The next morning came too soon for Night Shadow, who hadn't fallen back asleep since a mysterious note was thrown into his quarters. His eyes sat widen open throughout sunrise and eventually became bloodshot. He was then jolted out of his long trance of thought when the clock he had set to wake him up on his night stand began ringing. Night sat up and reached a hoof to the clock and tapping the small button on top to silence it. He yawned and rubbed one eye, then looked to the window and saw the pinkish-yellow sky.
"Today's going to be a long day..."
***
Night walked sluggishly to the chow hall by the guard barracks where he decided to have breakfast rather than cooking. He yawned many times on the way and was almost too exhausted to walk. Unaware of where he was, Night went face first into the door of the chow hall and immediately fell asleep on the spot. When he did, the door swung open and he fell flat on the floor, snoring quietly. Guards stopped and stared at him, some snickering, others concerned and went to wake him up. By doing so, one pony dropped ice water on him.
Night shrieked and stood up straight, mane and coat soaked and he was shivering as bits of ice slid down his armor. He then turned to the pony holding the cooler and glared coldly. He growled, then punched his hooves together, signifying that if he didn't leave, he was going to drop him. The guard gasped and ran off to hide, while others stared at Night. He glanced around the room, his cheeks now burning red when he knew they were watching the whole time. He finally glared around.
"What, never seen another guard fall asleep unintentionally on the job before?"
Everyone in the room went back to what they were doing. Night nodded once and got in the short line waiting for breakfast. When he went to find a seat, somepony whistling for his attention made his ear perk and swivel. He turned and looked in the direction it was coming from, spotting a lighter grey pegasus waving to him. He smiled slightly and trotted to the pony.
"Long night I assume?"
"Very long. I don't know where to start," Night set his tray down hard, enough to make a noise. He grumbled and sat down just as hard.
"You don't have to tell me, I had a long one myself," Thunderblast put a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.
"Probably not as bad as mine, but let's hear it."
"One of the new recruits was caught sneaking into the locked spell archives after knocking the guard out with chloroform and then tied him up. The alarm was triggered and I brought some others along to take him down. Of course, it was the lieutenant's recruit. So, this guy had skill. And I mean skill with a capitol S. It took about thirty minutes before he ran out of steam and we cuffed him. But, the lieutenant insists we give him another chance."
"Definitely not, anypony caught stealing from there gets at least five years in the dungeons," Night took a sip of milk.
Thunder nodded. "And if he is let out of jail and let back into the guard, I'm going to go ballistic."
"Well, you won't see me stopping you," Night chuckled tiredly.
Thunder chuckled. "So, what happened to you?"
Night lifted his spoon out of his warm oatmeal and stopped for a moment. "Couldn't sleep," he then ate it.
"Just that? Couldn't sleep?"
Night nodded, then shrugged. "Sort of," he looked around, then reached into his armor and pulled out a piece of folded paper. "Read this in your head."
Thunder took the piece of paper and unfolded it, he started to read the note, his eyes gradually widened, then he looked over it to Night Shadow.
"We need to report this to the captain," Night said quietly.
"Now, hang on, are you sure this isn't some sort of prank Princess Luna set up? You know how much of a jokester she can be from time to time."
"Why would she break my window?"
"She's the princess, she can get away with anything."
Night rolled his eyes. "If you say so. I won't let my guard down, but I'll take it as a joke. I'll talk to her about it, and if she knows nothing, then I will assume this is a threat towards me and the rest of the guard, or even Luna herself."
"If I were you, I'd let it slide. If something else happens, then it would be a good idea to let someone higher than you know what's up."
"Thunder, is that what you like to do with problems? You just brush it off, and when something does happen, you act surprised?
Thunder stopped, then snorted. "Excuse you, but I didn't actually think one mentally unstable pony could bring Equestria to it's knees."
"But you still let things happen. You know what, if something eventful does go on in the next week or two, you're the last pony I will come to for help if I need it," Night glared, standing up and taking his tray to another table.
"A captain shouldn't need to run to somepony, a true captain should know how to fend for himself," Thunder shouted as Night walked away.
***
Night huffed as he walked through the halls of the palace, the whole way talking to himself. "Idiot...a true captain knows how to handle a situation," he snorted. "Whoever says Solar guards are superior is full of—"
Before he could finish, a loud crash came from the hallway in front of him, followed by the yelps and grunts of a pony seemingly fighting off another. Night ran to the end of the hallway and slid to a stop. Directly in the middle of the hall laid an earth pony guard, his spear knocked away and his arms pinned by a much larger and extremely well built earth pony who's forehooves were protected by giant steel gauntlets that were polished well enough to reflect like a mirror.
The tan earth pony turned and stared right at the grey pegasus before letting out a huff of steam through his nostrils. He put severe pressure onto the guard's hooves which made his victim grunt more in pain, then noticed his attacker looking in one direction and also looked that way.
"Captain, I need help!" The guard squeaked out and winced.
Night narrowed his eyes onto the muscular pony holding the guard down, then clenched his teeth angrily. "Why don't you pick on somepony your own size?"
The pony let out a deep chuckle. "Beat it, squirt. Why don't you go fetch Shining Armor while you're at it? I've been looking for him for so long."
"Closest you'll ever get to him is me. Now, get off of him or you'll regret it."
The pony chuckled again. "You and what army?"
"I don't need an army to kick flank."
"Your arrogance will get the better of you, punk," the pony hopped off of the guard and slammed down just feet from Night. His pure weight and momentum damaged the wooden floor beneath him and shook the entire hallway from top to bottom.
"Go, get out of here!" Night shouted to the guard, who nodded and weakly left.
The two stared each other down for almost a minute, before the tan pony huffed and charged towards Night with thunderous claps of his heavy gauntlets smashing into the floor. Night waited carefully before he opened his wings, and in one large flap of them, he threw himself airborne.
The earth pony leaped upwards, extending his neck just enough to attempt to grab Night's hind leg in his maw but just barely missed. He stomped his hooves into the floor upon landing, Night landing on all fours a few feet behind. The earth pony turned his head around and stared coldly at Night prior to letting out a massive, deafening clamor and turning around to gallop at the lone Lunar guard again.
"You may be faster to move than me, guard, but to me, you're just another fly in the world that needs to be swatted out of the picture!" The earth pony narrowed his green eyes onto Night and stomped his gauntlets into the floor once again, preparing for his next move.
Night bared the fangs in his mouth and hissed. In an instant, he galloped towards the pony and lunged into the air. The earth pony grinned sinisterly, then jerked one of his forehooves upwards and slammed it directly into Night's jaw with a devastating crack that sent him flying up into one of the skylights and shattering the entire thing, then instantly falling back down with a loud thump as glass and bits of golden metal rained around him.
The earth pony chuckled as Night remained down on the floor. "You are weak, you have much to learn if you are supposed to be Luna's second in command," he suddenly turned his head when he heard the approaching shouts and hoofsteps of guards. "I will finish you later, Night Shadow."
The pony galloped out of the hallway and through a large window on one of the exterior walls, smashing it instantly and landing outside with a loud thump and an earth-shaking roar of anger.
The guards, being late to catch the gauntlet-wielding pony immediately noticed Night on the ground and ran to his aid. Upon closer inspection by one of the unicorns in the group, his jaw was cracked and severely bloodied and was rushed to the palace's medical wing for treatment.
By the time they arrived, Night was just barely conscious and was still fairly stunned by the overall impact the gauntlet had on him. At the medical wing, he was given a sedation potion that allowed him to sleep peacefully while medics worked to realign his jaw. It was a careful but quick process, and some time later, he woke up.
Unexpectedly sitting next to his bed was Princess Luna, who was keeping a close eye on Night. She then smiled when she realized he was awake.
"O-oh my... Princess Luna!" Night sat up too quickly, then put a hoof to his forehead. "Ow... head rush."
Princess Luna gently pushed Night back into his bed. "Thou must rest, Captain. Thine has taken quite a hit."
"What happened...?" He groaned.
Princess Luna sighed. "I am afraid we have had yet another security breach, this time of much bigger proportions. It could have been much worse had thou not intervened, and the guard thou saved alerted others whom found thou on the floor."
"Did... did they get him?" Night laid back against the pillow.
Princess Luna shook her head a couple of times. "He got away before we could catch him, the guards say."
Night sat up just a bit again. "W-well, we need to be out there looking for him! He was a big pony, he can't hide that easily!"
"Please, captain. We would like for thou to have a good night's rest to allow thou's jaw to fully heal."
"Princess, you don't understand. This stallion is dangerous, I-I need to brief our men and—"
Princess Luna held her hoof up and put it over Night's lips to silence him.
"Captain, we will do that ourselves. Thou needs rest, and we will see to it that that is what will happen! Is that understood?"
Night relaxed into his bed and sighed. "Yes, your highness."