Heart of Gold, Pony of Steel

Twilight and the other two guards sat in silence, awaiting the arrival to Filly Delphia. Twilight was getting tired of the silence and was the first to brake the ice after a half an hour of no talking. "Sooo, how long have you guys been guards for the princesses?" she said, startling them. "Oh, well we've been their guards for a very long time. Obviously, Sparks over here hasn't been a guard as long as I have." he replied giving a smile and a small laugh. Twilight was amazed. She'd never seen a royal guard laugh or smile before. Or call another guard by a nickname. Though Spark Plates didn't seem to enjoy his nickname as much as Star Shield did, she was still amazed. "Well, Twilight, you're Princess Celestia's student. You seem to send her a lot of mail. She just puts all of the already read scrolls in a pile, and sometimes, when she's not around, Luna plays in the pile of scrolls." he stated, laughing and causing Twilight to laugh as well. Spark Plates remained silent. She was getting the feeling he didn't actually want to go with them. 'Maybe he was forced to go. Maybe the princesses took him away from something. I wonder what it is...' Twilight thought. "Stop being such an up-tight stallion all the time, Sparks! Enjoy the time we have off from guarding. Sure its a mission that's not exactly safe, but at least we don't have to stay sitting in the same place for the whole day!" he laughed, patting him on the back. He slapped his hand off his back. " Do you know how much danger we are in!? We could die! We may never see our families again! I'd rather be in Canterlot doing nothing then on a train with a fool and a stupid unicorn!" he shouted angrily. Twilight frowned and looked at the floor. Why would he call her a stupid unicorn. She wasn't stupid. "Why would you say that!? The princess said everything would be fine! Your going to scare Twilight!" he yelled defending the sad mare. "Good. You should be scare! We'll probably die and our families will never see us again. What would your wife and sons think if the princesses had to tell them your heart was ripped out and you were brutally murdered!? HUH!? The princesses may be wise and all knowing, but they can't see the future."

The rest of the train ride was silent and no pony wanted to talk. Even their breathing was deathly silent. Twilight nor Star Shield dared to look at Spark Plates. He was still recovering from the massive outburst. The train ride was three hours long, including stops on the way. When they're stop came, they got off at Manehatten and took another train to Filly Delphia. The princess arranged for them to stay in a house in town, near the Tri-Pony base in the city. They were to keep a close watch on anypony who might be a representative. At the same time they had to act as normal as possible so they wouldn't be caught. Still, there was no talking. When the house came into view, Twilight pulled the key out of her saddle bag and unlocked the door. It swung open and revealed an empty house. There was nothing in it except a table and three chairs. In the bed rooms there were beds of straw. A lantern lay on the floor next to each bed. so they could see at night. Twiligt wanted to get strait to work so she could get this done faster. What the one guard said about this being a deadly mission really scared her, and she wanted to go home as fast of she could. She couldn't bear the thought of never seeing her friends and family again. What would they think? What with the last thing she told her friends was a lie! She wouldn't let that happen. She would return to Ponyville alive and healthy. She sat in front of the house watching for anypony who could be a Tri-Pony representative. It was a harder task then she thought at first. She was sure it was just