//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: The princess and her guard // by verse jumper //------------------------------// Chapter 5 A week had passed after that fateful night, and some changes had been made to Verse’s and Luna’s lifestyles because of it. The two would carry on with their days and duties as princess and guard, but when Luna’s moon rose on the horizon, they would spend their nights as friends. Each day Luna noticed how Verse seemed less and less tired, her hunch had been correct about how he would react to have somepony in bed with him. Though at first the arrangement was awkward, it seemed that the two had adapted to it rather quickly, Verse benefiting from the proper sleep, and Luna getting to have her friend back, more or less. It seemed that the arrangement was going to work out for the two, neither of them considering what lay upon the horizon of the next few days. It was a Sunday night, Verse and Luna, along with the rest of the royal family had gone to sleep, all but one prince who was in his bedchambers, angry. Prince Blueblood sat on his bed, a grimace on his face as he grabbed a pillow from his plush bed and threw it at the wall. He had been stuck in his room thanks to Verse and his aunt Celestia, angry at the commoner and his aunt’s obviously poor judgment of character. The prince climbed out of bed and paced around his room, all alone accept for his butler who was picking up the pillow and putting it back on the bed. “Another restless night, sir?” the butler asked in a very calm and professional tone, when on the inside he was annoyed at the prince for making him stay here after hours to clean up his temper tantrum induced messes. Blueblood scoffed, kicking the ground like a foal in timeout. “Not restless, Silver Platter, I’m LIVID. That commoner is being treated like he’s the better colt! When I was the one doing the right thing! Putting that… thing! In its place!” he shouted, letting out a neigh of anger. Silver Platter internally rolled his eyes. “Sir, I assure you, Mr. Verse Jumper is a normal pony like myself,” the unicorn explained, “Besides, your punishment is nearly done, the day after tomorrow you are allowed to leave you room, isn’t that enough?” The spoiled prince shook his head, trotting over to his butler. “Not even close Silver! I deserve vengeance! That thing you call a pony is not normal! Auntie believes she can keep secrets from me, but she is sorely mistaken!” Blueblood sat on the foot of his bed, crossing his forelegs across his chest. “It needs to be banished to the Everfree where it belongs; I was only trying to accelerate the process…” The butler pony nods, at least trying to act like he cared about the prince’s personal woes. “Even if he is not normal like you or I, you cannot lay a hoof on him. You’re a prince sir, not a dictator who may execute any pony that you happen to anger. I advise you to put this mess behind you, Celestia was very clear that if you tried to harm Verse that your next punishment will be of a higher caliber.” “I am aware of that Silver!”the colt groaned as he flopped onto his bed, kicking the air. “How I wish I could take that filthy street rat’s head off! If only there was some way I could eliminate him without committing a cr-!” he paused, blinking a little as a thought entered his head. “Sir? Are you ok?” Silver asked as he raised an eyebrow, watching a sinister smile creep onto Blueblood’s muzzle. “You may go home now, Silver...” Blueblood said with a wave of his hoof. “Your services are no longer needed, I just realized uhm… that I am acting rather silly, please, go home and get some rest.” Silver was confused at the sudden change in tone and attitude, but couldn’t complain at the idea of finally getting to go home. “Thank you, sir… I wish you a good night and am glad that you have reconsidered your actions.” Silver left without another word, locking the door behind him. “Yes yes… I will have a very good night, Silver...” Blueblood grinned even more as his magic doused the candles that illuminated his room, closing his eyes. “A good night indeed…” Meanwhile, on the ground below, two of Celestia’s guards stood on the castle walls, halfway through their nightshift as they heard the wails of the prince. “Sheesh…” the first guard, Razor’s Edge, groaned. “I thought only mares were supposed to whine like that.” The second guard, Shattered Shield, shrugged. “You’re telling me, that so called noble prince is just a big cry baby, you should’ve been on shift at the last gala,” Shattered chuckled. “He definitely showed his true colors then.” Razor chuckles along with his friend. “Yeah, I’ve heard the stories, so why is the brat so ticked off again?” “You haven’t heard?” Shattered asked with a raised eyebrow. “That lunarian guard Verse attacked him out of nowhere, apparently Prince Blueblood made a cheap shot at Luna and Verse flipped, threatened the Prince’s life.” “Seriously?! I was taking a week off! I miss all the cool stuff!” Razor groaned. “Man, I would’ve loved to see that! How come that guard isn’t in trouble then? I mean insults or not, he still attacked the prince.” Shattered shrugged. “Not sure, I think Luna covered for him or something, the colt kinda weirds me out. He never talks to any pony, he’s always by Luna’s side…heck, he’s taking even more nightshifts now, where does the colt even sleep?” Razor scratched his head, unsure. “You don’t think that….” “What? That he’s…” Shattered shook his head. “No way! There’s absolutely no way he’s sleeping with Luna! That’s bucking impossible! Ten bits says he’s just got like a freaky ability to go long periods of time without sleep.” Razor nods with a chuckle. “Yeah, that’s probably the case, most of those lunarian guards are kinda weirdoes… like those bat ponies that pull Luna’s chariot, and those colts are really strange…” “Tell me about it, that entire guard detail is nothing but strange. I heard some of the unicorns are ex-cons and even practice dark magic,” Shattered grimaced. “And that stuff is just plain terrifying.” The two colts nodded in agreement, chatting idly about all the strange things they’ve noticed from the lunarian guard, seeing that the guards that Luna trusted seemed like a band of mercenaries and freaks more than anything else. They chuckled as they cracked a few jokes, trying to accelerate the ever boring night-watch, until they heard a whoosh of air behind them. They turned their heads to see Princess Twilight, their eyes widen at the sight of her, confused. “Hello you two,” she said with a kind smile. “I couldn’t help but hear your conversation as I was stretching out my wings, uhm…and I think you’re mistaken about the lunarian guard…” Razor gulped a little, wondering if he was in trouble. “H-how so?” he stammered out, hoping that Princess Twilight wasn’t going to punish them for flapping their gums. “Y-yeah, I mean, they are all kinda strange… especially that Verse character, rumors about him get really strange,” Shattered said, the same thoughts as Razor’s rushing through his mind. Twilight could only smile, a little embarrassed and unfamiliar to the feeling of being feared by the usually tough guard ponies. “You might want to sit down, you two, I think it’s time for me to tell you a story about Luna’s guards and why they’re so different,” Twilight sat down, looking at them to do the same. Razor and Shattered looked at each other, rather confused and unsure of how to respond. They nodded in unison as they sat down; hoping that if they played along that the Princess may not punish them. “Great! Alright so… it all started awhile back…”