Trust is a Two Way Street
Trust is a Two Way Street
Equestria: the land of harmony, where all races come together and live in peace amongst each other. The earth ponies tend the land, the pegasi handle the weather, and the unicorns help out with their magic. All three races have known peace and prosperity for over one thousand years.
Or so they’ve been lead to believe. The truth about Equestria is that it is anything but peaceful. No nation, no matter how great its power, survives on nothing but peace. The alicorns that rule the land have simply gone to great lengths to keep up the appearance of peace and harmony.
So much so, there’s a common misconception amongst the citizens of the great nation. They—mistakenly—believe there to be only three races of ponies. The truth is there is anything but three, there’s four.
The fourth race, seen by only a few, and mostly written off as an old mare’s tail, are the thestrals; commonly referred to under the pseudonym bat-pony. These are the real heroes of the land, charged with being Equestria’s warriors. Equestria’s unspoken, unknown, and unrewarded soldiers. It is they that have held the peace, their skill in arms more than a match against even a rampaging dragon horde. The bat-ponies have kept Equestria safe for thousands of years, a task made infinitely easier when their princess, Princess Luna, returned to them.
This is the tale of one of the greatest generals the bat-ponies ever had, and how she came into her own.
***
Colonel Night Watch didn’t blink. There was no time for such luxuries as blinking. Before her, the magical construct shifted in real-time. A little trick she owned to the presence of Princess Celestia.
Her forces were all wearing specially made purple armor, each of which had a magical locator that fed into Celestia’s spell. This, combined with real-time updates and reports from each squad's sergeant, led to one of the most complicated and advanced spells ever conceived.
The magical construct created a real-time map of the battlefield. Using it, Night Watch could control the ebb and flow of the battle with unnerving accuracy. The spell automatically fed in the location of the enemy, their disposition, and movements as soon as the sergeants saw it. This allowed for the colonel’s special talent to truly shine through.
There was no doubt about it. Watching her work, watching her give commands without a moment’s hesitation, effortlessly adjusting to the flow of battle as it was revealed to her, Night Watch was in her element. This was her domain, her playground, and woe be unto the minotaurs that dared to face her.
Celestia’s eyes took in every detail as she powered up her horn. Her magic formed the focal point: the linchpin. Her horn relayed information to and from the units in the field, responding to the slightest movement and gesture from the small bat-pony mare that orchestrated this with a conductor's grace.
Night Watch snorted as the map shifted, showing another formation of the enemy troops “Okay, they really think I’m stupid. We’re not playing hide and seek here.” With ease she ordered some units from her right flank to cut the enemies off that tried to do a rush-attack through the nearest forest. “Amateurs.”
Celestia watched wide eyed as the figures on the map moved into position, three different units of bat-ponies surrounded the minotaur’s forces and cut them off from any possible retreat or reinforcements. If they surrendered, they’d be allowed to live, if not, they’d be wiped out to the last with Night’s forces suffering minimal casualties in return.
“Impress—”
Before Celestia could finish a word, Night Watch spoke again. “Units 2a, 2b, 2c, fall back to the northern pass. Units 5d, e, and f, get ready: you’re about to be ambushed.”
Celestia looked confused, falling back to the northern pass would open up the eastern block to a counterstrike by a very obviously placed unit of enemy soldiers. “What are you…”
“Wait for it,” Night said with a grin.
It was truly impressive. As soon as the troops moved from their position, the enemy attacked. Right into a trap. It only took minutes for the whole enemy unit from the pass to be wiped out, while Night’s troops only lost four single lights on the map.
“Casualty report,” Night Watch stated without even looking up from the table.
Over the display a vision popped into being. Celestia looked up and saw a bat-pony stallion one with blood on his muzzle and armor, none of it his. “Ma’am, we have four injured, only one critically though.”
“Medics are already on the way,” Night replied.
A new window popped open next to the other. “This is something I’ve missed,” Luna said, before scrunching her muzzle. “They’re trying to use some scrolls. It is an… odd tactic for them to try to use magic, but I don’t think they would do it without a reason. There are basic positions near the north forest and the small lake in the east of them. I suggest we quickly wipe them out before finding out what they’re capable of.”
Night didn’t even look up to see the Princess of the Night speak; her eyes were on the big emblem of the princess and her personal guard. It had been like this since Luna’s return: Celestia would assist in command, Luna would join the war effort herself.
To say Luna made for a powerful asset in the field would be to say that Canterlot Mountain was only, kind of, tall. The Night Princess’s love of a good fight was becoming something of a legend already. That being said, to a lesser commander she was a wild card, something that had to be controlled. To Night Watch, she was simply a weapon to be pointed in the right direction. That is, assuming you could think three steps ahead of your opponent.
Night lived seven steps ahead.
“I know, princess. I already set a spare troops from Midnight Streak on it. The scroll near the lake is destroyed, the one in the forest should follow quickly,” Night replied with a smug smile.
Luna nodded and her window shut off. Celestia’s eyes caught sight of several rampaging minotaurs that required her sister’s immediate attention at that moment. She shook her head and let it go. Glancing back to the map, she saw that her sister’s icon was in the middle of the heaviest part of the conflict, she wasn’t reinforced. However, Celestia suspected that was the plan. Luna’s unit was fighting solo, but her flanks were perfectly covered.
“Cloud, turn your units and get their flanks, now. They’re trying exactly what I told you,” Night suddenly barked, her eyes on several red points on the map that seemed to approach from three different directions, just not from the front.
More units moved around the construct—blue for the Night Guard, red for the minotaurs. Alone, a single minotaur was more than enough for two or three bat-ponies, and they were attacking anything but solo. The minotaurs gathered in number, assaulting as units of ravage berzerkers, and used the physical force of their own bulk as terror weapons.
Watching Night Watch work, it was almost comical how easily they were being defeated. She used their own rage against them, their own strength, their own superiority was being turned into their greatest weakness.
Celestia took a minute to admire the mare herself. At only thirty, Night Watch was the youngest commander on record. The mare had been spotted seven years ago during her training to join the Night Guard. Somehow, she had devised the truth of the changeling attack on Princess Cadance’s wedding and saved her sister from an ambush while she slept.
Legends already existed, and would exist for centuries about this mare. In the thestral caves, they were building statues of her already — the great commander that had already earned more commendations than most do in their lifetime of service.
Of course, those statutes would always fail to capture her most defining aspect: the one thing that would always cause visiting nobles and ambassadors to have to do a double take, and then a triple. Night Watch, the great commander, the scourge of any race foolish enough to cross Equestria’s borders with ill-intent, was short.
The little mare thestral had a dark-grey coat, a jet-black and short-cut mane, with a cutie mark that showed an eye on a purple spiral. She was always seen in her lavender armor that covered her back and chest. The most common description given to the mare—even with the extra lines upon her face that the burden of command added on—was cute. Nothing about her, not even her light green eyes looked threatening at first glance.
Well, not until you looked closer anyway.
The front greaves she always wore had a little surprise for anyone that got on her bad side. Night watch had been gifted with these greaves by Princess Luna herself; a reward for saving her life during the changeling attack. With but a thought, energized blades would swipe out from her greaves at lightning speed.
Between those weapons and her speed, well, the number of souls that met their end by the mare was beyond counting. Her rank, her command, and everything else still due to the mare, she had earned the hard way.
Celestia’s eyes moved from the mare to the map itself — to the shining emblems that represented their forces. Of the twenty-five different units, two were colored differently from the rest. The first was Luna’s, colored in a pulsing blue-purple. The second was a shimmering white, this unit was so marked because it belonged to Captain Blue Moon, Night Watch’s wife.
That’s not to say Night was treating it as a special unit, one that needed protecting. She had done that to her wife one time, and it lead to the mare getting chewed out and sleeping on the couch for a month. Needless to say, she now knew better than to try and prevent her wife from being in the thick of it. After knowing Blue for over six years and being married to her for two, Night knew what to do and what not to do.
Blue Moon was a scrapper; a linebreaker. Her combat expertise was in holding the line or breaking her opponent's. Early on in their relationship—and later marriage—Blue could still surprise Night Watch every now and again with her own combat skills.
Those days were long gone. Night Watch sailed through the hardest training her commanders and the princesses could devise. She even went through and replayed old battles of yore, using tactics she’d developed on the fly to see how she’d have fared against Equestria’s enemies.
Her talent, her cutie mark, was seeing what others could not. It was being able to grasp the intricacies and complexities of warfare. It was why she had almost unlimited power over every order of troop on battlefield.
The next window showing up showed Blue Moon. She had a scrape over her right eye, but Night didn’t say anything about it. Once the war was over, she would have enough time to treat her mare right.
“Night. They’re attacking us from the forest again, with spears and bows! We need shields here, now!”
Night Watch nodded as the window shut off, quickly scanning over the field to find the nearest unit with shields. As quickly as she found them, the order was given to protect the main units from the long-range fire. Then she took care of the enemy.
“Sky Cloud, get your unit and clear that damn forest! Clear it completely! Arrow-dive formation!” Night barked.
Celestia watched in awe how quickly one unit shielded the main units from the fire coming from the forest, while Sky Cloud effectively wiped out the entire enemy formation in hiding with their long-range weapons.
The minotaurs had no chance; the princess smiled at how easily they would cease this war with minimal to no casualties on their own side. That was until a unit flashed up, it’s colour switching rapidly from blue to black. Just in time with a window.
“Ma’am! They were waiting for us in the pass! They’re rolling stones down the hill upon us! We already lost five members of the heavy armor unit!”
“Break formation and find cover!” Night answered him before opening another connection. “Units 3a to 4b, respond to an emergency at the pass. Units 2e and 2f, close the gap on the left flank.
Celestia watched as a big part of the army changed direction and walked to the pass while only a small part covered the left flank. But they didn’t cover everything. There was an unguarded area and she thought she saw a red dot for a millisecond there. It was enough for her to make a decision.
“Unit 5f and 6a, move to the left outer flank and close the open gap!” Celestia quickly said, ignoring Night glaring at her with an open jaw.
“Princess—” Night started, just to be cut off.
“You missed a spot in the outer region, I saw a red marker there before it moved back,” she answered smartly.
Celestia watched as the units followed her command, confused about it, but still following the orders. That was, until she noticed something crucial. Something she could slap herself for.
Night noticed it as well.
As soon as the troops reinforced the outer left flank, Blue Moon’s unit was left uncovered on the left side, allowing the enemy to surround them easily. In ten minutes, her unit and the surrounding guard would all be wiped out down to the last pony.
Night smashed her hoof down on the table, nearly shattering it to pieces and interrupting Celestia’s magic. The Princess was about to discipline her, but stopped as a look of rage overtook the small mare, all directed at her.
Before she could say anything, another window popped up. “Colonel, you called?” Luna asked. Night had hit the signal for the princess in her rage.
“Your sister just bucked up everything!” Night Watch shouted.
“Colonel!” Celestia couldn’t let that one slide.
“No, you countermanded me at the worst possible time!” Night was yelling now, with a wing she reached out and gestured to the pass Celestia had seen. “It was a feint, a decoy to draw our forces away and expose the flanks of our main lines!”
Under the eyes of Luna, Celestia reexamined the battlefield layout. Night had been right, the forces she had moved without permission found nothing of value, and a hidden unit of Minotaurs was even now attacking the anvil of their forces, ready to wipe out Blue Moon’s regiment to the last.
“Y-you… you saw that?”
“Of course I did!” Night continued to yell. “We agreed to let me command the troops, you both said you trust me!”
“We shall reinforce squad A2 at once!” Luna shouted.
“Luna, we can’t. If you move there, we could loose the whole battle if the minotaurs fill the space at your position,” Night said bitterly.
“But… Night… Your…” Celestia shut up as soon as she saw the tears falling down Night’s muzzle.
“You think I don’t know? That I don’t see it?” Night growled, her mind was going through a hundred different ways this could play out. In all of them the casualties would mount on their end, far, far in excess of what losing one unit would cost.
In some of them, more than she cared to number, they’d lose the war.
“Your orders, Colonel Night Watch,” Luna replied as she lowered her horn and shot three charging minotaurs with her horn.
“Call back Luna and risking losing the battle or keep her where she is and risk losing Blue,” Night whispered as tear after tear fell down from her muzzle.
“Night, whatever you want to do, do it. This is on my head, not yours,” Celestia all but whispered.
“That’s just it, princess. It’s not on your head or mine, it’s on theirs. This may seem like some kind of game board to you, but every one of these icons is a pony’s life — one that trusts me. And despite your blunder, I will not sacrifice any of them that I don’t absolutely have to.”
“As you order,” Luna stated as she closed the link.
“Night…”
“Units A4, 5, and 6, proceed north and reinforce those in the canyon. Units C2…”
Celestia’s heart jumped into her throat as she watched Night Watch work. The mare gave out order upon order, all the while her muzzle became even more matted as the tears fell. The pieces—ponies, on the map continued to follow her orders, continued to obey every command given without a second's hesitation. All the while Celestia’s eyes never left unit A2.
They held. Of course they held; it’s what they were meant to do. The linebreakers were one of the most heavily armored units in the army. However, the numbers were completely against them. Night had organized every engagement to be a five-on-one affair, with the night guard always having flank support and always being able to use their speed against their slower adversary.
A2 never stood a chance. There were twenty ponies in that unit, twenty souls that had served as Night’s linchpin in her defence. When the ambush was sprung, they had already been engaged with a unit of four minotaurs, now they were facing eighteen.
Night Watch spat out order upon order, adapting her forces to this new development and closing the gaps that this forced in their lines. All the while Celestia caught small glimpses of the colonel eyeing unit A2.
To their credit, the first marker in A2 took almost two minutes to go dark.
“F2, 3, and 4 round the bend and flank right, C5, pull back, you’re about to be flanked.”
Celestia looked closer and noticed that one of the white marks was different. She hadn’t added it, but one of the white markers had a red heart on it, and she was sure that it was Blue’s marker. Not much to her surprise, that marker was one of the most visible of all the ones in A2.
“Sky Cloud, archers! Top of the eastern peak.”
Celestia’s eyes shot up to see the flying unit cut right and dive bomb the unit of red stationed at the eastern peak. She blinked — she blinked and saw it.
Night had been wrong; it was a chessboard, a chessboard with more rules, more figures, and more on the line than any other in the history of the world. And she played it masterfully. Every single unit was now in position, every cluster of red, every single enemy unit was surrounded on three sides by the numerically inferior, physically weaker, night guard.
She had flanked her opponent's forces, flanked them with the skill that belittled her age. “All units: guillotine.”
Celestia’s eyes widened as she saw the blue slam into the red. Each unit of minotaurs was cut off surrounded, destroyed, or surrendered as the members saw fit. Some, she had no doubt, fought to the last. Only to find the Night Guard perfectly suited to that task. Others, saw their predicament and had the presence of mind to surrender.
The genius, the tactical mind that set this up while sustaining minimal casualties amazed Celestia, but the icing on the cake came from the position and timing of unit A2.
The reason it was named guillotine revealed itself to Celestia. Night timed the attack to coincide with Luna’s unit making it to the enemy commander.
Celestia opened an observation spell to her sister’s personal guard. She watched as Luna, covered in the blood of her foe, engaged the enemy commander in single combat.
The night princess took to the sky, dodging rock and spear chucked her way with ease.
“WE SHALL SPEAK ONCE MORE, SURRENDER! YOU HAVE LOST!” Luna’s royal Canterlot voice boomed with all the authority she could muster.
Night shot a last look on the map. As she was certain that her job for the army was done, she bolted out of the tent, her mind and her body were in a race towards the position of Blue’s unit, which was still in a fight. It was true, she had no assets in the field that could help her wife, not without suffering large, unacceptable losses elsewhere. However, now that she wasn’t needed to coordinate the forces, she could take to the field herself.
Celestia had been so enraptured in her sister’s fight, she didn’t notice when the little thestral left. Her eyes followed her sister’s movements, seeing her dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge around the objects the minotaur commander threw her way. Several times she’d have to blast a rogue object before it would strike her.
The night princess quickly grew bored of this strategy. While she had landed more blows than her opponent, the minotaur’s armor proved almost fully resistant to her long range assaults.
She landed upon the ground. “We shall finish this now!”
“You shall die, little pony!” the minotaur screamed back, his voice echoing with disdain.
Luna’s personal guard looked at each other, each ready to jump in should the moment call for it, but each knowing their assistance would be anything but welcome. The Princess of the Night wanted to finish this personally.
Luna’s hoof pawed the ground, ready for a charge. The minotaur’s hoofs did likewise, each ready to assault the other full steam.
“Luna, what are you doing?” Celestia asked herself. She had no idea why Luna was risking her life on this bonehead maneuver — her sister had more than enough magic to finish this at range, where it was safe.
However, she’d learned her lesson, this was all part of Night Watch’s plan, and this time… this time she would trust it.
Celestia watched as the two combatants, each a general in their own right, changed at each other. Luna’s speed versus the minotaur’s pure strength. At the apex of his run, the minotaur pulled out a battle axe strung along his back.
Luna was taken aback by that for a second; a second that almost cost her everything. She ducked low and magically constructed a black blade before swinging back around.
Magical blade met forged-steel axe head with a loud clang. “Even now, you fight dishonorably!” Luna shouted.
“The only honor in war is to win!” the minotaur growled back.
Luna grinned as she poured even more magical power into the blade. “Then your honor is gone: you’ve lost, commander.”
The minotaur forgot one important thing. Sure, he had seen magical blades before, but not created and held by an alicorn. Night counted on that. With a loud scream, Luna poured her complete power into the blade, easily cutting through the steel and even more easily through the flesh behind it.
The commander howled in pain as magic cut through the flesh of his arm. He pulled back, dropping his now broken axe. “I’ll…”
It was then he saw it. Luna’s forces had completely incapacitated or killed his own guard. All that was left was him.
“You’re surrounded, your army defeated, routed, and destroyed. Even if you, somehow, beat me, you’re a commander without an army. What will you do, commander?” Luna looked down her nose at him.
“I…” He fell to his knees. “I surrender.”
Everypony around Luna cheered, the remaining minotaurs close dropping her weapons. “NIght Watch! You did it!” Celestia exclaimed as she tore her eyes away from the view of her victorious sister to congratulate the colonel. There was no reply.
“Night Watch?” Celestia asked again, looking around for the little mare.
It was then that she realized she was alone in the tent.
“NIGHT WATCH!” Celestia shouted. Her eyes traced to the map, to the seventy five percent depleted unit of A2, and to the small, but fast beacon moving in a bee-line straight to it. It wasn’t labeled — it wasn’t labeled because Night Watch was never meant to take to the field.
Nearly two miles from the command tent, the minotaurs still fought against Blue and her unit, while the others tried to reach them through the surrounding terrain. All seemed lost as a minotaur stood over her, raising his axe to deliver the deathblow.
Blue Moon held up the tattered remains of a shield to block the blow. It wouldn’t have done a thing; she knew that; they all did. Their armor was some of the best Equestria could produce, but the strength of these minotaurs was insane. After three good hits the shields would shatter, the flesh of the ponies carrying them going with it.
She hadn’t known why they’d been ambushed this way. She had no idea why they weren’t reinforced, why her wife let this happen, but she hadn’t exactly stopped to question it either. Orders from her wife were obeyed without question. If this was happening, if she was to be sacrificed, it was for the greater good of all of Equestria.
In the last moments, when the minotaur’s axe had come down, her last wish, the one thing she wished more than anything else in the world, was to be able to tell Night she didn’t blame her — that even though she was about to die, she was simply happy to have known her, to have loved her.
“BLUE, DUCK!”
Blue ducked, just in time to have a small, armored shape fly over her and crash into the attacker forehooves first, creating a red mess because of her hoof blades.
Blue’s eyes became wide as dinner plates. A purple blur had shot right past her, embedding itself through the tough skin of the minotaur attacker that had been seconds from ending her life. But the blur didn’t stop there. With speed that would have been befitting of the wonderbolts, she pulled back and took to the air, cutting a line around four more minotaurs at close range.
The blood splatter on her face made Blue blink. She raised a hoof and wiped herself clean. The kills had been quick, clean, effective. In the span it took to blink, five minotaurs had their lives ended, four with slit throats.
In the time it took Blue to watch, she felt pain in her left side. Seeing her wife, she was surprised and happy. In the split second she took to watch her wife, she left her flank unguarded. After the battle she had just fought, where there would normally be a pony to stand with her, there was none. She paid the price for that mistake. Looking slowly to the left, she saw a minotaur grinning, a blood-covered, two-handed sword in his hands.
Time went slower from that moment. Blue felt her hooves pass away, her body slowly falling into the dirt. Her coat became colder, so much colder. Looking up to see the minotaur raising his sword, she smiled. She was happy. She had been allowed to see her wife for the last time before her life would end. It was all she wished for. More even, because Night still tried to rescue her after all, even though it no doubt went against her own plans.
Blue was sure that the plan was worth her sacrifice. And she was sure that the last five years with Night had been the best in her life. Blinking, a tear slowly made it’s way down her muzzle as her vision wavered.
“Never forget me, Night. I’m so grateful to have been by your side all this time.”
She didn’t even see the minotaur falling anymore because of Night’s blades, before she went unconscious.
***
“Sister, Night Watch left to reinforce A2!” Celestia shouted into the image before taking flight.
Luna took in this new information with three blinks. Celestia had called in, reported the successful completion of the campaign, and left. With her out of the command tent, it was over — their spell would not hold, the individual units were all on their own now, only their last command and training to fall back on.
But for Night Watch to abandon her post?
“Sergeant, what was A2’s last location?” Luna turned to her guard and shouted.
“Middle of the field, just south of the ravine,” he answered quickly.
“Stay here and see to the prisoners, that’s an order!” At that Luna took off.
Her eyes scanned the battlefield. All around them were captured, dead, or routed minotaurs. Most were still alive, a testament to the fact that they knew when they were beaten. Of Night’s forces, she saw no sign. There were no bodies left on the ground, no wounded left behind.
It was her first rule after all — no pony left behind, regardless of whether they lived or not. Luna’s eyes caught sight of a white streak shooting off in the distance: her sister, Celestia, was bee-lining it straight for A2’s last known position as well.
Luna increased her speed, refusing to let Celestia beat her there.
Both alicorn sisters arrived at the same time to a scene that could only be called a slaughterhouse. All over the ground lay pieces of linebreaker armor, blood, limbs, dead ponies, and dead minotaurs. The linebreakers had formed the backbone of Night’s defence. As such they saw more combat than any others in the army.
But this was on a whole other scale.
The Night Guard prided themselves on defeating an opponent, but leaving them alive. Dead foes tended to create martyrs, martyrs created new enemies, and new enemies created more dead ponies. As such they trained to fight, to disarm, and to wound. That’s not to say they weren’t trained to kill.
What Luna and Celestia saw here were not defeated opponents, not live opponents. What they saw here were slaughtered enemies, murdered enemies — enemies killed in the worst ways.
Some of it they knew could be blamed on the last of the unit. A2 would have switched to more… violent attacks when they started taking heavy casualties: self defence as it was. Some of it could indeed be blamed on that.
The rest — well, the claw wounds in chests, heads, and necks — they were all a dead giveaway that this carnage was caused by one pony and one pony only. One that used vengence to guide their hoof. One that was crying at the edge of the clearing even now.
“Sister…” Luna whispered with a voice that would have made Fluttershy proud as she gestured over to that very pony.
Celestia looked over. Her eyes spotted the form of their colonel. Night Watch was bleeding, cut from a dozen wounds, including one that cut off half of her left ear. Her pristine lavender armor was caved in, bent, and broken along her back. Her left wing had been cut down the thin leathery side, no doubt a lucky strike that had grounded her. Her greaves were broken, only one claw-blade still attached, the rest left in a minotaur’s skin.
Despite the flowing blood, the missing ear-tip, and the pain of her wounds, both Celestia and Luna knew that she was crying because of the mare held in her hooves.
Blue’s body had been stripped of its armor. The dark-blue armor of the linebreakers was strewn around her. Most were damaged in some form or another, and all of them had blood on them.
Her dark-grey coat lay heavy in Night’s hooves. A large cut down her sides. The mare was motionless, her form unmoving.
“Sister, we…” Luna started to say.
Celestia lowered her head, a tear falling from her eye. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault.”
“The smartest thing you’ve said all day,” Night Watch growled, her eyes never leaving her wife’s prone form.
“She is right, dear sister. You acted without trusting her. It nearly cost us the battle… it cost us Blue Moon,” Luna whispered.
“Sister, I… I… I didn’t think…”
“No, you didn’t, and that’s the bucking problem.” Now Night Watch did look up. With ginger care, she placed her wife’s body upon the ground and faced the alicorn of the sun. “Tell me, princess. Tell me, how many of your little games you play with ponies’ lives? How many have you played in the last hundred years alone? Do you even know? Because I do.”
Celestia jerked her head back, as if struck by that. “Colonel, watch what you say.”
“I’m a colonel now? That’s funny… you had no problem overruling me in the tent.”
“Because I’m your princess.” Celestia stated.
“WE AGREED THAT I HAD THE SOLO COMMAND!” Night burst out in rebuttal.
Celestia’s eyes grew wide as Night started to walk closer and closer to her. The mare was practically the size of a foal, but her presence — the hatred she carried right now — intimidated Celestia more so than some of the worst villains she had ever fought. “I designed the battle plan, I gave the orders, I carried them out. For three bucking years you’ve trusted me, and today, today you’ve cost me my wife!”
“Night… I…”
“And you what? You… you…” There was only one working claw left on Night’s greaves, and at that moment, it unsheathed itself.
Celestia took that in conjunction with two other details, Night’s fangs were on full display and the tears had never stopped falling. “Night Watch, you don’t want to do this.”
“I think I do,” Night cocked her head slightly, opening up another wound upon her flank. “Because we settle this now, or later on the battlefield, and tell me, do you really want to face me with an army between us?”
“You know I’ll win,” Celestia replied.
“Now you would, but what about then?”
Celestia stood there in a stunned silence, maw hanging slightly agape. Her reply, quickly thought of, even more quickly retracted.
Celestia knew that even now, Night Watch was being loyal to Equestria. If she lived, if she was forced to go on now, she’d eventually join another army. Her in-depth knowledge of Equestrian tactics, forces, history, and assets would see them all defeated easily. Night’s mind had weighed the options; it had come to the conclusion that the only way she could keep her vows, the only way she could continue to fulfill her oaths, was for her to die here and now, at the hooves of her wife’s killer. In effect, she choose suicide by princess over betrayal.
“That’s what I thought.” Night grinned and flexed her leather wings. In the next second she’d either avenge her wife, or die in the attempt.
“She’s not dead!” Luna suddenly yelled.
That, quite literally, took the wind from Night's wings.
“W-what?” Night stammered, wide-eyed as she turned to look at Princess Luna.
“I said she’s not dead. Her light of life is still there, but very weak,” Luna stated.
In a blink, Night was at Blue’s side and shoved Luna rather unceremoniously to the side, quickly pressing her head on her wife’s chest. In fact, she could feel Blue’s heart beat. Slow and irregular, but it beat.
“Blue, Blue, my love… I’m so… so sorry.” Night cried out to the heavens themselves, “I’m so sorry!”
Celestia launched a distress signal up into the sky, signalling any units that were nearby to come to their aid. “Help is on it’s way, Night Watch. We’ll do all we can for Blue Moon. It… it wasn’t right, what I did. I know, even if she does survive, I can never make it up to you.”
“EVEN IF SHE DOES?” Night growled, her head snapping back. “For that alone I should put the last of my greaves to good use!”
“Night Watch, calm down. Your wife is alive!” Luna interfered, trying to calm the bat-pony down.
Years’ — a decade’s worth — of training caused Night to listen to Luna. It was ingrained in her from the top of her head to the bottom of her hooves.
“Sister, I think your presence might be better suited to seeing about the prisoner transfer. Do you not agree?” Luna asked.
Celestia blinked twice before it dawned on her: she was being kicked out. “Yes… I think you might be right. This battle, it has gotten to us all — made us act… unbecoming.”
“JUST GO,” Night growled, not wanting or caring about such technicalities right now. She knew Celestia was trying to make up excuses not to hold her actions against her, but right this second, she just didn’t care.
Celestia took one last look at the two. With a sigh, she flapped her wings and took off into the sky, towards the conquered enemy encampment. Luna moved over and sat by Night. With one wing she wrapped it around the mare, holding her as tightly as she could. Night Watch just held her wife and cried. Neither pony said a word until help arrived. When they did, they found Night Watch had passed out, her own wounds far more severe than she had let on. Luna ordered them both to be given the best care in Canterlot.
***
It was dark.
It was always dark. She lived and breathed in darkness, but this darkness was like no other. This darkness seems to be attacking her, as if when it caught her, it’d drag her down into oblivion and she’d be lost, forevermore.
Blue Moon ran from the darkness. She ran on four hooves, her wings worthless due to the foliage above. She had tried to fly through it, only to suffer more scrapes and tears to her skin then she had in a lifetime. With that out of the question, she ran. She ran from the darkness, she ran to the light ahead, she ran to the smiling face of her wife, Night Watch.
The pale-purple mare trotted, and then galloped as fast as she could. She told herself she was running to her wife, not away from the darkness. But that didn’t stop her pinkish-red eyes from looking back, from double-checking the distance she was trying to put between her and the dark.
“Come here, Blue.”
She quickly snapped her head forward. It could’ve been her imagination, but at the end of the darkness, her wife called out to her, again.
“I’m… I’m coming!” Blue yelled back as she ran, increasing her stride.
She felt herself coming closer, now able to determine her wife’s dark-grey coat, the jet-black mane and the green eyes she loved so much. Yet, she also felt that she moved slower than she appeared to. Every step she took toward Night Watch would put her two more away, every step she took away from the darkness brought it one step closer. Blue Moon used every bit of her strength, even using her wings to try and propel herself forward, all to no avail. What seemed like seconds could’ve been minutes or hours, Night Watch was slowly disappearing into the darkness.
“Night Watch! Help me!” Blue cried.
“Blue!” Night cried back.
Blue’s horror increased as the darkness caught up to her, she felt it’s tendrils wrap around her hooves, pulling her down, pulling her into itself. She cried out in fear as she was forced to accept the truth. She hadn’t been running to her wife at all, she had been running away from her death.
“I’m… I’m so sorry…” she cried out for the last time, struggling in vain to rid herself free from the dark.
“I love you…”
She heard the cry, she heard the last words she ever would from her wife.
No… it won’t end this way!
Blue did the only thing she could think of, the only other choice she had available other than surrendering herself to her fate. She dove into the darkness, she dove into the darkness and fought, not for her own life, but for her wife.
In that darkness, she found the light.
***
The light hurt.
Blue shut her eyes almost as soon as she opened them. The light… what she saw… it hurt to look at. Suddenly that pain wasn’t the only pain she was aware of: her sides hurt, her breathing hurt, and just about everything else hurt as well.
What didn’t hurt, however, was the soft touch of fur pressed to her other side. While her left side had a tingly pain on it, her right side felt warm, cared for, even loved.
She cocked her head to the side and forced her eyes open once more. She was rewarded with the sight of a matted black mane and an ear wrapped in bandages. Blue couldn’t help herself; she lifted her right hoof, a hoof that felt like it weighed a ton, and placed it on her wife’s head. “Y-your…”
The one word was all she was capable of, and yet despite its low tone it penetrated the silence of the room like a cannon going off. Night woke from her dream, blinking her eyes clear as she took in a sight that she never expected to see again in her life.
Those eyes, those pinkish-red eyes, were staring at her, so full of love, and worry. “Y-you’re awake…” Night stammered, unable to believe what her eyes were telling her. The doctors said she’d be lucky to wake up in a week, if she woke up at all.
It had only been three days since the war ended.
The short thestral’s right wing shot out to a remote on the side of the bed. She grasped it clumsily in her hooves before finally managing to press the call button upon it. “Shhh, don’t try to talk. The doctors will be in soon.”
Blue’s hoof fell to the bed. It took too much energy, to much endurance to keep it raised. Her eyelids felt so heavy, like each one weighed a ton. She could only keep her right one open and even then, it was a fight.
She took in the sight of her wife. Night Watch, Colonel Night Watch, the spunky little self-defeating bat-pony that was about to quit all those years ago. She was a wreck. Her face had cuts and gashes upon it, her left ear cut halfway off, her left wing bandaged and held to her side.
Blue could only imagine how it went down, the rage she must have felt at those that had wounded her. And then, of course, the stubborn pony would only allow her most severe wounds to be treated, and even then, only if they could do it without pulling her away from her wife.
Blue saw it all. She knew it without being told because, if the situation were reversed, it would’ve been exactly what she would’ve done.
Her eyes tore from her wife to the door as three unicorns walked in with white labcoats on: her doctors, if she had to guess. “Colonel, if you’d stand aside?” the lead one asked.
With much reluctance, Night Watch did just that. She took three steps back, her eyes never leaving those of her wife. Blue locked her gaze back on Night’s and never left it as the doctors went to work, checking over the scars, cuts, and stitches over her body.
“Will… will she be okay?” Night asked.
“They’ll let you know as soon as they know,” a voice spoke from the doorway; one that carried age, weight, and friendship all at the same time. Night looked over to see Princess Luna walk in. The night princess looked… solemn, as if she carried the weight of the world upon her shoulders.
“Princess…” Night’s eyes went wide as soon as she saw her. She hadn’t seen either princess for three days. Not since… “I’m to be fired, aren't I?” Night asked.
“There are more important matters right now, don’t you agree?” Princess Luna asked with a hoof pointing at the mare in the bed.
“Of course,” Night stated as she watched them work.
Her eyes moved back to Blue’s. Night could tell Blue was trying to keep her eyes open, to not give in to sleep. Defying the orders of the doctors, she moved up and placed her hoof on her wife’s. “Go to sleep, my love. I’ll be here when you wake up. Promise.”
With a smile, Blue closed her only open eye and drifted off to sleep. Night cried as she saw the smile upon her wife’s muzzle, the realization that that might not have been a sight she ever got to witness again hitting her hard.
She stepped back, right into the waiting wing of Princess Luna. Luna wrapped her wing around her colonel and brought her in for a long, deep hug. Night knew she should have objected to such treatment — it was the same kind of treatment one might give a foal — but she didn’t. At this moment, at this time, she just wanted to cry like a foal might.
She didn’t cry then, but she did soon enough.
The lead doctor finished his analysis and walked up to them. “Princess, colonel, Captain Blue Moon looks to have pulled through. She should make a full recovery.”
It was then Luna heard the tears truly fall from Night. She wrapped the colonel that much tighter in her wing and dismissed the doctors with a wave of her hoof. They left without issue, not a one of them making a comment about what they had just seen. When they were gone, Luna pulled her wing back to stare down at the young commander.
In a word, she looked… solemn. Night had stopped crying, she looked down at her hooves and asked. “Tell me, what were the casualty numbers?”
“Counting A2 or no?” Luna asked.
When Night didn’t answer, Luna gave her both figures.
“Without counting the losses suffered from A2, there were seven casualties and five fatalities.”
Seven wounded, five dead…
For any other commander, it would have been something to celebrate, a mark of pride they’d wear until the day they died. For Night Watch, it was only something to mourn. She wasn’t foolish enough to believe that she could win a war without losing anyone, but the dead were a price she’d always try to minimize.
“And… with A2?” Night’s voice was demeanour, like it had been before… before Blue came into her life.
“Counting A2, nine casualties, and twenty-three fatalities.”
A2, the linebreakers, the toughest, most heavily armored unit under my command. Two of twenty hurt, but eighteen killed. Ninety percent losses...
“Now, about you…” Luna stated as she looked over the sleeping form of Blue Moon.
“Just fire me and get it over with. I’m guilty of whatever she wants to charge me with. I won’t fight it. But… don’t take me from this room, please, not until she wakes up at least. I promised her I’d be here when she did.”
“We are confused.”
Night Watch craned her head to look up at the princess. “C’mon, really? Insubordination, abandoning my post, dereliction of duty, attempted regicide, threatening my commander. The list goes on. I don't blame you for doing it. Heck, I’d court martial me.”
“You’re right, the list does go on: exceptional bravery, valor, going above and beyond the call of duty, heroism, self-sacrifice, valuing the lives of your troops above your own life, placing yourself in danger to save the lives of those you love, winning a war with the least amount of casualties in Equestria's history. Shall I go on?”
“None of those things excuse my crimes.”
“Indeed, they do not.”
Night Watch sunk her head even further at that.
“Colonel Night Watch, are you prepared to accept discipline for your actions?” Luna’s tone was very authoritarian: this was a princess addressing her troop, not as a friend, but as a superior officer.
Night Watch stood up straighter and walked out of the princess’s wings. Only to trip and fall muzzle first onto her face.
She groaned. Luna chuckled a little. But neither said a word. It was Night Watch’s character, the one thing she’d never managed to outgrow, but a little clumsiness on the colonel’s part was all but forgivable. And besides, after three years of exceptional performance, everypony had come to expect it by now.
Night stood back and up shook herself off. She turned to face Luna, sitting to her full height on her haunches, by which she barely came up to the princess’s chest.
“Colonel Night Watch, for your actions during the minotaur war and with the authority vested in me by all four princesses of Equestria, you are hereby dismissed from your rank of colonel—”
“I understand, prin—”
“Don’t interrupt,” Luna scolded. “You are hereby dismissed from your rank of colonel, and promoted to the rank of general of Equestria’s armed forces.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Night blurted out before she could stop herself from it.
“Did I stutter?” Luna asked.
“But… no pony has actually held that rank for centuries. During times of war, it’s higher ranking than the princesses.”
“Indeed, during any military operations, you will, officially, outrank the princesses of Equestria.”
“But… I…”
Luna chuckled. “You have earned our faith and our trust. It is the hope of me and my sister that this small gesture will start to rebuild your trust in us.”
“Small gesture?” Night’s eyes went wide.
“Are you saying you don’t want it?”
“I’m...”
“Don’t listen to her. She’s taking it,” a weak voice mumbled, interrupting Night’s sentence and all her thoughts with it.
Night turned back, both surprised and not that Blue had woken up to hear that. It seemed only fitting that she’d be awake for something like this. “Well, I guess that’s your answer.”
“Excellent, I shall inform my sister at once about your choice. And maybe you’ll now let them treat your ear?”
Night chuckled, in all honestly she had forgotten about that. She had let them bandage her ear to stop the bleeding, but with magic they could actually start a more permanent fix. “Yes, Princess.”
“Fair thee well, general. We shall hold your official promotion at a later date,” Luna stated as she walked out of the room.
Dumbfounded, Night Watch turned back to Blue Moon. The mare was crying. “I knew you’d go far. You’ve always had it in you.”
“And I would’ve never made it without my beautiful wife at my side,” Night whispered gently.
Blue held up a hoof, a clear gesture for Night to join her. The bat-pony needed no further invitation. She crawled up onto the bed and lay beside her wife, holding her gently as one might hold a Fabergé egg.
Blue gave her wife one last squeeze before the medication knocked her out again. Night Watch, General Night Watch, cried.
“I mean that, my love: I’d be lost without you. You’ve always pushed me through times I lost hope. It was you who held me steady and ready for everything to come. For that, you have my thankfulness and are forever my heart.”
Her only reply was a soft coo in her dreams.
“You told me your dream once: your dream was to watch how far I’d go. To be witness to the rise of the great Night Watch. But, what I don’t think you’ve ever truly understood, is that your dream can only be fulfilled if you stay by my side. I love you, and I couldn’t… I couldn’t do any of this without you.”
Night Watch lay her head down once more, feeling the rise and fall of her wife’s chest, the gentle breathing coming from the mare as she fell asleep, tears in her eyes.
She cooed softly as she was treated to one final gift from the night princess.
“I love you, my Night watch,” Blue spoke as, in their shared dreams, the two embraced as they were unable to in real life.
“I love you too, Blue Moon.”
“Did you really mean it?” Blue asked, deep hope gleaming in her beautiful eyes.
“Every single word of it.” Night smiled, before gently pressing her lips against hers.