Knock! Knock! Knock!

My eyes bolted open, shadows swimming across my ceiling as I sat up.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Heavy covers fell from me as I pulled myself from blissful sleep, my hooves stretching towards the door as if they could reach it from across the room. Then, shaking my head, I stepped wearily off the bed, making my way towards the offending sound.

“Huh? Wha? What’s going-shit!”

Or at least, I would have if my legs didn’t end up getting tangled in bed sheets

Stars exploded in my eyes as I face-planted into the crystalline floor. Legs and wings sprawled in every direction, my rear hooves still hanging off my mattress. My head throbbed from the impact as I picked myself off the floor and sat with my back against the bed frame, forehooves clutching my muzzle.

Damn, that bucking hurt. Welp, at least I’m wide awake now.

“That sounded like it hurt. Are you okay, Flash?”

“Yeah, just peachy. I’ve always wanted to embed my profile into the floor,” I hissed. “Sunburst, unless somepony’s on fire, you better have a damn good reason for waking up me up at midnight.”

“Don’t worry, nopony is hurt, but this is important. And it’s actually two in the morning, Flash.”

I rolled my eyes. Typical Sunburst.

“Not in the mood. What is it this time?” I growled.

“Can’t talk about it out here. May I come in?”

I paused, silently fuming as I facehoofed.

“Sunburst, Bro, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate spending time with you. You’ve done a lot for Shining Armor and been there for me as long as I could remember. But you are seriously lucky I still can’t feel my face, or you would be getting flight lessons through my balcony window. I get that you don’t go out a lot, but you have to remember that some of us actually need sleep!”

“I don’t do this every time.”

I quirked my eyebrow at the door. “This literally happened yesterday.”

“T-that’s beside the point! I really do have something important to discuss with you.”

“Okay, fine. I’m not the kind of stallion to turn down an old friend, so I’ll do you a solid this time. Just let me do the talking, or else we’ll be here ‘til’ the sun comes up.”

“Wait, what? What are you--”

“Just ask her out, Sunburst.” Silence was the only response I received. “Look, I know your past together still bothers you, but you need to just ask her. Ten bits say she feels the same.”

“W-what?” Sunburst stuttered. Bet his face was lighting up like a furnace right about now. “That’s… no, that’s not what I...”

“Don’t worry, I get it. I’ve been there with the guilt trips and ‘what if’s’ too.” I closed my eyes and sighed wistfully. “You know my story, which is why I’m telling you to just… go for it. Say hello. Tell her you want to start over as friends. I’m sure she's long stopped being salty over that whole cutie mark crap.”

“But--”

“Seriously, you’re a fantastic guy. You just gotta be confident about yourself and recognize your strengths. When dealing with mares, the key is to just be honest. Both with her and yourself. Of course, you gotta throw in some sweet-talk to soften her up. We can talk more about it when we hit the bar this weekend. Maybe even find a special somepony for you to spend an evening with. Think of it as the warmup round before the big playoff. You two might even--”

“T-t-that’s not what I came here to talk about!” Sunburst blurted out, his tone jumping an octave.

My eyes snapped open. “Huh?”

“I didn’t come here to talk about Starlight at all.”

“...Oh. My bad.” An awkward silence fell between us. “Well, hurry the hay up so I can sleep!”

“Look, I, er, appreciate what you said, but I really can’t talk about this outside. Could you let me in, please?”

“Alright, alright, give me a sec.”

I moved from the side of my bed, my hoof tracing the imprint of my face on the crystal floor as I stood. With practiced ease, my wings felt across the tall dresser and mirror until it landed on the doorknob.

“Thanks. Sorry again for waking you up so early.” the gamboge unicorn nodded gratefully as I let him inside.

“Take a seat. I’ll hear you out.” I closed the door behind him and turned on the lights. “Want something to drink? I have some Sweet Acres Apple Cider available.”

Sunburst shook his head. “No, thank you, this won’t take long. First thing’s first.”

He lit his horn, a brilliant light flowing from it before taking the shape of a rapidly expanding, transparent sphere. Noting the disconcerting void of soundlessness that hit my ears as the wave washed over me and enveloped the room, I realized Sunburst was casting a sound containment spell. For a moment I thought he was being a little too paranoid about whatever he was going to tell me.

That is, until his expression turned serious and pulled out a sealed, tan envelope with the words ‘Confidential’ printed on it in bold red letters.

“I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“I have special orders for you from Shining Armor. As you can surmise, he wishes to keep this just between us until further notice.” Even while under the effects of the spell, Sunburst still spoke as if he was at risk of being heard. He passed the letter over to me, urging me to open and read it.

As I broke the seal and opened the letter, I was greeted with several pages of text. The bottom right and left of the first sheet of paper had a magical imprint of Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor’s cutie marks respectively, signifying officially sanctioned orders. I gulped, curiosity and dread filling me as I started reading, briefly skimming through the legal and military jargon until I got to the meat of the message addressed to me.

To: Lt. Flash Sentry
From: Cpt. Shining Armor

I need you to compile a list of the best soldiers in the empire and assemble a team for a high-risk mission. The criteria required for this is in the following documents. Until further notice, this information can only be discussed with those you officially enlist into the squad. More details will be disclosed when the timing is appropriate. When you are finished memorizing all the details, please give this letter back to the courier to destroy it.

Good hunting,
Shining Armor.

Flipping the pages, my eyes widened as I read the laundry list of criteria for the team. My team. Top grade physical performance. Pristine record. Strong independence and adaptability. Majority of the specifications spoke to soldiers who not only worked well in a group, but could also hold their own independently, blend in easily in crowds, and had strong combat excellence. Knowing my personal taste, I would need soldiers whose discipline, loyalty, and flexibility were on par with my own. As Shining Armor put it: No exceptions.

I’ve got my work cut out for me. Honestly, with complacency infesting the crystal empire like a rampant disease, I’ll be lucky to find more than one competent soldier.

After rereading the letter once more for good measure, I gave the letter back to Sunburst. With another surge of magic, tiny flames appeared on the letter, devouring it until not even ash remained. Good thing those papers were made to burn and dissolve easily.

“I take it you know about this assignment?” I asked.

“Yeah. The, err, let’s call it development, is still kind of fresh, so there’s a lot of data we don’t know yet. All we know is that you will likely be part of an infiltration mission, so it would be best to keep the numbers low and manageable. Wish I could tell you more to help.”

I shook my head. “Don’t sweat it. I’ll get this taken care of. Just haven’t quite put together how I’m going to go through so many guards and figure out the best ones. Sure, I can knock out a few just by checking their records, but there are some things that can’t be judged by history alone.”

“Agreed. Too bad you can’t just investigate each pony individually without rousing too much suspicion.”

A lightbulb went off in my head.

“Or… could I?” I grinned.

“Pardon?”

“I’m pretty sure I could get away with it. No harm in doing some surprise evaluations on my fellow squadmates after all.”

Sunburst’s eyes lit up. “I see! Hosting several squad inspections should give you a solid idea on some good candidates. That’s an idea I can get behind.”

There’s no better way to weed out the non-hackers. It’s always a chance for me to have a little fun as well.

“Alright, I got a solid plan going for me,” I placed a hoof on Sunburst’s shoulder, brandishing a friendly grin. “Thanks for delivering this letter. I’m going to be pretty busy for awhile, so I will have to skip out on our weekends at the bar.”

“I understand. This is far more important. I’ll be pretty occupied myself. Shining has been keeping me rather busy ever since this debacle began. I will be providing some extra consultation and support, so we may very well be working together in the future.”

Sunburst smiled, before holding his hoof out. I met it with my own before letting out a long yawn.

“I look forward to it. I just need one last thing from you.”

“What’s that?”

“Go to bed!”

“Celestia damnit!”

My hoof plowed into a huge stack of papers, all whom had failed to even pass the basic inspection requirements, let alone the high standards for my team.

“Three weeks and not a single pony in this Celestia-forsaken army has what it takes. Shining is going to skin me alive!”

I took in a deep breath, releasing through my nose. “Damn it, calm down. I can’t work like this. Have to get this stress out of my system before I summon the wrath of Celestia on the next soldier I have to fail. Nothing a good helping of exercise couldn’t take care of. I got this.”

I started with warm up and body conditioning drills involving a variety of exercises like wing-ups and jumping applejacks. Fifty repetitions each.

“Heh, too easy.” I’ll motivate these ponies yet, even if I have to do a thousand reps to get fired up.

Half an hour later and all I had achieved was a sweaty mane.

Another deep breath. “Okay, so workouts aren’t cutting it. Let’s get cleaned up.”

I followed up with a good shower, making sure my yellow-orange coat and lightning blue mane were well groomed and brushed. Lastly, grabbing the polishing gear kept in my dresser, I went to work on my armor, then spear, keeping them in good order.

“Don’t they understand that we always have to be ready?”

Normally, performing this sort of maintenance was calming work that allowed my mind to roam freely and peacefully. Yet, I still struggled to shake myself out of the angry cloud I found myself wrapped in.

“Always vigilant. Always watchful. Show no weakness.”

A particularly stubborn piece of grime on my spear simply wouldn’t come off no matter how much polish I used or how hard I rubbed at it with my cloth.

“This is no big deal.” I scrubbed harder. “This won’t bother me.” My hooves began to ache. “It’s just a blemish. An imperfection. Weakness.”

“They don’t understand. Brown-muzzle, Colt Scout. They say it like it’s a bad thing to be squared away.” My hooves started to burn as I worked them against the cloth. “They enjoy their comfy lives and easy paycheck, while I’m stuck pulling their asses out of the fire if the shit ever hits the fan.”

Snap!

I froze, the spear head broken off in my hooves. My reflection gleamed off the blemished steel point, a fiery blue gaze glaring back at me with disappointment.

Cool it, Flash. Breathe in deeply. Release peacefully. Just like Cadance taught you.

After taking a few deep breaths, I reminded myself that I still had a job to do. As much as I could get angry at my soldiers, it was just as much my fault for lacking the ability to inspire and effectively discipline them as it was theirs for letting their discipline slip. A real soldier did not make excuses or try to put the blame on others when they shared responsibility. I was a long way from being anything like Shining Armor, and I wasn’t going to get any closer by sulking and letting my anger get to me.

Time to get productive.

Once I was fully groomed and cleaned up, I went back to the desk, using the sunlight filtering through the pearly white blinds to view my schedule for today. Morning drills to take care of. Two squads to inspect for Shining’s orders. Check on Flurry Heart to make sure she didn’t break anything today as a favor for Cadance. I decided to add ‘requisition a new spear and apologize to quartermaster’ to the list on my calendar.

As I finished penciling in my appointment, my eyes caught onto a reminder scheduled today I had completely forgotten about: ‘Meet and greet.’

Today was a batch of fresh arrivals who transferred from Canterlot, escorted by some of our sergeants. I made a habit of checking in on new recruits whenever I could to both to assess their growth and provide a helping hoof to their drill sergeants to promote said growth. What made today special was the return of one of my best pals: Shine Spark.

“Has it already been a month since she left for Canterlot? Heh, bet she gave all of those posh recruits a run for their bits.”

Outside Shining Armor and myself, she was probably the only other soldier I felt deserved every ounce of respect as both a fellow soldier and friend. Fierce. Loyal. Insightful. “If only I could find another soldier like her for my–” My eyes lit up.

A soldier like her? She’s here right now! What am I still doing here?

My grin practically exploded on my muzzle as I bounced out of my chair with renewed vigor and dashed out of my room, only ingrained protocol reminded me to shut and lock the door on my way out.

The Crystal Empire was largely made of spiraling towers and structures that lived up to its name, as most of the buildings were made out of a variety of crystals that shimmered in the light, much like the city’s inhabitants. Like most pegasi officers, my private quarters was towards the top of the officer’s tower.

Crossing the hallway brought me to the landing pad that pegasi could fly in from rather than take the spiral staircase. With a deep breath, taking in the crisp morning air, I took in the grand view of the base.

Beyond the series of magenta towers and crystalline annex that connected to the main city and palace was a train station reserved for royalty and military officials. Patches of pavement used as training grounds and testing zones for magic or weapons that required field testing took up large portions of the base. My eyes fell on the series of oval-shaped barracks where we trained our recruits. That was my destination.

After a quick stretch, I made a running jump off ledge to freefall. With practiced ease, I snapped my wings open and curved my body enough to make a daring swoop, my stomach barely a yard above the pavement. I ate up meters as I tore through the empty crossroads and patrolling ponies who gave me a brief wave as I zoomed straight for the barracks.

Once there, I slowed my pace and landed on my hooves so I didn’t risk passing her. “Now,” I mused, “I know she’s gonna be up and about. Just need a sign.”

“Get moving, you lazy asswipes!! Go, go, go!”

I grinned. “Yep, that’s Shine Spark, all right.”

Slowing my gait to a trot, I moved towards the booming voice. It didn’t take long to seek her out thanks to the two dozen scrambling ponies getting verbally barraged by the ruby red crystal mare sporting the standard golden Royal Guard armor. The rest of the ponies wore lacquered armor that perfectly mimicked official Royal Guard wear outside the dark wooden exterior. It was a dead giveaway for new recruits, though the way they haphazardly scrambled to get lined up for morning training was proof enough of that.

Once I recognized the drill sergeant, I smiled brightly at her as I approached. “Giving our rookies the royal treatment, Shine Spark?”

The aggravated scowl on her face melted in an instant as she turned to me, brandishing a cheeky grin while saluting. “Damn right I am, L.T!”

I returned her salute before motioning her to be at ease. Shine Spark was easily one of the best soldiers in the Empire. It took everything in me to stay professional in front of the troops and not give this mare a big ‘welcome back’ hug. “How are these poor souls treating you?”

Irritation returned on her features as she groaned. “‘Poor souls’ is right. I got stuck with these spineless bastards who just bleat like foals with stubbed hooves. I swear these recruits just get worse every year-hey, you!”

With a reaction time I swore must give her whiplash, Shine glared at one of the recruits, who nearly jumped out of his skin. “I swear to the Heart, if you don’t hurry up and get prepped, I’ll tan your frail ass and hang it on my wall as a trophy! Now move it!” The stallion nearly tripped over himself as he hurried to the equipment stand.

“Surely they can’t all be that bad.”

“Not all of them, sure, but most of them are freeloaders thinking they’ll get an easy pass just because it's peace time. Sometimes they’re right.” She tried to hide it, but I could sense the frustration in her tone. The feeling was mutual.

“Anyway,” Shine waved off the moody subject matter, “what brings you to this neck of the woods, sweating like you got a purpose?”

“You, actually. There’s something I need to talk to you about once you finish up with these recruits for the day.” I stole a glance at said recruits, who were lined up a fair distance away. Their eyes were all bleary and tired, not a single spark of fire in their hollow gazes.

“What have you been doing to these recruits to make them look so dead?” I asked.

Shine sighed, keeping her voice low enough so they couldn’t hear. If I didn’t know any better, the way she avoided my eyes would have suggested she was embarrassed. “After the morning warm-up, I told them they were going on a two mile run.”

I waited for her to say more, only to get ncreased tension and silence. “...And?”

“That’s it. That’s what it took to break their spirit.”

I blinked. More silence. Slowly, I chuckled awkwardly. “You almost had me there. Pull the other one.”

Another pause.

My smile faded, eyes shifting between the recruits and the facehooving sergeant in absolute disbelief. I was barely able to keep my voice down to a whisper. “Are you bucking with me?”

“I asked the recruiters that same question after day one. Wish I could be that good with jokes, L.T.”

I didn’t know whether to groan, cry, or laugh. That was without a doubt one of the most pathetic thing I’d ever heard. Were we pulling recruits out of cereal boxes now? “How in the world did these rookies pass screening?”

“It’s more of a revolving door nowadays. The mere thought of physical activity makes them whine like spoiled brats. I swear, if the Princess didn’t make that stupid protection rule, I would have clobbered these fools long ago.”

“Those rules were created because you did clobber some recruits.”

“And they damn well deserved it, but that’s not the problem here. What the hay am I supposed to do with these wet noodle excuses for ponies?”

Considering these recruits were ‘the future of the Empire’, this was a serious problem. Knowing Shine Spark, she had probably tried several threatening and punishing tactics to get them going. What these recruits likely needed was a reason to push, and fight, and scrape for every inch of ground. Something to spark their fire. Everypony had it in them, and I was convinced they were not as hopeless as Shine was making them out to be. There had to be a way to breathe some life into this squad.

I glanced back at the assembled line, and lifted one hoof to tap at my chin. My thoughts turned back to my own days in Basic. And just for a moment, I felt that I could see a young, but familiar, haggard-looking orange-coated stallion staring back at me.

That was when I knew what to do.

“Sergeant, permission to join these soldiers for the run and make some changes to the menu?”

Shine quirked her eyebrow at me. “You’re getting that scheming look in your eye again. I don’t mind, but what are you up to?”

I smiled. “Just follow my lead.”

With that, I hurried over to the training armor rack and began throwing on the rookie gear, ignoring the questioning glances being sent my way.

“Alright, recruits, listen up!” I channeled my authoritative tone, rattling the nerves of the recruits at attention. Once the equipment was fastened, I walked towards the front of the rookies and started pacing down the line. “I am First Lieutenant Flash Sentry, and I will be doing this run with you today.”

My eyes never stayed on one pony too long, bouncing between each gaze and showing no recognizable pattern to whom I watched. At times I would suddenly shift my hardened stare to a pony and make them freeze up or flinch. I had to stop myself from grinning from the rising tension.

“You may not know me, but I know all about you. Sergeant Shine Spark told me all about your ‘struggles’.” I didn’t hide the disdain in my voice. Uncertainty and fear streaked across their glances as they went rigid.

“The sergeant told me you can’t do a two mile run. That you’re afraid of doing the run.” My voice rose, almost yelling. “One day, you will be honorable Royal Guards who will be tasked with protecting the Empire. Protecting Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Hay, you may be tasked with protecting Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, or even Princess Celestia at some point. Maybe all at once! And you’re afraid of running?!”

I saw exactly what I was hoping to see in their gazes; shame. Despair. In some instances, indignation.

“The Royal Guard knows no fear, but fear knows the Royal Guard! And when fear sees us coming, it gets the hay out of Dodge! You know why?! Because the Royal Guard does not run from fear; the fear runs from the Royal Guard! We are fear incarnate! We are the best of the best!” Recruits began darting their eyes at each other, uncertainty and doubt in their eyes. Except one.

At the end of the line was a unicorn mare a head shorter than the rest with a blonde mane and white coat. Our eyes locked for only a second, but I know what I saw. A spark in what had once been a dead soul. There was hope yet for these soldiers!

“The sergeant here doesn’t think you have what it takes to make it. She thinks you’re too posh. Too slow. Too weak.” I continued pacing down the line, watching their reactions. I allowed the silence to settle before continuing. “But I know you have it in you. I know you can prove her wrong. I know you can prove it to yourselves that you have what it takes to be the best damn Royal Guards the world has ever seen!” Gradually, one by one, a light began to shine in their eyes. They looked ready for a fight. A certain mare in the line was even smiling. Shame that I had to fix that.

“She may say you cannot do two miles, but I say you can do better. That’s why we’re all going to go on an eight mile run together.”

And there went the happy faces. I glanced to see that Shine Spark nearly lost her composure, coughing to cover up her shock.

“A-are you crazy?!”

My head whipped towards the voice like a striking snake, shocking the silver-maned pegasus who yelled it. Before I could blink, Shine Spark was in the dark stallion’s face. The pegasus’s pupils shrunk into pinpricks as he froze in place. I might have been bothered by that outburst had Shine’s wrathful aura not outshined my anger.

“Are you out of your bucking mind!?” she roared, nearly deafening even my ears. The poor pegasus looked ready to wet himself. “I’m gonna—”

“Hold on, Sergeant!” My voice whipped across the training grounds, cutting off the sergeant’s tirade. Shine’s expression tightened as she went quiet, but I knew she was burning up inside. That stallion was definitely out of line and, under normal circumstances, would have gotten reprimanded viciously. But as Shining Armor had taught me, there was more than one way to get your point across.

“May I?” I asked calmly. She complied, her glare fixated on the recruit. Stepping in front of the offending recruit, I fixed him a stony stare. He couldn’t keep his eyes on me.

“State your name.”

He swallowed, his legs shaking like a leaf. His mouth opened, but no words escaped.

“While we’re young, soldier!” I snapped.

“S-S-Silent Night, sir…”

“Don’t get shy on me now. Speak up!”

“Silent Night, sir,” he repeated a little louder, but not as loud as I needed him to be.

“I can’t hear you! Speak louder!”

“Silent Night, sir.”

“I know of trees that have better vocal chords than that. Louder!”

“Silent Night…!”

“Louder!”

“Silent Night!”

“Louder!”

“Silent Night, Sir!”

“Much better!” I patted him on the shoulder. He flinched, likely just as scared of his own voice as he was of me. “Now, Silent Night, repeat your question.”

He balked in horror. I’m sure he would’ve made that same terrified expression if I had told him to fight the entire changeling army by himself or go on a date with Shine Spark. “I-I didn’t mean to speak out of line, sir! I—”

“That is a statement, recruit, not a question,” I cut him off, glaring. “Don’t make me repeat myself. Every time you make me repeat myself, you all will run an extra mile for every sentence.”

Tension grew deliciously thick as all eyes were suddenly directed toward Silent. I waited, motioning him to continue.

“I...I asked if you were...um...c-crazy, sir.”

“That's a very good question, Silent Night!” I began pacing about again, going up and down the line. The confusion was strong in the recruits. Even Shine Spark looked baffled. “And to answer your question, yes. I am crazy. You have to be crazy to be a Royal Guard! All Royal Guards are crazy. I’m crazy. Sergeant Shine Spark is crazy. Even Captain Shining Armor is crazy. After all, what sort of sane pony willingly puts themselves in danger?

“Every day, there's a Royal Guard out there somewhere fighting for their lives against terrifying beasts, struggling in a hopeless battle they know they can’t win. Everyday, there's a Royal Guard who is squeezing out every ounce of willpower they’ve got to push that extra inch, lift that extra weight, throw that extra punch when they don’t have any strength left. Every day, we're putting our lives on the line to protect somepony else, probably somepony we don’t know or even like. What sane pony does any of that?” I paused. They were probably wondering what in the blazes they signed up for.

To my surprise, I noticed both the mare from earlier and Silent Night had strengthened their stances and were regarding me seriously. I smiled at them internally. They got it.

“If you’re a sane pony, a sensible pony, don’t do this to yourselves. Just quit and go home. Don’t be a Royal Guard. Why not be…” I tapped my chin, pretending to think. “A baker. Or a farmer. A caretaker. Hay, be a librarian or something. Those are safe. Those make sense. Why put yourself through these crazy trials, fighting impossible enemies for ponies you don’t even know? Isn’t that insane? Who would want to do that? Who would want to be crazy?”

“I do, sir!”

All of our heads turned to the mare I had seen earlier. This time Shine didn’t interject, but looked legitimately surprised. Almost immediately I stormed up to the mare. “State your name!”

“Blade Dancer, sir!”

I could tell Blade Dancer was going to make a great Royal Guard. There was still a hint of discomfort and tension in her twitchy muscles, but her eyes sold me on her courage in the face of an overwhelming presence. “Why are you here, Blade Dancer? Why go through all of this hard work and sacrifice?”

“I want to prove to everypony I can be the best in the Royal Guard and protect Equestria!”

For the first time since I started this little charade, I allowed a genuine smile to shine through. “That’s pretty crazy, Blade Dancer. But you know what? I believe you. After all, only a crazy pony would go through all of this backbreaking work just to better themselves. Only Royal Guard ponies talk like that.”

The way her eyes lit up and her lips went wide filled me with inspiration and revived my pride in the future of the guard. This was what I was fighting for.

Stepping back, I took a final look at all the recruits. Compared to earlier, they were far more awake and ready to burn some miles, especially Blade Dancer and Silent Night. “Alright, recruits, time to show the sergeant what we’re made of! No pony gets left behind! If we’re going to do this, we’re doing this together! Come on, let’s go!” I started jogging in place, waiting until the others started doing the same before starting on the main running path encircling the base.

Still, something felt missing as we cantered at a brisk pace. Blade Dancer took the lead and I ran along their right side while Shine Spark took their left. I stole a quick look at the recruit’s eyes, noting that some of them still carried a sense of despair at what they likely considered to be an insane task. They were still worried about failing. That’s when I realized what was missing.

“No fear! Yes I can!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. The recruits gave me blank, confused glances. I resisted the reflex to frown. Did they seriously not know a motivational chant when they heard one?

“No fear! Yes I can!” I shouted again. Shine Spark had done this with me before, and I knew she was waiting until a recruit spoke up first to see if they would catch on. I opened my mouth to shout again—

“No fear! Yes I can!”

My eyes went to Silent Night, flashing him the brightest grin I could muster. Noting my approval, his grin grew wider.

“No fear! Yes I can!” Blade Dancer joined in, the strength of her voice nearly matching that of Shine Spark. Judging from Shine’s grin, she realized it as well.

Gradually, each recruit began chanting along until our voices echoed across the base into one continuous, unified whole. When Shine Spark added her voice into the deafening chant, I knew there was no stopping us.

“No fear! Yes I can! No fear! Yes I can! No fear! Yes I can!”

I couldn’t contain my excitement as we all broke into a inspired gallop.

Now this was a squad to get behind.

After the sixth mile, I realized I may have spoken too soon.

The pace took a huge drop as fatigue started overcoming the squad. Shine and I continued shouting words of encouragement to push them, but even Shine began hesitating as some of the recruits began straying from the line, dizzy from exhaustion. Blade and Silent had barely taken the lead, drenched with sweat and releasing raspy pants. The rest were in much worse shape, hanging on by a thread.

“Just two more miles, recruits! You can do it!” I shouted from the back of the line. I couldn’t let them give up. Just needed to push them a little more. Just get them over this hump.

At the corner of my eye, I locked eyes with the sergeant, who nodded at me—a silent signal for a private chat. I maneuvered by her side, taking careful breaths with each stride to keep my stamina up.

“We can’t keep this up, L.T,” Shine spoke through controlled pants.

“You can’t be serious.” I was barely able to keep my voice hushed enough so the other recruits couldn’t hear us talk. “We’ve already come this far. We can’t give up on them.”

“This is different. We’re not giving up on them, but they won’t last like this. We need to push them, not break them. Let them ride this out as a victory, and we can build them from there.”

My attention drifted towards the struggling squad. I couldn’t let them give up, not here. An hour ago they were terrified of running two miles, yet there they were six miles in and still fighting.

“L.T, reel them in.”

I tried to ignore her. Because I was the one to set the challenge, I had to make the call. I had to be the one to tell them they couldn’t make it when I knew damn well they could. Our victory was so close I could just taste it. To give up on them now would only make them soft. Weak. Vulnerable.

“L.T. Make the call!”

“I heard you the first time, Sergeant!” I snapped. Putting extra effort to ignore the sharp stab of guilt at what I was about to do, I refocused my attention on the squad.

And then it hit me.

There was no longer any spirit in their movements. No cheers or passion burning in their eyes. Their energy was all but spent, hooves wavering and wobbling with every step.

Looking at them now, I was again reminded that my position had not been any different from theirs not that long ago. I knew defeat. I knew failure. If they collapsed now, all they would know was defeat.

I believed in them. I knew they had it in them to push just a little more to make that finish line. But they didn’t. I was the one hurting them.

I knew what I had to do. I hated it with every fiber in my being, but there was no other choice.

“Halt!”

Dust flew in plumes from the well-worn path as the squad skidded to a dead stop, some of the recruits falling flat on their faces from the sudden command. They tossed confused, yet relieved stares in my direction, hungrily gasping for air. I waited until they collected themselves and had their attention focused on me.

“You should all be proud of yourselves,” I lied, putting on the best fake smile I could muster. “Before this run, the mere idea of running eight miles seemed impossible. It must have seemed like such a crazy thing to do. Yet here you are, having surpassed your limitations and done six of the eight miles.” My wings rustled as the tension in them grew. The smile I put on for them started to waver.

“When I challenged you to do this run, I held no expectation that you would make it. That wasn’t what I was looking for. I needed to see for myself if you all were crazy enough to tackle such a task that went far beyond your limits. You all did that today. Regardless if you made the full eight miles, what’s important is that you pushed for it, and broke your limitations.”

Well, that was half true, at least, but still, I couldn’t help the intensity that began slipping into my speech. “Being a Royal Guard is about overcoming your fears and pushing through them. To be daring in what you do, fight whatever challenge is thrown at you, and brave the harsh dangers the world will throw at you. The enemy wants you to give up! To lie down and tell yourself you can’t do this! They want you to think that you can’t make it and that you should just give up! But we won’t. We can’t! We will never quit! You know why?! Because the Royal guard does! Not! Quit!”

My wings ached as I kept them tightened, preventing them from flaring out. My fake smile was too difficult to hold, and I resorted to keeping my face as expressive as stone.

Raising a hoof, I brought it to my chest as I took a deep breath, then pushed it forward as I breathed out.

My mouth opened, then promptly snapped shut. I was sure there was more I should say, but I couldn’t bring myself to go further. Shine could deal with the rest.

“Sergeant, I’ll leave them to you.”

I turned around, quickly taking flight to distance myself from the squad.

“We need to talk, L.T.”

“I know.” I didn’t bother look up from my hooves at Shine, who sat across from me on the the long wooden table. Thankfully, the mess was quiet around this time in the late morning, as almost every officer and recruit was doing their drills or wrapping up their morning obligations.

“How are they?” I asked quietly.

“Wiped out, but they’ll be fine.” Shine paused for a beat. “L.T…”

“I know, Shine. I just...I’m sorry. I was out of line back there.”

“No harm done. Just talk to me, L.T.” Her tone softened. “You wouldn’t have flipped out like that if something wasn’t eating you.”

“It’s...no, don’t worry about it. I’ve troubled you enough today.”

“Flash.”

I tensed at the use of my name. Like a rattlesnake shaking its tail, I knew she was about to hit me hard. “Considering you nearly broke my troops after pushing them way too hard, I think I deserve to hear what’s got you so bothered. Talk to me. What’s going on?”

I winced. I deserved that, and I knew she was right. Sucking in a breath, I looked directly at Shine, ignoring the mounting guilt I felt. “Shining gave me a special assignment. I need to build a team of the best ponies in the guard. I need you on my team.”

Shine’s ears pinned back as she sat up, alert. “Of course I’ll join your team. What’s the mission about?”

“I don’t know.”

She blinked at me. “You don’t know?”

“He’s being really vague about it, but I know it’s gotta be something big. Wish he would just tell me already instead of keeping me in suspense. Seems almost paranoid nowadays.”

“Must be contagious from hanging around a certain somepony...” I heard her mutter under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” she answered quickly. “So what kind of soldiers do you need? Did he mention any specifics?”

“Apparently, I need to find ponies who can blend into public places, and play support whenever needed. He’s really counting on me to get this squad set up as soon as I can, but I can't seem to find the right ponies for the job. Too many are either undertrained or have gotten so relaxed they need serious retraining. I have an idea to solve this problem, but I want to run it by Shining first and I wanted to make sure you were on board.”

Shine nodded. “That’s fair. Answers the first half of my question. Now give me the other half.”

I tapped my forehooves together anxiously, my eyes focused on the rhythmic clopping rather than Shine’s concerned stare.

“I really wanted to see them make that finish line, Shine. They were amazing out there, pushing as hard as they could to make it. When I watched them pushing that hard and getting that fired up, I felt like this was the perfect squad to build up and work with. I wanted to make a difference for once in my life.

“But when they started giving up and slowing down, I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t take failing them.” My forehooves pressed hard against each other, mirroring my rising frustration. “They deserve better. The best we can give them, so they too can be the best, and pay it forward to the future recruits. Just this once, I want to be that best for them. I’m tired of the Royal Guard being little more than wallpaper for ponies to look at. I want us to be strong. I want us to be ready.”

“You and me both, L.T.” Shine’s heavy hoof patted my shoulder as she flashed a wide grin. “But you gotta stop beating yourself up over every little thing. Your heart’s in the right place, but you can’t just bash your head against a wall hoping it’ll fall. Things like this take time and opportunity. Sometimes, all we can do is work with what we’ve got and pray everything falls into place.”

“I know. Shining’s been telling me that since day one.” I sighed. “Sorry again. I’ll make it up to you and your recruits. Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”

Shine raised an eyebrow. “Even if I asked you to host karaoke night?”

I flinched.

“Just kidding. Lighten up!” Shine laughed as she slapped my shoulder hard. I resisted the urge to rub the sore spot. “And stop doing that thing.”

I blinked at her. “What thing?”

“You’re doing that ‘I’m-stressed-out-and-or-beating-myself-up’ thing with your wings.”

“I’m doing no such thing,” I said as I tightened the tension of said wings. They might as well have been a pair of signal flares on my back. Her giggling only made me feel worse, earning a half-hearted scowl from me.

“Cut yourself some slack once in awhile. You’re an awesome soldier. One of the best. Learn to unwind once in awhile and just cut loose. Don’t be so intense all the time.” Suddenly, she grinned mischievously at me and gave me a shove on the shoulder. “Stop being a little bitch.”

Now that I couldn’t let slide.

I returned her shove with my own, and forced down the grin threatening to break my aggressive glare. “You better calm down, Shine. Don’t make me put you in your place.”

“You put ME in my place? Apparently, somepony already forgot the ass kicking they got last time.” She shoved again, harder than before.

I shoved back. We stood out of our seats and garnered some attention from the few soldiers who happened to be lingering around. “I had to give you a freebie after the thrashing I gave you before that.”

“You talk a pretty big game. Maybe I should remind you who the top pony is up in this bitch?”

“Last I checked, that was me. But I’m game to show you who’s boss.” On instinct we extended our forehoof and slammed our fetlocks into each other in a single synchronized movement, starting an impromptu hoof-wrestling contest on the table between us.

“Time out, you two.”

We froze.

Slowly, I followed Shine’s eyes to find Shining Armor standing behind me. What caught me off guard was his grim expression and slightly frayed blue mane. From my proximity, I could see the bags forming under his eyes. It only took a second for me and Shine to get out of our seats and salute the captain. He gave us a brief salute and nod before having us be at ease.

“What brings you here, Captain?” I asked.

“You, actually. I’ve been looking for you all morning.”

I gulped nervously. “Me, sir?”

A small, tiny smile appeared on his muzzle. “I was looking around trying to find you when I caught wind of a few officers complaining about a certain nostalgic chant being shouted all over the base. Apparently, some upstart colt scout thought it was a good idea to make an entire squad scream like lunatics so early in the morning. Figured I would check out the mess and see what it was all about. You weren’t exactly hard to find.”

“O-oh. Um, sorry?”

“You have nothing to be sorry about. That’s exactly the kind of thing I want to hear from the recruits.” His eyes drifted to Shine for a moment, and he gave her a small smile. “Doing well, Sergeant?”

“Yes, sir!” Shine smiled widely.

“Good to hear.” The moment Shining’s eyes fell on me, my wings twitched out of nervousness. “When you’re done here, I need you to meet me in the war room alone as soon as possible. Priority one alert.”

In that precise moment, I realized I was not[i/] going to have a good day.

Author's Notes:

Let the awesomeness commence!

So, right off the bat, huge props to Midnight Quill for helping to make this chapter even exist, and to my proofreaders for making it extra spicy. I swear, first chapters are always a pain to work with, and this one had me fighting the good fight for weeks to get this going.

So, a bit on this particular story. My aim isn't to create a great Flash fanfic, but the best Flash fanfic. I know there are people out there who hate him (and by association everything involving him and the human counterpart) with a burning passion. To them I say, that's fair. Other might see him as the great Waifu Stealer, or corporate self-sabotage, or a tool solely made to date Twilight and create a pointless romance plot. I like to see him as an opportunity. To turn what was thought to be a mistake into a well of endless possibilities and awesome.

And, well, here we are now!

So regardless if you are yay or nay on Flash, I hope you enjoy this story and all of the awesome it has to offer. Feel free to drop a comment and let me know your thoughts and/or critiques.

And be sure to buckle up tight; it's gonna be hell of a ride.

EDIT [7-31-16]: Updated this chapter to be stronger and show more of Flash's character and develop some scenes a bit more.