Antares spent the next three days in the library with only Twilight to keep him company. He would occasionally go outside for some food at the local dinner. The food was ok but definitely not the best. His mother's food was way better in his opinion. That's what he missed the most his mom, she was always there for him and cared deeply about him. Antares never knew his biological mother his dad rarely talked about her, the only thing he knew about her was that she passed away a long time ago. He didn't know how but that's all his dad told him.

As much as these thoughts haunted him he knew he needed to move past them and focus on the present which right now was to go to the castle.

''You know you can go home now right you don't have to follow me.'' the lavender mare said as she walked up the steps leading up to the big double doors.

''I'm not following you, I need to go inside to see something.''

Twilight raised an eyebrow.''What do need to see?''

Antares stopped at the top of the stair.''Three days ago I took the test to see if I'm eligible to join the Royal Guard.''

Twilight's eyes widened.''You took the test too, my brother also took it three days ago!''

Antares thought for a second.''Is your brother by any chance Shining Armour?''

''Yes he is, do you know him?''

Antares just noticed that the two looked very alike despite the age difference.''Yes we meet in the train on the way here.''

As if on cue Shining Armour came up the stair and saw the two.''Hey Antares.''

He turned to his sister.''Hi sis, Antares did they post it yet?''

Antares pushed the big double doors open.''Let's see.''

The two roamed the main hallway until they reached the door labeled 230. It was crowded with ponies struggling to get a look at the medium sized paper.

Antares tried peeking over the crowd. They had put the names in alphabetical order so Shining Armour should be first. He was able to spot Shining Armours name along with 10 or so names he didn't recognize.

He saw lots of names except for his. Fortunately once most of the ponies left he found his name on the bottom right of the paper. He sighed in relief as he turned to Shining.

''We made it Shining.'' he said with a smile.

Shining Armour started shaking and jumping around.''Really! Wow, I didn't think I was going to make it.'' He started staring into space.''Oh I can't wait to tell mom and dad!''

Antares was going to speak when the door popped open.''Alright newbies you all are the ones who will have a chance to join the guard!'' The gray-haired pony glared at them.''Get in a line!''

They all got in a line extremely fast and stood up high.

Sarg started walking slow staring at each one of them.''You all better listen closely cause I'm only going to explain this once.''When he reached the end of the line he walked in the other direction.''Just because you passed the test doesn't mean ANYTHING, as far as I'm concerned this test just showed me your not dumb.''

He walked until he faced Shining Armour who was nervous but kept a serious look on his face.

''Are you ready Shining boy?''

''Ye...Yes sir.'' he stuttered

Sarg chuckled.''Good, I can't wait to get started.''


The next few months were busy and challenging for the two. They had to go to the training camp every day from sunrise to sunset and they had to sleep in tents with very uncomfortable beds.

The training was easier, while it was hard it was normal for Antares unlike Shining who was completely new at this. Sarg would particularly get mad at shining when he didn't do the exercise correct. And if he did it wrong twice in a row he would make him run around the whole field three times.

Shining Armour looked like he wouldn't make it through the year so Antares has to give him a much-needed talk.''Look man I know how stressful this is for you and even me. I hate seeing you run almost two miles everyday because you don't do the exercise right or whatever-''

Shining cut him off.''I know but common! I do one small mistake and he makes such a big deal about it.'' His expression showed concern.''Maybe I shouldn't go through with this and go back to cooking.''

''No! The problem here is not that your not good enough, it's that you lack anger.'' He noticed his bewildered expression.''Harness the frustration that the captain gives you and use it on the field.''

Shining still wasn't catching on. Antares sighed and put up his hoof.''Hit me there.''

Shining punched it weakly.''Common again! The next hit came a little stronger.''Again, don't be such a weakling!''

That set him off, with a strong forward punch he hit Antares right in the hoof making him fall back.

''There you go!'' He said as he got up from the ground.''Now just use that tomorrow ok.''

Shining stood there smiling to himself.''That surprisingly felt good, didn't think I had that in me.''

Antares smiled back.''Don't get carried away Shining, you don't want to see me 'frustrated'.''

''Well see.''


The next months indeed got better for the unicorn. He became much more serious and that overall helped improve drastically reaching extremely close to Antares level. Sarg was very pleased with the two's improvement. The old captain was very impressed with Antares. He could tell Antares had been trained very hard by his father wich explained why he was extremely good at one to one combat. But at the same time he worried that his emotions would greatly affect not only him but all his peers, which is why he needed to have a talk with Celestia.

''So, you worry that he might not be able to control his emotions.''

The Captain bit his lip.''Well... it hasn't happened yet but there's a high probability. I mean his performance is one of the best we've ever had.'' He thought of one of the instances Antares almost hurt someone.''But just last month he almost broke someone's forearm''

Celestia turned to face him with a reassuring smile.''You worry too much my old friend, not every pony is like their ancestor.''

Sarg sighed and took deep breaths.''Yea, I guess your right.'' When he was opening the doors to leave the room he was stoped by a voice.

''Please don't mention Antare's father to him.'' Her look now serious.''It's a sensitive topic to him.''

Sarg took a small bow.''You have my word.''


Things are going to start making sense as the story progresses. Hope you liked this chapter :)