Night Reigns

by tursi

Chapter 3 - Gathering Condensation

Captain Sterling Honor was a magnificent stallion to behold. His pure white coat was not overbearing to look upon, but rather glowed with an inner strength of both body and horn. A light chainmail covered his torso, with a solid dark breastplate adorned with the crescent moon symbol of his land. This was a unicorn as comfortable on the battlefield as standing next to Her Majesty in the throne room as standing before a group of young recruits ready to begin training – all of which he had done many times. Immaculately groomed, intensely experienced, and fiercely loyal, he was the sort of unicorn one might expect to find on a coat of arms.

Captain Sterling was the absolute leader of Nightmare Moon's Royal Guard, responsible for the defense and law enforcement of much of Equestria. He was receiving a report by a sand-colored earth pony in similar armor, though it was somewhat simpler than his own. At the moment, Sterling Honor was wearing a slight frown, a warning to the Sergeant that he did not like the direction that this report was going.

"Sergeant, tell me again why the shop keeper in question now sits in the dungeon, more the worse for wear?"

"As I reported, sir: he was overheard complaining about the darkness and wishing for the sun to rise again."

Sterling raised a hoof to his own forehead and closed his eyes, counting silently to three before he responded. "And so, the guards who overheard this arrested him, and then assaulted him for resisting arrest. Is that correct?"

The sergeant shifted uncomfortably, then returned to attention and nodded. "Um… undeniably, sir. Yes."

Sterling spoke very deliberately, pausing frequently to maintain his composure. Inside, he was seething. "Sergeant Impulse, how many times must I remind you… that we do not do that anymore? The citizens are free to make comments, so long as they are not inciting unrest."

Sergeant Impulse frowned noticeably. "So says that wolf," he grumbled.

At that comment Sterling Honor's face lost the battle to maintain composure and grew very nasty indeed. He leaned in very close to Sergeant Impulse and spoke in a very low tone. "That wolf," he repeated, using the same tone, "is the right hoof of our Queen, and if he instructed me to remove your head, I would do so without hesitation. Now, you will release that shop keeper and personally see to it that he is not disturbed until safely back to his home. Then you will find a way to perform your duties without coming into my sight for the next week, whilst simultaneously preventing a repeat of this incident. Do I make myself clear?"

Sergeant Impulse had far less experience with maintaining composure, and his expression fell rather quickly. "Y… Yes Sir!"

"Then you are dismissed."

As the sergeant hurriedly exited the office, Captain Sterling went around to the back of his desk and sat down heavily. His eyes lifted until they rested on a royal painting of Nightmare Moon which hung proudly on the wall.

"He's right, though," thought the Captain. "Everything has become so different since the wolf stepped into the picture. It was he who instructed the easing of the laws, permitted the entrance of light into homes… even allowed ponies to speak badly of Her Majesty herself. It makes our job easier as enforcers of the law, but what are we doing?"

His eyes sought the eyes in the painting, and he looked into them as if the answers would lie there. "Is this truly your will, Ma'am? Or does he rule in your stead when your back is turned? You told me to trust him and I will follow your orders, but I have doubts. Worse, my legion has doubts, and they joined for the ideal of your eternal night. I am not so sure they are loyal to any variation of the legend, even if it is from you directly."

He stared into the dragon-like eyes of Nightmare Moon's image for a few minutes longer, just in case Her Majesty might somehow wish to ease the questions in his mind. But when it did not happen he looked back down to his desk. He lit his horn to levitate a planner which was atop his inbox closer, so that he could read it. He scanned the list once, committing it to memory, and then set it aside. Continuing fluidly, he then summoned a quill and scroll from a nearby cabinet and began to write his weekly report. He estimated that he had about an hour to prepare it before presenting it later that afternoon. Before that, he still needed to debrief the scouts who had returned from the Frozen North. He had heard that they had found something very interesting and that would certainly need to be a part of the report.

Fifty-nine minutes later, he tucked the quill back into its holder, sealed the ink bottle, and rolled up the spare scroll paper. The spare paper went back into the cabinet while the scroll he had been writing on went into the small pocket at the rear of his armor. As he stood, he summoned his helmet from across the room, settling it gently onto his head. He paused a moment before the full-length mirror at the side of the room - not out of vanity but rather because it was his duty to always be properly presentable - and deftly adjusted his mane. Then he stepped out of his office to debrief the scout.

-----

The pegasus pony reporting on the scouting mission was young, excited, and almost perfectly sky-blue. Captain Sterling briefly reflected that he must have had near perfect overhead camouflage during day missions - back when there was a day. His name was Stratosphere, and he specialized in high altitude reconnaissance.

"So, to summarize, it's really cold up north, sir. The winds are wicked sharp and ponies don't leave their homes much. We couldn't see that the neighboring lands have been sneaking in."

Captain Sterling nodded, prompting him. "Then you found something unusual?"

"Yeah, dude! I… I mean sir! I mean yes, sir! We saw this one pony hauling a big old wagon across the ice, so of course we flew down to interrogate her. She was pretty rude, saying we had no right to stop her and stuff, and she said she was headed for Las Pegasus! From the North! Can you imagine that, man? I mean, sir?"

The Captain nodded once. "And then what happened?"

"Well, d… sir! She was giving us a lot of attitude, so we searched her wagon. Most of it was crappy wooden props and stuff for some kind of kid's show, but we also found explosives and a magical artifact! We had to confiscate all that, of course, and then she got REALLY mad and tried to get it back. So we had to arrest her."

"She's here now?"

"Yeah, dude… sir! She's in the dungeons."

"What kind of explosives did you find?"

The scout hesitated. "Don't you want to hear about the magical artifact?"

"After. Tell me about the explosives."

"Yes, sir." He sounded disappointed. "It… it wasn't anything much. A bunch of fireworks and stuff."

Captain Sterling chuckled. "Well, that's unusual, but I don't think we'll keep her in custody for that."

"Can I tell you about the magical artifact now… sir?"

The Captain nodded. "Of course, proceed."

Stratosphere's face lit up again. "This is totally radical, du… sir! I have it right here for you!" He opened up his saddlebag and fished out a small box. He lifted the top off it, and presented it to Sterling with his wings, shaking with excitement. "Check! It! Out!"

Captain Sterling looked into the box. The artifact in question was an ornately crafted silver bust of a winged unicorn with its head turned to the side - an alicorn. Both its eye and embedded into its chest were gemstones of extremely high quality. A strap suggested that it was meant to be worn around the neck.

"Dude!" crowed Stratosphere, forgetting to correct himself this time. "I think it's the Alicorn Amulet!"

Sterling took the box in his magic and then lifted the amulet from within it. He rotated it in the air before himself and studied it carefully. The gemstones seemed to glow from within, pulsing as he studied them. "I'm not familiar with it," he admitted. "What does it do?"

Stratosphere grinned. "It's only the most powerful magical enhancement in existence, d… sir! I read all about magical amulets when I was a colt; I really thought someday I could become a unicorn with enough work. Then I discovered how awesome altitude is, and dude, I never looked back. But the second I saw this bad boy, man, it all came back to me! You wear this, and you're the most powerful unicorn alive!"

Sterling rotated the amulet one more time, then put it back in the box. He replaced the lid and stowed it into his own saddlebag. "In that case you are correct; the law dictates that we must confiscate this. You can return the rest of the prisoner's effects and let her go with a warning." He chuckled. "Tell her to be grateful - she got a free ride halfway to her destination."

"Aw man! Aren't you even going to try it out?" Stratosphere seemed genuinely disappointed.

Sterling fixed him with a stern look. "It's not a toy and we don't own the things we confiscate. I will present this to Nightmare Moon and she will decide what will be done with it. Thank you, Scout, you are dismissed."

The pegasus looked disappointed for only a moment longer, then abruptly brightened. "Well, hey, better here than out there, right sir? Catch you later!" Stratosphere launched himself straight up in a cloud of dust, and Captain Sterling set off back to his office. He wasn't certain why just yet, but for the moment he decided not to include the amulet in his report.

-----

Having safely stored the artifact in his office, Captain Sterling started towards the throne room to present his weekly report to Nightmare Moon, or more commonly of late, her wolf steward. He considered this as he walked until his attention was caught by the familiar shouts of drill commands to the uninitiated on the parade square.

He stopped and turned to observe the new recruits. An unfamiliar light-colored pony was shouting commands to quick march, left turn, and halt to a group of awkward and nervous looking ponies of all colors. Each time they failed to move quickly enough, or turned the wrong way, he would shout quite a few additional words that were not in the training manuals. The instructor pony was even balder than the recruits, who were wearing the mandatory short-cropped manes.

Captain Sterling squinted at the pony, trying to place him. He knew every non-commissioned officer under his command, so he was confused as to why he didn't recognize this one.

All at once it dawned on him. It was Sergeant Impulse out there. In response to the command to find a way to stay out of sight, the sergeant must have shaved off his mane, dramatically changing his appearance. It had only been a couple of hours; the sergeant was certainly living up to his name. Captain Sterling laughed and turned to continue on his way.

"Well done, Sergeant. Well done."

Comments

[Obsidian Raindrop]

Silly Trixie, you're s'posed to with Nightmare Moon.

[Maytime58]

6837787 Why would Trixie particularly be on the same side as Nightmare Moon. Not all the mane 6's opponents would get along with one another.

[Nicknine]

You did a great job at establishing the new characters so well in so little time. Ulfrid and Captain Sterling both sparked my interest and it has been just one chapter for each.