//------------------------------// // My Sword, My Shield. // Story: My Sword, My Shield // by Paper_Pen //------------------------------// Three ponies stood in Celestia's throne room, the monarch herself, her personal guard, and a battle scarred earth pony stallion. "Captain Zulu," Celestia addressed the stallion, her voice regal and commanding, "I have a special assignment, one I'd rather keep knowledge of to my court, I trust that you can carry out this task?" "Certainly." Zulu replied with his left eye, the only one he had left, trained on the Alicorn, "My sword is bound to you, Princess." Zulu had been captain of the Royal Guard for some years at this point having been put in the position suddenly following his predecessors death in the line of duty, but nevertheless he stood a strong and loyal captain. "I assume you are aware of Agent Legacy Heart's recent death, correct?" The alicorn questioned, a name on her lips that forced them to quiver. How could he not be? The mares name brought back memories, bittersweet ones of nights he already missed, sweet nothings in which only he remained. "Of course, Princess." Zulu's voice remained as strong and stiff as ever. "Then you are aware of the 'loose end' that must be taken care of, correct?" The alicorn somehow maintained regal tone, one that masked a deep shame. Zulu's heart dropped. The stallion knew exactly what the monarch meant by that, he knew it far deeper than she ever would. "You mean her foal?" Zulu asked not out of curiosity but some secret spite, a protest to the monarch's non-specification. "Yes, Captain," Celestia affirmed, her tone now solemn yet obvious in masking pain, "Her foal." Zulu knew that whatever Celestia had planned for the foal he would detest, nevertheless he was captain of the royal guard and with that he held a responsibility to not only protect the nobility but serve them as well. "You will take the foal to a friend of the late agent, Literacy Bookstacks, she lives in a library on the northern side of Manehattan," Celestia commanded, "You are to carry this out tonight, I expect it to be completed before sunrise tomorrow." "Princess Celestia," Zulu began, his voice losing it's stiffness as a protest crawled from his throat, "Are you sure that is what's best for him?". As loyal as he was Zulu still couldn't help but take issue with the monarch's orders, how couldn't he? "Do not question me!" Celestia snapped, breaking her calm demeanor with a traditional royal shouting tone, "This castle, it is simply no place for a foal, how could he ever be a normal colt if these walls were all he knew?" "He could train, under my watch he could train and grow to be a soldier!" Zulu optioned, desperate for some last effort to keep the foal there so he may actually be a part of its life. Celestia responded with a scoff and a look of shock. Zulu knew his words to be ridiculous, he realized he should not have bothered with that line of reason yet he felt he had no other choice. "With respect to you and the Royal Guard, Captain, I will see to it that he never sees such a line of duty." Celestia spoke with conviction and promise, a tear welling in each eye, "Legacy is gone and I refuse to let her foal suffer the same fate." A silence struck the throne room producing several moments of pain for both parties. "I will do as you ask, Princess." Zulu caved, sealing the foals fate to one where he was not a factor. "Thank you, Captain," Celestia spoke softly, a single tear falling from her face, "There is a train waiting at the station, you will be the sole passenger and the foal will be found in the second to last carriage." Zulu dismissed, quickly making his way to the station, past a flurry of guards, and onto the second to last carriage. A wicker basket sat upon a table between two booths, blue blankets covering its contents in a wrapping embrace. Zulu took a seat at one of the table's booths, soon the train roared to life and began down the tracks. Zulu didn't dare look in the basket. He, a slayer of dragons, a legendary figure of destruction to the Changelings, a Captain, he was afraid of this foal in a way he feared nothing else.  An hour passed and Zulu finally mustered up enough courage to look upon the foal, and when he did he found the very thing he and Celestia were afraid of, a reminder. "Paper white, just like hers…" Zulu commented, observing the foal's coat, "And you're horn, that'll stay small, hers was." More silence passed as Zulu looked over the foal, the only sound being the rolling train and the young colt's subtle snoring. Zulu couldn't decide which was more deafening. He could see the foals mane was one darker than his mother's yet still holding a resemblance, and in the brief moments the colt looked to him instead of nothing in particular, Zulu saw his own grey eyes staring back at him. "You'd have liked her, Colt, your mom was beauty, grace… the perfect mare…" Zulu reminisced, finding pain in the same space he found comfort, "Not even one in a million, there was just the one of her." Several impossibly long hours passed before the train reached its destination, though eventually it did stop and Zulu prepared to exit. Donning a black cloak with the basket strapped to one side of him and a saddlebag on the other Zulu exited the locomotive, meeting rain from the night he interrupted. He was silent as he walked, eventually coming to a two story building with a library on the bottom and Literacy's home on top. Zulu placed the basket on the library's front steps, careful to position it below the roof's overhang where rain would not fall. "You'll hate me for this, Colt, I know I hated my father…" Zulu took a final glance at the foal before retrieving a flask from his saddleback and taking a swig of the "Just don't blame mom, alright?" Zulu knocked on the door three times, trotting into the night and back towards the station before anypony could have greeted him.