In the Name of the Moon

by Cavemonkynick

Chapter 4

A strong jolt woke me up. It took a few seconds for me to become aware enough to realize I had rolled off the couch.

“Well that’s one way to wake up I guess.” A voice said.

“Can it Flourish,” I groaned as I picked myself up off the floor.

“You should have let me make you a bed,” Twilight chimed in from the kitchen.

“I guess I move more in my sleep than I used to.” I replied, stretching.

“Face it Devin, you’re getting old.”

“Don't call me that.” I grunted, bristling slightly at the use of my old name. "What's for breakfast?"

"Breakfast was nearly four hours ago," Flourish said, "It's past noon now."

"Seriously? I haven’t slept like that in ages. Where's Luna?"

"She went out with Spike." Twilight replied. "I sent him on errands."

"Gotcha, I'm gonna stretch my wings a bit. I shouldn't be gone long."

As soon as I had open sky above me I took off straight up, heading for a single stray cloud before landing and taking in the view. Ponyville was quite busy. Must have been a market day or something. A few scattered pegasi flitted about the skies and a pink blur kept zipping about on the ground. No doubt Pinkie passing out last minute invitations. I spent a few minutes longer gazing at the town before turning my eyes to Canterlot behind me.

The castle seemed so quiet from here. Celestia was definitely having a good day when she decided to carve her new throne into the side of a mountain. I could feel myself drifting off into thought again when a gleam caught my eye. Within a few seconds that gleam had become the blur of a yellow pegasus. The blur shot past before whipping around and flying straight back at me.

"Spitfire?" I said, bewildered, as the captain of the Wonderbolts landed in front of me. "What the hay are you doing here?"

"I need to see Princess Luna." She responded. "Where is she?"

"Somewhere in town."

"Right," she poised to take off.

"Hang on! What's this about?"

"I'd like to know myself," a new voice chimed in. It was Luna, there's one mystery solved. "It's not every day a small town like this sees a celebrity such as yourself."

"You're one to talk," I mumbled. Both Luna and Spitfire ignored me.

"Princess," Spitfire gave a quick bow. "I've got important news from-" A loud snore cut her off. "What the..." Spitfire shifted a bit of the cloud to uncover a sleeping Rainbow Dash.

"Well that explains the stray cloud," I sighed.

"Yeah, we need to move," Spitfire said as she covered Dash back in her hiding spot, "if she wakes up I'll never get back and I really don't have the time for fanatics today."

"We can continue at the library." Luna said before stepping off the side of the cloud.

"Short flight," Flourish said as I entered the library.

"Yeah, I ran into somepony important." I said as Spitfire and Luna followed me in. Immediately Flourish dropped all pretense.

"What's going on?"

"Upstairs," Spitfire said, as an answer.

"Hold up," Twilight called from across the room.

"Twilight, give us five minutes." I said.

"What’s going on?"

"Twi-"

"No, this is my house and I want to know."

"Just bring her with you!" Spitfire yelled from upstairs, "I don't have time to waste."

"Yeah, alright." I called back.

"Right," Spitfire started after we were all present, "I've got some disturbing news. Last night, border patrol eight was attacked by three griffons while out on their rounds. According to the report, the griffons had every intention of killing the patrol."

"That’s ridiculous." Twilight interjected. "Why would a bunch of griffons try to kill trained guards?"

"That's why I'm concerned." Spitfire said.

"What is my sister doing about this?" Luna asked.

"Absolutely nothing."

"You can't be serious." I said.

"I admit to accusing Celestia of being hopelessly idealistic but she would never let such a blatant threat go unanswered." Luna said.

"Look, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't just as worried." Spitfire said.

"There has to be a good reason for her inaction," Twilight said.

"She claims that the squad was inexperienced and therefore incapable of making such extreme claims."

"Pony-feathers." I said. "That's Sterling Silver's squad. The members are new but he's been running those rounds for years. There's no way he would exaggerate on an official report."

"I got that impression from him," Spitfire said. "He was up for consideration with the Wonderbolts about a year ago. He turned it down because he liked where he was."

"What about my brother?" Twilight asked. "Surely he's doing something."

"Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadence both returned to the Crystal Empire shortly after you all left."

"What?" I half shouted, "But that means there are no officers in the capital." Spitfire nodded.

"Nopony but me, and I just run the Wonderbolts. All members of both the Solar and Lunar guards are answering directly to the princess."

"Thank you for bringing this to me Captain Spitfire." Luna said suddenly.

"Of course your highness." She responded with another bow.

"Before you return I have a favor to ask."

"Name it."

"Send me my Nightmare Guard. Tell them to be discrete."

"Consider it done. I've gotta get going. I'm supposed to be out on a training flight." Spitfire headed to the window before taking off. Her departure rustled a few papers on Twilight's desk out of place. I expected the purple glow of her magic to catch them before they settled to the floor. It didn't. I turned to Twilight, her eyes were glazed and she was clearly lost in thought.

"Something is very wrong Night Wing." Luna said.

"Definitely," I nodded, "not much we can do from here though."

"Should we head back?" Flourish asked.

"No," Luna answered. "I plan to find out exactly what’s going on up north, and I can't do that from Canterlot without Celestia breathing down my neck."

"What's the Nightmare Guard?" Twilight asked.

"Undercover reconnaissance." Flourish answered. "They consist solely of pegasi and handle covert operations."

"So, spies?"

"Basically," I said. "Best of the best."

"Is that why I've never heard of them?"

"Yes and no," Luna said. "The Nightmare guard was disbanded after my... After the Nightmare Moon fiasco. They were the only ponies to defect and follow her, so of course no pony wanted to replace them. Eventually it just fell into obscurity. I re-instated them after the Changeling invasion."

"I see." Twilight said.

"Are you ok?" I asked Twilight. She frowned.

"Of course not," She replied. "My mentor is ignoring something that could easily escalate to an international incident for seemingly no reason."

"Peace Twilight," Luna said. "We will get to the bottom of this, I promise."

"Come on, let’s go grab a snack before the party." Flourish said and led Twilight downstairs. I sighed and turned to Luna.

"I never thought I'd see the day Night Wing." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Tia has always been so composed, even when we first faced Discord all those years ago. I was the only thing to ever slip from her hooves. She has to know something we don't."

"So you’re sending the Nightmare Guard to spy on her?"

"No, I'm sending them to spy on the griffons."

"Honestly, that might be safer." I laughed.

"I agree," Luna gave a weak smile. "We should get ready for Pinkie Pie's party."

"You still wanna go?"

"The Nightmare Guard will not move until well after nightfall, and I'll take any distraction I can to help clear my mind."

The party was... eventful to say the least. It ended up being at one of the Apples' old barns thanks to the number of ponies Pinkie invited. At dusk, Luna attempted to excuse herself to attend to the sky, but the crowd ended up following her out. It seemed the few ponies who had witnessed her show the night before had spread the word, and now the whole town wanted to watch the mistress of the night work her magic.

She started simple, gently tugging the moon over the horizon as the sun sunk behind her. With the last rays of twilight giving way to the darkness, the sky became her canvas. Her horn began to glow and she closed her eyes. One by one, the stars began to shine. They appeared slowly and randomly at first, but before long Luna was painting constellations two at a time. I reluctantly looked away and turned my attention to the crowd. All around me, ponies watched in amazement, some with their mouths hanging open. A filly standing on a pony I guessed was her father gasped and pointed at a shooting star.

"Yer a lucky fella, gettin' ta watch this every night." an old voice said from behind me. It was Granny Smith.

"Yes mam, I am." I replied with a smile. I turned back to the sky, "She really is pulling out all the stops tonight. I don't think she’s been this into it since the night she was strong enough to take back over."

"In all my years, Princess Celestia never even came close to what I'm seein' now. If I weren’t watchin' her doin' it, I'd swear the sky was alive."

"It is to her."