Chapters "Captain Armor. Lieutenant Sparkle." The small dragon called out as he entered the barracks. "Princess Celestia requests your immediate presence."
The two ponies stood up from their bunks and nodded to each other.
"Of course Scribe. We'll be right there. You are dismissed." The smaller of the two told the dragon as she shrugged into her armor and grabbed her spear in her telekinesis.
The larger of the two rolled his eyes as he slid his helmet on. "You can leave the spear here you know. We're going for orders, not to a fight. Besides, we can both blade cast."
The mare nodded. "Of course. By your orders Captain."
"Come along Lieutenant." The stallion asked as he trotted out past her.
The mare quickly saluted and fell in line behind him.
The rest of the soldiers saluted as they trotted past them, several uttering the phrase "Vereor Nox."
"Laus et ad solem." The two guards responded as they left the room, making their way to the throne room.
As the two guards entered the room, they found the court to still be in session, with the Princess of the Sun fielding questions from a white stallion with a blonde mane and tail.
"But aunty. Must we host the festival in such a backwater town as that one? Surely there are other towns and cities that would be far more suited to host it."
"Yeah. Maybe Cloudsdale would be a good choice." The mare snorted as she trotted past him and took her place at the base of the throne with her fellow guard, relieving the other guards of their post.
The princess snickered at the guards joke. "Maybe next year Lieutenant. I'm sure Cloudsdale would be a perfect place to host the event."
The stallion's face turned red as he stood up and flicked his nose into the air. "Hmph." He snorted as he began to canter out.
After he had left the two guards moved in front of the alicorn and bowed, removing their helmets.
"Your majesty." They both greeted her at the same time.
"Captain, Lieutenant." She greeted them in return. "You may rise."
As one they stood up, leaving their helmets on the ground in front of them.
"What do you wish of us your majesty." The mare asked as she flipped her mane back over her shoulder and onto her back.
The princess smiled. "If you recall, the Summer Sun Celebration will be hosted in Ponyville this year. I'm sending you two down there to do two things." Her horn took on a pale yellow shimmer as two scrolls appeared from thin air, each floating to rest in front of one of the guards. "Captain Shining Armor. You are to patrol the streets and make sure there is no trouble. I highly doubt there will be, but complacency is always something I try to avoid."
The stallion levitated his scroll and stowed it in his armors document pouch before saluting. "Of course your majesty, your will be done."
"Lieutenant Twilight Sparkle. You are to see to the four ponies on that list and make sure preparations run smoothly. Again, I have little worry that things could be behind schedule, but the watchful eye of a royal guard is never a bad thing."
The mare mimicked her superiors actions of levitating the scroll into the pouch on her armor before saluting. "As you wish your majesty, your will be done through me."
"That is all for now. It is the final day before the festival begins, I shall be down in around seven to eight hours." The princess nodded. "You are dismissed."
The two guards bowed once more, sliding their helmets back on before turning and trotting out of the room.
As they wound their way around the palace to the chariots where they would find a way to depart they began talking.
"So Twiley.. what prep work are you overseeing?" The stallion asked, his two tone blue tail flicking to the side as he trotted.
"Food gathering, the music, weather duty and the decoration of the town hall. Nothing too major. How about you big brother?" The mare smiled, her own three colour tail swishing against her legs.
"I've got a simple patrol route, mostly situated around the town center, where are we staying until the festival?" He asked.
"We'll be staying.... in the town library apparently. The last librarian recently had a nasty fall and is recuperating in the town hospital." She chuckled. "Cool. Even if it's just for a few hours until the festivities begin, it'll be nice to have a place to do some reading."
Shining Armor rolled his eyes and smiled. "Because the princess knows you don't do enough of that already."
"Oh hush you." Twilight bumped her brother lightly. "At least this won't be a difficult assignment. Unlike getting that entire wardrobe of weird clothes into the Princess' students room." She blanched. "There was something wrong with that black jacket she wore..."
"It does give one the shivers a bit." Shining Armor nodded.
The siblings continued to banter as they made their way to the chariots.
The trip over wasn't a long one, which was good because the inclusion of their third passenger had made it a bit hard for the four guards ponies to talk. Once the chariot had touched down the two pegasi guards saluted their superiors and flew off to their own patrols leaving the two unicorns and one dragon to go about their business.
"Captain." Twilight nodded at her brother. "We'll meet back here once I'm done with my checks before heading to the library."
Shining nodded back. "Very good Lieutenant."
The two guards saluted each other before turning and trotting away, leaving the dragon to blink and shake his head before scampering up to the town hall to meet with the mayor.
Twilight found herself trotting along a dirt path that lead to the town outskirts as she checked her list of preparations to check on. Her ears twitched as she heard a set of hoof steps closely behind her. Casting a quick glance over her shoulder she noticed that nopony was behind her.
She passed it off as the simple fact that in a town as small as Ponyville seemed to be, it wasn't unlikely she'd just been trotting along the same path as somepony else.
Again her ears twitched, this time it sounded like the hoofsteps were right beside her.
Her eyes flicked from side to side before she looked behind her again,her magic rolling up the scroll and sliding into the documents pouch.
With a slight grunt of annoyance she refocused on the road in front of her and was greeted by a large pair of blue eyes glaring at her.
"Can I help you citizen?" She asked.
"Nope." Came the reply from the pink earthpony. "I'm just looking, It's not everyday we see royal guards around here, and today there are four of you. What gives?"
Twilight side stepped and began trotting toward her goal again. "Sorry citizen. Official royal guard business, can't tell you."
The pink pony pouted, turning and trotting alongside the royal guard. "I have a name you know. I'm Pinkie Pie."
"Gee. you don't say?" Twilight deadpanned. "Pinkie huh? Never would have guessed."
"You really are a grumpy pants aren't you miss..." Pinkie trailed off.
"I'm not a miss, I'm a lieutenant. Lieutenant Sparkle. Now if that's all miss Pie, I have things to do that don't concern you." Twilight told the mare.
Pinkie pouted again. "But you don't know that!"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "I knew that as soon as you told me your name." She replied.
"Well maybe I could help you find who you're looking for." Pinkie offered as she trotted along side the guard.
"I have a map and photos of the ponies I'm looking for. your assistance is not required, good day miss Pie." Twilight declined as she created an invisible wall of magic up ahead that allowed her to pass through without stopping while stopping the pink mare as sure as any brick wall.
Twilight passed under the arch that signaled her arrival at the orchard. Spotting the farmhouse, she turned to make her way towards it when a voice drew her attention.
"Yeee Haaaa!" the mare cried as she galloped towards the tree and planted her forelegs into the dirt, spinning in place and bucking the tree as hard as she could with her hindlegs, causing all the apples to fall in the myriad of baskets under the trees branches.
Twilight levitated her photo's up and sorted through them until she found a picture that matched the orange earthpony leaning against the freshly bucked tree.
With a nod she turned her head to put the photos back in their proper pouch,turning back to look at her quarry she found the earthpony standing in front of her looking her up and down.
"Couldn't help noticin' the look y'all were givin' me. Is there anyway ah can help you?" The earthpony asked.
"Yes there is." Twilight nodded. "I am Lieutenant Twilight Sparkle of the Canterlot royal guard, and the Princess asked me here to check up on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. I understand your family is providing catering."
"Oh. Y'all're here about that." The mare rolled her eyes. "Yup. We're providin' the food for that there shindig. What exactly are you here to check on Lieutenant?"
"Ignoring the disrespect you just showed me, I'm simply here to check whether or not there will be enough food to fill the eight banquet tables in the town hall." Twilight told the mare.
"Oh. Well that's easy, we got enough made to fill those eight tables twice over." The mare smiled.
Twilight nodded, checking the food checkbox on her list. "Very good. Impressive forward thinking miss..."
"Applejack." The mare answered. "Say, do you want to stay for lunch?"
"I'm sorry miss Applejack but I cannot. I have other checks to make..." A gurgling noise erupted from Twilight's stomach, causing a light blush to spread across her cheeks. "But I will purchase one apple pie if that's not too much trouble."
"It ain't no trouble at all Lieutenant." Applejack chuckled. "Applebloom! Bring out one of the pies."
"Yes sis!" A voice answered back, a few seconds later a young, yellow earthpony came charging out of the house with a pie balanced on her back. "Here you go big sis." The filly smiled.
"Thank you kindly Applebloom." Applejack smiled. "Here you go Lieutenant, fresh out of the oven, on the house."
Twilight levitated the pie onto her own back and nodded thankfully. "I appreciate it. Thank you."
"Well shucks, ain't no problem." Applejack chuckled. "Now Applebloom, run along and let everypony know they can stop cookin', we made more than enough."
"Okay sis." The filly smiled and took off back to the house.
"Well then. I should be on my way." Twilight nodded before turning and trotting back towards the town, levitating the pie and cutting out a slice with her magic before taking a bite.
Twilight trotted down the town's central street, eyeing the pegasi flitting about as she levitated a photo.
"No, no, no ,no... those two are going to need a ticket for public indecency, no, no, no, no..." The guard huffed in annoyance as she continued to scan the skies for her quarry.
She returned her gaze to the road in front of her as she prepared to find another area of the town to investigate, trotting around the mud puddle in front of her with a small smile.
"At least my armor won't need to be cleaned at all today."
"Somepony get in my waaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" A rough, yet still feminine voice called out before a loud splut sound signaled their impact into the mud puddle which sent the mud flying over the guards pristine armor.
"...and I just had to open my mouth huh?" Twilight grumped as she quickly cast a spell to clean the mud off her armor before turning to check on the pony who decided to take a mud bath in the middle of the street.
The mud drenched pegasus gave the guard a sheepish smile as she held her wings out to drip the mud off them. "Ahh.. heh heh heh... sorry ma'am... sudden gust of wind knocked me off course." The pegasus explained as she waded into the river that ran through the town and dunked her head under the water. When she resurfaced her prismatic mane was sticking to the back of her neck because of the water.
"But hey... no hard feelings right?"
Twilight nodded curtly from the foot of the bridge that lead to the towns park. "None at all miss Dash."
The pegasus's ears perked, causing her to turn and face the female guard. "How do you know my name? I'm not in trouble am I? Or are you a recruiter trying to get me to join the guard like those two pegasi in the sky?"
Twilight shook her head. "Not at all, although the trouble depends on whether or not you finished your job for the Summer Sun celebration." she gestured to the still cloud filled sky. "Which it seems you haven't."
"Oh... uhh... yeah.. sorry about that, I heard the Wonderbolts are going to be here tonight and it's kind of been my dream to join them since I was a filly..." The cyan pegasus rubbed the back of her head with her wing, another sheepish smile creeping onto her face.
Twilight shook her head. "They'll never accept an applicant who can't even keep the skies of a small town clear for one afternoon."
"Hey!" The pegasus snorted. "I could get this entire section of sky cleaned up in 10. Seconds. Flat."
Twilight smirked before turning to look at the pegasus with her best challenging grin. "Alright then, Miss Rainbow Dash, care to make a wager?"
"Only if you're ready to lose!... umm ma'am." Rainbow quickly added.
Twilight smirked again, more openly this time. "Alright, if you win, I'll get you a personal and private audition with the Wonderbolts, on the date of your choosing. If I win, you have to become a reserve guard instead and for the love of the princess miss Pie, why are you STILL FOLLOWING ME?!?" she roared at a nearby bush, sending a pink lump of fur tumbling out of it.
"Hi Dashie!" Pinkie waved. "I'm still following you because...well I don't know why I'm still following you.." with a shrug she simply got up and started bouncing towards the town center.
"Hey Pinks." Rainbow Dash greeted the pink pony as she bounced past her. "Alright then...umm..."
"Lieutenant." Pinkie poked her head out of a nearby bush.
"Thank you Pinkie." Rainbow smiled. "Alright Lieutenant. You have a deal."
-11 seconds later -
"I swear those four clouds weren't over the town hall before." Rainbow complained as followed the guard over the bridge. "Stupid forest...."
Twilight simply chuckled as she continued on her path, her new recruit in tow. She pulled out her photo's again and shuffled through them, marking a little x in the corner of Rainbow Dash's photo before glancing at the two remaining ponies she had to find.
"Oh you're here to check up on Fluttershy too huh?" Rainbow asked as she peeked over Twilight's shoulder. "She should be just up ahead practicing with her bird choir. I think she knows the unicorn in the other picture too."
"Well that will help speed things along." Twilight smiled. "Thank you Miss Dash."
"Don't thank me yet." The pegasus flew in front of the guard, prompting her to stop. "as much as this is your assignment,and I'd hate to cross a line, but maybe it'll go smoother if you let me do the talking with her okay ma'am?"
"And why should I do that?" Twilight asked, casting a critical eye over the pegasus in front of her.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "She's a foalhood friend of mine, doesn't take well to meeting new ponies. Let me talk to her first and then you can ask her whatever it is you gotta ask her okay?"
Twilight sighed. "Fine. Where is she anyway?"
Rainbow just shrugged again. "Somewhere in here, probably secluded. Why don't you go see if you can find that unicorn, I think I saw her heading into the town hall earlier, but I might be wrong."
"Fine fine... come find me once you've found her okay?" Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Sure thing ma'am." the cyan pegasus nodded before launching herself into the sky.
"Nice filly, show's respect to authority, I like that." Twilight said to herself as she trotted back over the bridge that lead out of the park and towards the town hall.
"Oh. Lieutenant Sparkle, ma'am." A young voice called out.
Twilight turned her head to spy the dragon scribe that the Princess kept about plodding towards her. "Scribe Spike." she nodded.
"Sorry to bother you ma'am, but I couldn't find Captain Armor and you're the second in command so.. the paperwork is all done and the apple family has started setting up the buffet tables." the young dragon announced. "All business at the town hall is proceeding as planned."
"Not everything scribe. I've been informed that the decorator has just arrived and I'm going to inspect her work." Twilight told him. "If your duties are complete then you have some time off until the celebration."
"Aye ma'am. I'll see you back at the library." Spike saluted before scampering into town.
No sooner had Twilight pushed the door open than a rush of wind kicked up a dust cloud, revealing a blue pegasus once it cleared.
"Ma'am, I've found her, she should be right behind me." Rainbow Dash announced with a salute.
"Umm... are you sure she's over here Rainbow Dash I don't... oh.. um hi... my name is um Fluttershy..." A yellow pegasus said as she slowly fluttered down and landed next to her friend, half her face obscured by her pink mane.
"So you're in charge of the music at tonight's celebration?" Twilight asked, studying the mare.
"Oh... umm... y-yes... t-that would be me..." the yellow pony squeaked, one of her wings coming up to hide the rest of her face.
"Hey Lieutenant... ma'am.. ease off a bit okay? Her name isn't Fluttershy for nothing." Rainbow Dash added gently.
"Right... my apologies. I'll make this brief then." Twilight said, turning her attention back to the yellow pegasus. "I just need to know how the music is coming along for tonight."
"Oh... umm.. it's coming along.... umm... wonderfully I think..." Fluttershy stammered, looking down. "Umm... ma'am."
"Very well then. As you were. Recruit... with me." Twilight motioned with her head to Rainbow Dash. "I have one more pony to check on before I can retire until the celebration."
Rainbow Dash snapped a salute before turning to the other pegasus. "Hey Shy... I think the decorator is that friend of yours you head to the spa with every week."
The yellow pony perked up slightly. "O-oh... Rarity is the decorator here? Oh it's been a while since I just spoke with her." She turned her gaze up to the guard slightly. "Umm.. if that would be okay with you ma'am."
Twilight waved her hoof. "Very well then miss." her horn flashed as the door opened itself, allowing the trio to trot inside.
