Knightmares

by NerfedFalcon

Omake: Bath Time!

Author's Note:

Based on this picture.

A fluff chapter; just so that I can keep in practice with my two favourite Guards. Flash Sentry can go [this statement is not available in the T-rated version.]

I’m really not sure when this takes place; use your imagination

Skipper definitely wasn’t expecting Midnight to not already be on-duty when he returned to the barracks. There was a note posted on the door saying only “Meet me”, with a drawing of part of the castle and another of Midnight’s Cutie Mark. Gilda told him she’d be taking over Midnight’s shift that night. He wanted to ignore it and just go to bed, but his curiosity got the better of him. Whatever was worth Gilda talking to a Night Pony was something he had to see for himself.

The area of the palace marked on Midnight’s map was an area he’d never really had a reason to investigate on his own. As he pushed the double doors open, he snorted slightly. He was almost insulted that Midnight had asked him into the royal bathhouse. He could preen himself easily enough, and the bathtub in the barracks was enough for him. Before he could leave, however, he was tackled from behind by a grey ball of fluff.

“Hey, Skipper!” Midnight shouted as they rolled around. “I never get to see much of you around, y’know? I wanted to do something together, and what’s better than a nice bath?” Skipper could think of a lot of things, but he couldn’t get a word in edgewise. “Let’s face it, we both probably need one. So let’s go!” Somehow, she lifted him up and dunked him into a tub of warm water.

With his wings soaked through, he couldn’t fly out, so he tried to crawl out of the tub. “Hey, where ya goin’, Skipper?” Midnight asked as she entered the tub behind him, pushing him back down. “We’ve barely even gotten started, and you’re already leaving? Boo!” With one hoof, she reached out of the tub and picked up a bottle he hadn’t seen, adding a whole lot of bubbles to the bath. “There, that’s better. It’s not that you’re dirty, you just seemed pretty stressed lately. So just relax.”

“Relax? Midnight, what are you...” He didn’t get to say any more before Midnight picked up some of the bubbles and started rubbing them in between his wings. It was a Pegasus reflex that forced his wings out slowly as he found himself unable to speak. He had to admit, Midnight was surprisingly good with her hooves, and she was quickly pushing out kinks in his back he didn’t know were there.

“Hey, what’s this?” she suddenly asked, pulling her head around to his side. She rubbed down a scar that had been hidden under Skipper’s wing, and he immediately tensed up again. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know it was there, and I was just kind of surprised...”

“Don’t worry about it,” Skipper replied, trying to relax. The warm water was definitely having an effect on him, and Midnight’s massage was helping it. Slowly, he felt himself relaxing again.

“How’d you get it?” Midnight asked suddenly.

“What?”

“That scar, under your wing. How’d you get it? Looks pretty old...”

Skipper paused for a moment. He really didn’t want to tell her any of the gory details about his life before the Day Guard, but he couldn’t just brush her off, either. She’d never let him live it down, and when she repeated the question, that made him finally think of an answer. “I got it fighting an Alicorn,” he finally said.

“No way!” Midnight replied. “You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you?” Skipper turned his head back to face her, trying to keep a poker face. She was getting too close, though, and the half-smile he’d fallen into was what Midnight saw. “C’mon, who’s gonna believe that you ever fought an Alicorn?”

“Certainly, it was a horn that left the scar there,” he said. “But do you really think that a Unicorn could ever get that close to me?”

“It’s possible. I mean, you didn’t always know how to fight like that, right?”

“...No. Nopony ever starts out being able to fight like I do. I certainly didn’t.”

“So, you got it early on, before you were as good as you are, right?” She reached around his neck to rub on his chest, and he slowly turned around in the small tub to face her. “Because really, who in their right mind would ever actually fight an Alicorn, even a mortal one?”

“Who, indeed,” Skipper replied wistfully. She was right; nopony in their right mind would fight an Alicorn in single combat. But then, he hadn’t been in his right mind at the time. Whether she believed him or not, it had happened.

But seeing her smile, as though she was silently laughing at the ridiculousness of the statement, was enough to finally get him to smile too. She was right; he’d needed to relax pretty badly. He sighed slowly and lowered himself down into the bubbles, humming to himself.

“Hey, I know that song,” Midnight said. “I learned that lullaby a while ago. It’s a Thestral thing, since we mostly lived on the ground...”

There are loved ones in the glory,
Whose dear forms you often miss...

“It had lyrics? I never knew...”

When you close your earthly story,
Will you join them in their bliss?

“Midnight, you really don’t have to...”

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by?
Is a better home awaiting
In the sky, in the sky?

“A better home...” Skipper paused, and as Midnight continued, he thought to himself, No, I don’t think so. I’ve already found one here.

Comments

[NerfedFalcon]

4995474 That... and quite a bit more. I promise I'll get back to it in full at some point to explain what's going on, but I think there's a pretty good clue in there already if you keep reading...

[Moongaze14]

This chapter was very sweet.

[NerfedFalcon]

4995497 It was the best plot I could think of, and I worked out how to justify it later.

[Akua]

Aaawwwww, no kiss scene or anything. I got my hopes up for nothing at the beginning

[Brony Khaos]

Oh...that's quite a revelation for a "fluff" chapter.

[NerfedFalcon]

5018245 Yes, you will get to see the whole fight later.

[Ise no Kami]

So, Cloud Skipper was the poor pony who had to kill Neighpon's prince. Whoops.

As a side note, the govenment branch that condoned the Chikatetsu thought sending the Emperor's son off to die was a good idea? I get that they didn't expect to be caught, but...well, it got them caught.