In the Name of the Moon

by Cavemonkynick

Chapter 5

That night my mind decided to revisit yet another unpleasant memory.

I was doing my usual rounds when a messenger pony approached me.

"I'm looking for a," she pulled a letter from her bag, "Devin Windelbane?"

"You found him." I sighed, taking the letter. "Do I owe you anything?"

"No sir," she responded, "All post was covered by sender. Have a good night."

"You too," I called absentmindedly as she walked away. The envelope was blank save for my name and "Canterlot, Lunar Guard". I grumbled a bit as I tucked the letter in my armor for later reading. "Would Captain Night Wing have been so hard to write down?" Once my rounds were done a few minutes later I headed over to the watch station. "Quiet as always," I said to Flourish as I entered.

"You say that like it’s a bad thing," she replied without looking up. She was surrounded by at least six pieces of parchment, three of which she was signing off on simultaneously. As she spoke she added one more piece to the flock and began recording my rounds. "That mail pony find you?"

"Yeah," I said, pulling out the letter.

"She came through here about an hour ago. I told her she could just leave the letter with me, but she insisted on putting it directly in your hooves."

I grunted acknowledgement while opening the letter. As I skimmed it over the words Sirius Blitz caught my eye and my heart sank. I returned to the top and started reading proper.

"Devin Windelbane,

My name is Stable Weather, the CEO of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that your father, Sirius Blitz, passed away on the fourth day of the third week of fall, year 997, Celestia’s Reign."

My blood froze. Numbly, I felt the letter slip from my hooves.

"So what’s it say?" Flourish asked. I was too deep in my own mind to even begin forming words to answer. "Captain?" a few seconds more past. There was a gentle flutter as she sat down the parchment and finally looked up at me. "Night Wing?" She ran over to me. "Night Wing, what's wrong?" Still unable to make myself speak I glanced down at the letter. She picked it up and began to read.

Her expression changed quite a few times in the span of a few seconds, but it finally settled on concern.

"Are you ok?"

I forced myself awake.

---

The first rays of morning light drifted through the window as I stared at the ceiling.

"Night Wing?" I sat up and saw Luna standing at the top of the stairs. "You seem troubled."

"You were in my head again, weren’t you?" I deadpanned.

'I..." Luna started as she descended the stairs, "you were tossing in your sleep. I was worried. You woke up before I could see though. What's on your mind?" I shifted myself so that I was sitting proper on the couch and sighed.

"My father," I said finally as Luna took my unspoken invitation to sit next to me.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." Luna replied, apparently electing to sidestep the issue.

"Cloudsdale doesn’t bother me. The fact that my dad's dead doesn't bother me either." She frowned slightly at my bluntness. "There's no point in being delicate about it. He's gone, I can't change that. I've dealt with it."

"Putting something out of your mind and dealing with it is not always the same thing." I thought about that for a moment before speaking again.

"Cloudsdale was only home because of him. My life is the guard now, and home is wherever that life takes me."

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

"I..." She had me, "I guess I don't know." She didn't have a response for that. I seized the chance to change the subject. "Has the Nightmare Guard been by?"

"Yes, about an hour ago actually. I briefed them but of course they already knew the situation, better than we did actually."

"How so?"

"As soon as word of the incident reached the capital Celestia attempted to contain it by dismissing the claim, denouncing the patrol, and swearing her senate to secrecy. Of course, ponies talk, and within the hour most everypony in the castle knew, although it would seem the guards and servants at least have enough sense not to spread it to the general public. Siren Song made the decision to get a pony in griffon territory as soon as possible. Last Call has already settled in and established communication."

Siren Song was the head of the Nightmare Guard. That wasn't her real name of course, I don't even know it. Each member of the Nightmare Guard took on new names. Siren used to sing in clubs, still does as far as I know. She specializes in information. Last Call owns a small bar in Canterlot, and if he were any better at stealth and infiltration I swear he'd just stop existing.

"Has he learned anything?" I asked.

"Only that the griffons who attacked patrol eight were not under orders," Luna replied. "However they were not punished for their actions either."

"No fair, talking shop without me." Flourish's voice came from behind us.

"What are you doing up so early?" I asked.

"We're leaving right after breakfast, and I wanted the shower first."

"How much did you hear?" Luna asked.

"Pretty much all of it I'm guessing, including the part where Princess Celestia is trying to cover everything up." Flourish shifted uncomfortably. "Are you sure we shouldn't be heading back to Canterlot?"

"As I said yesterday, there's nothing we can do from there." Luna replied. "On top of that, returning now would arouse suspicion. We would have no choice but to admit we know about the incident, and with my sister ordering that this be kept secret we will be admitting that somepony went against her orders."

"Spitfire could lose her job, or even be put away for treason." I added.

"Princess Celestia wouldn't go that far... would she?" Flourish asked.

"Normally no," I replied, "but she'd also never ignore a blatant threat to her subjects. Honestly, I don't know what to think about all of this right now."

"For now, anything we come up with will only be speculation," Luna said. "So I'd prefer not to dwell on the implications until we know more."

"Yeah, no sense in getting worked up just yet."

"I'm gonna go shower." Flourish said, and trotted off to the bathroom. Luna and I sat in silence for a while, then she sighed.

"If I wasn't convinced before, I definitely am now," She said. "Something is very wrong in Canterlot."