The Guardian Of Harmony

Foalhood Memories (2)

"Tennnnn hut!"
"Hut!"
"Leeeeeeft face!"
"Hut!"
"Forwarrrrrrd march!"
"Hut two three four, hut two three four..."
• • •
Rows of Royal Guard members, lined up in columns based on rank, marched forward through the gates of Canterlot castle. Meanwhile, just inside the castles grounds, a small group of colts sat, waiting for instruction. They giggled and messed around, playing games to pass the time while waiting for their instructor to arrive.
One colt in particular, Starry Knight, sat apart from the rest, reading a book he had recently received from the local library.  It had seemed like a great read, titled 'Elements of Harmony', and was mainly about history, but still fascinating. To him, at least.
Suddenly, a white colt ran up and kicked the book out of his hooves, sending it flying into a nearby mud pile.
"Excuse me!" Starry said angrily. The pony who did so snorted.
"Sorry, I don't speak to... Nerds." His voice practically dripped with typical Canterlot snobbiness, the kind of thing one would expect from a foal raised by the upper class. Starry glared at him and rose, walked over to the mud, and picked up the sopping book.
"Ruined..." He muttered.
The snob and his friends giggled and laughed, sitting in a small huddle and looking his way every now and then. Starry snorted and went back to reading, some pages slightly blurred due to the mud. He made a mental note to ask the librarian about fixing it later.
Time flew by as he read, and he blocked out all outside noise and stilled his breathing, calming his frayed nerves.
The elements of harmony are six stones with very powerful magic force, wielded by Celestia and Luna, rulers of Equestria. They-
"A-hem! Starry!" Starry jumped, looking up to see the stern face of his father. He gasped, quickly shoving his book aside along with his saddle bags and stood up clumsily, saluting. How long have I been reading?
"Good. Now, recruits, as I was saying..." Starry looked over at his book. He longed to read it, but knew he had to pay attention to please his dad and do well in knigh- ahem, royal guard training. Sometimes he wished it was real knight training, just like all his fairy tail books. What? A colt can't fantasize about being a daring knight saving ponies from gigantic fire-breathing Dragons?
Looking around, he noticed a few of the Royal Guard were gathered around the group of colts who were lined up. Stepping forward, he got into line next to a small white unicorn. They must be starting the trainin-
"Pssst." Starry looked over at the white colt, confused for a second, then looked back at the instructor.
"Pssssssssst!" Starry glared back at the white colt.
"What?!" He hissed, tilting his head at his dad to signal he was teaching. He then noticed it was the same colt that kicked his book from earlier. He snorted, wanting to end the conversation before it went somewhere.
"Can't you see that he's trying to-"
"Starry!" Starry jumped at the voice of his father. Too late...
"I expect better of you! Being my own son, I expect you to be well disciplined."
"Sorry sir, won't happen again.." Starry grumbled. The white colt sniggered and hoof bumped his buddy.
"The names Royal Ribbon, you dumb good for nothin'." Royal Ribbon whispered, sniggering quietly. Starry snorted and went back to paying attention to the instructor. No use in paying attention to Royal, he's just another typical snob. Starry thought.
--------------------------------
Starry Knight walked up the steps of his house. Today was the third week of Royal Guard training, and he hated every day he had to endure it. Royal Ribbon, he had figured out, was the son of Fancy Pants, and had been forced to join the Juniors Royal Guard Training. He sucked at it too, always staying out of the way of others not wanting to get his precious hooves dirty. He always used his unicorn magic to show off, or cheat at all the hard stuff. Just the other day the recruits were ordered to climb the rock wall. He used his magic to trip Starry, and made him fall. His dad saw him as a disappointment, and looked down at him disdainfully. Some nights he would over work Starry to try and get him to improve his skills.
"It's been how long, and you haven't even gotten basic sword maneuvers down?"
In reality he was actually pretty good with swordsmanship. But, when it came to his dad, he was hard to beat. And add in the fact that Royal was always teasing and besting him and was his dad's favorite. That didn't really help Starry's status.
Sometimes, on nights his dad was away with some important duty, Starry practiced his swordsmanship alone, imagining he was battling a large dragon about to engulf a whole city in flames. It proved more helpful than his dad yelling at him, that was for sure.
Opening the door and stepping inside his house, he slammed the door and threw his bags aside. Slipping off his training armor, he trudged to the kitchen, where his mom was sitting, reading a magazine, glasses resting on her snout.
Slumping into his favorite red chair, he rested his chin on his hooves on the table, groaning.
His mother looked up, raising an eyebrow.
"What is it, dear?"
"I'm a failure..." Starry mumbled.
"With that attitude you are. You know, Starry, someday you need to mature and actually try being great."
I am trying....   Starry thought.
"That's how your dad got so far. This is only the beginning of your training."
"Well... Well I don't like it!" He shouted, uncurling his hooves and jumping down. He felt like crying. He was a complete failure, and his dad knew it.
Storming upstairs, he ran to his room and slammed the door shut, running up and jumping into his bed face down.
"Stupid Royal Ribbon, stupid dad, stupid, stupid, stupid!" He flailed his hooves, venting his frustration on his poor unsuspecting bed.
Calming down, he looked up, and stared at his poster on the wall depicting a knight defeating a horde of evil villains.
"I wish I could be a hero..."