The Veins Run Deeper

by Thunderblast

The Sneaky Truth

Relaxed rather comfortably against the carriage window, Night wore a small smile, one of both relief and joy to have fixed at least one of his current issues. A bulky weight at long last lifted from his shoulders, yet many more remained pressuring him.

Alas, they managed to stray far from his thought, thinking primarily on the amends made with Redflare back in Ponyville, even while he rode the express train back to Canterlot, which twinkled and glowed in the nearing distance, sustaining its never-ending beauty from afar.

He yawned softly, exhausted from his journey and bent on crashing the moment he got home, and there would be nothing to stop him from achieving this goal. Belatedly, a full-night's sleep called for him, having been much-missed on his behalf.

Slowly he blinked, eventually closing his eyes for just a couple of minutes, only to jolt upright at a sudden brake of the train, gradually slowing as it entered the city.

Almost by instinct, having become long-accustomed to rail travel by this point, he stood up, the grimy piece collected in his old alley resting neatly folded in center of his back. Through the open carriage doors, he stepped out onto the platform, met with a brisk gust rushing from the peak of the mountain, one that sent a deep chill up his spine.

But, that was not the only factor that forced the shiver out of him.

Glancing off to his left, he froze, sighting a pair of intimidating, glaring green eyes locked on his own. A second, more minor chill forced another shiver, despite these eyes he saw striking him with familiarity.

Cautiously, he approached the eyes, stepping down a small flight from the platform onto a dirt path that looped around the building, the two floodlights in this particular spot sat burnt out—a rather eerie coincidence.

"Halfmoon, what are you doing here?" Night calmly asked, eyeballing the now-visible form of the mare in the darkness.

"I know everything, Captain. I know what you are hiding," she responded.

His big, gold eyes grew wider. "Huh?" he cocked his head sideways. "What are you on about?"

"Don't you play stupid with me!" she hissed threateningly.

Night recoiled slightly. "I don't know what you're talking about! You're being extremely vague!"

"As if you aren't, as well!" Halfmoon hissed again. "I checked the hospital, my brother was not there. In fact, they had no record of him ever being a patient!"

Night's body tensed, though not visibly. "Are you positive you checked the right hospital?"

"One-hundred-percent certain," she snapped. "Why did you lie to me?"

Night took one step back, giving them a bit more space. "You're mistaken, Halfmoon!"

The mare reached forward, her hoof smacking Night across the muzzle, snapping his head sideways. The blow, to him, felt much more similar to a punch.

He lifted a hoof, rubbing his chin. "Ouch..."

"What will it take for you to tell me the truth?!" she screeched, lunging forward and tackling him to the ground.

Night fell with a grunt, pressing into the painful gravel beneath with Halfmoon on top of him, fangs baring and raising a hoof to strike again. In her eyes sat weary tears, an evident sign of stress—like that of his own.

"No, wait, stop!" He shouted, grabbing her outstretched hoof and holding it there, then gradually lowering it. Softly, he sighed. "For this long I decided not to tell you to keep you calmer than you would have been if I answered truthfully the day you woke up."

Halfmoon kept quiet, teeth angrily clenched and breathing quickened.

"And the truth is, I don't know where he is, no one does. Those ponies had to have taken him before they attacked us, same with those guards Norealis assigned. They must have him."

"Then why didn't you just tell me?!" she responded through gritted teeth, spreading her wings to take off and leaping up.

Before she could fully take off, Night yanked her back down, having grabbed her leg with his hoof. She stumbled, struggling to get back up, only with him holding her there.

"Because you would do that," he growled lowly. "You'd fly off to find him, then get yourself killed!"

"Getting myself killed rescuing Dusk is far more preferable than getting myself killed over you!"

Night grunted, clenching his teeth. "Is that how it is?!"

Swinging Halfmoon to the side, Night rolled quickly on top of her, forcefully holding her down into the dirt to keep her from squirming too much. "Halfmoon, listen to me!"

"After all of this, after the web of deceit you've given this squad, why in Celestia's conceited flank should I remotely listen to what you have to say?!"

Night further pressed down on her hooves, growling and staring furiously down at the pinned mare. "I AM YOUR CAPTAIN!" he screeched.

"I took you into this squad and trained you, even against my own personal interest! I spent my time training and attending to you and your coltfriend's needy flanks, I've spent weeks sulking over his capture and Shield's death, and worrying about keeping you in line long enough to get us back on our knees and fight back! Don't you DARE even say I've lied to everybody!"

Halfmoon recoiled, going silent. Her teeth remained clenched, muzzle wrinkled. The anger, mixed with a hundred other emotions, brightly showed off on her face.

"I did what I did to keep you safe, so we could take this time to recollect ourselves and pick up the pieces. I did it so I could figure out how we can rescue him and Norealis' ponies and not suffer any further casualties. For this long, it has been beyond painful to keep these secrets put away, and I cross my heart that it shall not happen ever again," he continued, more quietly, calming just slightly.

"Just what have you done to form any sort of plan, Captain?" Halfmoon said, voice cracking. "It's been weeks, he may have long been executed, or tortured, or—"

Night covered her mouth with his hoof. "Don't say that, Halfmoon. He is alive, I know it, and I will not stop until he is safe at home."

"What have you even done, though? What plan is there to save him?"

Night brought himself off of Halfmoon carefully, extending a hoof to stand her up. She took it, Night yanking her upright.

"I promise you. One is coming together. A day or two more, and I will brief everybody, and I mean everybody."

Halfmoon silently stared, tears sitting in her glassy eyes. She nodded slowly.

"Do you trust me?" Night quietly asked.

Another short silence followed.

"I trust you, Captain."

Night nodded once. "I solemnly swear on my life, Halfmoon, we will get Duskbloom back. They will not see us coming."

***

The door to his apartment creaked softly, swinging open. A soothing blue filled the room, moonlight shining in from the outside.

Eyes sagging, Night strode inside, kicking the door shut with his hind leg. He took the blanket off of his back, placing it inside an empty basket near the foot of his king-sized bed, then climbed up for some long-awaited shuteye.

Rolling onto his back and slipping beneath the covers, Night yawned silently, nestling the back of his head into his pillow. Steadily, his eyelids fluttered shut.

But, sleep avoided him. For minutes, he shifted ever so slightly under the sheets, searching for a new comfortable position—not that either of the previous ones had not been—and yet, still, he could not find himself to doze off.

Night deeply sighed, hooves sprawling out on either side of him, eyes locking on the ceiling above. Moonlight shadowed by the window pane edges in a grid stretched across, being the one thing he stared at for a good thirty minutes, mind racing yet again.

What had been said just an hour prior to Halfmoon hit him a second time. He expected to be in contact with Fang Legion back home in these next two days, and that was exactly what concerned him. He might not have two days, the voice in his mind repeated, over and over and over, seemingly nonstop.

He may only have hours, Night. Minutes, perhaps, or seconds! What are you doing, sitting here and doing nothing? What have you done to plan for rescuing Dusk?

Why are you sitting here, Night? Why are you not figuring this out? Why aren't you planning an attack?

Night slammed a hoof down on the blanket, only making a muffled smack-on-cloth sound, groaning with frustration and staring upwards with hanging eyelids.

Reluctant to get back up first and foremost, he pushed the covers off slowly, standing back on all fours with a soft clump against the cobble floor.

Drowsy as ever, Night began digging through his desk, searching for regional maps of the Hollow Shades area. From this moment on, it would be a long evening.

***

On his patrols around Luna's wing, Lodestar kept a steady pace, donning his armor with an enchanted attachment, granting him improved vision in the dark. Without many windows, or none at all, the few hallways, in some spots, went completely pitch black without any outdoor light shining in.

This enhancement to his armor, built into the crescent moon symbol on his breastplate, was exclusive to the Zodiacs, the House Guard, and a few chosen members of the Lunar Guard. Celestia's guards manipulated flashlight attachments to their helmets, or unicorns used spells of low magical usage to project a flashlight-like beam straight forward.

Having returned to a normal nightly shift again, Lodestar solely made his rounds. Skye Racer, typically standing atop Luna's observatory tower, now replaced by Scarlet Iris, with Eventide taking over for Shieldhunter—still very much unaware of the true situation, or why he has not shown up to his post—or work in general—for over two weeks now.

Passing a row of windows, each with bluish-white beams of moonlight pouring in and resting on the floor, lighting just part of the night-blue carpet, Lodestar stopped, his ear swiveling. He glanced to either side of him, then ahead, and behind. He did not jump in surprise at the sudden darkened silhouette behind him.

"Captain," Lodestar sternly, yet quietly said, snapping around at attention stance and saluting.

"At ease, Sergeant," Night softly replied, coming forward from the shadows.

"How was your trip, sir?" Lodestar asked, keeping the conversation less conspicuous to Luna's quarters guards.

"Quite a one, I must say," Night paused, glancing around, then locking stoic gazes with Lodestar's. He nodded his head once, then whispered, "It's been done."

The dark cyan pony leaned in closer, tightening their circle of discussion. "Tell me everything."

"We have their full support, they just need the word, and we shall be good to go," Night said.

"When are you thinking?"

Night inhaled sharply, then eased it out. "I will hold a briefing tomorrow evening. I expect all to be there."

"Define all," Lodestar blinked.

"Everypony. Sunstreak, Charge, Knight, all of them. We can utilize them in the fight, and that was the one thing we were missing last time. A medic."

Lodestar nodded once. "Good enough, sir. Your colony, Fang Legion, right?—" Night nodded. "—how much assistance are they offering?"

"As much as necessary. One, maybe two squads. As much as we were ambushed that one time, we still have no clue how many we're up against, if there are that many left."

"I would imagine if they got away with Duskbloom, plus Norealis' guards? There's more than what meets the eye. We didn't see half of them, maybe not even a fourth. Who knows."

"That's why I am making sure, Sergeant—"

"Night, Lodestar."

Both stallions' breath caught, eyes opening wide. Night whipped around, Lodestar holding still, both face-to-face with a perturbed Princess Luna, her star-dotted mane waving ever so gently.

"Princess!" Lodestar dropped down in a bow.

Night remained with his back straight, eyes widened. "Luna, so, uh... nice to see you out here! What brings you out?"

Luna steadily approached. "Night..."

Lodestar stood back up, stepping off a bit to the side, making space for the two.

"Luna, did I... do something wrong? You look worried, or... something."

"There is no use in holding this behavior, Night," she halted a foot before him, staring down at him, her voice stern. A scary type of stern. "There is not much within this palace that does not go beneath my attention. What does, is my sister's problem."

"I have followed your thoughts since before you returned from your mission out east. Your dreams, which can sometimes share your memories, told me everything," she said, tone holding even. "Shieldhunter..."

"Is dead, Princess," Night cut her off, voice shaky.

Luna's ears straightened upward, eyes growing just slightly. She nodded slowly. "Yes, I am well aware. During my sleep, the day of his death, I detected a rather unusual presence of spiritual energy, a type not common. Not in these times, that is."

Night and Lodestar's heads tilted with bewilderment.

"When Shield's spirit left his body, I felt it within my dreams. I felt his presence nearby. Over hundreds of years, both myself and Celestia have found ourselves to... connect, so to speak, with the aether."

"When our soldiers, our guards, pass away, their spiritual energy can be felt. Occasionally, the same energy may appear around places they were commonly located, whether it be their former posts, residences, or hangouts."

Luna sighed deeply, yet softly. "The day of Lance Corporal Shieldhunter's passing, I felt him. He was upstairs, in my observatory, standing guard. From there, I knew it would be a matter of time before the rest of you would come home. Yet, strangely, one more of you is missing..."

Lodestar gulped a lump down his throat. "Private Duskbloom, he was captured, your highness."

Princess Luna fixed her azure-green eyes to Night nonchalantly. "It is to my understanding, that you have been speaking to Commander Kozak of your colony's armed forces, especially in this most recent visit to that region in particular."

Night's throat tightened, body tensing. Nervously, he nodded in response. "Yes, Princess."

Luna calmly blinked, silent for a moment after Night finished. "It has also come to my attention that you—" she gestured at either of them. "—have been speaking in private of a return trip to Hollow Shades, to seek revenge on those who killed Lance Corporal Shieldhunter, and attempt to rescue Duskbloom."

Both stallions froze again, words catching before they could speak.

"As a princess, I mustn't stand behind such intentions, as there is always the possibility of future conflict in a domino effect of the outcome of this plan of yours. However—" she paused. "—to rescue a fellow squad mate, and avenge a late one, it is only best to provide our support."

"Our?" Night flicked an ear, puzzled at her meaning.

Around the corner strode a golden-armored grey unicorn, taller than Night by inches and just narrowly above Lodestar's height and build, walking up and stopping beside Luna, staring flatly at the two. "Night."

"Sharp!" Night gasped in surprise, now fully wide-awake.

"Blame me partially for speaking to Luna," he brushed his hoof across the silk carpet. "But, after hearing everything, I can't do much else but offer myself. You could use some more muscle out there," he nodded respectfully to Lodestar, who rolled his eyes.

"Sharp..." Night took a couple of steps closer, shaking his head. "No, I cannot ask you to do that. I killed you once."

"Then so be it if I strike out twice," Sharp earnestly responded, straightening his neck, staring directly into Night's eyes, the seriousness overall displaying brightly. "And on Thunder's behalf, he wants in, too."

"Sharp, I—"

"Furthermore, a stallion by the name of Harmonic Percussion will be arriving from Baltimare tomorrow," Luna added. "He has been informed of the situation, and will attend tomorrow evening's briefing."

Night's eyes widened, ears perking higher. "So that is what the letter was about..." he muttered.

"Yes," Luna flatly said. "Lastly, I have spoken to my sister. I shall keep her informed as time goes on. Her and I shall organize arrangements for travel, weaponry, as well as control the public in the event of an outcry."

Slowly, Night nodded. "Yes, Luna. Thank you, Princess. Your support... is much appreciated," he bowed his head.

A small smile crossed the lunar diarch's muzzle. "We trust you will make them pay for taking two of our own, and endangering many more lives."

Author's Note:

First off, sorry if this chapter seems a bit rushed, or all over the place. I'm kind trying to get directly to the next chapter, then the big stuff after that. Stay tuned!

Comments

[Skyfire Storm]

Shit's about to go down. Can't wait for more.

[Paladin Redflare]

Next chapter: For Honor!

[HolyCross9]

It's a pity that Avion couldn't participate, since he's an excellent flyer and would greatly aid Night in his upcoming mission.