Prologue: A Brother's Love
Shining Armor stood in front of his guardscolts, giving each of them a stern look. Only a small handful of guards were there, those who had been hand-picked by their Captain for this meeting. “I know that you all signed up to be guards in Canterlot, but after the events that happened at the wedding and in the Crystal Kingdom, I think it’s in our best interests to patrol outside of the city’s borders and search out threats before they reach so close to our Princess.” The royal guards looked to each other warily, murmuring their begrudging agreement. “Therefore, I’ve decided that we will begin assignments to other lands around Equestria. Because of the potential danger and solitude of these missions, I’m not going to order any of you to any of these posts. I’ll ask, though, that you consider taking one. You all, out of the rest of the guard, I trust the most with these assignments.” With the compliment, every guard stood up taller, their chests pushed out with pride. “There are five areas that I want Canterlot guards in, five areas that seem to have the most activity and potential as hotspots. I’ll need a guard presence in Manehattan to watch the gang activity in that area.” He noticed one of the guards, a large, burly colt with a scar over where his left eye used to be. “Anxious to get back home, huh Gold Brick?”
“That, and anxious to bring the ponies who did this…” he brought his hoof up to his eye, “to justice.”
Shining Armor nodded. “Alright. Next, I want a presence in Apploosa, we need someone watching the progress between the settlers there and the buffalo. So far everything is going well, but I don’t want any changelings there causing all their hard work to come crashing down.”
Another guard stepped forward, his coat dark and his legs well-muscled, showing a life of hard work. “I’ll take that assignment, sir. I wouldn’t mind getting out on the frontier and getting my legs back in the dirt.”
Shining Armor nodded, smiling, happy that his guards were agreeing with him on the importance of these assignments. “Somepony also needs to head up to Phillydelphia. After that parasprite infestation, the city’s infrastructure’s in ruins. I need to have somepony up there to make sure that it’s impossible for anything to infiltrate the city. With the damage that’s been done, this could be a tough assignment.”
A Pegasus guard with a bright orange coat stepped forward. “I’ll take care of Phillydelphia, sir. Should be easier to see everything that’s going on from the sky.”
Shining Armor nodded, and the Pegasus stepped back. “I need someone to get over to the Crystal Kingdom. They’ve been asleep for a long time, so their guards need to be trained up on the current threats in Equestria.”
“I’ll handle that assignment, sir”. Another guard stepped forward, a unicorn with a midnight black coat and mane. “I’ve always been fascinated by the Crystal Empire. And who knows, maybe there’ll be a mare there as beautiful as your wife…”
The rest of the guards sniggered, and Shining Armor blushed a little, smiling and shaking his head. “Right, I wish you the best of luck on finding a mare that’ll put up with you, Storm Chaser.” With that, the rest of the guards burst into laughter. After a moment, Shining Armor put his hoof into the air. “Alright, alright, I only need one more volunteer. The last place I need somepony at is Ponyville.”
The guards groaned. “Really, sir?” one guard asked, “Ponyville’s just some backwater village. It’s small enough to be overlooked by anything that is looking to threaten us, and it’s just a hop, skip, and jump away from Canterlot. Our entire force could be there inside five hours. Why do we need anyone there?”
Shining Armor gave the guard a very stern look. “Because Ponyville is right next to the Everfree Forest, where we saw the entire changeling army leave to when they were expelled from Canterlot. It’s also close enough to Canterlot that if any threat did make a basecamp there, they would be right on our doorstep. And just because Ponyville isn’t as grand as Manehattan or as exciting as Apploosa, doesn’t mean that the ponies there don’t matter. It may not be a glorious duty, but it’s really important that I have somepony there.”
The guards murmured to themselves. After a moment, from the very back, a voice rang out. “I’ll do it, sir.” The rest of the guards moved aside to see who had spoken up. The young unicorn colt was a new addition to the guard, standing a full head shorter than the other guards with a light gray coat and bright red mane, a cutie mark of a bow and arrow on his flank. “I’ll take the assignment.”
Shining Armor smiled. “Why did I know it would be you, Silver Arrow?” He looked over the rest of his guards. “That’s it, that’s all I needed. Those of you who did not volunteer, you can return to your posts. If you’re off duty, the have fun until you’re on duty. Those of you who did volunteer, you’re dismissed to get to your destinations. I’ve already sent word of your arrival. That is, all of you are dismissed except you, Silver Arrow.” Slowly, the guards broke formation and walked out of the outdoor training area the meeting was held in. With the rest of the guards leaving, the young unicorn approached his commanding officer. He stood at attention while he waited for the captain to address him. “At ease. There’s a little more to your assignment to Ponyville than I wanted the others to know about.” His horn glowed and a scroll came out from behind him. “My sister and her friends are all in Ponyville, and I want you to watch out for them, too.” He levitated the scroll to Silver Arrow, who grabbed it with his own unicorn magic. “And if you wouldn’t mind, could you give this to my sister? Her name’s Twilight Sparkle, and she lives in the Ponyville library.”
Silver Arrow stuck the scroll carefully into one of his armor saddlebags and nodded, a sad smile on his face. “You can count on me sir.”
“Just one question, if you don’t mind. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“Yes sir?”
“Why did you take this assignment? I know you volunteer for everything that no one else wants to do, but I’ve never had the chance to ask you why.”
Silver Arrow looked directly into Shining Armor’s eyes, his smile gone. “I know I’m smaller than everypony else. I know the other guards look down on me. I want to prove that I deserve to be here, so I’ll do anything, everything that nopony else wants to do to prove it.”
“Well, I never thought you had anything to prove to anyone. You passed all the entrance tests by yourself. I wouldn’t have given you a position in the Royal Canterlot Guard if I didn’t think you could handle it, and I wouldn’t have called you here for these special assignments if I didn’t think you were up for the challenge.”
Silver Arrow nodded again, his wavy red mane getting into his eyes a bit. “Thank you sir. I’ll head to Ponyville immediately.”
Shining Armor smiled down to the young unicorn. “Dismissed.”
Chapter One: The Dead of Night
Twilight Sparkle paced around her table, worry etched onto her features. The sky had a few clouds in it, but it was nearly impossible to tell, as it was also the middle of the night, and Princess Luna had apparently decided to take the night off, as the moon was nowhere to be seen. Twilight knew it was simply a new moon tonight, that wasn’t the reason she was pacing.
Spike stepped down a couple steps, rubbing some sleep out of his eyes. “Come on, Twilight, it’s the middle of the night. Are we gonna have to call the floor repair ponies again? What’re you worried about now?”
“The Princess is sending the royal guard to Ponyville, that’s what I’m worried about. Does she not think I can handle any situation? Doesn’t she trust me?” A look of horror came over her features. “Am I not going to be her student anymore?”
Spike let out a long sigh. “You know none of that is true. With everything that’s happened, I’m sure that only a couple of guards are coming down, you know, ‘just in case’.”
“Just a couple of guards? But what if something really big does happen? What if we need more? Does the Princess not care about me anymore?”
Spike simply looked to his boss/roommate/sister. “Whatever, I’m going back to bed.” With that, he walked back up the stairs, stuffed his head underneath his pillow, and covered himself with his blanket.
Twilight continued to pace. She looked outside, as though the sun would have spontaneously risen so she could talk with her friends about this. They wouldn’t even know yet, as she had only received the letter tonight. She trotted over to her desk and opened the scroll again.
Dear Twilight Sparkle:
At the request of the Captain of the Royal Canterlot Guard, I have assigned a protector for you and your friends in Ponyville. By the time you receive this letter, the guards assigned for this force will be there by the next morning. Please know how much I care about you and the friendships you’ve made during your time in Ponyville, and that I want to make sure you can continue to live your life in peace and happiness. I look forward to the next time we will get to spend some real time together, as I have missed you a great deal.
Your teacher and friend, Princess Celestia
Twilight Sparkle released the scroll, letting it curl back up into itself. She sighed. “Spike’s probably right. With everything else that’s been happening, a little extra security might not be a bad thing. I just hope it’s over nothing.” Twilight turned around and started toward her stairs when a knock sounded from her door. She walked over and opened it, to stare right at a unicorn in a Canterlot Guard’s uniform, a light grey coat, and a fiery red mane. A blush rapidly appeared on his cheeks. He simply stared at Twilight for a moment. “Uh, hi. Can I help you?”
Silver Arrow blinked. “Oh, oh yeah. Are you, uh, are you Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight nodded. “Yes. I assume you’re the guard sent by Canterlot?” She looked over the guard. He stood only a little taller than her, only by an inch or so, and looked very young, about her age.
“Yeah. My name’s Silver Arrow. I volunteered to keep a watch over Ponyville and the Everfree Forest. I was assigned here by Shining Armor. You know, your brother…” he paused. “Of course you know your own brother…” he let out a nervous laugh. “Anyway, he, uh, he asked me to give you this.” His horn glowed a bit more than it already seemed to, and a scroll came out of his saddlebags. “Normally I wouldn’t come knocking at this time of night, but I saw your lights on, and figured you would still be up, so I decided to give it a try…” Silver arrow’s blush got darker, and he closed his mouth.
Twilight thought it was kind of cute how he rambled on. She took the scroll and moved it over to her desk, but didn’t move away immediately. Something was different, something wasn’t quite right… it hit her. The unicorn standing in front of her door was perfectly visible. Outside. During a new moon. He should have been impossible to see. She looked up, and saw a glowing ball of light, almost painfully bright, hovering a few feet above him. “Is that a Globe of Daylight spell?”
Silver Arrow looked up, and smiled. “Yeah. I figured it would be a good idea if I was going to see anything. I just arrived, and I wanted to check out where everything was before morning broke, you know, so I could get a feel for the town.”
“I assume you’d be doing that before you got any sleep tomorrow?” Twilight sounded a little sarcastic, but a tad playful.
“Yeah, probably wasn’t the best of ideas. I guess I should head to the guard station on the southern edge of town. There’s a room set up there. But, uh, I guess you didn’t really need to know that…” His blush began to return full force.
Twilight smiled warmly. “Well, I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you get some sleep, and tomorrow, a bunch of friends and I are going around town. We’re meeting right here, why don’t you stop by. I’ll introduce you to them, and then we’ll show you around town. That way, you aren’t all alone here in Ponyville.”
Silver Arrow’s green eyes came up and met Twilight’s deep purple ones. “Really? I don’t want to be a bother.”
She had to giggle a little at how much like Fluttershy he sounded like right then. “I’m sure. I can’t have a friend of my brother’s all alone here. Besides, you’ll love my friends. They’re amazing.”
He nodded, his mane bouncing a little in front of his eyes. “Alright, sounds like a plan. I can’t wait. What time should I show up?”
“Oh, probably around noonish. That’ll give me time to let everypony else know what’s going on, and to rouse Spike out of bed.”
“Spike?”
“My assistant. He’s a baby dragon.”
“Ah. Well, I’m sure I’ll have a bunch more questions for you tomorrow. Thanks for inviting me, and it’s really nice to finally meet you, Miss Sparkle.” Silver held out his hoof to shake Twilight's, the blush still on his cheeks.
Twilight took his hoof and shook softly. “It’s nice to meet you to, Mister Arrow. My brother talks about me a lot then?”
“You have no idea. And please, you can just call me Silver, if you like.”
“And please, just call me Twilight. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Looking forward to it.” Silver Arrow took a couple steps backward and began to turn around, waving his hoof back and forth. “Bye.”
Twilight giggled again with how silly he looked as she waved back. “Bye.” She closed the door as he turned to walk toward the guard post. Walking over to the desk, she unrolled the scroll on her desk that Silver had given her.
Dear Twilight,
I just wanted to explain what was going on and why. Ever since all these recent attacks on Equestria, with the return of Nightmare Moon, the return of Discord, the destruction of Phillydelphia, the fighting in Apploosa, and the Changeling invasion, I decided that it was a good idea to post additional protection in areas where it’s possible for more strife to happen. To tell you the truth, I was torn as to whether I should get anyone in Ponyville. I know you and your friends are capable of handling most anything, but I’m your brother. I love you more than anything, and I can’t stand the idea of you having to fight alone. I can’t stand the idea of you having to be on the front lines of any battle, of any war. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you, especially if there’s something I could have done to prevent it. I just wanted to let you know why there’s a guard in Ponyville now. It’s not that either the Princess or I don’t think you have what it takes, it’s that I love you too much to not protect you to the best of my ability. If I could be there myself, I would be. Unfortunately, this is the best I can do for the moment. I truly hope you don’t think I think any less of you. After all, you saved my life, and my marriage. The only thing I can try to do now is to return the favor. I love you with all my heart.
Your Brother, Shining Armor
As Twilight finished reading the scroll, she felt tears falling down her cheeks. She could tell how much her brother’s feelings were poured into the letter, and now she felt like she really knew why anyone was here. The scroll curled back up as her magic released it, and she looked through the window, toward Canterlot. “I love you too, Big Brother.”
Rarity walked toward the library, basket levitating beside her, trying to tone out most of the noise around her. All the noise seemed to be coming from one source, and Rarity was simply too tired to deal with it right now.
“So that’s when I said ‘then all you need is a rubber duckie!’ and then Cranky’s eye started to twitch, and he just looked soooo funny that I had to start laughing and…”
“Hey you two” Applejack called out, crossing the street to meet them.
“Applejack, thank heav…” Rarity paused, and quickly cleared her throat. “It’s… wonderful to see you here so early. I would have expected you to still be in your fields by now.”
“Nah, Big Mac helped out early today. They said I needed to take some ‘me time’ every once in a while, whatever that means. But today it means I can show up nice and early so we can get to eatin’.”
“Did you guys hear about that creepy guy that was wondering around town last night?” Rarity shuttered as she spoke.
“Huh?” The other two ponies looked at her, speaking almost at the same time.
“Somepony was wandering around town last night, an eerie glow following him everywhere.” She looked at the other two ponies, concern etched onto her face. “Did you see?”
Applejack shook her head. “Nope, I turned in kinda early last night. Thought I had a lot more work this morning.”
“I didn’t notice anything.” Pinkie Pie giggled. “Then again, I was pretty tired after watching the Cakes’ foals again. I don’t think I would’ve noticed a stampede through Ponyville!”
Rarity simply sighed. “Oh well. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Woulnd’t you agree, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy smiled at the three, turning around to face them as they approached. “I’m sorry, what are we not worrying about?”
“Never you mind, it’s just Rarity fussin’ over nothin’.” Applejack gave Rarity a knowing look.
Rarity looked back, an annoyed look on her face first, but it soon softened as she realized she didn’t want to worry Fluttershy either. “Oh, it’s nothing, I’m sure.”
The four walked to Twilight’s in relative silence for almost a full second when Pinkie Pie bounced up. “Ooh, ooh! If there’s a new pony in town, then it’s somepony I haven’t met yet! I’ll have to find out who it is and throw him a PARTY!”
"So much for not brining Fluttershy into it’ Rarity thought to herself. “Well, we’ll meet him, or her, soon enough. For now, I’m looking forward to a peaceful afternoon in the park. Where’s Rainbow Dash?”
“Aw, she’s probably already at Twilights.” Applejack blew a stray strand of hair out of her face. “Just wantin’ to beat us there, I recon.”
“I heard that!” The four looked up to see Rainbow Dash descending from the sky. “And I did beat you here!” She landed in front of the four, just in front of Twilight’s door.
Applejack looked back to the sky, a smirk on her mouth. “Yeah, probably because you didn’t clear out the clouds like you said you would.”
“Pff, whatever. You know how fast I could get that done. Besides, the clouds are light today. They look nice.” Rainbow turned around and knocked on the door. “Why does every day have to be cloudless?”
Just as Fluttershy opened her mouth, the door to the library opened, revealing Twilight smiling at the group. “Hey there. Come on in. I was just getting everything ready.” She turned and walked toward her table, a large picnic basket sitting on top of it. “I just put a little something together. I hope you guys like daffodil sandwiches.”
The group entered the library, Rarity looking over the basket. “Did… did you make the sandwiches, Twilight?” Everypony but Twilight slowed, a worried look on their faces.
Twilight didn’t seem to notice. “No, Spike woke up early to make them. I guess he just wanted to be extra helpful today. Why?”
“Oh, no reason.” Fluttershy, Rainbow dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie let out a quiet ‘whew’ as Rarity responded to her friend, trying to remain as subdued as possible. Everyone remembered the last time Twilight made the picnic food, accidentally using sugar instead of salt. Even though it was an honest mistake, Spike had been careful to make sure he was ‘extra nice’ the days of the picnic ever since. Rarity made a mental note that he would have to thank the little dragon later.
“By the way, I don’t suppose that you all could do me a tiny little favor, could you?” Twilight gave the group her biggest expectant smile.
“What is it?” Pinkie asked.
“Well, there’s a new pony in Ponyville that I met last night…”
Twilight found herself cut off by Rarity. “You met that creepy pony that was skulking around last night?”
Twilight’s face fell a little. “Rarity... He wasn’t skulking around. He was looking around the town. He’s been assigned here by my brother to help keep Ponyville safe. He’s a member of the Royal Guard.”
Rarity instantly perked up. “A member of the Royal Guard? Oh my, what’s he like?”
Applejack stepped forward, stepping between Rarity and Twilight. “How’d you end up meeting him anyway?”
“I was up late last night, and he delivered a letter from my brother.” Twilight shifted from one side to the other. “So, we got to talking a little, and I kind of ask if he wanted us to show him around town.”
Applejack looked like she was going to say something, but Rarity stepped in front of her. “But of course we should show this young stallion around town. After all, if he’s new around here, he won’t know anypony, and that’s just a dreadful situation to be in.”
Twilight looked around to the others. Applejack cleared her throat. “Yeah, it sounds like a good idea. Nothin’ wrong with bein’ neighborly with the new folk. But we will get to eatin’, right? I had a light breakfast for this here picnic.”
“Of course!” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down and all around. “I’m so glad you want your new friend to meet me, Twilight! I’m gonna make sure to get the cake mix in the right slot this time!”
Twilight just looked to her friend, a little dumbfounded. “What… cake mix… you know what, nevermind. I’m just glad you guys seem to be on board. I didn’t want to let a friend of my brother’s out in the cold.” She looked over her friends, and noticed Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy floating above the rest. “What about you two? I want to make sure I’m not putting anypony out.”
“Nah, it’s cool. I think it’s really awesome to help out the people close to your family, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Besides, if he’s a member of the Royal Guard, he could get my name all over Canterlot, and then I’d get into the Wonderbolts for sure.”
Fluttershy shrunk back a little. “Well, if everypony else is okay with it…”
“And what’s the matter with meeting new people?” Applejack looked up to the yellow pegasus.
“Oh, nothing. Except the meeting, and the… talking to new people. And Canterlot Guards are so… big… and scary…”
Twilight let out a small giggle. “Oh, believe me, Fluttershy. Silver Arrow’ll be a pleasant surprise for you. Trust me.” She looked at the clock on her wall. It read nearly noon. “Speaking of which, he should be here any minute.”
“Any minute?” Rarity began to fuss over every inch of her. “How’s my mane, is it straight? My hooves aren’t too shiny, are they? You can never look too good for one of Canterlot’s elite, after all…” A knock came from the door. “Oh, that’s probably him! Hurry, Twilight, answer the door!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow, but giggled a little to herself. She walked over to the door and willed it open. On the other side stood the red maned unicorn she met last night, this time without his armor. “Hey, Twilight. I’m not too early am I? Your friends aren’t upset that I’m here?”
“Oh, no, please come on in. I’ll introduce you to everypony.” Twilight backed up a little and let Silver Arrow in. “Everyone, this is Silver Arrow.” She led him into the library, right in front of the group.
Applejack was the first to walk up. “Howdy. I’m Applejack. I hear you’re here to help guard Ponyville?”
Silver Arrow nodded. “Yeah. With everything that’s happened over the past few months…”
“You don’t need to say any more.” Applejack simply grinned at him. “I’m just happy ta meet’cha is all.” She held up her hoof, and Silver Arrow happily took it. He soon kind of wished he hadn’t, as Applejack shook it with as much vigor as she normally does, leaving him a little shaken.
Rarity tried to wipe the disappointed look off her features and stood up tall. “Hello. My name is Rarity. It’s a pleasure to meet a friend of Shining Armor.”
“I’m glad to meet you to, Miss Rarity. I’m familiar with your name. Ever since your designs have been showcased by Fancypants, they’ve been all the rage in Canterlot.”
Rarity looked a little shocked. “You know of my designs?”
“Kind of hard to miss them when you guard the people wearing them.” Silver Arrow simply smiled. Rarity smiled back, looking much more comfortable.
Before the conversation could continue, Pinkie Pie landed right between them. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! I’m so happy to meet you! I love meeting new ponies, and I’m sure we’re gonna be the best of friends! I wanna get something really quick, so I won’t be there to help showing you around town, but someday soon I’ll give you the extra-special Pinkie Pie tour! It’ll be so much fun! But I’ll meet everypony in the park when we get that picnic, and we’ll have the most super fun picnic ever! I’ll see you later!” And with that, she left Silver Arrow completely dumbfounded as she hit eighty-eight miles an hour running out the door.
Everyone was silent for a second. Silver Arrow finally opened his mouth. “Ooookaaayyy…” He looked to the other ponies in the room. “Did… did I just scare her off, or was that something else entirely?”
Rainbow Dash landed right next to the colt. “Nah, it’s just Pinkie being Pinkie. I’m Rainbow Dash, by the way. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. Aren’t you the one who won the last year’s best young flier’s competition with that Sonic Rainboom?”
Rainbow Dash stood up taller. “Heh, yeah. You heard about that, huh?”
“Yeah, pretty much nothing the Pegasus Guards talk about other than that. A few have tried to pull off a Sonic Rainboom. It hasn’t worked out so well.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet.” The rainbow maned pony gestured over to Fluttershy with her hoof. “That’s Fluttershy. She lives up to her name.”
Fluttershy walked up to the two. “I’m okay, Rainbow Dash.” Her voice was softer than normal, but still intelligible. “I’ll admit I was a little nervous of meeting you, or any Royal Guard, you’re all so large, and stern-looking. But you look nice. You’re so small, and light.” Her smile was shy, but looked genuine.
Silver Arrow slumped down a little. “Uh, thanks.”
Twilight shook her head a little. “Well, now that we’ve all been introduced, shall we show you around town?” She moved closer to Silver, simply smiling at him.
Silver’s face reddened. “Uh, yeah! Sure, that sounds amazing!”
Twilight turned toward the door and lead the group out, Silver following behind, trying to look confident, but still blushing. Rarity and Rainbow Dash lagged behind, Rarity stifling a giggle. “What’s up, Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Oh, just noticing Silver Arrow’s huge case of love-at-first-sight.”
“Yeah, I wonder how long it’s gonna be until Twilight notices.”
“Probably never.” Rarity began to trot out after the rest of the group. “It’ll be fun to watch, even though he’s not exactly the model Royal Guard.”
Rainbow Dash let out an amused snort, following Rarity out of the library, shutting the door behind her.
