"Princess?" Busby Sword, one of the guards asked as he creaked the door open. When he received no answer, he swung the door wide open, allowing the torchlight from outside to . "Princess? Are you in here?" He asked again. Still, he received no answer. The silence gave the rookie guard a certain chill he wasn't used to.
Though moonlight was softly blanketed over what the guard assumed was her bed, it was still quite hard to see what was inside. His horn glowed in order to turn on the grand lamps that sat in the corners of the room, illuminating it grandly. At the center of the room sat a bed of soft white feathers Celestia had gathered over the years of her rule. Over the bed was a large window in the shape of a sun, allowing the small clouded moonlight in.
She's not here? Busby thought. Where could she have gone? The bed didn't show any signs of stress or movement, as the edges of the sheets were still tucked in at various spots under the feathers... however no new ones had shown up. No doubt about it, Celestia hadn't slept in her bed since the previous night. This rose the question however... what did that mean? Where was the sun Princess? The sun would have to be up in less than 2 hours. What if it didn't come up?
A thought also stuck the guard. Prior to his recruitment, he'd been a common pony who'd walked around like everyone else. The only reason he went into the guard training nearly two years ago was because of the "Great Threats of Equestria" incidents. One’s notable included Nightmare Moon and Discord... He'd wanted to protect the ones who'd gotten hurt during their games and be able to save lives... or at least that was his surface reason. Part of him simply took up the job to be close to the princess on such an occasion so he'd be somewhat protected by such a powerful pony, both politically and physically. It was also partially the reason why he became a sun guard. Though Princess Luna wasn't exactly feared in Equestria, but rather loved, the guard still held some left after the Nightmare Moon incident as she watched guards get shot out of the air by her lightning. The guard wondered... could that mare have returned?
The thought frightened the guard, but he shook his head. It couldn't be true... Celestia herself even assured that the manifestation of the mare's hatred and mental anguish couldn't have recreated itself. Besides, even if it was true, he knew he shouldn't have been too naive to think that a job as Equestria's basic military force wouldn't involve some kind of danger every now and again, even in the mostly peaceful country of Equestria...
None the less, the guard knew well to notify his platoon leader of the sun princess's disappearance. Quickly, he bolted out of the room, running down the hallways to the main entrance. He remembered how he was complaining he was the one with the mundane task of checking up on the princess every hour or so... he just thought it was one of those things that guards gave the rookie to do to keep them from the important stuff experienced guards got to do. With that thought, he'd been severely slacking on his hourly check on the princess... specifically, this was the second time he'd checked on her his first night on the job. The first time was around seven o'clock yesterday, in which the Princess had still yet to return. He'd assumed that she was out doing... whatever sun princesses did. Ever since, he'd been wandering around Canterlot Castle, listening to the rain as it beat against the walls. Since it was nearly the end of his shift, and the rain had let up enough to actually leave the castle, Busby thought the least he could do was check on the princess one last time...
The stallion finally made it to the Guard Barracks to confront platoon leader Duarte Knight, who was shining his sword along with Waite, a 2 year vet. Unlike Busby, they both had seen a lot of action between the two Great Threats. They both wore similar scars from the lightning bolts they'd received from Nightmare peeking out from the edges of their armor. They also held emptiness to their eyes when silent, hinting they'd been touched by Discord in some way. Other than the placement of their scars, their eye color, Waite's being purple and Duarte's being indigo, and the fact one was earth and the other was pegusi, they looked very similar to the other sun guards. They both, much like himself, had coats altered to be white by the enchanted golden armor they wore.
Upon Busby's arrival, they both turned from their swords to the panting stallion.
"Busby? What are you doing? Your shift shouldn't end for another 10 minutes! Get back to your post!" Duarte ordered.
Waite was the first one to notice Busby's fearful demeanor. "What's wrong Bubble? First day on the job and you've already lost your nerve?" he laughed.
Once Busby had caught his breath, he looked up at his superiors. "The... the princess." he breathed.
Duarte looked at the stallion peculiarly. "What about her? Speak up stallion!"
"She's... she's missing." he breathed.
Durate and Waite looked at each other, then back at Busby.
"Are you sure?" Waite asked.
"Of course I'm sure." Busby said bitterly. "I checked her bed, and all around her room. She's not there. I doubt she even went into her room this night-"
"Wait, wait wait." Durate stopped him. "You’re saying that she wasn't in her room all night? Why didn't you report this earlier?"
Uh oh. Shouldn't have let that slip out. Busby thought.
"I uh... wasn't exactly checking her in detail."
"Not in detail? Or not at all." Durate said, crossing his eyes. He gave the stallion a look that made him gulp. After a few seconds of angry staring, he turned to Waite. "Waite. Get the moon guards to check on Princess Luna. Let's see if we've got two missing princesses. I'm going to notify all guards to search the entire castle for Princess Celestia. Neither of the princesses are found, I'll have a few moon and sun guards meet at the castle gates to discuss the next plan of action."
Waite nodded and left the barracks room. Busby tried to turn to leave and clock out for the night.
"Wait rookie." Durate said angrily.
Oh boy. Busby thought turning back to the angry platoon leader..
"You..." the pegusi said before sighing. "You didn't do your duty tonight, and for that, I'm disappointed in you. You swore an oath to protect the princess and to serve her was your duty." Durate said.
Sorry if walking back and forth around one door doesn't count as a 'duty' in my book. Busby thought.
"I should have you relieved of duty right now... but until we find the princess, I need you to assist with the search around the castle."
"Y-yes sir." Busby said.
"Once the princess is found, I'll let her discipline you. She has her own... special ways of dealing with lazy guards such as yourself. The thought of Celestia punishing him did scare him, as Celestia seemed way too nice on the surface to "punish" any pony. Busby had read a book about a mare, who seemed to be happy, bubbly and cheerful, but in the end, she just gutted her best friend like a fish. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get out of my face. See if you can't redeem yourself by acting like a real guard who cares about his princess."
Busby silently swallowed and nodded before exiting the barrack room. Outside, Waite was waiting for him. He gave the rookie guard a friendly smile.
"Don't worry Bubble. Every pony does something like that on their first day on the job. Duarte gets on them all." he assured. "Only a hoofful of them get to the point of really getting it from the Princess, and she doesn't do much."
"Really?" Busby asked.
"Yeah. I mean, no one's been sent to the moon as far as I've been here. The worst I've heard is something about the princess liking to touch her guards... but that's probably just a rumor."
Dear Celestia I hope so... wait... Busby thought.
"Well, you'd better get going." Waite said patting Busby on the back of the neck before continuing down the castle hall. "Last thing we'd want is for some Knighty to find you just standing around... or he actually might let Celestia getcha." He laughed before leaving Busby alone.
***
Busby walked around the castle, passing by other guards, both sun and moon looking for the same alicorn that was absent. The guard stallion figured that the princess of the moon was also missing, given the number of moon guards he'd passed by so far. He'd already checked a few rooms and briefly the dungeons. There was no sign of either princess anywhere. He decided to head out to the castle gates where Durate told the guards to meet.
Once outside, the moist air hit his face. Water that lingered from the heavy rain that had pounded the night earlier seeped through the sides of his armor and into his mane. The feeling chilled the guard... Busby hated that feeling of coldness in his mane. He walked along the path to the castle gates, passing by the statues of ponies that had made names for themselves in Equesrtia history... for better or for worst.
Busby stopped in front of one statue in particular. He knew this one well, as should any pony have for that matter. Standing in a triumphant pose, was the stone depiction of the god of chaos, draconequus of disorder, and male of mayhem, Discord. Standing next to him, was another stone statue of Nightmare Moon, standing smugly against Discord. Though they were two different villains with very different goals, the two seemed to fit standing together. Though Busby knew very well that Nightmare wasn't real, but he did know that Discord was.
Busby closed his eyes remembering the story of what happened in the two stories... all guards knew this information, for they had to in order to pass the written portion of the Royal Guard exam. Nightmare was the one who hated Celestia for imprisoning her on the moon, fighting the princess over Equestria for 10 years... Discord was the one who liked to have fun messing with ponies, and managed to overthrow Celestia and Luna for 300 years... Busby remembered why Nightmare was released, given her banishment clock had just ran up. Discord however... he could vaguely remember. All he could remember was that it had something to do with three fillies... he remembered their names were Applebloom, Scootaloo and... but Busby couldn't remember the third one for the life of him. He figured she couldn't be that important anyway. Busby continued to stare at the statue, mesmerized, but he wasn't sure why. Was it the simple fact that he was standing in front of a god that couldn't move because he was encased in rock? Or was it something about the-
"Sun Guard!" a mare called. Busby turned to face a guard who wore the armor and dark coat of a moon guard. Her flamboyant eyelashes indicated she was in fact female.
"What do you know. I didn't know they let mares guard the-" Busby started.
"Shut it rookie." the moon guard mare snapped.
Sheesh. Try to be friendly. Are all guards like this to newbies? Busby thought.
"What are you doing? This is a national emergency!" she said angrily. "The princess is missing and all you can think to do is stare at stones?"
"It's... an interesting stone." Busby said timidly. The mare squinted angrily, indicating the stallion should change his approach. "Hey, my name's Busby. Busby Sword. What's yours?"
"Busby... I'm surprised your application was accepted on account of your name, let alone your laziness."
Hey lady. We just met. I haven't even taken a nap yet. Busby thought. And what's wrong with my name?!
"Busby! Paita! Quit flirting and get over here!" Another moon guard called, accompanied by another moon guard, Waite and Durate. "You've got a job to do."
Paita grumbled something before flying over to her platoon leader. "Come on you!" She called back to Busby.
Oh boy... ten seconds and I've already got her hating me too. Busby thought. Sun and Moon guards always had a moderate rivalry, but no immediate feeling that represented whatever Peta Sharp felt toward Busby. Something told him that by the end of the night, the two would love each other to pieces, or potentially want to slit each other's throats. Maybe both.
The unicorn sun guard trotted over to the group to join them. From there, he could see that they were all surrounding one of the royal chariots.
"Alright, listen up the five of you!" Durate said. Though they weren't apart of the same team, all three of the moon guards stood strait and dignified to listen to what the platoon leader had to say. Busby was the only one who jumped before joining the rest of the ponies in the same manner. Durate shook his head at the stallion. "As of now, Princess Celestia is missing, and the country of Equestria is on national alert."
First day on the job, and there's an official national crisis? Super. Busby thought.
"Might I also add..." one of the moon guards came out of the small group to join Duarte. He was likely the leader of that platoon of moon guards. "... that Princess Luna is missing as well."
"Right. As you all are aware of, this has happened before... must I mention the Nightmare Moon incident?" Duarte said looking at Busby.
"What?" Busby asked.
"Nothing... you just seemed like one of those who screwed through the test and lucked out getting the answer right." Durate admitted. The moon guards chuckled amongst themselves as Busby sighed.
"I know all about Nightmare Moon and Discord... sir." Busby said.
"As you should." the moon guard platoon leader said.
"In any case, our first order of business is to alert the Elements of Harmony in Ponyville of this. You may know them from one of Celestia's pupils, Twilight Sparkle."
Huh. So I'm going to meet the 'oh so famous' Mane 6 huh? Busby thought, commenting on the nickname he'd heard some of the Canterlot folk talk about. I guess that's kind of cool.
"Though... keep in mind. We may be dealing with Nightmare Moon this night." Durate said.
"Or a crazed Celestia." the moon leader commented. "This means, keep your swords close to you. You don't know what you might face tonight."
Busby looked to his side to see that he in fact did not have a sword on him. "Uh... I don't have a-"
"That's fine." Durate said. "Hopefully, you won't need one."
The guard ponies began to pile into the chariot ready to go. Durate took his spot at the left of the harness to the chariot to fly it.
"And if we do encounter one of the alicorns in a hostile mood..." Paita said in a tone the stallion couldn't help but process as seductive, walking past him. "...we could always use you as bait."
Busby gulped once more as she finally took her spot at the front of the chariot to assist Durate in piloting the craft.
"Come on Busby!" Waite called. "I kept your seat warm for you!"
Busby sighed. His shift should have ended 10 minutes ago. And something told him...
That his night had only just begun...