"Come on, come on, let's move it!" Shouted an armored dark grey pegasus ahead of a small line of stallions that marched along with the pony. He stopped and stepped just to the side, allowing the ponies to trot past him. He narrowed his bright gold eyes onto them as they went by.
"Pick up the pace, come on, move your flanks!" He shouted into their ears as they advanced past, looking to break them in some way.
No surprise to him, as they did not break their neat formation and kept a steady, stoic march through the streets of Canterlot. On the sidewalks stood other ponies of all race and age, many of them admiring the guards as they marched by towards the barracks near the palace. The grey pegasus opened his wings and floated to the front of the line, landing in front of the two leading ponies and marching with them, eyes straight and standing tall like any decent guard.
Night Shadow, second-in-command of Princess Luna's personal royal guard, was out breaking in the newest additions to her highness' guard, and led the small group back towards the palace where the barracks of both branches of the Royal Guard were located. A few of the conscripts were sweating profusely from the extreme heat of the early afternoon on that late summer day and all were eager to head back to grab lunch at the mess hall.
The five were stopped at one of the gates leading into the guard grounds and each were checked over briefly by a guard officer before being let inside. Towards the flag pole at the center of the barracks grounds, Night stopped and turned back to the recruits following his lead, eyes scanning over them carefully.
"All of you!" he yelled to get their attention. "Go get some lunch, you've earned it," he then gave a grin to them, two razor-sharp fangs in his mouth visible.
The physically drained recruits broke formation and went in the direction of the mess hall across the courtyard, while Night made his way into the palace to his quarters on the second floor. It was a bit of a walk from the door to the Royal Guard section of the castle but it wasn't brought to mind. Instead, he enjoyed seeing the sights in the hallways.
The massive crystal chandeliers, the expensive paintings, the beautifully colored flowers within their pure golden pots, and anything else decorative perfectly placed and made the palace certainly an exquisite place to visit. But for Night, it was an everyday sight—it was his home.
Trotting up a rounded flight of stairs to the second floor and to the right down the hallway, Night walked up to a wooden door at the end of the hallway just before the corner and pulled a key from out of his armor and inserted it into the door's lock before giving it a turn and pushing the door inward.
The dark grey pegasus trotted into his personal quarters—which, to him, was more like a large apartment within the palace presented to him for his rank within the Lunar Guard. The floor was entirely made of cobble, except for the kitchen area and bathroom. The main room in which was where he entered was simple but large and had plenty of spare room.
His bed sat closer to the twin balcony doors, between the windows and the bed a wooden tower dresser, the top section with doors being where he hung his armor and smaller weapons, while the other drawers remained empty. Opposite of the dresser from the bed was a polished wooden desk where Night did most of his paperwork when he wasn't on a patrol.
Over all, if he hadn't been in the position he was in Luna's guard, he wouldn't have been even close to afford purchasing such a place, especially in Canterlot closer to the palace, where apartments of such size or luxury were extremely expensive, at least a couple hundred thousand bits.
After stripping himself of his armor, Night sauntered his way into the bathroom and took a folded towel from underneath the granite counter tops and hung it beside the shower for later use, where he then took the handle and slid open the frosted glass door and reached a hoof in, turning the dial to a comfortable temperature before stepping in. It was only a moment before initially cold water came out and Night found himself pinned against the tiled wall, avoiding being touched by the ice-cold water until it was comfortably warm to stand in.
Once under the water, he unfolded his wings and let the water run off of them while it soaked into his mane, coat and feathers. He reached a hoof up to his forehead and moved part of his mane out of the way of his eyes and then took a bottle of shampoo in one hoof, squirting some into his other hoof and rubbing it into his mane until it was completely full of suds. He rinsed the soap out by holding his head directly under the water and reopened his eyes when it was completely out of his mane.
Finally, after scrubbing down the rest of his body with a light blue bar of blueberry-scented soap and rinsed it clean of his dark grey fur, Night stepped out of the shower and took the towel, rubbing it over himself until he was completely dry—then, his coat puffed up.
Night walked up to the gold-lined mirror to brush his mane, noticing his coat, and his eyes expanded in surprise. "I wish it would stop doing that every time..." he muttered in annoyance, beginning to pat his fluffed-up fur down and brushing his mane back to it's normal style.
At the door of his quarters, there was a gentle knock from outside. Night, with his sensitive hearing, picked up the noise which made his ear swivel sideways. He cracked the bathroom door open just slightly, speaking up for the occupant outside the door to hear clearly. "Who is it?"
"Captain Night Shadow," the voice started, somewhat muffled behind the wooden door. "I have a message addressed to you from the Prancific Northwest. Vanhoover to be specific."
Trotting out of the bathroom with the now-used towel hanging over both sides of him, Night opened the door, meeting face to face with a younger stallion in dark-blue and purple armor, the main emblem being a white crescent moon resembling Princess Luna's cutie mark. He held the letter in one hoof and handed it closer to Night, who took it and examined the envelope. "Any idea who it is from?"
The unicorn shook his head. "Not a clue, captain. But I assumed it was classified if no specific returning address was added. That, or it could be poison," the guard then raised his nose slightly and sniffed the air. "Is... that blueberry shampoo I smell?" he tilted his head.
Chuckling softly, Night patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, corporal. And I have a pretty good idea who the letter is from. Carry on," he then saluted. The guard saluted in return, and walked off to resume his duties. Night, curious about the letter, shut his door and stopped beside it, taking one of his fangs to slice the top of the envelope open rather than the use of a letter knife, then pulled the thrice-folded letter out and stretched it flat to read.
To my dear and brave brother, Bloodvein Night Shadow,
It has been quite a while since we have communicated, and I myself as well as many others back home are still trying to get used to writing elsewhere than our own colony. It is simply great to be able to talk to you from such a long distance, even if it takes a week or two for you to get my messages. Anyways, in case you wish to know, we're all doing good. School is long behind me and I am still out looking for a job, but right now it looks like nothing is open in town while renovations are being made.
On a side note, I do have one question for you. Do you plan on coming for our father's birthday party? It is quite soon and we'd be happy to see you again for this momentous occasion. I mean, our father is turning forty-seven. Before we know it, he'll be fifty and hopefully not straining himself with his job and find something more settling before retiring. Me and mom have decided to take him to a new restaurant that recently opened in town and are wondering if you will be joining us.
Get back to me as soon as you can. Take care brother.
With much love, your crazy sister, Dawn Blossom.
Night smiled softly as he concluded reading over the letter, whilst also being in some slight shock that it was that time of year already. Immediately, he refolded the piece of paper and strode over to his work desk, taking a seat in the chair and opening a fresh bottle of ink, dipping a quill inside and writing his reply on a blank piece of paper, tongue just barely sticking out of his closed maw while he wrote.
Upon finishing, he closed the bottle of ink and read over the letter one last time prior to folding it up neatly and slipping it into an envelope, licking up and down the tongue of the paper and sealing it, finishing by addressing the letter to the city of Batsburg, remembering how even after relations were amended, a proper mail service or home addresses were not yet established in the cloud city that by now everypony likely knew about.
Night stood from his desk, letter in-hoof as he made his way to the door and out into the palace's lengthy hallways, on his way to deliver his reply to his sister's message. He turned into a large stairwell leading down to the first floor of the palace, down another hallway and out through the main entrance, onto the rather busy Canterlot streets.
He made his way through the thick crowds, winding a couple of streets before coming across one of the city's postal offices where he slipped his letter happily into the box of letters to be delivered across Equestria. Smiling as it floated down into a small pile of letters within the box, he closed the metal flap and trotted back in the direction of the castle.
Dear my amazing sister, Dawn Blossom,
I have been quite busy here in Canterlot with my job as of recently and have lost track of the time. Thank you, also, for the reminder, and yes, I will be coming home to see all of you, and specifically our father for his birthday celebration. Please do keep it a secret as I wish to surprise him. Hopefully you can get this letter sooner than I get there. If not, it will be a surprise either way.
Can't wait to see you all, and I'm elated to hear all is well. See you soon. Love, Night Shadow.
P.S, I saw that correction you made. There is no hiding it. XOXO