//------------------------------//
// Evaluation 
// Story: A Flare of Light 
// by NightSky 
//------------------------------//

	Flare glanced sideways at Luna, or, to be more accurate,  Princess Luna. It all made sense now, the things she had said on the trip here. Luna, lunar, moon, thought Flare. He remembered the rumors, the tales his parents told him of Nightmare Moon, who was before Luna. He looked at Luna and honestly could never imagine her to be Nightmare Moon. Luna saw this conflict in Flares eyes and looked away, but here sister noticed. Celestia looked over at her sister, "Anything you want to tell me?" She asked quietly, Luna shook her head and looked back to Flare.

Celestia looked back to Flare as well, "Might I ask what your name is, drake?" 

Flare matched Celestia's emotionless glance with one of his own. "My name is Midnight Flare, Your Majesty."

"Midnight Flare, hmmmm," Celestia said suspiciously, "that does not sound like a name for a dragon."

"That is because it is not a dragon name." Flare said deadpan. His parents told him Celestia was supposed to be kind and loving, yet all she was right now was hard as a rock.

"Then why do you not have a name befitting of a dragon?"

Flare shrugged. You can't do this forever, Princess.

Celestia sighed, giving up her emotionless approach, "Flare, I will be frank with you, for I am enjoying this about as much as you are. I have never sensed anything like you before, you appear to be a new creature entirely, and you perplex me. I am unsure over how much of a threat to us you may be, given that I was unable to detect you until just a few days ago, that is why I have all the guards and am being so harsh to you." 

The guards behind Flare perked up at this, and Flare didn't like that at all. Neither did Luna, she glanced at the two guards with displeasure. They nervously shifted their wings.

"Princess, there were several reasons why my mother hid me from the world. Chief among these is because I have a special...ability." Flare almost said talent, but he did not find it to be such.

This caused both Celestia and Luna to raise an eyebrow. "Oh really, would you care to demonstrate it?" Celestia asked. "Or is it destructive?" Luna added.

"It is not destructive, I assure you, and I will demonstrate it for you," Flare said, taking a deep breath and looking at Luna. This will break some ice. 

Searching his conscious, Flare finally found his pony form asleep in his soul. He awakened it and brought it out. He closed his eyes and shot out his wings, allowing for the transformation to go smoother. The guards obviously did not realize this, for Flare heard a sound like two pieces of metal clashing against each other behind him. Too late to stop now. He quickened the transformation, blurring his form as he drained his energy into the cycle. Every strand of energy in his being was devoted to this change now, and he was finished in seconds, as opposed to minutes. Mr. Deepvoice shouted, "He is a changeling!" 

Chaos ensued. Guards charged out from all sides of the room, half moving towards Flare and the rest towards the Princesses. He had just finished transforming when they were upon him. He hadn't even had enough time to raise a hoof to protect himself when something struck him on the back of his head like a bolt of lightning and the last thing he remembered before blacking out was Luna booming, "STOP! STOP! I ORDER YOU ALL TO STOP!"


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Oh, my head... Flare thought as he began to resurface from his unconsciousness. As his vision returned slowly, he was immediatly blinded by the brightness of the room. Blinking a few times to adjust his eyes, Flare felt his head to find the source of the ache. It wasn't very hard to find the large sensitive spot on the back of his head. Flare rose from the bed he was lying in, but lost his balance quickly. He was still weak from the transformation to move much. He glanced around the room to try to determine where he was. He was in a hospital, that much was evident. He had been to one before when he was young. He heard hooves coming down the hall, and he looked to the door, expecting a nurse or doctor to come through the door.

Instead, Princess Celestia came through the doorway. She smiled warmly at the weak pony before her. "Good to see you're finally awake. That was quite the...ability you have."

"Your guards sure thought so." At least Flare still had his wit. He smiled, then winced at the discomfort it caused.

"Yes, I am sorry about that. My guards have been a bit jumpy lately, and they mistook you for something that you are not. Though you could have done your transformation a little less...dramatically."

Flare shrugged, "And what did your guards mistake me for?"

"A threat," she said, turning toward the door, "come, let us walk," she looked back at him, "if you feel up to it," she added.

Pulling himself from the wall, Flare tried to look capable. "I'm up to it. Where are we walking?"

"Through the gardens, this way." She said as she walked out of the room again, although not very quickly, so Flare could keep up with her in his weakened state. Flare began to feel better as he walked down the halls. Celestia did not say a word until they were outside and in the most magnificent garden Flare had ever seen.

"So Flare, tell me, what in Equestria gave you the ability to change forms?" Celestia said, and Flare could tell she was teeming with questions.

"The reason I can do what I do, and also why my mother hid me, is because I am a mixture... a hybrid, as you would call it. My father was a unicorn, and my mother was a dragon," Flare held up his necklace for Celestia to see. He then answered the question forming on her lips, how? "Even though it was impossible for my parents to have offspring the traditional way, they were able to cast a spell, something involving them melding their minds together to make a creation with both good talents from dragons and ponies. The result was me."

Celestia stopped speaking, pondering the things Flare told her. "What is a changeling, anyway?" Flare asked to fill the silence.

"Changelings?"

"Thats what the guards called me when they attacked me." Flare asked to fill the void.

"Ah," she said, thinking, "changelings are deviant little creatures. They are emotional parasites, but they feed from positive emotion, instead on negative. They search the minds of ponies, finding things that they love, then shape shift into that to feed off of their affection. When you did your transformation, you did resemble a changeling; they are dark like yourself, with a crooked horn and bright blue eyes. I could go on for hours with this, but you would become bored."

"And what makes you believe that I am not simply a changeling still in disguise?" Flare asked.

"Two thing make this obvious. One, I have never met anything like you and loved it enough for a changeling to get anything of use out of it. Two, Luna trusts you as a friend, and I respect her judgement."

Flare froze. How did she know about that? Celestia stopped him before he could ask. "No, I did not ask her about it. But it was very obvious that she is fond of you. Since she is my sister, I will always have a mental link to her, and I can sense her mood and emotions. I sensed her comfort and happiness last night, and although it surprised me, it also pleased me. Ever since Nightmare Moon was defeated and Luna was returned to us, she has had a hard time readjusting to the new world. She has few friends and tends to seclude herself in the library. She seems comfortable around you probably because you are just as lost in this world as she is."

Flare was speechless. "Why are you telling me all of this?" He finally asked.

"I thought you might find it useful," She says, and winked at Flare, "and before you ask where she is, she is asleep. After she had the guards stand down, she moved you herself, which was very unusual of her, and stayed by your bedside while the healers worked over the hole in the back of your head. She said she felt guilty for bringing you here just to have you get injured. I finally had to convince her to get some rest. It was all very cute."

Flare felt very uncomfortable with this situation. "Is this really what you wished to discuss with me?"

"No, it was not, and I guess we should get back on topic. I'll be frank with you here, I need to know if you will be a threat to my ponies or not before I can decide what to do with you." She said, becoming serious again.

"But earlier you said that you didn't think of me as a threat?" Flare was confused.

"There is a fine line between thinking and knowing. You are part dragon, and I am concerned that you in turn may have inherited some of their more...unpleasant habits."

"From what I have experienced in my life, my dragonish appearance is simply that, an appearance. My core has no malevolence, as you have probably sensed. I would never want to harm any of your ponies of my own free will. I doubt I am of any threat to your kingdom."

Celestia smiled, relieved. "Good, I was worried that would be a point of conflict. With this in mind, I will decide what to do with you. Until then, you are free to explore the castle grounds. Dinner will be in oh...four hours," she said, looking briefly at the sun, "just follow the crowd to get to the dining hall when the bell rings. Other then that, you have the afternoon to yourself." And with that, she left Flare alone in the gardens. But Flare was honestly too weak to do much exploring, so he found himself a nice shade tree, curled up under it, and resumed his long needed rest.


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BONG!

Flare slowly opened his eyes. What time is it? He wondered. The he remembered "just follow the crowd to get to the dining hall when the bell rings." Flare was starving,  so he forced himself to rise, shook the dirt from his coat, and made his way back to the castle. As Celestia had said, there was a fairly large amount of ponies heading for seemingly the same place. He joined the mob and followed them through the halls.

He felt a hoof on his shoulder, and as he turned to see who it was, his heart stopped. Behind him were the two guards who had attacked him yesterday, as well as some others, a few of which Flare remembered from the throne room as well. Mr. Deepvoice had been the one to tap him on the shoulder. 

"Listen, whatever you are, we are gonna be watching you, so don't do anything stupid. We don't regret what we did to you last night, and if Luna hadn't stopped us, you'd have spent more then one night in the hospital wing."

Flare just looked at them with a blank, almost bored expression.

"Not talkin eh? We can fix that." He took a step towards Flare, and Flare quickly realized that this might turn violent.

"GROUP ATTEN-HUT!!!!" a voice boomed down the hall, and immediatly the gang of guards snapped straight, hooves clicking in sync with each other. Flare looked to see where the command came from, and saw a white unicorn coming towards them. He had a very robust uniform, which was much more decorated then the other guards. At his side was the pauldron guard from the chariot. They stopped beside of Flare, and the unicorn nodded apologetically to him. "'My apologies, my guards have been a bit rowdy lately. Now Thorn, what is the meaning of this?"

Thorn maintained his bearing, but Flare saw pure hatred flash through his eyes. "I was simply ensuring that the new arrival would not a be a threat, sir" The unicorn failed to notice the way Thorn said 'sir' like it was a lesser title then his, or if he did, he showed no signs of it.

"And what evidence do you have that he is of any threat to anypony? Celestia and Luna both trust him, and he has showed no signs of being harmful in any way. You are jumping to unsupported conclusions again, just like that changeling remark when you attacked him the first time. You need to relax, even if there is a threat against Canterlot, assaulting random arrivals will not solve the problem. Now go to chow, all of you."

He turned to flare as the mob left. "Come, we shouldn't be late for dinner, either. I'm sorry again for the conduct of my guards. Thorn has always been a bit hotheaded."

"I understand, but may I ask what your name is?"

"Ah, where are my manners? I am Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard. This is Crusader, my second-in-command," Armor said, indicating the pauldron guard. "And your name?"

"Midnight Flare, outsider." He said, trying to add some humor.

"Well, it's good to meet you, Flare. I wish your welcome could have been a bit more...well, welcome, but you get what you get," he said, shrugging the incident off.

They arrived at the dining hall, and were one of the last to enter. Most seats were taken, but to Flare's surprise, Celestia had reserved two seats for Armor and Flare by herself and Luna. Crusader went over to the guard tables, where other officers were eating. Armor and Flare made their way over the their seats and sat down, looking over all of the delicious food available to them. Flare only recognized about half of the foods, so he settled with a large bowl of soup, since he was ravenously hungry. The meal went on silently, although most ponies would glance up at him every once in a while. Eventually he became uncomfortable with all the random glances and he discretely asked Celestia about it.

"It's simply because you are new and different. Also, word spread quickly about last night." 

That satisfied Flare for an explanation, so he continued to eat in silence. A few minutes later, Celestia cleared her throat. "Excuse me, everypony, but I have an announcement to make," the lighthearted and nonchalant way she said this told everypony that they could continue their meals, so Flare continued to inhale his soup.

"Concerning our new arrival, Midnight Flare," she continued, "after much thought, I have come to a decision on what to do with him. Midnight Flare, I hereby assign you to by the personal assistant and bodyguard of Princess Luna."

Flare gagged on his soup, as did Luna and several other ponies. Celestia continued as if nothing had happened, "that is all, thank you." She then sat back down, gave Flare a wink, and continued her meal. Flare glanced at some of the shocked faces in the mess hall, and saw Thorn staring ice at him, and Crusader with that same smirk on his face.

The protests began immediatly. "Sister, I am in no need of an assistant or a bodyguard!"

"Yes, you are," Celestia said, calmly stopping her sister's argument, "with a threat against Canterlot, all of my staff and family must be protected. The world still fears you, sister, and fear can push ponies to do drastic things." Luna did not say any more, but pouted as she ate.

Shining Armor was the nest pony to question Celestia's choice. "Your majesty, if Flare is to be a bodyguard, shouldn't he have some combat training?"

"Yes, he should. Have Roarad teach him pony and magic fighting techniques, and also have Concord Dawn teach him how to use his dragon wings to fight as well. They will both be happy not to have to do guard duty for a few days." And that was all that was said on the subject. Dinner finished just as quickly as it had started. Ponies stood and left as they finished. Soon it was just the two princesses, Flare, and Shining Armor.

Armor stood and began to leave. He paused and looked to Flare. "I'll find you tomorrow at the noon meal to begin your training, so don't hide, I don't like games." and with that remark, he was gone.

Celestia and Luna rose, so Flare decided he should leave as well.

"Luna, show Flare to his new assistant's quarters, he is probably anxious to rest again. Tomorrow, Flare, you will begin your new role." Celestia then left the room, leaving Luna and Flare together.

Luna sighed and began to walk to the door. "Come on then, lets go." Flare followed her out of the dinning hall and through the corridors. "How are you feeling? That was quite the hit you took last night."

Flare was almost angry over how much attention he got over that, almost. "It's fine now, the healers here really did a good job if I was hurt as bad as you say I was."

"No flaws in your memory? Nothing?"

"No, why?" Flare looked over at Luna. "Princess, how badly was I hurt? I still haven't heard any exact details yet."

Luna sighed. "You had a hole the size of my hoof in the base of your skull, I was stunned you didn't die on the spot, although you almost did. I felt awful watching you sitting in that hospital bed, because I brought you here just so that you could go get a hole punched in your head and-"

"Hey, calm down, it's ok," Flare said, trying to calm the clearly distraught Luna, "I'm fine now, and that's all that matters. Don't beat yourself up over things you can't control."

"Ok," she said, and she did not bring the matter up again. Soon they reached the base of a large spiral staircase. Luna began to ascend the steps, and Flare looked up the stairwell. "You've got to be kidding me..."

"No, sadly, both my quarters and my sister's are located atop towers. Its a bit of a climb, but at least it has a good view at the top."

Flare sighed and followed Luna up the stairs.

"I saw that you met Shining Armor already."

"More like he saved me from another hole in my head," Luna gave him a worried glance, "It seems that while you and your sister trust me, some of the guards are still suspicious of me. A few of them caught up with me before dinner. Armor showed up before it got out of control, and that was about it."

Luna was surprised by this. "Was it Thorn again? He has always been a bit of a bonehead. I could make sure he isn't a threat anymore and-"

"No, Luna, it's fine, Armor has it under control," Flare said, interrupting her, "and I can take care of myself, you don't have to be so worried about me."

Luna said nothing, and they continued to climb the stairs in silence. Flare considered flying up the stairs as a dragon, but figured it was too small and he would get sick flying in a circle for so long. At last they reached the top. There was a large set of doors and a smaller pair. Flare figured the rest out from there.

"Goodnight Flare," Luna said as Flare stumbled towards his doors, he was exhausted by the stairs.

"Goodnight Luna."

"Oh, and Flare," She said before he could escape into his new quarters.

"Yes?"

"You don't have to call me 'Princess'." And with that, she was gone.

Flare grinned, then drowsily pulled himself into his room, closed the door behind him, and fell into his new bed. The only thing he was able to notice about the room before sleep embraced him was how soft the bed was.