Thorns by Night

by Pyrus Nightwrite

Chapter 2: the Dusk

Nightmare Division Tip # 4: Spells. No, we are not talking about unicorns. Every member of the Nightmare Division has been given special spells, tailoring to the natural abilities of each pony as well as the unit as a whole. Generally, earth ponies will receive a pitch black coat as well as muscle enhancements and general physical toughness spells. Unicorns will receive a deep purple hue, and horns will be lengthened and sharpened at the tip. Pegasus ponies will receive a dark grey coat, and slenderer, more aerodynamic bodies. In addition, pegasus wings will be transformed from feathery to a more intimidating, more powerful wings of a bat. Above all else, every Nightmare Guard will be given a lifeline to Princess Luna. You cannot live without the Princess.

I was soaked. I was cold. And I was rather annoyed. The events of the half an hour before struck me as too difficult to understand. So, being myself, I did everything I could to wrap my head around it.

I KNOW Wingbeat wouldn’t attack any princess like that, even if he is a Flare. He may not be a gently pony, but he also knows his place… and Solar Flares never fight alone, ever. There has to be something going on here… something wrong. I could care less about wherever Celestia went, if it weren’t for her Faust-damned Solar Flares attacking my princess without warning.

I realized I was pacing, and not paying attention. I had been instructed to guard all the possible entrances while Luna and Twilight had a rather serious conversation. They’re probably just as confused as I am.

As if on cue, Princess Luna called my name. Immediately bolting to her presence, I gave a polite bow and asked what she needed of me.

“I don’t need anything. In fact, I think I have this figured out. I think you should hear this.

“A very long time ago, I was taken by my hatred and jealousy. I think we all know that story. What isn’t known is your role in it, Roseshadow. When I transformed… the Nightmare Guards transformed with me because of the connection we shared. This is truly the main reason your wings are like that: it is part of what remains. It comes with your lifeline.” She turned to look directly at me, and changed the subject before I could comment. “You mentioned that the brown pegasus was… not behaving normally?”

I nodded, knowing it was best to listen this time.

“Then I have reason to believe that Celestia has a similar connection, and I feel like, however impossible it sounds, Celestia has been somehow manipulated and altered. The fact that she and Discord disappeared together tells me Discord was behind it.”

I took all this in, it sounded likely enough to me. “So what’s the plan?” My wings flicked out involuntarily, the prospect of a good fight fizzed in my veins.

“We wait.”

I must have deflated. I felt deflated. And Luna quickly went to explain herself.

“We need all the help we can get, and Twilight Sparkle’s own regiment is on their way. They will need to rally, get geared up, and then focus and teleport here. When they do, we’ll collectively teleport as a group. I have sent a message to the rest of the Nightmare Guards, and they will be gathered to meet us in the Cave. There we will join forces and proceed as needed.”

‘The Cave’ is the training facility and barracks of the Nightmare Division. It is a hollow area beneath Canterlot that used to be used as crystal mines. This particular cave connects to a secret entrance in the castle, and extends via tunnel to several concealed exits/entrances in Canterlot Mountain. It is also my home, more than my first family ever gave me.

“Any questions, NightRose?”

“Only one, princess.”

“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. “You usually have more than that.”

I grinned, showing my elongated teeth. “How long do I have to wait before I can get my hooves on Discord?”

+++++

So wait I did. Waited, and watched the door and windows of the first floor. Waited for Twi’s guards to show up. About 5 minutes into waiting, a sound caught my attention. It wasn’t threatening enough to warrant an attack, but it still surprised me enough that I jerked myself around and unfurled my wings. I was met by a small figure, walking on two legs that ended in claws, with spines running down his back.

I apparently had startled him more than he startled me, because he yelled something incoherent before catching himself. Taking a deep breath, he started speaking very quickly.

“Woah. That’s one way to wake up in the morning. Or, am I even awake, or am I still dreaming?” He paused to pinch himself. I stood watching, unmoving except for a puzzled eyebrow. “Nope, I’m awake. I didn’t see you there, sorry. Welcome to the Ponyville library, how can I he- WHAT’S WITH YOUR WINGS!?”

I rolled my eyes, and was about to say something sarcastic when the short, awestruck dragon turned sharply and ran off towards twilight’s voice calling “Spike?”

Spike? Seems like an appropriate name to me.

+++++

I spent another 10 minutes or so uneventfully. Just as I was starting to wonder when the hay they would show up, I heard a loud popping noise from inside the library. Books flew off of the shelves, and I sighed heavily at the unicorns that had just appeared behind me. “Well, look who finally decided to show up. And I was just about ready to fly up there and drag you here myself.”

Twilight Sparkle’s guards are something of a joke within our regiment. It takes nearly 3 years just to complete the training to become a Nightmare Division pony. We have gone through major changes by the end of it, to the point where some ponies actually lost their minds completely. As Princess Sparkle has been a princess for less than a year, their training and actual experience makes it very difficult to take them seriously. Of course, they don’t know about any of the spells besides the one that was folded at my sides.

“Well, I’m glad I got here when I did. Just enough to annoy you, and not so much that I had to touch you.” There were about 15 ponies, all unicorns, and all graduates of that one gifted unicorns place that is sponsored by Celestia. Tops of their class. The one who had just spoken to me was a bluish stallion.

“Come to think of it, I’m glad now to. At least you managed to accomplish something, for once.”

I smiled my pointed teeth at them as they grumbled. I left it at that, and flew up the stairs to inform the princesses, even though it was very unlikely that they hadn’t noticed already.

+++++

I’m not used to being stared at. In fact I’m rather used to ponies never looking at me at all, that means I’m doing my job right. As my job now is less about staying unnoticed and more about the actual guarding, I feel tense. The ponies behind me that guarded Twi were staring at me, at my wings. As were most of the elements of harmony, as most of them had shown up, and we were now only waiting for the last one, Fluttershy.

Their names were known, and their faces were known, by almost everypony in Equestria. First as the six ponies that brought Luna back, later as the ponies that defeated Discord and later reformed him, and now as the newest princess’s closest friends. Yes, they were rather prolific. Silent celebrities. I knew them less because of their fame, but as the fact that I have been on duty and seen more of them than they will ever know.

I have even been assigned to them.

“So. How do I get me a pair of wings like that?” Rainbow Dash was bored, like I was. I could see it in her eyes. She began poking at my wings, examining them. I sighed, and lifted them out, exposing them. I wouldn’t do this normally, as I hate being looked over, but something told me that Rainbow needed something to do or she would become a problem, and it gave me something to do as well.

“Spend years, as a foal, awake at nights more than during the day, along with having a personal friendship to Princess Luna to be chosen, then spend another three years training hard, without going insane from the stress, then be lucky enough to be hoof picked from those eligible, and then survive the ceremony. Does that answer your question?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She went on, bending my wings uncomfortably. “I want them. They look awesome.”

I realized that everypony in the room was pretending not to stare. Applejack talked to Rarity, and both of them stole glances while they thought I was not looking. Each of Twi’s guards that weren’t upstairs were snickering, and Spike openly stared, completely disregarding Pinkie Pie talking her mane off to him. Pinkie seemed the only pony to not care, but I know that is for a reason.

Everypony was watching to see what I did next. The awkward contact from Rainbow was bound to bring out some kind of weakness or response from me. It would have, too, had Fluttershy not chosen that moment to knock weakly on the door. I was at the door faster than Rainbow could comprehend the fact that I had slipped out of her grip, and she fell to the floor. I looked through the window, recodized the yellow pegasus, and opened the door. She shrank away from me with a slight “Eep.”

Damn. Sometimes these wing can be a real bother…

“Come in Fluttershy, so we can get started.”

Fluttershy remained hiding her eyes behind her hooves. I sighed.

“Awesome, Fluttershy is here!” Rainbow flew over, and landed with her hooves dangling over my side. I decided I definitely was not comfortable with that. “Why are you hiding? Is it from her? Because she’d totally cool, she won’t hurt you!”

The next thing I knew, there was another pony with their front legs drapped over my midsection. I felt the first threads of panic take hold of my heart. Definitely NOT comfortable with this. This one was pink. “Yeah! Dashie’s right, she’s cool.”

Still no response. I rolled my eyes and slipped out again, this time more gently so the pair wouldn’t fall on their faces, though I admit it crossed my mind to do so. I involuntarily let out a breath of relief. I understood that it was time to go, before I lost my mind and killed one of them. Appearing much more calm than I was, I walked away to check the window. What the hay just happened? I almost panicked and lost control over some little touch… I’m better than this, I know I’m better than this.

I had noticed that Fluttershy wasn’t going to come in as long as I was around, so I floated upstairs to inform the princesses that she had arrived. I was followed up by once of Twilight’s guards, probably to do the same thing.

“Princess, all of our ‘guests’ are accounted for. What are your orders?” I stated much more formally than I normally would. I snuck a glance at Twi’s guard who was, as I expected, doing the same.

“Thank you, Roseshadow. Follow me, and… I think you might want to find something to bite down on. Group teleports can be something of a scramble.”

“What do you mean, Luna?” I dropped the formalities, Twilight and her guard had left.

“Imagine trying to fit 30 ponies through a cat door. There will be some contact you won’t like.”

I am constantly amazed by my princess’s powers of deduction, and her caring for her guards. Most of us are either orphans, by accident or by choice in the case of a few of us, or come from abusive homes, or are homeless. Sometimes a combination of the three. The fact that she could tell simply by watching me that I was uncomfortable with fur-to-fur touch, even though I only became aware of that a few moments ago, reminded me of it. “Understood, Ma’am. I’ll… try not to panic.”

“You won’t panic. Just stand next to me; it’ll at least lessen the number of ponies you’re touching.”

+++++

We stood in the large main room of the library, preparing for the mission ahead. The clock showed that it was only a little past noon. The goal was simple, we were to teleport into the bedroom of one of the Canterlot royalty, specifically “Prince” Blueblood’s room. From there, Princess Twilight and Princess Luna would break into two directions; Twilight would take her friends and her group to their quarters and armory, and Luna and I would make our way to the cave to gather our own force. We would then meet up in the court room.

The only complication was that the EQA seemed to still be scrambling, and had the castle on lockdown, and are prepared to attack every pony that they saw. As well as any Flares we see are even more likely to attack us. Lucky me… I get to fight ponies, with non-lethal orders… ponies who will probably not share that policy.

“Is everypony ready?” Twilight scanned the room. My blood felt amazingly cold for a heartbeat, and the flowers of adrenaline began springtime in my belly. I shivered, and then huddled close to Luna. Being the only pony there I trusted, I was a lot more comfortable with her. I ignored strange looks as she wrapped a wing around me. Twilight’s eyes met mine, and she gave a look that said ‘I don’t understand, but I don’t need to.’ Her horn lit up. “Okay, let’s go.”

Luna was right. I wasn’t comfortable in the slightest. I have no idea how teleportation works, but I know that if I can avoid it I will never do it again. Rushing speed, the world warping around me, and the feeling of being compressed into a tiny little pile of ponies did not agree with me. By the time we stopped, I had to fight off some serious nausea, and I felt an overbearing dizziness take me to the floor.

As my mind slowed down it’s swimming, I saw Twilight’s gang already beginning to move out. I stood up and shook my head clear. I looked at Luna for instruction, she gave me a signal to wait until everypony else had gone, presumably to keep the location of the Cave entrance secret. I complied, looking around in the room for anything that could be of use. Nothing showed it’s self to me, so instead I sat and watched them leave.

After they had gone, Luna nodded, and we began walking out to the hallway, towards the Cave entrance. I made some remark about what the logic was behind picking the room farthest away from the secret door, even though I knew it was because Twilight’s barracks was very close to Blueblood’s room. Laughing as Luna rolled her eyes, I looked ahead and saw a shadow lump across a wall at a crossing in the hallway ahead.

“Disappear” Luna hissed at me. Not needing to be told again, I jumped into the air and behind a decorative arch, then into a shady area beneath a window. The small amount of light, from the storm outside, that streamed in would be enough to direct his vision away from me, and it put me in a good position in case I had to jump out and fight at a moment’s notice. I silenced my breathing, and watched as a brown pegasus wearing standard issue Equestria Army gear.

He looked panicked. Eyes wide, and sword in his teeth, he jumped when he caught sight of Luna. I suppressed a snicker as he fumbled with the sword in his mouth, and then dropped it.

“Princess Luna! I’m so glad to see you… we thought they had taken you.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Who had taken me?”

Suddenly, the pegasus narrowed his eyes. He didn’t seem happy with Luna at that moment. He bent over to pick his sword back up spoke loudly, and angrily as he did so. “How can I tell it’s actuall-”

He never got to pick up his sword. I launched out and yanked his head farther downward, and used his momentum and body flow to smash it into the ground. His body followed so he was on his back, looking up. Then I smacked the back of his head with my hoof.

“I don’t envy your head when you wake up… that’s gonna be a painful.” I said to myself. Luna nodded in agreement. “I wonder what he was talking about. And why was he ready to attack you? you’re still the princess, right?”

“I don’t wonder what he was talking about.” Luna replied. “I wonder what he was running from.”

+++++

In short order, we were there. A pull of a candlestick or pulling back a tapestry wasn’t enough though. We had to be sure this wasn’t found on accident. So we have the entrance underneath the bed of Luna herself. Not even servants are allowed in her room, only her and sometimes Celestia. And of course, we lunarguards just help ourselves in, nopony could even see us to try and stop us.

Back at the cave again. Home. I felt the familiar surroundings take their toll on me, and I realized exactly how tired I was. The rest of my brothers and sisters were waiting for us. I forgot Luna had everyone alerted.

The cave it’s self is divided into several rooms, carved out long ago. Purple crystals reflected candlelight across the cave, and made the entire area just slightly brighter than a full moon night. Just the way we liked it. After a tunnel leading from Luna’s room, the cave opens into a large main congregation room, with a stage of sorts on one side. This was where all the ponies gathered, and it could fit a little more than 150 ponies, though we rarely had more than 40 or 50 at a time in there. To the right of that room, several large doors led down tunnels to the quarters, which were mostly smallish rooms that could house two ponies and all their possessions. On the other side of the room, on the left, more doors led to the cafeteria, armory, library, and training rooms of all kinds. At the back of the room, several tunnels led into the darkness, which all led to different entrances and exits concealed throughout Canterlot and the mountain. I could navigate this place blindfolded.

In the main congregation room, the entire brotherhood stood waiting for Luna. 26 ponies, not including myself, watched the door. Behind them, the five or six cadets also stood, watching about as carefully. They all let out a collective breath as Luna came striding into the room behind me. She nodded to me, and I glided off of the stage to take my place among the ranks. Then Luna spoke to us all.

“Obviously, we have a bit of a situation on our hooves. Everypony, you have 15 minutes to get all final gear together. Do not include lethal weapons besides a small defensive knife for extreme measures; we’re fighting some ponies out there who aren’t themselves. However, do not expect them to feel the same to you. Be back here in 15 minutes for further instruction. Dismissed.”

I began to walk towards my quarters to get my armor when I was met with a soft voice and a powerful hug from behind. “Rose! I’m so glad to see you… I was worried… when Moonrock returned and you didn’t…”

“Hey, I’m alright, ok?” I turned around and returned the hug. “I’m glad to see you too, North Star.”

North Star is one of the cadets, one of the ponies in training to become one of us. She is also my younger sister by a year. She is white, from the tips of her feathers to her hooves, and has a black mane with a purple stripe that runs down it and through her tail. Her mane matches her eyes, which are purple as well. Her cutie mark, a large purple star, came from when she led a lost stranger out of the Everfree Forest in the middle of a dark and moonless night. She’s always been good at finding pathways, and takes the safest path at all times. Which includes socially.

“What happened out there? I need to know…”

“Nothing I can’t handle… well, mostly nothing I can’t handle. I’ll tell you about it when we’re done, okay?”

“I’ll hold you to that.” With that, she split off to the end of the room where the cadets bunk. I sighed and pushed my own door open. Moonrock answered me with a grunt when I said hello. He was busy pulling on his armor.

“Ugh, how do you even work in all that metal? Actually, better question, how do you sneak in all that metal? Heavy and cumbersome…”

“I don’t even understand how you call that leather strap of yours armor. That would hardly stop an angry butterfly,” Came the gruff and low reply. I rolled my eyes.

“At least I can fly with it on. And it doesn’t need to stop anything if the enemy can never touch it.” I buckled into said armor, which covers my chest and back, but leaves my wings and back half uncovered and free, allowing for full movement in the air. I strapped in a small dagger by my shoulder to be pulled out in an instant, and then left Moonrock to clank into his blackened iron oven.

Fifteen minutes later, we were back in our rows, watching Luna pull her purple helmet over her head. “The situation is that Discord has converted Celestia’s personality somehow, and by extension the Solar Flares. Celestia has been spotted outside of Canterlot, congregating with the Flares. Discord is nowhere to be seen, but I’m sure we can count on him to show up somewhere. The plan is to meet the Flares in battle out there. Subdue them if you can, try not to kill them if possible. Be careful though, the Solar Flares never fight alone. They will probably try to swarm you as soon as they see you.

“We are creating path, so that Twilight and her own guards can come through protecting the element bearers, who will attempt to somehow bring Celestia back to her senses. Be ready to change objectives at any time, we don’t know if the EQA will blunder their way in or if Discord will decide to come in and make a mess of things.”

Luna turned and flew over top of us, landing on the other side. “I will be going with you. Moonrock, Moonrise, Shadowsmoke, and Starshield, you four are my personal guard. Do not leave my side. The rest of you…” Luna pushed open a large wooden door and pointed out. “You know your orders.”

I grinned at the prospect of finally being let loose. It wasn’t often I could fight with my full force, even non-lethally. I was among the first ponies out the door.

Author's Note:

Feedback is always welcome
My editor is out of town, so you get to see this unedited version. Sorry if it's a little rough.
I'll be out of internet access until early August, so there'll be a bit of a break. However, if i can manage i'd like to have a few chapters written when i get back, so look for those.
Thanks for reading, leave a rating if you feel it deserves one.

Comments

[Perteks]

Interesting good writed first person perspective story. I just hope for some more than black and white scenario for that attack

[lightzero1111]

omg yes!! thanks bud

[FeatherNote21]

Sorry i was outta town everypony ^^;
But this looks alright. A few slip ups, but otherwise good.