//------------------------------// // IV - The Lunar Captain // Story: The Countryside Knight // by Dark Krystal //------------------------------// “Okay Everybody!” He shouts out as he walks in. “Line up and let’s—” “Not so fast, sir.” Faded Light intercepts him. The captain closes his eyes for a moment, and lets out a deep breath. Slowly, he turns towards Faded light and looks down at her with a glare. “You...” She falters under his intense gaze for a moment. “...h-have a guest.” She quickly points her hoof to Twilight. Twilight freezes up upon realizing she has been thrown to the spotlight, Faded Light and the captain both look at her. He stares at Twilight for a while before frowning at Faded Light. “Who is this?” “Sir, this is Twilight Sparkle.” Faded Light says as she slowly walks over beside the frozen unicorn. “.......Okay?” He raises a brow. Faded Light narrows her eyes at that response. “Sir... this is THE Twilight Sparkle, you know…” She twirls her hoof around as she looks up at him. He continues to stare at her with the same annoyed and confused look. “...The element of magic... Defeated the spirit of chaos not too long ago...” She implies further. Unfortunately, his facial expression refuses to change. Faded Light stares back up at him, confusion and annoyance starting to grow onto her face. “Sir... W-we gave you a report about her and the other elements months ago! They’re one of the oldest magical defenses Equestria has! Princess Celestia used them multiple times!” He scoffs. “If it isn’t a mission report or an order, I throw it away in the fireplace, you know this.” She runs a hoof down her face. “Sir! That was important! You need to know about the bearers of harmony in case we ever have to come to their aid! You can’t just ignore big changes like that!” “Watch me.” He taunts. Faded Light stomps her hoof against the wooden floor boards and closes her eyes. “My princess, save me please…” She mumbles to herself before opening her eyes and letting out a deep exhale through her nose. She stares at her captain thoughtfully for a while until she suddenly perks up. “...She’s Celestia’s student.” She states bluntly. “Ah. Why didn’t you say that at the start.” He rolls Faded Light stares at her with a blank expression, her left eye twitches once. She opens her mouth, but silently closes it. Silently, she looks over to Twilight and puts a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight snaps out of her daze on the touch and looks over to the blank faced mare. “You’re on your own.” She says bluntly, walking away from the two afterward and heads toward the sparring mat. “Fallen! Get over here now!” She calls out. Fallen Shine trots over to the mat and gives a salute. “We’re fighting. Now.” “!?” Fallen Shine Stoic expression shifts to fearful confusion. “...Can I have a moment to prepare myself first, ma’am?” He takes a step back when he notices her expression wasn’t changing. “The moment you step on the mat, you’re ready, corporal.” She glares. Without warning, she leaps at the corporal, he couldn’t even let out a sound as Faded Light plows into him and makes the two roll over the mat. The captain's eyes move off the unicorn as he hears the impact, looking over to the mat he shakes his head as he sees pinned down, startled Fallen Shine. “Fallen Shine! What did I tell you about always being ready!” The captain shouts at the pinned down corporal, he lets out a sound of pain in response. The captain sighs and shakes his head again slowly before looking back at the lavender unicorn. “So, you’re Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia speaks much of you.” He leans a bit over her, his eye scanning over her features. “You’re... more normal than I thought.” Twilight couldn’t even register what he said as she stared up at him. He was... tall like Princess Celestia and Discord. He even expelled the same feeling had from both of them... “authority”, she wasn’t even sure if that was from his title as captain, the mission, or due to the fact that Twilight felt so small versus this man. “Did Princess Celestia send you?” Twilight jolts a bit as she is brought out of her observation. “U-um yes, s-sir...” He gives her a wary look. “What for?” “To... um... mn...—” Twilight nervously looks down and gulps. “Help you....m-make some... Um... friends!” She squeaks out at the end. She glances up to see his expression, and much to her horror, she saw his infuriated expression. Furthermore, she quickly looks back down and pretends that the wooden floorboards held very interesting wood lines. “Are you serious...?” He asks slowly with a hint of irritation in his voice. Twilight gives a lowered nod. ‘ I want to curl and hide under my bed! Princess Celestia please, I don’t think I can do this after all! ‘ He brings his right hand up to his face and pinches the bridge of his nose for a few seconds before opening his hand up and running his palm down his face slowly. He looks up to the ceiling with mild annoyance, staring at it for a while in silence. Eventually, he lets a sigh leave his mouth and slowly looks back down at the unicorn. “Why?” He asks with such annoyance in his voice that Twilight felt like a wave from the sea of disappointment fell onto her and soaked her coat thoroughly with disappointment. She shivered as her mind raced in her bubbles of thoughts. ‘ H-how do I even tell him that I d-don't really know! I don’t really want to lie to him! I’m scared! ‘ Her eyes travel over to Faded Light in desperation for a third party to assist her, her desperation is slapped across the face upon seeing Faded Light busy rolling Fallen Shine all over the mat as he lets out hisses of pain. Twilight whimpers on the inside and looks for the other two occupants of the room, finding them busy as well, Moonfall and Dusk Blade stand against the wall arguing with each other. “Well?” The captain's voice hits her ears as if a brick was thrown at her, her sweat starting to drip down her face. “I-I um... d-don’t knooow...?” She gives a sheepish smile and looks at him again. Upon seeing his face drop even further, silent disappointment with a hint of anger within it, her eyes goes back to the ground. Her gut swelling up with the need to follow up with something positive. “B-but Princess Celestia w-was r-r-really adamant about it! So, I...” Twilight pauses as she realizes this wasn’t positive at all, it was just her digging herself further into a pit. His hand returns to his face and keeps it there for a time, removing it and exhaling through his nose and rolling his eyes. “Sorry about that-” Twilight’s eyes widen, and she looks up at him. “- I don’t know if I did something that set off the fool of a princess to make her send her student all the way out here for a foolish task but rest assured, I’ll fix it and let you go back to your life.” Twilight’s eyes widen, her nervousness starting to vanish as she feels the grasp of hope within her hooves. He was willing to take her off the mission for her! She wouldn’t have to deal with... this pressure anymore, she could go back and relax in her home with Spike. A smile attempts to form on her lips, but it would be taken away as her brain puts a memory into the center of her brain. The image of Princess Celestia… her voice and her expression, the worry, the hesitation, and the guilt. ‘ Princess Celestia... she really wanted me to do this... ‘ Twilight shuts her eyes. She wanted to accept his offer so badly, but she didn’t want to disappoint her mentor after she spilled her heart out to her! Biting her tongue, she looks up with the best determination she can muster onto her face and into her chest. “No.” With no hesitation, annoyance and confusion pops onto his face. Twilight’s determination instantly wavers on the sight and her sweating nervousness resumes. “I-I... T-think Princess C-c-celestia's worries are um... v-valid... a-and, er... I believe it w-would be bad for me as an e-element of harmony to not h-h-help you in making f-friends!” Each word was painful for Twilight to speak out, like a nail being hammered into her spine as she endured his stare of mixed confusion with a dip of raw annoyance and a spray of mild disappointment on top. Twilight felt regret in her heart for declining his offer, but somewhere she felt that... this was the right call. He glares down at her for a while, making her shrink under his gaze. Eventually, he closes his eyes and puts his hands on his waist. “Whatever. I don’t get why Princess Celestia or you want to “help” it. I am fine, I have always been fine, and I have told her every damn time she asks that I am fine. Likewise, I don’t need friends I am perfectly fine by myself, but if you’re going to insist on following her dumb mission.” He throws his arms up. “Be my damn guest, just don’t get in my way or else.” He grunts and walks past her, heading towards the mat. Twilight stands there, frozen in place with a look of bewilderment. ‘ I thought he was going to yell at me or tell me to leave and never come back! T-that… much nicer than I thought… ’ Twilight looks at his back as he walks away, a faint smile growing on her lips as she thinks back to what Faded Light said about him. ‘ Maybe... he really is nicer than he lets himself out to be. ‘ “Fallen Shine I swear to your damn princess if you don’t manage to pull a reversal on your lieutenant within the next minute I will make you do ten laps around Hollow Shades. Faded Light if you let him do a reversal on you, I’m making you twenty laps around Hollow Shades!” He shouts at the wrestling ponies with such aggravation that it made all the inactive ponies in the room flinch. Faded Light and Fallen Shine quickly began to start taking each other more seriously. ‘ N-nevermind...’ Twilight sits on the bench going over her notes as the captain calls out Faded Light for her loss in the background. Twilight glances over at him every now then, her eyes focusing on his anatomy and appearance. ‘ He has a build similar to a Minotaur but without the legs, head, and horns. His muscles do seem like they are close to Minotaur build in terms of growth, maybe. He does seem to have a lack of fur, so he must be vulnerable to the cold stronger than others. He uses tools with his hands... and he has front facing eyes, indicating he may have some traits of a predator in him. ‘ Twilight was sure of it. She has never seen or read anything about his species or something even close to him in her life. It would be one thing if he was some kind of mutated Minotaur, but his absolute lack of things that make a Minotaur. She writes and down frowns as she watches him move across the hall, taking note of his movement and behavior of his limbs. ‘ Princess Celestia and Dusk Blade did mention he did come from the far north... I have to check the royal library to see if there are any bestiaries for the far north. The only creatures I know that live there are yaks. Wait… The yaks have thick coats because of the north being cold, but the only fur he has is on his head. ’ Twilight frowns at the strange detail, and writes it down. She looks back up and looks between the bat-ponies and him, Faded Light's suggestion coming to her mind. “I assume it’s because he's, you know... different from normal ponies like we are.” ‘If he really is the only one of his kind in Equestria then... does it make sense for Princess Celestia to hide him away with another race that is only few in their kind?’ She frowned. She was unsure if he would even suffer the same prejudice that the bat ponies received... but then again, he had traits of predators. Her eyes look over to his lips as he talks to Moonfall, her eyes focused on trying to get a glimpse of his teeth. A change happens when he shouts at Dusk Blade, for a brief moment Twilight manages to see some incisors and canines. Her eyes widen on the brief glimpse, and she quickly writes it down. ‘ An omnivore! Interesting! ’ She did find it somewhat uncomfortable to look at his canines, but with the existence of his incisors she found some relief. After writing down theories of his diet down, she looks over her notes once again but pauses when a line from Princess Celestia brands itself into her brain. “They... showed me that they were good at their job, I let them into the guard, and they rose through the ranks quickly, but... my guard didn’t like them.” ‘Wait! He was in the solar guard! That means that at least some ponies had seen him! So someponies in Canterlot should know about him… maybe, but the solar guard didn’t like him... why? From everypony's statement, he is a good captain, so he has to be a good guard, right? Could it... really be about his species?’ Twilight grimaces at the thought and writes down that theory. She sighs as she realizes there were a lot more questions she had for both him and Princess Celestia than she had thought. She closes her notebook and places it back into her saddlebag, deciding she has written enough for now. ‘He doesn’t want me to get in his way, so... I’ll just wait for when he’s done with them!’ Twilight nods to herself and looks up with a smile on her face. She watches as the captain squats down to Dusk Blade, listening to her complaints about Moonfall. “I got him by his front hoof and grappled onto his back, then I bit him! But he keeps saying I lost!” She shouts out and points at the stallion. Moonfall frowns at her. “Not my fault you decided to bite me with those little nubs of yours....” She spins around towards him and lets out a hiss before going to pounce on Moonfall, failing her attack as the captain easily wraps an arm around her barrel mid-pounce. She lets out more hisses as she flails against her captain. “Get along, you two.” She stops her flailing and pouts. He places her back on the ground, Moonfall lets out a snicker and starts to walk away. “Moonfall, get the hell back over here. I want to see a demonstration of what she did.” He commands, making the stallion quickly spin around and go to his captain's side, though his face expresses some annoyance. “Dusk Blade show me what you did, sloooowly.” He empathizes on the slowness. She grumbles but walks over and taps Moonfalls right front leg, on touch Moonfall manages to repeat the same reaction with it. Quickly Dusk Blade places herself onto Moonfalls back and rests her head against his neck. Both of them look at each other than look up to the captain and nod at the reenactment. They both immediately shrink upon seeing his disappointed face. “Private 2nd class, Dusk Blade.” He states with narrowed eyes. “Y-yes...?” She gives a nervous smile. “What did I tell you about foo-hoofwork.” He frowns at his slip up. “Uhhhh toooo... Improve it?” She immediately gets flicked on the forehead, a hiss spills out her mouth upon impact. She whimpers and rubs the flicked spot with her hoof. “No! If you're going to focus on use grappling techniques without strength or weight then you need to focus on messing up your opponent's hoofwork!” He points to Moonfalls legs. “You managed to mess up his hoofwork but you failed to use it as an opportunity to take him down.” A scowl crosses his face when he sees Dusk Blade’s puzzled face. He facepalms. “Get off of him, and I’ll show you.” “W-wait what!” Moonfall quickly speaks up, fear growing rapidly on his face. “Ehehe! Yes!” Dusk Blade happily throws herself off Moonfall and prances around to the side to watch. The captain closes in on the stallion, arms spread out and hands opened up for grabbing. Moonfall takes a step back and raises his left hoof up in defense. “W-wait sir! Can I prep—” He interrupts. “Consider this is punishment for even letting Dusk Blade, who's a rank under you, break your hoofwork.” With no hesitation he slams his foot against Moonfall’s right foreleg making the stallion bite his lip in pain, next action Twilight could barely see it. In a blur to her vision his hands reach down and wrap around Moonfall’s neck, upon making contact the right side of his body leaned towards the right making the stallion lean in the same direction. Instinctively Moonfall brought his right front leg down, he flinched on making contact with the floor. “Eah!” He yelps out in pain. His front leg winces and proves to be his downfall as he is slammed onto his right side against the mat, followed by the captain immediately getting on top of him and pinning him down with his knee against Moonfall’s throat. The captain looks over to Dusk Blade with a Stoic expression, ignoring the choking sounds coming from below him. “Notice what I did?” He looks at Dusk Blade who rapidly nods with a cheerful expression. “You pulled his own weight onto his attacked leg!” The captain nods and gets off of Moonfall. The stallion rolls onto his stomach and puts his hoof against his throat as he takes rapid deep breaths. “If you did that, you could’ve knocked him down... however, if Moonfall kept up with his footwork!” The captain sends a glare down to the gasping stallion. “For a guard who used to be in the solar guard you’d think you would have better hoofwork to not let a mare half your size get the advantage over you.” Moonfall unfortunately lets that comment sink in and a blush form on his cheeks. “Moonfall give me five laps around Hollow Shades, then when you come back you spending all night working on your hoofwork.” He coldly states. Moonfall whimpers as he slowly gets up and walks towards doors with his head down. From the bench Twilight sat there with her jaw dropped. ‘W-what was that! Huh! How!? What!? HUH!?’ Twilight blinks as she takes the moment to remind herself of his height and build once again, then compares it to his attack earlier and feels her jaw grow even more slack. ‘How was he so fast!? I-I barely saw his first m-move! And how fast he was able to pin an s-stallion down!’ “Remember Dusk Blade, grappling is about destroying hoofwork and limiting your opponent's movement to knock them off their feet.” Dusk Blades nods. “Don’t get excited, while what you did was good, you still messed up and even so, if Moonfall had actually kept up on his hoofwork then he could’ve caught himself and slung you off him. It also doesn’t help that because of your size if you tried to grapple someone who's heavier than you without damaging their hoofwork then you stand no chance.” Her happiness is crushed like a hammer to a nail, she looks down and pouts. He looks down at the small batpony and frowns a little bit. He closes his eyes and lets out a soft sigh, slowly he crouches down he puts his hand on Dusk Blade's shoulder. “It's not all doom for you... you do have more potential than me in grabs.” He says slowly while looking away. Dusk Blade looks up with surprise. “Huh?” ‘What!?’ Twilight looks at the captain in silent bewilderment. She looks between Dusk Blade, noting her lithe build and size versus the captains... larger size and thicker build. “Mhmm...” He stands back up with a grunt. “Let me explain and show you something.” “Fallen Shine, get over here!” He yells at the Stoic guard in the back. Fallen Shine drops what he is training and quickly rushes over to his captain. “Yes sir?” Fallen Shine gives a salute. “Hover.” Without hesitation, Fallen Shine opens his wings up and hops into the air, hovering up to his captain's height. “When it comes to grappling, you have to ruin your opponent's stability, but what about facing an opponent with no stability? Such as those who can fly. Watch This” He moves his hand over to the hovering stallion’s chest. “Fallen Shine, try to resist.” Fallen Shines nods. The captain starts to push the stallion away with little force, all the ponies watch as the corporal is pushed back with little effort despite his resistance. After pushing him only a little back, he takes his hand off the stallion's chest, only for him to shove the stallion roughly away from him. Fallen Shines eyes widen, and he just barely manages to stop himself from falling to the ground. “Creatures flying or jumping don’t have stability. A push, pull or gust of wind can disturb their flight and hover.” He looks at Fallen Shine, finding even the corporal checking out his own stability by kicking his rear legs back and finding himself moving back without his permission. “If a Pegasus flies at full speed, do you think they have the ability to suddenly halt? No. They have to spread their wings and hope. While we can dig our feet into the dirt and use that to stop ourselves.” He begins to pace back and forth as he explains. “So, take Pegasus's lack of stability and combine it with a fighting style that destroys stability... you get this.” With no warning for Fallen Shine the captain spins around towards him and grabs his left front leg, Fallen Shine couldn’t even let out a sound as the captain yanks him down towards the ground. Fallen Shine in a panic spread open his wings in an attempt to catch air and stop himself, only for it to prove useless as he crashes face-first into the mat with such force that he bounces off the mat. All the ponies watch in awe as Fallen Shine bounces over Dusk Blade and lands back-first onto the other side of the mat, his eyes spinning around in his sockets. The captain walks over to the fallen corporal and proceeds to fall down elbow-first onto the stallion's stomach, knocking him out of his daze to let out a pained grunt. The captain finishes his barrage off by wrapping his arm around the stallion's neck and putting him in a chokehold. “An easier takedown. No hoofwork to ruin, just need to bring them down with either weight and force, or shutting their wings.” He looks at Dusk Blade with a stoic expression on his face, ignoring his corporal tapping his hoof against him rapidly in desperation. “W-wow! I never thought about doing aerial takedowns!” Dusk Blade excitedly prances around in a small circle and lets out a soft squee of excitement. The captain takes that as a signal to finally release his corporal and stand up. Fallen Shine collapses onto his back and puts a hoof over his chest as he gasps for air. “Mhmm. It's probably best for you to start with aerial takedowns first than ground, you do have the advantage of being able to fly, so it should be easier for you.” He looks back at his guards and shouts. “Let this example be the reason why I discourage aerial fighting! Too unstable! Block an attack you get pushed back, and you can easily be taken down!” “Y-yes s-s-sir....” Fallen Shine manages to let out through his heavy breathing. “Yeeeees Siiir!” Dusk Blade cheerfully answers back with her own salute. “That's all the help I'm giving you today, Dusk Blade. Tomorrow I expect to see you improve your grappling or have an idea about what you want to do with it.” Dusk Blade nods once again. He looks around one more time, noticing Faded Light and Moonfall returning from their laps of shame, and giving them a nod of acknowledgement. “Any more questions regarding your fighting styles or advice?” “N-no sir, I’ll… I’ll focus on my hoofwork!” Moonfall says as he walks away and heads back towards his section. “I-I'm good.” Fallen Shine says while rubbing his neck. “I’m a-also good, C-captain.” Faded Light says while approaching the captain. She takes in some deep breaths before collapsing face-first into the sparring mat. “Mn.” He sighs and kneels down to help his lieutenant get back on her hooves. Twilight sat there on the bench, no longer able to hold in her astonishment, staring at the scene before her with a dumbfounded expression. It was one thing to be fast and strong, but... for him to be able to explain and expose a weakness that most flying creatures had and even show it in such a... brutal manner. “I’ve assumed he’s so strong that if we, the lower ranks, can’t do it. Then he gets ordered to go out and complete the mission...” “I assume it's because if an accident occurs, and he is injured, there is no one close to his skillset that could replace him.” “That junk is just for appearance and loyalty, if there was an enemy capable of taking down your princess, then what chance do you have against stopping it?”. Twilight had begun to understand why the guards looked up to the captain, not out of his rank but out of respect for his wisdom and strength. It was almost like... “Princess Celestia....” She lets the name slip out her mouth. The thought of this “man” being similar to Princess Celestia in wisdom and potentially in strength too... scared her. She disliked violence, but she found herself wanting to see him fight once... seriously. Twilight couldn’t help it, with every action he did, every word he spoke, she found her curiosity enchanted by him. He was an open flame, dangerous, and warned off others with its heat. Yet, the flame was mesmerizing. She wanted to stick her hoof into it and sit close to it despite the danger. Twilight snaps out of her bewildered daze when her ears pick up the sound of approaching steps, looking at the source she finds the captain approaching her. She quickly straightens up and puts on a fake smile “They should be good for tonight.” He points to his guards from over his shoulder. “So, I’ll be heading inside and doing some paperwork, and… seeing you being stubborn in your stupid mission by Princess Celestia I am... obligated... to allow you inside my home.” He says with a hint of venom in his tone. “Just use common sense and don’t give me small talk, or whatever.” He rolls his eyes and turns from her, heading towards the backdoor. Twilight sits there still for a moment, registering the permission she was just given. Upon completing the registration, she quickly stands up and checks if she has everything before chasing after the man. Entering the doorway, she looks back to the training hall, seeing all the guards in the middle of their training. Dusk Blade propelling herself from the ground to grapple onto the aerial hoops, Moonfall doing shadow sparring while focusing on his movement using short back hops and quick dashes, Fallen Shine was back to practicing his spear against a wooden pony dummy, and finally Faded Light who was getting ready to practice her sword skills against a dumb. She notices the lavender unicorn from the corner of her eye and smiles at her. “Good luck, you’ll need it.” Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle. “Thanks, I think I will need it.” With that, the two give each other one last nod before turning away and slowly walk towards their destinations.