//------------------------------// // VIII - The Full Moon Night // Story: The Countryside Knight // by Dark Krystal //------------------------------// “Why...” A yawn escapes from Twilight. “...Did I forget that this was going to take place at night...” The unicorn grumbles tiredly as she walks through the empty streets of Canterlot. Her eyes looking at the sides of the street now and then, uneasiness dripping into her. The darkened alleyways, the silence, and the dimmed warm yellow light from the streetlamps all checked off the unicorn’s list for a setting of a bad event about to take place.   ‘ I knew I should’ve come here during the day and booked a temporary stay in my room until night court! I could’ve taken a nap... ‘ Twilight lets out a sigh that transforms into a yawn halfway through. A frown creasing her lips and hints of weariness crawling up inside her. Levitating a disposable cup she had with her filled with the rich mixture of grinded coffee beans and water with bits of sugar in it, she brings it up to her face as she walks to take in the bitter scent and letting wash over her in a silent effort to keep her brain from giving the absolute order of sleep before raising it up to her lips and taking a long sip. “Aaah...” Twilight exhales, closing her eyes for a moment to let the bitter-sweetness run its course. A wave of temporary energy infiltrates her body and lets her continue her travel, with weariness fading away. “I hope I can get a refill at the castle...” Twilight murmurs to herself, eyeing the castle in the distance. She travels silently to the castle, taking in the sights of the nocturnal Capital. It was a new experience to see the very lively city turn into a silent haven. ‘ I’m starting to understand why Princess Luna fell now, kind of... If I noticed that during the daytime my city was lively but when it’s my time to be in charge and the city was like this... I would feel undervalued as well... ‘ Twilight pondered if Princess Luna still held onto that feeling, the elements of harmony may have destroyed Nightmare Moon but, Nightmare Moon only came to be due to Princess Luna’s bitterness and anger. Twilight frowned at that and hoped her experience on Nightmare Night removed it... even if only for a little bit. She looked up and gazed at the full moon that washed the city in its light. “...Was the sky always this beautiful...?” Twilight tilts her head, unsure if the princess in charge had changed something or not with the night sky. Going around the corner and entering the main street to the castle, she takes another sip from her cup, just to wet her mouth with bitter-sweetness at the moment. ‘ I hope Dusk Blade told Faded Light the situation... she had three days to do it, and I hope they made a plan with how they were going to deal with this too... I really do hope I don’t have to improvise for them. ‘ Wedging a small probability of hope into her system. The unicorn finally makes it to the castle steps, drinking the last bits of her cup, she closes the lid and tucks the sealed cup into her saddlebags before going up the stairs. Her eyes lit up a bit upon finding the first sign of life in the city, of course that sign of life being the scheduled night duty Solar Guards stationed at the outer gate of the castle. The Guard duo’s eyes lock onto the unicorn and widen in surprise briefly before returning to their Stoic nature, quickly giving a salute to the student. Twilight smiles and gives him a nod of acknowledgement as she walks past them and into the small courtyard. Looking around, she noticed there were... a lot of members of the Solar Guard during the night, all donning dark stylized Solar Guard armor with white or dark blue plumes. Examining the guards, a teaspoon of embarrassment was dropped into her mind. ‘ Looking at them now... It’s... really obvious that they were members of the Solar Guard... and if you never met the Lunar Guard before, then Princess Celestia’s deception works really well. ‘ Mentally noting down to compare the design of Solar Guard armor to the Lunar Guard’s armor she resumes her travel, walking through the main doors into the castle, Twilight pauses as blue light washes over her. Her eyes landed onto the stained-glass imagery of the lunar side of royalty on the left side of the solar stained-glass. Twilight found a small smile on her face and bowed to the window before going towards the throne room corridor. Entering the corridor, her nose is tested, a strong scent stopping the unicorn in her tracks. The unicorn sniffs the air and looks down the corridor with a puzzled look before sniffing the air again. “This is... Lavender?” Twilight tilts her head. Slowly walking down the corridor she looks along the stained-glass windows, finding no sign until she looks up and spots a bouquet of lavender placed in the scones of the pillars between the windows. Twilight blinks and looks around, noticing every wall sconce in the corridor was filled in with lavender bouquets. Twilight tilts her head as she stares at the decoration. ‘ Were these always here, and I never noticed them…? Why are they—Wait! Lavender has properties in its scent! Aiding in relaxation, allergies, and sleep! This has to be Princess Luna’s doing! ‘ Her eyes widened in realization. She looks down the hallway, taking the moment to admire the visual fact that every single scone in the corridor was filled in with the plant. A brief wonder on when she started to do this and how long it took her to do this. “If... Princess Luna is doing it for aiding sleep, then... that’s really thoughtful!” Twilight smiled and walked down the corridor, taking in the scent as she moved. A sigh of peace escapes her as she feels no nervousness welling up in her as she stands before the door, raising her hoof and knocking against the door. Silence ensures afterward, making the unicorn grow somewhat uncomfortable now that she didn’t feel her usual nervousness. After a brief moment of faint rustling behind the door, a familiar royal Canterlot voice came through “Thou may enter the Lunar court!” Twilight stands there, waiting for a guard on the inside to open the door, but after a minute of inactivity she decides to slowly push open the door and enter. Her eyes looking to the sides and finding no guards in the throne room. Instead, the only being that was occupying the room was the Princess of the night, sitting on the throne with a look of happiness that seemed to grow upon seeing Twilight. “Twilight Sparkle! We have been awaiting thy arrival!” Princess Luna stands up and nearly prances her way down from the throne. “We are pleased that thou has truly made do on our invitation!” She smiles widely, starting to prance in place. “Oh, how joyous thy arrival has made our night!” Twilight smiles as she watches the Lunar Princess express her excitement.  Her eyes couldn’t help but linger on the spots where the guards are usually stationed... well, at least when Celestia is occupying the throne room. “Um... Princess Luna?” The Princess stops her prancing and looks down at Twilight. “Yes, Twilight Sparkle?” “Where are the guards? For the throne room, I mean...” Twilight asks as she looks around the throne room. “Ah. Well... during these hours no pony normally visits these hours unless they plan to rob thy castle or have a matter of grave importance that requires the night court... that, and we personally dislike being guarded by members not from our own guard. We have seen the training my sister’s guard partakes in it is... unimpressive. We have a better chance of defending ourselves from a threat than they do at even trying to halt it.” Princess Luna says with a bitter tone in her voice. A sigh escapes the princess as she looks over to the lunar stained-glass windows that patterned in the throne room. “After our trip on Nightmare Night we decided to look into our guard in preparation for this night and... it seems my sister has given them new duties and roles while we were exiled. It seems we may have to redesign the Lunar Guard if my sister has made them lean more into the Solar teachings or styles of combat. We were hoping this would be a nice journey and showcase of my guard, but it seems this will be more of an inspection.” Twilight nods, understanding her reasoning. Feeling the awkwardness starting to leak into the room as the Lunar royal stares at the window in silent thought, Twilight decides to push the awkwardness out of the room. “That's okay! I’m still looking forward to the trip... Also, I noticed that there were lavender bouquets placed in the wall scones outside the throne room... Did—” Twilight shuts her mouth as the princess spins around with a warm smile and sparkle in her eyes. “Oh, thou have noticed our efforts!” Twilight wasn’t sure if she had heard the princess release a small “squee” or her mind conjured it to go with the moment, but it made her heart pause for a moment. Princess Luna walks past the unicorn to open the throne room doors and look down the corridor. “Recently we hath discovered that lavender’s scent is able to assist in aiding ponies in giving them a restorative sleep! So, every night since we found this, we have been planting bouquets of the wonderful plant into the most populous sections of the castle to aid in giving my sister and the staff a good rest!” She says with a hint of pride in her voice. “That's very thoughtful of you, Princess Luna!” Twilight nods, pleased with having her theory confirmed. “Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.” She smiles, after a moment of calming herself down, the princess looks back down the corridor before walking down it. Twilight quickly follows behind, though looks behind in some confusion. “Hm? Are we going now? What about the night court?” “As we said, no pony visits the night court. We shall cancel it for tonight. Our... “trip” is more important than a noble's cry for misguided justice.” Twilight frowned at that, but seeing the Princess’s moods earlier, it seemed she had gotten over the bitterness... or at least Twilight hoped she had. Going to the princess’s side, the royal mare began an explanation of the history of the Lunar Guard. Twilight zoning it out halfway through due to it being nearly the exact same story that Princess Celestia had already told her about. However, her attention was brought back when Princess Luna began to explain the duties of the old Lunar guard. “The Lunar Guard of the past were not your standard guard unit, Twilight Sparkle... They were looked up as the elite guard of Canterlot! Trained to deal with more dangerous tasks and events! Ready to sweep in and bite an assassin’s arrow out of the air before it could hit us! They were a unit that made the populous hesitate to go against the throne! Haha!” Luna curls her hoof up and gives a prideful grin as she moves, only for it to falter and a sigh leaving her. “However, as great as that was... it prevented my bat ponies from being accepted by the public. It isolated them from my sister's guard and the public. Leaving them to be only with themselves and we. After our exile, our sister decided with the sudden promotion of a new captain to my guard four-hundred moons ago to remove them from Canterlot and place them closer back to their hometown, Hollow Shades.” Twilight's brain immediately freezes on that small statement. “F-four hundred years ago your s-sister promoted a somepony to the Lunar Guard?” Twilight looked up at the princess with surprises.  “Aye. According to the document he was a member of my sister’s guard... rose through the ranks quite quickly and my sister decided to make him in charge of my guard and move them away. His name was Lord Loyal Blade, though his imagery has gone away with the passage of time I imagine he must’ve been quite the stallion.” Twilight stared at the princess in bewildered fear before shaking her head. ‘ No way! It c-couldn't be him... He can’t be THAT old now! R-r-right!? ‘ “After his promotion, my sister decided to change how my guard functioned through him… Their duties now involved taking out threats to Equestria from the shadows and the guard being downsized... We don’t know why she decided to shrink my guard down, but we can only hope that it was for a good reason.” Luna says with some agitation in her tone. Twilight ignores it, distracted by the statement, turning her head and scrunching her muzzle up in silent screaming. ‘ It is him! It has to be! The information matches! And of course Princess Celestia would hide his real identity on papers! He's f-f-f-f-f-f-f-four hundred moons old!? How long does his kind live for!? How come he doesn’t know much about Equestria for being around four-hundred moons old! WHAT!? ‘ “Twilight Sparkle, watch where thou wa—” Twilight smacks chest-first to the balcony railing, knocking the small wind out of her. She puts a hoof on her chest and takes a deep breath in as the Lunar Princess pats her back. “Thou seem distracted, ’tis something wrong?” The princess asks with concern in her tone. “N-no...” Twilight rubs her chest. “I was j-just thinking about the story you told... the Lunar Guard seem fascinating!” Princess Luna smiles and stands beside the unicorn to gaze over the east of Equestria. “We wish thou were there in our guard's prime, Twilight Sparkle. Then again, if thou were there then thou wouldn’t be able to be around to defeat Nightmare Moon...” She frowns at that but shakes her head. “Either way, tonight thou will bear witness to the forty-third generation of Lunar Guard with us, Twilight Sparkle. We hope thou art prepared.” “Mhmm! I’m ready, Princess Luna!” Twilight answers. Princess Luna nods, closing her eyes and igniting her horn. Twilight prepares herself, recognizing the change in the air was a teleportation spell slowly coming to life. Taking a deep breath, the unicorn calms her nerves and straightens herself up, her ears briefly picking up the sound of her empty cup jostling in her saddlebags. Snapping her eyes open, she spins her head to the princess. “Wait! I forgot to tell you I need some cof—” A wave of cobalt blue washes over the two before releasing a bright flash that consumed them both. Twilight freezes up until the flash fades and her eyes adjust back to the normal lighting of the outside world. “—fee...” Princess Luna slowly opens her eyes and looks down at the unicorn. “Apologies, but did thou say something?” “No...” Twilight sighs and looks around the area, finding herself back into the tall grassy landscape of the countryside of Equestria. Her eyes naturally travel up the hill they were on and seeing the Lunar Base in the distance. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one that noticed the house in the distance. “How strange... our coordinates for their location should be correct. Was a mistake made by us?” The princess vocally questions herself. Twilight’s ears flop as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. ‘ And so, it begins... ‘ Twilight hesitantly looks over to the princess, shuts her eyes for a moment when a flash is made as the princess teleports a scroll into her aura. The princess scans over the scroll and then looks over the distant house in silence, eventually after two minutes of silent judgment she teleports the scroll away and sighs. “We were correct... our coordinates lead to here...” Luna eyes the distant housing before slowly walking her way towards it. “How... shoddy...” Luna mumbles under her breath. Twilight follows after her with a look of concern on her face. ‘ I really do hope Faded Light has a plan... ‘ Twilight witnesses the princess’s mood slowly deteriorate more as they get closer to the base, the princess’s eyes widening for a moment before a look of mixed annoyance and disappointment crosses her face as she gazes at the house-connected-barn-base. The two stop in front of the house, taking a moment to silently gaze at the entrance. Luna prepares to take her first step onto the porch when the sound of two beings clashing perks their ears up. Moving their gaze to the barn, the princess takes the initiative and trots over to the barn. Before the unicorn could catch up, the princess wraps the door in her aura and pulls it open from the inside without hesitation. Twilight’s eyes widen, and she picks up her pace just in time to arrive at Princess Luna’s eyes widening in surprise for a second before returning to her neutral state. With a small cough, she announces her arrival with the royal Canterlot voice. “Thy Princess has arrived!” Luna says with some happiness. Twilight peeks into the barn and gives an internal sigh of relief as she sees Dusk Blade, Faded Light, Moonfall, and… a new bat pony stallion in the training room. All frozen in the middle of an action, wearing expressions of surprise. Twilight nervously waves at the group, watching as shock fades from Faded Light and twists into anger as she spins around to glare at Dusk Blade. The mare in question looked away from her lieutenant with a scrunched muzzle. ‘ Celestia I swear on your name... ‘ Princess Luna slowly steps into the room, all the guards snapping out of shock and quickly dropping down to kneel before the princess. Princess Luna wears a small smile as she walks towards the kneeling guards, Twilight slowly following behind with worry on her features. The princess stops in front of the group and looks down at them, her eyes scanning over each pony before lingering on Faded Light. “Art thou Captain Faded Light?”  Faded Light stands up and gives a salute to her princess. “Yes, my princess! I am Lie-Captain Faded Light at your service ma’am!” “Good... then we may discuss thy letter.” The princess of the night leans down and narrows her eyes down at the mare.  Faded Light raises a brow, Dusk Blades eyes widening for a moment before her eyes dart away from the scene… “Would thou be willing to explain, face to face, what thou truly meant… when thou called my desire to bring our guardians with us on our night of introduction to the public... nothing more than the ” Incompetent wishes of a child”…?” She says with strong anger in her tone. Faded Light freezes up, her eyes opening wide in surprise before her face shifts into a look of pure dread. Her eyes move to Twilight, pleading for assistance. ‘ Nope. You dug your own grave, Faded Light. ‘ Twilight looks away, pretending to find the wall more interesting than the scene at the moment. After a moment of silence lingering in the room, the accused mare takes in a deep breath and hesitantly answers. “I t-t-truly... apologize....” Faded Light barely manages out the word through gritted teeth. “For I-I-insulting you like that... It was an r-rough night, and I… w-wasn't in the best s-state of mind.” “Hm.” Princess Luna huffs and raises her head high. “We sure do hope that is the case... We shall let thou off this time, but do it again and there will... be repercussions.” “U-u-understood, My Princess!” Faded Light quickly bows her head. “Now then, with that business settled with. Allow us and our companion, Twilight Sparkle, to witness the current state of my guardian's strength through the art of mock combat!” The princess throws her hoof up as her happiness returns to her. The guards rising up from their positions. Princess Luna takes a moment to scan the guard and points at Moonfall first, then to the new batpony stallion. “Ranks, names, and titles.” The princess commands. Moonfall stands up first and salutes. “Private first-class Moonfall!” The second bat pony takes his time in throwing his head back in a stylish manner before giving a salute with a smirk. “Master Sergeant Great Star, ready to crush your foes for you, my Princess.” “Wonderful, now then we desire you two to spar to the best of your abilities... not too hard to cause injuries or open wounds but enough to prove your skill in right to protect us.”  “U-understood!” Moonfall falters a bit as he glances over to the large bat pony, who only cracks his neck in response and snorts. Twilight grimaces at the difference between the two stallions and their body builds. ‘ It’s like Big Mac versus Hoity Toity.... ‘ “Take... your positions...” Faded Light says with hints of emotional damage in her voice. The sparring match was about what Twilight expected, Moonfall was putting far more effort in the match than his opponent, the strong stallion easily overpowering the white bat pony at every trade of blows. Eventually, Twilight excuses herself to the princess with the reasoning of wishing to question the remaining bat ponies. With a nod, Twilight walks off and groups up with Dusk Blade and Faded Light in the corner, huddled in a triangle. The moment the group is formed, Faded Light hisses at Dusk Blade before whispering, “Why did you not mention that our Princess was coming early!?” “I didn’t know! I assumed that night court would take up her time!” Dusk Blade hissed back. Faded Light glares, making the smaller bat pony glare back, the two nearly butting heads before the unicorn intervened. “To defend Dusk Blade here, the night court was… nonexistent when I visited Princess Luna.” Faded Light looks over at the unicorn and raises a brow. “Wait, really?” “Yes, the only beings around were the Solar Guard... there was no other pony in the castle...” Dusk Blade tilts her head. “Did she seem really excited to see you then...?” “Yeah actually... Now that I think about it, she perked up when I came in… and even mentioned that no pony comes to the night court…”  Twilight brings a hoof to her chin as she reminisces. “You were her first and only visitor tonight then...” Faded Light says, visibly uncomfortable with her own words. “Yeah probably...” Dusk Blade looks away. “Oh...” Twilight finds herself looking down. The trio shared a moment of silence for the princess. Eventually, the “Huzzah!” from the princess in the background knocks them out of their silence to glance at her, happily clopping her hooves together as she cheers on at the combat in front of her. “Well... She’s enjoying herself now, that’s good at least... but back to the main issue at hoof here...” Faded turns her head back to the group, she opens her mouth to address the issue when Twilight jabs her hoof on the lieutenant's chest. “After, you tell me why in the world did you think that letting Ratimir send his letters without proofreading them was a good idea!” Twilight narrows her eyes. “Yeah! That's right! I’m not the only one who sort’ve made a mistake here!” Dusk Blade narrows her eyes at the lieutenant. Faded Light scrunches her muzzle and looks away. A faint blush on her cheeks at being called out.  “I... I was just trying to lighten my load... and have some hope...” She mumbles. Dusk Blades pats her back, her face turning in a look of pity. Twilight lets out a sigh. “You already got chewed out, so I won’t go into it... Did Ratimir know Princess Luna was coming tonight?” Dusk Blade gives a nod. “Mhmm! I made sure to tell him first out of everypony here after I came back.” Though, you only told him that she was going to come after our usual training...” Faded Light says with some annoyance. “Meaning...?” Twilight hesitantly asks. “The captain might come in soon under the belief that by the time he finished teaching us tonight, and he went back inside she would arrive. We have to warn him before he comes out.” Faded Light looks between the mares. “Okay! I’ll go inside and tell Ratimir then... Princess Luna assumes that this is the base, so I'm sure she won’t think about it much if I go inside his house.” The two mares nod in agreement. “We can keep our princess distracted while you—” Dusk Blade's eyes open wide as she is pushed to the side, snapping the attention of the two mares. There, a sweaty Great Star takes the small mares position in the triangle. Twilight eyes widening as she notices how big he was up close and her brain automatically noting down his details such as his cobalt bluish gray coat, pale, light grayish lime green eyes, and a dark persian blue short buzz cut mane and stubby tail. The stallion smirks and looks down at the lavender unicorn. Twilight glances over to Princess Luna. Finding her occupied with praising an exhausted Moonfall on the floor. “Twilight...” He pants between his words. “Sparkle... Nice to...” He lets out a deep exhale and shakes his head. “Meet ya...” “Oh um... Nice to meet you too... Great Star, right?” Twilight gives a small fake smile. “Correct... I just.... Whew... noticed you are looking really... and I mean really...” Dusk Blade angrily moves herself back into their group, turning it into a square. Faded Light glares at the stallion and opens her mouth to say something, but Great Star quickly puts his hoof over her muzzle. “Beautiful! On this fine night that our princess has... conjured! Yeah...” He wipes the sweat off his brow with his wing as he catches his breath. Twilight blushes and looks down, rubbing her hoof against the ground. “Oh! Um... t-thank you...” Great Star smiles. “If you allow me to... I would like to take you out on a—” Faded Light’s eyes narrow, and she quickly pulls away from his hoof and quickly intercepts his muzzle with her own hoof, a deadpan expression on her face. “He wants to date you, so he can get back at your brother for humiliating him years ago.” Great Star pulls away and lets out a violent hiss at the lieutenant. She responds back with an even rougher hiss at the big stallion, making him reel his head back and grimace. Faded Light huffs and pulls away from Great Star. “You wench...” Great Star growls. “Shut up, you big oaf. We have bigger matters at hoof right now, and I don’t want to even bother with witnessing this grand scheme of vengeance from you in front of me or within my earshot!” Faded Light angrily says with Dusk Blade nodding with her “Yeah! I can only withstand your terrible flirting for so long!” Dusk Blade pokes her small hoof against his broad chest. The stallion letting out a huff. “Wait, what do you have against my brother?” Twilight asks, snapped out of her brief moment of vulnerability for the sake of fulfilling her new curiosity. “Your brother—” Faded Light quickly puts her hoof over his muzzle again. “Bigger matters at hoof here, Twilight Sparkle...” ‘ I really want to know, though... What did my brother do to offend a member of the Lunar Guard... ‘ Twilight nods. “Yes! Sorry...” “Just do what we discussed, and tonight should go smoothly for everypony.” The trio nodded, Great Star raising a brow at the mares. “Alright then let's go—” “A glorious match that was indeed, little moon! But now we believe it is the time to look into the rest of thy base to see if our sister has kept you in good hooves.” Princess Luna says within earshot of the group. All the mares' ears shooting up and bodies tensing up. Twilight quickly looked to Faded Light, the mare gave a silent nod with determination in her eyes before pushing Great Star away roughly. With a quick grapple maneuver, she wraps a hoof around the back of his neck and drags him to the princess with a smile on her face. “Not yet, my Princess! We both wish to show our prowess as the higher ranks to you!” Faded Light ethustaticly says as she approaches. “What! No, I don— Uof!” The stallion buckled upon being elbowed in the gut by the mare. “Oh! How wonderful! We guess we can delay our inspection for another round of combat!” Princess Luna smiles widely and quickly sits back down. Moonfall slowly moves himself off the mat so the two bat ponies can take their places, the stallion being positioned against his will by the mare. “You should go now...” Dusk Blades whispers to the unicorn. Twilight gives one last nod before trotting over to the door, grabbing the doorknob and quietly entering the house.