Buckler looked at the Princess in shock. The Lunar Guard? But that hasn’t existed in at least a millennia, ever since Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon. He pondered this quietly while looking at the Captain. “If you are reinstating the Lunar Guard does that mean that Princess Luna will be coming back to us?” he asked carefully.
She smiled softly, “If I reveal what I have been planning you will be sworn to secrecy. For discussing anything from this conversation will be looked upon as treason. Do you still wish to know?”
Buckler nodded, “I will never speak of what you tell me, Your Majesty.”
“Very well then, in two weeks time Nightmare Moon shall return, but I will be sending my student Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville under the guise of making sure the Summer Sun Celebration will be well organized and prepared. My real goal is for her to make friends with some of the ponies there, for without them Nightmare Moon will not be defeated.” she said as she looked out the window.
“How will she defeat her with only some new friends that she is somehow going to make?” Buckler asked feeling somewhat lost.
“Twilight and her soon-to-be friends will wield the Elements of Harmony against her. Unlike last time when I used them against her, Twilight will purge Luna of Nightmare Moon. Hopefully Luna will accept my offer of friendship and will return to the little sister I loved so long ago.” Celestia said with a slightly hopeful tone. She continued to look out the window, listening to the laughter and singing going on down below in the streets.
“So I am to be one of the personal guards for Princess Luna!?” Buckler realized suddenly, “Your Majesty, I do not know if I can do that.”
“Why not?” she asked turning to look at him with a slight twinkle in her eyes.
“It’s your sister! How can I be trusted with such a responsibility such as that?” he asked rapidly, the worry seeping deep into his voice.
“So you can protect me as a Celestial Guard, but not my Luna as her Lunar Guard? That makes no sense at all, Private.” she said teasingly.
Buck! I did not mean it like that! She is going to kick me out of the guard! He thought worriedly and tried to rethink his position. “What I meant, Princess, was that I do not think that a freshly made Private would be trusted with the protection of Princess Luna. No, wait…that is the same thing if I had been positioned in the Celestial Guard. I honestly cannot think of a way to say what I meant.” he said dejectedly while heaving a deep sigh.
Shining Armor laughed causing Buckler to look at him annoyed that he was getting pleasure out of him messing up. “What you mean, Buckler, is that you were shocked to be chosen when in your mind there were better choices to pick from than you. But Princess Celestia chose you specifically for the job, and I do not think that she would pick you
unless she absolutely trusted you with Princess Luna’s life.” He stated casually.
“But why me?” Buckler asked. What did I do to warrant her attention over every other recruit in my class?
“How did you get your cutie mark Buckler?” she asked softly.
“You don’t want to hear that story.” He replied quickly. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“You tell me.” She countered.
Buckler groaned but began the story anyways. “Back in training we were taken to a forest to practice our survival skills. We were divided into groups and each group was taken to a different forest. My group was unlucky; we were taken to the Everfree Forest and dropped off in the middle of the forest. Our instructors told us that our goal was to make it outside the forest, we were not allowed to fly, we were treating it like we had injured our wings, and they gave us some rations and a wooden training sword.
They warned us to not travel at night and that they would be watching us in case we ran into trouble that we couldn’t handle. At first we were excited to be on our own and to show off our skills. Most of us traveled in small groups, however Knightly and I went off by ourselves wanting no help from anypony. I decided to do what I knew would be the best way for me to get out fastest. I ignored their advice and traveled during the night, it went well the first night I never saw anypony or anything at all. I used the stars for navigation and guidance; unfortunately the trees blocked most of the stars so I had to climb the trees to get my bearings. On those nights I noticed that the moon had entered her rebirth, she was therefore hidden and providing nothing to light the way.
The second night things were not so nice,” he sighed heavily as he recalled things from the past that haunted him for weeks, “I had been tracking one of my fellow recruits, I figured it was Knightly since there was only one set of hoofprints in the ground. I heard a yell for help and I quickly ran towards the sound, only to find Knightly staring down a Cockatrice. I remembered what I had been told about them: they turned anyone to stone who foolishly looked them in the eyes, they looked like they were a cross between a chicken and a snake, and if we ever saw one run the buck away from it. Knightly was doing the exact opposite and staring it in the eyes and was slowly being turned to stone.
I quietly put down my pack and pulled out my practice sword. I knew we were supposed to not fly but this was an emergency. I rapidly flew up and hid in a tree, and then I assessed the situation. I knew that the only way I could defeat it was to hit it hard and fast from behind. I took careful aim, and did a nosedive with my practice sword in my teeth. I slammed my sword into the back of the Cockatrice’s neck, and heard the most sickening snap. I pulled out of the dive; I then flew back up to make sure the Cockatrice wasn’t coming after me; however it was on the ground not moving. I looked over at Knightly and saw that he had returned to normal and was looking around. He stopped at the Cockatrice and panicking he ran off into the woods terrified. I gently returned to the ground and examined the Cockatrice; it was dead, I had killed it. I turned and hurled what little of my rations that were left in me, after I had recovered, I quickly left and continued trying to get out of those bucking woods. Once I managed to get out of the forest I found myself at the edge of a giant orchard, exhausted I flew into a tree and passed out glad that I was out of there.” He finished glad for it to be over.
“You omitted a part from the fight with that Cockatrice.” Shining Armor pointed out much to Buckler’s annoyance.
“I didn’t think it was important, Sir.” He replied hotly.
“What did you leave out, my Guard?” Celestia inquired softly.
“He left out what technique he used.” A voice from behind them called out. In the doorway stood a sapphire blue Pegasus with a neon orange mane. He smiled amused as he entered and bowed to the princess. “A pleasure as always, Your Majesty.”
“Welcome, Lieutenant Feathers.” Shining Armor said warmly.
“Buffing, how many times have I told you to call me Ace? I hate being called Feathers and you know it!” Ace growled with a huge smile on his face.
“Same number of times I have asked you to not use synonyms of my name instead of my actual name.” he stated with an equally large smile. Ace merely waved the accusation off as though it were an annoying fly.
“I have considered your offer of being moved around.” Ace said as he leaned against the wall.
“And?” Shining Armor inquired.
“I will accept your offer, since this is the kid you are giving me.” He said looking over at Buckler now.
“What does it matter if I am being assigned to you? Would you have declined if someone else had been put here instead?” Buckler demanded staring at him.
“Yep. But more importantly why don’t you tell the Princess what technique you really used on the Cockatrice?” he replied returning the stare evenly.
“How do you even know that I used a different technique?” Buckler asked.
“You mean besides the fact that you just admitted it? I was there as a volunteer to keep a watch on you runts. I was asked to follow you specifically, because the Captain knew you would not follow the no traveling at night suggestion. I saw the fight and how you saved the other kid; honestly I was impressed on how you quickly analyzed the situation and came up with a plan. What annoys me though is the fact that you hid the information of what you somehow knew. That attack has not been used in over 900 years, and yet somehow you knew it. Care to explain yourself, Private?” he explained in the same tone one might explain the current weather in.
“Fine, it was the Downward Crescent Slash.” Buckler admitted embarrassed.
“My sister’s sword technique?” Celestia asked amused, “But how did you learn of it, the last person to know it passed away long before you were born.”
“I asked Twilight if she knew of any sword styles that I could learn before entering the Academy, she suggested the Lunar Cycle style. She took a book from her family’s bookshelf and let me borrow it as long as I took extra special care of it. Apparently the book had been passed down for generations, but no one had been interested in learning
from it because of who wrote it, Nightmare Moon.” He confessed. “I only learned three of the attacks before I had to return the book. I spent months honing myself in using them.”
Celestia smiled and nodded, “She would have been proud to see someone learning from her. Luna put so much effort into developing them, but only shared them with her guard allowing no one else to learn them. I think that explains your cutie mark better now.”
Buckler looked at his cutie mark and saw the same thing he did when he woke up in the apple tree that morning so long ago. I woke up when the sun had reached its midway point in the sky. I looked over my shoulder to get my bearings and I saw something that I had never seen before. My cutie mark had appeared! I examined it as much as I could and saw a silver longsword with a light brown grip, but what really caught my attention was the crescent moon in the pommel of the sword. It stood out against the ashy color of my coat and made me happy that it was there.
“…Buckler?’ a voice called him back to the real world.
“What?” he muttered looking around the room. He realized that he had spaced out for too long, and everyone was staring at him. “I’m sorry lost in my memories…” he muttered apologetically to the Princess.
“It’s all right Buckler, it happens to the best of us” she said laughing. “Also as of this moment you are on extended leave,” at this Buckler’s mouth dropped, “you cannot guard my dear sister until she has arrived.” She said gently assuring him, “Once the Northern tower has been successfully remodeled you and Lt. Ace will move into the guards barracks on the floor below Luna’s chambers. For now there will only be the two of you, until we get her more acclimated to how much things have changed in these many years. There is no need to overwhelm her with too many guards, and if you need reinforcements for any reason call upon my Celestials. Any questions?”
They both shook their heads denying any more information was needed. Celestia nodded and walked out of Shining Armor’s office.
Shining Armor cleared his throat, and once he had gotten both their attentions.
“Dismissed.”
They saluted and both started walking towards the door. Once they were in the outer chambers outside the office Ace abruptly stopped. “Buckler, hold up a minute” he commanded.
“Sir?”
“First off drop the sir, I bucking hate being called that. Secondly while under my command you will follow my orders without questioning it. I was not made a Lieutenant without gaining some wisdom from being a Private, a Sergeant, and a Colonel. If I tell you to run away you do it. I want to help you learn and grow as not only a soldier but as a pony as well. Part of the learning part is to not get injured or killed in the line of duty. Finally do not let me down, I have a reputation to uphold. And if you embarrass me ol’ Buffer in there will never let me live it down…” he said grinning as if he was the cat who swallowed the canary.
I cannot decide if he is being serious or messing with my head. I have never even spoken to him till today. Buckler thought as he nodded to his orders. “What do I call you then?” he asked unsure of what the answer might be.
“You can call me Ace or Master, maybe if you’re feeling plucky you could call me Hope. I would not risk that one though might make it sound like you are hopeful or something.” He said laughing amused at his own joke.
“Umm…ok then Ace. Is there anything I need to be doing right now?” Buckler asked shaking his head.
“You are on leave go enjoy the festival. Drink some hard cider. Get some action with a mare or two, or a stallion if that is what floats your boat. Live and enjoy life while you can who knows how long these peaceful moments will last.” Ace said dismissively as he walked towards the gates leading out to the giant celebration.
Get some action with a Stallion!? What makes him think I go that way! He turned to say something but Ace was already lost in the large crowd. Buckler sighed and walked towards one of the spirits tents. Live like there is no tomorrow and pretend that it will never come. Words to live by I guess. He thought as he looked into the freshly poured mug of Bucker's Hard Pressed Cider.