An Old Friend's Return

by Thunderblast

Scarwings

"Second in command of Princess Luna's personal guard?" Sharpblade smiled, taking a sip of water from a glass as him and Night Shadow sat outside of a restaurant. "Wow, good for you, Night. That's pretty impressive."

Night's cheeks heated a bit. "Thanks, Sharp. It was quite unexpected, but I guess after all that happened just before that, I had it coming."

"I guess so. I mean, reuniting the bat ponies with Equestrians? That's pretty big of a promotion. I'm honestly dumbfounded you weren't made an arbitrator for Equestria instead," Sharp chuckled.

"An arbitrator?" Night tilted his head.

"Yeah, an arbitrator. You know, the ponies that make peace?"

"Ooh, right. My bad," Night blushed again.

Sharp chuckled. "Such an achievement can get you a nice spot in the record books, Night. I hope you know that."

Night frowned a little. "I...don't want to be famous."

"But, you do want to be recognized for your actions, don't you?" Sharp's smile dropped.

"Well..." Night paused. "I only want to be recognized by friends and family, no one else. I don't want to be swarmed by paparazzi ponies day in and day out because I ended a dispute between races."

Sharp tilted his head. "But you do want to be recognized. You have to be. To teach the next generations to come to be respectful of all races. This happened when Equestria was founded, Night. We all may be physically different, but deep inside, we're all the same. That is the message you showed the ponies of Equestria and the ponies of your colony. And, it may not have been for that reason, but that is still the message you were trying to get to everypony. Do you understand?"

Night stopped to think for a moment, then nodded. "I'm sorry. Its just," he paused again and sighed softly, looking down. "I really don't want to be noticed by friends, and by Luna's guard as their second in command."

"I understand," Sharp said with a nod. "I'm just making sure you understand what I'm saying."

"And I do," Night smiled weakly.

"Plus, it makes me happy to see you're not one of those ponies who craves attention by the public," Sharp then stopped and peered around Night, his smile fading. "Like that stallion."

Night turned around, eyes widening a little when he saw Prince Blueblood marching down the street, passing bystanders and stopping to wave his groomed blonde mane at them. Sharp rolled his eyes and groaned.

"I don't know about you, Night, but I really hate him."

Night turned back to Sharp with a snicker. "At least I don't get stuck guarding him."

"Oh, ha ha," Sharp rolled his eyes again, he levitated the glass of water to his mouth and took another sip.

"Speaking of which, what are you going to do?"

"About what?" Sharp set the glass down with a quiet clink.

"You're going to go back to the guard, aren't you?"

Sharp's eyes moved away, he looked down at the ground beside him. "Probably not. They know who I am, they just haven't caught me yet."

"Sharp, to them, you're dead. Its only going to be that way until you go back to them. We can go to Shining Armor's office after lunch if—"

Sharp slammed his hoof on the table, shaking it. "No!" His eyes widened when he realized he startled Night. "Shoot...I'm sorry. I-I just can't go back..."

Night sat up again and stared at his friend with concern. "Yes you can. You're a strong stallion, stronger than me. You took on all of those changelings back at the wedding. I'm certain you can face the captain in these circumstances."

Sharp stared at the table, then after a minute up at Night. He shook his head slowly. "I can't. Simple as that. I can't."

Night's ears lowered. "I...understand."

Sharp rubbed his forehead with a hoof, then one of his eyes shot open, his golden pupils shrinking to pinpricks. Night noticed this and perked up a bit.

"What is it?"

"M-my boss...he's going to kill me! He's...going to kill you."

"Who? Who is your boss?!" Night's eyes opened wide.

Sharp stared Night in the eye and pinned his ears back. "Scarwings. You've heard of the Pony Mafia right?"

Night nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"He outranks their leader. Times one hundred. He is the commander-in-chief of the East-Prancisco Militia. The most wanted gang in Equestria, and quite possibly in a few other places too."

"How come I've never heard of him?"

Sharp shook his head. "Don't ask me, ask your commanding officer."

"That would be Fallen Star."

"Well, I hate to say it, but you're about to find out who he really is. But, you need to follow my lead," Sharp stood up, placing bits on the table for the bill. "I'll come by your place around ten, will you be up still?"

Night nodded. "I should be."

"Good, because I'll need you."

***

Later on that evening, Night Shadow sat in his quarters going over newly arrived paperwork with papers spread across the wooden desk. For the moment, he wasn't thinking about Sharp coming to pick him up and was too focused on the reports to realize it was almost ten o'clock.

There was a knock loud enough to catch his attention in the slightest way, Night stood up and trotted to the door and opened it. Standing in front of him was Sharpblade who wore the same black hooded shirt from that day weeks ago. Night looked over him, surprised, then remembered.

"Are you ready to go?" Sharp asked, from what Night could tell in his voice, he was nervous.

"I guess, but what am I going to do?" Night replied with a nod.

"Stay in the shadows, watch from a distance. If you get caught, run," Sharp turned and walked down the hallway towards the staircase leading to the ground level of the palace. "Don't think about fighting, you don't know who these ponies are or what they're capable of."

Night walked beside Sharp and gulped a little. "Got it."

The two made their way downstairs and out of the palace, onto the quiet and near-empty streets of Canterlot. The air outside was cool and a gentle breeze flowed down the street grid of the city. The moon shone bright and was nearly full in the star-filled sky, which itself was a postcard photo. Lights flicked off in buildings as ponies went to sleep, or shops closing up for the night with their owners trotting out the front or back doors.

Night's skin crawled on his back as him and a hooded Sharpblade made their way into some of the shadier parts of town, where they stopped outside a large three story brick building, it's windows boarded up completely and the only light coming from it was from the angled skylight on the roof.

"Is this it?" Night asked quietly.

Sharp nodded. "See if you can see anything from the roof. Do anything to stay a distance, just don't get caught. I'll give you a signal once I'm done."

Night nodded, his wings unfolded from his sides and with one flap, he took off into the air and up to the roof where he landed just beside the skylight. He moved up to it and looked down into the building, which on the inside was just one floor with steel walkways hanging by thick steel wire from the ceiling.

Down on the ground, he saw numerous large crates and wrapped pallets of unknown content sitting against the walls. In center stood a chair, and in it sat a white unicorn guard, hooves zip-tied to the back of the chair and horn disabled by a horn ring. The guard was missing his helmet and was gagged by a cloth that was tied in his mouth.

The guard struggled relentlessly, but to no avail. He stopped when a steel door slid open in front of him, and out stepped the same tan earth pony with the steel gauntlets still on his hooves. His walking shook the building slightly and stopped when he did off to the side of the guard. Next came many smaller ponies, two earth ponies, three pegasi, and one unicorn, all wearing what appeared to be dark green military-style jackets with their name tags on them, each too distant to read.

Night watched over the ponies and the guard, then turned to the steel door when each and every one of them suddenly stood at attention. Finally, a tall, muscular brown pegasus walked into the room, wearing a much similar green jacket and a pair of black aviators. He came in with a smirk crossing his muzzle, the guard's eyes widened as the pony approached him. Night took a closer look, spotting a large tan mark stretching across the pony's left wing and over his flank.

"That must be Scarwings," Night mentally said.

The pegasus lifted a hoof up to his shades and pulled them off, sticking them into the collar of his jacket where they hung sideways His left eye also had a faint scar, but both eyes remained in their orange color. Just then, another door opened from behind them. Everypony, except for the guard, looked in the direction of the door. In trotted Sharpblade, still appearing nervous.

"So terribly sorry I am late, I ran into uh...a bit of a problem," Sharp spoke under cover of his hoodie.

"Be glad that you are here, Sharp. We have a present for you, as you can see," Scarwings spoke with a dark chuckle.

Sharpblade approached the guard and walked around him to the front, the guard letting out some quiet muffled noises and shaking in his chair. Sharp inspected the unicorn thoroughly, then up at him.

"What am I supposed to do with him?"

"Take his armor, you will need it for later. Then kill him."

Night gasped quietly from the skylight, his golden pupils shrinking to marbles. Down below, Scarwings handed Sharp a sharpened butcher knife, the unicorn hesitantly taking it in a blue magical aura. He paused, then turned to the guard. The guard was now shaking more than ever and shook his head a couple of times.

"Go on, do it," said the tan earth pony in his usual gruff voice.

Night continued to watch. After a long pause, he began to crack a faint smile. "He's not going to do it."

Sharp stared the white unicorn in the eye, his ears went back slightly and he sighed. "Why can't we just let him go?"

Scarwings' smirk dropped into a slightly angered look. "Why don't you want to kill him, Sharpblade?"

Sharp turned his head back to Scarwings. "He probably has a family at home."

The guard's ears pinned to his head and he nodded slowly, his eyes beginning to fill with tears. He closed his eyes tightly and turned his head to the side, as if he was ready for Sharp to drive the knife into him and end his life. But not before turning back when the steel clatter of a knife dropping onto the concrete floor caught his attention.

Sharp reached a hoof up and pulled his hood back, his whitish-grey mohawk mane sticking straight up. He turned to Scarwings with a faint glare. "I will take his armor, but he will not die. Is that understood?"

Scarwings huffed and stepped closer, he leaned his head down a bit to stare angrily at Sharpblade. "No, you will kill him. Is that understood?"

Sharp's ears pinned back, but he remained stoic as ever. "I refuse to take away an innocent life, especially one that has family waiting for him at home."

"And why would you care? You never had a family that loved you, Sharpblade," Scarwings growled.

Sharp's eyes widened, he teared up. "...None of that is true."

"You know it is, you worthless excuse of a unicorn. Your parents never loved you. They hated you after you told them you were leaving to join the Royal Guard, they hated you because you became a soldier. They hated you because you didn't listen to what they thought was best for you."

"Stop."

"Admit it, Sharp. You're just a sad pony with no personality or life. And that one Lunar guard? That one that thinks he's so special just because he brought the bat pony colonies back to Equestria? He doesn't give two filly-flanks about you. I would have thought you were smart enough to know that after he killed you. If I knew you were this dumb, I would have let you rot in that casket."

Sharpblade's ears were completely pinned back, his eyes shut tightly. He shook with fear and anger mixed into one as the slightly larger pegasus degraded him slowly into tiny bits. After a short moment, a tear fell from his cheek. Above, Night gasped with shock when the tear splashed against the floor.

"Y-you're right," Sharp spoke with weakness in his voice. "I...am worthless."

"Then prove yourself worthy of it, and I will let you stay in our militia. Deal?" Scarwings motioned a hoof out towards Sharp.

"Don't do it..." Night thought to himself.

Sharp opened his eyes slightly and stared at Scarwings' hoof. After pausing, he reached a shaky hoof up and shook it with the brown pegasus'.

"NO!" Night shouted, then quickly covered his mouth in surprise.

Night's shouting caught the attention of the entire room at once, all looking around before Steel Locks spotted the grey pegasus from above. He raised a gauntlet and pointed towards him, clenching his teeth angrily. "Up there!"

Sharpblade immediately looked up at Night, his pupils shrinking. He then shouted. "Night, go!"

Scarwings looked down at Sharp as the other ponies rushed to chase after Night. "You...little...traitor."

Sharp turned to Scarwings. "Uh oh."

Before he could run away, Sharp was tackled to the ground by Scarwings and pinned down by his massive amounts of strength. Sharp grunted and squirmed helplessly underneath the pegasus.

"Sharp!" Night shouted, ears pinning back.

Scarwings turned to the others. "Get him before he escapes!"

"Oh snap," Night pulled back from the skylight. He was stuck between two hard decisions; fight or flight.

Stuck underneath Scarwings, Sharp shouted one final time, "Go, Night! And don't look back!" before being knocked unconscious by Steel Locks.

At this, Night knew it was best to fly away. He unfolded his wings and quickly took off into the sky with tears building. It was then that he rushed back towards the palace.

"I'll be back for you buddy," Night muttered.

Author's Note:

I hope you all are excited, because next chapter comes the big climax of the story!

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Great chapter. I liked how this Night stopped Sharp from attacking. I hope that Scar is put away.

[Paladin Redflare]

I'N READY!!!