//------------------------------//
// Act Four: Helping 
// Story: Finding a New Order 
// by Crystal Night 
//------------------------------//

Two days have passed since Celestia have giving him that offer and two days have passed without being able to contact them. The situation could be much worse. The ponies seemed to be a very friendly species for the most part. There had been times Silver noticed some troopers interacting with the local guards. At first he wanted prevent further contact, but decided against it. No harm was done so far.

Silver was sitting down under a tree, looking through his datapad. Not being able to do anything was starting to get on his nerves, he hated not doing his duty, however it wasn't only him. Some of his troopers had the same issue.
It was a rather weird change of pace, from fighting in any planet to suddenly doing nothing. The captain sighed, as the thought of the previous offer popped out his mind.
It wasn't a bad offer, it gave them a duty to uphold, but at the same time many would consider that to be treason. They would be turning their backs on the First Order. What would his own men think?
"Lost in thought?"
Silver looked to his side, finally noticing the Lunar Princess.
"Yes, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

Luna waved a hoof.
"You don't need to say sorry. I saw you and decided to come and check on you."

"Could be better, but all things considered this isn't half bad." True, it was better than being stuck in out there in the middle of space.

"That's good to hear, however I have a patrol to attend, goodnight captain."
Before Luna could leave, he called for her.
"Sorry for the question princess, but don't you have guards to carry out that task?"

"I do, but once in a while I prefer to do it by myself, of course I still take two guards with me."
This patrol gave him an idea.
"Would you mind if we accompany you for this patrol? It's just we are lacking tasks."
Luna simply giggled.
"You mean you're bored."

"Quite bored indeed." - he chuckled.





The Night Guard has always been more active than their counterpart, which made patrols a lot more easier to handle especially close to the Everfree Forest.
The small group of ponies and humans which consisted of two batponies and four stormtroopers besides Silver, remained at the edge of the forest.
Silver glanced at it with some uncertainty, something felt off about this place. Not too far from there he did saw a small village. Perhaps that was the whole reason for this patrol.
"It's safe to assume that this place might be dangerous, correct?" The princess nodded confirming his suspicions. Maybe with some luck they would get the chance to shoot something.
It had almost been three hours into their patrol and nothing happened, it was getting rather boring again, but that didn't meant that they could get careless. A patrol was still a patrol nonetheless. Also he didn't want to look bad infront of the princess.
"Is it always this calm?" - Silver finally asked.

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no, I guess it depends on the timberwolves mood. Are you expecting a fight?"

"Some excitement would be nice. What is a timberwolf though?"

"To put it in a more simple way, it's a wolf made out of wood."
He looked at her and she could tell he was somewhat surprised.
"But how is a wolf-"

"Magic." - she quickly replied.

"Ah, that makes sense. I think"
The scanner on his helmet had picked up something far from their point of view. The captain immediately rose his arm, signaling his troopers to stop and pointed at the bushes. The troopers stopped moving and took defensive positions while aiming at the bushes.
"Turn your flashlights on, be on alert." While the troopers did what he ordered, Luna and her guards did the same thing. The big advantage for the batponies is that they were able to see in dark so they didn't required light, the moonlight was enough to help.
"What did you see?" Luna inquired.

"I didn't see anything yet, but scanners did."

"The what now?"
He glanced her way before focusing back on the forest.
"I'll tell you on the way back." A few minutes went by as everyone was quiet trying to listen to any possible threat. Silver kept an eye on his scanner but nothing showed up. Maybe it was a malfunction, he had to check later. Just as he was about to relax, his scanner beeped. And then again. And again. Apparently his scanner was working.
He could see four life signals heading towards them. It could be those timberwolves Luna had mentioned earlier.
"Hold your fire squad." Two wolves leaped from the bushes into the group. "Fire!"
The troopers let out a volley of red blaster shots. 
At first glance, he thought he missed his shots. It took a moment to realize the shots went right through them. 'It's a wolf made out of wood. She really wasn't lying.' He put his blaster away and went for his staff. If the blaster wouldn't do the trick, then staff would. Meanwhile the other two wolves had also joined the fight as they went straight for Luna and Silver.
The princess charged her horn, firing a few magical shots. 
Silver ran towards the wolf and quickly got down as the wolf jumped with his maw wide open. He hit the underside sending the creature flying away into a rock, the impact was so strong that the timberwolf broke into serveral pieces. Luna dodged out of the way and summoned a sword, slicing the wolf in half. The duo glanced at the rest of the group seeing they had mananged to defeated them, however Luna and her guards didn't seem to back down. He was going to ask her what was going on when suddenly the wolf that had been sliced in half rose and quickly dodged Luna's shot and moved towards him. 'Crap! That thing isn't dead!'

The wolf tackled him to the ground as Silver used his staff to block his mouth. Being someone's food wasn't really of his plans for excitement. 
A blue aura surrounded the wolf and it got tossed away into his companions.
"I suggest you leave. Now!" - said Luna in manner that sent chills down Silver's back.
The wolves seemed to understand as they growled but retreated back into the forest. The troopers had their captain get back on his feet again.
"Are you alright sir."

"Yea, I'll live."
The princess approached them and with a sad smile said: "I'm sorry, I forgot to say they can do that."

"It's okay Princess Luna, next time however I'll bring a flamethrower."

"Please call me Luna and I think a flamethrower might be a good idea, just don't tell my sister I said that. " They shared a quick laugh and left back towards the chariots. "Had enought excitement for tonight?" 

"I sure did." - responded the captain.





Upon their arrival Silver glanced at the Lunar Princess lowering the moon. At first he thought she was simply messing with him, but after actually seeing such a thing, he wasn't sure anymore. He even removed his helmet just to make sure his eyes were fine. 'Probably magic again.'

"So? What do you think?" - she asked with a knowing grin and by the look on his face he was quite surprised.

"You know what? From now on, I'll start believing in whatever you say. Though I will admit that was most impressive."
They later joined Celestia at breakfast and told her of their shared patrol. Meanwhile the Solar Princess was reading a letter informing that six guards had to be put off duty due to being sick.
"I guess we are going to call some guards from their day off to fill the gaps." 

"Well I have an idea." - stated Silver.
Celestia glanced at him, putting the letter away. "I can task six of my troopers to do that. What's the job anyway?"

"They will have to guard some hallways and entrances. You think they won't mind doing that? It takes a few hours."

"Don't worry, they're already familiar with that routine, they will require some basic information though."

"Good, then I'll inform Sargeant Stonewall of this. He should be at his barracks preparing."
Silver got up from his seat and placed his helmet back on.
"I'll tell my men to meet him there. Thanks for the breakfast princess," he then glanced at Luna, "and goodnight Luna."

"Sleep well Silver."
As the grey trooper closed the door behind him, Celestia looked at her younger sister with a teasing smile.
"Using first names now, are we?"

"Sister...be quiet."