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Author: BuffaloBrony
Description: A young Equestrian Guard recruit is ordered to attend - of all things - the retirement party of a complete stranger. However, things at the party turn out to be not quite what he expected. As the night progresses, he learns some valuable lessons about himself and just what the duties of being a Guardspony in Her Eternal Princesses' Royal Guards entails.
An Old Guardspony's Last Duty
Additional Tags: Self-discovery, Duty, Retirement, Bittersweet, Teaching
14 comments:
What is the meaning of life?
ReplyDeleteThis looks to have promise. But I have like 6 things I still gotta read.
ReplyDeletewhat's with all the guardsponies fics recently?
ReplyDeleteadd to the to read list
ReplyDeletethis was excellent
ReplyDeleteIt was decent. I approve. Little harsh on the everypony, though. They can't be THAT bad.
ReplyDelete@LizardWizard
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm BuffaloBrony.
In my defense, all I can say is that I based the old Guardspony's comments there on what happens in a significant proportion of episodes - with Applebuck Season being the one to provide the classic example.
"Perfectly. Ordinary. Bunnies."
For living so close to the everfree Forest, most Ponyville-ites seem to have some severely weak survival instincts... :)
Heh, that was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like the idea that the ponies have a throwback herd panic instinct from their distant genetic past.
Also, lol at Celestia's giant harem.
A very good read. I certainly share an interest in what it really means to serve in an Equestrian military (one of my own fanfics can be summed up as "what does it really mean to be a Wonderbolt"... you've got the ground forces, I've got the air force!). Due to the nature of the show we'll never see that explored deeply as a theme in an episode, of course.
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting to see fan-canon on the Royal Guard converging onto a few key concepts, each from a different direction. I'm not sure if this is convergence from common experiences in the authors, or hints in the show that are so subtle they don't percolate up to the point of being recognized. Whatever the reason, I like where it's going.
Perhaps a modicum of respect for those who serve and die in uniform will start to sink into a few readers. In this hipster age of cynicism and deconstruction, wouldn't that be something?
Haha you used my screen cap I used as a reference for making a vector: http://clone999.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=scraps#/d4fuvnr!
ReplyDeleteIf you want you can use this http://clone999.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4funje
would look allot better
I really liked this fic. It gave the guard some much needed purpose. Also liked Celestia's role in the fic. I always picture her being rather close to man ponies service.
ReplyDeleteAlso this is one of the fics that tie in more adult elements of the world without ruining the feel of the universe.
50 ratings and 4.9 average.
ReplyDeleteGrats on your 6 star!
Let me be the second to congratulate you on the 6-star! Good work!
ReplyDeleteThis is one heckuva debut. Can't wait for what's next.
I really enjoyed this short story. It describes how the Royal Guard are pretty much the unsung heroes of Equestria. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete