"Captain Armor. Lieutenant Sparkle." The small dragon called out as he entered the barracks. "Princess Celestia requests your immediate presence."

The two ponies stood up from their bunks and nodded to each other.

"Of course Scribe. We'll be right there. You are dismissed." The smaller of the two told the dragon as she shrugged into her armor and grabbed her spear in her telekinesis.

The larger of the two rolled his eyes as he slid his helmet on. "You can leave the spear here you know. We're going for orders, not to a fight. Besides, we can both blade cast."

The mare nodded. "Of course. By your orders Captain."

"Come along Lieutenant." The stallion asked as he trotted out past her.

The mare quickly saluted and fell in line behind him.

The rest of the soldiers saluted as they trotted past them, several uttering the phrase "Vereor Nox."

"Laus et ad solem." The two guards responded as they left the room, making their way to the throne room.

---

As the two guards entered the room, they found the court to still be in session, with the Princess of the Sun fielding questions from a white stallion with a blonde mane and tail.

"But aunty. Must we host the festival in such a backwater town as that one? Surely there are other towns and cities that would be far more suited to host it."

"Yeah. Maybe Cloudsdale would be a good choice." The mare snorted as she trotted past him and took her place at the base of the throne with her fellow guard, relieving the other guards of their post.

The princess snickered at the guards joke. "Maybe next year Lieutenant. I'm sure Cloudsdale would be a perfect place to host the event."

The stallion's face turned red as he stood up and flicked his nose into the air. "Hmph." He snorted as he began to canter out.

After he had left the two guards moved in front of the alicorn and bowed, removing their helmets.

"Your majesty." They both greeted her at the same time.

"Captain, Lieutenant." She greeted them in return. "You may rise."

As one they stood up, leaving their helmets on the ground in front of them.

"What do you wish of us your majesty." The mare asked as she flipped her mane back over her shoulder and onto her back.

The princess smiled. "If you recall, the Summer Sun Celebration will be hosted in Ponyville this year. I'm sending you two down there to do two things." Her horn took on a pale yellow shimmer as two scrolls appeared from thin air, each floating to rest in front of one of the guards. "Captain Shining Armor. You are to patrol the streets and make sure there is no trouble. I highly doubt there will be, but complacency is always something I try to avoid."

The stallion levitated his scroll and stowed it in his armors document pouch before saluting. "Of course your majesty, your will be done."

"Lieutenant Twilight Sparkle. You are to see to the four ponies on that list and make sure preparations run smoothly. Again, I have little worry that things could be behind schedule, but the watchful eye of a royal guard is never a bad thing."

The mare mimicked her superiors actions of levitating the scroll into the pouch on her armor before saluting. "As you wish your majesty, your will be done through me."

"That is all for now. It is the final day before the festival begins, I shall be down in around seven to eight hours." The princess nodded. "You are dismissed."

The two guards bowed once more, sliding their helmets back on before turning and trotting out of the room.

As they wound their way around the palace to the chariots where they would find a way to depart they began talking.

"So Twiley.. what prep work are you overseeing?" The stallion asked, his two tone blue tail flicking to the side as he trotted.

"Food gathering, the music, weather duty and the decoration of the town hall. Nothing too major. How about you big brother?" The mare smiled, her own three colour tail swishing against her legs.

"I've got a simple patrol route, mostly situated around the town center, where are we staying until the festival?" He asked.

"We'll be staying.... in the town library apparently. The last librarian recently had a nasty fall and is recuperating in the town hospital." She chuckled. "Cool. Even if it's just for a few hours until the festivities begin, it'll be nice to have a place to do some reading."

Shining Armor rolled his eyes and smiled. "Because the princess knows you don't do enough of that already."

"Oh hush you." Twilight bumped her brother lightly. "At least this won't be a difficult assignment. Unlike getting that entire wardrobe of weird clothes into the Princess' students room." She blanched. "There was something wrong with that black jacket she wore..."

"It does give one the shivers a bit." Shining Armor nodded.

The siblings continued to banter as they made their way to the chariots.