Chapter 1 : When the Moon Burns (edited)
Chapter 1 When Moonlight Burns.
A lone servant pony walked along the halls of Canterlot Palace, pushing a small cart of hot beverages for the staff holding court. It was Winter Lilly’s posted duty as one of the Royal kitchen staff to bring drinks to the evening court sessions for the night princess when requested.
This was a common occurrence during daylight hours, when Celestia, the alicorn of the sun, sat in the main throne room hearing cases of law be brought forward to rule on. The long hours and oftentimes long winded arguments from lawyers and ponies that usually were in the wrong had resulted in the princess asking to have tea hoof side regularly to deal with the stress. Usually, the problems seemed to stems from a miscommunication or mistake one pony had made with the other, leading to arguments that resulted in stalemates more often than not. And Princess Celestia always tended to be the mediator between the parties, using her vast knowledge of law to come to her decisions.
However, since the sun had gone down, the second ruler of Equestria had taken to the task of holding the night time sessions of the royal court. Luna, the matriarch of the moon and night sky was now sat upon the throne to tend to the plighs of her subjects. Luna, unlike her sister, also had the added task of overseeing the dreams of the citizens of equestria as well as those that had come to reside within its borders.
Even though Luna was the younger sister to Celestia, her own rule, title, and word were final. Luna’s bright cyan eyes ever so vigilant. Unwavering until her duties were finished and her sister replaced her on the throne when the sun arose in the morning.
‘SNEEEEORRRRK….!!’
The tea servant peeked around the large ornate door of the throne room and towards one of the bat-pony guards with a slight look of puzzled concern at the noise. Silently asking him whether or not to proceed into the royal throne room.
“Go on inside, It’s perfectly fine to enter as her majesty requested.” The guard, a pony she had knew as Wind Shear, replied with a kind nod. Answering the implied question of Winter Lilly. “It’s just that somepo….”
‘SNEEEEORRRRK….!!’
“Somepony fell asleep during their duties, instead of retiring for the night.” Wind Shear continued his reply, having nearly been drowned out by the loud noise that almost echoed within the throne room. “And that pony no doubt will be chewed out by her sister in the morning after reading the report.”
Other ponies shifted nervously, as the snoozing pony had forgotten where they were and had fallen asleep at their post during the hours when court was in session.
Winter Lilly continued wheeling her cart closer toward the throne, where another pony greeted her with a nod. “Thank you so much for bringing the drinks so quickly. Princess Luna cannot deal with the court sessions without her coffee.”
“But what about….?” Winter’s ears flattened as the snore once again made its presence known to every pony in the room.
Luna’s court stenographer, Quill Feather was a dark ash-greyed coloured unicorn. She wore small rectangular glasses, accenting her razor straight long black hair, tied in a long herringbone braid. She looked toward Winter Lilly then to the throne where Luna was seated. “I will take care of Princess Luna, I always do.”
Luna’s form was indeed seated at the throne, however, the night princess was slumped on the left side arm of the throne, sleeping rather soundly despite the rather uncomfortable position she had taken. Even her head was turned to the side with her muzzle hanging open slightly. This resulted it every fourth or so breath becoming a snored loud enough that the night guards and staff had coined a new term for whenever Luna had inadvertently fallen asleep during her appointed night sessions of court.
‘SNEEEEORRRRK….!!’
The Royal Canterlot Snore
Luna had to be given some credit though, she really tried her best. There was one case she had been listening to that seemed to drone on for hours. Luna had been rubbing her face with one foreleg trying to endure the badgering back and forth (no offense to badgers.. ^^) between the attorneys, and wondering if they got paid hourly, by the case, or by the word due to how much utter gabbing the two were engaging in in an attempt to sway her favor their way.
One of the bat-ponies had gotten the silent signal from Quill Feather that Luna was going to need caffeine soon, preferably hot and in large quantities.
However, Luna wasn’t without heart. She tended to order enough coffee and tea for the entire staff as well. There would be some breaks in the evening if cases (like tonight) ran deep into the early hours.
Just as Scroll Feather was bringing the still-snoozing Luna from the throne room to a side passage leading to the Night-Princess’ personal chambers, a huge commotion erupted as one of the large stained glass windows inside the throne room exploded into the throne room.
Three night-ponies snapped into action almost simultaneously, grasping their pole-arms in hooves and wings, aiming them at whatever had crashed through the window before whatever it was had even hit the floor and slid to the opposite wall.
“Get the Princess to safety, we’re under attack !” Another bat-pony yelled as he practically pounced atop what had crashed through the window. Wind Shear drove his front left hoof into the stone floor, pinning a section of thick chain that was being drug by whatever had come barreling through the window. He then leveled his polearm against the side of the intruder, pinning it rather painfully against the wall.
It was a gryphon.
Another pony guard landed in front of the intruder, and drove their blade between the gryphon’s throat and a thick, worn collar.
The sound of the guards and the exploding glass had sent the rest of the court staff scrambling for the doors in a near panic. The commotion had actually woken the Princess, who was momentarily disoriented as she slowly began to realise that she was not in fact in her bed but was currently floating in a bubble of magic from Quill Feather. “Feather, what is happening?”
“We are under attack my lady, I have to get you away from here… “ Quill Feather had begun to reply, but as she looked back toward the throne room where the gryphon had crashed thru the glass the rest of the sentence died in her throat. She saw the gryphon heaving weakly for air as one of the bat ponies keeping him contained held a blade flat against his windpipe and carotid artery, threatening to remove the intruder's head if it so much as try to look menacingly at any pony.
The night-pony that pounced onto the back of the gryphon had grasped their right arm and wrenched it so far backward, it looked like he was going to twist it clean off at the elbow and beat the intruder to death with it. “You DARE try to invade US ? This will… TEACH ….”
“GUARDS, Stand Down,“ Luna yelled as she popped Feather's magical bubble and landed on her hooves with a practiced grace. She was about to begin an attempt to quell the situation, that was until the bat pony holding the gryphon’s arm sneered and twisted the arm further, breaking it below the shoulder.
The sickening snap followed by the sight of the gryphon flopping helplessly on the stone floor had caused Luna to gape in horror. Her eyes went blindingly white as she sent a wave of power thru the air. "EVERYPONY, BE STILL !!!" Luna's voice echoed loudly enough to be heard through the entirety of the castle grounds.
Quill Feather had joined Princess Luna's side but respectfully stood behind her and to the side as Luna hurried over to the three guards covering the cornered and injured gryphon.
"Princess, what are you... get back..!" The third night-pony-guard held his wing shielding the night princess, but Luna batted it aside and strode forward, her eyes now a blazing with emotion.
Luna turned toward the guard that had broken the gryphons arm with such a cold look on her face, it caught Quill Feather off-guard. She had angled her face up at the questioning guard and gave a snort. "Do you, Night Hooves, so soon forget exactly WHO’S Night Court you guard ? Do you think we cannot handle this situation without mewling for our hooves to be coddled? So afraid we might cry to Celestia at morrow's arrival."
"Of course not, Princess. But your safety is paramount when under attack." Night Hooves replied as he stepped up from the gryphon's back then stood tall, nodding as he felt the princess was now safe.
"Let us ask a simple question Night hooves... are we under attack?" Luna asked sternly, as she lit her horn and covered the floor with her powerful aura.
“Of course we are, Princess. Any pony could see the gryphon intruder when they smashed through the window." Night Hooves replied assuredly with a nod to the other guard-ponies beside him.
Luna canted her head to the side, listening closely to her surroundings. All she could hear was close whisperings of the court staff and other guards standing in the throne room and from the hallway, along with the labored breathing of the downed gryphon. "Allow us to ask again, Are thou certain we are under attack? Because we cannot hear any alarms, nor any commotion from either guards or gryphons. Are thou saying we need to have our hearing checked?"
"I don't know what you saw Princess, because last I checked, you were too busy snoozing your pretty little plot off from your throne, but we were just invaded." Night Hooves snapped, not quite noticing the Princess' sudden change of demeanor from happy she was safe one minute, to then being dressed down like a foal the next. "Our duty is to keep You safe, we did our job. The threat to your life was stopped because yYour loyal guards acted the instant we were attacked."
"And does thou job as Night Guards also encompass torture?" Luna snapped back, almost snarling. "Is that required training to assault, and potentially maim, anypony that happens to enter our throne room in unconventional ways? Because if 'we' remember correctly, when 'we' created the training in hoofed combat, there was a caveat stating that ‘If one's opponent is rendered incapable to battle any longer due to loss of consciousness, weapon injury, cornering or opponent 's surrender, then said opponent shall be removed to nearest encampment, or holding cell without further injury.’ We as ponys do NOT act as barbarians in battle !"
"Quill Feather, please scribe this down." Luna turned to her assistant, as Quill grasped a quill and parchment in her magics. "We, Luna, Princess of the Moon and Night, do make a decree. That if 'Any' ponies, be they staff of the castle, or guards, be found to have maliciously harmed, maimed, or injured to the point of death, another pony or sentient creature 'after' the orders to Stand Down have been given, the injured party shall be immediately cared for until full recovery, and any and all medical costs shall be addressed 'solely' by the pony found responsible for said injurying to the victim. Furthermore, said ponies shall also pay the injured damages equalling the yearly wage of any pony on staff of the crown. However, if death occurs, the party responsible will be brought up on full charges. End Decree."
"WHAT?!?" NightHooves stood back and gave his wings an infuriating flap. "Well Thank you Princess, you just single-hoovedly sent our training backward to the point of playing PattyCakes with any enemy to get them to surrender if we are ever in combat !" He snorted and pulled off his helmet with his wings and placed it down on the floor at his hooves. "Okay your majesty, you wish to play this game, so be it. Just know that when word of this utter 'joke' of a decree hits the ranks of the Royal Castle Guard, there will be backlash, starting with this, I QUIT. Other ponies will walk out, not just me. Don’t be surprised if almost a third of the entire guard walk off after this!"
Night Hooves then reared up and brought both front hooves down onto the helmet, crushing it flat. Satisfied with the shocked expressions of everyone around, he then lifted a hind leg and grinned. "Since I just quit your highness, I am free to do this, seeing as I am no longer staffed by the castle." He then kicked his rear hoof into the gryphon's face and then moved his hoof downward and connected three hard kicks to the stomach and abdomen, further injuring the downed gryphon. "You can take your so-called decree and shove it STRAIGHT UP your pretty little PLOT until you taste the INK from the paper !"
Night Hooves laughed as he trotted off down one hallway, after relishing the look of horror and disgust on the Night-Princess' face as he yelled back. "Attention Ponies, Clean-up on Aisle 4."
Just as Luna was about to reply, she felt a weak grasp at her left foreleg just above her hoof. Looking downward, she spotted the gryphon looking up at her. Vomiting from the kicks to the stomach, the gryphon groaned as he pulled himself onto his good elbow, leaning against the pole-arm's blade to his throat. He then patted the marble floor two times with his good hand consisting of 3 taloned fore toes and one backward facing thumb toe, trying to get Luna's attention. When Luna did watch, the gryphon spelled out something on his digits, then drew a line across his throat, where the blade rested.
Luna had drawn back with a surprised expression as she looked back into the gryphon's eyes as her own eyes returning to their normal luminous cyan. "Little one, we don't know hoof language, but we do know what you mean by your drawing across your neck. We wish you no ill-will. But, we wonder 'why' you came here if not to attack ?"
Just then, a stream of moonlight shown through the now destroyed window, illuminating area around Princess Luna and the gryphon. The gryphon's eyes widened in fright, he desperately signed out another phrase as streams of tears flooded down from the gryphon's face.
"Princess!" Wind Shear jumped forward and landed beside the gryphon, making certain he left his pole-arm on the floor, away from the gryphon. "I know hoof sign language. My sister-in-law is deaf. I think the gryphon is convinced you're going to burn him alive in moonlight !"
"Huh?!?" Luna's voice cracked as she stared at Wind Shear. "We... we cannot do this... we are not the NightMare !"
Just then, the gryphon coughed up the last contents of whatever was left in his stomach, and spelled out another few words. "Please Forgive me, Mo... mother always say, you do that to any bad gryphons." Wind-Shear replied looking from the gryphon to Princess Luna, translating the claw motions uneasily.
With a sigh, the gryphon pulled his elbow out from under his head and chest, falling downward against the sharpened blade.
The only thing that Luna registered happening was the blink of horror as a spray of blood sprayed across her face. The entire throne room then exploded in a bright blue flash of moonlight.
**********
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An interesting concept, haven’t really seen a story featuring such a character before. This was a rather well done chapter. Nice descriptions, bits of comedy and some drama here and there and also lots of questions regarding this gryphon character. However, there were also many typos and grammar errors that luckily didn’t lower the text’s readability, but were still pretty annoying to the trained eye.
9386944
*Headtips, looking up from tablet screen, then pawsigns.*
Well, I do have an editor redoing all the chapters. All I ask is forgive the mistakes, and give each chapter a read... but thank you for replying...
Gryphon <><
That should be cannon!
9472529
*Bawwks lightly sipping tea and grinning, pawsigning*
Hehehehhe I know, I really wanted something funny and to lighten the mood. Did you read the whole story, or just the first chapter?
Cheers,
Gryphon <><
That (ex) guard better get in trouble!