The Vanguard
Chapter 2 "Little Maverick"

(11 years before the kidnapping of Princess Celestia, in a lumber town on the southern border of Equestria.)
Little maverick, a small, grey Pegasus colt with green eyes and a dark green main, was fast asleep in his bed. He was dreaming of flying with his father over their little town in southern equestrian. He was having the time of his life and he knew that the colts from his town would stop teasing him, now that he had his cutie mark and he learned to fly. He was tucked tight in his bed with his night light still on because the darkness scared him very much.

Suddenly his wonderful dream gave way to screaming and he wasn't sure if he was still dreaming or not. Then he realized that he really was hearing screaming and it came from his mother in his parent's bedroom. As soon as he got up in his bed, his mother stopped screaming and not another sound came from down the hallway. The only thing Maverick could hear was the rain beating on the window outside.

Maverick let out a soft cry, "Mom…Dad…" but there was no response. Clearly something was wrong. Despite his fear, he trotted to his door and pushed it open. The hallway was pretty dark but the storm would illuminate house through the windows with every crash of lightening. Maverick could see that his parent's bedroom door was open. He wanted to see that his parents were alright, he needed to be with them because he was so scared. He called to them again, but still there was no response.

Maverick trotted down the hallway. He moved as fast as he could to get to his parents room because he didn't want to be in the dark. He was half expecting to see them getting up to hug him. His hoof steps were quiet despite his haste.

When Maverick made it to the open door, he poked his head around the frame and peered in. Unfortunately for little Maverick, from that point on, his parents wouldn't be a part of his life ever again. Both his parents lay dead on the floor.

Maverick began to whimper, and then sob. It was pretty obvious they were dead because so much blood was on the ground. They were almost holding each other. Then Maverick noticed a dark figure standing outside the window, there was a maniacal laugh coming from the figure. He was wearing a dark robe with a hood. Maverick backed up from the door in fear. The Figure then left off into the woods.
All Maverick could do was call out to the figure "Hey…Hey…." as loud as he could. The Neighbors heard Maverick crying out the window and came to find him huddled next to his parents. That was the longest night of little Mavericks life.

Investigators from Canterlot had been called in to the small town. They searched the house, the town and the nearby forest for traces of the culprit, but the only signs of the murderer that were left were the two bodies of the late pegasi and their son. They had no leads to go on so the case was considered cold.

The town's ponies held a funeral for the lost pegasi and it would be weeks before Maverick would be forced to go back to school. The Neighbors that had found Maverick had taken him in and started to raise him. Maverick, needless to say, was never the same.

Maverick would walk through the woods every so often by himself. He didn't have friends, just ponies that felt bad for him. One day he was trotting along a stream when he heard some pony call to him. Maverick turned and saw a stallion unicorn standing on a boulder next to the stream. He was wearing a black cloak.

Maverick turned around to face him and demanded "Are you the one who killed Mom and Dad? Tell Me!"

The Stallion replied comely

"Your parents, were they fugitives?"

Maverick's expression changed from fierce anger to surprise. He replied

"Um…no"

The Stallion then smiled and said,

"Then no I haven't"

The Stallion began to trot towards Maverick and sat next to him as he thrust his head back to push his hood off. He was a shining brown Stallion with dark eyes. He was wearing armor that came up to his neck and he had a sword.

He said to Maverick, "My name is Demos, I'm from 'The Guild' and I'm currently investigating a crime. What's your name little stallion?"

Maverick replied, "my name …it's Maverick."

"Well Maverick, you look like a very brave Colt. I'm sorry to hear that your parents were taken away from you. Would you like to talk to me about it? I sense that you want to talk to some pony."

"Well… No one can help me; I want my mom and dad back. I miss them so much. I want to find the Pony who took them away."

"I know little Maverick."

"You can't, can you?"

"I cannot search for you, but I do know that you are very smart and very brave. Do you know what the Guild is?"

Maverick had heard about the Guild. He was told they were a group of bad ponies, but he wasn't told why they were.

Maverick : "I heard bad things about the guild,"

Demos : "I see, but you look like you could use our help to find the one who took your parents away. We could teach you to look for him, chase him down, and even to fight him. We could even teach you to protect ponies you care for."

Maverick was very unsure about what Demos was offering. He had never been given a choice to do what he wanted, yet he had never had some pony offer to help either.

"I don't know, I think it would be wrong for me to go looking and starting trouble."

"I know Maverick, and I'll let you think about it. I will be here in the woods for about a week. You can decide later."

Maverick said good bye to the stallion and went home, back to his small town.

Where older ponies had shown pity for little Maverick, the younger colts did not. They continued to tease him about how he will never fly and that his wings would always be useless. The town was only made up of earth ponies.

One day a colt named Bucky, who was bigger than most of the colts and stronger, had been messing with Maverick. He was pushing him around, and making fun of his markless flank. Maverick was of the age to receive his cutie mark, but had not. Bucky had chased Maverick out to the playground and cornered him between closely grouped trees.

"What's wrong blank flank, nowhere to run?"

Bucky then laughed and with his front hoofs pushed Maverick down in the dust.

"Why don't you use your wings and fly away like the chicken you are? OH that's right, you can't! Your useless father never taught you!"

Bucky laughed some more as he beat on maverick with his front hoofs.

"Your father was useless, maybe that's why your mom and dad died."

Suddenly everything got slow like in a dramatic scene in a movie, Bucky's words were unreadable and everything looked red.

Maverick could feel himself turn around and his hind legs flung out and they made contact with Bucky's face.

Bucky maid an "oohf" sound but then went silent as soon as he hit a tree behind him. He hit the tree and then hit the ground.

A couple of the fillies ran off screaming, one of them trotted up to Bucky and proclaimed that he was knocked out and bleeding from the mouth. The rest of the young ponies stared at Maverick in shock. Many of them were horrified and backed away from Maverick. Maverick never felt so alone, so outside the herd.

He ran off into the woods leaving a cloud of dust behind him. He was crying, he ran up to his old house, the one that his parents were murdered in. He sat on the steps and cried for an hour. No one came to get him. He was alone. It was then he decided to go to the woods to find Demos. None of the ponies would ever forgive him for what he did, or at least that's what he thought.

Maverick trotted along the same river he found Demos; he looked and looked but didn't see him. Then Maverick sat down and started to sob again.

"Hello again, " Said Demos after he teleported next to Maverick.

Demos: "Are you ready?"

Maverick wiped his face.

Maverick: "Yes!"

The guild is a group of mercenary ponies including earth, pegasi and unicorn ponies. Some of them former royal guard but most of them are from social degenerate life styles. They take contracts ranging from capturing criminals to VIP Protection and they even aid in rescue and recovery during natural disasters. Despite their willingness to help, they are not sanctioned by equestrian royalty.

As it turned out, Maverick was much more than just brave. He was bold and a quick learner. Working his way through training he studied under different masters. They worked to hone his every ability. He learned not just how to fly but how to perform combat maneuver, how to handle a sword and use other various weapons and equipment as well as bare hoofed combat. He also learned to use his surroundings to effectively evade and pursue.

His training would prove very useful. When he began taking on real missions, he achieved success easily and was even given command over a squad of five ponies. He would lead them into and out of every mission safely.

Maverick was never just satisfied with his success so he never stopped learning. He even studied magic, just to get an edge on magically talented foes. He pushed to better himself for him and for others.

He made many allies and he also made friends. On one mission he came across an abandoned baby fire dragon, she was red with an orange underbelly. He ended up taking care of her and she began to learn from him everything. He named her Sarah.
He also made friends with another guild solder, a white Pegasus named Lillie. He only out ranked her by one level. She was the complete opposite of Maverick because she was always easygoing and calm. She could always calm Maverick when he was too intense with his studies and training. They had a close relationship.

Maverick's success would continue for years and the fort where The Guild held its headquarters had become his new home. Demos would receive the rank of General and take the place as the head Guild master.