Another day of training had come to a close, and with it came some much anticipated free time. Even as the guards began to crowd into the armory, a few of them had already begun to discuss their plans for the evening — Captain Shining Armor paid them no mind for the time being. Such talk was to be expected, after all, and it was often harmless.
"Think I might go up to one of them batponies, invite her out for a drink or two. That Noctis one's a looker, yeah? And who knows, maybe I'll get a little somethin'-somethin' at the end of it!"
"Hey, put in a good word for me, and maybe she'll be lookin' for a third!"
"Why the hell would I do that? She ain't gonna feel nothin'!"
The comment was met with boisterous laughter, though it quickly died down once another voice spoke up. "Please don't speak about the sergeant like that."
That one phrase alone had left the entire room silent, and Shining Armor glanced over his shoulder to see that three guards had crowded around a fourth. "And who are you supposed to be, kid? Her boyfriend?"
"I... well, n-no. Just... just a friend."
"Just a friend, huh? I mean, ain't exactly a secret that you got a thing for 'em yourself, newblood! We've seen ya up there every single night, chattin' it up with that one batpo—"
"Opliptera."
One of the three guards, a more senior member, narrowed his eyes at the pegasus they had surrounded. "...what?"
"Opliptera. It's... um, the official term for them."
"Is that so?" Another of the three took a step towards their target. "Look, kid. I know you're new, so lemme fill you in on a little somethin'. Those batponies you're so fond of? They ain't your friends. They're the whole reason Princess Luna up and disappeared all those years ago — didja know that?"
The pegasus scowled up at him, hissing through his teeth. "I know more than you think."
"I bet you do. We clear, bat boy?"
By now, things had quickly gotten a little too tense for the captain's tastes, and he muscled his way through the crowd, trying to make his way to the group before a fight broke out. Even as he drew closer, he could see that rather than answer, 'bat boy' had decided to simply stare down the other guard, something which was quickly beginning to aggravate the aggressors.
"Silent treatment, huh? Alright, dumbass, lemme break it down a bit so you can understand it. I said, 'ARE. WE. CLEAR. BAT BOY'. You understand that easy enough, shit-for-brains?"
Shining Armor had finally managed to squeeze through the gathered crowd, and with a clear view of the gang of guards, he unceremoniously hefted the three of them into the air with his magic, leaving the fourth where he stood. "You're dismissed for the day. All of you are. I need to have a little chat with some of your friends."
Several of the guards loudly grumbled as they shuffled out the door, and though they had been packed in the room, they had still managed to leave surprisingly quickly. With the onlookers gone, the four remaining guards found themselves stuck with a very irate captain, and one of them felt the need to apologize. "Captain, we were just... uh... having fun! Ya know, poking a bit of fun at the new guy! Nothin' bad!"
"That's not what I heard and saw. I heard three guards try and intimidate a recruit when they should know better, and I saw them getting much closer than they should. If I catch it again, I'll have you three scrubbing toilets for a month. Got it?"
One of the guards huffed and slowly nodded. "...yes, sir."
"Good. You three are dismissed. I still need to talk with your friend here." Shining Armor took a seat in front of the pegasus, eying him even as the other three made their way out the door — and grimaced somewhat as one made a rather lewd gesture at the both of them. With the three offenders gone, the unicorn closed the door to give them a bit of privacy, his horn briefly glowing as he did. "Sorry about that, kid. Wish I could've gotten to ya sooner."
The pegasus sighed and wandered over towards a book, one that had evidently been stomped on during the ruckus. He carefully picked it up and brushed the dirt off the cover, casting a glance over his shoulder at the captain. "It's fine, sir."
"No, it's not fine — I've got a bunch of smartasses talking smack about the Night Guard and ganging up on recruits who don't agree with them." Shining Armor slowly began to approach the recruit, only to stop a few steps from him. "You... really do have a bit of a thing for the batponies, don't you?"
"Just curiosity, sir."
The unicorn grinned and turned towards one of the weapon racks, giving a spear a poke with his hoof. "I know that feeling. Not personally or anything, just... little sister's always been like that. Always wanting to know."
"Yeah." The pegasus sighed once more, and as he opened a locker and put the book away, he glanced over his shoulder at Shining Armor. "They're not nearly as bad as other ponies think they are."
"Nah. They're not bad at all." The captain took a few more steps towards the stallion and paused once more, tilting his head somewhat. "...what's your name, kid?"
Upon being asked such a question, the recruit stepped up towards the unicorn and snapped a salute, smiling faintly.
"Ferous, sir. Just Ferous."
"Who's she?"
Captain Shining Armor stopped and shut his eyes, sighing. He was so close to the door, so very close to leaving for the day and heading back home to his wife, and then he allowed himself to get distracted with a bit of reminiscing... which had ended up costing him. He didn't really mind some of the questions that this recruit had the tendency to ask — after all, his very own sister was also the inquisitive sort — but sometimes it became a little too much. Curiosity killed the cat, as the saying went. The unicorn slowly turned about to face the recruit, and he opened his eyes once more as he looked upon the guard. "Do you really need to know, Neophyte Ferous?"
"Well, I... I think I have a right to know, sir." Ferous gave his wings a nervous flap and cleared his throat. "I mean, I'm the one guarding her and the brig, you know? Kinda helps if I know what I'm dealing with."
Shining Armor sighed once more and nodded. "...I guess you have a point. Can't blame ya, really. Just a heads up, though — anypony comes in here asking questions, you tell them that you're not allowed to tell them anything."
The pegasus blinked at the captain. "...Sir?"
"All I know is that she's with the Night Guard. Rest of her file was sealed under Princess Luna's orders, so everything I'm telling you is on a strictly need-to-know basis. Got it?"
Ferous quickly nodded, his bright green eyes never breaking away from Shining Armor. "Yes, sir. Anything else?"
"Let's see." The unicorn quickly fetched a scroll and yanked it towards himself, unfurling it and reading from it after clearing his throat. "Lieutenant Caelum, Night Guard — sort of a given, based on the armor and race. Colors are all off, though... Night Guard usually just wears purple armor, and this looks customized."
"Desertion?"
"Maybe." Shining Armor tossed a glance towards the recruit and soon continued. "That's what they charged her with, anyways. Said she was wandering Canterlot in the morning, yelling a bunch in some funny language."
"Isn't that a little odd? The batpo— er, opliptera usually don't go out during the day."
Shining Armor raised a brow upon hearing the recruit correct himself mid-sentence, but said nothing of it. "A little bit."
The pegasus frowned somewhat. "And a funny language? Like what the gryphons speak, or—"
"No idea, Ferous. Even after they brought her here, she was still talking in it, and none of our scholars have any idea what it's supposed to be. Far as we know, poor girl's gone out of her mind."
"Oh."
The captain quickly rolled up the scroll and sent it flying across the room and back into its place. "Not much else to say. I doubt she'll give you too much trouble — she's apparently been coming and going, as far as wakefulness goes. If she's up and about, though, try not to listen to her too much. Just a bunch of gibberish. Got it?"
Ferous gave the unicorn a prompt salute and nodded. "Yes, sir!"
"Great. Don't be afraid to find somepony else if ya need help. I'll see you tomorrow, kid." Shining Armor gave the recruit one last grin and headed for the door once more, eager to finally leave — he didn't exactly want to be caught with another question either.
As his superior headed out the door, Ferous continued to maintain the salute until the unicorn had fully departed, at which point he allowed himself to relax. Brig duty wasn't exactly... ideal, but it was easy work, and it had given him an opportunity to speak with his captain at length. He was something of a hero, after all — helped save Canterlot from the changelings and he was related to Twilight Sparkle. Shining Armor was the very sort of pony that Ferous' father had often told him about when he was but a foal, and to actually meet such a pony had been rather exciting. Still, duty came first, and Shining Armor had been eager to get back home after the end of his shift — Ferous could hardly blame him for that.
And so, while his captain and several other ponies would be heading off to enjoy the evening, he would be stuck here, guarding a single pony who was very likely to be completely mad. How incredibly... boring. The pegasus sighed and took a seat upon the ground, removing his helmet and setting it aside — this definitely hadn't been what he signed up for when he had first joined the Royal Guard. He had signed up for adventure, for a chance to defend Equestria from all sorts of dangers, just like his father had told him in countless tales, and yet he was stuck doing... this.
Ferous sighed and brushed a bit of his brown mane away from his eyes. Scarcely five minutes had passed, and he was already starting to get bored — not a good sign. The pegasus quickly glanced towards the cell—still asleep—and then headed towards his pack, pulling open the flap and rummaging through it before removing a book. It was a book he had recently checked out from the Royal Library, one of the few they even had that was about the opliptera, and with the book in his mouth, Ferous soon took a seat near the cell once more.
It's not like he would get to read it, though. Before he could even open the book, his ears twitched as he heard the shuffling of hay within the room, and he looked up to see that the prisoner was unfortunately up and about. She had a wild and disheveled look about her, and even as she began to pace around in her cell, her eyes were already beginning to frantically look to and fro. She hadn't even noticed him yet, it would seem, something he was more than okay with. Something about her just seemed... off. Not quite right.
He took advantage of her relative lack of attention and stood up, taking a few steps towards the cell and inspecting what was left of her armor as he drew closer. Though it resembled what the Night Guard often wore, Shining Armor had indeed been correct when he said that the colors had been wrong — this was both purple and gold, and he certainly hadn't seen those colors on any of the guards before. Perhaps she was a special member of the Night Guard, one with seniority of some sort. If so, she would have been highly trained, and definitely experienced, which made her madness all the more perplexing. Few things were capable of driving such a seasoned pony to insanity, and fewer could do it in such a short amount of time.
Ferous soon found his train of thought interrupted as he heard a rather sickening thud from within the cell. The batpony within the cell had, for some indescribable reason, smacked her head against one of the stone walls, and she had managed to do so hard enough to cause bleeding. And then she did it again, and again, and again. Such a sight was rather unsettling, even more so given the situation, and he cautiously approached her. "M-ma'am, you should... you should stop. Don't want you to hurt yourself or anything."
She ignored him, and instead, placed one of her hooves within the spatter of blood upon the wall. The hoof quickly swung out to the side, smearing the blood upon the wall, and then made several more movements. Ferous was equal parts horrified and curious at this point, something she was seemingly aware of, and her pace quickened as he continued to watch in silence. It almost looked like she was...
"...writing." Ferous scowled somewhat as he looked at the message on the wall. It was definitely a language he had never seen before — the text somehow managed to be graceful yet ugly, and simply reading it was slightly painful. It was a language that couldn't—shouldn't—exist, and yet it did. There was another thud within the cell, and the pegasus snapped to attention once more as he watched the prisoner begin to write another message out.
This message was just as cryptic as the last, but it had been done much quicker than the other. Her pace had almost been frantic, as if she were trying to tell him something. If it had managed to confuse their top scholars, though, then he had almost no chance at all of deciphering it. He took another look, cringing after just a few seconds as the words burrowed into his mind. "I'm sorry, I... I don't know—"
Yet another smack, and though the walls were beginning to literally run red, it seemed she wasn't finished just yet. She ran to another wall, her body visibly shaking now, and she hastily scrawled out another message for him.
Upon finishing it, she ran over towards the bars, and it quickly became obvious that she was... different. She didn't look insane or crazed in any way at all. If anything, she looked... terrified. Even as the blood ran down her face from the wound upon her forehead, she shoved her muzzle and both forelegs through the bars, wildly grabbing for him, fear in her voice as she spoke. "Zhou mooz knoowh! Deht komehz!"
The pegasus cringed once more, shaking his head even as she spoke. If reading it was painful, hearing it had been even worse. He slowly backed away from her even as she continued to reach out for him, and he gave his head another shake as his own fear quickly became apparent. "I... I don't... j-just stay here, I'll be back with help!"
Despite her rather vocal protests against it, he had already turned away and had begun to head for the door. Another loud smack made him stop, however, and he reluctantly began to turn around to face the cell. The opliptera had gone strangely quiet, and he soon found out why. The pony within the cell had bashed her head against the bars quite hard, and her horrified expression had been replaced with one that was far too happy. From her spot within the cell, she simply stared and grinned at him, even as the blood continued to run down her face. Slowly, she reached a hoof through the bars once more, pointing at him as she opened her mouth to speak. This time would be different, however — this time, she decided to speak, and what made it worse was that he could actually understand it. "...You."
Ferous bit his lip for a moment, then took a few tentative steps towards her and stared back. Just to look at her in this state was unnerving, and he had to fight with himself repeatedly just so he could continue to look. "W-what do you want?"
The prisoner smacked her head against the bars once more, turning a portion of the bars red and intensifying the bleeding. Rather than show any expression of pain, she simply continued to grin and stare, her head tilting slightly. "A message."
The pegasus swallowed hard and took a few cautious steps towards the cell. Common sense told him to ignore her — curiosity told him to ask. "What sort of message?"
"Little pony, coat of white
Strong and stubborn, none too bright
Betray the day, love the night
In the end, there is no light."
"A... a poem? That's your message?" Part of Ferous wanted to laugh. The other part found all of it very unsettling. "I... I'm not sure I understand."
"You will." At this, the prisoner grinned the widest she had and slammed her head into the bars once more, turning her forehead into a bloody mess. With one last laugh, her eyes rolled into the back of her, and she slumped to the floor, motionless.
Things for Ferous had quickly turned from 'very unsettling' to 'extremely unsettling', and the white pegasus quickly began to panic. To have a crazy prisoner was one thing, but to have said prisoner die while he was on duty? That was very, very bad, especially with him being nothing more than a recruit. With a few brief flap of his wings to aid his speed, Ferous bolted past the nearby rack and yanked the ring of keys off it, skidding to a halt right outside the cell. He began to try key after key, angrily grumbling to himself when the lock wouldn't budge, and occasionally glancing through the bars at the still form of his one and only prisoner. Even now, she still had that grin on her face, and the pegasus shut his eyes and shuddered before returning to the task at hand. "C'mon, damnit! Right key has to be in here somewhere!"
A silver key, nothing. A bronze key and a gold key, no dice. The neophyte had been through nearly every key on the ring and still couldn't find the right one, even as precious seconds ticked by. He finally came to one of the last keys on the ring, an old and rusted key that had obviously seen better days, and with a sigh, he shoved it into the lock and gave it a turn... and it worked. The cell door softly clicked and slowly began to swing open, and Ferous quickly decided to help out by giving it a firm kick to open it all the way. With the way clear, he hurried inside and began to tend to the prisoner.
He wasn't exactly a medical professional, but just a cursory glance made it obvious that this particular pony was in rough shape. The blood on her face had left her coat and hair matted and red, and her wings and legs lay sprawled out upon the floor. Ferous took a few more cautious steps towards her, and gave her side a gentle poke with one of his hooves — no response. Slowly, he leaned down towards her face, inspecting her as he looked for any visible signs of life. "Lieutenant? Lieutenant, you alright?"
Her eyes fluttered open, and those same wild, bloodshot eyes soon stared back at him. "Surprise."
"Wha—" Before he could say another word, he felt the wind knocked out of him as the batpony gave his stomach a hard kick, and as he fought to regain his footing, she bolted out of the brig. With a groan, Ferous forced himself to give chase, weakly calling out after her as he struggled to get his breath back. "St... stop! I order you to stop!"
Orders mean little when they can't be enforced, something the pegasus had been forcibly reminded of as he ran after the wayward lieutenant. He had managed to catch his breath by now, and though she had gotten both a headstart and was faster than him, he had an advantage she didn't — he knew the castle. As the two ran through the stone halls of the Royal Guard, Ferous ducked down side passage after side passage, always inching a little bit closer to his fugitive. Even over his own panting, he could've sworn she was laughing at him, something which simply drove him even harder. The chase went on for several minutes, with the neophyte always gaining on but never quite catching the lieutenant, and they both eventually took a turn down a much larger passage, lined with stained glass windows on both sides. The windows were chronicles of the tales of the Royal Guard and not much else, but they were still deemed to be invaluable.
They were also, to some, expendable. Right as Ferous began to catch up to his prisoner, there was a deafening crash as several of the windows were broken, and three figures on dark wings swooped in. Before the neophyte even had time to comprehend what was going on, the chase came to an abrupt end — Lieutenant Caelum's body crumpled to the ground, and her head, severed cleanly from the shoulders, rolled about on the ground before coming to rest against one of the pillars. Even in these darkened halls, enough daylight shone in through the windows to illuminate things, and Ferous caught the glint of bloodied steel.
Before him stood three more opliptera, their armor bearing the same colors as the... late Lieutenant Caelum. The leader of the bunch slowly walked towards him, giving her wings—and the stained wingblades upon them—a showing. "Incompetent fool."
Ferous was briefly taken aback, and glanced at the headless corpse in front of him before looking at the trio once more. "W-what?!"
The leader huffed. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"
"What about what you just did?! I... you killed my prisoner!"
"Your 'prisoner' was due to be purged — a necessary evil. And you, neophyte, are hereby guilty of aiding an enemy of the state."
He blinked. "What?! I was doing my job! I was guarding her and something weird happened, so I went to help her and-"
"And you were tricked. Regardless of your intentions, you aided an enemy of the state, a crime tantamount to treason — and punishable by death."
"...you... you can't be serious."
The leader shook her head, her pale blue eyes gleaming in the faint daylight, and she gave her wings another flex. "I'm afraid I am. We'll be sure you receive a proper burial, in accordance with—"
There was another voice that soon joined the conversation, much louder—and angrier—than either of the two. "Captain Procella, you will do no such thing!"
The blue-eyed batpony let out a growl and quickly stepped to the side to stare down the hallway at the approaching figure. "Don't you dare get in my way, sergeant. This was my duty to fulfill, not yours!"
"And your duty is done!" The gray newcomer slowly stepped into the light, her amber eyes narrowed at her captain, and she let out a growl of her own as her black mane began to partially cover her eyes. "I refuse to stand idle while you try and threaten another pony, especially when their only crime is doing their job!"
"Were you spying on me, sergeant? Insubordination of this caliber can only be punishable with—"
"I'm here on Lady Luna's orders."
The captain was visibly shaken, and she glanced towards the two ponies in her company before looking back towards the sergeant. "You what?"
"You heard me. The Princess knows you're a bit of a hothead and thought it might do you some good to have a calming element following you, however far they may be... and especially in cases such as this." The Sergeant brushed a bit of her mane aside and glanced towards Ferous, a faint grin spreading across her face. "'Tis good to see you again, Neophyte, even in situations such as this."
The pegasus tilted his head and leaned forward somewhat, incredulous. "...Noctis?"
"Who else?"
Ferous let out a faint laugh, something somewhat out of place given the situation. He and Noctis had met many weeks ago, up on the ramparts of Canterlot, and their meeting had been more due to his own curiosity than anything else. He had just joined the Royal Guard, he had seen her and wanted to know more about the opliptera, and so he went up and... talked. She had given him a story about the origins of her kind in return, if only to sate his curiosity and send him on his way, and instead, he had simply turned up the next night... and the night after that... and the night after that. Always eager for a story, always eager to learn and to know more, and what had originally been a chance encounter had quickly turned into a rather unorthodox friendship. Pegasi and opliptera typically didn't socialize with one another, and yet they had been the exception. "It's... good to see you too. Almost didn't recognize you."
Captain Procella flared her wings once more and glared at Noctis. "You two know each other?!"
Noctis' response was simple enough, and very much the opposite of her captain's reaction. "Yes."
"Inexcusable! First you try and tell me that you're here on Lady Luna's orders, and now I find out that you two know each other? What the hell are you trying to play, sergeant?!"
"Nothing at all. I had no way of knowing that the Neophyte would be involved in this."
Procella fumed and folded her wings once more, pacing back and forth in front of them both. "This... pathetic excuse for a guard nearly let Lieutenant Caelum get away. He helped her almost-"
"Emphasis on 'nearly' and 'almost', captain. You gave the lieutenant the rest she deserved, and though the neophyte unwittingly helped her, he did it with good intentions and in the end, no harm was done." Noctis approached her captain and stared the mare right in the eyes. "Your duty is done, captain. Leave."
"I think not. I am captain of the Night Guard and the Vigil, not you, and if I deem him guilty of treason, then he deserves his fate!" Procella narrowed her eyes and had butted her head up against Noctis', growling at her. "Out. Of. My. Way."
"...Very well then, captain." The last word was practically dripping with sarcasm, and Noctis stepped aside, allowing the captain to approach Ferous.
Pleased to get her way, the captain began to slowly approach the Neophyte, her wings outstretched and the bloodstained wingblades clearly visible. Worst of all, she was grinning—grinning—not unlike what the lieutenant had done before attempting to make her escape. "Face your fate, pegasus."
The turn of events had left Ferous in a state of shock. Noctis had been his friend, and just as she had seemingly showed up to save him, she had simply stepped to the side in order to let her superior have her way. And so, this was how the illustrious career of Ferous was to end — not in battle, or after a long and storied career, but silenced by the very same Night Guard he served alongside, if only so they could keep some things a secret. Procella now stood directly in front of him, and he shut his eyes tight, waiting for the inevitable bite of cold steel upon his flesh.
The captain's grin had turned into a scowl, and as she stood before the pegasus, she raised one of her wings up above his head in preparation for the deathblow. "Neophyte, you are hereby guilty of crimes against the Crown. Your sentence is death. May the Sisters grant you mercy in the afterlife."
Ferous audibly gulped, his eyes still closed, and just as he began to hear the whistle of the captain's wing as it cut through the air, it came to an abrupt stop - all because of a single spoken phrase.
"I hereby invoke the Rite of Conscription."
Procella froze in place and quickly withdrew her wing, which had been only inches away from Ferous' neck, if only so she could stomp over towards the sergeant. "...What did you just say?"
"I said that I hereby invoke the Rite of Conscription." Noctis, as calm as she had been beforehand, simply smiled at her captain. "Or did you mishear me?"
"You... you dare?"
"The Rite may be invoked by any standing member of the Vigil for any suitable reason, captain... or did you forget that?"
Captain Procella's jaw slowly worked up and down as she tried to make some sort of attempt at a retort - instead, all she found was silence. The anger was clearly evident in her eyes, however, and she shoved past the sergeant, her two comrades in tow. "The Lady will hear of this, whelp."
"I'm sure she'll have me executed, just like all the other times you've complained about me to her." Noctis watched as the trio made their way down the hallway, and as they finally disappeared around a corner, she hurried over towards the neophyte. "You okay, Ferous?"
The pegasus was seated upon the ground, simply staring off down the hallway at the spot formerly occupied by Captain Procella. "I... what the hell just happened?"
"You want the long version or the short version?"
He blinked and looked about, his expression somewhat uncertain as he caught sight of Noctis once again. "I um... whichever. I just... I'm really confused right now. I mean, almost dying, and then... you know... not dying."
"Right, well... the short version is that I just saved your ass."
"Sorta gathered that."
Noctis allowed herself a snicker and grinned at him. "You're welcome?"
"Oh! Right, uh, thanks. So what the hell did you say back there that got her to stop? Something about a rite?"
"Ah, that. The Rite of Conscription basically means that you're more or less bound to my service."
"So." Ferous looked at her, a brow raised. "Is that... sorta like a slave or something?"
Noctis blinked in return and quickly shook her head. "What?! No! It's... it's complicated, I suppose."
"That long version might be for the best."
"Perhaps." The mare glanced over her shoulder. "I'll need to send somepony out to retrieve the lieutenant, but for now, how about we go for a little walk and I'll give you the full explanation of things on the way."
"Walk? To where?"
To that, Noctis simply grinned and turned about as she began to slowly walk down one of the hallways, with Ferous quickly running to catch up to her.
"Your new home."