Equestrian Guard

Slowly the sun rose from the horizon of the vast snow-covered trees that surrounded Caval. It was early, only a few ponies exiting from their homes to begin their day of work. Not much has changed in the small town, a few newly built homes and shops, overall much of the same. The snow came in much more the past few days as autumn slowly drifted away into winter, the frost from beneath being crunched by the walking of hooves. As always, the town was well stocked for the farmland that many had would be dormant until spring started making its way.

Past the snowy town into the forest, the pathways barley visible cut off into two, moving further ahead to the one going north revealed a wooden home which mostly was surrounded by a white blanket of snow but on the far left were growing and blooming primrose flowers. The chimney from the home was already producing smoke as the fireplace inside kept the fire in its place. Sitting by it was the honey-colored pegasus, Diamond Crown, looking as dull as he usually looks while drinking cider. On the top of the bricks of the fireplace had frames of pictures, one of him and his wife, another of very young Sunshine, and on the far right was him and Winter looking much younger in their royal guard armor, the background being a sandy hill. The picture was one he stared at the most his mind being lost as the memories poured in, the clashing of metal entering his ears.

“Diamond!” Called out Paradise, bringing him back from his trance. She came out from the kitchen. “Diamond did you hear me?” She asked.

He took a deep breath, placing the cider down. “No my jewel. Sorry.” He stood up and walked over to the mare. “Did you need something?”

Paradise smirked at him, placing a hoof on his chest. “Somepony is outside waiting for their father to give them flying lessons.”

Diamond raised an eyebrow and walked inside the kitchen and looking out the window. There he saw their young lavender-blue colt out in the snow wearing a vest rolling around in the frost, the snow getting into his navy-blue mane. Soon his ears picked up the opening of the front door. “Hold it!” He yelled out, hearing a quick yelp as the door quickly closed. He walked back towards the main room with Paradise following seeing an older Sunshine attempting to sneak out from the house. She was wearing her saddle bag, lower on her left hoof the braided leather bracelet. She also wore her golden scarf she earned from completing the first six months of the guard reserve right after she graduated from school. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked her.

“Duh, I was,” she thought about her next words, watching her father stare at her. “I was...going to...where was I going? Ha! I forgot! I’ll let you know later when I come back from wherever I’m going.” She attempted to open the door but was kept closed by Diamond’s wing. She sighed, “Fine, I’m going over to Mr. Ember’s house.”

Diamond groaned. “You’re going to see that, thing-”

“He’s not a thing!” Sunshine yelled out, quickly putting a hoof to her mouth. “Sorry.”

“I don’t see a problem in her going, reminds me of my failed attempts in sneaking out to see you,” Paradise smiled.

“Don’t you have training to keep up on? You’ll have to go back to complete the reserve in another two months,” asked Diamond.

Sunshine was scratching the floor with her hoof. “Yes...I know. But I really want to see him. It’s been six months,” she said softly.

Diamond looked at her then sighed, releasing the pressure from the door. There he saw Sunshine’s face turn from being dejected to joyful. He met a tight hug coming from his daughter. “Alright, alright, I get it. Just behave!” He told her, seeing her quickly exit the house. He followed her out, seeing her fly away. “And if he does anything to you, stab him!”

“Diamond!” Paradise said, poking him.

“What? I’m serious.”

“‘Stab him?’ Really?” She turned around and returned to the kitchen.

“Tch, mares,” he closed the door and followed not to far behind.

In the skies, Sunshine flew feeling the rush of the cold air hitting her face. She turned to her right seeing the sun rise much higher, the light now shining brighter than before. She spun around a bit, her pink-dark-pink mane flowing along, it being grown a bit longer than when she was younger. Could have been longer but it had to be cut to meet the standards. Soon she closed her wings and started her dive down towards the home of Winter Ember, soon opening them to slow her decent once she got close enough. Landing on the ground, she looked over to the gray stallion standing idle towards the snow-covered farmland. He rubbed his chin as he stood there, not noticing her until she started walking over to him. “Good morning Mr. Ember,” she said, standing by him.

“Mornin’” he replied, his breath freezing when exhaling. He looked, and felt, much older than he did back then. Still if he really wanted to he could still pull off looking thirty then his age of fifty. “Heard you came back from the reserves two weeks ago. How was that?”

“Oh you know, exercise and yelling. I’m heading back in two months to complete the training.” She looked to where he stared, seeing at the end a single cabbage growing with no care in the world.

“Not sure how that happened,” Winter started, “To be honest I don’t even remember planting cabbage.”

A chuckle came from him and Sunshine smiled, remembering the past years him being less uptight and a bit more expressive. “You should save that and grow more. Would probably be useful to have in the future.” She heard him hum while nodding. “How’s Mistral?”

“She’s alright. Sleeping right now for the time being.” It had been awhile since Sunshine had met Mistral, knowing ponies in Equestria are still rather afraid of them and are a rarity to see them out from their main home. But she had accepted her as any other pony she meets. “Recently she’s been visiting this zebra east in the Everfree. Apparently helped create this potion and gave it to Althalos three months ago.”

“Really? How did that go?” Sunshine asked.

“Damned idiot drank the entire bottle at one go instead of a cup. Mistral failed to explain that sooner and next thing we know he’s collapsing onto the floor unconscious.” He sighed, remembering how much Mistral caressed the human feeling awful.

“What did he drink?”

“Supposedly it was a potion meant to soothe and heal the vocal cords. Basically give him a voice which I doubted would work.”

“Doubted?” Sunshine started to feel excitement rise from within her.

“Yeah. Doubted. Forgot how miracles work here in Equestria.” Winter scratched his head. “A week after he collapsed he woke up to a crying Mistral. His first words, though with a lot of pauses, was: ‘Mistral, why are you crying?’ I’ve never seen her eyes shine like that except for the time we got together. And when the kid realized that what he said wasn’t in his mind, he practically crushed us with his hug.”

“That’s such great news Mr. Ember.”

“But,” he interrupted, “The potion’s effects are supposedly temporary. So we don’t know when his voice will disappear, Tartarus, we don’t know if it’ll just make his throat even worse. So what I would do is go look for him before his voice disappears.”

Sunshine looked confused. “Look for-? What?”

Winter rolled his eyes. “I know you came to see him and not this old stallion. Go on, he went out on his exercise awhile ago and he should be by the lake pretty soon.”

Sunshine nodded and thanked him, turning and trotting towards the pathway she knew he would run in. Periodically she would call out his name, wondering if he was close by. By the time she reached the lake, she stood there on the sand looking around for him. She stood on the same spot the two met many years ago. She sighed, about to turn around but heard the water moving.

Popping up with a large splash of water, Althalos Ember took a deep breath and started swimming towards the shore, pushing back his long brown hair. Slowly he reached shallow water and started running out from it but soon stopped seeing Sunshine standing still with a smile. He smiled back to her, wishing to hug her if anything but he didn’t want her to get wet.

Sunshine looked at the rugged and athletic man that stood in front of her, wearing nothing but leather briefs and his scar on his chest being visible. Not actual leather of course. “Umm, hi.” Hi? Really? “I heard somepony got a voice.”

Althalos raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Yeah,” he said, his voice sounding like it had an accent. It matched with how he was looking with his long hair and trimmed beard, but still having that youthful spirit that he had since he was young. “Umm, I...” He didn’t know what to say, being happy to see her. It had been six months since but felt like she’s been gone for years.

The two stood awkwardly by each other, not knowing what else to do, what else to say now Althalos had his voice. Both looked to the ground in opposite directions then to each other’s bracelet, both being worn down since they didn’t remove it other than to sleep. Soon their eyes locked, her pink with his blue, they both looking away a second after blushing.

“How are you?” Althalos asked.

“I’m good. You?” She replied.

“Good.” Again silence returned between them for another minute. “Do you...want to come over?” He asked.

“Heh, that’s what I’m here for,” said Sunshine.

The two walked off the sand and onto the pathway back to the house, both calming down from seeing each other after the six month break. Their friendship remained strong, even more so that they started to form an attraction for one another despite their racial difference. It reminded Sunshine of school far from Caval. Though she kept Althalos a secret, she couldn’t help but mention a hint about a certain ‘pony’ to her few friends when they talked about stallions. Another time being the dance which she went with her friends, then later returning home and seeing him waiting for her and next thing she knew they were dancing.

“How-” Althalos coughed a bit, “Sorry, how was the reserves?”

She returned back from her memories. “Mostly was yelling and exercise. I would say ninety percent was yelling.”

“Sounds like my father, always yelling at me to be faster,” he replied.

Sunshine noticed his expression changing once he realized he was supposed to be running. “Don’t worry I got, well, I think I got your father’s permission to steal you away from your training.”

A sigh of relief came from him. “Thanks.” He noticed that the pathway was ending as they neared the house. He looked at the gray stallion who was now looking closely at the single cabbage that grew. “I wonder how that happened.”

“He said the same thing.”

The two entered the house, Althalos closing the door and was behind Sunshine walking upstairs to his room looking down to not look at her flank. In the room, he grabbed a large cloth and dried off any water that remained from him and started to put on his clothes that was custom-made for a human like him. Sunshine watched as she sat on his bed, pulling off her saddlebag and laying it out. “So I managed to find this book you wanted so much of.”

Althalos sat on the other side, watching her pull out the book. It was another Daring Do novel. “Awesome. This must have been hard to find hearing that it sold out so fast.”

Sunshine groaned, remembering the scene. “Don’t get me started with that. I practically had to pry it away from those fanatics when they saw me taking the last copy.” She listened to him laugh, which was music to her ears. He sounds so great.

“Well, thank you for getting it for me. I would have gone myself if, you know,” he sighed.

“Althalos, there’s nothing wrong being a human,” said Sunshine.

“Ha! Funny. You know most ponies still don’t like me cause I’m a human. They think I’m a minotaur or something that is going to eat them. Your father being one of them.”

“I know, I’m sorry that he isn’t understanding. But look, you have ponies that like you for you. You have your father, your mother, my mother, and of course, me!”

Althalos couldn’t help but chuckle. “Thanks Sunshine. Not sure what I’d be without you.”

“A helpless human with no friends.”

“Hey, hey.”

“What? It’s true!” Sunshine laughed. Soon she felt him poking her and she laughed even more. “N-no! Sto-stop!”

“Pft, who’s looking helpless now!?” Althalos laughed out. The poking ensued before with a last-minute effort he was pushed onto his back, her sitting on top of him staring down at him.

She breathed heavily calming down from her laughter. “You and your damn hands,” she breathed out, her hair in a bit of a mess.

The two remained as they were, staring at one another as they both calmed down, only thing racing was what beat inside their chest. Her eyes reminded him of the soft-pink dahlias he would get her even though her parents could probably grow them, it being her favorite as well. His eyes reminded her of the ocean that calmly rushed up the beach, the blue looking soft as ever.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

The two didn’t know what else to say, instead they both turned their attention to the door that opened, Mistral walking in then pausing seeing the two in their position. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

Sunshine got off him and stood on the floor, Althalos standing on the floor as well. “No Mistral, sorry.”

“Yeah, she’s sorry,” said Althalos.

“Hey!”

Mistral smirked to his response. “Althalos, can you walk over to Caval and pick up some medicine for your father. I’m not sure why but he’s really fixated on that cabbage I planted.”

“Oh you put it there. Why don’t you tell him that so he can return to Equestria,” said Althalos.

“Why would I do that? It would ruin the fun,” she smiled. “Please?”

“Yes mother, I’ll make my way there,” he replied, walking over to find his boots and coat.

“Don’t forget to take your mare with you,” Mistral said, walking out.

“Yes- Hey!” He groaned, hearing his mother laugh. “So, you ready to go? It’s a bit of a walk you know.”

“Just because I’m a pegasus doesn’t mean I don’t like walking everywhere. Besides, I wouldn’t want to beat you there,” she said exiting the room.

He followed, closing the door behind him. “Funny, last time I remember I was the one beating you there.”

They both were soon outside. “Oh-ho-ho, is that a challenge I hear, minotaur.”

“Hmm, I think so, horse.” She gasped, looking like she wanted to cry. “Hey, no, sorry I-” Suddenly she bolted up into the sky laughing as she flew away towards Caval.

“Catch me if you can!”

“Tartarus I hate it when she does that,” he said, looking back down seeing Winter looking at him.

“You better beat that mare or I’m making you run laps!” Winter threatened from across the snow-covered farmland.

“Yes father!” He replied, quickly getting into a sprint down the pathway towards Caval.

Althalos panted hard as he made it just a bit before Sunshine did by the outskirts of Caval, already live with activity. He smirked towards her as she landed, being as tired as he was her wings falling limp. “Guess I beat you again,” he said.

“Psh, I only let you get ahead so I wouldn’t have to feel bad,” she replied. “So medicine right?”

“Yeah, pain medicine. Father has bad pain in his joints and also his hooves.” Althalos explained.

The two walked with each other into the town. Sunshine started speaking after. “My father takes sleeping medicine to help keep his body relaxed. He sleepwalks apparently but I’ve never seen him going up and down the house.”

“Probably means the medicine is working as it should.”

“True.”

They both enter the medicine store, seeing the doctor reading the latest news from the paper. Sunshine wondered off to the magazine side of the store while Althalos walked up to the counter. “Sup doc.”

The doctor raised an eyebrow seeing Althalos in front of him. “Could have sworn I heard you speak.”

“You forget already the last time I got here?”

The doctor facehoofed. “Right, the potion. You know, you shouldn’t resort to such dangerous lengths to have your voice. You could have possibly harmed yourself more or worse, gotten yourself killed.”

“I know doc, you told me before.”

“And I will continue to remind you to trust what is tested and deemed safe by Equestrian standards than some voodoo witch doctor.” He placed the newspaper down. “Now, what can I help you with today?”

“Just picking up my father’s medicine. Right now he’s too fixated on this cabbage that suddenly grew in our land my mother planted, though he doesn’t know that yet.”

“If a random cabbage suddenly appeared on my land through all this snow, I would be fixated as well. You know how much food we can get if we replant it? But enough of me speaking, let me go get his prescription.” The doctor got up and walked down one of the aisle.

Turning to his right he saw Sunshine reading through one magazine while she waited for him. He returned his attention to the doctor who brought the medicine in a paper bag, taking it from his mouth. “Thanks doc,” said Althalos.

“No problem, now go on and live your life,” the doctor replied.

Althalos walked out from the store, Sunshine following behind once she put back the magazine she read. “What-“ Again he started coughing before he calmed himself.

Sunshine looked concerned, placing a hoof on his hand. “You alright?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. I think it’s one of the side-effects of the potion. It’s been coming and going.”

“I see. I hope it doesn’t do too much harm to you,” she said.

“Don’t worry Sunshine, I’ll be okay. What were you reading earlier?”

“Oh it was some teen magazine. You know, the gossip and what’s trending at the moment.”

“You read it often?”

“No.” She met a gaze from him, and she sighed. “Yes. It’s entertaining!”

“I ain’t judging, was only wondering,” he said noticing the growing crowd around the large board. “Wonder what’s happening there.”

The two made their way towards the board, the few that saw Althalos stepping to the side to let him pass. In front of them was a large poster of the E.U.P., the design looking well made and eye-catching as it advertised for many to join to keep Equestria safe from any harm. “Know anything about this?” He asked Sunshine.

She shook her head. “I figured we had enough royal guards in Equestria.” Looking on the bottom right corner was a small text saying: News to follow. “Take a look at that.”

Althalos looked closely, seeing the small text. “That is hard to see next to this design. Wonder what that could be.”

“No clue,” Sunshine replied.

Althalos hummed, staring at the poster of the lines of guards standing at attention with both the princesses standing behind them pointing towards whatever it could be. Then an idea came to him as he continued to stare at the poster. All this training he had gone through since he was a child made him how he is, from the faint memory of the battle he was in to where he is now. His father wouldn’t have made him do such thing unless he was planning on sending him to join the E.U.P., just like how he did back when he was young. He was eighteen, eligible age to enlist, and much ready to take anything that he would be thrown at. The armor that was on the stallions and mares was what he imagined he would wear, it being custom made for his human physique of course.

“So, what should we do now?” Asked Sunshine.

Althalos cleared his throat. “Well I got to drop off this medicine first. Then we could do something after.”

“Alright, let’s get to it then. We could probably think of something along the way,” she said, leading the way.

The sun made its reach to the other side of the sky, signaling that the day was coming to an end. From the hours spent in the snow, both Althalos and Sunshine filled it with playful moments and regular discussions. Both were walking on the snowy pathway towards her house as the sun continued to set. Now standing by the door, the two stood still.

“So you sure you’re okay?” Sunshine asked.

“Yeah, the rock didn’t really do much to me,” replied Althalos, remembering the impact he received from the snow-covered rock that was thrown at him.

“Alright,” she smiled. “I had a good day, a bit different than before now that you can speak.”

“I’m not sure how long it will last, but I hope it will for a long time. Writing down everything is hard.”

Sunshine nodded. “See you later?”

“See you later, Sunshine.” Althalos said, beginning to turn away but was held by her wing on his hand. He turned around and looked at her. “What is it?” He asked softly, being pulled closer. There was uncertainty on the look on her face, a desire for a specific action she wanted.

She looked up to him. “Althalos…I-”

Suddenly the door quickly opened, revealing Diamond about to walk out but stopping seeing both Althalos and his daughter close. “Hey, hey, hey, what’s going on here?”

Sunshine didn’t know how to respond, instead Althalos taking the initiative. He pulled back his hand from her wing and pointed towards it, acting as if he had hurt it and signaling that he wanted her to check it.

She soon understood what he was doing. “Uh, he wanted me to check his hand because it was hurting. But it looked okay to me.”

Diamond hummed, then nodded. “Well, he should get it checked out if he can. I was about to go look for you but here you are. Dinner is ready so come inside.”

Sunshine nodded, leaving Althalos but was quickly pulled towards him receiving a tight hug, squeaking by the sudden closeness. She was then placed back down, her cheeks blushing by being in his arms and wishing she was held by them longer. He gave her a quick salute before turning around and running off back home, leaving her smiling and her father yelling at him for laying hooves on her.

It didn’t really matter much to him as he continued to run towards his home, the crunching of the snow being loud beneath his feet. Brushing past the snowy trees, a shortcut he would consider it as he broke off from the pathway, he took in the surroundings of another winter in this world. Jumping over a bush he made it to his home, seeing the cabbage still where it was this morning before entering inside, the warmth hitting him as Winter kept the fire going, the large pot of soup boiling and letting off a savory smell.

“Did you win?” He asked.

“Yes father. I wouldn’t lose with all the training I’ve gotten from you,” said Althalos, sitting down on the chair by the table. He then felt Mistral’s bat-wings wrapping around him.

“Maybe it was the excitement from earlier in the day that didn’t make you lose,” said Mistral.

“Mother, please,” he groaned.

Winter brought a plate of bread to the table before returning to the pot. “You bucked Sunshine? Diamond is going to go berserk once he finds out.”

“No I didn’t buck her. Come on it’s not like that.” Althalos took a piece of the loaf of bread.

Mistral laughed and pulled away, sitting at the table next to him. “Winter and I both know you two have the biggest crush for each other ever since both of you were little. You don’t have to hide it from us.”

“I mean, I don’t know...” Althalos trailed off for a moment before continuing. “She’s a pony, and I’m a human. Wouldn’t it be better if she found a stallion to be with?”

Winter brought the two of them a bowl of soup, him bringing one himself before joining them at the table. “You hearing yourself right now. Cause what I’m hearing is damned excuses not to be honest to yourself. Just look at Mistral and I, we’re different but we still work out better than anypony out there.”

“Yeah but you two are ponies at the end. I’m a completely different race here. The only one if anything…” He remembered how little there was other than folktales about what a human was.

“Boy,” Winter said, getting Althalos’ attention. “Do you like her or not?”

“I do. I’ve always had been.”

“There you go.” Winter took a sip of the soup. “You’re eighteen, a grown stallion-err-man. You better take this opportunity before regret not acting on it.”

Althalos nodded, taking a few sips of his soup before bringing up what he wanted to talk about. “I’ve been meaning to ask...” Both Mistral and Winter looked over to him. “With all this training and exercise that I’ve gone through, there has to have been a purpose for it.”

“It was meant to keep you healthy and disciplined so when the time comes you’ll be self-sufficient. Also remember Mistral’s teaching which makes you not too far behind what a regular pony would learn in school,” Winter said.

“Well, what if it pointed towards something much more active.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I walked into Caval, Sunshine and I saw a poster about the E.U.P. which looked well made and was calling for many to join. I figured with all that I’ve gone through and done I would-”

“No,” Winter interrupted.

“No?”

“No. You cannot join. There’s no need for you to join,” said Winter.

Althalos didn’t know what to say, confused to what his purpose was now. “So am I just supposed to live my entire life here?”

“I didn’t mean it like that. Althalos, most here though some don’t like it accept you as part of Caval. But if you were to leave here, you would be at risk of getting hurt because nopony knows who and what you are.”

“Ponies out of Caval are going to find out someday father.”

“That’s true but there’s no need for you to be part of the guard. All of Equestria hasn’t been in a conflict for a long, long time. The guard today are mostly for ceremonial purposes.”

“How did you get your scar then?”

“Accident.” Winter stood up from the table and made his way towards the door. “I’m going to walk for a bit.”

Althalos and Mistral were soon left alone. “What do you think?” He asked.

Mistral sighed. “He’s only looking for your well being.”

He nodded and stood from the table. “But in the end I’m left with no purpose other than being a lost human.” He turned around and made his way upstairs to go to his room.