Chapter 3 - On Guard       

Stepping outside, the newly rising sun flowed over the city walls, burning the princesses eyes as she stepped from the shadows of the stony archway. Luna gazed at the star, her pupils shrinking in size as she swept her mane into place to shield herself from the light, holding her head forward and securing her mane perfectly over her right eye, she lifted the rest of her body from out of the shadow and set out to wander the streets of Canterlot.

As Luna found her way through the City streets of the Canterlot market district, the many cogs and wheels of her mind turned in place, working away at the problem before her. Though the streets of the market district were usually quite busy, the silence of the night had remained unbroken, allowing the princess to roam freely, and her thought uninterrupted.

"Think, think think think!" Luna hounded herself for a solution, staring down at the cobbled path beneath her. "Oh, why do I allow myself say such things?  I don't have any friends, and I'll certainly not be able to make any in time for the celebration, these things take time," stopping herself for a second, Luna tried to recall the last time she had ever made a friend, and came back with nothing. "Or at least I think they do, it's been so long." Luna continued to walk down the path which, slowly leading her full circle, directed her towards the back of the castle near the guards barracks. "The Summer Sun Celebration is only 3 days away, I need to find somepony to make friends with, fast." Scanning her mind, the sapphire maned pony glanced back and forth, thinking of all the ponies she had met in the past year. "But I don't think I'd like to be friends with anypony I know, at least, not in anyone I can think of."

Luna had almost given up hope in searching, when at that moment, something caught her attention. Two guards stepped out of the barracks entrance and began walking across the grassy training area in her direction. Having not yet been noticed, and wanting it to remain that way, Luna hid herself away in the shadows, behind an old cart. The guards passed by, and as the princess was about to come out of hiding, the two guards stopped just a few hooves away and began to make small talk, they were on watch. Seeing no way of leaving without being spotted, while expecting that the two guards weren't leaving any time soon, Luna sighed and made herself comfortable in the shadows, having nothing better to do, listening quietly to their conversation.

"I'm telling you bro, she's the fastest flier in Equestria!" said one guard excitedly to the other, pushing his hooves through the air while second rolled his eyes.

"Pffft, not as fast as Soarin' I bet." said the second proudly, waving off the firsts childish nature.

"Soarin'? You gotta be kidding me, this girl could fly circles around him, trust me, the Wonderbolts have got nothing compared to her, besides, Spitfire is way faster than Soarin'." The first guard jumped up into the air and flew around in a little circle in front of the second, making swooshing noises to accompany his spins.

"Okay okay, calm down your embarrassing me. No one can beat Soarin' though. Man, that guy can fly!"

The conversation continued in the same way for a while with the two arguing over who is the fastest pony in the Wonderbolts;  the first, blindly in favour of Spitfire, would argue the feats of speed his favourite Wonderbolt had accomplished; while the second in favour of Soarin', knowing a little about racing than the other, argued back with statistics and logic.  Luna, now leaning against the cart in sheer boredom, continued to wait patiently for the guards to leave and combed over the problem in her mind thousands of times in her head.  She sat thinking for a good while but unfortunately, unless you count her idea of trying to trick Celestia with a ventriloquism act involving a variety of puppet friends, she had thought of no new ideas.

Trying to put her troubles behind her, Luna zoned back into the conversation as the guards finished their argument.  "Fine, you win." said the second guard reluctantly, unable to tolerate the firsts childishly stubborn attitude any longer. "So, who's this girl you were talking about, this fastest flier in Equestria girl, eh?

"I think her name was Rainbow-something," reported the first, breaking his victory dance and tapping his head in thought. " ah...Rainbow Crash? ...Rainbow Smash? One of the those."

"Oh yeah, I've heard of her," said the second, scratching the fur on his chin. "I think she's friends with that Twilight girl, Princess Celestia's apprentice, ah...Twilight Sprinkles?"  Luna's ears stood up, she had not thought of such a pony in a long time. She sat up straight and listened closely to the guards once more.  

"Twilight Sparkle?" suggested the first. "Isn't she living in Ponyville now?"  Luna smiled, and gave off a silent cheer, she had known the answer to her problem the entire time. And, after some quick thinking, she had already thought of a plan.  

"Oh yeah, Princess Celstia has got her" the second guard laughed as he continued in a sarcasticly patronising voice, heavily emphasizing his words. "learning about the MAGIC of FRIENDSHIP, haha, what a load of hay."  Chuckling to herself silently, Luna stood up on all fours, and with a large grin spreading further across her face, she jumped from out behind the cart, ran straight passed the guards and on towards the main castle entrance.

The second guard drew a puzzled look across his face. "Hey, wasn't that Princess Luna?"

The first, without a second glance cheerful replied "Haha, not likely!"

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