Second Wind

This was it. This was your big day. Here you were, standing in the royal armory. Outside, you would begin your walk inside the throne room, up to Celestia, where you would be officially knighted, then off to the barracks for your first day of training.

You make it sound easy.

To make things more difficult, a good amount of Ponyville had come to witness the ceremony, including Rarity's parents and friends were all here. A good amount of Canterlot also decided to show up. The Honor Guardsman Captain paced around you, strapping on several pieces of shining golden armor to your body. He was an older pony. He had a white coat, gray mane, and cyan eyes. Apparently, the Royal Armorer hand crafted this set just for you. Plate by plate, strap by strap, eventually, you were all suited up. Your armor looked completely identical to the ones the other guardsman wore, except you wore plate legs. That was the only real aesthetic difference between Royal Guards and Honor Guards, were the plate legs. The Captain paced around you, making sure you looked okay. With a quick chuckle and smile, he started to talk to you.

"Alrighty, what you're gonna wanna do, is just walk down the aisle. Nice and slow. Don't stop and wave hi to family members, don't break eye contact with the Princess, just keep walking. When you approach the Princess, you will stop, and then Oliver will walk in just as you did, and he'll stop beside you." The Captain taps his hoof on your breastplate.

"Then, he will kneel, draw his blade, and hand it to the Princess. Immediately after she takes it, he will leave the throne room. Once he leaves, you are then to kneel, and accept the blade. Celestia will also place your helmet on your head. Once the blade is in your hands, and the helmet is on your head, stand up, smile, look real pretty, because then ponies will begin to cheer. Then, come to the barracks after talking with your folks. My name is Virgil, by the way. Think of me as your boss." A Royal Guard walked into the room and looked at Virgil.

"This him?" Virgil nodded.

"Lets go, the ceremony is starting." You follow the guard, but he stops just at the open doors to the Throne Room.

"There you go. The Princess is waiting." You took a deep breath, and decide to start walking. The Throne Room was filled with ponies of various colors and races. They stood behind those velvet ropes that often stood outside of the movie theaters back home, to help organize the lines. Royal guards stood on the other side of the velvet ropes, standing at a salute. Two higher ranking Royal guards stood on each side of the Princess. You did as Virgil told you, and walked slowly, without breaking eye contact with the Princess. The entire Throne Room was eerily quiet, especially for the amount of ponies present. Light shone through the stained glass windows, illuminating the murals in brilliant colors. With each step, your golden greaves clinked, your breastplate heaved, your pauldrons shifted and rattled, all with every step. You stopped just before Celestia, as you were instructed to, and continued to look at her, not breaking eye contact.

Oliver soon walked in, just as you had, and stopped beside you. He took a knee. You noticed out of peripheral vision that he had three blades in three different sheaths. He a sheath that was of a yellow color with a white trip, and handed it to Celestia. He stood back up, and walked back out of the Throne Room.

Now, it was your turn. You took a knee, and waited for Celestia to offer the blade to you. The blade shifted from a vertical position in Celestia's magical grip, to a horizontal one. You held your arms out with your palms open, and watched as the blade was lowered into your hand. Still holding the blade, you watched as your new helmet, also of a shining gold, floated over, and was slid on your head. You took another deep breath, and stood up, strapping your new blade to your leg. You unsheathed the blade, and held it up, letting the sunlight reflect off of it, making it shine inside the Throne Room.

Then came the cheering, just as Virgil had promised. Sounds of hooves clopping, and a sharp whistle here or there, roared inside of the Throne Room. The guards that stood by the velvet ropes released the ropes, letting the crowd come over to you. You sheathed the blade. You saw Rarity through the crowd, running through them all. She leaped into the air, and you caught her. You gave her a good spin, and put her back down. The crowd is still cheering and whistling.

"DARLING! You did great!" Rarity throws her hooves around your waist, hugging you tightly.  You of course, decide to pick her up and hug her back.

"Alright honey." You said.

"I've got to go to the barracks now. You're welcome to come with me and watch me begin training, but that may be boring. Maybe your Mom and Dad will go eat with you or something. She smiles at you, giving you one last big squeeze.

"Darling, I wouldn't miss watching you for the world!" You put her down gently, and begin your walk out. the crowd still cheers, as both Rarity and yourself leave the Throne Room, and head towards the barracks. Cantlerlot was still bustling, and as such, you received many more stares than you normally did. The golden armor and honor guard title was probably the cause, but you didn't mind it. You were busy talking with Rarity.

"So darling. How do you feel?" You put an arm around her neck as you walk.

"Good, good. I was a little spooked by how quiet the ceremony was, but it's good to finally have this all said and done."

"And I'm assuming you've met your boss?"

"Yeah, he's the one that helped me into this armor. Said his name was Virgil." You shift your right shoulder up and down, examining the pauldron strapped to it.

"Did he mention what all he would have you do today?"

"Nah, just to come by the barracks after the ceremony." As you two continued your small talk regarding your knew position as an Honor Guard, you were both soon at the barracks. You both walked up the staircase leading into the large stone building. Virgil sat in a chair by the door, reading some newspaper. He notices you walk in, folds up the newspaper, and stands up.

"Aaden, good to see that the ceremony went well. And you must be Rarity. First and foremost, Aaden, Honor Guards have their own rooms here in the barracks, complete with a bathroom, living room, and one bedroom. Rarity, you are more than welcome to stay with Aaden in it. Next, your training." He signals you to follow him. You go through the barracks, and out the back of it, revealing several dummies made of hay, and various other things used to sharpen guardsman.

"Every morning, at 10 AM, you must be out here, in your armor, ready to train. Training will last til' 2 PM, and it will be like that for 2 weeks. After 2 PM, you're free to do whatever you want until 10 AM the next morning, just make sure you don't get yourself into trouble. Your training will consist of many different things. Today, we'll have you run 5 miles in your armor, and we'll be testing your strength. We may even have you spar with another guardsman, I haven't decided yet." Virgil looks over to Rarity.

"Ms. Rarity, we will beginning Aaden's training here very soon. Aaden's room is on the second floor off the barracks, room 202. There is a balcony there. You may be able to see the training better, if you intend to watch it. If not, Canterlot is a big city, with lotsa stuff to do. Either way, we must kindly ask you to leave the training area. Guards will be sparring, and we cannot have any accidents occur. The training today will be short, so he'll be back to you soon." Rarity nods her head, and walks back inside. Virgil points you to a spot on the ground, and requests you stand on it. As other Honor Guards show up, it soon becomes apparent that this is a formation. When they all show up, Virgil takes his place at the front, facing the formation.

"Alrighty, listen up Guardsmen. This is Aaden, the new Honor Guard of Ponyville and Humanity. As is tradition, we will all be coming together to train him. Now, prepare yourselves for the 5-mile sprint." You noticed a trail from the back of the building that led way out through a forest, and seemingly worked its way back. All of the Guardsman, including yourself, advanced in formation to the start of the trail. Virgil stood at the very front.

"Alright. Move it guardsmen!" The sound of the golden greaves clinking in unison soon filled the air.

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You assumed your position on the balcony, watching Aaden and the other Guardsman run in formation down the trail they had set up. Coming to the conclusion that they may not be back for awhile, you decide to check out the room they had for Aaden. The balcony you were on was made of marble, and you noticed on the marble railing that some kind of vine was growing on it. You turned around, and walked back into the living room. It had two couches, a table, a cooler off in the corner, and several bookcases stocked with books. You walked into the bedroom. A single large canopy bed, complete with curtains that can completely enclose it, sat against the wall. There was a single nightstand on each side of the bed, and another cooler in the corner of the room. At the foot of the bed sat a single large chest.

How romantic...

You really enjoyed the bedroom, and looked forward to two nights of sleeping with Aaden here. You then decided to explore the bathroom. It was absolutely divine. The entire bathroom had a theme of shiny granite walls and gray tiling, the shower and bathtub were seemingly built into the wall. It appeared as if you would slide the door, climb in, slide the door closed, and shower. You noticed that there was not one single shower head, but panels on the wall, 5 on the roof, and 3 on either wall, each which ejected water out on you. You also looked forward to your first shower here, too. You went back out to the balcony, to watch and wait for Aaden.

So. Here you were. In Canterlot. And Aaden was an Honor Guard. If someone would have told you several months ago, that this is where you would be, you would have laughed at them. But here you were. You look up at the clock. It had been about 45 minutes. You lean on the balcony railing slightly, and squint your eyes. Sure enough, you see the shining horde of gold coming back down the path. The clinking of their armor gets louder and louder, until they are back beside the dummies.  All of the guards were obviously tired, including Aaden. Virgil walked over to Aaden, tapped him on his shoulder, and pointed at a series of boulders they had near the dummies. Aaden nodded his head, and removed his helmet. He then unstrapped his shoulders, and removed them. Then, he removed his breastplate. Then his shirt.

Wooooow...

Aaden was sweaty. Not overly sweaty, but enough to make him glisten in the sun. His bandages were still white, but he had a little blood on both of them, probably from exerting himself. While he walked over to the boulders, he stretched his arms out, locked his fingers, and cracked them. His muscles were showed their tone as he did this, making you blush. You noticed he had some dirt on his face, and in his hair. He may have fallen at some point during his run. You feel yourself blushing.

This is kind of sexy...

He walks over to the first boulder, it's no bigger than a ball. He easily lifts it with one hand. Virgil then points him over to the next one, which was about twice the size of the ball. He lifts it. Then he is pointed to one that is the size of a pony. Aaden bends at his knees, wraps his arms around the bottom, and lifts it. He holds it above his head to show that he can handle it, before setting it back down. Virgil then points him at the next boulder, one that is about a size and a half bigger than the pony boulder. Aaden takes a deep breath, bends at his knees again, wraps his arms around the bottom, and with a grunt, lifts the boulder up, and lifts it above his head once more. You see Virgil smile, and signal him to put it down. Aaden does so, still shining in the sun, his face now slightly red.

Virgil then points at one of the other guards, and then points at Aaden. They both walk behind the dummies, in the grassy field behind them. The guard takes off his helmet and his breastplate, setting them aside. They were going to spar. They began both circling each other, staring each other down. Aaden drew his fists up to his sides, while the other guard paced slowly. The other guard attempted to strike first, leaping towards him with his head. Aaden grabbed his foreleg, and swung it down, bringing the guard to the ground. The guard got back up, and they went back to circling. Aaden then attempted to lunge out, but that just got him bucked, knocking him to the ground, but he quickly recovered. The other guard then attempted to strike again, attempting to buck Aaden, but Aaden caught his hind legs, swung them over, putting the guard on his back. Aaden then took his foot, and placed it on the guards neck, still holding his hind legs. Virgil whistled, signalling the fight to be over. The guard got up and patted Aaden on the back, and walked back towards the other guards. You saw Virgil walk over to Aaden, smiling still. They have a short conversation before Virgil turns around, and yells.

"DISMISSED!" The guards then began to dissipate from the training grounds. You watched Virgil and Aaden talk. He REALLY looked good. He was now a little more dirty, dirt on sticking to his chest and neck, in his hair, and on his face. He began to stretch, inadvertently flexing his muscles in the process.

Oh my...

You sat, with your face in one hoof, eyeing him as a schoolfilly would. You may as well have been drooling. You see Aaden and Virgil walking back inside the barracks, and hear them laughing about something. You try to quickly compose yourself, and decide to go downstairs to meet them.

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"In all my years, I've never seen a recruit look this promising. Aaden, welcome to the Honor Guard! You're gonna fit in fine here!" Virgil pats you on the back as Rarity walks over.

"Rarity, you got a great guy here. See to it that he keeps healthy and happy." Virgil then walks away, presumably up to his room. You give Rarity a kiss on her forehead. You notice how flushed her face is. Must be hot in your room or something.

"Hey, honey, I'm gonna grab a shower real quick, change my bandages, and then, I was thinking we could explore Canterlot together? I know you've been here on business before, so you could show me around!" Rarity nods her head.

"Of course darling. I'm sure I could show you a REALLY good time."