Chapter 31

The royal guards all surrounded the wooden coffin as they stood to attention, the captain of the guard stood by the top of the wooden casket. The pegasi weather teams quietly removed the greying clouds as they allowed the evening sun to cast long shadows across the graveyard outside Canterlot

“We all knew Private Barrier, his determination and enthusiasm was a reminder to us all about why we joined the guards” Shining Armour put on his helmet as he looked down at the coffin. His eyes moved to look to his wife for support

The pink alicorn gave a weak smile as she brought a napkin to her eyes again. Cadence stood with Luna, Celestia, Nox, Dave and Strong Shield. Each of the royals had their heads hung in sadness, the human glanced at Strong Shield

Strong Shield stared at the grave with a restrained snarl, his eye showed his immense fury as his breaths sounded like they were forced to stay calm. His mane helped cast a shadow over his face as he listened to Shining Armour’s speech

Beside the coffin was an older mare that was beginning to wrinkle and show her age, she wept as the coffin of her only child was lowered into the ground. A guard stepped out from his position as he held the mare back from following the wooden box into the hole in the ground

As the sound of dirt hitting wood began to join the various quiet sobs and suppressed sniffs as the guards simultaneously fired bolts of magic into the air. Every loud crack of magic made Nox wince as the noise made him shuffle closer to Celestia

As the coffin was fully buried and the headstone was placed into the ground to mark the grave of the young guard, the guards saluted and finally began to act as ponies rather than guards. Shining Armour marched straight away from the grave and towards Cadence, his emotional disguise fell as the princess wrapped her hooves around him and allowed him to soak her shoulder with tears

“One guard!” Shining cried “I couldn’t protect one of my own guards”, he removed his helmet as he threw it at the floor “What captain of the guard am I if I can’t even look after my own troops?” as the white unicorn held his wife closer, she began to gently hum a song to him

Celestia stepped next to Dave and rubber her cheek against his shoulder, her eyes fixed on the grieving mother. “I can never feel what she feels right now,” Celestia sighed as she picked Nox off the ground and held him tight, “Immortality is more of a blessing than I thought”

Strong Shied quietly turned away and began walking, Dave stroked Nox’s mane before he kissed Celestia’s head “I’m going to see how my father is holding up” he smiled as Celestia gave him an understanding nod. Dave walked past the group of guards, each of them expressing their sadness in their own ways

Dave caught up with Strong Shield and began to walk alongside the unicorn, looking around at the shops and ponies that walked the streets. Everypony wore something black, from a dress to a small piece of thread tied around a hoof, everypony wore something to show their respect to the fallen guard

Strong Shield and Dave remained silent until they walked through the guard barracks and into Strong Shield’s secret base. Dave closed the stone door behind him as Strong Shield sat at his desk, his eye still full of fury

“Listen, I know it must be tough but don’t blame yourself” Dave sighed as Strong Shield pulled out a bottle of brandy and took a large swig from the bottle

“Blame myself?” Strong Shield growled “I know exactly who did this and so do you” he was about to take another drink before he snarled and threw the bottle against the wall “THOSE BASTARDS!”

Dave jumped at the outburst “You couldn’t have known that this was going to happen” the human took a few steps forward as Strong Shield marched into one of the side rooms

“The bank robbers were decoys” Strong Shield yelled as he threw things around the room “the magical booster was given to them by Flux and Battering Ram,” he returned with two golden blades strapped to the side of his front legs

“Why are you wearing that?” Dave stood in Strong Shield’s way “There is no way I am letting you throw yourself at them whilst you are like this”

Strong Shield snarled, “I am going to kill them, properly this time” he grinded his teeth together as he pushed Dave aside “This is too much”

“Stop!” Dave yelled, “We were lucky the last time we fought them, your anger is making you reckless and stupid,” he folded his arms as he glared at Strong Shield’s head, “if Barrier could see you now then he would say the same”

Strong Shield whirled around and slashed at Dave’s ankles, slicing through most the flesh. “Don’t you dare use his name like that!” Strong Shield yelled again as he jammed his other blade under Dave’s jaw and dragged him against the floor until he reached the large basin of flowing lava

“Look at yourself!” Dave managed to groan before Strong Shield could slam his head into the magma. The black unicorn looked at Dave’s body before he pulled him away from the lava and grabbed his own head

“They killed an innocent guard!” Strong Shield yelled as he punched the floor in anger, the blade left a large scar in the ground “They will pay if it is the last thing I do!”

Dave groaned as he sat himself against the wall “Then we have to stop them from doing anything like this again, we have to do what they want and keep going for the vault” he winced as his ankles began healing “I know you are angry but you have never let your emotions control you”

“I KNOW!” Strong Shield roared as dropped head again and his limbs fell weakly against his body “I just want to make sure Private Barrier gets the justice he deserves”

“He will be avenged, but you can’t do it if you are dead,” Dave scratched at his healing ankles, his chin slowly sealed up soon after “Let’s get the key to the vault and make sure it stays locked”

Strong Shield looked at the blades attached to his hooves as he shook his head in despair “I’m sorry I attacked you, I lost control” he managed a weak smile as he saw Dave’s casual shrug “I will get the key before we depart for Manehatten”

“Getting it last minute would be a good idea” Dave scratched the back of his head, stopping as he realized his fingers were still bloody “Where is this vault supposed to be hidden?”

“Tartarus, at least inside the fortress walls and hopefully not inside the actual prison” Strong Shield removed the blades from his arms as he frowned again “I am going to ask you to do three things for me”

Dave stretched his legs as he climbed to his feet, using the wall to support himself until he was sure that his ankles had properly healed “Sure what do you need”

“You can’t tell anypony what we are doing, including Celestia” Strong Shield waited for Dave to stop his humming before moving onto his next point “second, you are bringing Odio with us, he will be crucial in helping you fight”

“Both of those sound like they could damage me if we get found out” Dave protested before finally nodding again “and what is this final request? Convince Cadence to sleep with Nox in a few years?”

“As much of an idea that is… no” Strong Shield paused to hum in consideration before shaking his head again “When I give you the key you have to swallow it, straight away”

Dave nodded “I understand that it would be easier for me to hold onto it but what size is it?” the human shrugged as Strong Shield rolled his eye “Are we talking about a fork or fishing rod? Seriously, how big is it?”

“Big enough for you to swallow and to retrieve it later when the time arises” Strong Shield began to open the entrance to the secret base again

“Yeah I’m such a slut that I can swallow anything you give me” Dave joked as he began laughing, stopping as he hurried after the unicorn “Seriously is it about three inches big or?”

Meanwhile…

Cadence opened the door to her house, her mane was unusually messy and it still had traces of tears amongst the hair. She gave a small smile as she saw the guests that consisted of Celestia, Luna, Nox and Twilight

“We thought that your husband could do with a reassuring face” Celestia smiled as Cadence nodded, the princess of love stepping aside so the group could enter the house

Shining Armour sat in the living room, a horseshoe rested on the table in front of him, the name of the fallen guard was engraved on one side. His face was calmer but his eyes still showed a lot of weight and strain

“Hey big brother” Twilight smiled reassuringly as she sat next to her sibling “Is that one of a guard’s horseshoe?” she asked, knowing what the answer was

“Yeah, one of four” Shining picked it up as he looked at his own dark horseshoes “One is kept with records, one is buried, one is given to family and one is passed onto whoever the fallen guard wished it to be given to”

Twilight nuzzled her brother’s shoulders as he dropped it back onto the table “Well it must be an honour to know that the guard wanted you to have it”

Shining Armour shook his head “Barrier wanted it to be given to Strong Shield, but I doubt the old fool would care” he snarled again as he threw the horseshoe at the floor “I am supposed to be the captain of the guard! Why do I have this job if I can’t even protect my soldiers?”

“Because you can handle it” Celestia stood with her head held high “You have been the youngest captain of the royal guard in thousands of years, and it would be even longer since we have had one as good as you”

Shining Armour glanced at the princess “I am not good, I let somepony get murdered because I jumped at the chance to stop a bank robbery” he wrapped a hoof around Twilight as his heavy eyelids fell shut “Why you chose me to become captain I have no idea”

Celestia passed Nox to Luna as she stepped in front of the wallowing stallion “You were my eleventh choice” she glared down at the captain looked up “I spent many years without a captain because the one I had decided on refused every time I asked”

“Strong Shield I presume” Shining Armour sighed “that old fart wanted to yell at recruits for the rest of his life” the white unicorn raised his head again to look at the serious Celestia “Why did you end up coming to me?”

“Because Strong Shield said so” Celestia’s eyes dropped as she sat down in a chair opposite her captain “Every time I asked Strong Shield he said no because he said that he didn’t have the right qualities” Celestia pointed at the stallion opposite her “He sent me a letter recommending you on your first day you finished training and became a private”

“Wha?” Shining’s eyes popped open “I have qualities that Strong Shield doesn’t? What the hay are those? Umm… your majesty” Shining Armour finally saluted as he realized who he was talking to

Celestia frowned in thought as she thought back “When Strong Shield was first recruited he seemed normal, his first year went by normally but then…” The white alicorn sighed, “The captain at the time was murdered, inside the castle, just like what happened to Private Barrier”

Shining winced at the name, as if the dead Private Barrier had haunted his vision at the mention of his name. The stallion slowly released his purple sister as he leaned forwards “What happened to Strong Shield? I‘m guessing his was close to the captain”

“Indeed, thirty years ago, right after the murder… he changed” Celestia shook her head “He went from an average guard that wouldn't complain if the armour was too loose, to a cold and isolated sergeant” the princess of the sun frowned “I think that the old Strong Shield died thirty years ago when his mentor was murdered”

Luna stepped forwards “That is why he recommended you, because he would not weep for those that fell in the line of duty” the princess of the night held her head high, forgetting Nox was on her back “You would use that death to rally the guards and take them to a new level that they have never seen before”

Shining Armour looked at the various stares he was receiving before his eyes fell on the horseshoe that belonged to the late guard. He picked it up and glared with determination

“I won’t seek justice, nopony will seek justice, but the guards…” he held the hoof against his chest as his eyes flared in fury and his breathing dropped to a growl “The guards will claim justice”