So I guess I'm in the Royal Guard now?

If somepony told her a year ago that this was what she’d be wearing right about now, she would have laughed in their face, but now that she was the one on the other side, she wasn’t laughing. The pegasus looked up and down at her reflection, trying her best not to cringe at the image, but it was all so… gold! And her mane was… Well, she’d never seen it look like that before. Now it made sense why she was the only mare in the Royal Guard. This outfit was definitely not designed to bring out her feminine appeal. Not that that ever mattered much before, but this was all just so…

“Looking sharp, rookie!”

Lightning Dust flinched at the sound, but the feeling of a surprise claw on her shoulder made her practically jump out of her armor. Turning her neck, she saw Gallus looking down at her with a cocky smirk, causing her to roll her eyes and look back at her reflection.

“Oh, don’t be a douche, Gall--I mean, Commander.”

Hearing her unnatural politeness only made the griffon smile wider, which subsequently only served to make Lightning Dust regret saying it in general. “Yeah, I remember my first time wearing one of these. Really ruffled my feathers at first, but you grow into ‘em. The chaffing, though, that never goes away.”

“Oh, goodie. And here I thought that was only temporary. Glad to know I’ll graduate from this place with battle wounds either way.” The two of them shared a long laugh before gradually calming down and looking into the mirror once again. “So, what’s on the agenda today, Sir?”

“Pretty much the same thing as every shift. We do our rounds circumventing the castle, maybe relieve somepony from their post for a minute, and if we’re lucky, the Princess will have us run an errand.”

Finally turning away to break her eyes from her reflection, the pegasus giggled quietly, marching towards the door to the castle corridors. “Fuuuun. Do we get to smile while we’re at it, or is that mostly just for the diplomats and the dignitaries?”

“Well,” Gallus began, opening the doors for the pegasus, “I suppose it’s not really a requirement not to smile as much as an unspoken rule between guards. Can you imagine if something like that got out of hand and we all started doing it?”

“Oh, I already have an idea. This place would be in shambles. I mean, smiling guards? Our enemies would never take us seriously.”

“Like they’d ever take somepony like you seriously to begin with.”

Then, before she could react, Gallus quickly pulled Lightning Dust’s helmet over her face, cackling loudly as the pegasus tried to put it back on without her mane getting tangled inside. Once it was back to where it belonged, however, she couldn’t keep herself from staring at his snarky smile, like he didn’t realize what he’d just gotten himself into.

“Oh, it’s war now!”

Lightning Dust then lunged towards her commander’s helmet, but he just flapped his wings and hovered further back into the corridor, making Lightning Dust jump into the air to keep up with him. She knew she probably had no chance against someone who had apparently spent two years in the Equestrian Military Academy, but it wasn’t like that was about to stop her. She wouldn’t stop until either she died or somepony important walked in who would make her feel embarrassed. Still, though, she’d take her chances with that one for the time being.

“Get over here, you!”

“C’mon, rookie! I know it’s your first day on the job and all, but is that really the best you’ve got?”

The two of them continued flying around pillars of the building, laughing loud enough to get them scolded if one of Gallus’s superiors walked in, but that didn’t matter right now. For the first time in months, she was actually smi--

“Lightning Dust?”

Then she came to an abrupt stop. She recognized that voice, and it made her heart practically sink into her stomach.

Turning her face slowly, she locked eyes with another pony in uniform, although the one this mare was wearing was much different than the one Lightning Dust wore. This mare’s uniform was much more form-fitting, made for somepony who would be spending a lot of time in the air, the uniform that Lightning Dust had spent her entire foalhood dreaming of… but the one she never got the chance to wear. At least, not for long.

“Rainbow Dash,” Lightning Dust replied with a gulp. She’d spent so many months practicing what she’d say to her rival when she saw her next, but she still hadn’t mentally recovered from her time on the streets. Even though she knew that she wasn’t a complete loser anymore, she still didn’t feel like she was particularly a winner yet either. Rainbow Dash was, though, no matter how you looked at it. “What… What are you doing here?”

“Who’s this?” another mare wearing the same uniform asked, walking up quickly behind Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, nopony important,” the cyan mare said with a scowl, making Lightning Dust’s heart hurt worse. “C’mon, Fleetfoot. Let’s get moving.”

“Hey!” All three pegasuses flinched. Before any one of them could react, however, Gallus descended between them, holding his chest up high while glaring down at Rainbow Dash. “She is a member of the Royal Guard, and I expect you to treat her with the same respect you would give any other guardsman.”

The rainbow-maned pegasus scoffed. “Her? Part of the Royal Guard?! I mean, I had my doubts about you guys when you let Zephyr Breeze join, but he was just lazy. She, on the other hoof,” Rainbow Dash pointed towards Lightning Dust, who flinched reflexively, “is the last pony I’d trust with Equestria’s safety! Or anypony’s for that matter!”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”

“No.” Then, surprising both Gallus and Rainbow Dash, the teal pegasus stepped in between them, holding her hoof out in front of her commander while glaring at her rival. “Let her keep going. I want her to get everything off of her chest.”

Gallus raised an eyebrow at first before nodding his head. Rainbow Dash, however, blew a raspberry while waving her hoof. “Like I need to ‘get anything off my chest.’ You already know why I don’t trust you. You have no concern for anypony other than yourself! All you care about is showing off, even if it ends up hurting somepony!”

Throughout Rainbow Dash’s spiel, Lightning Dust never flinched, never winced, and never blinked. Instead, she stood tall, allowing Rainbow Dash to completely demean her character until it sounded like she had nothing left to say. Then, after a long pause, Lightning Dust finally opened her mouth.

“You finished?”

“...Yeah, I’m finished.”

“Good, because you know what I’ve learned over these past few months?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I dunno. Should I care?”

“Yeah, because unlike you, I’ve always taken responsibility for my actions.”

The cyan mare’s jaw dropped to the floor before her teeth grit in a fiery scowl. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“The entire time you’ve known me, you’ve always seen me as a bad pony. Even when you first became my wingpony at the academy, you couldn’t just be happy for me. You went to Spitfire twice, the first time to tell her you wanted to be lead pony, and the second time to quit, using me as your scapegoat.”

“BECAUSE YOU STARTED A TORNADO!”

“No, Rainbow Dash. We started a tornado. When I asked you if you wanted to make one back at the academy, do you remember what your exact words were?” Rainbow Dash flinched, but never answered. “I’ll tell you what they were, because I’ve replayed that moment over and over again almost every day for months. You said, ‘I’m in,’ never once telling me that it was a bad idea. Do you think I knew that somepony would get hurt? Do you think I knew I wouldn’t have been able to control it? I was just happy that nopony ended up getting hurt, but that wasn’t good enough for you, was it?”

While Lightning Dust continued to tear into Rainbow Dash, Fleetfoot slowly stepped up to her fellow Wonderbolt, placing her hoof onto her shoulder. “Yo, Crash, is this true?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes darted back and forth. “It’s more complicated than that…”

“Oh, really?” Lightning Dust said, trying to keep her emotions in check despite the fire in her chest or the water behind her eyelids. “It was more complicated than that?! How?! All I ever wanted was to be a Wonderbolt, to show the world that I was a somepony, but that’s never going to happen now. I’m not blaming you, but after everything that’s happened, I just…” Lightning Dust took a deep breath and looked her rival in the eye. “I just wish... you would have been a little nicer.”

Rainbow Dash continued to stare in silence, her jaw practically on the floor, but before she had the chance to respond, Gallus placed his claw onto Lightning Dust’s shoulder. “C’mon,” he said quietly, already turning the other way. “Let’s just go.”

Lightning Dust looked back and Gallus, then to Rainbow Dash again, whose mouth quivered silently. He was probably right to end the conversation there. They had rounds to get to, and that was probably all Lightning Dust wanted to say anyway. The moment the teal pegasus turned the other way, however, Rainbow Dash quickly raised her hoof and exclaimed, “Wait!” stopping Lightning Dust in her tracks. Once she faced Rainbow Dash again, though, the rainbow-maned pegasus turned her gaze back down to her hooves.

“Why?” Lightning asked with a suspicious eyebrow raised. “So you can tell me how I put another one of your friends in danger with my Washouts team? Don’t bother. I’ve already got my own regrets with that one.”

“No! I wanted to say… that I’m sorry.”

This time, both of Lightning Dust’s eyebrows rose. “Why? You didn’t do anything wrong. Technically.”

“Technically, yeah, but you’re right. I think that I’ve potentially… maybe… possibly… been blaming you so that I wouldn’t feel as bad.”

“As bad?”

Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly. “Or, you know, bad in general. Look, I’m still upset at what happened both at the academy and when you tied three rockets onto Scootaloo’s scooter, but when I stop to think about it, you never actually did anything wrong. It’s not like you lied to Scootaloo, and I didn’t want to think that I had anything to do with that tornado that nearly tore up my friends.”

“You’ve gotta admit, they did have the worst timing there.”

“Tell me about it.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as the two of them shared a laugh together, the kind that Lightning Dust probably never thought she’d get to share with Rainbow Dash again. “So yeah. Do you think we could be friends again? Like when we first met?”

The teal mare smirked, tapping her hoof to her lower lip to pretend like she was thinking deeply. “Hmmmm… No.” Just as Rainbow’s jaw was about fall again, though, Lightning Dust held out her hoof with a smug grin. “We’re rivals for life, remember?”

Then, lifting her own hoof, Rainbow Dash mirrored her expression. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” And finally, Rainbow Dash gave her the hoof bump she’d been waiting for since they were back at the academy.

“Hey, Crash, we gotta go.”

The moment their hooves touched the ground again, Fleetfoot quickly walked up to Rainbow Dash, tapping her on the shoulder. Lightning Dust couldn’t help but give her another snarky smirk. “Crash?”

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck bashfully. “It’s… kind of an inside thing.”

“Ah. Because you’re a Wonderbolt now.” Rainbow quickly opened her mouth to say something that would probably amount to another apology, but Lightning Dust cut her off before she could even start. “Hey, don’t worry about it. As you can see, I’ve got a pretty good gig going myself. Speaking of which, I should probably get back to that. I’ll… see you later?”

The cyan pegasus nodded. “Yeah. If I have time, that is.”

Lightning Dust wanted to retort with a snide comment of her own, but she knew that she had work to do. Turning towards her commander again, she steadily placed one hoof in front of the other and walked away with a smile on her face. She’d let Rainbow Dash win… but only this one time.

“Alright, boss. Where to now?”

“Probably to the throne room,” Gallus remarked. “I can already imagine that Princess Twilight’s dying to see how you look in your new uniform.”

Lightning Dust blushed. “Oh, really? You know, if I’m going to see the princess, it would probably be best if I took off my helmet. We’re not supposed to wear hats indoors anyway, right?”

Just as Lightning Dust was getting ready to pull her helmet off of her head, however, she could hear her boss cackling beside her. “Getting nervous already, rookie? Better get used to it. Twilight walks around this castle almost as much as we do, which means that it’s only a matter of time before she sees that helmet mane of yours.”

The pegasus groaned. “Yeah. I know. I guess it’s just--”

“Still a little weird?”

Lightning Dust raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“I’ve been there before! What, you think I didn’t start out getting nervous around Twilight too? Believe it or not, she was my friendship professor before this.”

Lightning Dust laughed into her hooves as the two of them turned a corner leading into another hallway. “You took lessons on friendship? Did they not teach you that where you’re from?”

“You have no idea. Growing up in Griffonstone… Let’s just say it wasn’t always easy.”

Gallus’s head sunk, which led Lightning Dust to tilt her head in curiosity. “Worse than living out on the streets?”

“Honestly, I can’t say one way or the other. Friendship is kind of a new concept to griffons. Before a couple years ago, we all just kinda… dealt with each other. None of us smiled or played or spent more time with other griffons than we had to.”

“How were the winters up there?”

“What do you think? We lived on a tree!”

Gallu’s reaction made Lightning Dust inadvertently break into a laughing fit in her hooves, cracking up initially before she had to cover her mouth to silence her laughter. She knew he was kind of a birdbrain, but she didn’t expect him to actually live in a nest! Obviously, based on the look on Gallus’s face, he didn’t find the situation as funny as she did, but she couldn’t help it. This was the first time she’d really felt laughter in a long time, and it was all just sort of coming out at once.

“W-whatever!” the griffon continued. “Anyway, the princess’s throne room is just beyond those doors up there. Let’s go check to see if the guards need anything first.”

Gallus pointed his claw to the large double doors just a few meters away, making the jitters that Lightning Dust had forgotten about just a few seconds ago come back all at once. She knew that she had nothing to worry about so long as Princess Twilight was involved, but after all the things she had done for her, how was Lightning Dust even supposed to thank her? She tried pushing it out of her mind, but of course, that only served to make the matter worse.

Thankfully, as Lightning Dust attempted to process everything she’d say once they entered into the room ahead, Gallus came to a halt in front of the two unicorn guards standing at the doorway. “Hey, guys. You both doing OK over here?”

“Unless a changeling got in without us knowing, yeah,” one of the guards replied with a loud guffaw. “Ahhh, changeling jokes. Those never get old. Anyway, who’s the new… girl?”

Lightning Dust gave him a scowl until she realized that she was the only female in the entire guard and probably the first one they’d ever had. It was probably a totally normal reaction for him to wonder whether or not she was actually a mare underneath all that armor.

Finally, lifting a hoof, she softened her face and said proudly, “The name’s Lightning Dust. Nice to meet you.”

“Weeeeell, it’s good to know that Gallus’s poor manners haven’t rubbed off on you just yet,” the stallion replied, shaking her hoof as the other stallion chuckled quietly.

“I’ll give it a week.”

“ANYWAY!” Gallus exclaimed, getting between them and giving Lightning Dust a glance before she started laughing too. “How are you two doing? Do either of you need anything before we go see the princess?”

“No, we’re good,” stallion two replied. “We’re more worried about your trainee. Hey, if he ever tries teaching you something weird, ignore him. You're his first apprentice, so he’s probably nervous out of his feathers right now.”

Again, Gallus got in the stallion’s face, giving him a stern glare as both he and Lightning Dust tried not to laugh. “Thanks, guys,” the griffon said sarcastically. “Be sure to let me know when you guys need me to relieve you. I’ll be sure to take my break around then.”

The stallions didn’t argue. Instead, with wide smiles on their faces, they each took one of the doors and pushed them open, allowing a pathway just barely wide enough for Gallus and Lightning Dust to fit. Once they entered the throne room, they still had a while to go before they’d be within earshot of the princess at the other end of the long hallway. As the two of them slowly walked along the red carpet beneath them, Lightning Dust continued to snicker.

“What?” Gallus asked defensively. “Don’t listen to those guys. They don’t know anything.”

“They sure know how to push your buttons.”

The griffon groaned as the mare beside him continued to cackle under her breath. “Those two are just jerks. They push everyone’s buttons.” Then, once Lightning Dust’s giggles began to die down, she noticed that the normal confident smile wasn’t returning to Gallus’s face. Suddenly, though, just as she was starting to tilt her head in concern, Gallus opened his beak, making the pegasus nearly jump into the air. “You don’t think… I’m doing a bad job so far, do you?”

“Weeeell, it has only been like twenty minutes since we officially started working together.”

“R-right! Yeah. Sorry, I forgot.”

Once Gallus closed his beak again, the same self-conscious frown from before appeared on his face. “Gallu--I mean, Commander?”

“It’s fine,” he replied with a chuckle. “What’s up, Lightning Dust?”

“You’re taking this whole boss thing really seriously, aren’t you?”

“What?! No! I mean, yeah, I’m taking it seriously, but not--”

“Well,” Lightning Dust said, cutting him off before she accidentally made him more nervous, “I don’t know if this means anything, but based on how you had my back with that whole Rainbow Dash thing back there, I’d say you’re doing a pretty good job so far.”

Finally, the frown disappeared, but right before he allowed a real, genuine smile on his face, his cheeks turned upwards into the cocky grin that he seemed much more accustomed to. “That was nothing. It was more like, uh… defending my little sister!”

“...You do know I’m older than you, right?”

As Lightning Dust waited for his response, however, the griffon stopped where he stood and removed his helmet, putting it to his chest as he bowed his head. Lightning Dust squinted her eyes at first, but once she realized what was going on, she finally decided to look in front of her, seeing the princess in her throne on top of a tall stairway. Immediately, the pegasus removed her helmet, trying to get her mane back to where it was before she put it on in the first place.

“Your Majesty,” Gallus spoke reverently.

“Hello, Gallus,” the alicorn responded, nodding at the griffon before her face lit up at the pegasus beside him. “Lightning Dust! I see you recovered! How’s the job treating you so far?”

“Meh,” she replied. “It’s a pretty good gig so far.”

Gallus quickly glared at Lightning Dust, but Twilight simply giggled like she expected. “I’m glad to hear it. And I assume your commander has been a good teacher so far?”

“Wow, you must think pretty highly of him.”

The griffon glared harder and the princess laughed louder. “I see. Well, if that’s the case, then you’d better keep a pretty good eye on him, and be sure to let me know if he gets into any trouble.”

“Huh?!” Both mares then broke out into a laughing fit as Gallus stood there with his beak open, switching glances between the two of them while he tried to understand what was going on. Then, clearing his throat, Gallus continued. “A-anyway, Your Majesty, we were just here to see if you had any specific assignments for us.”

“Hmm,” the princess hummed, tapping her hoof to her bottom lip. “I think I had one idea, but I’m not so sure the two of you can handle it by yourselves.”

“Can’t handle it?! I mean--I’m sure we’d be able to help you in whatever way you need, Your Highness.”

Once Gallus recomposed himself, the princess looked the two of them over, making Lightning Dust gulp as she pondered over all the possible tasks a princess could want from her. Lightning Dust had spent her whole life challenging herself, but that mindset broke after the accident with Short Fuse that put her on the streets in the first place. Sure, she’d be able to take on new challenges eventually, but on her first day?

“I would like the two of you…” the princess began, making both Lightning Dust and Gallus tense up together. “...to go into town and get me some bagels.”

The two of them waited silently for the punchline, for Twilight to say that she was just kidding and that they’d have to take care of a manticore that got loose somehow. No matter how long they waited, however, Twilight’s wide smile never faltered. Finally, once they realized that this was literally the errand that she was asking them to run, Gallus lifted an unamused eyebrow and quietly said, “You’re being totally serious, aren’t you?”

“Uh-huh! You see, I was planning on getting Spike to do it for me, but he’s got his claws full as Friendship Ambassador. You know how it is.”

“...Riiiight. And the reason you can’t do it yourself is…?”

“I uh…” Twilight quickly looked around her throne, apparently searching for something despite her area being pretty much empty. “I can’t because I need to… find my quill! I can never remember where I put that thing.”

Gallus breathed out a heavy sigh, putting his claw to his face as he shook his head. “OK. Whatever you say, Your Highness. Did you want us to get you a quill while we’re out?”

“No thanks! I have plenty.”

Gallus blinked unamusedly at the princess’s wide smile before turning around with an eye roll that hopefully Twilight wouldn’t be able to see. “Whatever. Come on, rookie. Let’s go get the princess some bagels.”

Lightning Dust followed, although she didn’t say anything the entire time the two of them walked out of her chambers. Sure, she had plenty of things worth saying, but she had a pretty good idea that Gallus probably had lots of things that he wanted to say too, just not in front of the princess.

Once the two of them walked back into the hallway and heard the large double doors close behind them, Gallus let out a loud breath of frustration, hanging his head low as he put his helmet back on. “Dang it, Twilight! I know you’re up to something.”

“Like what?” Lightning Dust replied with a cocky smile.

“I have no idea! She just does these things sometimes! It drives me nuts!”

Lightning Dust snickered. “You know, the two of us going into town like this, it almost feels like the princess set us up on a date, don’t you think?”

Suddenly, Gallus froze in place, waiting a few seconds in shock before shaking his head violently. “No way! This is totally different. The two of us are just following the princess’s orders and getting her some bagels. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

“That’s it, huh?”

“Yes! That’s it! That’s the problem with you girls. You overthink things too much.”

The griffon's comment made Lightning Dust smile deviously. She then floated into the air and flew backwards as if she were lying down with her hooves as her pillow, giving Gallus a smug expression that he tried to ignore.

“Or,” she began, “maybe you’re just too much of a featherhead to pick up on our hints.”

“What hints? What are you talking about?”

“If this isn’t a date, then how about the two of us have a real one this weekend? Donut Joe’s. Saturday after work. Your treat.”

Gallus gawked, but once he saw Lightning Dust’s sly grin grow wider, he turned his face away, trying to hide the redness in his cheeks. “Hang on. If I say yes… then will you stop acting like what we’re doing right now is a date?”

“No, this is a date too.”

The griffon groaned loudly, making the pegasus chuckle to herself as she put her hooves back down to the ground. “Fine!” he said in annoyance. “We can go on a date! Whatever! Let’s just get these bagels and get back to work. Celestia knows I could use a break right about now.”

Lightning Dust wanted to cheer, to pump her hooves in victory just at the accomplishment of convincing her stoic commander to go so far out of his comfort zone. She knew when not to push it, though. It took her a long time to get to this point, where she actually felt like she was doing something grown up, and unfortunately, that feeling didn’t even last long.

In fact, once Gallus had angrily walked a few steps ahead of her, Lightning Dust let out a silent cheer before placing her helmet back on and returning to her errand. She had a long day ahead of her, after all, and this was only the beginning.