//------------------------------//
// The Lonesome Starry Sky 
// Story: Vanguard 
// by Material Defender 
//------------------------------//

	Luna took a deep sigh. "Before I was banished, I was not on... good terms... with my sister. As opposed to her, I was not as well-received among our subjects, and wished deeply for acceptance among them, acceptance of our night sky."

"So... what exactly did you do?" Jayce asked, having taken off his helmet. He squinted a bit as his eyes tried to adapt themselves to the darkness. He shifted around on his seat to find a comfortable position, the armor rattling as he did so. "All of this stuff I hear about this whole banishment thing is like speaking about something taboo."

"I led myself down the path of darkness. I wished for acceptance, yes. In the beginning, it was harmless, just a minor fret that was but a drop in my cloud of thoughts, but eventually, the means I wished for it to happen were... violent and manipulative... so to speak. My sister and I had spent so long ruling together, but I had seen how they viewed her as opposed to me and... I felt... ignored."

Jayce said nothing, which Luna took as a sign to continue.

"When I attempted to gain the favor of our subjects, the result was less than favorable. In most cases, I was simply ignored, or shunned. Or simply, there were not enough that cared to stay long enough to visit me."

"Visit you? Just what exactly did you do?" Jayce asked.

"I... put up a notice wishing to hear from my subjects about my rule, about the night sky, about the moon, and asked that they visit during the Night Court. The turnout left me... despondent, to say the least."

"And that's what started this whole mess? Not being accepted compared to how loved your sister is?"

"Yes. I began to think that I was due... or rather, entitled, the endearing loyalty of our subjects, who had shown none to me so far. The darkness in my heart began to grow, until it was as if I was merely known as Luna in name only. My mannerisms changed, I became more reclusive, more confrontational. Even my loyal Night Guard were helpless to stop me as I continued to descend even further into the madness."

"Wait. Night Guard? What happened to them? All I see around here are the guards that your sister has." Jayce had only seen the guards wearing gold-plated armor, obviously an indication of Celestia's royal guard. There was no mention nor sight of Luna's.

"Well, it's been a very long time. My sister had probably dissolved the guard and perhaps assimilated them into her own. I did have my own for a time following my return, but it was considered a formality, and eventually deemed unnecessary as my sister assured me that her guards were more than enough."

"Hmm, I see. So what exactly happened? Just what did you do to get yourself banished to the moon?" Jayce leaned in. He found himself actually quite intrigued about Luna's story. "I'd imagine banishment is the only solution for a substantially serious crime around here."

"You didn't talk to anyone about this? At all? Not even your sister?"

"Well... I... we didn't agree..."

"You didn't get it out in the open and cleared it up, and it snowballed until it became something too big to ignore, and too big to fix." Luna nodded. "With all due respect, Princess, in all your years and wisdom, I'll have to say that was pretty stupid."

Luna blinked. "I will not disagree with that point."

Jayce paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts before continuing. "Where I come from, being a soldier is a grueling line of work. You do a lot of things that most normal people only ever hear about. You always hear in the news how it's always this battle won, this planet defended, this army defeated. But they never tell you about what they do. They don't tell you about the explosions, the screaming, the cries for medics, the bullets whizzing over your heads."

"But what does that--"

Jayce lifted up a hand. "Let me continue. It eventually builds up into a problem, a trauma that soldiers continually shoulder and build up throughout all their tours. Eventually, you don't stop hearing the explosions, the screaming, and the bullets. That sort of thing would drive any normal man to insanity. That's why it's always important to be able to talk about and get treatment for that sort of thing. Consider it an analogy of sorts, that you should always seek to find help from those that care about you before it gets out of hand."

"The analogy holds more water than you hold it for, Sir Jayce."

He laughed. "It's 'sir' now, is it? I don't do formalities, Princess, just call me Jayce. But, yes. You of all should know how much your sister cares for you. Never think that it's weak or unwanted of you to want to solve your problems with some help. God knows I've already seen too many bad cases..."

"I see. That... puts me at ease... thank you... Jayce."

"And I apologize for interrupting, please continue." Jayce cleared his throat, the obvious departure from his more unhinged attitude having an effect on him.

Luna sighed. "During the time shortly after our fall, I turned into Nightmare Moon--"

"You were Nightmare Moon?" Jayce interrupted.

"Yes, it is a facet of myself. A dark, dark alter ego, so to speak. But in time, it manifested itself into an entirely different form, a wholly unique being from myself. But I digress. As Nightmare Moon, I sought to do terrible things to our subjects and to Equestria. I sought to bring about an eternal night so that all would not dare to deny the greatness of my sky, and used evil means to do so. I raised an army of creatures and attempted to overthrow my sister. Needless to say, the conflict did not go well."

Jayce whistled. "Raising your own army. I have to say, despite the situation, that's... pretty damn impressive."

"It took much power to be able to accomplish such a feat. Are you familiar with the Everfree Forest, the one beyond Ponyville?" Jayce nodded. "That is where I created my army, one with creatures of darkness and evil and malice. The ensuing powers used created the Everfree Forest, where magic could not rule neither land nor weather. We marched towards the location of where the original royal castle stood, deep in the Everfree."

"So that's what those ruins were..."

"Yes. My sister has told me all about what had happened during your eventful trek into the forest. That was where the final battle between my sister and I ended."

"I would guess that you got your ass handed to you?" Luna gave a surprised look at Jayce at his rather crass response. "What? I'm just saying it like it is. You tried go up against your sister, and you lost."

"Yes. And in the aftermath of events, she banished me to the moon, where I resided for a thousand years."

"I'd imagine it must have been one hell of a thousand years. That's practically a whole library's worth of events and happenings back from where I'm from."

"Indeed, such a long time gone from the world did cause me problems. But it would have all been for naught had the Elements of Harmony not stopped me when I had made my return. At the time, I can honestly say that I would have most likely have relapsed into continuing what I had done prior to my banishment."

"Yeah, but you didn't relapse, and they stopped Nightmare Moon, and now you're Luna again. I'd say everything turned out fine."

"That does not mean that I still do not hold regrets about what I had done during that time. I am one of the two royal alicorn sisters. I should have not fallen prey to such petty desires and evil so easily. I still strive to make up for what I had done to our subjects, and to atone for my past. Even today, our subjects still speak ill of Nightmare Moon, even with the light-hearted nature that the holiday Nightmare Night provides. And from that, I feel as if they are speaking of... me."

Jayce chuckled. "You're looking into this a little bit too much, Princess. Nightmare Moon is Nightmare Moon, which, might I say, we will kick her ass, and Princess Luna is Princess Luna. Seriously. Don't overthink it too much, it's bad for your health. Your peop--ponies know that you're back, and while some of the... rumors might still be floating around, you should try just to win their hearts over. Go out there, be more social. Maybe ask your sister to take some of your moon-rising shifts for you so that you can talk with your subjects during the day." He scratched his head afterwards, unhappy that he was still fumbling around with the difference in terms.

Luna smiled. "I appreciate your advice, Jayce. Perhaps all that I needed is to get acquainted with our subjects. I'm sure my sister will have advice for me on the subject."

"See? Tackle the problem head on, and you'll have it dealt with in no time," Jayce smiled back.

"But I have been meaning to ask you something, good knight."

"Sure. What do you have in mind?"

"May I ask about your past?"

Jayce's brow furrowed as the sudden change in topic. "Well, yeah. Not that much of a problem. What do you want to know?"

"How do you deal with your regrets?"

Jayce had to suppress a laugh, being somewhat surprised that it didn't pertain to his shady occupation or his past. "Well, Princess, everyo--er, everypony... makes mistakes. You can either spend the rest of your life moping about it until you're dead, or you can pick up your ass, fix what you fucked up, and then move on your way. Either that, or just drop it and move on."

"Did something happen that you... regret?" she slowly asked.

Jayce took a deep sigh, then stood up and started walking around. He stopped just short of the balcony window, staring outside towards the night sky and the glittering stars. "I'm sure you're well acquainted, being as powerful as you are, that you can't save everyone." Luna said nothing and watched the armored figure look out the glass panels of the door. "There was one time. Once."

"...and what was that time? What happened?"

Jayce paused for a moment. "...I don't even know why I'm telling you this."

"It is as you said, is it not? That you should be able to talk about it and deal with it directly, yes?"

Damn. She had him there, otherwise she might just nag him endlessly about it. "Yes... well, it was a while back. Well, I think it's best that I start from square one. There's a lot about me that most people rarely ever hear about. And, hell, if I figure I have to tell someone my life story sometime, I guess an immortal alicorn would be a safe place to start," he laughed. He had to drag himself through Orion's cultural familiarization lectures, but it seemed to have paid off now.

"So, then, how does your tale begin?"

"I... am Earthborn. It's a term given to those who were born and raised on humanity's homeworld, Earth. Around this time, we'd already begun colonization efforts into the stellar expanse, and being an Earthborn was considered somewhat of a badge of pride as opposed to those born elsewhere."

"Your kind was capable of... a new kind of travel?"

"Yeah. Specifically, travel to other worlds. That was how we established our colonies," he said bluntly.

"How fascinating," Luna whispered. To think that a race could be capable traveling to the stars she saw in her night sky... it was unheard of to her until now. "Oh, please continue."

"I didn't really get along with my parents when I grew up. Mostly ignored by them as they worked their shifts, and I went to school; can't say I really miss them much today, was never really attached to them in the first place. I was actually a pretty smart guy back then, read a lot of books, got good grades, even a few awards. Kept to myself most of the time, didn't like starting trouble where it wasn't needed."

"That... sounds like a direct contradiction to what you are now. No offense, Jayce," Luna said.

"Yeah, well, shit happened. Got bullied a lot in school, took it in stride most of the time, just figured I'd graduate, get a good job, and leave those idiots in the dust. But... things didn't turn as expected. Guess it turns out that if you get beat up enough, it starts to really screw up your life."

"And then this problem 'snowballed', as you called it?"

"Yep. I was starting to get pretty damn tired of being on the shitty receiving end of my peers. So I got angry. I started working out like mad, trying to get more strength. I kept my progress hidden by wearing a jacket most days. And then one day, when I finally got fed up with it, I snapped, and I beat the shit out of all the guys who'd been picking on me."

Luna gasped. "And just how many did you fight?"

"About seven or eight. Beat 'em all up badly enough that they all got hospitalized. Claimed self-defense, and I stayed in school. Nobody decided to make fun of me after that."

"So what happened next?"

"I continued my workout, seeing how much it helped me. They came back, with more people. I put 'em in the hospital again for a second time, and in even worse condition than before, since they didn't get their lesson. After that, I think I got the message pretty clear across."

Luna frowned at Jayce's seemingly brutal way of dealing with his problems. Thankfully, her face was obscured by the darkness. "And through this, your... mannerisms changed?"

"Yep. I was no longer Jayce the book-reader. Now I was Jayce the ass-kicker, and anybody who wanted a piece of me always ended up biting off more than they could chew. Focused on my studies, graduated out of high school, and enlisted directly into the Alliance military. Ascended through the courses and ranks pretty quickly. Didn't like the whole notion of following orders and stuff, though, I preferred doing things my own way, and not because I was usually right most the time."

"You have spoken of this 'Alliance' before. Is that not what Orion is part of?"

"Yeah, it is. He's still officially enlisted as a soldier. I'm a... well, I received an honorable discharge and was allowed to leave of my own accord, so I'm not longer with them."

"How curious. Why did you decide to leave?"

Jayce paused for a moment, again looking at the moon, now high in the sky, before returning to his seat. "Like I said. I didn't like following orders, and I thought humanity was being a little bit too soft on the intergalactic stage. Made it pretty far, about as far as Orion's elite training began before I dropped out. I ended up joining Cerberus, an organization that was dedicated to forwarding humanity's influence and power on the political stage."

Luna found it a curious name for an organization, remembering about the gargantuan beast that guarded the gates of Tartarus in Equestria. "This 'Cerberus', what did you do while you were in it?"

Jayce chuckled bitterly. "I think it was more of a question of what I didn't do while I was in it; I did spend a little over half a decade being the best of the best in there. Standard soldier fare, assassinations, political espionage, shakedowns, playing bodyguard, and more. A lot of shady things and a lot of things I'd rather not remember. I won't lie, I sort of regret what I've done, but I just consider it all a really big learning experience. I wasn't as open-minded as I was back then. You sort of get a better view of yourself and everything else after you've spent enough time traveling through the galaxy a bit."

"And then this... specific incident that you spoke of. What happened then?" Luna asked. Her midnight-blue mane sparkled with miniature stars as her sharp eyes blinked, clearly visible even in the darkness.

"I became... disillusioned with Cerberus' mission. Yeah, they were pro-human and wanted their best interests at hand, but the means they used were... a bit disgusting, I eventually realized. Threats. Bombings. Assassinations. Mostly all the stuff I'd did to get up the ladder was justified: pirates, slavers, terrorists, and all that stuff, but eventually it started being things like killing innocents to make a point, and other things like that. Thankfully, when I reached the top rank, I could easily just pick my share of missions and just head on off. But being in the good graces of the top man himself meant that you had to work to keep his favor."

"So you were given a a mission..." Luna started.

"Yep. I know he realized that I've been trying to skip over missions. Strange how a killer like me can develop a conscience after being in the business for so long." He laughed. "So he gave me a mission... to make a point to a politician."

"And just what did he require you to do that made you... rebel?"

"Kill the politician's family. Now, I'd only done this a few times in the past, mostly corrupt dirtbags who wanted a little more money than they could afford to want, and usually involved killing the politician or his associates. But this guy, I knew. He was a politician, helpful and loving family guy, hit it off with him during a few events when I had to go undercover. I was supposed to kill his family. He had a wife, and a newborn child."

"But why didn't you refuse to do it if you knew what he was asking of you?"

"Because I didn't know at the time; he'd held the info back on me while telling me to take this mission with a gun to my had. The only way out of Cerberus is through a body bag, and I wasn't about to put my trust with the top man on the line just so I could keep a paycheck for a bit longer. That was a mistake. He sent me in with a whole team of soldiers, just to deal with this one guy..." He stopped, clearing his throat.

There was a tense pause before Jayce continued.

"We hit his compound, expecting there to be a whole guard contingent up against us. No one. We walked through the house and courtyard, checked the whole place. No one. We went in using explosives, so we were pretty sure that anyone who was still there must have known that we were coming. And we were right."

"...what did you find?" Luna asked.

"His wife and child. In the master bedroom, the mother holding the child, crying. Must have been terrifying, seeing all these soldiers standing before them. At that point, I realized full on just what kind of mission I agreed to take. And that was the breaking point."

"...so... did you...?"

"No. I was the one given the orders to... shoot them. I argued against it. Said that this was unneeded, overkill, that we could have done something else instead, maybe just bribe someone else or pull some strings elsewhere. I said that I wasn't about to shoot a harmless mother and child."

"But you did?" she asked, horrified.

"No. I didn't. But that was when I realized who he had sent in after me: Kai Leng. That goddamn cock-sucking boy scout. He was the second-in-line agent after me, a bit of an asshole and killed in cold blood without a second thought. Perfect if you needed someone to kill harmless civilians. It wasn't a mission to send the politician a point; it was a mission to send me a point. That if I didn't do my job, I would be replaced."

"And this... Kai Leng... he..." Luna was lost for words.

"Yeah. He killed them both before I even had a chance to react, with that fucking sword of his. I flew into a rage, beat the crap out of the squad that was sent in with me, and beat the crap out of Leng and threw him out the window. At that point, I knew my time with Cerberus was over. I only barely managed to escape the rest of the soldiers by hijacking the escape transport."

"And what happened after that?"

"I hitched rides using favors that people owed me, through various sectors and the Citadel--er, that's where the hub of all intergalactic politics takes place. I knew where all of the Cerberus bases were at, that's one of the perks for being at the top. Got a ride out by sneaking on one of the supply transports for a number of research stations in the Attican Traverse, out beyond Alliance-controlled space. Ran into a coworker, worked them them and blew all the stations up, and spent a year and a half on the run. Then shit happened, and I ended up... well... here."

"I... see... and do you regret not being able to save the two? The mother and child?"

"I do. But I don't lose sleep over it. I managed to shoot some mail down the politician's way. Never got a reply back, but I like to feel that he's still alive, hopefully. And I'd like to think I've paid the blood back ten times over with all the Cerberus goons I've killed. And I still intend to pay back with more if I can."

"Do you not consider it excessive that you might possibly be... killing potential allies within your own organization?" Luna asked curiously.

"My former organization. And, no. Whatever those soldiers are in Cerberus now, they're not human. They... did things to them. Things that made them not human, turned them into... something less than humans, like drones that do nothing but follow orders. They're too far gone now. Anybody who had a good head on their shoulders began to defect shortly after my little incident. What happened, happened, and there's nothing else to do but to keep moving forward."

And stay alive, Jayce thought to himself.

Luna sat in quiet contemplation for a moment. The moon shone brightly now, casting a column of light down the center of the room. They sat in silence for a while before Luna spoke again.

"Thank you... for having this conversation with me, Jayce. It has lifted a great burden off of my shoulders to be able to finally converse with somepony else about this. Sometimes, I just feel... alone, when I try to relate to others."

"Yeah, well, don't think too much of it. Everyone has problems, and I guess I'm honored that you decided to talk about them with me," Jayce said. He stood up, locking his helmet back on with a click. "Get yourself some sleep, Princess."

"As should you. You have done much for me this night. I shall permit you to sleep."

"Whoa, now, Princess. I can handle going without sleep for a while. Being on the run means that you learn to sleep and wake on a moment's notice. I can deal with this." He walked back to his guard position by the door. "Good night, Princess."

"Good night, Jayce." She laid her head down and closed her eyes, letting her mind drift off to a more happier sleep.

Jayce sighed before looking around the room again. The moon was still up, albeit starting to lower now, and he still had the whole night shift to look forward to.

He could tell that this was going to be a long shift...

================================================================================

The alarm from Jayce's omnitool had woken him up. The sun was shining brightly in through his window, though given the temperature, it was still fairly early in the morning. How had he ended up in bed?

He sat up as he tried to recollect the events of last night. There was the conversation, and then an hour or two of waiting. Aegis woke up early to cover your shift. Turns out that the Princesses only needed night protection, but could otherwise be left alone during the day. Nonetheless, Aegis had petitioned for more guards for the night shift, since it was plainly obvious that just four guards would eventually leave a toll of fatigue between the four of them.

Orion had been patrolling the hall the whole night, even after Jayce exited Luna's chambers to find him walking towards him. They shared another silent nod before Jayce had retired back to his room.

And now it was morning. Jayce cracked his neck with a grunt, and sleepily looked around. Now that he thought about it, this was a fairly well-furnished room. And even stranger was the fact that the bed he was sleeping on could fit a human. He figured it must either be a custom-made request, or a luxury afforded by the more wealthy ponies. Nonetheless, he was glad to have a really large bed to sleep in.

There was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Jayce asked.

"It's Orion."

"Come on in. You're up early."

Orion opened the door, looking around the room before closing it. He was already decked out in his armor and gear, but had his helmet held off to his right. "I see they spared no expense for you, too."

Jayce stood up and started to walk around, stretching. "Yeah, well, can't say I'm complaining about it. That's one big fucking bed. Slept like a damn log."

"I heard you had a heart-to-heart with the Princess?" Orion laughed. "I didn't figure you to be the soft type, Jayce."

"Hey, as far as things go, no one else fucking knows. That's between me and her only, and she needed to have a talk about it. I know you probably heard our conversation in the hall. Nobody. Else. Knows." He started to equip his armor, taking the various armor plate straps for his arms and legs and locking them onto his limbs. "Aside from that, who knew that immortal alicorns have deep-seated problems?" he said sarcastically.

There was more silence as Orion waited for Jayce to finish gearing up. "So... how do you deal with oral hygiene?" Orion blandly asked. "I can imagine things would be tough without a toothbrush..."

"Water with a swig of mint," Orion said, putting on his chest armor. "Does the job pretty well."

Orion looked at him with an amused expression. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. They didn't teach you basic amenities in N7 training?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't figure the whole mint and water thing..."

Jayce laughed. "The book doesn't teach you everything, Orion. Now come on, I think I've spent enough time without some food in my stomach." He walked over to the mirror, tapping his chest armor and flexing, and picked up his helmet from the nightstand. "I see my face is still in one piece. One hell of a ride so far, huh, Orion?"

"And what a ride it was, Jayce." There was another knock on the door, which Orion responded to. Awaiting on the other side were Star Bolt and Gold Aegis. Orion and Jayce didn't notice it at first, given the short notice they were called on, but Bolt was a unicorn, and Aegis was a pegasus. It would seem that the ponies came associated with their own fur color: Bolt's was grey, and Aegis's was white.

Jayce looked over from the mirror. "Something important?" he asked, equipping his weapons. He pulled out his Talon from underneath his pillow. He always kept a sidearm underneath his pillow when he slept. Could never be too sure, after all.

"No, sirs. Just wanted to say that Luna has specifically arranged for a breakfast cart to be brought here to this room, and she told us to join you," Aegis said, entering the room with Bolt following. "She said that you two could perhaps use the company."

"Oh. Well, her orders, can't complain about it," Jayce shrugged.

They heard the telltale noise of one of the great double doors opening and closing, and then a cart rolling down the hall. The white-clad chef came rolling in with the cart, and parked it next to the table at the center of the room.

"You got eggs in that?" Jayce asked. Seeing as how he couldn't eat meat, he was lacking in protein. The chef nodded before putting the four plates and various dishes on the table. He bowed curtly, and then left, cart in tow.

"Fantastic. Let's eat," Orion said. The four sat down on the seat cushions before consuming breakfast. Thankfully, Equestria didn't use chairs, but rather cushions instead. That made it much easier for Orion and Jayce to actually 'sit'. There was a helpful complement of various foods: hash browns, eggs, and something that resembled quiche. Neither of the two humans were in a position to complain of such a hearty breakfast.

"Ohoho, man, this is good," Jayce said, practically wolfing down the food. "Real damn food, and it's sort of like the stuff we have back on Earth! My stomach is going to be one happy camper after this."

"Ugh, yeah," Orion said. "I can't recall the last time I had a breakfast as good as this one. I mean, the stuff they had down in Ponyville was fine, but this really hits the spot."

Bolt and Aegis ate quietly, but kept eyeing the two from time to time.

"Questions, you two?" Orion asked. "Don't be shy, we're all in this together, now." He took a sip from his cup, and found milk inside. Even better.

"That armor of yours, sir--"

"No 'sir' around us, we're about as much guards as you are," Jayce interjected.

"Right, er... Jayce. The armor that you both wear are unlike anything we've ever seen before."

"Wouldn't be surprised. This armor is made for serious heavy-duty combat. Custom-built by myself, and take a huge beating before the shields go out."

"Shields?" Bolt asked. "So your race can cast barrier spells?"

"Well, sort of. It's a technology that we developed towards defensive protection. No magic, but energy," Jayce said. "For mine, I can only cast a basic type of shield, known as a kinetic barrier, mostly used for direct confrontation against projectile and various sorts of damage. Orion over there has different kind. It utilizes his affinity for his element to create a slightly different version of shields which he can actually use offensively."

"That's amazing. I'm sure you both must have seen a good deal of combat, compared to us guards here at the castle," Aegis said.

"You've never seen actual combat before?" Orion asked.

"Uh, no, well, not really. The royal guards have a strict entry training regimen, and we stay on top of our training every day, but I don't think many of the guards have seen actual combat before, at least nothing like what you two have seen."

"And your weapons, they're definitely unlike anything from the royal guard armory, that's for sure," Bolt said.

"Yeah, we use a multitude of weapons to deal with enemies in our world. And Orion has a definite no-holds-barred weapon of mass destruction, but I'm sure he'd rather not use it. Speaking of weapons, Orion, I'd like to see the fighter later," Jayce said.

"Well, what for?" he said. "The damn thing is out of commission, and we agreed that we couldn't do anything with the salvage."

"Well, agreed that the junk would have been useless then, yeah. But give me some time, and I can whip up something nasty out of those old junk scrap. The fighter's still loaded, right?"

"Yeah, it came with two standard-issue fighter cannons and a small payload of missiles. You aren't seriously thinking about using those, are you?"

Jayce shrugged, having finished his meal already. "I'm no egghead, but I am definitely a gearhead. A good soldier knows how to keep his weapons fixed. A lethal soldier knows how to make new ones from what he has. Just give me some time and I'll scrounge something together. The field repair kit still on that thing?"

"Yeah, it is. You're going to use it?"

"Just the welding torch and the soldering tool. I'm pretty sure I can scrounge up a lot of nice shit from salvage as useful as a fighter. Thrusters, weapons, electronics, and lots more. Can't really use the engine unless you want to power something, which is kind of pointless around here, or use it as a bomb. I'll keep you in touch with what I make. I noticed they brought in our lockboxes this morning, that'll be useful for storing any new toys I make. Anything else we can keep within the fighter storage room... what was it, storage room 4?"

"Yeah, room 4."

"Good. I'll make sure they keep it locked. Well, not like they can be used. I'll just render the weapons inert until I interact with them using my omnitool. Now, if we're all done here..." Jayce gestured towards everyone. "...we should probably take our leave. I'm sure that Bolt and Aegis need to get back to their duties, and Orion and I need to go over our plans for dealing with Nightmare Moon."

Bolt sat for a moment. "Oh, no, we don't have to guard her anymore. For now, at least. We still have to hold our guard patrols, though."

"Say what?" Orion asked.

"During the day, the Princesses are mostly active. In most normal cases, they don't even need sleep. As such, most of the time, they only have a barebones guard detail during the day. The rest of us are on standby for emergencies or special events."

"Then why the hell were we guarding her last night?" Jayce said.

"The Nightmare Moon thing, Jayce," Orion said. "Must have taken a lot out of her."

"Oh. Right. Well, we've wasted enough time. Let's head on out. Bolt, Aegis, be seeing you soon."

The two guards nodded and exited along with Jayce and Orion, making for their guard patrols, as the two humans left Luna's chambers for the throne room.