I continued to look out the window as princess Twilight walked into the room surprised me. "Princess Twilight." I did the best bow I could in the bed as she giggled a little.
"please... just call me Twilight," she asked as I shook my head.
"I am sorry. But my clan's law dictates I am unable to call those of royalty their names without titles." she frowned but gave me a nod of understanding. "may I ask why you have wasted your time visiting a lowly soldier like me?" she frowned some more.
"I wished to thank the one who gave his life to save me," she said with a small bow of her head.
"I thank you for wasting your own time to give me thanks," I said with a bow of my head. She looked me straight in my red eyes. "um princess?" she blushed a little in embarrassment.
"I need to also ask you a few questions. My mentor wished for me to ask you since you know me at least a little." I gave her a nod. I wouldn't be able to refuse regardless. "first she wanted me to ask what species you were?"
"I am known as a human. Or more specifically an ape who has evolved." she nodded as she wrote that down on a notepad.
"may I ask a potential personal question?" I nodded. "what can you tell me about your clan?" I gave her a small warm smile.
"my clan protected my islands royalty who we called the emperor and the Empress. The family has been around for many centuries with us always having a kind ruler. They made sure the entire land continued to live peacefully with peace talks and being kind to even criminals..." my smile slowly turned into a frown as the memories slowly bled into my happy memories. "their kindness became their downfall. Criminals were no longer executed for crimes fitting the punishment. Soon the prison got to full... then they rebelled. Breaking out as they slaughtered everyone. My clan tried our best to kill them all off against our leader's wishes... but what else could we do..." I looked outside the window as all I saw was the burning town. "knocking them out only allowed them to wake up a few minutes later and continue to kill and destroy." tears came to my eyes.
"people I met..." towns people lying on the ground dead. "people I protected." kids on the ground as I pictured the royal family dead on the floor. "the people I trained with." clansmen being cut down all around me. "my own family..." family members being cut down in front of me. "i failed them all... but at least I cut off the head of the rebellion..." she was looking at me with sadness when I looked back at her. "if I fell in battle saving you I would have regained the honor I lost not being able to prevent my own family from being killed. I would have regained the honor of protecting the royal family." she seemed to look down at the notepad before she lowered it. We both stayed quiet until she gained a thoughtful look on her face before her face lit up. She then quickly got up and rushed out of the room as I looked at her running back in confusion.
"was it something I said?" I simply muttered as I looked back out the window. After about 10 minutes though Shining Armor walked back into the room with a stern gaze. He approached my bed and looked at me straight in the eye. Deciding this was an act of intimidation I glared at him back. He put his face up against mine as he looked up and down my body.
"what...was your duty?" he then asked me looking straight into my eyes once more.
"protect the royal family at all costs... something I am ashamed to say I failed in by just being too far away," I stated.
"would you take it all back if you could?" he then asked.
"I would give. My. Life. To ensure their survival." I then said.
"oh? Then what about Princess Twilight?" he then asked.
"I was given my blade to protect every single member of the royal family. Be they from a different family or not I will protect them." he gave a small smile.
"that conviction is what I was looking for. Now I just have to ask you one more thing." he said sitting down in the seat princess Twilight used to be sitting in. "how would you like to be the personal bodyguard of Princess Twilight?" he then asked as I looked at him confused. "look. I know you lost your arm but from what I'm told you still went and helped her with only a single one. Since at the moment, we have no idea how you got here and we believe you have no idea either?" I nodded. "then we can at least put you in a position so that we can let you know if anything comes up you will know immediately. Plus it means I have somepony trustworthy watching over my sister."
"is this the wish of Princess Twilight?" I asked with a titled head as he looked at me with a small nod. "then I have no reason to be able to deny." he frowned. "if it is the will of the princess I cannot deny it." he gave an exasperated sigh.
"I will let Twilight know then." he said standing up with a smile. "but let me give you a piece of advice. You will be asked to have an opinion on things at some point. I must go let Twilight the good news. Once you get out of bed there is a change of clothes in the bathroom. I will be leaving behind one of the royal guards to bring you to the blacksmith in the town to see the condition of your armor and blade before they bring you to Twilight's castle." I nodded as he walked out of the room. I looked outside before looking at my wounds. Finding them acceptably healed I got up and walked into the bathroom find a pair of clothes along with my slippers.
Quickly putting them on I walked downstairs and quickly found a guard in golden armor who walked over to me. "good afternoon sir. I've been tasked with taking you to the towns blacksmith before taking you to Princess Twilight's castle." I nodded as after signing out we walked outside as I followed the guard.
As I followed him throughout the town I could see the looks of confusion, interest, and awe. I was used to these types of stares as they happened every time my clan patrolled the towns and cities. Soon we reached a building with multiple smokestacks coming out of it. Walking in I immediately spotted my armor as I smiled seeing its condition... it seemed to be stronger than before from just being in its presence. Walking over to it I slowly put my hand up to it and slowly rubbed across the obsidian chest piece. "this armor... has been a pain to make better." I turned my head behind me to see a black stallion. He had on an eye patch and was in a blacksmith attire. "magic almost caused my entire shop to explode. The mix of obsidian and ruby made it extremely difficult for me to even work with! But I did it!" he then yelled out in excitement. "your blade though just needed a quick sharpening and lasting charm... nothing much I could do about your sheath though... so I just made a new one of a magic resistant material to prevent it from being stolen by other unicorns." I nodded. "or well to help prevent it. A pony trained extremely well in magic would be able to get around the magic."
I gave him a nod. "am I good to wear it?" he looked confused but nodded. "I thank you for your hard work. But I'm afraid I do not have any money to pay you for."
"it ain't nothing." he waved a hand at me. "I've been recruited to help keep that armor of yours in top shape! So anytime you come from a battle I request you bring it to me as soon as possible." I gave him a nod as I began to put it on. "can I ask why you are putting it on?"
"its a clan rule to always wear your armor unless specified." he nodded as I tried my best to put my armor on. After about 20 minutes of fumbling, I got it all on although I had to ask the blacksmith to tighten a few areas for me.
I soon followed the guard with my blade on my left side as normal. Soon I could see the familiar look of a castle as there were two more guards standing outside. Approaching them we walked straight past them and into the building where two guards in crystal armor were. Soon though there were leading the two of us as they stopped outside of a room. "the princesses are awaiting you." I nodded as I walked over to the door and pushing it open soon seeing a total of 5 ponies inside of the room. They looked towards the door as I had walked in. princess Twilight looked at me with a smile as did Shining Armor. The other three stared at me impassively... "hello Hanzo." princess Twilight stated as I acknowledged her greeting with a nod. The other three princesses stared at me with narrowed eyes as I approached them and fell to a knee.
"Hanzo... may I ask why you are wearing your armor?" the white princess asked with a stern tone. "you were commanded to not come with it were you not?"
"no princess. I was told to go to the blacksmith to see the state of my armor and weapon before reporting here." I stated still looking down to the floor.
"then why do you have it on?" the blue princess asked.
"it is clan law to wear your armor when meeting royalty unless specifically told not to." I then told them. "if I have dishonored you I will commit seppuku to regain your lost honor."
"Seppuku? What is that?" princess Twilight asked.
"it is to use my own blade to cut into my stomach to kill myself. To regain my lost honor or to die without it..." this was the clan law for those in the middle family. Or those of my family.
"you would... kill yourself just for dishonoring us?" princess Twilight stated in shock. "why?!"
"if it is your will I will discuss clan laws... if it is not then I am sorry to say I am not allowed to explain." they remained silent as I continued to look down. Seppuku for my family was only to be done for those who dishonored the royal family. In all our history it has only happened twice and both of those were when the country was first formed.
"very well... we will respect your laws and forgive your transgression." I bowed my head lower.
"I thank you for being lenient." I simply stated.
"arise guard of Twilight Sparkle."
"I am sorry but it is only the one who I am guarding who can command me now..." I heard a scoff.
"Um... please stand up?" I heard princess Twilight speak up.
"as you command." I slowly stood up to see her face now showing uncertainty. Shining Armor looked impressed and angry. The white princess looked intrigued, the pink princess looked excited, while the blue princess looked slightly angry.
"let me introduce myself. I am Princess Celestia." the white princess stated.
"I am Princess Luna." the blue princess stated.
"and I am princess Mi Amora Cadenza. But I prefer Princess Cadance." the pink one said with a small bow. "and this is my husband prince Shining Armor." my eyes widened in shock as I quickly knelt down in front of him.
"I am sorry for not realizing your situation my prince!" I quickly stated.
"its... alright Hanzo... um, Twilight?"
"Hanzo... you can stand up now." quickly standing up I now saw amusement in Princess Celestia's eyes.