Chapter 51

Strong Shield sat quietly in the barracks, his eye on the large map that sat across the large table. His gaze swept across the terrain as he looked between the city on Manehatten and the small drawing of a black fortress called Tartarus

The black unicorn was careful in thinking to himself, his cautious eye sometimes sweeping the room in case of Celestia’s presence. He even took the precaution of placing magical spells on himself just before he went to sleep, taking care of the risk of Luna stumbling into his dreams

The barrack doors swung open and a princess stepped in, her shadow just in Strong Shield’s sight as she walked over to the table. “Can I help you Princess Cadence?” The black unicorn sighed as he continued to scan the map

“Actually you can!” Princess Cadence smiled as she tapped her hooves on the table, her voice overly happy. “We were wondering if you could attend to Shining Armour’s duties for today…”

“Nope,” Strong Shield said quickly his face remained pointed down

Cadence glanced at her husband for reassurance but he responded with a shrug. “W-well we thought you would have jumped at the chance to train some new recruits”

“You were wrong,” Strong Shield frowned as he looked at the map. The nearest train tracks to Tartarus were still miles away. The special tracks the Daedalus followed were not marked on any map Strong Shield possessed

“But you loved training the guards,” Cadence smiled, hopeful that her attempts could touch Strong Shield’s heart

“It was a job,” Strong Shield grunted. The princess’ attempt failed

Cadence tapped her chin as she thought, “It is you duty as a guard to…”

“I was sacked,” Strong Shield frowned as all the princess achieved was getting the unicorn to shift his glare to her. “Now if you don’t mind I am very busy”

“This is very important,” Cadence pouted. “Shining Armour isn’t feeling too well and I am worried he might injure himself if he works too hard”

Strong Shield turned to look at the princess. “You made him this tired due to you having your libido enhanced because of the royal engagement yesterday… so I will repeat myself once more… no”

“But there is nopony else who can train the guards,” Cadence sighed, her eyes looking around the room as she noticed a few insulted guards. “Well… nopony who can train them as well as you”

The guards around the barracks nodded as they resumed their polishing or other random tasks. Strong Shield looked past Cadence to glare at Shining Armour, “Are you capable of training the guards?”

Shining Armour sighed before he held his head high, “Yeah it is only a pair of unicorns and a Pegasus… I can handle it”

“Fine,” Strong Shield stood up, “Would you like it if I trained them for today?”

“Well… yeah,” Shining Armour nodded. “I would appreciate it and I know that it would definitely be a boost the recruit’s training”

Strong Shield nodded, “So it’s a tactical advantage?”

“I suppose you could call it that,” Shining slowly narrowed his eyes. “So will you do it?”

Strong Shield looked at his map, “Fine but I will require access to the guard’s resources”

The captain of the guard smiled before his face tightened in confusion. “But you never stopped having access… we even let you keep your room here”

“I like to know where I stand,” Strong Shield snorted as he stood up and walked over to one of the guards polishing his armour. “Get me some recruit armour sets,” he ordered and the guard saluted before finally obliging

The black unicorn turned to look at the leaving captain of the guard, “But don’t think for one minute that I will rejoin the guards”

Shining simply shrugged, “Alright, thank you for this and I will get back to training them tomorrow”

“Don’t you have a new drill sergeant?” Strong Shield frowned. “I have been sacked for while now”

“You were sacked for a bad reason, you were in intensive care for almost four months and we thought you would have liked to rejoin…” Shining Armour rubbed a hoof through his blue mane, his head slowly shaking as he looked back up at Strong Shield. “So I didn’t really look for anypony to fill your slot”

Strong Shield turned his head to look at the map that he had been staring at all morning before he looked to the approaching guard, three folded sets of dull iron were levitating above him. The guard passed over the armour sets before returning to his duties

Strong Shield carried the armour sets with him as he walked out of the barracks and straight down the first set of stairs he reached. He reached the next floor down and stepped out onto the balcony that merged with the mountain, most of it carved away to create a large area for guards to do any exercises they required

Three stallions stood around a single tree that had grown in the middle of the grounds, Strong Shield had joined the guards when the tree was half its size and even he had no idea how it managed to start growing. His suspicion was that an earlier guard had brought up a seed and planted it, either way, Strong Shield never thought about cutting it down and using the wood for something useful

One of the unicorns had an annoyed expression, his blond, windswept mane and cream body made his cutie mark of a spear made it look slightly less intimidating. The other unicorn was a pure white, tidy navy mane, a cutie mark of a steel sword, almost the iconic gate guard.

The Pegasus really caught Strong Shield’s eye, his cutie mark was of a winged shield, his mane and tail had a small red stripe but it was barely noticeable against his black body that was covered in yellow stripes

Strong Shield dropped the armour sets he was carrying and walked over to the younger stallions. “So we have a posh colt, a wannabe… and a hybrid?”

The three new recruits all glared at Strong Shield, “who are you?” the blond unicorn snorted. “Do you have the habit of insulting future guards you old…”

“I get to decide if you become a guard on not,” Strong Shield stared at the blond pony. “If you were expecting Captain Shining Armour then I am afraid that you will be very disappointed”

The white unicorn frowned, “Well how do we know if we will get the best training from you?”

Strong Shield would have smiled at the challenge if he weren’t the way he was. “Well you have grown up thinking that you would be a guard, you have the build, mane, cutie mark, natural curiosity… but,” Strong Shield levitated up a armour set and threw it at the unicorn. “You might not have what it takes”

“What about me?” the posh unicorn asked. “He is plain and obvious”

“You were raised in privilege, getting everything you wanted and you never heard the word ‘no’ before,” Strong Shield threw his armour set into the tree. “For your rudeness, you can get your armour without using your magic”

The Pegasus almost did not want to respond as Strong Shield’s gaze turned to him. “S-so you’re going to train us?”

“For today at least,” Strong Shield narrowed his eyes. “Which of your parents is a zebra?”

The Pegasus rubbed a hoof along his neck. “My mother was a zebra… my father was a Pegasus”

“I assume you took your dads colours… black stripes from mom, the wings look quite nimble yet toned…” Strong Shield narrowed his eye briefly. “I assume you play an instrument, stringed… banjo, no… a guitar”

The hybrid bit his tongue as a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek, “Yes sir”

“Well I would like to know the names of the trainees that I will be crushing over the course of the day,” Strong Shield frowned at the posh pony that had refused to climb the tree. “Let’s start with you”

“I’m rich kid,” the cream pony snorted as he held his head high. “And I don’t see how climbing a tree can be part of a guard’s training regime”

Strong Shield pointed at the other unicorn, “kick the tree then tell me your name”

“Uh… I’m Tough Heart,” the pony lifted his rear hoof and kicked the tree, the iron armour fell out of the tree and crashed onto Rich Kid’s head

“I said kick the tree first,” Strong Shield snorted. “And what about you stripes?”

The Pegasus tapped his hooves on the ground, “Well my name is Matrix, kinda hoped that I could do some good by joining the guards.” Matrix chuckled nervously, “I can pop back to my rented room and get my guitar if you want to hear me play”

“Bring that musical shit in the barracks and I will smash it over your head and tie your wings together with the strings,” Strong Shield snorted, the final armour set was dropped behind him as he glanced at the two unicorns. “Get your armour on, you need to get used to the feel”

“What is shit?” Tough Heart raised an eyebrow as he placed the rough helmet on over his mane

“I really should stop using words that Dave uses,” Strong Shield hummed as Matrix reached for the armour resting on the ground. Strong Shield grabbed his hoof, “Not you, I need to see what reach your body has first”

The Pegasus stared at the stern unicorn, “How do you mean… sir?”

“I mean you have to try and hit me,” Strong Shield frowned at Matrix’s hesitant face. “Hit me like you dad did when he slept with that mud drinking whore of a zebra!”

The striped Pegasus’s hesitant face was instantly replaced with anger as he struck out, his hoof aimed at Strong Shield’s chin. The unicorn sidestepped the hoof and ducked under a sweeping wing as he brought his hoof into the Pegasus’ stomach

Matrix coughed as the wind was knocked out of him, he collapsed to the floor as he clutched his stomach. Strong Shield pushed the armour next to the Pegasus, “Congratulations Matrix, you are now my star pupil in this training group… now get up and give me one…”

“O-one?” Matrix looked up at Strong Shield

“… hundred,” Strong Shield glared as he heard both the unicorns sniggering. “And you two can both do double… seeing as you are in heavy iron armour you will get a good work out”

Matrix smirked as both the unicorns realized the plan that they had been subject to and both groaned. Strong Shield took a deep breath as all the trainees were soon exercising and having their muscles put through harsh torment as Strong Shield sometimes placed a hoof on their backs to add extra weight

“Ahh, I missed the smell of hard work and… nose to the FUCKING GROUND you posh mule!”