Long Sleep: Black Wing's Tale

by RaijingtheClockworkPony


Rise and Shine my Legion. Rise and Shine.

Sammael walked down a corridor of the Canterlot Castle, heading in the direction of the catacombs he had awoken in. Shining Armor walked alongside the fuming bat pony with an amused smile.

"You didn't have to attack the poor kid. I would have handled it perfectly well, though you have an interesting way of dealing discipline."

The darker pony snorted in anger and glanced over at the armor clad captain. "In my day a guard would never have acted so... rude. If he had tried to get into either legion he would have been kicked out in a heartbeat. That's downright shameful!"

The white stallion sighed as he watched the stallion next to him. "It's a different world. Equestria is a settled nation that has been in peace for almost five hundred years. We are a little more relaxed than what you're used to."

The bat winged pony growled darkly. "Let's just get to my legion."

They reached the Lyssa's room and found the mare sitting there stroking what looked like a hoof-stitched doll, of what the white stallion couldn't tell. Sammael however realized what it was. It was a doll of a night legionnaire or more specifically him. She looked at the pair and tossed the doll onto the bed in the corner and ran to Sammael's side.

"Black Wing! Did you miss me?" She turned her head to the side. "Of course he missed me. Were friends."

Sammael looked down at the mare for a moment. "Lyssa I need you to do something for me."

"Anything!" The mare snapped her head back to the stallion and looked at him with a wide smile and beaming eyes.

"I need you to go down to the catacombs and check on the rest of the ponies down there. They may be waking very soon and I would like it if you gathered them into one place. Can you do that for me?"

The mare nodded enthusiastically. "Yes yes yes, but you need to give me a little thing."

The dark coated stallion's eyebrows rose. "What?"

The mare leaned forward whispered huskily in his ear. "A little kiss."

Sammael glanced over at Shining and was glad to see that he was suddenly very interested in the wall paint. Sammael looked back at Lyssa for a moment. "Fine, but only because I trust you to do a good job."

He quickly gave her a small kiss on the cheek. She gave a small squee of delight and headed through the door to the catacombs. Sammael looked back at Shining who was looking back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Princess Celestia believes that I can help her gin a more... normal state of mind. I will play along for now until I can think of something to help her."

Shining's eyebrow stayed where it was. "Black Wing?"

Sammael nodded. "That is the name my parents gave me. I use it when I'm off duty. I would like to ask that you refrain from calling me that in front of the guards or my legion."

Shining nodded. "Fair enough. Speaking of the legion I think it would be best if they awoke and were met but their leader in his armor. Come on I'll take you to the armory."

The dark furred bat pony followed the white stallion out of the small room. "Thank you. For one that has no idea of our legion you certainly think like we do."

Shining gave him a friendly smile. "I try to impress my guards while I work. It inspires them to do their jobs better."

Sammael looked at the white stallion with a small grin. "Shame you weren't born a thousand years ago. You would have made an excellent officer for either legion."

Shining lead the way until they reached a pair of ornate doors with a gold letter inscription above them. Trust in your brothers is the best armor you can wear. The bat wing stallion chuckled at the saying. Shining noticed this and gave him a questioning look.

"We had something similar in the old castle. Only it read 'Trust in your war-gear, as it is your only true friend.'"

The white stallion stopped for a moment and looked at the bat winged pony. "That's... an interesting way of looking at it."

Sammael nodded and walked into the armory with an amused smile on his face. Shining followed him in and led him across the room. The Armory was a large dome topped room with several vault-like doors along the edges and several tables in the wide center of the room. Sammael looked at the tables for a moment and realized that they were a mixture of forge and crafts table. At each of these tables sat a pony hard at work with sets of silver armor, silver armor that Sammael knew very well.

"Shining! Ah've got a bone to pick with you!"

A burly, brown stallion came out from behind a forge and made a b-line towards the captain. Shining watched the large stallion for a moment before grinning at him.

"Anvil, I thought I smelt burnt fur and sweat."

The stallion stopped in front of the pair and gave Shining a large lopsided grin. Anvil had large muttonchops that made up for the almost distinct lack of mane or tail, as his was shaved down to almost nothing. The pair shared a strong hoof shake before the brown stallion looked over at Sammael.

"So yer the reason me an' half me crew are up and about in the wee hours of the mornin'. We have most of the armor sets finished. Ah saw to it that Ah did yers personally. Come on Ah'll show ya."

Sammael and Shining followed the stallion as he lead them to the forge at the center of the room. The bat-pony leaned over to whisper to the captain.

"How did they know that we would need our armor?"

Shining shrugged. "Perhaps Celestia ordered them to restore the contents of the vault that contained your legions armor. By the looks of it he wasn't told why, just told to do it."

The artisan led them to the small table portion of the workstation and pointed to the ornate silver armor. Sammael walked up to the table and inspected his armor as the other stallions next to him talked.

Anvil looked over at the captain. "Who is he exactly?"

"He's the leader of a new portion of the guard. Celestia wanted me to greet him and his guards this morning."

The artisan gave the captain a confused look. "New guard commander? I thought you were the commander of the guard. Is he gonna work under you?"

Shining only shrugged again as he watched the bat-pony put on the armor. The larger of the two caught sight of the wings as they slid into the small holes on the back of the breastplate.

"Are those real?"

Shining nodded but it was Sammael that answered him. "They work perfectly fine." Sammael placed the silver helmet on his head, his mane forming the crest of the helm. The dark colored pony looked around the table for a moment then looked back at Anvil. "There was a weapon with this armor. Where is it?"

Anvil moved towards the end of the table where more armor sets were sitting. "Ah had a wee bit of an issue with it. Ah ain't seen anythin' like it in all my years of working in this armory."

The brown stallion pulled out a small item that looked like a metal version of a boot but at the end was a large wickedly edged blade. He held it out to the bat pony with a small smirk.

"Ah recognized this from them old blades the ambassador’s guards from Neighdia. Ah restored it with a little bit of work but it wasn't the hardest thing Ah've ever worked on. Ah thought they were supposed to be decorative."

Sammael took the dark steel weapon like it was a small foal. "I assure you that it isn't." He walked over to a small table that was nearby and placed the weapon on his hoof. He brought the weapon down in a swift arc at the table. For a moment it looked as if he had missed entirety then the table fell in half with a loud clatter that caught the attention of every pony in the room.

The bat pony looked back and locked eyes with the pair of wide eyes on the artisans face. He placed the weapon on a small hook on the shoulder plate of the armor. For a moment Anvil could only see satisfaction and something much more sinister in the bronze eyes but when the bat-pony spoke it was as if he was speaking to an old friend.

"You have done fine work. It's as if it is as I first held it, fresh from the forge that birthed it. You are skilled, Anvil."

The larger stallion gave the bat-pony a small nod. "Ah do my best. We'll have the rest of this finished by tomorrow, if everything continues at a good pace."

Sammael gave him a small nod then turned to Shining. "I have a legion to welcome, let us proceed to them now."

The walk down the stairs to the catacombs was one of the longest in Sammael's life. He was bringing unsettling news to his legion, ponies he trusted with his life and had grown to know like a family. He was going to be the bearer of bad news and he hated being that pony but his duty was to them and that meant he needed to be the one to tell them.

To his credit Shining had stayed silent to let the bat-pony think as they made their way to the catacombs. As they reached the bottom of the stairs the white stallion finally spoke.

"How do you think they will take it?"

The darker one looked over at him. "Pardon?"

"How do you think they will take being a thousand years ahead of when they went to sleep? I'm surprised that you have been calm this whole time but I don't think the rest of them will cope as well."

The bat-pony shrugged. "They will have to adapt whether they want to or not. We swore to protect Equestria until we die and that oath still holds us to our honor, no matter the amount of time that has passed."

They passed the doors at the bottom of the stairs to see a disorderly mess of ponies milling about, many of them trying to ignore the excited mare running about with the large grin on her face. Shining tried his best to get a rough count but lost count when he realized that there must have been over a hundred of dark furred, cat-eyed ponies there. Many of them looked at her like she was insane, many of them being right but unaware of that fact, and one of them tried to grab her and calm her down but the mare only hugged him and squealed in delight.

Shining looked at the bat-pony with a small smirk. "Your people await."

Sammael didn't even look at the stallion as he stepped forward and shouted to his legion. "ATTENTION!"

The room came to attention so fast Shining felt a sudden feeling of envy as he surveyed the precision in front of him. He had never seen a group organize themselves into rows and columns so fast before in his life. The only pony moving about was Lyssa, as she was walking between the rows of the ponies. She followed their gaze and spotted Sammael in his armor.

She ran up to him but stopped in front of him. "Hiya! What's with the funny outfit?"

The bat-pony gave her a small smile. "Just something I need to wear on the job. This is everypony down here right?" The mare nodded with a goofy smile on her face. "Could you please go with Shining back upstairs for a little while? I need to talk to them for a few minutes."

She looked like he was going to complain but Shining walked over to her. He began to steer her away as he spoke in a firm but kind voice. "I think we should go visit the kitchens. I think they may have the biscuits for breakfast ready now."

Lyssa nodded and followed the stallion for a moment then turned around and gently tapped Sammael's noise. "Boop."

Sammael stood there for a moment slightly annoyed but then looked at Shining. "Shining I must ask a favor of you. Could you use the speech spell on them as you did me?"

The stallion nodded and moved in front of the legionnaires. He looked at them all for a moment. "I promise this won't hurt. Just stay still."

Sammael noticed many of them looking at him for conformation. A simple nod was all they needed from him and he gave it willingly. The white stallion’s horn glowed with energy they slowly snaked throughout the hallway and connected with each of the ponies. A few tense moments passed then the tendrils of energy faded away.

Shining walked back over to the mare and led her up the stairs. She paused for a moment then ran back to give a stallion near the front of the rows. The stallion gave her a surprised look then rolled his eyes.

Sammael let out a slow sigh as the mare bounced away. He watched her leave for a moment then returned his gaze to the assembled group of ponies in front of him. Each of the dark furred ponies was standing at attention, theirs eyes locked at the front of the hall. The armored pony sighed and moved to the middle of the column.

"At ease, I wish to talk to you as an equal."

The ponies looked ahead for a moment as doubt clouded their faces for a moment. Sammael removed his helmet and placed it down on the ground next to his hooves.

"Please. I think we have earned the right to be relaxed for a few moments."

Slowly they all started to relax and many of them looked at each other than to the pony that was their leader. The Centurion's gaze lingered on each of them for a moment as his face fell slowly. He opened his mouth to speak but found that his voice was gone. He took a breath and closed his eyes for a moment. He opened them and looked at the ponies before him.

"I wish this was easy. By the goddess I wish it was but it's not. You have all suffered so much over the years and the years before we entered this sleep wasn't kind to the legion. We lost many friends along the way and now we are far from home."

He pause for a moment, looking up at the ceiling of the catacomb, his eyes burning with tears. "I've failed you as a leader, every choice I've made lead us to this moment. I've failed to be the leader of this legion in the absence of our princess and everything that has happened has been my fault."

He looked back at the ponies and saw them all looking at him with concern written on their faces. He couldn't keep his gaze on theirs and looked over to the stairs.

A gentle voice reached his. "You haven't failed us."

He turned to see a mare with a snow white mane shifting out of the lines. He recognized her as Lieutenant Mist Weaver. "You led us in the hardest time of the legions history. Without you we might not have ever gotten to this point."

The other ponies near her nodded. Another voice, a much deeper voice of a stallion, came out of the crowd. "Centurion, how long have we been asleep?"

Sammael swallowed as he scanned the faces of the ponies. All of them were looking at him, waiting for him to give them the answer to the question. The leader sighed and knew that he needed to tell them now.

"We have been asleep for a thousand years. We aren't even in the same castle as we were put to sleep within."

A cold wave of silence went through the crowd of ponies. They only stared at their leader for minutes as they tried to register the news. They all thought along the same lines; their homes, family, and friends were long gone and buried under the weight of time and dirt.

In a moment they all began to whisper to each other. Had they really been gone for so long? Why had it taken so long for Luna to return? Slowly they all began to look at Sammael with worried eyes with only one question on their minds. A question that Sammael knew all too well; What was going to happen to them?

"I have spoken with Celestia." A small wave of groans and muttered curses came from the ponies. "I know many of you don't look kindly on her but need I remind you of what the nobles wanted her to do to us? She has promised me that we will be reunited with our princess before this day is done. The stallion that was with me was the Captain of the Guard, Shining Armor."

He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. He could see confusion in the eyes of his legionnaires. "Yes. Guard, not legion. Times have changed and Equestria has no need for a legion of any sort. I know this may worry you all right now but I think we should focus on something else until Luna arrives. Food will be provided up in the castle as well as somewhere to rest."

The ponies looked around at each other and began to lightly speak to each other. Sammael could tell that the idea of food seemed to relax the group and he felt his stomach rumble a little at the thought of a warm meal. The picked up his helmet and was about to give the order for them to move to the mess-hall when Mist Weaver spoke again.

"My lord, who was the strange mare that collected us?"

The centurion looked back at the mare then to the stairs. "She was the guard of these catacombs while we slept. I'm certain you have noticed her rather... strange actions. She has suffered a personal tragedy that caused her to be like that. Celestia has asked me to look after her and try to help her become the mare she used to be."

He paused for a moment as he looked at the ponies. He was struck by a sudden inspiration. "She has been treated rather roughly due to her fragile state of mind. From this moment on I am bringing her into the legion as an honorary member. You are to protect her like one of us because she has protected us in our most vulnerable moments. I hope none of you have an issue with this."

They all answered his with a surprising "No Sir!" He gave them all something that they had only heard that he did when the stars were aligned. He smiled at them as he placed the helmet back on his head.

"Very well. Now, I think we have some food to eat. Let’s get going."