//------------------------------//
// Gathering of Royalty 
// Story: The Moon Worshiper Part 3: Twisted 
// by CreatureofTheNight 
//------------------------------//

"You're a hero."

That's all Dark has been hearing from his fellow guard ever since the Queen of Dreams incident. That's all they called him, a hero. It was, humbling to say, the least for the pony whose life was mostly labeled as outcast, weirdo, or even freak, but hero? To say that he wasn't used to that kind of nickname was an understatement to say the least. The news spread fast around Equestria, the brave guard in training who stood up to the Queen of Dreams and pushed her to the limit. True ultimately, he wasn't the one who defeated her, that honor was of course reserved for the legendary Two Sisters of the Sun and the Moon, but he still went above and beyond the call of duty, nearly gave up his own life to protect every citizen of Equestria. Dark even received his own stain glass window in the castle! The miserable nobody freak of the Everfree Forest, the guard in training who came in dead last pretty much every single time in every obstacle course and training exercise, got a stain glass window next to the greatest ponies of all the land.  It was of the Queen of Dreams floating and Dark staring her down.  The window was located right next to the one of Princess Twilight beating Tirek with her castle in the background. All of this was humbling to say the least, not the least bit being all the veteran guards coming to Dark and thanking him for making guards look good, since the Chrysalis invasion made them all look very incompetent and useless.  Actual veteran guards of the Princesses, coming to a rookie and telling him that he made what they do look good, that sort of thing just does not happen.

However, despite all this new found attention, Dark himself hasn't changed all that much. He always wake up an hour before the rest of his battalion to watch the sun set and the moon rise. His position on the battalion was up for debate, some say he's getting special treatment because of his actions, and some say that it was an appropriate reward for a hero. He is positioned right next to Princess Luna when she is taking the throne while Celestia is asleep. The hero, right next to his very own hero. Some nights they chat about a few things here and there, some nights Princess Luna goes into town and Dark comes with both out of duty and because he really wants to, and some nights are him just sitting quietly and professionally, doing his job like he's supposed to do.

Tonight was different from all those other nights, because tonight wasn't even during the night. Tonight is the first ever Princess Gathering, at least the first one for Princess Twilight, where the four Princesses of Equestria meet and discuss politics with each other. It's top secret to the public, only the Princesses and their guards, or in Princess Twilight's case her friends, discuss what goes on in these meetings.  Dark and the leader of his battalion, another thestial like Dark called Wind but Dark always calls him Captain were up with Luna waiting for the arrival of the other Princess's in the meeting room.

"How is it that the ponies who are normally asleep during this time of day are the first ones in the meeting room?"  Princess Luna asked to nopony in particular.

"Beats me, Princess Luna," Dark responded.  He didn't call her my lady like Wind always did because it made him feel uncomfortable.   "But I'm sure Princess Celestia has a good reason for being oddly late."

Luna looked at him.  "Yes, I suppose so...still, it's odd, you'd think that she'd be the first pony here, considering she is usually up at this accursed time." She looked out and smiled as the door opened, revealing Princess Twilight and her friends.

Pinkie Pie, excitable as ever, zoomed to Dark.  "How you doing, Darkie?" She asked in her usual chipper tone while bouncing all over the place. "Is being a guard fun? It sure looks like fun, plus you get to hang out with your favorite Princess ever all the time, you must be so thrilled..." She started to talk so fast that Dark couldn't understand a word she was saying.

Rarity, in a huge formal gown that she whipped up just because she was in Canterlot, and just because she was meeting all the Royals today, looked at Pinkie.  "Settle down a little Pinkie, you can't expect Dark to answer all those questions at once!"

Dark nodded, and then Applejack walked to Dark and patted Pinkie on her head, getting her to stop, at least for now.

"Howdy!  How ya doing, sugar cube?" Applejack asked, using her traditional nickname for everypony.

Dark smiled at that.  "I'm actually doing okay, still trying to get used to the other nickname I always get though."

"Now what would that be?"  the orange mare asked.

"Hero," Dark murmured.

Applejack grinned at his humility.

Rainbow Dash flying over head.  "Why do you need to get used to it? I mean you saved all of Equestria for friendship's sake!" she called, clearly not used to shyness.

"No, I basically stalled until Princess Luna and Princess Celestia beat her," Dark responded, looking at his hooves. "It's a little weird that everypony is calling me a hero for what I did. I mean, aren't guards supposed to protect their Princess and their land?" Dark rubbed the back of his head, causing Captain Wind to look at him with a small smirk.

Fluttershy looked at Dark.  "Still what you did was very brave," she said in a small voice.   Dark blushed, kind of embarrassed by all of this praise.

Captain Wind spoke up "LT. Sidewinder is well aware of his accomplishment," he looked at the others.  "However, I do ask for you five, and LT. Sidewinder to remain calm when the other Princesses, and the Prince, arrive. Under technicality you are Princess Twilight's guards, as well as her friends, and every guard, including LT. Sidewinder, must be quiet and respectful when the Princesses are speaking."

"I am the Princess of Friendship, Captain Wind.  It would be perfectly all right if they spoke during the meeting, since I need their input to make some of the choices that either myself or the other Princesses, or Prince, bring to this meeting."  Twilight looked around. "Speaking of which, Spike and I worked all night to make a list of some of the stuff I wanted to talk about in this meeting, where is he?"

"Right here, "  Spike replied, sounding like he was carrying something very heavy. He walked slowly into the room, revealing a tower of parchment with tons and tons of writing on it. He fell over, placing it next to Twilight.

Twilight smiled and patted his head.  "Thank you Spike."

Spike was passed out on the ground.  When Twilight saw this, she smiled. Looking around, she saw Princess Luna.  "Princess Luna, not to sound rude, but where is Princess Celestia, shouldn't she be here? I mean this Princess Gathering was her idea." Twilight said.

Princess Luna shrugged. "I have no idea Princess Twilight Sparkle, she's not the kind of pony to be late, not even when we were fillies."

Twilight was about to say something else when the door opened, revealing Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, one of their Crystal Guards, who Dark never bothered to learn the name, and to Dark's great joy, Starnight. Starnight smiled seeing Dark and the two walked each other.

"Okay I saved all of Equestria to become a LT. What did you do?"  Dark asked.

Starnight stood up straighter. "I just had to be awesome."

Dark gave him a sideways glance, not believing his story.

"Okay, so I may have mentioned I taught a certain little hero how to fight, and it made me look very good." Starnight said.  

Dark laughed.  

"Hey it's true!"  Starnight protested.

Dark smiled.  "Yeah, good to see you again." Dark and Starnight gave each other a bro hoof and then went back to their positions.

Twilight looked at Cadence.  "Speaking of being glad to see someone again," She said as she watched Dark and Starnight go back to their positions. Twilight smiled and hugged Cadence and Shining, "It's so good to see my sister-in-law and my BBBFF again.  It's nice that for once, Equestria isn't on the line, or Discord isn't pulling a prank on us."

Cadence smiled. "You know, while I may like some excitement in my life, I will admit you have a point there, a breather is nice."

Shining nodded.  "It really is." He looked around. "Where's Princess Celestia?"

Twilight shrugged. "No one knows," she answered quietly. "Everypony else is here, I wonder what's taking her so long."

Dark and Starnight paled as they both heard a voice from their past say, "She was picking up her new captain of the guards."  They turned to see Princess Celestia walking in, revealing General himself. "Dark, Starnight, hello you maggots."

Dark and Starnight gulped.

"Ah, I'm just fooling around, you're guards now, so you're slightly above maggot."

Celestia smiled.  "I thought it was time for him to get a promotion for my guard!" She looked at the other Princesses.  "Sorry, I'm late, let us get this meeting started."