Corsair

Bonfire entered his small office in the barracks of the Royal Guard in Canterlot. The office wasn't much, just a scuffed, scroll-covered desk with a bright lamp. There was a large portrait of Princess Celestia on one wall, but otherwise the walls were pretty bare. Bonfire circled around to the back of his desk. He removed his helm with his hooves and laid it on an empty spot on the desk. Free of the helm, he shook his short orange and yellow mane in an attempt to straighten it a bit. Singling out one of the scrolls on the desk, Bonfire's horn lit up with a red glow. The scroll unrolled, and he spent a couple of minutes reading the contents. Putting the scroll aside, only then did he look at the two guardsponies standing at attention before him. Both of the white pegasus before him looked as if they had been in a fight. Their coats were filthy, their armor no less so, and dented in places besides. The one on the right had one of his wings in a sling, while the one on the left was obviously favoring his bandaged front leg. Bonfire fixed the ponies with a glare. "So, which one of you wants to explain this?" he asked them, calmly. Both of the ponies began to talk at once. Bonfire slammed a hoof down on the desk. "I said ONE of you explain !" he shouted, letting some of his anger show. The two guardsponies looked at each other for a moment. The one on the left nodded, and they both turned back to Bonfire. " Well, Sergeant, it was... it was a bet," the right pony said, nervously. "Silver Spear and I decided to see who could run the obstacle course fastest... at night." "While you were on duty?" asked Bonfire, turning his attention to Sliver Spear. The pony with the wounded leg swallowed nervously. "Yes, Sergeant," he answered. Bonfire began moving around his desk as he spoke. "So, you two geniuses decided to have a race, on duty, at NIGHT, on the advanced obstacle course?" he asked, already knowing the answer. "And you BOTH injured yourselves enough that you're going to miss duty?" He moved around so that he was directly having the two errant guardsponies. The pair just dropped their heads and mumbled out "Yes, Sergeant." Bonfire began a rant that questioned the two pegasus' parentage, and went on from there. "And NOW I have to rewrite the whole duty schedule because you two are unfit for duty!" he concluded. The two guardsponies were avoiding his gaze now. It almost seemed to them that flames were jumping in the sergeant's eyes. Bonfire finally turned away and walked back behind his desk. His horn began to glow again, and a quill rose from the inkwell. He began writing on the scroll he had read from earlier. "You're both on KP for the next month," he announced, "and count yourselves lucky that I don't go to the Commander and get your pay docked." "But Sarge!" Silver Spear began. Bonfire glared at the pegasus. "Care to make it two months?" he asked, menacingly. The guardspony just gulped in reaction, and mumbled "No, Sergeant." "Good." Bonfire finished what he was writing and rerolled the scroll. "Now get out of my office. I want to see that armor repaired before the end of the week." The two pegasus both snapped back to attention, and then turned to leave. "Oh, and by the way," Bonfire said to their retreating formed. The guardsponies froze and turned back. "There had better be some good hay fries at lunch tomorrow," Bonfire said, smirking. The guardsponies left, heads down in resignation. ((I know I didn't leave a whole lot of room here for a reply, but wanted to post this as an introduction.))

I want to link here my introduction post. I had a brief conversation with Tales about the structure of the Guard for this RP.: http://equestria.electronook.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=945

Roleplay Type: Mane RP Name: Bonfire Sex: Male Age: Stallion Species: Unicorn Eye colour: Red Coat: Red Mane/Tail: Mane and tail are striped orange and yellow. Mane kept short to fit under helm. Physique: Large and well muscled for a unicorn. He can't quite match up to a strong earth pony, but that doesn't stop him from trying. Residence: Canterlot Occupation: Sergeant in the Royal Equestrian Army (REA), currently assigned as a Royal Guard Cutie Mark: An orange and yellow flame on top of a stack of logs. Bonfire's special talent is Fire; creating it, controlling it, and putting it out if necessary. History: Bonfire's family has shown an affinity to fire-based magic for many generations. His mother actually used her talent to prevent wildfires on the Saddleveil Plains where he grew up. It was during a particularly dry season one summer, when a young Bonfire was out playing in the fields with his dog, that the two of them found themselves cut off from home by a rapidly moving fire. As the flames encircled them, Bonfire instinctively created a created a wall of flame of his own to prevent the uncontrolled flames from reaching them. When the ponies fighting the fires reached them, Bonfire saw a squad of REA soldier ponies that had been sent to help. He was so impressed by the soldiers that he decided that he not only wanted to protect ponies, he wanted to to do it as soldier for Equestria. That's when his cutie mark appeared, representing flame not as a danger, but as a guardian. Bonfire spent most of career in the REA far from the major cities, protecting outlying pony settlements in the wilder parts of Equestria. As he advanced, he often found himself in the position of mentoring and training young ponies, and telling stories of the things he'd experienced. Many of the young soldiers would just laugh at Bonfire's "war stories," until one of the officers confirmed that it actually happened. When Princess Luna returned to Equestria, Bonfire was assigned to the Royal Guard in Canterlot. He was to help train an expanded Guard now charged with the protection of two princesses. Character Summary: Bonfire can create a wall of flames to keep attackers away, and scare off any aggressive creatures that might attack pony settlements. He has a strong desire to use his abilities to protect the Princesses and ponies in general. Bonfire unquestionably has a temper to go with his fiery appearance and talent. His control of his fire-based magic varies with his emotions, and becomes harder to control when he becomes angry. More than one soldier will swear that they actually saw flames in Bonfire's eyes when he was "chewing them out". But behind the hardened shell of a senior NCO, Bonfire really does enjoy his role as a trainer and mentor to younger ponies. He recently volunteered to teach a young filly, Fire Heart, to control her magic which is very similar to his own. Bonfire does keep one secret though: he does not trust Princess Luna. Though he is dedicated to Princess Celestia, he fears that Luna could slip back into the behaviors that turned her into Nightmare Moon. Though Princess Luna seems to be reformed, and is adapting to life in modern Equestria, he still wonders if she is hiding her true intentions. (References 1 2) Likes: Fire, discipline, getting deployed out of Canterlot, and has secret weakness for cherry pies. Dislikes: Writing reports, cold, cocky young soldier ponies. Bonfire sketch by Clockwise!

Welcome Kishmet! I'm another who would be very reluctant to profess my love of Ponies. The only person I had to explain it to was my 15-year old son, because he would see his Dad looking at MLP stuff on the internet... awkward...

Welcome System. Don't worry, I don't think anyone really watches this show in any other country either. I mean, it's a show for little girls, right? Probably no one over the age of 8 watches MLP.... Oh, wait...

Ok, I've watched the new episode today, and it featured a couple of the Royal Guards prominently. They guards they showed seemed to be based on the palace guard in Great Britain. So, my thinking is that there is a unit within the guards the performs ceremonial functions, as the Queen's Guard in GB is a special unit of the Army. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Guard. So the ponies we see with Celestia are really just there to show off their pretty armor :-).