A Guard's Duty

"AAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Sparkle Raven shot her head up in alarm in the very early hours of the morning. The sun was slowly coming up thanks to Celestia's magic and she had the night shift...And the day shift...She was so tired. She yawned. Too exhausted from standing there all night having to learn how to sleep with her eyes open.

She failed. Her head kept bobbing up and down. She begged the unicorn guards to put a spell on her to make it possible. They wanted something in return of course. They wanted gems.

Gems.

There are gems everywhere.

Why the hay did they need GEMS?

Sparkle shook her head, then rubbed her ears as her memory started to catch up to her. She woke up...In her defense, she was only half asleep...To someone screaming. Why was no one galloping to action? Was she supposed to move or something? What if it was a false alarm?

False alarm. Yeah. It's not like she could help anyway. The Royal Guards are known to look great but suck at their jobs. She wanted to prove that they could do both like the night guards. Look awesome and actually do their duty. She wanted to be a positive force.

But when you have been drifting in and out of sleep for the past forty-eight hours, haven't had any coffee, and are very annoyed about the story behind by the unicorns' need gems, you tend to lose your ambition and just not give a crap.

Her friend yawned across from her. He was so tired he almost plunged his hoof into his mouth. Sparkle was barely standing up. Choosing to use her wings as legs so that her real ones could rest. She looked like an idiot but she didn't care.

"S-Sparkle?" Her friend said, followed by another long yawn. Making tears fall from his eyes in exhaustion. "Did I imagine that...Scream?"

Sparkle hadn't considered that option yet. She might just be imagining things because she was hallucinating.

"Um...Maybe? We..." She paused to yawn. "We are probably-"

"AAHHAHAHAHA, WE ARE GONNA-"

In the hallway, they were standing in shock from some unseen explosion that rocked the castle. Sparkle looked towards her friends with adrenaline starting to kick in.

"Should we do something?" Her friend asked as he rubbed his eyes. Sparkle looked down the hallway where the screaming came from.

"I-I don't know? Is this really our problem?" Sparkle asked. Her friend looked back at her as if manticore cut her in half and then her body fixed itself, and she was walking around as if nothing happened.

"Seriously? Is this really our problem? It's our damn job!"

"Technically it's who was closest to the scene, who has to deal with the fuckin problem."

"I am pretty sure the...The explosion came from inside the castle. No need to swear." Her friend insisted.

"You aren't running on three hours of sleep."

"You are assuming that."

"I ain't assuming sh-"

"Quit swearing!" He snapped back before looking around. "We need to look like professionals."

"Professionals at what?" Sparkle asked with a raised eyebrow. "Standing there and looking dumb? I think we have already aced that."

"Says the idiot standing on her wings basically. Aren't you the one always yammering about how we need to do better for the Princesses? So, do better. By marching down the hall and finding out what is going on."

"You aren't my supervisor."

"No. But I am your friend." He said with a cocky grin. "As your friend, I order you to go."

"You chickenshit." She hissed.

"OK, now that was just insulting."

"Well, guess what?" He said. She rolled her eyes.

"What is it?"

"You are a chi-"

"OK, shut up!"

The castle shook again. They stumbled a bit into the middle of the hallway. The distant smashing of several windows cut through the air in the distance.

"AAHAHAHAHA! RUN! RUN FASTER!"

"DON'T TELL ME TO RUN FASTER!"

The two guards gave each other worried looks.

"Um...So is it our problem now?" Her friend asked.

"I-I don't know. It sounds like two ponies were screaming..."

"Well, that sure sounds like a problem." He said.

"With that logic, everything is a problem." Sparkle said with the wave of her tired hoof.

"If we keep standing here, it will be an even bigger issue!"

"How do we know this isn't the royal sisters arguing again? Princess Luna probably pulled another prank or-"

"That didn't sound anywhere like the Princesses." Sparkle replied. Suddenly, they heard another scream. They gawked as a Changeling speeded down the hallway. He didn't even seem to care as he speeded past him. Screaming some gibberish.

"HEY! STOP!" Sparkle yelled and started to chase the changeling down.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" The Changeling screamed, then disappeared behind a bend. Sparkle came to a slow stop before she turned back to the earth pony guard who was her very confused friend.

"What the hell was that!?" He asked.

Before Sparkle could answer, a flash of green light erupted from the hallway where the changeling escaped from earlier. They saw Queen Crysalis dodged some sort of fireball before she started running towards them.

"AHHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!" She screamed continually as she passed them.

"I-I-I I am having trouble processing this." Sparkle stammered as they watched the Queen disappear around the bend like her follower. Her friend started to sweat with Sparkle, who was too confused to notice how warm the hallway had become.

"W-Why is it so hot in here?" Her friend asked as they started to breathe harder from the height of the heat.

"I think the more important question is why did the queen of changelings just barrel down the hallway?" Sparkle pressed. Her friend didn't respond. She turned her head slightly to see him staring out of the window with his jaw wide open. His eyes were wide open. She called out his name. "Um...Blueberry?"

He slowly moved his hoof towards the window.

"L-Look."

She turned to see a white Alicorn with gold and orange armor and fire as a mane and tail were flying towards the window. They slowly back into the wall as the alicorn got closer.

"D-Does that Alicorn look familiar to you?" Sparkle asked once they hit the wall and tried their best to blend in with the background.

"I...I think...It's Princess Celestia! But...Like...The creepy version of her. I...I...I didn't sign up for this." Her friend stammered.

"I don't know about you but I like living!" Sparkle cried out. "I am quitting this job!"

She used her wing to pushed her friend down the hall as Celestia smashed through the window, sending shattered glass flying through the hallway. Sparkle ignored the cuts as she turned the bend with her friend following after her. They were both making a big effort to ignore the war cry.

"So," Sparkle said with a grin as they headed towards the guards' barricade. "Why do you think she went fire crazy!?"

"I DON'T CARE RIGHT NOW!"

---The End---