Joining the Night
I’d have to be crazy to not be nervous about being formally inducted into the Lunar Guard. It was only one of the biggest things that had happened so far in my short career. Getting into one of the royal guard units was supposed to be the fast track to moving up the ranks, since only the best of the best got in, plus it at least theoretically meant facetime with royalty. Of course, that had been the conventional wisdom back when there was only one royal guard unit; now that there were four of them, who knew? Equestria’s best and brightest had to be getting spread pretty thin if they’d given Skunky a command post.
Okay, kidding. Storm’s actually really good at her job. I’d pretty much known she was going to end up in one of the royal guard units sooner or later. After all, she managed to survive being miss prim-and-proper with a stick up her plot in the Long Patrol, and that definitely made her snooty enough to be royal guard material.
What was more confusing for me was how I’d gotten in. Not that I was a slouch, but I’d only lost my butterbars with my latest assignment. I’d done pretty good with the Equestrian Patrol And Rescue Service, but everyone knows that a newbie 2nd Lieutenant is really just there to be ‘advised’ by a veteran sergeant. It wasn’t like I’d just been a puppet officer who didn’t do anything without checking with my sergeant first, but I hadn’t exactly accomplished the sort of amazing things that get you noticed by royalty. Sure, my spell talents were just about perfect for my line of work, but overall I’d just been a reasonably competent young officer at the start of a perfectly adequate career in EPARS. Good performance reviews, but nothing like the personal commendations from royalty that Storm had.
And yet, here I was. About to join the Lunar Guard. Of course, as the newest officer in the Lunar Guard I’d probably end up doing whatever jobs all the other officers passed on. That said, even the least glamorous officer posting in the Lunar Guard was still in the Lunar Guard. Considering Luna was supposed to be the more martial-minded of the two royal sisters, a lot of ponies suspected that the Lunar Guard offered even more advancement than Celestia’s. Of course, that was offset by the hard-to-ignore (however remote) possibility that our princess might go crazy and try to plunge the world into eternal darkness again.
Maybe that was part of why I was so nervous about joining? Nah, that couldn’t be it. Maybe if it was right after the whole Nightmare Moon thing, but that was years ago. Once she’d gone several years without trying to wipe out all life in Equestria, ponies had more or less stopped worrying about Luna.
No, I think what was worrying me was a bit more internal. One of the frustrating things about having Mom be a head-doc, I’d picked up just enough through osmosis to be way too good at looking into my own head. It wasn’t as fun as it sounds, and nobody thinks introspection is all that fun to start with. I probably had some sort of inferiority issues or something—I wasn’t sure what I’d done to get into the Lunar Guard, and thus I was worried I wasn’t really good enough to deserve my place here.
Having issues doesn’t get any less frustrating just because I know enough to understand them. I suppose I could try talking my parents about them, but Mom would either be unconditionally supportive or ask me to lie down on the couch and talk about my feelings for an hour, and neither of those was what I needed. Maybe I could try praying with Dad later…?
One of the senior Lunar Guard soldiers stepped out into the hallway, tearing me away from my latest round of navel-gazing. “Her Highness is ready for you, Lieutenant Kicker.”
“Right.” I quickly checked my reflection in one of the windows. My coat had been brushed out, my mane was perfectly arranged, and my armor had been carefully polished, then dulled just a bit so it wouldn’t be too shiny. For the moment I was in Kicker red, since jumping into the midnight purple of the Lunar Guard would have to wait until I’d officially been inducted. At least I wouldn’t need to worry about a uniform enchantment changing my coat; apparently dark grey dapple was reminiscent enough of the night sky to get a pass. Good thing I wasn’t a pegasus, because having bat-wings would’ve taken a lot of getting used to.
I wonder what Storm would end up doing for her new Guard command? They didn’t have any uniform decided on yet, or even a fancy official name. Obviously I needed to help her fine-tune the Skunk Guard. I could see them now, trotting around in black uniforms with a big white stripe right down the middle. It was the only reasonable way to go.
As I started walking into Princess Luna’s throne room, I gave my tracking gems a quick ping. Sparks, Mom, Dad, Uncle Tor, and my cousin Alula were all waiting in one of the banquet halls for the post-induction celebration, and Skunky’s tracker was still muffled under the monstrously powerful magic of her princess. I had no idea what spell Princess Sparkle was using on my trackers this time, but it kept me from getting any information from it other than the fact that my big sis was okay.
I was a little surprised that Cloud’s tracker was under the same spell as Skunky’s, though on second thought I guess it shouldn’t have been a total shock, considering she got on well with Princess Sparkle. While nopony had said anything, I was willing to bet that her being friends with Cloud was part of why Princess Sparkle had Storm running her guards.
Note to self: tease Skunky about how she got her job through nepotism.
Princess Luna stood in front of her throne, positioned so the moonlight streamed through one of the windows to illuminate her in a perfect circle. Well, maybe it was more that the moon was positioned relative to her. Royalty has its perks.
The way to Luna’s throne room was lined with the rest of the Lunar Guard, forming a narrow corridor of eyes and bodies. All of the watching me, and judging whether I was good enough to be the newest member of their order.
I pinged my trackers again. Some ponies squeeze a stress ball or do a breathing exercise to steady their nerves; I plant tracking devices on all my friends and family. There’s lots of healthy ways to deal with stress. If I was crazy, Mom would’ve done something about it.
I slowly strode up the column of eyes, doing my best to look like a proud, noble young mare who totally belonged here. Maybe I’d get used to it if I pretended hard enough? You know what they say: fake it until you make it.
Luna’s majordomo, a white-maned pegasus named High Quarters, began the proceedings. “Who art thou, who seeks an audience with Princess Luna Selene, Monarch of Equestria, Princess of the Night, Bearer of the Mantle of the Moon, and Mistress of Dreams?”
I pinged my trackers one last time, then took a deep breath and tried to sound confident and appropriately ceremonial. “I am Star of the clan Kicker.”
“Why dost thou seek audience with our sovereign?” the majordomo demanded.
I managed to sound a bit more confident this time, starting to get into the sort of old-school formality of the proceedings. I had a bit of practice at this kind of thing from services at the Cult. “I wish to offer her my services as a member of the Lunar Guard.”
High Quarters turned to face Princess Luna, pitching his voice so that it echoed nearly as much as if he was using the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice. “Star of the Clan Kicker seeks audience with Princess Luna, requesting the honor of service as a member of Her Highness' personal guard. May she approach?”
Princess Luna nodded gravely. “She may approach her princess.”
I slowly walked across the room, approaching the throne itself. I paused at the steps, trying to remember where I was supposed to stop and bow. Normally it was right in front of the steps, but I knew that members of a princess’ personal guard had different rules. Rules I’d gone over three times to prepare for this ceremony, but now that I was standing in front of Luna herself I couldn’t remember any of the relevant parts. Dangit, the one time the huge stick up Skunky’s plot and all her rules-stickling would’ve actually been kind of useful...
I bowed at what I desperately hoped was the right time, nervously waiting to see whether I’d made a mess of things and started my career in the Lunar Guard with a huge faux pas. Princess Luna gazed down at me, her carefully neutral expression revealing nothing. At least if I had made a mess of things, it wasn’t so bad that she was going to throw me out of the room and strip me of my rank.
Finally, she spoke. “Rise. What brings thee before us this night?”
I swallowed nervously, suppressing the urge to ping my trackers again. No nervous tics in front of the princess. “I wish to pledge my service to the Princess of the Night, for this night and all nights to come, until Her Highness releases me from her service, or death takes me.”
Luna nodded. “And so thou wouldst swear this sacred vow to the moon and stars, before thy ancestors and those gathered, and to thy Princess of the Night?”
“I would so swear,” I responded, trying to match her tone.
Luna rose to her full height, towering over me even more than she already was thanks to the dais her throne sat upon. She drew forth a black blade that seemed to drink in the moonlight. “Then kneel, Star of Clan Kicker.”
I sank down to my knees, and a second later I felt the flat of the blade lightly touching my shoulder. “We accept thee into our service and bind thee to us, with all the rights and duties that entails.” The sword shifted from my right shoulder to my left. “We bind thee and accept thee into the holy order that does protect and serve us. Rise, Star of Clan Kicker. Rise and accept thy place in our guard.”
I rose to my hooves. “Thank you, my princess.”
I must’ve gotten that part of the ceremony right, because Luna nodded to two of her guards who stepped forward bearing a new breastplate and helmet. Luna’s moon was displayed prominently on the breastplate, right over where my heart would be. “Accept thine arms, armor, and badge of office, and let all know of thy station and vows.”
I stretched out my magic, picking up the armor with a bit of telekinesis. For a second it refused to move, until the enchantments worked into it recognized my magic and gave way. I was no magus, but I knew enough about enchantment to recognize that this armor had been enchanted by someone much stronger and more experienced than me. Rumor had it that the princesses personally inspected each royal guard’s armor, and would sometimes even contribute a bit of their own magic to it.
I was a bit surprised to see several empty sockets in the armor, a feature none of the other Lunar Guards had. A quick magical probe revealed something that really surprised me: the sockets were designed to accept magically enhanced gems, like the ones I liked to make. This armor had to have been custom-forged and enchanted, just for me. That ... was a bit scary, if I was being honest. It meant Princess Luna knew about my personal talents, and had gone to the extra trouble of modifying my armor to accommodate them. And a royal going to extra trouble to help one of their guards was a big deal.
So ... no pressure.
A ghost of a smile played across Luna’s face, and I briefly wondered if she could tell what I was thinking. It’s not as crazy and paranoid as it sounds; after all, she did go into ponies’ dreams all the time as part of her job, and you’d think she would want to inspect the dreams of any of her bodyguards as a matter of course.
I barely managed to keep myself from blushing as I remembered several dreams I definitely didn’t want anyone but Sparks to ever know about. Especially not a member of the royal family, my new boss.
Then again, if she’d ever been in Cloud’s dreams, mine wouldn’t be all that bad by comparison.
The direction my thoughts had been wandering in made what happened next even more awkward than it would’ve been otherwise. In all my panic over getting something wrong, I’d forgotten exactly how the old-fashioned ceremony Luna picked ended. I remembered very quickly when I felt Luna’s lips lightly brush my cheek. It was a very quick and chaste kiss, but still a kiss. From a princess. “Now thou art bound to us, and to the sisterhood of our Lunar Guard.”
There was no keeping the blush off my cheeks now. “Uh, thanks.” I realized that I’d mumbled my answer, and I’d been way too informal for such an occasion. “Thank you very much, Your Highness. It is my honor to serve.”
Princess Luna smiled at me, though I wasn’t sure if it was her being nice, or if she’d caught me blushing at the kiss and it amused her. Whichever it was, she turned and faced the rest of her guards. “And now the ceremony is ended. Shall we cast aside ritual and formality and properly welcome our Star Kicker into our ranks? I have procured several barrels of cider to mark this fine occasion, and ‘twould be difficult to drink all of it by myself.”
The guardsponies broke out into a round of enthusiastic cheering. Probably more for the booze than for me, all things considered.
Princess Luna turned to me with a grin. “I believe that would be a yes. I trust you will join me as the guest of honor, Lieutenant?”
I smiled back at my princess. “I’d love to.”
The first couple hours of the celebration had mostly been a blur of introductions. Just about every single member of the Lunar Guard had stopped by the table to both pay their respects to Princess Luna and introduce themselves to me. I was going to need to plant gems on most of them just to keep all their names and faces straight, assuming I could get away with that. So far I’d tried to keep my weird nervous habit restricted to my personal life.
Not that I needed my tracking gems at the moment, considering pretty much all my close friends and family were right in front of me. I’d been seated next to Luna as the guest of honor, and Sparks had insisted on taking my other side. My parents sat with us as well for most of the evening, but right now they were over at Uncle Tor’s table catching up with a couple old Guard buddies. Storm was still at the table with me, partly out of family loyalty and partly because Princess Twilight was sitting with us.
Princess Luna was playing hostess, signalling some of the palace staff to deliver a large and very delicious-looking chocolate and raspberry cake. “I hope you are enjoying the festivities, Lieutenant.”
I smiled gratefully. “Very much so. Thank you, Your Highness.”
“It is my pleasure to be a good host to my newest guard officer,” Luna answered with a smile. “I would hardly want to seem ungracious to a mare who might one day be the only thing standing between me and mortal peril.”
“Not to mention everypony loves an excuse to get together for a good party.” Everyone turned in our chairs as Princess Celestia strode into the room. She smiled and waved away the ponies who started to bow. “No need for formalities. I’m technically party-crashing, after all.” She settled into the unoccupied seat next to her sister. “Though since it is my palace as much as Luna’s, I think I’m allowed to.” She turned to me with a mischievous grin. “Besides, one of the perks of being a princess is that nopony would dare to kick me out.”
“Do not tempt me, dear sister...” One of the servants quickly trotted over and provided Princess Celestia with an especially large slice of cake. Luna rolled her eyes. “As always your timing is impeccable. You somehow managed to free yourself from your many royal duties precisely when the cake was being served.”
“Efficiently managing one’s time is one of many skills a princess should develop,” Celestia answered primly, though her eyes drifted down to the large slice of cake waiting on her plate. She turned to me, smiling. “Congratulations on your promotion, Star.”
Even if I suspected that she was only here for the cake, I wasn’t going to say anything about it. “Thank you, Your Highness.” I turned to Princess Luna, and my smile became a bit more genuine. “I appreciate you going to all this trouble for me.”
Sparkler leaned over to add in her two bits. “This has been really great! Thanks, Princess.”
Luna nodded to both of us. “It is hardly anything. Truly, it is my pleasure to welcome my newest guards in such a manner.”
Sparkler smiled at me and gave my hoof a quick squeeze. “You’ve earned it, luv. You’re gonna do great.” She leaned in a bit closer and whispered to me. “You look great too, by the way. The color scheme on your armor really works with your coat.”
I grinned and squeezed back. “Thanks, Sparks.”
Skunky cleared her throat. “It was quite an impressive ceremony.”
Luna smiled, a hint of pride clear on her lips. “I am quite happy with how it has come together. Bringing back some of the older traditions adds a certain level of gravitas to it all.”
“No kidding,” Sparkler agreed. “You really pulled out all the stops for this, Your Highness.”
Luna dipped her head slightly, acknowledging the compliment. I saw the perfect chance to satisfy my curiosity and put Skunky on the spot for a bit. “So what was it like when you joined Twilight’s guards, Storm?”
Storm coughed, her eyes flicking towards her own princess. “It was ... different.”
“Um ... yeah.” Princess Sparkle grinned sheepishly, a hint of a blush working its way onto her cheeks. “We just signed some paperwork to make everything official.”
“The circumstances were different,” Storm pointed out in her royal’s defense.
The barest hint of a frown worked its way onto Luna’s face. “Mmm, you should seriously consider adding some ceremony to the process of adding ponies joining your guard. A bit of pomp enhances both your own majesty and the prestige of your guard.”
“There was only so much I could do with the library,” Twilight murmured. “Especially since I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for Storm’s arrival.”
As a good bodyguard should, Skunky rose to her princess’s defense. “I was the first bodyguard Her Highness ever had. She could hardly have a string of long-running traditions surrounding something she had never done before.”
“That’s true,” I conceded. I decided to try and put a more positive spin on things—not that I had any issues with going after Skunky, but doing it too much in the middle of my own party kind of mean-spirited. Just because it was my duty as a younger sister to annoy and embarrass Skunky at every opportunity didn’t give me an excuse to be a jerk about it. Especially not in front of royalty. I smiled at both of them. “So if you don’t have old stuff to draw on, that means you two can come up with your own traditions.”
Princess Celestia picked up on the conversational thread I’d started. “We can help Twilight with that later. Even if she does want to make something that’s uniquely her own, it wouldn’t hurt to have something more than a blank slate to start from.”
Twilight smiled back at her mentor, although it looked a bit strained. “I’ll add that to the list of things to get done later.” I initially thought she meant that a bit more metaphorically, but a second later she teleported a huge scroll into the room, jotted down some notes, and then teleported it away.
Sparkler snickered and leaned closer, whispering into my ear. “Maybe we can invent a tradition where the new recruits prank your sister?”
“Pranks are a pretty common part of initiation rituals,” I agreed, already mulling over some ideas. Perfume water balloons were one of my old classics, and it had been far too long since I’d used them. “I’ll pitch a few ideas at Storm later.”
Ever since getting out of West Hoof and joining EPARS, I’d had far too little time to mess with my sister, especially since she’d been running all over the place in the Long Patrol. Now that we were both royal guards it would be a lot easier to go after her, and I did have several years of missed pranks to make up for. Come to think of it, I did have some leave scheduled to visit Sparks in Ponyville. And really, it would be rude not to drop in on Storm as long as I was in town. And if I pranked her a few times ... well that was just my way of showing her I cared.
Skunky decided to shift the conversation away from herself. “Now that she is one of your personal guards, Princess, what will Star's duties entail?”
Princess Luna wasted no time answering. “I have need of Star’s special talents. I often wish to find specific individuals, objects, places, and other such things. Having a pony who is skilled in tracking and seeking will be of no small help in such endeavours.”
“That makes sense.” Twilight nodded along thoughtfully. “I know I’ve been compiling a list of useful skills I’d like potential members of my guard unit to have.”
I grinned at my princess. “I’m your mare if you need something or someone found, Your Highness.”
“Even if they do not wish to be found,” Storm mumbled under her breath.
Princess Luna either didn’t hear Skunky’s remark or chose to ignore it. “Excellent, I doubt it will be too long before your talents will come into play.”
Sparkler wrapped a foreleg over my shoulders and beamed at me. “You couldn’t have picked a better pony for the job.”
“I think that perhaps you are a bit biased.” Celestia shot a faintly teasing grin my girlfriend’s way. “In any case, I expect you will be quite busy, Star. My sister is always searching for any excuses to get out of the palace whenever she can, and often assigns herself quests when the opportunity presents itself.”
“Pity events so often get in the way,” Luna groused. “Why must so many crises with the potential to end life as we know it in Equestria happen the day before I go on vacation? And not even a true vacation, as the quests I seek to undertake would still fall within my royal duties. I merely seek to do something more useful with my time than fill out endless paperwork, meet with dull bureaucrats, or force myself to endure yet another mindless social function.”
“What kind of quests are you talking about?” I asked, understandably intrigued.
“All manner of tasks to suit an adventurous soul,” Luna answered with a gin. “Seeking out and seeing to monsters harassing my ponies, searching for lost artifacts, finding particularly infamous criminals and ne’er-do-wells—whichever task most catches my interest. A princess chooses her own assignments.”
“Huh. Sounds interesting.” It certainly sounded like a step up from EPARS work. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t regret my time with the search and rescue team at all. It’s just that the work was a lot less glamorous and heroic than it sounded. For every legitimate emergency where we actually needed to save someone, there were a dozen false alarms caused by ponies who thought their minor problems were a state emergency. If I had five bits for all the times when we got called by parents because their kids were a few minutes late getting home from school...
Princess Luna’s smile widened. “I plan to keep you very busy, and I daresay you will find being in my service to be quite interesting.”
Celestia smirked at her sister. “The way you say that reminds me of several old sayings about just how hazardous ‘interesting’ can be.”
“Could we maybe keep the levels of busy and interesting under control?” Sparkler cleared her throat and shot a slightly sheepish look Luna’s way. “I’d like to have her back once in a while and with all her limbs intact, Your Highness.”
Luna looked both of us over, a hint of a smirk playing at the corner of her mouth. “I will do my best to see that she returns to you intact. As for how often that is ... that depends on how quickly she can complete her assignments.”
I chuckled softly. “Well, that gives me plenty of motivation to work fast.”
“So long as you do not sacrifice thoroughness,” Luna cautioned.
I nodded along dutifully. “Right, if it’s not done properly, it doesn’t matter how quickly I do it.”
“Just so,” Princess Luna agreed. “I trust your judgment well enough to have made you one of my personal guards, so I expect you will be able to balance speed and effectiveness.”
Princess Celestia grinned and nudged her sister in the ribs. “And whenever she’s not sending you off on some mad errand, your most important duty will be to keep my dear little sister safe.”
Luna rolled her eyes. “I have no shortage of protectors, sister. Not to mention that I am quite capable of taking care of myself. Surely you remember that I was trained by the greatest weaponmasters of Old Pegasopolis?”
“I’m well aware, sister,” Celestia answered levelly. “I would also remind you that your training was long ago, and a great deal has changed since then. You’ve been doing very well, but you still haven’t caught up to all the modern developments.” She coughed, then shot her sister a fond smile. “Forgive me, I just want my little sister to be safe.”
Sparkler nodded, one foreleg wrapping around me in a protective half-hug. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“I am sure Star will protect your sister to the best of her abilities,” Storm assured Princess Celestia.
Luna nodded gravely, then shot an approving smile my way. “I do not doubt that Lieutenant Star will take her responsibilities seriously.”
“I wasn’t planning to spend all my time in the Lunar Guard goofing off,” I answered dryly. “Speaking of which, might I ask what my duties will be going forward? It sounds like you want to have my talents on-hoof, and want me to be at your disposal and doing general bodyguard work whenever I don’t have a specific task to carry out.”
“Essentially,” Luna agreed. “Your talents are useful enough that I would like to have you available at a moment’s notice, and your record indicates that you are a quite capable officer who should be more than capable of carrying out the duties of an officer in my Lunar Guard whenever I do not need your other skills.”
“Sounds simple enough.” I gave her my best confident grin. “I won't let you down.”
“I never thought you would.” Luna paused, thoughtfully tapping her chin. “Though now that I think about it, I do have an assignment for you.”
My ears perked up. “Whatever you need, Princess.”
She smiled approvingly. “Since my return, I have been unable to find an old necklace I fancied—one of silver with sapphires laid into it.” Her horn lit up, and an illusion sprang into being for me to study. “I wish for you to retrieve it.”
Oh. Not exactly the chance for glory and honor I’d been hoping for. Still, I had my duties. Besides, this could just be a simple test to prove that I could actually do what I said. “I'll get right on it, Your Highness.”
“It can wait for tomorrow,” Luna assured me. “I would hardly wish to drag you away from your own celebration.”
Princess Sparkle looked quite intrigued. “Isn’t the castle basement full of stuff you and Celestia have collected over the centuries?”
Princess Celestia smiled and nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, our servants have a hard time finding anything down there.”
Sparkler let out a low whistle. “That sounds like a heckuva mess. You sure you want Star down there looking for just the one thing? It’d probably be a lot more efficient to have Twilight go down there and organize everything.”
Princess Sparkle’s eyes lit up, and an eager smile grew on her face. “Actually, I would love to have the chance to organize everything.”
Princess Celestia smiled coyly. “Well, if you really want to...”
Twilight was practically quivering in her seat. “Oh, yes! Now, what would be the best way to organize something like this?” She teleported in a piece of paper and a quill, and began jotting down notes. “Perhaps by date? Or by type of object? I should probably double-check how museums normally organize their artifacts. Oh, I bet there are so many fascinating artifacts down there! Who knows how much history there is to find? There might even be something of serious historical significance! Maybe we could set up a system of full-time curation once everything’s organized!”
Luna grinned and chuckled softly. “She seems quite eager. Though I do worry that we might lose her down there...”
Sparkler grinned and patted my shoulder. “Well, if she does get lost, I know a great mare to help find her.”
Princess Sparkle seemed to be practically bouncing up and down in her seat. “This is going to be so much fun! Would you mind helping me get everything set up, Storm?”
“It would be my pleasure, Highness.” I knew my sister well enough to catch the very carefully hidden bit of dry sarcasm in her tone. “Will you just want a cot, or should I bring down a bed and set up a full camp in the palace’s basement?”
“Let’s wait and see how big the job is before we decide on anything,” Princess Sparkle said, evidently missing Skunky’s snark. “We should probably pack for at least a week just to be safe. I’m sure we can pick up what we need locally if we end up staying longer.”
“Of course, Highness,” Storm answered with an impressively professional tone.
Sparkler leaned in and whispered, “And suddenly, just having to find a single necklace doesn’t sound so bad, does it?”
“Every princess has their quirks,” I whispered back.
I managed to find that necklace after looking for about an hour. Two weeks later, Skunky was still busy helping her princess. I think I picked the right royal.
Then again, she and Princess Twilight did end up winning the minor prank war I’d picked back up on my last visit to Ponyville. And not long after that came the whole Tirek thing. While I was sitting around useless with my magic drained like all the other guards in Canterlot, Storm had gone and gotten Shadow’s Armor out of the family vault, then taken the fight to Big Red Ugly all by herself. She hadn’t won, but from everything I’d heard she gave a pretty good account of herself. Way better than when I’d tried to get it and just got a lecture about how I wasn’t worthy.
Ugh. Who cares about what Skunky’s been doing? Not me.
So far I’d been settling in pretty well at my new job. I was still getting a feel for my new platoon, but thankfully one of the senior officers had loaned me his staff sergeant for a few weeks to help me settle in and learn all the fun unique quirks of the Lunar Guard. So far I was handling the adjustment fairly well, though it probably helped that I’d always been a bit of a night owl. Now I just had my guard shift late at night instead of being up messing around with some new gem project or working on what Skunky called my ‘ongoing efforts to violate the privacy rights of everypony in Equestria.’ She’s weird that way.
Just when I was starting to think I had a good handle on things, I came in to start my shift and found a huge, chaotic mess on my hooves. Usually the first hour or so of my shift was pretty quiet, since Her Highness was usually still getting started with her day. Between that and her usual duties shepherding everypony’s dreams, the Lunar Guard tended to be a fairly sedate posting. We certainly weren’t running around to a dozen public appearances every day the way the Solar Guard had to do.
Today was clearly an exception to the norm. Luna was wide awake and hard at work, ordering several Lunar Guards and palace servants around the palace courtyard. From the authoritative way she was ordering everypony around and how they were all scrambling to do her bidding, this clearly wasn’t just a case of her getting a bit of an early start to the day. Something big was going on.
I quickened my pace and trotted straight up to her, saluting smartly. “Is there anything I can do to help, Your Highness?”
Princess Luna smiled and wrapped a wing around me, shepherding me away from the controlled chaos going on in the courtyard. “Lieutenant, just the mare I was hoping to see. Fortune has finally favored me with enough free time to go on a little excursion I have been trying to arrange for the last several months, and I will have need of your talents.”
That got my attention. “What’s going on?”
“I wish to find something that was stolen during...” She grimaced and tried to find a polite way to allude to what had happened. “During the time in which I was indisposed. Tell me, how much do you know about Southmarch and its history, specifically the region around the town now known as Somnambula?”
I frowned and tried to remember my ancient history. “Somnambula was capital of Selerika, one of the border kingdoms that eventually swore fealty to the crown. They had a bit of a death and necromancy thing.” Back in Luna’s day they would’ve been skirmishing with the diamond dogs and Zebrican Empire, but the diamond dogs stopped being a major power after the Morning Wars, and these days the zebras were far too busy with internal politics to do much outside their own borders.
Luna nodded approvingly. “Yes, it was one of the old post-Great Migration kingdoms. Ruled by a long line of pharaohs that passed into history ages ago, though I remember them well.”
“Yeah, I guess you would.” It was strange to remember that Luna had been there for all the things I considered ancient history. If I was more of a history nerd, I’d probably bug her with all sorts of questions. Then again, I’d done my military history term paper on the Lunar Rebellion, and that would be a pretty thorny issue to discuss with my new boss. That conversation could only start and end well: ‘So Princess Luna, how much do you remember about the times you fought against one of my ancestors, whom I just so happen to venerate?’
Princess Luna continued on, oblivious to my private thoughts. “As to the nature of our quest, what I seek is the companion to this sword.” She drew out the black, light-drinking blade she’d used during my initiation ceremony. “How much do you know of Nightfall’s history?”
“Not as much as I should,” I admitted. I’d never really thought I needed to learn the history of Princess Luna’s favorite sword.
“A wise answer.” Luna cleared her throat, then launched into the history lesson. “When the pharaohs of Selerika chose to abandon the practice of necromancy, they naturally destroyed a great many items of necromantic power. The remains of those items were melted down and used to forge two blades. One of them is my Nightfall, while the other remained in the care of Pharaoh Silver Ankh.”
I nodded along, half-remembered school lessons from years ago coming back into focus. “Right, didn’t that happen after a crazy necromancer tried to take over from the legitimate heir, and you helped him deal with that in exchange for swearing fealty?”
“Essentially, though my aid was not quite so ... transactional.” Luna frowned faintly, then shook her head and got back to the matter at hoof. “But yes, Grand Vizier Faded Mirror was quite the villain of his day, and no trifle to defeat when he summoned a great host of the undead. Since this was the third succession crisis we had dealt with in as many generations, my sister and I thought it time to shift our relations with the kingdom from permanent alliance to something that allowed us a greater degree of oversight.”
“Yeah, dealing with regular necromancer uprisings is a pretty big problem.” I grimaced and shrugged. “Though I guess that’s kind of inevitable when you have a culture that tolerates necromancy as much as they did.”
“It was not so much a matter of tolerance as a very different perspective on the nature of life, death, and undeath,” Luna corrected. “In point of fact, they did not call it undeath at all, but the second life. The necromancy of the Selerikans operated under rules and cultural norms that put it quite at odds with the sort of necromancy used by warlocks: Never animate those who did not consent to it in life. Never extend one’s lifespan unnaturally. The dead may never hold power over the living. There were many more, but I hardly need recount them all.”
“Right.” I hesitated a bit to point out the obvious. “But they still had a lot of problems with necromancers building up huge armies of zombies and trying to take over the kingdom.”
Luna inclined her head, conceding the point. “The decision to abandon such practices was made for good reasons. Regardless, my sister and I sought to unite all of ponykind, and we saw a chance to both solve the problem they faced and help advance our own goals. History aside, I have learned that Pharaoh Silver Ankh’s tomb was broken into some centuries ago and the treasures within stolen. Including the twin to my sword.”
I nodded along, already having a pretty good idea where things were heading considering what my talents were. “So you want some help finding everything they took?”
“Just so,” She confirmed. “I have had some success in mine own endeavors to find some of the stolen items, but others yet elude me—most notably, Pharoah Silver Ankh’s blade.” She frowned to herself. “Leaving aside the matter of punishing the one responsible for stealing from a friend’s tomb, the sword itself could be quite dangerous. I put no small effort into my gift, and you would be hard pressed to find a sharper blade. More importantly, considering its origins ‘tis possible it might be in the hooves of a warlock.”
“Yeah, I can see how a necromancer might want a sword made out of a bunch of necromantic objects.” I had a pretty good idea of where to start too. “If your sword is the twin of the one we’re looking for, I could probably use yours to find the other one. There’d have to be some sort of magical link between them.”
“That was my own hope as well.” She presented the blade to me, hilt-first. “I have attempted to follow it with my own talents, but I have only been returned to Equestria for a few years, and while my studies proceed well there are certain aspects of the magical arts I have not yet fully ... caught up with.”
“Right.” It seemed a bit strange to think I might be better at tracking spells than a princess, though I guess it did make sense. Catching up on a thousand years of research and development would be hard, even for an alicorn. Not to mention catching up on the latest tracking spells probably weren’t her number one priority.
I tried a few spells to see what I could come up with. It wasn’t as much as I’d hoped for, but if there’d been an obvious link Luna would’ve found it without me. The connection had been strong back when the weapons had been made, but that was over a thousand years ago. “I think I’ve got something, but it’s a long way away.”
Luna grinned, showing her teeth. “Excellent work, Lieutenant. It seems I chose well in adding you to my guard. I hope you are ready to go on a trip.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” I grinned and saluted. “I’ll get my platoon ready as fast as possible.”
“No need for that,” Luna waved my offer away. “This is an adventure, not a royal visit with a full entourage. It will just be the two of us. Otherwise it wouldn’t be as much fun.”
“Right ... fun.” Why did I have a feeling Her Highness’ idea of fun involved a bit too much dangerous mortal peril chasing down a powerful necromantic artifact sword? Oh well, this was what I signed up for when I joined the Lunar Guard. “When do we leave?”
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To be fair to Luna, there's nothing saying that she has to be the next alicorn to go mad and try to kill everything. Daybreaker; Decadence; Courier Nova, the Dread Librarian; they're all on the table.
In any case, this looks like it's going to be quite the fun adventure. For Lunar values of "fun." Looking forward to it.
So when exactly does this take place in the winningverse? It’s obviously after Tirek as it’s explicitly mentioned, but I don’t recall hearing about Star getting in the Lunar guard in New Life, though i could be wrong and don’t remember.
Admittedly this is more curiosity than any real complaint as it doesn’t really matter in the context of the story, but it’d be nice to know just for clarity.
And just when I was bummed over New Life ending, we get a new story. This should be fun. Don't think Star's gotten a story from her POV before.
Huh, neat explanation of how all those other cultures eventually joined Equestria. Also very much enjoyed the induction scene. Very Nights Watch (Read:Awesome). I’m excited to see where this goes, especially since we haven’t seen too much of Star in a while, and Luna is always fun! All in all, great chapter, and can’t wait for more!
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This would have taken place during early New Life of a Winning Pony considering the start of that fic takes place during Tirek's invasion.
This looks to be a fun adventure. Seems there's not enough fics that really explore Egyptquestria. Star is a pretty fun POV character, and I look forward to see how she and Luna bond during their adventure. Someone compared the Lunar induction ceremony to the Night's Guard, and although that's very appropriate, I couldn't help but notice it was much more similar to the one Merri (or was it Pippin? I could never remember which one of them was which) swore to the Steward King of Gondor. Having worked a night shift for a couple of years and almost losing my mind because of it, I can't imagine pledging a lifetime of service to a night shift!
Also:
I'm sure that answering with liquor means something, but what? Maybe she should just answer with a grin next time!
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Courier Nova? Seems like an odd choice of name for Twilight. I like 'the Dread Librarian', though.
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A reference to my own work. Though I suppose we could always go for the Benatar approach: Daybreaker, Lovemaker, Friendtaker (Don't you mess around, no no.)
Question can night guards. Get married
This part of any EU? If you you might want to mention it in the description...
Anyways, seems like an interesting adventure. Ill sure be looking forward to more.
The term she's looking for is imposter syndrome: The feeling that you don't really know what you are doing and are just fooling everyone. It's sort of the opposite of Dunning-Kruger and often comes from knowing enough about a subject that you really understand how much you don't know.
Just a heads up, you have a typo in your short description, it says lot instead of lost
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Thanks, fixed
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Yup
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Just a heads up. You have a typo in your reply
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Of course they can, why would anybody stop them? Where would new guards come from, otherwise?
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with the whole oath at the start i wasint sure if they meant give your self to the night guard as in you belong to the night guard only no pony else or not like how priest belong to only god things like that
Ponies adapt to the status quo so worryingly quickly.
Does Storm have skunk-like coloring? I feel like I should have caught onto that far sooner, if so. Maybe it's just been enough time that I forgot.
Geez, how much information does she normally pull from them?
Nice.
I feel like her professional life instead of her personal life would probably be a much better place to use those gems.
Celestia's just here for the cake, isn't she.
Exploring an alicorn's basement is probably more exciting than exploring someone else's.
Random and completely baseless speculation that just struck me, Skunky is the reincarnation of Lance Charger from way back when. Both extra super stuck up, both extra super special, hopefully not both doomed to die an ignoble death.
That's not exactly inaccurate.
Ooooo, necromantic sword quest. Should be fun.
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Eh, it's just fancy wording.
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Storm’s mane is black with a white streak in it, hence Star’s... let’s call it affectionate nickname of “Skunky”. Her coat itself is blue.
Star is a great character to follow. I like that she's very honest with herself. It's refreshing when most characters are seemingly too stubborn to admit things even to themselves.
Liked and tracking. It's been a few years since I read stories in this verse, so I'm happy that I still remember who's who.
Don't suppose there's a compilation of winning verse stories so I don't have to track them all down?
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https://www.fimfiction.net/group/758/the-cloud-kicker-fan-club-and-winningverse-group/thread/356225/winningverse-reading-list
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Much obliged! That'll keep me occupied for a good long time.
Literally JUST realized where the phrase "lesser light" is from. Congratulations on blowing my mind, author. You rock.
This looks promising. You have earned yourself a tracker.
oh, i remember that story...Star and several other ponies got into a prank war, and Twilight made all of Star Kicker's tracking gems say "star kicker is stalking you."