The Guard And His Sword

by Himntor

Captain Morningstar

I made it back to the Royal Barracks and found the other Lieutenants grouped out front, as if waiting. Once I reached them, Shining Armor came out of the barracks, followed by a light grey coated pegasus stallion with a golden mane and tail. He wore a blue version of the Captain’s armor, and his cutie mark was a shining battle hammer with two wings latched onto either side. His expression was solemn enough to make a stone shrink away in shame.

“Eyes forward!” Shining Armor said, and the Lieutenants and I snapped into a line position facing him. It was a common routine whenever the Captain said ‘eyes forward’. We had done it so much it was almost scary how quickly we got into position.

“I want to let you all know that I’m proud of you,” Shining Armor continued. “It’s no easy task managing the day-to-day operations of Canterlot’s Royal Guard without a Captain. I am sad that I no longer get to work with you here, but that’s life. Sometimes you get a promotion, sometimes you get married, and sometimes you discover a lost Empire that needs you. But I’m no longer leaving you without a leader.” Shining Armor gestured to the stallion beside him. “This is Justice Morningstar, and I am promoting him to be your new Captain. I believe he has a few words for you.” Shining Armor looked to him. “Captain?”

Justice stepped forward and looked between us as if inspecting armor for scratches. When his gaze reached me, it almost felt as if my soul had been pierced. “It is a pleasure to finally meet all of you,” he began in a soft, southern-accented voice. “Prince Shining Armor has briefed me on each of your profiles, but I look forward to seeing you in action personally. I hope I can gain your confidence as the new Captain, and that I can serve you, Canterlot, and all of Equestria as well as Shining Armor has. Thank you.”

The Lieutenants and I raised our hooves in a brief salute, which Justice returned.

“I have to be going now,” Shining Armor said. “It’s been good serving with you stallions. Take care of Canterlot for me.”

“Yes, Sir!” we shouted back.

I swore there were tears welling in his eyes as we exchanged one last farewell salute before he trotted off.

“Alright then,” Justice said, adjusting his helmet. “Time for reassignments. I’ve reviewed the structure you’ve maintained during the absence of Shining Armor, and while I commend you for the versatility you’ve shown yourselves to be capable of, it’s time to break down into permanent command areas. Lieutenant Spotter, you have the market districts. Lieutenant Arrow, you have the commercial districts. Lieutenant Spar, you have the nobility districts. Lieutenant Frost, you have the upper class districts. Lieutenant Nails, you have the lower class districts. Lieutenant Shield, you have the gate posts and wall patrols. I’ll have the castle and royal points of interest. Am I understood?"

“Yes, Sir!” we said.

“Excellent. I will assist all of you in structuring and optimizing your command. Any questions?”

“No, Sir!”

“Alright then. Return to your previous command posts and prepare to move to your new ones. I’ll check with each of you within the hour. Dismissed.”

The Lieutenants and I split up, and fortunately my previous command was the wall patrols, so I didn’t have to prepare to go anywhere. There was no actual command post for the walls or gates though, it was just assigning guards on patrols in the morning, then one continuous patrol for the commanding officer for the rest of the day, keeping updated on every section of Canterlot, as part of the job was to gather information quickly. While I would’ve liked to have gotten one of the city district commands, the view on the walls was one that’d never get old. The slower days were quite relaxing too, though on the faster days it was one of the most vigorous workouts.

But as I made my way to Canterlot’s front gate—the starting point of the patrol—I had to scratch my head at my assignment. This was one of the most mentally tasking commands. My cutie mark condition was enough to dissuade Celestia and Shining Armor from promoting me, but not from giving me this assignment? Did Captain Morningstar know about my condition?

It was only moments after I began wondering that when I noticed him approaching. I turned to him and saluted.

“At ease,” Justice said. “I’m here to talk.”

I lowered my hoof. “What about, Sir?”

“About you. Paperwork can only tell me so much, but I will say that I’m impressed by yours. Now, about this condition of yours…”

I winced. So he did know. “I won’t let it slow me down, Sir.”

Justice gave a nod. “I believe it. That is why I assigned you to the walls, you still have a keen eye and a quick mind. But there’s more to this than your performance as an officer. I want to know there’s still a pony beyond the armor, not just a shell that knows how to file paperwork. I would rather have a Lieutenant that doesn’t know how to command very well but knows why he has to do it than one who excels at commanding but doesn’t know why. Do you know why?”

“To protect the Princesses.” My answer was a little half-hearted, so I quickly added, “And Equestria, no matter the circumstances.”

Justice frowned. “No, Lieutenant Shield, that is why we are all Royal Guards. As a commanding officer, this is the answer that should be seared into your heart: because there’s nopony else who can do what you do. Nopony else that can command as excellently as you, nopony else that can make the hard decisions you do. You are one-of-a-kind, you are a Lieutenant of the Royal Guard, and most importantly, you are a Shield, and that name carries weight within this line of work. Own it with your head held high.”

That caught me off guard. I wasn’t sure what to say. Did he want more than a ‘yes, sir’? Was this some kind of test? Or an attempt at helping me with my focus, so my cutie mark would return? That made it sound so… shallow. But Justice seemed to be acting genuine.

“Yes, Sir,” I said. “Thank you, Sir. I will do the best I can.”

“Alright then. Truth be told, I am a little uncomfortable with the fact that I was placed as Captain over you. Cutie mark or no, you have more experience in the field than I do. I would rather have your decision making abilities be at the lead, as I’m sure you would too.”

“I don’t know, I’m not much of a leader. I trust Shining Armor’s decision.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Lieutenant. I’ll bet you’d be surprised how good a leader you are. We Royal Guards lead by example, and yours is one of the purest forms of loyalty and honor. I am glad to have you under my command. I have to go check on the other Lieutenants before sundown, but before I go is there anything you need?”

I saluted. “No, Sir. Everything is in order.”

“Alright then.” Justice saluted back. “As you were.”

The Captain trotted off, leaving me to finish up the last patrol assignments of the day. It was only a couple hours till sundown, and I was already feeling tired. Once my shift ended, I grabbed a donut from Joe’s and took the train home. I was a little apprehensive about using my sword to fly after what Discord had discovered about it.

When I got home, I found a list on my nightstand that counted the number of stars on my cutie mark, starting from five and working its way down to two over the course of a few weeks. I confusedly looked back at my flank. I didn’t have any stars in my cutie mark. Yet… I remember writing this list. I remember checking my cutie mark each night and writing down the number of stars there were, but there were no stars in those memories.

Wait, what was the reason I wasn’t promoted to Captain? Was it the potential danger my sword posed? No, no, it had to do with some strange condition I had… with my cutie mark! Oh Celestia, what’s happening to me? Why can’t I think straight?

I dropped the list, climbed into bed, and turned off the lights. I just needed to sleep on this. Everything would sort itself out in the morning. Yeah, this was only temporary. It’s alright. I’m not going insane. I’m not losing focus! I am a Lieutenant of the Royal Guard, a… a distinguished, important stallion. These things always sorted themselves out for us important ponies. Everything is fine. My cutie mark would come back, or… what it’s supposed to be would.

Just need to sleep on it.