Luna's Royal Gaurds Captain

[100 beasts kaidou 321]

Okay so we all know that Shining is the captain of Celestias Royal Gaurds. But what about Lunas royal gaurds. those badass bat ponies, do they have a Captain of there own? Or are they also leaded By SA?

[Orablanco Account 3,707]

Bat Pony guards are Best Guards.

 

I'd assume that they have their own captain of the guard. Shining Armor can't be awake 24/7.

 

Speaking of which, is SA even captain of the guard anymore? Heck, I don't think he's even been to Canterlot in several months.

[Doc Ginger 86]

No I don't believe him to be a captain anymore either. It would kinda be a conflict of interest, seeing as how he is also a leader of his own nation now alongside his wife. Then again..... MLP doesn't go into that kinda depth or detail in these things  

[Fhaolan 4,483]

We don't really know enough about the rank structure of the Guards, really, and who the heck those batponies were and why haven't we seen them since? The only thing we've seen like them since that one episode was what might possibly be a unicorn version; Sombra.

 

Captain of the Guard may not be the top rank, or it might be a... I don't know the right term... wardroom custom? In the same way that the Captain of a ship could actually be a Lieutenant or a Commander, and if naval person of the rank Captain is on someone else's ship they're called Commodore instead so there isn't any confusion who the Captain is. (Captains from other services are usually called Major, if I remember correctly.)

 

Fannon has two versions of this, that I've seen. One version is that they're all Royal Guards, and it's just some are specially assigned to the princesses and to other certain tasks. And he other that there is a divisional difference between the Day Guard and the Night Guard, with the batponies showing up as special members of the Night Guard.

 

So Shining may be the Captain of the Guard, or he might be a Captain of the Guard.

 

In my headcannon:

 

Shining is the Captain of the Guard, responsible for all Guard stuff in Canterlot itself. Reporting to him would be bunch of Commanders, including at least one Commander of the Night Guard.

 

Spitfire is the Captain of the Wonderbolts, the Guard's stunt team in the model of the Blue Angels, Red Arrows, and Snowbirds, but either is equal in rank to Shining, or has the official rank of Commander and the 'Captain' rank is part of military etiquette as leader of a special squad.

 

There is likely a Marshal or two who are higher in rank that Shining, and Celestia has the official rank of Grand Marshal, in the same way the Queen of England is Commander-in-Chief of the British armed forces. (Funny note, not many people realize that the Queen actually served in the British Army before she was Queen, and 'retired' with the rank of Captain when she was coronated.) Ooooooorrrrr... Luna is actually the Grand Marshal, or was before she went Nightmare. I haven't decided yet.

 

EDIT: You're all right. Shining is unlikely to still be the Captain of the Guard, though he likely still retains his 'Captain' rank as a courtesy. I'm still a bit vague as to how the Crystal Empire fits politically with Equestria. Is it a separate political entity, or a subject nation? The phrase Crystal Empire may even be a province/state-like thing that has retained the term 'Empire' out of custom.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Fhaolan

[Doc Ginger 86]

You sir, just made my day with that post. It is good to see that I am not the only one who tries thinking of all these things despite the futility of doing so

[Fhaolan 4,483]

You sir, just made my day with that post. It is good to see that I am not the only one who tries thinking of all these things despite the futility of doing so

 

It's what I do best. I do 'world building'. In fact, it's why I joined this forum in the first place, to have somewhere where I can spout my nonsense to people who might be vaguely interested. 

 

Annoyingly, I'm not a very good writer. So I tend to do essays like the above, when I should be working it all into story form somehow.

[Stratos 109]

Shining Armor gave up his post as captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard to become captain of the Equestrian Expeditionary Force and then, when the threat of King Sombra was gone, he took up his post as captain of the Imperial Crystal Guard.

 

Luna commands her bat-ponies HERSELF.

[Doc Ginger 86]

 

It's what I do best. I do 'world building'. In fact, it's why I joined this forum in the first place, to have somewhere where I can spout my nonsense to people who might be vaguely interested.    Annoyingly, I'm not a very good writer. So I tend to do essays like the above, when I should be working it all into story form somehow.

 

Well we might have to have a few conversations about your 'world building' sometime. I fancy myself a bit of an articulate fellow and try my hand doing the like, but I find my best ideas come out when I have a fellow thinker to bounce ideas from and counter-argument. 

 

Warning though, I do try my hand at writing occasionally and may ask permission to steal a few of your details for my own works as I don't like covering the mane 6 (I feel too limited in writing about characters so well known)