"Moonspeaker Tlaocani, it is not often you leave Tzinacatlia. Why come to Blackwatch?" the commander in her crisp, black uniform said with a slight country drawl.
"Dire news, I'm afraid," the aging thestral mare responded. "I have seen a vision in the mists."
"A vision? A vision of what?"
"Of a nightmare rising. Of our princess in danger. Shadows smothering even the brightest of lights." A tinge of fear touched the older mare's voice, sorrow in her violet eyes.
"I swear on the moon and stars, if your cryptic riddles endanger our sovereign—"
"Ease yourself, Commander," the moonspeaker cautioned with a calming hoof gesture. "I will speak plainly. Princess Luna is on the verge of succumbing to darkness. An evil thing infects her soul, and if it cannot be held at bay, it will consume her, transform her into a creature of evil. Very soon, this will happen, and she will strike against her sister in jealousy. You must stop it, if you can."
The commander hesitated a moment before nodding, the rim of her kettle helm shading her silvery eyes and making her gray coat seem almost charcoal. "Lieutenant Nightly and his team are on duty with the princess tonight. I'll get a warning to them immediately."
"No," the older mare said firmly. "You must go yourself. Bring as many as you can. I fear your soldiers there may already have been waylaid."
"I see," the commander muttered, troubled. "In that case, I'll assemble the Guard and move on Everfree, post haste."
"Fortune be with you, Commander. I fear we may already be too late."
Commander Silverbright galloped across the bridge toward Castle Everfree, her fellow soldiers of the Lunar Guard speeding along to the rear with her captains—Starside, Sunsear, and Azure Gaze—at her flanks. In the distance, bright flashes of gold and dark purple magic filled the air, the rumbling cry of two arcane powers clashing deafening all else.
Castle Everfree, the capital of Equestria and home of the two sisters, was being destroyed before her very eyes. That concerned her far less than the consequences for Princess Luna, however. In fact, based on Tlaocani’s strange thestral prognostications, she wasn't sure the thing in there with Celestia still was Luna.
But even if she and the Lunar Guard had arrived too late to stop the transformation, perhaps they could still find a way to save the princess. Both princesses, in fact. Celestia was fighting for her life at that moment, and as a soldier of Equestria, Silverbright needed to remind herself that she too was her sovereign.
She and her companions skidded to an abrupt halt as living shadows erupted from the barely visible crack between Castle Everfree's heavy double doors, forming into the shapes of several dozen ponies as soon as those shadowy tendrils reached the courtyard. In turn, those newly formed pony-esque creatures drew blades of night and sorcery, moving to block the advance of the Guard.
Well... crap.
Silverbright's and the others' hesitation lasted only long enough to notice that one pony hadn't hesitated, hadn't stopped at all. And that pony was one Captain Sunsear.
Now, every member of the Lunar Guard—excepting only recruits and support staff—wore a horseshoe inscribed with arcane runes, small pieces of Luna's power that allowed one to summon a blade of whitest magical energy. "Living moonlight" she'd heard it called before.
Sunsear had a habit of taking everything to the extreme though. Whereas the rest of the Guard had one, Sunsear had somehow convinced Princess Luna to make her two: one for each forehoof. She rarely used them both at once, still needing at least three legs under her for combat, but rather swapped between them at a disorienting pace. Additionally, she kept a steel sword strapped to her side that could be pulled out and used by the mouth if necessary. And that was on top of the daggers she kept tucked into her wings.
It seemed those shadow creatures were finding out just how dangerous all that could be. Silverbright knew from their sparring matches that fighting Sunsear was like fighting an avalanche of swords, all of which inexplicably had a personal vendetta against you and anything else in their way. And these things fared no better than she or anypony else did against that kind of overwhelming pressure.
Only as Silverbright began cutting down the shadows herself did she notice a problem. The first ones to have been taken out, those shred to pieces by Sunsear, were beginning to recoalesce back into their pony shapes. Which meant that Sunsear was quickly becoming surrounded. Of course, being a pegasus, Sunsear could easily fly up to safety, but Silverbright knew she wouldn’t do that. The crazy mare actually liked being in mortal peril.
Silverbright groaned. It would now be up to her to rescue their best fighter. Again. For Luna's sake, Sunsear, what did I tell you about overextending!
She rallied two of the others, Crescent Wind and Deep Dark, to her side. If, even now, Sunsear insisted on cutting further into the enemy rather than turn and deal with those coming from behind, Silverbright would just have to cut through after her.
And so she did. Vigorously.
By the time she reached Sunsear, who was trying to pry open the doors with one hoof while fighting their shadowy foes with another, Silverbright had collected a series of minor wounds and could see that at least one of her compatriots lay unmoving on the ground.
“Get that door open!” she yelled, issuing Crescent Wind and Deep Dark to cover Sunsear’s flanks while she distracted the creatures with a series of aggressive strikes followed by swift retreats.
“Yeah, I know,” Sunsear grunted even as she grabbed Deep Dark and practically threw him and his powerful hooves at the locked door. A moment later, the heavy doors burst open as the stallion got the hint and bucked hard enough to make Rockhoof himself proud.
And yet, just before his hooves connected and the doors flew open, the strangest thing happened: their newfound foes disappeared. There was no fanfare, they were just there one moment and gone the next.
Silverbright had no time to question the strange circumstances, or even what those things had been in the first place. She simply left Captain Azure Gaze in charge of a small force outside, and wordlessly motioned the rest to follow her in.
Within Castle Everfree’s magnificent great hall—now covered in rubble from the fight—lay only the single shape of Princess Celestia, battered and bloody before the shattered thrones of the two sisters. Of the one that mattered to Silverbright most, there was no sign.
“Princess?” She took a step toward the sovereign, motioning the guards to search the area for hostiles. “Princess, what happened? Where’s Luna?”
There was no answer. Celestia just stared at the ceiling, lips trembling, a tear forming at the edge of one eye.
“Princess,” Silverbright took a more vigorous step forward, “do you at least remember what happened to the guards? There should’ve been no less than several dozen Solars stationed here and nearly half that many Lunars. Were they ordered away or did…” she trailed off, following Celestia’s gaze.
She’d thought Celestia was staring at the ceiling, but as it turned out, there was no ceiling. Where stone was only minutes before now existed a clear view of the open sky, the moon and stars mostly unobstructed by clouds. And holy ponyfeathers if the sight of that moon didn't send a chill down the commander's spine.
"Princess Celestia..." Silverbright ripped her gaze away from the new mare on the moon to stare at the pony beside her, "please, where is your sister?"
"Where do you think?" came the hoarse, whispered voice of the broken mare beside her—a mare whose tear-streaked eyes were so enraptured by the moon that the commander could almost have believed she was talking to herself.
"It's not possible." Silverbright shook her head, now noticing the horrified expressions of the guards around her. “It’s just not.”
“Aye,” Captain Starside nodded from his position at Silverbright’s side, "this must be some sort of trick. An illusion! She’s faked her imprisonment or has simply gone to get healing. Either way, our lady wouldn’t let this befall her."
"You’re wrong," Celestia finally dropped her gaze, choosing instead to stare at the battle-scorched floor, "she's gone. Lulu’s just… gone."
"And whose fault is that?" Starside continued, growing heated. “Did you antagonize her? Did you cause all this! Commander Silverbright, perhaps we should place this one under—“
“That’s enough, Starside,” Silverbright interrupted before he could finish that particularly treasonous thought. “Leave the princess to me. I need you to find out what happened to the castle staff.”
“But surely you can’t—“
“When did you enter the business of questioning my orders, Captain?”
“Never, ma’am.”
“Good, then get to it.”
As Starside left and Celestia continued to just sit there numbly, Silverbright once again found herself staring at the moon. Oh Princess, what have you let happen to you? Why? Could Tlaocani’s strange thestral visions not have come a moment sooner? The moonspeaker’s warnings had mentioned an evil rising inside Luna, but there’d been nothing of changes to the moon. Could Luna really be trapped up there? Is that what that meant?
She shook herself. Those thoughts weren’t getting her anywhere productive. Not now. She needed to focus on damage control.
“Your Majesty,” Silverbright reached out to rest her hoof on the distraught monarch’s shoulder, “it isn’t safe here. The castle might still collapse on itself. We need to get you to a more secure location. I’m sure the Solar Guard will have appropriate lodging for you.”
Celestia shook her head. “No. I need to stay here. Just a little longer.”
“But the danger…”
“It won’t collapse. Now, please, leave me be.”
Silverbright pulled her lips into a tight line, but quickly realized there was nothing she could do to convince the princess. She wasn’t about to leave her here completely alone though.
"Commander!" The steady voice of Azure Gaze shouted from the entrance. "We've got company!"
What? Silverbright turned her attention away from Celestia. "But who would..." she trailed off as a contingent of the Solar Guard, garbed all in pristine white uniforms emblazoned with solar flares, marched brazenly past her ponies with all the pomp expected of Equestria's largest pseudo-military force. Several of them even had their swords—of an identical make to the one used by Sunsear—drawn by the jaw from the scabbards at their sides. And at their head was Silverbright's own counterpart within the Solar Guard: Grand Marshal Dovekin.
"Well look who it is," the white pegasus stallion started, his normally easy smile replaced by a grim wariness. "You know, I should be suspicious to find you here ahead of us." His amber eyes flicked toward Celestia. "And surrounding the princess, no less. I wouldn't normally suspect foul play, but you must admit it is convenient that an attack happened right after your guards diverted mine with a false emergency."
"I ordered nothing of the sort," Silverbright quickly retorted, trying to piece together which game Dovekin was playing at this time. Even if orders like that had been given by Princess Luna, she should've been apprised of them.
Sunsear rejoined them from her position to the side, pale yellow eyes holding a dangerous glint. "That's right. And if our ponies were doing anything, I'm sure it was only to serve Equestria. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
"Sunsear," Dovekin practically growled, "I should've known you'd be here. Commander Silverbright, I warned you this pony was a whirlwind of trouble, and I believe I specifically requested she not be allowed back into this castle ever again."
"Well then it's too bad I'm no longer in your chain of command," Sunsear smirked. "I don't have to take your overly-political BS."
Seeing the enraged look Dovekin gave her, Silverbright quickly cut in. "Sunsear, take a walk."
Suprise flashed across Sunsear's face, but as luck would have it, she was still smart enough to snap a salute and march off without comment. That made her slightly less difficult than Starside at least. Silverbright understood quite well both why Sunsear would leave the Solar Guard and why Dovekin would let her go without argument. In fact, had Sunsear not saved her life once before as a Solar, Silverbright probably wouldn't have let her join the Lunar Guard at all. That pony wasn't always worth the trouble, despite her skill.
"My, having problems with insubordination today, are we?" Dovekin mocked. "Perhaps I should loan you some of my trainers. I'm sure they can whip up some semblance of discipline amongst your ranks in no time."
Silverbright sighed. Of course, she couldn't so easily get out of dealing with this one. "It's an emotional time for us all. Now, was there something you actually wanted, or are you here just to parade about in your fancy uniforms."
Dovekin smiled, ignoring her last statement. "Of course. I'm here to takeover security and ensure stability in the region following... whatever just happened here. I've already instructed your own Captain Azure Gaze to give me a copy of the report on everything you and your goons witnessed here, so it seems your part is done. You may leave now. The princess's safety is well in hoof."
"Now hold on, we have every right to be here."
"Do you? Because somepony clearly just attacked Princess Celestia, and now your mistress has disappeared. Honestly, you're lucky I don't consider you enemy agents. Gleaming Edge and some of the others almost certainly would."
Commander Silverbright grit her teeth, glancing around the room. Half her ponies looked as if they expected another fight, and the Solar Guard didn't look any better. Stars, how had it come to this? Tensions had been rising in Equestria for quite some time, but now cooler heads needed to prevail.
"Alright," she relented, "we'll pull out. I'll even order Azure Gaze to give you that report you wanted—she wouldn't without my say-so. But I want something in exchange: for the next seventy-two hours, you share all your reports regarding this situation with me as well."
"Deal," Dovekin smiled, neither of them choosing to mention that the two forces were supposed to share most of their intelligence with each other anyway. That never happened in practice.
With that agreed, Silverbright called out to Starside, Sunsear, and Azure Gaze, having them round up the troops and get them on their way back toward Castle Blackwatch at the foot of the Canter Mountains.
The moment she stepped out the doors of Castle Everfree, Silverbright took one more opportunity to stop and stare at the moon. Its face now reflected back that of a pony, dark spots that appeared as craters making up its neck and head, eye and horn. And even though that shape could very well have been any unicorn, she knew exactly who it was.
Princess Luna was trapped on the moon, but that didn't release Silverbright from service. In fact, her service was more crucial than ever. She might not be able to bring the princess back, but she could protect Luna's supporters and ensure there was still an Equestria for her to come back to someday. And Silverbright wasn't about to let anything stop her from fulfilling that duty, no matter what had happened or whose fault it was.