The shield of Equestria

by Senseisteel

(1) Beginnings

The day began as any other. The sun slowly emerging from beyond the horizon causing a beam of light to shoot through the barracks, first on the roof then slowly illuminating the rest of the grey chamber. Almost all of the other guards were catching all the shuteye they could get, while another stood proudly facing the large stain glass window blessed with the crest of both Luna and Celsestia. From under his eyelids he felt the sunlight rain down upon him, warming him somewhere deep within himself. After a few moments of pure happiness within his mind he snapped back to see a pair of exhausted, gold plated pegasi dragging themselves across the room.”Busy night?” He grunted in a plain but slightly sarcastic tone. He was met by a series of low pitched whines as the pair struggled to remove their armour. One of them stood head down with nothing but his helmet perched on the top of his head. His more conscious compadre, devoid of his armour trotted over to him, removing his golden helmet that shone in the luminosity of the sun’s rays and quietly nudging him until he collapsed onto his bed. He bounced once on impact, his face instantly recognising the material gave a sigh of relief as he began to stretch his legs and quietly snore. The other gave a respectable nod to the one by the window before collapsing onto his bunk, instantly dropping into a state of deep sleep.

With a cheerful grin across his face the proud stallion cantered down the row of half empty bunks, the size of the royal guard has shrunk hugely over the last few years but those who remain are extremely proud of their work. Overcome with the profound sense of euphoria the guard slowed his pace, remembering a day of basic training where in this very room he first met the princesses.

Around 5 years ago he joined the royal guard as a blank flank. He barely made it through the selection process, being constantly harassed by both the examiners trying to convince him that he is could be making a big mistake as well as the other candidates who were sure of their intentions to become soldiers of Equestria, unlike him. Not long after he had passed through the selection, his unit was given a surprise inspection from the royal sisters themselves. Celestia having heard the news of somepony who had not found their life’s purpose had decided to join her royal guard, which for most ponies was a lifetime commitment. The royal duo entered the hall and was met by a formation of trainee guards bowing with their chins pressed firmly on the floor; she in turn lowered her head in respect and requested that they rise. As their eyes slowly levitated their way from the ground they met with the kind face of her majesty who asked them all to remove their helmets.

Overwhelmed with the princesses kind words that seemed to echo within each of the recruits heads like notes from a harp they all in perfect unison removed their enchanted helms, and in an instant all of their coats and manes had returned to their original colours, but only on their heads. Their body armour caused their body’s to remain the same pristine white. The princess scanned each of their faces and noticed one at the back with the look of insecurity hidden behind his stare. “You there” she calmly said with the look of concern clearly written across her face. As soon as he noticed the outstretched hoof was pointed directly at him he could do nothing but worry and think to himself “oh no, oh no this isn’t good” he began to break from the formation and march toward her while shivering within his armour. The princess with a keen eye immediately saw through his proud facade and began to worry herself that she may have been a bit direct with her approach and that the situation may be a bit much for the recruit to handle.

The princess assessed the situation and believed that the best course of action was to separate the recruit from his unit to avoid any embarrassment. She turned her head to their staff sergeant and whispered to him “I think he might need some space, do you mind taking the recruits and keeping them busy?” the armoured pony bowed “of course my liege” before turning to the rest of the recruits and ordering them out of the door into the courtyard, they were shortly followed by Luna who was interested in learning more of the new training regime. With that she turned but didn’t see the recruit anywhere, his helmet was still laid on the floor where he was in formation not a minute ago. She continued to scan the room before she heard a small rattle coming from below her. She rolled her eyes as she took a step back and lowered her head down to his level, as she did so his nervous shake tuned into a shiver of fear that made his armour chatter like his teeth already where. He felt as if his entire world was collapsing around him as he shook uncontrollably he felt his heart beating like a tribal drum within his ribs launching waves of shock thorough his body. “There is no need to be afraid”

His heart stopped, he opened one eye to see Celestia had lowered her head to his level and was staring into his eyes with one of the purest smiles he had ever witnessed. However He was still locked in his bowed position almost unable to move, but with some assistance from Celestia he was soon on his feet. With weak legs he stood in the mandatory formation position before her highness who was still stricken with worry about him. “May I be so kind as to know your name” she asked with her head tilted slightly, in an attempt to calm the recruit a little. The recruit’s lips shook “D...D...Dawn blade” his face gave way to a small smile as he felt something tick within that made him feel proud of himself for some strange reason. It was as if for once in his life he was happy with what he was accomplishing.

Celestia sensing this continued to question him, asking why he had decided to join the guard. He responded in a tone of confusion saying “it was an act of impulse” and he had no idea why he signed up in the first place. She raised an eyebrow and stared blankly into his eyes, trying to make sense of his motives. But alas she could not even after 20 minutes of questioning; she decided not to meddle in Dawn Blades affairs, so she thanked him for his time and told him to get some rest after the earlier ordeal. After that day the rest of his training seemed to go as smooth as silk, every test he seemed to just glide through on instinct alone.

During the graduation ceremony he was awarded with multiple commendations by his commanding officers saying he was almost perfect. But as soon as the princess came on stage and announced that officially they were now members of the royal guard Dawn blade felt a shock surge through his body as a blast of white light shone through every gap in his armour blinding him then knocking him unconscious. He awoke a few hours after the ceremony had ended in his bunk with the rest of his unit staring down on him, some with smiles and others looking absolutely dumbfounded by what they were looking at. One of them held a mirror up and showed him that he had two marks on his flanks, on his right there was a shield with the crest of princess Celestia, while on his left was another shield with the crest of the princess Luna. After seeing this he passed out for a few more hours, and was left alone to rest by his comrades.

Dawn Blade was so caught up in the reminiscing that when he was brought back into reality he saw that he had walked straight out of the barracks and was now standing alone in the courtyard of the palace. He rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself as he turned back towards the door where he was met by around 20 half asleep pegasi and unicorns struggling to get their armour on “I say it time and time again, if you lot had woken up earlier you would not have to go through this rush every morning” he said leaning in the door frame. He was met only by a few sleep filled eyes drifting to him then back to their armour followed a few agitated sighs. After about five minutes of whining, grunting and overall displeasure the room had transformed from a rainbow of assorted coats and mains to an orderly line of blank faced guards awaiting inspection.

“Morning guard awaiting inspection captain!” called a unicorn in the far left of the room. Dawn trotted slowly down the only occupied isle of bunks in the large barrack, carefully inspecting each guard. First checking their coat and main for any discolouration, then their armour straps, pulling on a few to check if they were correctly fashioned. But then something caught his eye. An empty space along the isle, the wooden footlocker overturned and empty with the engraving “BLAZE” on the side. “Anypony know where private blaze is?” he called along the isle “he was summoned to the throne room late last night sir” said the unicorn on the far side of the room Dawn Blade raised an eyebrow “I would have thought he would be back by now” he said while putting the footlocker back in its place. As he flipped it open he saw a small necklace sitting in the bottom “was he told to take everything?” he asked blazes bunkmate “I believe so” the Pegasus said struggling not to yawn before covering his mouth with a hoof. Dawn Blade then placed the necklace inside his armour pouch before calling out “Very well... dismissed!”

Comments

[Tarot Card]

interesting.
my first impressions:
a different cutie-mark on the other flank? this goes against my head-canon, but i'll let it slide.

Dawn Blade seems a lot like a teacher's pet. or whatever the guard equivalent of that is. i don't like him so far, and he's not a sympathetic character. though i'm pretty sure this is intentional on your part.

the hair on the horse's neck is mane, not main.

capitalize Blaze's name.

this story has tons of potential. let's see where you go with this. annnndddddddddd, tracking.

[StormFox]

Interesting.....tracking

[Senseisteel]

311330 thank you i am currently working in the second (longer) chapter. i must ask should i structure the dialogue differently? i have seen most other story's separate the speech of the characters from the main text

[Fallen Knight]

Twilight shipping i assume.(would be more fun with Celestia and Luna heh)

Still interesting story,tracking

And most do separate it ,makes it easier to understand right away who is speaking and probably some other reasons.

[Tarot Card]

311857
yes. it is proper form to start a new paragraph and indent every time the speaker changes.

for instance,
“Morning guard awaiting inspection captain!” called a unicorn in the far left of the room. Dawn trotted slowly down the only occupied isle of bunks in the large barrack, carefully inspecting each guard. First checking their coat and main for any discolouration, then their armour straps, pulling on a few to check if they were correctly fashioned. But then something caught his eye. An empty space along the isle, the wooden footlocker overturned and empty with the engraving “BLAZE” on the side. “Anypony know where private blaze is?” he called along the isle “he was summoned to the throne room late last night sir” said the unicorn on the far side of the room Dawn Blade raised an eyebrow “I would have thought he would be back by now” he said while putting the footlocker back in its place. As he flipped it open he saw a small necklace sitting in the bottom “was he told to take everything?” he asked blazes bunkmate “I believe so” the Pegasus said struggling not to yawn before covering his mouth with a hoof. Dawn Blade then placed the necklace inside his armour pouch before calling out “Very well... dismissed!”

becomes

“Morning guard awaiting inspection captain!” called a unicorn in the far left of the room. Dawn trotted slowly down the only occupied isle of bunks in the large barrack, carefully inspecting each guard. First checking their coat and main for any discolouration, then their armour straps, pulling on a few to check if they were correctly fashioned. But then something caught his eye. An empty space along the isle, the wooden footlocker overturned and empty with the engraving “BLAZE” on the side.
“Anypony know where private Blaze is?” he called along the isle.
“he was summoned to the throne room late last night sir,” said the unicorn on the far side of the room. Dawn Blade raised an eyebrow
“I would have thought he would be back by now,” He said while putting the footlocker back in its place. As he flipped it open he saw a small necklace sitting in the bottom “was he told to take everything?” He asked blaze's bunkmate.
“I believe so,” the Pegasus said struggling not to yawn before covering his mouth with a hoof. Dawn Blade then placed the necklace inside his armour pouch before calling out
“Very well... dismissed!”

it's a bit easier on the eyes, don't ya think? also, you might want a pre-reader, to catch all those little grammatical mistakes

[Senseisteel]

312572 thank you for the help on that one, the second chapter should have better structure because i wrote the first one at around 4 in the morning.