Well, Discord had been wrong. There hadn’t been three fires before halftime as the crazed Spirit of Chaos had so joyfully predicted, thankfully. In fact, there had been a distinct lack of fires altogether; not a single ember to burn and turn their competitive and experimental match of hoofball into a life or death scenario.

Something else there was a lack of?

Cutie marks.

What there decidedly wasn’t a lack of?

Mud. Lots and lots of mud.

“NOOO!” Sapphire bellowed, keeling over onto the ground right then and there, having just looked at herself in a mirror she’d procured from… somewhere. “Look at me! I’m covered in mud! So much muuuud!”

“…So?” Awesome Blitz deadpanned, flicking a bit of said mud from her right hoof. “It’s not like this hasn’t happened before.”

“No, but it’s always terrible!”

They’d been going at the game for a good few hours, having split themselves into two even teams. Horns and wings had been banned, meaning they all had to go and do things earth pony style.

One team consisted of Apple Surprise and Avia, the Princess being the one defending the goal against their enemy’s onslaught. Awesome Blitz and Sapphire made up the other team, and of course, Blitz was the one taking to the field while her unicorn friend stayed back at the goal. Avia and Sapphire were both happy to let Apple Surprise and Awesome Blitz have at it, combating one another for possession of the ball and attempting to get it towards the respective opposing goals. The two were the most physically inclined, after all.

Not that they didn’t see any of the action themselves, the ball did make its way to the goals often enough.

And each time Avia missed she really wished there wasn’t that dumb ‘no magic’ rule.

Not that Sapphire fared much better, though seemingly more out of fear of getting hit in the face and having her mane messed up for the millionth time than out of inexperience without magic. This created a rather even playing field, and by halftime Avia’s team had managed to snag an overall score of six while the other team had a score of five.

The one-point lead of her rivals just led the pegasus of the group to go on an all-out offensive after they’d finished swapping sides. Still, Avia began to get the hang of blocking with her hooves and Apple Surprise had been confident that they’d emerge victorious so long as Sapphire was more concerned with her looks than the game.

Then Sapphire had been hit in the face, sending her down into the dirt and thoroughly messing up her appearance.

Then it was on.

With all inhibitions cast aside, Sapphire threw herself into the game with a brand-new enthusiasm and zeal, also known as screaming for bloody revenge against those who would dare ruin her carefully maintained coiffure!

And as their competitive nature got heated, as did the number of hits, falls and general faceplants into the dirt.

The final score at the end of it all? Well, it didn’t matter in the end considering it all came down to a tie.

“You’re all terrible,” Apple Surprise retorted to pegasus and unicorn alike. “All that ruckus and we don’t even have a cutie mark to show for it!”

“Oh come, girls!” Avia protested, using her magic to scrape dried dirt from her chitin as she spoke. “We had fun, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Awesome Blitz quickly relented, before shooting the others a cocky smirk. “But next time it won’t be a draw! I promise you that!”

“Yeah, ‘cos we’ll win,” the earth pony filly challenged in turn.

“Heh, you’re on!”

From there it was just a matter of clearing up after themselves, putting away the posts and the ball that Scootaloo and brought them all earlier. While they were doing so, Apple Surprise and Awesome Blitz kept up their little competition by debating each other’s tactics during the match while Sapphire did her best to salvage what she could of her get up. Avia just opted to listen in, silently helping clear up the mess.

Soon enough everything was packed up into the large bag, ready to be brought back to Scootaloo and Awesome Blitz’s place in town.

“All done,” the pegasus announced, finishing tying the bag up to keep the contents snugly within. “I’d better get this bag to my mum.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Apple Surprise agreed, before humming in thought. “Say, where’d you think that Discord fella got off to? Seeing as he was hollering on about us being ‘chaotic’ and all.”

“He’s probably still doing whatever Pinkie Pie was up to,” Sapphire noted.

“Or he might be with Fluttershy,” Avia interjected, before looking off at some buildings beyond the park. Or more specifically, she was looking in the general direction she knew the Everfree Forest to be in. “Do you girls remember what he said? About my mother’s early adventures?”

“You mean about the castle?” Apple Surprise questioned. “Yeah, I remember. What about it?”

“Oh, you mean the one with all the secrets and stuff?” Awesome Blitz quickly interrupted, a grin growing on her face. “Sounds like there could be treasure! Like, super Daring Do level stuff!”

The earth pony blinked. “Please tell me this isn’t going where I think it is…?”

Avia blushed. “Well, I don’t know about that. But I’m really curious now. I’ve heard all the stories before, but I really didn’t think about the castle too much. But now that I am, there must be so much history to that place!”

“History? Like what?”

“Well, I don’t know. But my mother told me about a time when she was a Princess that she and her friends started a project to refurbish it, but they ended up scraping the idea later on,” Avia told them. “But while they were there, apparently they found Princess Celestia’s old diary in a secret room.”

“Secret room?” Awesome Blitz echoed eagerly. “Definitely Daring Do! I’m in!”

“In for what?”

“Going to the castle of course!”

“Now hold up a second!” Apple Surprise protested. “The castle. In the Everfree Forest. You serious?”

“I never said that!” Avia shot back. “But, I don’t know… We could look for a book on it in the library?”

Awesome Blitz gagged. “Boooring! Why read when we can discover! We might even get explorer cutie marks!”

Avia was about to retort to the pegasus’ comment, when some hustle and bustle outside of the park caught their attention.

Turning to look, Avia saw a whole host of ponies gathered a short distance away. There were at least a couple dozen, all geared up in their shining armours. Half the group were decked out in armour that was as dark as the night, much of said group being comprised of thestrals over the other species, though there were a couple of unicorns and pegasi to be seen. The other group wore armour that shone like the sun, its ranks comprised entirely of earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi in equal measure.

And at the head of each group were two ponies in each respective armour set. One was a white pegasus with a greyed but recognisably blonde mane, and the other was a marginally younger looking thestral with his right wing replaced with a metallic limb actuator.

“Ponies, the changelings have already been keeping the peace during the course of this celebration!” Captain Broad Sword bellowed out to his collection of guards. “But we can’t let them do all the work! Fan out, patrol the streets and ensure everyone has a fun but safe time. We need to ensure everything remains calm and civil for the princesses’ arrival this evening, understood?”

“Yes, Captain!” all guards, both Solar and Lunar, confirmed.

“You have your shift rotations, you all know what to do,” Captain Vladimir Vespertillio stated next. “Move out, ponies!”

The effect was immediate, and the ponies of the Royal Guard all moved into smaller groups and began to head off in different directions. The would be joining their changeling counterparts in guarding the upcoming celebration, keeping both the peace between individual attendees and guarding against potential nefarious individuals who would dare threaten the safety of any of the royals in attendance.

An unlikely scenario in present times, but one could never be too careful.

“I guess the Royal Guard is here,” Avia commented, seeing only the two captains left behind now that their subordinates had departed to do their duties.

“That’s so cool!” Awesome Blitz gushed. “Are they expecting a big monster attack?”

“Don’t be silly, Blitz,” Apple Surprise deadpanned. “They’re only being all protective because the princesses are coming.”

Avia inwardly mused that it was a wise move, seeing as the last time the Summer Sun Celebration had been held in Ponyville the guard presence had been small and insufficient to oppose Nightmare Moon’s return. She felt a shiver down her spine just at the thought. She really didn’t want anything like that to happen this time around. It would probably ruin her first celebration, and that would really suck…

But before Avia could communicate any of her feelings on the matter, she realised that Awesome Blitz was now gone.

“You guys are so AWESOME!”

Oh, there she was. She’d left the park and was now in the faces of the two bewildered captains with a massive squee of joy.

“Um, girls…” Sapphire began. “Should we, uh… stop her?”

“Probably,” Apple Surprise said in bemusement.

The fillies quickly followed suit, making sure to grab the bag of hoofball equipment before joining the overexcited pegasus filly by the two adult ponies she was assaulting. Both Guard Captains looked up to see the approaching trio, and their eyes sparked in recognition on seeing the changeling nymph among them.

“Well, isn’t it the little Princess of the Changelings,” Vladimir quipped, before shooting a glance at the still grinning orange pegasus. “Friend of yours?”

“Uh, yeah…” Avia muttered. “Mr Vespertillio, that’s Awesome Blitz.”

“I’m Apple Surprise.”

“My name is Sapphire, a pleasure good sirs.”

“A polite young mare,” he noted, causing the unicorn to blush lightly. “So, Awesome Blitz, are you thinking of being a guard when you’re grown up?”

“Uh, Wonderbolt, actually,” the pegasus responded sheepishly.

“Close enough. Still EUP,” Vladimir noted with a shrug.

“I would have thought you’d be with your mother, Princess Avia,” Captain Broad Sword said questioningly at the young changelings. “Where is she, anyway?”

“With my family,” Avia replied. “We were just playing some hoofball.”

“Oh?” Vladimir rubbed his chin with his still flesh and blood left wing. “So, who won?”

“Um, it was a draw.”

“A draw, huh? Well, there’s no shame in that. It’s not a loss.”

“He knows a few things about losing, like every time our guards have a war game,” Broad Sword quipped, shooting his counterpart a smirk.

“Not every time,” Vladimir retorted. “You’re retiring in a couple years anyway. And then we’ll see how your successor handles it!”

“If it’s Valiant, I have high hopes he’ll kick your flank”, the Captain of the Solar Guard responded, not losing his grin. “You don’t think Scarlet and I haven’t been teaching him all your tricks, do you?”

Vladimir rolled his eyes, taking off his helmet and holding it under one of his wings. “Whatever you say, Broad. Not that I’ll take pleasure of knocking your lineage down a peg, but…”

It was around then the pair remembered that they were with a group of four fillies, who were watching the captains with curious eyes tilted heads.

“Well, never mind all of that,” the thestral stated. “We shouldn’t keep you and your friends, Princess. Have a fun celebration, yeah?”

Avia nodded. “We will!”

“Dad,” another voice spoke out, coming from an approaching Solar Guard. A pegasus with a white coat that contrasted with his dark red mane and eyes. “I hope you’re not too busy?”

“Of course not, Commander Snow,” Broad Sword replied professionally, getting Vladimir to roll his eyes. “What do you need, son?”

If Valiant was bothered by his father calling him by rank, he didn’t show it. “Queen Twilight wants to speak with your and Vladimir, now that we’re here. She’s waiting in the market with her family.”

“Ah, well, duty calls,” Vladimir remarked. “A good a time as any to catch up with Façade, I guess.”

“Indeed,” Broad Sword confirmed, before he looked down at Avia with a nod. “Princess.”

With that final word of farewell, the trio of guards departed towards the market.

“Wow…” Awesome Blitz muttered, glancing at Avia. “You know all the coolest ponies.”

Avia shrugged. “Well, I’ve seen them at the hive a few times. But not many.”

“She is a Princess,” Apple Surprise pointed out.

“Speaking of princesses…” Sapphire began. “Weren’t you talking about the castle?”

“Right,” the pegasus replied. “I still think we should go.”

Avia sighed, holding a hoof against her face as she felt a small migraine coming on. “Well… we’ll talk about it. Sugarcube Corner?”

The three pony fillies all looked between one another, before turning back to Avia and nodding in confirmation.

And so, after depositing the bag of hoofball equipment back at Awesome Blitz’s house, they did just that.