//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Nightly Duties. // Story: Light of the Moon // by Aligon //------------------------------// Starlight woke up a quarter to eleven and was strangely refreshed. He stared at the ceiling and listened, there was a noise in the hallway. He picked up a wing spear and peered out the door. A pair of yellow and red eyes were floating back and forth by Twilight's door. Quietly, the zaldia crept out and readied his spear at the eyes. The strange orbs turned and a body formed around them. The draconequus folded his arms and grunted at the stallion bat. "Finally! I need somepony to mess with! Lulu placed a magic lock on her room, Fangsy tried to arrest me again, and Twilight is in the library. So are you going to help me paint the throne room?" He held up paint buckets by his tail and waved brushes under Starlight's nose causing him to sneeze. "Where is Twilight?" "In the library, on the floor. I think she collapsed after giving you and her a sleep hour spell. But I'm not sure. Any who, enough about her, I was thinking a nice hot pink with orange highlights. Hey where ya' going!" Starlight flew as fast as he could. This was not good at all. First a floating pair of eyes, then Discord got into the Noctis Wing again, now the princess he was trusted with was collapsed an a floor. Fang was going to rip his throat for sure. He bolted in the door and stood over Twilight. She was on her back and her mane was frizzed covering most of her head. He checked her pulse, she's still with him. He tapped her shoulder, but she didn't even stir. He ruffled her mane, but didn't wake. Starlight sighed and stared at the clock then back at Twilight. She seemed to be in a coma, now he was in trouble. He went through all the possible ways for Fang to kill him when a hoof touched his head. Looking back at the mare he saw she was wide awake and smiling. Twilight stood up and trotted to a small mirror by a stack of books. She brushed her mane and stretched her legs. She was going to turn to him, but the zaldia spoke before she could. "Twilight, what happened?" Her smile wavered and she looked down. "Starlight, I....I've been thinking and Discord did have a point." "Discord! You aren't going to change to the chaotic side are you?" "No, he just brought up a good point. I am a pony who lives in the day, while I'm in the day I bring my nocturnal guard into the light." "I don't mind being out in the day, really." "But you aren't supposed to be out during the day. In Species of Many it clearly states a zaldia bat, hoof, or horn caught in daylight can be blinded by the bright light of the sun." "That's a book. I have been in the sun loads of times." "You're lying. I know when you're lying." "Okay, I only go when you go, but that doesn't explain why you are in the library on the floor." "I cast the sleep hour spell on myself after I tried a new spell. I think Discord took it from Fang's office." "Fang's office? Discord? New spell? Did it happen to have little black symbols on it?" "Starlight, you must understand my reasons. If I'm going to take over Luna's night then I'm going to be what dwells in the night." She turned finally revealing her horn which was twisted in a small circle at the top leaving off with a point, but remained the same color. Then she opened her wings showing that they were bat-like, but with more graceful folds like Nightmare Moon's. But her eyes were the most significant. They were now not like a cat's, but a dragon's slit eyes. Starlight was stone on the floor. It has been a thousand and one years since a zaldia queen was present amongst the zaldias. Nightmare Moon had been the most recent. The oldest was, of course, the first zaldia in the world. "Twilight." "I know this is a lot to take in, but I had to do this. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do anything during the night. And since we are both fully awake like everypony else, I think I should get to studying the stars and stories." Twilight pulled out a dusty, old book and a telescope, then stood by the window. She motioned him to follow and they flew off into the night. They flew for some time until they landed on the balcony of her old room. She set up the telescope and book and gazed at the many stars in the sky. Starlight could only watch as she peered into the lens and scribbled down notes. This was the biggest change Equestria's ever seen and it won't be happy. He smiled and remembered why she did it, because she cared for him. He thought of the dream he had and realized what his good outcome meant. The pair were heading to the Sun Wing because they got bored of sitting on a cold roof top for two hours. They both knew fully how any of Celestia's guard would react when they saw her, so Twilight placed a invisibility charm on themselves. They were in silence because of Twilight's spell, the one in the library. She was the only princess since the first one to actually change herself to be a part of the night. Starlight stood closer to her feeling more welcomed by her appearance. Twilight stopped and pulled Starlight over against the wall. A guard in golden armor was coming up the hall and he seem angry looking. Twilight heart skipped a beat when he stopped right in front of them. He looked in their direction, but did not say a word. Three other guards in gold trotted down the hall and greeted him. "Hey, there you are." (Guard 1) "Come on we've been waiting on ya'!" (Guard 3) "Keep it down or we'll all be in trouble." (Guard 2) "I'm coming. Let's hurry up, I wanna take out those bat things as much as everypony else." (Staring Guard) Twilight and Starlight looked at each other and followed the group of guards. They followed them down the halls they already walked through and finally ended up in front of the silver doors. They saw there was another guard placing explosives around the door. They saw it was Iron Flame grunting as he worked. "Sir we are ready for the attack." (Guard 2) "Great, stand back and watch as we finally find out what's behind this door." (Iron Flame) The four guards went to the far wall almost hugging it while Iron Flame pulled a wired and box with him. Twilight had seen enough. She trotted to the star on the ground and unraveled her spell. This gave the guards quite a shock. She bared her fangs and flared her wings causing them to fall on their knees. "Princess, oh princess, what did they do to you!" (Guard 3) "Can we cure you, princess? Please tell us!" (Guard 2) "Yes, yes! Let us help you, princess! We can go straight to Princess Celestia at once!" (Guard 1) That guard ran off to fetch their ruler when Starlight popped into existence, flaring wings and baring fangs. The guard immediately collapsed and ran back to his fellow guards-ponies. Twilight stepped forward and out her fangs away, so to speak. Her draconic eyes stared at each of them and finally she spoke. "You may not see beauty in a zaldia, but you must get used to seeing them. We are not monsters that hide under beds, we protect ponies at night when they sleep or if they take an evening walk. Nopony will stop us from doing our nightly duties. Not even a pack of foolish young recruits. Iron Flame, you must be very proud of yourself. You were about to open the doors by explosion and destroy half of the wonderful place inside. And not only that, The five of you could have brought up a war against us and we all know that Celestia will not allow this." The mention of Celestia made them cower, Iron Flame didn't give in. "All right then, princess. How do we know you're speaking any truth out of that snake mouth." "Because I have more than a thousand supporters. Both zaldia and pony, you must think what would happen when a war breaks out and ponies wonder who started it? Who was the cause of our troubles? Then you are found out and placed in a cage, in a dungeon, in a forest, far from home, and surrounded by dragons." Iron Flame raised his hoof, but Starlight got between him and his target. The zaldia fell over on the ground so hard his helmet came off. Twilight turned to Flame and grinned. "What's with you? I just punched your guard." "Yes and Fang does not like you." Flame stared at her in confusion then yelped as a pair of fangs came upon his leg. Turning around he saw the zaldia captain, pulled his leg free and ran like he was on fire. The other guards followed in suit. "Come along, my queen," She said picking up Starlight. "I'm not a queen. I'm a princess, I'm nowhere near that at all." "You are a queen to us now. Nopony, not even Luna, would go as far as you did. We now have a true leader to follow, thank you, Queen." "What happens to Luna?" "She will still move the night and live in Noctis, but the guard will only take orders from you." Twilight and Fang placed Starlight in the medical wing of Noctis and trotted to the library. Fang said she was not going to leave her alone until Midnight came. Twilight stared at the clock counting the minutes. "Princess Luna, young Sparkle preformed the spell. Now are you going to play?" Luna stared at Discord who was clapping his claws and smiling ear to ear. She let out a sigh, He did do what she wanted him to, but a play-date with Discord spelled trouble. "I will honor our agreement, Discord. And you remember what to do next?" "Of course! Lulu, do you really think I would miss the opportunity to give her the news? Never! Besides she can't hurt me without that element of hers." "Discord, you know who she is don't you?" "A zaldia queen. I read that silly book about how the batties came to be." "You did not finish it did you?" "Why would I spoil the ending? I hate endings." Luna pulled out a dusty book and showed Discord a certain page from long ago. He took out a pair of giant glasses and read the page. His smile faded and he toppled over on the ground. "You can't be serious! She's the...the.... Oh my, I must say this changes everything! I need to find a red stone, no a blue rock, and a case of mountain troll tears! But first I need to conclude our deal!" With that, the draconequus grabbed her hoof and ran out the window. "Come on Lulu! We are going to pull off the best prank ever on old Sun Spot!"