My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: The Guard Years
Chapter 1: Introduction
Ponies are generally peaceful beings. Sure, they can argue, but usually, everything remains peaceful. But there are exceptions. Mishaps, but sometimes intentional. And for those ponies, the Royal Guard exists, to keep everything peaceful and to solve crime in the rare occasion that it does pop-up and to aid civilian ponies in peril. If crimes occur however, it usually happens at night, when all ponies lay asleep in their beds, dreaming sweet dreams, or getting some help from Princess Luna in case of nightmare's.
To more important matters. Everypony remembers the royal wedding, I mean, who doesn't? The wedding was beautiful, the food delicious and the party was swinging. Unfortunatly, there were some unexpected guests. They don't need introduction, you have all seem them be defeated by Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. you have all seen the story through the eyes of the six heroic ponies.
But what about everypony else? We can't possibly tell you the story from every point of view? No, but I will give you the point of view from a pony that you don't know. This is the story of a Canterlot Wedding through the eyes of... Shadow Eye.
And seeing how the regular Royal Guard had to sleep, it was time for Luna's guard to watch the night. And for Shadow Eye, to take post.
1 month before the wedding...
"All right everypony, ready to wake up!" was heard through the night.
the sound came from the Palace grounds, east wing. The barracks of Luna's guard.
The guard rose themselves from their bed without complaint, went to their lockers and donned their armor, which was purple and black in appearance.
Every one of the guards had the same dark grey fur and yellow slit eyes. But those features were even more outspoken in the pony who had awakened them.
Shadow Eye was the captain of Luna's guards and he's larger then all of them, fittingly, he's comparable to Shining Armor in size. He was of the Pegasus race and his wings were rather big, of comparable size to Princess Luna's. His eyes were a lighter and brighter shade of yellow, but that only added to the generally scary impression a pony would have when bumping into Shadow Eye.
The fact that he litteraly had a yellow slit eye as cutie-mark didn't help.
Shadow Eye got his name from the bright tapetum in his eyes, which reflected so much light that it was near impossible to hide in the shadows from him.
The other Guards quickly stood on a line that was marked on the ground so the captain could inspect them before heading out for duty.
Shadow Eye joined Luna's Guard as soon as it was re-formed after 1000 years of abscence. After initial training he was named captain, since he the best of the first batch of guards. Being the best was not easy, all the bat-ponies (sub-species of the Pegasi) are strong, able fliers (better in manouvering then speed though) and to most ponies: scary. But they were all nocturnal (they operated better at night then during daylight) and that's why only they were chosen for Luna's Guard.
"Attention!" Shadow Eye called.
Every guard immediatly raised a hoof to his forehead.
"At ease!"
Now every guard put his hoof back down while Shadow Eye made his inspection, looking at the armor and appearance of every guard. He paid careful attention to each of them. Did they rest wel? Are they fit for tonight? Is their armor clean?
"Well Cloud Strifer? Your eyes are dim and your stance is feeble, what happened to you private?"
Cloud cleared his throat and responded
"The cut I got during my training incident started to throb again and I couldn't sleep - sir."
Shadow looked at him thoroughly.
"You don't seem fit for duty today private, get to the infirmary and let them have another look, you'll report back when you're better, dismissed for today."
"Yes - sir" Cloud said, he then bowed his head slightly and trotted off to the infirmary.
At the end, Shadow constated that the rest of the privates were fit for duty. He was just about to assign the tasks for today when the front door of the barracks swung open and a very familiar face came in.
All the guards took of their helmets and made deep bow, Shadow followed in their example, then lifted his head and said
"Princess Luna, whatfor do you grace the barracks with your prescence?"
Luna looked at the recruits and turned her attention to Shadow Eye
"Thy precense is required at the Royal Palace, Captain"
Shadow had to keep his jaw from dislodging. If Princess Luna came to tell him personally that his precense was required, then it must be for something for very important.
"Very well princess, recruits, officer Blue Coat will take the lead for today"
A pony with a perfectly groomed darkblue color stepped forward and took the list of tasks from Shadow.
"I'm ready to leave you're majesty"
"Then follow me Captain"
Princess Luna and Shadow Eye left the barracks and walked on the road connecting it with the inner palace grounds. The Pegasi had initiated Spring just a week ago and the flowers were slowly coming into bloom. The tree's leaves had returned to a slight dark green color and the garden was cleaned, all the fallen leaves had been swept away and it all looked majestic. In daylight that is, it was nightime now, so the colors didn't matter much. Yet, Shadow enjoyed the clean garden, and he could still faintly see the colors thanks to his improved night vision.
They arrived at the main palace building after a short walk. Celestia's night guards opened the door.
Shadow could just faintly hear Luna's guards march out of the barracks and dispersing into Canterlot. Luna led Shadow throught the corridors to the south-west wing of the palace. Shadow already knew that this was not Luna's nor Celestia's wing, this was the guest wing of the palace.
Luna stopped at a large decorative door in front of the tower of the wing.
"Whatever is told here will remain between these walls, understood captain?"
Shadow raised his right hoof to his front head "Understood your majesty"
Luna then opened the door with use of her magic.
Inside of the room was one pony. Shadow immediatly recognized who he was dealing with. This pony was a mare, that was for damm sure. She had a purple-pinkish fur, a yellow-pink-purple mane and tail, a small crown on her head, a cutie mark shaped in the form of a heart seemingly made of crystal, purple eyes, but the most distinctive features of her were definitely her horn AND her wings, marking her as royalty. She was absolutely gorgeous.
"Princess Cadance?" Shadow asked in a confuse tone. Shadow had grown up in Canterlot and had seen Cadance a few times, but he never had a long conversation with her. The only ponies he knew she often hung out with was Twilight and...
"Ah, Captain Shadow Eye, just the colt we needed" A voice said from behind Shadow, who turned around and faced Shining Armor.
"Hello Captain Shining Armor, now if I might be so kind to inquire why I was called here?" Shadow still thought the royal Canterlot accent sounded redicolous with his heavy voice.
Princess Luna closed the door behind her while she moved to stand over to the window. Shining Armor went over to Cadance who happily gave him a hug. "Ah yes, captain" Cadance said "We needed to talk about about the security for our upcoming event" Cadance beamed after saying those words, and Shining Armor smile looked like it would rip his face open if it went any further. Shadow only had to guess the obvious.
"You two are going to marry ?" Shining Armor and Princess Cadance nodded in unison. Shadow's jaw dropped, but he quickly regained composure.
"Congratulation to the both of you then, I-I don't really know what to say"
Shining Armor cleared his throat
"The reason why we called you here is becouse we need to improve the nightly inspectations of the town. everything must be perfectly safe and all the roads and trains must run day and night in two days, when our wedding will be announced to the public."
Shadow nodded and replied
"When exactly is your wedding going to take place?"
"In 1 month to be precice"
Shining armor smiled at Cadance who returned the smile. Cadance then spoke
"You'll be up to the task I hope, captain?"
Shadow gave Candance a salute and said
"Of course, making sure all infrastructure is working and ensuring safety is nothing the Lunar Guards can't handle"
At this comment, Luna's gaze shot towards Shadow Eye. Shadow turned his head for a short moment and thought he saw her smile for a short while.
"I think our bussiness is concluded Shadow, you can go now" Cadance said.
Shadow nodded and walked out of the room followed by Princess Luna.
"Shadow..." Luna said hesistantly.
"Yes your majesty?"
"Make sure this task gets carried out without faults" Luna then turned her head and trotted towards the east wing of the Palace.
Shadow watched the Princess turn the corner. He knew what she was going through. Luna wanted to be recognized by the ponies as much as Princess Celestia. And for that, he could not let her guards make a bad example of themselves.
Shadow returned to the barracks and went to the officers bunks, where his desk was located. He immediatly took a sheet of paper and a pen "thif wd be mch esire f I cld se magc" was his usual complaint as he took the pen between his teeth and started a new list of tasks to give to the guards tomorrow.
Meanwhile Luna had just raised the moon and was watching over the night. Her thoughts raced all over the place. She didn't want to screw up the wedding by some mistake she or her guards made. She didn't want to lose the partial recognition she had gained during Nightmare Night in Ponyville.
But she felt at ease all of the sudden. She knew Shadow wouldn't let her down. He was one of the most loyal guards she knew, and that said a lot. Luna didn't easily trust someone, and her guards, however loyal they are from the beginning, are no exception. With her mind at peace she made a quick turn and flew back in the direction of the palace to make another survey of Canterlot.
Shadow had finished his new taskslist and let out a sigh. he had nearly reshuffled all the guards assignments. He put down the pen and went to his bunk, tired for the night. He would have to wake in daylight to get everything in order and explain everything to the officers. Guard duties aside, Shadow felt sleep creeping and taking hold of his eyelids as he lay down on his bunkbed. Ugh, he hated daylight, his eyes were very sensitive to it and he could never use all of his skill during daytime. It was his one big weakness, aside to several small ones: like loud music, he would wince slightly when one of the guards would put on some dubstep etc... during resttime. The worst thing was that it was nearly always the same artist, a mare DJ who went under the name of DJ Pon-3 or something like that. Shadow had always been a lover of classical music.
Somewhere far from Equestria, a mare was enjoying some music. Although she could hardly be described as a pony, she was tall, had a hard black coat and green eyes, a horn like that of a unicorn, but instead of being straight, it was curved and had cracks and holes in it, her wings looked like they would better fir on an oversized insect then on a pony. And the music she was listening to, was the sweet music of hoofsteps, hundreds, thousands of hoofs that made the ground tremble like a partyroom quacking to deep bass sound, all marching neatly in formation, the pony-like creatures numbered in the tens of thousands. The pony-like mare smiled, a grin that would give her the world. "Perfect"
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: The Guard Years
Chapter 2: Starting Preparations
30 days before the wedding...
Shadow and his officers at around a table in the barracks, each of them pondering the new task division. And each of them with a headache. Bat ponies weren’t used to sunlight and their skills were hampered in it. Their sensitive eyes gave them an especially splitting migraine when they were awake during midday, when the sun was at it’s zenith. Luckily, the barrack’s curtains were blocking most of the light from outside. Shadow had woken the officers up early to inform them of the change in the tasks for today, the other Guards were still in their bunks, asleep.
“So everyone understands and agrees with the new schedule?” Shadow asked?
The officers agreed with a simple nod.
Good, now I can get an hour more sleep before I’ll have to wake them again.
A seemingly short hour later, Shadow did just that as he woke the sleeping Lunar Guard at sunset. The guards stood in line while the officers explained the new tasks to their squads.
About an hour later, everything was in order, the officers formed their squads of 5 guards and marched out of the barracks, then dispersing over Canterlot.
Shadow and 2 guards left the barracks as the last ones. They spread their wings and with a few mighty beats they took off.
Shadow and his guards were the only guards on flying duty that day, mainly because their new tasks consisted of checking the infrastructure like roads and public places, because no-pony was around to use them at night. Shadow occasionally landed when he saw other ponies move through the streets. But they were all just passer by's.
He did recall one funny event though.
one of the guards noticed two figures running through some of the narrower streets of Canterlot. Shadow decided to go and check what was going on. As he landed on the roof he saw the two ponies shape, size and color clearly, even though it was daytime.
One was a grey mare with a blonde mane and tail who had a cluster of bubbles as cutie mark, the other was brown stallion with a dark brown mane and tail who possessed an Hourglass cutie mark.
The mare had just passed a corner when she tripped and fell, the stallion looked around.
“Oh dear, are you alright Derpy?”
The grey mare stood back up rubbed her head with her hoof.
“I’m fine Time” she said with a smile
Time? What pony is called Time? Must be a part of his name I guess Shadow thought as he and his guard watched the small spectacle with amusement.
But they had lingered enough and it was time to get moving again. Shadow and his escorts returned to the barracks when the sun’s first beams started looming over the horizon. Canterlot was safe, as it usually was. Shadow discussed the condition of the roads and public buildings with the officers who had inspected them and made a note containing everything that needed an engineer’s attention. He would pass the note to the Royal architect tomorrow. After that he was free for the day, since tomorrow was the public announcement of the wedding between Shining Armor and Princess Cadance.
The job had been easy so far, but they would have to deal with the second worst kind of ponies in existence according to Shadow Eye: curious ponies. Evil ones taking the top spot of course.
Shadow rolled to his side and pulled the blankets over him, so far everything had been good.
29 days before the wedding...
Shadow’s good humour from the night before melted like... well... like good humour does when you’re a night creature being awoken during bright daylight by the cheers of a few thousand ponies. That and a treatment to the Royal Canterlot Voice, something he only heard during very important announcements made by both Princess Celestia and... Princess Luna.
Ugh, the announcement, of course, how could I forget...
Shadow woke up to find everypony else in the barracks still asleep. Of course THEY took his council to use earplugs for tonight. But of course, he forgot. And Shadow was the kind of pony that, once awoken, wouldn’t be going to sleep soon.
He decided to get out of bed, put on his saddlebag and during a very impulsive moment he stepped outside and quickly closed the door behind him.
Only to curse himself in the sunlight.
Mental note to self: SUNGLASSES!!
This was not the first time this happened. Everytime Princess Celestia made a big announcement at the palace grounds, Shadow would wake up and go outside... and regret it later. This time however, Shadow now headed straight for the nearest fashion store (which was of course up to Canterlot standards) and bought the first fitting, decent and simple pair of shades he could find.
Shadow then took a stroll through Canterlot, passing the palace, the market and even the train station. But he ended up in the place he always ended up during these kind of days
Pony Joe’s Donut Shop for a cup of coffee and a snack.
“Well Shadow? Couldn’t sleep?”
Shadow looked up from his table as Joe put down his coffee and donut order.
“Same thing as last time Joe, public announcements” Shadow said as he eagerly took a sip of coffee, nearly burning his tongue in the process. Joe grinned and trotted over to the next batch of customers who had just entered the shop.
Shadow left the donut shop shortly afterwards and headed back for the palace as there was not much to do around Canterlot for now. Mayby I can get some rest again.
Once he had arrived at the castle, the caffeïne in his veins told him otherwise.
While pondering what to do, Shadow was approached by a familiar pony wearing his purple armor.
“Shadow, what are you doing here in daylight?” Shining Armor asked, seeing the bat pony captain standing near the barracks with a pair of shades.
“I woke up from the commotion on the palace grounds”
“Ah yes, our wedding plans have been made public. Ehh, Shadow, can I ask you a favor?”
“I suppose so? What is it Shining?
“Well, Cadance and I still have some planning to do, but everytime we go near each other to work, these paparazzi ponies pop-up, and they are not scared of my guards!”
“I can help out I suppose, where is Cadance at?” Shadow inquired
“Her room in the castle, if you wouldn’t mind standing guard, but be careful, these guys would try anything to get in”
Shadow had to try hard to suppress a smile.
“I’ll stand guard for you, well you know what they say: ‘non sine spinis’
“What?” Shining responded a bit confused.
“It means no roses without thorns” Shadow quickly answered.
“What language is that?”
“I don’t know, my grandfather told me that”
Shining Armor grinned at that, he was of a more cheery nature then Shadow.
Shadow and Shining made their way back to the palace and headed for the north side of the palce, where Cadance and Shining’s quarters were.
As soon as Shining and Shadow came near Cadence’s room a whole bunch of ponies with camera’s jumped from behind a corridor with camera’s ready to start a barrage of flashes.
They all pointed their camera’s at Shining, but as soon as they glimpsed Shadow, they hesitated.
Shadow took of his sunglasses since they weren’t as needed indoors and slowly bared his fangs in a sort of terrifying grin as he leaned closer to the group of pony journalists.
“GET OUT” was heard even outside the castle in the way only the Royal Canterlot Voice can manage. The paparazzi's scrambled towards the nearest corridor and exits out of the northern wing of the palace.
“Well Shadow, it seems that Luna’s vocal training is useful after all” Shining said while raising his brow, slightly impressed by the results.
“You could say that” Shadow replied
“But they’ll keep trying, I’ll stand guard in front of the room, I have nothing to do anyway”
Shining nodded to Shadow as he entered through the massive oak doors into Cadence’s room while he slipped a thanks. Not much later a happy voice was heard exclaiming “SHINING!”
A small smile formed on Shadow’s lips as he took up position in front of the door.
Shining‘s and Cadance’s voices then turned to a normal volume and thanks to the thick wall and the massive door not a single sound escaped the room.
“Just like old days” Shadow sighed to himself as his gaze shifted calmly from left to right down the corridor that led to the room he stood guard for.
The first two hours, nothing interesting happened. Occasionally a head from one of the pony’s from before popped around the corner, but upon seeing Shadow they quickly vanished again.
Other then that a few guards on patrol passed Shadow, said hello and continued their rounds.
Shadow didn’t exactly know how long he had been standing there, but he noticed that most of the Royal guards from the day shift were being replaced with the night shift guards, noticable by their grey-black sets of armor instead of the usual gold-coloured armour the day guards wore.
Shadow knew it was about time to go back to the Lunar Guard barracks, but just as he was going to knock on Cadance’s door he noticed a large white pony coming round the corridor and into the hallway that leaded to Cadance’s room. Shadow quickly recognized the large white mare, there was only one pony with that color, wings and a horn.
“Your majesty, Princess Celestia” Shadow spoke as he bowed to Princess Celestia who smiled at the bat pony in front of her.
“Shadow Eye, standing guard I see, you can rise” Celestia said, still smiling.
“Thanks your majesty, I was about to see if I can return to my own barracks. Luna’s personal guard escort needs an inspection and I expect your sister to close the inspection afterwards.”
“You are free to leave captain, I don’t think any journalist would try something outrageous in my presence”
Shadow bowed once more to Princess Celestia and then trotted in the direction of the barracks.
I do expect Eclipse Corps inspection to be a swift affair. They are the elite guards, so everything should be in tip-top condition
Shadow quickly made his way to the barracks where a dozen bat pony guards were lined outside. Those guards wore a slight variation of the regular Lunar Guard armor. It was much edgier and covered much more of their bodies, but the many joints and moving parts made sure the guards wouldn’t be hampered by their own armor.
As soon as Shadow stood in front of them they all simultaneously raised their right hoof to their heads and exclaimed “CAPTAIN”.
Shadow didn’t speak but he just went to one end of the line and started to inspect the Eclipse Guards, one by one. He took particular notice of the condition of the armor and the guard’s physical appearance. But just as always, not a spot on their armor, not a single sign of sickness or physical problems. These were the elite for a reason.
“Ok gentlecolts, I expect her majesty, Princess Luna here any moment, you know the drill” Shadow said as he took position on the far right of the group, where he seemed to blend in almost perfectly, if it weren’t for his larger helmet and larger size than the other guards that is”
After about 5 minutes Princess Luna arrived through the Castle Courtyard. The guards and Shadow gave her a silent salute. Luna then started her own inspection, but she did so much faster than Shadow.
“Commendable captain, the Eclipse Corps is in excellent condition we see, as always.” Luna said while she nodded in approval.
Shadow bowed and raised himself again when Luna gestured for him to rise.
“The Eclipse Corps is good for another week until next inspection your majesty” Shadow replied
“Good, but captain, we inquire to speak to you for a moment” Luna said as she gestured for the door to the captains office.
“What for Princess?” Shadow asked, raising his brow, it was unusual for Princess Luna to speak to him right after inspection.
“Nothing to be worried about captain, but we still need to discuss a few points as to the preparation of Cadence’s and Shining’s union.
Shadow nodded as he and Princess Luna headed for the office while the Eclipse guards took their positions around the barracks.
Shadow Eye and Princess Luna discussed guard positioning and the overall status of the Lunar Guards for long into the night, as they both wanted to keep and build on the good, albeit scary reputation the Lunar Guard has.
Not much further, Princess Cadance, Celestia and Shining Armor were all discussing details about the wedding. From the catering and the cake to the party and the music, from the invites to the guests of honour, from the bridesmaids to the best mare and so on.
But they weren’t the only ones making plans. Flying over the forests towards Canterlot was a hooded and cloaked Mare, completely black in appearance, and completely black in heart. That is, if she even possessed one.
