horn as his shield spell grew. It started as a small frontal barrier, and was slowly stretching around him into a dome…

CRACK

A crack formed in the shield, and it shattered. Shining collapsed in a pool of sweat, his legs splayed out from the amount of energy he poured into the spell. In a daze, he picked himself up and sighed. This is the fourth time today he's failed his "signature" spell. The spell that got him his own cutie mark. He was about to go for a fifth time, when he heard a knock on his door.

"Shining? You need to come downstairs, it's dinner time.", A velvety voice called from the other side of the door.

Sighing, Shining was about to decline the offer, however, his stomach agreed very loudly. With a blush and a very articulate reply, he went downstairs.

Dinner was normal as it was every night. Shining played with his food as he listened to his parents talk about their day, and Twilight talked about her latest test. All was normal. Well, at least it was for three-fourths of them. Twilight noticed her BBBFF was a little down. She didn't want to say anything to upset him, but she hated seeing him like this. Then it hit her. She had a plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After everyone had eaten, Shining put his bowl in the sink and trudged back up to his room. He opened his door, only to be tackled by a blur of purple. He shook his head and looked on his stomach, and there she was. His little sister.

"Shiny!", Twilight half shouted with full joy.

"Not now Twily, I've got some stuff to do. We can play later." Shining said, rolling on to his hooves, knocking Twilight off in the process.

"Buuuuuuuuuuut Shiny, you promised me a story!" Twilight whined. She was right, of course. He had promised her a story if she left him alone earlier this morning.

"Alright, Twiliy, one story," Shining relented. He had to, before the filly brought out her weapons grade look. All fillies had them, even grown mares still had an effect on him. (He found this out when he tried to refuse his sister's foalsitter attempt to play a game with them. One is bad enough, but two of them? He had a cardiologist appointment on standby for the incident.)

Twilight danced in place and quickly went to retrieve a book. A book her tutor gave her before leaving today. She thought if anything could get her brother out of his mood, this book could. And it's time he can spend with his adorkable sister, how can it not help? She hopped in her favorite chair, as Shining dragged in his bean-bag chair from his room. They sat in the living room, and Twilight put the book in front of her brother, before squee-ing expectantly.

"An account of Princess Celestia's Guard?" Shining read aloud. This hardly seemed like a book his sister would like. Normally they'd read something about Starswirl, or a calculus text book. Maybe a bad "Knight saves the Princess" story.

"Yeah! Princess Celestia gave it to me today! She smiled really big when i accepted it." Twilight said, barely holding in her enthusiasm.

Shining chuckled at his sister's display of nerdisism. He knew that wasn't a word, but that wasn't going to stop him from saying it in his head. Besides, had he said out loud, the pony dictionary, the Ponictionary, would have a half hour rant on how you can't just make up words. With that in mind, he began to read.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia's Guard, the Solar Squadron, started in 1 ANM, after the Legion of the Diarch was dissolved due to unknown reasons. The newly appointed Guard used ponies from all three Tribes, and they were sectioned off into different teams, each team with one representative of the Tribes. This was done, of course, to not only symbolize the idea of the Unity of Tribes, but to strengthen that idea of harmony.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Skip ahead a bit Shiny, I've read that part already. I left a bookmark on the page i left off on," Twilight said, sipping her juicebox. Their mother had came by while he was reading, and he hadn't noticed. Sometimes they thought she was a ninja, due to her stealth capabilities.

"Alright, alright, we'll skip." Shining said, flipping to the page his sister had left off on.

"Swordhorns?" Shining muttered to himself. This was strange, he'd never heard of these guards. Shrugging he continued his reading.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Swordhorns were a part of an elite task force that kept the peace during the time of Unity. They were Unicorns of the highest caliber, with reports of their magic being connected to the Fade itself. The Swordhorns were capable of great feats of magic, not to mention their skill in hoof to hoof combat was nearly unmatched. During the time of Unity, they protected the ponies from outside threats as well as threats that were inside the Equestrian borders. The only mystery that remains of these paragons of magic, was their creation. Any records about these Swordhorns were kept under heavy guard in the Royal Archives. However, by word of mouth, they live on as legends and stories for towns all around Equestria. There is speculation that these may just be that, legends and stories, just to keep the idea that the new Guard has the same pull as these legends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shining's ear flicked when he heard light snoring as he finished reading. He looked over the book to see his sister sleeping in her chair. Laughing to himself, he put the book down, and took his sister back to her room. He walked slowly out of her room, careful not to wake her, and then retreated back to the living room. Surely she wouldn't mind if he read some more, right? He picked the book back up, and a page flew out.

"Horseapples" He thought to himself. If a page was missing, she would notice and he would be dead. Well, not really, but he knew better than to chance it. She can be quite vicious for a filly half his size. He picked up the page only to notice that it wasn't from the book. It was old, torn at the edges, and had faded markings on it...

It was a map...

Author's Note

I think i'm getting better at this updating shit.