Second Wind

You adjust the scope on your rifle carefully. You don't know why there were so many of them, but this was obviously premeditated. Apparently, there were only 5, but two vans filled with 10 more total showed up soon after the hostages fled. They luckily fled in panic, right out of the front door, after one of them had been executed. Now it was just the police and 15 organized criminals.

Why would they just let hostages run out?

Perhaps they didn't WANT hostages. You didn't question it. Your job was shoot where you were told to. Your radio buzzes on your waist.

"Antonio, look by the clerk desk, the third one to the left." You move your scope over. There is the outline of a head with a ski mask over it. It's one of them, trying to hide. Very poorly, at that.

"SWAT teams are going to storm the building in a moment. When I say go, pull the trigger." You slide the radio off of your waist, and put it by your head. You steady yourself, taking time to line up your crosshairs over the bit of the head that wasn't hidden. This monster has just made the mistake that will end his life. You see the SWAT teams stacking up on the far left doors and right doors, shields and all. Your radio buzzes again.

"When you're ready, smoke the son of a bitch. The SWAT teams will wait for the sound of your rifle to move in." You take a series of deep breaths. You realign the crosshairs on the ski mask. It just moved a little. He must be shifting legs or something.

Don't worry. You won't be uncomfortable much longer.

You place your finger on the trigger, hold your breath, and gently apply pressure to the trigger. The head behind the clerk desk jerked back, and fell to the ground. You could see a large blood splatter on the wall behind him. Tear gas went flying through the windows of the bank, and the SWAT teams began storming the bank. You hear gunfire and screaming for a couple of moments. Eventually, all of the SWAT team exits. the job had been done, and done perfectly. Two officers were carrying a body. It wore a suit, and was covered in blood. You were unable to make out the face under all of the blood.

Must be the executed hostage. Poor bastard.

_________________________________________________________________________________

You leap from the bed, breathing heavily and sweating. That dream was far too vivid for your liking. You woke up Rarity in your fit of jumping. She sat up in the bed, the comforter still covering her lower half. She rubbed one eye with a hoof, and looked at you with her one open eye.

"Darling? Is everything okay?" She asks mid yawn. You rub your hand across your forehead. It's unusually warm. you wanted to explain the dream to Rarity, but you knew she wouldn't understand what a rifle was, so, to avoid explaining the intricacies of guns, banking on Earth, and police forces, you decide to withhold the dream from her.

"Yeah, I'm all good. My stomach growled, it spooked me."

You are REALLY bad at lying.

Rarity cocks her head, but smiles. She pats on the bed next to her.

"Come back to bed. It's still very early. We can sleep for at least 4 more hours." You decide that would be best. In fact, you laugh the dream off. You're probably just remembering some action movie from back home, and now that you think about it, your reaction was kind of silly. You lie back down beside Rarity, and she assumes her position of being half on top of you. You fall back asleep rather quickly, and this time, no dreams haunt you.

You awake about 5 hours later. Rarity is still on top of you, fast asleep. You wouldn't dare wake her. She looks way too comfy. Besides, 2 weeks passed by very quickly, and another summons had shown up in the mail from Celestia. You were going to see her tonight, but this time, Rarity and Oliver would be travelling with you. Rarity needed as much sleep as she could get.

Oliver has been mentioning this "offer" for quite some time, and he seemed quite eager last night about you finally being able to receive it today. So eager, in fact, that he came and found you at work, to ensure that you knew you were supposed to be going to see Celestia today.

Speaking of work, you really enjoyed your new job. It really was quite simple. It was a warehouse for shipping and sorting packages too big to fit into a mailbag. Small boxes and the like. A Pegasus would fly in, deposit many small boxes, several medium boxes, a couple big boxes, or one enormous box, and it was your job to pick up these packages, and walk them over to their designated area. It really was as easy as lifting the box, checking the stamp on the package to see where it goes, and sitting it down, where another crew would load up a carriage-like box attached to another pegasus, who would then deliver the packages. Everyone there seems to enjoy your company, and you would be lying if you said the feeling wasn't mutual.

Rarity stirs a little on top of you. That was something else on your mind. You two had yet to become intimate, which didn't bother you as much as it did relieve you. All of this was going fast enough as it was, and while there was a passionate kiss here, or a heated make-out session there, you knew that neither of you were ready for that. Out of all of the things that have been rushed, that's the one you refuse to rush. Rarity lifts her head up slightly, yawning.

"Good morning, darling. Been awake very long?"

"Not too long. I woke up earlier to make sure no monsters get you. I've got to protect you, mi'lady." Rarity laughs under a yawn.

"You do a fine job. What time is it?" You look over at the clock.

"Almost 12 in the afternoon. Our train comes at 5, and we'll get to Canterlot around 8."

"Does the train serve a decent meal?"

"I wouldn't know. Hey, you wanna go get a late breakfast? Maybe just skip breakfast all together, get some lunch?" Rarity lifts herself directly on top of you, nuzzling her head on your neck.

"Just a second, darling. I can't do this in public, and I doubt Oliver would understand." She continues to embrace you. You kiss her forehead, and she looks up at you.

"What were you thinking of for this breakfast or lunch, darling?" Your mind goes back to the white chocolate doughnut you had at the Sugarcube Corner.

"The Sugarcube Corner sound good?" She puts her head back down, and begins nuzzling again.

"As long as I'm with you darling, I could eat anything." You look over at your new wallet on the nightstand. It's fat with bits from your first paycheck.

"And I'm paying for it. I want you to get whatever you want. I know I will." Rarity lifts herself up off of you, and hops off of the bed. She stretches, and cranes her head towards you.

"I'm going to shower and get ready, darling."

So it's going to several hours before we eat.

She walks into the bathroom, and closes the door. You decide to stay in bed for awhile longer. You accidently doze off, but when you awake an hour and a half later, she's sitting in front of her mirror, fidgeting with her mane and putting on makeup. You sit up in the bed.

"Glad to see your awake, darling. I'm sorry to have taken so long, but I simply MUST look good, especially if we're going to the Princess." You hop up, and put your arms around her. You kiss her once on the back of the head, and leave her to complete her daily ritual of looking in the mirror for an hour. You go into her bathroom, and undress yourself. You liked her shower a lot. You can't remember too many showers back home, but this one never seemed to run out of hot water, and it's pressure was perfect. You finally had your own shampoo and body wash, which you really liked. After you washed up, you climb out of the tub, and tie your towel around your waist, and walk over to the mirror in the bathroom. You shave as close as you can, and then move on to brushing your teeth. As you are, Rarity walks in. She looks amazing, as always.

"Darling, Oliver is here. he's downstairs." You turn around, toothbrush still in your mouth.

"Thanksh Rarity." She walks over, give you a kiss on the bandage on your stomach and the one on your shoulder, and she walks back out. Changing bandages was very unpleasant for you. It hurt to expose the wounds to the open air. they WERE getting better, but it still hurt to remove them and clean the wounds they hid. You spit and rinse, and put on some deodorant which Equestria oddly had stocked in it's various stores. You put on some of the underwear, and walk out into the bedroom.. Rarity was still prettying herself up. You could see she laid out some clothes for you. Khaki slacks with a white dress shirt that had extremely thin blue stripes running vertically down it. Doesn't look half bad, actually.

"Thanks Rarity, these look great." She seems to be too focused on applying makeup to pay any attention to your compliment. You put on your new clothes, and head downstairs. Oliver is back in his golden armor, sitting on the couch. He's rooting through your backpack.

"The blue ones are really good. The ones with red lettering." He looks up at you, surprised.

"Rarity likes them." You laugh. He sets the backpack down.

"I apologize, brother. It was left sitting open, and it was so colorful." You wave your hand with a dismissive gesture.

"Don't sweat it. And I was serious about the blue bars. Take one, you'll love it." Oliver digs around in the bag until he finds one, takes it out, and puts it in his pouch attached to his waist.

"Rarity and I were actually about to head out to the Sugarcube Corner. I'm sure she wont mind if you join us. We'll go eat, then go to the train station." Oliver smiles.

"Sounds good. Anything you'd recommend?"

"Well, there's this doughnut she makes, it has white chocolate fro-" You turn around as you hear the clop of a hoof on the staircase. Rarity is coming down. Now that she looks like a living saint, she seems as if she's ready to head out. She's wearing a white dress, with a single blue stripe running down her right shoulder, all the way to the end of the dress.

"How do I look, boys?" She asks. She knows very well how she looks, and she knows you have trouble finding words to describe it.

Damn it. She's good at this.

"I...uh...wow..." She smiles.

"So, good?" You nod your head.

"We need a poet to accurately describe you." You manage to choke out. She giggles, and plants a kiss on your cheek.

"Thank you darling. But I'm quite hungry now. Oliver, will you be joining us?" Oliver shakes his head.

"Yes Ms. Rarity." The three of you leave the Carousel Boutique, and begin your walk through town to the Sugarcube Corner. You loved walking to the Sugarcube Corner, because you played a game inside your head on the way there: How far away from the Sugarcube Corner can you smell the baking that was going on inside of it? Last time, you were at least 4 blocks away, and you could smell fudge. On this particular walk, you caught it's scent about 2 blocks away, and rather than fudge wafting through the air, you could smell cinnamon and sugar. And lots of it. Rarity caught scent of it, and laughed.

"My goodness. One would think there was a bakery of some sort around here." All three of you walk inside the Sugarcube Corner, and have a seat a booth. Rarity sits next to you, and Oliver sits across from you. Rarity does the thing where she places her hoof on your thigh. Pinkie Pie bounces over to the table.

"Hi everyone! What can I get you?" You place your orders, and Pinkie Pie bounces back behind the counter, grabbing everything needed. She comes back, and you slide her the Bits to pay for all of it, plus a 10 Bit tip. She thanks you, and bounces once again behind the counter. Your late breakfast passes relatively quickly. Before you know it, it's a little after 4 PM. You all bid Pinkie Pie a good day, and go to the train station. You all board with ease, and in a matter of seconds. You take a seat next to Rarity, and she rests her head on your shoulder. Oliver sits across from you two. The train ride is rather quiet, all of you watching the land pass by. You could tell Oliver was deep in thought about something. You couldn't exactly tell what, but you knew it has something to do with this upcoming "offer" they were going to be making you.

In fact, every time you've talked to him, he finds some way to bring up this offer, and mention how important it is to him, and how he hopes that you'll consider it. It bothers you slightly. You can't exactly think of anything that you could say or accept that would mean so much to him, but you suppose you'll find out here soon. You start to doze off, but Rarity taps you with her hoof.

"Darling, we're about 3 minutes away. I'd hate to wake you up when you've only had 30 seconds of sleep." You shake your head quickly to wake yourself up. The train screeches and squeals as the brakes switch on. You're here. The moment you step off the train, 4 Royal Guards approach you.

"Aaden Locke?" They ask.

Shit. Did you do something wrong?

"Yeah, that's me." One of the Royal Guards looks over at Oliver.

"Oliver Ironwing?" Oliver steps forward.

"That'd be me, brothers. I suppose you will be leading us to the Princess?"

"Yes sir. You know the procedure for these things." Your party of three follows the Royal Guard escort that was sent for you. Canterlot looked different at night. It seemed to bustle a little more. You watched ponies, all dressed up, laugh and walk about the town. You didn't seem to get so many eyes this time. At least Rarity was here with you.

_________________________________________________________________________________

You have the highest respect for the Royal Guard. After all, they ARE in charge of your protection. But you wish that you knew what was going on. As you approached the castle, you noticed 4 more Royal Guards waiting. One of them approached you.

"Ms. Rarity?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"Come with us." As you enter the Castle, your 4 Royal Guards split from the 4 with Aaden and Oliver. You are led up a winding staircase, and up to a balcony inside of the Throne Room, overlooking the Throne itself. Celestia was standing in front of the throne. Aaden and Oliver were now without their escort. You watched as they walked down the red carpet, leading towards Celestia. Oliver walked directly in front of Aaden. They stopped at the end of the red carpet. Oliver kneels before Celestia, before standing up, and getting by her side. Celestia begins to talk.

"Aaden Locke. I will skip the pleasantries. Only briefly have you appeared from an unknown world, but in that time, you have proven yourself to be very unique. From fending off a manticore, to using your charm to sway an entire town to respect and enjoy your presence, to even pursuing a romantic interest with another pony." You feel yourself blush as Celestia looks up to you.

"Oliver is the honor guard of both Cloudsdale, Canterlot AND Ponyville, and is a representative of his people. We normally only assign one honor guard per major inhabited area, but the representatives for Ponyville and Canterlot passed away. Oliver volunteered to take his position, but now, it is keeping him away from his home. His family. He and I have discussed it in detail, and we have an offer to make you." Celestia looks at Aaden, right in his eyes.

"Oliver would like to submit the position of Honor Guard of Ponyville to you. You would be a representative of your species. You would be required to travel on rare occasions, and would have to go through Guardsman training, but the title and position will offer you great pay, and you will have the chance to spread the ideas and will of your species." Celestia smiles.

"Aaden, you are more than qualified for this position. Should you accept, you will have to report for two weeks of training, travel to another city once every 6 months, and meet with all of the other Honor Guards of Equestria once a year. Of course, you will also be called upon in the event of disaster or war, and will be expected to serve as a Royal Guard in Ponyville." Aaden looks up at you. You smile. You couldn't be more proud of him.

"Will I be able to be with Rarity? Will she be able to travel with me?" Celestia smiles.

"Absolutely. So, Aaden Locke of Earth." Celestia starts. Oliver kneels down in front of Aaden, and holds a sword in his claws.

"Do you accept the responsibility of becoming an Honor Guard of Ponyville, swearing, that by diplomacy or force, the honor and glory of your species and Equestria will be upheld in the city assigned to you?"

Aaden looks back up to you. You can tell he's deep in thought. While he's still looking at you, you mouth some words to him.

I love you!