Shining Endby AevusChaptersNight One: Alone in the DarkDay Two: Arrival and a PancakeNight Two: The Moon RisesDay Three: Parties are Your Friends, Not Your FoesNight Three: A Sinister PlotDay Four: Purity is Tainted Only With Misguided PurityDay Five: Wait It's Day and Not Night!?Day One: Leaving HomeNight One: Alone in the DarkAuthors note: If you haven't read this fic some things may not make sense, so I suggest you read it. I yawned loudly as I stood, stretching my legs. The ride to Ponyville would be about five hours, so I had to finish patrols and be in bed by then. I think I can do that. I grab my amulet and put it on, activating it as I walk out side, and waving to some of the nearby guards. Lunar stallion armor tends to be different depending on their roles. There are three different kinds of lunar stallions scouts, warriors and guards. I'm a scout, so my armor provides less protection, but it's lighter so I move quicker. Warrior armor provides a decent amount of protection and guard armor provides the most. Guards are the most common kind of lunar stallion, they're the ones that hang around Princess Luna all the time. I took my position near the gate and stood there. In five minutes I moved to my next spot. This continued for the next hour and a half.Then came my favorite part of the night, training the rookies. This was their first day of boot camp, and the day I got to see which ones were good enough to be lunar stallions. I returned to the barracks to find it full of new troops, fifteen to be exact. As soon as I entered most of them snapped to attention, most of them. A group of three stallions in the back continues to talk, my presence unknown to them. "Lunar stallions aren't that scary, I bet I could beat one in a fight." The biggest of the group said. Oh he is going down, hard. My specialty in this body was shadow magic, so I cloaked myself to look like a regular shadow, and then slowly crept towards them. I got within range of them and formed a wicked dagger out of shadow. Shadow didn't actually cause damage to a pony, but it hurt just as much as a regular knife would. With that thought in mind I drove the knife strait into his back, and my cloak disappeared. A gasp was heard around the room as the recruit let out a loud scream. "Not so weak am I now? If you so much as think of disrespecting a lunar stallion again, you better be ready for a beating. Understood private?" He didn't respond. "I said Do you understand!" He turned around, trying to mask his pain, but not doing a good job of it. "No." He responded in a witty tone. This kid was going to learn respect one way or another. I quickly pull my two real knifes from my side. "We wouldn't want this to get bloody, would we?" I say with a smirk, he matches my smirk and pulls out his own knife. This colt is officially the stupidest pony in the world. He takes a wild swing, not aimed at all. He probably believes his own lies that lunar stallions are weak. I don't know where he picked the lies up, but they were wrong, so wrong. I easily catch his swing and drive his knife to the ground, causing him to involuntarily bend down. I take this opportunity and hit him behind the ear with the hilt of my knife, knocking him out cold. His limp body falls to the ground and the two other guards in the room pick him up and throw him out side. "Anypony else want to disrespect me?" All the ponies in the room snap into a solute. I liked that. "Good, I am Lieutenant Colonel Nightflare, but you will address me as sir. Got it maggots?!" "Sir yes sir!" They responded in unison. "Good! Now all of you drop and give me 500!" I wasn't serious of course, I just wanted to see who was loyal. All but two of the ponies dropped to the floor instantly. The guards escorted the other two out. I let them keep going until they either collapsed or quit, mostly for shits and giggles. At the end I just told them to head back to their bunks and get some sleep, I followed suit. Authors note: In case you're confused (or didn't read the story description) the stallion known as Commander Aevus and Lieutenant Colonel Nightflare are the same pony. The 'soul' shares these two bodies and every time he falls asleep in one he is transferred to the other. Also the reason for the huge difference in chapter size is because the night was only a few hours long, due to him having to make his other self wake up at a certain time. Day Two: Arrival and a PancakeI open my eyes and I am greeted with a warm sunrise. It runs around the sky like a carefree child, always happy and uncaring. On the horizon is also a small town. It is dotted with several houses, their roofs made of thatch. Near one end of the town a tree stands, but it has windows and a door. "Next stop Ponyville!" The conductor shouts over the intercom. Several ponies gather up their belongings and exit the train when it pulls to a stop. As I step outside I notice that the weather in this town differs from that of Canterlot. The air here is warmer and it's slightly more humid. A crowd of ponies rush by and I decide to follow them, passing several buildings on the way. The heat is getting annoying so I stop at the tree and knock on the door. "Spike! Get the door for me!" A voice yells. The voice is distinctly female. I hear some grumbling and then the door opens. To my surprise it's not a pony that opens the door, but rather it's a dragon. Not just any dragon though, the dragon that opens the door is Spike. I had the job of guarding him for about a week before he left Canterlot. As he looks me over a look of slight recognition crosses his face. "Aevus! I haven't seen you in like forever." He exclaims. He holds out his claws in a fist and I match his claws with my hoof. He turns around and yells back into the tree. "Twilight! Come here, Commander Aevus is here!" I immediately here hoofs descend down the stairway inside and a lavender mare walks to the door. When she sees me she instantly starts asking questions. "Are you really Commander Aevus? Why are you here? Did Celestia send you? Is it true that you can use chronomancy?" She drones on and on. Thank Luna that she stopped when a pegasus crashed into the side of her house. I look up to see a light blue pegasus with a rainbow mane. She shakes her head and then looks at me. "Who are you?" She asks. I decide that trying to impress her probably won't work, but I try anyway. "I am commander Aevus of her Majesty's Royal Solar Guard." I reply. As expected she doesn't react much, only rolling her eyes slightly. "Well I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria, and future Wonderbolt." She takes off and hovers in the air for a little bit to prove her point. I instantly think of something. This is going to be good. "So you say your the fastest flyer in Equestria?" I ask, she nods her head in confirmation. "I think I could beat you." She instantly goes on the defensive and Twilight looks at me like I'm crazy. "Are you kidding me?! You're just a unicorn, and if you think you're so fast race to the center of the town. Now." Dash says in a serious manner. Spike is the only other one that recognizes what I'm doing. Me and Dash line up and Twilight begins to speak. "Okay, this race will be fair. No hitting, biting or tripping and for the commander no teleporting." Twilight says. A devilish grin spreads across my face as Twilight starts to count. "Three." Dash spreads her wings and takes a ready stance. "Two." Dash drags one of her hoof into the ground. "One." Dash stands completely still. "GO!" Time freezes around me and I begin to slowly trot to town center, the others frozen behind me. I need to be careful with time frozen, because every action I take spends twice as much energy as usual. When I reach the center of town I teleport a chair and a glass of lemonade. By now I'm completely exhausted so I lay down and take a sip of lemonade before unfreezing time.Three, two, one. Dash comes to a complete stop as she sees me laying in the center of town with lemonade. "Cheater! Twilight said no teleporting!" Dash screams. Twilight appears besides her with a flash a disapproving look on her face. I allow myself a small snicker. Dash instantly recognizes this and flies up to me. "I don't like when other people cheat, so tell me why you did!" "One, problem Miss Rainbow Dash, I didn't teleport." I say. "Then how did you get here so fast?" She retorts flying up to me. "I simply stopped time, took my time trotting over here, and teleported this chair and lemonade here. Then I sat down and proceeded to watch you fly here. Now if you mind I'm kind of hungry." I reply with a smirk. She gives me a death stare and I burst out laughing. Then, out of nowhere a pink pony pops up next to me. "Did you say you were hungry?!" I nod and she stuffs a pancake into my mouth, which I chew and swallow. I almost faint as the taste fills my mouth. It's a perfect mix of sweet fluffy pancake and warm apple syrup. The butter is melted perfectly into the pancakes and it ties the whole thing together. "Is it good?" The pink pony asks. "Good doesn't even begin to describe it. It's like an angel baked it and then dropped it into Equestria. I can't describe it past then without overloading my own brain." I reply. She giggles and holds up a plate of them and I quickly down the whole plate in one bite. Rainbow Dash is still looking at me expectantly. "So you're telling me that you can stop time?" She asks. I nod as I eat more of the pancakes that the pink pony is providing. Suddenly Dash jumps at me. "Then dodge this!" Time stops again and surprisingly the pink pony doesn't stop. Instead she just gasps and runs off saying something about parties. I decide to teleport Twilight in front of the multicolored projectile. I move out of the way and un pause time. I laugh as Dash collides with Twilight. Dash just looks around in confusion. "What just happened?" She asks to nopony in particular. "Oh I just decided to move Twilight in front of you and see what you did." I say between my laughing. I notice that I'm now covered in sweat and when I stop laughing I start panting. Twilight notices this and decides to go into a lecture. All I heard was 'blah blah blah magic blah blah blah exhaustion blah blah blah Aevus is awesome blah.' When she finishes I'm almost asleep. "So do either of you know where Sweet Apple Acres is?" I ask. Twilight looks annoyed that I interrupted her and Dash is still clueless as to what happened. "It's down the road and to the left. Keep going for a while and you'll reach the farm." Twilight responds. I nod and start to walk away, but not before saying one last thing. "By the way, sorry for breaking your Rainbow Dash." With that I turn and walk down the street. As I approach the farm I notice that the rows of trees seem to be in bloom. Apples hanging from most of them. An orange mare was standing in front of some of the trees admiring them. I freeze time and sneak up on her, unfreezing time and tapping her on the shoulder. She freaks out and bucks me in the stomach knocking the wind out of me. "Holy horse apples that hurt." I say as I lay on the ground clutching my stomach. She turns around and looks at me with a questioning stare. "Why did ya'll sneak up on me?" She asks. Her voice is oddly menacing, almost as menacing as my old captain. "I thought that Celestia told you I'd be arriving, all I did was tap you on the shoulder, goodness." I reply. The pain in my stomach dissipating. I stand and wobble for a second, but recover quickly. Being in the guard gives you a lot of resistance to pain, especially when I've been stabbed before. Nothing will ever compare to that amount of pain. "Oh, heh. Sorry 'bout that, ya'll just startled me." She responds nervously, holding out a hoof. "Ah'm mighty sorry that we got off on the wrong hoof, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres. This 'ere is the finest apple orchard in all of Equestria." I match her hoof with my own and she grins. She motions for me to follow her and she walks towards a barn. She opens the doors when we get there and I notice that the back is filled to the brim with buckets of apples. "This is where ya'll will be stayin' for the night." She says. I nod in response and collapse on a nearby pile of hay. She waves as she exits the barn and I quickly drift to sleep. Night Two: The Moon RisesI once again open my eyes and yawn. I look around and confirm that I am once again the first guard awake. I grab my amulet and toss it up and down, waiting for the other guards to wake up. Eventually they do and I provide outside, following my normal path. After that I go down to the barracks and find the same group ,minus five or six ponies, as the night before. They snap to attention as I enter. "At ease." I say in a rather commanding tone. "You are the only ponies left from yesterday, and now your training will start. During this training you will do everything I say to do, without question. Refusing my orders will result in being removed from this class. Do I make myself clear?!" "Yessir!" They shout in response. I have a good feeling about this group, and I hope it's right. The training groups usually all fail, no matter how good they are. The reason most of them fail is because they don't follow the orders I give, which to be fair can be kind of crazy sometimes. "Good. lets start out with a healthy two hundred and fifty push ups. GO!" I yell. They drop to the floor and begin the push ups. I notice that one stallion in the middle of the room isn't having any trouble at all with the order. So he's the tough guy of this group, well messing with him will be fun at least. After they finish the push ups I have them sprint for as long as they can, most of them only make it a mile or so before slowing down. Before they're done recovering from that I have them sprint back to the barracks. Some just collapse on the way there, and I tell them to just trot to their bunks for the night. I tell the rest the same. It was a Thursday though, so I had night court duty. The court was usually more fun than patrols, but it could get old. Then Princess Luna returned and it changed completely. Now it was the most fun part of the night for most of the guards, mostly because Luna is a ton of fun to hang around. She is also hilariously brutal to any ponies that come to night court and make ridiculous requests. As I approach the courtroom however, my stomach starts to ache. It's like a dull pain, most likely just a regular stomach ache, but I'll get it checked out later. When I open the door to the courtroom, I am met with a sound like nails on a chalkboard. For the second time this week I walk in on Blueblood being an idiot in one of the Princesses courtrooms. "But Luna, one of your stupid guards wa-" I just teleported him out right then and there. I already heard this conversation once before, I don't need to hear it again. The Princess gives me a mixed look of relief and anger, but she grins nevertheless. I dropped to one knee, because unlike Celestia the Princess of the night was all about formalities. "We would prefer if you told us next time before you rid us of our guest." Luna says as I rise from my bow. "You majesty, you're using the royal we again." I say calmly. Luna blushes a bit, but quickly hides it. She is still getting used to modern speech patterns and talking volumes. Her mistakes are becoming less and less common, but they still occur and when it does it's kind of cute. Don't get me wrong, I don't like her or anything, I just um... never mind. I take my place at her side and stand still. This continues for the next three or four hours while ponies complain about their stupid problems. Only one or two are actually worth the princess helping, and those few are helped in any way possible. After all is said and done Princess Luna says we can go back to our bunks, and I do. On my way home I here a scream, and out of instinct I follow it. When I reach the point of the scream I am greeted with a gruesome sight. A pony lay on the ground, bleeding from her eyes and mouth. She sees me and lets out another scream. I rush to her side and pick her up, then I run towards the nearest hospital as quickly as possible. "What happened to her!?" I hear a doctor shout as I approach the hospital. They take the mare to intensive care and I fall asleep on one of the benches in the waiting room. Day Three: Parties are Your Friends, Not Your FoesAuthors Note: The hiatus ends! This chapter is what you get when I work on and off on a chapter for a couple of weeks. Though the hiatus is over, posting will not be on a regular basis. The night chapter that accompanies this day will be up as soon as I can write it. Also, new page breaks! They're kinda overkill, but I like them. I put them up on google images, you should be able to find them if you search Shining End. Sorry for the huge delay, and Have a good chapter! I open my eyes and am met with an unusual sight. I'm still laying in the pile of hay, but above me are three fillies. When and how did this happen. I think this as I slowly regain my senses. The filly on the right is a yellowish color with a red mane tied back in a bow. She shares a slight resemblance with Applejack. The filly on my left seems to have a small air of grace, she has a white coat that is slightly dirty and a purple and pink mane. A horn rests atop her head and she reminds me of the white mare that I sat next to on the train yesterday. The third and most notable of the small females is an orange one with a purple mane. The wings that she has are smaller than most fillies I've seen and I know exactly who she reminds me of. She reminds me of my old friend that fell in the battle with the changelings, the friend that died in my arms, that as a last action she told me that she loved me. As I thought of her I found that tears had started to well up in my eyes, I quickly blinked them away. "Could you please get off me so I can stand up?" I ask quietly, causing them to jump. Not the most observant of foals then. The orange one recovered first, her wings buzzing as she righted herself. Her eyes were wide and I realized that I probably kept my eyes closed just enough that they didn't notice that they were open. "I heard you beat Rainbow Dash in a race!" The filly announced loudly. I snickered as I got to my hooves, the other two fillies recovering. The yellow one was the next to speak, and I was proved right in the fact that she shared her sisters drawl. "Yea, Applejack done says that ya'll sneaked up on 'er too." The third filly face hoofed and I suppressed a laugh when she did. Not because it was funny as much as the fact that these three fillies where perfect friends for each other. "Sorry for my friends rudeness, they are a trouble a lot of the time." The white filly said in a casual manner. In the background both of the other fillies shared a simultaneous 'Hey!'. The white filly ignored them and continued on. "I'm Sweetie Belle, the insane orange pegasus is Scootaloo and the yellow earth pony is Applejack's sister Apple Bloom." We shook hooves and in the background I could hear Scootaloo complaining about not being insane. "Nice to meat you, I am Commander Aevus, head of Her Majesties Solar Guard. To answer your questions yes, I did beat Rainbow Dash in a race, and no I didn't sneak up on Applejack I just surprised her." I said as I checked to see if all my things were with me and intact from the night. Everything was in order and I wanted to leave, but it was obvious that I wasn't getting out anytime soon. Then a plan came to mind. "Wait, commander? I thought that Twilight's brother was in charge of the guard." Sweetie Belle asked before the others could ask anything. "Twilight has a brother? Oh, wait you mean Prince Shining Armor. While technically he is in charge of the guard itself, there are also Commanders for each of the branches of the guard. One for Solar, Lunar, Air and Magic. The Solar and Lunar are self explanatory, the Air guard consists of the Wonderbolts and a few squads of elite pegesi, and the Magic guard is made up of extremely important spell casters." I explain as I inch closer to the door. "I will tell you more later, but right now I have to go!" With that I sprinted off, leaving three very unhappy and confused fillies behind me. I ran for a while towards town and then started slowing down as I got to the town market. It was relatively early for a Friday, so only a few of the stands were set up. One of them is run by a stallion with a brown coat and mane, his flank adorned with what looks to be an hourglass. His stand advertises watches that will never, ever be wrong. This catches my eye and I trot over, time to pull an evil trick. "Hello my good sir!" He exclaims as I trot over. "What can I do for you today?" "I was just wondering if you had any watches that will stay accurate through even time travel?" I ask casually. His eyes go wide for a second then he asks the weirdest question I have ever heard somepony ask. "Are you a dalek?" His tone suddenly becoming more serious. I held my face in an equally serious manner, I was sticking with this to the end. "Of course, why would I ask otherwise." I say with a very serious tone. I must have slipped, because he started laughing and continued for a while. "What's so funny?" I ask in the serious tone once again. When he finally composes himself again his tone is much less serious. "Nothing, it's just you had me going for a while there, but I know for a fact that you are not a dalek. Now, with that matter over, and to answer your question, yes. My watches are guarantied to stay accurate, no matter what happens to them. If you aren't satisfied with that you get your money back and you can keep the watch. One watch costs fifty bits for silver and seventy-five for gold." I nod and had him ten gold bits, the equivalent of one hundred bits. "I'll have two silver watches, please." He nods and hands me the watches, which I slip into one of the compartment inside my overcoat. I turn to leave and I start wandering around town, I stop by a small cafe and grab lunch, and eventually I find a small schoolhouse. To my partial dismay, three familiar fillies are outside, but the thing that troubles me is that two other fillies are standing in front of them. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are standing defensively over Scootaloo, who is crying and clutching one of her hoofs. Bullies, just what I needed to ruin yet another good day. I walk over and position myself in front of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The bullies roll their eyes, not a good move. I recognize lying almost as good as the bearer of the element of honesty. "What exactly is going on here?" I ask. I'm trying to catch them in a situation where they would get in trouble. "Nothing, nothing at all sir." One of the bullies replies, the venom obvious in her voice. "Yea, that crap isn't going to work on me. I'm not in the mood for games right now and I'm not as oblivious as most other adults. So I ask once again, what is going on here?" I am not in the mood for taking crap right now, especially from two stupid foals. "Look, if you don't go away, I'm gonna tell my daddy." And she fell for the trap, perfect. "And who, pray tell, is your daddy?" I asked, still emotionless. I couldn't let the emotions show, unless I wanted to blow the idea. "My daddy is a very rich pony and he will get you in trouble. He has connections with the royal guards." Oh, she is just begging for this to happen. This is going to be good. "What branch of the guard?" I ask "What?" She replies in a clueless manner. "I said, what branch of the guard?" I reiterated. "Um, the royal one?" She replies utterly lost. Just as she says this, her father trots up behind her. "Is this stallion giving you trouble honey?" He asks. The filly gives an evil grin and I start to mentally cheer. I knew this idiot, he was the one that tried to convince Princess Luna to give him her personal protection. That was one hell of a shouting match. At the end of it he was permanently banned from the castle, with a spell cast on him to stop him from entering. Well not as much stop him as make him explode if he stepped inside the castle. What can I say, I was bored and hated his guts, I think he deserved more than just a shock if he ever defiled the castle with his presence ever again. "Yes daddy, I was just telling him that you would have him arrested if he didn't stop an-" I just cut her off. "Actually she was just proving to me that you don't have the connections to do such a thing. This fact was reinforced when I saw your ugly face, which I personally cast a prevention spell on a couple of years back. The reason I was talking to your poor excuse for a filly was because she and her friend were bullying these innocent girls. Now if you would please punish her and get away, it would spare me the problem of arresting both of you idiots." By this time a crowd of ponies had gathered around us, most of them here to pick their kids up. "What do you mean prevention spell, I don't know what you mean." He was stumbling on his words, a good sign that he was lying through his white teeth. "Also, you should stop making empty threats." "So you don't recognize me, well I guess that was to be expected. Let me introduce myself. I am Commander Aevus of Her Majesties Solar Guard." Several of the ponies in the crowd gasped. "And by prevention spell I mean the one that will cause you to explode if you go anywhere near the castle gates. I cast it on you the morning after you yelled at Princess Luna. That was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen anypony do, and that's saying a lot considering I've been Princess Celestia's personal guard for over three years." "Even the one griffin assassin was smarter about her job that you were about trying to get Luna's personal protection. I mean seriously, you just barged in and started spouting random requests. My good friend Nightflare said the headache he had didn't go away for at least the next few days!" By this time the other filly that had been with the bully had started to walk away. The remaining one was standing next to her dad, who was completely flustered. "And next time you go spouting lies about the royal guard and it's protection," I took a step closer. "You'll have to deal with more than just my words." I took another step and he fell back. He quickly recovered and trotted away, his filly following him closely. As I turn back around I see that Applejack and the white mare from the train have started trotting in the direction of the fillies. After a second the air is just silent, and then one pony stops her hoof, followed by the rest of the crowd. A couple of ponies even shout out things like 'Go Aevus!' or 'That was awesome!'. I could care less about the crowd and I start to walk to were Sweetie Belle and her friends are now standing. Applejack is talking to Apple Bloom and the same is true for the white mare and Sweetie Belle. As I walk over I notice Scootaloo is still crying and I can now see that there is a small cut along her hoof. The gash was more than likely to heal quickly, but I cast a small time increase spell on that part of her hoof anyway. The three fillies and the two mares watch in wonder as the cut closes up. "Hello Applejack!" I say as I walk up from behind her. Her reflexes kick in and she bucks, but this time it misses me just to the right. "Goodness, I thought you bucked trees for a living, not ponies!" I exclaimed in fake surprise. Another thing guards are really good at, fake emotions. She turns and rubs the back of her neck, looking guilty. The white mare takes this opportunity to introduce herself. "Hello, I am Rarity, and I do have to thank you for what you did. I would usually criticize you for making hollow threats, but I realize that those weren't hollow." Her voice is more of an upper class one. I recognize that she is trying to hard not to mess up in any way, which confuses me. I know I can be intimidating if I want to but why would sh-. Oh, right. She saw what I did on the train. I decide to be overly formal, to make a good impression. I gently take one of her hooves in mine and kiss the tip, drawing the exact response I wanted, a small blush. "It's a pleasure to finally know your name. I would have talked to you on the train here, but honestly I was exhausted. I had to listen to that idiot Blueblood whine in court earlier that day." I said. She probably didn't know who Blueblood was, but it was worth at least a shot. "Oh, I feel sorry for you. At the last Grand Galloping Gala I tried to put up with him, but I simply couldn't. He made me open doors for him, made me pay for things, and overall just acted like and idiot." She says, anger slowly creeping into her voice. "Wait a second, are you the one mare that shoved cake into his stupid face?" I asked excitedly. This mare might be the thing that caused Blueblood to be made fun of among the nobles. "Yes I was in fact. I would love to do it again." She says in an equally exited voice. "The nobles made fun of him for days after that, and I'll tell you one thing, both of the Princesses want him gone for good. He is such an mindless fool, the day I left Canterlot he tried to punch me. Can you believe that him, a weak spoiled noble, tried to attack a Commander of the guard. I swear that half the ponies in Canterlot can only act better than other ponies, and then sit back while those ponies do the work." I notice I'm rambling and shut up. "I know darling, if I were part of the Canterlot political system I would try to do things that benefit the whole country, not just the nobles of Canterlot. Some ponies in this world just need to learn the meaning of Generosity." As Rarity finishes the sentence I realize that I just had an actual conversation, with a civilian, about something other than the weather. I also notice that I have an insistent urge to keep talking with Rarity. I am overwhelmed by a strange mix of warmth and nervousness, two feelings that I had not felt since recruitment. Great, did I seriously just fall for Rarity, just what I needed. Great going brain, I hate you too. "If the ponies of Canterlot knew the meaning of Generosity, we wouldn't have needed to fight off the changelings." I murmur as thoughts rush through my head. Ones of the last mare I loved, the one that died saving me. A single tear drips from my face. The first tear I have shed since the day she died. Rarity sees this tear, just by chance and avoids the subject. I blink and my face once again returns to its neutral state. A second later I see Twilight Sparkle approaching from behind Rarity, she wears a small smile and is flanked by the pink pony that somehow avoided my chronomancy. "Hi Twilight." I say, bringing Rarity's attention to the two ponies approaching. Twilight waves and the pink pony is suddenly right next to me. "HiI'mPinkiePieandyoumustbenewbecausetheonlytimeIsawyouwasyesterdayandthenIrandoffandthenIwaslike-" Applejack shoves a hoof into Pinkie Pie's mouth and gives me an apologetic smile. "What Pinkie is trying to say is that she wants you to come to the party tonight at the library." Twilight explains. Pinkie nods and I smile. "I didn't know that the library was also a party center, but if there's a party, I'm there." I say. Pinkie runs off again and the remaining mares all face hoof. "Well, I better go and get ready for the party, what time is it?" I ask. "It will start at six thirty and run until around nine. The only ponies there should be me, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike." Twilight replies happily. I nod, freeze time, walk to the barn, lay down, and unfreeze time. I simply lay there for a couple of hours, thinking of what I'll do for the next few days. I've got enough bits to last me a couple of days, but I need a source of income, I also need a more permanent place to call home. Eventually I pull out one of the watches and sure enough, they stayed accurate through time travel. The watch reeds six, so I gather up my things, setting one of my watches in the hay, and start for the library. When I arrived at the party, Twilight was proven correct. Only six other ponies and one dragon were there. The library seemed to be alive with pure fun. The lights were tinted different colors and streamers were put all across the floor. A table stood in the middle of the room, completely covered in different sweets and drinks. "Isn't this a little overkill for just eight of us?" I ask nopony in particular. Greetings are made and the party kicks off, as I look around the decorated room one pony in particular draws my attention. She looks like she's going to die of nervousness and is sitting near the corner, hiding under her own mane. I slowly begin to walk over to her, she doesn't notice me and I realize that her wing is hurt in some way. I'm low on magic for the day, but I spend the last of it repeating what I did with Scootaloo's hoof.She sits there for a second then lets out small gasp as the healing is completed, she flaps her wing a few times and I finally reach her. "Hello, who are you?" I ask in a quiet voice. "I'm Fluttershy." She responds in a small voice. Evil plan activate. My horn glows and I stress just a small amount of magic out. As of now the magic I use spends the magic of my other form, yet another advantage to my situation, and cast the royal Canterlot voice on the mare. "What was that?" I say in a gentle voice once again. This time when the mare speaks, she surprises the whole room. "I Said My Name Is Fluttershy!!" Fluttershy freaks out and I remove the spell. The others are puzzled until I break out laughing. "Best use of royal Canterlot voice ever!" I say as I roll around laughing. Soon the others join in with me, but Fluttershy's eyes start to well up with tears. This situation just went from good to terrible. Before I can react she rushes out the door. I rush after her, but a blue hoof stops me. "I'll go talk to her, she doesn't take to pranks very well." Rainbow Dash explains as she takes flight. The others agree It's probably a good idea to turn in early and I agree, we part our ways and I go to the barn. As I'm falling asleep all I can think about is a way to say sorry to Fluttershy. Night Three: A Sinister PlotI open my eyes and yawn, jumping a little when I realize I'm not in the barracks. Then the horrific memory of the events of the last night slowly seep into my brain. I remember the court and then the screaming mare, but one thought topped all of that. I needed to tell Luna as soon as possible. She probably already knew, but I'm not one to take a chance on something like this. The thought hot in my mind, I gallop as fast as I can out the door and towards night court. As I run I notice a few odd things. First the wind is colder than usual, chilling my body in a less than comfortable fashion. Second is the distinct lack of guards. The one that is around seem to be looking for something. Interested, I walk over to him, a guard class lunar stallion. "What's going on here? Where is everypony?" I ask. As soon as my voice hits his ears, he turns and I meet his eyes. Three things happen. First, I realize that his eyes are not those of a pony, but of something else. Second, I am suddenly paralyzed where I stand, a clutching fear creeping up on me. Third, the non-pony smiles, and then speaks. "Ah, there you are creperum I was starting to wander if you were dead or not. If you want to survive this encounter you will do as I say, ok?" As it finishes it slowly lifts the fear that held me still. As soon as I feel the fear gone, I make my move. Forming a simple kunai with shadow I chuck it at him with my mouth. He dodges to the right and I once again find myself frozen in place. "Do that again and there will not be enough left of your body to identify when the morning sun rises." His voice is like ice, freezing the air around him as he speaks. "When I let you go, you will go strait to Luna, and you will deliver this message. Praeparant pugnae ultimae. Ego interficiam te. Mors mos vilis vita. I'm going to let you go now, and if you try to pull anything else, I will kill you." I once again feel my body freed from the fear and I bolt towards the castle. As I near the castle, a sight freezes me again. This time it is not the non-pony, but rather the corpses of lunar guards laying around, blood splattered around the area. The corpses seem to make a line that leads to the lunar court. I sprint towards that area, the sounds of clashing steel filling me ears as I near the door to the room. I push the door open. The sight of the court room fills me with adrenaline. The remaining lunar guards are clustered around Princess Luna. They are surrounded by the corpses of their comrades and a group of ponies in a green armor. The ponies in green armor all turn to me, their eyes completely black. They each hold a sword in their teeth, some of them even have crossbows. As they aim at me and get ready to fire, I let loose all of the anger built up inside of me. I disappeared as I merged with the shadows around me. As the ponies began to move around, I drove shadow spikes up into them. The other lunar guards took this opportunity and lunge at the temporarily disabled ponies. I followed them, jumping up from the shadows and drawing my own knives. As I sliced at the ponies their flesh burned and bubbled, warping around the tip of the knife. Thank the Goddesses for fire enchantments and their conveniences in combat. I sliced at more of the ponies, my knife ripping through armor and flesh alike. The good thing about enchantments is that I didn't need to make the strike of the knife a killing blow. My knife was enchanted to not only melt flesh, but also poison any pony that got cut by it. The poison was made to paralyze on contact, and then kill soon after. As I sliced through pony after pony I noticed that the tide of the fight had changed, leaving me and the lunar guard at an advantage. The ponies in the armor finally had the sense to retreat out of the court room, and down the streets of Canterlot. We were in no shape to follow them, and thus we didn't. I look around, only to see the corpses of the dead ponies, guards and green armored ponies alike, floating slowly as the broke down into what looked like mass of pure darkness. Not shadow or the darkness of a completely sealed room with no lights, but rather the kind of darkness that consumed you and looked like the embodiment of pure death. The darkness then simply vanished, gone somewhere I couldn't see. With that I looked back at the ponies of the room a sudden drowsiness setting upon me. I fell to one knee, one of the guards running over to me, a worried look painted across her face. I followed her gaze and looked down, stopping upon seeing a crossbow bolt lodged a good two inches into my stomach. I looked back at the mare and collapsed, blacking out. Authors Note: This will all make sense eventually, until then I will simply tell you that it will not be all sunshine and rainbows, and may result in serious injury of one of the mane six. Day Four: Purity is Tainted Only With Misguided PurityThis chapter is dedicated to anyone who has lost someone near to their hearts because of the stupid thing we call war. Morning, something I often yearn for, and something that welcomed me with a large embrace on this day. Mourning, however, is something that I hated, and yet I would most likely be pulled up to Canterlot to mourn the dead guards from last nights battle. I sat up, deciding that enough was enough, and looked over my things. I still had enough bits, but that would be a problem by the end of this week. My knife was still there, but I needed to get my overcoat cleaned. It was dirty from sleeping in the hay pile, and even had a rip in it. Yep, defiantly going to get that fixed. I stood up, my hooves touching the floor of the barn, and a familiar sense of security coming over me. I take a deep breath and start out the door, walking slowly. When I get about five feet outside the barn I stare up at Canterlot. The tower where Luna's room is is now draped with huge black cloths over every window in the tower. I look down and stomp a hoof in the dirt, thinking of all the soldiers that I could save. I look to Ponyville and I see that there is indeed a chariot flying towards the small town. I start walking towards the down, my eyes downcast and my hooves heavy with the lives of those I wasn't strong enough to save. Saving everypony wasn't a realistic goal, but it was a worthwhile one if you could handle it when you failed. I looked up once again at the voice of the Pink tornado identified as Pinkie Pie. "Hey! You look like your sad, and you know what that calls for, a PARTY! We could have cake and cupcakes and streamers and balloons and-" "SHUT UP!" I yelled. Tired of her nonsensical ranting. "The reason I'm sad is because good guards just died! Do you not see Luna's tower? Huh? DO YOU?!" I pointed a hoof at Canterlot. Pinkie's hair seemed to deflate a little bit. "Now if you would excuse me I have to go to Canterlot and give a speech at the funeral. A fine reason to be sad if I do say so myself." I once again started towards Ponyville, this time I ran as fast as my hooves would carry me to the chariot in the center of town. Ponies were starting to gather around the golden chariot and I pushed through them, causing quite a few ponies to shout at me. As I reached the chariot and started to approach it a guard put a hoof out to stop me. As I met his eyes I knew instantly that this was his first time on the job. Heck even his hoof was shaking a little bit. I cleared my throat and he still didn't move, but another guard noticed the scene and his eyes widened. He ran over and practically murdered the new guard with his glare alone.The younger guard faltered and lowered his hoof. I took this opportunity to interject before this got to ugly, and being me I of course chose the worst possible question to accomplish this goal with. "How many KIA and how many wounded?" I asked in a serious manner. The younger guard just froze and then burst into tears. The older guard froze also, but he kept it together. "Hard to get an exact number without bodies, but we went through the records and found out. Three hundred and seventy two city wide, about a fifth of those in the castle alone. Another Two hundred and thirty one wounded, sixty five of those are in critical." I took a step back as he said that, that many guards that died because I wasn't fast enough, wasn't there to help them fight the whole time. A few tears slipped from my eyes, wetting the area around my hooves. An yell of 'why does that guy get to talk to the guards?' sounded from the back of the crowd. I turned on a dime and faced the audience. "Who the hell said that!?" I yelled, the crowd parting until only the idiot Filth Rich stood in front of me. I slowed time and ran up until I was nose to nose with the bitch. I made time flow at a regular pace and he fell to his haunches the crowd gasping at my sudden speed. When I spoke I put on the RCV for extra effect. "THE REASON I GET TO TALK TO THE GUARD IS BECAUSE I AM THE BUCKING COMMANDER OF THE SOLAR GUARD, ONLY SECOND TO PRINCE SHINING ARMOR. IF YOU DESIRE TO KNOW WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT IT WAS ONLY THE THREE HUNDRED OR SO GUARDS THAT LOST THEIR LIVES LAST NIGHT! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO TO CANTERLOT AND TAKE MY PLACE AT THE FUNERAL AND GIVE A SPEECH I WILL GLADLY LET YOU! I let all my anger vent, bringing a hoof down on his face, only to be stopped by a wall of purple magic, Twilight Sparkle. I looked up, making the rage in my face as evident as I could. She just shook her head in what looked like disappointment. I simply walked onto the chariot and motioned for the guards to take off, which they gladly did. The chariot landed and I stepped off. My hooves hitting the marble floor with a sharp *Crack!*. I started to head to the court room, and the guards all saluted me as I walked be them, but I was in no mood to salute back. My mind was still trying to comprehend what had happened. All the ways I could have saved them, or at least helped more. These thoughts still haunted me as I reached court, and what do you know, the voice of the idiot strikes again. From inside I could hear Blueblood practically begging the court for something. I made a special effort to slam the doors open as loudly as I possibly could. All eyes turned to me as I slowly trotted in, making sure to accent every step. I stopped in the middle of the court room and faced the Princess, her eyes filled with a sorrow that she tried to mask with a fake smile. A smile that faltered as she saw me come in. I snapped the sharpest solute I've ever preformed and the rest of the ponies in the court that were once whispering to each other shut their muzzles. "High Commander Aevus reporting!" I shouted, trying desperately to keep my voice from cracking. Which I barely managed. Celestia nodded at my solute and addressed the ponies of the court. "My little ponies, I am going to have to ask you to leave. Come back later and I will gladly hear your problem, but right now is not the time for things such as these." The ponies filed out wordlessly, even Blueblood left without saying a word to me. I turned to Celestia and was surprised to see tears streaking down her alabaster face, slowly dripping to the ground. She shook her head and pulled herself back together. "Commander, I am truly sorry for the loss of so many of the guard, and-" She let out a cough and more tears began to fall down her face. "and to show respect to the families a funeral shall be held at noon today." I nodded solemnly and gave a bow, at which point one question came to mind. "Your majesty, do you know what happened to Lieutenant Colonel Nightflare?" I ask in an almost worried tone. This could be extremely bad if my other body died. Celestia's expression darkened at this question. "We were able to save him, but he took a crossbow bolt that was meant for Luna, now I do believe it is about time for the funeral to start." I looked up and saw that it was indeed noon. I cast a spell and my traditional armor appeared at my feet. I began to put it on piece by piece. Once I was done we set out for the courtyard. When we arrived I almost began to cry. Hundreds of ponies were gathered around a single casket. The casket contained the ashes of all the guards that died last night. This was the tradition that was carried out every time a guard or group of guards died. As soon as me and Celestia and I stepped out into the courtyard, all eyes snapped to us. Celestia nodded and I made my way to the casket, standing a few feet away. Guards were already lined up in a perfect square around it ready to move it when possible. "All rise for the anthem of the Solar Guards!" I shouted. The ponies around us stood and I cast a spell. The music began to play. From the snow-swept mountain tops To the emerald green fields Across the sea and sky, that wondrous light Has touched us all And as the night begins to fade And the moon hangs low We wake to see the rise of her Celestial glow Raise the sun Raise the sun Every pony and parasprite Every dragon and bird Knows that without her light, her loving warmth We'd never live Those cowards hide in shadows Sheathed by the night We fight the darkness, our swords Raised for the light Raise the sun Raise the sun Throughout all of Equestria The Solar Empire endures Every colt and mare, we stand at arms Ten million strong You best stray from evil And stay in the light Or be lost to darkness, like tears Shed in the night. Raise the sun Raise the sun I never thought that music quiet fit. This was just the funeral for the solar guards, the other funeral would be more solitary, but first I had to get through this one. I spoke. "Ponies, I am truly sorry. I have lost ponies before, so I know your pain." I began the speech with a simple and true statement. "I have been through battles and wars, protected the Princesses for years on end, and I will tell you something. Every single pony that dies in battle has the right to be called a hero, no matter what happens that is what we should remember them as. When the changelings attacked Canterlot, I lost my best friend. Last night a pony took a crossbow bolt for Princess Luna. These are the true heroes in our world. Not the ponies that invent something that changes life, but rather those who fight to prevent us from having to. These ponies are what we remember in history, these ponies are the heroes. These ponies, are the Solar Guard." I turned to the Solar guards. "Solar Guard, present, ARMS!" As I yelled this every guard in the courtyard snapped to a solute. The casket was surrounded by Celestia's magic and lowered into a whole. I filled the grave in with dirt and placed a single large stone on top of the grave. It read all of the names of the ponies lost in the battle. All the Solar guards at least. Celestia nodded to me and I faced the guard once again. "Solar Guard, Order, ARMS!" I paused for a second, tears streaming down the faces of more than one guard. "Solar Guard, Dismissed." With that I stepped back inside the castle, and before anypony could stop me went to my old room. I stayed there for the rest of the day before simply falling asleep. Authors note: That song gets me every time, if you haven't already I would suggest you go here and donate. It's for a good cause, and you get awesome music! Day Five: Wait It's Day and Not Night!?I open my eyes to sunlight. Wait a second, sunlight! That probably wasn't very good, but I ignored the fact and looked around, instantly recognizing my old room. The light that had awoken me was currently streaming in from the open window that adorned the west wall of my room. The window offered a great view of the lush gardens below, and the statues that were contained within it. I sighed and blew away a piece of my mane that had fallen in front of my face, slightly annoyed that I was here instead of in Ponyville. I had so much to do there after I arrived back at the small town. I was distracted from my thoughts by a small knock at the door. I sighed again and turned, slowly making my way towards the decorative entrance. The door was adorned with enough gold and silver to make a rich pony faint. I cared not for this however; the only thing that was on my mind right now was getting back to Ponyville and apologizing to Fluttershy. As I approached the door I heard some hushed voices from behind them. I decided that if the ponies outside were talking about me behind my back, they had the right to do that today. I threw the doors open and was met with the sight of two ornately dressed stallions. They had on suits fitted with gold embroidery and hats that could have blinded somepony if they looked at them in direct sunlight. I pulled on the best neutral face I could and faced them, starring them down in a way that would have made fillies run in terror and new guards shake in their horseshoes. Both of which were things that I had accomplished before, not to my complete satisfaction. “What do you want?” I asked the stallions, the annoyed tone obvious in my voice. As I expected the stallions were scared at first. Then one of them worked up the courage to talk to me, and to my surprise his voice kept a solid tone while he spoke. “We just wanted to ask you if you knew our sister.” I gave him a skeptical look and raised an eyebrow. I had caught the past tense he used and decided that she probably died or was gone and these stallions were going to ask me for something. “Well who exactly was you sister? I know a lot of mares.” As I spoke my voice became less and less annoyed, and more and more curious. I truly wanted to know who these ponies were related to and why I would know their sister. One of the ponies looked at the ground while the one that had spoken earlier spoke again, his voice cracking a little this time. “Her name was Emerald Light; she served in the Solar Guard and was killed in the attack recently.” A tear rolled down his cheek and I for the first time in a while felt true sympathy for somepony other than myself. I had not only known Emerald Light, but been a good friend of hers. I assigned her to inside castle guard because she didn’t actually want to be in the guard. When she had come to the guard it was because she was drafted. We were short on guards after the invasion and she was one of the many ponies that had been drafted to the guard. When she started training though, she had tried while others around her had just sat there and complained about how stupid it was to get drafted. She quickly rose in the ranks of her fellow guard trainees and I took her under my wing, planning to recruit her to Celestia’s personal guards. She had a good heart and enough strength and skill to back it up. One day I offered her my position in Celestia’s personal guards. When she had declined my offer I accepted the fact and pulled some strings to get her on inner castle guard. Not only did this mean she would earn more bits, but the inner castle guards almost never saw action. I never expected that somepony would get into the center of the castle. A realization hit me and I shed a tear of my own, earning a curious look from the stallion, but I ignored him. I had only one thought going through my mind, and that was the fact that I had been responsible for the death of Emerald Light. Add another friend to the list of them that I accidentally killed. I shook my head and brought myself back into focus. I looked back to the stallions in front of me with a renewed sorrow. “Yeah, I knew Emerald. In fact I personally trained her. Good soldier, even if she didn’t want to be in the guard. You should be proud; your sister was a pony worth meeting and getting to know. She had a spirit of which I have never seen matched. She was a good friend too...” I trailed off remorsefully. Thinking of Emerald Light darkened the beginning of my day. The stallion in front of me nodded and turned to go. The other one, though, did not. I looked at him and for the first time realized how young he was. His brown coat was messy andhis red mane was cut short. He looked up at me with ocean blue eyes, eyes I instantly recognized as Emerald’s. His face with streaked with tears and he had dark circles under his bloodshot eyes. “She left a note for you.” He said as he offered me a small slip of paper. My eyes widened in surprise, and I quickly took the note from him with my magic. The older stallion looked in bewilderment at the note, obviously not aware of its existence. The younger stallion nodded and left, walking to his elder brother. The older stallion gave me and the note one more look before turning and trotting out the door with his brother. I turned and shut the door, walking slowly to my bed. I lay down on the bed, its silky softness helping to calm my nerves. When I worked up enough courage I looked at the note that had been presented to me. Its corners were bent and the hoofwriting was a little messy. The message however was the thing that captured my attention. I took a deep breath and began to read. Dear Commander, If you are reading this I have either fallen in battle, or have chosen to leave the guard. I truly cannot thank you enough for your training and support, and ask that you will not mourn over or feel guilty for my loss. I know how you were when Rally died, but you can’t go back to the hollow shell you were for weeks after her death. You have to live like a normal pony when somepony dies. If you can’t then you know as well as I that you shouldn’t be in the commanding position that you currently are. Also if you have this letter I have but one request. Give all of the bits that I earned in the guard to my two brothers. Thanks, Emerald Light I gently set the note on the stand next to my bed, careful not to get any of my tears on it. That letter wasn’t fake, that I was sure of. Emerald had always acted in an extremely formal manner when she said something to me, even when I told her not to. She was right though, however much something hurt I always had to stay strong, and that was my job. I thought this over for a while. Servants came in and out of my room, silently delivering food and drink. I ate them carelessly, perfectly ok with fasting for a while. Eventually I simply lay down and looked out the window. The sun caressed the mountains, setting slowly. It cast a beautiful light out from around it, bands of red and orange ringing the sky. I closed my eyes and laid my head down on my silky pillow. As I fell into the bliss of sleep I thought of nothing, clearing my conscious completely. Author's Note Merry Christmas! Sorry for any spacing issues, this was posted from my iPad. Day One: Leaving HomeAn average day in Canterlot, the tension in the court room was thick enough to cut with a knife. I was here because of a royal summons and I walked in on that imbecile Blueblood arguing with the princess. My headache literally doubled as I stepped in the room, this was mostly because of the language and tone Blueblood used while talking to the princess. "But auntie!" Blueblood wined, "That idiot night guard was so rude. I want him executed!" I rubbed one of my temples with the tip of my hoof, when I put my hoof down Blueblood finally recognized my presence. "Who do you think you are! Auntie I want him thrown in pris-" At this point I just teleported him away into the street. "As much as I thank you for what you just did, I do ask that you never do it again. He tends to get a little, pushy if you know what I mean." The princess said as I dropped to one knee. This felt more natural to me than most ponies, mostly because I live near the castle, but there are other reasons too. Her face is masked in a fake frown, a pretty good one at that, but nothing that I couldn't see past. I rise and I here the sound of shouts coming from outside the room. "BUT YOU HAVE TO LET ME IN, THAT RUFFIAN TELEPORTED ME OUTSIDE!" I snickered and Celestia's frown faltered. We both knew that it was protocol that nopony be let in during a private meeting with the princess, no matter the circumstance. That's what we learned in the lunar guard, that's also what the solar guard learned. How I know that they both learn it, that's a mystery still unsolved by all ponies but me. "So my princess, what do you need my help for today." My commander probably would have punched me in the face, where I still in the solar guard, for talking to the princess first. She didn't mind it though, fun fact, Celestia hates when ponies are overly formal to her. I know this from years of being one of her personal guards. "I ordered you here for something very important, but before I tell you I want to ask you something. Are you loyal to me?" Celestia said, her once playful tone turned very serious. This question seemed unneeded, the answer was an obvious yes. I had served for her personal guard for three years. My guard instincts kicked in and I gave an automatic answer. "I was a solar guard, my task was to protect you and other ponies, no matter the cost. I would sacrifice my life for another, this applies to you ten fold. It is my duty to protect Equestria from all evils, to shine light on the darkness. Ego sum aeternaliter fidus, I am eternally loyal." I finished the line with something else I had picked up in my days as a guard. It was an old pony language that some said possessed great power when combined with magic, in the guard it was used for things of great importance, like promises. Her face softened at the use of the old language, whatever she was going to send me for must be important. Not only was I personal guard, but I specialized in an... unusual kind of magic to say the least. This magic is widely thought to be impossible and the princess wanted me to keep it that way. Then again, who knows what would happen if a stallion with the ability to use chronomancy (Time magic) fell into the wrong hoofs. She nods and begins to speak. "I expected nothing less from you, commander Aevus. I ask only one thing of you, and that is that you go to Ponyville. I have already found a place for you to stay for the time that you are there. While you are there, you are to relax and make some friends." I knew from the look on her face that she wasn't lying. Good grief what kind of order was that. "I'll admit I'm reluctant to accept, but I know you enough to trust that you have a reason for this." I bowed my head and left the room. As soon as the doors opened I found a hoof swinging strait at my face. I absentmindedly grabbed it and threw it to the side, causing the owner to lose his balance. I looked down to see a very disgruntled Prince Blueblood. Before he could speak I did, in a very threatening tone, might I add. "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to mess with commanders of the guard, hmm?" With that I resumed walking. I went home and grabbed my green overcoat, one of my most prized possessions. It looked normal from the outside, but on the inside it had four large pockets and a small slit into the fabric were I could hide my knife. It was fitted perfectly so that the knife wouldn't bother me as I walked. The coat had been a gift from one of my best friends, a friend that was at the wrong place at the wrong time during the changeling invasion. I put it on and grabbed a bag of bits, putting them in one of the pockets on the inside of the coat, just to be safe. Canterlot may seem to be a perfect city, but lets face it, if it was why would we need the guard. I slipped my knife in and set off for the train station. I arrived and walked up to the mare at the ticket booth. She noticed me walking up and the expression went from bad to worse, probably bored from the day of work and ready to get off. I put on my best smile. "Excuse me miss, how much is a ticket to Ponyville?" She gave me a look of pure hatred as I asked that question. "We're closed for the day, now get lost before I call the guards." She retorted. An evil grin fell across my face as I heard the words. I had a plan and it would be awesome if it worked. "So you would call me is what you're saying." Her face perked up at the statement and I tried to look like I was bluffing. She fell for this and made a quick reply. "Yea right, you're not a guard." My smile widened. "You're right," I said in the most regal accent possible. "I am solar guard commander Aevus, and I am under strict orders from princess Celestia to go to Ponyville, now if you would mind." She scanned over me and did a double take, I held up my bag of bits. "How much was that ticket?" "I-it'll be f-five bits s-sir." She replied in a shaky voice. Oh yea, my plan worked. I handed her the bits and looked at the ticked, surprised to see that it left in five minutes. I boarded the train to see that it was very crowded. In fact only one seat remained, it was in the the third row and the other pony there was a white pony with a beautiful purple mane. The mare was idly flipping through a fashion magazine when I sat down in the seat. Her attention went from the magazine to me. She looked at me for a second and her eyes widened a small bit. She shifted in her seat and put the magazine down, staring intently at my overcoat. "Oh darling, why ever would you were such a horrid color as green?" She asked. This is going to be a long ride isn't it. "I'm wearing it because of many reasons. One of them is that it's the only thing I have left of a good friend. A second reason is that it helps me carry things that need to be easily accessible." She looked at me with an unreadable face before I heard a loud crash come from behind us. A very drunk looking stallion had just walked into the cart and was walking over towards us. "Get out of my seat dumb ass!" He yelled at me, unaware of who I was. I answered in the most calm voice that I could. It was pretty calm, surprisingly so to the other ponies in the train. "As much as I would love to kick your sorry flank to the moon right now, I'm getting kind of tired, could you come back some other time?" As soon as I asked this he did exactly what I had expected him to do, he threw a punch. The thing that caught me off guard was the knife that he was holding. I quickly caught the swipe, but I didn't prevent the knife from nicking the side of my face. "You bucking idiot," I said in a cold voice. "You just ruined an almost perfect day." I twisted his hoof, allowing the knife to fall to the ground. I proceeded to flip him onto the ground and pull out my own knife. I put it to his throat and spoke loudly, so everypony could hear it. "As a captain of the solar guard I hear by place you under royal arrest!" A pair of guards rushed in as I said this and I motioned for them to hoof-cuff him. They did so and I sat back in my seat, putting my knife away. "That's why I have this overcoat." I promptly fell asleep.
Night One: Alone in the DarkAuthors note: If you haven't read this fic some things may not make sense, so I suggest you read it. I yawned loudly as I stood, stretching my legs. The ride to Ponyville would be about five hours, so I had to finish patrols and be in bed by then. I think I can do that. I grab my amulet and put it on, activating it as I walk out side, and waving to some of the nearby guards. Lunar stallion armor tends to be different depending on their roles. There are three different kinds of lunar stallions scouts, warriors and guards. I'm a scout, so my armor provides less protection, but it's lighter so I move quicker. Warrior armor provides a decent amount of protection and guard armor provides the most. Guards are the most common kind of lunar stallion, they're the ones that hang around Princess Luna all the time. I took my position near the gate and stood there. In five minutes I moved to my next spot. This continued for the next hour and a half.Then came my favorite part of the night, training the rookies. This was their first day of boot camp, and the day I got to see which ones were good enough to be lunar stallions. I returned to the barracks to find it full of new troops, fifteen to be exact. As soon as I entered most of them snapped to attention, most of them. A group of three stallions in the back continues to talk, my presence unknown to them. "Lunar stallions aren't that scary, I bet I could beat one in a fight." The biggest of the group said. Oh he is going down, hard. My specialty in this body was shadow magic, so I cloaked myself to look like a regular shadow, and then slowly crept towards them. I got within range of them and formed a wicked dagger out of shadow. Shadow didn't actually cause damage to a pony, but it hurt just as much as a regular knife would. With that thought in mind I drove the knife strait into his back, and my cloak disappeared. A gasp was heard around the room as the recruit let out a loud scream. "Not so weak am I now? If you so much as think of disrespecting a lunar stallion again, you better be ready for a beating. Understood private?" He didn't respond. "I said Do you understand!" He turned around, trying to mask his pain, but not doing a good job of it. "No." He responded in a witty tone. This kid was going to learn respect one way or another. I quickly pull my two real knifes from my side. "We wouldn't want this to get bloody, would we?" I say with a smirk, he matches my smirk and pulls out his own knife. This colt is officially the stupidest pony in the world. He takes a wild swing, not aimed at all. He probably believes his own lies that lunar stallions are weak. I don't know where he picked the lies up, but they were wrong, so wrong. I easily catch his swing and drive his knife to the ground, causing him to involuntarily bend down. I take this opportunity and hit him behind the ear with the hilt of my knife, knocking him out cold. His limp body falls to the ground and the two other guards in the room pick him up and throw him out side. "Anypony else want to disrespect me?" All the ponies in the room snap into a solute. I liked that. "Good, I am Lieutenant Colonel Nightflare, but you will address me as sir. Got it maggots?!" "Sir yes sir!" They responded in unison. "Good! Now all of you drop and give me 500!" I wasn't serious of course, I just wanted to see who was loyal. All but two of the ponies dropped to the floor instantly. The guards escorted the other two out. I let them keep going until they either collapsed or quit, mostly for shits and giggles. At the end I just told them to head back to their bunks and get some sleep, I followed suit. Authors note: In case you're confused (or didn't read the story description) the stallion known as Commander Aevus and Lieutenant Colonel Nightflare are the same pony. The 'soul' shares these two bodies and every time he falls asleep in one he is transferred to the other. Also the reason for the huge difference in chapter size is because the night was only a few hours long, due to him having to make his other self wake up at a certain time.
Day Two: Arrival and a PancakeI open my eyes and I am greeted with a warm sunrise. It runs around the sky like a carefree child, always happy and uncaring. On the horizon is also a small town. It is dotted with several houses, their roofs made of thatch. Near one end of the town a tree stands, but it has windows and a door. "Next stop Ponyville!" The conductor shouts over the intercom. Several ponies gather up their belongings and exit the train when it pulls to a stop. As I step outside I notice that the weather in this town differs from that of Canterlot. The air here is warmer and it's slightly more humid. A crowd of ponies rush by and I decide to follow them, passing several buildings on the way. The heat is getting annoying so I stop at the tree and knock on the door. "Spike! Get the door for me!" A voice yells. The voice is distinctly female. I hear some grumbling and then the door opens. To my surprise it's not a pony that opens the door, but rather it's a dragon. Not just any dragon though, the dragon that opens the door is Spike. I had the job of guarding him for about a week before he left Canterlot. As he looks me over a look of slight recognition crosses his face. "Aevus! I haven't seen you in like forever." He exclaims. He holds out his claws in a fist and I match his claws with my hoof. He turns around and yells back into the tree. "Twilight! Come here, Commander Aevus is here!" I immediately here hoofs descend down the stairway inside and a lavender mare walks to the door. When she sees me she instantly starts asking questions. "Are you really Commander Aevus? Why are you here? Did Celestia send you? Is it true that you can use chronomancy?" She drones on and on. Thank Luna that she stopped when a pegasus crashed into the side of her house. I look up to see a light blue pegasus with a rainbow mane. She shakes her head and then looks at me. "Who are you?" She asks. I decide that trying to impress her probably won't work, but I try anyway. "I am commander Aevus of her Majesty's Royal Solar Guard." I reply. As expected she doesn't react much, only rolling her eyes slightly. "Well I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria, and future Wonderbolt." She takes off and hovers in the air for a little bit to prove her point. I instantly think of something. This is going to be good. "So you say your the fastest flyer in Equestria?" I ask, she nods her head in confirmation. "I think I could beat you." She instantly goes on the defensive and Twilight looks at me like I'm crazy. "Are you kidding me?! You're just a unicorn, and if you think you're so fast race to the center of the town. Now." Dash says in a serious manner. Spike is the only other one that recognizes what I'm doing. Me and Dash line up and Twilight begins to speak. "Okay, this race will be fair. No hitting, biting or tripping and for the commander no teleporting." Twilight says. A devilish grin spreads across my face as Twilight starts to count. "Three." Dash spreads her wings and takes a ready stance. "Two." Dash drags one of her hoof into the ground. "One." Dash stands completely still. "GO!" Time freezes around me and I begin to slowly trot to town center, the others frozen behind me. I need to be careful with time frozen, because every action I take spends twice as much energy as usual. When I reach the center of town I teleport a chair and a glass of lemonade. By now I'm completely exhausted so I lay down and take a sip of lemonade before unfreezing time.Three, two, one. Dash comes to a complete stop as she sees me laying in the center of town with lemonade. "Cheater! Twilight said no teleporting!" Dash screams. Twilight appears besides her with a flash a disapproving look on her face. I allow myself a small snicker. Dash instantly recognizes this and flies up to me. "I don't like when other people cheat, so tell me why you did!" "One, problem Miss Rainbow Dash, I didn't teleport." I say. "Then how did you get here so fast?" She retorts flying up to me. "I simply stopped time, took my time trotting over here, and teleported this chair and lemonade here. Then I sat down and proceeded to watch you fly here. Now if you mind I'm kind of hungry." I reply with a smirk. She gives me a death stare and I burst out laughing. Then, out of nowhere a pink pony pops up next to me. "Did you say you were hungry?!" I nod and she stuffs a pancake into my mouth, which I chew and swallow. I almost faint as the taste fills my mouth. It's a perfect mix of sweet fluffy pancake and warm apple syrup. The butter is melted perfectly into the pancakes and it ties the whole thing together. "Is it good?" The pink pony asks. "Good doesn't even begin to describe it. It's like an angel baked it and then dropped it into Equestria. I can't describe it past then without overloading my own brain." I reply. She giggles and holds up a plate of them and I quickly down the whole plate in one bite. Rainbow Dash is still looking at me expectantly. "So you're telling me that you can stop time?" She asks. I nod as I eat more of the pancakes that the pink pony is providing. Suddenly Dash jumps at me. "Then dodge this!" Time stops again and surprisingly the pink pony doesn't stop. Instead she just gasps and runs off saying something about parties. I decide to teleport Twilight in front of the multicolored projectile. I move out of the way and un pause time. I laugh as Dash collides with Twilight. Dash just looks around in confusion. "What just happened?" She asks to nopony in particular. "Oh I just decided to move Twilight in front of you and see what you did." I say between my laughing. I notice that I'm now covered in sweat and when I stop laughing I start panting. Twilight notices this and decides to go into a lecture. All I heard was 'blah blah blah magic blah blah blah exhaustion blah blah blah Aevus is awesome blah.' When she finishes I'm almost asleep. "So do either of you know where Sweet Apple Acres is?" I ask. Twilight looks annoyed that I interrupted her and Dash is still clueless as to what happened. "It's down the road and to the left. Keep going for a while and you'll reach the farm." Twilight responds. I nod and start to walk away, but not before saying one last thing. "By the way, sorry for breaking your Rainbow Dash." With that I turn and walk down the street. As I approach the farm I notice that the rows of trees seem to be in bloom. Apples hanging from most of them. An orange mare was standing in front of some of the trees admiring them. I freeze time and sneak up on her, unfreezing time and tapping her on the shoulder. She freaks out and bucks me in the stomach knocking the wind out of me. "Holy horse apples that hurt." I say as I lay on the ground clutching my stomach. She turns around and looks at me with a questioning stare. "Why did ya'll sneak up on me?" She asks. Her voice is oddly menacing, almost as menacing as my old captain. "I thought that Celestia told you I'd be arriving, all I did was tap you on the shoulder, goodness." I reply. The pain in my stomach dissipating. I stand and wobble for a second, but recover quickly. Being in the guard gives you a lot of resistance to pain, especially when I've been stabbed before. Nothing will ever compare to that amount of pain. "Oh, heh. Sorry 'bout that, ya'll just startled me." She responds nervously, holding out a hoof. "Ah'm mighty sorry that we got off on the wrong hoof, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres. This 'ere is the finest apple orchard in all of Equestria." I match her hoof with my own and she grins. She motions for me to follow her and she walks towards a barn. She opens the doors when we get there and I notice that the back is filled to the brim with buckets of apples. "This is where ya'll will be stayin' for the night." She says. I nod in response and collapse on a nearby pile of hay. She waves as she exits the barn and I quickly drift to sleep.
Night Two: The Moon RisesI once again open my eyes and yawn. I look around and confirm that I am once again the first guard awake. I grab my amulet and toss it up and down, waiting for the other guards to wake up. Eventually they do and I provide outside, following my normal path. After that I go down to the barracks and find the same group ,minus five or six ponies, as the night before. They snap to attention as I enter. "At ease." I say in a rather commanding tone. "You are the only ponies left from yesterday, and now your training will start. During this training you will do everything I say to do, without question. Refusing my orders will result in being removed from this class. Do I make myself clear?!" "Yessir!" They shout in response. I have a good feeling about this group, and I hope it's right. The training groups usually all fail, no matter how good they are. The reason most of them fail is because they don't follow the orders I give, which to be fair can be kind of crazy sometimes. "Good. lets start out with a healthy two hundred and fifty push ups. GO!" I yell. They drop to the floor and begin the push ups. I notice that one stallion in the middle of the room isn't having any trouble at all with the order. So he's the tough guy of this group, well messing with him will be fun at least. After they finish the push ups I have them sprint for as long as they can, most of them only make it a mile or so before slowing down. Before they're done recovering from that I have them sprint back to the barracks. Some just collapse on the way there, and I tell them to just trot to their bunks for the night. I tell the rest the same. It was a Thursday though, so I had night court duty. The court was usually more fun than patrols, but it could get old. Then Princess Luna returned and it changed completely. Now it was the most fun part of the night for most of the guards, mostly because Luna is a ton of fun to hang around. She is also hilariously brutal to any ponies that come to night court and make ridiculous requests. As I approach the courtroom however, my stomach starts to ache. It's like a dull pain, most likely just a regular stomach ache, but I'll get it checked out later. When I open the door to the courtroom, I am met with a sound like nails on a chalkboard. For the second time this week I walk in on Blueblood being an idiot in one of the Princesses courtrooms. "But Luna, one of your stupid guards wa-" I just teleported him out right then and there. I already heard this conversation once before, I don't need to hear it again. The Princess gives me a mixed look of relief and anger, but she grins nevertheless. I dropped to one knee, because unlike Celestia the Princess of the night was all about formalities. "We would prefer if you told us next time before you rid us of our guest." Luna says as I rise from my bow. "You majesty, you're using the royal we again." I say calmly. Luna blushes a bit, but quickly hides it. She is still getting used to modern speech patterns and talking volumes. Her mistakes are becoming less and less common, but they still occur and when it does it's kind of cute. Don't get me wrong, I don't like her or anything, I just um... never mind. I take my place at her side and stand still. This continues for the next three or four hours while ponies complain about their stupid problems. Only one or two are actually worth the princess helping, and those few are helped in any way possible. After all is said and done Princess Luna says we can go back to our bunks, and I do. On my way home I here a scream, and out of instinct I follow it. When I reach the point of the scream I am greeted with a gruesome sight. A pony lay on the ground, bleeding from her eyes and mouth. She sees me and lets out another scream. I rush to her side and pick her up, then I run towards the nearest hospital as quickly as possible. "What happened to her!?" I hear a doctor shout as I approach the hospital. They take the mare to intensive care and I fall asleep on one of the benches in the waiting room.
Day Three: Parties are Your Friends, Not Your FoesAuthors Note: The hiatus ends! This chapter is what you get when I work on and off on a chapter for a couple of weeks. Though the hiatus is over, posting will not be on a regular basis. The night chapter that accompanies this day will be up as soon as I can write it. Also, new page breaks! They're kinda overkill, but I like them. I put them up on google images, you should be able to find them if you search Shining End. Sorry for the huge delay, and Have a good chapter! I open my eyes and am met with an unusual sight. I'm still laying in the pile of hay, but above me are three fillies. When and how did this happen. I think this as I slowly regain my senses. The filly on the right is a yellowish color with a red mane tied back in a bow. She shares a slight resemblance with Applejack. The filly on my left seems to have a small air of grace, she has a white coat that is slightly dirty and a purple and pink mane. A horn rests atop her head and she reminds me of the white mare that I sat next to on the train yesterday. The third and most notable of the small females is an orange one with a purple mane. The wings that she has are smaller than most fillies I've seen and I know exactly who she reminds me of. She reminds me of my old friend that fell in the battle with the changelings, the friend that died in my arms, that as a last action she told me that she loved me. As I thought of her I found that tears had started to well up in my eyes, I quickly blinked them away. "Could you please get off me so I can stand up?" I ask quietly, causing them to jump. Not the most observant of foals then. The orange one recovered first, her wings buzzing as she righted herself. Her eyes were wide and I realized that I probably kept my eyes closed just enough that they didn't notice that they were open. "I heard you beat Rainbow Dash in a race!" The filly announced loudly. I snickered as I got to my hooves, the other two fillies recovering. The yellow one was the next to speak, and I was proved right in the fact that she shared her sisters drawl. "Yea, Applejack done says that ya'll sneaked up on 'er too." The third filly face hoofed and I suppressed a laugh when she did. Not because it was funny as much as the fact that these three fillies where perfect friends for each other. "Sorry for my friends rudeness, they are a trouble a lot of the time." The white filly said in a casual manner. In the background both of the other fillies shared a simultaneous 'Hey!'. The white filly ignored them and continued on. "I'm Sweetie Belle, the insane orange pegasus is Scootaloo and the yellow earth pony is Applejack's sister Apple Bloom." We shook hooves and in the background I could hear Scootaloo complaining about not being insane. "Nice to meat you, I am Commander Aevus, head of Her Majesties Solar Guard. To answer your questions yes, I did beat Rainbow Dash in a race, and no I didn't sneak up on Applejack I just surprised her." I said as I checked to see if all my things were with me and intact from the night. Everything was in order and I wanted to leave, but it was obvious that I wasn't getting out anytime soon. Then a plan came to mind. "Wait, commander? I thought that Twilight's brother was in charge of the guard." Sweetie Belle asked before the others could ask anything. "Twilight has a brother? Oh, wait you mean Prince Shining Armor. While technically he is in charge of the guard itself, there are also Commanders for each of the branches of the guard. One for Solar, Lunar, Air and Magic. The Solar and Lunar are self explanatory, the Air guard consists of the Wonderbolts and a few squads of elite pegesi, and the Magic guard is made up of extremely important spell casters." I explain as I inch closer to the door. "I will tell you more later, but right now I have to go!" With that I sprinted off, leaving three very unhappy and confused fillies behind me. I ran for a while towards town and then started slowing down as I got to the town market. It was relatively early for a Friday, so only a few of the stands were set up. One of them is run by a stallion with a brown coat and mane, his flank adorned with what looks to be an hourglass. His stand advertises watches that will never, ever be wrong. This catches my eye and I trot over, time to pull an evil trick. "Hello my good sir!" He exclaims as I trot over. "What can I do for you today?" "I was just wondering if you had any watches that will stay accurate through even time travel?" I ask casually. His eyes go wide for a second then he asks the weirdest question I have ever heard somepony ask. "Are you a dalek?" His tone suddenly becoming more serious. I held my face in an equally serious manner, I was sticking with this to the end. "Of course, why would I ask otherwise." I say with a very serious tone. I must have slipped, because he started laughing and continued for a while. "What's so funny?" I ask in the serious tone once again. When he finally composes himself again his tone is much less serious. "Nothing, it's just you had me going for a while there, but I know for a fact that you are not a dalek. Now, with that matter over, and to answer your question, yes. My watches are guarantied to stay accurate, no matter what happens to them. If you aren't satisfied with that you get your money back and you can keep the watch. One watch costs fifty bits for silver and seventy-five for gold." I nod and had him ten gold bits, the equivalent of one hundred bits. "I'll have two silver watches, please." He nods and hands me the watches, which I slip into one of the compartment inside my overcoat. I turn to leave and I start wandering around town, I stop by a small cafe and grab lunch, and eventually I find a small schoolhouse. To my partial dismay, three familiar fillies are outside, but the thing that troubles me is that two other fillies are standing in front of them. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are standing defensively over Scootaloo, who is crying and clutching one of her hoofs. Bullies, just what I needed to ruin yet another good day. I walk over and position myself in front of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The bullies roll their eyes, not a good move. I recognize lying almost as good as the bearer of the element of honesty. "What exactly is going on here?" I ask. I'm trying to catch them in a situation where they would get in trouble. "Nothing, nothing at all sir." One of the bullies replies, the venom obvious in her voice. "Yea, that crap isn't going to work on me. I'm not in the mood for games right now and I'm not as oblivious as most other adults. So I ask once again, what is going on here?" I am not in the mood for taking crap right now, especially from two stupid foals. "Look, if you don't go away, I'm gonna tell my daddy." And she fell for the trap, perfect. "And who, pray tell, is your daddy?" I asked, still emotionless. I couldn't let the emotions show, unless I wanted to blow the idea. "My daddy is a very rich pony and he will get you in trouble. He has connections with the royal guards." Oh, she is just begging for this to happen. This is going to be good. "What branch of the guard?" I ask "What?" She replies in a clueless manner. "I said, what branch of the guard?" I reiterated. "Um, the royal one?" She replies utterly lost. Just as she says this, her father trots up behind her. "Is this stallion giving you trouble honey?" He asks. The filly gives an evil grin and I start to mentally cheer. I knew this idiot, he was the one that tried to convince Princess Luna to give him her personal protection. That was one hell of a shouting match. At the end of it he was permanently banned from the castle, with a spell cast on him to stop him from entering. Well not as much stop him as make him explode if he stepped inside the castle. What can I say, I was bored and hated his guts, I think he deserved more than just a shock if he ever defiled the castle with his presence ever again. "Yes daddy, I was just telling him that you would have him arrested if he didn't stop an-" I just cut her off. "Actually she was just proving to me that you don't have the connections to do such a thing. This fact was reinforced when I saw your ugly face, which I personally cast a prevention spell on a couple of years back. The reason I was talking to your poor excuse for a filly was because she and her friend were bullying these innocent girls. Now if you would please punish her and get away, it would spare me the problem of arresting both of you idiots." By this time a crowd of ponies had gathered around us, most of them here to pick their kids up. "What do you mean prevention spell, I don't know what you mean." He was stumbling on his words, a good sign that he was lying through his white teeth. "Also, you should stop making empty threats." "So you don't recognize me, well I guess that was to be expected. Let me introduce myself. I am Commander Aevus of Her Majesties Solar Guard." Several of the ponies in the crowd gasped. "And by prevention spell I mean the one that will cause you to explode if you go anywhere near the castle gates. I cast it on you the morning after you yelled at Princess Luna. That was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen anypony do, and that's saying a lot considering I've been Princess Celestia's personal guard for over three years." "Even the one griffin assassin was smarter about her job that you were about trying to get Luna's personal protection. I mean seriously, you just barged in and started spouting random requests. My good friend Nightflare said the headache he had didn't go away for at least the next few days!" By this time the other filly that had been with the bully had started to walk away. The remaining one was standing next to her dad, who was completely flustered. "And next time you go spouting lies about the royal guard and it's protection," I took a step closer. "You'll have to deal with more than just my words." I took another step and he fell back. He quickly recovered and trotted away, his filly following him closely. As I turn back around I see that Applejack and the white mare from the train have started trotting in the direction of the fillies. After a second the air is just silent, and then one pony stops her hoof, followed by the rest of the crowd. A couple of ponies even shout out things like 'Go Aevus!' or 'That was awesome!'. I could care less about the crowd and I start to walk to were Sweetie Belle and her friends are now standing. Applejack is talking to Apple Bloom and the same is true for the white mare and Sweetie Belle. As I walk over I notice Scootaloo is still crying and I can now see that there is a small cut along her hoof. The gash was more than likely to heal quickly, but I cast a small time increase spell on that part of her hoof anyway. The three fillies and the two mares watch in wonder as the cut closes up. "Hello Applejack!" I say as I walk up from behind her. Her reflexes kick in and she bucks, but this time it misses me just to the right. "Goodness, I thought you bucked trees for a living, not ponies!" I exclaimed in fake surprise. Another thing guards are really good at, fake emotions. She turns and rubs the back of her neck, looking guilty. The white mare takes this opportunity to introduce herself. "Hello, I am Rarity, and I do have to thank you for what you did. I would usually criticize you for making hollow threats, but I realize that those weren't hollow." Her voice is more of an upper class one. I recognize that she is trying to hard not to mess up in any way, which confuses me. I know I can be intimidating if I want to but why would sh-. Oh, right. She saw what I did on the train. I decide to be overly formal, to make a good impression. I gently take one of her hooves in mine and kiss the tip, drawing the exact response I wanted, a small blush. "It's a pleasure to finally know your name. I would have talked to you on the train here, but honestly I was exhausted. I had to listen to that idiot Blueblood whine in court earlier that day." I said. She probably didn't know who Blueblood was, but it was worth at least a shot. "Oh, I feel sorry for you. At the last Grand Galloping Gala I tried to put up with him, but I simply couldn't. He made me open doors for him, made me pay for things, and overall just acted like and idiot." She says, anger slowly creeping into her voice. "Wait a second, are you the one mare that shoved cake into his stupid face?" I asked excitedly. This mare might be the thing that caused Blueblood to be made fun of among the nobles. "Yes I was in fact. I would love to do it again." She says in an equally exited voice. "The nobles made fun of him for days after that, and I'll tell you one thing, both of the Princesses want him gone for good. He is such an mindless fool, the day I left Canterlot he tried to punch me. Can you believe that him, a weak spoiled noble, tried to attack a Commander of the guard. I swear that half the ponies in Canterlot can only act better than other ponies, and then sit back while those ponies do the work." I notice I'm rambling and shut up. "I know darling, if I were part of the Canterlot political system I would try to do things that benefit the whole country, not just the nobles of Canterlot. Some ponies in this world just need to learn the meaning of Generosity." As Rarity finishes the sentence I realize that I just had an actual conversation, with a civilian, about something other than the weather. I also notice that I have an insistent urge to keep talking with Rarity. I am overwhelmed by a strange mix of warmth and nervousness, two feelings that I had not felt since recruitment. Great, did I seriously just fall for Rarity, just what I needed. Great going brain, I hate you too. "If the ponies of Canterlot knew the meaning of Generosity, we wouldn't have needed to fight off the changelings." I murmur as thoughts rush through my head. Ones of the last mare I loved, the one that died saving me. A single tear drips from my face. The first tear I have shed since the day she died. Rarity sees this tear, just by chance and avoids the subject. I blink and my face once again returns to its neutral state. A second later I see Twilight Sparkle approaching from behind Rarity, she wears a small smile and is flanked by the pink pony that somehow avoided my chronomancy. "Hi Twilight." I say, bringing Rarity's attention to the two ponies approaching. Twilight waves and the pink pony is suddenly right next to me. "HiI'mPinkiePieandyoumustbenewbecausetheonlytimeIsawyouwasyesterdayandthenIrandoffandthenIwaslike-" Applejack shoves a hoof into Pinkie Pie's mouth and gives me an apologetic smile. "What Pinkie is trying to say is that she wants you to come to the party tonight at the library." Twilight explains. Pinkie nods and I smile. "I didn't know that the library was also a party center, but if there's a party, I'm there." I say. Pinkie runs off again and the remaining mares all face hoof. "Well, I better go and get ready for the party, what time is it?" I ask. "It will start at six thirty and run until around nine. The only ponies there should be me, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike." Twilight replies happily. I nod, freeze time, walk to the barn, lay down, and unfreeze time. I simply lay there for a couple of hours, thinking of what I'll do for the next few days. I've got enough bits to last me a couple of days, but I need a source of income, I also need a more permanent place to call home. Eventually I pull out one of the watches and sure enough, they stayed accurate through time travel. The watch reeds six, so I gather up my things, setting one of my watches in the hay, and start for the library. When I arrived at the party, Twilight was proven correct. Only six other ponies and one dragon were there. The library seemed to be alive with pure fun. The lights were tinted different colors and streamers were put all across the floor. A table stood in the middle of the room, completely covered in different sweets and drinks. "Isn't this a little overkill for just eight of us?" I ask nopony in particular. Greetings are made and the party kicks off, as I look around the decorated room one pony in particular draws my attention. She looks like she's going to die of nervousness and is sitting near the corner, hiding under her own mane. I slowly begin to walk over to her, she doesn't notice me and I realize that her wing is hurt in some way. I'm low on magic for the day, but I spend the last of it repeating what I did with Scootaloo's hoof.She sits there for a second then lets out small gasp as the healing is completed, she flaps her wing a few times and I finally reach her. "Hello, who are you?" I ask in a quiet voice. "I'm Fluttershy." She responds in a small voice. Evil plan activate. My horn glows and I stress just a small amount of magic out. As of now the magic I use spends the magic of my other form, yet another advantage to my situation, and cast the royal Canterlot voice on the mare. "What was that?" I say in a gentle voice once again. This time when the mare speaks, she surprises the whole room. "I Said My Name Is Fluttershy!!" Fluttershy freaks out and I remove the spell. The others are puzzled until I break out laughing. "Best use of royal Canterlot voice ever!" I say as I roll around laughing. Soon the others join in with me, but Fluttershy's eyes start to well up with tears. This situation just went from good to terrible. Before I can react she rushes out the door. I rush after her, but a blue hoof stops me. "I'll go talk to her, she doesn't take to pranks very well." Rainbow Dash explains as she takes flight. The others agree It's probably a good idea to turn in early and I agree, we part our ways and I go to the barn. As I'm falling asleep all I can think about is a way to say sorry to Fluttershy.
Night Three: A Sinister PlotI open my eyes and yawn, jumping a little when I realize I'm not in the barracks. Then the horrific memory of the events of the last night slowly seep into my brain. I remember the court and then the screaming mare, but one thought topped all of that. I needed to tell Luna as soon as possible. She probably already knew, but I'm not one to take a chance on something like this. The thought hot in my mind, I gallop as fast as I can out the door and towards night court. As I run I notice a few odd things. First the wind is colder than usual, chilling my body in a less than comfortable fashion. Second is the distinct lack of guards. The one that is around seem to be looking for something. Interested, I walk over to him, a guard class lunar stallion. "What's going on here? Where is everypony?" I ask. As soon as my voice hits his ears, he turns and I meet his eyes. Three things happen. First, I realize that his eyes are not those of a pony, but of something else. Second, I am suddenly paralyzed where I stand, a clutching fear creeping up on me. Third, the non-pony smiles, and then speaks. "Ah, there you are creperum I was starting to wander if you were dead or not. If you want to survive this encounter you will do as I say, ok?" As it finishes it slowly lifts the fear that held me still. As soon as I feel the fear gone, I make my move. Forming a simple kunai with shadow I chuck it at him with my mouth. He dodges to the right and I once again find myself frozen in place. "Do that again and there will not be enough left of your body to identify when the morning sun rises." His voice is like ice, freezing the air around him as he speaks. "When I let you go, you will go strait to Luna, and you will deliver this message. Praeparant pugnae ultimae. Ego interficiam te. Mors mos vilis vita. I'm going to let you go now, and if you try to pull anything else, I will kill you." I once again feel my body freed from the fear and I bolt towards the castle. As I near the castle, a sight freezes me again. This time it is not the non-pony, but rather the corpses of lunar guards laying around, blood splattered around the area. The corpses seem to make a line that leads to the lunar court. I sprint towards that area, the sounds of clashing steel filling me ears as I near the door to the room. I push the door open. The sight of the court room fills me with adrenaline. The remaining lunar guards are clustered around Princess Luna. They are surrounded by the corpses of their comrades and a group of ponies in a green armor. The ponies in green armor all turn to me, their eyes completely black. They each hold a sword in their teeth, some of them even have crossbows. As they aim at me and get ready to fire, I let loose all of the anger built up inside of me. I disappeared as I merged with the shadows around me. As the ponies began to move around, I drove shadow spikes up into them. The other lunar guards took this opportunity and lunge at the temporarily disabled ponies. I followed them, jumping up from the shadows and drawing my own knives. As I sliced at the ponies their flesh burned and bubbled, warping around the tip of the knife. Thank the Goddesses for fire enchantments and their conveniences in combat. I sliced at more of the ponies, my knife ripping through armor and flesh alike. The good thing about enchantments is that I didn't need to make the strike of the knife a killing blow. My knife was enchanted to not only melt flesh, but also poison any pony that got cut by it. The poison was made to paralyze on contact, and then kill soon after. As I sliced through pony after pony I noticed that the tide of the fight had changed, leaving me and the lunar guard at an advantage. The ponies in the armor finally had the sense to retreat out of the court room, and down the streets of Canterlot. We were in no shape to follow them, and thus we didn't. I look around, only to see the corpses of the dead ponies, guards and green armored ponies alike, floating slowly as the broke down into what looked like mass of pure darkness. Not shadow or the darkness of a completely sealed room with no lights, but rather the kind of darkness that consumed you and looked like the embodiment of pure death. The darkness then simply vanished, gone somewhere I couldn't see. With that I looked back at the ponies of the room a sudden drowsiness setting upon me. I fell to one knee, one of the guards running over to me, a worried look painted across her face. I followed her gaze and looked down, stopping upon seeing a crossbow bolt lodged a good two inches into my stomach. I looked back at the mare and collapsed, blacking out. Authors Note: This will all make sense eventually, until then I will simply tell you that it will not be all sunshine and rainbows, and may result in serious injury of one of the mane six.
Day Four: Purity is Tainted Only With Misguided PurityThis chapter is dedicated to anyone who has lost someone near to their hearts because of the stupid thing we call war. Morning, something I often yearn for, and something that welcomed me with a large embrace on this day. Mourning, however, is something that I hated, and yet I would most likely be pulled up to Canterlot to mourn the dead guards from last nights battle. I sat up, deciding that enough was enough, and looked over my things. I still had enough bits, but that would be a problem by the end of this week. My knife was still there, but I needed to get my overcoat cleaned. It was dirty from sleeping in the hay pile, and even had a rip in it. Yep, defiantly going to get that fixed. I stood up, my hooves touching the floor of the barn, and a familiar sense of security coming over me. I take a deep breath and start out the door, walking slowly. When I get about five feet outside the barn I stare up at Canterlot. The tower where Luna's room is is now draped with huge black cloths over every window in the tower. I look down and stomp a hoof in the dirt, thinking of all the soldiers that I could save. I look to Ponyville and I see that there is indeed a chariot flying towards the small town. I start walking towards the down, my eyes downcast and my hooves heavy with the lives of those I wasn't strong enough to save. Saving everypony wasn't a realistic goal, but it was a worthwhile one if you could handle it when you failed. I looked up once again at the voice of the Pink tornado identified as Pinkie Pie. "Hey! You look like your sad, and you know what that calls for, a PARTY! We could have cake and cupcakes and streamers and balloons and-" "SHUT UP!" I yelled. Tired of her nonsensical ranting. "The reason I'm sad is because good guards just died! Do you not see Luna's tower? Huh? DO YOU?!" I pointed a hoof at Canterlot. Pinkie's hair seemed to deflate a little bit. "Now if you would excuse me I have to go to Canterlot and give a speech at the funeral. A fine reason to be sad if I do say so myself." I once again started towards Ponyville, this time I ran as fast as my hooves would carry me to the chariot in the center of town. Ponies were starting to gather around the golden chariot and I pushed through them, causing quite a few ponies to shout at me. As I reached the chariot and started to approach it a guard put a hoof out to stop me. As I met his eyes I knew instantly that this was his first time on the job. Heck even his hoof was shaking a little bit. I cleared my throat and he still didn't move, but another guard noticed the scene and his eyes widened. He ran over and practically murdered the new guard with his glare alone.The younger guard faltered and lowered his hoof. I took this opportunity to interject before this got to ugly, and being me I of course chose the worst possible question to accomplish this goal with. "How many KIA and how many wounded?" I asked in a serious manner. The younger guard just froze and then burst into tears. The older guard froze also, but he kept it together. "Hard to get an exact number without bodies, but we went through the records and found out. Three hundred and seventy two city wide, about a fifth of those in the castle alone. Another Two hundred and thirty one wounded, sixty five of those are in critical." I took a step back as he said that, that many guards that died because I wasn't fast enough, wasn't there to help them fight the whole time. A few tears slipped from my eyes, wetting the area around my hooves. An yell of 'why does that guy get to talk to the guards?' sounded from the back of the crowd. I turned on a dime and faced the audience. "Who the hell said that!?" I yelled, the crowd parting until only the idiot Filth Rich stood in front of me. I slowed time and ran up until I was nose to nose with the bitch. I made time flow at a regular pace and he fell to his haunches the crowd gasping at my sudden speed. When I spoke I put on the RCV for extra effect. "THE REASON I GET TO TALK TO THE GUARD IS BECAUSE I AM THE BUCKING COMMANDER OF THE SOLAR GUARD, ONLY SECOND TO PRINCE SHINING ARMOR. IF YOU DESIRE TO KNOW WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT IT WAS ONLY THE THREE HUNDRED OR SO GUARDS THAT LOST THEIR LIVES LAST NIGHT! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO TO CANTERLOT AND TAKE MY PLACE AT THE FUNERAL AND GIVE A SPEECH I WILL GLADLY LET YOU! I let all my anger vent, bringing a hoof down on his face, only to be stopped by a wall of purple magic, Twilight Sparkle. I looked up, making the rage in my face as evident as I could. She just shook her head in what looked like disappointment. I simply walked onto the chariot and motioned for the guards to take off, which they gladly did. The chariot landed and I stepped off. My hooves hitting the marble floor with a sharp *Crack!*. I started to head to the court room, and the guards all saluted me as I walked be them, but I was in no mood to salute back. My mind was still trying to comprehend what had happened. All the ways I could have saved them, or at least helped more. These thoughts still haunted me as I reached court, and what do you know, the voice of the idiot strikes again. From inside I could hear Blueblood practically begging the court for something. I made a special effort to slam the doors open as loudly as I possibly could. All eyes turned to me as I slowly trotted in, making sure to accent every step. I stopped in the middle of the court room and faced the Princess, her eyes filled with a sorrow that she tried to mask with a fake smile. A smile that faltered as she saw me come in. I snapped the sharpest solute I've ever preformed and the rest of the ponies in the court that were once whispering to each other shut their muzzles. "High Commander Aevus reporting!" I shouted, trying desperately to keep my voice from cracking. Which I barely managed. Celestia nodded at my solute and addressed the ponies of the court. "My little ponies, I am going to have to ask you to leave. Come back later and I will gladly hear your problem, but right now is not the time for things such as these." The ponies filed out wordlessly, even Blueblood left without saying a word to me. I turned to Celestia and was surprised to see tears streaking down her alabaster face, slowly dripping to the ground. She shook her head and pulled herself back together. "Commander, I am truly sorry for the loss of so many of the guard, and-" She let out a cough and more tears began to fall down her face. "and to show respect to the families a funeral shall be held at noon today." I nodded solemnly and gave a bow, at which point one question came to mind. "Your majesty, do you know what happened to Lieutenant Colonel Nightflare?" I ask in an almost worried tone. This could be extremely bad if my other body died. Celestia's expression darkened at this question. "We were able to save him, but he took a crossbow bolt that was meant for Luna, now I do believe it is about time for the funeral to start." I looked up and saw that it was indeed noon. I cast a spell and my traditional armor appeared at my feet. I began to put it on piece by piece. Once I was done we set out for the courtyard. When we arrived I almost began to cry. Hundreds of ponies were gathered around a single casket. The casket contained the ashes of all the guards that died last night. This was the tradition that was carried out every time a guard or group of guards died. As soon as me and Celestia and I stepped out into the courtyard, all eyes snapped to us. Celestia nodded and I made my way to the casket, standing a few feet away. Guards were already lined up in a perfect square around it ready to move it when possible. "All rise for the anthem of the Solar Guards!" I shouted. The ponies around us stood and I cast a spell. The music began to play. From the snow-swept mountain tops To the emerald green fields Across the sea and sky, that wondrous light Has touched us all And as the night begins to fade And the moon hangs low We wake to see the rise of her Celestial glow Raise the sun Raise the sun Every pony and parasprite Every dragon and bird Knows that without her light, her loving warmth We'd never live Those cowards hide in shadows Sheathed by the night We fight the darkness, our swords Raised for the light Raise the sun Raise the sun Throughout all of Equestria The Solar Empire endures Every colt and mare, we stand at arms Ten million strong You best stray from evil And stay in the light Or be lost to darkness, like tears Shed in the night. Raise the sun Raise the sun I never thought that music quiet fit. This was just the funeral for the solar guards, the other funeral would be more solitary, but first I had to get through this one. I spoke. "Ponies, I am truly sorry. I have lost ponies before, so I know your pain." I began the speech with a simple and true statement. "I have been through battles and wars, protected the Princesses for years on end, and I will tell you something. Every single pony that dies in battle has the right to be called a hero, no matter what happens that is what we should remember them as. When the changelings attacked Canterlot, I lost my best friend. Last night a pony took a crossbow bolt for Princess Luna. These are the true heroes in our world. Not the ponies that invent something that changes life, but rather those who fight to prevent us from having to. These ponies are what we remember in history, these ponies are the heroes. These ponies, are the Solar Guard." I turned to the Solar guards. "Solar Guard, present, ARMS!" As I yelled this every guard in the courtyard snapped to a solute. The casket was surrounded by Celestia's magic and lowered into a whole. I filled the grave in with dirt and placed a single large stone on top of the grave. It read all of the names of the ponies lost in the battle. All the Solar guards at least. Celestia nodded to me and I faced the guard once again. "Solar Guard, Order, ARMS!" I paused for a second, tears streaming down the faces of more than one guard. "Solar Guard, Dismissed." With that I stepped back inside the castle, and before anypony could stop me went to my old room. I stayed there for the rest of the day before simply falling asleep. Authors note: That song gets me every time, if you haven't already I would suggest you go here and donate. It's for a good cause, and you get awesome music!
Day Five: Wait It's Day and Not Night!?I open my eyes to sunlight. Wait a second, sunlight! That probably wasn't very good, but I ignored the fact and looked around, instantly recognizing my old room. The light that had awoken me was currently streaming in from the open window that adorned the west wall of my room. The window offered a great view of the lush gardens below, and the statues that were contained within it. I sighed and blew away a piece of my mane that had fallen in front of my face, slightly annoyed that I was here instead of in Ponyville. I had so much to do there after I arrived back at the small town. I was distracted from my thoughts by a small knock at the door. I sighed again and turned, slowly making my way towards the decorative entrance. The door was adorned with enough gold and silver to make a rich pony faint. I cared not for this however; the only thing that was on my mind right now was getting back to Ponyville and apologizing to Fluttershy. As I approached the door I heard some hushed voices from behind them. I decided that if the ponies outside were talking about me behind my back, they had the right to do that today. I threw the doors open and was met with the sight of two ornately dressed stallions. They had on suits fitted with gold embroidery and hats that could have blinded somepony if they looked at them in direct sunlight. I pulled on the best neutral face I could and faced them, starring them down in a way that would have made fillies run in terror and new guards shake in their horseshoes. Both of which were things that I had accomplished before, not to my complete satisfaction. “What do you want?” I asked the stallions, the annoyed tone obvious in my voice. As I expected the stallions were scared at first. Then one of them worked up the courage to talk to me, and to my surprise his voice kept a solid tone while he spoke. “We just wanted to ask you if you knew our sister.” I gave him a skeptical look and raised an eyebrow. I had caught the past tense he used and decided that she probably died or was gone and these stallions were going to ask me for something. “Well who exactly was you sister? I know a lot of mares.” As I spoke my voice became less and less annoyed, and more and more curious. I truly wanted to know who these ponies were related to and why I would know their sister. One of the ponies looked at the ground while the one that had spoken earlier spoke again, his voice cracking a little this time. “Her name was Emerald Light; she served in the Solar Guard and was killed in the attack recently.” A tear rolled down his cheek and I for the first time in a while felt true sympathy for somepony other than myself. I had not only known Emerald Light, but been a good friend of hers. I assigned her to inside castle guard because she didn’t actually want to be in the guard. When she had come to the guard it was because she was drafted. We were short on guards after the invasion and she was one of the many ponies that had been drafted to the guard. When she started training though, she had tried while others around her had just sat there and complained about how stupid it was to get drafted. She quickly rose in the ranks of her fellow guard trainees and I took her under my wing, planning to recruit her to Celestia’s personal guards. She had a good heart and enough strength and skill to back it up. One day I offered her my position in Celestia’s personal guards. When she had declined my offer I accepted the fact and pulled some strings to get her on inner castle guard. Not only did this mean she would earn more bits, but the inner castle guards almost never saw action. I never expected that somepony would get into the center of the castle. A realization hit me and I shed a tear of my own, earning a curious look from the stallion, but I ignored him. I had only one thought going through my mind, and that was the fact that I had been responsible for the death of Emerald Light. Add another friend to the list of them that I accidentally killed. I shook my head and brought myself back into focus. I looked back to the stallions in front of me with a renewed sorrow. “Yeah, I knew Emerald. In fact I personally trained her. Good soldier, even if she didn’t want to be in the guard. You should be proud; your sister was a pony worth meeting and getting to know. She had a spirit of which I have never seen matched. She was a good friend too...” I trailed off remorsefully. Thinking of Emerald Light darkened the beginning of my day. The stallion in front of me nodded and turned to go. The other one, though, did not. I looked at him and for the first time realized how young he was. His brown coat was messy andhis red mane was cut short. He looked up at me with ocean blue eyes, eyes I instantly recognized as Emerald’s. His face with streaked with tears and he had dark circles under his bloodshot eyes. “She left a note for you.” He said as he offered me a small slip of paper. My eyes widened in surprise, and I quickly took the note from him with my magic. The older stallion looked in bewilderment at the note, obviously not aware of its existence. The younger stallion nodded and left, walking to his elder brother. The older stallion gave me and the note one more look before turning and trotting out the door with his brother. I turned and shut the door, walking slowly to my bed. I lay down on the bed, its silky softness helping to calm my nerves. When I worked up enough courage I looked at the note that had been presented to me. Its corners were bent and the hoofwriting was a little messy. The message however was the thing that captured my attention. I took a deep breath and began to read. Dear Commander, If you are reading this I have either fallen in battle, or have chosen to leave the guard. I truly cannot thank you enough for your training and support, and ask that you will not mourn over or feel guilty for my loss. I know how you were when Rally died, but you can’t go back to the hollow shell you were for weeks after her death. You have to live like a normal pony when somepony dies. If you can’t then you know as well as I that you shouldn’t be in the commanding position that you currently are. Also if you have this letter I have but one request. Give all of the bits that I earned in the guard to my two brothers. Thanks, Emerald Light I gently set the note on the stand next to my bed, careful not to get any of my tears on it. That letter wasn’t fake, that I was sure of. Emerald had always acted in an extremely formal manner when she said something to me, even when I told her not to. She was right though, however much something hurt I always had to stay strong, and that was my job. I thought this over for a while. Servants came in and out of my room, silently delivering food and drink. I ate them carelessly, perfectly ok with fasting for a while. Eventually I simply lay down and looked out the window. The sun caressed the mountains, setting slowly. It cast a beautiful light out from around it, bands of red and orange ringing the sky. I closed my eyes and laid my head down on my silky pillow. As I fell into the bliss of sleep I thought of nothing, clearing my conscious completely. Author's Note Merry Christmas! Sorry for any spacing issues, this was posted from my iPad.
Day One: Leaving HomeAn average day in Canterlot, the tension in the court room was thick enough to cut with a knife. I was here because of a royal summons and I walked in on that imbecile Blueblood arguing with the princess. My headache literally doubled as I stepped in the room, this was mostly because of the language and tone Blueblood used while talking to the princess. "But auntie!" Blueblood wined, "That idiot night guard was so rude. I want him executed!" I rubbed one of my temples with the tip of my hoof, when I put my hoof down Blueblood finally recognized my presence. "Who do you think you are! Auntie I want him thrown in pris-" At this point I just teleported him away into the street. "As much as I thank you for what you just did, I do ask that you never do it again. He tends to get a little, pushy if you know what I mean." The princess said as I dropped to one knee. This felt more natural to me than most ponies, mostly because I live near the castle, but there are other reasons too. Her face is masked in a fake frown, a pretty good one at that, but nothing that I couldn't see past. I rise and I here the sound of shouts coming from outside the room. "BUT YOU HAVE TO LET ME IN, THAT RUFFIAN TELEPORTED ME OUTSIDE!" I snickered and Celestia's frown faltered. We both knew that it was protocol that nopony be let in during a private meeting with the princess, no matter the circumstance. That's what we learned in the lunar guard, that's also what the solar guard learned. How I know that they both learn it, that's a mystery still unsolved by all ponies but me. "So my princess, what do you need my help for today." My commander probably would have punched me in the face, where I still in the solar guard, for talking to the princess first. She didn't mind it though, fun fact, Celestia hates when ponies are overly formal to her. I know this from years of being one of her personal guards. "I ordered you here for something very important, but before I tell you I want to ask you something. Are you loyal to me?" Celestia said, her once playful tone turned very serious. This question seemed unneeded, the answer was an obvious yes. I had served for her personal guard for three years. My guard instincts kicked in and I gave an automatic answer. "I was a solar guard, my task was to protect you and other ponies, no matter the cost. I would sacrifice my life for another, this applies to you ten fold. It is my duty to protect Equestria from all evils, to shine light on the darkness. Ego sum aeternaliter fidus, I am eternally loyal." I finished the line with something else I had picked up in my days as a guard. It was an old pony language that some said possessed great power when combined with magic, in the guard it was used for things of great importance, like promises. Her face softened at the use of the old language, whatever she was going to send me for must be important. Not only was I personal guard, but I specialized in an... unusual kind of magic to say the least. This magic is widely thought to be impossible and the princess wanted me to keep it that way. Then again, who knows what would happen if a stallion with the ability to use chronomancy (Time magic) fell into the wrong hoofs. She nods and begins to speak. "I expected nothing less from you, commander Aevus. I ask only one thing of you, and that is that you go to Ponyville. I have already found a place for you to stay for the time that you are there. While you are there, you are to relax and make some friends." I knew from the look on her face that she wasn't lying. Good grief what kind of order was that. "I'll admit I'm reluctant to accept, but I know you enough to trust that you have a reason for this." I bowed my head and left the room. As soon as the doors opened I found a hoof swinging strait at my face. I absentmindedly grabbed it and threw it to the side, causing the owner to lose his balance. I looked down to see a very disgruntled Prince Blueblood. Before he could speak I did, in a very threatening tone, might I add. "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to mess with commanders of the guard, hmm?" With that I resumed walking. I went home and grabbed my green overcoat, one of my most prized possessions. It looked normal from the outside, but on the inside it had four large pockets and a small slit into the fabric were I could hide my knife. It was fitted perfectly so that the knife wouldn't bother me as I walked. The coat had been a gift from one of my best friends, a friend that was at the wrong place at the wrong time during the changeling invasion. I put it on and grabbed a bag of bits, putting them in one of the pockets on the inside of the coat, just to be safe. Canterlot may seem to be a perfect city, but lets face it, if it was why would we need the guard. I slipped my knife in and set off for the train station. I arrived and walked up to the mare at the ticket booth. She noticed me walking up and the expression went from bad to worse, probably bored from the day of work and ready to get off. I put on my best smile. "Excuse me miss, how much is a ticket to Ponyville?" She gave me a look of pure hatred as I asked that question. "We're closed for the day, now get lost before I call the guards." She retorted. An evil grin fell across my face as I heard the words. I had a plan and it would be awesome if it worked. "So you would call me is what you're saying." Her face perked up at the statement and I tried to look like I was bluffing. She fell for this and made a quick reply. "Yea right, you're not a guard." My smile widened. "You're right," I said in the most regal accent possible. "I am solar guard commander Aevus, and I am under strict orders from princess Celestia to go to Ponyville, now if you would mind." She scanned over me and did a double take, I held up my bag of bits. "How much was that ticket?" "I-it'll be f-five bits s-sir." She replied in a shaky voice. Oh yea, my plan worked. I handed her the bits and looked at the ticked, surprised to see that it left in five minutes. I boarded the train to see that it was very crowded. In fact only one seat remained, it was in the the third row and the other pony there was a white pony with a beautiful purple mane. The mare was idly flipping through a fashion magazine when I sat down in the seat. Her attention went from the magazine to me. She looked at me for a second and her eyes widened a small bit. She shifted in her seat and put the magazine down, staring intently at my overcoat. "Oh darling, why ever would you were such a horrid color as green?" She asked. This is going to be a long ride isn't it. "I'm wearing it because of many reasons. One of them is that it's the only thing I have left of a good friend. A second reason is that it helps me carry things that need to be easily accessible." She looked at me with an unreadable face before I heard a loud crash come from behind us. A very drunk looking stallion had just walked into the cart and was walking over towards us. "Get out of my seat dumb ass!" He yelled at me, unaware of who I was. I answered in the most calm voice that I could. It was pretty calm, surprisingly so to the other ponies in the train. "As much as I would love to kick your sorry flank to the moon right now, I'm getting kind of tired, could you come back some other time?" As soon as I asked this he did exactly what I had expected him to do, he threw a punch. The thing that caught me off guard was the knife that he was holding. I quickly caught the swipe, but I didn't prevent the knife from nicking the side of my face. "You bucking idiot," I said in a cold voice. "You just ruined an almost perfect day." I twisted his hoof, allowing the knife to fall to the ground. I proceeded to flip him onto the ground and pull out my own knife. I put it to his throat and spoke loudly, so everypony could hear it. "As a captain of the solar guard I hear by place you under royal arrest!" A pair of guards rushed in as I said this and I motioned for them to hoof-cuff him. They did so and I sat back in my seat, putting my knife away. "That's why I have this overcoat." I promptly fell asleep.
