“-ey Guardian. Today’s our last day, get up already!”

A cheerful male voice woke me from my rest, and as I opened my eyes, a red unicorn stallion beamed down at me with his almost contagious smile. Glaring back at his bright blue eyes, I rolled off the bed, groaning and shielding my eyes with a wing as the lights were turned on by my male companion. With my head aching from the bright lights, I only wished I could sleep in longer. Walking across the room, forgoing my armor for the moment, I pulled back the curtains to reveal that it was still dark out, Celestia’s sun not even peeking over the horizon. I groaned at the sight.

“You’re telling me that noble is already up? It’s soooo early…” I said to my red companion, who was already putting his gear together. His armor floated to his body, the gold pieces linking together like puzzle pieces.

Fire Starter, codenamed ‘Dynamite’ just smirked at me as I too, started to adorn my golden armor, trying to shake the weariness out of my eyes.

“Of course not, I’m sure Mr. Thalon loves his sleep as much as you do, but we still need to meet up with the griffin escort picking him up. Did you even listen during the mission brief? You’ve been asking me questions this entire trip!” He laughed at that last part. “Aren’t you my senior here?”

I rolled my eyes at him, fiddling with my modified horseshoes. “Don’t be silly, of course I was listening. I’m just testing you, my cute little rookie.” I gave him a wink, but he just rolled his eyes at me, levitating his helmet onto his face, the enchantment instantly transforming his appearance to mirror a solar guard. His red coat was now a white, pristine one, his orange mane turning a deep blue, and his tail growing a little in length before it too, was blue.

What many ponies didn’t know about the guards is that before adorning our armor, we are all very different ponies. However, once our armor is complete, the enchantment takes effect, allowing for complete uniformity within the ranks. The only noticeable detail that would be different in a side-by-side comparison was the red star given to special units rather than the usual blue on the center of the golden armor.

As if to emphasize this point, Dynamite struck a pose, winking at me with his now light blue eyes. “How do I look?”

Snorting at him, I flung a pillow at him with my wing, only for him to catch it in his magic. “Just like every other day guard, you goofball.” Turning to the mirror to check over my armor before adorning my helm, I gave myself a once over. I was a white Pegasus mare with long pink hair and light blue eyes, often mistaken for grey. Unlike most pegasi, I was rather large, and my wings were no different, a little bigger than your standard Pegasus to account for my extra weight. My cutie mark was that of two white wings below a yellow halo, so I was often nicknamed ‘Angel’ since my name was a bit of a mouthful.

C’mon mom, really? Divine Intervention?

Groaning at the thought, I shook my head and put on my work face, finally putting on my helmet, which transformed my appearance into a smaller, whitewashed Pegasus guard with golden armor, my mane now a shorter blue. Turning to Dynamite, I saw him sliding a short sword onto the side of his armor, a slight grin on his face as he practiced sliding it in and out of the sheath with his magic. His appearance was now back to normal, due to the enchantment on my armor. It was just for show, we had to be able to distinguish the ponies under our command after all.

Shaking my head, I trotted back over to the bed, carefully sliding a wing blade onto both of my wings with my hooves, snapping back my wings quickly, retracting the steel blades so they hid comfortably underneath my feathers, the enchantments on them making them white and difficult to see to the untrained eye. I turned around to see Dynamite looking at me, now completely ready to go, whistling at my appearance.

“So am I ever going to see those things in action?” His eyes gleaming in interest like the young colt he is. I gave him a slight grin, and just said, in a mentoring tone,

“Now, now, rookie, we should never search for reasons to use our weapons,” My grin grew a little more. “But if someone is dumb enough to try and attack Mr. Thalon, well…” I started towards the door and looked at him over my shoulder, giving my now unimpressive rump a shake and wink, “I’ll make sure to put on a show for you. Now come on, as you said, we have work to do.” He just snorted and composed himself, used to my passing antics, following me out of our room and into the hallway, closing the door with his magic.

As the two of us walked into the courtyard, coming across a small fountain, I couldn’t help but look at our surroundings again. We were currently at Mr. Thalon’s Equestrian residence, one of many, this one located in Las Pegasus, where he had met with other pony and griffin nobles to negotiate the terms of some deal Celestia wanted to implement between Equestria and the Griffin Empire. The nobles had all rejected the thought of meeting in Canterlot and decided that they would discuss plans in Las Pegasus, while also having fun in some of the casinos around town. While this wasn’t necessarily uncommon or unsafe, there had been a influx of griffins and other high class nobles in Equestria going missing so the princesses decided that a little of extra protection wouldn’t hurt to have, making Dynamite and I one of four guard teams protecting the nobles during their stay.

Because of Mr. Thalon’s connections to Equestria, he already had a rather large residence here, and decided he was above staying in a hotel with the other nobles, separating us from the other guards. His residence was made up of three buildings, all centering on the courtyard forming a U shape, His personal quarters and main hall at the center, a red bricked three story building with two silver griffin statues standing proud outside of the main doors. The other two buildings were two story buildings that housed visitors and pony maids that took care of the residence in his absence, though there was nopony, or attending griffins here during our stay. The main entrance to the place was gated off. That kept the partying ponies of the city from getting too adventurous or nosy.

Reaching the gate, we stood in silence for an uneventful 10 minutes, relishing in the cool winds of Fall, and staring blankly at the occasional passerby. With nothing of importance happening, I looked at my watch, strapped onto my left leg, right above the horseshoe.

The escort party is late.

Knowing of the traffic in this city, I decided to not mention anything about it as Dynamite looked at his watch as well, saying nothing. I was the lead after all. Ten more minutes passed and the sun started peeking above the horizon, the tall buildings doing nothing to shield our eyes from the sunlight now gently burning into our pupils. Two more minutes passed and as Dynamite was about to speak up, a dark blue Pegasus guard flew into the courtyard, saluting quickly with his wing as he landed, approaching us. I recognized this approaching guard as Starlight Breaker, no codename to note, as he was just a regular solar guard joining us on this mission.

“Ma’am, All escort parties are accounted for, and everyone is at the rally point except for the two of you…are we cleared to leave without you?” His expression was confused and for good reason! We were supposed to be en route to Canterlot 15 minutes ago. Shaking my head, I put a hoof to my muzzle in thought, tapping it slightly before setting it down and looking at my red companion.

“Dynamite, I want you to stay here with him and keep watch at the gate, I’m going to check in with Sharpbeak, maybe he’ll know something we don’t. That escort should have been here by now.” The stallion nodded at me, and I took to the air, flying to the third floor window, which was open, oddly enough. I approached it with caution, planning to land just inside the window, before thinking better of it and flying above the window, taking a deep breath, then looping back to land inside, an extra burst of speed, just in case. Landing several feet inside the hallway, I just barely escaped a pony’s knife strike.
Just a few feet away from me was a unicorn dressed in a bandit’s garb, black clothing, and a mask cloaking any distinguishable feature about him. He was against the wall, in a corner that was hidden from the outside. In the floor where I had planned on landing initially was a knife, embedded in the carpet. His eyes widened, as I’m sure he wasn’t expecting me to zoom in like that. Before he could rip the knife out of the floor completely to strike me, I rushed him, flapping my wings for an extra burst of speed, getting me airborne and reared an foreleg back, then forward, punching the stallion in the muzzle with all the force I could muster.

Thankfully, the guard shoes I was wearing had an enchantment on it, doubling the amount of force I could deal out. The poor stallion didn’t have a chance to even shout as my blow sent his head cracking up against the wall behind him, knocking him out instantly.
Landing on all four hooves, I quickly spun around to witness Sharpbeak, the personal guard to Thalon, in a silent grapple with another griffin, also draped in bandit clothing. Sharpbeak was on the ground, being strangled by the other griffin, trying to reach for his blade, which was out of his reach.

Thinking quickly, I grabbed the knife out of the ground and with a “Hey you!” threw it at the attacking griffin, getting him to look up at the knife making its way to him, releasing his prey and flinching backwards to avoid being impaled. Seeing an opportunity, Sharpbeak tucked his legs underneath him and launched the griffin into the air with a squeaky roar, flying towards me. Before I could move, the airborne griffin changed direction in the air with his wings, and placing a claw on a side wall, lunged at me, a falchion in his talons.

Instinctively, I brought my wings out to defend, the wing blades breaking their enchantment, and flipping out their sharpened steel. His eyes widened. Smirking, I batted his sword aside with my left wing and sent my right blade forward, aiming for his exposed chest…only to hit a metal plate underneath his clothing, stopping the blade’s advance. He reacted quickly, grounding himself and reared back slightly to claw me, but I ran at him, going low, sliding to the side of him, leaving a wing outstretched to slice open the side of his leg, making him yelp in pain. Whirling around as I came to a stop next to a recovering Sharpbeak, I took to the air again, my foreleg reared back. He took the bait, angling to the side, ready to strike me with his sword, but with a flap, I sent myself to the ground behind him, landing on my front hooves, my back legs tucked in, then releasing a powerful buck to his turning body, sending him flying down the hallway, where Sharpbeak snatched him out of the air by the throat, and slammed the griffin into the ground, knocking him unconscious. The falchion he was holding skittered toward me and I picked it up, waving it at my feathery companion with a panting smirk.

“Pretty tough for a pony, aren’t I Mr. Predator?” He just glared back at me, probably remembering when he tried to laugh us off when we arrived to help protect Mr. Thalon. Something about how we were just weak little prey who wouldn’t do anything against a real threat, like another griffin.

“Shut up, pony. I just didn’t see that stupid unicorn until it was too late. I had the situation handled.” He growled at me, panting slightly. I looked at him, trying to hide the mirth in my eyes.

“Uh huh, right. You got this now, right?” He just gave me another glare, searching the downed griffin for information. Peeking in Thalon’s room, I entered the sleeping griffin’s room quietly, checking for more bandits. Finding none, I exited, closing the door behind me. Sharpbeak was now dragging the bandit towards the unconscious unicorn from earlier, giving me a nod as I gave him the all-clear. Before searching more, a feeling in my gut stopped me, making me look at the downed unicorn bandit. Searching with a hoof in my armor pouches, I grinned as I tossed a ring inhibitor from the pouch at the griffin guard who caught it, saying nothing.

I looked around the hallway, trotting past him, tucking the bandit’s sword in my right wing. I inspected the empty bedrooms and stairway, making sure that they were safe. Taking another few minutes to quickly fly through the rest of the building, sword outstretched in one hoof, I made it to the front door, flying through the courtyard to my companions, no escort party in sight. Landing next to them, they looked at me with curious gazes. Throwing the sword at Dynamite, who caught it in his magic, I looked to our Pegasus companion. “The bodyguard was attacked, something definitely isn’t right here. Starlight, go to the rendezvous point and grab Hawksy. I want the two of you on overwatch and coordinate with the rest of the teams to find the escort party. X-Ray should have a locater spell that should help. Report back to me in ten minutes, or as soon as you find anything, whichever comes first.” The guard saluted me and took off, while I looked at Dynamite. He was looking at the falchion.

“You know, this blade is in mint condition, I don’t think these guys are experts. No chips, no bloodstains, so signs of sharpening...” He looked at me, hope in his eyes. “I think that escort party is going to be alright.” I looked away from him, hiding a proud smile and started to walk back to the front doors.

You act like such a child sometimes, but its moments like these that remind me why you're our youngest member.

“I hope you’re right. Let’s fall back to the doors, I want to talk to Sharpbeak about this.” He trotted to my side quickly, now a excited grin on his muzzle.
“Sooooo can I keep this?” He looked at me, his eyes wide. I laughed, snatching the blade out of his magical grasp.

And there goes my pride...

“As if! This is my souvenir for this trip, maybe I’ll even train with the commander when we get back, get in her good graces with some steel to steel bonding!” The red stallion pouted at that, taking position outside of the doors at our approach. He muttered something under his breath, but I leapt into the air, flying back into the third story window, landing inside behind Sharpbeak. He looked at me with a grin, seemingly in a better mood.

“I guess you pony guards are good for something after all!” He waved at the unicorn bandit, who now had broken teeth, a few bleeding claw marks, and a noticeable black eye. “The stupid thing tried to attack me with his magic while I was searching him. That ring of yours did its job, but I felt he needed a little more punishment.” He grinned darkly at that, and I inwardly cringed.

I think he's just happy he got to punch something...

“Just make sure he doesn’t die before we can interrogate t-” He cut me off with a wave.

“Yeah yeah, I’m not a idiot like some of you ponies. I mean getting attacked by changelings? Ridiculous!”

Just had to throw that last bit in there huh, that's old news at this point but it still hurts... I shook my head, and cleared my throat.

“Right. So the escort party never came.” He looked surprised at this, resting his talons on his sword hilt. “I currently have some guards searching for them in case they were attacked like you were.” He snorted at that.

“If they did, I’m sure they regretted it. Lord Thalon has close ties to the Emperor. There must be at least six or seven griffins coming to retrieve us.” I nodded at that, it was also why four of us from the Knights of Harmony were here at the princess’s request. Thalon was a close friend of the Emperor, and Princess Celestia considered him to be one of the more friendly griffin ambassadors.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine as well, my companion thinks that these bandits, based off of their gear, are inexperienced. I have to agree, with how quickly the two of us took them down. Even with this in mind, that escort is extremely late at this point. Can you think of anything else that may have held them up?” He scratched his shoulder and opened his beak to speak, but a window smashed open down the hall, and the both of us whirled towards the sound, each of us wielding a blade, ready to attack.

A new griffin appeared where the window exploded, two blades in his hand, wearing leather armor with various patches on it. Blood stained his armor and he looked at us with fury, but relaxed and lowered his blades when Sharpbeak sheathed his blade and spoke. “Ah, Captain Buck, we were just talking about you. I take it the carriage was attacked?” Before I could hear the newcomer speak, a door creaked open behind me and I tucked the sword back under my wing. Lord Thalon, leaning a rather large sword against his shoulder looked at me with tired eyes as he opened the door completely. This made me widen my eyes a little, but I quickly composed myself as he waved at his guards briefly, and looked back at me expectantly.

Predators...even their nobles aren't afraid to wield a little steel.

I smiled, giving him a slight bow, noticing out of the corner of my eyes that Starlight was back and standing beside Dynamite, talking to the griffins at the top of the stairs. “Nothing to be too concerned about Mr. Thalon, just a few bandits, but I believe your escort and my fellow guards have remedied the situation.” He nodded at me, reaching up and setting the great sword above the inside of his door on hooks I hadn’t noticed before. I cleared my throat quietly as I continued. “We’ll be headed back to Canterlot soon, once we’ve turned the bandits over to the local guardsponies and verified your safety. Is there anything you would like me to tell the princesses upon our arrival?” As soon as I finished speaking, I noticed a new guard enter the hallway and beeline to me, stopping before he got too close to our discussion. Thalon just shook his head in response to my question, his eyes briefly flickering to the guard as well.

“Your pony nobles will have all of the information they need, and I assume they will present their findings to your ruler themselves. Just give the princesses my regards.” I gave him another slight bow, to which he grunted in response. With that, he walked back into his room, closing the door. Our conversation finished, I greeted the unicorn newcomer with a nod, who upon closer inspection, I recognized as one of the Princess’s elite messengers. He saluted me before speaking.

“Ma’am I have an urgent message from Princess Luna.” My eyes widened, as the Night Princess rarely called upon me. I took a levitating scroll from the guard and read over it quickly.
Guardian,

I require your skills for a delicate special assignment, should you accept. Return to Canterlot immediately and report to Captain Midnight Blossom for a debrief. Messenger Sweet here will assist with your return to Canterlot. If you must, he is prepared to take command of your team until further notice.

Princess Luna

I looked up at the unicorn, expecting at least a brief explanation. He took that as an invitation to speak. “I am prepared to teleport you to Canterlot immediately, if you are ready.” Sighing, I tucked the scroll under my unoccupied wing.

“Go ahead and prepare your teleportation circle downstairs, I need to speak to my team for a moment.” He nodded, teleporting away. I shook my head, walking towards my companions.

Unicorns…

Standing next to Dynamite was X-ray, my second in command for the mission and a fellow senior knight, a dark green unicorn with grey hair and golden yellow eyes.
Noticing my approach, he nodded to me and met me halfway.

“We located the griffin escort with no issues. The bandits had been dealt with upon our arrival, most of them KIA, but they were stuck because of a shattered wheel. The captain over there had already left to come here, so I helped them out. I assume everything went well here?” I nodded, explaining what happened and the princess’ request. He just gave me a curt nod and took over the situation, leaving me to hurry on my way.

Since everything I needed was on me, I took my souvenir and waved goodbye to Dynamite, heading home.

--
Canterlot Castle
3 days later

I walked through the hallways, enjoying the fact that for the first time in weeks, I had slept in, taken a long shower, and completely abandoned my gear. I. Felt. Amazing.
Now if I could just get a good lay in before I go to Ponyville…Hmm...My team should be back soon so maybe Fire Starter would be up for it. He is rather cute after all, and the best part? I'm not active! Fraternization policies don't apply to me anymore!

The sound of someone--yes someone, I have been all over the world, I’m not a foal--clearing their throat, stopped me in my tracks. I looked up, breaking out of my thoughts, and to my disdain, it was the vice-commander of the Knights of Harmony, Strong Hoof. He was a large brown earth pony, his eyes a dark forest green, one eye with a large scar across it, its origins unknown. His mane was a jet black, but his tail was a brilliant white, often startling new ponies with its contrast. The most noticeable of his features though, was a large claymore he always had strapped to his back. He never went anywhere without it, and as I had seen during some of our training sessions, he was a destructive, precise, and very scary opponent who did things with that sword no pony should be able to even imagine doing. A memory flashed in my head of our last training session, and I shivered, knowing that Steelwing was probably still in the infirmary. Looking him in the eyes, I mustered a fake smile.

“Good day to you, Vice-Commander. Is there something you needed from me?” Snorting, he glared down at me and then spoke, his gravely voice making me wince a little.

“I heard that you’ll be removed from the roster until further notice. I understand the Sun and Moon have high hopes for you.” He paused, his glare intensifying. “Just because you aren’t on active status does not mean you are allowed to slack off. We will be checking up on you periodically, so if you sully our name, allow citizens to be hurt, or abandon your charge, so help me…” He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “What I do to you will make Steelwing’s injury look like a papercut.” Shivers ran down my spine, and out of nowhere, my gut feeling told me to leap back. Never underestimating my gut, I flew backwards quickly, my eyes widening as Strong Hoof’s giant blade slammed down onto where I had been just standing, cracking the floor tiles. At a loss for words, I looked at him in horror, only for him to return the gaze with an evil grin. He sheathed his blade back onto his back.

Even if I wanted to tell someone...no one would ever believe me or find my body after he found out...

“As I would expect from a fellow knight. Make sure that doesn’t change while you’re foal-sitting that human.” His head held high, he walked away, leaving me to shiver in fear in the middle of the hallway.

I think I’ll take another shower before meeting the human, I’m lucky I didn’t drink anything this morning…
--

Hours, and many shots of the Apple family’s finest later with Fire Starter, I found myself outside of the room that the human would be staying in when in Canterlot. I steeled myself, as much as I could, and put on a smile. Bringing my hoof up to the door, I realized that this human was my retirement plan, and we’d be living together for at least a year while he got situated.

Well if he can’t deal with the real me now, they need to pick another mare.

Whether it was the alcohol, the fresh lay, or the thought of an easy retirement, my smile grew into a smirk and I reached for the handle instead, and pushed the door open.

“HEYYYYYY ROOOMIE~”

My sudden entry seemed to make the odd creature spring up from his bed and proceed to fall on the floor. I cocked my head to the side as I took in the creature I would be guarding for the next year. Unlike the recorded descriptions of the ancient humans that once waged war upon Equestria, this one had dark skin, a light brown color, and his mane, or hair I should say, was short but curly, a jet black. When he stood, muttering something under his breath, I realized that he was taller than Princess Celestia, and if he wasn’t he sure was close. He was only wearing what looked like underwear, so I got a good look at his physical features. While he wasn’t winning any competitions, he seemed fairly muscular. What did interest me though, was the large set of white wings sprouting from his back. They hung there limply, as if he didn’t know how to use them. His eyes, much like his skin, were brown, but instead of the glare I was expecting from such a rude awakening, he almost looked confused. Not wanting to make things more awkward, I continued.

“My name is Divine Intervention, I am a proud member of the Knights of Harmony and-“

The human reached out and poked my nose, making me scrunch up my nose at the touch. I just looked at him in confusion. He just started laughing. Not knowing what to do in this situation, I just sat on my rump, shaking my head at the odd creature. After a few minutes, he calmed down and held one of his hands out to me, speaking softly.

“Sorry about that, I just had to make sure you were real.”

How could I not be real?

“I mean, no offense, but Divine Intervention? That can’t be your real name.” I sighed at that, swatting his hand away.

“Well it is, and you’re just going to have to take my word for it.”

I curse my mother every day.

He snickered at that for some reason, but then just stared off into space without warning. I cocked my head at this and walked toward him, waving my hoof back and forth. No reaction. It was as if he was possessed, or sleeping with his eyes open. If he was, I was impressed, and wanted to take notes. Yet, I felt that wasn't what was happening here. The report I had received said that he was a bit of an odd being, but they didn't elaborate.

“Um are you oka-” With no warning from my gut, the human tackled me to the ground, rolled to the side, grabbed me again, and leapt out of the room, diving for the hallway. My eyes widened but I narrowed them quickly to focus. According to my mission brief, the human wasn't known to be violent unless provoked. Something was wrong here. My training kicking in, I searched the room with my eyes over his shoulder for anything that would have given the human a reason to panic. He stopped, putting his back against a wall and sliding down it. I took another glance. There was nothing that could be considered a threat present. Confused, I twisted my body in the humans arms to come face to face with him. He was panting heavily, continuing to stare into the room as if there was some demon in there, ready to attack. His grip on me was tight, but oddly enough, it felt more comforting than painful.

Not really knowing what was wrong with him, I did the first thing that came to my mind. I licked his nose. He instantly came out of his panic and just looked at me as if I was crazy. I grinned sheepishly.

If the ends justify the means...

I cleared my throat. “So…um, wanna tell this pretty, young, and dangerous mare what that was all about?” He raised an eyebrow at my self description, but shook his head, releasing me from his grasp. I just stayed on his lap, looking into his shifting brown eyes with all the concern I could muster. Ignoring me, he pushed me off and stood, adjusting his clothing, the little he had on. He put his arms across his chest and looked away, seeming to glare at something in the distance.

“Sorry about that.”

I gave him a flat gaze.

“Really? That’s all you’re going to tell me?” He shifted his weight from one side to another, and then lowered his arms, his eyes staring into mine. We kept this up for what felt like an eternity, until he blinked, sighing.

“Alright…you’re the guard that’s living with me in…what was that city called again?” His eyes started gazing off into the distance. I cleared my throat, bringing his gaze back to me.

“Ponyville?”

He chuckled before responding. “Heh, that’s right, how could I forget such a silly name like that? All most as silly as yours...” Getting up, he started walking back into his room, and I followed, shaking my head, but expecting him to continue. He searched around, and put on a shirt, realizing they wouldn't fit over his wings, and took it off, resorting to covering his chest with his arms. Irritated, he sat on the bed, patting on the space beside him. When I didn’t join him, he looked at me in confusion.

I grinned.

“Use your words sweetie…” He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Luna did say you would be…difficult. Alright…yeah I’m not calling you Divine whatever. Can I just call you...Angel?”

“If you take me to dinner first~”

“Oh shut up, that’s not what I meant.”

“Mhm.”

“Are we gonna talk or what?”

I rolled my eyes and hopped onto the bed with him, ceasing my teasing. There would be plenty of time for that later.

“So…?” I started, the silence starting up again. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, appearing to hold it, and then released it, opening his eyes, looking at me.

“My name is Osprey. I’m a human, I like long walks at night, and sleeping. If you wake me up without a good reason, I will throw you out of a window.”

I smiled. “I’m the same way.” I tapped one of his wings, which shuddered under my touch. “I hope these pretty things aren’t just for show.” He blushed at that for some reason.

“Um...about that, when Luna asked me my preference on the kind of guard I wanted, I asked that it was a Pegasus so they could well…teach me how to fly.” I sighed, knowing that my assignment sounded too easy. He just continued. “Discord gave me these wings, where I come from no human has wings, so I don’t even know where to start with these overgrown things. Heck, I broke one of them yesterday by rolling over in my sleep.” I cringed at that.

Interesting, so Discord was free after all. I’ll have to look into that further.

“But the last thing you need to know is, well, I see things.”

I giggled. “We all see things silly.” He quickly shook his head, his gaze serious. He gently grabbed my head, and I resisted the urge to back away or punch him, and he got close. REAL close. I could feel his breath on my muzzle as he spoke again, his brown eyes narrowing.

“I mean. I. See. Things.” He released me, staring off into a corner of the room. Then he pointed. “For example...Right where I’m pointing, there’s a human, just standing there, sharpening a large butchers knife. I call him Greg.” I let out a little sigh, starting to get the picture as he pointed at the room’s closet. “Over there, a shadow appears sometimes and opens the door, whispering overly creepy and murderous things at me.” He then looked at me. I flinched a little, expecting him to point at me. He just sighed. “The reason I tackled you earlier is because, well, while I struggle with figuring out what is reality, and what is just another figment of my imagination, what I do know for a fact is…Discord is free. That little bastard is real, and wants me dead so he can take over this ponified world. I'm pretty sure he brought me here. He gave me these wings, made animals attack me, use me as a pawn in a wager with Celestia, and earlier, he was about to snap. Literally. He muttered something about ‘too much harmony’ and just glared at you. I've never seen him so...angry.” He looked at me with concern in his eyes. “Luna said you were a mare of great moral character, and is also capable of putting me on my ass with no problem.” I smiled at that. “But now that I know Discord wants to hurt you as much as he wants me to die, well…I need you to trust me.” I looked at him in surprise.

Uh…isn’t that my line?

He continued. “Were you able to see him earlier when you came in?” I looked around the room, looking around for the well-known god of chaos, but couldn’t see him. I shook my head at Osprey, and he frowned.

“That’s kind of what I thought. Ever since that deal with Celestia, he’s been popping in and out of random places to screw with me, but he’s been mute, unlike when he brought me to ponyland. So far, I’ve been the only one who’s been able to spot him, other than that pink pony I met the other day, but honestly, she seems more mentally damaged than I am.” He laughed at that, shaking his head before continuing, looking at me. “So I have a proposition for you.” He grinned and I cocked my head to the side. “Since Luna vouches for you, and in the last…20 minutes we’ve been talking, you’re kind of growing on me. So…how about we skip formalities and the whole bodyguard thing and just be friends? You’re already going to be my roommate, so this is essentially your last chance to bail.” Seeing another chance for a jab, I gave him a curious grin.

“Oh? Why the sudden interest in being friends? I know I told you to take me out to dinner but I was-“ A finger pressed against my muzzle.

“Shhh. Get your head out of the gutter. I’m serious. Bodyguards have a job to do, and only that job. Friends however, are loyal. I’ll watch your back when Discord is around, and you can help ground me to reality when I'm chasing demons and trying to strangle myself.”

Cringing a little, I considered this, bringing a hoof to my muzzle.

Well, targets are easier to protect when they trust you…and if it’s true that Discord is around, and he can actually see him…

I looked up at him, while it was endearing, I was still kind of confused at the sudden offer of friendship from someone I just met. He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “And we don’t have to send friendship letters to Celestia every day. Luna counts as my first friend, you would be my second, and as per the Princess’s terms for the first month, which means I’m in the clear.” He sat up straight again and extended his hand to me. “So…friends?”

I grinned, shaking my head at his craftiness, he almost had me there with his bodyguard talk. Despite that, I felt, deep inside, that I would come to like this human. I put my hoof in his hand.

“Friends it is, Osprey.”

He shook his head, clenching his hand, still outstretched.

“No no, real homies fist-er excuse me...hoof bump.”

He’s already growing on me. I guess Princess Luna was right.

I met his fist with my hoof, sealing our first day of friendship.

Author's Note

As stated before, this story will swap between Osprey and Divine Intervention (Angel) as they become more acquainted with each other. The title will give you hints as to who's POV will be the main focus of the chapter.