After a lengthy time of paper work and other work Celestia told her companions they were done. Luna breathed a sigh of relief and posed a question to Pantheon, "Ateus, in my opinion I had a better thousand years than Celestia, the amount of paperwork she does a day scares me more than her wrath. What do you think?" Celestia rolled her eyes at her sisters poor attempt at a joke.
The man sat in thought for a moment before he spoke, "Not all challenges are mountains, but usually a stack paperwork should not be the height of one. I can not chose but both are truly terrible fates." Atreus smile was small, he didn't show any teeth but it was a clear sign of his mirth.
"As hilarious as this is we can eat dinner now, we are already an hour out of the usual schedule in that regard?" the solar diarch was right as Luna's stomach soon agreed audibly.
Luna spoke as the trio moved to the halls, "Who knew how much paperwork was involved in making a new guard division, you will have to teach me the new laws that have been made so I can repeal half of them, seriously sister. This should not have taken all day. An hour or two at worst." Celestia nodded.
"I understand your feelings Luna believe me," Celestia's voice turned coarse during the last part of her sentence, "I know. But the world is more complicated now. Many new laws had to be made and with them paperwork."
The group eventually entered the dining room and took their usual chairs. Staff and severer entered with their meals, a stew of variupous vegitables and baked ones on the side. Which ones they were Atreus didn’t know, however they were delicious, "Celestia if I am now Luna's guard, at least on paper, literally. Where shall I be staying and eating from now on? I assume since your guards do not eat with you they would have their own mess hall." The princess of the sun smiled and nodded to his concerns.
"You won't have anyone to switch shifts with you. You will eat with us still, your conversation is appreciated. As for your quarters, you are right. As a member of the Lunar guard you will have to move from the guest rooms and stay much closer to Luna, I trust there is room somewhere in your new tower for him to stay?" Celestia turned the question to her sister.
Luna looked up from her meal and nodded, "Yes, the tower has plenty of room. My new room is bigger than my old one, you should probably take the room next to mine Atreus. I would like it if you were close to me." After a pause she realized how that sounded and clarified, "To make sure that if something happens you'll be in reach, you can never be too careful."
While Pantheon nodded and continued eating he missed her pursed lips and somewhat stiff expression. Celestia did not miss it, she caught Luna's attention and beganto mouth words without sound to the younger sister, "'I would like it if you were close to me.' Wow! You are so open about your feelings! I guess the guards won't even get a chance to join before you shut down their hop-"
Luna immediately levitated some of Celestia's food into her open mouth. Luna grinned as Celestia's eyes widened slightly before two of them began to make faces at the other. The two of them paled at the sound of Atreus' chuckle, "I would ask why you two are making those faces at one another, but I assume it is an inside joke between you two."
Luna coughed and Celestia put on her best friendly voice, "I guess that is one way of putting it." Pantheon smiled at the two of them and nodded before he returned to his food. The sister immediately stuck their tongues at one another before they returned to their baked vegetables and stew. If there had been any guards in the room during these meals they would have seen how childish their princesses were acting. In truth both were mature but now that they were reunited again, it brought out they used to act with one another long ago. After the meal they trio discussed how the ceremony would proceed, the role of each of them, Celestia had borrowed some elements from a thousand years ago and some from her own solar guards old and new traditions.
...
The evening had passed quickly for Pantheon, after the meeting Luna walked with him to his room to retrieve his belongings. Not that a helmet, spear shield and backpack was a lot. After that they had walked to Luna's new tower together, there were solar guards at many doors as they passed, each of them were respectful but all of them were a little uncertain of both of them. The man was that, a man, not a pony. He was armed and clearly dangerous if he wanted to be, that alone was a bit worrying for them. Then there was the princess of the night, she was a princess, she had betrayed Celestia but a thousand years punishment was more than enough in their minds. No what bothered them about her was her lack of actions to support her trust worthiness. Not as a danger but as a leader. They had not seen her work or the results and that made them hesitant about her, would she be a good leader? They didn't know.
"This is a good room right?" the pair was inspecting the room next to her's, the castle staff had contacted contractors to renovate the tower to be more in line with Luna's colour scheme, the wood was darker, the fabric was blue in various shades. And all sun iconography was removed to be slowly replaced with lunar/stellar iconography. Overall it was a nice break from the constant white and gold of the palace. "I mean it has a bed and decent space, a bathroom, a window to look out over the city. I am sure you will be fine. Right?"
"Why are you so tense, and yes I'll be fine thank you?" Pantheon seemed to grow a bit tense himself at the atmosphere she was suddenly creating.
"Uh I am unsure of how to treat you, on one hand you are technically under my command and on the other your whole job is to not follow my orders. I am not sure what kind of relation we have to one another." Luna paused as if Atreus could answer that.
"I know very few peo-ponies here, I think I could consider you one of the few I know to be a friend, after all we have spent enough time just talking to reach that in my mind."
At that moment something clicked with Luna. "Ugh, why did we not see that!? We-... I should have just asked that instead, of course that makes sense, why did I have such a hard time seeing that." Luna threw her hands into the air as if to shoe her defeat.
The man chuckled and sat on his new bed as Luna sat in a chair across from him, "Most people tend to be unsure of a friendship unless it is asked between the two, one may not consider it one, or maybe both do. That isn't the true matter here, something tells me you are a bit nervous about something else."
Luna slowly nodded, "The ceremony tomorrow, and how ponies will see me. The nobles were far from kind and Ponyville does not have many ponies. Canterlot is massive, many ponies will be attending, that is a lot of eyes. A lot of pressure, I haven't exactly had the best track record with public events in my rule. I tend to do poorly on the inside, I can handle it but it was never my strongest suit. I always preferred the war-room or the battlefield." Atreus listened with open ears and thoughts.
"Well if I were you I would look at the ceremony as a battlefield. Life was always a war. See what you are doing as a fight between you and your detractors, prove them wrong with your actions and you will gain the trust of those who matter. The people... ponies, you understand."
Luna smiled, "I guess I could try that, thank you Atreus." the two moved. Luna left the room, "I have to go to my sister to raise the moon, it will soon be time. Good night Atreus."
"Good night, Luna, may you rest well tonight." at those words they parted Atreus losing his door and Luna leaving the tower. In future he would have to follow her till she went to bed but neither saw the point tonight.
...
It was the morning of the next day and the court was amassing, the nobles were in privileged spots along the edges closest to the throne where Celestia sat and Luna stood to her right. The commoners who had heard about a person joining the Lunar guard came to see the ceremony and stood near the entrance of the throne room. There were Solar guard positioned between the crowd on either side and the center. “You know Luna I will have to have a throne commissioned for you and move mine, the dais may have to be changed as well.” Celestia seemed to move from her quite whisperings to Luna into a mental checklist.
“Something to worry about later sister,” Luna replied briefly, “for now there are other concerns.”
The two sister nodded toward each other before Celestia received a message from one of her guards that Atreus was in position. He wasn’t called that by the guard though, all of the paper work was signed by ‘Pantheon’ and he had asked that his name not be used. In a was she understood, he felt that his actual name was not something to share with every person in Canterlot. Celestia stood and spoke to gain the full attention of her ponies. “Fillies and gentlecolts thank you for coming here this morning. Today marks the day when my sister princess Luna officially gains a guard of her own, a guard force that has not been present for one thousand years. The Lunar guard, today the first member of the Lunar guard will be brought into service by a new ceremony. It will be carried out by my sister to initiate her new guard, and set the foundation for her next recruits. But this is also a ceremony of thanks, for the new addition to the guard played a part in the defeat of Nightmare moon. He assisted the bearers of the Elements of Harmony by battling against Nightmare moon, and defending the bearers so they could activate the Elements of harmony to banish Nightmare and return my sister uncorrupted.”
At that moment Celestia motioned to the door and it was opened behind them stood Atreus. His helmet, spear, shield and other armor had been cleaned and polished. His cloak and garments were pristine and wore another new item. Or items, there were two shoulder and upper arm guards which were blue tinted steel with gold and silver trim. The princesses didn’t have time to cover Pantheon’s lack of a cutie mark with actual armor of course. These were simple illusion spells the princesses cast before the ceremony. Pantheon walked down the center of the room to the dais. He left quite the impression, the nobles were a bit unhappy with the situation as a whole. The commoners were a bit curious. When they saw the soon to be guard both parties were immiedatly stuck by a few things. His armor, now anyone who knew anything about the history of the Lunar guard would know he did not fit the colour template. He had golden armor more in line with the Solar guard, that and he was shirtless, not only did he not wear armor on his torso but he was a constant muscle show. Needless to say the mares were quite the happy crowd. However, more ponies were drawn to his attire, his his armor was a heavenly gold and of different make and style than the regular guards. His cloak was a deep dark blue, its lowest edge was almost translucent, you could see brighter patches in its back that seemed to move independent of his cloak’s moves. As if a magnifying glass which hovered over a surface and ran along it, creating a sort of window to a sight which didn’t move but the window did.
However his most striking and odd addition were his weapons, not only was bringing weapons to a ceremony like this odd. But, the weapons stood apart from the ones any of the ponies had seen before. They held a light blue glow in parts of them, were golden, unusual design and as a few noticed the spear had floating additions. Pantheon walked with his spears as if it was a cane and as he did reach the dais he stood for a moment before he slowly knelt and placed his spear on the ground. Afterwards as Luna approached he removed his helmet with his left hand. One or two gasps escaped those who could see his face. They were almost all mares, one or two with a blush, this earned a few them a disapproving look from their partners or parents. Luna stood in front of Pantheon and met his eyes. Another oddity, most would not raise their heads from a bow, but he had never bowed his head to begin with. A aid walked to Luna carrying a small chest and stood behind her to her left. Luna spoke, “Pantheon, you have already shown great bravery and strength in your actions, but now you are here to once again to serve. Do you vow to protect Equestria, the law of Equestria, and her citizens?”
“With mercy for the weak and justice for the strong, I do.”
“Do you vow to keep the peace and order be ready to face their disrupters?”
“If carnage and chaos come to Equestria I shall meet them with spear and shield.”
“Do you vow to watch over the night, keep it safe, and work to ensure Equestria is fearless of the dark?”
“The night is caught between darkness and fear, I will ensure it rise up i spite of them.” Luna smiled at his responses, even if ponies didn’t know why he vowed the way he did instead of simply saying yes she understood his meaning. The aid opened a chest and Luna took the small glossy black knife from the cushion. She cut the tip of he finger, silver blood dripped from it and she pressed it to Atreus’ forehead drawing a crescent moon before he finger healed. The princess spoke as she placed the knife back onto the cushion.
“Then rise in the service of the night and Equestria. May your path be lit by the moon and nights you watch be peaceful.” Despite not yelling their voices carried in the throne room. The crowd clapped and cheered as the man stood and placed the helmet on his head. Unconsciously he summoned the spear to his hand causing those who had seen it to pause for a moment before they continued.
After the ceremony the princesses talked with Atreus, “Well done. I have a feeling your appearance and initiation may boost public opinion of the Lunar guard and bring new recruits.”
“As I will technically be there senior will I be responsible for training them?” Pantheon asked curious.
“Hmmm, perhaps, your job is to guard me and since the Lunar guard will have a different skill set than the Solar it would be best if the I train them myself at least until Celestia gives me more responsibilities. I would appreciate your help though.” Luna answered.
“Well no matter what you to do. I have paperwork to do later, and once I do eventually get you up to date on the laws and situation of Equestria Luna. I’ll be give some to you too.” luna gave her older sibling a ‘have mercy’ look before the two laughed. Atreus followed the two of them as the trio moved to lunch.