The Guard Years: A Canterlot Wedding

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.