The Cutie Mark Ripper

“Come on, you Tin Buckets! Put your rears into high gear!” Shining Armor yelled at the guards who were doing laps around the track, “Except for you Tin Buckets! Keep it up, soldier!” An Earth Pony stallion whinnies with pride, and runs faster than before. Shining Armor walks over to Gallus, who was giving orders to the nonpony guards. Once they walked away, Gallus turned to Shining, “So you know the truth behind the ‘disappearances’?” Shining did air hooves.

“Well yeah. Everyone in the guard knows. Once one guard knows, the news spreads like wildfire, but we swore allegiance to the Princess. This news won’t get out to the public.” Gallus and Shining walk together, watching the soldiers.

“That’s good. When I read the scroll, I burned it so Flurry couldn’t read it by accident.”

“She’s your daughter, right?”

“My pride and joy, even now when she’s going through her teenage years. She’s kind and forgiving, but her worldview could shatter if she knew the beings she brings hope to are being slaughtered.”

“So she’s a precious little cinnamon roll, huh?”

“That’s right.”

“Yeah, I know someone who sounds just like that. Are you familiar with Silverstream?”

“Niece to Queen Novo? How could I not? She and Flurry are always bouncing off the walls during diplomatic missions to Mount Aris. She seems like a nice hippogriff. Are you friends with her or something?”

“Well yeah. We became friends at Twilight’s Friendship School during its early years, saving Equestria together with our other friends. After we graduated, I guess something just clicked because I became very romantically attached.”

“D’awwwww, young love.”

“Oh stop it.” Gallus playfully punches Shining Armor while the latter laughs, “But yeah, I kinda wanted something more than friendship. She’s just the most precious thing, and with my career in the Equestrian Army, I could protect her from any threat. But…”

“Things didn’t work out.”

“I’m not upset about it. I explained my feelings and she explained she doesn’t feel that way, but I think that only strengthened our friendship. Now, Silverstream is looking to help me with my military job in any way she can.”

“And being connected to the Hippogriff Royal Family is a big deal. Queen Novo can be such a pain to work with sometimes, but we manage to get meetings with her and such. I guess the isolationist mentality never left her.”

“Yeah, it’s kinda the same in Griffonstone. We are so used to being alone and only taking what we can get, opening up our borders was tough.”

“I can see why, but it’s good to see the idea of isolationism leave the minds of the younger generation.”

Suddenly, a unicorn mare guard runs up to Gallus and Shining Armor, “Sirs! We just installed the policing force on several streets of Canterlot.”

“Finally.” Gallus replies, “A bunch of other cities already have the police force. I have no idea why the Princess didn’t install one here in the capital.”

“Trust me, I tried to after the Canterlot Invasion, but with the return of the Crystal Empire, I had to abandon that plan and go deal with the problems over there.”

“Well, no use in complaining now. We have our police force. Thank you for the info, Pearl Diamond.” The guard, Pearl Diamond, salutes and runs off. Gallus sighs and sits at a bench, “I’ll be honest with you Captain. Morale is going to take a massive hit if the news gets out that the missing ponies were killed. I know seven isn’t a lot, but in terms of lives, that’s a lot. If a few rumors and three powered up villains almost caused the end of Equestria, I don’t know what will happen when the public finds out.”

Shining Armor hops on the sat and pats Gallus’ back, “Calm down Gallus. Look in front of you. Do you see all these soldiers? Everyone here will protect Equestria and beyond from any threat that faces our way. It’s like you said, we must protect the innocent from any threat.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right!” Gallus jumped out of his seat, “We just gotta have our heads high!”

“That's the spirit!” Shining Armor gets up from his seat as well, “Come on, let’s go run some drills.”

“Already ahead of you.” Gallus says while holding up a megaphone, “Alright you sad sacks! Everyone, step into formation! Basic exercise drills!”