Peace. A simple, five-letter word that, at times, seems intangible and almost dreamlike. Yet, peace is an apt word that many would apply to Equestria. Somehow, peace is what comes to mind to many ponies when they think about our land in spite of the abundance of incidents that could be endlessly argued to be our darkest days.
It was those darkest days that spur ponies like me on and give us the drive to serve, whether it’s as an emergency tactical flyer on the Wonderbolts or, in my case, enlisting in the Equestrian Royal Guard. My name is Regalia Cross, a pegasus mare who could be easily spotted in a crowd by her long, royal blue braided tail and the crossed swords embellishing her flank. I was the fourth generation in a row to serve on the Royal Guard, but that wasn’t my reasoning for enlisting.
I joined the Equestrian Royal Guard shortly after the return of Nightmare Moon. Though Twilight Sparkle, a simple unicorn scholar at the time, and her new friends brought swift resolution to the situation regarding Nightmare Moon, her return and the apparent disappearance of Celestia shook our land to its core. For a whole millennium, we reveled in peace brought onto us by the princess of the sun, but it became clear on that very Summer Sun Celebration that we could not put the onus of our peace onto her alone. Equestria was my home, and I would put my hooves, wings and entire being into protecting it.
Little did I know that every event and every change that struck Equestria reached me. Captain Shining Armor, one of the greatest users of defense-type magic in Royal Guard history, leaving Canterlot to rule the Crystal Empire with Princess Cadance was one of the biggest changes in my life since I joined the Guard that I’d ever experienced. I’d been under his direct command, and one could imagine my shock when he took whatever time he could to be amiable with each and every pony on his squad. He wanted to learn as much as he could about his brothers and sisters in arms. Nopony had ever asked me to open up to them like that before. He wanted to learn our strengths and weaknesses, our likes and dislikes, what our Cutie Marks meant; he wanted to know who we fundamentally were as ponies. I’d even fought tooth and nail against the Changelings at his wedding, but that was a story for another day. Watching him go was hard, but at the time, I had no idea how much of an impact his little sister would eventually have on me.
A became an admirer of hers from afar when Tirek had escaped Tartarus and become an at-large threat. He had taken all the magic in Equestria and taken the height of hubris as an expectation to which to rise. Even with the odds stacked against them, Twilight Sparkle and her friends had used the magic of friendship, a magic that served as the foundation of Equestria, to overcome the seemingly insurmountable. From defeating Tirek to reforming Discord to guiding Starlight Glimmer onto a more harmonious path, Twilight’s group had made impossibility a mere myth. Those mares were emblematic of everything I strived for.
Our nation still faced bigger and bigger changes toward a peace and prosperity born anew from the shards of the peace we’d lost after a thousand years. With her School of Friendship, Twilight had sparked revolutionary foreign policy with our bordering nations. She sought to bring friendship to faraway lands, voiding conflict in the process. I knew in my heart of hearts that she valued us as soldiers, and she was bridging the gaps for our sakes as well. I could see it in her eyes and a smile she flashed me when meeting with Princess Celestia and Chancellor Neighsay about the school. I couldn’t show it—or rather, I didn’t have it in me to show it—but I fought hard to hold back tears when those violet eyes struck my copper ones. Those eyes said so little, yet so much.
Thank you for your service, my little pony.
Once again, she reminded me of why I served. Why all of us served. We wanted to protect our princesses, certainly, but it was more than that. We served to protect all of our fellow ponies, our homes, our families and our virtues. I guessed that she knew this with the military stature of her brother. The power of friendship and the will to preserve it was not exclusive to us soldiers or Twilight’s group, either. A small group of students had inherited that will when one of our own citizens, Cozy Glow, sought to undermine everything Equestria stood for just to gain power.
Cozy Glow was a unique case, and one that broke my heart. She was so young and, unlike any major threat that had faced our land before, she was a product of modern Equestrian society. What went wrong? She displayed brilliant tactical prowess, especially for her age, but how bad could things have been for a filly of our own culture to want to hoard power?
Yet, these students of various species had shown the school—no, the entire world—just how much their friendship meant to them.
Then came my big promotion. It wasn’t any official, out-of-ordinary kind of promotion within the Royal Guard, but it was so much more to me. I was promoted to an admirer of Princess Twilight to her friend after her ascension to the highest throne in the land.
It was about a week after her…memorable coronation ceremony. All of us who were stationed at Canterlot Castle were assembled to officially meet Princess Twilight Sparkle as Equestria’s new ruler and listen to her short- and long-term goals regarding our rank and file. From any other point of view, it would look as though she were merely scanning the crowd, but I could tell that she was taking the time to study and remember all of our faces and expressions. I was just another face in the crowd, but she locked eyes with me for the second time now.
“Dismissed,” the princess, and our new commander-in-chief, announced. My fellow compatriots departed, yet I stood in place like a statue. She knew kindness, loyalty, generosity, laughter and honesty, and brought those virtues with her everywhere she went. I enjoyed serving under Princess Celestia’s command, but Princess Twilight breathed new life into everything that made Equestria the nation it was.
As the courtyard cleared out, Princess Twilight spread her wings and flew to me, landing right in front of me, astonishing me. My mind racing, I reflexively saluted. She beamed at me, and her assistant and ambassador, Spike, flew to her side.
“Tell me your name, soldier,” Twilight instructed.
“Regalia Cross, Your Highness,” I stated matter-of-factly.
“It’s nice to finally meet you! I thought I recognized you from here and there. Can I ask you something?” she asked, speaking to me like we’d known each other since foalhood.
“Uhh, y-yes, Your Highness,” I stammered, cursing myself inside.
“Am I crazy?” she asked. I must have looked at her as though she was because the princess quickly amended, “I mean, increasing our diplomatic and utility focus. Do you think it’s a bad move?”
“Not at all, Your Highness,” I replied. “I can’t thank you enough for it. I love serving on the Guard, but it helps to know that you want to use our forces to help others. Helping our own ponies and our allies will make us all stronger and happier. At least, that’s what I think.”
“That’s friendship,” Twilight replied with a smile. “Hey, if I offered you the position of being my personal guard, what would you do?”
“I…” I trailed off. Was she speaking in hypotheticals or was she offering the job to me? “What?”
“I would love to have you as my personal guard, but only if you’re okay with it. I want to be your friend, Regalia,” she clarified.
“I-I would be honored, Princess, but am I worthy?” I asked, the words falling out of my mouth thoughtlessly.
“It’s not about being worthy,” she told me. Her violet eyes shone with a radiance unlike the sun or moon, but of the soul. I was captivated. Her charisma was comfortable yet ensnaring. “It’s about being together and being better together. I only wish those who called themselves the Legion of Doom understood.” The twinkle in her eye flickered and dimmed, just for a moment.
A long silence hung between us as words crowded my head and my throat, vying for supremacy as the right thing to say. At last, my heart’s truth emerged from the swarm of thoughts. My honest opinion made itself known. “It wouldn’t be easy. For all we know, it’s a fool’s errand. Still, I think it’s possible to show them a better path someday. What would it take to get them to walk it? I don’t know, but the magic of friendship lives on.” Her eyes wide, she just stared at me. I quickly and nervously added, “Y-your Highness.” I was surprised at myself. I was never one for rambling and long speeches. If I could have been more concise, I happily would have, but I needed her to know that I was identifying with long odds at best to cling to my beliefs.
“Thank you, Regalia. I think we’ll get along just fine,” the alicorn princess told me. She beamed at me, and her dragon companion smirked in approval. “Can you provide me your insight again sometime?”
My heart swelled. In a lot of ways, she was just like Shining Armor. Just as well, in ways just as numerous, she was so very different from her brother. Eagerly, I answered, “Yes! Yes, I’d like that, Princess.”
That was the start of my friendship with Princess Twilight Sparkle, the most important promotion I’ve ever had. My rank wasn’t directly affected by my new role, but I believed it to be much greater. This was somepony I could open up to, somepony I could share my family history, my personal motivations and my opinions with. A friend is a creature you can rely on and believe in. I was yet another inheritor of the magic of friendship that forged Equestria’s will and core values and I was tasked to pass it on to future generations of enlisted guards; a task which I believed to be the highest honor in the land.
A soldier’s will is not to fight in war, but to protect the peace of those they love.
Author's Note
I've been meaning to write this forever. I, personally, am not involved in the military. However, a few of my friends are and some relatives of mine were. My grandfather was a paratrooper. My great-uncle from a different bloodline altogether fought in the Vietnam War so they wouldn't send his brother to the battlefield. Some of my friends from college were enrolled via the school through army route. One of my coworkers right now is in training and ships out in November. My sister's supervisor from her summer job was previously in the coast guard. Even a politician I actually like, Representative Tulsi Gabbard, enlisted in the army national guard out of a sense of duty to protect our country following the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. I take an anti-conflict stance, personally, but I'm very much about supporting the troops.
Regardless of your stance on war or where you're from, if your country has armed forces, their reasons for enlisting come from a sense of duty and fellowship.
To any current, former or even future soldiers who want to protect your country, family, friends and home, I have only this to say:
Thank you
