Nightwing
I laid beside Luna as I attempted to calm her sobbing. Luna’s room was the opposite of Celestia’s in all but size. Black floors and dark blue walls. Silver and Black stood outside the door to make sure no one disturbed us. “Coooooo.” I cooked to Luna. I nuzzled her with my head. Slowly she quieted down and drifted into sleep.
She had been crying ever since we took her away from Starswirl. The doctors needed to focus and they couldn’t with Luna crying in the room. Me and Celestia had to practically drag her from the room. The doctors predicted Swirl would live, but he would be weak for a long time. Even his magic would be effected due to his surge when he fell unconscious. His magical power would be reduced by one quarter for the rest of his life due to the damage in his horn.
I left Luna’s night themed room in a bad mood. I nodded to Silver and Black as I made my way to the main hall. The nobles has gotten word of the nation to the south, and that combined with Starswirl’s sudden fall to illness....the nobles had demanded an audience with Celestia. Fortunately for me the main doors were closed when I enter from a side entrance. Celestia was slumped down on her golden throne.
“Chirp!” I got her attention. She perked up as she looked tiredly at me.
“Oh. Hello brother. Forgive me for not getting up to greet you. I seem to be quite tir.....” Celestia stopped talking as she drifted into sleep. Her head slowly lowered until it was right above the arm of her throne. Then it suddenly dropped making an audible THUNK as her head hit the metal. “I’M UP STARSWIRL!!!” She yelled before looking around and realizing where she was. She looked down and sighed. “Even in our dreams his state plagues us.” She levitated a letter up to me. “Here, read this. I can't bear to read it again.” I took the letter and unfolded it in front of me, the wax seal already broken.
The writing was flowery and almost unreadable to my untrained eyes.
‘From
his majesty Over Time.
I am sorry you could not accept my fair offer. You have forced my hoof in the matter. My forces shall be there in a fortnight. I hope you will have reconsidered by that point.’
I crushed the letter in my talon as it burst into cold blue flames. I slammed the ashes into the marble floor as I looked up at Celestia. “What am I to do Night? We cannot compete against him. His forces are greater and more extensively trained.” She seemed to sink further into her cushion. “I couldn’t bear to move our home now. Not after we have just settled. And with Starswirl as he is.....” She stopped and started to cry softly. Suddenly she jumped up and ran to me. He threw her hooves around my neck and cried into my shoulder. All the while I was forming a plan. My eyes narrowed as a small smile came to my face. I pushed Celestia back for a second. ‘I’ll be back shortly. I may have an idea to help with this situation.’ I spun around and raced over the marble floor and out the main doors. I pushed through the ponies on the other side, much to their irritation.
I swiftly took to the skies once I was out side. Over the city I flew, looking down on the oil lamps lighting the streets. Most of the windows were dark. But the building I was targeting had the windows lit with an eternal light. The forge is where I was headed. I landed outside the door and stirred up the dust and leaves on the road. Heavy Set had changed much from his grumpy self in Brightshine. He had gotten much happier since his promotion to royal blacksmith. I knocked on the door in a hurried fashion. “Yes?” He opened the door to see who had interrupted his late night forging. “Nightwing! So nice of you to visit!” His eyes widened and he smiled at me. “I can’t tell yah how much everything yah’ve done for me means!” He practically dragged me into the building. “I’ve been getting yer shipments of feathers by the way! I’ve put them to good use too!” Every time I lost feathers during preening I put them in a box. At the end of the month I sent the box to Heavy.
“Here! Try these!” He handed me two sharp pieces of blue steel. That’s what we had named the metal made of my feathers. It’s basic ability was the opposite of red steel, which was made with Phoenix feathers. Blue steel froze things, and red steel burned things. The only other difference so far was that blue steel could scry things. ‘Are these....rooster fighting blades?” I held up the very similar looking blades. My friend had showed me pictures of the wicked looking knives one time. The only difference was that they covered the whole foot except my talons. The covering was some kind of blackened leather, which matched my black talons. I slipped them onto my feet on at a time. “Oh! Lift up you back claw!” Heavy looked excited. My black claw fit threw a hole in the leather beside the blade. I lifted it up and with a SHINK the blade retracted into the lower half, leaving a unassuming piece of metal on the glove. I lifted my talon again and the blade slid back out. Well this is going to be useful.
‘Thank you Heavy!’ I happily printed on my wings. I looked around to make sure the building was empty. ‘I have a special request.’ Heavy perked up even more at hearing this.
“Oh? And what be the request?” He looked at me curiously.
‘Have you ever heard of a catapult. Or a ballista?’ I asked hopefully. I only knew the basics of how they worked, so I hoped he would know how to make them. Heavy rubbed his chin with a hoof.
“I can’t say I have. What are they?” Heavy stared at me with joy at the possibility of learning something new.
‘They are large machines built for war. Made for launching stones and giant spears.’ I paused and looked around again. I didn’t won’t word about the attack getting out yet. ‘There is going to be an attack on the city. No one knows about it except me and Celestia.’ Heavy put in a serious face.
“From that city in the south eh? I knew they didn’t respond well, but an attack?” His face turned angry. “This place is the best thing that’s happened to me. I won’t lose it. What’s the plan?” I pulled several sheets of paper from a table top and pulled out a loose feather. Finally. That ones been bothering me. “Sorry, But I’m outa ink.” Heavy said as I looked around. Out of ink huh? I don’t have time for this! I concentrated on the feather in my telekinesis and the tip lit up with black magic. Maybe this will work. I put the feather to the paper and drew a basic picture of a ballista with a spear in it. The marks left by the feather sparkled slightly, making the lines of the picture look like they had glitter on them.
“This is amazing!” Heavy exclaimed when he saw the picture. “Where did you come up with this!?” He looked at me in excitement.
‘That is a long story my friend. Can you build it?’
“Of course I can build it! I may need a few helpers though....” Heavy looked thoughtful for a moment. “AHA! I’ve got it! I’ll get Silver anvil, you remember him, and a few construction ponies. Me and Silver will make the metal bits, and the others can slap um together!” Heavy looked as if he were about to start prancing around.
‘Wonderful! We need several of these. I also have some ideas about specialty arrows for them....’ I drew up another design of an arrow that, once launched, would unfold on the sides and make long poles sticking out. These would spin through the air and down any Pegasi.
“Night, if you were a mare and not a bird I would kiss you.” Heavy looked at me. “I wil start construction immediately!”
‘Wait! One more thing.’ I drew up one last picture. This one of a catapult. ‘These launch large boulders. You can even light said boulders in fire. Or replace the big boulder with many smaller ones.’ I stopped to think for a moment. ‘When they are constructed I want some catapults and ballistas hidden in the woods. I want some in the castle as well. Hopefully these will make it an easy battle.’ I turned around to leave. I had several things to do in preparation. ‘It was good to see you Heavy! I’ll be back again! Busy night tonight.’ I walked out the door and took off into the night sky, blending in perfectly.
I raced just under the clouds to the other side of the castle. I banked right and circled down till I was level with a balcony. I flew towards the lit up doors and landed on the stone deck. TAP TAP! I knocked on the windows quickly with my beak. The pony in the office jumped in his chair when he heard me. “Goodness, you surprised me Night!” He said as he opened the doors. I stepped into the room and looked around. It was the first time I had been in the solar Captain’s office. I probably need to look at my office. I probably have lots of papers to read. His office had plain stone floors and walls. He had a few bookshelves scattered around the edges, and a mirror across from his desk. “What do you need at this late hour my feathered friend?” Light Lance asked as he went back to his desk.
‘Late? Maybe for you.’ I wrote as I walked over. ‘We have an issue. Overia is moving against us in a fortnight.’
“What!? Why!? Because we didn’t give them our land!?” Light stood up and started pacing. “We can’t win this! My scouts have seen their forces, they have almost two men for every one of ours!” Light was pacing furiously now and muttering to him self.
“Caw!” I grabbed his attention. ‘I have that handled, I just need you to accelerate the training of the current recruits by as much as possible. They will help to even the odds.’ I looked directly into his eyes. ‘We can win this. I have an ace in our sleeve.’ I reassured him. ‘Just make sure the guards are ready. I bid you goodnight.’ I walked back out to the balcony and jumped off, only opening my wings when I reached the second story of the castle. I used the extra speed to rocket across the courtyard in the center of the castle. I lifted up and flew up the side of the tower to my balcony. I entered into my room quickly and shut the door behind me. I drew the curtains and walked to the mirror I had hanging on the wall. My room was more night themed than most of the castle. It was closer to Luna’s. Black marble floors with silver flecks in them. My bed was a large circle resting against the wall. The stuffing was literally made of clouds, and the comforter was made of blue velvet. I had an empty walk in closet on the side that I used to store my blades and breastplate. I hadn’t gotten any clothes yet, I had no need. Beside the balcony doors I had a writing desk. And in front of me sat a project I had been working on. I had the frame of a mirror, and in the frame seemed to be a window into space.
I had gotten the royal seamstress to place the feathers in such a way that they looked like one solid piece. She was always trying to make me clothes, but I had managed to settle her down with this project. The oval frame was made of silver with onyx inlaid into it in a spiral. I reached up and touched the feathers in the middle and focused on what I wanted to see. This mirror would give me a bigger viewing surface than my wings.
The center of the scrying mirror swirled for a minute before it stopped on a black image. Nothing but black. I frowned at it for a second. Did it not work? The mirror flashed once before showing a circular room with several ponies in it. And in the middle on the mirror was Over Time. His brown coat and black mane caused me to clench my beak for a second.
“Uh, sir.” One of the unicorns spoke up while looking at the wall.
“What now!?” Over yelled at him.
“I-I saw the anti scrying runes flicker. It was probably nothing, they’ve stabilized.”
“Good! Now no more false alarms!” Over rubbed his temples as he sighed. “Now! Here’s the plan.” He started explaining the plan to, what I assumed, were his generals. I zoomed in on the map he had on the table. “We will approach from the south and the east, the forest is thinner on that side than the west. Once we have breached the outer wall you will command your men to set fire to all buildings on the way to the castle. When we arrive at the castle we will break open the doors and slaughter their so called Princesses.” Over looked around with a glare. “Is everything clear?” The other ponies nodded. “Excellent! Meeting adjourned. Prepare the forces, we move in one week!” They all filed from the room in an orderly fashion. I stopped concentrating and the mirror faded back to a starry background. I contemplated what I had heard as an asteroid flew past the mirror, leaving a dusty trail behind itself.
So. They plan to attack a week earlier than they said. A surprise attack. I’m glad I told Light to speed up the training. We will need all the soldiers we can get. I stood up and walked over to the writing desk. I pulled over a few sheets of paper and began to write several letters. Forgoing the ink pot, I levitated the feather I had used at Heavy’s shop and relit the tip with black fire. This looks so cool. I thought before I began to write.
‘It seems the enemy is planning to strike a week early. Any efforts you can make to speed up progress would be very much appreciated. Be ready. In one weeks time we battle.
From Captain of the Lunar Personal Guards, Nightwing.’
I copied the letter again and sent one to both Light Lance and Heavy Set. I hope we can win this. I don’t know what we’ll do if we lose. One thing was for sure. I wasn’t letting my sisters get slaughtered. My eyes glared into the mirror. You better be ready Over. Nothing is going to stop me from reaching you.