Knightmares

by NerfedFalcon

Not a Decision

About a week later

Though Luna had recovered surprisingly well from being Nightmare Moon, she still didn’t have the strength to control her own moon, and she knew nothing of modern history and politics. Therefore, she had to be kept from the general populace until Celestia decided she was ready. Luna didn’t like being held down by her elder sister, but decided it was probably for the best. They also postponed her official return celebration until after Canterlot had been restored.

One night’s rioting had left the city a broken husk, with many homes and stores destroyed and thousands of ponies left homeless. Nopony had the confidence to enlist for the Royal Guard, and so it fell to the three who had tried and failed to calm the riot to repair everything. Still, they caught many glares as they walked through the streets, from ponies angry that they had protected the palace instead of the commoners. The blaze had settled for now, but Canterlot was still a powder keg, and nopony knew which spark would set it off.

Shining Armor’s conviction was that until he knew a situation was hopeless, he would do anything in his power to keep that hope alive. It was for that reason that he continued to patrol with Skipper and Midnight, trying to keep the construction efforts safe from looters. Even so, he got the feeling that the common ponies still didn’t think that highly of him or the Guard, especially now that it was common knowledge that their ranks had been severely reduced. It would be nearly impossible to train any new Guards, to boot. Still, there was hope, and while there was hope, he had to act.

For their part, Skipper and Midnight didn’t give up either. Skipper usually spent his days patrolling the city and trying to keep order, sometimes distributing supplies when they could be gotten into Canterlot. Midnight, on the other hand, usually did actual guarding work of major construction sites. She was well-adapted to noticing scoundrels trying to sneak through the night and steal something, and the workers themselves were glad never to actually see her. Still, she couldn’t be everywhere at once, and for every foreman pleased with her protection, there were two more complaining that she hadn’t been at their site instead.

Celestia was trying to get some of the guards pulled back from other regions, but they were adamant about staying where they were. Other areas were hit just as hard by rioting, and without the Princesses themselves to keep order, it was more difficult, they said. Plus, there was the fact that Cumulus had disbanded the Day Guard, and it was only their personal sense of duty keeping them in those outer regions. That, and recalling what the punishment was for desertion, which had also kept the Canterlot Day Guard in hiding.

There simply wasn’t enough horsepower to go around, and the three Guards were on the brink of losing their collective minds. Skipper was taking a night to himself, not wanting to sleep. He’d been getting some bad dreams lately. Nothing major yet, but it was enough to unnerve him and stop him from sleeping the next night. Midnight was in the restaurant district, and he decided that even if he was off duty, he might as well go join her.

The street lights were destroyed, and he didn’t have any particular light of his own to see by. He was also completely naked, and while normally that wouldn’t be a problem for ponies, his white coat made him an easier target. A group of four Earth Ponies jumped out of the shadows, blocking him from in front and behind. Inwardly, he smiled to himself. He thought he’d be bored that night.

“Nice night for a walk, innit?” their apparent leader, a dark green Earth Pony with a fringe covering his eyes asked. “Pity you chose the wrong street, guvnor. What’s ‘e got, eh? Pat ‘im down, Smooth Touch!”

A grey stallion behind him chuckled and moved up, pulling a pocket knife from his mane and flicking it out. That was just what Skipper had been waiting for. As Smooth Touch got closer, he quickly lifted his rear left leg, kicking the knife out of his assailant’s hoof. He pulled his leg back and launched it out, slightly further up, to hit the Earth Pony in the face. The other one behind him tried to move up, but he launched himself forward over the leader and his ‘partner’, a massive green stallion.

“Ooh, this one’s got hot blood,” the leader said. “Well, let’s see just how much. Hulk! Smash!” The green Earth Pony roared loudly and stepped forward. However, he was facing away from Skipper, and hit the other thug. “Turn around, Hulk,” Leader sighed. “He’s that—”

Skipper caught the leader in a headlock, using his wings to stay balanced. “Yeah, I’ve got fire,” he said. “More than you’ll ever know.”

“Really?” Leader replied, pulling out a knife and slashing across Skipper’s right foreleg. Surprised by the attack, he let go and flapped backwards, and Leader took up a position next to Hulk and Smooth Touch, who had picked his knife back up. “You really wanna keep doin’ this?” Leader asked. “You look like you’ve had enough for today.”

Skipper smirked, and for a moment, Leader’s slick demeanour dropped. “You don’t know me at all, do you?” Smooth Touch charged forward with his knife raised, only to get blocked, then countered by Skipper pulling his hindquarters up in front of him, using his wings to backflip. He picked up the knife and jammed it into his foe’s front hoof. He knew exactly where to aim to leave his target bleeding to death, and so he went for a flesh wound instead. Smooth Touch screamed loudly, and Skipper's wings flared out dramatically as he stepped away, snorting at the other two attackers.

Hulk charged forward and brought his hooves down where he expected Skipper’s head to be, but the Pegasus was faster, stepping just back out of reach before flying through the gap between his front and hind legs, landing on his back. Hulk roared again and started trying to buck Skipper off, to no avail. Skipper’s grip was too tight on Hulk’s neck, and as he reared up, Skipper pushed down with his wings to knock his opponent to the ground. “The bigger they are...” he said.

He didn’t get to finish the phrase, because that was when Leader attacked, using a knife of his own. Hearing the move before he saw it, Skipper flew forward, leaving Leader’s downward stab landing in Hulk. The massive pony was unconscious, but Leader was angry that he’d missed again. Skipper landed next to Smooth Touch, who had partly calmed down, and pulled the knife out of his hoof, causing him to scream again. He flipped the pocket knife into a forehoof position, Leader holding his as a backhoof. With a snarl, the Earth Pony lunged, missing by an inch. He repeated this a few times until Skipper brought his own knife up to parry, immediately slashing back down and leaving a cut on his opponent’s chest.

“You’ve never really fought with that before, have you?” Skipper asked, circling around and parrying further attempts from Leader. “The essence of knife fighting is hoofwork. You have to know where you’re standing, and be ready to move anywhere else.” He lunged forward, cutting across the Earth Pony’s chest. Another stab, intended to miss, and he’d pushed Leader back against a wall. “If you can't move, then you'll get cut.” He began a flurry of blows, Leader only being able to block some of them before he fell unconscious from the blood loss.

The final thug was still standing there, his mouth agape at Skipper’s prowess. He broke down crying when the Pegasus rounded on him, then stopped when he realised he wasn’t dead. “You’re a concerned citizen who heard the end of the fight,” Skipper said harshly. “The nearest hospital is ten blocks in that direction. They probably won’t have enough beds or supplies, but you can try and save them, if you hurry.”

“Why...” the pony mumbled, sobbing. “Why aren’t you killing me?”

“You aren’t worth killing.” With that, Skipper walked away, leaving the borrowed knife back with its owner and deciding not to tell Midnight or Shining what had happened.

Midnight was watching from a nearby rooftop, able to see everything perfectly despite the low light. She cringed slightly at his treatment of the thugs. Sure, they kind of deserved it, but he was such a brutal fighter that she felt bad all the same.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a group of other ponies in the alley, a Unicorn leading them by shoving a bag over Skipper’s head and magically binding his wings. She wanted to fly down, until a voice in her head told her it would be suicide. There were too many of them, and she definitely couldn’t fight like Skipper could. Still, she couldn’t just abandon him, so as the group walked off with their unconscious captive in tow, she silently followed from the rooftops.

The group, not knowing they were being tailed from above, headed through several back alleys and minor streets, avoiding large crowds. Some ponies saw them passing through, but backed off when they realised what was going on. Midnight looked up at Luna’s moon—well, probably still Celestia’s, considering that Luna was still recovering from returning from said moon. The gang had stopped about half a mile southwest of the palace. Red building with a blue door. Easy enough to remember.

She went to get back to the palace, where she assumed Shining was, when one of the gang of ponies looked up. He paused, staring at the roof where she was, and she quickly stepped back. “What’s wrong with ya?” one of the others asked. “Jumping at shadows again?”

“Shadows...” the suspicious pony said, slowly. “Yeah... maybe just a shadow.” With that, they all went inside, locking the heavy blue door. Midnight breathed a sigh of relief, and took to the air.
~
When the bag came off Skipper’s head, he was tied into a chair, the rope binding his wings and clearly tied by a Unicorn. He wouldn’t be able to get out of it easily, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying. Whoever had kidnapped a Day Guard (technically the Day Guard, but that wasn’t important) had made a big mistake.

“It’s no good struggling, my friend,” a cultured voice said from the shadows. “Besides, it’s rude to try and get away from somepony who just wants to talk to you. I promise I’ll let you go as soon as I’ve made my case.”

“Do you have any idea who you’re messing with?” Skipper asked, angrily.

“A Pegasus with no wings, in a chair he can’t get out of. How very threatening.” The mysterious stallion laughed to himself, then cleared his throat and continued. “You won’t lose anything just by hearing me out, you know. You have no reason to be resisting me like this.”

“If you don’t have a reason, then I do.”

“Come now, come now. Is that any way for a Day Guard to act?”

Skipper didn’t have a response. He’d been out of uniform; just a normal Pegasus on the street, albeit one that could fight better than anypony had a right to. “Yes, I know who you are, Cloud Skipper,” the voice continued. “A decorated Day Guard... and currently, their only member. You must know that it’s futile to continue your efforts by yourself. Even with the help of your captain, you’ll never be able to restore Canterlot fully.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Skipper asked, a hint of venom still in his voice.

“I have a proposition for you. In three days, there will be an event that will shake the foundations of the mountain. All I ask is that you do nothing to stop it. You will know what it is when it comes.”

“That’s it?” Skipper asked, laughing. “All you want me to do is abandon my duty?”

“Quite,” the voice replied. “I knew we could come to—”

“Screw you.”

Skipper couldn’t see who he was talking to, but he could hear them step back. “What did you say?” he asked, his politeness gone.

“You said you know who I am, but all you know is my name,” Skipper said defiantly. “You don’t know me at all, or you’d have known before you started that I’d never accept. I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t have anything on me. No respect, no blackmail, nothing.”

“I do have you tied into a chair,” the voice reminded him. “Blackguard?” Another large Earth Pony stepped into view, this one black with a blue mane, tail and hairs around his hooves. “Our guest has forgotten his manners. Please teach him some, would you?” The Earth Pony suddenly punched him in the chest.

Skipper gasped for air before laughing again. “Is that all you’ve got?” he asked, and Blackguard punched him in the same place, with a similar result.

“No, my hilarious friend,” the voice replied. “It is not.” Skipper stopped laughing, cursing himself for asking the question. Suddenly, Blackguard turned to where the voice was coming from and stopped. “There has been an unexpected complication,” the voice said. “Do not go anywhere.” Blackguard punched Skipper in the face one more time, knocking him out cold.
~
Shining Armor hadn’t believed Midnight at first when she told him that Skipper had been kidnapped, but eventually her insistence had gotten through to him. He’d acquired a search warrant from Luna, though she hadn’t quite understood its purpose, and followed Midnight to the house. It was as she remembered it—red with a blue door. “Are you sure about this?” Shining asked again, knocking on the door. Midnight nodded insistently, somewhat annoyed that she kept being asked.

When the door opened, the baby-blue Unicorn inside seemed just as annoyed. “Why have you come knocking at such a late hour?” he asked. In response, Shining magically pulled out the search warrant, transferring it to the other Unicorn’s magic as he walked inside, followed shortly by Midnight. “I assure you, there have been no kidnappings here, or I would know.”

“That’s for the Night Guard to determine, sir,” Midnight replied, her fake pleasantry clearly showing. “If you would kindly show us around?” She knew that Skipper had been brought here. All she had to do was prove it.

Surprisingly, the Unicorn was willing to show them into each room of the house, and none of them contained anything out of the ordinary. That only made Midnight more suspicious. The house seemed to not use all the space on the property; there had to be something she could use. As Shining and the homeowner left the parlour, she started to tap on the walls, her bat-like hearing allowing her to notice the differences in how it sounded.

Just as she hit a part of the wall that sounded hollow, a massive black Earth Pony jumped her from the side, crushing her against the wall side to side. He stepped back to crush her again, but she managed to recover fast enough to escape through the gap between his front and back legs, pulling out her claws as she landed. It didn’t intimidate the stallion at all, though. He already knew that he was intimidating her.

She drew her hoof across the ground, her claws leaving a mark in the carpet, as though daring him to approach. Faster than anypony his size had a right to move, he was up in her face again, giving her a headbutt that left her dazed. He grabbed her by the neck and was about to strangle her, when Shining came back in through the door, having heard the commotion. He grabbed the Earth Pony with his magic, using a knockout spell to bring him down.

“Are you alright?” he asked Midnight, and she staggered back to her hooves. He then turned to the Unicorn, casting a binding spell to keep him in place. “You’re not under arrest yet,” he said, “but I will want further words with you.”

“It was there...” Midnight whispered, still unable to talk without difficulty. She pointed with her hoof just to the right of the fireplace. “A hollow wall...” Shining nodded and probed the wall with his magic, pulling open a hidden passageway that led down a flight of stairs. Midnight coughed a few times, then followed him, leaving her claws extended.

There were a group of ponies standing around; four Earth Ponies and another Unicorn, all stallions. Through a semi-reflective pane of glass, Shining Armor saw Cloud Skipper tied into a chair, unconscious. He gasped slightly, which caught the attention of the ponies in the room, and they all turned menacingly towards him. The Unicorn cast a spell, quickly and clumsily. It fell apart before it could reach Shining, and he fired his own bolt of magic back, knocking his target off his hooves.

The Earth Ponies all tried to gang up on Midnight, leaving the two Unicorns to their magic duel. She quickly flew above them, slicing off one’s tail with her claws as she landed behind them. He seemed slightly worried at that, but the rest turned around and charged again. She scratched one across the chest, then turned and bucked him right in the wound. He went down for the count, leaving three.

One of them tried to grapple her hind legs, and she quickly flew into the air, dragging him and spinning him around. When he eventually let go, he flew straight through the pane of glass, waking up Skipper. Realising he’d probably be better in a fight, she flew in after him, chased by the other two Earth Ponies. She cut through the rope holding Skipper down, and then returned to the alcove to help Shining.

The enemy Unicorn was on the ropes when Midnight arrived, unable to keep up with Shining’s magical barrage. He hadn’t become the Captain of the Guard on his looks, after all, and sparring with an extremely talented little sister had taught him a lot about how to hold his own. A binding spell was enough to bring his opponent down, and he turned to Midnight, smiling. She suddenly noticed that somepony was coming down the stairs, much faster than was really safe. “Look out!” she shouted, too late to stop Blackguard from bowling over Shining.

The massive Earth Pony rolled Shining around, punching before he could cast a spell to break his concentration. A second punch followed quickly, and Blackguard raised both his hooves at once to crush the Unicorn’s head. Shining was braced for the end—

The end never came, as Blackguard kept falling backwards. Midnight was hovering above him, her hooves stained with blood, and it poured out of Blackguard’s neck in a puddle on the floor. She landed next to Shining, pulling him out from underneath the soon-to-be corpse before turning back. He was still breathing slightly, his eyes gradually getting dimmer and dimmer until they closed and his head fell to the floor.

Midnight just stared at her hooves and the blood on her claws, not wanting to think about what she’d just done. The ponies she’d killed during the riot were possessed, though she didn’t know by what, and she’d told herself that they weren’t really sentient anymore. In this case, she couldn’t excuse herself. Shining tried to put a hoof on her shoulder to hold her steady, but she threw up before he could.

Skipper flew in through the window, his opponents swiftly taken care of once he was free. He noticed the slashed neck and the puddle of blood mixed with bile, and landed next to Midnight. She was still hyperventilating, staring like she couldn’t believe it. Skipper didn’t know what to say, and Shining held up a hoof, telling him not to say anything. Closing her eyes and turning away, Midnight let Skipper guide her back up the stairs.

Back in the parlour, where everything seemed normal again, Midnight finally managed to calm down slightly. She was still on edge, and had to walk back to the palace with Skipper. She insisted on being alone once they got back to the barracks, and with not much better to do, Skipper went to debrief with his captain.

Shining cleared up the arrests and took them all back to the palace to await Celestia’s justice. The dungeons weren’t used very often, but they were kept in order for nights like that. Some of them complained of innocence, of not knowing anything about what was going on, particularly the Unicorn who had owned the house, but Shining remained impassive until he’d left them in the dark cells and returned to the main palace.

Skipper was already waiting for him, wanting to say something, but Shining held up a hoof to stop him again. “Are you sure Midnight Blossom should be alone right now?” he asked. “Even if she told you to leave her alone, she’s probably not thinking straight. You can’t just let her drown in her own feelings right now.” He paused, thinking about the first time he’d killed another pony, and the conversation he’d had with his parents. “You have to talk to her.”

“Why me?” Skipper asked. “Can’t you do it?”

“That’s an order, Cloud Skipper,” Shining replied. “Go find Midnight and talk to her about it. She needs to talk to somepony, or it’ll drive her insane.” He teleported away to write the report, leaving Skipper to sigh and walk all the way back.

Midnight was crying into her pillow when he arrived, ‘drowning in her own feelings’ as Shining had put it. “Why did I have to kill him?” she asked, muffled by the pillow. “Why? Why did I have to kill?”

Skipper put his foreleg around her shoulder, sitting beside her on the bed. He let her cry until he could think of an answer, waiting until she’d mostly stopped to say anything. “Maybe it’s good that you feel bad about killing him,” he said. “But you have to be able to kill. Do you think that both you and the boss would have survived if you didn’t?”

“What do you mean?” Midnight asked.

“Shining Armor was probably concussed after being hit so hard. He wouldn’t be able to focus magically, and he would’ve gotten rolled in a straight fight. The only way you could stop him was to put him down.”

“You don’t know that... I could have just knocked him out, or—”

“If you stop to think about that in the middle of a fight, you’re dead. You shouldn't kill for no reason, simply out of hoof. But you have to be able to act, no matter how bad you feel about the consequences. Killing isn’t always a decision; sometimes, it has to be a reaction. That’s the truth of being a Royal Guard. And since there's nopony else to do it, you have to be able to, no matter what.”

“I... I didn’t know... that it would be like this...” She cried again for about a minute, before she asked another question. “Does it get easier? Killing other ponies?”

“It’s like any other kind of pain,” Skipper replied. “It never really stops hurting, but it dulls after a while. And if you can’t feel any pain at all, then something’s wrong with you.” Neither of them said anything else. Skipper simply sat next to Midnight, holding a vigil until she cried herself to sleep.

He knew he couldn’t always be there for her, and he knew that she’d probably have to kill again, but he wasn’t worried. He knew that she’d recover, at her own pace.
~
The crowd was roaring loudly, cheering and jeering at the spectacle through the glass roof. He was cornered, hardly able to breathe or move, the pain in his side too much to bear. He raised his head to see the other gladiator standing above him, sword raised. It fell down towards his neck—

Skipper shot awake, the sudden nightmare leaving him in a cold sweat. Midnight was still asleep, somewhat roughly, but not screaming or crying anymore. Shaking his head to dispel the last of the nightmare, he pulled on his armour.

One last look at his colleague confirmed that she’d come through. If she was sleeping better than he had after his first kill, then she’d be alright.