• Published 21st May 2014
  • 1,436 Views, 76 Comments

The Night Watch - thunderhawk7865



Alabaster Star lost his wife a year ago to Diamond Dogs who claimed to be acting in the name of Nightmare Moon. Now that Luna is back and on the side of good once again, Alabaster doesn't know what to think upon being reassigned to a certain pos

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Ch. 5: The Chance You Take

Chapter 5: The Chance You Take


Alabaster Star silently praised Celestia that Moonblaze was asleep when he barged into his flat, tears still steadily streaming down his face as he silently entered his room and closed the door. He tore his armor off with his magic and threw the pieces carelessly in the corner like the day before. His messy neon blue mane fell in his face once again as he laid down on his bed, not bothering to pull the sheets up.

He gritted his teeth and put his forehooves up to his head, gripping his face in frustration.

“WHY!? WHY!? WHHHHHYYYYY!?” On the last scream he sent forth, he slammed his forehooves into his pillow several times before letting out a rather pathetic whimper and collapsing onto his bed.

He was exhausted and he couldn’t take it anymore. He had to do something.

He racked his brain for solutions as tears continued to pour from his eyes and stain his pillow.

Should he quit the guard and get a new job?

Bloody hell, no. His cutie mark was in combat. He wouldn’t be good at anything else.

Fake his own death?

No, that’d be too hard to explain to Moonblaze.

Ask Twilight to reconsider her recommendation?

He had already tried that.

“Bloody alicorns…” He murmured into his pillow as that particular thought passed through his mind.

He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling, which was made blurry through his tear-stained eyes.

He closed his eyes and exhaled, remembered the events of the past few nights, trying to remember something, anything, that could help him.

Then he remembered the reason Luna had been appointed personal guards in the first place.

He sat up, his eyes wide.

He knew what he had to do.

He just didn’t know how to go about doing it…


Moonblaze awoke suddenly, sitting up in her bed and rubbing her eyes. It was morning.

The sound of hooffalls in her house had awoken her from her slumber. She cocked an eye and slowly used what magic she knew how to use to remove the covers from her body and jump out of bed. “What in Equestria...?”

The door to her room creaked open and she saw the form of her father trotting down the hallway from the closet in their hallway. He seemed to be carrying something back to his room.

“What’s Dad doing awake…?” She thought as she cautiously made her way after him to his room. “Horseapples...maybe work didn’t go well…”


“Dad?”

“GAH!”

The sound of his daughter’s voice startled him. Moonblaze usually didn’t wake up until later on days when school was out, and today happened to be one of those days.

Alabaster quickly shoved what he had retrieved from the closet into one of the pockets in his armor which was still carelessly lying on the floor, hoping his daughter had not seen it.

“G-good morning, love!” he gave a mock smile as his eyes darted back and forth. “W-what are y-you doing up so early? I thought today was a day off for you?”

“I could ask you the same question, Dad…” Moonblaze said with a hint of concern in her voice. “What happened at work this time?”

“Oh...uh...well…” he scratched his head and stood up, standing in front of his chestpiece, blocking Moonblaze’s view of it. “Daddy didn’t get enough sleep last night, and Luna could tell, so she sent me home to get some rest.” He smiled again. “I guess I was wrong after all! Haha! Heeeh…” He tried his best to force out a laugh, trying as hard as he could not vomit at so much implying that Nightmare Moon could be nice.

Moonblaze smiled. “See Dad? I’m glad you’re warming up to the idea! I knew you could do it!”

“Heheheh...yeah...thanks for believing in me, love…” He wiped a bead of sweat off of his brow, thinking the conversation was over.

“What were you getting from the closet?”

Cud.

Alabaster gulped and closed his eyes, giving a warm smile, walking forward and pushing Moonblaze out of his room and closing the door behind him. “I was just getting a gift for the Princess to take with me to my shift tonight...to say thank you for her...generosity…”

Moonblaze wasn’t buying it. “From…the closet?”

“Um...yes.”

“What could a Princess possibly want from the closet of our old flat?” Moonblaze cocked an eye.

Damn, she was smart for her age. He really needed to pay more attention during those parent/teacher conferences.

“It’s… it’s the thought that counts, love…” He said as they made their way into the kitchen and living room area, which was dimly illuminated by the morning sun peeking up over the horizon. “The Princesses already have so much… it’s just to show appreciation, that’s all. I’m not trying to impress her or anything… tch… that’s bloody crazy.”

“I guess so…” Moonblaze turned and made her way into the kitchen, getting out some cereal and milk from the fridge with her magic.

Whew…

He was in the clear. For now.

“When are you going back?” Moonblaze asked casually as she poured her cereal as she sat at the counter.

“The normal time, love…” he sat down in a chair in the living room, leaning back and sighing. “The normal time.”

“Don’t forget your gift.” She said, taking a bite.

All he did was give a small smile as his eyes closed again. He wouldn’t forget this gift. And something told him that Luna wouldn’t either.


Alabaster Star stood in the courtyard of the castle, gazing up at Celestia as she stood on the balcony, using her magic to lower the sun. He was joined by a host of other guards and dignitaries leaving the castle, all sharing the wonder that Alabaster felt at the sight. As a Unicorn, he couldn’t even comprehend how much magical power the Princess needed to accomplish such a feat.

Once Celestia made her way off of her balcony and the moon began to take the sky, his attitude of wonderment quickly changed to that of scorn in the form of a mild frown. He made his way from the courtyards, through the front doors of the castle, and slowly started ascending the central staircase.

“Well, well, well…” A voice that made his eye twitch sounded from behind him.

He turned and saw Corporal Bladeheart also ascending the stairs, a smirk plastered on his face. Alabaster sighed and nodded. “Bladeheart.”

“Al…” He nodded, snickering. “Sorry I’m a little behind like you, but I just finished telling some of the day guards about your little...incident...last night…”

Alabaster was about to ask what he meant when a pair of day guards passed by, snickering at him and pointing. He swore he heard one of them mutter the word pansy.

“Oh, gee… thanks Bladeheart. You saved me the trouble of doing it myself...asshole…” Alabaster muttered as he continued walking.

“You’re very welcome, you pasty-faced bastard…” Bladeheart held his head up high as he followed. “By the way, I found your stallion card in the princess’s room after you ran out cryi-”

“Just shut up…” Alabaster said sharply as the pair made their way towards their post.


Alabaster never thought he’d prefer the company of Nightmare Moon above that of one of his fellow guards, but upon slamming door in the face of the sneering Crystal Pony, he felt a smidgen of satisfaction as he entered Luna’s quarters.

“Welcome back… Corporal…” Luna’s voice sounded from the room. He looked around the room, narrowing his eyes. The Princess of the Night was nowhere to be found. A sudden shuffling sound sounded from the Princess’s large circular bed. Luna’s form sat up in the bed. He heard a cough as the Night princess drearily slipped out of bed and made her way towards her guard. Her mane was...not wavy. It was just cobalt blue and short and...ruffled. Very ruffled. He cocked an eye. The last thing he expected of Nightmare Moon was to be tired on the job… much less with bed-head.

“How art… thou feeling…?” She swayed slightly, stifling a yawn with one of her forehooves. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and there were visible bags underneath her eyes.

Alabaster kept his resolve from earlier nights, but he spared her a nod.

“Good…” Luna turned around. “I was hoping thou wouldst get adequate rest…” She slowly made her way back to her bed, beckoning Alabaster to follow her. He hesitated at first, but he humored the Princess, trotting up to her bedside as she slipped under the ruffled covers. He saw some tissues spread out on the floor next to her bed.

Had she been… crying?

“I had enough energy to raise the moon tonight, but that is all…” Luna muttered from her covers. “The ponies of Equestria will go without dreams this night…” She turned to face her guard, who was staring at her with narrowed eyes. “Thou hast no doubt assumed that thy Princess didn’t get enough sleep this last day…” She yawned again. “So just… I do not know… guard me as I sleep, I suppose…”

Alabaster fidgeted slightly.

He couldn’t believe his luck.

He nodded slowly twice, acknowledging that she had spoken and gave a salute.

“Good night then, Alabaster Star…” Luna shuffled around under her covers, getting comfortable.

Alabaster turned around to return to his post when he heard something he thought he’d never hear.

“Please forgive me…Corporal…” Luna sniffed.

He slowly turned with a look of shock on his face. Princess Luna had a tear streaming down her face as she gazed at him.

“Had I the power to go back and fix it...I would…” Luna sniffed, a lump forming in her throat. “Please...forgive me…”

Alabaster stood rooted to the spot, his face still plastered with shock. He had no idea what to do or say. The first thought that came to his mind was that she was lying to fool him, but...those tissues. Her lack of sleep. Could it be she actually...cared?

Luna whimpered slightly at her guard’s lack of a response. She turned over in her bed and hunkered down. “G...good night...Corporal…”


An hour passed away and Luna had fallen asleep. Her soft breaths permeated around the room and were the only sounds heard.

Alabaster Star stood rooted to his usual spot near the door where he usually stood. But tonight, his eyes were locked on the sleeping Princess of the Night. His expression was not that of hate or anger, but not of happiness or joy either. His look was that of confusion. Of inner conflict.

Several thoughts were racing through his head at the same time, and with his lack of sleep recently, it was starting to give him a headache.

Did she really mean what she said? Would she really go back and save Constellation if she could? Maybe she was being sincere. After all, Twilight seemed to trust her.

Or...

Maybe she just said that to butter him up and get him off her back. Maybe she just wanted to paint a good picture for him when it couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Tch...argh…” He slowly removed his helmet and placed it on the floor, his messy neon blue mane falling out from under it. He quietly trotted over to one of the love seats in the room next to her balcony, sat down, and reached his hooves up, massaging his temples. He heaved a heavy sigh and turned his head to again look at the sleeping Luna.

Suddenly his heart was filled with rage once again. He didn’t know where it came from, but there it was. The rage he felt at her when he buried his wife, the same rage he had felt for a year, and the overwhelming sense of evil upon meeting her in person.

“I’ve just gotta get this over with…” He thought to himself, narrowing his eyes and gritting his teeth.

He grunted and slowly stood up. Slowly he walked away from the living area of Luna’s quarters and stood in the middle of the room, his eyes locked on Luna.

He huffed, his horn lit up, and with a distinct, yet quiet, metallic ringing, he drew a small dagger. It was the dagger he received as a graduation gift from Shining Armor when he was still at the academy. Having been buried in his closet ever since, it had accumulated quite a bit of dust. He blew the dust off of the blade and suddenly the blade went from dull and lusterless, to glinting eerily in the moonlight.

He slowly approached the sleeping Princess, glaring at her as he reached her bedside. Suddenly, Luna twitched and let out a small whimper, and Alabaster hesitated. Could it be possible the goddess of dreams and nightmares was having a nightmare herself?

This made way for more conflicting thoughts to enter his head.

What if she’s dreaming about this? What if she’s dreaming about the dogs?

Honestly? There’ a lot of dreams she could be having. Like her getting stabbed in her sleep. That’d be a nightmare come true, wouldn’t it?

“Do you really wanna end up in prison or banished to the moon, Alabaster? You could even be put to death!” The thought came as a still, small voice, yet it boomed like thunder in his mind.

He gulped.

“It’s the chance you take…” He whispered.

He raised the floating dagger in the air above Luna’s torso, which was steadily rising up and down with her sleep.

“Sleep tight...Nightmare Moon!” He said quietly, raising the dagger high in the air, about to plunge it down.

“AAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!”

The scream came from outside of Luna’s chamber, in the antechamber.

Luna’s eyes snapped open, but Alabaster was way ahead of Luna, turning around and holding the dagger in front of him, ready for battle.

“What in Equestria was that?!” Luna barked drearily.

“That sounded like Bladeheart!” Alabaster galloped towards the door. He reached the door and was about to open it, when the door burst open, slamming into Alabaster and sending him reeling back. Before he knew it, he was tackled to the ground and a sharp pain shot through his shoulder.

He opened his eyes and saw a Pegasus pony, dressed in a full-body black spandex suit similar to the one he caught Twilight in, with a dagger in his teeth, dripping with blood.

His blood. He had been stabbed.

“RRRRAAAHHH!” He roared, bucking upwards with his hind legs, slamming them upward into his assailants torso. The pegasus gasped in pain and went flying upwards, spinning backwards into the air. Alabaster took this opportunity to send his dagger flying upward with his magic, impaling his assailant in the throat. The Pegasus let out a pained gurgle and fell to the floor lifeless, a pool of blood forming around him.

“Grrrr…” Alabaster gripped his shoulder and leaned back against the wall. He looked over at the pegasus’ corpse; his knife was still impaled in it. He shoved himself off the wall, all the while trying to stave the bleeding and moved to retrieve his knife.

It wasn’t long before he was beset upon by another black-dressed assailant, jumping at him through the open door. This time it was an earth pony, seemingly another male. The earth pony charged into him, smashing him through the glass door of Luna’s balcony and pinning him up against the railing.

“Surrender, guard!” The earth pony growled through his mask. “She’s a menace to ponykind!”

Alabaster couldn’t respond. The earth pony’s hoof was jammed up against his throat, trying to strangle him.

A yelp from Luna signaled the entrance of another intruder. Alabaster caught a glimpse of a slender figure, also dressed in black and with a unicorn horn, roar and rush towards Luna’s bed.

“It’s over, guard! Give u-ARGH!”

Blood splattered across Alabaster face as he used his magic to smash Luna’s telescope over the earth pony’s head. The earth pony collapsed and Alabaster leaped towards the body, slamming his front hooves down onto the downed earth pony. The attacker roared in pain as Alabaster lifted him up into the air with his magic. Before the earth pony could say anything more, Alabaster flung him from the balcony.

He heard a scream. And then a crack down below.

He grunted painfully in satisfaction and turned around, only to see the third intruder, a slender female Unicorn getting blasted against the wall with a magic blast from Luna, who was now up. “STAND DOWN!” The Princess of the Night bellowed in her signature Royal Canterlot Voice.

The female Unicorn said nothing, letting out a frustrated growl, she charged the Princess again, her horn glowing with magic.

She was stopped short, however, by a levitating sword in her tracks. Alabaster has gripped his sword that was on the floor with magic and was limping over from the balcony. “You...you’re under...arrest…argh…” He grunted painfully.

“Corporal!” Luna gasped, noticing his wounds and shards of glass.

The Unicorn laughed and drew a pair of twin daggers with her magic. “Pathetic! You can barely stand! A paid-by-the-hour night guard. Just give up and let me do my job!”

“I don’t think so…” Alabaster snarled, lunging forward with his sword. The Unicorn deflected his blow and lunged at him from beneath. Alabaster sidestepped the lunge and slammed the hilt of his sword down onto her back. She screamed, but rolled to the side as Alabaster tried impaling her, stabbing his sword into the ground.

He grunted as he withdrew his sword from the carpet and leaped after the Unicorn. He slashed furiously at her, him advancing as she stepped back, but she blocked him blow for blow. It was clear she had been trained for many years in the art of using those daggers in first-hoof combat.

“AUGH!” Alabaster cried out suddenly as the wound that he had received on his shoulder from the pegasus sent a wave of pain around his body, telling his brain he was straining the wound.

He collapsed, dropping his sword, his magic aura around his horn flickering out. He rolled over and attempted to crawl towards his sword, which was lying on the ground two feet away. He cried out in pain as the Unicorn’s hoof stomped down on the hoof that was about to grab it. He found her pair of daggers crossed over his neck.

“End of the line…” He could see a smirk forming from under her mask.

But before she could do anything else, a cyan blast of magic impacted into her. She grunted as she flew backwards against the wall. She moaned in pain as she slid to the floor, unconscious.

Alabaster painfully rolled over to see Princess Luna, her mane still in tatters and bags still under her eyes. Her horn was smoking, having just fired that magical blast.

“Art thou...whew...art thou alright, Corporal?” She steadily trotted towards him.

He grunted as he stood up. He didn’t speak to her as he leaned on one of her loveseats. He turned and looked out of the open doors to Luna’s antechamber. One of the stained glass windows had been broken and there on the floor in front of the door, lying in a pool of his own blood, was the smart-ass Bladeheart.

“Blade...urgh...heart…” He released his grip on the chair and stumbled over to the door and fell down next to his fallen comrade. He put his ear up to his chest. He was breathing. “Princess! Call the rest of the guard! There could be more!”

She was way ahead of him. Luna had since got to her balcony and used her magic to send three red blasts of magic into the air. Shouts started ringing out around the castle and bells started to chime, signalling an alarm.

Soon, heavy hoofsteps were heard as guards hustled up the stairs to Luna’s chamber. Alabaster stumbled to his hooves and reached a forehoof up, slowly wiping the earth pony’s blood from his forehead.

He turned and reentered Luna’s quarters as guards came and rushed inside and surrounded Bladeheart, attempting to stabilize him. He slumped into one of the love seats and stared at the body of the pegasus intruder, his dagger still buried in his throat.

He was going to kill Luna with that. Why didn’t he help Luna’s assailants in murdering her? Clearly, that was her goal. Why did he defend her so...impulsively?

More importantly...why did she save him like she did?

He also watched as guards came and surrounded the unconscious Unicorn, placing an anti-magic cuff on her horn and cuffing both sets of hooves, taking her away.

“They’ll question her and see if there is any more of them…” Luna yawned as she trotted over and sat down across the coffee table from him. “You need treatment, Corporal.”

“Eh...what?” He looked up at Luna, who seemed shocked he actually spoke to her without anger or bitterness in his voice.

“Thine...shoulder.” She pointed a hoof timidly. “It’s bleeding...badly.”

His shoulder suddenly gave a sharp grunt of pain and gripped his shoulder. He had forgotten about it in the aftermath of the confrontation and the adrenaline surging through him.

“It’s...it’s fine…” He replied sheepishly.

“Here…” Luna slowly got up and trotted over towards him.

He sunk lower and lower into his seat as she approached him. He was about to object to her getting so close to him when she lowered her horn to his wound. He grunted as a cold feeling washed over the wound.

It was healed.

When the feeling left, Luna’s raised her head and stood up straight, giving a tired smile and yawning.

“As a thanks...for saving my life.”

His blood ran cold when he realized what had just happened.

In attempting to murder Luna...he had saved her life.

Author's Note:

Anypony who thinks of the best battle music for that battle gets a cookie...

Or something!

Well, I had a lot of fun writing this part and I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for the follow-up investigation.