“How am I going to tell her?” the shadow stallion softly said to himself, looking at the mare lying at his side. The mare was asleep, her head on his chest. The stallion looked down at her and ran his hoof through her mane. “She’s still very young,” he said to himself, “hell I’m still very young, yet I’m thinking about joining the military when I have all this to live for.” He looked around the room and then down again at the sleeping mare, she had to have been so beautiful, he took a long breath in and let out a deep sigh. “I don’t want to lose this…” he spoke very softly to himself, “but if stallions like me don’t enlist, there couldn’t be things like this anyway, but I could lose it anyway…”
“Lose what?” the mare asked sleepily, the conversation he was having with himself had accidentally awoken her.
“Nothing…” the stallion said giving her a small kiss, “I’m just thinking about some not so important decisions, you go ahead and go back to sleep.”
“You are such a terrible liar, you know” the mare said adjusting herself to be on top of him, “whatever it is that is bothering you, you can tell me, if you want to, because I’m here for you now,” she looked out of the window, then back at him, “not like I was before.”
“I Know you are,” he said nuzzling her a little, “but it’s nearly morning, and you should get those few extra hours that you have. You have a big day tomorrow, remember?”
“Oh… I guess you’re right.” the mare said giving the stallion a kiss, “I love you.” she said before returniunig to her gentle slumber.
“I know…” The stallion said looking at her as she drifted off to sleep again. It was then that he knew what he had to do, beyond any doubt, even though it pained him greatly. Before he finally drifted off to sleep he looked at his sleeping angel and simply whispered, “For her…”
The pegasus woke up early again. This time he was not breathing heavily, though he was still drenched in sweat. It was still dark out and the only ponies that were awake were those tasked with night watch duties. One of the night guards noticed he was awake and approached his cage.
“It’s not going to be day time for another two hours, stranger,” the pony said, “you should really get your sleep.”
“Can’t sleep much if you keep having nightmares.” the pegasus said trying to find an excuse for his being awake at the current hour.
“I can see how that would be a problem, stranger,” the night guard said, “by the way my name is-”
“Camo,” the pegasus said slightly surprising the green stallion, “Comet told me a bit about you.”
“That explains that, I guess,” Camo said looking at the pegasus, “what exactly did he tell you about me?”
“That you are one hell of a sneaky mother bucker” the pegasus said, quoting Comet word for word.
Camo laughed, “Yeah that pretty much sums it up for me.” Camo then looked at the moon, “Comet sure likes you, you know.”
“That’s what I’ve been hearing.” the pegasus said looking to the moon as well.
“I don’t think he belongs in the military though,” Camo said looking back at the pegasus. “He’s just too good of a guy. I hope you could understand that, he’s always trying to save the day for us. It might get him killed one day, if he‘s not careful.” Camo shook his head at the thought.
“I’m sure that won’t happen, Camo,” the pegasus said reassuringly, “he’s the best damn scout in Equestria, after all.”
Camo looked at the pegasus and smiled, “Try telling Flare Flash that.” Then Camo walked off to continue his duties. Camo was right about one thing though, he should at least try to sleep until the sun came up, Canterlot, after all was the royal city. On top of being in a cage, he would look even more like a monster if he were to be sleep deprived
The next two hours went by rather slowly for the pegasus, unable to go back to sleep after waking up from yet another one of his dreams. He didn’t know what to think about them. Were they real memories or were they just that? Nothing more than dreams?
After all, he could never see the pony’s faces in them. For all he knew they could have been earth ponies given that they had no horns and he never saw them unfurl their wings, but the dreams were so vivid and seemed to play in his head like a memory. He had little time to ponder the matter though, the 1025th was on the move again, with the rising sun, and Canterlot was only hours away.
“I think I can take a hint…” the disgruntled unicorn said. Nopony had bothered to remove the tent that covered his cage from the night before. “I won’t complain again if somepony just takes this damn thing off!”
The stoic earth pony just stared over at the unicorn’s tent through the bars of his cage, smiling slightly at the unicorn’s predicament. He looked like he was enjoying what he was watching, even though he was in no better predicament than the unicorn.
“Alright, everypony, from up!” Commander Garrison’s commands were sharp and crisp, “We are entering Canterlot soon, and somepony, please remove that tent from over that annoying mule’s cage.”
“A MULE!” the unicorn roared, “Listen here, pal, I don’t know who you think you are, but I will have you know-”
“I know I’m the pony that can have that tent stay there the whole time we are here, unicorn…” Commander Garrison said cutting off the unicorn mid-rant.
“Ok, shutting up…” the unicorn said, and after a moment of silence, Long Shot and Flare Flash removed the tent. The unicorn didn’t seem very amused by the laughter that had taken everypony after Commander Garrison put him in his place.
“Troops, lock it up!” Commander Garrison called from the front, “We are at the gates.” Two massive watchtowers loomed over the 1025th as they stood between them, with an equally massive stone and steel gate door blocking them from the royal city.
“Who are you and what is your purpose here!” a tower guard called from atop the gateway.
“We are the 1025th, special operations division, and we demand entry this instant on urgent business!” Commander Garrison called back, slightly annoyed.
“By order of the princess I cannot allow you to enter, a celebration is being held and all units that were in the field are not allowed access until it is over!” the tower guard called back, “return to your previous post and return when your unit is summoned!”
“MY BOYS AND I HAVE BEEN IN THE FIELD FOR A MONTH STRAIGHT!” Commander Garrison said losing all bearing with the tower guard. “WE HAVE NO MORE PROVISIONS, AND IF WE ARE TO RETURN WE WILL NEED MORE SUPPLIES!”
“Not my problem, sir!” the tower guard called back.
That was when Commander Garrison lost it, “It is now…” he said under his breath, his horn beginning to glow a dark grey color. The gate doors started to rumble as his magic began to pry them open.
“H-HEY, HEY STOP AT ONCE!” the tower guard frantically began yelling at him.
“You brought this on yourself, boot!” Commander Garrison barked back at the tower guard. With the loud crash, the gates swung open allowing the 1025th their much needed entry.
When they entered the city the 1025th was utterly speechless, Lunar Stallions looked to have swarmed the city. As far as they could see, not a single street was unopulated by their old enemy. Canterlot became silent as the 1025th stood against the massive numbers of Lunar Stallions. In those tense moments Commander Garrison looked back at his ponies. They were ready for whatever order he was about to give. Commander Garrison looked back at the massive hordes of Lunar Stallions, he readied himself and with a deviant grin he called out what his unit had been waiting for.
“TAKE POSITION EIGHT ALPHA!” Commander Garrison roared rearing up on his hind legs. The 1025th quickly followed their orders, taking positions close to low buildings while the Lunar Stallions charged them, and like five days before, all hell broke loose. The vast numbers of Lunar Stallions rushed towards the 1025th, and line after line were pushed back by the superiorly trained forces. They took a position where the Lunar Stallions would have to come to them in less numbers and thanks to Tower Shield and Iron hide’s magic, no airborne assaults could fall on them.
“Let us out!” the pegasus called to Commander Garrison, “You know what the three of us are capable of, we can help you!”
Commander Garrison looked at the three caged ponies then to his own unit, then towards the hordes of enemy stallions that were trying to kill them. He knew what he had to do.
“Patches!” he called out.
“Yes sir!” her voice was nearly impossible to hear over the fighting.
“Set those boys free!” Commander Garrison yelled in her direction, pointing at the three’s cages “We needed them three minutes ago!”
“Yes sir!” she repeated running towards their cages, “Give‘em hell.” she said letting the pegasus free.
She then ran towards the unicorn’s cage and with some hesitation she set him free. The earth pony had already broken his cage door with his bare hooves buy the time she got to him. They were free again, minus the fact that there were hundreds of Lunar Stallions trying to kill them now instead of just a dozen expertly trained ponies.
“Alright,” the pegasus said, “let’s take these guys down.” he flew into the fray, knocking dozens of Lunar Stallions into the air and out of his way.
“This is just what I need to relieve all that stress that has been building up!” the unicorn said summoning several weapons to his side swinging them with expert skill at his attackers. The earth pony just nodded in agreement, then he reared up and with his immense strength, he stomped the ground launching many Lunar Stallions and rubble into the air.
It was an impressive sight, twenty holding their own against such a vast number of adversaries foes. They put up one hell of a fight. The blood of friend and foe alike began pouring into the streets of the royal city, the clash of hoof and steel the thundering roars of mighty warriors in combat. It had all that the tales of the old heroes had, but the battle was short lived. Soon the 1025th and the three were lifted into the air by a magic with a golden glow.
“I demand an explanation for what is going on!” Princess Celestia said calmly, but with a stern and commanding tone.
“My lady?” Commander Garrison said incredibly shocked, “Do you not see your city overrun with the forces of your enemy?”
“My Enemy?” Princess Celestia said her tone turned to one of agitation, “You mean MY SISTER!” Celestia brought the entire 1025th along with the three towards her. “Commander Garrison, do you realize what you have done!”
“I have done nothing but defend your city, my lady!” he said floating right in front of her face, “Are you so blind to not see that Nightmare Moon has returned and taken Canterlot?!”
“What did you just say?” Princess Celestia asked, her voice returned to its normal, calm demeanor.
“Nightmare Moon!” he yelled again, “She has returned with an army, you don’t see that?!”
Princess Celestia let all of them down at once, “Commander, how long has the 1025th been in the field?” she asked
“A little over a month…” he said bending his knee to her, “we needed to find information on three stallions that we came across in the badlands, so we returned to see if we couldn‘t find anything about who they were.”
The Princess looked at everypony in the unit, and then she motioned for the Commander to stand. “Nightmare Moon is no longer, Commander, the Elements of Harmony ended her.”
“Then why are THEY here?” Commander Garrison asked, pointing towards the Lunar Stallions.
“They are Princess Luna’s royal guard.” Princess Celestia said. “The elements freed her, Commander, only Princess Luna remains.”
As she said those words a smaller, darker alicorn stepped out from behind her. “WE ARE PRINCESS LUNA, THE MARE OF THE NIGHT!” Princess Luna’s volume completely knocked back the entire 1025th. Only the earth pony of the three was unaffected by her voice, to which he responded with a nod of his head.
“Luna, remember what I said about using the royal Canterlot voice?” Princess Celestia said to her sister.
“Oh… uh... I’m sorry, sister; it’s hard for us to adjust after one thousand years of being on the moon.” Princess Luna softly said looking at her sister, then she looked to all the ponies that were ling in the streets. “Why did thou attack our guards?” she asked Commander Garrison, tilting her head sideways, becoming very cute.
“My lady, forgive me,” Commander Garrison said bending his knee again, “I thought our new allies were our old enemy, my lady, if it is not too much to ask do not punish my troops, they were following the orders of a stallion who didn’t stop to assess what was going on.”
“As you wish Commander Garrison,” Princess Luna said commanding him to rise. “but as we- I mean I, have just only returned, we are not sure what the new punishment for an act such as this is. Before our banishment it was public ridicule…”
“Well that doesn’t sound that bad.” the unicorn stated under his breath to Patches.
“followed by a public beheading.” Princess Luna said finishing her statement.
“Never mind…” the unicorn said lowering his own head.
“If it is what you wish may it be so,” Commander Garrison said hanging his head, “so long as my fellows do not meet the same fate.”
“Your words are sincere, Commander, your fate will not be as such,” Princess Luna said as she extended her hoof towards him, “we decree that Princess Celestia handle the matter of punishment, for we need to help the tending to my guards.” Princess Luna began to walk by the 1025th, she stopped for a moment and looked towards Patches, “You there, mare!” she said pointing right at Patches, “does thou have plenty of supply to aid our wounded?”
“Oh, of course.” Patches said spooked a bit by the sudden attention, “I’d love to help.”
“Then let us go forth and render proper aid to those who require it.” the two went off into the streets Princess Luna using her magic to gather the fallen Stallions, Patches following close behind.
“It seems that now I have to find a proper punishment for all of you now…” Princess Celestia said with a grin.
“Whatever you choose, we shall deserve it.” Commander Garrison said.
“Oh I know, Commander,” the Princess said “and think I know just what to do…”
“That can’t be good,” Comet said under his breath to the pegasus, “usually if she has that look on her face, it means you should run…”
“Well, we don’t seem to have much of a say in what we can and can’t do right now, do we?” the pegasus said.
“Not at all.” Comet responded with a smirk on his face.