After Twilight had gotten me to calm down, I helped her finish packing. I was ecstatic and hyper the entire time. I had to be honest, hooves made grasping things a lot harder. (If that wasn’t already obvious to begin with.) Twilight used a spell to teleport us and her luggage to what seemed to be a airport of sorts. It appeared to be on one of the edges of the castle grounds. There were chariots with varying in many different sizes. Twilight trotted up to two white unicorns who were standing at attention by a door leading back into the palace. She spoke with them briefly, and I was too far away to hear any of the conversation. The two guards levitated all of Twilight’s bags onto a medium sized chariot, with three white pegasi already harnessed to it.

“Thank you Hilt, Crest.” Twilight said, nodding to the two unicorns who had carried her bags for her. She stepped on the chariot and motioned for me to follow suit. She glanced at the three pegasi in front of us and spoke to them. “Sharp Edge, Helm, Quiver, thank you for flying us all the way to Ponyville on such short notice.” Again, the white guards only nodded in response. They took off flying without a word.

Because I’ve only ever been flying in an airplane before, the experience was incredible. I’m not sure if it was because I was apparently a pegasus, or if it was just because it was a new experience, but the feeling of the air up in the sky was different. In a very good, relaxing, appealing way. I close my eyes and breath slowly, savoring the feeling.

“If you have any other questions Hunter, now would be the time to ask.” Twilight said, snapping me out of my trance. “It’s a good two hours to Ponyville.” Come to think of it, I actually did have a lot of unanswered questions. I jumped at the opportunity. But before I spoke, I remembered that there were three other ponies within earshot.

“What about the guards?” I ask, jabbing my head towards the flying pegasi. “I don’t know if I should ask some questions if they can hear me...”

“Oh, all the chariots are enchanted so they have a small protective barrier around them. It blocks most of the wind that would otherwise make hearing any words impossible. They can’t even hear us now.”

“Well, then let me ask; Why are the guards so freaky?” I put bluntly. “All I’ve seen so far are white guards who never speak.” Twilight didn’t answer immediately. She seemed to be trying to find the right words to form her thoughts.

“Well...” she started slowly. “It’s somewhat complicated. You see, all Celestial and Lunar Guards are from one family.” I interrupt her before she can continue.

“What do you mean? Like they’re all related or something?”

“In a way... yes. Most of them come from the Guard family.” Gee that was original. “As you know, before Celestia and Luna ruled over Equestria, Equestria was controlled by a royal family. This royal family was nearly eradicated when Discord usurped the power of Equestria, essentially becoming a dictator. After Princess Celestia and Princess Luna defeated Discord, there only remained two of the royals left. Both alicorn sisters felt somewhat in debt to the previous royal family for taking over where they left off, so Celestia granted that their family’s bloodline would never end.”

“In a sense, they’d be immortal.” I added.

“Correct. The Guard family was so grateful of this gift, that they offered to become the personal guards of Celestia and Luna. They happily accepted. The royal family was known for being extremely disciplined and skilled fighters. Though after their Celestial or Lunar Guard training is ended, they take an oath of silence until their service is completed.” I sat back and pondered for a moment. Another thought popped into my head.

“So if they’re the personal guards of Celestia and Luna, then why can you order them around.” Twilight blushed slightly before speaking.

“Well... as you know, Celestia wants to keep me as safe as possible. It’s kind of embarrassing, but for the first few years I was her personal student, she had her guards follow me everywhere.”

“Sounds like she was a little over protective of you...” I led on. Twilight blushed again.

“She was for a very long time. But after I graduated from her personal teachings a year earlier than anypony else ever has, she became much more lenient. I supposed it was because she knew I could handle myself from then on.” More questions had been accumulating in my head this whole time.

“So that kind of relates to another thing I had in mind. How old are you?” I smiled meekly.

“I’m seventeen.” Twilight said simply. To be honest, that surprised me.

“So you’re saying you defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord when you’re only seventeen?” I inquire. She had looked around seventeen when she was in her human form, but I wasn’t sure if that really reflected her own age.

Twilight blushed yet again before she spoke. “Well... I was actually only sixteen when I defeated Nightmare Moon.”

“So you graduated high school or magic school or whatever when you were only 16?” I knew Twilight was smart and all, but I hadn’t expected this.

For the fourth time, Twilight blushed. “Actually...” she started slowly. “Celestia’s teachings were highly advanced, so when I graduated those, it was like graduating from college with a bachmare's degree.” Now that stunned me. Twilight was still blushing a bright red. I laugh slightly at the sight.

“Why are you blushing so much?” I ask, half joking. “If I’d done all that, I’d be bragging about that to EVERYONE!” I found my voice volume get away from me again. Twilight smiled meekly and looked at the floor.

“I just don’t like that sort of attention is all.” she softly smiled to herself. “I’m proud of my accomplishments sure, but I just feel like a huge flank if I start bragging.” Twilight is so cute. I thought to myself. Wait... UGH! I’ve got to stop doing that!

“Well next question,” I start. “Where’d my clothes go?” Twilight seemed flabbergasted by my change in topic. The look on her face was significant evidence. “Hehe, sorry. ADD and all.” Twilight smiled softly and replied.

“Haha, it’s okay. And to answer your question, I really have no idea. The transformation spell is very atypical. It also seems to slightly alter the subject’s mind state ever so slightly. For example, as soon as I turned human, I felt embarrassed for being naked for the first time. Basic human/pony mind sets seem to be added to the subject’s mind when the change takes place. I don’t suppose you feel awkward for being naked right now, do you?” Come to think of it, she was right. Back on Earth, I hated taking my shirt off in public. Now I was buck bare, and had no objections. It just felt as if it was natural.

“I guess you’re right.” I ponder my mind for a moment to select another question. “Why don’t I have a cutie mark?” Saying it out loud sounded about as bad as I thought it would.

“Well I’m guessing it’s because you don’t know your special talent yet. Most ponies who enter the Royal Guard get their cutie marks in training.” Speaking of the Royal Guard made another question sneak into my mind.

“So you said that most of the Celestial and Lunar Guards are apart of one family, correct?” Twilight nodded. “So then won’t it be weird if I’m there? I think it’s pretty obvious the I’m not apart of the Guard family. And if they can’t talk, who’s going to train us?”

“Well like I said, most of the them are apart of that one family. They do allow the very best of the Royal Guards to join. Celestial and Lunar Guards who aren’t apart of the Guard family usually are never seen in public. Mostly for show and to keep up the tradition. And after their service is over, they can either retire, or become drill sergeants for the trainees.” I was just going to keep bombarding her with questions.

“So you said that you, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash are going to be fighting in the war. What are you going to do for training? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a female guard before. In the show, or in the real Equestria.”

“It’s been traditional to keep all Guards male. And as for our training, we have planned on having a special training course after you have finished both of your training rotations. So you’ll be back on Earth during our training.”

“So I’m going to be here for about 120 more days, right?” Twilight replies with a nod. “So then I’m going to spend a day on Earth while you train?” Twilight nods again. “But when the war starts, I don’t think you can send all of the bronies who are fighting back to Earth for 2/3rds of the year.”

“That’s another thing,” Twilight began, looking slightly worried. “We hoped that you wouldn’t mind... not going back to Earth during the war. As far as everyone else on Earth will be concerned, all the bronies who decide to stay will be missing.”

Twilight and I were both silent for a minute. I knew that I would still do it. I knew I would still fight. But I was just worried about how my family would take it. I wasn’t sure how long the war would last in the first place. If a year here was a day back on Earth, then it wouldn’t be as bad as it seemed. But when I would arrive back home, I’d be years older than when I left. I’m not sure how my parents would understand. And then to top it all off, imagine that thousands of people go missing for days, and then all come back, years older than when they left. That would be a media and political nightmare. For everyone involved. My will to stay wasn’t altered in the slightest, it was just that I was thinking of what would be more difficult for everyone. If went back to Earth completely changed, or if I stayed in Equestria, leaving everyone to assume the worst. I did my best to not think about it.

Twilight noticed my serious expression, and tried to console me some. “Hunter, you can back out of this whenever you want. You can always leave-”

“I would never. Leave, I mean. If what Discord can do is as bad as I think it is, I won’t ever leave Equestria willingly. Sure I’ll miss my family, but this is for the greater good. I know my family can make it without me, but I couldn’t live with myself if I knew that innocent peop- err, innocent ponies were dying, and I could have helped stop it.” We both were silent again, just going over our thoughts in our head. For about five minutes we sat in silence. Eventually, Twilight gained the courage to ask me something.

“Hey Hunter...” I turn my head to look at her. She looked a little nervous, and was twiddling her hooves. “I know this may seem a little awkward... but I didn’t exactly get a whole lotta sleep last night... So I was wondering... Would you mind if I leaned against you while I took a nap?” Twilight looked like she just asked him on a date or something. She was red as a beet and was twiddling her hooves faster and faster. This was beyond cute.

“Sh-sure...” I stammer out.

Twilight let out a immense sigh. It looked like she just had the biggest relief in her life just now. “Thanks...” she said dreamily, scooting a little to her right to ger her head to rest perfectly on my shoulder. I couldn’t help but smile the whole time. After a couple of minutes of flying peacefully through the air, Twilight’s breath became heavier and slower. She was also occasionally letting out soft snores. Let’s just say I gave her all of my D’awwwwww.

I shifted slightly to get more comfortable. I remember reading in a fanfic, that a pegasus was sitting next to his girlfriend, and he put his wing around her kind of like a blanket. I thought I might as well use my new appendages for the first time, and did just that. My wingspan seemed average enough, but I wasn’t familiar with pegasi anatomy. I didn’t really remember that there were three pegasi in front of us, pulling the chariot. I turned my head and they didn’t seem to be looking at us. But I did see the slightest in of a smile on all of their faces. Even though my fur was pretty red already, I knew that I was blushing worse than Twilight.