• Published 13th Dec 2012
  • 2,938 Views, 164 Comments

Skyfall - Dusk Quill

  • ...
5
 164
 2,938

Epilogue

A knock at his bedroom door woke Fleethoof the next morning. The groggy pegasus slid out of bed with a groan, making his way to the door. The bright morning sunlight peering through the curtains stung his eyes, and the light that poured in when he opened the door hurt even more. When his vision adjusted, the pony standing in the doorway was not one he had been expecting.

“Princess Luna.” He ran a hoof through his messy mane in an attempt to fix up his appearance, and bowed his head. “Uh, I’m sorry, I just got up. I wasn’t really expecting anypony.”

“That’s fine, Captain. I understand this was a very impromptu visit,” Luna said. “May I come in?”

Fleethoof’s sleep-addled mind took a moment to react. “Um, yeah, sure.”

He quickly went about his quarters, pulling open the curtains to let light in. The Princess of the Night stepped into the room, glancing briefly at the mess of papers across the desk in the corner of his room. All of them corresponded to Night Shade and his group.

“What can I do for you, your majesty?”

“Actually, Captain, I have something for you,” she remarked, perking the pony’s curiosity. “I want to offer you my most sincerest apologies for what my sister did in the past. I know it probably won’t mean as much coming from myself, but I wanted you to know she had no malicious intent in her actions. She never does. But sometimes she worries more about the collateral damage of hurting ponies, and it makes her act rashly.”

Fleethoof didn’t know how to react. He didn’t even know how to react to what Princess Celestia had done. Captain Phalanx had told him before that Celestia had always regretted using her power to hide the truth of what had happened. For years, he had wondered what had happened to his mother. And now he knew. But Celestia hadn’t exactly lied to him. She continued to keep the truth hidden to prevent the pain.

"For what it may be worth, I am certain Nightingale was a noble, respected member of the Guard," Luna continued, her voice soothing and gentle. "It would have been an honor to know her."

"Thank you, your majesty... I think I just need some time to get acclimated to the knowledge."

The princess nodded assent. "I understand. Should you ever need anything, my door is always open to you, Captain."

And with that, Princess Luna strode out of his bedroom again, leaving Fleethoof to mull in his thoughts. He didn't want to think about this anymore. He wanted to put it behind him, and het it off his mind. Grabbing his handgun, Fleethoof stepped out into the corridor, bound for the Royal Guard's barracks.

The sound of gunshots disrupted Shining Armor from the massive amount of paperwork on his desk. He had been in the middle of reading through a proposition from Princess Celestia regarding the open sale and ownership of weapons to civilians when the shots had gone off. He poked his head out of his office window, trying to pinpoint where they were coming from. A few more went off. They were coming from the shooting range.

Everypony is out on drills right now, Shining thought as he made his way out to the firing line. Nopony should be at the range.

The Captain of the Guard's curiosity of who was disobeying direct orders was answered when he saw the solitary Fleethoof standing at the bench, reloading his magazines. He watched the pony for a moment, feeling deep seated empathy swelling up inside him again.

"Did Luna demote you already?" he joked as he stepped up to the lane beside Fleethoof, drawing his sidearm and setting it on the bench as he began to pull out his magazines to join his friend. "I can't think of why else you'd use our wimpy little range over your state of the art obstacle courses and whatever else you hide down there."

Fleethoof finished loading the bullets, and slid a magazine into his gun. "I didn't want to face my team right now. I don't want the sympathy."

"Okay," said Shining, loading his gun as well. "Let's just shoot then."

Princess Luna descended the elevator into Skyfall Headquarters. Without the team at the firing range, the base was mostly quiet. Only the soft sounds of scientists tinkering at their station kept it from being completely silent. She approached Quarter Master, looking around to confirm that nopony of Skyfall Team was present.

“Your highness, what a pleasant surprise! What would you like me to do with the bodies in the morgue?” he asked in greeting to the sovereign. “Many don’t have any family to release them to.”

“You’ll have to ask my sister about that, Doctor Master.”

“Yes, your highness, but I’m not a doctor… But you didn't come down for that, did you?”

“No, that was not my intent. I have a… request for you,” Luna said. “I want to collaborate with your team on a few designs and ideas I engendered.”

Quarter Master’s eyes lit up like lights. “But of course, Princess Luna! What did you have in mind?”

"Aerial troop transport, a new type of aiming without a sight, a couple new gadgets, and other blueprints of that nature..."

"Excellent!" Quarter Master quickly pulled over a notebook and sketchpad, "Where shall we start then?"

Princess Luna pulled a few loose sheets of paper from her satchel, each one covered in crude sketches and detailed notes. “I want to design a personal firearm for Captain Fleethoof.”

Both firearms clicked empty, their slides locking back to signal the lack of ammunition in them. The ponies began reloading their weapons again. How many rounds they'd fired off, he had no idea. But now that the range was quiet again, Shining Armor took the opportunity to speak.

"So Princess Celestia has given me this bill to approve of before she signs it into effect," he said to spark conversation, glancing over to see if he had caught Fleethoof's attention yet. "It's gonna let civilians own weapons to protect themselves."

Fleethoof didn't even so much as blink.

"I'm gonna sign it."

"You sure of that?" Fleethoof asked casually. "You've seen how dangerous firearms can be in the hooves of random citizens."

Shining Armor nodded. "Yeah, but they can also be beneficial. If half the ponies in the train station had been carrying guns too, that incident probably would have ended a lot quicker."

"It could have been a lot bloodier too."

"It could have been, but we don't know that. Doesn't everypony have a right to protect their friends, their families... their own lives?"

He did have a point, Fleethoof had to concede that. The Guard were an effective military and police force, but they mostly either deterred or solved crimes. They were lucky to prevent most from occurring on the spot. Ponies had a right to protect what they loved. But he still feared the dark side of that liberty.

"Do whatever you feel is right."

"You don't agree with me?" Shining Armor was surprised by Fleethoof's response.

"No, it's not that. I fear the ponies that will abuse that privilege more than I trust the honest ones," he tried to explain, loading his handgun again. "You're right, everypony should be able to protect themselves and their loved ones. But I'm still concerned some ponies won't see it that way."

"It's the risk that comes with it. But it's just like the Guard. You and me both knew the risks that came with the responsibility, but we still took it. Army green was no safe bet, but here we are, still going at it."

A smirk crossed Fleethoof's face. Shining Armor was right, in his own way. He snapped the slide back on his gun, chambering the first round.

"You're either about to make our jobs a damn sight easier or a whole lot harder..." he teased, taking aim at his target.

Shining chuckled. "Oh, I know."

The ponies began firing in sync again. Round after round was fired, tearing through the paper targets at the other end of the shooting range. Both marksmen had remarkable accuracy, grouping their shots close together on target. They opened fire until their magazines went empty again, and they swapped out for fresh ones.

"So what are you gonna do now that your team's on break?" asked Shining Armor, continuing the casual banter between rounds.

"We're never really on break. Just waiting for our next assignment. How about a challenge? One bullet, closest to the center of the head."

Shining Armor grinned and chambered a round, then ejected his magazine. Fleethoof followed suit. Each pony had one shot as they sent new targets down the range as far as they could go.

"So what comes next for you, Fleet?" Shining Armor shot first. His bullet clipped the ear of the silhouette, taking it clean off.

Fleethoof took a deep breath to steady himself. He took his stance, aimed swiftly, and fired. His bullet tore through the silhouette pony's eye.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see... One thing's for sure though..." He looked back at his friend with a crooked smile. "It can't be as bad as what we've just been through."

Author's Note:

One more 'soundtrack style' song to end on: http://youtu.be/pgV6VUinDEA

Thank you.