5. Like a Dark Phoenix Born
The Last Nightguard
Like a Dark Phoenix Born
“In any deployment, a Royal Guard is expected to maintain their decorum on and off duty. Altercations during leave periods are strictly forbidden and must be immediately reported to the Officer of the Day. With that in mind, guards given leave during deployments away from Canterlot are advised to go in groups.”
—Manual of the Royal Guard, Volume Two
Running all of Equestria by herself let Princess Celestia develop a sense for impending disasters, large and small. Some would take care of themself and needed to be ignored, because a size 18W hoof in the middle would just make a horrid mess. Some needed her immediate attention with the most delicate of handling, which was normally an excellent time to give Twilight Sparkle a new book out of Celestia’s stash while she was busy fixing it. Between those two extremes lay a myriad of variable problems which needed to be handled as they arose. There was no instruction manual for a princess with a set checklist for her responsibilities, or Twilight Sparkle would certainly sprout wings and ascend just to be more like her.
The day was proceeding entirely normally.
Celestia was highly suspicious.
The stallion was ‘recuperating well’ according to daily reports from the Royal Physician, with few more details. Well, far too many details, if she were to be honest about it. The slightest attempt on her regard to get more information resulted in an immense stack of paper resembling one of Twilight Sparkle’s reports, with endless sections about calcium rebinding, glucose levels, and immune system adaptation. It made excellent nighttime reading once she had lowered the moon, because she could only get through a page or two before her heavy eyes closed in self-defense.
Likewise were the verbal reports she received from the servants about Luna’s recovery. Her sister had been seen in every section of the palace except for anywhere Celestia was currently, so she was adapting to the passage of time well by getting accustomed to the vicinity, or so Celestia tried to convince herself. There had been no explosive bursts of temper, no snarling vindictive rants about being admired, and most carefully, no exposure of Luna to one particular aspect of her past.
Her delicate sister needed time to recover, time away from reminders of Nightmare Moon, and to have a bat-winged nocturnal pegasus show up suddenly… There was no way to know how she would react, so it was best they be kept under wraps for now. The nocturne could be brought back later, perhaps in a few weeks. Or a year. Luna would understand the omission was for her own good.
Still, something bothered Celestia about the physicians. They were being entirely too helpful, so she finally decided to observe the patient for herself, which turned out to be easier decided than done.
First, the patient had been moved. Then, the doctors were unsure exactly where he had been moved. Perhaps there were some tests being done, or he was outside enjoying the fresh air, or even in physical therapy. Several times she ‘had just missed him’ or ‘he never was here.’ More than once, she was encouraged to return to her critical tasks and they would call for her when he was found. In the end, she narrowed her search to an isolation ward with all sorts of mask-clad nurses keeping watch over a door with such vigor that she was tempted to enlist them all into the ranks of the Royal Guard at once.
“Doctor Hurwitz,” she began, hoping that the baggy outfit and respirator concealed the unicorn doctor in question, “just exactly why are you so intent on keeping me from your patient? And I do not mean the excuses you and your staff have been using on me for the last several hours. The real reason, before I am forced to do something I would rather not.”
To be honest, Celestia had not intended on forming her words as a threat, but frustration was building, and the doctor was a convenient non-sister release. She had never seen the elderly physician recoil from her presence before in all the years she had known him, and a small bit of the shared camaraderie between them permanently died in that motion.
“Your Highness,” he started, “your sister came to visit my patient…”
Celestia’s heart leapt into her throat, and she was unable to breathe as all of the memories of that terrible night cascaded home. When the power of Harmony swept over Nightmare Moon, the creature had reclaimed the power she had loaned her followers and more in order to fight her impending demise. Many transformed ponies had perished in the resulting bloodbath, which was as much the fault of Celestia as that damnable Nightmare. Every single Nightguard died that night along with most of their families, and if Luna had decided that Ebon Tide would be better off in the Shadowlands with his murdered brethren…
The doctor continued to talk, but Celestia had stopped listening. She moved forward, through the gathered and gowned nurses, brushing them aside like stalks of dry grass. The locked door likewise presented no obstacle to her passage other than a distinct crunching noise, and she moved into the darkened room beyond with an overwhelming terror of what she would find there.
It was far worse than she imagined.
The dark skin of the crippled stallion was even darker now, although it was growing a faint fuzziness on his naked skin rather than full hairs. Her eyes moved upward, past the shriveled limbs and protruding ribs, to the ebon expanse of thin membranous wings where naked featherless nubs coated with powdered skin had protruded before.
He was awake, and recoiled against the bed upon seeing Celestia, struggling against his straps as if to burrow into his mattress and never re-emerge. Golden split-pupil eyes met hers, eyes that showed just how intensely embarrassed he was at being naked before her, but eyes that belonged to an aware pony instead of the insane dying wretch she had expected.
“Eb,” she managed before her throat closed up.
“Go!” he hissed, writhing against his restraints with his voice dry as dust. “That demon did this to me! Kill her before she becomes the Nightmare again! Kill her!”
“No!” managed Celestia as terror nailed her hooves to the hospital floor. “She is my sister! You took an oath to protect her!”
“She attacked you!” shouted the abomination. “She let herself be turned into a monster! Kill her! Kill her before I do it for you!”
Thready muscles flexed beneath the faint fuzz of his growing coat as he thrashed in his bed, until with one gigantic heave, he tore one foreleg free of the restraints. The terrible crunch that accompanied his action left no doubt that he had broken his leg, and the odd twist to the shin only confirmed her assumption. Previous respect for her position had left the doctor and the nurses on the other side of the hospital room door, but the horrid noise and screaming drew them like a swarm of flies.
“Your Highness!” bellowed Doctor Hurwitz with his horn lit up to pull her away from the thrashing bat-winged pegasus. “What are you doing to my patient?! Out! Out!”
It had been centuries since anypony had dared use their magic against Celestia, and she fought back her instinctive reaction. One solid blow of her power would have put the elderly surgeon into the hospital as a patient or a corpse, and could not possibly make the situation any better, but her innermost child wanted so much to find an outlet for her terror. Something to smash, to destroy, to rip into shreds rather than face reality.
She allowed herself to be pushed out of the room, hearing the anguished howls of her most loyal Night Guard fade into near inaudibility as she returned to her duties.
They had not dined together since Luna’s return. Celestia had offered, but had been gently rebuffed several times. This time, she was not giving her sister the excuse.
“Good evening, dear sister.” Celestia let herself into the dining nook, with the servants scrambling to leave like rats abandoning a sinking ship. “I do regret the intrusion, but we have things to discuss.”
“Our Guard,” said Luna, pushing away her plate. “I wondered when you would push your nose into my matters.”
“Your matters?” Celestia held herself back from snapping at her sister by only the smallest of margins. “The Royal Guard are ours. Ebon Tide was the only one of his order to resist the lure of your foul magics. He returned to my side when his brethren rose to rebellion with you. The last time I saw him…” Celestia’s heart rose up into her throat, and she could hear his last words echoing in her mind as the two of them stood on a fragment of cloud over the shattered ruins of the Everfree castle.
“That thing is an abomination that needs to be destroyed.”
Ebon Tide was sincere in his loyalty, at least, and there was a distinct softening in Celestia sharp glare when she dismissed him with a curt nod of her head.
“Go. The evacuation is nearly complete, and Our forces have drawn the traitors away for the moment. I must face my sister alone.”
“But… What are your orders?” he asked, looking more like a fresh cadet than a veteran of the Guard.
“You are my last loyal Nightguard,” said Celestial quietly. “Assist with the evacuation and use your own initiative,” she added, turning on her cloud without another word and plummeting down into the shattered ruins of the palace throne room to retrieve her last hope of victory.
“I thought he died,” whispered Celestia. “My last orders to him were not orders at all. I told him to use his own initiative. That was the last I saw of him. There were so many bodies, some unrecognizable.”
“He was attempting to strike me from behind while you used the Elements upon me,” said Luna in a cold, even tone. “If that is what you wished, he followed your directions perfectly.”
“I didn’t see him!” snapped Celestia. “I didn’t tell him to attack you!”
“That’s what you were planning!” snapped Luna right back. “You sent me to my moon!”
“You killed your followers,” retorted Celestia before she could stop herself. “You drew your power out of them to fight… me. You turned Eb into one of your creatures a few days ago.” Celestia took a short, agonizing breath, trying vainly not to snarl. “What are you planning?”
“He is alive,” spat Luna. “You fain would have let him die, shriveling away and forgotten in that cold room like I was in my moon.”
For once, Celestia had no response. Luna was right. She could only stand there in front of Luna’s uneaten meal and grope frantically for words that eluded her grasp.
Luna had no such restrictions. “So many died, but he lives solely because of me,” she snarled. “When we shared the moon, my hatred kept him alive. Now, he had no strength to continue, no reason to live, until I gave him one.”
“H-he was beside himself with hate,” managed Celestia.
“Aye, and that hate will sustain him,” said Luna far slower and with less vitriol. “I am the reason he was snatched away from his family and guardians, not you. I am the reason he will live, not you. I am the one he will hate, the one who will drive him to recovery, not you.”
“You don’t understand,” said Celestia, almost pleading. “He broke his leg trying to get out of his bed in order to kill you.”
“And you think him a threat?” Luna sneered, pulling her lip back over her teeth in the way that always irritated Celestia to no end. “Shall I quake in fear at the thought of being attacked by a crippled pony who can not even get out of his own bed. Enough!” She stood up and turned for the door. “I have lost my appetite. Good eve, dear sister.”
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The bigger you are, the bigger mistakes you get to make.
Goodness gracious me, this is turning into a veritable symposium on "the ends do not justify the means".
To err is pony, and you get to screw things up even more if you have Princess in front of your name.
Ok, clearly there is more being implied as to the reason Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, and so far its implying there might have been a shred of truth to the rumors. If the way Celesita is acting now is a clue, she might have been a lot worse back in the day which would mean Luna fighting Celestia could have been somewhat justifiable.
Just how much worse will it get when Twilight sends them both to the naughty corner, and Spike ends up with the crown?
11397356 In the end, if you lose it doesn't matter what means you used. You lost. Game over.
11397363 That's why its called a Royal Mess.
11397392 You have a roommate who always uses up all of the hot water for the shower and see how calm and collected you are.
11397459 Oh, you haven't seen worse yet.
interesting chapter
Hmm... but what manner of life have you returned to him?
Is he merely The Struggler then? Was it for him, or for you you've sent him on this path? Whatever purpose you have for him, it is a sin you have done this day, and the sooner he is away from you and yours, the better.
Because out there, in the world, there is redemption. In a thousand small way, in countless words in gestures beneath the notice of immortalssuch as you... there is hope
i.ibb.co/hVD0kFM/Edofn-Pn-Xk-AAm-Fy-guts.jpg
After all... Friendship is Magic.
11397495
At that point though the old gal be used to it by now, or at least very aware of her own proclivities and sand lines. Reason I likened her to Death though in the past on previous posts.
Also Superman is weak bro. Batman actually made Darkseid back down
Damn. DAMN! Far too many writers can never hit that sweet spot of Celestia being emotional yet restrained because of her experiences but here you are hammering on that point like a mad man. Getting Luna back would probably be the most emotional situation she'd ever face in her life, even moreso then fighting the Nightmare. She's had centuries to think of everything that she did and that could go wrong, there's no possible way she could be a completely calm and in control all the time. I'm really loving this depiction of Celestia, and I'm extremely glad you already had this written out because I don't think I could stand waiting long for updates.
As for Ebon Tide... well he'll get his teeth back at least... Right? Poor bastard.
11397392
If envy/jealousy is Luna's major weakness it is safe to say that perhaps control is Celestia's she can't stand to NOT help even when the pony or event in question would be best served by doing nothing. Celestia by nature is a mother, a teacher, Equestria's shield. Luna the sword, the defender, the warrior. From my own life I've seen countless arguments spark between my own mother and my brother because she couldn't not "help" not "advise" not "fix" . I think Celestia might be the same way.
Luna's actions are selfish, but to a warrior such as her, death before dishonor, always. To quietly pass alone from drugs in a sterilized hospital without any struggle or exacerbating situation without any friends comrades by his side is absolutely antithetical to her. Better he die at her blade than pass into the final dark with only his suffering and hate to see him gone.
Besides in a place such as Equestria there is actually something rather practical about this view, a soul as tormented as his would likely leave a magical signature on the world and it wouldn't be a good one.
Anger is a strong motivation for power, so I just hope Luna doesn't underestimate him because he isn't a Alcornn. Even the weakest can surpass the strong under certain conditions.
Personally I hope he dose.
11397349
Note to self: stay small. I don't trust myself with great power.
So much going on,..
Summation:- So many right reasons, so many wrong actions.
There is something really ooc with this moonbutt. Unless she was always a step away from falling back to the egocentric megalomaniac.
She's a lot less sorry for actively causing tens of thousands of deaths than she is angy with being punished for it.
She wants to save at least one, but only because it will even the score between her and her hated sister. If only a little bit.
Sure they don't need to zap her with the rainbow a couple more times? Just to be sure?