//------------------------------// // We Wish // Story: This Night // by BlazzingInferno //------------------------------// The stars were especially bright this evening. Luna saw no reason for the gardens to grow dim in the middling time between sunset and moonrise. Despite the stellar display, she didn’t feel like watching the heavens, and she definitely didn’t feel like opening the letter from the Royal Staffing Agency that had been waiting on her bedside table for far too many nights. Instead she lay on her stomach, her head resting between the stone pillars holding up the railing. Rain Shadow stood below her as he always did: never moving, and yet somehow never ceasing to consume her attention. “What do you wish to discuss on this fine evening?” “You’re asking me, Princess Luna?” Luna nodded to the form standing so far below. “Indeed. I have accosted you with my own topics for many evenings in a row. The choice now falls to you.” “I… uh… How was your day?” She rolled her eyes. “A mundane sentiment.” “Not when talking to a Princess.” “Very well. My day began as they always do, with my being carried from my chambers on a jewel-encrusted litter by my incomprehensibly masculine honor guard while the fairest of maidens fed me grapes from the royal storehouse. After spending three hours selecting a crown from my vast collection, I—” His laughter stopped her, shortly before her own broadening smile could do the same. “Wow, and I thought royals were just ponies or something. What do I have to do to get that ‘honor guard’ job?” “Convince me that you aren’t more suited to play the part of the maiden, first of all. I can hardly judge your stature from a distance such as this.” “You mean you don’t also have the eyes of a hawk?” She grinned. “No more than you have the stare of a cockatrice, or so I presume. Would you care to come up here for but a moment and prove me wrong?” “Hah, and get court-martialed?” “Must I feign distress to force you to abandon your post?” “Please don’t.” His bluntness stole away her smile. “Have I upset you?” “No… I just… I’m supposed to stand right here, so that’s what I’m going to do.” “As you wish. I suppose my own playfulness is getting out of hoof. To properly answer your question, I reviewed letters from foreign dignitaries on matters of trade, discussed said matters of trade with a team of advisors, and drafted a peace treaty for two warring factions of yaks that have chosen Equestria as a neutral third party.” “Sounds like a busy day.” “That was all prior to my breakfast of oats and cheese. The life of a Princess is demanding, doubly so when my duties aren’t as straightforward as I would like.” “What do you mean?’ She bit her lip. “There are times when… when sworn duty and practiced forbearance are at odds with what merely feels right… when what I seek to make right for one pony does not align with what I know I must do for the good of all, and sometimes that pony is me.” “Princess—” “My dream duties are at times blissfully simple: rescue a filly from an imaginary monster, remind a colt of the kindness his schoolmates show him… At other times, the pony I wish to help is unreachable, and no amount of dream magic can guide them back to reality.” Seconds passed before Rain spoke. “What do you do when that happens?” “I give them my best effort, and when that effort fails… my heart breaks anew.” “I’m so sorry.” “You need not trouble yourself, and I would prefer that you not dwell on it. Should my waking hours prove to be taxing or mundane, this is the time I look forward to. This is my time to relax, to feel at ease, and to share words with a kindred spirit that isn't bound by a crown.” “I still wish I could help.” Luna clamped her eyes shut, but darkness alone couldn’t dispel her mounting guilt. “Then join me. Spread your wings, take to the air, and alight by my side. Sit here and watch the glorious night begin. Come to me, and I shall regale you with the grand design of the firmament. I might even be persuaded to reposition a star of your choosing.” “I… I would, but…” She sighed. “You cannot.” “I’m sorry.” Luna stood and retreated to her chambers. She’d dragged this fantasy on long enough. “No, no. The fault is mine. It is all mine.” --- The grass felt cool and damp under Luna’s bare hooves. The castle gardens were deserted as expected, save for the one statuesque figure standing beneath her balcony. He didn’t move as she approached, at least not in a way the eye could see. She could almost feel his heart thumping in his chest. No longer was she the unseen Princess perched on the stonework far above. Tonight she was the manticore scaling the castle walls. Tonight she’d come to hunt, not talk. “Rain Shadow!” His lips quivered. “Princess—” She stood just beyond his peripheral vision. “I once likened conversation to a battle. All this time I thought I possessed the upper hoof… All this time you have been on the cusp of delivering the killing blow. I could have checked your credentials so much earlier, and in fact I have slept with the very letter within hoof’s reach… Instead I fell victim to your charade.” “I don’t understand what you’re—” “You’re not a member of the Night Guard.” “I—” She scraped her hoof against his armor. Freshly applied paint smeared her coat, and the brass beneath shone through with all the brilliance that the remaining daylight would allow. “Rain Shadow. A Royal Guard of the Day.” Sweat poured down his face, but still he didn’t move. “I-I can explain.” “That would be preferable to charging you with trespassing, dereliction of duty, endangerment, unwanted fraternizing…” She stepped into his peripheral vision, if only to allow her greater size to complement the threat. “Explain your deception to me this instant, or prepare to spend centuries explaining it to four windowless walls!” “Yes, I’m a Day Guard!” “Do not admit! Explain!” Luna bellowed. Birds fled from nearby trees as her voice echoed through the gardens. He took a great breath, almost as if he was savoring his last. “It started with the invasion… I-I was pulling a double shift by the castle gate during the wedding, letting guests in for the reception. A changeling smashed through one of the battlements above me and huge stones were landing everywhere. I tried to save the civilians around me, but…” Luna nodded. “I am familiar with the incident. That hardly justifies—” “And now I can’t sleep anymore!” he wailed. “Ever since then, I just don’t get tired. After my day shift is over, I paint my armor black and just go back to work where I won’t be noticed because… because that’s the best I can do with whatever time I have left. It’s like I’m stuck here… frozen…” A cold wind filled the lull in the interrogation, tugging at Luna’s free-flowing mane while not disturbing a single hair on Rain. She sighed. “Frozen… How apt a term. What would you have me do, Rain? Would you continue to stand here, night after night, wasting away beneath my balcony? Surely you don’t expect to go undiscovered forever; sooner or later the genuine Night Guard will take notice, and they will treat you with far less kindness than I.” He didn’t move, and yet his stillness said something all its own. Within his unmoving frame there was a sadness that his voice couldn’t fully convey. “I know. I’m not going to ask for special treatment, either. Just lock me away. It’s not like I can live much longer like this, never sleeping… never resting… I can’t even remember the last time I ate. I’m just glad we got to talk… I wouldn’t trade that for anything!” “Nor I… save for you to look at me.” “Why? Why does that even matter?” “As the Princess of the Night, as your ruler, and as your confidant for these past few evenings, I demand it! I order you to turn and face me!” He stared ahead, unmoving and unblinking. “I… I can’t.” “You must!” “It’s… It’s like I’m stuck. It’s like I forgot how.” She touched her hoof to his ear, one of the few parts of his head his armor didn’t protect. “Do you feel that?” “I… I think I do.” “That is the feeling of my hoof. My shoes, my crown… the entirety of my regalia is in my chambers. I stand before you as a pony wishing for nothing more than to meet your gaze. Face me, and all will be well.” His ear twitched, and he let out a pained grunt. “It hurts! Moving hurts so much! Why does it hurt?” “We once spoke of a monster storming the castle walls. Do you remember?” His ear twitched again, and his voice came out as a whisper. “Yes.” “The monster is here right now, and has taken aim at my heart. It shall strike me down if you do not act as my guard, my shield!” His armor shifted as his muscles twitched and strained. “I’m… trying! No monster’s getting past me!” She touched her glowing horn to his forehead. “And I shall try with you.” Another cold breeze cut through the garden, this one so strong that the grass was flattened against the earth. The unrelenting wind roared in their ears, tearing leaves from trees. Rain’s whole body shuddered, and his scream drowned out the wind. “What’s happening?” he shouted. “You are coming back… back with me.” “Back where?” “Where you belong.” The wind became a continuous shockwave, tearing up the soil beneath their hooves. The castle wall directly in front of them, the unchanging scene he’d never taken his eyes off of, soon followed. Each stone that fell away revealed a patch of brilliant light, white as snow and bright as the sun.