Semper Pie

by deathtap

The Guard

The ship rocked lazily in the breeze. Shining was leaning on the railing of the forecastle gazing at the expanse of clouds below him. He closed his eyes and felt the cool wind flow through his mane. The sun had long set below the horizon, and now Luna’s stars were shimmering in the heavens above him. They were indeed beautiful.

“Yes, Applejack?”

“How in tarnation?”

He turned his head to look at her. She wore an amused smirk on her face as she pulled her hat down on her head to prevent it from flying off. It was a little chilly, so she was wearing a scarf that billowed in the wind.

“A feeling. When you stand guard for the Princess for a long time, you tend to get an intuitive sense of who’s coming.”

The orange mare chuckled. “You mean like a Pinkie Sense?”

“Like a what now?”

“Oh nothin’, jus’ thinkin’ out loud.”

“I’d like to think it’s because I am an alert and attentive guard, but I think it’s because I didn’t want to get caught napping standing up.”

“Sounds… strange.”

“It gets tedious, you know. Standing up straight and staying stoic for hours on end. There used to be a rumor that some Guards had mastered the ability to sleep with their eyes open.”

Again, the orange mare chuckled. “The more I learn about the Guard, the more I want to join.”

This time it was Shining who chuckled. “I’m sure you’d make a brilliant Guard, but I somehow don’t see you taking orders from another pony very well.”

“What? Why d’ya think so?”

“A gut feeling. The hardest part about being a Guard isn’t about protecting something, or standing at attention, or whatever. It’s doing what you’re told, even if you really, really don’t want to.”

At that, a lull in their conversation lingered. It seemed that Applejack had inadvertently come across a very touchy subject -- or what seemed to be one.

“Anyways, I didn’t wanna disturb you considerin’ you’ve been here on-deck all this time. You kinda looked like you were thinkin’ of somethin’ important.”

“Not particularly.” Truth was, Shining was missing his family, but he did not really want to talk about it. The other thing was Pinkie’s reaction back in her home. The way she lost all sense and started screaming like that. Now that he thought about it, the whole thing made him feel really uneasy. “Just watching the clouds, stars, and everything. That, and I’ll never get used to seeing the dawn break on one of these things. Have you ever seen it?”

“Yep! Can’t say that I disagree with you there,” Applejack replied and walked next to Shining, draping her hooves over the railings and peered downwards over the edge at the clouds below. “Whoee. We’re a lot higher than I thought!”

Shining nodded, then paused. “Hey, where’s Rainbow?”

“Sleepin’,” Applejack replied almost instantly. “Say, Shining?”

“Yes?”

“You know, I don’t really know much ‘bout the Guard and all. Do you mind much if I asked you some questions?”

“No, of course not.” Shining draped his hooves over the railing and looked down.

“What’s the difference between the Border and Royal Guards?”

“That’s… that’s a very hard question to answer,” Shining replied after a long pause and a lighthearted laugh.

“How so?”

“Differences between the two are difficult to describe without understanding everything about that the Guard is and why they exist. But I guess the main difference is what their purpose is. The Border Guard’s job is to secure our borders from outsiders and the Royal Guard is to protect the subjects from within.”

“Okay. I get that. Anythin’ else?”

“Well, the Royal Guard reports to the Princess, like I did when I was still a Captain. Well, not exactly to Her Highness; not herself per sae, but within the same chain of command. When she was ruling alone, it was a little less confusing, but ever since she shared her throne with Luna, it’s gotten a lot more complicated.”

“Why?”

“Because the Royal Guard is quite large. More ponies, more variations, and more politics. Sadly.”

“And the Border Guard?”

“Although not as big, their chain of command is complicated. Basically their orders come from the High Council, but never directly.”

“High Council?” Applejack asked.

“You… haven’t heard of them?” Shining asked, a little puzzled.

“Can’t say that I have.”

“Strange. Well, they are the counterpart to the diarchy. And a constant pain in the rear, if you ask me. While I was Captain I had to deal with them on and off again. I don’t think I can think of one good thing to say. A few Council Members are reasonable, but the place is built on lies and deceit and… well I don’t know what else, but nothing good.”

Applejack furrowed her brow. “Then why do they exist at all?”

“Law. A law that came from a time when the need to share power was more important than anything else. Twilight could probably tell you a lot more about it. Most ponies in the Council are unicorns. Very powerful unicorns. And I’m not talking about magically. I’m talking about influence and prestige. You know, old families that had been given fancy titles for their family lines. Like the old Royalty that existed before the Princesses took power.” Shining narrowed his eyes in anger as he continued. “Even now the High Council tries to take back more power from the Princess.”

“Take back?”

“Well, yeah. Our history hasn’t always been the most peaceful. We may have learnt from our mistakes, but remember that Princess Celestia has been ruling for a long, long time. She’s led us to peace and prosperity, and nothing comes even close to the amount of wealth, knowledge and love we have in our kingdom.”

Applejack nodded, a deep sense of Equestrian pride swelling in her gut. “Like with the Crystal Empire and them smaller kingdoms out west?”

“Smaller kingdoms?”

“Y’know. Prance and all them.”

“Well, technically those are republics. And I’m sad to tell you that, no, the Princess doesn’t really have a right to rule those countries. The High Council runs them, and that’s probably why they’re republics.”

“They’re not part of Equestria?” Applejack asked genuinely surprised.

“Yes and no. They’re our protectorates. Our Guards will defend them if they’re attacked, but technically the Royal Guard has no jurisdiction there. Those areas are policed and protected by their own versions of the Guard. That’s why their armor or uniform will be different, because they all fall under the authority of their own local leaders. Even though ultimately the Border Guard, and therefore the High Council, govern those areas. A Guard from a republic is not officially recognized an Equestrian Guard. Sometimes ponies get that confused and try to request a transfer only to be shocked when they’re told that they would have to re-enlist, or rather enlist, into the Royal Guard.”

“I… I never knew that, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. No wonder we didn’t see Guards on our trips.”

“I know. You wanna know something funny? If we go in there as the Royal Guard, that could technically be seen as an invasion.” He saw Applejack’s face and smiled. “Don’t get me wrong. No pony over there is going to really take special offense if a hundred of us suddenly start marching down the main street, but it would still technically be an invasion. The Border Guard, on the other hoof, would be fully allowed to do that, though they’d still get the usual complaints.”

“Strange.”

“I guess so. Honestly, Border Guards are not really meant for running daily affairs, they aren’t trained for that, so usually they just stick to the outer borders and patrol them. No point in them monitoring the inner ones, not when they can just leave that to the locals.”

“I… I never knew that,” Applejack replied, shocked to hear it. “Why’s it like that?”

“Long story short, the ponies in charge took exception to Celestia and Luna coming to power. The Hearth's Warming Eve story is very different from what actually took place. It was Earth Ponies, like yourself, that helped put Celestia and Luna on the throne and topple the old regime.”

“Yeah, I remember learnin’ a bit ‘bout that in school, but not much,” Applejack recalled. “What’s the story there?”

“You’re better off asking Twilight, honestly.”

“Alright, I’ll be sure to.”

Shining was relieved he didn’t have to go over the history. “But even after that, we came close to all-out civil war. Really close. The unicorns back then didn’t really think very kindly as to the princesses seizing power, especially not as they did,” Shining held up his hoof as Applejack opened her mouth, “and yes, that’s what happened. Peace only found a way because Celestia and Luna agreed to sign a treaty that would allow power-sharing with the ‘Supreme Council of Heavenly Bodies and Royal Advisory Committee of Equestria’, which was eventually reduced to just the High Council. It’s what led to the complete division of our military and the birth of the Royal and Border Guards, though in those days they were called something else entirely. Celestia and Luna forced all this to happen when they seized control of the sun and moon.”

“Took control of?” Applejack asked.

“Well, yeah. Before them it was the unicorns, specifically the old royal line, that controlled our sun and moon. Can you imagine how different the world would be if they still did that?”

Applejack tried to wrap her head around what she heard. “That doesn’t sound like somethin’ the princess would do. Sounds kinda… mean?”

“I think the right word is ruthless. Control the celestial bodies, you control everything.” Shining sighed and chuckled dryly. “I don’t know much about that time... and the princesses aren’t exactly forthcoming about that moment in our history.”

“So, this power-sharin’ thingy. Why did they agree to it? They coulda just continued forcin’ the unicorns to submit to ‘em, right?”

Shining shrugged. “I can guess. Probably, the princesses were tired of the fighting and they just wanted it to end. The threat of a civil war for such a young and weak kingdom was likely, too much for them. Leaders shoulder terrible burdens and this was something that they must’ve felt they needed to do. Under the ruse of preventing the Princesses from ever abusing their newfound authority and power, the High Council was given a lot of their own, obstinately to keep the princesses in check.”

“By golly, sounds like your replacement’s got their work cut out for ‘em.” Applejack peered upwards and let the wind blow across her face. “So, what’s the High Council supposed to do?”

“Officially, they deal with external matters; international trade, border disputes, the like, and, if it really comes down to it, war and eventually the invasion and annexation of lands from our enemies.”

“We ain’t been in war for centuries!”

“Open war, no. But we’ve never stopped fighting against a few other kingdoms and empires. Ever hear of something called a ‘clandestine operation’ or ‘covert operation’?”

“No.”

“A clandestine operation is when a mission is done so that no one ever finds out about it; it leaves no noticeable mark, so ideally no one knows that it happened, let alone who ordered or carried it out. Covert operations are a little less sticky, it’s when a mission is officially done, unofficially. It’s been ordered, but the ponies that give the order, deny that it was them. Sometimes they’re never asked, other times they just barely maintain plausible deniability.”

“Then who’s responsible for the order?”

“In both cases, if they’re caught, the ponies carrying out the mission are.”

“If they’re caught? Land sakes! That makes the ponies who follow them orders take the blame and the ones who need to take responsibility get away with it?”

“Pretty much. Yeah.”

That made Applejack pause. “That’s just awful. It’s wrong!”

“I agree.”

“Have you ever done somethin’ like that?”

“Me? No. And even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to talk about it. Besides, I was never in a position that would require me to do that. First, I’ve always been too public of a figure. Everypony knows my face and my name.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “How come I never heard of ya ‘till Twilight’s weddin’?”

“I guess the same reason why you never heard of many other Guards, including Semper. You just didn’t notice. With all that goes on in our kingdom, it happens. Many ponies are so focused on their own lives that they tend to ignore everything else. I mean, think about how many times you’ve had to introduce yourself. You’re the Element of Honesty. You’ve been in papers and there’s picture of you standing next to the Princesses of this kingdom and of the Crystal Empire. Don’t some ponies still ask who you are?”

“Well… yeah, I guess they do.”

“Exactly. Within the Guard and some parts of Canterlot society, I am very well-known. Outside, not so much.”

“Still, I think that makin’ other ponies do things and not takin’ responsibility’s all wrong.”

“Well, in their defense, the princesses don’t take kindly to this type of thing either. If they find out about it ahead of time, they usually demand it be stopped. There’s so much more to this and it’s the reason why I never really wanted to become more than just a Captain.”

“‘till you became a prince?”

Shining smiled. “Prince Consort. Not a prince.”

“Prince what-now?”

“Never mind.”

Applejack pondered over what Shining had sense for a moment. “What d’ya mean by ‘more to it’?”

“Celestia and Luna have to always put up a front of unity within her courts, including with the High Council. The High Council also knows this. Division within our senior-most powers would be seen as a weakness to exploit. At least that’s what a senior officer told me once; we cannot let others know of our internal politics.”

“So news about stuff like this doesn’t come out?”

“Oh it does, more frequently than either the Princesses or the High Council would like; you can’t stop the free press, but the princesses will back the High Council and visa versa. A lot of the Cultists who fought against the Guard used this as an excuse to do unspeakable things.”

“Well, I remember them Cultists. Thank Luna they got their numbers cut as they did.” Applejack shuddered and looked away.

Shining noticed the sudden change in her mood, but chose not to mention it. “Thank goodness that Luna returned when she did. Who knows what would’ve happened otherwise.”

“I know,” Applejack said and looked out beyond the horizon. “Trust me, I know.”

Sensing that the mare didn’t want to talk anymore about that, Shining clicked his tongue and reverted back to the original topic. “So, about the Guard.”

Grateful for the blunt change in subject matter, Applejack smiled. “Oh right, that’s what we were talkin’ about.”

“Again, the Royal Guard’s top-most authorities are the Princesses. Each of them they have their own divisions. Internally, we call them Chapters’.”

“What? Like a book?”

“Yeah. Princess Celestia used to be in charge of the entire Royal Guard, but Luna took over her own Chapter, the Night Guard.”

Applejack just nodded. Princess of the Night, Night Guard. Made sense.

“Under the princesses, they have their Chiefs of Staff. The ranking system here can be complicated, as the different Chapters and divisions have their own versions. The Chiefs meet with the princesses and get their objectives and then make up plans that they present to the princesses. If agreed, these orders are passed down the chain of command within the respective Chapters with the alignment of the allocated diarch taking precedence over the other depending on the Chapter.”

“I think you lost me there,” Applejack admitted trying to keep up.

“Um… okay, the Princesses are in charge, but Celestia’s orders are obeyed over Luna’s if the order is directed towards the Day Guard and Luna’s orders over Celestia’s if the order is directed towards the Night Guard.”

“Now why didn’t you say so?”

Shining laughed and rubbed the back of his head. “Good point. Anyway, I was in charge of the Palace Guards, which is a subdivision of the Royal Guard. The largest, actually. My job was to make sure the palace was safe from invaders, saboteurs, spies, assassins, thieves and the like. I got my rank because of my primary skill.”

“Primary skill?”

“Yes. Um, each unicorn in the Guard has a primary skill. It’s bound to our aligned element…” he looked at Applejack and smiled. “It’s a unicorn thing.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” She chuckled in response.

“Yes. The Palace Guards have a Blue Star on their peytrals.”

“Pay-what-now?”

“Peytrals. P-E-Y-T-R-A-L. Chestplates.”

At that, Applejack nodded. “I get ya’. You had Twilight’s symbol on yours though.”

“That’s a common misnomer. My Cutie Mark and Twilight’s are similar.” To prove the point, Shining turned slightly. “See? We have the same star. It’s my star that’s on my Peytral. Higher ranked officers have their Cutie Marks on theirs to show seniority and rank.”

“I see. So your job was to protect the princess.”

“Yes and no. Our job was to defend the palace. The princesses have their own personal guards. The palace is more than home for Celestia and Luna. We have libraries with a lot of powerful spells and vaults full of artifacts collected over the centuries... it could be bad if they got into the wrong hooves… or claws. Our job is to protect those and help protect the princesses.”

“So, whose job is it to protect them? Or don’t they need ‘em?”

“After my wedding fiasco, you should know the answer to that one,” Shining grumbled. “The Solar and Lunar Guards. Solar Guards have Celestia’s sun on their peytrals. Luna’s have a silver moon. They are very autonomous and you don’t really see them around. They don’t stay in the palace all that often, because they’re always doing something on behalf of the princesses. They do highly personal things for them.”

“Like what?”

“The funny ones or the serious ones?” Shining asked.

“Start with the funny ones.”

“Well, they might go and bake a cake for Princess Celestia in secret -- if she’s supposed to still be on a diet, or they’ll… take it from the Royal Pantry. The funny part is how seriously they’ll do it. They’ll plan the operation out like a battle, causing a distraction, then just make the cake vanish. Of course, I think they do it out of jest and to annoy the kitchen staff. Luna uses hers for more... nefarious means.”

“Nefarious?” Applejack asked, worry in her voice.

“Pranks.”

The worry evaporated instantly.

Shining smiled at the relief on Applejack’s face. “It’s a good thing that we live in such peaceful times that they can afford such… uh… relaxed orders. But they are also tasked with very... specific missions, and some of them are not always…”

“Always what?”

“It’s hard to talk about the grey areas in what we do as Guards, especially the Solar and Lunar Guards. They do things. Mostly good, but some are bad… very bad, almost... evil. If a princess orders her Guards to do something, and doesn’t think the order through, they would ensure that it gets done by any means necessary. That autonomous nature of the Solar and Lunar Guard has them do things that have angered Celestia and Luna. And sometimes they will carry out orders in a manner that the princesses won’t find out until after it’s done, sometimes not even then. Remember what I said about covert operations earlier? They do those professionally; not just once in awhile, they train for them every day.”

“Sounds like these Personal Guard have a little too much power and not enough accountability, at least for ponies like ‘em.”

“That is why there are only a very small number of Solar and Lunar Guards.”

“How many?”

“As per the law and agreement with the High Council? Seven for each princess,” Shining looked up at the sky. “Luna has room for four more. She’s got three now... I think, I haven’t talked to her about it for a while.”

“Where’d they come from?”

“The new three were recruited a few days after she came back. Volunteers from the Night Guard.”

“What happened to the original seven.”

“They died,” Shining replied.

“I see.” At that, Applejack remained silent. “How’d she take it? Y’know…”

“She knew. Almost the instant you broke the Nightmare Moon curse. It took a while for her to come to terms with that particular part of her life because they had betrayed her as Nightmare Moon. I guess they wouldn’t obey her as she was, but didn’t fight her because she was still their beloved princess.”

“What’re you sayin’?”

“She killed them. Apparently they never fought back, they just stood there. She never forgave herself for that, despite the fact she wasn’t herself. That’s why it’s been difficult for her to find new Lunar Guards. The thought of replacing her old Guards after what she did was impossible. It’s like telling Twilight to replace you, after she killed you by accident.”

Applejack blinked at that and felt her heart break for her friend. “Poor Luna.”

“She will eventually find the other four, but it could take awhile. Plus, I don’t think anypony is in any rush. You have to admire that about our princesses. Their ability to endure. And also about these Guards and how far they would go for their princess.”

“Okay, the more we talk about the Guard, the more depressed I’m gettin’,” Applejack said bluntly. “And you’ve only talked about two Chapters of the Royal Guard. The Palace and the Princesses’ Personal Guards.”

“Right. Then there’s the City Guards, they’re generally called the police, even in cities like Manehattan, where there is actually a police department, their job is to maintain order in the cities. Each city will have their own version of their armor, but almost always they follow the Chapter’s.”

“Y’lost me again there, Shiny.”

“Sorry. I mean, that the police that patrol the daytime are usually also Day Guards, as well as City Guards. They also might not wear the traditional armor, but they’ll wear their chapter’s insignia somewhere on their uniform. A popular place is the badge on the hat, so they’re difficult to tell apart from the actual police”

“Why’s it gotta be so complicated?”

“Well, we have been around for a while, so each Chapter has its own traditions. Like the pegasi Guard’s chapter, the Storm Guard that protect Cloudsdale and other cloud cities. Their own peytrals have a golden lightning bolt. They are like the Pegasi city version of the Palace Guards and they actively help guard the cloud cities.”

“Why?”

“Because if an enemy should get control of the weather… let’s just say it’d be pretty bad. And I’m not just talking about external enemies.”

“Okay, and what about the Border Guard?”

“They call their Chapters, ‘Sections’, they’re pretty similar... and they have a number of Sections that are part of the Border Guard, but don’t guard the borders. Instead they do a variety of tasks for the High Council in a number of different places and for different purposes.”

Applejack tilted her head and her eyes opened wide. “I think you just broke my brain. What was that you said again?”

“There are a lot of ponies on the High Council. They debate and deliberate, but there are essentially thirteen members of the Council that make the real decisions. These guys are called the Inner Circle, at least in polite conversation.”

That made Applejack chuckle a little.

“Each member of the Inner Circle has the option to… enlist Border Guards for their particular Sections and assign them special missions at any point with the approval of the majority of the Inner Circle members. These are frequently done under an emergency decree that can be made without Princesses Celestia or Luna ever being told about it.”

“Meaning they can choose Guards to go off and do things whether the princesses want it to happen or not?”

“Exactly.”

“That sounds like askin’ for trouble! Who made such a ridiculous rule?”

“We talked about that. Power-sharing and all, remember?”

“And allowin’ the Inner Circle this much freedom was part of that.”

“Yes.”

Applejack stuck out her jaw. “And do they use this power?”

“Almost constantly.”

“Is there anythin’ the High Council are good for?”

Shining shrugged. “Despite their difficult stance, they have saved Equestria many times. And no matter how far apart you think they are, they always have Equestria’s survival at heart. The only problem is that they are always looking to gain from it, which leads to a lot of selfish decisions being made. But you can’t be rich and powerful if you don’t have a nation to be rich and powerful in.”

“I s’pose.”

“There is just one thing though,” Shining said and looked at Applejack. “Your hat. Who gave it to you?”

“My ma.”

“I see. And she’s?”

“She’s mozied along,” Applejack sighed.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Shining replied. “It’s just that hat, it’s typical of one of the Border Guard’s Section’s uniforms.”

“I know.”

“I see,” Shining said and looked at the mare for a moment before nodding to himself in understanding. He had brought up something that was clearly quite painful for her. “Sorry to bring it up. Let’s call it a night, shall we?”

“Yeah. Just… sorry. I should’a known that you’d bring that up eventually. And thanks for understandin’. It’s just hard talkin’ ‘bout my folks is all.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” He stared at the moon for a moment before bowing his head. “Good night, Applejack. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Huh? Yeah. Night, Shining,” Applejack said distractedly.

As the stallion walked away, he turned back to see Applejack. She stood there at the bow hugging her hat tightly against her chest. He must have invoked feelings of terrible sadness and painful memories. He felt terrible for that. He’d have to make it up to her. Somehow.

Comments

[Violet Rose in The Rain]

That is some rich history.

[lunarstallion]

So, Applejack's mother was in the Border Guard? Is that what I'm getting from that last bit?

[An Alternate Universe]

7894156 Or she knew a Border Guard from that particular chapter, or someone AJ's mother knew (i.e. a relative) knew someone. Remember the Apple family lived outside of Equestria's borders before being forced to flee back when the Dragon came.

[Ash Bark]

aaaaaaah the loooooore.
feeeeeeels gooooood

[Emperor]

Well, we know that eventually the nobles at least rally partially behind Semper Pie, given that he gets a medal from the House of Lords. Which mission that will be for remains to be seen. Nice little interlude chapter to go into some more backstory and world-building.

Though it's slightly depressing that Shining Armor gets relegated to being a mere Prince-Consort instead of a flat-out Prince, but that is keeping in line with what Twilight says in the first chapter about him being commanded by his wife.

[Blodhgarm]

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

Man i havent read a story this immersive or good in forever.