//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: The Power of a Name // Story: A Princedom Divided - Book 1 of The Princess and Her Guard Duology // by Moonlit Novel //------------------------------// Chapter Two: The Power of a Name I was about ready to fillet some Solar Guard and for once Shining Armor was right beside me on this, as it turned out the whole thing was a prank by a few of the Solar Guard, it was the first time in several years that I had did anything with the Solar Guard, and apparently with my new position, I was ALMOST equal to that of a Guard Captain, something in this case I used to the fullest extent of my ability, two of the Solar Guard were in the dungeon. They tried to say I wouldn't get away with it, that the captain would get them out, all I did at the time was stepped to the side and Shining Armor torn into them. I didn't stay to see nor to hear what he said to them. I couldn't, one of my fellow Lunar Guard walked up to me and handed me a missive from Princess Luna summoning me to the Royal Library. “Thank you” I said to him and he just grumbled before heading off, I just shook my head and headed towards the royal library. Several times I pasted a Lunar or Solar Guard and each time they grew quiet as I drew closer to them as if they were afraid of... Something, I just ignored it. There was much more important things to worry about and their strange attitudes were not on that list. As I arrived at the door of the library I removed my helmet and entered. “Ah, there you are, sir Novel” Princess Luna said a she looked up at me, I gave a small smile and a bow of my head, she laughed lightly, “Please, there is no need for that, some formalities yes, but that is an unfortunate fact of my station, but you are here as my friend as much as my guard, sir Novel” she remarked and my breath caught in my throat, Friend? I thought I was her guard? But she also said I was also her guard. Oh this was not going to be an easy transition “If we are friends as you put it” I ventured, unsure of how she would take it, which caused me to paused before I continued on, “If we are friends, then please call me Moonlit, your highness” the princess glanced at me and she gave a small smile “If in return, at least when it is just us and maybe my sister, you call me Luna” she countered and I nodded my agreement to her conditions. How could I not? She just gave me permission to call her by name rather than by her title, albeit conditionally. “Fair enough, Luna” I said, tasting the name upon my lips, it felt awkward to actually call her by her name, even though I always wanted to... “Now as for why I called you here,” Luna said as she turned to the scroll in front of her, “I have been searching through the archives-” I groaned at that because of the sheer size of the archives, it spanned the entire size of Canterlot, and a half a mile in into the mountain it sat upon. Hearing my groan Luna laughed, “Worry not, Moonlit, for we are not searching the whole of the archives, just the laws, history of the Nobles, and the state of affairs leading up to today” I groaned again, it may not be as large a place to search, as the archives were very well kept, but it was still a significant amount of work “Luna, why, may I ask, are you looking through the Archives?” Luna glanced up from the scroll in front of her “As you very well know, Moonlit, I was trapped on the moon for a thousand years and in that time so much has changed, laws I once knew are obsolete, after all before I was imprisoned it was against the law for any male to hold a military position, even that of a guardspony. Now I get back and the majority of the guards in Canterlot are male, albeit very good looking ones, but male never-the-less” she said without even pausing for a breath that entire time, she then took a breath and continued, “It was also illegal to work on certain days, that are now ignored, and while I have only reached two hundred and fifty years after my imprisonment in the archive records, the law has not changed.” “I could just save you time, as could any of your guardsponies, and inform you of the current laws and state of affairs in multiple countries” I responded and she shook her head “While I hold no doubt that you could, there is a difference in knowing the current laws, and knowing why they were changed” Luna replied before looking down at her scroll again for a moment before growling in frustration which made my ears twitch in surprise. “Luna-?” I started and her head shot up and her now fiery eyes bore into mine, even though it only lasted a moment, I realized at that moment the fury of a goddess was not something I wished to tempt. “I am sorry Moonlit, I know I should not get upset at records that far predate the lives of any alive barring of course the lives of my sister, the dragons, and I should not hold any anger toward the country of the Minotaurs, so far as I know we could be on peaceful terms with them-” she stopped as soon as she saw my jaw clenched, “Talk Moonlit, you can tell me what is on your mind” “The current relations with the Minotaurs is a very strained peace treaty, on both sides, all it would take is one international incident for everything to break down into a state of war” I responded, the glasses in her hand fell and clattered against the table. “What?” she asked the shock and discomfort obvious on her face, “How could things grow so tense?” she asked, I couldn't answer her, or rather I wouldn't, how could I tell her that it was because she effectively got a slap on the wrist for nearly bringing eternal night? How things settled down after it was clear she was in fact imprisoned on the moon, and how relations then withered again after she escaped and was, at least in the eyes of the minotaurs, given a place on the throne of Equestria for escaping her prison? I couldn't, but I wouldn't lie to her, that would be far worse... “I will not be the one to tell you Luna” I said and I held firm even when her gaze locked with mine, but I knew if she asked me again, she wouldn't have to order me to tell her, I would fold and tell her. “I see you are resolute about this, fine, Moonlit” she said after several seconds of silence before she turned back to her scroll, “I will have to ask my sister, but not right now, right now we need to get more scrolls and books. Could you help me carry these?” she asked me and I nodded, relieved she didn't ask me again, “Is something wrong, Moonlit? You seem... As if you were afraid of something” “To be honest, L-Princess,” I said catching myself in time as we walked past seven Solar Guardsponies, carrying... My eyes narrowed, “Princess did you ask any of the Solar Guard to help you with your studies?” “Of course not, there would have been a large amount of issues formed if I did that” she said, and I gentle slipped the scrolls and books I was carrying into her telekinetic field and excused myself... Moments later I caught up with them, still carrying the scrolls. “Halt” I said, throwing a wall of telekinetic energy up for good measure they whipped around and glared at me “Ah if it isn't one of the traitor follower” said one of the Earth Pony guards, I groaned, it was a small group of ponies that held the belief that Luna wasn't cured, but was rather faking it, and hated her. I thought that maybe Shining Armor had gotten rid of them, it was one of the other things he and I agreed upon, it was a guardspony's duty, regardless of which guard it was, to protect the princesses. “Stand down, all of you” I said with finality in my voice, it was a group of three Earth ponies—known for their stubbornness I bet—two pegasus, and two unicorn, I doubted I could handle these odds on my own. Throwing caution to the winds I sent a “Guards Ping” as it was called amongst the Guardsponies. Oh just to give a small explanation, regardless of their 'allegiance' so to speak, if a Guardspony sent a ping the on duty guards would pick it up and converge on the said location, as it normally meant that the one that sent it was out numbered, another benefit of the ping was that all of them held an identifier of sorts, so there was no way any of these ponies would be able to say they sent it. But there in lay the problem, they could tell I sent it too, and with by telekinetic field active, they couldn't get away as racing towards me would bring them closer to Luna, whom just a second later yelled, as she had found out what I noticed a head of her, not that I blame her, as it was in the main library when we past them. That aside, with Luna obviously upset, and probably figuring out what had happened in the first place their only logical means of escape would be to incapacitate me in some manner, I guess I never mentioned that I did study tactics and Strategy? It was either that or study for command, my father was very serious about that. Anyway, these ponies had only one logical means of escape, and I was no slouch when it came to the sword and shield I carried, never-the-less I would still lose if it I ended up having to cross blade with them. “No, you will stand down, traitor” said one of the Unicorn and my eyes zeroed in on him, my hand slowly heading for my sword, “Don't even think about it, you're out numbered, and out matched, you'll just die” the same unicorn commented and I smirked “Maybe, but I will have died doing my duty, and my father knows me far too well, and none of you will get away with it. Just think what will happen if you do kill me, do you think that Shining Armor will protect you? Or Princess Celestia?” I countered abandoning what little caution was left and quite obviously shifted my stance to a more combat ready one. “I think that it will not matter, because after we kill you we'll make it look like the traitor princess did it” said one of the pegasus and my gaze shifted to him, these were truly unfavorable odds and damn my honor and duty for requiring me to enter regardless... “Like I did what?” said a very angry voice, I did not turn around, even with Luna there I would probably die if I turned around right now, “You think I would promote him, and then kill him within the same week? Even if I were a traitor princess as you call me, I would have to be the most unintelligent mare in existence to do that, and to make it obviously lead back to me? That would be far too sloppy!” she said and I gulped, this was not the kind princess I had come to know in what little time I had with her. This was the Princess of the Night, the harsh one, the one that shows itself on a night were there is no comforts to be found. “Halt, in the name of the Solar Guard” came the call from the other side of the wall, at which I transferred the telekinetic field that made the artificial wall to envelope the traitors that had just threatened Luna. “Hello again, Novel” said Shining, the look on his face was not one you would want leveled at you, but in this case it was not truly leveled at me, as he was greeting me, before his own gaze shot to the ponies I had enveloped, “Now why are 7 of my guardsponies being held here?” he asked me, “And speak quickly, because I heard the guards ping” “These ponies are traitors to the crown, unlike the ones that pulled the prank last night, these ones actively threatened my life, and to frame Princess Luna for murder. They also stole from the Library Archives in an attempt to sabotage Princess Luna's attempts to return to a true active member in ruling Equestria, claiming her to be a traitor princess” that did it, the look on his face, went from pissed, to dangerous, never in my life had I dropped my telekinetic field so fast, as his enveloped them right after, and one could see he was doing his best to not strangle the traitors. “Princess Luna, your highness, I apologize that I had not caught these ponies faster, I will make sure they are dealt with, severely” said Shining Armor before turning his head to the guard ponies that had gathered around him, “bind the unicorns and pegasus” “Shining Armor, is it?” asked Luna before she looked again at the traitors, “Be sure to bring them to my sister, she will ensure a fair trial, but also that they are given just punishments” with that she turned to me, “Come, Novel, gather those scrolls and follow me, I need to get back to studying” I nodded and gathered the scrolls and books from the ground and followed after her not knowing what fate befell those traitors after we left, until much later. Entering the library Luna whipped around and started to yell at me for heading off into what could have been, had she not gotten there in time, my death and I took it, I took it, because it meant in some way she cared about me, however when she stopped yelling to take a breath I spoke, my voice not steady, but I continued none-the-less “I did my duty as a Guard, regardless of the dangers-” she stopped me right there with a glare and spoke up once more “You are not a 'guard' anymore, you are my personal guard, which means yes, you can inform myself, or another guard when you see something like that, but it is your duty to stand watch over myself, or any I order you to guard” she countered harshly and I actually stumbled back, all those years as a guardspony were now wasted experience for the most part, now I understand why very few ponies ever wanted to reach a position of command, you could lose the ability to do things for yourself... Wait... “You're lying, partly anyway” I said calling her out “Am I?” she said whipping around as she had turned around after handing me my figurative ass her eyes boring into me once more “As your personal guard, it is my duty to protect you, however you are wrong about the 'any you order me to guard' part” she clenched her teeth in annoyance “Where is that loyalty you had last night?” she asked me almost accusingly, however, I was dug in I wasn't going anywhere in the conversation, except forwards. “It is still there, and granted I may still do exactly what you say, but as your personal guard, it is my duty to ensure your protection, even if that means disobeying your orders” Okay so sue me, I read up on the duties I had, there was no way I was going to go in blind, “and even if that costs me my life” I finished, next thing I knew I was against the door, my feet a foot off the ground her magic holding me there as her eyes glowed white in anger “Don't you ever sacrifice yourself for me, there are things that will kill you that I can survive! And I will NOT have you sacrifice yourself for me, I've said before, I do not deserve such loyalty!” she said, yes that is right, she said it, she didn't yell it, and for me that made it all the more terrifying? No... All the more real... “Isn't it for me to decide where to place my loyalty, Princess?” I asked her not daring to call her by her name at the moment, the next thing I knew the magic holding me up dissipated and I fell to the ground her eyes back to normal, her whole body shaking. “Do you not wish to call me by my name anymore?” she asked me in a small voice, a broken voice almost as if... “Luna, please... I am sorry, I... I didn't think you would want me to call you by your name right now” I said and regardless of station I walked up and hugged her, was I her first friend? No I knew I wasn't, the Elements were definitely her friends as was most of the foals in Ponyville, at least from the letters she always got that from them that always brought a smile to her face gave that impression. So why? “I would never take that away, you are my friend, as much as my guard” she said though it was a little broken with the occasional sniffle, was she crying? No it didn't matter whether she was or wasn't, “Even if we are arguing, even if the argument gets heated, please, don't stop calling me by my name” I nodded, I knew this conversation wasn't over but I also knew I was not going to bring- “Also, it may be up to you to decide where to place your loyalty, but that does not mean that I have to agree that I am worthy of it” damn it... She HAD to go back to it, ahh well better to get it over with now, instead of it creeping back up on us at a later date, releasing her from her hug I took a step back. We were lucky no one had come by during that incident, ignoring that for the moment however I took a deep breath to clear my head to figure out what best to say next. “Then, Luna, I will have to respectfully disagree”