No Turning Back
Written by Cerulean Pony

Chapter 1: A New Job

Trumpets blared as the ceremony began, drowning out the inane overlapping chatter of the ponies inside the royal courtyard in front the castle. The crowd was divided into three groups: families in the back, several rows of stallions and mares clad in gold, shining armor in the middle, and a trio of stallions in white ceremonial armor in front, taking a stand on the top steps just in front of the castle doors.

As the trumpets died down into silence, a certain white Pegasus, with his purple flame mane dyed blue that day, stood silently with the others around him. His golden armor gleaming in the sunlight as the three stallions on top of steps leading to the castle doors behind them spoke up. The middle stallion, a well-known white unicorn with a blue mane and a shield cutie mark stepped forward and spoke with a loud voice.

“Welcome everypony. Parents, friends and family of all our newest graduates,” his voice was kind as he continued, “it fills me with great pride to see so many strong and bright ponies that are ready to fill our ranks in order to protect our land and our beloved rulers. It is on that note that it is my greatest pleasure and honor to introduce our lovely princesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!”

With his last words the chorus of music picked up again as the massive double doors to the castle opened behind the silver armored stallions. Stepping out into view were two beautiful alicorns dressed in royal attire escorted by a trio of their own personal bodyguards, clad in ceremonial armor as well. One white alicorn with her mane showing the colors of the rainbow with a sun as her cutie mark escorted by a trio of her bodyguards that wore white and gold ceremonial armor, while the other, a slightly smaller alicorn was dark blue, her mane sparkling colors as the night sky, a half crescent moon as her cutie mark was escorted by a trio of her own bodyguards that wore black and blue ceremonial armor. As the two princesses and their entourage approached the three white armor stallions, Shining Armor and the other two stallions stepped aside, allowing the princesses free room to stand as they overlooked the welcoming crowd of ponies cheering them of their presence.

All at once, the rows of golden armor graduates stood firm in a saluting manner and bowed their heads at the presence of their princesses.

With a proud inward smile, a certain white pegasus, among the other graduates, also bowed his head in perfect synchronization.

The cheering crowd behind the golden armored graduates died down as the white alicorn addressed the crowd with her sweet, kind voice.

“My fellow ponies, this monumental occasion is not of us, but of these brave ponies before you,” Celestia began as her wings spread wide and proud, her sister’s wings doing the same.

The white alicorn turned to her sister, “Luna, if you would please…”

The younger alicorn princess bowed with a smile, stepping forward as Celestia took a step back.

“Citizens of Equestria, we are proud today to welcome these astounding graduates,” the smaller alicorn continued for her sister, Luna’s voice just as sweet and kind, “on behalf of our sister, we welcome you, esteemed ponies, into the Royal Guard!”

As Princess Luna smiled, the crowd of ponies behind the graduates erupted into deafening sounds of cheering and praise.

The trumpets of the royal band sounded with a triumphing composition as the graduation ceremony was now complete. The courtyard was a buzz of activity as the families and friends of the graduates met with each other and congratulated one another. The event extended all day as the after ceremony celebration began on the grounds of the royal castle. That day was one of the proudest and happiest days of a certain young pegasus’ life as who was greeted by his friends for the celebration.

The cheering and the royal fanfare playing during the after ceremony celebration memory began to fade from mind and hearing as the certain pegasus from that memory came back to the present. It was only few weeks since the graduation from the academy and standing alone on a bridge in Canterlot watching the afternoon sun beginning to set far out over the distant horizon was a white pegasus with a purple highlighted flame style mane.

With the wind blowing through his mane and the bright shining rays of the sun hitting pegasus’ face, that certain winged pony standing alone on a bridge in Canterlot was me.

The view that the bridge gave me triggered memories of my graduation and had caused me to revisit them in my mind as I watched the sun begin to set. But now as the memory flashback faded away, I continued to admire the view that my new home brought me.

I was not from Canterlot. Not like the rich ponies here. No, I was from Cloudsdale.

With a soft inhale, I looked up at the sky now, instead of the sunset, and remembered the capital city of all pegasi, Cloudsdale. I was raised there, in that crown jewel city in the sky. Although, to say it was where I was born I do not know. I was an orphan from a very young age. I could not recall any memories of my mother or father. The orphanage in Cloudsdale found and took me in, raising me until I was of age to support myself. I went to flight school; just like every other pegasus and passed with the rest of the class. Though my ability in flight was excelling, I still did not have my cutie mark. I was a mature age for a stallion now, a rather “fresh stallion” some called it, but regardless of it all, I was still a pony without a cutie mark at my current age.

Two years back, I applied to the Royal Guard at a recruitment center in Cloudsdale for the pegasus division. My job before entering the recruitment center was small and not of importance but the morning when I got the letter of acceptance into the academy for the Royal Guard, I was ecstatic.

A blush swept across my face as a memory of me prancing around my friend’s apartment like a filly now played in my mind, the laughter of my friends filling the room after their many failed attempts to settle me down. I later learned that my friends had secretly taped a video and took pictures of my happy filly prance and exposed them at the next gathering when I hosted them at my own apartment. That night, I never blew milk from my nose nor fell off the couch before from the surprising and embarrassing video they put on my television. The sight of that second embarrassing moment prompted them to laugh again, pulling out a phone in an attempt to capture the moment, which only ended quickly as I chased them around my apartment, creating a big mess through the residence.

All these memories, all these happy flashbacks, had distracted me from the voice calling to me from behind my back. To anypony else, while watching the sunset I was probably too busy with the sightseeing to hear the voice calling my name.

The memory daze that I was having was cut short anyways as the voice that was calling out to me had finally trotted over and gave one nice and loud audible smack on my flank.

“AH!”

A yelp escaped my mouth as I literally jumped high into the air, only to have my wings catching my descent in midair and keep me above the ground in a hover with my eyes wide from the sudden smack of my flank.

A small giggle sounded behind me and caused an instinctual spin about to turn and discover that the pony who smacked my blank flank was a white unicorn mare of equal age, though opposite gender, with a blue mane and eyes of emerald green.

The mare gave a shout of joy a split second later and tackled me to the ground from my hovering state.

Landing on my back with a thud, I looked up at the familiar sight of my best friend, who was sat on her rump, which just so happened to be planted on my chest.

“Emily!?”

I blushed deeply with a gasp at the mare, embarrassed as her hoof kept me pinned to the ground.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that. You know how…embarrassed…I get.”

The unicorn mare gave a sweet giggle, watching me with a flutter of her eyes.

“Yeah I know.”

She smiled with a hint of a smirk.

“But it is so much fun regardless.”

At this, I blushed from her answer and gave a bodily nudge.

This made her giggle again and get off of my chest, allowing me to get back on my hooves. As I did so, she tilted her head with a curious look and tone.

“So Ceru, what were you doing standing there when I was trying to call your name?”

She asked as I turned my head to look back at her moving slightly closer to the side of the bridge, she smiled and approached the same spot that I had once stood before, looking out towards the view of the sunset.

Close to her now, I tucked my wings against my sides as I watched the sun set with her. When the rays of the sun finally ceased its illumination over the land around Canterlot and the city herself I gave a nervous sigh. I did not even turn to look at my best friend as Celestia’s sun sank beneath the horizon, casting a darkening shadow over city of Canterlot and surrounding areas in wake of Luna’s moon to come in a little while and cast the entire land our eyes could see in the blanket of a starry night sky. But truth be told, that was not why I gave a nervous sigh. No, not even close.

Instead of asking the same question again, she gave me a side long look, looking me over with concern. This made me lower my gaze from the view of the approaching night to the stone bridge beneath our hooves when her soft voice broke the growing silence between us.

“Ceru?”

I raised my head finally, giving her a side-long look as well, my voice equally soft, well, in tone at least.

“Yes, Emily?”

With a comforting smile replacing her concerned look that she had for me, she brushed her mane back with a soft usage of her magic, her horn emitting a soft blue and greenish glow as she replied.

“You’re worried about tonight, aren’t you? About your new career at Canterlot Castle.”

Those words and question struck me dead center through the silence around us. I nearly stumbled at the bluntness of her forward assumption. I looked at her with a soft smile as well, chuckling a bit.

“It was that obvious, huh?”

Emily gave a small grin, nodding, flipping her mane back proudly.

“Of course, I know you my dear Ceru.”

I chuckled again, a faint blush returning to my face as I gave her my own grin. She was my best friend since I was a little pony. We grew up together, by that I mean we were both orphans together. We developed a strong bond for each other. Wherever she went I went, wherever I went she went, town to town or city to city it didn’t matter. We enjoyed each other’s company. When we had off days, we would always cheer each other up. She was my best friend and I loved her because of how close we were for each other. And that meant she knew me, inside and out, she could guess what I was feeling with spot-on accuracy. I could not hide anything from her and she knew it, but then again, why would I want to hide anything from her? She was so kind, understanding, and caring towards anypony, especially me. To her, she knew I was the same way with her and anypony else. I would stay up till late hours of the night if she was troubled or needed somepony to talk to, and I know, she would do the same for me. Our love for each other was impossible to be break, and yet, most of our friends would wonder: why haven’t we started seeing each other as a couple if we were so perfect for each other? To that, we both didn’t know, we never thought of our connection that way. We guessed it may be something stronger than that and regardless, we are both happy the way we are.

“They’re going to love you Ceru,” she said with a reassuring hoof pat on my shoulder as she stepped closer to me.

I didn’t break contact with her soft emerald green eyes as she gave a comforting hoof pat on my shoulder. As she did, I felt less tense, finding myself breathing out slower, more relaxed than I was a few moments ago. Giving her a hoof pat of my own I replied to her with my own soft voice.

“Thank you Emily…”

With those words exchanged, we turned to face each other, giving a warm embrace, nuzzling our heads against each other’s manes before turning away from each other to depart with Emily heading back to her apartment in the upper section of Canterlot, and me heading off towards Canterlot Castle as Luna’s reign over the night took over and began to darken the sky above the capital city.

Author's Note

So sorry about the long wait. I have been very busy with things that I could not get away from but I am free now so I hope you like the new design for the story, starting with Chapter 1. Have a good one everypony!