Chapter 1
Moonlit Romance
By Lux
Chapter 1
You sit on the bench in marble lined corridor with your hooves shuffling nervously. You’ve been down these halls in the Canterlot Castle many times and yet the place was always as magnificent as when you first came here. The walls, floor and ceiling was polished to a mirror shine enough for you to make out your reflection. Light streamed in through the simple but elegant big windows across from you which were not enough to blind you but added an almost ethereal glow to the place. Several pictures hung on the wall which although in most of the rest of the castle these were of the Princesses, moments in Equestria’s history or landscapes of places around the kingdom this place was different. Each of these portraits was of a pony in the military either dressed in their traditional golden armor or in their formal military coat adorned with all manner of awards and medals. Your younger sister once teased you, calling the array of colors and shapes “fruit salad.” You couldn’t help but agree with the imaginative filly.
There was something about the faces in the portraits of generals and famous soldiers many of whom had long passed from the world. Their stoic expressions and eyes which all appeared fixed upon you, staring accusingly like a jury ready to hand down a guilty verdict in court. Why you could imagine that these portraits all coming to life as the spirits of these soldiers appeared to pass judgment with whatever you were accused of. Admittedly you had no idea why you felt like a school colt sitting outside of the principal’s office. You were a castle guard, and by all accounts you felt that you were doing a great job. Most of the time a guard’s life was fairly monotonous standing in the hallways and rooms and escorting ponies of all types through the castle to see to that they didn’t get lost or in trouble. But you were a private, and with that came a great risk of being watched constantly like those pictures around you.
As you shuffled uncomfortably in your seat you hear the door across from you swings open, echoing throughout the otherwise empty hall. You immediately take a deep breath and taking you helmet from the spot on the bench next to you place it back on your head. You then walk towards the door pausing just as you enter the room. You’ve been in this place before as all guards have been here sometime in their career. This is the office of Captain Shining Armor, your boss. The white unicorn was widely known for his military prowess and his cool head under duress, but perhaps one of his most memorable feats is marrying Princess Cadence of the Crystal Empire. He was always somepony that you looked up to as a model of courage and strength a pony that if you could be only a fraction of you could consider your life going in the right direction.
“You wanted to see me sir?” you asked standing in attention while knowing that this was probably the dumbest question you could ask. Of course Shining Armor wanted to see you! You remembered exactly that moment when you were standing guard and the Captain of the Guard stopped and pointing his finger at you said, “Meet me at my office one hour from now.” Then just as quickly he said this the Captain was gone, off to resolve some other issue. You wondered at that moment as you did now what the purpose of this meeting was and if any other pony encountered the same fate as you did.
“Take a seat Private,” Shining Armor said as you found yourself to a nice chair, but one that you still could not get comfortable. The white unicorn had a file on his desk which you knew instantly was your file with every success and failure was documented with accuracy and now laid out for the Captain of the Guard to review. Glancing down at it you could tell that Shining Armor already read through most of it with a few final pages to go. There was an unsettling silence as your boss read through the last pages broken only by the pages being magically held aloft and flipped over as the next one was revealed. Occasionally the Captain would take a quill from an ink pot with his hand and write something on a piece of paper. At last a wave of fear overtook you with a sudden realization: you were about to be fired. Your mind reached back as far as it could to recall all of your events as a guard. There weren’t any major ones you could think of, well there was that one on your first day of patrol where you walked into the locker room for mares instead of stallions which you occasionally are reminded of by both genders, mares especially. Then there was that time that you sent a defiant pony to the jail only to find out it was Prince Blueblood, Princess Celestia’s nephew. Strangely nothing came of it despite the Prince’s constant attempts afterwards to have you court marshalled. But little things had a habit of building up to something big, which you hoped wasn’t going to come back and haunt you now.
“Private, I am sure that you are wondering why I called you in today,” Shining Armor spoke.
“Yes sir,” I responded hoping that the truth would be revealed soon.
“I have gone over your record in detail and it is my decision that there needs to be a change.”
“A change sir?” you replied still surprised but thinking the worst. A lump in your throat the size of an apple formed, threatening to choke the life out of you as you waited nervously for the response.
“Yes,” Shining Armor said with a serious gaze that made you straighten up in your seat, “Although you perform admirably in your job as a castle guard, your services in this position are no longer required.”
The news hit you like ton of bricks no matter how much you had an inkling that it would happen. You were about to open your mouth to protest the decision, citing all the examples of how you still felt adequate for the military. You even considered pleading for your job to the Captain. Instead though you decided that nothing you would say or do would convince shining Armor to change his mind.
“I see,” you responded trying to hold back the disappointment, “Well then I will clean out my bunk as soon as possible. I thank you for allowing me the time being a guard.”
You were about to turn and leave to begin what would be your end of your military career, your mind thinking about where you would go to next when you heard Shining Armor say, “Wait, I have more to say to you Private. As I explained that you are no longer required to be a guard, as your skills exceed this position. You have shown your ability to follow orders and go above and beyond the call of duty. For this reason I will be reassigning you to a new position.”
“A new position?” you said in disbelief as your fortunes reversed themselves in a matter of seconds. You wondered what this mean, perhaps a promotion or task.
“You like repeating what I say, don’t you?” Shining Armor said breaking out of his stoic military persona, “Yes, your new position will still be a guard, but it will be for a very important pony.”
“Who will that be sir?’ you asked as you noticed that Shining wasn’t looking at you but at something or somepony behind you with a smile.
“My sister,” a calm voice replied from behind you, one that you knew exactly who was there. You turned around to see Princess Celestia standing there with a smile on her face. She was always a source of beauty with her ivory white skin and dressed in her white dress with golden designs. Her hooves were adorned in golden shoes that extended up to her legs as did the bracelets on her arms stop just before her elbows. Her gleaming crown placed amongst her ethereal mane and golden necklace only added to her beauty and her regal nature. No matter where she went her presence lit up a room, and she was never once harsh to others but more of a motherly figure to guards and everpony who ever met her.
You immediately kneeled and bowed your head to the Princess but this only elicited a giggle from the Princess.
“Rise sir, you do not have to bow to me,” she said before turning to Shining Armor, “I hope I wasn’t too late. My last meeting ran a little longer than anticipated.”
“You didn’t miss anything Princess,” Shining said before adding, “By the way Princess Cadence want me to send her greetings to you from the Crystal Empire.”
“And how is my niece doing?” Celestia spoke as if to a good friend than to a subject.
“Oh she is fine, and she hopes that when her royal duties lessen she will find the time to visit.”
“Wonderful! Tell her I will look forward to meeting her,” she said before turning to you and saying, “Oh excuse me for that interruption. I felt I wanted to catch up on family before getting down to the business at hand. As I mentioned, a new position has opened up in which you would be Princess Luna’s personal guard during the time that she wakes until the time she sleeps. This of course means that you will be up largely at night although this may change if Luna is needed in the daytime. A good guard will respect her wishes and her privacy, something that I know firsthand that she guards carefully. As you also know that she is still adjusting to her return to Equestria and still is trying to understand the modern customs and advances here. Accepting this job however is entirely up to you as I understand that it is a very prestigious position but one that require much responsibility, so will you accept this position and help guard the very pony that I treasure more than my reign or life itself?"
You were shocked at the fact that you were presented such a position and wondered if you were able to fulfill the role that Princess Celestia wanted you to be in. It wasn’t that you had a doubt of wanting to guard Princess Luna. But this was a grey area in your mind not having met Celestia’s sister personally during your time as a guard. Yet to you this was just another challenge in your position and you were not one to shirk from any challenge given to you in the past or now.
“Princess Celestia, it would be an honor to guard your sister Princess Luna.”
“Then by my authority as Princess of the Sun and co-ruler of Equestria, I hereby appoint you as official bodyguard to the Princess of the moon, co-ruler of Equestria and sister to yours truly. Congratualtions!”
“Thank you, both of you for this opportunity. I promise I won’t let any of you down.”
“I have no doubt,” Celestia said, “Your position start Sunday night before the sun sets whereby I will introduce you to Princess Luna. Perhaps you might in this position find that you two are quite comparable to each other.”
With that Princess Celestia gave a little wink to you, one that you could not tell what this meant as your mind was still clouded by the euphoria of your new position. If there was one thing that you learned with your time in the castle it was that Princess Celestia was sometimes cryptic in her words like she had another plan that was waiting to be revealed.
“There is one more thing,” Shining Armor said, “You will need to return your armor to the royal armory. A new position such as this calls for a change in armor. You will also be moving from the barracks to your new home on the floor to where the Princess’s living quarters are. I will have the castle staff assist you in your moving and your new armor will be delivered to your new home. Now if you have no further questions you are dismissed where you will have the next day to prepare for your transition. I extend my congratulations to you as well.”
“Thank you sir and again Princess Celestia,” you replied as part of you wanted to hug Shining Armor and Princess Celestia. You resisted that urge though and leaving your seat passed by the smiling Princess as you made your exit. As you left feeling nervous and excited at your new life you couldn’t help but hear a conversation behind you.
“He seems like a wonderful pony for my sister,” Princess Celestia said.
“That reminds me, Luna does know about this right?” Shining Armor asked.
“Don’t worry, I will introduce him to her on his first day. I’m sure she will be accepting.”
“I hope so,” Shining Aromor said, “for his sake.”
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Woo! A new story.
5484680 yes fresh meat, m80
Thanks to all who liked, favorited, or commented so far.
First new story for 2014 and things seem to be going fine so far. The first chapter is always the hardest setting things up, but now that the characters are described and the general gist of the story is laid out now we can get into the fun.
Also let's keep the comments down on long conversations please.
Thanks!
Yus. moar.
MOAR!
I started Chapter 2 today. Hopefully this week I'll have it completed.
You asked what I think. Wellllllll ........ What I think is that this story..............
NEEDS ANOTHER CHAPTER
Dear Luna this story is amazing so far!
Want another chapter fast
Please can't wait long need chapter 2,3,4 and on
To those who are looking for another chapter and more...
This indeed needs a next chapter. Not overly simple Or complex, nor fast paced or elongated, but just right. This is the design of your story.
Update: Chapter 2 is halfway there. I could just post it there, but it would be a short chapter. So hopefully tomorrow or this weekend at the latest I'll submit it.