The door to Barrack #4 swung open and caught the attention of the three ponies inside it. In stepped a navy blue unicorn that wore newly polished silver armor that reflected much like a mirror in the light. The ponies, two pegasi, one taller than the other, and one earth pony stopped what they were doing and lined up beside each other, clicking their hooves together and standing at attention and saluting.

The unicorn moved towards the three ponies with a blank expression, stopping just before them. "At ease, fellas."

The three dropped their salutes but kept at attention.

"Listen up, we're all heading to Canterlot. Captain Armor and the Princesses have ordered that we gather a fourteen pony squad by the end of the weekend and report back to the Crystal Empire Sunday evening. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," the three said in unison.

"Very good. Don't bother packing anything other than your armor, you won't need anything else. We will be gone for four days. No lounging, no drinking, no free time. Just recruiting. I expect to see you all at the train station at five," he then turned around and walked back to the door.

The taller pegasus leaned closer to the cyan-maned pegasus and spoke quietly. "Talk about a fun killer."

"Don't think I didn't hear you, Stratus," the unicorn turned and glared towards the pegasus, then back forward and out the door.

The purple-maned pegasus' cheeks heated in embarrassment as the others chuckled a bit.

"Well, you all heard the lieutenant. We'd better get ready," spoke Glowing Blade.

***

Shield stood on the wood-planked platform at the Crystal Empire's small train station where two other ponies stood with luggage, waiting for their train to Canterlot. The sun was beginning to move towards the western horizon, but sunset was still hours away. The air outside was cool with very little humidity due to the climate of the north.

Cold but calm breezes flowed across the valley landscape of the empire and was a constant, quick reminder to those not native to the area that warmer clothes were necessary to be comfortable. Being from Canterlot, Shield had a lighter coat which did not shield much to the cold, unlike the Crystal ponies who had much thicker coats and blood that meant they were used to the far-northern hemisphere climate. Shivering just the slightest, Shield zipped up his light grey hooded jacket and looked around for both the train and the others he was bringing with him.

Minutes later, three stallion figures walked—one floating in the air beside them—down the dirt path leading to the small train depot that caught Shield's attention. He narrowed his eyes onto them, then huffed in a bit of frustration. "About time..."

Gliding across the train tracks and floating just beside Shield smiled Stratus. "Hey boss, long time no see," he chuckled as the other two walked up.

"Oh please, we saw him earlier today," Swift Sword rolled his eyes and stopped next to Stratus who landed on the platform between them.

"I know that! A few hours is a long time you know..."

Golden Blade rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. "Whatever you think buddy."

"At least you three made it," Shield said flatly. The three turned to Shield, then to each other.

"Hey, boss. Everything alright?" Stratus asked, furrowing his brow.

"Everything's just great, Stratus," Shield replied, still flatly.

"You're not usually this serious," Swift chimed in.

"Did you have another hard night of sleep?" Golden asked with a grin, Stratus and Swift gave him a strange look. The yellow earth pony's grin went away quickly and he cleared his throat. "Sorry."

"I will tell you all on the train, if it ever gets here," Shield turned his head in both directions, still no sign of the train.

"Is it because we're going to Canterlot?" Stratus asked.

Shield paused for a moment, then nodded once. "Yes. Like I said, I'll tell you all on the train."

Moments after, the ground shook in a low unnatural rumble as the train to Canterlot roared closer to the station and let out a long and short toot of its horn before it screeched to a halt at the platform.

“All aboard!” called the conductor, who trotted off of the train and was ushering ponies onto the platform and greeting each and every one of them to the Crystal Empire. Meanwhile, the engineer left the locomotive and went into the small building to grab a bite to eat before the next trip back to Canterlot.

Once the ponies on the train were off, the process of boarding began, only seven ponies including Shield and the others in total boarding the ten carriage train. Following a fifteen minute wait, the train was switched onto a turn-around track and sent back in the direction it came from.

"Talk to us, lieutenant. Why are we going to Canterlot?" Asked Golden Blade, sitting on the train seat across from the navy blue unicorn.

Shield moved his eyes over to the yellow earth pony and sat up from the window. Straightening his back, he looked to Swift and Stratus. "You two, over here."

The two pegasi sat down on opposite sides beside Golden and kept their attention to the lieutenant, ears up.

Shield inhaled a bit. "Earlier today I was called into a meeting at the Spire with the princesses and Captain Armor. Princess Celestia informed us that there's...things...going on up north in the northern Griffon kingdoms."

"What kind of things?" Swift tilted his head a bit.

"Bad things. Such as slavery and dictatorship that no one wants. As I was saying, I was ordered to gather you three and head to Canterlot to put together a fourteen pony squad. We will be deploying into North Griffonia by the time we are done."

From what Shield could tell, his fellow comrades' hearts sank into their stomachs at his last sentence.

"Deployment?" Stratus' golden pupils shrunk to pinpricks.

Shield nodded slowly. "I am afraid so."

"We...haven't had a war with the Griffons for decades," Swift gulped.

"That you know of," Shield cleared his throat. "The Canterlot guard was deployed to their kingdom across the ocean a year ago. It only lasted a week, maybe less, but there was still bloodshed. That won't be happening here. We're going against a rogue military leader and his men, not an entire country."

The three eased themselves, but remained nervous. Shield noticed this and sighed.

"I know you three might be nervous, or even scared, but we're guards. Soldiers of Equestria. It is our job to protect others, even if they're not from here. We signed up for this, there's no backing out now."

The other three remained silent, Shield sighed again and relaxed into his seat and looked back out the window, Stratus and Swift leaving to sit elsewhere in the cabin.

***

Around midnight that night, the train chuffed through mountainous tunnels and over tall bridges as it approached the magnificent mountainside capital city of Canterlot. Swift, Stratus, and Golden looked out the windows on both sides of the car, watching the city gradually move closer to them. The three had eyes of awe, having never seen Canterlot outside of pictures.

The train passed by a small outpost where two guards stood at attention, inspecting the train as it went by, then returning their focus ahead of them as the last car passed by at a slow speed and into the station where it screeched to a halt. At that time, the station was almost dead with little activity in and around it. Both the conductor and engineer left the train, swapping for a new engineer and conductor who greeted the passengers to Canterlot.

After checking out of the station, the four went out onto the street in front of the station.

"Listen up boys, the Princesses were generous enough to pay for two hotel rooms for us, so we won't be in barracks. Take your pick on who you would like to spend these next few nights with."

Swift moved to Stratus' side. The taller white pegasus smiled and wrapped a hoof around the cyan-maned pony's neck. Golden rolled his eyes, then stood next to Shield. "I'll stay with you, let them share a bed."

Immediately after, both pegasi's cheeks turned a dark red. "Heeeey, we're not gay for each other!"

"Suuuure you aren't," Golden smirked.

Shield raised a hoof to pause them. "The rooms have two beds. No one will be sharing a bed."

***

Checking into the Royal Crown Hotel in the downtown area of Canterlot, the four split up and went to their rooms beside each other. Swift and Stratus going into their room, Shield and Golden into theirs where they relaxed and immediately climbed into bed. Instead of going straight to sleep, Shield waited for Golden to doze off before levitating up the same book from a few nights ago.

He kept his horn lit just enough to shed light onto the pages, his eyes moving across the lines carefully.

Golden yawned and turned over, squinting his eyes a little before opening them and noticing Shield reading. "Lieutenant?" He spoke quietly.

Startled, Shield dropped the book onto the floor beside his bed with a thud and looked over at Golden. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"I was for a second," Golden yawned. "What about you? And just what were you reading?"

Shield froze, he looked around slowly. "Just some new spells that could be used for combat," he lied.

Golden furrowed a brow, then shrugged and turned back over. "If you say so," he yawned again. "Goodnight lieutenant."

"Night," Shield laid down, arching his back to stretch briefly and sighing.

***

The sun gradually rose over central Equestria, flooding the land with bright, warm light and served as a wake up call for everypony. The ponies of the city made their way out to begin the last day of work for the week. Shops opened, as did stands at the local market and around downtown.

With a yawn, Shield slowly opened his light green eyes and stared upwards, eyelids hanging halfway still. He reached a hoof out from under the sheets and rubbed one of his eyes, then sat up against the back of the bed. The navy blue unicorn closed his eyes, a cold chill went up his spine and he briefly shook. He opened his eyes again and glanced to his right, seeing Golden wasn't in his bed and that the sheets were slightly rustled about with the yellow earth pony nowhere to be seen.

Vision clearing completely, Shield climbed out of bed and looked around the small hotel room, then to a mirror hanging on the wall and noticed the reflection of the bathroom door that was cracked open with some steam spilling out into the room and evaporating into air. He eased himself, then sat back down on his bed and waited patiently for Golden to finish showering.

Minutes later, the bathroom door swung open and the light flipped off, and out walked a messy-damp-maned yellow earth pony with a white towel wrapped around the back of his neck. Golden whistled, then stopped noticing Shield was up. He smiled. "Morning lieutenant."

"G'morning," Shield replied, levitating a clean folded towel and standing up off of his bed once more. "Sleep well?"

"Sure did," Golden trotted over to the small dresser between their beds and combing his chocolate-brown mane until it was neat. "What about you?"

Shield shrugged. "Slept alright I guess. I had some weird dreams."

"What of?"

Shield stopped just before the bathroom door. "Just...things."

Golden turned to Shield and cocked an eyebrow. "If you...say so."

Shield then went into the bathroom and started a warm shower. They had a long weekend ahead.

Author's Note

So, in this chapter, there is a reference to one of my other stories. Can you name it?