Chapter 5
As the two ponies made their way through town Shield was catching a few glances from some ponies, he didn’t give them a thought as he trotted through the busy town. As he glance from side to side he noticed that Rarity was staring at him whenever he turned his head away from her. The white mare stopped in front of a bright pink building that smelled of bath salt’s and assorted lotions, the two trotted inside to see a yellow pegasus mare with a flowing pink mane reading a magazine. The yellow mare waved to her friend but shrank back seeing the dark pegasus. Rarity then trotted towards her friend with a smile on her face.
“Fluttershy, this is Shinning Shield. He’s the stallion that helped me last week in Manehattan and he’s the newly appointed Inspector for Ponyville.” she said as she brought the mare closer to the stallion. Shield nodded at the pegasus who was still nervous.
“N-nice to meet you.” shesaid in a timid voice.
“Likewise.” he said in a calm tone. Soon two earth pony mares came rushing out, one was a light blue with a pink mane and the other was pink with a blue mane. The two greeted the three ponies with a wide grin.
“Welcome to our spa I’m Lotus.” the blue mare said.
“And I’m Aloe.”
“How can we help you?” they said together. Rarity stepped forward.
“Hello girls three usuals please and give our friend here a massage, he’s been having some shoulder pain.” Rarity said as the the two mares eyed the dark stallion. The earth ponies took Shield by the hooves and led him in the back. Fluttershy and Rarity followed them as they stepped into the mud bath and kelp wrap, Shield was in the bath in between the two mares. He eyed the two mares with a cold stare.
“Don’t mention this to any-pony!” he barked.
“What’s wrong with getting a spa trip you look like you could use it.”
“I prefer not to be ridiculed by the officers.” he said in a flat tone. “So if you need me, I’ll be resting on the bottom.” he said as he took the straw from his drink and submerged his head underneath the water, leaving one end on the straw above the water’s surface. Aloe came back with a smile on her face.
“How is everything?”
“Simply divine.” Rarity said a she let out a satisfied sigh.
“But where is your friend? The dark pegasus stallion.” she asked as she looked around the room. Rarity motioned with her hoof to the bath beside her. The pink mare trotted over and saw the straw sticking out of the bath, she put her hoof into the bath and tapped on a hard surface. Shield brought his head out of the water and looked at the pink earth pony. “We can take a look at your shoulder now if you want to.”
“Sound’s good to me.” he said as he got out of the bath and followed the pink mare. As the dark stallion rose from the bath Rarity could see the water pressing his coat against his well toned body, her face turned bright red as he left the room. Fluttershy looked over at her friend with a confused look on her face.
“Umm Rarity.”
“Yes Fluttershy?”
“Your face....it looks pretty red. Is your bath too hot?” Rarity quickly turned her head away from her friend.
“No. The bath is fine Fluttershy it’s just that....” Rarity scratched her chin with her hoof.
“It’s about Shield isn’t it?” Fluttershy said in a hushed tone. Rarity looked back at her friend in surprise, Fluttershy then shrank back. “I’m sorry...it’s just my opinion.....I just guessed and-”
“It’s fine Fluttershy and you’re correct.”
“Oh...my. Well I’m happy for you two.”
“The thing is Fluttershy I haven’t told him how I feel yet....Frankly I’m scared too.” she said with a nervous look in her eye.
“Why?”
“You were there when Twilight read his file. He’s been through a lot and I have no idea how he would react if I confessed my feelings.”
“Well......no offense Rarity but that’s the risk every-pony takes with love.....sorry.” she said in a timid voice.
“No.....you’re right Fluttershy. I just need the right moment but I never get a chance to because of all the orders I have to fill out, handling Sweetie Belle is a job of it’s own.”
“What about what happened last-” she was cut off by Rarity raising a hoof.
“I thought we agreed never to mention that again.” she said in an angry tone, causing the yellow mare to shrink back. “I’m sorry dear, but I’d prefer to leave that aspect of my life behind me.”
“I-It’s okay I shouldn’t have brought it up. So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know I’ll think of something.” she finished as the sisters came back into the room and helped them out of the bath. The mares rejoined Shinning in the lobby, Rarity stared at the stallions clean glistening body. “How is your shoulder doing?” she asked trying to hide her blush.
“Much better. Those two know what they’re doing.” he said as he paid and trotted out the door. Aloe then tapped Rarity on the shoulder and brought her over to her sister.
“Is there something I can help you two with?” Rarity said in confusion.
“Normally we would never ask you of this Ms. Rarity but....who is that stallion?” Aloe asked.
“Oh..That is Shinning Shield, he’s the newly appointed Inspector for Ponyville. He just got here a few days ago.”
“Where is he from?”Lotus asked.
“Manehattan. Why?”she asked as she raised an eyebrow. The two sisters looked at one another and nodded.
“During his massage Aloe and I felt numerous scars and healed wounds all across his back.” Rarity put a hoof to her mouth in shock.
“We may not be doctors be we can recognize when a Pony has been beaten and abused. Be careful around him Ms. Rarity. We know that a stallion who has endured something like that usually only find’s trouble.” Aloe said as the two sisters trotted back into the bath house. Rarity looked back at Fluttershy who had the same look of surprise on her face, the two mares caught up with Shield outside of the salon.
“Hey Rarity ready to go?” he asked.
“Y-yes. What should we do now?” she glanced over at Fluttershy.
“I-I need to get back to my house to feed the animals, same time next week Rarity?”
“Of corse darling.” with that the timid yellow pegasus started to trot away from the white mare and dark stallion. Rarity looked at Shield with a smile. “So what should we do now?”
“Don’t know. What did she mean by animals?”
“Oh Fluttershy takes care of most of the animals that live in the park, she’s also our local veterinarian.” she said as the two began to walk through the streets. Shield eyed a massive building made out of an old tree.
“What’s that?”
“That’s the library that Twilight runs, want to go in?”
“Sure. It’s been a while since I found a good book.” the two trotted inside, it smelled of parchment and fresh ink. Shield looked over to the couch to see a sleeping purple dragon, Shield stared at the dragon with an icy glare. Twilight descended the stairs with a grin on her face.
“Hey, Shield what brings you here?”
“I think a more important question is why you have a sleeping dragon on your couch.” he said as he looked at the sleeping dragon.
“Oh, that’s Spike he’s my assistant.” Twilight said.
“Right Rarity mentioned you had a helper. How did you get him to agree to that?”
“I hatched him.”
“You what?” he said with a confused look on his face.
“Twilight, had to hatch the egg with magic to get into a school in Canterlot.” Rarity explained. Suddenly the tiny dragon awoke and fell off the couch. He quickly got to his feet and looked up to see Rarity and a strange dark stallion.
“R-Rarity! H-hey hows it going?” he said with a bright blush on his face.
“Just wonderful Spike. Yourself?”
“G-good.” he then turned his attention to the stallion eyeing him. “Who’s he?”
“This is Shining Shield, he’s the new Inspector for Ponyville.” Twilight answered. Shield nodded at the dragon and Spike returned the gesture. “So did you two need something?” Twilight asked.
“I was looking for something to read, I have some time to kill since the boss gave me the week off.” he said in a low grumble. Twilight was about to ask but saw Rarity shaking her head in a 'don't do it' fashion.
“Okay, well we have all kinds of books here. Looking for anything in particular?”
“Got anything by Colt Brown?” he asked.
“Yes, give me a second and I’ll find it for you.” the lavender mare trotted away with a smile on her face. He looked over to see Rarity glaring at him.
“You like Colt Brown?” she said in surprise.
“Yeah, why?”
“It’s just that I didn’t expect you to like something so sophisticated, I thought you’d be more interested in books like Daring Do.” she said as she noticed that the stallions eyes narrowed.
“I enjoy the plot twists’s and while I do enjoy the Daring Do series, they lack the amount of suspense and descriptive writing that I enjoy.” he took a deep breath and then continued. “Plus I can’t relate to Daring Do, she’s too.....bold. I know that if I were faced with the challenges she’s faced I’d probably be scared out of my mind, I can relate to the pritagonist'd story in Colt Brown books because they are just normal ponies put in extraordianry situations and make the best of it.” he looked over to see Twilight levitating a book with her jaw hitting the floor.
“Wow I didn’t know you had such insight.” Twilight said in amazement.
“Quite.” Rarity said.
“A good cop is more than just muscle, you need to have a good head on your shoulders. Most ponies, stallions in particular seem to forget that.” he said as he Twilight levitated the book over to him. “Thanks, you don’t have to stay here Rarity. I’ll be here for a while.” the library door opened to reveal a cyan pegasus mare and an orange earth pony mare.
“Hey Twilight, we just came by to see if.....oh you have company.” Rainbow said as she saw Rarity and Shield.
“Hello Rainbow, good afternoon Applejack.” Rarity said as she waved to her friends. Shield then noticed that Applejack had a band-aid on her forehead. Shield trotted forward in front of the mare.
“Look, sorry for flying into you this morning. I was still getting over the drugs the doctors pumped me with.” he said as he scratched his mane.
“What this? This ain’t from you, a branch came down in the orchard and clocked me in the head. But thank you for apologizing.” she said with a smile.
“Well that’s a load of my shoulders. How’s your head?” he said as he sat down on the couch.
“Fine, nothing too bad. I’m hard headed.” she said as she knocked her head with her hoof.
“Yeah...you don’t need to tell me.” Rainbow said with a laugh, Applejack eyed the mare with a glare that would make a manticore cower in fear. “But what did you mean by still getting over the effects of the drug?”
“What ever they pumped me with it was strong. I barely remember what happened before I crashed into AJ.” he then leaned back and put his front hooves behind his head. “Heck the stuff made me see hallucinations.”
“What hallucinations?” Rarity asked.
“Well for instance in the hallucination you kissed me.” Rarity’s face turned bright red. “It was probably the mix of the drugs that caused me to think that.” Silence fell over the room as Shield picked up the book and began to read. AJ and Rainbow were trying to hold a straight face, Rarity was mouthing ‘keep your mouths shut’ to the mares.
“Oh......well......that is an....interesting hallucination. What did you think about it?” she asked with a blush on her face.
“Why do you want to know?” he said as he raised an eyebrow.
“I.....was just......curious. Look at the time I really must be getting back to work, I’ll see you later Shield.” she said as she zoomed out of the library giving Rainbow and Applejack a cold glare as she exited the building. Shield glanced at the mares with a raised eye-brow.
“What was that all about?”
“Ah don’t know...... she’s probably behind on her work.”
“Y-yeah that’s it.” Shield closed the book and glared at them.
“So what did you two need?” Twilight asked.
“We just wanted to see if you wanted to go on a picnic with us.” AJ said with a smile.
“I don’t know girls I have to handle the library and-” Shield joined in on the conversation.
“Go on I can handle things here.” Shield said as the mares looked at him with a confused look on their faces.
“Handling a library is a lot of work and-”
“I spent my high school years as a cataloger for the MPD. I’m pretty sure I can handle looking after a library for an afternoon.” Twilight scratched her chin for a moment.
“Well.....if your sure.”
“I’m bored out of my mind and I need something to do.”
“What about your job?” Rainbow asked.
“The captain gave me a week off to recover from the knife wound.” he said in a low grumble. Twilight then collected her picnic basket and began to fill it with food.
“Thank you, I should be back by closing time, help yourself to something if you get hungry.” Twilight said as she trotted over to her friends.
“Thanks.” he gave the mares a nod as they trotted out the door. Shield sat behind the main desk and started to tear through the book. Shield glanced at the clock and saw that two hours had passed, as he began to read again the door to the library opened to reveal three fillies; a familiar white unicorn, an orange pegasus and a yellow earth pony. Sweetie Belle looked at the dark stallion with a grin on her face.
“Shield!” she yelled as she trotted over and hugged the dark pegasus. The other two fillies looked at her in confusion. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“Um....Sweetie Belle who is this?” the yellow filly asked in a thick southern accent.
“This is Shinning Shield he’s the new......what was your job position called again?”
“Inspector.” he said flatly.
“Right he’s the new inspector for Ponyville.” the two fillies jaw’s dropped at the news.
“So you’re the stallion that helped the Cake’s and Roseluck?” the orange pegasus said.
“Yes.”
“He’s also living with Rarity and I!” Sweetie Belle said with a grin. The white unicorn then turned back to her friends. “Oh right, Shield these are my friends Applebloom and Scootaloo.”
“Howdy.” the earth pony said with a smile.
“Hi.” the orange filly answered.
“Nice to meet you. Can I help you with something?” he asked with a grin.
“We’re looking for Twilight.” Applebloom said.
“She’s off on a picnic with your sister and Rainbow Dash. I’m filling in for her until she get’s back.” he answered.
“Oh well that explain.....Wait how did yah know Applejack was my sister?”
“I’m an Inspector, it’s my job to be able to tell things like that.”
“That makes sense.”
“So how can I help you three?” he said as he looked at the fillies.
“We’re looking for a book about cutie marks and how to get them.” Applebloom said in a stern voice.
“May I ask why?”
“We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We need to know these things.” Shield had a confused look on his face.
“The Cutie Mark what now?” he said. The three fillies then lined up side by side.
“We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We are on a crusade to find out who we are and discover out special talent!” the three fillies said in unison.
“Well let me check in the back, I’m sure we have something.” Shield took flight and started to scan the bookshelves for anything cutie mark related, he flew back in front of the fillies with a disappointed look on his face. “Sorry girls looks like we either don’t have it or Twilight has a secret stashed of books hidden some where.” the three fillies looked down in defeat. Shield shot a glance at the three disappointed fillies. “Hang on let me make a call, maybe I can find something.” the three fillies beamed at him as he pulled out his cellphone and dialed a series of numbers with his wings. “Hello operator? Get me Manehattan PD Engineering branch....yeah I’ll hold.......Gizmo that you? I’m fine, got stabbed on my first day............yeah you know me, listen I need a favor.........Relax it’s simple, I need you to find a book about Cutie Marks..........the reason doesn’t matter, just find it and mail it to Carousel Boutique in Ponyville..........Fine I’ll send you the gauntlet in the mail. I also need two radio buds for my partner and me........yes, they assigned me a partner.........she’s lasted three days so far........SHUT UP ABOUT THAT!......Sorry for shouting you understand right?.......Good and thanks again say hi to the guys and the chief for me...Bye.” he hung up the phone and trotted back to the fillies who had a confused look on their faces. “A friend of mine is going to try and find a book, he’ll call me when he’s found something.” the three fillies had a massive grin across their faces.
“Thanks Shield! We’ve tried everything from pancake making to water skiing.” Sweetie Belle said with a heavy sigh.
“Okay how did you......Forget it I probably don’t want to know.” as he looked back at the fillies he noticed that Scootaloo’s right eye was black and blue. “What happened to your eye?” he said as he pointed to the orange filly.
“Oh this... I...um...bumped into a doorknob walking out of my house this morning.” Shield and the other two ponies looked at her in surprise. “Well I gotta catch a chariot, see you guys tomorrow.”
“Why do you need a chariot to get home?” Shield asked as he cocked an eyebrow.
“I can’t fly yet, so I take a pegasi drawn carriage along with some other foals to get home.” she said in a low grumble.
“Oh....okay then.” Shield felt a little ashamed for asking that.
“Hey Shield, what are you doing tomorrow?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Nothing, I have the day off. Why?”
“Can you help us get our Cutie Marks?” Applebloom asked. Shield had a nervous look on his face.
“Listen girls I would but..” he was cut off by the three fillies giving him the puppy dog eyes. “Fine, I’ll help you.” he said with a blank look on his face, the three fillies beamed at his response. Scootaloo looked at the clock and realized that she was going to miss her ride.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow. I gotta go!” as she opened the door to leave she saw a familiar lavender mare standing in front of her. Scootaloo galloped past Twilight without giving her a wave. Twilight then trotted into the library to see the three ponies.
“Hey Shield, sorry that the picnic lasted as long as it did.” she said with an embarrassed look.
“It’s fine. I was just helping out Sweetie Belle and her friends here.” Twilight then looked at the two fillies grinning in the corner.
“Yeah, he even agreed to help us with our Cutie Marks tomorrow!” Sweetie Belle said as she dashed next to the stallion. Twilight looked at him in surprise.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Girls it’s pretty late and I don’t think that your sister’s would be too happy with you if you were late.” Twilight said as the two filly’s eyes shrank at the statement.
“Oh no, Applejack’s gonna kill me! See yah tomorrow Sweetie Belle!” Applebloom said as she zoomed out of the library.
“We’d better get going too Sweetie. Rarity will give me an ear full if you’re not home soon.” he said as he trotted towards the door. “See ya Twilight.” Twilight gave him a nod as he left with the small filly. The two made their way through the dark street’s of Ponyville and hurried back to the boutique. As the two stepped inside they heard crashing noises coming from the upstairs. The two went to investigate and stopped outside Rarities work room, Shield was about to knock on the door when Sweetie Belle held his hoof back and shook her head. “What’s wrong?” Sweetie Belle pointed to the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door knob.
“My sister only put’s that on the door when she has a massive order to fill. It’s better if we don’t bother her right now she tends to get a little.....crazy.”
“Gotcha, how about I make us some dinner then?”
“You can cook?”
“Yeah, I lived on my own for years, I had to learn how to cook.” Shield and Sweetie Belle made their way into the kitchen and began gathering ingredients. Once Shield had finished baking the two sat down to eat. As Sweetie Belle took a bite her eyes shrank, Shield took notice of this. “You don’t like it?” he asked.
“NO! IT'S AMAZING WHAT IS THIS STUFF?!” she said as she gobbled the rest of her food down.
“It’s a family recipe. I take it that Rarity doesn’t do a lot of cooking.”
“No she cooks, just nothing as tasty as this.” she said with a grin.
“Oh really now!” a posh voice said from the staircase. The two turned to see a white unicorn mare with glassed on her nose and measuring tape hanging over her neck. As she descended the staircase she sniffed the air. “And what is that incredible smell?”
“Shield made it, try it!” Sweetie Belle said with a smile. Rarity levitated a spoon into the mixture and put it in her mouth. Rarities eyes shrank as the explosion of flavor hit her taste buds.
“You made this!” she said as she looked at Shield in surprise. He nodded as the white mare helped her self to a plate.
“I must say darling this is amazing, who taught you to cook like this?”
“My mother.”
“Well I must get the recipe from her.” Shield’s eyes shrank at it.
“You can’t.”
‘Why’s that?”
“She’s.......not around anymore.” he said in a low tone. Rarity stopped chewing and looked at the stallion with a sad face.
“Oh....I’m terribly sorry dear, I didn’t mean to bring up such a sensitive topic.”
“It’s fine, it happened a long time ago.” Shield got to his hooves and trotted towards the staircase with the book balanced on his back, he returned to his room and began to read on the soft bed. He burned through five chapter before he heard a knock at the door, he trotted over to see Rarity standing in the door way. “What’s up?”
“I just came by to apologize for what happened at dinner.”
“Rarity it’s fine, you didn’t know.” he said as the two trotted over to the bed.
“That’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have......asked some thing so personal.” she said as she put a hoof on the back of her neck in pain.
“You okay?”
“Yes, I’v just been working so hard today I think I’ve got a cramp in my neck.” she said as she rubbed the spot again.
“Well if you want I can help you with that.” Rarity’s face blushed at the statement.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’m a trained and certified masseuse.” he said with a blank face.
“Well..alright then.” she said as she turned her back and sat down in front of him. She felt his strong hooves beginning to rub her sore neck. Rarity’s face was bright red, she let out a small moan of pleasure as Shield started to move his hooves in a circular formation. “Could you please go a little lower?” she breathed out Shield did as he was asked and moved lower to her mid back, Rarity was starting to pant heavily. “Lower please.” she said in a begging tone. Shield raised an eyebrow as he moved lower. Rarity’s face was as red as an apple, she could feel all of the day’s stress being rubbed away by the stallion. “Lower.” she asked again.
“Um Rarity, I’m as low as I can get.” he said as he moved his hooves off of the mares’ back. The white unicorn got to her hooves and tried to hide her blush.
“Oh....well..thank you. Why did you become a certified masseuse?”
“It’s always handy to know how the body works. Hit a few pressure point’s and a pony will fall unconscious before they know what happened.”
“You’ve done that before?”
“Yes, once or twice when I had to incapacitate a criminal.”
“Oh well...thank you again for the massage.” she said as she trotted towards the door, as she went to close it she turned around to face the stallion. “Shield.”
“Yes?”
“I....I just want to say goodnight.” Rarity closed the door and entered her room, she flopped onto her bed and held a pillow over her face in frustration. Back across the hall Shield laid in his bed staring up at the ceiling until he heard another knock at the door, he let out a small groan as he got up. He opened the door to see Sweetie Belle looking at him with a sad look on her face.
“Hey Sweetie, what’s wrong?”
“Look I gotta tell you something, but you have to keep it a secret.” she said as she looked around the hallway to see if any-pony was listening.
“Okay then, c’mon in we can talk in here.” Sweetie followed the dark stallion in his room and sat down on the bed. “So what’s up?”
“I think that there’s something wrong with Scootaloo.” she said in a low tone.
“What makes you say that?” he said as he raised an eye brow.
“You saw her black eye right?” Shield nodded as he remembered her swollen right eye.
“Yeah she said that she walked into a doorknob.”
“She told Applebloom and me that she got hit in the face with a soccer ball and this isn’t the first time this has happened.” Shield’s ears perked up hearing this.
“Is she clumsy or something?”
“No, that’s the thing! She can do extremely dangerous moves on her scooter and come out without a scratch, but every once in a while she’ll come into school with a bruise or a cut.” the little filly’s eyes started to water. Shield put a hoof around the small filly. “I just don’t know what’s going on.” she said as she began to cry.
“Neither do I Sweetie but I can promise you that I will find out. Who else know this?”
“Just Applebloom and me.”
“Any adult’s besides me?”
“No, Scootaloo made us promise not to tell any-pony but I’m just so worried about her.”
“Okay, I understand.”
“You won’t tell her that I told you will you?” she asked as she looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
“I won’t say a word. Is there any-pony that has seen these injuries like a family member or a teacher?”
“Well...there’s Ms. Cherilee. Our teacher at school, but Scootaloo has been hiding it from her and the others.”
“Has she acted differently when these new injuries would appear?”
“Yeah, usually she’s really happy and funny. But there are day’s when she want’s to be alone and is sad all the time, then she get’s angry. One time when I went to the club house I saw her curled up on the floor crying.” Shield thought for a moment.
“Is there any-pony that Scootaloo trust’s or looks up to?”
“Yeah, Rainbow Dash. She looks to her like a big sister.”
“Okay. Thanks for the info Sweetie and I promise I’ll figure this out.” he said as he walked her to the door of his room. “Don’t feel bad Sweetie, you did the right thing telling me this.”
“But I broke my promise, I still feel guilty.”
“Sweetie Belle sometimes you need to break a promise in order to help some-pony, and there is nothing wrong with that.” he said as he gave her a quick smile. She wiped the tears away and trotted back across the hall to her room. As soon as Shield closed the door his expression shifted to one filled with anger, he flopped into bed and eventually drifted off to sleep.