> The Sun and Moon Rise to the West
>  by Drake Razorfang
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	West was nervous. Being the only human in Equestria wasn't all sunshine and rainbows... Well, if he spent all his time with Celestia and Rainbow Dash, then it would be... but that's not the point.
He'd always get singled out on the street and hurdled insults by the barbed tongues of Equestria's... less understanding population. It was bearable for the first month of his time there, but it only got worse when he joined the Royal guard, and even more so when Celestia appointed West as her and Luna’s personal guard, the one who would accompany them to their meetings, no questions asked.
Most ponies were smart enough to not insult him in front of the Princesses, but he’s almost constantly harassed on the streets whenever he goes on patrol, alone.
And if it wasn’t harassment from ponies that hated him, it was complaints from his friends, mostly asking why he puts up with it and doesn’t tell the Princesses.
This led to West’s current predicament and the reason why he was literally sweating bullets.
It had been just another patrol through Ponyville and he’d been passing by Twilight’s new castle.
Well, look who it is, the hairless ape!” West internally sighed, but gave no outward sign he’d even heard the two stallions and one mare approaching. The mare had a curly green mane and a darker forest green coat. The stallion to his left had a short blue mane and a dirt brown coat, while the stallion in the lead, the one who had spoken, had a blonde spiky mane and a mustard yellow coat.
“Walking around all pompous like, like he owns the place, like he belongs.” The mare jeered, her green coat slightly messed up and matted.
“Go back to your own planet, monkey!” the second stallion yelled, his blue mane a complete rat’s nest. “Oh wait, you can’t.” He spat at West’s feet. “Get out of our country, ape. You don’t deserve to be here.”
It was due to the guard training that he was able to keep his face from showing any emotion, while sighing internally again. He really didn’t like these types of people, but they were citizens of Equestria, and even if they didn’t want him to, he was going to do his job and protect them.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” The first stallion asked angrily as West stepped past the three, seemingly ignoring him. "Running away?! And to think they allowed someone weak like you into the Guard!"
“What is going on out here?!” Twilight asked in a rage, throwing the front door of her castle open and glaring down at the three ponies harassing West. They balked and galloped away. She trotted up to West as he continued his patrol. “Why don’t you ever say anything to them?”
“That will only feed the fire,” he murmured, glancing down at the unhappy Princess of Friendship.
“But what if they had attacked you, what then?” she pressed, still seething at the thought of someone harassing her friend.
“They’d have to be able to attack me first,”
“What does that mean?!”
West glanced down at the armor he was wearing. He had to go to the forges and get a specially made suit of armor for himself, which to his thanks, the smiths were more than happy to make, once he gave them his measurements. “This armor does a pretty good job of blocking out most damage. The attackers would have to be able to damage me through my armor before I’d react to them.”
“What about a Unicorn using magic? Or an Alicorn using magic?”
“This armor is enchanted with magic resistance. They wouldn’t be able to touch me with their telekinesis, let alone their other spells. As for Alicorns… I’m friends with all four of them, so there’s no problem there.”
“How long has this been going on?!”
“Ever since I got here five months ago.” He shrugged.
“Why?” Twilight asked, disheartened, over her rage. “Why don’t you ever tell anyone about this?”
“Why worry others over something that isn’t a problem?” West asked softly before walking off. Twilight stood there with one forehoof in the air for several seconds before she turned and marched back to her castle and straight to Spike.
After that, he’d gotten on the train to Canterlot, having finished his patrol and switched places with some other guards. There was only one other pony on that train car, an earth pony mare with a periwinkle pink coat and a rose red mane that did not look happy. During the train ride, she only hit him once, on his left elbow, hard.
She apologized after realizing what she did and explained that she’d been having family issues and, more specifically, had a fight with her spouse about their kids, at which she’d hit him. She explained that she’d been thinking about what he said and it made her mad, so she lashed out at the nearest living thing, which was… West.
“It’s fine, just try not to think about it for the rest of the train ride.” He murmured. Internally, he winced, knowing that his arm was likely badly bruised. Earth ponies were strong, after all.
As the train arrived and he disembarked, his day got worse. The guard nearby notified him that he was summoned immediately to Celestia’s chambers upon his arrival in Canterlot.
West was worried as he broke into a jog towards the Castle of Canterlot. It didn’t take him long to reach the castle, only slowing when he reached the hall outside her chambers.
The two guards outside wordlessly opened the door as West approached, and slammed it shut after he’d passed through. West gazed across the room and saw Celestia standing with her back turned to him as she gazed out a window, a scroll held in her magic.
He cleared his throat. “Guard West, Reporting for Duty,” He said with a formal salute. She turned her head very slowly to the left until he could see one eye, narrowed in its glare. Oh, shit. He thought. Celestia didn’t have to say anything, her eye told him everything: She was mad, no, she was pissed at him, for what, he was probably about to find out.
This was why West was nervous. He was sweating up a deluge, his hands were clammy, his left elbow felt like hell, and Princess Celestia was stepping slowly towards him, nearly cracking the floor with each stomp. He stepped back and felt a wall blocking any further movement.
“Why. Did. You. Not. Tell. Me?!” She seethed with anger, starting quiet and growing in volume with each word until she was shouting. She thrust the scroll inches from his gold eyes; the words on the parchment making his blood freeze.
“Dear Princess Celestia, I regret to inform you that several ponies have been seen and heard harassing your guard West. I have been informed by him that this is not an isolated occurrence, but has actually been happening to him for upwards of five months-“
The scroll was ripped away from his eyes before he could read anymore and replaced by Celestia’s burning magenta eyes. He stared into her eyes for a few seconds before turning his head away. She placed a forehoof on the wall on either side of his head and glared down at him.
“Why. Did. You. Not. Tell. Me?!” She repeated. West opened and closed his mouth several times, thinking of what words to form.
The side door burst open as Luna entered the room. “Sister, what is taking so… long to lower… the sun?” She looked in confusion as West slowly slid down the wall until he was sitting on the ground as her sister stood over him. “What’s going on?”
“This,” Celestia snarled, floating Twilight’s letter over to her sister for her to read.
While Luna read, West held his left elbow in his right hand. With the immediate threat to his life currently distracted, his elbow was becoming much more of an issue. He looked up and groaned in his mind. Luna was still reading, but her wings had started to twitch. Damn it, not her too, he thought. He just looked at the floor, refusing to meet their angered glares.
Several minutes passed as West gazed at his hands while the two Alicorns glared at him. Luna sighed and turned to her sister, finding that being mad at him isn’t going to solve anything. “The sun is way past due for lowering.” She reminded her sister. Celestia turned and after one last glare, stomped towards the window. “Now then,” Luna looked over the guard sitting on the ground when she noticed several things. He was sitting in his full armor; something she’s been told on more than one occasion by the other guards, is not the most pleasant thing to be wearing all the time. He was also clutching at his arm, like he was injured. Something akin to her motherly instinct kicked in, and she found she couldn’t stay mad at West. “Are you hurt?”
The softness of her voice caught West off guard, so he looked up into her eyes in confusion. She indicated his arm and he just sighed. “Yeah,”
“Why did you not get it looked at?”
“I was summoned straight here. I didn’t have the chance to…”
“Show it to me.” he looked on in confusion. “Your injury.” Wordlessly, he pulled off the golden gauntlet on his left hand and rolled up the white sleeve underneath, revealing a nasty black and blue bruise around his elbow. “Who did this to you?!”
He shook his head. “No idea. I didn’t ask her name, and she already apologized for it.”
“And you think an apology makes everything better?!” Luna was mad, now. No one touches her personal guard. Luna shook her head as Celestia stomped up. The sun goddess was about to shout him into the ground again, when she saw his injury and heard Luna’s next words.
“Listen, West. I’ll give you one chance to explain everything that has to do with this,” she indicated his bruised elbow, “and this,” she held up Twilight’s letter.
West sighed. “I’ll start with the bruise…” he went on to explain how his patrol today went and about his encounter on the train. He then explained about how he’s been insulted whenever he’s been alone ever since he got to Equestria. He ended his explanation with, “I didn’t feel like it was that big of an issue to bring up. I’m sorry.”
Celestia rested her head on his shoulder, no longer mad. “We’ll forgive you, but only if you tell us whenever it happens again, every time.” They’d moved West to the edge of her bed while he explained and had been dressing his wound when he finished.
“Of course. Thank you for understanding. And before I forget,” He turned to Luna. “I believe the Moon would like its time in the sky.”
“Oops,” she said in a small voice, blushing slightly. “I forgot,” she trotted over to the window and used he magic to raise the moon from beyond the horizon.
Celestia and West chuckled quietly.
“I’m taking you off of patrol duty, at least for a little while.” West raised an eyebrow, so Celestia elaborated. “We will be hosting trade negotiations with the Gryphon Kingdom here for the next three days.”
“I see,” West murmured, trying and failing to hold back a yawn. He stood, rolling his shoulders. “I’d best be…” he lost his train of thought as Celestia rested a hoof on his shoulder.
“Please don’t leave,” she said in a small voice.
He sighed and sat back on the bed. “I can’t say no to you,”
She giggled and turned to her sister. “Come here, Luna. I want to cuddle.” Luna looked like she wanted to run away, but relented to her sister, climbing into her bed and wrapping her hooves around her shoulders.
They both rested on the bed, letting out contented sighs once in a while. Soon, they’d drifted to sleep.
A few minutes passed as West listened to the Princesses even breathing, before he stood and pulled a blanket over the two sisters. He leaned against the end of the bed and focused on his surroundings.
Luckily, it was one of the calmer nights at the castle. Luna’s bat pony guards had seamlessly exchanged places with Celestia’s normal guards, and the other staff members were quietly preparing for the next day.
Several hours passed by before Luna awoke, apparently done with her work in the land of dreams. She glanced around the room and settled her gaze on West, who was still facing away from her. He’d removed his helmet over the course of the night, to get the warm metal off his head. He had short, unruly black hair.
“West?” Luna asked quietly. He turned his head to gaze at her and watched in awe as moonlight reflected off the stars in her midnight blue mane.
“Yes, Princess?” he murmured in the same quiet tone.
“Why do your eyes seem to glow?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because they’re gold?” He shrugged.
“You could get comfortable, you know,” she pouted lightly.
“I am comfortable, Luna.” He reassured her.
“Don’t you need to sleep?” she asked.
“No,” he replied. “I’m using a special meditation technique that allows me to channel energy so I don’t feel as tired. Using that, I can go without sleep for upwards of a month.”
“...Do you not... want me in your dreams?” Luna asked in the smallest voice possible, rivaling even Fluttershy’s soft voice.
West walked to her side of the bed, knelt and held one of her forehooves. “It’s not that I don’t want you in there. How can I protect you and Celestia when I’m asleep?”
“Let the other guards do it once in a while,” Celestia murmured, sitting up.
“Sorry, Celestia, did we wake you?” he asked softly.
“No, I wanted to get up this early,” she replied.
“Well, to answer you… I can’t. I can’t risk your lives just for a few winks of sleep. Back on Earth, it was pretty common practice for assassins to sneak into their target’s bedroom at night, kill them, and escape, without alerting anyone else in the castle. Even the guards right outside the bedroom door.” He stood and walked over to the table, grabbing his helmet and planting it on his head. “I’ll be waiting in the meeting room for you two to arrive. Number three, right?”
“Yeah…” West bowed, and stepped out of the room; closing the door with a light, click, behind him.

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was twenty minutes before the two Princesses made their way to the meeting room.
West was leaning against the wall, in between and behind two regal chairs, with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. The two sisters sat in the chairs and glanced back at West. They mused that he was anywhere between simply resting and sleeping while standing.
“I would never sleep on the job… without your permission,” he murmured opening his gold eyes. They giggled and turned towards the other side of the table, where three chairs waited. There was a door on that side of the room as well, where the Gryphon dignitaries were supposed to enter from.
The Princesses only had to wait half a minute before the door slid open and three lanky Gryphons padded their way inside. The three pulled up their seats and got ready to talk when they noticed West’s presence in the room. The Princesses made it public knowledge that they had a human amongst their guard, and had so far only received a few complaints from minor nobles.
The Gryphon on the left didn’t comment on West, The one on the right hissed but otherwise didn’t do anything to indicate her distaste. The dignitary in the center, however, was fuming.
“Welcome,” Princess Celestia greeted them. “How fared your journey from the Gryphon Kingdom?”
“Before we can proceed, I demand you remove that hairless ape from this conference room. This is supposed to be private dealings and he doesn’t belong!”
Celestia’s glare hardened as Luna spoke up, “He has as much of a right to be here as you do. Do you wish for these negotiations to fail?!”
The Gryphon to the left elbowed the loudmouth and whispered some things into his ear.
“To think they’d trust a hairless ape with that much responsibility…” he muttered. He found the human unnerving at the least. In truth, he was there for a different reason and he didn’t care how the negotiations went. He knew that the Empress would kill him if he just gave up, but he had his own agenda to deal with. “Fine then. I will not speak of this any more.”
West stayed in the room for the next several hours, watching the negotiations unfold. He was inexperienced in that field, so he trusted the Princesses to reach a favorable, but fair agreement.
Just before they finished, Princess Celestia gave the Gryphons a choice, meet here with West in the room, or meet in the throne room with regular guard ponies there.
The Gryphon took a second to decide, “We’ll meet in the throne room,”
After that, the Princesses bid the dignitaries good day, before walking out the door. West met one last glare from the Gryphon in the middle before he followed the Alicorns.
“That was outright rude of him,” Luna fumed.
“…Not the worse I’ve heard,” West muttered under his breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing of import, Princess,” They were about to press him when they turned towards the sound of galloping hooves. A guard pony came to a stop near them and after saluting handed Celestia a letter. He saluted and began the trek back to the barracks.
“It seems,” Celestia said with a smile, “Princess Cadence is in town, and has asked to meet with us.”

********

West, Luna, Shining Armor, Cadence, and an empty chair sat around a table in the royal gardens. Celestia had volunteered to make the tea this time, which, sadly, West was dreading. Although he hadn’t tried the tea of Equestria, he couldn’t stomach any of the tea he’d tried on Earth.
She returned carrying five steaming mugs on a tray with her magic. She passed one to each of them as she sat in the empty chair.
West wrapped his hands around his. There was a slight nip in the air, and the warm cup was doing wonders for his hands.
“How have things been going here, Auntie?” Cadence asked after an appreciative sip.
Celestia and Luna shared a glance before she answered. “It was peaceful… until a certain matter was brought to our attention.”
“Oh?” Cadence asked.
“Yeah,” West said, knowing pretty well where Celestia was going and deciding to say it himself. “It turns out not many citizens actually like me around,”
“What?” Shining asked.
“Insults, mostly, and usually when I’m alone,” West tried to dismiss it. “I didn’t and regretfully still don’t see the issue.”
“That’s just… mean!” Cadence exclaimed.
“And you’ve just been letting them get away with it?” Shining asked, clearly not pleased.
“What would you have me do, Captain?” West asked, using Shining’s title from when he trained under the Prince. “If I spoke out, they will get worse, If I attack them or try to arrest them, they’ll just use that against me to make even more of the population hate me.”
“You’re a Royal Guard!” Shining nearly shouted. He had to calm himself before continuing. “Did you not know that insulting a Royal Guard is a crime, punishable with a prison sentence?”
“I can’t bring myself to do that…”
“Why not?”
“Because, if I do, they’ll use that to say I’m overly cruel, and end up making the general populace fear me. I do not wish to be feared…” Luna winced at his words, remembering her own past sins.
“West?” Celestia asked, looking him over. He turned his gaze towards her and raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Do you not like the tea?”
He’d nearly forgotten about the warm beverage in his hands, still completely full, and he hurriedly looked away, guiltily. “It’s not that I don’t like it…” His eyes met hers, gold to magenta, and he saw concern, but behind that, fear. He steeled his nerve and raised the glass to his lips.
His eyes widened as the warm liquid rushed into his esophagus. This wasn’t like that time on Earth, this actually tasted… good. He lowered the glass back to the table, now half-empty. “This is better than any tea I’ve ever had before,” he murmured. I’ll just add that to the number of reasons why I love the two sisters.
They continued talking through most of the afternoon, enjoying the company.
“Auntie, do you mind if I borrow West for an hour?” He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question Cadence as Celestia nodded her assent. He followed after the Crystal Princess, keeping pace with her as she trotted down the street.
“Was there something in particular you needed?” He asked, following her to a nearby park.
“I wanted to sit and have a nice chat,” she replied, indicating a nearby wooden bench.
They both sat on the bench, West resting on the armrest, while Cadence sat with her legs curled under her body, much like a cat. She started out small, “Is it true that you didn’t like tea?” she asked with a giggle.
“It was,” he answered. “Last time I had tea was back on Earth. That stuff was so nasty I just had to spit it out instantly. But I can drink Celestia’s tea all day.”
“That’s sweet. Are you in love with anyone?”
West let out all the air in his lungs, a deep blush coming to his face. He quickly turned his face away. "Where is that coming from?"
“I am the Princess of Love, you know,” He did know that, he just wasn't expecting her to ask questions like this. Truthfully, he didn't really know what to expect from her.
He took a few more raggedy breaths before he sighed. “I… Can’t. I know I love them, but… I don’t know if they’d return my feelings, and even if they did, I don’t know how to pop the confession to the both of them, without hurting one or the other.”
“Who are you in love with?” She asked softly.
“C-Celestia… and Luna,” He said nervously. A long awkward paused crept in after his statement.
She cooed softly. “So, what’s the problem?”
“I guess… the problem is I don’t know how to phrase it, so that it doesn’t hurt either of them,”
“What’s the real problem?” she asked, seeming to see through his other reasons.
“I don’t know the rules of this world,” His head was hanging low and his arms were resting on his legs. “I don’t know if relationships like yours and Shining’s are the norm or not, they were on Earth.”
“What do you mean?”
“One man and one woman, or in this case, one mare and one stallion.” He explained quietly. “I love both of them equally, so… I guess I convinced myself that if I couldn’t have both, then I wouldn’t have either.” He reached a hand up to his head, as if quelling a headache. “I’m sorry, Cadence, but I need some time alone.” He stood and left without another word.
Damn… Damn it all! This pain… in my chest… is driving me towards the edge of my sanity, West thought as he walked to his room in the castle. It was a rather plain room, with one tone furniture. He curled up onto his side on his bed, not even removing his armor, his eyes half blinded by tears.
Of all the things to start acting up, it just had to be my bloodlust…
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	In the morning, after West was satisfied with his mental state, he made his way out of the castle. He just wanted the fresh air to help clear his head.

Electing for a simple patrol around the more populated streets of Canterlot, he took it slowly. It took all his training to keep his face calm and unchanging.

“West?” He looked up in surprise at his name and turned to see Shining Armor and another grey guard pony.

“Yes, Captain?” he asked. “Was there something you needed?”

“I was showing this new recruit around when we came across you,” Shining answered. “This is Twisted Barricade.”

“Oh? Welcome to the guard, then,” West glanced to his right, down an alley, just for a moment.

“Are you sure you’re all right, West? I heard you had to leave early while talking with Cadence- ”

“Get down!” West shouted, his voice nearly overshadowed by the sound of clashing steel. West had pulled a sword out of a sheath at his side and blocked the gryphon assassin aiming for Shining Armor’s neck. He glared at the gryphon he was locked blades with and the gryphon glared right back with orange eyes, very unhappy that someone had interrupted him. Underneath a black hooded cloak, the assassin had forest green feathers, and orange fur. He carried a large silver blade: a Claymore.

The Gryphon gripped his blade with both talons and pushed as hard as he could, driving West back. West was only using his right arm, having to let go with his other, as the bruise on his elbow was acting up. He knew the gryphon was physically stronger than him, but he was definitely smarter. He placed his boot on his opponent’s chest and kicked with all his might, sending the gryphon into the alley he'd appeared from.

Shining was stunned at first, but blasted the gryphon with magic when he tried to rise, stunning the attacker for several seconds. West instantly closed the distance and was standing over the gryphon. They shared one last glare before West plunged his sword into the assassin’s neck, making sure to twist his blade to widen and deepen the wound. He held the gryphon until a sizable pool of blood had been let out.

“Captain,” West murmured, very aware he’d just killed someone. “You might want to check on Cadence. Someone might have targeted her as well. New recruit, cover his back.” He dragged the body with him farther into the alley until he was out of sight.

"Quickly! I have to check on Cadence!" West heard from around the corner, listening to the hoofsteps as they faded farther and farther into the distance.

"That would be wise... Captain," He muttered. Looking down at the body and the bloody sword, he hissed. Wiping the blood off of his blade, West slipped it silently back into place at his side. "Let's get you out of the city. Can't have some average citizen coming across your body. The uproar would never end."

He hefted the body onto his right shoulder and began walking, sneaking his way out of the city...


********


The meeting with the Gryphons had just ended for the day and Celestia sighed as she strolled down the hallway to her room, followed slowly by her sister.

“Tia,” Luna said once they were in the safety of the bedroom. “Did you hear anything from West?”

“No,” she muttered, “I heard he went out on a patrol of the city this morning, but that should have ended hours ago.” She lowered the sun past the horizon and turned to her bed. “Let us just get some rest. He’d better have a damn good reason for not being here when we see him tomorrow.”

Luna didn’t comment, she just raised the moon and joined her sister.


********


Vena was a frustrated gryphon guard. She didn’t like being ordered to follow that human through a forest, she didn’t like being put on this diplomatic journey, but she put up with it for her old friend, Empress Grizzleclaw. Vena had stone grey feathers, a small yellow beak, and dark brown fur. She wore an ornate looking suit of armor, black and gold, similar to how the royal guard armor looks.

She’d been ordered by the dignitaries to murder the human, but Vena felt like that was against what the Empress would want. So she’d tailed him for most of the day as he carried the dead body of another guard gryphon on his shoulder. He’d gathered dry wood on his trek through the forest and he finally set everything down in a small clearing.

He began layering the branches on each other in a lattice formation.

“What the hell is he up to?” Vena muttered as her curiosity got the better of her and she stepped out into the clearing, accidentally stepping on a fallen twig. West turned his head and looked her over, steel in his eyes. He stood and turned to face her. Neither of them had their weapons drawn, although Vena was wishing she had her sword in her talons.

“You’d be dead before you got the chance to even touch your sword,” West muttered, letting his cold words sink in before continuing, “Your armor is different. Why is that?”

“I’m a member of the Gryphon royal guard, who reports directly to the Empress,” she answered, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Are you here for revenge?” he asked, his face taking on a strange look, a mixture of sadness and resignation.

“N-Not exactly,” she replied honestly. “What are you doing anyway?”

“Something I read about,” West sighed. “I’m building a small funeral pyre.”

“You’re… paying your respects… to someone who tried to kill you?” she asked.

“Even though I feel no qualms when doing the act, I usually end up regretting having to kill people. I’ve taken more lives than I care to think about, so I decided that if I ever have the chance to, I’ll pay my respects to the people I kill.”

“I’m pretty sure Alex would like you,” Vena murmured. He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow and waited for an explanation. “Alex Grizzleclaw is the current Empress of the Gryphons.”

“Hehe, I see,” West chuckled as he placed the body on the wood stack. He went around and set up a ring of stones around the pyre. He pulled two stones from his pocket and leaned over the wood, striking them together, letting the sparks fall on the structure. It took him about a minute for a spark to ignite and a flame to catch on the wood. West gently coaxed it into growing, and it soon engulfed the pyre. “Goodbye, you old warrior. You’ve earned a long rest,” He murmured.

“May Grizzleclaw show you mercy,” Vena murmured, joining West by the pyre. He turned after a few seconds and sat against a nearby tree. “Are you going to stay here?” She asked.

He pointed up at the sky. “Yeah, I have to make sure the fire doesn’t spread, and I don’t want to disturb the Princesses while they sleep.” The moon was already high in the sky. “I’ll probably get chewed out in the morning, but hey, better them asking where I was, than having the entire population scream bloody murder… literally. What about you?”

“I was technically ordered to kill you by that one dignitary, but I didn’t because I felt that Alex would be against that idea.”

West smirked. “Are you close to the Empress?”

“We’re childhood friends,” Vena replied with a shrug.

“While I can’t speak for the Princesses at the moment, I’m sure that once the negotiations get summed up and things die down, that they’d be more than happy to have the Empress come and visit.” His voice faded off as he watched the fire continue to burn.

“I feel I should warn you," she said, mostly to fill the void of silence, "one of the dignitaries has been fiddling with a red crystal amulet every night. I have a hunch that nothing good will come from that.”

“Thank you for the warning. But here’s one of my own: if he touches either Princess, he forfeits his life.” West snarled, before smirking. "I hope the Empress won't mind losing him too much."

“Heh, if he messes up these negotiations, I may beat you to it,” she replied. "Alex won't mind, if he's stupid enough to deserve it."

“Actually…” West said as he thought the situation over, “I think the Princesses might beat both of us to ending him... If his actions are overly heinous.”

They both shared a laugh as the burning pyre collapsed in on itself, the fire eating away at the wood and burning away the flesh of the dead gryphon.

“I’m West, personal guard to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” he chuckled at her puzzled expression. “We were never properly introduced.”

“I’m Vena, personal guard to Empress Grizzleclaw,” she replied. Glancing over his torso, her eyes fell on the hilt of his sword, resting by his left hip. “That’s a strange looking sword. I’ve never seen a design like that.”

“Oh, this?” He asked. “This is a katana, a sword from my native world.” He stood and pulled the blade out of its scabbard, letting the firelight glint off of the cold silver metal. The blade curved slightly and West showed it off, swinging experimentally through the air a few times. “It’s not as easy to learn as, say, a longsword, like yours, but it’s balanced quite nicely for precise strikes and easy follow-ups.” He slid the metal killing device back into its home at his side. “It’s a pretty common design back on Earth, although, now, most people use them for decoration.”

"People don't use swords much?" She asked. "Back where you're from?"

"They used to," West got a far away look in his eyes. "But technology advanced, and the sword was soon replaced by... more efficient killing methods."

The pyre had burned most of the wood and the entire gryphon to ash, and was slowly dying down to embers, melting away at the final branches.

“Are you going to sleep?” Vena asked.

“No,” he replied, shaking his head. “And before you ask, no, it’s not because I don’t trust you. I’ve… been having nightmares every night for… most of my life. I haven’t had what people would call ‘restful sleep.’ Ever.”

“Isn’t… Princess Luna the Princess of Dreams or something?” she asked.

“Yeah, she is,” West sighed. “But the nightmares… were that bad, that traumatizing… Even for the few minutes it would take her to find my dream. I just… can’t.” He glanced at the ash pile as the final embers faded out of existence, leaving the lighting up to the moon, which has started its descent towards the horizon once more. "Were you going to sleep?"

"Nah, I'm not even close to tired."

“All right then. Instead of hanging around here with an ash pile, I think we should head back to Canterlot.”

“I thought you said you were going to wait all night.”

West shook his head, “I was only waiting for the fire to run its course and turn the gryphon to ash. Now that I've paid my final respects and I know that the pyre is not going to start a forest fire, I am going to begin the six or seven hour trek back to Canterlot. If you were planning on sleeping, then I’d stick around and make sure that you weren’t attacked by bandits, but since you’re not gonna sleep, we might as well leave now.”

“Bandits?” Vena muttered, tilting her head to the side. “I haven’t heard any reports of bandits in Equestria.”

"Oh? They were quite common back on Earth, but for Equestria... Timberwolves, rogue gryphons, Ursa Minors,” West listed. “Any number of beings could attack in the dark.”

“Fine, fine,” She replied, standing on her paws once more. “Lead the way.”

West started to, reaching the edge of the clearing before one last thought occurred to him. "Oh, yeah. A message for your Empress. Tell it to her the next time you see her." West cleared his throat as he walked. "I have confidence that we will get along, but if you or any of your subordinates betrays me, I will murder the offending party, even if it's you."

"Where is this coming from, West?" Vena asked through gritted teeth. She did not like anyone threatening the Empress.

"...I've been betrayed before. And I've murdered everyone who did so."
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	West and Vena had padded their way from the forest at the base of the mountain all the way up to Canterlot and to Canterlot Castle gates on foot, taking approximately six hours and forty-two minutes. Having started at three in the morning, it was well into morning when they reached the gates.

They weren’t winded; having walked at a slow pace. West was glad to see the gates when they came into view.

Not wishing to disturb the Princesses with their negotiations, or, well, be seen by many ponies, he suggested that they enter through the side door, accessed through the Royal Gardens.

“Probably a smart idea,” she murmured. They trotted into the gardens, passing under an arch shaped hedge. There were a few ponies in the gardens: some caretakers making sure the hedges and flowers were properly cared for and one relaxing Prince Blueblood. The Prince’s blonde mane was brushed back away from his face, just the way he liked it, as he stood relaxing by the yellow tulips. He spied West and turned to address the new arrival.

“You; Guard.” The Prince snapped. West internally sighed.

“Yes, Blueblood?” West asked in his best monotone voice possible. Vena just rolled her eyes.

“Celestia is not happy with your performance, and I have come to…” His voice trailed off as West cracked up, breaking his stony face down into chuckles and guffaws.

“So… Can you tell me something that wasn’t overly obvious? I know that she wouldn’t be happy with me disappearing.”

“Now listen here! I’m here to fire you!” Blueblood burst out, not amused with the interruption.

“Ha! That’s a good one, Blueblood!” West chortled.

“I’m serious,” he deadpanned.

“And I don’t care if you are,” West retorted. “Unless I hear those exact words from Celestia’s mouth, I won’t believe them. I am her personal guard, not yours.” He tensed slightly, listening to the rustling noise to his right. “Vena,” he murmured, his voice instantly changing to deadly serious and commanding. “I don’t care if you have to drag him: Get Blueblood out of here, now.”

“Wh-“ The clash of steel made her cringe; a gryphon had emerged from the bushes, aiming for Blueblood. She was about to call West out and just help him fight when she noticed that four more gryphons had arrived and they were different from the normal ones. They made no attempts to conceal themselves, for one, but more importantly, they were huge; easily twice as big as a normal gryphon, with muscled forearms. (Some might even describe their arms as over-muscled.) They all carried silver Zweihanders, giant swords designed for use with two hands. They had rough metal breastplates as their only armor. It looked almost like it had been stolen from the diamond dogs, it looked that rusty, bent and overall not very useful.

“Vena, now!” West’s voice broke her out of her shock. He was standing in front of Blueblood – a stunned expression on the Prince’s mug – with his katana in his right hand, locked with one sword and his left hand holding back another as it bit into the flesh on his hand, fresh blood dripping down to the grass below. Vena jumped over him and landed on Blueblood’s back. She made sure that she had a secure grip on his chest before beating her wings and lifting him, still stunned silent, into the air.

Good girl, he thought. With that distraction out of the way, West deflected the blade to his right, which his was locked with, into the ground, transferring the momentum and lodging it in the ground, rendering it useless to the giant gryphon. He used the momentary freedom to stab into the gryphon who’s Zweihander he’d been gripping with his left hand. Circling the now dead gryphon and dropping the heavy blade in his hand, he took stock of the situation. Ok, so… One down, four to go.

He stepped back, out of the reach of their swords as they swung clumsily. A few of them tried to flap their wings and take to the air after the Prince, but their muscled bodies were too heavy for them to gain any lift.

Smart girl, taking to the skies, West commented on Vena’s decision. The gryphons, after realizing they couldn’t fly, turned back towards West, preparing to butcher him for ruining their plans.

“Spread out and surround him!” He heard, tensing at the deep, snarling voice. Holding his katana by his side, right next to his scabbard, and breathing in, West launched himself forward as one giant raised himself up to attack, striking once, separating the bird and lion halves, with as much blood spraying out as possible, turning and jumping onto the back of another.

“Get offa me!” The gryphon wailed, flailing his arms in a vain attempt to remove West from his back.

“I got ya, brother!” Another called, swinging the flat of his blade towards West. He ducked under the blade and let it slam into the back of the gryphon’s head. The gryphon he was riding jolted up before his eyes glazed and rolled back into his head. West kicked off of his back and onto the other gryphon, not the one who had swung, “I got ya, too!” He swung overhead this time, still careful to use the flat of his blade. West pushed off the gryphon at the last second as the sword was slammed down with enough force to create a small impact crater. West was not quite fast enough, however, as the blade caught his right ankle.

He stumbled quickly to his feet and stared down the enraged giant gryphon. “You made me hurt my friends!” the gryphon roared.

“You did that without my help!” West shot back. It took all of his concentration to dodge the gryphon’s next three swings.

“West!” He heard Vena’s voice from the air. “Hurry up! My wings are getting tired from having to carry this guy! And he started struggling!” The gryphon swung one more time, slamming his Zweihander into the ground, flinging rocks and debris from the force, before stopping to breathe.

West rushed forward and sliced up. Due to the sprain in his ankle, instead of slicing through his feathery neck and beheading the poor giant, he forcefully removed both of his arms, letting them flop to the ground with a meaty thud and a couple of blood streams. The gryphon whimpered and flailed his arm stubs ineffectually.

Vena had set the wriggling, obscenity-spouting Blueblood on the ground of the Gardens as a platoon of guard ponies arrived on the scene. Vena drew her sword as every one present listened to the hiss of steel on leather. She was the one who put the giant out of his misery, slashing from his left shoulder to his right hip with a sickeningly squishy sound.

West chuckled to himself as he glanced at his dripping blade. He had to vigorously shake himself to snap himself out of his giddy mood. He wiped the blood off on the inside of his sleeve, on the space in his armor where cloth shows. He slid the cleaned blade into its scabbard and addressed the guards, starting by indicating the two unconscious gryphons, “These two are not dead. While the priority is to protect Prince Blueblood, please get a detachment of guards to take these two into custody for questioning.” West froze and turned his gaze to the sky as he heard a soul-piercing sound.

A laugh, deep and cackling, was rolling through the air, coming from the castle as the sky darkened. The moon was forced into the sky as West was snapped back to reality. He whirled in place and pushed his body forward, favoring his left leg. He reached the door into the castle and entered, followed by Vena. He briefly registered Blueblood yelling, "Hey! Get back here! I'm not done with you!" But he chose to ignore him. "Maybe later, Bluebutt," he muttered under his breath.

“I have no idea what’s going on with the sky,” he muttered to Vena. “But my hunch says our best bet for answers is to go to the throne room, which is this way”

She nodded silently, following him through the unfamiliar corridors. They came to a junction, with more of the hallway ahead of them, or a turn left. West had planned on charging forward, except he heard a scream come from the left hall.

“That was Cadence,” He informed Vena, confusion in his voice. One glance down the hall told him everything: Another giant gryphon was standing in there, glaring as Shining Armor fired magic bolts at its head, in between it and his wife. “Oh, for…” He clamped his mouth shut and stepped into the hall, instantly jerking to the side as an arrow passed by his eyes. Another, more cautious look revealed a small, normal-sized gryphon sitting on the giant’s shoulder, a bow in its hands.

“I’ll back you up,” Vena whispered. “Though, if you can get that archer off the giant, I might be able to get us some answers. I am... quite skilled at various interrogation techniques.”

“Right…” he muttered back, sighing and drawing his katana, wincing at the cut on his left palm. He pushed off the wall and ducked from another arrow. The archer was good, and his eyes were trained on West as he passed back and forth between the walls, narrowly dodging all the arrows.

The archer was so focused on West that he didn’t see the magical blast from Shining Armor coming. The archer was dazed for a few seconds with a ringing in his ears. The giant roared in frustration at the barrier that Shining Armor had  erected. He slammed his fists against it, causing the Prince to wince as well.

The archer saw West charge forward and through his daze shot an arrow, catching West square in the right shoulder. He barely slowed as he jumped to the giant gryphon’s back, stepping along the dark brown fur until he could reach the archer, who he then forcefully dragged down from his perch and threw to the floor.

Vena shot forward and placed a claw on the archer as he tried to rise, roughly forcing him back to the ground, pinning him there. West rammed the hilt of his sword against the giant gryphon’s temple, rendering him completely out cold as his eyes glazed over and he fell.

“Start talking,” Vena growled. “What did you expect to accomplish?”

“Bringing about the Master’s wishes,” The gryphon pulled out a dagger and drove it towards his own neck. Vena swatted it away, and slammed the gryphon into the ground again. She dug her claws into his feathery chest, eliciting a painful scream.

“Why are there giant gryphons?” she interrogated, twisting her claws in the common gryphon torture method. It is the most commonly used torture method in the Gryphon Kingdom, even if not many gryphons can execute the techniques with any degree of skill.

“Fine, Fine. Genetic Mutation!” he cried out. “This pill here,” He pulled out a small purple pill with a green helix design around it. “The Master made these and gave them to the select few he had chosen. He has one as well.”

“Who is the Master?”

“Geoffrey… the dignitary.”

“The one with the red amulet?”

“Yeah,”

West had been listening intently to the interrogation. “So, to be clear, Geoffrey is the gryphon with the coloration of a penguin suit?”

Vena and the archer both looked at him quizzically. “What is a penguin?” they both asked.

He chuckled and shook his head, “Never mind.” He turned around and stepped passed the unconscious giant. “Are you two all right?”

“Thanks for your help,” Shining Armor sighed with a hoof around Cadence. “They showed up behind us and said they wanted to talk. Then that one ate something and turned… huge,”

“Cadence, are you all right?” West knelt down to be more on eye level with them, cringing at his sprained ankle muscles.

“Yeah…” she mumbled. She wore a shell-shocked and scared expression on her face. “You’re covered in blood,”

“Probably,” he replied, standing up and turning away. “I’m glad to see that you’re all right. You too, Captain.” A cackle ripped through the air, sending a shiver down West’s spine. He started towards the throne room once more, followed by Vena, who had punched the archer into dreamland. He doubled his speed, clenching his teeth together at his leg, as whoever was laughing changed to screaming in pain.

He had his sword in his right hand and he broke the arrow from his right shoulder with the other, fresh blood spilling from the open cut. He took the sword in his left hand and let his right arm fall to his side as he ran.

A few ponies were standing around in the halls in confusion. West was unable to help alleviate their fears as he charged past them all. He only slowed to a stop when he turned the corner and saw the doors to the throne room splayed open, the guard ponies unconscious on the carpet.

He inched slowly forward until his head peeked around the corner and he had a good view of the entire room.

First, he saw Celestia, collapsed off to the right of the throne. She was glaring at the gryphons, so at least she was still awake and alive. Next, he saw that Nightmare Moon was standing in front of the throne at the top of the stairs, surrounded by a red aura. The aura seemed to be causing her pain.

West spied a red, octagonal shaped amulet around Nightmare Moon’s neck. Most likely that was the amulet Vena had warned him about. He’d done some research into Equestria’s history when he joined the Royal Guard. That research, coupled with a gut feeling he had, told West that Luna had been tricked into putting on the amulet and that had somehow triggered a transformation, or perhaps even a possession.

He saw the gryphon dignitary known as Geoffrey standing at the base of the stairs, only he was not the same as he was two days ago. He must’ve swallowed a Genetic Modifying pill, as he was tall enough to be on eye level with Nightmare Moon. He also held a wicked-looking crossbow in the claws of one hand, which West could barely see around the gryphon’s massive size.

The other two dignitaries were pressed up against either side wall, near West, really wishing they weren’t in the throne room right now.

“Unhand me at once!” Nightmare Moon roared.

Geoffrey just smirked and lifted a second red amulet, in his unoccupied hand, a little higher into the air, causing the red aura to intensify and burn at Nightmare’s flesh. “You should learn to give in already. You are to be my puppet as I take over Equestria, the Gryphon Kingdom, and all of Equus,”

Putting a few facts together, something in West’s mind… cracked. He stepped off out into the throne room and made his presence known by chuckling. “That’s quite the ambitious goal you have there.” He commented.

“Well, if it isn’t the insolent little hairless ape, thinking he’s so damned important now that he’s a royal guard. You’re just a little nobody, not even from this planet. I’ll be sure to crush you thoroughly when I’m king of the world. Oh, and if you're still alive, I'll be sure to find a way to your pathetic little planet, so I can send the entire populace to Tartarus.”

“Oh? And how are you gonna do that? Get my mistress to help you? There’s something you should know…” He’d been holding the katana by his side, as if it were in its scabbard, and he planted his feet firmly into the ground, leading with his left foot.

To those observing, West seemed to disappear, as he shot forward and slashed a long cut from the gryphon’s flank up to his left hand, which had been holding the red amulet, now shattered on the floor as West reappeared next to Nightmare Moon. The red aura faded from around her, and she breathed in heavily, something the pain wouldn't have allowed her to do.

Turning and staring down the furious gryphon, “My mistress, Nightmare Moon, bows to nopony.” He punctuates the line by pointing the bloody sword right at Geoffrey. “Especially not a filthy, inbred penguin such as yourself.” He left the gryphon to seethe as he turned to the mare next to him. He wrapped his left arm around her neck, mindful of the blade, and pushed his right shoulder into hers as a makeshift hug. “Sorry I took so long. Pretty pathetic for your guard, huh?” He pulled away from the embrace and looked her up and down, while she was still at a loss for words at his appearance. “Oh, boo, he ruined your perfectly terrifying image.”

“I do not care what I look like,” Nightmare Moon responded.

“Even if you don’t care, a conqueror such as yourself must always look her best.” He smiled. “And red just doesn’t suit you.” He whipped out his right arm and ripped the amulet from her neck. He held it in his hand as Nightmare Moon transformed back into Princess Luna, who stood in dazed confusion.

“Damn you to Tartarus!” Geoffrey screeched, putting his crossbow to use. What West hadn’t seen about it before was that the crossbow was optimized to fire three bolts at once.

The gryphon must have preemptively pulled the trigger as he raised the crossbow, for the first bolt hit West’s upper right leg, the second slammed into the right side of his torso, and the last bolt ripped into the side of his right shoulder. He dropped his sword, and fell to one knee, his wounds causing his leg to buckle under his weight. He stared down at the blade on the ground, unable to move his hands away from trying to stem the blood.

Luna wasn’t really thinking as she enwreathed the katana in her blue magic. West watched as the sword was lifted into the air and hurdled, with a cry of fury, at the giant gryphon, impaling him right in his neck.

Geoffrey gurgled a little as he collapsed onto his back, bleeding out from his neck wound, which had ripped open his jugular vein. He watched as Vena stepped towards him and took a hold of the katana handle. Just when it looked like she was about to pull it away, she pulled it down, separating his head from his shoulders and ending the last of his life. She kicked his head, making it roll three feet before stopping, just to make sure she'd finished the job.

West and Luna slowly descended the stairs, the former holding the wound on his leg with his hands, and the latter looking quite shell-shocked. Celestia had trotted over, and other than a few bruises, she didn’t look all that bad. She helped stabilize West when he nearly fell, all the adrenaline of the day finally leaving his system.

“Are you all right?” Celestia and Vena asked him at the same time before glancing at each other.

“Celestia, this is Vena, personal guard to Empress Grizzleclaw. Vena, you already know who Princess Celestia is.” West mumbled, trying to keep himself from passing out. “Is that going to be a problem?” he indicated the corpse of Geoffrey.

“Nah, it’ll be fine. Once I see what agreement was met, I’ll explain the whole situation to her.” A tap at her shoulder caused her to turn. The same dark, silent gryphon from two days ago presented her with an unadorned scroll. “Ah, thank you as always, Chad.” He nodded once as she looked over the results. She whistled softly once before rolling the scroll back up. “There won’t be a problem,” she murmured as she turned towards the door. “We will prepare to leave tomorrow.” As an afterthought, she added. “We’ll leave behind any other traitors… for their punishment.” With that, she stepped out of the throne room, followed quickly by the two living dignitaries.

West gently turned Celestia towards the side door and she soon took over and led the way into the halls, heading towards her bedroom.
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	West leaned heavily on Celestia, his left arm wrapped around her shoulders, as they walked their way to the royal bedchambers, followed by a somber Luna.

The Sun was back in its rightful place in the morning sky, leaving almost every trace of Nightmare Moon’s presence destroyed. West still gripped the red amulet, the one he’d taken from Luna, in his right hand.

They hadn’t spoken since they’d left the throne room, letting West and Luna recover in peace. Luna was shaking slightly, from being forcibly possessed by Nightmare Moon, and West was cringing with every step, fresh blood welling up from his many open wounds.

The guard ponies stationed outside Celestia’s bedroom looked up in alarm as they saw the group approach. When Celestia leaves in the morning, she almost never returns before moonrise, giving them plenty of time to relax, or maybe goof off.

The guards hurriedly stood at attention and pulled open the doors, letting concerned looks through their normally unchanging features. No guard liked seeing one of their own injured, even if he was human. Leaving a blood drop trail from the direction he came and bloodstains on the Princess’ white coat are not ways to appear healthy, after all.

Luna was the last to enter the bedroom, and after she did so, Celestia took the door from the guards with her magic, wrapping it in a warm, golden glow and slamming it shut.

West groaned as he sat on the side of the royal bed. He was only half conscious from the loss of blood and adrenaline.

“Sorry about the… carpets, sheets… and your coat,” he mumbled to Celestia, slumping down in his place.

“Hush, you,” she ordered. “Get out of that armor so we can treat your wounds.”

“You know how to treat wounds?” He mumbled with mild surprise as he pulled off his gauntlets. He would’ve started with his helmet, but he never grabbed it the day before. It was still sitting on a table in his quarters.

“When you’ve lived for thousands of years, you tend to pick up a few useful skills, especially when you’ve been at war,” Luna answered, the first words she’d spoken since West had freed her.

“How do you feel, Luna?” West asked while in the process of removing his pauldrons.

“S-Shaken… and numb,” she replied honestly, and West could see her trembling. He glanced at the amulet, having dropped it on a table. He'd have given her a hug, but he was very indisposed at the moment.

“I’m sure the feeling will pass in a day or so,” Celestia reassured her with a nuzzle to her cheek. West grunted as he pulled off his breastplate and other body armor. He then pulled at his bloodstained white cloth shirt, which he hissed at whenever the bloody parts stick to his wounds.

It took some wriggling and pain before he passed the shirt over his head and sat, bare-chested and bleeding, on the bed. He bent forward, cringing at his side, as he tried to reach for the greaves on his legs. Celestia gently pushed him back, straightening his back and using her magic to, with Luna’s help, clean the wound on his side, apply a healing salve and spell, wrap the wound in white, cloth bandages, and finish with additional magic into the wound for extra safety.

Luna had taken the liberty of removing his greaves, boots, and pants, leaving him sitting in a pair of black boxers. They ignored the blush on his face and set about treating his other wounds. The cut on the palm of his left hand, the puncture wounds on his upper right arm, and crossbow bolt caught in his right thigh. It took all his concentration and willpower to keep himself from screaming as they yanked the bolt from his leg. They also treated his right ankle after he drew attention to it.

“I hate to ask this, knowing that you probably don’t want to talk so soon after it happened, but… how did he trick you?” West asked softly after they finished treating his wounds and had requested he lay back on the bed to rest.

“We had finished the negotiations for the day,” Luna replied as West complied with their request. “We should have just left, but that gryphon said he had a gift for us. Next thing I knew he was wrapping that amulet around my neck and swallowing some pill…” Her voice trailed off, not pleased or comfortable with what happened.

Celestia continued where her sister had left off. “After he grew huge, he’d knocked me to the side, saying something along the lines of I was in the way, or something. Nightmare Moon gloated about being free, before that gryphon began laughing with her. He boasted that they’d make a great team, but she quickly refused his help, saying she would rule Equestria alone. He’d pulled out a second amulet and caused that red aura to appear.

“Not long after that is when you appeared, and well, you know the rest. Speaking of which,” She glanced at West, lying on his back on her bed. “What was that all about?”

“You’ll have to be more specific,” West answered apologetically.

“All right, let’s start with that gryphon guard… Vena, was it? What’s her story?”

“Ah, well, before I tell you that, did Shining Armor, or Cadence for that matter, come to see you yesterday?”

“No, they didn’t. Why?” Celestia asked.

“An assassin tried to take Shining Armor’s life. I was with him at the time, so I was able to fight the gryphon off, but I ended up taking his life. The reason why I was gone yesterday was because I had to sneak out of Canterlot with a dead body over my shoulder. I didn't want anypony seeing me. After I made it out of the city, I’d walked to a faraway forest and paid my respects to the gryphon. It was there that I met Vena.”

“Paid your respects? How?” Luna wondered.

“With a funeral pyre,” West shrugged, or at least he would’ve, if he wasn’t lying on a bed, bandaged. “Vena had been ordered to assassinate me, by that gryphon from today, Geoffrey. But, being the personal guard to the Gryphon Empress, Vena thought that killing me would be contrary to what Empress Grizzleclaw would wish for the relationship between our countries. We talked for a little while, while the pyre burned its way to the ground, and once I was satisfied that all the flames and embers were gone, and wouldn't potentially start a forest fire, we walked back to Canterlot.

“When we arrived, I didn’t want to disturb you during your negotiations, so we entered through the Royal Gardens, though we were attacked by five assassins after Blueblood’s… blue blood. Don’t worry, he’s fine. No doubt he’ll be filing a complaint, or just coming in to complain to you, sometime in the near future. Two of the giant gryphon assassins are still alive, and they should be in the custody of the royal guards. There should be two more gryphons, one giant and one not, in the custody of Shining Armor and Cadence. When Vena mentioned traitors, she’s most likely going to turn in any gryphons who modified their DNA.”

“Modified their DNA?”

“Yeah, those pills they swallowed to turn huge, were Genetic Modifiers, at least that was the information Vena and I were able to accrue from one of the gryphons.”

“Ok, we’ll be sure to round them up later,” Celestia murmured, making a mental note. “But what was that whole, ‘Nightmare Moon is my mistress,’ thing about?”

“Heh,” West chuckled nervously. “I only said that because, through a technicality, it was true.”

“What do you mean? I'm not mad, mind you, but I honestly want to hear your logic.”

“Well, when I saw Nightmare Moon standing in the throne room, I remembered back to the Equestrian history I had to read up on for the Royal Guard exams, and well, I remembered that Nightmare Moon was a part of Luna,” he glanced at her apologetically. She was looking down at the floor, trying to hide her face. “After I saw the amulet and heard what Geoffrey said…” He trailed off, thinking of what to say. “After I heard him speak about making Nightmare Moon his puppet… I grew furious. Because by extension, he’d be enslaving Luna, and I won’t allow something like that to happen, or someone like that to live. She was Luna, with a different personality, but still Luna. As I am your guard and Luna’s guard, that’s why I said what I did. I just used a fancy term for my position.”

“That explains your dialogue, but what about your movements?” West glanced down at her quizzically.

“My movements? I’m not quite sure I understand…”

Celestia elaborated. “As you probably know, I was observing the whole scene.” West nodded his confirmation. “I saw you enter the throne room and I saw you shoot forward when you sliced through the gryphon. What I was wondering is why you didn’t make it a straight, clean cut through his body to the amulet?”

West was silent for a while. “I don’t believe your ankle was bad enough to throw off your aim that badly. You purposefully ripped through his side. All I want to know is why.”

Again a pause, West sat up and looked down at his hands, resting in his lap. He spoke something, but he muttered it under his breath, much too quiet for either Princess to hear.

“Could you speak up?” Luna asked.

“It… It was a side effect… of my past, my… childhood,” West spoke with his left hand against his forehead. “I was trying to get all that blood inside his body… out.” He stopped, and shook his head once slowly. “I guess I should start at the beginning…”

He breathed in, gathered his thoughts, and sighed. “I was a quiet birth, I was told, and I was apparently quiet throughout most of my toddler years. My parents were… Assassins. And when I turned five, my father took it upon himself to teach me how to fight and kill, while my mother schooled me in other fields of study at home. I took my first life when I was six. Back then, my father would bring people who needed to die to an underground arena in our backyard, where they were flung against me. My dad rated me not only on how I killed the target, but also on how much of the arena I could drench in the enemy’s blood. He had a bit of an obsession, and he passed it on to me… mostly. I’ve been trying to control it for a while now.

“Anyway, when I turned eight, I was given my first contract and time limit: Infiltrate a certain manor, murder the Duke inside, and escape, within three days. It took me barely an hour. After seeing my monumental success on my first contract, he gave me more and more, but usually only one a day, or night, I guess. I carried out assassination contracts for six years. Having known no other upbringing, I thought I lived a normal life…

“I was roughly informed otherwise a few days after my fourteenth birthday. On that day, one of my father’s friends was visiting, a fellow Assassin. It had started like any other day, but suddenly our house was awash in flames. I was too slow to stop myself from getting trapped under some flaming debris. My mother, father and his friend had stepped out of the house for a while and they ran in when they saw it in flames. My parents tried to move the debris from on top of me, but my father’s friend shot them both…

“He murdered my parents right in front of my eyes. He taunted my helpless state, saying he wanted my family to ‘take the fall for him,’ as it were. He very nearly killed me, had the army not arrived and killed him on the spot.

“I’m not sure if the officers who raided my house were aware of the fact that I was an assassin or if they just didn’t care, but they pulled the debris from off my back and brought me to my feet.” He took a breath before continuing. It was painful remembering his past.

“I had no future at that point, so I grasped at the only option I saw available: Joining the Army; the United States Military. The officers were surprised at the request, but they let me take the entrance exams.

“I passed the physical portion with flying colors. As for the mental section… While I was lackluster in several subjects, they passed me with the requirement of meeting with a tutor every week.”

“Sounds a lot like the process for joining the royal guard,” Celestia commented.

“It was. I was surprised. Anyway, I trained with the army and eventually joined the Sniper Core. After that, I was deployed to the nearest warzone that needed soldiers… I fought in the army for upwards of twelve years. With almost no rest, I might add.

“But I, along with one other sniper, were suddenly transferred from the Army to the Navy, where we both served aboard the S.S… Libra, I believe it was, for two years. The last day on the Libra, we were escorting a valuable Russian passenger, when I found him near the escape boats with the other sniper. He laughed at me, and boasted about planting a bomb onboard the ship, saying he wouldn’t be caught dead here in twenty seconds. He shot her, letting her crumpled body fall to the ocean below. He would’ve continued his monologue, but I put a bullet between his eyes. Seven seconds later, the entire ship went up in a giant fireball.

“The last thing I remember is swimming over to a piece of wreckage, a tiny section of the ships hull, and pulling myself up onto it before passing out. When I next opened my eyes, I was still on the wreckage, but I was in the middle of Ponyville Lake. And you know pretty much the rest…” He looked up. Both Princesses had listened intently to his story, and had quite shocked expressions on their faces.

“What about your sword?” Luna asked, indicating the blade leaned against the far wall. “I don’t remember you mentioning it. Or how much skill you have with it.”

“That katana,” he murmured, glancing over to it. “It was a gift from one of my friends, a fellow child Assassin, for my tenth birthday. I haven’t seen her for… Damn, I think it’s been fifteen years since I last saw her. I treasured it and kept it close all those years. Some of the other soldiers sneered at me and saw it was impractical and to leave it behind, but I kept it at my side the entire time.” He turned his gaze to Celestia. “By the way, with the sudden sky darkening, I wouldn’t be too surprised if Princess Twilight shows up.” Turning to Luna, "As for skills... I never really took any standard 'path,' or skill tree. I was just good at killing people. The way my father talked about it was that as long as the target died, I wouldn't need fancy techniques to get it done. My mother, however, taught me 'the way of the Quickdraw.' This skill path is what I used this morning, holding the sword at my side as if it were in its sheath and rushing forward with one strike. My mother had me become a Quickdraw Master, so the Rush Strike, as I call it, is just one of my skills."

“Do you love that sword?” Luna asked.

“No!” He yelled out, way more forcefully than he intended. “Sorry about that… I treasure that katana above everything else in both worlds… but I cannot love it.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“No, it is not. If my past experience has told me anything, it’s that people and things I love, get destroyed. My family and life as an Assassin? Murdered and taken from me. My… friend and life as a soldier? Executed and destroyed. I do not wish to see it destroyed, so I can’t love it.” His heart ached from his words. “Or you two.” He whispered, lying back in the bed and closing his eyes, not wishing to talk anymore.

Celestia was about to ask something else, when Luna came around the bed, a bright blush on her face, and shook her head no once. She indicated the side door, and gestured for her older sister to follow, not trusting her voice or blushing face.

The last thing West heard before drifting off to sleep is the sound of the side door clicking closed.