I - A Task Most Strange

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Twilight paced back and forth in front of the door to Celestia’s study. Her mane was slightly frazzled and eyes unblinking as she kept her eyes down to the floor. Her mouth in the act of movement as her small panicked whispers echo through the hall, making the guard duo at the other end shift uncomfortably.

“Did I mess up!? No, I made sure Discord was really petrified... Maybe it was a report!? Did I forget to send her a friendship report!? It has been a while since the last one...”

Twilight whispered to herself.

“I knew it, two days is too long to not send a friendship report! Grrr… Spike, that is the last time I listen to your advice!”

She stomped the ground..

—“Hey, hey Twilight you just beat one of the biggest bad dudes of the century, you should take a break for a bit! You deserve it!”

Twilight scowls as she recalls Spike’s great wisdom.

“You know what, yeah, you’re right Spike, I should relax a little bit.'' I said that! Ugh! Why did I listen to him!?”

Twilight shouted and stomped the ground. One of the guards took a step closer to the hallway archway.

“Auuu... What can I even say!? Oh! Sorry, Princess Celestia. I just wanted time to myself!? That’s stupid! I can't make any excuses to avoid her disappointment again...”

Twilight expression falls, and she looks back down... for ten seconds. She raises her head up and a smile grows on her face.

“Unlessssss... I make a friendship lesson happen now! Just not get caught this time, yes… That should-No!”

Twilight slapped her self across the face with a magic claw. The guards glanced at each other once again, one of them raising a hoof and pointed at himself as he spun it around.

“I learned my lesson! I need to stop being para—”

The door to Celestia’s study opened up. Twilight quickly whirls her head towards it and released an “eep!” upon seeing her mentor peeking out and looking down at her with her usual warm smile on her face.

“Oh! I thought I heard you out here, Twilight. You arrived later than I thought... But, I did call you here without notice.”

Celestia gives an apologetic smile and slowly opened the door for her little student. Twilight hesitantly entered the room.

“I’m sorry for suddenly summoning you… But I have an important matter to discuss with you.”

Twilight’s eyes immediately scan the room looking for any hints of her getting in trouble, only to find nothing of real importance... At least until she saw her mentors reading stand near the fireplace holding a white letter in place.

‘I really could use my paper bag right now...’

“Join me by the fireplace, Twilight.”

She moved her focus back over to her mentor as the Sun Princess walked past her and laid down on her floor-bed in front of the fireplace. She waited patiently for Twilight with her usual smile. Twilight felt her stomach tie in knots. She wanted to run back to her tree house and hide in her bed forever.

Slowly, very slowly, Twilight walked over to the floor bed and sat down on her haunches by her mentor, focusing her eyes on the fire and counting the number of times the flames flickered in an attempt to calm her disgusting nerves. Only for the action to be useless, as her stress peaked upon hearing Princess Celestia’s horn ignite. Glancing over at her mentor with the corner of her vision, she saw the princess bring over a white letter with her seal and place it infront of herself.

‘Expulsion. She must’ve delayed because my friends stopped her last time!’

It was the first thing her brain pushed into her brain.

‘Or M-maybe she was disowning her as her student!? Of course! What kind of mentor would keep a student that used an enchantment spell on the town you sent her to find friendship in!’

That was the second thing that came. Both were enough to make Twilight resign to despair and accept her fate. She had failed her teacher, she got carried away after sealing Discord, and now it came to bite her in the flank. She tried to think of a back-up plan to dodge this talk or just kneel down and beg her mentor for forgiveness and to not abandon her... yet her will to do it was heavily lacking.

“Ah… I should have mentioned this first... I didn’t call you because you were in trouble, Twilight. I’m trusting that you took the advice I gave you to heart from now on.”

Twilight froze stiff, her brain replayed the sentence she had just heard before finally acknowledging that it was genuine. With a great expulsion of air from her lungs, she felt all her stress, fear, and pain exit her body. If she was younger, she would’ve cried on the spot out of relief.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Princess Celestia!”

Twilight put a hoof over her little chest and took deep breaths.

‘Okay! Okay relax! Princess Celestia isn’t lying! Princess Celestia can’t lie!’

Celestia gave a small closed eye smile to her student for a moment before looking over at the fireplace.

“It’s the opposite, in fact, my dear student.”

Twilight looked at her mentor with a raised brow.

“Twilight Sparkle... You have accomplished so much in so little time. You defeated Nightmare Moon and brought my sister back to my side, and you managed to seal away Discord.”

Celestia closed her eyes and let out a soft chuckle.

“You’ve done more to help Equestria than I...”

Celestia said lowly with a hint of bitterness in her voice. Twilight slowly blinked as she heard that statement, she opens her mouth to defend her mentor. However, Princess Celestia quickly rose her foreleg up in a motion of silence towards her student.

“That is why... I want to entrust you with a task.”
Princess Celestia slowly opened her eyes and looked down. Twilight waited for her mentor to follow it up, but... nervousness grows when she sees her mentor open her mouth and close it. Princess Celestia stared at the ground longer as her eyes wavered a bit.

‘Is… Is she hesitating?’

The thought shocked her heart. An alicorn of her years being hesitant to entrust a task to her... Her mind could only draw the conclusion that is task was probably something that was dangerous...perhaps more dangerous than Discord! After all, Princess Celestia didn’t hesitate to send her and her friends after Discord! If it was dangerous enough to make her mentor unsure if it is wise to send her on it. It made Twilight’s anxiety grow.

“Haha... I’m sorry, it’s just... I must admit, even… Even I’m unsure if I want you to get involved in this.”

Celestia released a tired sigh as Twilight gave her a concerned look.

“But… I... I need you to do this task for me... because I…”

Princess Celestia’s eyes narrowed for a moment, a brief look of shame coming across her face.

“Because I am unable to do it myself.”

She spoke with an awfully bitter tone. Princess Celestia sucked in her breath and shook her head ever so slightly before looking over at Twilight with a smile.

“It is not a task that will endanger your life... This task has no failure nor due date. You can pick it up and drop it whenever you like.”

Twilight blinked. Her mind took in the information like a calculator, only to spit out nonsense. None of what her mentor said made any sense! A task she herself couldn’t do, but it wasn’t failable by any means! It wasn’t even a life-threatening task, either!

“Twilight, do you believe you can help somepony make friends?”

Twilight felt her mind go into the cosmos of space as the question registered. Nothing. Nothing about this entire talk was making sense to her... but as she gazed upon at her mentor's troubled face.

“I t-think so...”

She said it.

She said it, and she wasn’t even confident she could actually do it. She simply just wanted to stop Princess Celestia from being like this.

Celestia smiled warmly at the answer.

“I see...”

Celestia closed her eyes. After a brief moment of silence, she ignited her horn and enveloped the study door, letting her golden aura lay on the door before letting it fade away. Twilight felt that nervousness rises up as she recognized the spell; a classic object silencing spell. Which meant whatever her mentor was going to say was something that she couldn’t have anyone outside to hear.

‘Oh Crud.’

Silence filled the air for what felt like hours to Twilight.

Slowly, Celestia turned her head towards her student and abandoned her usual smile for a more serious expression.

“Twilight, tell me how much do you know about the guard?”

‘The... Guard!?’

Twilight decided this was the moment she was going to abandon how to figure out how all of this information was relevant to the task, successfully turning her brain off and choosing to remain ignorant of the previous discussion to keep her brain from cramping up.

“The g-guard...? Oh! Um... well.”

Twilight straightened her posture and collected her thoughts for a moment.

“I know the guard's main role is to protect you, and Equestria’s citizens. They’re separated into two departments. Solar and Lunar, I believe. The solar guards are under you, and they’re the day guards. The Lunar are under Princess Luna, and they are the night guard annnd.... Oh! Both sides have captains that directly report to their princess... Shining Armor told me that he has to do that with you occasionally.”

Twilight glanced over at her mentor, seeing her with her eyes closed and nodding along.

“From the outside perspective, you’re correct.”

“H-huh?”
Twilight looked at her confused.

“How you described the guard functionality is perfect from the outside look, I personally designed it to be untruthful from an outside perspective.”

Twilight cocked her head, making the alicorn chuckle.

“To simplify it, you have everything correct except the Lunar guard role. The night guard you see is still under my allegiance.”

“Wait… So does that mean the Night Guard... is actually the Solar Guard?”

Princess Celestia nodded.

“...T-then where is the Lunar Guard? If they aren’t the night guard, then I... don’t think I've ever seen them...”

Twilight brought her hoof to her chin as she looked down, trying to remember if she ever saw a night guard that wore different armor from the standard dark metal set

“Because they are rarely in Canterlot, they’re stationed somewhere else.”

“Oh! That makes sense... Wait, no, it doesn’t... Um... Can I ask why?”

Princess Celestia slowly looked over to her left and gazed at the first version of the Lunar banner that hung on her wall.

“The Lunar Guard are not your average pony... They’re hybrids between ponies and bats.”

“Um... e-excuse me, Princess Celestia but...”

Twilight shakes her head and blinks at her mentor.

“What!?”

“Years before my sister became Nightmare Moon, a unicorn scholar was curious about the magic Grogar used to make monsters. He started off with experiments on insects, but over time his desire to do bigger and learn more overtook him into madness. He eventually started foalnapping, using ponies as expertments for his theories.

Celestia frowned.

“By the time me and Luna confronted him, he had successfully mixed the victims with bats... He was successful, but it came at the cost of their sapience.”
Princess Celestia looked at the ground bitterly.

“They lost their ability to think or speak like normal ponies... they were nothing more than feral bats in pony bodies.” Twilight stared at Celestia, horrified. The thought of a unicorn doing that... She couldn’t help but feel disgusted.

“I was unsure what to do with them... But, my sister, made up her mind before I could come up my own solution.”

A small smile came to her mouth.

“She wanted to help them... teach them and help reintegrate them back to society.”

Celestia turned her head a bit and looked back at Twilight with a small smile.

“And she did... After a couple of years, they were able to heal back to normalcy, able to talk and think about themselves again. Some of them even developed relationships during that period.”

Princess Celestia couldn’t help but let out a small giggle. Twilight gave a slight smile, the back of her mind nagging her that there felt something off about this story.

Celestia's smile faded once again.

“However, when they went back to society... my little ponies rejected them. They were scared of them, afraid of how different they were and rumors began to spread about them... they grew more... And more fearful until ponies started to push them out of towns and villages. Even I… I must admit I am at fault for this... I let my guard spread their rumors for too long until it was too late. I hurt them and my sister's reputation.”

Celestia lowered her head.

“I still regret that to this day...”

Twilight reached a hoof out to her mentor, only stopping and slowly pulling it back. Her own eyes looking down as she started to understand why they weren’t in Canterlot, when her mind goes back to when she met Zecora and all the rumors surrounding her... Outcasting her from the rest of town... she couldn’t help but feel as if she was part of the problem.

“Eventually... They decided to come back to my sister... and my sister out of either anger or pity... Maybe she decided to take them in and turn them into her guard. And for years the two departments coexisted.”

Celestia lit her horn and slowly levitated the old Lunar banner to her view.

“There's more... and... it is related to the task I ask of you, Twilight.”

Twilight’s eyes widened and her frown strengthened.

“The bat-ponies grew larger as the ones who had entered relationships made families, and due to my sister saving them they became devoted to her, a devotion that carried through generations... and eventually I came to face it.”

Celestia ram her hoof up along the knitted astral trail and up to the shining knitted great star.

“After I sealed Nightmare Moon away... the Lunar guard took up arms and rebelled against me and the Solar guard. I was forced to do a mass arrest on them, and lock them away in the dungeons. I had… no idea what to do with that at the time... and my own guard didn’t help me. Half of them wanted to excommunicate them from Equestria, the other half demanded I execute them. Both sides were scared that if I let them live, they would rebel once again but at a bigger force.”

Her hoof slightly trembles against the banner.

“My indecision left them imprisoned for moons...”

She retracted her hoof and looked down with a dejected smile.

“One day... an… Individual came. They weren’t from Equestria, and they used to work as a knight for a kingdom in the far north. They... showed me that they were good at their job, I let them into the guard, and they rose through the ranks quickly, but... my guard didn’t like them.”

“So... In my fear of the previous problem happening again and acknowledging their capabilities. I appointed them as the new captain of the Lunar guard... and trusting them, I sent both them and the rest of the guard away to be stationed somewhere else.”

Celestia let out a small chuckle.

“Saying that plan now… It sounds stupid... but... it worked.”

Celestia slowly turned around to face her student.

“They had done something I could not... They made the Lunar Guard accept peace.”

Celestia couldn’t help but let out another chuckle.

“Even to this day, I still don't know how he did it... The Lunar guard were still upset at me and the Solar guard, but they were now willing to work with us again.”

Twilight stared at Celestia with a mixture of emotions on her face.

“W-wow... I didn’t think Captain Faded Light did that much...”

Celestia shook her head and let her smile grow back on her face.

“Faded Light is not their captain.”

“Huh?”

“B-but, Shining told me that the Lunar guard captain was somepony named Faded Light!”

Celestia let out a heavy laugh at that.

“Many. Many misunderstandings have been set in, my student.”

“Auuuuugh!”

Twilight pressed her forelegs against her head. Celestia leaned over and nuzzled Twilight.

“Don’t worry... you’ll clear them up soon.”

Celestia said as she pulled away.

“I will?”

Twilight looked up at her mentor.

“Mhmm... for all of this information is relevant to your task, Twilight.”

Celestia levitated the letter to Twilight. Slowly, Twilight took the letter in her own magic and starts to unseal it.

“
Twilight, please help the Lunar Captain make some friends.”

“That is your task.”

Celestia nodded. Twilight, on the other hand, froze in place. Her realization that all this buildup, this stress, sadness, this rollercoaster of emotions paid off to find out her task all this time was to help somepony make friends. She wasn’t sure if she should scream or cry at the moment.

“Despite all the good they’ve done... they won’t leave their homestead nor engage with anypony other than the guard and I… and unfortunately I have not managed to convince them even after all this time.”

Celestia placed her left hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

“But... maybe you can.”

Twilight looks up at her mentor. Her mind pauses as she sees the gentle, warm smile, the sparkle in her eyes that spoke of her belief in her student. Twilight’s stomach tied itself in knots as her instinct to not disappoint her, opening her mouth, she couldn’t help but let the words slip out her mouth.

“I’ll do my best....”

Celestia smiled more and took a step back from Twilight.

“Thank you.”

“In the letter there is a map with instructions to where the Lunar Captain is.”

Twilight looked at the letter and removes the celestial seal. Bringing the map out she finds an ‘X’ spot in-between the outskirts of Hollow Shades and the countryside close to Fillydelphia, glancing over to see the side she sees instructions to get from the train stop at Hollow Shades to the location. The most important note of it all was the big red letters that said.

“ONLY TRAVEL THERE AT NIGHT, NO EXCEPTIONS.”

“Remember, Twilight, you can drop and pick up this task any time you want. There is no due date. I encourage you to take your time with this mission, there is also another thing I must state to you.”

Celestia leaned her head down slowly towards Twilight's muzzle, she looked up from her map only to see Celestia giving her a... terrifyingly cold gaze.

“Do. Not. Tell. Anycreature. About this task. And I do mean anycreature, Twilight. Not your friends, not Spike, not your brother, not the train conductor, and especially not my sister. You are only allowed to talk to me and the Lunar Guard about this task. No one else, do you understand, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight eyes shrunk. She shivered as she swore that there was something… darker in voice.

“Do you understand?”

“Y-y-yes m-m-m-ma’am!”

Twilight barely managed to stutter out.

“Good.”

Celestia moved her head away from her students' view.

“You are dismissed.”

Celestia gave a nod towards Twilight. Twilight gives a silent nod in returned and quickly exited the room, entering the hallway she opened her mouth to expel the air she had been holding in. She never in her life thought Celestia could look so... cold and speak so seriously. She couldn’t help but wonder if this matter is more serious than Celestia let on.

Twilight lets out a low whimper and looked at the map in her hoof.

“What did I get myself into now...?”

II - The Lunar Base in the Countryside

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Twilight looks down at her map with annoyance on her features, looking up and to the left side her eyes stare at the barely visible dirt trail leading further into the forest of dead trees. Moving her gaze to the right, she sees another barely visible dirt trail leading further into the forest of dead trees. Her lips tighten as she silently blinks, looking back at her map and searching for the location for the tenth time.

“Fork in the road, fork in the road, fork in the road, fork in the road, oh come on it has to her here somewhe-AHA!” Twilight gives a wide grin. Bringing the map up to her face, she finally spots the semblance of a fork in the road on the map.

“LEFT!” She shouts as she quickly spins around and points her hoof down the left trail, quickly trotting down the trail. Bringing the map up once again, she looks for her next point of interest towards her target.

“Now then I have to walk... three miles...” Twilight stops in her tracks, closes her eyes while bite her lip. Slowly, she opens her eyes and looks at the map trail once again. Realizing she did in fact make the correct calculations for the distance between her position and the next point of interest, and throws her head up and lets out a groan.

` I understand the Lunar Captain is not from Equestria... but did you really need to put them all the way out here, Princess Celestia!? `

Twilight lets out a sigh as she tucks the map into her saddlebags. A frown growing on her face as her mind pops up more questions regarding this entire situation. Every time she replayed the talk she had with Celestia in her head, it just always felt…off. From the fact that she didn’t want Princess Luna to know about her own captain to the fact that Celestia had designed the solar guard to look like the night guard was the lunar guard.

Something was clearly off about the Lunar Captain… Twilight wished Celestia told the full truth. She wanted the truth so badly but… She knows Celestia always does everything for the best, so surely her holding back the full story had an important reason.

“Yeah… Princess Celestia always makes the best choices…” Twilight whispers underneath her breath as she walks down the trail.

“Augh!” Twilight cries out as she is thrown off from the trail from a swinging log trap.

“GAH! AH! UGH!” Twilight howls out in pain as she lands on a small hillside roughly and starts to roll down the hill into a ditch. She flails her limbs as she falls into the ditch and lands face-first into a small creek within it. Twilight lays there for a moment, enduring the pain running through her body. When the pain starts to die down, Twilight begins to raise her face from the creek water, shaking her head in an attempt to dry herself only to find it pointless.

She decides to make better use of her energy by getting back on her hooves. Mid-way through, she pauses as her eyes look down into the water, the moonlight shining down bright enough for her to see her own reflection in the creek water. Staring back at her is a lavender unicorn with scratches on her muzzle, her mane an absolute mess with bits of mud, twigs and leaves attached to it. A bit of blood leaking from her left nostril and an expression of anger on her face.

Twilight scowled at the reflection and stomped on it, flinching when the water splashed against her face. She raises her hoof once again, anger taking over her mind for a moment only for her to yield and just looks down and glare down at her hooves. She sighs and raises her head, steeling herself once again.

` I’m close! I know I’m close! I hope I’m close! … Please Princess Celestia let me be close! `

She nods to herself and slowly gets out of the creek, a strained smile on her face that spoke to others that “this was okay” when everything was in fact very not okay. Getting out of the ditch, she immediately starts to shake the water from her body, grumbling to herself while doing the act.

` First, the guard is purposely misunderstood! Second, I don’t think I got the full story! Third, I can’t even tell my friends and family OR Princess Luna about me chatting to HER captain! Fourth, there’s traps on the trail! Princess Celestia, please! PLEASE! Tell me we’re going to have a long chat after this meeting! All of this is so nonsensical and meaningless! `

Wiping her nose from any blood that stayed on after her water faceplant she looks around, checking if she strayed far from the trail. Looking from the Hollow Shade's tree line, she fell from to the small hill in front of her, out of the ditch. She halts when the sight of a house in the far distance enters her vision. She gawps at it for a minute, when her mind suddenly recognizes this as a sign of hope she quickly runs across the creek and climbs out of the ditch.

Exiting out of the ditch, she quickly pulls the somewhat wet map out; she points her hoof at the “X” mark and slowly moves her hoof over to the previous spot she was at before tripping off a trap.

“I was here... fell down and landed over here... walked up here...” Moving her hoof along her with her observation, she looks between her current location and the “X” and lets out a gasp.

“It’s there!” Twilight shouts out ecstatically and smiles. Without hesitation, she launches the map into her saddlebag and takes off towards the house. Adrenaline and ecstasy running through her body as she runs up the small hill towards the house.

“It’s there, it’s there, it’s there, It’s the—” She trips over a small hillside rock on her way and rolls down the small hills. She curses under her breath and gets up, walking towards the house more slowly now. Taking deep breaths to calm herself down, she focuses her eyes on the house, soaking in its strange design.

The house was an old styled country house with a wide front porch, made of gray rock walls and dark Hollow Shades of tree wood. She could see a chimney for a fireplace peeking out of the rooftop. The front porch had flame lanterns hung from the walls beside the front door and lit up the front porch in its warm orange glow. What mainly caught her eye was the left side of the house being connected with a gray painted metal barn that stood out too much. It looked like it was just added on after the house was made months later.

She stops and stands there, her anger subsiding as she stares at her destination and the surroundings. It was... comforting. She closes her eyes and exhales, taking the moment to enjoy the sounds of the wind blowing the grass and the distant wind chime song coming from the house. She let a smile grow on her face as she felt finally at ease, her troubles finally over. Slowly opening her eyes, she looks at the house and takes a step forward.

She tenses when her hoof makes contact with the porch floor, making a creek sing out from the old wooden boards. She steps onto the porch and looks over the objects on the porch, a chair sized for a Minotaur sat in the corner, potted flowers that looked like they came from the royal Canterlot garden... though they looked to be placed in cheap pots one would find from a yard sale. The thought of the captain being gifted flowers from Canterlot and putting them in cheap jars aggravated her.

` I hope Princess Celestia didn’t give the captain flowers just so he could put them in these… mess, dirty pots… `

Her ears twitch when the wind chime on the other end sings once again, drawing her attention towards the door. She trots over to the door and raises her hoof to knock on it. Hesitation and doubt fills her, in an effort to comfort her anxiety she pulls out the map once again, looking over the location and the instructions again. She grimaced when she saw additional instructions in getting in touch with the captain.

` Celestia! PLEASE! `

“When you’re there... approach the Lunar Hall and knock once, give a minute of silence before following it up with two knocks then give it two minutes of silence then finish it with a quick but weak knock.” Twilight reads the instructions quietly to herself in annoyance. She looks over to the next-door building, specifically the barn doors. She looks back to the front door and grumbles.

“.... Why not the front door?”

Rolling her eyes, she puts the map back in her saddlebag and heads over to the barn doors. Stopping in front of the pair of doors, she tilts her head when she notices the barn doors don’t have any handles on the outside… meaning she couldn’t enter from the outside. However, her ears perk when faint sounds of movement inside leak out from the building. Taking a step forward and putting her ear against the door confirms that the sounds were real and inside, the sounds of movement against wood and even some thuds here and there were evident.

She pulls back and prepares to knock when the wind blows and knocks a stick that was previously stuck in her mane onto her back. Looking back at the stick then poking her mane she realized her appearance was still messy. Not being patient enough to fix her mane, she simply does a quick teleport, removing the mud, leaves and twigs that were once stuck to her mane. Reappearing a few feet away she quickly walked back to the door after fixing her mane.

She takes a deep breath and knocks once against the barn door. All the sounds she heard behind the door suddenly ceased. Giving a minute of silence she knocks twice, and counting down the time in her head goes through the two-minute mark to give the necessary tap. The movement inside resumed, and she heard the sound of somepony trot over to the door. Straightening her posture Twilight puts on a smile as the door opens, the smile contorting as her eyes are exposed to sudden white light.

“Agh!” She hisses and turns her head away. She blinks multiple times, attempting to quickly let her eyes adjust to the sudden change in lighting.

“Heh, every time.” A feminine voice spoke up from the light. Twilight eyes slowly move to the voice and widen when she sees the owner of a voice. The creature Princess Celestia spoke of... a bat-pony. A mare of average height stood in front of Twilight with her hoof on the door, her coat was a moderate phthalo blue, moderate gamboge eyes with unusual slitted-pupils that made Twilight instinctively tense up. Her mane was light grayish azure and styled with her short wavy bangs going down over the corner of her left eye.

Twilight's eyes moved on their own to the parts that were... very different from the average pony or pegasus. Her ears were tufted and lanceolate. Her wings weren't made of feathers like a pegasus but instead it’s structured itself was different, instead of being like a bird it was very much like a bat with strong but elastic skin replacing feathers and to add on more compared to her coat the wings were a different color; a deep purple.

The last sign of her bat nature was the one that made Twilight’s neck tense up the most out of her body. Fangs. Very pointy, very sharp fangs that peeked out of her mouth. Twilight couldn’t help but be a little afraid of the mare, guilt seeped into her heart as she plays back the origin of their species in her head.

` They’re not dangerous Twilight! They’re not dangerous... they’re misunderstood... don’t mess it up. `

“Ah... You’re Twilight... Sparkle.” Twilight eyes moved back to the mare's face and observed the surprise on her features.

“I ah... um... Mmnn...“ The mare's eyes dart around and panic starts to hint on her features.

“...Greetings?” She slowly nods and looks at Twilight's face.

It takes Twilight a moment to realize that the bat-pony was trying to do a guard greeting. “Oh um... Hello miss...?”

“Faded Light.” Twilight barely prevented her face from scrunching up from hearing that name. Faded Light, the “captain” of the lunar guard her brother had told her of.

“Let’s go inside, so we can talk more, you look like you had a rough journey coming here.” Faded gives a slight smile as she looks over the unicorn. Twilight follows her gaze and sees her lavender coat covered in little scratches.

“Haha... Yeah...” Twilight sheepishly nods. Faded turns around and goes back inside the barn with Twilight following behind the mare, her eyes moving over to her flanks and observing her cutie mark; a white sun with a majority of it being shadowed over.

“Special guest coming in! Look presentable, you dolts!” Twilight snaps out of her stare when Faded Light shouts. Her jaw drops as she looks at the inside of the barn. While it was definitely the model of a barn on the outside... on the inside it was a training hall. The floors are made of smooth polished hardwood that she saw only once at Canterlot’s training hall when she visited her brother. Looking to her right and left, she saw stairs leading up to the smaller second later that she could judge from its existing reals were probably made for observation from above.

Between the floors were wooden beams that held up aerial training loops. Along the walls she saw the various banners of the Lunar side of the government, all being of different ages up to the modern age lunar banner.

“Wow...” Twilight had seen the illustrations of the lunar symbols in the past, but to see all of them in the flesh made her heart flutter a bit.

“Huh, an element of harmony in the flesh at night.” Twilight’s eyes move over to the source of this new voice.. Standing on a ringed out mat in the center of the hall was a white coated male bat-pony, coming up to his right side was another male and a female. Faded Light stops in front of the mat ring and turns around to Twilight, raising her hoof and points to the white bat-pony. “Private first class, Moonfall.”

“At your service.” He gives a salute.

Faded moves her hoof to the bluish male bat-pony beside him. “Corporal Fallen Shine.”

“Mn.” He bows.

Faded moves her hoof to the small female violet bat-pony at the end. Twilight narrowed her eyes as she noticed she had faint differences from the rest, no ear tuft or silted pupils, but fangs and bat wings were present on her. “Private second-class Dusk Blade.”

“Hey there!” She cheerfully says. Faded Light, Moonfall, and Fallen Shine glare at her together.

“Oh! I mean... Hello, Citizen.” She gives a stern look and salutes. Moonfall facehoofs while Faded Light rolls her eyes and looks back at Twilight.

“There are more of us, but they’re currently out right now. For the record, I am Lie-Captain Faded Light.” Twilight raises a brow at the mare. Faded Light kept a stoic face despite that small slip up.

` Even she is playing into the lie... `

Twilight slowly nods and puts up a smile. “I am Twilight Sparkle, student under Princess Celestia, and the element of magic... as well as the younger sister of Captain Shining Armor of the solar guard.” Twilight felt unsure on adding the last part but deemed it somewhat needed because they were also part of the guard. The bat-ponies, clearly unsurprised with the information, just nod with acknowledgement.

“So, what brings Shining Armor’s little sister here to the lunar guard base.” Faded Light asks, her wing stretching out and giving a signal to the guard behind her. The guard nods together and returns back to their sections of the hall.

Twilight closes her eyes for a moment and looks back at the bat pony with a determined look as she decides to probe the bat pony. “I came to speak with the Lunar Captain about something.”

Faded Light perks up in surprise at that for a moment before returning to her Stoic look. “Ah, well... Here I am. Is it something we need to discuss in private, or can we discuss it here?”

` She’s good… she really is keeping up with this façade… `

Twilight scowled, making the bat pony look at her puzzled. She gives the “captain” a deadpan stare. “I was told by Princess Celestia to meet with the captain. The “real” captain.”

Faded Light looks at her perplexed. “I...” She pauses when she finds Twilight continuing her glare. She lets out a defeated sigh but gives a small smile. “No use in playing my role this time… Okay, I understand. But you’ll have to wait a bit, the captain hasn’t woken up yet.”

Twilight blinks and tilts her head. “Woken... up?”

Faded Light nods. “He’s a late sleeper. Even after he wakes up, he usually takes approximately thirty minutes to clean himself, dress himself, feed himself, and quickly sign or read official documents before he comes out here.”

“Um... Okay, so when will he wake up exactly?” Twilight raises a brow.

“In...” Faded Light brings her hoof up to her chin and thinks for a moment before frowning. She turns around and looks at Moonfall who was against the left wall attempting to make a move that allowed him to quickly pull out his wooden pole and deliver a strike against a dummy.

“Moonfall! Time!”

Moonfall jumps slightly mid-swings and spins around in a circle but manages to catch himself. Let out a sigh of relief, he quickly turns around towards her and salutes. “Yes ma’am!”

He runs down the hall and opens the barn doors, Twilight watches, bemused, as the stallion sticks his tongue out towards the moon for an entire minute with his eyes closed before closing the doors and trotting back inside. “12:45. Ma’am.”

“Thank you, private.” Faded Light gives a nod and looks back to Twilight.

“He’ll wake up in about five minutes, plus his average thirty. So you will meet him in thirty-five minutes.”

Twilight lets out a whine. “Can’t you go in there and wake him up?”

Faded Light looks behind her and towards the backdoor of the hall only to shake her head. “Sorry, but no. No pony is allowed to enter his side of the base without his permission. The only one allowed currently is Princess Celestia.”

Twilight opens her mouth to ask “why” but closes it, giving up on asking. “Fine... Can I wait here and, maybe, ask you some things?”

“Sure, by the way, allow me to clear up something.” Faded Light gives a salute. “I’m first lieutenant Faded Light. I apologize for the deceit but because I delivered my captain’s letters to Canterlot and attended the guard meetings in his stead, I guess the solar guard thought I was the captain which made our princess believe I’m the captain too... afterward Princess Celestia told me to play along with the lie.”

Faded Light gives a defeated sigh at the end. Twilight smiles and puts a hoof on her shoulder, giving a nod that sympathizes with her being thrust into a role by Princess Celestia. She gives a small smile back.

“Let’s take a seat on the benches, I can’t have one of Dusk Blade making another mistake and somehow hitting you.” A passing Dusk Blade hissed at her. Twilight nods and the two head over to the right side of the wall and take a seat on the wooden benches… Twilight ignites her horn and pulls out a notepad and quill from her saddlebag.

“Mind if I write some of the information down?” Twilight asks.

“I don’t mind, as long as you don’t share this information with others.” Faded Light gives a stern look that makes Twilight tense up.

“Of course, this is only for me!” She drops her gaze and nods at her to start.

“Okay! So... um... Where do I begin?” Twilight prodded her lip with the quill as she started to think.

“Well, can I ask you something first?” Faded Light asks.

“Of course!”

“Okay… What do you need to talk to the captain about? The fact that Princess Celestia met with you and gave you permission to seek him clearly means it’s personal... If it was formal, she would’ve called for me or asked my princess to give her message to me.” Twilight stared blankly at the mare for a while, then she began to sweat.

` Oh... oh crud. What do I say...? What do I say!? I need to see the captain regarding something with the moon? No, I don’t even KNOW much about him or the lunar guard to make a convincing lie! But what can I say that would be convincing enough? Do I tell her it’s private? I could... but I will be coming here every now and then if this goes well... it’ll just look suspicious. `

Twilight frowns and looks down, her brain gears turning to find a way out of there... until her brain suddenly brings a line Princess Celestia has said before.

"You are only allowed to talk to me and the Lunar Guard about this task."

She smiles as relief courses through her body, she looks back up to the patient lieutenant. “I was tasked by Princess Celestia to help your captain make some friends!” She gives a genuine smile to her. However, the smile quickly vanished with what happened next.

“You want to make the captain get some friends!? Has Princess Celestia gone mad!?” Faded Light shouted, shock appeared on her features as looked at Twilight in disbelief. The shout had caused all movement in the room to cease and the rest of the guard turned their attention to the duo.

“The captain!? Friends!? Making them!?” Dusk Blade looked at Twilight, her eyes wide and jaw dropped. She spins around to Moonfall and rushes over to him, wrapping her hooves around his neck.

“Moonfall! Hit me! I think we’re under an illusion spell! Please! I promise I'll hit you when I wake up!” She says with panic on her features. Moonfall ignores his small comrade and stares at the duo before a laughter erupts from him.

“Our captain… making friends!? Ehahahahahaha! Oh! Oh Luna, that’s... Ehahahahhahaha!” Moonfall buckles over and continues to laugh as Dusk Blade shakes Moonfall, trying to get his attention.

Fallen Shine shakes his head, failing to hide the amusement on his face. “Heh. What a funny mission.”

Twilight quickly stood up with a scowl on her. Her anger slowly rises as she listens to these people laugh at her mission being ridiculed. “Hey! Everypony can make friends! And don’t you dare insult Princess Cel—”

The backdoor of the training hall suddenly opened up, making everypony stiffen up and shut up. Together all the ponies move their gaze towards the door. It was at that moment that Twilight had an epiphany, an epiphany of why all these lies were settled in regarding the identity of the Lunar Captain. Her breath was stolen from the moment she locked her eyes onto him, her eyes shrinking to the mere size of bits and her brain ceasing all function. Standing in the doorway of the backdoor was definitely a non-equestrian.

A bipedal creature stood there, dressed in baggy dark blue pants with white stars all over it, and a matching long shirt to match. Its face was mean looking... but tired, as if it just woke up. A deep but thin scar over the end of the right side of its lip combined with its shaved beard look and messy shoulder-length black hair with a bit of gray mixed. Its eyes were small, but the light shined bright enough for her to see its deep blue color and dark rings under its eyes.

With a look of annoyance on its face, it spoke up in a deep, masculine voice. “Get back to training. Just because I'm not out here doesn’t mean you have my blessing to slack off. If I don’t hear your efforts in two minutes, then today’s lesson will be trying to beat me, and I won’t hold back.” All the guards paled upon hearing that and quickly straightened up.

“Understood, Captain!” All the guards say together and give a salute to their captain, while he simply grunts and leaves, closing the door behind him. Silence fills the room as the guards focused their hearing on its slowly fading footsteps, all letting out a sigh once they believe the coast is cleared.

“Whew... that scared me, I swear I didn’t even hear his footsteps that time...” Moonfall says as he puts a hoof over his chest.

“Y-yeah same...” Dusk Blade gives a small chuckle before looking at Twilight. “Oh!”

Following Dusk Blade’s gaze, the guards look back at Twilight. Together they see the mare frozen with the look of pure shock on her face. Faded Light pokes the mare’s chest and finds it tensed so much that it would give the petrified Discord a run for his money.

“Yup, the usual first-time reaction.” Dusk Blade giggles as Faded Light sighs.

III - Interviewing the Lunar Guard

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“Huuooh...” Twilight slowly breathes in and out while placing her trembling hoof against her chest as she tries to collect herself. Moonfall pats her back as he sits on the bench next to her, making sure she was stable.

“I’m... Okay now... I think I got it out of my system.” She mumbles to herself.

“You sure, ma’am...? You were frozen for a good while.” Moonfall asks with some concern in his voice as he gives the mare a look over.

“I think you set a new record! Ehehe!” Dusk Blade says as she passes by the two, Moonfall glares at her.

“Yeah... Yeah... I’m good.” She nods with a small smile on her face as she looks up to the stallion. Getting a better look at him, Twilight noticed he was... his appearance was unique compared to the others. His coat being a Light azureish gray coat that stood out from the other guard's more darker coats, Light opal eyes, with a Dark grayish fuchsia short spiky mane styled backwards. If it wasn’t for his mane and his bat features, Twilight could’ve sworn he was a member of the solar guard instead of lunar.

“Okay, good. I’ll return to my training now… Feel free to call me over if you don’t feel well!” Moonfall removes himself from the bench and gives her one last look over before he turns and starts heading back to his section of the hall.

“W-wait!” Twilight speaks out towards the stallion. Moonfall quickly turns around and looks at her, waiting for her to follow up.

“Can I... Ask you some questions regarding the captain?”

“Uhhhh...“ Moonfall turns his head around and looks up towards the hovering lieutenant, finding her looking back at him. She gives him a silent nod of approval before going back to practicing her aerial movement through the hoops.

“Sure.” He looks back at her with a smile, which makes Twilight return a smile back. Moonfall sits back down onto the bench and the two position themselves to face each other, Twilight picks up her notepad and quill.

“So... uh, since I just met you, um, captain just now and had that... ahem, reaction... I wanted to ask you how others reacted to him, did you guys know about him before hoof or…?” Twilight gives a sheepish smile before bringing her notepad up and hiding behind it.

“Mnnn, I don’t know about the others, but… my first time? Hm...” Moonfall looks to the ceiling in thought, a smile coming on to his face with a faint blush after a minute of thinking.

“Well… when I saw him, I had backed up against the doors and kept on until I fell down the hill and knocked myself out on a rock, Lieutenant Faded Light had to slap me awake.” After saying that, his smile fades and his face starts to heat up, a wave of embarrassment washing over him.

“Now that I say out loud... oh Luna, that was an embarrassing first impression...” Twilight couldn’t help but let a small giggle upon seeing Moonfall put his face in his hooves as he groaned, her own shame feeling overshadowed. Twilight pats his shoulder for a bit and tells him it's okay until he calms down.

“Okay, moving on… How would you describe the captain’s personality?”

Moonfall brows furrow as he looks to his left. “His personality, huh...” Moonfall thinks about the question for a moment before giving an affirmative nod at something.

“He’s serious, scary and somewhat... gloomy?” He narrows his eyes and tilts his head on the last word, clearly unsure about it himself. She nods at “serious” but raises a brow at “scary” and “gloomy”.

“Scary?”

“Yeah, he’s pretty quick to anger... but it's mainly when we have to do sparring matches against him… its, Ugh.” Moonfall places his hoof against his forehead as he shakes his head.

“After sparring against him multiple times... I’m convinced that he’s like a lesser, maybe easier living example of what it must be like to fight our princess or Celestia. You’d never think somecreature so big could be so fast while keeping his strength...” He lets out a bitter chuckle before leaning slightly in to whisper to the mare.

“If you want to know more, ask the lieutenant, despite her experience against him every time she’s faced him, she’s still nervous.” Twilight notes it down Moonfall’s description and Faded Light being nervous facing her own captain, putting down “strong and skillful” as a side note.

“Okay, and what about gloomy?”

“That's... Mn... hard to explain.” He frowns a bit and looks down. “It’s like, he’s not sad... but! He gives off an “aura” that he is sad... but he’s not sad! But you just… get the feeling that he is!” He says with narrowed eyes and hooves moving from front hooves moving from left to right, smacking the bench every time on the word “sad”.

“Sooo... you’re saying he doesn’t look sad... but he gives off the feeling that he is sad?” Twilight says as writes down that description in her notepad.

“I... Yeah. If you ask him if he’s okay, he gets confused and asks why you’re asking and... it just makes it awkward, you know?” Moonfall looks down, a frown on his face.

“Yeah, I... understand that situation, too much.” Twilight frowned a bit, memories of when she sensed something was off about her mentor only to be questioned why she thinks something is wrong... but unable to explain it without making the situation more awkward. The two let out a synchronized sigh. Both shake their heads and recollect themselves again.

“One last question, What does he do... uh, officially. Princess Celestia tells me he doesn’t go out of his house much, so I'm thinking he doesn’t get sent out on missions often, am I right?”

He nods. “Yeah, since I’ve joined, I don’t think I've seen him go on a single mission... or say he’ll be out for a while. He’s always received orders that tell us to go on missions. I've assumed he’s so strong that if we, the lower ranks, can’t do it. Then he gets ordered to go out and complete the mission... maybe, I'm still unsure...”

Twilight writes that down, then brings out a small circular sticker and places it on the edge of the paper, writing “MF” over it.

“Interesting... Okay! That’s all! Thank you for taking your time to talk to me!” Twilight smiles at Moonfall, he in turn smiles and nods.

“As I said before, ma’am, I’m at your service.” Moonfall stands up and gives a salute.

“Moonfall! Come here, I need to try something!” Moonfall’s body jerks slightly upon hearing his lieutenant shout out to him. He quickly turns around and rushes over to her.

“One down... I wonder if the others are willing to talk too...” Twilight wonders.

“You’re a hybrid... of a hybrid...?” Twilight says, baffled at the statement the mare in front of her just made.

“Yep! My Mom was a bat-pony and my dad was a Pegasus! One plus One equals two, and I was born like I am!” Dusk Blade puffed her fluffy chest out as she stated her origins. Twilight knew there was something off about her! But she thought it was just a rare mutation going on with her or hidden features, not a mixture of genes.

She was notably shorter than the rest, but she still had the standard theme of darker-based colors going on her race, with her Moderate violet coat, Pale, light grayish turquoise eyes, with short spiky Raspberryish black mane. Yet she didn’t have the long tufted ears nor the slitted pupils, only having the wings and fangs that were smaller than average. Twilight was convinced that if she simply put on an outfit that hid her wings, she could easily be mistaken for an earth pony.

“Do you have any special skills because of this?” Twilight leaned in slightly with interest. Dusk Blade jerks back as if she just got hit in the chest.

“N-no... I... um... Don't really have good vision in the dark or... hear as good as the rest of them... B-but I can still fly just as good as them!” Dusk Blade exclaimed, panic on her face.

“Oh.”

Dusk Blade’s ears droop down upon hearing down. Twilight begins to panic and quickly follows up. “T-t-that’s fascinating!” Dusk Blade immediately perks up at that and puffs out her chest once again.

` She reminds me of Trixie... kind of... `

“Yeah, but um... before we get off-topic can I ask about what you think of your captain?” Twilight pulls back and prepares herself to write. Dusk Blade looks up for a few seconds in thought with a smile, then back to Twilight.

“The captain weeeell... He’s a hard worker, he’s attractive for sure...-” Twilight nearly jolts off the bench upon hearing that. “-he’s a really good teacher, and he’s a good person. Yeah, I like him!” She gives a wide smile and tilts her head when she sees Twilight's startled expression.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“N-no it was uh... just a moth scared me!” Twilight gives a nervous chuckle.

` I really want to ask her what she meant by “attractive” I really want to ask her, I want to ask her, I really, really do but I’m scared of the answer! `

“Oh yeah! Sorry about that, we try to limit how much we use the door or else a lot of moths get in!” She giggles.

“Yeah... ahem, moving on.” Twilight fixes her posture.

“How much do you know about the captain?”

“Ooh! A good amount, I think! I’m sure Faded Light knows more. I’ll tell you what I know, since when I first met him I um... Hehe...” Dusk Blade blushes and rubs her hoof against the bench. “I lost control of myself and hit him with a lot of questions... to the point where he gagged me for my entire first day...” Twilight’s ears perk up, ignoring the gagging issue on purpose, she listens closely.

“He told me that he was a “Man” which I guess is what his people are called. He’s pretty old... I think I asked him, but he didn’t know, so I don’t either... but going from my dad's looks and his... I'd say he looks like he's in his sixties or forties maybe...?” She frowns at her own uncertainty.

“I tried to get more out of him, but he just gave me “The rest of me is too complicated for you to understand, private. Stick with the basics.” hmph, I didn’t and got gagged after that...” She crosses her hooves and huffs. Twilight quickly finishes writing and looks up.

“Anything else?”

“Mnnnnnnn... Oh! Celestia comes by sometimes like, err... once every two weeks at night!”

“Oh...?” Twilight feels the world around her fade away as she hyper-focuses on Dusk Blade, her interest hitting her peak as her mind craves for more hints of their connection.

“Mhmm... She greets us, but she always darts up right to him when he’s out here and if he’s not then she just goes into his house, he complains, but he doesn’t seem to mind it as much as he says he does... One time, I peeked through the windows and saw them having tea together in his dining room! Every time I see her with him, Celestia seems... very happy, too happy. ~” Dusk Blade gives a coy grin. Twilight pauses as she raises a brow, concerned where she was going with this.

“I think Celestia and the captain have a thing going on... or maybe Celestia has a thing for him...~” She whispers. Twilight’s quill darts across the paper and her mane frazzles from the small magical outburst as she looks at the guard with dismay.

“What! No—” Dusk Blade puts her hoof against Twilight’s lips and shushes her.

“Just think about it! A princess of the opposite side… visiting a captain that’s not under her, and doing it late at night where most ponies are asleep and at a time no pony would ever suspect the princess of day to be moving about. ~” She pulls her hoof back and grins more.

“I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a love story being written as we speak!” Dusk Blade grins, ignoring the baffled expression on Twilight's face.

Quickly she shakes her head and frowns at the guard. “I don’t want to burst your bubble but Princess Celestia having a... c-c-c-crush on a guard is not possible!” Twilight exclaims.

“A princess and a guard relationship... that’s... Fairytale nonsense, taboo even! Princess Celestia is wise! She would know that pursuing this would clash with her sister since that’s HER captain!”

Dusk Blade nods, acknowledging her argument. “Mhmm! You bring some good points, but you’re overshadowing one key factor!” Dusk Blade raises a hoof.

“ Our princess believes Faded Light is the captain! She has no idea about him, and I heard from eavesdropping on her (don’t tell her please) that Celestia had told her to keep up the lie!” Twilight's mouth opened to argue but found nothing coming out, her brain working to combat this... this... taboo, dramatic, teenage love story being planted in head.

“Why would Celestia keep her own sister in the dark about her OWN guard! Simple, because Celestia wants him all to herself! I’ve thought it over a lot recently since our princess came back... she and him have similar things in common, you know being alone... being dark and moody... both having blue eyes... Other stuff, maybe. They would be a good couple! An easier couple... but if that were to happen, then Celestia would get kicked out of the love triangle!”

“Soo... Celestia keeps her sister in the dark, sends you to maybe warm the captain up to that idea of accepting others... gets together with him then tells her sister and tells her they’ve been together for years! Done, and finished!” Dusk Blade crosses her hooves and nods.

She points a hoof at Twilight and smirks. “Plus, I’m pretty sure if our princess were to find out Celestia was going after her crush she’d probably turn back to Nightmare m—” Dusk Blade pauses when the sound of heavy, rapid breathing reaches her ears, looking at the unicorn she finds her rapidly huffing into a paper bag with a look of hysteria on her face.

“A-a-ah...” Dusk Blade looks around in panic, seeing Fallen Shine walking over to them.

“F-fallen I—” Fallen Shine hits her on the head with his hoof.

“Too far.” He grumbles.

The guards break away from training to calm the unicorn back down.

“Ah! T-thank you.” Twilight gives back a canteen to Fallen Shine. He nods and takes his canteen back, as Twilight takes a deep sigh, eyes going over the corporal. He was similar to Moonfall, his grayish sapphire blue coat stood out only a little bit due to it being slightly lighter than the mares, grayish raspberry eyes, and Light yellowish gray short mane with a stick up on the front.

“Can I, um, ask you some... questions?” Twilight looks at his face, trying to sense his reaction. She didn’t like how good his poker face was, a strong, uncreating look of pure contentment with life.

“Mn.” He nods.

“Okay... um...” Twilight hesitantly picks up her notepad and quill again and gets ready to write. “What do you think of the captain?”

He nods. “I think he is a great leader for the guard. He dislikes small talk, and prefers to get straight to the point, which I like. He doesn’t sweeten his words like I've seen in the solar guard; he gives us advice and missions, blunt and simple.”

Twilight writes that down, her mind wandering back to her interactions with the solar guard. Wondering if they really do sweeten their words... It does sound like something Shining would do.

“What does he do regarding your training?”

Strangely, the question gets a tiny smile out of the stallion. “Training... hm. he is a good teacher. He knows our strengths and weaknesses and takes them into account and gives us good advice. He is the one who introduced a new style and principles for the lunar guard in terms of fighting, after all.”

“Interesting...” Twilight murmurs as she writes.

“It's rare for the strong to be good teachers, or so I was told… by my father. So, I am grateful that I am able to work and learn under him...” He nods his head with a closed eye smile, an affirmative grunt coming from him.

“Is he the strongest in the lunar guard? Moonfall mentioned he was tough in sparring matches?”

“Yes, unlike the rest of us he managed to balance the bridge between strength and speed. I am unsure why he isn’t sent out on missions more often... I believe he can do our missions faster and maybe even better...” Fallen Shine looks down for a moment in thought.

“I assume it's because if an accident occurs, and he is injured, there is no one close to his skill set that could replace him.”

“Is he really that good?” Twilight asks.

“Yes. No one in the lunar guard has been able to beat him yet.” He says bluntly.

“Oh. Um... well, do you know anything about him other than his fighting prowess?”

“Somewhat. He comes from far up north in a kingdom, the kingdom I have no idea of its name, but I think the only hint I have of it is his armor style. Though it’s a remake, it is unique.”

“His armor?” Twilight eyes light up a small bit. Her memory goes back to the last time she saw her brother, when she last saw him he was wearing heavy purple and gold armor that stood out amongst the guard.

“Yes, he doesn’t wear standard heavy armor, nor metal like the rest of us. I’ve seen it once but it was so...“ He pauses, trying to find the right word. “Unique… enough that I cannot forget it. It was brief, but I recognized his armor as something akin to the style of leather armor from the ponies of old, but with scales... thinking back on it, I believe his armor is made of Hydra scales.

Twilight’s eyes grow wide as she shakes her head. “His armor is what!?”

“Hydra scales.” He says bluntly

Twilight nods, only to shake her again and chuckle.

“C-can you repeat that?” She asks shakily.

“Hydra scales.” He says it again, just as bluntly.

“..........” Twilight stares at Fallen Shine in disbelief for a while before looking down.

“Huh...”

“The captain is a stubborn, rude, impulsive, lazy, uncaring, hermit, sack of moldy fruit.” Faded Light says with a scowl on her muzzle.

Twilight stared at the lieutenant in shock. “Um... Wow, that’s...”

“The truth.” Faded Light says with a roll of her eyes.

“Because I'm the 2^nd highest rank, I have to deal with him, and he won’t go out! We have to deliver his letters, attend his meetings, etc. It’s so annoying... He doesn’t make it any better either, always just telling me to go here, tell them that, do this, do that over there... all while just sitting on his large skinny flank!” She growls, anger clearly rising up in her face.

Twilight scoots a bit away from her. “W-wow... sounds like h—”

“That's not all, either!” She interrupts and leans towards Twilight. “You want to know something!? I became lieutenant not because I EARNED it... but rather because the previous lieutenant retired, and he needed a replacement fast... and because I was rising through the ranks quick already, he just decided to promote me because I showed “the skill set of a true messenger” do you have any idea of much of an emotional blow that dealt to me!?” She hisses.

“He is a liar, a jerk, and a sadist!” She nearly shouts out, making all the guards turn their heads towards her, only from them to quickly look away and go back to what they were doing when she quickly gives them a glare.

Looking back at Twilight her anger fades, a deep sigh escaping her mouth as her eyes look down. “And yet...”

She gives a small smile to the ground. “He’s a good captain... he trains us well, makes sure we’re safe when we make it to the location, checks us for injuries when we get back... if we have any questions, he answers them the best he can. He prioritizes our lives before the mission, he’d even argue with Celestia if he believes our time was too good for her requests. He’s annoying... but I wouldn’t want to work for any other captain than him.”

Slowly, she raises her head and looks back at Twilight with a smile. “Nothing I said really made any sense, did it?” She chuckles lightly.

Twilight shakes her head as she smiles. “No, I think you gave me the most insight into his personality compared to everypony else.”

“Really? Ehaha, I didn’t think letting out my frustration would give that much insight...” Faded Light rubs the back of her head.

“Mhmm! Give me a moment to write it all down.” Faded Light nodded, and Twilight takes a few minutes to write down Faded Light's description of the captain's personality.

Finishing up, Twilight looks back at the guard. “Another question, do you have an idea of why he’s out here?”

“I assume it’s because he's, you know... different from normal ponies like we are. But, I’m not a hundred percent sure... donkey’s, minotaur's, diamond dogs, etc. While they’re somewhat feared, they’re tolerated. I do think he could fit in with the public... better than us at least.” Twilight looks down, poking her lip with the quill.

` I hadn’t even thought about other species... that’s right! Minotaur's, Diamond dogs, and donkeys are tolerated and accepted... So why couldn’t he? `

“...So why would Princess Celestia isolate him out here then...?” She mumbles out loud.

“I did ask him... but he only grunted and ignored my question. It seems like something between him and Celestia. Maybe something to do with his race… After all, I have never seen any other creature like him before...” Twilight perks up, not expecting an answer but takes it into her notepad.

“Weird... Do you have a clue on their r-r-relationship?” Twilight says with a faint blush on her cheeks.

“Don’t let Dusk Blade’s dumb theory crafting get to you.” She scoffs. ”I've heard their interactions myself and to describe it is like... the popular mare of a school trying to befriend that one stallion who likes being in the corner of the classroom by himself...”

“Huh... That sounds more likely... I think?”

Faded Light nods. “It is.”

Twilight nods and flips the page back to Dusk Blade's notes and writes Faded Lights takes on their relationship.

“I also heard something interesting from Fallen Shine.” She speaks up as she writes.

“Really now?” Faded Light glances over at Fallen Shine for a moment.

“Fallen Shine said the captain introduced a new style and principals of the guard, is that true?” Twilight looks up at Faded Light.

“Mhmm, I read before that the lunar guard used to fight similar to the solar guard and held up their principles.”

Faded light coughs and gives a salute. “Protect Equestria and the princesses at all cost, when we march into battle you hold up the honor of Equestria on your back, every action you do while wearing your armor is a reflection of your princess’s beliefs and standards and blah, blah...” She rolls her eyes, and lets out a small groan of annoyance.

“It basically made a big deal out of being a guard and spoke more about your appearance than duties.” Faded Light summarizes with a frown.

“What's the new principle, then?”

Faded Light perks up at that and straightens up. “Simple, protect Equestria and our princess while also prioritizing our lives at all costs.”

“That definitely is much simpler... but what does that last line, mean, exactly?” Faded Light raises a brow.

“I mean I-I understand it, but I thought guard duties were to... I don’t know, uh... sacrifice themselves for the princess or protect the princess at all costs...” Twilight says, while some sweat trickles down her cheek, nervous from the mare's stare.

“You’re not wrong. The guards are supposed to dedicate their lives towards their princess. However, in the captain sees it differently, to quote him, “That junk is just for appearance and loyalty, if there was an enemy capable of taking down your princess then what chance do you have against stopping it?”. She quotes in a deep voice.

“That... that’s... huh...” Twilight tilts her head as she looks up, her brain throwing a debate of morality vs logic. It was cruel to say “give up on your princess if there is an enemy on her level” but then again...

` What can the average pony do in that circumstance...? If the elements were still unfound and Discord was released. Would the guard be even capable of stopping somecreature like discord? `

Twilight pauses thinking about that question before asking Faded Light. “What did your captain say about what happened with Discord?”

“Discord? Northern Light gave the captain a report about Discord and asked him what to do. He read it and then threw it in the trash, that’s all.”

“Hm.” Twilight writes that down. If she wasn't an element of harmony and Princess Celestia had told her to seal him, she would've had the same reaction too. “So, going by what you’ve said... the lunar guard prioritize their lives more than the princess?”

“That's correct.” Faded Light says it so bluntly that Twilight head reeled back as if we're in a chariot ride and just experience the guard doing a sudden stop while darting across the sky like their life depending on it.

“He’s even put this principle down into our combat.”

“H-how so...?”

“The solar guard is all about appearance. It's even down into their combat style, all their guards are trained in a singular combat style while the higher ranks are able to gain new styles. Their style is all flashy, easy to learn, easy to teach. It mainly focuses on having others with you rather than individual skill...“

“Lackluster for a lackluster guard.” Faded Light huffs, Twilight felt somewhat angered at the comment due to her brother but bit her tongue for now.

“The lunar guard on the other hoof can pick and choose any style we wish, spear, sword, wing blades, bow, crossbow, etc. As the captain says, the more variety we have, the more unpredictable we become.” Twilight writes along, she found herself strangely interested in the captain's way of doing things.

“Even then, we don’t fight particular “honorable” to solar guard standards”

“Honorable?” Twilight raises a brow.

“Mhmm, in the solar guard when it comes to fighting each other you have to fight... “fair” using only your weapon or magic, stuff your opponent can see and expect, does that make sense?” She frowns.

“You mean no dirty moves like tripping, biting, tackling or other stuff, right?”

“Yes. The solar guard looks down on those moves while we, the Lunar guard, look up to those moves. To quote my captain again... Ahem! “Honor and dignity doesn’t matter when your opponent kicks you in the sack, watches you fall and just shoves his knife in your neck. The solar guard can keep their dumb appearance but the moment one of them faces us then they look weaker than the kids they’re supposed to protect.” Faded Light quotes with a smirk on her face.

Twilight winces at the wording used but fails to keep the small smile off her face.

“Our captain tells us to embrace those moves, because whenever you’re in combat you have to treat it like your life's on the line, even if it's just a simple dispute or street fight. We have to always carry the mind set that a wrong move to lead to our deaths." Faded Light says as she looks over to Fallen Shine practicing his foot work.

"Our goal is not to look good, it’s to survive and finish the mission. The only time we keep up appearance is if our princess requests us to be at her side in public, but otherwise he declares that as pointless... to him out safety means everything” Faded Light gives a small smile as she stares past Fallen Shine, her eyes looking at the wall with a sparkle of strange admiration.

“Wow... I... didn’t think the lunar guard could be so interesting...“ Twilight says as she looks up from her notes with a smile on her face. It was true, she already thought the bat-ponies were interesting, but to think the entire lunar guard would be so vastly different from the solar guard... and it was mostly due to the captain. Twilight knew Princess Celestia told her that the captain was good and had turned the lunar guard's attitude around, but... she didn't him to be this god. He didn't just change the lunar guard's attitude, he changed how the lunar guard works as a whole!

“Ehe... Thank you.” Faded Light smiles and looks to her right, her eyes slightly widen and her smile growing as she spots something.

“Speaking of our combat... it seems like a live demonstration is about to happen.” Twilight follows her gaze and sees Dusk Blade and Moonfall squaring off in the sparring mat. Moonfall, holding a wooden sword in his mouth while Dusk Blade was unarmed. Twilight gave a look of concern from Dusk Blade to Faded Light, silently asking if that was okay. Faded Light notices and nods before returning her attention to the scene.

Dusk Blade rushes at Moonfall making the stallion look startled for a moment before steeling himself and swinging his blade at her. Unfortunately her small stature allowed her to easily go under his swing, without hesitation she slams her
body against his front right leg. Moonfall lets out a grunt of pain and retracts his front leg upwards, his eyes quickly rush down to look under his muzzle and witness Dusk Blade launch herself up at and quickly wrapping her hooves around his neck and uses the momentum from her launch to spin herself onto his back.

Tightly holding his neck with her hooves, she presses her body against his back and opens her mouth wide, showcasing her small fangs before biting down onto Moonfall’s neck. Moonfall’s eyes widen, and he lets out a scream of panicked pain. “GAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?”

Moonfall blinks in confusion and looks down to see the nibbling Dusk Blade, a brow raised as he moves his neck around to find he feels nothing but Dusk Blade wet saliva and tongue against his neck, he does feel something poke his neck which took him a moment to realize it was her fangs.

“Mhmhhmff I'we wun!” Dusk Blade declares while her mouth is clamped down onto the side of his large neck.

“Ehahaha!” He laughs and looks at her with a devious grin. “With fangs like yours, you’ll be lucky to get any wins.”

She pulls her mouth off his neck and lets out a hiss, Moonfall rolls his eyes, in silence he jerks his body to the side and easily throw her off onto the mat.

“Eah! Hey! I wo—” Dusk Blade watches in horror as Moonfall collapses from his side onto her, pinning her down under size and weight. Her hooves stick out and flail underneath him as she gets buried underneath the stallion.

“Whew! That fight kinda tuckered me out... might take a nap. ~” he says teasingly as he lays more of his weight onto the small batpony. The sounds of her muffled yelling echoes through the hall. Faded Light and Fallen Shine give small chuckles at the sight. Twilight on the other hoof was... awestruck, that fight was fast, faster than what she saw the solar guard in their training for sure, and the fact that both had made were mistakes that nearly cost them to lose the match... it made Twilight understood the captain a bit more.

“I see what your captain means...” Twilight mumbles as she stares at the scene.

Faded Light slowly turns her head and gives a confident grin. “Yeah, I told you our captain is go—” She is interrupted by the sound of the door suddenly opening, making everypony(except Dusk Blade) turn their heads to look. There they saw the captain standing in the doorway, now wearing a black short-sleeved low-cut neck tunic with a brown belting around his waist with a silver moon buckle, his baggy gray pants had some wear and tear on them, at the end he wore knee height leather boots.

He runs his hand through his hair and grunts, his eyes slowly scanning the hall from left to right only to lock onto Moonfall crushing Dusk Blade on the sparring mat. He puts his hands on his hips and looks at the two with narrowed eyes before shaking his head.

“Damnit, Dusk Blade.” He lets out a disappointed sigh. “Moonfall, get off her. Looks like I know who to help out tonight..." He closes the door behind him and starts to walk deeper into the training hall. Twilight watches him, her body too tense to move until Faded Light prods her shoulder.

“There he is... time for you to start your mission.” Faded Light whispers to her with a smirk. Twilight frowned seeing the smirk, a reminder of the difficult task given to her.

“Y-yeah...” Twilight slowly puts her notepad and quill back into her saddlebag and takes a stand, her eyes focused on the captain as he strides deeper into the room. Taking a deep breath, Twilight starts to approach him slowly, unwanted sweat starting to form as her nervousness starts to rise.

"Celestia give me strength..." She whispers to herself.

IV - The Lunar Captain

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“Okay Everybody!” He shouts out as he walks in. “Line up and let’s—”

“Not so fast, sir.” Faded Light intercepts him. The captain closes his eyes for a moment, and lets out a deep breath. Slowly, he turns towards Faded light and looks down at her with a glare.

“You...” She falters under his intense gaze for a moment. “...h-have a guest.” She quickly points her hoof to Twilight. Twilight freezes up upon realizing she has been thrown to the spotlight, Faded Light and the captain both look at her.

He stares at Twilight for a while before frowning at Faded Light. “Who is this?”

“Sir, this is Twilight Sparkle.” Faded Light says as she slowly walks over beside the frozen unicorn.

“.......Okay?” He raises a brow. Faded Light narrows her eyes at that response.

“Sir... this is THE Twilight Sparkle, you know…” She twirls her hoof around as she looks up at him. He continues to stare at her with the same annoyed and confused look.

“...The element of magic... Defeated the spirit of chaos not too long ago...” She implies further. Unfortunately, his facial expression refuses to change.

Faded Light stares back up at him, confusion and annoyance starting to grow onto her face. “Sir... W-we gave you a report about her and the other elements months ago! They’re one of the oldest magical defenses Equestria has! Princess Celestia used them multiple times!”

He scoffs. “If it isn’t a mission report or an order, I throw it away in the fireplace, you know this.”

She runs a hoof down her face. “Sir! That was important! You need to know about the bearers of harmony in case we ever have to come to their aid! You can’t just ignore big changes like that!”

“Watch me.” He taunts.

Faded Light stomps her hoof against the wooden floor boards and closes her eyes. “My princess, save me please…” She mumbles to herself before opening her eyes and letting out a deep exhale through her nose.

She stares at her captain thoughtfully for a while until she suddenly perks up.

“...She’s Celestia’s student.” She states bluntly.

“Ah. Why didn’t you say that at the start.” He rolls

Faded Light stares at her with a blank expression, her left eye twitches once. She opens her mouth, but silently closes it. Silently, she looks over to Twilight and puts a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight snaps out of her daze on the touch and looks over to the blank faced mare.

“You’re on your own.” She says bluntly, walking away from the two afterward and heads toward the sparring mat.

“Fallen! Get over here now!” She calls out. Fallen Shine trots over to the mat and gives a salute.

“We’re fighting. Now.”

“!?” Fallen Shine Stoic expression shifts to fearful confusion.

“...Can I have a moment to prepare myself first, ma’am?” He takes a step back when he notices her expression wasn’t changing.

“The moment you step on the mat, you’re ready, corporal.” She glares. Without warning, she leaps at the corporal, he couldn’t even let out a sound as Faded Light plows into him and makes the two roll over the mat. The captain's eyes move off the unicorn as he hears the impact, looking over to the mat he shakes his head as he sees pinned down, startled Fallen Shine.

“Fallen Shine! What did I tell you about always being ready!” The captain shouts at the pinned down corporal, he lets out a sound of pain in response. The captain sighs and shakes his head again slowly before looking back at the lavender unicorn.

“So, you’re Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia speaks much of you.” He leans a bit over her, his eye scanning over her features. “You’re... more normal than I thought.”

Twilight couldn’t even register what he said as she stared up at him. He was... tall like Princess Celestia and Discord. He even expelled the same feeling had from both of them... “authority”, she wasn’t even sure if that was from his title as captain, the mission, or due to the fact that Twilight felt so small versus this man.

“Did Princess Celestia send you?”

Twilight jolts a bit as she is brought out of her observation. “U-um yes, s-sir...”

He gives her a wary look. “What for?”

“To... um... mn...—” Twilight nervously looks down and gulps. “Help you....m-make some... Um... friends!” She squeaks out at the end. She glances up to see his expression, and much to her horror, she saw his infuriated expression. Furthermore, she quickly looks back down and pretends that the wooden floorboards held very interesting wood lines.

“Are you serious...?” He asks slowly with a hint of irritation in his voice. Twilight gives a lowered nod.

‘ I want to curl and hide under my bed! Princess Celestia please, I don’t think I can do this after all! ‘

He brings his right hand up to his face and pinches the bridge of his nose for a few seconds before opening his hand up and running his palm down his face slowly. He looks up to the ceiling with mild annoyance, staring at it for a while in silence. Eventually, he lets a sigh leave his mouth and slowly looks back down at the unicorn.

“Why?” He asks with such annoyance in his voice that Twilight felt like a wave from the sea of disappointment fell onto her and soaked her coat thoroughly with disappointment. She shivered as her mind raced in her bubbles of thoughts.

‘ H-how do I even tell him that I d-don't really know! I don’t really want to lie to him! I’m scared! ‘

Her eyes travel over to Faded Light in desperation for a third party to assist her, her desperation is slapped across the face upon seeing Faded Light busy rolling Fallen Shine all over the mat as he lets out hisses of pain. Twilight whimpers on the inside and looks for the other two occupants of the room, finding them busy as well, Moonfall and Dusk Blade stand against the wall arguing with each other.

“Well?” The captain's voice hits her ears as if a brick was thrown at her, her sweat starting to drip down her face.

“I-I um... d-don’t knooow...?” She gives a sheepish smile and looks at him again. Upon seeing his face drop even further, silent disappointment with a hint of anger within it, her eyes goes back to the ground. Her gut swelling up with the need to follow up with something positive.

“B-but Princess Celestia w-was r-r-really adamant about it! So, I...” Twilight pauses as she realizes this wasn’t positive at all, it was just her digging herself further into a pit.

His hand returns to his face and keeps it there for a time, removing it and exhaling through his nose and rolling his eyes. “Sorry about that-” Twilight’s eyes widen, and she looks up at him. “- I don’t know if I did something that set off the fool of a princess to make her send her student all the way out here for a foolish task but rest assured, I’ll fix it and let you go back to your life.”

Twilight’s eyes widen, her nervousness starting to vanish as she feels the grasp of hope within her hooves. He was willing to take her off the mission for her! She wouldn’t have to deal with... this pressure anymore, she could go back and relax in her home with Spike. A smile attempts to form on her lips, but it would be taken away as her brain puts a memory into the center of her brain. The image of Princess Celestia… her voice and her expression, the worry, the hesitation, and the guilt.

‘ Princess Celestia... she really wanted me to do this... ‘

Twilight shuts her eyes. She wanted to accept his offer so badly, but she didn’t want to disappoint her mentor after she spilled her heart out to her! Biting her tongue, she looks up with the best determination she can muster onto her face and into her chest.

“No.” With no hesitation, annoyance and confusion pops onto his face. Twilight’s determination instantly wavers on the sight and her sweating nervousness resumes.

“I-I... T-think Princess C-c-celestia's worries are um... v-valid... a-and, er... I believe it w-would be bad for me as an e-element of harmony to not h-h-help you in making f-friends!” Each word was painful for Twilight to speak out, like a nail being hammered into her spine as she endured his stare of mixed confusion with a dip of raw annoyance and a spray of mild disappointment on top. Twilight felt regret in her heart for declining his offer, but somewhere she felt that... this was the right call.

He glares down at her for a while, making her shrink under his gaze. Eventually, he closes his eyes and puts his hands on his waist. “Whatever. I don’t get why Princess Celestia or you want to “help” it. I am fine, I have always been fine, and I have told her every damn time she asks that I am fine. Likewise, I don’t need friends I am perfectly fine by myself, but if you’re going to insist on following her dumb mission.”

He throws his arms up. “Be my damn guest, just don’t get in my way or else.” He grunts and walks past her, heading towards the mat. Twilight stands there, frozen in place with a look of bewilderment.

‘ I thought he was going to yell at me or tell me to leave and never come back! T-that… much nicer than I thought… ’

Twilight looks at his back as he walks away, a faint smile growing on her lips as she thinks back to what Faded Light said about him.

‘ Maybe... he really is nicer than he lets himself out to be. ‘

“Fallen Shine I swear to your damn princess if you don’t manage to pull a reversal on your lieutenant within the next minute I will make you do ten laps around Hollow Shades. Faded Light if you let him do a reversal on you, I’m making you twenty laps around Hollow Shades!” He shouts at the wrestling ponies with such aggravation that it made all the inactive ponies in the room flinch. Faded Light and Fallen Shine quickly began to start taking each other more seriously.

‘ N-nevermind...’

Twilight sits on the bench going over her notes as the captain calls out Faded Light for her loss in the background. Twilight glances over at him every now then, her eyes focusing on his anatomy and appearance.

‘ He has a build similar to a Minotaur but without the legs, head, and horns. His muscles do seem like they are close to Minotaur build in terms of growth, maybe. He does seem to have a lack of fur, so he must be vulnerable to the cold stronger than others. He uses tools with his hands... and he has front facing eyes, indicating he may have some traits of a predator in him. ‘

Twilight was sure of it. She has never seen or read anything about his species or something even close to him in her life. It would be one thing if he was some kind of mutated Minotaur, but his absolute lack of things that make a Minotaur. She writes and down frowns as she watches him move across the hall, taking note of his movement and behavior of his limbs.

‘ Princess Celestia and Dusk Blade did mention he did come from the far north... I have to check the royal library to see if there are any bestiaries for the far north. The only creatures I know that live there are yaks. Wait… The yaks have thick coats because of the north being cold, but the only fur he has is on his head. ’

Twilight frowns at the strange detail, and writes it down. She looks back up and looks between the bat-ponies and him, Faded Light's suggestion coming to her mind.

“I assume it’s because he's, you know... different from normal ponies like we are.”

‘If he really is the only one of his kind in Equestria then... does it make sense for Princess Celestia to hide him away with another race that is only few in their kind?’

She frowned. She was unsure if he would even suffer the same prejudice that the bat ponies received... but then again, he had traits of predators. Her eyes look over to his lips as he talks to Moonfall, her eyes focused on trying to get a glimpse of his teeth. A change happens when he shouts at Dusk Blade, for a brief moment Twilight manages to see some incisors and canines. Her eyes widen on the brief glimpse, and she quickly writes it down.

‘ An omnivore! Interesting! ’

She did find it somewhat uncomfortable to look at his canines, but with the existence of his incisors she found some relief. After writing down theories of his diet down, she looks over her notes once again but pauses when a line from Princess Celestia brands itself into her brain.

“They... showed me that they were good at their job, I let them into the guard, and they rose through the ranks quickly, but... my guard didn’t like them.”

‘Wait! He was in the solar guard! That means that at least some ponies had seen him! So someponies in Canterlot should know about him… maybe, but the solar guard didn’t like him... why? From everypony's statement, he is a good captain, so he has to be a good guard, right? Could it... really be about his species?’

Twilight grimaces at the thought and writes down that theory. She sighs as she realizes there were a lot more questions she had for both him and Princess Celestia than she had thought. She closes her notebook and places it back into her saddlebag, deciding she has written enough for now.

‘He doesn’t want me to get in his way, so... I’ll just wait for when he’s done with them!’

Twilight nods to herself and looks up with a smile on her face. She watches as the captain squats down to Dusk Blade, listening to her complaints about Moonfall.

“I got him by his front hoof and grappled onto his back, then I bit him! But he keeps saying I lost!” She shouts out and points at the stallion.

Moonfall frowns at her. “Not my fault you decided to bite me with those little nubs of yours....” She spins around towards him and lets out a hiss before going to pounce on Moonfall, failing her attack as the captain easily wraps an arm around her barrel mid-pounce. She lets out more hisses as she flails against her captain.

“Get along, you two.” She stops her flailing and pouts. He places her back on the ground, Moonfall lets out a snicker and starts to walk away.

“Moonfall, get the hell back over here. I want to see a demonstration of what she did.” He commands, making the stallion quickly spin around and go to his captain's side, though his face expresses some annoyance.

“Dusk Blade show me what you did, sloooowly.” He empathizes on the slowness. She grumbles but walks over and taps Moonfalls right front leg, on touch Moonfall manages to repeat the same reaction with it. Quickly Dusk Blade places herself onto Moonfalls back and rests her head against his neck. Both of them look at each other than look up to the captain and nod at the reenactment. They both immediately shrink upon seeing his disappointed face.

“Private 2nd class, Dusk Blade.” He states with narrowed eyes.

“Y-yes...?” She gives a nervous smile.

“What did I tell you about foo-hoofwork.” He frowns at his slip up.

“Uhhhh toooo... Improve it?” She immediately gets flicked on the forehead, a hiss spills out her mouth upon impact. She whimpers and rubs the flicked spot with her hoof.

“No! If you're going to focus on use grappling techniques without strength or weight then you need to focus on messing up your opponent's hoofwork!” He points to Moonfalls legs.

“You managed to mess up his hoofwork but you failed to use it as an opportunity to take him down.” A scowl crosses his face when he sees Dusk Blade’s puzzled face.

He facepalms. “Get off of him, and I’ll show you.”

“W-wait what!” Moonfall quickly speaks up, fear growing rapidly on his face.

“Ehehe! Yes!” Dusk Blade happily throws herself off Moonfall and prances around to the side to watch. The captain closes in on the stallion, arms spread out and hands opened up for grabbing.

Moonfall takes a step back and raises his left hoof up in defense. “W-wait sir! Can I prep—”

He interrupts. “Consider this is punishment for even letting Dusk Blade, who's a rank under you, break your hoofwork.”

With no hesitation he slams his foot against Moonfall’s right foreleg making the stallion bite his lip in pain, next action Twilight could barely see it. In a blur to her vision his hands reach down and wrap around Moonfall’s neck, upon making contact the right side of his body leaned towards the right making the stallion lean in the same direction. Instinctively Moonfall brought his right front leg down, he flinched on making contact with the floor.

“Eah!” He yelps out in pain.

His front leg winces and proves to be his downfall as he is slammed onto his right side against the mat, followed by the captain immediately getting on top of him and pinning him down with his knee against Moonfall’s throat. The captain looks over to Dusk Blade with a Stoic expression, ignoring the choking sounds coming from below him.

“Notice what I did?” He looks at Dusk Blade who rapidly nods with a cheerful expression.

“You pulled his own weight onto his attacked leg!” The captain nods and gets off of Moonfall. The stallion rolls onto his stomach and puts his hoof against his throat as he takes rapid deep breaths.

“If you did that, you could’ve knocked him down... however, if Moonfall kept up with his footwork!” The captain sends a glare down to the gasping stallion.

“For a guard who used to be in the solar guard you’d think you would have better hoofwork to not let a mare half your size get the advantage over you.” Moonfall unfortunately lets that comment sink in and a blush form on his cheeks.

“Moonfall give me five laps around Hollow Shades, then when you come back you spending all night working on your hoofwork.” He coldly states. Moonfall whimpers as he slowly gets up and walks towards doors with his head down. From the bench Twilight sat there with her jaw dropped.

‘W-what was that! Huh! How!? What!? HUH!?’

Twilight blinks as she takes the moment to remind herself of his height and build once again, then compares it to his attack earlier and feels her jaw grow even more slack.

‘How was he so fast!? I-I barely saw his first m-move! And how fast he was able to pin an s-stallion down!’

“Remember Dusk Blade, grappling is about destroying hoofwork and limiting your opponent's movement to knock them off their feet.” Dusk Blades nods.

“Don’t get excited, while what you did was good, you still messed up and even so, if Moonfall had actually kept up on his hoofwork then he could’ve caught himself and slung you off him. It also doesn’t help that because of your size if you tried to grapple someone who's heavier than you without damaging their hoofwork then you stand no chance.” Her happiness is crushed like a hammer to a nail, she looks down and pouts.

He looks down at the small batpony and frowns a little bit. He closes his eyes and lets out a soft sigh, slowly he crouches down he puts his hand on Dusk Blade's shoulder.

“It's not all doom for you... you do have more potential than me in grabs.” He says slowly while looking away.

Dusk Blade looks up with surprise. “Huh?”

‘What!?’

Twilight looks at the captain in silent bewilderment. She looks between Dusk Blade, noting her lithe build and size versus the captains... larger size and thicker build.

“Mhmm...” He stands back up with a grunt. “Let me explain and show you something.”

“Fallen Shine, get over here!” He yells at the Stoic guard in the back. Fallen Shine drops what he is training and quickly rushes over to his captain.

“Yes sir?” Fallen Shine gives a salute.

“Hover.” Without hesitation, Fallen Shine opens his wings up and hops into the air, hovering up to his captain's height.

“When it comes to grappling, you have to ruin your opponent's stability, but what about facing an opponent with no stability? Such as those who can fly. Watch This” He moves his hand over to the hovering stallion’s chest.

“Fallen Shine, try to resist.” Fallen Shines nods. The captain starts to push the stallion away with little force, all the ponies watch as the corporal is pushed back with little effort despite his resistance. After pushing him only a little back, he takes his hand off the stallion's chest, only for him to shove the stallion roughly away from him. Fallen Shines eyes widen, and he just barely manages to stop himself from falling to the ground.

“Creatures flying or jumping don’t have stability. A push, pull or gust of wind can disturb their flight and hover.” He looks at Fallen Shine, finding even the corporal checking out his own stability by kicking his rear legs back and finding himself moving back without his permission.

“If a Pegasus flies at full speed, do you think they have the ability to suddenly halt? No. They have to spread their wings and hope. While we can dig our feet into the dirt and use that to stop ourselves.” He begins to pace back and forth as he explains.

“So, take Pegasus's lack of stability and combine it with a fighting style that destroys stability... you get this.” With no warning for Fallen Shine the captain spins around towards him and grabs his left front leg, Fallen Shine couldn’t even let out a sound as the captain yanks him down towards the ground. Fallen Shine in a panic spread open his wings in an attempt to catch air and stop himself, only for it to prove useless as he crashes face-first into the mat with such force that he bounces off the mat.

All the ponies watch in awe as Fallen Shine bounces over Dusk Blade and lands back-first onto the other side of the mat, his eyes spinning around in his sockets. The captain walks over to the fallen corporal and proceeds to fall down elbow-first onto the stallion's stomach, knocking him out of his daze to let out a pained grunt. The captain finishes his barrage off by wrapping his arm around the stallion's neck and putting him in a chokehold.

“An easier takedown. No hoofwork to ruin, just need to bring them down with either weight and force, or shutting their wings.” He looks at Dusk Blade with a stoic expression on his face, ignoring his corporal tapping his hoof against him rapidly in desperation.

“W-wow! I never thought about doing aerial takedowns!” Dusk Blade excitedly prances around in a small circle and lets out a soft squee of excitement. The captain takes that as a signal to finally release his corporal and stand up. Fallen Shine collapses onto his back and puts a hoof over his chest as he gasps for air.

“Mhmm. It's probably best for you to start with aerial takedowns first than ground, you do have the advantage of being able to fly, so it should be easier for you.”

He looks back at his guards and shouts. “Let this example be the reason why I discourage aerial fighting! Too unstable! Block an attack you get pushed back, and you can easily be taken down!”

“Y-yes s-s-sir....” Fallen Shine manages to let out through his heavy breathing.

“Yeeeees Siiir!” Dusk Blade cheerfully answers back with her own salute.

“That's all the help I'm giving you today, Dusk Blade. Tomorrow I expect to see you improve your grappling or have an idea about what you want to do with it.” Dusk Blade nods once again.

He looks around one more time, noticing Faded Light and Moonfall returning from their laps of shame, and giving them a nod of acknowledgement. “Any more questions regarding your fighting styles or advice?”

“N-no sir, I’ll… I’ll focus on my hoofwork!” Moonfall says as he walks away and heads back towards his section.

“I-I'm good.” Fallen Shine says while rubbing his neck.

“I’m a-also good, C-captain.” Faded Light says while approaching the captain. She takes in some deep breaths before collapsing face-first into the sparring mat.

“Mn.” He sighs and kneels down to help his lieutenant get back on her hooves.

Twilight sat there on the bench, no longer able to hold in her astonishment, staring at the scene before her with a dumbfounded expression. It was one thing to be fast and strong, but... for him to be able to explain and expose a weakness that most flying creatures had and even show it in such a... brutal manner.

“I’ve assumed he’s so strong that if we, the lower ranks, can’t do it. Then he gets ordered to go out and complete the mission...”

“I assume it's because if an accident occurs, and he is injured, there is no one close to his skillset that could replace him.”

“That junk is just for appearance and loyalty, if there was an enemy capable of taking down your princess, then what chance do you have against stopping it?”.

Twilight had begun to understand why the guards looked up to the captain, not out of his rank but out of respect for his wisdom and strength. It was almost like...

“Princess Celestia....” She lets the name slip out her mouth. The thought of this “man” being similar to Princess Celestia in wisdom and potentially in strength too... scared her. She disliked violence, but she found herself wanting to see him fight once... seriously. Twilight couldn’t help it, with every action he did, every word he spoke, she found her curiosity enchanted by him. He was an open flame, dangerous, and warned off others with its heat. Yet, the flame was mesmerizing. She wanted to stick her hoof into it and sit close to it despite the danger.

Twilight snaps out of her bewildered daze when her ears pick up the sound of approaching steps, looking at the source she finds the captain approaching her. She quickly straightens up and puts on a fake smile

“They should be good for tonight.” He points to his guards from over his shoulder. “So, I’ll be heading inside and doing some paperwork, and… seeing you being stubborn in your stupid mission by Princess Celestia I am... obligated... to allow you inside my home.” He says with a hint of venom in his tone.

“Just use common sense and don’t give me small talk, or whatever.” He rolls his eyes and turns from her, heading towards the backdoor. Twilight sits there still for a moment, registering the permission she was just given. Upon completing the registration, she quickly stands up and checks if she has everything before chasing after the man. Entering the doorway, she looks back to the training hall, seeing all the guards in the middle of their training.

Dusk Blade propelling herself from the ground to grapple onto the aerial hoops, Moonfall doing shadow sparring while focusing on his movement using short back hops and quick dashes, Fallen Shine was back to practicing his spear against a wooden pony dummy, and finally Faded Light who was getting ready to practice her sword skills against a dumb. She notices the lavender unicorn from the corner of her eye and smiles at her.

“Good luck, you’ll need it.”

Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle. “Thanks, I think I will need it.”

With that, the two give each other one last nod before turning away and slowly walk towards their destinations.

V - Stubborn

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Twilight slowly blinks, letting the reality of her new situation sit into her. Her mind realized she was now in a different room and sitting in a wooden chair at a classic small wooden dining table, across from her was the captain sitting in his chair with his feet on top of the table. To his right was a small stack of letters and papers mixed together in a disorderly stack that bothered her organizing instinct.

“..........” Twilight found herself staring at the captain as he leaned back in his chair, in his right hand he held up a paper which she assumed was either a report or request. Despite her staring, he ignores her and silently reads his paper.

‘Does he not have an office? ‘

Her eyes looked over the right side of the large room, peeking at the corner that began the hallway to the other end of his house from the living room. She figured his bedroom and bathroom would be down there as that is the standard layout of homes, but there was a chance there were more rooms. After all, she didn’t get a side view of the house, so she had no idea if it was one of those homes that had a bigger length than width design.

Her eyes slid back to him. She opens her mouth to say something, only for anxiety to grab her throat. She saw how quick he was to antagonize, and to disturb somecreature while they were in the middle of reading… the thought of committing such an action disgusted her. Instead, she decides to keep quiet until he is finished, letting her eyes silently wander the hybrid room of kitchen / living room.

Her eyes travel along the walls of the room, finding some classic decor on the far walls of living room such as, small classy landscape paintings of nature framed within canterlot-styled silver frames, horn trophies of various non-sentient creatures over in his living room, and finally some small potted plants on the window shelves. The placement for them was messy, as if there was somecreature who knew where to place them but another that just put them where-ever.

‘If Princess Celestia is the only visitor he lets in, then she must’ve given them these and placed some of them… ‘

Twilight eyes pauses when she spots a non-landscape painting on the walls. Focusing her sight on it, she finds the painting to be a distant shot of Canterlot. She had to admit, it was a wonderful painting… but it was so out of place next to the nature paintings on the wall.

‘Princess Celestia gives him gifts it seems like... a lot of gifts... ‘

Twilight quickly looks away from the paintings before any thoughts of Dusk Blade’s ‘conspiracy’ start to manifest in her head. Moving away from the gifts in the living room wall, she looks around the small kitchen. The kitchen was fairly old compared to modern Equestria standards, no magically powered fridge or oven, instead a wood-burning cook stove served as the only way for cooking in the kitchen. His countertops were made of polished wood instead of smooth stone.

She eyes the cabinets and the barrel in the corner.

‘Does he use old Equestrian methods of storing food? Weird... but interesting! ’

Finding no more objects that standout within the kitchen she searches for another object to focus her time on. Her eyes eventually spotted an item that stood out… too much.

‘How did I miss that when I walked in!? ‘

A red and gold divan couch stood in front of the living room’s fireplace, with a brown armchair near it and a Canterlot woven rug underneath the seats… Twilight slowly blinked and even rubbed her eyes as she looked at the divan couch again. It was big enough for either him or Princess Celestia to lay on it, but she knew Princess Celestia would probably sit on it. After all, she loved to sit in front of the fireplace.

The longer she stared at it the more she began to envision Princess Celestia laying on the divan couch and the captain sitting together. Enjoying the fireplace together, until eventually Princess Celestia opens her wing for the man. An invitation. Despite his stoic face, he accepts and sits beside her, slowly wrapping his big lengthy arms around her barr—.

‘No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, n—! ’

“Are you going to keep looking at the junk in my house or say something?” Twilight lets out an ‘Eep!’ at the sudden call-out. The blush she had on her cheeks quickly grew over her face, she spins her head around towards the man and bows her head.

“S-sorry! I-I thought you wouldn’t like it I-if I talked to you while you were reading, S-sir!” She quickly apologizes and bows her head multiple times.

He lets out a grunt. “Not wrong, but you’re here for a mission regarding me, so I'll give you a pass on it.”

“Oh! Okay... um… thanks?” He just rolls his eyes. Letting a moment of silence pass, so she can recover from her ‘conspictory’ thoughts. With a deep inhale and exhale, she calms herself and looks at the captain.

“ Well, can I, uh, …ask you... some um... questions?” She sheepishly asks with a nervous smile on her face.

“Mn.” He gives the slightest of nods.

Twilight takes that as approval. Igniting her horn, she pulls out her notepad and quill. Flipping through the pages, she looks over her organized notes to find the best first question to start off with. It takes her four minutes of silent searching and contemplation before she finally finds it. With a deep inhale through her nose, she looks at the captain with a smile. “May I ask what your name is?”

“Formal or normal?” He says without looking at her, Twilight slowly blinked moments after hearing that.

‘What does that mean!? Casual and... Non-casual names? Is he talking about nicknames? ’

“B-both...?” She says questionably. He lets out a small ‘snerk’ from behind his paper that makes her ears twitch.

She raises a brow, “D-did I say something wrong?”

“No.” He resumes his Stoic look. “You just take off your mentor in a way.”

He tilts the paper down to give her his attention. “I’m Ratimir in a normal setting, Captain of the Lunar Guard, Lord Ratimir of Hollow Shades in a formal setting.”

“Rat-i-mir...” Twilight mutters the name out to herself, letting it roll off her tongue. A befuddled expression on her face as she lets the name sink in.

“What a strange name...” Twilight accidentally lets the thought slip out and quickly puts her hoof over her mouth, she looks at him and finds him looking at her with narrowed eyes.

“Better than a name that describes that time between dawn and dusk, and followed by that shiny stuff that comes off a grinding wheel.” He hisses out. Twilight raises a hoof and opens her mouth to protest but decides to close her mouth and lower her hoof as the comment sinks in.

‘Is… Is my name weird? Or is his name weird…? What makes a weird name actually?

I’ll... keep in mind to keep comments like that to myself from now…’

She opens a new page and writes both versions of his name along with that note regarding talking about his name. While writing, she follows up with another question, “Are you an official lord under Equestria?”

“Mhmm, Princess Celestia gave me the land and title when she moved me to the Lunar Guard.” He puts his current paper down on the table and slides it to the right as he takes another from the pile and begins to read it.

‘That means somewhere in Canterlot there is official documentation for his title! Though... his full title however seems to be in old-ponish. Mentioning the land with the title and an existing title before the name… Mnnn… ’

Twilight glances at his looks once again, he looked decently aged. Few wrinkles and only small bits of gray in his black hair. She flips the pages back to her notes, looking over them and frowning while taking glances between him and the notepad.

‘Princess Celestia said he came some time after Nightmare Moon’s banishment, and took the Lunar Guards out from imprisonment… but from the current guards it seems he was around before they joined... So, he has been around for forty or fifty years! Maybe, but... his title, home, and just something else... Is nagging me. ’

Twilight couldn’t fight back that strange feeling she got whenever she looked at him this close up, it was similar to what she felt whenever she looked up at Princess Celestia. The feeling of looking up at an aged entity, the feeling of smallness. With Princess Celestia it made sense, after all she was an alicorn that has been around for more than one thousand years. Yet, as she sat in front of the captain, that same feeling was filling her stomach.

She rubs her stomach with a hoof and decides to end the feeling once and for all. “How old are you?”

“Don’t know, I stopped counting.” Twilight gave him a blank stare.

‘That... that response is similar to the one Princess Celestia gave me when I asked her age when I was a filly! He couldn’t be that old now! Only beings of powerful magic can withhold their lifespans for long times! I don’t sense an ounce of magic in him! ’

“What about your k-kingdom! P-princess Celestia told me you came from a kingdom u-up north!” Twilight quickly speaks out, in an attempt to avoid diving deeper into that thought.

He tilts his paper down and glares at her. “Princess Celestia told you that...?”

“Y-yes... S-sorry if that was a bad thing to ask!” Twilight looks down nervously fiddles with her hooves.

He sighs and rolls his eyes. “It’s not, just didn’t expect her to give you that much information about me.”

“Well... can you tell me the name of the kingdom or your people... or b-both...?” She slightly shrinks upon seeing him frown.

For a while the two sit in silence, the captain’s blue eyes looking past the unicorn in thought. Eventually, he clicks his tongue and ends the silence. “I don’t remember the name of the kingdom... I was just passing by to get here. As for my people... mnn…”

His face changed to an emotion Twilight rarely saw on others. Contempt. His gaze stared at the table and his lips formed a scowl, he let an eerie silence take the room before his face resumed back to his normal Stoic look.

“I can’t really describe my people well... but I can tell you that I am a… uh “hu-man”.” He tilts the paper back up and returns his attention to it. Twilight stared at him, her previous gut feeling getting a couple of teaspoons of uneasiness.

‘His face... the way he pronounced his race sounded unfamiliar to even himself… ’

Twilight writes that down and puts an underline underneath it, it felt so out of character of him from what she’d seen of him. Glancing back at him, she notices a small frown stick out of his stoic face, realizing she needed to fix his mood somehow, or he might start getting annoyed with her presence even more, so she decides to blurt out a good lift-up question.

"What is the relationship between you and Princess Celestia!”

‘That was not a lift-up question, you dolt! ‘

Twilight curses to herself internally. Looking back to the captain, she sees him putting down the paper and giving a befuddled look at her.

“Princess and… guard captain. Do you think there was something more?” He asks while narrowing his eyes.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Twilight defensively flails her hooves.

“Mn, I wouldn’t blame you. With how she acts, she makes it seem like we’re friends or more, the damn fool...” He grumbles, saying the last part under his breath.

“You’re not friends...?” Twilight asks with some surprise in her voice.

“No. We’re just strangers who know each other.” He says stiffly as he picks the paper back up, looking over it once more before putting it on top of the previous paper. Twilight frowns at his attitude towards her mentor but felt relief hearing that they weren’t more than friends, but...

“It seems like she gave you a lot of things...” Twilight eyes, paintings and potted plants.

“I didn’t ask for them.”

He lets out a sigh and ruffles his hair a bit. “Look, not to be rude, but your mentor is... annoying. She comes by too often to “talk” to me, asking me stupid questions and ugh...” He pinches the bridge of his nose, “I just can’t be bothered...”

Ignoring the insult of her mentor for the sake of not ruining the mood while he was opening up, somewhat Twilight tilts her head and asks, “Why does she come by so often then?”

Releasing his nose, he throws his paper-holding hand into the air and scoffs. “To check up on me! Like I’m a prisoner, and she’s the damned warden, the only difference is that the warden likes to harass me by coming into my cell to drink tea and ask me how my day is.”

“So, why don’t you tell her to stop coming by then?” Twilight questions as she writes down his opinion of Princess Celestia.

“Would you try to tell an all-powerful creature that can break you with a simple kick or twist your body easily like heated metal from a furnace with her magic to stop coming to your house?”

“......” Twilight stays silent at that. Deciding that was enough information regarding the two’s relationship she moves on to a question that has been bothering her for some time.

“Princess Celestia told me you used to be in the solar guard, an-” Twilight pauses as she notices the sudden irritation that appeared on his face, he lets out a heavy groan.

“Ah yes… The solar guard, those low-grade envious sacks of potatoes!” Twilight presses her back against her seat upon seeing him irritated while wearing a smile.

“U-um... she t-told me you weren't like that much...” Twilight manages to squeak out.

“Not liked… is a big understatement... The solar guard hated me and I hated them, they were upset at me because I was rose up the ranks faster than their moldy stone leaders did in the few years I was there and because of what I di—” He puts his hand over his mouth and looks off, his anger fading for a moment. Twilight pauses as she sees a look of abashment on his face.

Moving his hand off his mouth and letting out a sigh. “I got a little carried away there. Point is, I didn’t have a good time with them and I don’t really like them.”

“Okaaay...” Twilight slowly nods, writing down his opinion of the solar guard. A thought crosses her mind as she replays his rant in her head.

‘What was he about to say...? Why did he look like that when he stopped himself? Did he do something to make him disliked despite what he said? ‘

She writes down about his strange cut-off, deciding not to question him about it due to the high chance of him either dodging the question or getting even more frustrated. Finishing that up, she looks at the next important question to ask him.

‘Should I ask him why he came to Equestria? No, no, no! That seems way too personal! He could’ve come to Equestria to escape captors, or maybe he’s wanted! Nope, nope, can’t ask him that at all now! Next! ‘

She underlines that question and puts a little “ask later!” circle beside it. Moving down the list, she asks her next big question, “Moving on.... Princess Celestia told me that after you became captain of the Lunar guard, you reformed them after their rebellion! How did you do that?”

“Beh, I didn’t reform them.” He says as he puts down the paper and grabs a blue letter from the stack and opens it.

“They’re still the same, all I did was calm them down and tell them to focus their anger on improving themselves rather than going into a pointless war. Despite it being years ago they still manage to hold their grudge.”

“Like you?” He gives her a peeved look at her for that comment.

“Well can you tell me the story of how you did it? I’m really curious to hear about how you managed to prevent a second rebellion!” She smiles slightly.

“That story is too long for you, unless you plan on staying here past dawn.” He says rather coarsely.

“I wouldn—” Twilight stops herself, remembering that she had snuck out without telling Spike. She internally curses herself, if she knew is she stayed longer, Spike would wake up and panic if he doesn’t see her home. Most likely telling the girls and getting the town to do a search party for her, and if she returned during all that, then they would dig into where she went and jeopardize her entire mission!

She gives a defeated look and lets out a sigh. The captain seeing her reaction simply says, “Exactly” and keeps reading the letter with a furrowed brow.

Another glance at her notes and she finds a question and pulls her out of her defeat. “Have you ever met Princess Luna? Or seen her?”

“Princess Luna... Heard about her, never met her and I don’t want to.” He says bluntly

“Why not? She’s technically your um... princess. Shouldn’t you want to see her?”

“If she is anything like Princess Celestia described then she’s even more annoying than Princess Celestia… in fact I think I have an example right here in my hand.” He shuts the letter up and slides it across the table suddenly, Twilight in an act of surprise and panic drops her notepad and quill to quickly pick up the letter in her magic before it slid off the table. Letting the sound of her notepad and quill hitting the floor bounce throughout the room.

Bringing it closer she inspects the letter, she immediately notices the letter was a dark blue with a broken royal seal on the front. Moving it slightly she notices the letter sparkles slightly in the light, it didn’t take her long to realize what exactly this letter was and who it came from.

“T-this is!” Her eyes widened.

Twilight looks up at the captain. “A-are you sure you w-want me to see an official letter s-sent to you by Princess Luna?”

“I don’t care. It’s just a dumb request I have to approve.” He waves it off. Accepting his invitation Twilight opens the letter and begins reading its contents, her face slowly shifting from a neutral expression to one of worry until she eventually pulls her head from the letter.

“Princess Luna wants to make her debut on nightmare night, in PONYVILLE!?” Twilight nearly shouts.

“The real question is what the hell is “Nightmare Night” and why does she want the entire lunar guard to escort her during it.” The captain gripes.

“You don’t know what nightmare night is!?” His complaint did not make her shocked state any better. She slams her front hooves on the table and stands up on the chair.

“Should I...?” He looks at her questionably

“YES!! It’s a holiday that was founded on the fear of Nightmare Moon and turned it into something more positive, so ponies would feel safe at night again! The entire holiday itself surrounds itself on being outside and afraid of the Nightmare Moon coming down and eating ponies!” Twilight throws a hoof up as she explains.

“....and if I remember correctly, Princess Luna used to be Nightmare Moon, right...?”

“Yes! And to add more onto this, the first place where Nightmare Moon appeared when she returned was Ponyville!” Twilight smacks her hoof against the table.

“.......” The captain stared at her with utter bewilderment before looking away and cupping his chin.

“...Mn.”

Twilight on the other hoof was taking rapid deep breaths and loudly talking to herself. “Why would she want to go to the place she terrorized the moment she got back AND bring her entire guard forces with her, on the nightmare where she is most feared! Combined with the fact this holiday didn’t exist before she was sealed, it has only been two months since she came back! She can’t have adapted to this era already! I... I …”

Twilight drops the letter, opening her saddlebag, and brings out her emergency paper sack to hyperventilate into. She could already foresee it, Princess Luna arriving in ponyville with her guard in tow.

Twilight and Spike watched from the front of their library in a state of awestruck as they witnessed Princess Luna walking through the streets of Ponyville with an entire squad of armored bat ponies walking along her sides, weapons in hoofs and carrying menacing glares that could traumatize a foal. Princess Luna wasn’t helping her situation either, carrying a judging stare as she watched all the citizens run all over the place screaming as they sought places to hide from the monarch.

Twilight is snapped out of her state of shock when she is grabbed from her right side and spun around to face a distressed Pinkie Pie.

“Twilight! Nightmare Moon's back to eat us all!” Pinkie Pie says hastily, looking back at Princess Luna and seeing her coming closer to their location, she lets out a scream and releases the unicorn.

“Everpony! Run for your lives!” She wails out as she takes off down the street.

Twilight simply blinked at Pinkie's reaction and then stumbled forward when the earth shook, quickly looking to her left she found a building caught on fire in the distance, It wasn’t long before more buildings caught on fire and more sounds of screams and running hooves surrounded the duo.

“Sooo...” Twilight looks down at the nervous drake.

“Should I get the e-elements or...?” He asks, despite his eyes screaming at Twilight, to please let him get the elements of harmony.

Twilight pulls away from the paper bag and lets out a gasp at the vision.

‘I can’t let this happen! Princess Luna’s reputation will go down to Tartarus, and Ponyville will go into chaos worse than what Discord did! ‘

Determined, Twilight drops her paper bag to the floor and leaps onto the table. The captain turns his head towards her and finds Twilight's face up close to his. He leans back against his chair and looks up at her with slightly widened eyes.

“What the!?” He mutters out.

“We need to stop her! Tell her to go somewhere else! With no guards! On a day other than Nightmare Night! Stop. Her.” Twilight pleads.

“Do you think I can just decline the princess I work under request and expect her to accept it!?” He quickly counters the determined unicorn. Twilight's eyes widen for a moment in realization, she pulls back and raises a hoof to her chin. Thinking quickly, she comes up with a solution.

“Make an excuse! Say the guard is busy and can only send two to escort her to Ponyville, but it has to be a quick drop-off!” She says quickly. He stares at her for a moment, letting her solution sink in then nodding.

“Could work... But I still can’t leave a princess by herself.”

“Princess Luna is an Alicorn! I heard you didn’t send a single Guard to face Discord, why would you send one to protect an Alicorn!?” Twilight says with some frustration.

He sighs and rolls his eyes. “It’s a matter of respect, if I send no guards then she’ll think I don’t respect her authority and a whole road of trouble is gonna start, so I need to at least send someone to accompany her.”

Twilight lets out a grunt at his counter, disliking that she one bat pony would have to be at her side. She closes her eyes and tries to think of a way to counterattack his argument.

‘Princess Luna can’t have a guard at her side, it’ll put everypony on edge! How can I get her a guard without putting everypony on— ’

Twilight's eyes snap open as an epiphany hits her like a wagon full of apples. “Dusk Blade!”

“What about Dusk Blade?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Yes! Dusk Blade, she can watch over Princess Luna in the crowd! All she needs is just a costume for nightmare night that hides her wings! She’ll blend in the crowd easily and watch over Princess Luna!” Twilight explains with a smile.

“....That... That actually could work, hm.” He narrows his eyes and shakes his head.

Twilight beams. “Good! I’ll be there on Nightmare Night, so I’ll do my best to help Princess Luna fit in!”

“Good to know… mnn… I guess you are Princess Celestia’s student for a reason…” He mumbles and stretches his arms and hands. “I’ll send her the plan then...” He moves the remaining papers to the side to pull out his hidden stack of letter paper. Twilight beamed slightly, mainly from receiving her first compliment from the man.

“Can I borrow your quill?” He asks as he brings one page of letter paper in front of him. Twilight wordlessly picks up her quill and hands it to him, her eyes paying some attention to how his hand takes the quill.

“Thanks.” He begins writing the letter. Twilight lets out a sigh of relief, knowing that she managed to somewhat lessen the chaos at Ponyville for the upcoming holiday.

‘And here I hoped to have a good Nightmare Night... Well, I guess it's okay! I can help Princess Luna and get to know her better! Maybe even ask some questions about the lunar guard from her point of view! ‘

“Done.” Twilight’s ears perk up, and she looks at the captain in surprise.

“T-that was fast!” She comments. She didn’t know why but the room felt colder for some reason, a sense of dread starting to enter her.

“I usually Faded Light does this, but since you’re here... Look over this for me, okay?” He hands the letter over to Twilight.

“O-oh! Sure!” Twilight smiles and takes the letter in her magic and looks over its contents.

My Princess,

We are too busy to deal with your request, I'll give you two guards to escort you there, but they are just to drop you off and leave immediately. Private 2^nd class Dusk Blade will be within the crowd and accompany you during your time.

Deal with it.

From, Your Captain.

Twilight felt her heart stop upon finishing the letter. Her eyes staring at the line “Deal with it.” a line like that being addressed to Princess Celestia’s sister and one of the highest-ranking officials in Equestria. Slowly, she looked at the captain to see if he had shown any shame or embarrassment, she’d even hoped he realized what he wrote as she was reading it and showed regret on his face.

Instead, she gets the look of a bored captain, waiting to hear her opinion on his letter. Her eyes twitched, and she slowly put the letter down on the table.

“H-how... how could you even think of sending this to Princess Luna!?” Twilight yells at him. He waves his hand off towards her. “It is blunt and to the point, that’s all there needs to be said.”

“You have to be nicer! Polite! Give some room for negotiations! Not just deny her any room for complaints! You didn’t even address her by name! Or show some level of curiosity or kindness to her!” Twilight throws a hoof up angrily.

“Why would I be kind to someone I have never met before? There is no negotiation, she needs to know there is no negotiation. You want to put unnecessary stuff in there...” He says disgruntled.

Twilight shook her head in bewilderment. “Unnecessary!? Did you just say being polite to a PRINCESS is unnecessary!?”

“I called her my princess, that alone should be enough for her to know I respect her.” He rolls his eyes again and puts his arm on the table to hold his head up, a bored look growing on his face.

“What!? No! You need to address her by her full name!” Twilight smacked her hooves against the table.

“It’s one of the basics they teach you in school about writing! You should address beings with higher authority than you by their full name and title when writing a letter to them!” She moves her hooves rapidly as she explains.

The captain narrowed his eyes on her and shook his head in confusion. “Why?”

Twilight’s anger flared up upon hearing that single word. Picking up the paper and starting an argument with the captain about proper letter etiquette. In the training hall Faded Light, Dusk Blade, Moonfall and Fallen Shine all had pressed their ears up against the door, listening to the distant argument inside. Faded Light lets out a sigh, while the rest let out small chuckles every time they hear the captain let out his usual blunt response.

“Sounds like she's having a good time there...” Moonfall says after he chuckles.

“Mhmm.” Fallen Shine nods.

“Today’s going to be a long, long night for you, Twilight Sparkle. I’m sorry.” Faded Light says with some amusement.

“Think she’ll be the same when she comes out, Faded?” Dusk Blade asks.

“Nope.” Faded Light Shakes her head with a small smile on her lips. The group lets out a chuckle at that response and continues to listen in on the growing argument for now. Skipping training for the night, to enjoy listening to the first of many arguments between Twilight Sparkle and their captain.

VI - First Report

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Dear Princess Celestia, ⁣/i]
Tonight, I met with the Captain of the Lunar Guard, Lord Ratimir of Hollow Shades, I believe got that right, and members of the lunar guard. Though they were scary at first, I learned not to judge them by their looks like ponies of the past did to them, and I found out how unique they are! I don't wish to take up your time with everything I learned, so I won't mention it. But! I can say I look forward to learning about the lunar guard more!
As for the Captain... Princess Celestia, as I write this letter, I have begun to realize how difficult the task you have given me truly is. He is rude, blunt, and stubborn. I spent most of my time with him, trying to get to know him, but we got into an argument regarding Princess Luna’s plans (Did you know she was planning to make her debut on Nightmare Night in Ponyvillle!?!?!?!) due to his very, very, very, poor letter etiquette. I recommend giving him "The Etiquette of Letter Writing And Social Correspondence in General '' by Sir Mail, Mark the 3^rd.
I eventually had to write a letter for him to change Princess Luna's request into a less chaotic situation (She wanted to bring her entire guard with her!!!) I was almost late to the train back because of his stubbornness! However, members of the Lunar Guard flew me back to the station just in time, AND he did make it up to me by giving me a whistle! Apparently only Bat ponies can hear the sound it emits, and he told me to use it whenever I arrive and a member of the Lunar Guard would hear it and come pick me up!
So I'll be able to come by their more often! Though I don't look forward to him...
Princess Celestia I must admit that I feel that he is hiding some things from me... and...
So are you... after all you didn't inform me that he was... well... a "Human" (I hope I spelled that right!) but, I believe in you, I know you won't tell me things if you think it is for my good. I won't ask you the many questions I have until you feel like I am ready for them. I will continue my mission, however this Nightmare Night I will put in a lot of effort to try and help Princess Luna because I feel that if I don't, Ponyville will catch on fire and burn down overnight.
That is all I have to report for now, I wish you a good morning by the time you get this letter and hope you have a wonderful day like always!
Your faithful student, ⁣/i]
Twilight Sparkle

Princess Celestia smiles as she finishes the letter. Closing it back up she walks over towards her fireplace, casting a spell on the flames she levitates the letter through the flames to the hidden safe behind the controlled blaze. Unlocking it quickly and placing the scroll inside it before locking it back up. With a sigh escaping her lips, she cancels the spell on the fireplace and leaves her study.

Slowly, Celestia walks through the halls, her solar guards bow their heads ever so slightly as she passes them. Celestia continues her slow journey through the darkened castle until she reaches her balcony, she stands there for a moment to gaze at her sister's moon. A small smile downing her face before moving her body towards the east, facing Manehatten and Fillydelphia, but more importantly Hollow Shades.

Her eyes linger towards the distant woods, her smiling fading and dolefulness taking over. Slowly, she brings her hoof up to the right side of her neck and rubs the side of her throat horizontally.

‘Still hurts after all these years… I’m not even sure if it’s really there or just in my head now… ‘

Celestia chuckles lightly at her own expense, opening her eyes she stares at the distant Hollow Shades.

“I hope I made the right call… I… You…” Celestia slowly brought her hoof down as her gaze downcasts to the floor.

“Oh Ratimir… I hope it isn’t too late for you… Please open up…. Please, please, please!” Celestia pleaded quietly to no one, her mouth biting hard on her teeth as she shut her eyes. The pain in her neck aching more and more until she gives out a heavy sigh. Opening her eyes once again and looking up to see the moon falling down the horizon.

“One day… I’ll tell Luna and Twilight the truth… but right now, I need to stay patient as always.” Celestia ignites her horn and feels her magic wrap around her son.

‘Just be patient as always, Celestia… it’s not too late yet…’

VII - A Real Nightmare Night

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The soft sound of a pleased sigh mixes into the night air with cries and squeals of scared foals. Twilight watches a group of fillies run past her with Nightmare Moon disguised Princess Luna chasing them, the sight bringing a warm smile on her face as she hears the genuine laughter of joy coming from the princess.

“Mwahahaha! thou cannot run forever! We shall dine on thee!” Twilight lets out a light chuckle as she watches the Princess of the Night pass her. She still honestly couldn’t believe that she had managed to prevent Nightmare Night from being ruined while helping Princess Luna’s reputation! However, her smile fades as she thinks of the pony who caused this issue in the first place…

‘ I’m going to have a serious talk with Pinkie Pie tomorrow about this! I can’t believe she thought spreading fear about Princess Luna to be a fun idea! It almost canceled Nightmare Night! ‘

Twilight shakes her head and frowns.

‘ I don’t understand that mare sometimes… ‘

“You know, Twilight...-” The young voice beside her spoke up, looking down to her side she gave a look of confusion at the young dragon. “-I noticed that out of everypony here, you were the one least surprised about Nightma—I mean…Princess Luna showing up. Did you know she was coming?”

Twilight groans on the inside, her moment of peace disturbed. Her gaze moving back to the distant princess as she thinks of the best excuse to fool a baby dragon to regain that moment of peace. Opening her mouth, she lets the first lie out, “Well Princess Luna came back not too long ago, so I figured she’d use Nightmare Night to make her debut... after all the holiday celebrates the fear she made.”

Spike stares at her with narrowed eyes. Twilight stares back at him with the fakest small smile she could muster. Silence stills the air between the duo, breaking when a smile forms on the dragon, “That makes sense! Huh, I wonder why I didn’t think about that.” The drake embarrassingly rubs the top of his plushy dragon hood.

Twilight, seeing the opportunity to seal the lie in the box, leans down and whispers to the dragon with a sly smile, “Maybe because you’re always thinking about Rarity...?”

A blush spreads across his face and he pushes Twilight's face away from him. “N-no! I-i’m always thinking about uh... uh…-” Spike quickly looks around the area before focusing on a distant stand selling caramel apples. “-...getting me one of those a-apples! Yeah! Got to go!” Spike quickly dashed off towards the stand before Twilight could even make a comment on his poor excuse, a chuckle escaping her as she watched him.

‘ I feel bad about lying to Spike... but I can’t let him start suspecting something or else he’ll start telling others and ugggh... ‘

Twilight grumbles, “I could’ve just enjoyed the night in ignorance but noooo... he just had to show me the letter.”

Letting out one last sigh, she shakes her head roughly. “I can’t blame him… if he didn’t show me it then I would’ve been in for a shock… Well,. It’s over now so I can enjoy the night!” She raises her head and with a smile on her face she trots into Ponyville.

“Who should I go hang out with? Spike is getting treats... Fluttershy is too scared to go out, Rainbow Dash is off messing with others, Applejack is selling goods, Pinkie Pie is doing... Pinkie things... Mn! I wonder what Rarity is doing then?” She wonders aloud. Looking around as she walks through the streets for Rarity.

‘ What does Rarity do on Nightmare Night? Take her sister out…? or...’

Twilight pauses momentarily as she sees Princess Luna fishing out apples from a water barrel, ponies around her cheering. A normal, wholesome scene for others. However, for Twilight it had a major problem that she had been overlooking throughout the night had just dawned on her. Her eyes quickly scanned everypony that stood at Princess Luna’s side, finding them all to be ponies she had seen or knew that they lived in Ponyville.

‘ Where is Dusk Blade!? Pleaaaaase don’t tell Ratimir backed out of that!! ‘

Twilight gritted her teeth. She swore that if he had backed out of that after all those hours of arguing that he put her through she would... do something. She wasn’t sure what but she would at least do something as payback. Moving away from Luna’s gathered audience, Twilight started to examine every pony she came across as she walked away from town square.

‘ Dusk Blade should be dressed up to hide her features... Should I go back and ask Princess Luna? No, no! That would indicate I know about her guard and make her ask why I know members of her guard! I have to find her myself... if she’s here. Remember Twilight, wings hidden and fangs out, wings hidden and fangs out! ‘

Twilight enters the market square, the slightly less populated spot in town at the moment. She looks around, trying to pick out a Dusk Blade from the crowd. Slowly anger and panic settled into her as she kept finding a lack of ponies that had Dusk Blade’s coat, eyes, hair or her height. She started to trot at a faster pace but slowed down when she went by Applejack’s stand. The farm pony notices her and waves at her, making Twilight wave back with a strained smile.

‘ Can’t look suspicious! Having a good time, having a good time! ‘

Twilight lets out an internal sigh of relief upon seeing the farm pony not calling her over or coming over to ask if something was wrong. Twilight quickly leaves Applejack’s area and trots down the road towards the residential area.

‘ What would they dress Dusk Blade up as? A vampony? Ghost? Or... uh something else? ‘

Twilight stops as she racks her brain around, thinking of different combinations of outfits that would hide Dusk Blade’s features. Her mind has issues with the imagery.

‘ This is a different, more Rarity thing! Ugh! ‘

“Over here! Come on everypony!” Twilight ears perk, stopping in her tracks she looks between two houses and finds Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and some other fillies grouped up carrying big bags of candy. Twilight moves her eyes back to focus on the road but stops when in the corner of her vision she notices somepony out of place in that group. A teenage-looking pony that was quite short for their height dressed in a mummy costume being dragged by Diamond Tiara, an expression of tiredness, annoyance, and dread visible on their barely covered face.

“.......No. that’s not her. Can’t be……” Twilight trots down the road, only to reverse and head between the buildings to follow the group.

“B-but... she does match Dusk Blades eye color and height...” Twilight stammered out, a part of her refusing to believe they would dress up the batpony in a mummy costume... or Dusk Blade being the adult to children let them go house to house.. Either one sent some form of disappointment in the Lunar Guard down her spine. Going around to the corner and hiding there Twilight listens in to the group's loud conversation as they head down.

“Thanks again for volunteering to help us out with getting more treats, ma’am! I’ll make sure to put in a good word about you to my dad!” Diamond Tiara nudges the mummified pony and winks.

“MMHMMPFH MHFFNY MPHHH!” The mummy releases a string of aggressive grunts and groans at the filly, trying to pull away from her but the other fillies push the mummy along with them. Twilight blinks and steps out of the corner, staring at the scene before with a stoic expression.

‘ Please... Please! For Princess Celestia’s sake don’t tell me that is Dusk Blade...’

Like a curse plaguing her to suffer the most unfortunate moments as much as possible, Twilight’s eyes happened to meet with the mummy’s eyes. The mummy’s eyes widen and begin to release a series of panicked grunts and groans while flailing to get her attention as the fillies go around the corner.

‘ Oh, for Celestia’s sake! It is her! ‘

Twilight couldn't resist the disappointment. She facehoofed hard and slowly dragged her hoof down her face while looking up at the night sky with an exhausted look.

‘ I’m starting to think the Lunar Guard are cursed... ‘

With the heaviest sigh released for the night Twilight goes after the group. Going around a corner Twilight quickly looks around and spots the group at a house receiving candy from the inhabitants. Slowly Twilight approaches the group while thinking of a solution to free the guardmare from the clutches of the fillies.

When the door closes Diamond Tiara turns to the mummy and gives an innocent look that makes the mummy roll their eyes. “That was a good batch that time, buuuut…-” Diamond Tiara’s look of innocence turns into a mischievous grin as she nudges the mummy. “- it can be better right, ma’—” Diamond Tiara is silenced when the mummy just dumps the candy into her bag, the pink filly grins with glee.

“Awww... thank you so much!” Diamond Tiara says with a smug smile on her face.

“Mmhmhmmp mhfffny mn...” The mummy grunts and groans with venom in their muffled tone before trying to turn and leave. The other fillies quickly grab onto their mummified hind legs.

“What about me?” Silver Spoon asks as another pirate filly grabs their other hind leg. “And me! C’mon you gotta give us all an equal share of candy before you leave us!” The filly says while looking up at her with puppy eyes.

“Mhmhmhmhmp! MFFFFFFN!” The mummy glares at the foals while trying to wiggle them off.

“Just one more house... I promise, ma’am...” Diamond Tiara says with clear deceit in her tone.

“MHHPF!”

‘ Oh, wow that’s bad... ‘

Twilight decides to intervene before they can drag the mummy elsewhere, quickly trotting up to the group. The sound of Starswirl's bells giving her away to the group as she closes in, the children turning their heads and looking up at Twilight. Twilight swallowed her nervousness down and focused solely on the mummy, who looked at her with pleading eyes.

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over town for you! Mayor Mare needs you over at the apple booth to take over for Applejack for a moment!” Twilight says with a hint of panic in her tone, a combination of trying to act while also being nervous upon being stared up at by the group of fillies.

“What!? But we need her! Can’t you get some other pony to do it!?” Diamond Tiara stomps her hoof as she complains.

Twilight frowns at that and looks down at her with a frown. “Sorry, Diamond Tiara but the Mayor Mare requested only her… she's the only one that’s not a member of the Apple family who can run their stand.”

Tiara frowns and briefly glares at Twilight before letting out a sigh in defeat, the others taking the hint and releasing the mummy.

“I’m really sorry, Diamond Tiara but after I'm done with what I'm doing then… maybe I could also... uh… help you out with... whatever you’re doing?”

The filly immediately perks up at that. “Really!? Good, I'll be counting on that then! Come on girls, let's go back to our business!” The fillies all nod and together walk down the road. Twilight watches them as they leave, a little unnerved at how quick Diamond Tiara was to take her up in that offer. Her gaze broke when a pair of hooves wrapped around her neck and her body was pulled into a strong hug.

Twilight blinked. “Dusk Blade...?”

“MHHMHMFMPH! MMMMMMMPHF!” Twilight gritted her teeth as the mummy was hugging her more strongly now. The sounds of happy groans with a mixture of hisses leaking out of her bandaged mouth.

‘ Yep, this is definitely Dusk Blade. ‘

The mummified Dusk Blade pulls away and looks Twilight in her eyes, “Mmhmhmhmh! Mphf!”

“What?” Twilight squints.

“Mhhmfmmm Mph!” Dusk Blade groans slightly more demandingly.

“I can’t understand you... Let me just...” Twilight ignites her horn, focusing her magic on wrappings around her mouth and tugging them. Her brows furrow when her tugs not only pull Dusk Blade closer to her face but refuse to break.

“What is this...?” Twilight tilts her head and examines the wrappings themselves. Her eyes travel over the wrapping material and widen in realization.

“Is this... Parchment paper!?”

“Mnmnnn!” Dusk Blade nods with a glum look on her face. Twilight scowled as she looked at it, it was without a doubt to Twilight that the “wrapping” was scissor cut long straps of baking parchment paper wrapped tightly around the guard.

“Who!? …you know, I'll save that question AFTER we cut your mouth open.”

“Mmfy.” Dusk Bladed nodded in agreement. Twilight releases the mouth wrappings and looks around in hope that there was something sharp enough to cut the wrappings.

‘ Please don’t make me have to go find Rarity so she can give me some scissors... ‘

Looking around she spots a small arrowheaded rock, picking it up in her magic as she examines it closely.

“Just needs a little more edge to it...” Twilight mumbles. Walking over to a nearby house and using the walls of the house to sharpen the rock. After a couple minutes of whetting the rock on the house she pulls back and takes a moment to admire her new rock. Glancing back at the house her heart sinks a bit upon seeing the numerous scratches she had left behind on the wall.

‘ Uh oh... I should... ‘

Twilight pauses her thoughts and looks around the area, finding the only witness being Dusk Blade. Twilight stares at Dusk Blade then glances at the wall then back to her, slowly Twilight approaches her with the rock in her magic.

“Somepony else's problem, right?”

“Mmfy!” Dusk Blade nods with a hint of a mischievous smile showing through the wrappings. With the agreement in place the two move away from the scene of the crime, heading down into an alley between two houses.

“This should be a good spot, turn around.”

“Mh! Tmmsshhhg...” Dusk Blade wiggles her eyebrows as she turns to face the unicorn. Twilight rolls her eyes and swings the sharpened rock down the center of her mouth wrappings, Dusk Blade gasping as the lower half of her face is revealed. Dusk Blade brings a hoof up and feels around her mouth.

“My mouth feels so numb...” She opens her mouth and closes it multiple times before taking in a deep breath of air and letting out a sigh. Twilight drops the rock and stares at the batpony with an expectant stare, Dusk Blade notices and gives a sheepish smile. Looking up to the full moon Dusk Blade lets out a whistle.

“Soo... uh, how was your Nightmare Night?”

Twilight closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, slowly opening them she lets it all out. “You were supposed to be close to Princess Luna! How’d you get taken in by a group of foals!? And why are you dressed up as a mummy in kitchen parchment paper!? I told the captain to just get something to cover your wings! Not... all of you!”

Dusk Blade lowers her head down in shame, her eyes wandering all over the ground. “Weeeell uh... it’s... a long story.”

“I have time.” Twilight says coldly as she looks at the small guard.

“Damn it...” Dusk Blade mumbles under her breath. With a groan she raises her head back up and looks at Twilight with shame on her face.

“Okay so... I’ll start with my uh... costume. So! The captain was supposed to order a costume but he didn’t want to bother so he made Faded do it for him, she placed the order for a vampire costume... but to his address and told the captain.... buuuuuuut he forgot. Soooo, when it came, he thought it was a fancy towel and uh... used it.” Twilight could already feel her blood pressure rising inside her.

‘ I’m not going to make it through this alive, am I...? ’

“Soooooo... Yesterday Faded wanted to double check that we had everything sorted and then we discovered the captain’s use of my cloak... so Faded got upset at him and he got upset at her. Back and forth... and he said he would find something to substitute my costume. So, hours before I came here the captain took me inside his home and wrapped me up in... well this.” Dusk Blade empathizes on her outfit.

“And let me tell you! Never let him put something on you... or choose something for you... or make it. Anyway, he deemed this okay! Faded and the others saw me and they were kinda... too shocked about what he did to correct it or complain and just dropped me off here.”

Twilight nods with a spent look on her face. “Okay... Now your mission...”

“Okay! What happened wasn’t my fault! You saw the captain wrapped my mouth too tightly like those “types” of books, so I couldn’t talk!” Twilight felt a wave of exhaustion upon hearing a guardsmare casually throwing her captain under the wagon.

“I followed Princess Luna for a while, getting candy to blend it but because I couldn’t use my mouth, I couldn't eat it! So…,” Dusk Blade lets out a hiss. “I gave that…. Pink little demon my bag of candy out of the kindness of my heart and she took that as a soul–binding contract instead! Her and her gang of... beasts decided that I would keep giving them free candy I picked up! If I was with them!” Dusk Blade throws her hoof up in the air as she speaks with strong venom in her voice.

“I couldn’t say anything and those beasts surrounded and... and foalnapped me!” Twilight immediately cringed upon hearing a grown guardsmare saying a group of foals had foalnapped her.

“They dragged me house to house to get them their damned candy! Then you came and saved me from those beasts! Thank you, Twilight!” Dusk Blade smiles at the unicorn, it quickly fades upon seeing Twilight facehoofing.

“I... I...” Twilight shuts her eyes tightly. Moving her hoof from her face, she lets out a sigh and looks up to the night sky. “You know what... none of that matters right now. All that matters is that we get you back to Princess Luna’s side and hope she hasn’t noticed you leaving her.”

“Okay... but please don’t tell the others about what happened! Faded and the others will never let it down if they found out about… this…” Dusk Blade asks desperately.

Twilight rolls her eyes and sighs. “I won’t tell them. Now let’s get you back out there.”

Dusk Blade smiles and nods. The two walked out back onto the street and entered the populated zones again. Twilight anger fading as they two walked around the town, searching for Princess Luna.

‘ Hm... I wonder if batponies celebrate Nightmare Night? ‘

Curious, Twilight looks over to Dusk Blade and asks. “Dusk Blade, do bat ponies celebrate Nightmare Night?”

“Yeah! Though we don’t celebrate it like uh... normal ponies.”

Twilight tilts her head, “Oh? How do you celebrate it?”

Dusk Blade tilts her head and looks up, thinking for a moment. “We hold a ceremony in Hollow Shades where we uh... it’s weird to say it now since she’s back, but we celebrate the eventual return of our princess. It’s sort’ve a bittersweet holiday for us I think, every time I visited during it there was either some crying or some overly happy that the night where she was coming was arriving.”

“You don’t participate?” Twilight asks with wide eyes.

“Not really... too boring. I don’t really know what we do on it, that’s something you should ask Fallen. I personally make the holiday more fun by taking the little pups out and scaring travelers at night!” Dusk Blade snickers while Twilight just gives her a deadpan stare.

‘ So, she’s having a hoof in their bad reputation... ‘

“Well, what about now? Princess Luna’s back... What will you celebrate as Nightmare Night now?”

Dusk Blade shrugs. “I dunno... probably celebrate her return. I don’t participate in our community much.”

Twilight opens her mouth but Dusk Blade puts a hoof over it and glares at her. “Not because I’m a hybrid.”

“Oh. Sorry...”

It’s okay… just annoying… others often ask me that question and it just gets annoying overtime.” Dusk Blade frowns a bit. “I just don’t really like hanging out in the same place with the same people... It’s why I signed up to be in the Lunar Guard, to travel, be sneaky, and also hang out with the captain!” Dusk Blade mood picks back up and she smiles..

Twilight gives a small smile in response. “Why is the captain part of your reasoning?”

“Well... that’s a bit personal...” Dusk Blade looks away with a faint blush on her cheeks. Feeling her danger sense tingling, her mind quickly darted to any question that could dodge any chance of learning the meaning of her blush.

“D-does the captain visit Hollow Shades on Nightmare Night!?” Twilight internally slaps herself across the face for asking a question she already knew the answer to.

“Nope. He doesn’t. Though... Faded does invite him out there on the holiday, but he declines of course. Mhmmm...” Dusk Blade thinks for a moment, a frown on her face.

“Now that I think about it... I don’t know if he knows any Equestrian holidays... I know uhm... that on Hearth’s Warming Celestia and Faded do give him gifts! But I don’t think they will tell him why.” Twilight looked at her in confusion, opening her mouth but shaking her head. She knew Dusk Blade didn’t have the answer to her question.

‘ I’ll have to ask Faded Light the next time I see her...’

“I don’t think he knows much about Equestrian culture; despite him you know... being here for a long time. I think he’s either faking it or he’s not learning on purpose... cause he knows what holidays to give us our days off. Unless... hmm… maybe Celestia sends him a letter to inform him. Mhmm, just a theory.” Twilight allowed her theory to penetrate her mind.

‘ The Celestia part seems more likely but... if he’s been around for years then he should have some knowledge of Equestria’s culture under his belt... Maybe he really doesn’t know the holidays but he has to know something... I should quiz him... but maybe... introducing him to holidays could be a good way to open him up! Nothing brings ponies closer to each other than holidays! ’

Twilight turns to Dusk Blade, “Do you think the captain would appreciate some treats from Nightmare Night? It would be a good introduction to the holiday.”

Dusk Blade beams. “That's not a bad idea! The captain would definitely be curious if I gave him some Nightmare Night edition sweets!” Twilight smiles and turns her head to look for the limited edition holiday treats.

“Are thou talking about thy captain?” The duo instantly jump away from the voice, spinning around midair to face the sudden voice, Dusk blade quickly positioning herself in front of Twilight in a protective manner. The duo’s eyes widened upon seeing the voice belonging to hovering Princess Luna.

“Hahahaha! Truly the art of fear on this wonderful night is magnificent!” Princess Luna says as she unleashes a round of laughter. Dusk Blade stares at Luna in bewilderment before it dawns on her that it was her princess and drops down to kneel before her.

“P-p-princess Luna I’m sorry for my late introduction and f-f-failure to be by your side! Please f-forgive me!” Dusk Blade pleaded desperately.

Princess Luna raised a brow as she landed before the two, she looked over the guard for a silent moment. Her eyes widening upon realizing who it was, a faint blush on her cheeks as the princess quickly adjusts herself to put up a more stoic, regal façade.

“Ah yes, thou are named Dusk Blade, 2^nd classed private of my guard, correct?”

“Y-yes...”

“Mn... thou were supposed to guard thee since arrival, where have thou been this fine night.” Dusk Blade started to sweat in response to the question.

Twilight walks over to Dusk Blade's side and pats her back, looking up to Luna with a small smile. “Sorry Princess Luna, she was guarding you but when I found out this was her first Nightmare Night...-”

“What? No, it’s—” Twilight puts her hoof on top of Dusk Blades head and pushes down slightly to silence her.

“Out here... so I wanted to show her how we do Nightmare Night, I’m really sorry that disrupted her mission.” Twilight bowed her head to the princess. Dusk Blade's eyes opened slightly when she realized what the unicorn was doing and did her best nod she could while kneeling with a hoof on her head.

“Ah... well then, thou are excused. It is unreasonable for us to keep thou guardian away from the enjoyments of this wonderful night!” Luna says and raises a hoof as she looks up to the moon, a smile crossing her muzzle. Twilight releases Dusk Blade and the two look up at the princess with a smile.

“T-thank you, my princess!” Dusk Blade gives a wide smile.

“Now then... returning to the previous topic. Twilight Sparkle, we overheard thee mention thy captain.” Twilight and Dusk Blade tensed. “And... going with the context of you talking to a member of my guard we can assume thou means our Captain Faded Light?”

Dusk Blade and Twilight both shared a nervous look to each other and hesitantly they both nodded. “Y-yes... I’ve heard of Faded Light from my brother...”

“Captain Shining Armor of my sister’s guard, correct?”

“Yes...” Twilight slowly nodded.

‘ I don’t like where this is going… ‘

“I’ve heard of your brother; he is a fine captain. Somewhat better than… my own captain at the moment...” Luna sighed heavily. Twilight glanced at Dusk Blade, finding the guardmare’s mouth scrunched up and sweat falling down her face.

“R-really I heard Faded Light was a g-good captain...” Twilight raised a brow, sweat starting to form on her coat.

“We would like to agree but... she has proved to be very... stubborn and rude...” Luna frowns. Twilight and Dusk Blade physically winced, feeling Faded Light's reputation being thrown into the Tartarus because of the captain.

“We wanted thy entire guard to come with thee on this wonderful night but work took hold of them, when thou tried to find a way to bring them around our captain dismissed it by deeming my wishes as... “Incompetent wishes of a child...” Luna huffs.

Twilight eye twitches, she looks at Dusk Blade, finding the mare staring hard at a rock on the ground with a fully scrunched up muzzle. Twilight leaned her head over to the frozen pony and whispered. “He sent her a letter without proofreading...!?”

Dusk Blade’s eyes moved away, removing any centimeter of lavender or Starswirl coat in her vision. “F-faded thought after your session he picked up on some e-etiquette... and let him write his own letters without her looking over them for a bit...”

Twilight couldn’t even process the answer, was Faded Light in the wrong? Was the Ratimir in the wro—No, he was definitely in the wrong here. Twilight closed her eyes and raised her head, letting her anger run its course through her body for a moment before resuming her neutral expression. Looking back at Luna she finds the princess in her own thoughts at the moment.

“Princess Luna?”

“Sorry... remembering the rudeness sent thou in our thoughts for a moment. “ Princess Luna looks down at the unicorn with a thoughtful expression. Her eyes travel over to the nervous bat pony to the side and a small smile forms.

“Perhaps we should reintroduce ourself to the guard once again…” Dusk Blade and Twilight looked at the princess with fear clear on their faces. “Yes! That is what we must do! It has been centuries since I've spoken to the former captain, it is only natural that they would lose some respect for thou over time! I believe it is time to visit my guard.” Luna gives a warm closed-eye smile at Dusk Blade. Dusk Blade on the other hoof was looking between her and Twilight in panic.

Twilight stared at the princess in bewilderment, letting what she said repeat in her head a couple of more times before opening her mouth to counter it. “You—” Twilight quickly puts her hoof in her mouth as a realization dawns on her.

‘ I can’t counter her! She’s a princess! Not only that but if I speak up about it then she’ll definitely know I’m connected to the guard! I... I actually can’t stop this! ‘

Twilight quickly looks at the panicking silent bat pony.

‘ But she can! ‘

Twilight motions with her head to say something to Dusk Blade, the bat pony realizing the implication and shaking her head. Twilight glared hard at the bat pony; Dusk Blade shakes her head faster making Twilight glare even harder. Twilight letting built up anger take hold of her for a moment she ignites her horn as a threat, Dusk Blade’s pupils shrink and reluctantly she turns to look up at her princess.

“W-w-well Princess I... uh...” Dusk Blade started to sweat strongly, her eyes moving around as she spoke. Princess Luna opens her eyes and looks at her with a raised brow.

“Tis something the matter?”

“Noooo... no... no... it’s.... just... I … or... Uh... We... uh...” Dusk Blade shook. Luna tilted her head, concern starting to appear over her face.

“W-w-w-would be so HAPPY to have you grace your presence at our base!” Dusk Blade breaks, giving a wide strained smile. Twilight smacked her hoof against her face.

“Wonderful!” Luna raises her hoof into the air in joy. “Upon the next whole moon, we shall come upon thy new headquarters!”

Luna looks at Twilight with a big smile on her face. “And Twilight Sparkle, I do offer an invitation to join me on this! A showcase of my guard and my side of power!”

Twilight gives the best smile it could at the moment, a twisted amalgamation of fake happiness, anger, disappointment, and despair. “T-that’ll be I-interesting... I t-think I'll a-accept it....”

“Truly wonderful! Haha!” The princess smiles widely at the two frozen ponies. Looking away from them and back to the populace her smile refuses to falter.

“Mnn... Dusk Blade.” Dusk Blade stands at full attention. “We shall spend a little more time here before returning to the castle for the night, we will inform you once we do so you may return to your unit. Until then enjoy the night to thou fullest!”

With that said, Luna takes flight once again and soars off to somewhere else in town. Dusk Blade letting out a sigh of relief only to tense back up as she feels the heated glare coming from the pony next to her, Dusk Blade quickly faces her and smiles.

“What. was. that?” Twilight says harshly while hardening her glare to the mare.

“....Y-you can’t expect me to d-deny and lie to my princess right in her face!” She quickly defends herself.

“You should’ve! Now the situation is worse!”

“W-well she invited you and you’re the one who caused this in the first place!” Dusk Blade pokes the unicorn's chest.

“Excuse me!?” Twilight raised a brow.

“You talked about the captain in public and so happened that my princess overheard it! You caused it! “Twilight’s brows furrowed and her muzzle scrunched up.

“And since she invited you... you have no excuse to NOT come with her and help fix your mess!” Dusk Blade leans back and looks at the unicorn with a nervous smirk.

“I had things I wanted to do! I was going to go stargazing on the next full moon and take notes to see if Princess Luna has any effect on star constellations to put that theory to rest!”

“Too bad!” Dusk Blade sticks her nose up in the air, Twilight glares at her for a long minute before sighing.

“Ugh! Fine I’ll help you... not because I did it, it was definitely your fault!” Twilight pokes the bat mare’s chest, making the guardsmare frown. “But because if Luna finds out about the captain, then it’ll throw my mission all over the place!”

“You mean being Celestia's wingmare mission?” Dusk Blade says casually with a grin breaking on her face.

“Dusk Blade, I will teleport you into that apple bobbing bucket over there if you say that again.” Twilight said with hate laced in her words. Dusk Blade looking away and whistling. Twilight lets out the heaviest sigh for the night and looks up at the moon with a mix of despair and tiredness.

‘ Will I ever catch a break…? ‘

VIII - The Full Moon Night

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“Why...” A yawn escapes from Twilight. “...Did I forget that this was going to take place at night...” The unicorn grumbles tiredly as she walks through the empty streets of Canterlot. Her eyes looking at the sides of the street now and then, uneasiness dripping into her. The darkened alleyways, the silence, and the dimmed warm yellow light from the streetlamps all checked off the unicorn’s list for a setting of a bad event about to take place.

‘ I knew I should’ve come here during the day and booked a temporary stay in my room until night court! I could’ve taken a nap... ‘

Twilight lets out a sigh that transforms into a yawn halfway through. A frown creasing her lips and hints of weariness crawling up inside her. Levitating a disposable cup she had with her filled with the rich mixture of grinded coffee beans and water with bits of sugar in it, she brings it up to her face as she walks to take in the bitter scent and letting wash over her in a silent effort to keep her brain from giving the absolute order of sleep before raising it up to her lips and taking a long sip.

“Aaah...” Twilight exhales, closing her eyes for a moment to let the bitter-sweetness run its course. A wave of temporary energy infiltrates her body and lets her continue her travel, with weariness fading away. “I hope I can get a refill at the castle...” Twilight murmurs to herself, eyeing the castle in the distance. She travels silently to the castle, taking in the sights of the nocturnal Capital. It was a new experience to see the very lively city turn into a silent haven.

‘ I’m starting to understand why Princess Luna fell now, kind of... If I noticed that during the daytime my city was lively but when it’s my time to be in charge and the city was like this... I would feel undervalued as well... ‘

Twilight pondered if Princess Luna still held onto that feeling, the elements of harmony may have destroyed Nightmare Moon but, Nightmare Moon only came to be due to Princess Luna’s bitterness and anger. Twilight frowned at that and hoped her experience on Nightmare Night removed it... even if only for a little bit. She looked up and gazed at the full moon that washed the city in its light.

“...Was the sky always this beautiful...?” Twilight tilts her head, unsure if the princess in charge had changed something or not with the night sky. Going around the corner and entering the main street to the castle, she takes another sip from her cup, just to wet her mouth with bitter-sweetness at the moment.

‘ I hope Dusk Blade told Faded Light the situation... she had three days to do it, and I hope they made a plan with how they were going to deal with this too... I really do hope I don’t have to improvise for them. ‘

Wedging a small probability of hope into her system. The unicorn finally makes it to the castle steps, drinking the last bits of her cup, she closes the lid and tucks the sealed cup into her saddlebags before going up the stairs. Her eyes lit up a bit upon finding the first sign of life in the city, of course that sign of life being the scheduled night duty Solar Guards stationed at the outer gate of the castle. The Guard duo’s eyes lock onto the unicorn and widen in surprise briefly before returning to their Stoic nature, quickly giving a salute to the student.

Twilight smiles and gives him a nod of acknowledgement as she walks past them and into the small courtyard. Looking around, she noticed there were... a lot of members of the Solar Guard during the night, all donning dark stylized Solar Guard armor with white or dark blue plumes. Examining the guards, a teaspoon of embarrassment was dropped into her mind.

‘ Looking at them now... It’s... really obvious that they were members of the Solar Guard... and if you never met the Lunar Guard before, then Princess Celestia’s deception works really well. ‘

Mentally noting down to compare the design of Solar Guard armor to the Lunar Guard’s armor she resumes her travel, walking through the main doors into the castle, Twilight pauses as blue light washes over her. Her eyes landed onto the stained-glass imagery of the lunar side of royalty on the left side of the solar stained-glass. Twilight found a small smile on her face and bowed to the window before going towards the throne room corridor.

Entering the corridor, her nose is tested, a strong scent stopping the unicorn in her tracks. The unicorn sniffs the air and looks down the corridor with a puzzled look before sniffing the air again.

“This is... Lavender?” Twilight tilts her head. Slowly walking down the corridor she looks along the stained-glass windows, finding no sign until she looks up and spots a bouquet of lavender placed in the scones of the pillars between the windows. Twilight blinks and looks around, noticing every wall sconce in the corridor was filled in with lavender bouquets. Twilight tilts her head as she stares at the decoration.

‘ Were these always here, and I never noticed them…? Why are they—Wait! Lavender has properties in its scent! Aiding in relaxation, allergies, and sleep! This has to be Princess Luna’s doing! ‘

Her eyes widened in realization. She looks down the hallway, taking the moment to admire the visual fact that every single scone in the corridor was filled in with the plant. A brief wonder on when she started to do this and how long it took her to do this.

“If... Princess Luna is doing it for aiding sleep, then... that’s really thoughtful!” Twilight smiled and walked down the corridor, taking in the scent as she moved. A sigh of peace escapes her as she feels no nervousness welling up in her as she stands before the door, raising her hoof and knocking against the door. Silence ensures afterward, making the unicorn grow somewhat uncomfortable now that she didn’t feel her usual nervousness.

After a brief moment of faint rustling behind the door, a familiar royal Canterlot voice came through “Thou may enter the Lunar court!”

Twilight stands there, waiting for a guard on the inside to open the door, but after a minute of inactivity she decides to slowly push open the door and enter. Her eyes looking to the sides and finding no guards in the throne room. Instead, the only being that was occupying the room was the Princess of the night, sitting on the throne with a look of happiness that seemed to grow upon seeing Twilight.

“Twilight Sparkle! We have been awaiting thy arrival!” Princess Luna stands up and nearly prances her way down from the throne.

“We are pleased that thou has truly made do on our invitation!” She smiles widely, starting to prance in place. “Oh, how joyous thy arrival has made our night!” Twilight smiles as she watches the Lunar Princess express her excitement. Her eyes couldn’t help but linger on the spots where the guards are usually stationed... well, at least when Celestia is occupying the throne room.

“Um... Princess Luna?” The Princess stops her prancing and looks down at Twilight.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Where are the guards? For the throne room, I mean...” Twilight asks as she looks around the throne room.

“Ah. Well... during these hours no pony normally visits these hours unless they plan to rob thy castle or have a matter of grave importance that requires the night court... that, and we personally dislike being guarded by members not from our own guard. We have seen the training my sister’s guard partakes in it is... unimpressive. We have a better chance of defending ourselves from a threat than they do at even trying to halt it.” Princess Luna says with a bitter tone in her voice.

A sigh escapes the princess as she looks over to the lunar stained-glass windows that patterned in the throne room. “After our trip on Nightmare Night we decided to look into our guard in preparation for this night and... it seems my sister has given them new duties and roles while we were exiled. It seems we may have to redesign the Lunar Guard if my sister has made them lean more into the Solar teachings or styles of combat. We were hoping this would be a nice journey and showcase of my guard, but it seems this will be more of an inspection.”

Twilight nods, understanding her reasoning. Feeling the awkwardness starting to leak into the room as the Lunar royal stares at the window in silent thought, Twilight decides to push the awkwardness out of the room. “That's okay! I’m still looking forward to the trip... Also, I noticed that there were lavender bouquets placed in the wall scones outside the throne room... Did—” Twilight shuts her mouth as the princess spins around with a warm smile and sparkle in her eyes.

“Oh, thou have noticed our efforts!” Twilight wasn’t sure if she had heard the princess release a small “squee” or her mind conjured it to go with the moment, but it made her heart pause for a moment. Princess Luna walks past the unicorn to open the throne room doors and look down the corridor.

“Recently we hath discovered that lavender’s scent is able to assist in aiding ponies in giving them a restorative sleep! So, every night since we found this, we have been planting bouquets of the wonderful plant into the most populous sections of the castle to aid in giving my sister and the staff a good rest!” She says with a hint of pride in her voice.

“That's very thoughtful of you, Princess Luna!” Twilight nods, pleased with having her theory confirmed.

“Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.” She smiles, after a moment of calming herself down, the princess looks back down the corridor before walking down it.

Twilight quickly follows behind, though looks behind in some confusion. “Hm? Are we going now? What about the night court?”

“As we said, no pony visits the night court. We shall cancel it for tonight. Our... “trip” is more important than a noble's cry for misguided justice.”

Twilight frowned at that, but seeing the Princess’s moods earlier, it seemed she had gotten over the bitterness... or at least Twilight hoped she had. Going to the princess’s side, the royal mare began an explanation of the history of the Lunar Guard. Twilight zoning it out halfway through due to it being nearly the exact same story that Princess Celestia had already told her about. However, her attention was brought back when Princess Luna began to explain the duties of the old Lunar guard.

“The Lunar Guard of the past were not your standard guard unit, Twilight Sparkle... They were looked up as the elite guard of Canterlot! Trained to deal with more dangerous tasks and events! Ready to sweep in and bite an assassin’s arrow out of the air before it could hit us! They were a unit that made the populous hesitate to go against the throne! Haha!” Luna curls her hoof up and gives a prideful grin as she moves, only for it to falter and a sigh leaving her.

“However, as great as that was... it prevented my bat ponies from being accepted by the public. It isolated them from my sister's guard and the public. Leaving them to be only with themselves and we. After our exile, our sister decided with the sudden promotion of a new captain to my guard four-hundred moons ago to remove them from Canterlot and place them closer back to their hometown, Hollow Shades.” Twilight's brain immediately freezes on that small statement.

“F-four hundred years ago your s-sister promoted a somepony to the Lunar Guard?” Twilight looked up at the princess with surprises.

“Aye. According to the document he was a member of my sister’s guard... rose through the ranks quite quickly and my sister decided to make him in charge of my guard and move them away. His name was Lord Loyal Blade, though his imagery has gone away with the passage of time I imagine he must’ve been quite the stallion.” Twilight stared at the princess in bewildered fear before shaking her head.

‘ No way! It c-couldn't be him... He can’t be THAT old now! R-r-right!? ‘

“After his promotion, my sister decided to change how my guard functioned through him… Their duties now involved taking out threats to Equestria from the shadows and the guard being downsized... We don’t know why she decided to shrink my guard down, but we can only hope that it was for a good reason.” Luna says with some agitation in her tone. Twilight ignores it, distracted by the statement, turning her head and scrunching her muzzle up in silent screaming.

‘ It is him! It has to be! The information matches! And of course Princess Celestia would hide his real identity on papers! He's f-f-f-f-f-f-f-four hundred moons old!? How long does his kind live for!? How come he doesn’t know much about Equestria for being around four-hundred moons old! WHAT!? ‘

“Twilight Sparkle, watch where thou wa—” Twilight smacks chest-first to the balcony railing, knocking the small wind out of her. She puts a hoof on her chest and takes a deep breath in as the Lunar Princess pats her back.

“Thou seem distracted, ’tis something wrong?” The princess asks with concern in her tone.

“N-no...” Twilight rubs her chest. “I was j-just thinking about the story you told... the Lunar Guard seem fascinating!” Princess Luna smiles and stands beside the unicorn to gaze over the east of Equestria.

“We wish thou were there in our guard's prime, Twilight Sparkle. Then again, if thou were there then thou wouldn’t be able to be around to defeat Nightmare Moon...” She frowns at that but shakes her head. “Either way, tonight thou will bear witness to the forty-third generation of Lunar Guard with us, Twilight Sparkle. We hope thou art prepared.”

“Mhmm! I’m ready, Princess Luna!” Twilight answers. Princess Luna nods, closing her eyes and igniting her horn. Twilight prepares herself, recognizing the change in the air was a teleportation spell slowly coming to life. Taking a deep breath, the unicorn calms her nerves and straightens herself up, her ears briefly picking up the sound of her empty cup jostling in her saddlebags. Snapping her eyes open, she spins her head to the princess.

“Wait! I forgot to tell you I need some cof—” A wave of cobalt blue washes over the two before releasing a bright flash that consumed them both. Twilight freezes up until the flash fades and her eyes adjust back to the normal lighting of the outside world. “—fee...”

Princess Luna slowly opens her eyes and looks down at the unicorn. “Apologies, but did thou say something?”

“No...” Twilight sighs and looks around the area, finding herself back into the tall grassy landscape of the countryside of Equestria. Her eyes naturally travel up the hill they were on and seeing the Lunar Base in the distance. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one that noticed the house in the distance.

“How strange... our coordinates for their location should be correct. Was a mistake made by us?” The princess vocally questions herself. Twilight’s ears flop as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

‘ And so, it begins... ‘

Twilight hesitantly looks over to the princess, shuts her eyes for a moment when a flash is made as the princess teleports a scroll into her aura. The princess scans over the scroll and then looks over the distant house in silence, eventually after two minutes of silent judgment she teleports the scroll away and sighs.

“We were correct... our coordinates lead to here...” Luna eyes the distant housing before slowly walking her way towards it.

“How... shoddy...” Luna mumbles under her breath. Twilight follows after her with a look of concern on her face.

‘ I really do hope Faded Light has a plan... ‘

Twilight witnesses the princess’s mood slowly deteriorate more as they get closer to the base, the princess’s eyes widening for a moment before a look of mixed annoyance and disappointment crosses her face as she gazes at the house-connected-barn-base. The two stop in front of the house, taking a moment to silently gaze at the entrance. Luna prepares to take her first step onto the porch when the sound of two beings clashing perks their ears up.

Moving their gaze to the barn, the princess takes the initiative and trots over to the barn. Before the unicorn could catch up, the princess wraps the door in her aura and pulls it open from the inside without hesitation. Twilight’s eyes widen, and she picks up her pace just in time to arrive at Princess Luna’s eyes widening in surprise for a second before returning to her neutral state. With a small cough, she announces her arrival with the royal Canterlot voice.

“Thy Princess has arrived!” Luna says with some happiness. Twilight peeks into the barn and gives an internal sigh of relief as she sees Dusk Blade, Faded Light, Moonfall, and… a new bat pony stallion in the training room. All frozen in the middle of an action, wearing expressions of surprise. Twilight nervously waves at the group, watching as shock fades from Faded Light and twists into anger as she spins around to glare at Dusk Blade. The mare in question looked away from her lieutenant with a scrunched muzzle.

‘ Celestia I swear on your name... ‘

Princess Luna slowly steps into the room, all the guards snapping out of shock and quickly dropping down to kneel before the princess. Princess Luna wears a small smile as she walks towards the kneeling guards, Twilight slowly following behind with worry on her features. The princess stops in front of the group and looks down at them, her eyes scanning over each pony before lingering on Faded Light.

“Art thou Captain Faded Light?” Faded Light stands up and gives a salute to her princess. “Yes, my princess! I am Lie-Captain Faded Light at your service ma’am!”

“Good... then we may discuss thy letter.” The princess of the night leans down and narrows her eyes down at the mare. Faded Light raises a brow, Dusk Blades eyes widening for a moment before her eyes dart away from the scene…

“Would thou be willing to explain, face to face, what thou truly meant… when thou called my desire to bring our guardians with us on our night of introduction to the public... nothing more than the ” Incompetent wishes of a child”…?” She says with strong anger in her tone. Faded Light freezes up, her eyes opening wide in surprise before her face shifts into a look of pure dread. Her eyes move to Twilight, pleading for assistance.

‘ Nope. You dug your own grave, Faded Light. ‘

Twilight looks away, pretending to find the wall more interesting than the scene at the moment. After a moment of silence lingering in the room, the accused mare takes in a deep breath and hesitantly answers. “I t-t-truly... apologize....” Faded Light barely manages out the word through gritted teeth. “For I-I-insulting you like that... It was an r-rough night, and I… w-wasn't in the best s-state of mind.”

“Hm.” Princess Luna huffs and raises her head high. “We sure do hope that is the case... We shall let thou off this time, but do it again and there will... be repercussions.”

“U-u-understood, My Princess!” Faded Light quickly bows her head.

“Now then, with that business settled with. Allow us and our companion, Twilight Sparkle, to witness the current state of my guardian's strength through the art of mock combat!” The princess throws her hoof up as her happiness returns to her. The guards rising up from their positions. Princess Luna takes a moment to scan the guard and points at Moonfall first, then to the new batpony stallion.

“Ranks, names, and titles.” The princess commands.

Moonfall stands up first and salutes. “Private first-class Moonfall!”

The second bat pony takes his time in throwing his head back in a stylish manner before giving a salute with a smirk. “Master Sergeant Great Star, ready to crush your foes for you, my Princess.”

“Wonderful, now then we desire you two to spar to the best of your abilities... not too hard to cause injuries or open wounds but enough to prove your skill in right to protect us.”

“U-understood!” Moonfall falters a bit as he glances over to the large bat pony, who only cracks his neck in response and snorts. Twilight grimaces at the difference between the two stallions and their body builds.

‘ It’s like Big Mac versus Hoity Toity.... ‘

“Take... your positions...” Faded Light says with hints of emotional damage in her voice.

The sparring match was about what Twilight expected, Moonfall was putting far more effort in the match than his opponent, the strong stallion easily overpowering the white bat pony at every trade of blows. Eventually, Twilight excuses herself to the princess with the reasoning of wishing to question the remaining bat ponies. With a nod, Twilight walks off and groups up with Dusk Blade and Faded Light in the corner, huddled in a triangle.

The moment the group is formed, Faded Light hisses at Dusk Blade before whispering, “Why did you not mention that our Princess was coming early!?”

“I didn’t know! I assumed that night court would take up her time!” Dusk Blade hissed back. Faded Light glares, making the smaller bat pony glare back, the two nearly butting heads before the unicorn intervened.

“To defend Dusk Blade here, the night court was… nonexistent when I visited Princess Luna.”

Faded Light looks over at the unicorn and raises a brow. “Wait, really?”

“Yes, the only beings around were the Solar Guard... there was no other pony in the castle...”

Dusk Blade tilts her head. “Did she seem really excited to see you then...?”

“Yeah actually... Now that I think about it, she perked up when I came in… and even mentioned that no pony comes to the night court…” Twilight brings a hoof to her chin as she reminisces.

“You were her first and only visitor tonight then...” Faded Light says, visibly uncomfortable with her own words.

“Yeah probably...” Dusk Blade looks away.

“Oh...” Twilight finds herself looking down. The trio shared a moment of silence for the princess. Eventually, the “Huzzah!” from the princess in the background knocks them out of their silence to glance at her, happily clopping her hooves together as she cheers on at the combat in front of her.

“Well... She’s enjoying herself now, that’s good at least... but back to the main issue at hoof here...” Faded turns her head back to the group, she opens her mouth to address the issue when Twilight jabs her hoof on the lieutenant's chest.

“After, you tell me why in the world did you think that letting Ratimir send his letters without proofreading them was a good idea!” Twilight narrows her eyes.

“Yeah! That's right! I’m not the only one who sort’ve made a mistake here!” Dusk Blade narrows her eyes at the lieutenant.

Faded Light scrunches her muzzle and looks away. A faint blush on her cheeks at being called out. “I... I was just trying to lighten my load... and have some hope...” She mumbles. Dusk Blades pats her back, her face turning in a look of pity.

Twilight lets out a sigh. “You already got chewed out, so I won’t go into it... Did Ratimir know Princess Luna was coming tonight?”

Dusk Blade gives a nod. “Mhmm! I made sure to tell him first out of everypony here after I came back.”

Though, you only told him that she was going to come after our usual training...” Faded Light says with some annoyance.

“Meaning...?” Twilight hesitantly asks.

“The captain might come in soon under the belief that by the time he finished teaching us tonight, and he went back inside she would arrive. We have to warn him before he comes out.” Faded Light looks between the mares.

“Okay! I’ll go inside and tell Ratimir then... Princess Luna assumes that this is the base, so I'm sure she won’t think about it much if I go inside his house.” The two mares nod in agreement.

“We can keep our princess distracted while you—” Dusk Blade's eyes open wide as she is pushed to the side, snapping the attention of the two mares. There, a sweaty Great Star takes the small mares position in the triangle. Twilight eyes widening as she notices how big he was up close and her brain automatically noting down his details such as his cobalt bluish gray coat, pale, light grayish lime green eyes, and a dark persian blue short buzz cut mane and stubby tail.

The stallion smirks and looks down at the lavender unicorn. Twilight glances over to Princess Luna. Finding her occupied with praising an exhausted Moonfall on the floor. “Twilight...” He pants between his words. “Sparkle... Nice to...” He lets out a deep exhale and shakes his head. “Meet ya...”

“Oh um... Nice to meet you too... Great Star, right?” Twilight gives a small fake smile.

“Correct... I just.... Whew... noticed you are looking really... and I mean really...” Dusk Blade angrily moves herself back into their group, turning it into a square. Faded Light glares at the stallion and opens her mouth to say something, but Great Star quickly puts his hoof over her muzzle. “Beautiful! On this fine night that our princess has... conjured! Yeah...” He wipes the sweat off his brow with his wing as he catches his breath.

Twilight blushes and looks down, rubbing her hoof against the ground. “Oh! Um... t-thank you...”

Great Star smiles. “If you allow me to... I would like to take you out on a—” Faded Light’s eyes narrow, and she quickly pulls away from his hoof and quickly intercepts his muzzle with her own hoof, a deadpan expression on her face. “He wants to date you, so he can get back at your brother for humiliating him years ago.”

Great Star pulls away and lets out a violent hiss at the lieutenant. She responds back with an even rougher hiss at the big stallion, making him reel his head back and grimace. Faded Light huffs and pulls away from Great Star.

“You wench...” Great Star growls.

“Shut up, you big oaf. We have bigger matters at hoof right now, and I don’t want to even bother with witnessing this grand scheme of vengeance from you in front of me or within my earshot!” Faded Light angrily says with Dusk Blade nodding with her

“Yeah! I can only withstand your terrible flirting for so long!” Dusk Blade pokes her small hoof against his broad chest. The stallion letting out a huff.

“Wait, what do you have against my brother?” Twilight asks, snapped out of her brief moment of vulnerability for the sake of fulfilling her new curiosity.

“Your brother—” Faded Light quickly puts her hoof over his muzzle again. “Bigger matters at hoof here, Twilight Sparkle...”

‘ I really want to know, though... What did my brother do to offend a member of the Lunar Guard... ‘

Twilight nods. “Yes! Sorry...”

“Just do what we discussed, and tonight should go smoothly for everypony.” The trio nodded, Great Star raising a brow at the mares.

“Alright then let's go—”

“A glorious match that was indeed, little moon! But now we believe it is the time to look into the rest of thy base to see if our sister has kept you in good hooves.” Princess Luna says within earshot of the group. All the mares' ears shooting up and bodies tensing up. Twilight quickly looked to Faded Light, the mare gave a silent nod with determination in her eyes before pushing Great Star away roughly. With a quick grapple maneuver, she wraps a hoof around the back of his neck and drags him to the princess with a smile on her face.

“Not yet, my Princess! We both wish to show our prowess as the higher ranks to you!” Faded Light ethustaticly says as she approaches.

“What! No, I don— Uof!” The stallion buckled upon being elbowed in the gut by the mare.

“Oh! How wonderful! We guess we can delay our inspection for another round of combat!” Princess Luna smiles widely and quickly sits back down. Moonfall slowly moves himself off the mat so the two bat ponies can take their places, the stallion being positioned against his will by the mare.

“You should go now...” Dusk Blades whispers to the unicorn. Twilight gives one last nod before trotting over to the door, grabbing the doorknob and quietly entering the house.

IX - The Moon and the Star

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“Ratimir?” Twilight speaks out with uneasiness peaking in her voice. She stood still by the door, ears perked up and listening for any signs of a disgruntled captain moving about. Much to her anxiety, her ears only pick up silence. Her eyes look down to the living \ kitchen area and find the lights have been dimmed down, giving the area an uncomfortable atmosphere to the unicorn. With the taking of the deepest gulp of air, she walks in, steeling her nerves for confronting the man.

‘ Welp...’

She turns to the left, glancing at the hallway. Slowly, she makes her way over to the corridor and peeks around the corner. Her eyes scan down the hallway, seeing the four doors, one on the right side, two on the left side, and the last one at the end of the hallway.

‘ I guess I’ll find out how the house is laid out tonight…’

Going around the corner, she puts her hoof down into the new domain, only to take a step back as she looks down the hallway with uncertainty. Closing her eyes and taking a deep inhale, she calms herself and slowly makes her way down the darkened hallway. Walking slowly, Twilight gritted her teeth as cold air stuck to her fur and penetrated into her skin. She wasn’t sure if the cold air was in her head due to stress and sleep deprivation, or reality.

The combination of fading light as she steps further into the hallway, silence except for her own hoofsteps against the wood, and a hallway started to raise her anxiety. All of these being cliché settings that stories used in horror books to set an eerie atmosphere, however encountering them in real life was… more effective than she ever thought they could be.

‘…and I thought the streets of Canterlot at night were scary…’

Wishing to end this silence, she speaks down the hallway. “R-ratimir!?” She stops and waits for a response for the moment. After being rewarded with silence for her patience the unicorns' ears fall down, and she resumes her journey down the hallway, eyes scanning the empty walls down to the door on the right side. Speeding up only a little, the unicorn stops once she makes it to the door

Twilight stands by the door and presses her ear against the door, hearing nothing within she slowly wraps her magic around the doorknob. The Unicorn slowly opens the door and takes a peek inside. Her eyes meeting a small stairway heading downwards into dark depths.

“Ratimir?” She calls down the staircase, receiving her usual answer of dreading silence. Opening the door further, she stares down the stairs. Her eyes squinting as she attempts to make some shape or bottom at the end of the staircase.

‘ Silence and darkness… never a good combination… Not helping with the fact that this is definitely a basement… What could somecreature that doesn’t go out keep in his basement…? Should I…?’

She plants down a single hoof onto the first step, the creaking of wood bending under her leaks out from the stairs, making Twilight quickly pull her hoof back and take a step back.

‘ Nope!. I’ve read enough thriller books to understand the outcome of entering basements like these. ‘

Twilight steps away and closes the door, turning around and moving further down the hallway. Her eyes went to the three remaining doors. Mentally singing a tune to herself as her eyes dance between the three doors, she eventually lands on the door at the end of the hallway simulations as her mental tune ends.

‘ That door is then…’

Picking up her pace she heads down to the door and recycles her listening technique, hearing nothing once again she grabs hold of the doorknob with her magic, and she peeks in once again. Her eyes slightly widened upon seeing the room within. It was without a doubt a bedroom, but it was the plainest bedroom Twilight had ever seen in her life. Looking around briefly and see no one around in the room, she entered.

The bedroom reminded her of paintings of old Canterlot’s peasant quarters. It was awfully bland, no decorations or signs of personality in the room, only a classic wooden frame bed with messy bedsheets, a wooden chest sat at the end of the bed. To the right side of the room there was a small circular red rug that Twilight could tell from the design alone that Princess Celestia had gotten him.

Standing against the wall with the rig was a rather big wooden wardrobe, tilting her head she could sum up that three mares or two stallions could fit inside it. A sigh escapes her as she makes a small spin around the room.

‘ Where is he? Did he leave? ‘

She glances around the room once again and does a double take when she notices the door on the left side of the wall. Standing there and staring at the lone door with a raised brow.

‘ How did I miss that…? ‘

Twilight shakes her head and grumbles to herself as she slowly walks up to the door, she opens her mouth to call out once again.

“Ratim—” Twilight freezes in place as the sound of the lock mechanism from within the door moves, her eyes widening as the doorknob turns and allows the door to open up. Steam pours out from the door like a wave, amidst the steam she sees the silhouette of the person she was looking for; a sigh of relief quickly makes its way out of her.

As the man steps out of the steam her eyes locked onto the exposed body of man, though his lower half was covered with a towel his chest contained features that piqued her curiosity. His body had the upper physique of a Minotaur's as she had thought when she met him, though his body build held less muscle than the average Minotaur could it still held very, very similar results.

His skin was strange to her, around his neck and forearms it seemed the coloration of the skin had darkened slightly. Her mind pondered if it was his kind version of fur patterns, looking over his chest her eyes freeze. She felt her blood freeze in her veins, her heart stopping for a moment, and her muscle stiffened to uncomfortable points. Her eyes focused on the man's left shoulder.

A deep scar presided on his left shoulder, reaching down almost to his pecs. Twilight knowledge from books about Equestrian wars, battles, and outcomes did not help her at this moment. Her brain processes the details of his scar, analyzing the healed wound and thrusting a mini-autopsy into her head to the best of her knowledge.

‘ Axe wound, the weight of the axe and the force of the swing helped push it down. Gash-type wound, broke through his collar bone and only stopped, probably because of his muscular system. Chances of survival… ten—no, five percent probably, maybe… ‘

She shivered, her brain nearly conjuring the scenario of him receiving the blow but shaking it out of her head quickly. The thought of seeing him… brutally axed down. Destroying multiple bodily systems in one go and seeing the aftermath… it made her stomach churn and her body quake. Multiple thoughts raced through her head, how was he alive? Who struck him? Why did they strike? How was he? Was he okay?

“What are you doing here… Twilight… Sparkle, did I get that right?” Twilight blinks once, reality returning to her. Her eyes moved away from the wound and onto the annoyed, confused face of the captain.

Twilight opens her mouth, finding her voice returning to her. “Ra-Ratimir! I’ve been looking for you!”

“Don’t ignore my question.” He gives her a deadpan glare.

“We have more important matters than that! Princess Luna is here!”

The captain stares at her, eyes narrowed and a frown on his face. Crossing his arms slowly and tilting his head, “Really…? I was told she was coming later… what are you doing here, anyway?”

“W-well she invited me to come with her, and it turns out her duties tonight ended earlier than expected soo…” The captain puts a hand on his face and groans.

“What the hell… damn bothersome, she is…” He throws his hand off his face and walks over to the wardrobe. Twilight watched the man, staring mainly at the scar again and noticing that it even spread over to his back. Her body releasing a strong shiver through her body as she stared at it.

‘ He didn’t get a gash…. He… he… he got cleaved… ‘

Twilight opened her mouth but shut it quickly. She wanted to ask him about it, and talk about that scar. Not out of curiosity for how it got there… well maybe a little but mainly if he was… okay. There was no way a creature without armored skin could take a hit like that and not be in good shape, physically and… mentally.

‘ Does… he get nightmares about it? Does it still hurt? How is he still alive? ‘

Thoughts like those swarmed her head. He was a stubborn, angry, and annoying existence she has to deal with… yet she couldn’t help but be concerned for him. She looked down, realizing how strange this was for her. The Twilight from months ago would’ve been terrified of this man and not want to be within three miles of him but now… she found herself reaching a hoof out to the man slowly, concerned about starting to make its presence visible on her face.

“I’ll stay inside until that brat leaves, so you head back out there.” He says as he removes his towel in front of the unicorn and pulls out his clothing from the wardrobe. The annoyance in his voice hits her like a magic bolt, her stretched out hoof stopping in midair before slowly returning to the ground along with her eyes.

‘ No… I shouldn’t… it’s insensitive, and we’re not that close… ‘

Twilight looks back up at the man as he finishes putting on his pants and tunic. She inhales through her nose and puts on her best neutral face she could at the moment.

“Understood?” He turns around to the unicorn as he adjusts his belt.

“Understood…” They shared a nod before heading out to the hallway together. Twilight glances up at him, seeing him just wearing his normal stoic look on his face, a tiny bit of relief putting itself into her heart.

‘ He seems fine… I think… Should I write to Princess Celestia about it… see if she knows? Maybe… I’ll think about it when I get home… ‘

Twilight gives a closed-eye sigh and looks back down the hallway. In a mere moment Twilight becomes a victim of slowed perception. Her eyes lock over onto a strange dark blue flowing substance with shining lights within as if resembling stars that was leaking around the corner. It wasn’t until the next ten seconds of the strange misplaced thing entering into her view more that Twilight realized it was Princess Luna.

‘ I forgot she was coming in here! ‘

Her eyes shrunk, and she quickly came to a stop as the princess continued to enter her view more and more. The unicorn spins her gaze over to the captain, finding him in a similar state as her. Wide-eyed and clearly caught off guard before returning to his neutral, Stoic look and spins on the heel of his foot back around. Twilight blinks as she watches the man silently head back to the room.

“Come! Come our guardians! Let us see if thy quarters are up to proper standards!” The voice of the lunar princess slings its way down the hallway, blasting Twilight In the face with a full realization of what just occurred within a few seconds. Finally, receiving her reaction, she trots down the hall to the princess. Heart beating against her chest as she glances back down the hallway and sees the bedroom door shutting silently.

Looking back at the princess, Twilight finds the rest of the guard following behind Princess Luna, Moonfall and Great Star visibly nervous and hesitant to step foot into the buildings. Faded Light kept hers more controlled, her face stayed Stoic, but she wobbled with each step as she entered. Dusk Blade on the other hoof looking around with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight quickly makes her way to the group, her hoofsteps gaining the attention of the group. Princess Luna frowned a bit upon seeing the small unicorn, turning around and approaching her with a disgruntled look.

“Tis rude to enter before royalty, Twilight Sparkle.” Her voice refused to hide her displeasure.

“I’m s-sorry, Princess Luna… I was just really…… c-curious! About the inside and got impatient…” Twilight lies casually to the princess. Princess Luna stares at the unicorn in silence before letting out a soft sigh. “'Tis to be expected of a young scholar learning new things, we cannot be upset for thy curiosity of the unknown…” Princess Luna smiles, slowly she leans her head down to be at eye level with Twilight, her hoof poking her small chest. “Just tell us before thou act, okay?”

Twilight nods with a forced smile. Great Star leans his head down over to Faded Light and whispers within Twilight hearing range. “Look at that, Faded Light… seems she has more rank than you.”

Despite the absurdity of the comment, it does its job. Faded Light’s left eye twitching before she snaps her head and hissed angrily at the Master Sergeant, Great Star pulling his head away quickly and looking away with a smirk on his face.

Luna raises her head back up and looks over the guard, “Now then, back to our inspection!” she says with a raised hoof only to slam it down and trot deeper into the room with the guard following her. Twilight joins in with the guard, and they follow behind the princess. Princess Luna stops once she makes it to the border between the kitchen and living room. Her eyes look around the room, her smile slowly fading from her face.

“Hmmm… It appears my sister has given thee… decent quarters?” She says with a mixture of confusion and uncertainty. Her eyes stopped on the walls and looked at the series of paintings and pictures. She tilted her head and grimaced faintly. “We see our… sister has… put her decorating skills to the test here… we really wish somepony would tell her that her decorating skills are… sub-par…”

‘ Honestly… ‘

Twilight, realizing the Princess’s mood was going down, looks over to Faded Light and speaks up. “Um… Lieu-Captain Faded Light this is your break room, right? It’s quite impressive… remind me of uh… old equestria!”

Faded Light stares at her, a brow raised until it clicks in her head. “A-ah, yeah this is our break room…”

Princess Luna looks back at the two and gives a little “hmph” sound before turning to look at the kitchen and living room. “'Tis true… despite it being… shabby… it does provide more comfort than the resting rooms we’ve witnessed in the past.” Princess Luna steps into the kitchen and starts to browse the cabinets. Seeing the opportunity of a distracted princess, Faded Light turns to Twilight and whispers. “Did you tell the captain?”

“Mhmm! He’s hiding at the end of the hallway.” Twilight glances over to the hallway. “We just need to keep Princess Luna out of there, and we should be good.”

Faded Light nods and motions the rest of the guards to come closer. “Keep our princess from the door at the end! Understood!?” The lieutenant whispers to the rest of the group.

“Easier said than done, Faded. She’s an alicorn, and we’re just guards.” Great Star looks down the hall. “ Doesn’t help that it's the door at the end. When somepony enters a hallway, the first door they lock onto is the one at the end of the hallway…” Great Star huffs.

“That… is true” Twilight brings her hoof up to her chin as she thinks about it.

“Mhm, despite what lil Faded tells you she’s all impulse and no brains, I on the other hand am all wisdom… and brains.” He smirks and winks at the unicorn. Faded Light glares at the stallion with an anger that could burn a hole right through a frying pan.

Moonfall chimes in. “… And We’re not even supposed to be in here! If the Captain finds out we entered his home, then… Ugh, I can’t even imagine what pun—Dusk Blade!” Everyponies eyes snapped onto Dusk Blade, finding the mare rubbing her face against the divan couch.

“Sooosh… shoof…” The small mare says as she buries her face in the couch cushions. Twilight glaring the mare, igniting her horn and grabbing hold the mares tail to yank her back into the group. She lets out a hiss as she returns to the group, Moonfall smacking the back of her head.

Faded Light looks at Great Star. “And you have the audacity to call ME impulsive…”

“It’s true.” He doubles down without hesitation. Faded Light raises her hoof and balls it up, ready to hit the stallion but relents, dropping her hoof and looks back at Dusk Blade and dishes her anger onto her. “Dusk Blade, what the Tartarus goes through that small skull of yours!?” Faded Light hisses.

Dusk Blade turns her head and pouts. “Well, as long as the Captain doesn’t know… I think we’re free to look around… “ Dusk Blade looks at the guards and raises a hoof up. “I mean, don’t you find his home interesting too?”

“Yes! I mean no! That’s not the point! We’re here to stop our princess from finding out about him! Not use this moment to look through home like a bunch of dirty thieves!” Faded Light glares at the private. Dusk Blade sighing in defeat and mumbling “I guess soooo….”

Faded Light runs a hoof down her face and glares at the guards. “Prevent our princess from going to that door at all cost. This is an order, understood?” The guards sigh before giving a collective nod. Twilight looks over to the kitchen upon noticing the lack Princess Luna’s voice in the background and looks back at the Princess and finds her in an odd state of happiness through the browsing of condiments. With an eyebrow raised, she walks over to the Lunar Princess.

Princess Luna notices her presence and spins to meet her with jars of herbs and old spices in her magic. “Haha! Twilight Sparkle, gaze upon these pieces of culinary plant life!” The princess pushes the jars more to Twilight direction, causing the unicorn to reel her head back a bit as she stared at them.

‘… I have no idea what these plants are…’

Her cluelessness appeared on her face, making Princess Luna frown a bit and pull the jars away from the unicorn. “These, Little scholar, are rare plants. Found in the depths of the Everfree lands and the hottest areas of the south-western desert... Pennyroyal and Cicely.” Luna explains as she opens the jar and takes a whiff from the jar with Pennyroyal in it and lets out a relaxed sigh. “Often used in culinary goods or wonderful tea.”

Princess Luna opens the jar containing cicely and sniffs, letting another sigh come out of her. “Back when we were young our sister held a garden in the back of our home, we used to take a stroll once occasionally and take in the scents of these plants… how wonderful to see them still around after all this time…” The princess closes the jar and looks at the plant with a relaxed smile. Twilight looked up at her with a mixture of concern and confusion.

‘ I’m… not sure if this is sad or… really sweet… ‘

Princess Luna turns around and slowly puts the jars back in the cabinet, but her eyes linger on them for a bit as she whispers to herself within the unicorn's hearing range. “I wish she had a garden again…”

‘ Confirmation made, this is sad. ‘

Princess Luna closes the cabinet and turns away, putting a smile on once again. “A wonderful kitchen our sister has granted thee…” She moves out of the kitchen area, passing by the couch and empty fireplace, giving them only a glance before looking towards the hallway she speaks up. “Now then, let us inspect the remaining rooms.”

Quickly, Twilight and the guards group up once again behind the princess, all eyes focused on her as she moves down the hallway. The only sound filling the room was their collective hoofsteps. Twilight parts slightly from the group to walk along the wall, her eyes focusing on the princess's line of sight. Looking from her eyes and following the invisible line straight to the door at the end of the hallway.

‘ Oh, just curse me down to hell and kill me! ‘

Twilight quickly slips back into the group and to Faded Light's side. “She’s heading towards his door.”

Great Star leans his head down to Faded Light. “Oh wow! Who could’ve guessed I was right…? ~” Faded Light left eye twitched, she nearly snaps her head at the smug stallion but stops herself with a slow, deep inhale and heavy exhale. Her eyes move onto the first door on the right side of the hallway, her eyes linger there for a moment before returning to the princess.

“I have a plan, trust me.” Faded Light says with a determination. Twilight nods and returns her attention back down the hallway.

‘ I wonder what her plan is…’

Twilight kept pondering as they headed down, her theories slowly starting to fade from her head as she started to notice they were getting closer and closer to the end of the hallway. Her eyes glanced between Princess Luna and Faded Light, panic clearly expressed in her eyes as she rapidly looked between the two. Eventually Faded Light makes her move after the princess passes the basement door, taking the knob with her mouth and opening the door with little effort.

Twilight joins the mare, her concern turning into confusion. Faded Light briefly shows some surprise upon seeing the basement before going back to normal.

“Didn’t expect this… But this is better…” The batpony says to herself.

Faded Light turns to Twilight, “Okay this is going to work… maybe…”

“O… Kay? What's the plan here exact—” Faded Light raises a hoof and without warning pushes the unicorn down the stairs.

“Sorry.” Was the last thing Twilight heard from the traitor before she crashed against the first step, a gasp of pain leaving her only to be overshadowed by the creaking of wood under the impact her back makes onto the staircase. Unfortunately, the impact refused to allow her land and stay there to wallow in her pain, instead it called for the hands of gravity to pop her off the impacted step and roll down the rest of steps.

“Ah! Ack! Oof! Gah! Aaaaah!” Twilight cries out as she rolls down the stairs until her body hits the cold, flat bottom of the basement floor. Her vision blurry, ears ringing and her body throbbing in pain she has never experienced before… She looks up the stairs through her blurry vision to the only source of light in the basement. Seeing the silhouette of the traitor and faintly hearing her shout something unintelligible through the ringing.

“Twaahg Sparle!?” Her eyes narrow as she tries to make out what the new voice says as a larger silhouette quickly enters the doorway, taking most of the light. Twilight watches as the large figure quickly rushes down the stairs to her, the light showing faint blue through her blurred vision. Twilight closes her eyes when she feels something wrap around her body, a cold but comforting feeling spreading through her. A sigh escapes her as she feels the pain fade away within seconds.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight opens her eyes slowly, having the ringing removed from her ears along with her previous pain. Looking over herself she finds herself enveloped in a blue wrapping of magic.

‘ A advanced level full body rapid healing spell…?’

The unicorn looks up, seeing a very worried Princess Luna sticking out amongst the darkness of the basement due to her ignited horn and starry mane. A small look of relief appearing on her face before turning into worried anger, she stops her spell and pulls the unicorn back up on her feet. “Twilight Sparkle, thou art to watch thyself more! We understand thou excitement but to open and enter without looking is too reckless for an element of harmony!”

Twilight stares at the lunar princess in silence, a mix of confusion, shock, and anger on her face; it wasn't until Faded Light stepped down the stairs and looked over from behind the princess that the unicorn's anger started to overwhelm her other emotions.

“Indeed, Mrs. Sparkle, I warned you about this door…” Faded Light said in the most nonchalant manner and even winked at her.

‘ THIS WAS HER PLAN!? I’ll… I'll…oooooooooouh! ‘

Twilight gave the bat pony a death glare, her anger raising like coal added to a fire. Through gritted teeth, the unicorn looks down and tries her best to hide her anger. “S-soooorry... Princess Luna I'll… Be more careful… next time…” Each word coming out of her, hurting her mentality like a barrage of magic bolts.

Princess Luna huffs. “Be careful from now on, okay?”

“O-okay…” Twilight for the first time really wanted to shoot another pony with intentions to harm them. Princess Luna sighs and takes a look around her surroundings. “Still… what did thou stumble upon?”

Igniting her horn, she casts out a small white orb into the room to fill the darkness with lunar light. Faded Light and Twilight shut their eyes briefly at the sudden existence of a light, rubbing a hoof across their eyes as they looked around the now-lit up basement. Smooth gray stone walls and floor, candlesticks holders along the walls waiting to be lit.

Going along the walls were crates and barrels, making the basement seem more like the storage area of the home, even seeing some extra training mannequins down here. However, on the far end wall of the basement, there was something that caught the trio's eyes. Their eyes widen as they gaze upon a large wooden rack holding unique weapons. Twilight felt her breath pause inside her lungs as she stared at the weapons.

“What… are those?” Twilight accidentally speaks her thoughts out loud.

“Arms… new arms we… didn’t think this era… well now…” Princess Luna says quietly, failing to hide hints of excitement in her voice as she eyes the more unique weapons on the rack. On the rack contain various weapons neither pony had ever seen, one was a hybrid between an axe and spear, a fancy metal club, a tall oversized hammer with the other end containing a large extended spike. There was even a longer and thinner version of the weapon, a wooden stick with chain connected to a spiked ball at the end, a finally three different types of swords. One length and almost the size of Ratimir himself, while the other two were smaller.

Princess Luna slowly approaches the rack with a sparkle in her eye and wraps her mana around the strange oversized hammer, pulling it off the rack and looking over it in awe. Twilight stared at the longsword for a moment before moving onto the flail, a jumble of feelings being pressed against each other, confusion, curiosity, fear, and astonishment.

‘ These are weapons…? I… I've never read about any of these types or seen them in the museums at canterlot! Equestria has always used spears, bows, swords, axes, and shields for battle! Are these the weapons that Ratimir’s kind use? They have to be! But, why do they take on so many shapes and forms? ‘

Twilight briefly eyes the longsword before her attention is drawn to the sound of wind swishing, looking over and seeing Princess Luna swinging the hammer through the air. Twilight move her eyes off her to look at Faded Light, finding the mare staring at the weapons with eyes with utter shock. Behind her were the rest of the guard, slowly coming down and looking at the weapon rack with wide eyes.

‘ And judging from the others… none of them have seen these either… ‘

Moving her eyes back to the princess, she sees her swing the hammer, spike side, once and before putting it back onto the rack while letting out a heavy chuckle. “Haha! To think that after all these years, the arts of combat would improve underneath our sister's nose!”

Princess Luna spins around to the group and laughs loudly. “How joyful! Haha! These designs, some of which bring curiosity to our mind, are wonderful. We never expected that after the removal of battle arena’s and street duels, the art of combat would still improve during these… peaceful times.”

The princess rubs her face against the side of the long sword, making everypony behind her look at each other with concern. Eventually the princess’s eyes snap open as she realizes her action was being watched; with a heavy cough, she spins around towards the group with flushed cheeks.

“A-anyway! This basement is wonderful, let us make our exit!” The princess quickly passes the group and back up the stairs, for a moment the group looked at each other with uncertainty then back to the weapons before going after the princess. Twilight notices Moonfall and Faded Light linger a bit behind, staring at the weapons for a moment, then following behind the rest of the group. Twilight exits the stairs and glances down the basement for a moment before closing the door behind her.

‘ I’ll ask Ratimir about those when I can… ‘

Bringing her attention back to the group she finds Luna heading back to the end door, her anger creeping back in.

‘ Did I just get pushed down the stairs and humiliated for a brief delay!? ‘

Twilight scrunched up her muzzle. As she stared daggers into the back of the lieutenant's head.

‘ One day… One day Faded Light, I'm going to do… something. Something to repay you for this… ‘

Slowly she caught up to the group, staying silent as Faded Light glares at the end door and then to Great Star. With a roll of his eyes the stallion speaks up. “There's nothing there, my princess, its sort’ve just our Maintenance closet.”

Princess Luna looks back and raises a brow. “Is this true?” Catching onto the stallions deceit Dusk Blade and Moonfall both nod. The princess looks to the door again and continues to move. “Well, we still wish to check it either way, see if it contains the proper tools for training our guardians.”

Faded, Light's eyes widened, and quickly she opened her mouth, only to be cut off as the princess grabs hold of the doorknob and turns it. The sound of tiny mechanisms within the door echo out into the hall before a strong click is heard mid-turn. Everypony stares at the door for a moment before the princess turns the knob once more and lets the sound echo through the hall once again.

Princess Luna looks down and notices the lack of a keyhole within the door knob, a small frown forming on her lips. She looks back to Faded Light. “Lieutenant, how does one open this?” Everyponies eyes landed on her. Faded Light quickly puts her stoic face up, despite the sweat starting to form on her face. After a minute of silence Great Star spoke up “We don’t know… The only person who knows is our specialist Northern Light… and she is currently away on a mission.”

Faded Light glares up at the stallion who smirks once more and wink towards Twilight, Dusk Blade gags at the sight. Twilight just smiles and nods, unsure of what that action was supposed to mean. Princess Luna huffs and looks back at the door, her eyes narrowing down at the knob.

“Well then… perhaps this is an opportunity for us to show thou our skills!” Princess Luna says with confidence in her voice as she ignites her horn. Great Star’s smirk instantly fades from his face. “Wait what?”

The ponies watching her with confusion until the sound of mechanisms moving can be heard from the inside of the door. It didn’t take long for everyponies eyes to widen in realization of what was happening.

‘ Oh come on! Is this! Is Sir Murphy’s law in effect over my life!? ‘

Not long after her revelation the door releases a click and slowly opens. Princess Luna grins at her success and looks over her shoulder, clearly waiting for compliments. The guardponies stare at her and the door in poor disbelief. Faded Light scrunches her muzzle up in silent anger as she shivers. Great Star is the first to snap out of his bewilderment, shaking his head and looking at Princess Luna with a messy smile.

“That was, uh, impressive…” Great Star tilts his head as he tries to force a more genuine smile.

“Really cool!” Dusk Blade chirps in.

“Uh…” Moonfall looks at Dusk Blade and tries to mimic her genuineness. “Cool?”

Twilight blinks, reality returning to her as the others make their comments, with a cough she makes her contribution. “That was an interesting use of telekinesis, Princess Luna! To be able to visualize the door lock mechanisms in your head and use that to manipulate them, so the door can unlock is an amazing skill!” The rest of the guard glanced at her with puzzled expressions.

“What she said.” Faded Light throws her chips in. Princess Luna smiles and takes a bow before quickly slipping into the room, the quickness of the movement catching the everypony off guard and making them quickly go after her

“W-wait…!” Twilight cuts herself off, already giving up as she walks into the bedroom, a sigh leaving her mouth and joining in the others sighs beside her. Twilight looks at Princess Luna, watching the happiness she had previously been replaced with utter confusion.

“… Somepony care to explain… this?” She asks, turning her head and looking at the guards one by one. Faded Light gives Great Star an anticipating stare, the stallion quickly finding the empty walls more interesting than the situation at hand. Faded Light rolls her eyes and meets the Princess’s stare. “We… didn’t know about this… As mentioned before, only our specialist could unlock the door and go in.”

The princess narrows her eyes and turns away. “How… strange then…”

“Did she not tell anypony of the inside?” Princess Luna mumbles as she eyes the bathroom door, eventually deciding to check it out. Twilight watches her enter the before, the moment she exits her line of sight Twilight quickly starts to search the room for any hints of where the captain went.

“Where’d the captain go?” Dusk Blade whispers to Twilight as she looks around.

“I… don’t know… he went in here….” Twilight looks at Dusk Blade.

Moonfall slowly walks over and takes a peek under the bed. “He’s not under here.” He whispers as he returns to the group, confusion further being dug into them.

“Hmph! Maybe he has a secret exit…?” Great Star says as he heads over to the wardrobe. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this wardrobe had a secret back door or something.”

“A secret exit…” Twilight mumbles as she brings a hoof up to her chin and looks up in thought. “Hm… that would make sense… I guess…” Twilight looks back over to Great Star, seeing the stallion open the wardrobe. Twilight immediately freezes, her eyes looking past the stallion. Great Star smiles and winks at Twilight once again, eventually turning his head to look into the wardrobe. He finds a pair of smaller dark-blue eyes staring back at him.

He blinks once as he looks over to see his captain hiding inside… giving a glare that bore into the depth of his very being. Great Star stares back at him, every muscle in his body turning rigid and all color leaving his body. Silence passes by as everypony in the room stood there, in a mixture of surprise and pure fear at the revelation made, Twilight silently ignites her horn and slams the wardrobe doors shut.

Great Star stands there frozen in place with an occasional shiver running through his body that makes a muscle twitch within him. Slowly turning his head towards the group with a look of a somepony who has just witness a horrific murder in front of them.

‘ Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! ‘

She screams on the inside. Her eyes immediately lock onto Faded Light, finding the mare looking between the bathroom, chest, and wardrobe with shrunken pupils. Sweat falls over her face as a realization comes to her, snapping her head to Twilight she spoke in fearful tone “She’s going to look into those two.”

‘ Wake me up from this nightmare, please.”

“What… Do we do?” Moonfall looks at Faded Light. Faded Light turns to Twilight, the mare pleading with her through her eyes to come up with something at the moment. Twilight looks down and starts scrambling for solutions in her head.

‘ Can we move the wardrobe!? No, too loud! Can we make the captain make a hasty escape while she’s distracted!? Too risky!? Can we just make her not look in it!? How!? HOW!? What lie can I make to stop Princess— ‘

“Strange… but how memorable these quarters are! It is like visiting the peasants quarters in Canterlot again!” The voice of Princess Luna hits her panicked bundle of solutions like an angry mare, tossing up the wrong dish the waiter had the audacity to try to give her. Twilight snaps her eyes onto the princess as she exits the bathroom with a smile on her face.

“While strange for our sister to not remove these quarters… they remind us of our younger days…” Princess Luna smiles as she steps back in front of the guard. “Keep this the same for now… We shall think of changes for this room in the future, until then keep it locked.”

“Wha… uh… uuh U-understood…?” Faded Light tilts her head. Everypony blinked once and looked at the princess in disbelief. Twilight uses all her willpower to not let her jaw drop.

‘ S-she’s not going to look! Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally, something good happened tonight! ‘

“Good! Well then, we believe we have two more roo-hm?” Princess Luna turns her head as she notices the frozen Great Star. Faded Light and Twilight quickly turned to look at the stallion, noticing he was still frozen in front of the wardrobe.

‘ No, no, no! We were so close! ‘

“'Tis something the matter, Master Sergeant Great Star…?” Princess Luna tilts her head as she slowly begins to approach him.

‘ Snap out of it! You big oaf! ‘

Twilight and Faded Light glares at the frozen stallion. Princess Luna stops in front of Great Star and leans down, her face close to the stallions, as she looks over him with concern. “Master Sergeant, Great Star…?”

Her voice registered within Great Star, the stallion blinking and shaking his head suddenly. “Huh what happ…MN!” Great Star's muzzle scrunches up and a blush spreads across his face as he realizes not only was his princess right in front of and face to face, but she was… getting closer to him.

“Thou seem to be among us once more… but let us see if thy mind is plagued and caused this strange state within thou.” Princess Luna moves her head to her horn against the stallion’s own, having to get closer to his face to do so. The stallion takes a step back but finds his rear hitting the wardrobe, the combination of unexpected events setting something off in him.

“AH” He cries out. Twilight receives her second moment of slowness of events that night. She watches him make a small jump in the air and raises his rear legs up, delivering a strong kick into the wardrobe behind him. The sound of breaking wood filled the room on impact, pieces of the wood flew overhead. Through the sound of breaking wood, she was sure she heard Ratimir let out a grunt of pain.

When her vision returns to normal, she sees the aftermath of the disaster that had taken place. Princess Luna, having taken a step back, had her wings up and horn ignited as she stared in surprise at the scene before her. Great Star took in deep breaths, sweat rolling off his brow and a look of horror frozen onto his face. The wardrobe behind him was now ruined, one of the doors hung loose, and a large hole was now in the center of the wooden box.

Twilight slowly turns to look over at the others, noticing the large amount of wood bits all over the floor. She finds Faded Light staring at the scene in pure disbelief, her left eye twitches occasionally. Dusk Blade cringing while Moonfall stood there with his jaw dropped and eyes bulging out, all their expressions summarizing what Twilight wanted to feel at the moment. But unfortunately, overwhelmed with the feeling of pure fatigue at everything that has occurred tonight.

‘ I… well… this happened… I could use a mug of cider right now…’

Twilight shuts her eyes tightly and brings a hoof up to her face. Slowly shaking her head and letting out a heavy sigh as she looks back at the wardrobe with a lymphatic look on her.

‘ This cannot get any worse. ‘

Princess Luna is the first to find her voice. “Great… Great Star… are… are thou—”

“CUR! FIEND! WRETCH! BASTARD OF A HARLOT!” The voice of an enraged Ratimir emerges from the wardrobe.

‘ I hate my life. ‘

X - Mending the Night

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‘ This is fine. ‘

Twilight stares at the events unfolding before her with a strained smile. Princess Luna snarls at the captain as she tries to lunge at him, while Faded Light and Dusk Blade keep holding onto her body, holding their princess back with their combined strength. Ratimir on the other hoof keeps attempting to approach her, but Moonfall’s hold around his waist prevents back from doing so. The sounds filling the room were the guard's grunts being overshadowed by the trading of insults between the two leaders.

“Thou wretched fiend! Thou will regret the foolish words thy have spoketh!” Princess Luna shouts out as she goes for another lunge, only for her body to be pulled back roughly by the two mares.

“Haha!” Ratimir laughs and through his anger manages to make a barbaric grin. “Thou think thee can make me regret my words!? Foolish! Very fitting for an incompetent child…”

“Captain, please stop!” Moonfall cries out.

“Consider thy life forfeit, worm!” Princess Luna shouts. Princess Luna tries to lunge once more, only for the mares to successfully keep her back. Dusk Blade pants, struggling to keep her hold on the princess while Faded Light keeps strong on her hold despite enervation starting to appear on her face. Ratimir Laughs again and narrows his eyes. “I dare thou to try to make me forfeit it!”

‘ So… I guess… this is why Princess Celestia wanted me not to tell Princess Luna about him…’

—Three Minutes Ago—

“W-wait! Cap, I’m—” Were the last few words everypony in the room heard from Great Star as a hand wrapped around the stallion's throat before a tightly balled-up fist collided with his snout; launching the stallion away from the wardrobe. Everypony watches in silence as he slides across the floor until he collides with the side of the bed and collapses onto the floor. Twilight takes a step back, eyes wide open as she looks at the large downed stallion.

‘ H-he took him out in a single hit! W-wait not important! ‘

Twilight looks back at the wardrobe and sees the captain stepping out of it, his face wearing an expression of raw, unmatched fury on him, with some blood on his lips. Wiping the blood off his lips with his sleeve, he stands over the Lunar Princess and glares at her. Princess Luna takes a step back and returns his glare with her own, igniting her horn as she watches him in silence.

His eyes moved off the princess and onto the remaining guards. Clicking his tongue, he throws his arm up in the air and calls out, “You four! Can I not trust you with a simple task of keeping someone out of a room!?”

The guards perk up and quickly look away, a mixture of embarrassment and shame on their faces. Twilight begins to shrink a little under his unpleasant gaze; luckily Princess Luna stomps down onto the floor and draws the captain’s attention back to her. Twilight takes a step back in an attempt to get away from his line of sight.

“Who art thou?” Princess Luna demands.

The captain eyes her horn and scowls. “You better cease using that damn magic, or we’re going to have a problem…” He speaks with strong venom in his voice.

Princess Luna looks at him in surprise for a moment before furrowing her brow and giving an inviting smile. “A problem… thou threatens?” She says darkly while taking a step forward towards him, the magic around her horn glowing brighter than before. Twilight tenses up as she looks between the two, her fur standing up straight as she feels a harsh change in the atmosphere in the room.

She keeps looking between the two, body language clearly reading that they were waiting for the first strike to be made, so they could react and counter it. Twilight closes her eyes and inhales deeply to relax her nerves before quickly walking over and getting between the two.

“W-wait Princess Luna!” The two taller beings' eyes snap downwards towards the unicorn.

“Twilight Sparkle?” The princess tilts her head while carrying her Stoic façade.

“Y-you can’t hurt him, and he can’t hurt you!”

“Huh? You wi—” Twilight quickly jabs his shin with her hind leg, making the man grunt and take a step back.

“H-he’s… He's…” Twilight looks down as the words become trapped in her throat. Awareness of the Lunar Princess’s stare starting to become more pronounced.

‘ Princess Celestia, forgive me… but this is the only way!’

Raising her head, she lets out a sigh and looks at the princess glumly. “He’s… the actual captain of the Lunar Guard, Princess Luna.”

Princess Luna freezes upon hearing that, her eyes widened as she stares at Twilight before a small uncertain smile forms on her face, and she lets out a nervous chuckle. “Hahaha! T-Twilight Sparkle, we see thou has learned the art of using jest to d-deescalate I-issues!” Her eyes wavered, and her voice cracked a small bit.

Twilight slowly shook her head. “I’m not joking. Princess Luna…”

“B-but…!” Princess Luna quickly turns her head around and looks at Faded Light. The mare, wearing a sullen look on her face, clearly told the Princess all she needed; her face showing more distraught. Quickly turning her head to face Twilight again, she raises a hoof and hesitantly asks. “B-but how do you know this!? 'Tis a ploy planned by the two of you to protect this being… r-right!?”

Twilight shakes her head once again. “No… Princess Luna… I… Your… P-Princess Celestia had introduced me to him… and the guard, but t-told me not to tell you about him. I’m sorry.”

Princess Luna took a heavy step backwards, her face looking at the unicorn with more distraught. She opens her mouth to speak but shuts it, snapping her head at the rest of the guard. “Is this true!?”

All the guards were hesitant to answer, eventually all giving the princess a nod before looking at the floors or walls with sheepish looks. Princess Luna slowly turns her head and looks down. “So, this is true… My—O-our sister… hath told thou about this… before me? No, she didn’t even want me—we to even know!?” She snaps her head and looks up at the duo, enraged. “My sister refuses to tell me about my own captain, for MY guard!? That… that… all smiles and sunshine piece of…!”

She bites her tongue before her insult can finish, closing her eyes and rubbing her hoof against the bridge of her snout for a moment, her magic fading away slowly. Opening one eye, she looks at the unicorn. “And you… Twilight Sparkle… Did my—our sister task you with coming with us tonight as well?”

“No, no, no, no! I came out of my own will… though it may have also been influenced by… um… your sister telling me to keep him a secret from you…” Twilight glances away; beads of sweat run down her face. Princess Luna’s open eye twitches, and she slams her hoof on the ground and takes in a deep breath, her body shivering as emotions swirl within her.

“I-I see… I think we need to have a word with that damnable sister of ours…” Princess Luna says with a crack in her voice, happening mid-way through the sentence. Princess Luna clenches her teeth and shakes slightly as the anger starts to dive deeper and deeper into her.

Twilight looks at the Princess and reaches towards her. “Princess Luna, I—”

“Yes, yes, go speak with your sister and get the hell out of my home. I don’t want to hear your childish bickering anymore.” Twilight snaps her head behind and looks at the captain in a mixture of surprise and anger. Princess Luna’s eyes snap open, and her eyes shrink as if something had just dawned on her.

‘ RATIMIR I SWEAR TO CELESTIA I WILL—’

“I DO. NOT. WANT A WORD OUT OF YOU, CUR! MY SISTER NOT HAS ONLY LIED TO ME ABOUT THOU, BUT NOW I AM REMINDED OF THAT LETTER THOU HAD SENT ME CALLING ME A CHILD! SILENCE THY TONGUE OR I WILL SEVER OUT FROM YOUR MOUTH!” Princess Luna releases her anger through the use of the royal Canterlot voice at the duo. Twilight and Ratimir both reel their heads back as the aerial force blows through them.

Twilight blinks, staring at the Lunar Princess and silently taking note of her sharpened pupils and the mixture of sharpened teeth in her mouth.

‘ W-what!? Is Princess Luna t-transforming!? Maybe telling her the truth was the wrong move! ‘

Twilight shakes under the Princess gaze, her eyes glancing over at the guards. She frowns upon noticing the minimal reaction the bat ponies held as they just stared at their princess in surprise. Twilight r

‘ Wait… they have fangs and vertical slitted pupils… ‘

Bringing her attention back to Princess Luna, the unicorn stares at her for a moment before opening her mouth, ready to begin her attempt to calm the princess down the best she can. “Threaten me again like that, and I swear it’ll be your tongue that gets severed first.” The voice of Ratimir cuts off Twilight before she could even get a letter out. Twilight slowly turns her head, and bites her lip, her body shivering no longer from fear but from a rising inferno of anger.

‘ RATIMIR!? RATIMIR! RAT-I-MIR! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? ‘

Princess Luna snarls and takes a step forward, glaring up at the captain. “For a supposed captain of mine, I think thou remember to have some MANNERS and RESPECT for their princess…”

“Haah? Why should I respect the little sister of Princess Celestia who comes out of nowhere and makes absurd demands?” He crosses arms and leans over at her, sending a sharp glare down at the princess. Princess Luna bares her teeth at the man, snarling at him as she ignites her horn once again. Twilight watches in alarm as she notices some more parts of the princess’s teeth transform into canines.

Ratimir brings his hand up and jabs the princess’s snout with a finger. “How am I supposed to respect a leader who wanted to bring her entire guard unit to a small town for a holiday and expect it to go well!? Any reasonable person would think that we’re coming to pillage and burn their damn town!”

Princess Luna smacks his hand away from her face. “It was my debut night for the public! We-I've mentioned that in the letter, you fool!”

“Who the hell introduces themselves with an entire guard unit with them!?”

“Royalty, you cur!”

Ratimir pauses, squinting at her for a moment, and then pinches the bridge of the nose. “You’re not wrong… BUT, you’re trying to get them to like you! Not showcase your power and put the noose of submission around their necks!”

“Submission!? Fool! I wanted to give assurance to the public that my guard, and we will protect them! Debuting with them would’ve allowed the public to get to know my guard and me!”

Ratimir stares at her with a dumbfounded expression. “Wha… What!?” He facepalms and groans before dragging his hand down to rest at his side again. He looks at her with narrowed eyes. “That makes no sense! You wanted me, to send a guard with a bad reputation with a dumb as hell princess with also a bad reputation, to a village at night, to ensure you're going to protect them!?” Ratimir looks over at her in silence for a few seconds before laughing.

“Hahaha!” He suddenly brings his head to the princess’s level and looks at her with wide eyes. “You’re a damn lunatic.”

Princess Luna’s face flushes red. “How dare thou! I was simply performing the beginnings of a new era for us!”

Ratimir rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. “Oh yes, I'm sure someone who’s been gone for a long time has a damn good idea on how to improve things that aren't… stuck in the past?” He scoffs and glances at Twilight. “You should be lucky! Twilight Sparkle was here to suggest the plan we went with; otherwise I wouldn’t have entertained your request.”

Princess Luna's eyes widened, her pupils returning to normal as she stood there for a moment to let his sentence sink in before turning her head to look at Twilight. Twilight looks back for a few seconds before reluctantly looking away, her heart unable to bear the look of sadness the princess showed in her eyes.

‘ D-d-d-d-d… D-damn you, Ratimir… why’d you have to bring me into this. I… I should’ve just lied—No. Princess Luna has been lied to enough already… by… me, her sister, and her own guards… This was… the right choice… I hope… ‘

“Well… I…“ Princess Luna looks down, wavering a bit before shaking her head and glaring up at the captain. “Even if I—we made bad choices, you should be able to tell me so without such rudeness! We are your Princess, after all!”

“You’re my overshadow, not a princess. You simply overlook what I do. If we’re using the title of “Princess” for actual importance relating to leadership, then you are the damn bottom line for it! A leader has at least something that makes you respect them! You, on the other hand, have just shown me you are just a kid in an overgrown body!”

Princess Luna flares her wings up. “Stop. Calling. Me. A. Foal! I am far older than everycreature in this room combined!”

“Just because your foolish body is old doesn’t mean what you're thinking isn’t old, you fool. Should I mention how I've been told that you dropped the stuff you were doing in that damned castle just to come over here and prance around where you please? Like a spoiled brat…” He tilts his head up and smirks.

Princess Luna walks up to him, nearly against his chest as she tilts her head up and glares up at him. The captain scowls and looks down at her, the two glaring at each other in eerie silence. Twilight backs away towards the rest of the guards, unable to bear the uneasy tension while between the two. She gives a worried look over to Faded Light, who returns it with her own.

“In my eyes, Princess… you’re nothing more than just the baby sister of Princess Celestia, whom I’m forced to take care of…” He huffs and clicks his tongue. Luna snarls and bares her teeth again, clenching them tightly. Ratimir tilts his head and raises a brow. “What's wrong? You look like you want to say something? Or… do something, you damn doxy?”

Princess Luna pauses, her expression falling to a look of surprise as she lets out a gasp and takes a step back, then transitioning to a look of pure fury. Twilight lets out a gasp and puts a hoof over her mouth. The guards look at Twilight, then to Princess Luna with puzzled looks on their faces.

Faded Light leans over to Twilight and whispers. “What did he just call her?” Twilight leans over and quickly whispers to the mare, pulling away once the mare tenses up with wide eyes and a faint blush over her cheeks.

“Oh.” She squeaks.

“I wanna know too!” Dusk Blade rushes over and presses her muzzle against the lieutenant's face. Faded Light hisses lightly but leans down and whispers into Dusk Blade's ear. The small mare’s face turned into a look of shock with a heavy blush on her face. Moonfall walking over and being motioned down by Dusk Blade to be whispered up to.

“Oh. Oh, wow…” Moonfall blinks and looks at the captain as he receives the answer. Princess Luna's blue face slowly turns to red and raises her right foreleg to slam down into the ground, breaking some boards of wood in a small crater.

“My goddamn floor, you damn child!” Ratimir yells out. Princess Luna looks down, her body quivering and her mystical mane flowing faster with a hint of aggression in its shape.

“Never in my life hast anycreature so… brazenly… face to face, given me an insult that low…” She mutters.

“Really now? I’d say you’d be called that more often, seeing as you’re after all…” He leans his head over hers and grins. “A mistress of the night…~”

The group let out a synchronized gasp. Princess Luna snaps her head up, staring at the man with sharpened pupils and tightly clenched sharpened teeth. “You! Y-you… yoooooou . You damned filthy hedge-born fopdoodle!”

Silence penetrates the room. Twilight and the guards eyes widen upon seeing his expression break, a look of surprise frozen on his face as he looks down at the princess. Slowly he stands back to full height and takes a deep breath, running a hand over his face until it stops at his chin as he looks up to the ceiling. His expression slowly changed into that of anger. The silence lingers a bit longer as he stares at the ceiling before slowly looking back down at the princess.

“Princess… Alicorn, whatever… You picked the wrong words to say to me, doxy.” He says darkly as his hand clenched tightly into a fist.

Princess Luna eyes his fist and gives a small grin as she widens her stance a little bit. “Is that another threat thou make?”

“No, I'm going to put you in your damn place.” Through his anger, a grin comes up as he pops his neck and changes his stance. The guards quickly tensed up and prepared to rush in.

“Oh, really… show me, little boy.” The two leaders charge at each other.

—Present Time—

“Damned cox-comb Loggerhead!” The captain yells as he tries to lash out at her, only for Moonfall to pull him back roughly.

“I will pull thy tongue from your mouth, yaldson! Disgusting churl!” Princess Luna bites at the air as she tries to lunge at the man. Faded Light nearly falls over, but digging her legs into the cracked floor boards, she uses the moment to stand her ground.

“P-princess! Please calm down!” Faded Light begs.

“I AM CALM! Or at least I will be once I remove this… this damned beast from the threads of life!” The princess hisses out as she keeps trying to go at him.

“Hahahha! I’d love to see YOU succeed in killing me, whelp!” Ratimir says as he throws his fist at her but misses due to Moonfall intervention.

“C-captain, please stop! Hurting our princess isn’t going to help you!” Moonfall manages out as he pulls the captain back.

“It’ll help me feel better, and that’s what matters right now!”

Pushing one more time, Faded Light snaps her head over to Twilight and shouts at the frozen mare. “Twilight Sparkle, do SOMETHING!”

Twilight snaps her attention to Faded Light. The reality of everything seeping under her forced stoicism and snapping off, making her anxiety take an upward dive. Her heart starts to rapidly beat against her chest, blood pumping and a sense of panic starting to course through her veins. Taking deep breaths, Twilight pulls the lever for her thought train to full blast.

‘ Okay, okay, okay Twilight! Think, think, think! How can I stop an alicorn princess and a creature known as a “human” who I barely have any information about; he could even have a form of magic I don’t even know about, and I haven’t seen him fight! Or seen how magic affects him! Dang it! How do I stop this? Diversion? No. I don’t have anything to divert their attention, uh… um… uh!? ‘

“Ugh!” A shout from the Lunar Princess brings Twilight out of her deep, panicked thinking. The princess unfurls her wings, knocking both mares off her. Moonfall freezes in place as he watches the two mares thrown off like beetles against the wing with wide eyes; the moment of awestrucken is broken when Ratimir elbows his face. Moonfall lets go of the man and stumbles back while shaking his head violently.

“I’ve had enough of this humiliation!” Princess Luna cries out.

“You don’t deserve the right to be my captain if you’re like this! Your position is stripped and I will grant you the best mercy I can even MUSTER for you and allow you to leave unharmed.” Princess Luna declares, following it up with another stomp into the floor and breaking another couple of floorboards.

Silence filling the room afterward. Faded Light is frozen mid-rise, staring at the Princess with widened eyes and shrunken pupils. Dusk Blade looks up from the floor in alarm, and Moonfall stares dumbfounded as he holds his muzzle. Twilight ears droop as she stares in horror, heart stopping its panicked beating and her breathing slowing down. Minutes pass by as the words of Princess Luna sinks into everycreature in the room.

Eventually the silence breaks with a joyful cackle, everyponies instantly drawn to the source and causing a strange uneasiness to surface. Everypony watched as the normal grumpy or Stoic captain stood there, letting out a joyful chuckle. “Hahahahah!aahah!” He chuckles with a smile on his face for a while before taking in a deep breathing and calming himself down. Eventually putting his annoyed look back on but now baring a small smile.

“Still proving my point! Still an Impulsive child! Ignoring the fact that it was your older sister that put me in this position! I may not know much about this land, but I do know that if there are two ruling parties, then you cannot just overrule the action of another without permission or talking… especially if that party has been around far… far longer than you.” Ratimir says with a strong haughtiness in his voice. Princess Luna almost shouts at him until she processes what he said and clicks her tongue loudly.

“Bah! I will deal with her later! She still has to explain why she decided to deceive me and pull her student, and my guards, into this!”

Turning her head to glare at Faded Light. “You, since you were given a false title. I shall give you the title temporarily until I speak with my sister!”

“W-what! H-h-hold on my P-p-p-princ—”

“Seize and remove this being from here! That is your first order from me, Captain.” Princess Luna glares at the lieutenant, her teeth slightly bared. Dusk Blade and Moonfall slowly moved their heads and looked at Faded Light, a mixture of uncertainty, fear, and worry on their faces. A downcast look appears on Faded Light, her eyes withholding angst and her mouth clenching tightly.

“U-uh…” Moonfall gives an uneasy look to Faded Light. Opening his mouth and closing it three times, and glancing at the ground for a moment. ”Lieu-Captain w-what do we—”

“Do NOT call me that!” Faded Light snaps at Moonfall abruptly. Twilight jumps slightly at the outburst, Moonfall reeling back from the shout, the mare's anger fading away in seconds as she realizes what just came out of her mouth. Turning her head to the princess, she finds the large mare glaring at her with a raised brow.

“'Tis something wrong? You hesitate to do my order and decline the title I bestow upon you?” The alicorn questions.

“My Princess… I… I…” Faded Light eyes move down again and start to dart across the floor as sweat travels down her face. Twilight looks over the guards and concern rises up as she notices all the guards were… disturbed by this turn of events. Confusion starts to well up within Twilight until she glances over at Faded Light.

“He’s annoying… but I wouldn’t want to work for any other captain than him.”

The sentence whispers into the back of Twilight, drawing a realization from her and making her heart sink.

‘ T-that’s right… despite how he is… they care about him, and having their princess tell them to remove him is… its… I have to do something! I can’t let this happen! ‘

Twilight takes a step forward, steeling her nerves as she prepares to step her voice up. However, Twilight stops in her tracks when Ratimir moves across the room and stands between Princess Luna and Faded Light, raising his right hand up quickly and prodding the princess' chin with a finger.

“What's wrong here… is someone who hasn’t been there for them for what is it, you guys call it… moons? Coming around and telling them to get rid of the person who has been!” The captain shouts.

“What!?” Princess Luna jerks away from his finger.

“You abandoned them! Leave them behind! While I've been here for them!” He doesn’t relent and jabs her muzzle with his finger.

“One thing I can at least remember from your sister is that you grew envious over those damned, normal, whiney, little hedge-borns being out and damn about, basking in that damn insufferable magic orb in the sky over your damn magic orb in the sky.” He jabs her muzzle again. “Decided to do an unassisted coup despite having a loyal guard unit, no entire clan or something like that… under you!”

He pulls his hand away and scoffs. Twilight watching in awe-stricken silence at the sudden turn of events. The Lunar Princess no longer had anger fueling her, the words hitting her like magic muscles as confusion, shock, and melancholy started to take over her expression.

“They literally sleep during the day and roam under your damn night! Absolutely loyal to your banner and yet when the time you needed them most to fulfill your idiotic, impulsive, and childish plan… You just do it without telling anyone and… OH, guess what!? The plan failed! You get banished! Leaving the group under your banner, confused, and leaderless!” Ratimir throws his arms up in the air as his fury starts to overwhelm and break down the remainders of the princesses.

Princess Luna takes a step back, her eyes and teeth returning to the norm. She looks up at the man with the same confusion, but now regret starts to pour over into her. Ratimir on the other hand, takes a step forward and towers over her, teeth bared, and his brows furrowed as he continues on. “You abandoned them, without a will or instructions left behind for them! Leaving them to just do the one thing they could, follow in your damn footsteps and do a rebellion that was far too late and far too predictable!”

Princess Luna starts to walk backwards as the captain advances on her. “Getting them imprisoned! Only freed when those damn Solar Whelps couldn’t stand me and made your sister assign me to be their captain! Forcing me to confront and fix all the problems YOU LEFT BEHIND IN THEM!”

“Princess Luna lets out a small yelp as her backside collides with the bed. Ratimir stops his movement upon seeing the princess trapped between him and the bed. “And here I am, having fixed the issues, and you… you come back after all this time, acting high and mighty like you deserve it after all you’ve done! Then try to make my damn guards do a coup on me!? Ignoring everything you’ve done!?”

He leans down slightly to her level. “It’s those reasons… combined with breaking my damn floor that I view you as nothing more than an impulsive, loggerheaded, cox-combed, spoiled brat. I refuse to respect or even acknowledge you as someone above me or even on the same status as me, and I refuse to be looked down upon by someone like you.” He huffs and pulls away from her, turning around and walking over to the fallen Great Star.

“I don’t even feel like fighting you now, just get out of here.” Ratimir says resentfully as he assesses the stallion's state. Princess Luna’s head dropped, shame and regret embedded in her features.

“Princess Luna…?” Twilight manages to find her voice and will again. Slowly approach the princess’s side. The princess only gives the unicorn a glance before raising her head up and igniting her horn. Twilight eyes her horn recognizing the spell for the seconds it lingered before vanishing in a flash of light. Twilight shakes her head and recovers quickly from the spell's aftereffect on her eyes.

The guards' eyes linger on the spot where their princess once was before looking at each other. “What… just happened?” Moonfall breaks the silence as he slowly turns to look up at the captain.

“I told her the truth about what happened…” The captain grunts as he stands up and heads to the door. “All that yelling made my hunger wors-nf!” Ratimir yelps as a small circular aura of raspberry color magic takes hold of the corner of his tunic.

“You! I… I… Why!?” Twilight shouts.

“Why what?” Ratimir glances over his shoulder.

“W-w-why did you do that!?” Twilight stomps her hoof and glares at the captain.

Ratimir looks away, patting his waist for a minute before looking back at the unicorn. “Not sure… After I got kicked, I just lost my head there…”

‘ That was just him being upset at being kicked!? ‘

Twilight lets go of him and lets out a groan. “Ugh! I… I… don’t know what to say right now! I can’t even decide if you are right or wrong in that argument! Uggh… I’m going to see if I can catch up to Princess Luna and if I can bring her back, then you need to apologize to her!” Twilight points a hoof up at him.

“Haaah?” Ratimir glares at her and turns halfway to her. “Apologize for what!? I don’t need to get along with the doxy, nor was I wrong in what I said!”

“She is still coming to terms with what she’s done! You… You only saw the bad parts of her because you just… kept being yourself!” Ratimir raises a brow at Twilight's facehoofing. “Whatever! I need to go after her. I will make you apologize, whether you mean it or not!” He huffs and Twilight turns around and ignites her horn, feeling the room for a moment and taking hold of the faint traces of Princess Luna’s magic that lingered.

‘ Short ranged teleport… and feeling… east! ‘

Twilight routes her location and teleports, leaving the guards and captain behind. The captain grumbles to himself and looks over to the guards. “Get Great Star up and fix him, he’s just knocked out… didn’t hit him too hard. I’m going to eat.”

Dusk Blade and Moonfall hesitantly nod and go over to Great Star. Ratimir heads down the hallway, only for the sound of hooves against wood trotting behind him to get his attention. He stops in his tracks as he sees Faded Light closing the gap between them, her face trying to maintain her Stoic façade but hints of worry cracking through. She stops upon seeing him turn to look at her and opens her mouth, but shuts it, looking to the sides for a moment before sighing.

“Captain… uh…. Mn… I want to......” Faded Light takes deep breaths and exhales. “T-thank you…”

“… For what?” He crosses his arms.

Faded Light turns her head away from him, using her mane to hide her expression “For… cari-stopping her, I guess… I… W-we wouldn’t want somecreature else to replace you. I mean… I don’t want to replace you.”

“I wouldn’t even entertain the possibility of her ordering me to step down from my position. So, if she does it again, don’t worry.”

“Mhmm.” Faded Light mumbles. A moment of silence passes between the two, Faded Light sighing once more and speaking up. “I… do agree that you should apologize to her, sir.”

“Hell no.” Ratimir turns around and walks down the hallway. Faded Light, opening her wings, and taking flight to close the distance, quickly, putting her hoof on his shoulder. “H-hear me out, please… sir!”

Ratimir stops once again. Looking over his shoulder and seeing her worried expression. “That look is not one that belongs to my lieutenant.” He sighs. “I’ll hear you out.”

Faded Light gives a small smile. “T-thank you… sir.” Slowly, she pulls her hoof off his shoulder, letting the captain turn and face her. “Just apologize to her, sir… If not for you or her, then at least for us. What you said may be… true… and some of us do harbor those feelings, but we still wish to stick our princess.”

“Are you sure? Don’t think I didn’t notice you and the others hesitate when she gave the order to seize me.” Ratimir frowns slightly.

Faded Light looks down with a frown on her lips. Letting a minute of silence pass by as hesitation takes her once again. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she opens her eyes and looks at Ratimir in his eyes. “Because sir… you and our princess in similar in many ways, while being very different… and…” Faded Light fails to maintain eye contact, a faint blush piercing her cheeks.

“You’ve always been with us… guards and our people… I grew up with you, after all…” Faded Light Mutters under her breath.

“B-but she… technically saved our people, so we owe both of you a lot… so, I don’t think we can choose between the two of you… even back home I think our town would split if we had to pick sides…” Returning her gaze to him, she exhales and smiles. “Even if you are… yourself, like she said… I-we can always count on you to have our back, sir… so—”

“I get it. I get it...” Ratimir turns away from her abruptly. Scowling to himself and stares down the hall for a moment before sighing. “I’ll think about it, go help the others.”

“Understood, sir.” Faded Light nods and turns around to fly down the hallway, facehoofing and cursing herself for giving such a mushy speech to the captain. Ratimir stands for a moment longer before shaking his head and sighing.

Twilight eyes snap open as the familiar feeling of grass clinging onto her legs is felt. Quickly looking around, the unicorn finds herself in one of the grassy fields not far from the Lunar Base. She scowls as she sees no sign of Princess Luna in the area.

‘ Did she do a short-range teleport because of the fast start-up speed of the spell? Did she use a long-distance teleport afterward ‘

Igniting her horn, she searches for magical traces left behind by the princess and lets out a sigh of relief when she finds none. Canceling her magic, Twilight begins to roam the moonlit countryside hills, searching for the princess. Eventually, after walking quite a distance, she spots the Lunar Princess on her haunches up on a hill. Retrieving her stolen will from before, Twilight brazenly walks up the hill and to the princess.

“Princess Luna?” Twilight softly calls out as she slowly approaches the princess.

“Begone Twilight Sparkle, we-I… wish to be left alone.” The princess says glumly, keeping her eyes down and refusing to give a glance to the unicorn.

“I’m sorry, Princess Luna, but … I ca-don’t… want to leave you”

Princess Luna clicks her tongue and turns her head slightly. “Tch, You really are my sister's student…”

Twilight slowly takes in a deep breath and continues her approach until she stands by the Princess’s side. Looking over to her and giving a concerned look to the princess upon seeing the sorrowful expression she held on her face.

‘ Should I sta-… No… I broke her trust… I’ll let her open up to me… if she does.’

Nodding to herself, Twilight takes a seat by the Princess. Silence follows between the two, letting the sound of the faint wind move, the blades of grass being their only acknowledged sound. As minutes pass by Twilight decides to take out her notepad from her saddlebags and use this brief moment of peace to jot down notes she has been meaning to do. A faint smile on her face as the task lets her nerves simmer down.

Eventually, a sigh and movement from the princess gains her attention; looking up from her notes, she sees Princess Luna sitting up straighter and staring at the moon. Twilight watches her for a bit before returning to her note writing.

“My sister… my guards… and you deceived me.” Twilight snaps up, her body tensing as the line weaponizes itself into a non-existent dagger and shoves itself into her chest.

“I’m… sor—”

“But after that… talk… I… I believe I understand why…” Twilight looks over to Princess Luna with widened eyes.

Princess Luna's eyes returned to the ground. “I have… learned over the years that the common pony often says things that others want to hear… My sister is no different… and neither are you Twilight Sparkle, nor me. I didn’t think that my return… would make it worse, at least towards me.”

The princess turns her head and looks over to Twilight. “As… you… may have noticed during that argument… the… the elements of harmony stripped my-… Nightmare Moon's power, but they didn’t remove Nightmare Moon from me…” Twilight feels her blood chill as she listens to her, having theorized that if she turned into Nightmare Moon once… she could again.

“As you know, Twilight Sparkle… magic is connected to our emotions… if we’re too angry, our magic can be unstable and dangerous.” Princess Luna lets out a heavy sigh. “Years ago… When I attempted to attack my sister, all of my… anger… bitterness had reached its peak, and like oil to flame, my magic became unstable and took over. The elements have dispelled most of the magic, but that unstable magic still resides within me…”

“So… when you’re angry… that magic comes out?” Twilight questions with worry in her voice.

“Yes… luckily the elements removed most of it… the chances of me turning back into Nightmare Moon are low, at least for the next thousand moons, when my magic is fully returned to me. But still…” Princess Luna looks over to Twilight and gives a bitter smile. 'From the outside, I look scary, don’t I…?’ Twilight gives a slow nod. Princess Luna bitterly chuckles to herself as she turns away.

“He… that creature, he told me things that were true… he fed me the bitter reality that I've been ignoring… It's true. I’ve been… neglectful towards the bat ponies. I haven’t visited them at all since my return, just… focused on being caught up to speed with this era. Even before that I… didn’t tell them how I felt, and just… out of anger, I decided to take my sister down… alone.” Tears began to well up in her eyes.

“I left them leaderless… for a thousand moons… because I wanted to........ feel like I existed. Acknowledged by somepony other than the ones I saved… Made them follow after my… my foolish hoofsteps. I was… always striving to be a noble leader; somepony that the common people look up to, Twilight Sparkle… and I have failed that. He made that clear to me.” Princess Luna wipes a hoof across her cheek to remove the tears that managed to seep through.

Twilight puts her notebook down and reaches over to put a hoof on the princess’s shoulder. “Princess Luna, he was just upset! He didn’t really mean an—”

“Silence, Twilight Sparkle.” The princess snaps her eyes open and glares at the unicorn. Twilight retracting her hoof back and faltering under her gaze. Princess Luna shakes her head and sighs.

“T-this is... exactly what I mean. You say what I want to hear... what will make me feel better, but the truth of this matter is that... he’s right... My sister probably predicted this would happen as well... and wished to delay this meeting to spare my feelings and not risk me returning to my old... bitter self.” Princess Luna wipes her eyes again before standing up.

“My... heart aches... badly but I... I needed that. I need to hear that and feel deceit... reminders that everything isn’t all rainbows and... ugh sunshine after my return. Furthermore, I need to improve myself... for myself, and for my loyal subjects. I want to create a new, better era for those under my banner and to truly take the first step towards that goal, I need to look at myself.” Princess Luna raises her head up and looks at the moon with a determined look on her face despite the tears welled up in her eyes.

Twilight stands with her, a small smile on her face. Twilight, putting her notepad back in her saddle back and letting out a small cough to get the Lunar Princess’s attention. “G-good... but still, Princess, don’t let him get under your skin too much. He’s only heard about you from others perspectives, after all.”

Princess Luna looks down at Twilight and smiles. “ Which gives I-us the chance to fix how he sees us, and perhaps gain his respect!”

‘ Doubtful... He’s almost as stubborn as Applejack or Rainbow Dash... actually, he might even be more stubborn than them both. ‘

Twilight nods. “Mhmm! I don’t agree with what Princess Luna said... I think you’re pretty amazing already, but.... Well... I um... well, I do have to admit... I was there when he read your request, and... Princess Luna, please think about things... Thoroughly before requesting them...?” Twilight gives a nervous smile. Princess Luna frowns at the unicorn and narrows her eyes.

“Uuuuh...” Twilight's smile falters and she starts to sweat. Princess Luna smiles and pats her back. “Tis a jest, young scholar.”

Princess Luna turns around and begins to walk down the hill. “Come, let’s return to them... we... we have apologies to make.” Twilight nods and follows after Princess Luna.

XI - A New Era on the Horizon

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A flash of light decorates the hills of the countryside of Equestria, briefly, falling away seconds after its occurrence. Princess Luna and Twilight stand at the origin point of the flash. The two briefly shake their heads before glancing at each other; making sure they're alright. Moving their gaze away from each other, the two look ahead and take a moment to stare at Lunar Base. The duo stood there for a moment in silence, preparing their nerves for the oncoming challenge before them. Slowly, the two mares close the distance between them and the barn | training hall. Princess Luna stops a few feet from the barn doors. Twilight stops next to her and looks up at the princess with a look of concern.

“Princess Luna…?”

“Give me a moment…” Princess Luna says anxiously. She puts her hoof against her chest and closes her eyes, taking a moment to take deep breaths, letting a minute pass before opening her eyes and looking at the door with a sparkle of determination in her eyes.

“I’m… ready to take the step now.”

Twilight smiles and knocks her hoof against the door in the memorized pattern, stepping back afterward and holding her breath as she waits.

‘ Please don’t be Ratimir who opens the door, please don’t be Ratimir who opens the door, please don’t be Ratimir who opens the door, please don’t be Ratimir who opens the door.’

A click from the door makes the unicorn tense up. Then tension releases as the door opens and reveals Faded Light being the one behind it. The lieutenant lets out a sigh of relief upon seeing the two together before quickly standing to attention.

“P-princess, you’ve returned!” Faded Light goes to bow before her. “Allow me to apologize to you first and forem—” Princess Luna raises her hoof up and stops the mare. “No, our little bat. Thou needn't apologize, tis us who must apologize to thee.” Faded Light looks up at the princess with wide eyes. Behind her, Dusk Blade and Moonfall stop tending to the awoken Great Star stare at the interaction in disbelief. Taking a deep breath through her nose, the Lunar Princess walks past the mare and into the hall. Faded Light and Twilight, briefly glancing at each other before following behind the princess. The princess approaches the three guards in the center of the hall.

She looks behind her to make sure Twilight and Faded Light were there before turning sideways to see both sides. In silence, the princess kneels and bows between the two groups. Twilight’s mouth drops as she witnesses the princess’s course of action, while the guard's eyes bulge out.

“Our little bats, my blades, my wings and my faithful protectors. We-I, Princess Luna of Equestria, princess of the night, apologize for our previous actions, for our selfishness, negligence, and absolute foolishness. I have not only prolonged my visitation to you, but I have forced you to deal with my foolish, impulsive actions and ideas. I am supposed to be a princess to be looked up to, protect you, and make you proud to work under…”

Princess Luna closes her eyes tightly and quivers. “I truly… apologize for the inconveniences I have pushed onto you, my bats. I… Will make sure I do not repeat the same mistakes and better myself, for you and for our future. I hope you can forgive your foolish leader.”

Faded Light stares at the Lunar Princess, stunned. The other guards didn’t fare any better; they stared at their princess with a mixture of shock and confusion. For a while the room is silent, only slightly interrupted, with Twilight letting out a small cough and nudging the lieutenant’s barrel with her hoof. Faded Light turns her head and looks at the spot she was nudged, then to the unicorn. Twilight darts her eyes between her and the Lunar Princess.

Faded Light slowly turns her head and looks at the bowed princess, staring for a moment before closing her eyes and taking in a breath through her nose. Mustering her courage, the lieutenant takes a step forward towards the princess and speaks up. “P-princess Luna... It’s... it’s okay. We... would... uh... are you... uh...” Faded Light rubs the back of her neck.

Faded Light lets out a heavy sigh and gives the princess her usual Stoic expression. “I’m not good with... feely words... so I’ll just… say it the best I can. We are your guards, Princess Luna. You saved our ancestors, and gave our kind a chance to live, so regardless of whatever you do, we will always stick by your side. So, we uh... forgive you.” Faded Light looks over at the rest, the trio looking at each other briefly before nodding together at Faded Light.

Princess Luna shakes more and lets out a bitter chuckle. “I suspected this outcome... but...”, slowly she raises back to full height and gives a small smile to the guard. “I will still better myself … for our future and for myself.” The princess looks over to the rest of the guard. “This is the first step towards my improvement... so, from now on, my bats... I hope we can get along better.”

Dusk Blade smiles and nods. ” Okay, princess!”

Moonfall looks at Dusk Blade, then at the others before going with his best response, a stiff salute and poker face to rival Fallen Shine’s. “Understood, ma’am.”

Great Star shoots the bloodied tissues out of his nose and slowly gets back up and ups a hoof over his chest. “I will stick with you, my Princess!”

Princess Luna shakes her head and smiles. “I truly do not deserve you, my guardians.”

The Twilight smiles, along with the rest of the guards as the princess lets out a small chuckle and looks back, lieutenant. “Now then... there is one more being that deserves an apology.” Immediately, everyponies smile fades and the nervousness returns.

“Where is the captain?” Princess Luna asks. Faded Light opens her mouth only to shut it as a familiar voice rang throughout the hall.

“Right here.” Everypony turns over to the entrance to the home and finds the captain leaning against the doorway with crossed arms, his face Stoic as normal. With a grunt he moves from the doorway and slowly walks down to the princess. The guard trio quickly got out of his way and move themselves to the side lines. The captain stops when he is only a few feet from the princess, and silently stares at her with crossed arms.

The two stare at each other in silence for a while. Princess Luna eventually broke it with a closed-eye sigh; in silence, she started to bow her head towards the captain…

“Stop.” Ratimir quickly shuts it down. Princess Luna pauses and looks at the man with confusion. Ratimir scratches the back of his for a moment, then walks past her, her eyes along with everypony else following after him.

“Let’s talk outside.” He says bluntly, and walks past the princess. Princess Luna raises her head, and silently acknowledges his decision and follows after him. The two exiting the room with Twilight following behind them, the lieutenant and Dusk Blade whisper to each other before the small quickly rushes forward and grapples the unicorn’s barrel and drags her back inside.

“Wha-Hey, let go of me!” Twilight tries to pull away and break the mare's grasp on her.

‘ What the!? What is up with her hold!? I can’t… eugh! Get out of it! Is she actually packing a lot for her size!? ‘

“Private conversation, Twilight~!” Dusk Blade cheerfully lets out.

“W-what! But what if it goes wrong!? I need to be there in case he says something stupid again!” Twilight tries to physically break out of the small mare's hold again, only to be reeled back to Dusk Blade.

“Don’t worry, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight stops her struggling and looks at Faded Light. “If he wants a private a conversation, it's usually because he doesn’t want us to... see... something”

Twilight raises a brow at that statement as Dusk Blade releases her.

‘ What could he possibly want us to not see...?’

“Just give them a minute alone and then we eavesdrop. If the captain’s silence is anything to go by... then they’ll have a bit of awkwardness.” Dusk Blade cheerfully says. Twilight frowns at that, but lets out a sigh. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Faded Light watches the clock on the wall for a bit, letting two minutes pass by before turning her head to the rest of the group. “Okay, let’s do it.” Without hesitation, everypony quickly rushes to the barn doors, opening them slightly and peeking through the small gap between the doors. Everypony witnessed the captain and Princess Luna standing only a few feet from the barn, by each other's side and backs turned towards them.

The two are looking away from each other, looking at the night sky instead. For a bit longer, the two stay silent before Princess Luna lets out a sigh and turns to face the man. She opens her mouth while preparing to bow, only for the man to shut her down again. “Bow to me and you’ll never earn my forgiveness.” He says it so bluntly and roughly that the princess flinches.

“But I must show my sincer—”

“No, you don’t. Just apologize and get it over with... if I’m going to witness the person whom I’m supposed to be under the banner of, bow to me, then I might as well take your head and your title.” He scoffs.

“A leader shouldn’t have to bow to their people or soldiers for that manner. Doing so is a sign of weakness, ripe for a takeover.”

Princess Luna takes a step closer to him and raises a brow. “I see... then would you take my position then?”

“Hell no.” He says without hesitation.

“Then there shouldn’t be an issue with my actions, correct?” Princess Luna gives a slight smile at that. Ratimir turns his head and scowls.

“But—”

“Do you think my guards will take my position?” She continues.

“Hell no, but—”

“Then there is no issue.” Princess Luna bows to the man, making him scowl and grumble under his breath.

“My captain, I, Princess Luna, apologize to you for my actions. For insulting you, my impulsiveness, and leaving you to fix the mistakes that I have left behind. You have done a great service to those under my banner. I am grateful for your service, and hope to work with you in the future.” Princess Luna slowly raises her head and gives him a look of melancholic sincerity.

Ratimir scowls more and glares at her from the corner of his eye. “You know actions speak—”

“Louder than words? Yes, I am a firm believer in that statement as well.” Ratimir scoffs once again and turns his head away. The princess let a small chuckle slip out before quickly silencing herself and patiently waiting for his response. Silence lingers between the two for a while, eventually broken when Ratimir lets out a heavy sigh and looks down.

“I... accept it.... and... I... I...” Princess Luna looks at him quizzically as the man shuts his eyes tightly and struggles for a moment before glancing at her “I... Also, must... a-a-apologize... for my.... a-actions...”

Twilight's jaw drops, and she quickly turns her head and looks at Faded Light. “H-he... h-he... heeeeeeee!” Faded Light chuckles and nods in acknowledgement of what they heard. Dusk Blade, smiling wider while the two stallions stare at the scene in silent surprise.

“You’re my leader... the bats respect and adore you... it was... out of line for me to talk down to you like... that.” The man shuffles a bit and turns his back to her and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“It was a... Heat of the moment thing and I... ugh... shouldn’t have just... let all of my frustrations out on you. So... for stepping out of line I’m... sorry, princess. That and... I guess... Twilight Sparkle may have a point about... being rude to you before that, even... so... you know, for throwing your ideas in the swamp lake. Should’ve been... nicer... guess.”

Princess Luna stood there in silence for a moment before letting out a chuckle and prodding his back with her hoof. “Haha! Your apology is terrible!”

“Eugh...” He growls.

“But...” Princess Luna steps around him and peeks at the man's flustered face while carrying a smile on hers. “I do appreciate it.”

“Whatever, I did it because I felt like I stepped out of line... especially towards the sister I preferred, I think?” The guards and Twilight perked up at that, the group leaning more towards the door now.

“Oh?” Princess Luna perks up at that and stands by his side, looking up at him with interest. “Do explain.”

“Well... from what the guards and your sister tell me, you control the night correctly?”

“I just simply transition into the night with the moon. I cannot control the night all together, but to put it in simple terms, then you’re correct.” The princess nods.

“Then I prefer you more than your sister.” He states bluntly.

“Oh? Do you appreciate the night?” Princess Luna smiles bigger.

“Sure...? The night is good for attacking, ambushing, mugging, kidnapping, hunting, an ”” He pauses when he sees the deadpan expression the princess was giving him.

“And er...” He runs his hand through his hair and looks up at the moon. “... I’ve always liked the night in general... since I was a little whelp... the little dots in the sky and the moon always helped me sleep...”

Princess Luna smiles again. “Thank you, captain.”

“Mn.” He grunts.

Princess Luna chuckles at his response. “Despite your attitude, it seems you have a soft side to you.”

“Mnnn....” He growls, only egging the Lunar Princess further. “Not only that but I have seen previous reports regarding missions, you have to be very protective over my little bats. Telling them to retreat when a situation seems dire, regardless if the mission is of great importance, compared to my era, you have increased the life expectancy of my guard. Thank you for caring about them, captain.”

“I don-... ugh... whatever.” He clicks his tongue, making the princess giggle. “I look forward to working with you, captain.”

“Same to you... I guess.” He mumbles.

“Let us celebrate this new beginning!” The princess ignites her horn.

“With this!” In a small flash of light, a leather bag appears in her magical grasp. The captain stares at the bag with a puzzled look.

“Tis sweet confectionery treats I bought on the night of my public return. A blueberry hardened candy inspired by... well, my counterpart. I had planned on sharing it with my guard but... well you technically are part of my guard so...” Her magic unwraps the bag and pulls out a small wrapped treat from it, unwrapping it easily and then pushing it into his mouth. “Enjoy!”

Ratimir glares at her for a moment and doesn't speak, taking a moment to just stand and break down the treat he was given. Princess Luna popped another treat into her mouth during this. For a moment the two stand there in silence, chewing their treats together and staring off into the countryside landscape. He is the first to break the treat down and swallow, letting a soft hum exit his mouth before speaking.

“You’re correct... it is sweet, alright...” Princess Luna looks over and smiles at him.

“But it has a strong bitter aftertaste… since it came from you...” Her smile instantly fades and she stares at him with a deadpan expression, the captain snickering at her expression.

She lets out a sigh and jabs his side with a hoof. “Perhaps... You should change with me, if we art to make a new era for our banner... starting with that dreadful personality of yours.”

The captain’s snicker ceases, and he glares at her, the princess smirking up at him before snickering to herself. “Whatever...”

He rolls his eyes and looks off to the side as the Princess continues to snicker. Behind them Twilight and the guards look at each other and smile. “Let’s leave them alone now.” Twilight says as she pulls away, the others nodding and pulling away from the door.

—Two Days Later—

”Here we are.” Fallen Shine says as he flies down towards the Lunar Base, with a lavender Unicorn in his hooves.

“A-aren’t we going a bit too fast!?” Twilight asks anxiously. Wind rushing past her face from the speed they were going, she looks up to the stallion then back to the oncoming grassy field. Her teeth clench tightly as she watches the ground rapidly coming towards them.

“No.” The stallion bluntly states.

“W-w-what makes you so sure, Fallen Shine!?” Twilight looks up to the stallion. The stallion In question, just staring at head with his neutral expression.

“F-fallen! Fallen, hey, hey!” Twilight tries to get his attention as the two speedily approach the ground. The unicorn gives up, bracing herself for impact, projecting a magic spherical barrier around the duo. Shutting her eyes tight, she waits for the oncoming impact with the ground, only for that impact to never come. Instead, she finds wind brushes past her face and her hooves land on the ground.

Snapping her eyes open, she finds the stallion placing her down on the ground and hovering back in the air. She looks around for a moment before focusing onto Fallen Shine.

“W-wha... W-what happened! We were going so fast and...”

“I stopped.” The stallion states bluntly as he lands onto the ground.

“What! B-but... From what I've seen of pegasi and... Rainbow Dash, they can’t stop themselves at that speed without damaging their wings....” Twilight stares at the stallion in bewilderment. Fallen Shine says nothing, only throwing his wings up in response.

“Oh right... you’re not a pegasus... so your flight must go by different rules then...” Twilight mumbles towards the end, taking out her notepad and writing down this discovery. The stallion tucks his wings back to his side and heads to the door, the unicorn following behind.

“Anything happening today, Fallen Shine?” Twilight looks up from her notes as they stop at the front door.

“Our Princess was going to come by with an announcement, and we’re having special training tonight.” The stallion knocks on the door.

“Announcement...? Special training?” Twilight tilts her head.

“Mhmm.” The stallion takes a step back as the doors open from the inside.

“Hey, Twilight Sparkle!” Moonfall smiles at the unicorn as he opens the door wider for the duo. Fallen Shine walks past the white-coated stallion, while Twilight smiles and approaches him.

“Moonfall! I heard there was going to be some speci—”

“Captain, I... I love you! Please go out with me!” Dusk Blades voice rings out. Twilight snaps her neck over to the source point, seeing Dusk Blade standing in front of Ratimir in the middle of the room. A determined look on her face with some blush on her cheeks.

“Didn’t expect that...” Moonfall mumbles as he looks over at the scene. “Well, I guess that’s a good intro—Twilight Sparkle?”

Moonfall Looks down at the ground, staring at the now passed out unicorn. “Oh...”

Fallen Shine lets out a sigh and turns around to take care of the unicorn.

XII - Second Report

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—The Morning after the nights previous events—

Dear Princess Celestia,
I will start off this report with an apology for what you’re about to read or may have already heard. I am sorry, I met with Princess Luna on Nightmare Night, and she invited me to go with her to meet the bat ponies. Meaning she wished to go to the Lunar base and... well, to shorten the story she found out about the captain... and wasn’t really happy… The two got into an argument
However! The good news is that she managed to make amends with Ratimir! Though... I know despite that outcome you really didn’t want me to tell Princess Luna or let her even know about him, but at the time I felt that if I kept holding onto the lie it would’ve only made the situation worse and no party involved would come out happy.
I... Understand if you’re disappointed in me, as I sit here writing this, I'm thinking of better solutions, things I could’ve done to prevent this outcome but... What happened cannot be taken back, or at least not without creating a time paradox or worsening the situation, you understand my point! I’m sorry that I informed Princess Luna about our lie, and any future troubles that may cause. She was pretty angry when I told her... sorry.
I’ll better myself so situations like this won’t happen again! My friends and Spike still have no clue about this, so no need to worry about it! That is all I have to repor—Wait, wait! I failed to mention that Ratimir may have made some progress! Princess Luna and Ratimir did get into a bit of a... Verbal scuffle but Ratimir apologized! He apologized, Princess Celestia! Can you believe that this... “man?” apologized!
Though nothing else really changed about him... he managed to apologize! So, I think I made some progress, even if it's… kind of small... It's progress! I’ll keep on my mission and see if more opportunities arrive to further his progress!
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

Princess Celestia released a sigh as she finished the letter. A small frown on her lips as she lowers the letter down onto the dining table. Her eyes linger on the letter for a while, a sigh threatening to escape her only for her to quickly drown it out by a sip of her morning tea. Princess Celestia opens her eyes and exhales through her nose, her eyes moving over onto the side entrance of the dining hall and then to the window.

A thoughtful hum leaving her lips. “Any moment now...” She mumbles to herself. Eyes going back to the dining table and onto her plate of pancakes, slicing a piece of pancake off and lifting it up to her mouth. The sound of the side entrance doors swinging open and hitting against the walls echo through the room.

“Sister!” The voice of the Lunar Princess follows up afterward.

‘ I didn’t even get to start on my pancakes yet...’

Celestia sighs and places down her fork that withheld the piece of pancake back onto the plate and looks over to her sister. Her usual smile on her face, a facade of obliviousness as she sits there and watches the clearly upset, and tired Lunar Princess heads over to her.

“Morning, sister. I take it that the night didn’t go well?” Princess Celestia tilts her head, a small smile on her face.

“Do not play games with us, sister! We knowth of thou deceit!” Princess Luna stomps the ground as she stands beside her sister, glaring at her.

“You were never one for patience...” Princess Celestia looks off to the side and frowns.

“You wore our patience by letting us fall into a lie you’ve conjured for moons! Though we understand why, we still cannot believe you would do this!”

“Yes, and I’m sorry for that, Sister. But I-wait... you… understand?” Princess Celestia returns her gaze back to her sister and raises a brow.

“Yes... the captain you selected is... brutal and honest... forcing us to confront truths about ourselves and our actions that we have previously ignored... sorrow overtook us, but... much to your “oh so great” calculations we have overcome it and plan to better ourselves! For our people and our future! We need not be protected by our elder sister anymore!” Princess Luna jabs her hoof into Celestia's chest at the end.

Princess Celestia stared at her sister, successfully holding back her utter bewilderment at what she said. She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out, using the action to lift her tea cup up and take a sip from it instead.

“To deceive me after all these moons, for my feelings, how very incorrigible of you, sister. Regardless of the kind motive behind it.” Princess Luna huffs.

“Yes, it was... very cruel of me to deceive you like this, Luna. I just... I’m sorry for deceiving you, sister. Can you forgive your worrywart of a sister?” Princess Celestia gives a sorrowful look to her sister. Princess Luna gives a small smile and pats her sister's shoulder. “As if you have forgiven us for our foalish actions, we shall forgive thee for thou actions... though we do require some compensation for the distress caused by all parties involved....”

Princess Celestia rolls her eyes and sighs. “Of course... What do you want, Luna?” Princess Luna smiles, with an ignition of her horn; she summons a tied up rolled parchment and places it on the table. “A request needn't be discussed right now, as it isn’t important at the moment. We implore you to read it when you’re by thouself and relaxed. 'Tis all we ask for.”

Princess Celestia stares at the parchment for a moment and then to her sister. Her eyes saw the clear mischievousness in her younger sister. “Okay, I shall read it when I have time. Though, if it is a request to bring back public executions or allow duels in the streets once again, then I’m afraid I will have to deny them for the sake of peace for the public.”

Princess Luna chuckles to herself and takes a magical hold of a banana from the fruit basket, lifting it over to herself as she heads out through the entrance. “'Tis not anything of that sort, sister. Though you are close...”

Princess Celestia frowns at Luna, then glances at the other end of the table, where another set of plated pancakes stood. “Wait, Luna, what about break—” The line dies in her throat as she sees her sister no longer in the area.

“..........” Princess Celestia exhales through her nose and quickly lifts her fork and eats the pancake piece.

‘ One day I’ll get her to sit down and have breakfast with me... Like we used to.’

Princess Celestia cuts off another piece of pancake and eats it. Flinching a bit when the faint pain in her neck suddenly kicks back in. Princess Celestia shuts her eyes tightly for a moment before opening and staring at the pancakes, then back to the other end of the long table.

‘ It hurts... to keep lying to her, but… It’s for her sake. For everyponies sake... and for his sake... if they found out about his... potential... and what happened then I... ‘

Princess Celestia shakes her head. “No, no... don’t think about it too much... Tia... He made progress, apologizing for once... He’s making progress... Progress...”

She pauses and stares at her knife on the table.

‘ I hope he’s making progress... I just need to keep him out of combat. Let Twilight take care of the rest. ‘

A sigh escapes her and her eyes move over to the parchment; briefly she looks around before lifting it up.

‘ I need to stop worrying... let’s see what she wants from me. ‘

Princess Celestia unrolls the parchment, and lifts her cup of tea, drinking as she scans over the parchment. Halfway through, her eyes widen and going further down, her magic starts to shake the cup itself, letting some tea drool down her lips and onto the table. Reaching the end, the princess could no longer hold within herself, spitting out her tea and quickly standing up. Uncaring for the tea cup falling onto the floor and shattering, or the puddle of tea she had spat out onto the floor, she rushes out of the room.

“LUNA!”

XIII - A New Start

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Twilight snapped her eyes open, a gasp leaving her mouth as her senses awakened. Her brain picks up on the odd sensation of sogginess in her fur, raising her right foreleg and brushing her hoof against her face to confirm that her face was soaked. A small ‘Eep!’ leaves her mouth as the chilling sensation of the passive air brushes against her wet fur. Twilight rolls onto her side and quickly gets off the floor, immediately shaking her head to throw the water off to obtain her previous dryness.

Feeling warmth once again after shaking most of the water off Twilight began to realize that she was passed out on the floor; the fearful question of “Wait… why was I on the floor!?” Bounces around in her skull along with a sense of fearful panic starting to rise. Twilight quickly ignites her horn, her eyes frantically looking around to take and soak in the details of her surroundings.

“Where am I? What’s going on!? Who's there!?” Twilight yelped out.

“Woah, woah! Relax, Twilight Sparkle!” spoke a somewhat familiar voice to her left side. Twilight snaps her head towards the voice, a sigh of relief leaving her as she sees Moonfall. Her nerves calmed down upon seeing Moonfall’s worried face bringing a faint sense of embarrassment when her eyes spotted Fallen Shine and Dusk Blade at her right side, both carrying somewhat worried yet bemused expressions on their faces.

Twilight takes a couple of slow breaths. Her eyes looking down and seeing a small bucket laying on the floor, quickly, the unicorn made a hypothesis of what had happened and brought a hoof over her face in an attempt to cover the heat she was feeling on her cheeks. “I... I passed out, didn’t I?” The guards nodded together. Twilight lets out a groan.

“Mhmm. If you want to know the cause…” Moonfall points over at Dusk Blade. “ It was after you heard what Dusk Blade said to the captain.”

Fallen Shine quickly walked to Moonfall and smacked him upside the head with a look of disapproval. “Ow! What was that for?” Moonfall grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head

Twilight’s gaze slowly went over to Dusk Blade, the small bat-pony giving her best innocent smile. Mild irritation slowly swelling upon seeing her face until the irritation grew into a tumor of bafflement and anger as the memory resurfaces back into her head. Twilight scowls and marches up to Dusk Blade.

“That's right… Dusk Blade… Mind explaining to me… What. The. Hay. Was. THAT!?” Twilight stomps the floor as the last word leaves her mouth.

“How… how could you even!” She points her hoof at Dusk Blade. “I can’t even!” Twilight throws her left foreleg up in the air. “When did you!? Huh!? I... !... Uggh!” Twilight throws both her forelegs up in the air, falling backwards onto her haunches and holding her head in her hooves as she lets out a groan of frustration.

Fallen Shine and Moonfall stare at Twilight for a moment before looking over at Dusk Blade and giving the small bat-pony a questioning look.

“True… Why did you say that, Dusk Blade? I mean, you could've literally said anything else, but you settled on that.” Moonfall asks. Dusk Blade tenses up slightly upon being thrown into the spotlight; slowly she turns her head to the side as a faint blush spreads on her cheeks along with a small smile. The stallions narrow their eyes together at her while Twilight moves her hooves from her face and looks at her in disbelief.

“Dusk Blade… What is that face? Stop that! What is that face you’re making!?” Twilight says fearfully.

“W-well... it’s just... u-um...” Dusk Blade looks down at the ground and plays with the floor with the tips of her hooves, her eyes averting meeting Twilight’s or the stallions. Twilight’s eyes widen fearfully, briefly; she glances over to Ratimir, talking to Faded Light, then back to Dusk Blade. Twilight feels anxiety rise in the chest as panic starts to settle in her.

` What do I do!? Can I do anything!? Am I supposed to do anything about this!? I-i should, right!? There's no way this could be good, right? So, I should stop it, right!? But... What if it is good!? What if I just mess it up!? What if I ruin Princess Celestia's task because I stopped this!? No, no, no! What do I do!? What do I…`

Fallen Shine eyes linger on Twilight, then back to Dusk Blade, a frown managing to form on his lips. Silently, the stallion walks over to the timid Dusk Blade and smacks her upside the head.

“Ow!” Dusk Blade hisses and glares at the Sergeant.

Fallen Shine leans down, nearly pressing snouts with the mare. “The truth, Dusk Blade.” He says rather bluntly. Dusk Blade glaring at him for a moment before looking at Twilight and noticing the state she was going into. The small bat-pony lets out a reluctant sigh and walks over to Twilight, putting a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight snaps her attention back to Dusk Blade, staring at her in a mixture of confusion and nervousness.

“I was just messing you with…” Dusk Blade says sorrowfully. “The captain was teaching us how to taunt and deal with taunts. He started us off by making us say something to try and throw him off guard and… I went with a love confession... because… well, if someone were to say they love you in the middle of a fight, that would catch you off guard! There was nothing more to it.”

“You sure? You seem kind-” Moonfall pauses as Fallen Shine walks back over with a raised hoof.

“Nevermind! If it makes you feel any better, she got rejected… like instantly! I mean instantly! The moment she finished her sentence, instantly! Absolutely no hesitation from him.” Moonfall adds on with a snicker. Dusk Blade snaps her head at Moonfall and lets out a sharp hiss.

“Oh! Oooh… oh thank Celestia… Good! That’s soooo much better…!” Twilight lets out a sigh and puts a hoof over her chest, a simile finding its way onto her face as she relishes in the truth.

“What!?” Dusk Blade snaps her attention back to Twilight. “Why are you relieved about that!? Is the thought of me confessing love to him so bad!?” Dusk Blade asks angrily.

Twilight stares at Dusk Blade in silence, with the best poker face she could muster before looking off to the side, her muzzle scrunching up. Dusk Blade gives the unicorn a deadpan glare. “Hey! I’m not that bad!”

The small mare takes a couple of steps back and poses. “I’m small, stallions like small mares! I’m cute, and... uh…” Dusk Blade pauses as she thinks to herself for a moment.

“...That’s all that matters to stallions!” Dusk Blade smirks and sticks her chest out. Letting her words sink in before her smirk falters slightly, her head turning slightly to glance over to the male guards. “Even you guys have to admit I'm quite the catch!”

Fallen Shine and Moonfall stare at Dusk Blade blankly for a moment before looking off in opposite directions with scrunched muzzles. Dusk Blade smirk drops, staring at the stallions in silence. Eventually stopping her flaunting and walking over to Moonfall, a deadpan expression on her face as she enters into his line of sight.

“Hey.” She says coldly. Moonfall quickly averts his gaze away from her. Dusk Blade mouth twitches momentarily. She takes a step closer and leans up closer to his face until their muzzles are only an inch apart.

“Hey.” She says colder, with a mix of anger spilling out.

“So!” Twilight smacks her front hooves together, pulling the guard's attention back to her. “Any reason for this training!?”

“It’s part of tonight’s special training.” Fallen Shine answers.

“Yep, I'm pretty sure it’s related to Princess Luna’s announcement later.” Moonfall hastily follows up while quickly pulling away from Dusk Blade. Dusk Blade scowls as she looks between the trio.

“Don’t ignore me!” Dusk Blade hisses.

“Oh look, Faded Light and the Captain are about to go at it!” Moonfall throws his hoof past Dusk Blade and points over to the training mat. Dusk Blade hisses at the stallion before following along with everypony's gaze. Across them on the training mat was the highest ranked duo, Faded Light and Ratimir. Faded Light was lowered to the ground as she stretched out her wings, a soft sound leaving Twilight as she is able to see the full design of wooden wingblades for their kind.

Twilight stares at the bat pony’s wing blades before obeying her instincts, pulling out her notepad from her saddlebags and begins to write.

` A harness of …Hydra leather… that goes around her barrel. Connected to the harness is a wood beam that seems to be cut out on the other side, so that it smoothly covers the arm arm of the wing. Around the dactylopatagium brevis is a circular wooden cover that connects the wooden beam of the forearm to the dactylopatagium medius beam. Probably has cut rings on the inside and the wooden beam ends there are probably designed to go along those carved in rings to give wing flexibility. `

Twilight finishes her writing and looks over her notes. Nodding silently to her written hypothesis, along with a reminder to ask them to look at their design later. Especially the hydra leather. An involuntary shiver runs down her spine as she looks over at it once again.

‘ To k-k-kill and… skin a hydra… eugh… `

Twilight grimaces before shaking her head. Moving on from the grim thought, she goes onto an observation she notices. Staring at the wingblade and reminiscing on the combat styles of the other guards, curiosity fueling her, she turns to look at Fallen Shine and speaks up.“I noticed when I first came here but didn’t think much about it... but why is Faded Light the only one who uses those?”

Fallen Shine momentarily looks at Twilight then to Faded Light. “Wingblades?” Twilight nods.

“Wingblades are good for aerial focused types, relying on speed instead of damage. Faded Light is the fastest out of all of us, on both air and ground. So, it really suits her... but...” The stallion hesitates for a moment, glancing at Faded Light’s ears for a moment. Hesitantly, he leans his head down over Twilight's ear and whispers. “It’s also because she admires the Captain’s combat style… She wishes to mimic it in her own way…”

‘ Ratimir’s combat style...’

Twilight’s eyes move away from the lieutenant and onto the captain. Ratimir stood there with the same stoic yet tired expression on his face. Her eyes travel downwards to his hands, widening slightly upon seeing what was in his hands; a wooden sword in his right hand and a wooden dagger in his left hand.

Twilight brings a hoof up to her mouth as she looks down to the floor in thought.

‘ He’s a duelist? No... he's similar… but different from the books about famous warriors. All of the famed duelists were unicorns and they always took up two swords or axes; unicorn rogues took up dual daggers, but a sword and dagger combination? Does that work? Can that work? How does he make it work? ‘

With her curiosity piqued, Twilight steps away from the center and sits down by the wall. The guard trio joined shortly after. Twilight keeps her gaze on the captain's weaponry, her mind creating various scenarios of how he could make use of them to the best of her knowledge.

“A sword and dagger...” leaks out of Twilight’s mouth.

“Correct.” Fallen Shine answers, startling Twilight for a moment before letting out an embarrassed cough and looking away.

“Sorry I was.. just.. Thinking to myself and It leaked out…” Twilight says meekly.

“Mhmm.” Fallen Shine nods while keeping his gaze forward. Twilight looks at the stallion then back to the training mat. Letting silence come down and create an air of awkwardness between the two.

‘ So… uncomfortable…!… I have to say something..! I started the topic, after all… `

“Um… the uh… reason I uh.. Mention his weapons were b-because most Equestrian duelists use swords... some did use daggers… b-but they all have a common factor! That being, the weapons were always the same length. I was just… er… w-wondering how he made a sword and dagger work?” Twilight says with a mixture of nervousness and panic in her voice. Her eyes focused onto the stallion to gauge his reaction.

“Watch and you’ll see.” The stallion answers tersely, not even giving a glance to Twilight.

“O-okay…” Twilight brings her attention back to the training mat. There Ratimir and Faded Light stood across from each other; the two higher ranks staring at each other before walking forward until the two were only a foot away from each other. Faded Light threw out her right wing and stretched it forward. Ratimir reacts by bringing his sword forward and putting the wooden blade on top of her wooden blades.

The two nod to each other and pull their weapons back. Immediately, the two quickly fell back to the edge of the mat, putting distance between each other. Faded Light goes into a wide stance and opens her wings up, Ratimir on the other end, turns his body to the side and points his wooden sword at her.

“Don’t disappoint me like usual, Lieutenant Light.” He says grimly. Twilight slightly cringes from that comment, an echo of Faded Lights praises of her captain in her head.

“I didn’t know he saw her like that...” Twilight mumbles.

“He doesn’t.” Fallen Shine speaks up, drawing the unicorn's attention.

“That was a taunt to upset her. Remember, he’s teaching us how to give taunts and also how to deal with them.”

“Mhmm! In the captains' words…” Dusk Blade briefly coughs into her hoof before crossing her forelegs and putting on a neutral look. “When it comes to fighting, everything is a weapon at your disposal. Even words.” Dusk Blade says in the best deep voice she could muster. Twilight gives a silent nod before looking back at the match.

Faded Light scowls. Without saying nothing, she lowers her body closer to the floor and points her wings upwards. Ratimir in turn, pulls his sword back and spins his dagger in his other hand, stopping the motion when he is able to hold the dagger upside down; yet despite the action he moves his body slightly so his right side to focus more on his sword. Silence filled the room as the two were glaring at each other.

Twilight tenses up, her teeth clenched together as her eyes dart between Ratimir and Faded Light. The two make no moves at the start, opting to stand as still as possible. Eventually the silent pact of no aggression breaks. Twilight eyes snapped onto Faded Light; the mare pulled back slightly in the startup of a forward charge. However, her attention is broken as rapid steps break the silence.

Twilight darts her gaze over to Ratimir, widening as she sees what he has done. In the brief moment she had looked away, Ratimir had decided to make the first move by rushing in, closing the distance between them within seconds. Twilight lets out a small gasp at the acknowledgement of his speed.

‘ T-that was fast! `

Ratimir stops midway, stretching out his right arm and delivering a wide strike at Faded Light. She quickly moved her wings and covered her front, blocking the hit at the cost of being pushed back slightly. A loud impact rings out throughout the room, Twilight flinches and her ears to press against her head.

‘ F-fast and strong!? ‘

Despite the two clashing Ratimir pushes forward, pulling his sword back, running at her. Faded Light raises her guard and prepares for another block. However, that blow never comes. Twilight raises a brow, along with Faded Light as the man runs past her.

‘ A hit-and-run strategy? ’

Faded Light seems to come to the same conclusions and spins around to give chase. She pauses for herself as she watches the captain run up to the wooden pillar that was behind her, jumping up and putting his foot against the pillar. Everypony's eyes widened as the man hops off the pillar with his foot, turning his body mid-air back to Faded Light and stretching his sword arm once again. Faded Light quickly brings her guard back up, blocking the strike when he lands.

He immediately followed up his attack with a straight left kick, breaking through her guard and knocking the mare backwards. Faded Light grunts and quickly opens her wings to prevent herself from falling over onto her back, using her delayed fall to kick up and flip midair. She brought her wings back to the other side so she could quickly land back onto the mat, but despite her recovery, the human had already covered the distance between them, stopping in front of her and stretching his sword arm again.

He delivers a low horizontal swing aiming at her front legs. Faded Light reacts with a timed jump, twirling her body midair and stretching out her wings. Swiftly he reels his head back and dodges the ends of the wingblades from hitting his throat, taking a step back from his reeling. He lowers his body slightly and brings his dagger to his chest, delivering a quick thrust towards her barrel.

Flapping her wings, Faded Light dodges to the right. She quickly brings her body up to be horizontal and rushes at him. As Ratimir pulls his arm to recover from his whiff Faded Light goes in and spins, her wing raising up to hit the underside of his left wrist. The captain pulled his dagger arm up and brought it down, catching her wingblade using the hilt of the dagger.

Faded Light’s eyes widened. She attempts to spin once more to break through his hilt block but the strength of his dagger against her wing locks her wing in place. Her pupils shrink as she sees his sword positioned underneath his left; with no hesitation he thrusts his sword towards her face. Faded Light curses flaps her other wind upwards, bringing the air onto her and throwing her out of the sword's thrust and bringing herself belly first onto the mat.

Thankfully, because of how awkward an angle he had thrust in, she was given some time to get off the mat and dash back. Ratimir gives out a “Tch.” As he recovers from his attack and returns back to his stance, with a small addition of spinning his dagger again until it was upwards in his hand. Faded Light glares at him, breathing heavily through her nose as the two begin to their second stare-off.

Twilight stares at the scene before here in pure bewilderment; her mind slowed due to the amount of information being processed in the short amount of time. Her process gets interrupted as the familiar snicker of an awfully small mare reaches her ears. Turning her head to the source, she finds all of the guards looking at her with amused looks. Twilight looks away, a blush spread over her cheeks.

“You should’ve seen your face, Twilight! Kehehe~!” Dusk Blade chuckles. “Were you really that surprised to see our captain fight?” Dusk Blade asks with a grin on her face. Twilight opens her mouth, finding her voice refusing to come out. She takes a moment to collect her thoughts by shaking her head, bringing her gaze back to the guards, she nods.

“Y-yeah... I mean... he’s so big…” Twilight stops herself upon realizing what she said, quickly delivering a glare to the grinning Dusk Blade.

“Don’t.” Twilight warns, making the mare only grin wider.

“Don’t.” Fallen Shine orders as he narrows his eyes at Dusk Blade. The mare chuckles to herself and closes her mouth.

“So…” Twilight continues. “I assumed he functioned like a minotaur in terms of speed, but... going by that I realized his legs gave him an advantage compared to a Minotaurs...” Twilight looks back at the battle, wincing once again as the captain gives Faded Light a strong blow against her guard that sends her stumbling back once again and him easily closing the distance.

“His legs?” Dusk Blade looks back to the fight as well, taking a glance at his legs, bringing the other two guards to take a look as well.

“Yes… Minotaurs have unguligrade legs… like us, it lets them run long distances while being able to carry heavy loads, such as their weight due to their muscle growth, while not affecting their stability...” Twilight explains as she focuses on Ratimir’s long legs as he strides over to Faded Light after knocking her around once again.

“Ratimir’s legs, in comparison, are different. His legs are plantigrade, from what I've seen… he has a larger surface area, giving him more stability than we do despite having only two legs.” Twilight glances at her hoof, turning it over and looking at her frogs for a moment. “Each time he strikes, his body doesn’t move… and has more variety of movement than we do. Combined with their length… just by walking he is faster than minotaurs and ponies due to the distance his legs can cover.”

“I didn’t know legs had names other than legs… and that our Captain has better legs than us…” Dusk Blade mumbles as she watches the captain move again.

“Yeah, huh…” Moonfall tilts his head as he watches the man move. “You’re right... compared to us, the captain moves in wide strides... no wonder it felt like he got over to me in like... two steps... he literally did.” Moonfall mumbles.”

“Mn. Is there anything else you noticed, Twilight Sparkle?” Fallen Shine looks down at the unicorn.

Twilight perks up and brings a hoof up to her chin, looking down in thought before opening her mouth. “Well, I think I see why the captain uses a sword and a dagger…”

“Really!?” Dusk Blade turns her head back to Twilight with a look of interest on her face.

“Yeah. It seems to tie in with the range of his weapons… the sword gives him more reach, while the dagger gives him—”

“Defense for when the opponent gets past the range of his sword, correct?” Fallen Shine interrupts. Twilight perks up and looks at Fallen Shine with surprise.

“Y-yeah..!” Twilight says hesitantly.

“His style is deceitful, because of how unusual it is you get the sense that it doesn’t work and even if it did… you’d only have to worry about his sword. Howe—”

“However, because of the difference between the length of his weapons, it gives him the ability to fight mid-range and up close! Making it clear that his own real weakness is long range weapons such as spears or bows!” Twilight excitedly cuts the stallion off. Fallen Shine looks at her with his stoic expression before a small smile appears on his face as he nods.

“He even has adaptability with his—”

“Your reactions are too slow, Lieutenant.” Ratimir’s voice cuts off Twilight. Everypony’s attention came back to him. Faded Light panted as she shook her head, while Ratimir showed no sign of fatigue. Ratimir sighed and raised his sword, letting the back of the blade rest on his shoulder and looking at her with a bored look.

“But as usual that’s to be expected of you... I really need to stop having expectations on you... tch...” Ratimir says icily as he looks off to the other wall. Faded Light flares up, gritting her teeth before letting out a heavy sigh and taking deep breaths in and out.

“Oooooooooo... That was good! He almost got her!” Dusk Blade claps her hooves together.

“Mixing a taunt with criticism... Impressive...” Fallen Shine mumbles as he nods.

Faded Light huffs and rushes forward, her wings open midway as her eyes aim for his legs. Unhesitatingly Ratimir swings his sword downwards for a low sweep with his sword, Faded Light reacts quickly and stops herself just barely out of his sword's range. For a brief moment Ratimir’s eyes widen slightly as she throws her right hoof on the side of his sword and pins it down to the ground.

“Oh!” Dusk Blade exclaims with a grin. A look of interest appeared on the faces of everypony against the wall. Faded Light narrows her eyes and hops up into the air, turning her body again and throwing her wing towards his neck. Ratimir, on reaction thrusts his dagger forward, forcing the mare to change for action by having to purposefully whiff her attack to twist her neck out of his dagger's path.

“Damn it!” Faded Light yells out. Quickly she throws herself back to the ground with her wings, landing back on his sword. The captain's eyes narrowed, and he kicked up the other side of the blade, a yelp leaving the mare as she launched off the pinned sword. Faded Light flaps her wings and catches herself mid-air, going into a hovering state momentarily before preparing an aerial charge.

Once again her plan of action is halted, her eyes widened upon seeing the dagger flying towards her face. With a hiss she knocks the dagger out of the air with her wings, allowing her to see the captain already within striking distance. Faded Light prepares to fly upwards out of reach as Ratimir catches the dagger with his left hand; quickly he swings his sword in an upwards horizontal swing to cut off her vertical exit. Faded Light quickly ducks down with a hiss and challenges his dagger follow-up with her wing, pushing the two into a close combat slugfest.

Fallen Shine lets out a whistle. “That wasn’t a bad move...”

“Yeah! She was close at that time!” Dusk Blade chirps up, looking at Moonfall and getting a nod from him.

“No, she wasn’t…” The guards collectively turned their heads to Twilight, finding the unicorn furiously writing down notes in her notepad.

“What do you mean?” Moonfall asks.

“Well...” Twilight finishes writing one more thing down before looking up at Moonfall. “I noticed another thing about Ratimir...” Twilight looks back to Ratimir, focusing solely on his stoic face. “His eyes...”

“His eyes...?” Dusk Blade parrots as she follows her gaze, staying silent for a minute before tilting her head. “Okay, the legs, I get… but his eyes? I don’t get it...”

“Well.. His eyes are different from ours... while we both face the front, his eyes are smaller and thus solely focus on what's in front of him while ours are larger, so we have a larger line of sight than he does. For example, we can see those at our sides, and we can just simply glance behind us to see if anyone’s there, but for Ratimir... he’d have to turn his head around... ninety-degrees to see if anyone is behind him.” Twilight brings her pencil to her chin and thinks before nodding. “Around ninety-degrees, I think...”

“So... You're saying that the captain's sight is smaller than ours? Meaning you can easily get behind him and if you do then it’d be really easy to tell when he’s about to look behind him? Am I right or am I overthinking it?” Moonfall says while cocking up an eyebrow.
“No, you're right.” Twilight gives a small smile of assurance.

“Okay, so… if we have an advantage in sight than he does, why did you say Faded Light wasn’t close?” Moonfall follows up.

“Because I believe he knows this... I’ve noticed that he has always put Faded Light in his direct line of sight. Whenever she moves to the corner of his vision or almost out of his line of sight. he’ll try to stop her bec—”

“Because she’s fast… So she could easily get around him and enter his blind spots.” Fallen Shine interrupts with a thoughtful mumble. “I thought it was how he fought at first but… I noticed that when he fights the rest of us he seems more… relaxed, but when he’s sparring with Faded Light he is more aggressive and focuses on locking down her movement or quickly knocking her out of the air rather than going for a lethal blow.”

Moonfall and Dusk Blade let out a soft, thoughtful “ahh'' as they both look back to the fight and start noticing the way he’s been controlling her movements. Fallen Shine looks down at Twilight. “But that’s not all, is it?”

“Y-yeah!“ Twilight beams and looks back at her notes. “I have a hypothesis that despite his sight disadvantage... His brain may process everything faster than us, visually. Making him able to react or make decisions faster. Combine that with predictions he’s probably making, it makes him feel as if he is using foresight. Every move Faded Light made. he was able to stop or react quickly, even when she did something he didn’t predict.” Twilight looks back up, finding Moonfall and Dusk Blade staring at her with bewildered looks. “W-was that too much…?”

“No… it’s just uh…have you gotten into fights before, Twilight?” Dusk Blade asks before leaning past Moonfall and giving a grin. “You seem to be awfully interested in them, with how you seem to be watching our captain’s every move and giving us the deets~.”

“W-well…” Twilight looks away, her ears folding against her head as embarrassment mixed with some shame fills her. “O-only with creatures, never another pony...” Twilight rubs her foreleg. “I’ve just been uh... well... since I've been here, I uh… decided to start looking in guard books, battle stories... you know uh...” Twilight fiddles with her hooves, her blush growing.

“To connect with us more...?” Moonfall asks with a gentle smile on his face. Twilight nods hesitantly, earning a small chuckle from. Dusk Blade crawls over past the two stallions and hugs Twilight’s barrel. “Awww! I didn’t know Celestia’s students were this cute! Kehehehe~”

“C-cute!?” A strong blush flared up on Twilight’s face. “I am not! G-get off me!” Twilight tries to shove the small mare off her, a grunt coming out from her as she challenges the mare's grappling strength.

“Can’t get rid of me so easily~” Dusk Blade snickers as she nuzzles Twilight’s barrel.
“Augh!” Twilight moans. Moonfall chuckles while Fallen Shine gives a small smile.

“Tch!” Everypony pauses and looks back at the mat, finding the two having put distance between each other once again with Ratimir on the other end. He looks at the panting mare with a stoic gaze. Faded Light shakes her head, roughly and bares her fangs, as she prepares for another charge.

“Is this really... all you have? Hmpf.” Ratimir clicks his teeth and looks up thoughtfully for a second.“I really shouldn’t have held such high expectations for a damned…” Ratimir narrows his eyes. “Thestral.”

Twilight cocks her head as a cold silence fills the room.

` Thestral? That words is… familiar, but w-`

“Mhpf!” Twilight yelps as a strong pain is felt around her waist, looking down at Dusk Blade with a glare, only to freeze upon seeing the mare's expression. Her happiness from before had vanished, replaced by a look of irritation. Slowly, Twilight looked over at the other two and found them in similar states, Moonfall with a hateful glare, while Fallen Shine was scowling strongly with furrowed brows. Twilight stared at them for the moment, taking in their sudden emotional switch.

“Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssss” Her attention is eventually drawn upon hearing the most loud and violent hiss she's ever heard. Moving her gaze over to the source; Faded Light. Faded Light showed visible rage with bared fangs, and her pupils shrunken; without hesitation, the batpony shot herself forward at the captain. Twilight couldn’t help but feel pain in her heart, the move was simple... too simple, it was predictable and avoidable if Ratimir reacted at the last second to bait her.

Twilight slowly moved her eyes over to Ratimir and found him already preparing to react at the last second, his body movements ready to take a step back, raise his sword and knock her down in one fair motion. Twilight couldn’t help but close her eyes, unable to see Faded Light get brought down after doing her best.

Thwump!

“Opf!”

Twilight flinches upon hearing the impact. Slowly she opens her eyes and lets out a sigh as she sees Faded Light laying on her stomach, a foot away from Ratimir. Ratimir stares at her in silence for a while, tapping his sword against his shoulder before walking over to the fallen lieutenant and squatting down by her side, looking at her with a blank expression, before prodding her cheek with the tip of his sword.

“You failed.” He says bluntly before standing up and popping his neck. Faded Light rolls over onto her side and lays there motionless for a while.

“I hate you.” She says after a moment of silence.

“Wish you used that hate to actually land a hit and not get mad over a simple name.” Ratimir says with a scoff.

“I really hate you…” Faded Light rolls onto her back, a resigned yet thoughtful look on her face as she stares up at the ceiling.

“Hmpf.” Ratimir looks over to the rest of the guards and opens his mouth to say something, closing upon hearing loud knocks against the main doorway. Everyone turns their direction towards the door and listens along to the known knock pattern. Moonfall lets out a sigh when the pattern is finished and stands up, quickly making his way to the door and opening it.

“Great Star, your back! Where’d yo—” Moonfall’s voice falls as the muscular batpony walks past him with a disgruntled look. Moonfall raises his brow for a moment before looking behind the stallion, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

“Y-you! Long time no see!” Moonfall says somewhat cheerfully.

“Picked up the... package, Captain...” Great Star says as he walks into the building. Dusk Blade frowns slightly upon seeing Great Star before raising an eyebrow upon seeing the prideful stallion seemingly annoyed, deciding to draw her eyes back to the door and immediately join his mood band.

“Ugh... she's here....” Dusk Blade grumbles and quickly removes herself from Twilight.

Twilight raises a brow and focuses her attention on the new arrival; her eyes slowly widening upon seeing the newcomer. Walking into the training was a living bundle of scarves and winter cloaks, so many, in fact, that it almost looked like a moving, colorful tent, or one of Rarity’s dress piles had become alive.

“Who’s... that?” Twilight says with a mixture of confusion and worry.

“Our specialist...” Dusk Blade says with clear displeasure in her voice. Twilight perks up and a look of surprise dawns on her face.

‘ The… Specialist!? `

Quickly, Twilight flips through notes to one of her first pages, her eyes moving down the page and pointing her hoof at one of the names she wrote down.
` Northern Light! `

Twilight couldn’t help but feel a tinge of excitement rise into her as she watches the bundle step further into the room.

Ratimir lets out a sigh and fully turns to face the cloaked specialist. “I appreciate your arrival at my sudden notice, Northern Light.”

“Mmpf-” As the specialist steps closer to the captain, the ends of one of the many scarves slip its way down to the ground in front of her. One of her hooves underneath the bundle steps onto it and slips; a muffled yelp rings out and the bundle collapses onto the floor. Everypony wincing at the sight and loudness of the impact.

“That's what you get for over-dressing as usual.” Ratimir says mercilessly.

“Mpf!” The bundle gives a muffled grunt.

Twilight lets out a sigh and stands up, quickly trotting over to the bundle.“Let me help you back uppp?” Twilight freezes.

Appearing out of nowhere, an azure aura surrounds the bundle of clothing. Twilight quickly takes a step back as the bundle of clothing erupts into the air, and uncovers the being underneath. Twilight's jaw dropped as she witnessed a female unicorn rise from the floor, looking to be the same age or slightly older than Twilight as well, while being slightly taller than her.

She was... unique, or at least she seemed unique due to her design standing out compared to the rest of the Lunar guards darker coat scheme. She had a tall, thin build that spoke to Twilight that she was born in Canterlot like her, most likely in the upper class of Canterlot’s elites. She had a short furred light ceruleanish gray coat with pale, light grayish amber eyes, and a wavy long dark azure mane and tail. As Twilights took in the sights of the new unicorn, her eyes stopped at her Cutie Mark; A crystalline tower with a great light on top.

“You made the letter sound urgent, o’ great leader! I came as fast as I could!” Northern Light responds while quickly folding and organizing her mass of clothing. Twilight takes a couple of steps back until her rear hits the wall.

` She's… She’s…. She's a UNICORN!? `

“Are you really that surprised to see your own kind here...?” Twilight looks over to the left to an amused Dusk Blade.

“I... Ah... no one told me she was a unicorn!” Twilight whispers to Dusk Blade while taking multiple glances at Northern Light.

“Huh?” Dusk Blade tilts her head. But she’s a specialist... it was pretty obvious.”

“What!? Specialist doesn’t even remotely connect to—”

“Twilight Sparkle! Here in the flesh!” Twilight yelps and quickly spins around to see the fellow unicorn approaching with a grin.

“Yep! T-that’s me!” Twilight perks up and gives a nervous smile.

“Looks like you’ll get to see why she’s special...” Dusk Blade mumbles within Twilight’s earshot before trotting away.

“Ah! Dusk Blade!” Northern Light quickly beelines for the small mare. “I missed you, you little cuti—” Dusk Blade spins around and lets out a sharp hiss.

“I don’t want YOU calling me cute!” The small mare quickly retreats over to the Faded Light, helping the mare up as an excuse.

“Feisty as usual~” Northern Light lets out a small chuckle while narrowing her eyes.

Finishing her chuckles, she resumes her attention back to Twilight and takes a small bow. “Greetings, faithful student of the solar diarchy, Princess Celestia of the grand sun and day.” Rising from her bow, the unicorn gives a warm smile. “I am Northern Light, Specialist of the Lunar Guard. I specialize in scouting locations, giving my knowledge of magic to the guard, and researching the history of my long-lost home.”

“Nice to um.. Meet you. What do you mean by your long-lost home?” Twilight asks with a puzzled look on her face. In the corner of her vision she could’ve sworn she saw Moonfall returning, only to quickly back away as fast and as quietly as possible.

Northern Light beams up, a large simile on her face as she takes a step closer to Twilight. “Yes! I am looking into my place of belonging! The Crystal Empire!”

“.................” Twilight blinked.

“Wha, h-huh!?” Twilight looks at her with bewilderment.

“Mhmm! I am sure a scholar like you can tell that I am a crystal pony! A noble descendent of one of the noble bloodlines of the great Crystal Empire of the frozen north!” Northern Light looks off to the side and points her hoof north.

“Uh... huh!?” Twilight raises a brow. “B-but… how!? The crystal empire vanished... centuries ago! Along with all of its denizens!” Twilight pondered out loud.

“A common misconception created by those... stuck up, foolish, ignorant “researchers” in Canterlot...!” Northern Light says with strong venom. “Not you of course!” She gives an apologetic look. Twilight simply nods, still dumbfounded by her claim.

“You see… my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great ancestor was out trading with Equestria on the day the Crystal Empire vanished. She was locked away from the rest of her family due to the dreaded, petty curse from Slave King, Sombra..” Northern Light balls her hoof up and shakes it up in the air as she glares at the ceiling before returning to her normal gleeful state. “Thus she spent her years in Equestria, found looove~… and started a family of her own.”

“I... uh… I see...” Twilight says with some skepticism. She knew one fact for sure about crystal ponies, that being that they were hornless and wingless, being more attuned to crystals, heat, and winter magic. After all, supposedly the empire was made of crystal itself, so it was their natural environment and they attuned to it like earth ponies and the ground. Add on the legend of the crystal heart, protecting the empire from the dangerous endless winter of the north; they never needed to really use magic like unicorns do.

` To claim she is a crystal pony… it has to be incorrect! But… it is possible that her ancestor was a crystal pony… so maybe she has the blood in her, but s-still she’s a unicorn! It just… but it could.. But `

Twilight stared at her for a moment before shaking her head. “O-okay... so, um... why is a... crystal pony in the Lunar Guard?”

“A wonderful question!” Northern Lights says enthusiastically before suddenly leaning down, touching noses with Twilight. “You see, Twilight Sparkle! When I discovered my family bloodline, I became determined to uncover and learn more about my true homeland! For that I needed a way to go up to the Frozen North, funds, and a back net in case something happened to me.”

Northern Light began to pace back and forth in front of Twilight. “Sooo, I went to join the Solar History department... but those... stuck up... ignorant... pieces of...“ Northern Light abruptly coughs into her hoof and shakes her head. “...Other historians... mocked and declined me. I even made a request to Princess Celestia herself and was also... declined, due to her feeling uncomfortable with her sending a group to the Frozen North.”

Northern Light stops and lets out a huff. “Being declined from looking into my homeland… was…depressing… But! I stayed determined, I spent countless moons pondering if I should go alone... until! While rereading the fall of King Sombra for the fortieth time, I remembered Princess Luna, and how she most likely had a lunar side to royalty… including a guard unit. Of course Princess Luna wasn’t around, but I was sure that side still existed. So, after countless moons of research, cross-researching of historic accounts, and—”

“Stalking us?” Fallen Shine says as he passes by the unicorns.

“It wasn’t stalking! It was simply observing your Flight patterns, listening to your conversations, and making sure you were Lunar guard while hiding in brush for moons, connecting all your flight patterns to a single location.” She says proudly, getting a look of concern from Twilight.

` I think I’m starting to understand why she’s a specialist…`

Moonfall and the other guard gave her a deadpan stare. Northern Light turns her head, and continues her tale. “I charged in, determined, and asked our wonderful leader to allow me into the guard! After tasking me with harsh trials that I passed, he allowed me into the Lunar Guard, and made me a specialist! Giving me the ability to research my homeland with everything I needed!” Northern Light gives a closed eye smirk.

Twilight nods, concern still on her face as she glances at the other guards. Taking note that everyone in the room was watching her with amusement on their faces.

“Uh…Have you discovered anything while you were up there?” Twilight dreadfully asks.

Northern Light lights up and prances in place. “Yes! Yes! I have! Here! I can show you some spells I discovered right—” Northern Light pauses as a bright flash behind her brightens the room for a moment. Twilight blinks twice to adjust her eyes and looks past the unicorn, a smile growing on her face upon seeing the Lunar Princess. Straightaway the bat-ponies stop what they're doing and bow, Northern Light on the other hoof squeaked and panickily pranced in place before jumping up and bowing.

“Apologies, our guardians! We did not expect our patrol through the realm of dreams to take that long!” Princess Luna says apologetically.

“Princess Luna!” The princess looks over and smiles upon seeing Twilight walk up to her.

“Ah! Twilight Sparkle! We did not foresee thou arrival on this night but we are pleased to have you here on this great night!” Princess Luna beams. “ Tonight will be our first official step into a new era for the Lunar Guard! In fact,...” Princess Luna quickly turns around to face all of the guards. “That is something we must announce! Rise my guardians!”

Immediately the guards obey and stand to attention. Princess Luna gives a small hum while wearing a smile on her face until her eyes land on Ratimir. Her smile falls a bit as the two stare at each other, before she motions the captain with her hoof to come over. He shakes his head, only for the princess to motion him faster; in turn he shakes his head faster. An exchange of motions and headshakes occur until the princess glares at the man and ignites her horn.

Ratimir stops and squints at her, the two going into a brief staring contest before he sighs. Hesitantly he slowly walks over and stands by Princess Luna’s side. Princess Luna coughs into her hoof, and puts her smile back on. “Now then, our guardians. We have ordered thy captain to summon all of ye tonight for the most wonderful of announcements that relate to the future of this order!” The Lunar Guard glances at Ratimir, finding the human looking off to the side with a bored look.

“With the consultation of our sister, we have organized a sparring match between the Lunar Guard and Solar Guard!” Princess Luna announces joyfully.

Twilight blinked before looking up at Princess Luna “.....Huh?”

Like a string being used to its absolute limits... Her announcement snapped the string that held everypony's thoughts to themselves. One by one, all the guard's eyes widened and their jaws dropped.

“Mhmm! It shall be an event of our unit versus my sisters best in a grand match! Showcasing out strengths and bonding the guard units together!” Princess Luna says proudly. “It shall take place on the eighth moon at Canterlot. We and our sister will personally be overseeing the event.”

Princess Luna looks over at Ratimir, her smile twitching slightly and nudging his side, briefly; he looks back at her and scowls. The two exchange whispers before the man grunts and crosses his arms, looking at the guard with a more stern expression.

“It’ll be an opportunity for you guys to have more fighting experience against trained foes. So, no complaints.” Ratimir says quickly before going back to look at the wall, though briefly he eyes a visibility distraught Moonfall.

“S-so… will all of us be going… to Canterlot?” Faded Light speaks up and motions with her hoof at the rest of the guard.

“Mhmm! Including thy captain!”

Instantly, Ratimir’s composure breaks, snapping his head over to the Princess. “Huh!? Hell no! Why must I come along with them!? I do not want to step a damn foot in the hellhole of a capital!” Ratimir yells furiously.

Princess Luna cackled and jabbed his chest with her hoof. “Did thou think we would let the captain of our guard sit in his office while his guard is off? How foolish of thou…” Princess Luna says with a grin, earning a sharp glare from the man. “If the captain of Solar Guard is participating then the captain of our guard must be there… As ordered by us and our sister, feel free to ask her. She will send you a signed order of our decision.”

“You jest…” Ratimir says through gritted teeth.

“Worry not, our dear captain. Thou will be there more so for support than anything. Our sister was… very adamant about not letting you be seen in public nor participating in fighting... due to your…” Princess Luna coughs into her hoof and quotes. “Unfairness and tenacity to break the motive of others”...” Ratimir narrows his eyes and lets out an irritated “tch!”

“Our sister says she is looking forward to seeing you at the castle again, Ratimir~” Princess Luna says with a grin.

Moving her attention back to the guards. “To finish off... Due to thy Captain coming along and his inability to fly or use magic, the Lunar Guard will arrive in Canterlot by train in the midst of our night. It shall be disguised as a prisoner transport, from Tartarus to the Dungeon of Canterlot.”

“Huh? Why disguise it and who’ll be the prisoner?” Northern Light asks.

“Oh! A unicorn among our guardians, apologies we did not notice thou.” Princess Luna gives an apologetic bow towards her. “As for thou question, it is mainly to prevent the public from seeing thou guards, as fear of thou kind is still strong within Canterlot… and for him.” Princess Luna points at the human.

“Our sister fears that citizens seeing him amidst a squad of thy kind will incur a… large scale panic.” Northern Light looks over at the batponies, the ponies frowning but nod in understandment.

“Hm… What is a train?” Ratimir asks, silencing the room. Everypony stared at the human with mild surprise before letting out a collective sigh. The bat ponies turn their gaze to Twilight, motioning with their eyes to explain it, only for her to turn to Northern Light. Northern Light frowns but nods.

“I will explain it to you later, captain...” Northern Light says with some tiredness in her voice.

“Ah! That does remind me!” Princess Luna turns to Twilight. “While the event will be private… invited family and other high-ranking officials will be allowed to spectate, and seeing that thou are related to Captain Shining Armor and have a relationship in keeping tabs of our Captain, while also being a student of our sister and friend to us. We allow you to attend Twilight Sparkle.”

“O-okay...” Twilight says hesitantly.

“With that said… we shall take our leave to prepare.” Princess Luna ignites her horn. “We shall see you all again on the eighth moon in Canterlot! Let us reforge our relationship with the Solar Guard!” Finishing up, Princess Luna says her goodbyes and teleports out of the room. A cold silence fills the room for a while, the guards holding bewildered expressions and Twilight bringing out her notepad and writing down this new information, stopping mid-way when she notices Dusk Blade and Faded Light giving worried glances to a very unhappy Moonfall.

Eventually everyone's attention shifts when Ratimir grunts and walks up to take the center of the room.

“Okay... So, that’s happening... Wasn’t told I'd be going...” He says bitterly, letting out a sigh. “But I can’t stop it... however...” Ratimir smirks. Twilight instantly feels her stomach start to knot up at the sight.

` Oh Celestia, what is he going to do… `

“We’ll reforge our bond with those… Solar Pricks. Will reforge it all right…” Ratimir clasps his hands together and… smiles. “This is our chance.”

The guard's ears flick once, and they look at their captain with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. “This is our chance to finally show up those stuck-up pieces of trash... Those self-absorbed, prideful, useless, armor stands! To show them who's actually superior, show them that a handful of…” He pauses and narrows his eyes at the bat ponies. “Thestral’s outclass them...” The bat-ponies glare at the man before looking at him with thought, slowly starting to wear devious smiles on their faces.

Twilight frowns and takes a step back, glancing between the guards and Ratimir with a look of worry.

` I don’t like this. I don’t like where this is going… `

“This will not be the friendly match that your princess desires... no... This will be a Solar guard’s…” Ratimir looks up in thought for a moment. “Execution… yes, execution… and execution of their beliefs, their dumb morale, and their foolish pride! This is our moment to crush the damned Solar trash that call themselves “warriors of the sun!”

“Yeah!” Moonfall shouts and stomps his hoof, a strong look of determination on his face.

Great Star letting a bellowing laugh. “Hahaha! Now this sounds fun!”

“I wonder how they’ll feel when they lose to this small mare...~” Dusk Blade ponders out loud with a grin on her face..

“It's been a while since I faced another pony... Ooh! This will be a great opportunity to test some crystal empire spells on living targets! Ehehehehe!” Northern Light snickers deviously as claps her front hooves together. Faded Light and Fallen Shine give each other a look and make a silent agreement with a nod, the two wearing smiles on their faces.

“Good, we’re all on the same page. Let's start preparing for our victory! No, our one-sided slaughter.” Ratimir declares as he walks over to the weapons rack. “First thing we’re training in! How to counter their stupid, repetitive, simple, spear style!”

The guards let out a synchronized cheer of agreement and followed the captain. Twilight stays back by herself, watching the guards cheerfully talk among themselves with a look of concern.

‘ Princess Luna... I don’t think this is going to go the way you hoped it would...’

Author's Notes:

I'm back, well not really. I've always been around just haven't posted anything, Why? Well it simple, my life was a little busy... but I decided to change my style of writing, instead of going by deadlines for twice a month on Friday or Monday... I decided to take a slower style, making my story more developed, longer, and more interesting. As evidence of this chapter being the biggest.

Before I pushed stories against a deadline to keep reader's interest high, as if you put chapter after chapter per week then the reader's interest will always been constant, but of course this affected my writing quality and I started to feel unsatisfied with that. So, I changed to now the chapter production will be slower and if I finish then I'll publish them on a Friday, Monday, or maybe Wednesday.

With that out of the way, here is the start of the first arc! Solar vs Lunar, in Canterlot. An interesting start that will reveal secrets, the Lunars reputation, and some of our dearest captain's time as a Solar Guard, I hoped you enjoy it. To end this tangent, I have a BTM blog post regarding the origins of this story, concepts, and my thought process and release it later today. Feel free to look at it if your interested in seeing other's thought processes regarding stories. Anyway, have a good day.

XIV - The Talk Before the Train

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“If what Princess Luna told me is correct, then I should be back from Canterlot on the fifth or hopefully the third moon from toda—Spike! Are you listening!?” Twilight snapped her head around and glared at Spike, finding the young dragon busy checking himself out in the stand-up mirror. Spike jumps as he sees Twilight’s glare reflected in the mirror; he spun around and put his arm against the mirror

“Y-yeah! Of course, Twilight!” Spike said quickly as he gave Twilight a tense smile.

“Then when will I be back?” Twilight questioned with a skeptic glare on her face.

“Uhhh… on the fooourth… right?” Spike answered with an unsure grin.

“Spike…” Twilight said irritably, with a deadpan glare.

Spike sighed in defeat and moved away from the mirror. “Okay, okay… sorry.”

Twilight shook her head. “Spiiiike… You’re going to be in charge of the library with Owlowiscious while I’m gone! You need to pay attention; it’s good for you to know this in case any of the others come to ask where I am!”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it! But… why can’t I just, you know… go with you?” Spike threw his arms up and looked off to the side with a disgruntled expression.

“Because… It’s… uh…” Twilight stammered briefly. “A… private event that Princess Luna is holding, and she wants me and only me to come, Spike.” Twilight explained as she looked away.

“Mhm…” Spike grunted bitterly. “I don’t get it, Twilight… Why can’t I come? What even is this private event she's throwing?”

"I don't know either, Spike. All I know is that Princess Luna requested me and myself to go to Canterlot." She explained as she turned back to her bed and looked into her saddlebags to check off her current storage.

"Mhmmm…" Spike cupped his chin and narrowed his eyes. A moment of silence passed before Spike broke it. " Twilight isn't this kinda… fishy."

"Oh! Spike, come on!" Twilight scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Think about it, Twilight!” Spike said as he approached her. “It wasn't that long ago that Princess Luna was Nightmare Moon! P-plus, didn’t the elements just kinda… make Nightmare Moon vanish and leave Princess Luna behind!”

Spike stopped by Twilight's side and jabs her shoulder his claw. “You told me, "Don't just vanish, Spike!" So how come you made Princess Luna an exception?” Twilight gave Spike a peeved look.

"Think about it, Twilight! W-what if this is a ploy by her to get revenge on you!?" Spike Twilight sighed and gave a look of concern for the dragon.

"Spike…" Twilight let out a sigh; she turned around and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Princess Luna is herself; she is not Nightmare Moon and Nightmare Moon is gone. Even if she comes back, friendship will prevail.” Twilight gave a reassuring smile at Spike, the dragon looking away sheepishly in response to her confidence.

“It’ll be okay. It’s a short event and I’ll come back as soon as it's over.” Twilight gave Spike a bigger smile, only for it to fade as she noticed Spike’s still uncertain expression

A sigh leaves her. “If I don't come back or send a letter back by the third or fourth moon, then… feel free to gather the girls and come after me, okay?" Twilight said reluctantly.

Spike perked up slightly at that, and after a moment of brief silence he looked back over to Twilight and nodded his head. “Okay, deal!"

Twilight gave a small smile and pulled away from him. "Okay. In the meanwhile you can uh… think of this as a… uh… mnnn… break!"

“From… you?” Spike said with no hesitation, earning a deadpan look from Twilight.

“Sure, Spike From Me” Twilight pulled away and returned to her saddlebags. “ Just relax until I get back and uh… you know... make some friends! You never know what potential friends are waiting for you!”

"...Are you the real Twilight?" Spike asked as he looked up at Twilight, an amused expression on his face. Twilight stopped her check-over, looking up and deadpanned at the wall.

"The Twilight I knew a couple of moons ago would rather be invisible and read a book.” Spike said with amusement in his voice..

“Spike… do you remember the term for characters in a story learning from mistakes and change?” Twilight looked back over at the dragon.

“Uh... yeah? Character development, duh.” Spike raised a brow at her.

Twilight leaned her head down and poked his nose with her horn. “Maybe you should try it sometime...” Twilight smirked, earning an eye roll from her assistant.

“Oh, pssh!” Spike scoffed lightly and turned around, heading down the stairs. “Whatever, I’m going to go see if my new issue of power ponies came in yet. I'll be back before you leave! And remind you of our deal!” Spike yelled as he went down the stairs.

“Okay, Spike. Remember! Don't tell the girls about me leaving today, please? I don’t want them to turn this into something big or freak out like you did.” Twilight yelled back.

“I didn't freak out!” Spike yelled from below. "I'm just saying it's possible!"

Twilight rolled her eyes; her ears stood up as she listened to Spike’s footsteps below; her ears flicked as she heard the opening and closing of the front door. A heavy sigh left her and she threw her face into her bed sheets.

' I'm so sorry, Spike… '

Twilight raised her head up. Tiredness became more visible on her features. Worry, anxiety, and fear had plagued her since Princess Luna's announcement, while normally it wasn’t worrying… Ratimir's attitude and… nope, it was only just Ratimir and the fact that he was going… and he was going to crush the Solar Guard that made her brain ache and yearn for relief.

' Why did you have to make this complicated!? You big… oaf! '

Twilight smacked her bed sheets before letting out a sigh again.

' It'll be nice to see Shining Armor again… but will I have to pick a side? Will he be upset if I sit on their side?! What will happen if Ratimir succeeds? Will Shining be okay? '

Twilight smacked her head against the bedsheets rapidly while letting out a frustrated groan.

' I need to just… finish packing! Finish up, make sure Spike will be okay while I'm gone! And think about what to do when I get on the train! Postpone this Twilight! POSTPONE IT! '

Twilight smacked her cheeks lightly and nodded, a determined look on her face. Her eyes snapped onto her saddlebags. She scans the contents quickly and murmurs. "Okay, toothbrush, books, maybe some snacks, parchment paper, and… what else?.”

Twilight looked over more before looking up; she put her hoof on against her chin. Her eyes wandered around the room, searching for any reminders of something else she would need. Twilight’s eyes stopped, but not on something she needed. Twilight stared silently at the framed photo of her and her friends. A smile almost threatened to make its way onto her face, but her eyes went down and landed on the oddity in the photo.

Spike.

Twilight eyes lingered on Spike’s captured joy as he stayed by her side. A lone dragon surrounded by ponies. It was strange, true, but why did it catch her attention now? Twilight tilted her head as her mind began to wander, slowly, her vision began replacing herself and her friends with members of Lunar Guard, and leaving the role of Spike to Ratimir. Twilight’s mind paused, the indication that Spike was even remotely close to being like Ratimir… Twilight closed her eyes, and shook her head.

` No, no, no, no! Twilight, you’re overthinking it again! He’s not even close to being like Ratimir; he has me and… and…`

Twilight scowled as the conversation from earlier returned to the forefront of her mind. The worry and sadness Spike revealed at her being gone for a bit. She opened her eyes a little and she looked at Spike's framed happiness once again. Her eyes danced between him and the girls.

` Is he close to any of the girls? He has a crush on Rarity… does that count? Applejack he… uh.. Uh, Fluttershy he… uh talks to her? Positively? Rainbow Dash… P-pinkie Pie! He hangs around Sugarcube corner! But… what else… what else…`

Twilight froze in place. Her body quivered as she stared at the framed Spike, her vision starting to combine the dragon with the human once more. Twilight gasped and snapped her head away; panic started to rise from within her. Her mind started to trace back to every interaction Spike has had since they came here; her memory of seeing the dragon has always stuck to her side and only went out when he needed to get something.

The only times she saw Spike invited out by somepony was Rarity… but only when she needed Spike’s assistance. No pony else has ever invited Spike. In fact, most ponies didn't even glance at Spike until recently. Recently? Why recently? Twilight's eyes widened, her mouth loosened, and her blood chilled.

Spike’s birthday.

The incident.

Twilight’s back legs weaken. The unicorn fell down onto her haunches as the memories of that day came to her mind. A new factor about dragons was known that day to her… Dragon greed, and unfortunately everypony else learned about it… at the cost of a few destroyed buildings. Her hooves raised up to her chest as her breathing quickened, the fear and worry she felt upon seeing the fully greed-driven Spike was returning.

She hadn’t even noticed she had been ignoring seeing the incident from an outside perspective. Brief scenes of the ponies screaming in terror came to her memory. The fact that Wonderbolts were called in to deal with the situation, and even the destruction of pony homes. It came back all at once. Twilight hesitantly and fearfully glanced over at the photo; again, her mind had changed it back to the Lunar Guard being in the background.

Her eyes lingered on the fearful photo as the stories Princess Celestia and Luna told her regarding the fear of bat ponies returned to her memory.

Fangs, claws, slitted pupils, and an unusual diet. Different. Not well known. Twilight’s eyes shrunk as the memory of the Zecora incident came to mind, how the town feared her… Twilight opened her mouth, her mind and heart desperate to challenge these claims, desperate to say she was overthinking and panicking over nothing, but… nothing left her mouth.

She closed her mouth tightly and bit her lip, her hooves raised slightly as a wetness began to build up in her eyes.

` No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! Spike’s kind! He’s helpful and… and a good person! Ponyville’s filled with good people! J-j-just ignorant I-i’m sure this is just temporary! It’s just temporary! T-there's no way they could fear a-a-a b-baby dragon! No way they can be scared of Spike! They just f-fear the unknown! Zecora was mysterious after all! `

But.

She felt it. She felt each point that any point she made could be broken by a “But”, there was always a "But", a "But" that held reason and logic against her more emotional arguments. Tears began to drip down her face as the truth of the situation held itself in front of her face.

Spike was on the verge… or already an outcast to Equestria, to the ponies he surrounds himself with. Twilight sat there, crying silently as her will to argue faded. Her mind started to create visions of the future for her assistant… no her little brother. She could see Spike walking down the streets of ponyville to do his errands, and the townsponies looked at him with a new wariness and fear on their faces.

Slowly her vision shifts and changes. As Spike transforms into... Ratimir. The human standing in the street by himself, with his usual uncaring, apathetic look on his face as he walked down the streets by himself. Twilight slowly fell to the floor.

She put her forelegs over her face as she wept on the ground.

“Extra paper..? Check... Extra pens and pencils..? Check… Books for downtime reading? Check... Notepad..? Check...” Twilight checked off wearily, her reddened eyes held heavy as she looked over her saddlebags for the tenth time just to stall time.

"Mhm…." She grunted, finally tired from the distraction. Her eyes slowly wandered over to the window, seeing the orange hue lightening up the window.

' Is it almost time..? '

Twilight looked down the stairs, her eyes lingering there for a time before a heavy sigh left her.

` And Spike isn’t here yet... should… go get him? Make sure nopony hur-no, no… They… wouldn't… right? I need to take my mind off this… I should just… do a last-minute check around the library just to make sure nothing can or will go wrong. `

Twilight slowly nodded to herself and headed down the stairs. Her eyes snapped onto the front door when she reached the bottom and continued to linger there as she went into the kitchen.

' He's okay… he's okay, Twilight. '

Twilight hesitantly moved her eyes away from the door. Twilight focused her attention and mind on checking the fridge and pantries, counting the number of edible items and then calculating their volume to determine if it was enough to last until she returned.

“There should be enough food for him and Owlowiscious...” Twilight mumbled as she closed the pantry door.

` Even if they ran out of food, I’m sure the girls would be willing to help out Spike… Right? No, no… I'm right! Don't… don't doubt them, Twilight… `

Twilight turned around and walked out of the kitchen, returning to the center of the library. Her eyes went back to the front door briefly before she shook her head and looked over to the bookshelves.

` I… I should organize the shelves real quick, and hide all the spell books until I’m back... just in case. `

Twilight ignited her horn and grabbed hold of all the books in the room with her magic. She focused her magic on moving and placing all the books in alphabetical order back on the shelves. Her eyes constantly kept flickering back to the front door, an impatience starting to rise within her gut.

Thankfully, before she could decide to go with her impatience, the sound of something heavy colliding with the wall eliminated her growing impatience. Twilight pauses her magic and looks over to the direction of the collision. Her eyes lingered on a particular book that laid on the ground against the wall. Twilight raised a brow at the book, the odd design of the book stood out to her. Slowly she walked over and picked It up, looking over the book.

A soft sigh left her as she looked over the artistic cover of various Equestrian monsters surrounding a pony.

` Monstrous Manuels the 5th Edition... I remember reading this when I was a foal, hehe... `

Twilight opened the book and began to flip through the pages, recognizing and remembering the words of the pages as passes through them. Twilight released out a low huff, feeling a bit pleased at the small blast of nostalgia. However, the feeling was cut short as she passed by a page that held a familiar image. Twilight blinked and returned to the page, her eyes shrunk as she examined the artistic depiction of the creature.

A thin pony under the moonlight, its bat-like wings flared up, red slitted eyes looking directly at the reader as it grins with blood covered fangs exposed. Underneath the bat-pony was the fallen, drained corpse of a pony. Twilight stared at the picture, her thoughts jumbled as she stared at the picture. Hesitantly she looked up to the top of the page to see the name of the creature.

Thestral.

Twilight’s magic let go of all the other books she held her magical grasp on as she stared at the name of the creature. The stories the Princesses had told her... The guard's reaction to the word... and the appearance depicted in the book compared to the guards, flooded and overwhelmed her mind. She almost felt sick. Hesitantly her eyes wandered down to the page; to the first paragraph, her brain now able to remember all the words on this page against her heart's wishes to be ignorant of it.

“THESTRALS: Demonic beasts that only come around in the depths of night! These creatures are blood-drinking beasts of darkness that take on the form of ponies, like changelings. While not perfect like a Changelings, in the cover of night it works well enough to allow one to drop their guard. “

` No... `

“Encountering one is a sign of incoming misfortune or... death. They are reminders to lock up and stay indoors at night. The Thestrals will be in packs or alone, they often stalk or attack their prey from the sky, if desperate they will seek to kidnap foals and colts. Do not enter unknown caves as it may b—”

Twilight closed the book abruptly. Her magic sparked up as she held the book, shaking the book lightly as sparks started to pop out of her magic aura and onto the floor as she glared at the cover.

` T-this book… Almost everypony uses this! School's teach with it… It’s given to explorers... campers, travelers, and... and... `

Twilight drops the book from her magic as she stares wide-eyed at the book. “That’s right... everypony knows this book... everypony...” Twilight whispered to herself.

The air around her felt uncomfortable. Twilight trotted over to the window, ready to open it up and take in some fresh air. She paused as two townsponies walked by her building, talking happily as usual. Yet, as Twilight watched them pass a new feeling rose towards them.

Resentment.

The thought of going outside and seeing other ponies, ponies who most likely thought the members of the guard she interacted with were... monsters out to kill them or kidnapped their children. The thought of the same ponies might be seeing Spike as a potential monster in the same light. Twilight gritted her teeth as she felt her stomach twist and tighten. She felt trapped, surrounded by enemies.

' Was this how bat ponies felt? Was this why they were eager to crush the Solar guard? No… was this… how princess Celestia and Luna felt. '

“Fools… Damn them…” Twilight murmured under her breath, her eyes quickly widened and she put a hoof over her mouth. Slowly she drew her hoof back and looked back out the window, back out into the land of the common, normal, average pony. Those that feared any creature that was remotely a threat. Twilight glanced back at the book and scowled.

` Everypony knows this book… including… the girls… `

Twilight’s posture sunk at the memory of their reactions regarding Zecora.

` I… can’t ever let the girls find out… `

"I… I forgot… how… terrible walking here was…!” Twilight panted as she slowly climbed up the hill. A smile came on her muzzle upon seeing Ratimir's house come up into her view up the hill, she briefly sped up, only to slow down within seconds as her lungs nearly heaved out of her body.

"No.. more…" Twilight said between gasps, shutting her eyes and igniting her horn. She vanished and reappeared on the porch stairs. Twilight yelped as she nearly collapsed onto the stairs. Twilight flailed her forelegs around and caught herself with the railing on the stairs. She took a moment to rest against the stairs railing. Between pants, Twilight looked over to the barn, and noticed the lack of light coming from underneath the door.

“...Celestia, please don’t tell me they left early... ” Twilight muttered to herself.

` From the letter Princess Luna sent… I should be slightly early! Unless something came up and they had to do it earlier... Please don’t tell me I made a trip out here for no reason! `

Twilight groaned as she slowly made her way over to the barn doors. An anxious look on her face as her ears flicked, trying to catch any sound behind the door. Twilight sucked in a breath and held it as she raised her hoof and gave the usual knock pattern on the door. Silence stays in the air afterwards. Twilight barely lasted the minute within it; she raised her hoof again and knocked with an anxious impatience.

“...............” Twilight began to pace back and forth as the minute passed by, without any sign of life from behind the door. Her heart started to pick up as panic rose; she stopped in place and stared down at the door with a look of desperation. Another minute of silence passed before Twilight let out a groan and fell back onto her haunches and put her hooves against her face.

“Stupid Twilight! Of course, they left early! you should’ve figured that out the moment nopony came to pick you up at the station!” The unicorn contemplated her life for a moment; a heavy pained groan left her as she got back up. Twilight took a moment to look behind her, staring back at the woods, and scowled at the thought of going back through the forest. Twilight let out a sigh and headed back to the house, intending to follow the trail back down.

` I hope the train comes back.. soon… `

Twilight stared at the ground and shutted her eyes, silently building up the willpower to trudge through the wilderness again.

Thump

Twilight’s ears twitched and she snapped her head up, her head turning back and looking at the house. She glanced at the door and then the wooden flooring of the porch.

Thump, Thump, Thump Twilight takes a step back, looking up from the floor to the door. Her eyes sparkle and a smile starts to make its way on her face.

` Is it… is it the opposite...? `

Twilight trotted up to the porch and pressed her ear against the door. A grin grew on her face as she listened to the muffled footsteps on the other side.

` I came too early! Thank Celestia! But... the only person who could be here was... Ratimir. `

Twilight pulled away from the door; the unicorn gulped at the thought of knocking on the door and seeing Ratimir was wonderful, dealing with him, however… not so much. Not only that, but she wasn’t even sure how he’d react! Her mind flashed back to the instructions Princess Celestia had given her, telling her to not knock on the front door.

` Does Ratimir hate people knocking on the front of his door? What if he does? Will he assume I’m an enemy and attack!? `

Twilight shivered as her memory of seeing him in combat flashed before her eyes.

` T-the moment he opens t-that door I need to immediately tell him i-it’s me! `

Twilight took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Silence filled the air. Twilight’s ears flicked as she stared at the door with a nervous look. Silently Twilight counted down to sixty seconds before she would knock once again. Her counting was cut short as she heard the familiar heavy footsteps approaching the door slowly.

` Thank Celestia! `

Twilight quickly fixed her mane as the door clicked and unlocked. Twilight fixed her posture as she prepared to smile or ignite her horn to protect herself, depending on the humans reaction, of course. The footsteps made an abrupt stop before the door, filling the air with a moment of silence before the door swung open. Twilight’s eyes shrunk as she saw Ratimir lowered with both hands over his sheathed sword on his waist.

Twilight froze in place. Ratimir’s focused, cold eyes locked onto hers. Twilight felt a shiver pass through her like a gust of wind. Instinctively she took a step back and opened her mouth to say something.

Then he struck.

Twilight’s eyes widen upon seeing a red substance spill out of the bottom of her vision. Twilight’s her paused as she saw the red subsistence spill out onto the ground. Twilight wanted to reach and touch her throat, but found her body refusing to move… in fact, Twilight couldn’t move her lower body at all. Twilight’s eyes snapped back to Ratimir, finding him already back in his normal posture.

Twilight opened her mouth, wanting to scream, but any sound she wanted to make refused to come out. All Twilight could do was stare at the human as her eyes grew heavier until she no longer had the strength to hold them back up.

` I’m sorry Princess Celestia…. Spike… girls… I.. I mess— `

“Oh, it’s you...” Ratimir said, and let out a sigh, rising out of his stance. Twilight’s eyes snapped open; she looked up at him with an expression of shock; before her instincts caught up, she jumped back and crashed herself against the porch post. Ratimir jumped slightly, startled by her sudden action. Twilight panted, quickly, touching her throat with her hooves. Twilight let out a gasp as she felt her neck intact and dropped her hooves, taking the moment to rest against the pole.

` W-what just happened!? He… he killed me! I saw it! His sword cut my throat! What just!? I don’t…! `

“You okay?” Twilight looked up and stared at the confused human.

“I… uh… w-what happened just now…?” Twilight asked as she slowly came to a stand.

“You knocked, I opened the door; you blinked and then jumped into my post.” Ratimir huffs. Twilight looked at him in bafflement and slowly looked down to the ground, rubbing her throat once again.

` I… blinked? That… explains why I couldn’t stop my eyes… but me… dying. Why… Why does it feel like… I know what happened? `

“So, mind explaining to me why you’re here so early?” Ratimir asked, snapping the unicorn out of her thoughts.

“O-oh… well, because I wante-needed to make sure everything goes well. Can I um… come inside?”

Ratimir grunted and moved aside for her. “It shouldn’t be that hard...”

“It shouldn’t be, but, with you... things happen.” Twilight said bitterly while eyeing Ratimir’s sword hand as she walked past him. Twilight walked over to the fireplace couch and easily laid claim to it, letting a sigh escape her as she laid down and rested her body. Ratimir huffed and closed the door before making his way to the kitchen.

“Are the guards here?” Twilight questioned as she peeked over to Ratimir from the couch.

“Waking up and getting ready in their town, hopefully.” Ratimir answered while working on stuffing a satchel. “The sun went down not too long ago, and I’ve been putting them through hell the past few days.”

“Ah...” Twilight nodded and slowly sank back onto the couch, only to quickly jerk back up. “Wait, what do you mean by... “Hell”!?”

“You’ll see.” Ratimir answered so bluntly that Twilight felt her anxiety peak once again; she quickly shook her head and laid back down. Trying to recover physically and mentally from everything that had happened.

“Okay. Wait, did I arrive when you woke up?...” Twilight let some of her anxiety slip out.

“No, I was already up before you came here. I have to prepare and lock up the place, since those… damned wenches are forcing me to go.” Ratimir said with annoyance in his voice. Twilight chuckled to herself and rested her head on the couch, closing her eyes and sighing. Her hoof rising up again and poking her throat.

` Should I ask him about that? No… he’ll just call me weird… but… I swear I read about this before…`

Twilight put her hoof down and ignited her horn, pulling her saddlebags off herself and onto the floor with her magic. She hummed to herself quietly as she dug around for a book to pass the time. Twilight glanced over to Ratimir once more. Her eyes lingered on his sword, then his back. Twilight’s hoof slowly came to a stop as she stared at Ratimir’s back, briefly for a moment she saw Spike in the kitchen.

Twilight shook her head and looked over to the empty fireplace, a look of distress on her face.

` I thought I got... No... no, I didn’t get over it... I... What do I do with Spike? I don’t want him to be like Ratimir or... be presented with a path towards his lifestyle. Living out in the middle of nowhere... by yourself most of the time... and feared by others...`

Twilight sighed and ran her hoof down her face, her brow furrowed as the thoughts of what she could do to help Spike came to her mind... but so do the consequences and the potential failures of those plans. Eventually she looked over at Ratimir and opened her mouth, closing it and shaking her head only to repeat the action two more times before finally speaking up.

“Ratimir... can I um... ask a question?” Twilight asked hesitantly with worry in her voice.

“Mn.” He grunted. Twilight sucked in a gulp of air and shut her eyes as she exiled, steeling herself for what she was about to ask the man.

“Ratimir... are you... um… o-okay?” Twilight asked. As soon as the sentence finished, the man paused in place, frozen for a minute, before slowly turning around. With his left arm on his table, he looks over at Twilight with a look of suspicion and confusion on his face. He stares at her silently for a while before answering her.

“I’m… content…” Ratimir answered hesitantly. “Why are you asking me that?” He narrowed his eyes.

“W-well! It's um... b-because you uh.. live alone and you’re uh... you know... around f-five hundred moons old a-and you don’t really like others s-so I um... assume you're feeling... b-bad?” Twilight gave a nervous smile, earning a sharpened glare from the human.

“B-b-but you're okay! So, t-that’s all that matters. I won’t bother you ag—”

“What’s the true reason you asked me that?” Ratimir cut her off, moving away from the table and pulling something out of the stove. Twilight froze, staring at his back before letting out a heavy sigh and throwing her head onto the couch pillow.

“Okay… It was… well… just today I realized that you were… a lot like my... assistant Spike. He’s a baby dragon...” Ratimir turned his head and stared at her with a raised brow.

“He’s the only dragon in the town I live in and... not so long ago he.. uh… rampaged. Ratimir squinted at her and opened his mouth slightly.

“B-because of a um... unknown issue, I didn’t know about dragons, and I just... I... I… I!” Twilight shut her eyes and took a deep breath before nearly yelling it out. “I don’t want him to be like you!”

Ratimir flinched slightly, he turned around and gave his full attention to Twilight. “I don’t want him to be alone like you, and… and feared like batponies.” Twilight said, slowly opening her eyes and looking down at the couch pillows.

“There's not much information on dragons... and Spike, he… he grew up around ponies, so his personality is a reflection of our nature… He’s kind… gentle, and helpful!” Twilight smiled briefly.

“B-but still Spike’s a predator… he has claws, sharp teeth, and he can breathe fire… all at a young age. He can easily hurt other ponies… and if that happens I…” Twilight closed her eyes again, tighter, and dug her hooves into the couch. “I wouldn’t know what to do… I didn’t even acknowledge how lucky we were that he didn’t harm anypony during his rampage until today!”

Twilight opened her eyes, shaking her head as she felt a wetness build up in her eyes once again. “I... I didn’t acknowledge the consequences until today! At the time all we did was repair the town buildings and ask Princess Celestia to pay for the damage we caused… despite it being an accident, b-but I didn’t realize the consequences that would come for him. T-the anxious glances ponies gave us when the two of us walked to the station… the distance they gave us…”

Twilight wiped her foreleg across her eyes, sniffles starting to come up. “I… I don’t want Spike to be feared like the batponies… I don’t want Spike to be alone because he can’t fit in with everypony, and I… I…” Twilight sucked in a breath and finally finished. “I just want Spike to have a happy life… Is there… Anything that I can do…?” Twilight looked up at Ratimir, uncaring for the tears that streamed through her eyes.

Ratimir was speechless, holding a look of indecision on his features. For a moment he looks down, up and then outside to the window. A small smile grew on Twilight as she watched the flustered human before wiping her eyes. “S-sorry for just… throwing this onto you, Ratimir. I-in my head it was so… collected and calm, I… I didn’t think I'd become like this. Y-you don’t have to answer. I think I just… wanted to let it out.”

Ratimir looked back at her with an unreadable expression, letting a moment of silence linger in the air before sighing. “I… I’m not like your mentor. I can’t give you advice that would make your heart rest easily.” Twilight's smile faded as shock came to her face upon hearing the gentle tone Ratimir was using.

“The concept of having a dragon assistant… or even letting a dragon be near ponies is so unbelievably foolish…” Twilight winced slightly. “But… if he’s raised by your kind, then he shouldn’t be that… bad… I guess.” Ratimir glanced away for a moment. “If his nature is good… then he should be fine. He’ll have opportunities to prove himself to others; all I can say… is support him during it.”

Twilight's eyes widened slightly, her eyes starting to dry as she watched Ratimir stare out the window with a thoughtful look. “He’ll probably grow curious about his kind at some point…” Ratimir raises his left hand and scratches the back of his head. “If he does… let him go.”

“H-huh?” Twilight asked abruptly, looking at him with confusion at his decision.

“It’s something that I was taught where I came from. If a wolf is raised by my kind, then it’ll grow curious about its own; so often what we’d do is we let it go back to nature and let it choose its own path.” Ratimir explained, giving an attentive gaze towards the moon.

“If it returns then it chose the path of loyalty, if not, then it chose the path of companionship. It was the way he…. Did things. Thus, I will share that with you now.” Ratimir turned his gaze back to Twilight and pointed at her.

“For now… support him on his path; but when the time comes that he encounters a fork in such a path… then let him choose and support him through it. As long as he has you… he shouldn't be like uh… me or the others.” Ratimir's hand fell, and he went back to what he was doing before, with his back turned to her, although at a slightly faster pace now. Twilight stared at him with wide eyes before a smile began to creep up on her face.

“Thank you, Ratimir…” Twilight said jovially. Ratimir grunted in response as he wrapped two items up quickly and put them in a bag. Twilight watched him for a while, her mind going back to his words and expressions before a soft chortle escapes her.

“What?’ Ratimir asked as he looked back as he closed a cabinet.

“Oh, it’s just” Twilight looked at him with a broad smile “You’re… a nice person after all, Ratimir!”

Ratimir froze upon hearing the words. A baffled look on his face as he stared at Twilight. Twilight tilted her head and gave a confused look to him. “D-did I say something wrong?”

“I… you…” Ratimir closed his eyes as his expression shifted to annoyance. “Shut up.”

“Enough. I need to finish up.” Ratimir quickly stated irately as he walked away from the kitchen and headed into the hall, leaving Twilight by herself. The unicorn gave a worried look at the hallway entrance.

“Did I say something wrong…?” Twilight whispers to herself, her body shifting positions to get ready to go after him, but she stops herself and shakes her head.

` No! I bothered him enough. If I go after him, it’ll only make him more upset… and I don’t want to test his kindness… `

Twilight laid back down onto the couch, igniting her horn and opening her saddlebags to grab hold of one of her books. Twilight pulls the book to her view and looks over the title. “The Canterlot Guard; A history of Canterlot’s elite force”. Her eyes wandered down to the cover, seeing a depiction of Celestia with the sun in the background with Solar guard on the sidelines. Twilight places the books down.

Her magic grabbed the cover and opened the books, only to pause mid-way through the action. Her eyes briefly glanced back to the hallway entrance.

` Why did Ratimir say he was content… Why not… “okay” or “fine”... or any other more positive wording? Not only that, why was he even hesitant to answer that in the first place? Gah! Twilight, you’re overthinking it! Just start reading and wait for the train! `

Twilight nodded and opened the book slightly more, only to stop again.

` Why did he seem upset about being called nice too? Enough to make him leave? Bah! Twilight! `

Twilight released the cover and took hold of the book again, smacking herself lightly in the face with it. A small grunt left her upon contact, her hoof coming up and rubbing her muzzle.

` Stop! You're overthinking it Twilight! You’re overthinking it again. `

Twilight let out a sigh, giving one last glance at the hallway entrance before turning back to her book. Twilight opened her book, checking its table of contents before diving into the first segment of the historic book.

` I hope I’m overthinking it… `

XV - A Bleary Start

View Online

Ratimir rubbed his eyes with a single hand as he fought against the lancinating feeling of annoyance that was occurring inside him.

“What the hell is this…?”

`Did any of them… get any sleep? `

Twilight looked over the Lunar Guard as she stood by Ratimir's side, a look of concern washing over her as she examined the guard.

The Lunar Guard stood lined up horizontally in front of Ratimir and Twilight. To the untrained eye, the squad could be seen as normal, as their armor covered up most of their facial features. However, underneath their visors, all members of the guard had bags under their eyes, along with the faint shaking of their legs and the occasional drooping head as the moment they dropped their guard, the devil of rest would start taking them.

“Apologies… Captain.”

Faded Light bowed her head. As she bowed, her body slowly tilted forward and forced the mare to shoot one of her forelegs out to stop herself from falling.

“I’m not used to waking up this early…”

Great Star muttered before he let out a yawn.

“I was practicing through the day and neglected to rest, I'm sorry.”

Moonfall bowed his head.

Dusk Blade said with agitation in her voice, “I let Northern Light sleep at my place.”

“I'm, oh, so, sorry that I wanted to catch up with my cute little comrade!”

Northern Light frowned and lifted a canteen up to her mouth in her magic. The action itself caused her legs to weaken slightly and make her stumble, a small ‘EEP!’ left her. Moonfall quickly moved and caught the falling unicorn, earning a relieved sigh from her.

“Holy hell…”

Ratimir pinched the bridge of his nose.

The squad shared a bow and said in unison, “We’re sorry…”

Ratimir turned his attention to Twilight.

“Twilight Sparkle, how long is this… “Train” ride?”

“Oh! Um… let me check…”

Twilight turned her head and pulled out a map from her saddlebags, rolling open the map and looking at their designated spot. Slowly following along the railroad tracks from the designated spot to Canterlot, muttering under her breath all the way before abruptly rolling up the matter and putting it back in her saddlebags.

“Three hours. Four, if Princess Luna ordered the train to be more discreet.”

Ratimir nodded and turned his attention back to the guard.

“When we get on the “train”... get some sleep, that’s an order.”

“Understood! Thank you, sir!”

The squad shared a bow once more.

Twilight looked up at Ratimir and smiled up at him, earning an annoyed look from him and a “tch”.

“Now then, let’s not waste any more time…”

Ratimir reached into his pockets and tossed out a pair of metal shackles at Faded Light, the mare quickly caught them with an outstretched wing. The guards shared a quizzical look with each other than. Their eyes widened as they remembered that their facade was a prison transport.

“We need to get going.”

Ratimir enveloped himself in a dark brown hooded cloak, quickly pulling the hood over his head that made the upper half of his face barely visible. Twilight’s eyes focused on the cloak, it was aged, with the edges that reached down to his knees being ripped and torn.

`If Rarity saw this, she would faint… `

“Bind my wrists, then we’re leaving.”

Faded Light stared at the captain for a moment before her eyes widened. With a nod, she trots over with the shackles and places them over his wrists, the room filling with a metallic ‘clink!’ as the shackles locked in place.

Ratimir huffed and lowered his arms down.

“Alright, let’s head o—”

Everyone in the room watched as the shackles slipped down his wrists, smoothly going over his hands and letting out a ‘clink!’ as they hit the floor.

“................”

Everyone's eyes were fixated on the shackles, staring at the metal construct in silence. After a minute passed, Ratimir kneeled down and picked them up. Wordlessly, he slid the left shackle back over his left hand and then abruptly he threw his arm out and watched the shackle launch out and fly over a few feet before hitting the floor.

“................”

Ratimir lifted his head up and put both of his hands on his face as he sucked in his breath.

“I’m going mad…”

“Captain! Permission to take off my armor until the train arrives!?”

“No.”

Northern Light released a whine, as her legs shook.

“But it’s so heavy, sir…”

Ratimir scoffed, “Your fault for not doing muscle training.”

Northern Light grumbled as she sat down on her haunches. The rest of the guards let out a sigh as they stood together on the wooden platform and stared at the dark forestry in front of them.

“I guess you really are a crystal pony, Northern. You’re just as fragile as a crystal.”

Great Star snickered as he glanced over at the unicorn. Northern Lights’ eye twitched and slowly she turned her head over, glaring over Dusk Blade to Great Star.

“Great Star, shut that ignorant mouth of yours before I shut it for you! I’ll have you know that my crystalline properties need to be awakened by the crystal heart! Until then, I'm merely a normal unicorn, but the moment I gain the crystal heart’s magic! You better bet your flank I will gladly show you the amazing density a crystal body has by crushing your pathetic skull against my rear. After all my family bloodline has—”

Great Star’s smirk faded. He slowly lowered his head and the tired look in his eyes became more apparent. As Northern Light continued her rant about the density, endurance theories, and potential of the crystalline physique of the Crystal ponies, along with her bloodline, the regret the stallion held within started to become visible despite his visor.

Twilight silently took notes regarding Northern Light for future references when talking to her.

“Northern Light.”

“My family line has a long history of—Yes, captain?”

“Shut up.”

Northern Light’s face scrunched up briefly before a sigh escaped her.

“...Understood.”

Twilight hummed to herself as she continued to write in her notes, slowly lowering her back end down as she got more absorbed into her notes until she eventually plopped down onto the wooden platform.

‘Squeak!’

The guards' ears perked up, and everyone's eyes snapped onto the sitting unicorn. Their postures relaxed as they silently realized the sound came from Twilight.

“Congrats, Northern Light.”

Northern Light looked over at Ratimir and raised a brow as she took another sip from her canteen.

“Despite your neglect for muscle training… You’re more fit than Princess Celestia’s student.”

Twilight’s ears flickered, and she froze, slowly lifting her head away from her notes and glaring at Ratimir.

Dusk Blade and Great Star burst into laughter. Moonfall and Faded Light let out a light chuckle. Amidst the laughter Northern Light stared at Ratimir for a moment before the compliment registered, making the unicorn tilt her head upwards and smirk.

“Thank you, captain! I do take care of my physique~, it’s better to be slim and agile after all.”

Dusk Blade out of curiosity raised her right foreleg and pressed against a wooden board, staring at it for a moment before leaning in to add more weight.

‘Squeak!’

“Twilight’s has more weight in her butt than my whole body, and that's me wearing my armor too! Kehehe!”

A blush spread across Twilight’s face at the statement. The laughter grew louder. Moonfall couldn’t hold himself back at that statement and burst out into laughter, while Faded Light shook slightly as her hoof tightly covered her mouth.

Twilight stood up and pointed her hoof at Dusk Blade.

“I-I am not heavy! I am the a-average weight for mares!”

“Then why did the board squeak when you sat down?”

“Because this platform is old! It probably hasn’t received proper maintenance in the moons!”

“Kehehe! Then how come you're the only one who made it squeak? We all walk up here together, but the board’s didn’t make a sound.~”

“It was a coincidence! If Great Star were to sit down, then the same would happen to him!”

Twilight threw her hoof out and pointed at the stallion. Great Star’s laughter died and slowly turned to look down at the unicorn.

“You calling me heavy?”

“Yes!”

Great Star paused, staring at her, before he looked up in thought. Slowly, he lowered his back end down until he sat down onto the wooden platform. A squeak refused to come out despite his weight.

Twilight’s face scrunched up as Dusk Blade flared up in laughter once again.

“Twilight’s butt weighs more than Great Star! Kehehehehe!”

Twilight’s face turned red at the statement.

“N-no! This is just bad placement!”

Twilight stomped her hoof against the wooden platform, only furthering the laughter amongst the squad. Twilight let out a groan and covered her face with her hooves, lowering her backend down to sit on the platform.

‘Squeak!’

Dusk Blade wheezed as she collapsed down onto the floor.

—Five minutes later—

Moonfall patted Dusk Blade’s back as the small mare took small breaths, filling her lungs back up while wiping some leftover tears from her eyes.

“I… I have not laughed that hard in moons! I love you, Twilight!”

Twilight grumbled as she hid herself from everypony by hiding around Ratimir’s side and using the width of Ratimir’s cloak. Moonfall smacks Dusk Blade lightly on the top of her head, making the mare let out light hiss before the two resume their positions.

“Soo… Twilight.”

Twilight peeked out from Ratimir's side, looking at the Great Star with narrowed eyes and a slightly red face.

Great Star patted his chest and straightened his posture. He looked over at Twilight and smirked as he raised a curious brow.

“...You like heavy stallions?”

Dusk Blade released a pained groan. Northern Light spat out the contents of her canteen mid-drink, and snapped her eyes over to Ratimir.

“Captain! Please grant me permission to cast a mute spell on Great Star!”

“For how long?”

“...Until he fights?”

“Then no.”

“Damn it all…”

Northern Light let out a groan and lowered head down, glaring at the forest ahead.

“Ugh… I did not miss you at all, Great Star.”

“Don’t worry, Northern Light. No pony missed you at all~”

Northern Light snapped her head back at Great Star, granting a death stare at the stallion with a visible vein pulsating on her forehead.

“Great Star, I will shove so many crystals up your—”

“Anyway, Twilight. I will let you know that I do like heavy mares… and I am single, ready to mingle.”

Great Star stuck out his chest and gave a confident grin. At the moment, a ray of moonlight landed on Great Star’s exposed teeth and granted a twinkle to them.

“Great Star.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“If I hear another attempt at seduction from you right now… I’ll hit you.”

Great Star’s grin faded as fear washed over him. He hesitantly gave an understanding nod and focused back on the forest ahead. Twilight let out a sigh and hid away from the group again, taking a moment to look at her backside, prodding it with her hoof.

`I’m not that heavy… I think…`

Ratimir turned his attention over to Moonfall.

“Moonfall.”

Moonfall perked his head up and looked over at Ratimir.

“Can I trust that you’ll be okay?”

Twilight peeked around Ratimir again. She watched as Moonfall’s eyes looked down with uncertainty in his eyes. Faded Light and Dusk Blade watched him with faint worry in their eyes.
After a moment the stallion sucked in his breath and closed his eyes, letting out a heavy exhale after a brief pause and glaring at the sky.

“Yeah… I’ll be okay, captain. I’m ready.”

“Hmpf, I hope that you’re not saying that for show. Don’t waste this opportunity.”

Moonfall nodded and returned his gaze to the forest, a fire of determination and anger was well lit in his tired eyes. Twilight couldn’t help but look between Ratimir and Moonfall for a moment before nudging his leg, gaining his attention.

“What?”

Twilight whispered, “Is there something going on with Moonfall? I-I know he used to be in the Solar Guard… Did something happen?”

She stared up at the man with curiosity. Ratimir stared back with an unreadable gaze then gave a glance to Moonfall before letting out a soft grunt.

“Ask him yourself. He already heard you.”

“What do you…”

Twilight froze as the memory of her notes regarding the Bat Ponies hearing came back to slap her brain, quickly she peeked around Ratimir and found Moonfall looking in her direction before looking off to the side. Twilight quickly hid back around Ratimir and smacked her face in her hoof.

“I’m so dumb…”

Twilight groaned as she ran her hoof down her face.

`I’ll ask him once we get on the train… I hope he doesn’t mind. `

Twilight couldn’t help but scowl. She remembered back when Luna announced this event, out of everypony, Moonfall was the only one who was visibly uncomfortable about it. Even back then, the other guards gave worried looks for him.

`Moonfall used to be in the Solar Guard… Something must have happened to him during that… but what? `

Twilight glanced over to her saddlebags, remembering “Monstrous Manuals; the 5th Edition”.

` That book is often used as a foundation for learning about Equestria’s monsters. The chances that the Solar Guard uses it are…`

Twilight frowned as she squinted her eyes.

` High… But… sure not! It’s the guard under Princess Celestia! Sure they wouldn’t…`

Twilight looked off to the side as her face darkened. There is no doubt that Canterlot has a lot of history regarding Bat Ponies; a lot of bad history. The Bat ponies already had a bad reputation before the Lunar Guard was established, then the rebellion and imprisonment. The possibility that the Solar Guard still held the same prejudice to Bat Ponies was high. In the back of Twilight’s mind, it also explained why Princess Celestia agreed to this event.

`Did the Solar Guard hate the Lunar Guard… or do they hate Bat Ponies? Did they treat Moonfall badly because of that? But surely Princess Celestia would’ve caught wind of something like taking place… right? No, no! If that happened then surely Shini— `

Twilight’s eyes widened.

` Shining…`

A coldness swept over her. Did Moonfall join the Solar Guard under Shining Armor? The last time she heard of Shining Armour was him becoming the captain of the Royal Guard. Did he carry a dislike towards Bat Ponies? Did he treat Moonfall badly? Did he even know anything about Moonfall?

Twilight closed her eyes tightly and took a moment to catch her breath, pressing a hoof against her chest. After silencing her mind, she opened her eyes and stared at her shaking hooves.

She couldn’t deny that she was scared. Scared to face her brother, scared to see the two guard units interact, scared to learn more about this situation.

Yet, she wanted to know more, she needed to know more. Princess Celestia tasked her to help Ratimir and perhaps the Bat Ponies by extension. A pony-made race that has always been one of the many icons of fear to the race they once belonged to… a fear that ever grew stronger as time passed by.

A sparkle lit in Twilight’s eyes as the distant sound of the train rang throughout the forest. She was going to see this through the end, even if it meant she was going to have to go against her brother. If there was a possibility that she could learn more about Ratimir and the Bat Ponies that could help her, so she could help them… then every hardship would be worth it.

“Everyone, positions.”

Immediately, all members of the guard went on the move, fixing their armor and circling around Ratimir. Faded Light positioned herself by Twilight, nudging her and silently motioning her to move up front. After taking their positions, everyone watched as the forest in front of them became engulfed in white light as screeching metal filled the forest. The Bat Ponies ears folded against their heads as the train skidded to a stop in front of them.

A relieved sigh left them once the train slowed down to stop. Twilight looked over the train and paused as the first thing she noticed was the lack of windows and the train's dark colors. The cars of the train were made of black metal with golden trims on the outlines of the cars, the place where windows would be, had been replaced with faint square outlines, the gangway connection for the cars were tightly connected with strange flexible metal between cars with the car roofs covering them from above.

“This doesn't match what you told me, Northern Light.”

“That’s because this is the mythical EFT war train! Oooooo! To think these fine creations were actually real! I must give my thanks to Princess Luna for allowing me the honor to ride this!”

Twilight’s eyes sparkled as she listened to the conversation. The Equestrian Frontline Transport war trains were often said to be nothing more than a myth. Invented by a paranoid inventor who feared that Equestria was not prepared for war against the griffons, the yaks, and the dragons, They feared that one day, one of them would invade Equestria unprovoked, and would easily take over.

Thus, they decided to make something that could quickly turn the tides of battle all over Equestria. They designed trains that could safely transport Equestrian military and military supplies. They were designed to be faster to the average training while being able to withstand any attempts to destroy it.

The train was able to withstand most attacks with its enchanted metal shell, break through any blockades with its strong plow at the front, and supposedly hidden holes that allowed the soldiers on the inside to shoot their attackers. It was said that when the inventor brought these trains to Princess Celestia, she destroyed them on the basis that Equestrian didn’t need them because we would never go to war in the first place.

Twilight stared at one of these supposedly destroyed, mythical trains. Twilight lit up her horn and scanned the metal on the train, she could feel the multiple traces of leftover magic spells all over the train. It was enough magic that even a blast from a cannon would not even make a dent in its shell. Its only real threat would be a large creature, derailing the train.

Ratimir mumbled under his breath, “To think she would keep something like this in case of war… I guess my advice finally did get into her thick head.”

` Advice?`

Twilight's thought is interrupted by the whistle of the train’s expelled steam as it finally came to a complete stop.

“Twilight, you take charge. Everyone else, not a word.”

The guards gave a silent nod and adjusted their visors and stances. Twilight snapped her head over to Ratimir.

“Eh?”

The sound of moving gears forced Twilight’s attention away as the door to the train opened. Stepping out was a middle-aged periwinkle-colored stallion with a black handlebar mustache, outfitted with a blue vest, white collar shirt, and red tie. The light from inside the train had forced Twilight to rapidly blink, so she could quickly adjust to the sudden light.

“Hello! I am, All Aboard, the temporary conductor of this train!”

The stallion took a quick bow, fixing his circular glasses and hat as he rose back up.

“I will be escorting you to…”

The conductor froze, his eyes widened, and his pupils shrunk as he looked past Twilight. He stared directly at the Faded Light, taking in her bright eyes sharpened pupils. He broke out in cold sweat as his eyes washed over the rest of the guards, his legs bucking as he found a majority of them sharing the same traits he heard of long ago.

“The… The… The…”

Twilight tilted her head as she watched the conductor's lip tremble as the hairs on his black handlebar mustache started to turn gray.

“Um…Are you alrig—”

“THE-THE-THE-THESTRALS!”

The stallion screamed, turning around and running back inside the train. Unfortunately, in his panicked state, his hoof collided with the stairs up. A yelp exited him as he tripped and collided face-first. Twilight stared blankly at the panicked conductor, her mind dazed by the situation taking place. After a few seconds, her brain clicked back into gear, the realization of what he just said forced her to look back.
Dread found itself filling Twilight, all members of the guard had their eyes fixated on the conductor. Twilight felt a shiver crawl down her spine as she felt the malice the Bat Ponies were radiating off at the moment, their pupils had shrunken down and sharpened significantly. It was almost similar to the pupil’s of Hydras. Twilight could tell that if Ratimir gave them the order to murder this man… they would do it before anyone could even blink.

` I need to fix this! Now!`

Twilight quickly turned back to the conductor, trotting over to him and reaching a hoof.

“C-calm down, they are just here to—”

“T-t-to drain m-m-my blood!? Is that what h-happened to the guard that was supposed to be here!?”

Twilight flinched at the accusation.

“What!? No! We are the guar—”

“W-wait! Y-you’re Twilight Sparkle!”

The conductor’s pupils widened, and a smile came on his face, he launched forward and wrapped his forelegs around Twilight’s right leg.

“ You defeated Discord and Nightmare Mare! P-please save me! I-I have a wife and child at home! I can’t d-die!”

“What!? I’m with th—”

“This is taking too long.”

Twilight paused as Faded Light’ spoke out in a cold tone. Twilight quickly turned around as the sound of hooves approaching her came. Faded Light approached, slowly closing in on the conductor, who yelped and hid behind Twilight. A shiver ran down Twilight’s spine as her eyes met Faded Light cold glare.

“We’re escorting a prisoner under Princess Luna’s orders. You have been ordered to escort us, failure to do so will give us the right to judge you as a traitor to the crown, and judge you with treason.”

Faded Light stopped in front of Twilight, moving her head forward and almost resting on Twilight’s neck as she glared down at the conductor.

“If that were to happen then regardless of how bad your blood tastes… I’ll drain you dry before killing you.”

Twilight opened her mouth slightly, her eyes widened as she listened to Faded Light’s cold voice. Sweat started to form as she could feel the genuine sincerity of her words.

Faded Light grinned, showing off her fangs to the conductor.

“And I’ll make sure my unit get their fill with your fam—”

‘Clink!’

Before Faded Light could finish her state, a sudden cold wave washed over the area. Twilight’s pupils shrunk as she felt the side of her neck cut. Her eyes darted down only to find her neck perfectly intact.

` This feeling!? It-it’s the same as back when Ratimir opened the door!`

Twilight followed her instincts at the moment and looked at Ratimir.

Fear struck her heart the moment she did.

Despite standing perfectly still, despite pretending to be shackled, and despite wearing a hood. Twilight could feel it, she could feel the cold, murderous glare coming from Ratimir. As if he was ready to kill someone in the very next second. Around him, she found all the other members of the guard had backed away from him, all of them in a mixture of entering fight or flight. While, staring at Ratimir with frightened eyes.

Twilight looked over at Faded Light, finding the once aggressive mare to be as stiff as a metal pole. Cold sweat dripped down her face and tears almost threatened to exit her eyes, Twilight could tell that the mare was putting all her remaining stamina in just being perfectly still.

As Twilight watched the situation play out, it finally clicked to her what this feeling was. It was something she read about in books regarding duels, and something Shining Armor was fascinated by, back in his younger years.

Bloodlust.

In normal stories it is often used to describe the murderous lust of killers, but in the books regarding dueling… It was often referred to as the most powerful tool in combat. The ability to make your opponents feel your desire to kill them, it was a skill that could beat both weak and strong warriors.

The weak could feel your desire to end them, while the strong could feel it and see the skill you possessed that can kill them.

In one book regarding the accounts and experiences of duelists. Bloodlust was not the fear of death, but rather the fear of how an opponent would take your life. All it took was the feeling that your opponent was going to kill you, and then visible indications. The gaze the opponent had, a slight shift in their posture, the number of breaths they took, any small change could make the opponent think they had already been attacked.

It didn’t help that the more you know about your opponent, the more susceptible you were to bloodlust. If you knew the opponent could hit you that far, if you knew your opponent could easily catch up to you, if you knew how fast your opponent could react to your attacks, all of this while getting the feeling that your opponent wanted to kill you. It often led to many duelists forfeiting the duel, retirement, or thoughtlessly attacking.

Twilight was able to figure that because she had watched Ratimir’s spar against Faded Light, she had an idea of his speed, his striking range, and reaction time. She became more susceptible to this phenomenon. As she observed Ratimir, she could almost see faint outlines of what he could do.

If Ratimir had a sword on him, then at the moment everypony was within his striking range. Ratimir was fast, and the oversized cuffs would only delay him unsheathing his sword by a single second. She could see Ratimir’s right hand quickly slipping out of the cuff and grabbing the handle of the sword that would be on his left side, while he was doing that he would take a single step forward and then strike at Faded Light's neck.

But Twilight knew that was an idea based on her current knowledge of Ratimir’s combat abilities. The Lunar Guard who most likely saw Ratimir’s full skill set… were probably able to gain a higher understanding of what he could do. Which was a terrifying thought to Twilight.

After a minute passed, the cold chill in the air vanished as Ratimir’s eyes returned to his indifferent gaze and his arms relaxed. The guards visibly relaxed and hesitantly returned to their positions. Faded Light let out a small gasp and nearly collapsed against Twilight as she relaxed, after a bit her eyes went back to the conductor.

“...We’re… going inside now.”

“I-I… I u-understand.”

The stallion, trembling, lowered his head down and stepped off to the side. Faded Light backed away and walked back to the group. Briefly she looks up at Ratimir only for the man to narrow his eyes at her causing her to quickly look away. Resuming her previous position, Faded Light glanced at the other guards than to Twilight.

Twilight released a heavy sigh and waved her hoof forward for the group. Faded Light took lead and walked towards the train, Great Star pushed Ratimir forward, making him grunt before walking forward. As the group entered, Twilight turned her attention back to the conductor.

“I’m so sorry about them! But also, please don’t call them Thestral’s! Thank you!”

Twilight gave him a quick bow before trotting after the group, leaving the traumatized stallion behind in the dark woods. Twilight entered the train, taking a moment to admire the interior of the train.

Much to her surprise the interior was far from what she expected. Inside the train was well lit in golden light from the center, and well furnished with carpeted floors for the comfort of hooves and numerous cushioned benches. All the walls held string mechanisms connected to the square slots that could be seen from the outside; they were definitely the holes made for the military to shoot their attackers from within the train.

Twilight shook out the thought from her head and quickly walked through the gangway to the next car, catching up to the group and following behind them. Everyone walked in silence as they went through multiple cars that ranged from seating cars, to storage, to dining, and finally close to the second to last car was the sleeping car.

Small gasps left the guards as doors to the sleeping car opened. The light on inside was different compared to the other cars, dimmed yellow lights filling up the car. Rows of bunk beds lined the sides, each one having a cleaned mattress with laid out pillows and sheets that they could easily tell was recently purchased to replace the previous older mattresses. The bunk beds had personal privacy curtains for the sleeping occupants on both levels, and a climbable ramp up the second bunk.

Dusk Blade broke away from the group and pranced over to one of the beds, patting it with her hooves and letting out a squeal before slamming her face into it, her body going limp not long after.

“...Fallen, make sure she didn’t pass out just now.”

Fallen Shine nodded and walked over and prodded her side. Dusk Blade instantly snapping her head up.

“This is better than my bed!”

Fallen Shine grunted as Northern Light chuckled, after a bit all the guards looked back to Ratimir. The human stared at them all before giving them a nod as he slipped his hands out the shackles. The guards smiled and scattered throughout the car, quickly choosing their bunks and starting to remove their armor. Ratimir popped his neck and started to make his way towards the end of the train.

“Faded Light, what was that…”

The guards stopped mid-movement to look at Twilight, tensing up slightly upon seeing her visibly upset. Slowly all the guard's eyes shifted over to Faded Light, who stared back at Twilight with a neutral gaze.

“He insulted us, and was close to abandoning his duty. So, I reminded him of his duty.”

“By threatening his life!?”

“Yes. You weren’t making any progress, and we’re on a time limit. I just decided to take charge.”

Twilight furrowed her brow.

“It wasn’t my fault! I was put on the spot! But threatening him was unneeded, Faded Light!”

Faded Light narrowed her eyes.

“He insulted us. All I did was remind him of his duty and what we’re allowed to do should he fail it.”

Twilight closed her eyes as she rubbed her muzzle with her hoof.

“I understand that, but did you really have to do that!?”

“Tch, What makes you think you unders—”

“Lieutenant Faded Light.”

Faded Light froze as Ratimir’s voice cut her off. Hesitantly she turned her head and looked at Ratimir. He had removed his hood, letting everypony see the annoyed look on his face. He slowly turned his body towards the duo and narrowed his eyes.

“Twilight Sparkle is correct. What you did was unnecessary, not only that but…”

Ratimir furrowed his brows and scowled.

“You disobeyed orders.”

Faded Light’s eyes widened at that statement.

“I ordered everyone except Twilight Sparkle to not speak, and stay in position… but you not only broke off from your position, you also spoke to the conductor and unnecessarily threatened him, and I will not pretend that I didn’t hear that you were about to threaten his family too.”

Ratimir walked towards Faded Light, the guards quickly cleared a path for him as they watched him with anxious looks. Faded Light’s eyes fell down as she heard him approach, shutting her eyes when he stopped directly in front of her. After a moment of silence she felt his hand rest on the top of her mane, gently ruffling her mane up. Faded Light snapped her eyes open and looked up at him.

Ratimir’s anger had faded, defaulting back to his uncaring look.

“I’ll let it go just this once, and only this time. Under the belief that you acted out because of your lack of sleep, but the next time you do something like this… you will be reprimanded.”

Faded Light looked away, a look of shame crossing over her features while a blush crept over her cheeks as he ruffled her mane a little bit more before pulling his hand back.

“But still… I told you this before. In fact, I told all of you before that you will be called “Thestral” a lot.”

Ratimir’s gaze moved away from Faded Light and over to the rest of the guards, who looked down at the floor.

“You will face looks of disgust or fear. You will be insulted. You will be looked down on. Not only that, but you will face unfair treatment.”

Twilight couldn’t help but frown at each line. A part of her wanted to make an argument that they wouldn’t face any type of treatment like that… but, she knew if she did that then she would just be lying to them, and herself.

“That’s why it’s important to keep your calm. If you lose yourself in battle, then that makes you easier to kill… and makes you say things you may regret later.”

Ratimir’s eyes briefly glanced over at Faded Light and Twilight.

“Let Faded Light be an example of what happens when you lose yourself to your emotions. If any of you make the same mistake that she did, then you will be reprimanded. Do you all understand?”

With no hesitation, all members of the Lunar Guard nodded their heads.

“Good. Now, go to sleep.”

Ratimir turned around and walked away from Faded Light. Silently opening the gangway doors and entering the next car over.

For the next few minutes, the car stood silent, no pony making a move. Eventually the first one to speak up was Faded Light.

“I’m… sorry, Twilight Sparkle. I lost control of myself back there… and now.”

Faded Light turned towards Twilight and bowed her head.

“O-oh it’s okay. I was.. In the wrong, too. I was worked up because you threatened him… I had forgotten about your feelings.”

Twilight bowed her head back. The two mares rose at the same time and shared a smile. The rest of the guards smiled in turn as the two made up.

“The captain is right.”

Everypony's eyes focused on Fallen Shine.

“We’ve been overreacting too much at being called Thestral’s. If a conductor calling us that can make us lose our cool… then we won’t last long in the battles to come.”

The guards looked at each other briefly before nodding.

“Let’s get some rest now.”

“Agreed.”

“Mnf! You’re free to bunk up with me, Twilight.”

“Or me…~”

Dusk Blade and Northern Light glared at Great Star, the stallion turning his head away from the two mares as he saw Northern Light ignite her horn.

“Never mind…”

With Great Star’s resignation, the guard began their preparations, finishing the removal of their armor and slipping into their bunks. As Moonfall finished taking off his armor, a light knock from the next bunk grabbed his attention. Moonfall looked over and found Fallen Shine looking back at him. The two stallions silently stared at each other before Moonfall sighed, and the two shared a nod before Fallen Shine slipped into his bunk.

Twilight prepared to walk down the car to meet with Ratimir only for Moonfall to walk up to her.

“You know, I heard you and the captain earlier.”

Twilight folded her ears back and looked down.

“Y-yeah, sorry about that.”

“No, no, it’s alright. If you’re still curious, I’ll tell you… after all you’d find out later on anyway. Plus it’ll help you understand us better.”

Moonfall gave Twilight a comforting smile.

“Is… is it bad?”

Moonfall’s smile slowly faded, and he looked off to the side.

“Yeah. It is…”

“Are you sure you’re okay with telling me it?”

Moonfall nodded and looked at Twilight.

“Yeah, like I said… you’ll find out eventually. Once we enter Canterlot I don’t plan on hiding it.”

Twilight raised a brow at that statement. Moonfall snorted and walked past her.

“Let’s talk in the next car over.”

Twilight nodded and followed after Moonfall, the two going into the next car together.

Author's Notes:

After half a year I return with a chapter.

Apologies for the long delay, I've been busy with life, work, and doing other creative projects on my YT channel. Despite all the things in life, I never thought about abandoning this story. That was why during my absence I dived more into reading novels to improve my writing, that's why if you might notice a change in my writing style now, as well as organizing the worldbuilding for this story.

But yay! After a long time we finally made it to the train! Thought not without a couple of bumps here and there... and close to learning Moonfall's time in the Solar Guard. Which I expect that you the readers are probably going to be pretty shocked about.

On other news, I am planning to produce another long formatted story besides this story. Another HiE but with a more interesting twist to it, you'll see soon. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter should come soon as I plan on it being smaller, at the cost that it's far more impactful. Have a good day.

XVI - The Indignant Train

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A low rumble echoed through the train as the wheels begun to turn, and the train begun its journey to Canterlot. Twilight’s ears perked as the wheels of the dining car woke and moved, her gaze taking a peek at the window before going back to look down at the table. Occasionally, her eyes wandered up to glance at the stallion sitting with his forelegs crossed across from her.

Moonfall leaned back against his seat as the train dining car moved. His eyes refused to move away from the ceiling despite the new change. His ears flicked occasionally, picking up the small sounds of rocks and pebbles that were on the tracks being crushed under the train. A sigh left him at the sound, and his body relaxed.

"Moonfall, I want to make sure about this. Are you…"

Moonfall’s eyes moved away from the ceiling and focused on the visibly nervous Twilight.

"Are you sure you want to tell me? A-after all, you need some rest, and I s-shouldn’t really have taken that fr—"

Twilight paused as Moonfall raised his hoof up in the air.

"It’s alright. I'm fine, I can handle just staying awake a little longer."

Moonfall dropped his hoof and his gaze shifted to the side, finding some focus on the pattern of the train floor.

"Just… give me a moment. It's been a while since I've had to tell somepony about it. Everypony in the guard knows about it, including the captain."

“I understand.”

Moonfall smiled a bit but kept his eye focused on the floor. His smile slowly faded over time as old memories played out in his mind. He closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose.

"Well… I guess I should mention the main issue first."

Moonfall slowly opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Twilight. His body pulled away from the seating as he leaned forward and placed his forelegs onto the table. Twilight, adjusted herself and focused all her attention on Moonfall.

"My father is in Canterlot."

Twilight stared silently for a moment, waiting for a continuation. After a moment of the two staring at each other, Twilight realized she was supposed to say something in response.

"Oh! Uh… I didn't think Bat-ponies lived in Canterlot or would even think about living there, after everything that's happened to them."

Moonfall chuckled softly.

"You’re not wrong, but,"

Moonfall lips formed into a slight frown and eyes shifted down to the table as his brows furrowed.

"I never said my father was a Bat pony."

Twilight’s eyes widened at the statement.

"My father is a unicorn. His name is Sunrise. He's the—"

Twilight’s eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets. She abruptly stood up, nearly making her fall over the table but catching herself by slamming her hooves down onto the table on instinct.

"S-Sunrise!? As in, Sunrise, the vice-captain of the royal-I mean Solar Guard! Are-are you talking about THAT Sunrise!?"

Moonfall silently nodded.

"Wha… But… H-how!? Last time I spoke with Shining Armor, he said that Sunrise was a married with only a daughter! He never mentioned Sunrise having a son…"

Moonfall snorted, his lips twisted into a scowl.

"Yeah, because I'm his little bastard…"

For a moment, she stared at him in confusion. Her pupils shrinking as her brain brought back one of the older definitions, of "Bastard".

"O-oh! Moonfall… I… I…"

Twilights pupils shook as she stared in bafflement. He was one of the Solar Guard's more well known members. From what Shining Armor had told her, he had been in the guard since he graduated from Canterlot Academy and had stayed in the guard till his late-thirties. He was even known as the Bandit Hunter, due to his history of successful bandit raids.

The very thought of somepony who was seen as a respected member of the guard having a bastard child was… hard to swallow, and yet, as Twilight took a moment to take in Moonfall’s appearance. She started to visually compare the two. When she had first met Moonfall his coat had stood out to her due to how bright it was compared to the others.

Bringing her memories from the brief glances she saw of Sunrise when she used to watch Shining Armor train. She noted Moonfall's coat and eyes were just a darker shade of Sunrise's.

' Even their builds are similar! But… how come he isn’t a hybrid like Dusk Blade? Is… Is this a case where the genes regarding his species were stronger in his mom? That would explain why…`

"Moons ago, when my mom was young, she didn't like the idea of spending her whole life in our town, but she didn't have the skills to get into the squads that could leave the town."

"So, she decided to sneak out during one stormy night, because rain and thunder mess with our hearing, and left the town. After that She went around Equestria wearing a dress that hid her wings, eye contacts, clipped off the fur at the end of her ears, and changing how she spoke and ate, so her fangs weren't so noticeable."

Moonfall let out a small sound and leaned back a bit as he looked out the window.

"Eventually, she decided to visit Canterlot. She went on castle tours because she wanted to see the castle that Princess Luna once lived in, during the castle tours she met Sunrise. They hit it off and dated for a bit before becoming lovers, and blah, blah, dumb romance stuff."

Moonfall rolled his eyes and snorted.

"My mom eventually became pregnant with me. When Sunrise found out, he proposed to my mom, and in turn my mom… decided to tell him the truth."

Moonfalls demeanor changed, he bore his fingers and narrowed his eyes at the window.

"She took off her disguise in front of him. He… that… that… that worthless, son of a… a damn doxy! Was disgusted!. He broke off the engagement, and granted her the "mercy" of letting her leave without turning her in. She tried to talk to him out of it, but he refused and left her."

"After that, he spread the word to her friends in Canterlot about what she really was. Her friends abandoned her, and a small group of hunters was formed to hunt her down because they thought she was going to, you know…”

Moonfall raised a hoof as he opened his mouth and tapped his fang.

“Suck their blood. So, she left Canterlot, and she decided to go back to our town."

Moonfall clicked his tongue and turned his head back over to Twilight. He froze at the sight that greeted him. Twilight stared at him with both of her hooves over her mouth and her widened eyes filled with tears.

“T-Twilight? Are you… uh, okay? You’re uh…”

“S-sorry! I… I just… give me a moment!”

Moonfall silently watched as Twilight levitated a nearby napkin over to her face and started wiping her eyes. The anger he held had been replaced with unease, his eyes lowering down, and a flustered look held on his face.

It was strange for the stallion. Almost everypony he had told this story told had only on expression, and that was anger. Of course, all of them felt sorry for Moonfall and his mom, but not once did they ever cry.

“I can… uh, stop, you know. I-it’s not that big of a deal.”

“N-not a big deal?!”

Twilight wiped her eyes once more and slammed the napkin down on the table, making Moonfall jump in his seat.

“Moonfall! This is a big d-deal! The fact tha-that something like this… happened so close to me or even happened at all is terrible! The very concept of that Sunrise, a member of the guard who citizens in Canterlot look up to! A stallion who works with my big brother! Could-could even do something like this! It… it,”

Twilight's face started to twist, her brow furrowing and bits of unstable magic started to form around her horn for a moment before she realized her emotions were getting out of control. Twilight quickly sat back down and performed a series of deep breaths. The magic around her horn becoming stable once again before vanishing.

After a bit, she slowly opened her eyes and met with Moonfall’s eyes, the stallion shifted in his seat slightly as his eyes slightly wavered at the glare the mare had on her face.

“Tell me more.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Moonfall jolted a bit at the blunt tone of her answer, but quickly shook it off. He sucked in a breath and looked slightly off to the side to avoid meeting with Twilight’s gaze.

“Well… uh… After all that, I was born. I had a normal foalhood, though I did notice eventually how… you know, family dynamics. Luckily, no pony ever really bothered me about it since almost everypony in town knew about what happened… except me, of course.”

“So, one day I asked my mom about my dad, and she told me that he died. I accepted that answer for a couple of moons, but eventually I realized that we never once went to visit my father's grave and the details around his supposed death were… all over the place.”

“When I grew older, I decided to ask around again. My grandfather was the only one who gave me an idea of the truth, and being the colt I was back then…”

Moonfall’s ears fell down. A grunt escaped him as his cheeks brightened slightly in embarrassment.

“I ran out and confronted my mom about it, it was… Very messy, but she eventually sat me down and told me the truth. After that, I had a desire to see him.”

He closed his eyes and released a drawn out sigh.

“So, when I became of age… I left in the guise of joining the Lunar Guard, when I went to join the Solar Guard instead,

Moonfall clicked his tongue and narrowed his eyes briefly.

“Pretentious bastards, every one of them…”

“Anyway, I took a page out of my mom’s book and disguised myself so they didn’t find out what I was… at least until I met him.”

Twilight’s ear twitched at the statement, and a look of concern washed over her face.

“You… met him?”

“Yeah… After a couple of Moons in the guard, I finally caught him at the right moment when he was about to get off for Night duty and confronted him about… me and my mother. I took off my disguise and asked him why he what he did, and… Heh!”

Moonfall smiled as his brows furrowed tightly.

“The damned look on his face when he saw what I was! It was as if he was looking at a body that was mangled by an Ursa Minor! Hahahah!”

Moonfall let out a bitter laugh as his hooves pressed against the table, making the table tilt towards him.

“The worthless scum, claimed he had nothing to do with a “filthy creature like you”… I sort’ve lost it when he said that.”

“Lost it…?”

“Yeah. I got… real mad, and started attacking him. Landed a blow or two before his senses caught up to him, and kicked me out the window.”

Twilight jolted against her seat and gasped.

“He kicked you out the window!?”

“Mhmm. I… almost came out real messed, since forgotten I had wings because I was didn’t use them for a good while, but after that, he turned on all alarms-”

Twilight eyes widened and her body stiffened

“-And claimed that I was an assassin, out for… er… your life.”

Twilight sat there in silence for a moment. Her eyes frozen on Moonfall as she replayed the story in her head and letting a realization erupt. Twilight’s forelegs dropped to her sides.

“You… You were Dawnguard!”

The anger that was on Moonfall’s face vanished in an instant.

“Y-yeah… That was the name I used back in Canterlot. How’d you know?”

“There were posters in Canterlot for a while looking for any information regarding a guard named Dawnguard… I-I never heard about the assassin part… but,”

Twilight’s gaze fell down and she squinted her eyes.

“That explains why there was a period where security was tightened.”

Moonfall let out a sigh and leaned back against his seat.

“Thank Luna, I disguised myself and used a fake name then…”

“Did… did you go home after that?”

“Mhmm. I went straight back home, completely forgetting how messed up I looked until my mom saw me. I told her the truth and-”

Moonfall looked off to the side with a small smile

.”- got scolded of a lifetime.”

Moonfall’s smiled faded as he looked down.

“She blamed herself for what happened to me. Thinking that her not being honest of what happened caused this…”

“She made me promise her that I wouldn’t ever see Sunrise or attempt to see him again, and I… I well… as you can see, I’m not keeping it.”

Moonfall tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

“Even moon’s after what happened, I… I can’t let it go. What he did to my mom… what he said to me. No matter how much I tried to get it off my mind and move on, it won’t… I need to make him pay for what he did… somehow. It’s why I joined the Lunar Guard in the first place.”

Moonfall opened his eyes and stared at the pattern of the metal ceiling.

“I initial thought of making a name for myself, you know, become some figure that normal ponies heard of with a mix that I was Sunrise’s son and get his attention that way…”

A bitter chuckle escaped him.

“But… even I know that was stupid. I had no clue how’d I get revenge. SO, I just floated by… and hoped that an idea or an opportunity came to me.”

Moonfall sighed, shutting his eyes tightly and leaning his head down near the table.

“... And it did, when Princess Luna announced these sparring matches… I… I knew that I was going to see him again. Whether it was in match or him just watching. Since then, I’ve been asking myself what to do. If I could face him in the match, then I’d have an excuse to beat him… but,”

Moonfall pulled his head up slightly to give a tired gaze to Twilight.

“Like the captain feared… I’m not ready… just putting on a show. I’m not even sure if I can beat him if we were to fight again, and even then… What do I do after?”

Moonfall’s squinted his eyes as his gaze fell down.
“My mom doesn’t want revenge… I want it, but what does it accomplish in the end? It solves nothing… but I just… I just want it, even when I know how pointless…. How damn meaningless it is in the end. I’m not even confident I can pull it off, and I’m having a damn crisis over the aftermath.”

Moonfall let out a bitter laugh before his small fell completely, and his face became more pessimistic.

“Sorry for dumping this all this unrelated gunk on you.”

Twilight hesitantly slid her hooves over to place them over Moonfall’s. The stallion looked up at Twilight, and paused lightly upon seeing a tired yet saddened expression on her face.

“It’s okay, I don’t blame you. Hearing all of this… I’m fighting between sending a letter to Princess Celestia or dealing with this myself.”

“Don’t involve yourself in this… This is a family issue.”

“I know… I know, but hearing all of this just makes me want to… do things that Princess Celestia has always taught me not to do…”

Twilight tilted her head down, letting her mane cover her eyes.

“When Princess Celestia told me the origins of Bat Ponies I… figured most ponies are against Bat Ponies, but I… I honestly thought it would be something like when I first met Zecora.”

“Zecora?”

“She’s a… zebra that lives in the Everfree forest near Ponyville. When I first met her, the town thought she was an evil witch because of her appearance. None of them ever tried to talk to her, and-”

Twilight’s eyes fell, and she felt her stomach squeeze tightly.

“I almost believed them until I spoke to her myself.”

Twilight grimaced at the memory of that day.

“Nopony never really treated her badly, everypony just hid from her… Everything was cleared up once my friends and I cleared up the town’s misunderstandings about her. Since then, I thought that instances like that would always like that… until I met you guys.”

Twilight pulled her head up and looked at Moonfall with a crestfallen look on her.

“I only heard of Bat Ponies being referred to as “Thestrals”. I was also scared of them too… and If Princess Celestia hadn’t told me about your origins… I might’ve been the same.”

Twilight’s eyes wavered, and her body shook slightly.

“... And that scares me now. I thought I learned about judging books by their cover, but I guess deep inside all this time… I really didn’t, and after being with the Lunar Guard for a while. I hadn’t realized until earlier today how… big and bad this problem was…”

“Almost everypony are taught that Bat Ponies are blood sucking creatures that foalnapped ponies at night. That probably extends to my friends, Spike, and my family too.”

Twilight’s body shook more as the corner of her eyes begun to well up.

“Sorry… I-I didn’t mean to dump this on you… or make this about myself!”

Moonfall quickly sat back up and pushed his hooves forward and placed them on top of Twilight's.

“H-hey, hey! It’s uh… Well, it’s not okay but. Uh…”

Moonfall looked to the side, searching for words.

“No, no… I’m fine… just got a bit off-topic.”

“No, it’s uh… jeez. Sorry, I suck at comforting…”

Twilight chuckled and pulled away from his hooves. Wiping her eyes as Moonfall groaned in frustration.

“Look, I’m… sorry. I didn’t think about what you were going through…”

“I can say the same thing to you too.”

Twilight gave a small smile as Moonfall let out a sigh.

“Still… if it makes you feel any better, we do appreciate you… Is “appreciate” the right word…? Maybe “like” is better.”

Twilight broke into a genuine smile at that.

“Really?”

“Yeah! When you first arrived, Dusk Blade was making bets on how long it'd take you before you break out on us. Faded Light was waiting for you to make a single mistake so she can “justifiably” punish you. Fallen Shine just thought you were holding it inside. “

Twilight let out a chuckle, trying her best not to question Faded Light's part in there.

“I'm… glad I was able to improve everyponies opinion of me.”

Moonfall smile and opened his mouth to speak, only for the first word to become mangled by a yawn exiting his throat.

“Sorry… Fatigue is starting to catch up now.”

“No, no! I should be sorry! I stopped you from sleeping just to answer my selfish curiosity!”

“No, no! It's okay,”

Moonfall slid out of his seat and stood in the walkway, with Twilight following his example and joining him. The two made a silent, synchronized decision to start walking back to the sleeper car.

“We both probably need to rest after this whole spiel.”

Twilight nodded.

“I can stay up a bit longer… I was thinking of talking to Ratimir…”

“The captain? What about?”

“His involvement with Canterlot. He really, really didn't want to go there…”

“I would give up on that trip if I were you.”

Twilight turned her head towards Moonfall and quirked a brow.

“Why?”

“The four things I know about the captain. He hates the Solar Guard, maybe more than us. He hates magic, hates nobles, and Finally, he gave off some hints when he was training us for this that he probably did… something… that made the princess assign him to the Lunar Guard and as far from Canterlot as possible.”

“Something…?”

“Sometimes during our conversations, he would call the Princess naive and then reassure to be as ruthless as possible in the matches. “

“So, you believe that he possibly did something er… ruthless that Princess Celestia disagreed with?”

“Maybe… I don't really know, anytime Faded Light tried to get a bit more out of him, he avoided it. The captain feels less like he’s doing this out of spite and more of using this to prove… something to the princess.”

“Trying to prove something…”

Twilight furrowed her brow. One thing she figured was that the friendship between Ratimir and Princess Celestia seemed one-sided on Princess Celestia's part. Yet, he never spoke of her in a hateful way… just more of an annoyance he’s grown accustomed to.

"I wouldn't bother asking him. He’ll either get angry or dodge the question.”

Twilight drooped her head a bit and sighed.

“You’re not wrong… I’ll put it off for now.”

“Yeah, I think that’s for the best…”

The two nodded, and made back to the Sleeper car. Moonfall wished Twilight goodnight as he entered his bunk. Twilight in turn picked the bunk in the closest to the doorway to the car door that lead to Ratimir’s car. Twilight placed her saddlebags against the wall on the corner of the bed and laid in the bed.

A soft sound left Twilight as she felt her body lightly sink into the bed. Twilight hadn't realized how tired her body was despite how little she traveled. Hesitantly, Twilight proved her own side and felt her flesh give a little squish.

“... Maybe I do need to exercise more…”

Twilight grumbled before letting out a heavy, closed eyed sigh. Only opening her eyes after taking a few minutes of ambience of the train moving. Her thoughts wandered back to Moonfall and Sunrise.

“Sunrise… Should I tell Princess Celestia? It's the proper course of action, so I should! But, Moonfall wants to deal with it himself… “

Twilight frowned. She couldn't help but want to get involved in the situation…
but she knew it wasn't right for him, Moonfall wants to deal with this on his own. All she can think of doing was just backing him. Twilight nodded to herself at that internal agreement. With that issue checkmarked, the next one came in, her brother. Twilight turned her body to the other side, a look of nervousness running over her face.

“Shining…”

When it came to Shining Armor, there were multiple issues at the ready. How would he feel when she chooses to side with the Lunar Guard? Would he hate the Lunar Guard for being Bat Ponies? Would he hold a grudge against her when he finds out? A part of her told her to keep out of his sight and continue like that, but the other half wanted her to pretend she was on his side. Her stomach twisted slightly at the thought, but she closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath.

“I’ll tell Shining when I see him and get it over with… Plans the like never work out in the end, it’s best to honest, like Apple-.”

The memory of the time Applejack ‘s stubbornness during harvesting season came to Twilight’s mind.

“-err, It’s best to just be honest.”

Twilight nods to herself at the end, checkmarks that. Leaving the one issue that she knew she couldn’t checkmark right away, Ratimir and Canterlot.

`It was clear from the start Ratimir disliked the Solar Guard but to extend to Canterlot too… and Moonfall’s belief that Ratimir wants to prove something, along with his theory that Ratimir may have done something that made Princess Celestia push him out of Canterlot and the Solar Guard.`

Twilight clicked her tongue as she tried to make up theories.

`Princess Celestia never seemed up or angry when she spoke about him, it was the opposite. So, it would have to be something that didn’t affect Princess Celestia herself… then did it affect others? Is it possible that he did something that forced Princess Celestia to move him against her own will?`

The very thought of almost seemed foolish. Princess Celestia was the sole leader of Equestria, who could possible force the leader of a nation to move their “friend” away despite her own wishes? The only possible answers were either; other bodies of the government in Equestria or the nobles of Canterlot. The government theory was possible, an unhappy government was an unstable government after all, but it all looped back to the source of this theory.

What… could Ratimir do that would turn Canterlot against him and force Princess Celestia to remove him?

XVII - Arrival

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Ratimir snapped his eyes open. His eyes darted around the room as he reached for his sword. It took him only a few seconds to realize he had simply passed out for a little bit and that he was still on the train. A sigh escaped him and his body relaxed, slumping against the metal walls.

“Old bastard.”

Ratimir clicked his tongue and stood up.

He took a moment to run his right hand over his right eye, and then glanced down and checked his left arm. It was slightly numb. He smacked it against the metal wall, leaving behind a decently sized dent, and speeding up the blood flow process. Ratimir huffed as he checked to make sure he didn't hit hard enough to cause it to swell or bruise himself.

If he did, he knew Princess Celestia would scold him for it.

After regaining his leftarm, he used it to help pop his neck and back, reigniting the sense of normalcy back into his body. He finally decided to acknowledge the dryness of his throat. He grunted in annoyance at the inconvenience of thirst.

‘I'm sure Princess Celestia will have something. She always does.’

He scowled in response to that fact.

‘Annoying… Just like she was.’

He crossed his arms and lowered his gaze to the ground. He frowned his brows and shut his eyes. The usual pain in his chest acted up, a symptom of sleeping.

It was why he hated sleeping.

‘It's always these damned memories…’

Ratimir slowly opened his eyes. A dark figure enter his vision, Ratimir slowly looked up and found humanoid figures made of black smoke occupying the same car he was in, all in normal positions as if they were idly chatting or simply waiting to get off the train too.

Ratimir scowled hard, a shiver flowed through him. Across him was the black, smoky figure of… her. By her side was the figure was those two. As his eyes looked away he could see at the end of the cart, the tall imposing figure was of him among his gang.

Ratimir shut his eyes and brought his hands to his face, letting them sink into his eyes as he inhaled and exhaled. Moving his hands away from his eyes, he opened them again and found himself alone.

“..........”

Ratimir paused his left arm from completely going down, briefly brushing his thumb against the scar on his lip.

“...I wonder if this really is her curse…”

Ratimir smiled a bit as his hand fell.

“No…”

He knew better.

He sighed and shook his head as a screech from the train filled his ears. Ratimir stood up and shook himself once more, glancing briefly to check if there were any more figures. Upon seeing none, Ratimir turned and started to head to the door. He stopped midway as the realization that he was in Canterlot came to him. His mind flashed before him all the unicorns he had defeated… all the looks of disdain that were given to him.

All the times of joy he felt when he sliced off the horns of those unicorns.

“She is far too nice, and you know well that mercy has its price!”

Ratimir huffed.

“Well said, Yaroslav.”

Ratimir walked again.

“She can't keep letting her guards live in a delusional dream forever. “

No.

‘She can't keep living in this delusional idea of what true Harmony is forever...’

Twilight moved the bunks curtains to the side as her ears stood up, the screech of the train's wheels assaulting her. She slid out onto the main walkway and fixed her mane. As she looked around, her eyes widened as she found most of the guards out of their bunks and putting their armor back on.

Dusk Blade let’s out a closed-eye yawn as Moonfall helps her with her chest piece straps. The small mare smacks her lips and slowly opens her eyes. Slowly, her eyes wander around until they land onto Twilight.

Almost instantly, the small mares demeanor changed.

“There you are!”

Dusk Blade beamed and quickly turned to face Twilight, accidentally smacking Moonfall across the face with her tail in the process.

“I thought I was going to have to search the car where the food was!”

Dusk Blade pranced over to Twilight’s side and prods her stomach once with a hoof and then her flank.

“Eating up and getting bigger.~”

Twilight glared at the snickering mare and gently pushed her out of prodding distance.

“Good morning to you too, Dusk Blade.”

Dusk blade grinned and stuck her tongue out for a moment before releasing a loud yelp as her body is yanked backwards. Dusk Blade glared back and found Moonfall biting down on her tail, pulling her back towards him. She shakes her rear away from him and hisses.

Moonfall rolled his eyes.

“Shut up, unless you want to put your armor on yourself.”

Dusk Blade scowled and turned away, grumbling, as Moonfall huffed and returned to working on her straps. Twilight looked over Moonfall, noticing the stallion had slightly more life to his looks now.

‘He looks much better! Good…’

Twilight moved her gaze over to Fallen Shine and Great Star, finding the duo keeping to themselves while adjusting their armor. Seeing nothing wrong with the duo, she moved her gaze behind her and found Faded Light dragging Northern Light out of her bunk by her tail.

“Gweh up, it’s tiwe.”

“Just a couple of seconds more! I beg of-” Faded Light yanks her tail, bringing the unicorn down to the ground. “Mweh!”

Faded Light spat out her tail and looked down at the annoyed mare.

“Hurry up, and get equipped.”

Northern Light grumbled as she slowly rose to her hooves. With no hesitation, she lit her horn and grabbed her canteen, biting the lid off and downing the container empty. Twilight took a step back as she watched her fellow unicorn chug. Northern Light pulls it away from her lips and lets out a relieved sigh. She beamed and started to quickly put her armor on.

Twilight almost wanted to ask Northern Light what she just drank but deemed it better not to slow her from putting on her armor. She moved her focus away from Northern Light and onto Faded Light.

The Lieutenant held a stoic expression, yet her eyes looked somewhat unfocused. Exhaustion was clear with her eyes, but her actions showed made her look okay on the outside.

‘Did she even sleep?’

Twilight couldn’t help but worry.

‘Was it because of our argument earlier…?’

Twilight’s eyes shifted away from Faded Light as the thought landed itself in her brain. In her eyes, Faded Light took it too far by threaten the stallion, after all they were guards meant to protect them. Twilight felt that they would’ve just disagreed, but no harm would come to it… That was until Ratimir was involved. Twilight knew that Faded Light looked up to him… perhaps in the same manner that she looked up to Princess Celestia.

It was that belief that made Twilight’s heart feel clogged. She knew how devastating it felt to be scolded by your mentor, after her use of the ‘Want it, need it’ spell she still remembered the disappointment she saw in Princess Celestia’s eyes as she came to her. While Princess Celestia had forgiven her, Twilight couldn’t forgive herself for letting Princess Celestia down over her own paranoia for a while after that.

While Faded Light looked fine on the outside, Twilight couldn’t help but believe that there was a chance that Faded Light was struggling inside after getting scolded by Ratimir. She was different from Twilight, more calm and collected, she didn’t wear her feelings on her sleeve. Yet, Twilight couldn’t help but project her experience onto the mare. There was a chance that, like Twilight, she would push herself harder and end up making things worse.

‘I should talk to-No, I can’t… I was the cause of this! If it were me, there would be no way I would allow the pony who made my mentor mad at me to comfort me.’

Twilight glanced over at the other guards.

‘Faded Light is one of the highest ranks… I doubt the others would be comfortable asking her feelings.’

Before Twilight could think any deeper of the issue, the metallic shifting of the doors behind her sang. Twilight quickly turned her head and was met with the large, cloaked frame of Ratimir. Her eyes instinctively looked up to meet Ratimir face, and what she saw made her fur stand on end.

Ratimir, held a look between his stoic and something else… something dark. His eyes were held no light to them, only staring forward, ignoring everyone in front of him as if he found something or someone more important. Shrunken slightly with brows furrowed, a look that made it seem like if something were to burst into the room from the other side… Ratimir would be the first to strike the attack first.

Twilight gulped.

“Ratimir, are you okay?”

In an instant, his eyes locked onto her own, staring at her for a moment before looking forward again as he moved past Twilight.

“It’s nothing.”

Twilight winced at the icy tone in his voice.

‘What happened to him?’

Twilight’s gaze followed him, she opened her mouth to say something. However, to the right, she saw Fallen Shine shaking his head at her. Twilight slowly closed her mouth and nodded in understanding.

“Cuffs.”

Northern Light quickly levitates the cuffs and tosses them over to Ratimir. Without even looking her way, he catches them and slips them onto his wrists. With the arrival of Ratimir the guards hurry with their armor, the group getting set up within a minute. Twilight quickly gathered her things and prepared herself to move.

“Let’s go. Formation.”

The guard quickly surrounded the man in the best circle they could make in the narrow passage. Twilight positioned herself next to Northern Light. The group stepped through the doors and entered the next train car, and then next. Eventually, making it to the train car that held their exit. There awaiting them from a safe distance away and peeking from behind the train doors leading to the next car was the conductor.

“H-have a safe t-trip!”

Great Star and Faded Light rolled their eyes.

Twilight let out a sigh as the conductor quickly took his leave, effectively running away. The group stepped down the steps and met the sights of the sleeping capital. Twilight smiled a bit as she saw the familiarity of her hometown. The towering white stone buildings donned with gold and purple, the light posts holding light magic, and the green stone pavement of the kingdom. Though, the silence of the kingdom, made a shiver run through her fur.

‘It’s so… quiet.’

Even as she scanned the streets from the station, she didn’t see anypony exit, or enter buildings or even walk around. The city was dead. Reminding Twilight that how much of her life was not only spent inside but the origins of Princess Luna’s jealousy. The memory of the times Princess Celestia had visited Ponyville and being greeted with respect, awe, and adoration.

‘Was Princess Luna ever granted that?’

Twilight internally flinched as she remembered Luna’s first appearance on Nightmare Night. Thought it got better as the people started to get to know the princess… Twilight couldn’t help but feel that the interaction itself probably landed a mark on the Princess of Night. It didn’t help that she was told that Princess Luna didn’t willingly turn into Nightmare Moon… but rather had her magic become unstable and consume her.

‘I think I’m to understand more about Princess Luna’s perspective now…’

Dusk Blade’s eyes sparkled as she looked around.

“Wow, so this is Canterlot! So fancy! You grew up here, right, Twilight!?”

Before Twilight could respond. A ‘Tsk’ from Northern Light came and together, Northern Light, and Moonfall spoke in synchronization.

“It’s not as great as you think.”

Northern Light, and Moonfall glanced at each with some surprise before silently nodding at each other, while Dusk Blade gave the two an annoyed but understanding look.

“What’s the plan now, Captain?”

Great Star looked over at Ratimir and Twilight.

“Princess Luna was supposed to greet us…”

Dusk Blade spun and faced Twilight.

“Do you think some happened to our–”

A blinding flash of light came in front of the group, causing the group to shut their eyes for a moment. Opening their eyes, the group found themselves met with Princess Luna… and Princess Celestia. Twilight immediately notice the mild annoyance Princess Luna wore on her face, while Princess Celestia seemed… happier than normal.

The guard quickly bowed before the Princesses, more specifically to Princess Luna. Princess Luna took the moment to close her eyes and inhale, exhaling and putting on a smile.

“We apologize, our guardians. An “issue”-”

Princess Luna’s shifted over to Princess Celestia for a moment.

”-came up that deterred us for a moment.”

The guards wordlessly stand back up and simply give a nod of understanding. Princess Luna looked over at Twilight and nodded a greeting before looking over at Ratimir, opening her mouth to address him.

“Ratimir! It’s been a while!”

Princess Luna’s eye twitched as her sister approached Ratimir.

“Let’s get those off you.”

“There no ne–”

Ratimir couldn’t even protest before the oversized cuffs around his wrist were enveloped in golden mana and disappearing in a flash of light. Ratimir stared at his wrists for a second before going back to Princess Celestia. Twilight’s eyes shrunk as she watched Ratimir’s expression shift to less stoic and more… angry. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by the Princess.

“Oh! I almost forgot! I came here with a gift for you!”

Princess Celestia lit her horn and summoned a thermos, quickly twisting the top off and levitating it over to Ratimir. Ratimir glared at her and snatched the canteen from her magic grasp, bringing it up to his nose, sniffing. A brief moment of surprise on his face before being taken over by annoyance. In silence, the man brought the canteen down and started drinking. For a moment, silence stilled the air as Ratimir drank, and Princess Celestia watched with a warm smile on her face.

After finishing his drink, Ratimir sighed and, much to Twilight's surprise. His expression was more… relaxed. It was stoic, but something about it made Twilight feel like violence was now an optional choice for Ratimir. All the way, Princess Celestia smiled wider. Twilight couldn’t help but look back and forth between Ratimir and Princess Celestia, confusion rampant in this brief exchange.

“Sorry for summoning you, all this way, Ratimir. But I believed it was only right for the Captain of the Lunar Guard to come, regardless of whether you’re fighting or not.”

Ratimir clicked his tongue.

“Whatever, I’m here, so let’s get it over with.”

“Oh! This is a good chance to show you some of the new innovations we’ve made since Luna came in!”

Princess Celestia said that excitedly.

Excitedly.

Twilight look between Ratimir and Princess Celestia once again. The difference between the two were like fire and ice. It was almost like how Princess Celestia described at first, almost, being the key word. Twilight could clear see that there was a difference in how they saw each other. Then there was the drink! Ratimir was very clearly ready to start an argument, but with a simple drink, Ratimir just… stopped.

“Twilight.”

The first accusation Twilight thought of was a form of relaxation drug. It was logical and was used in medicine to calm worked up patients down, but this was Princess Celestia! There was no way Twilight could see her willingly drug a person she’s known for moons to stop an argument! But also what was with the unusual excitement Princess Celestia held!? Princess Celestia doesn’t get excited! She smiles and enjoys! She doesn’t beam upon seeing another!

“Twilight?”

Twilight ears peaked up, and she snapped her eyes over to Princess Celestia. Finding the princess staring at her with a warm smile. It was a smile she was familiar with… Yet it was different. Compared to Ratimir her smile was normal! She’s seen the smile ever since she was a foal. It was because her smile was normal and specifically directed at her that it made Twilight’s brain start to turn to mush.

Something was clearly up. There was different, more to their relationship than how Princess Celestia described it.

‘But that would imply Princess Celestia lied…’

Princess Celestia doesn’t lie. She can’t lie, but was what they had really friendship? Why was Princess Celestia happier when she saw Ratimir than her? Why did she have a prepared gift for him, yet nothing for Twilight? Was this nepotism? Not towards her, but towards the man who saw the Princess as more of an annoyance. It didn’t make sense. There had to be more to the two of them.

“Twilight, are you okay?”

Twilight’s eyes gained focus as she felt the wing of the Princess over her forehead, silently checking her temperature. Twilight’s eyes briefly glanced around her, and she found herself being stared at by everyone, with a look of concern or confusion on their face. It made Twilight blush of embarrassment.

“S-sorry! I’m okay. I was just… lost in my thoughts for a moment.”

Princess Celestia’s wing pulled back, and she stared at Twilight for a moment before focusing back to Ratimir.

“We should head to the Castle. Ratimir, do you remember the route through the crystal mines?”

“Are we using that escape route to get in?”

Princess Celestia nodded.

“What mines, and escape route, art thou speaking of?”

Princess Celestia blinked and looked over at an annoyed Lunar Princess.

“We have an escape route from the castle to outside the Canterlot through an abandoned crystal mine under the kingdom.”

“And thou thought this wasn’t an important topic to tell?”

Princess Celestia chuckled and bowed her head slightly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think it was an important thing to tell you.”

Princess Luna poked her sister's chest and glared up at her.

“Sister, while we forgive thou of thy foolishness. Doth thou really think the matter of a route for fleeing was not of great importance!?”

Princess Celestia looked away, her smile faded a bit.

“We can discuss this later, come, let’s head to the castle.”

Princess Luna scowled as Princess Celestia started to walk away. With a sigh, she followed her sister. The guards briefly glanced at each other before following behind, shifting their positions to let Ratimir take the lead. Twilight decided to move up from the guards, positioning herself next to Princess Celestia.

In silence, the group stuck to the shadows of the kingdom’s walls. Twilight raised a brow as they approached a one-way alleyway that was ended by the mountain wall with a small crack within it. With no hesitation, Princess Celestia lowered her head and tap her horn against the crack. Twilight’s eyes widened as the crack glow bright and widened silently. Behind her, Twilight could her the combined “Ooo.” and “Aaaah” of Dusk Blade and Northern Light.

“Ratimir, can you lead the way from here?”

Ratimir nodded and walked past Princess Celestia, heading into the dark depths, with Princess Celestia following behind with a golden light being emitted from her horn. Princess Luna took a moment to watch the duo, grimacing, before going after them with Twilight in tow. Twilight stepped in and ignited her own horn for light. Her eyes widening as she saw multiple refractions of herself on the walls and ceilings.

She took a step back and almost prepare a magic bolt until she realized that the cavern was made of crystal. Twilight looked around in awe as she saw reflections of herself and the group on the crystalline walls.

‘I heard of the Crystal Mines of Canterlot that lead to the Gem rush… But I thought it was the being extracted from the mines.’

“Ah, this reminds me of the stories of my homeland!”

Twilight heard a metallic smack from behind, she looked behind and found Great Star facehoofing as Northern Light’s eye’s sparkled from behind her helm.

“Northern Light, I swear to Luna if you start…”

“Come on, come on! Aren’t any of you the least bit curious about our crystals!?”

“They’re just roc—”

“Great Star, If you finish that sentence I will gladly show you the difference between a rock and crystal by shoving it up your-”

Twilight quickly sped up to catch up to the Princesses and Ratimir.

“We take a left here and go straight.”

“Tell us, captain. How does thou still remember—”

“Isn't this nostalgic, Ratimir? Remember when we used to walk around here to make sure everypony was doing okay?”

Ratimir scoffed.

“I remember the arguments.”

Princess Luna sent a glare to the chuckling Princess of the day, a vein nearly popped from the Lunar Princess’s face.

A bead of nervous sweat slowly traveled down the side of Twilight’s face.

This had been going on since they had started going through the cave. Twilight couldn’t tell if Princess Celestia was purposely cutting off her sister from talking to Ratimir or if she was truly ignorant of her sister's attempts. It made Twilight more bewildered at the current situation. This wasn’t the Princess Celestia she knew… Which brought her brain to question herself.

Did she really know Princess Celestia?

The Alicorn was one of the oldest beings in Equestria, one who according to the stories has been the ruler since her young adulthood. Was it possible that… Princess Celestia wore a mask? Even around her student? Twilight’s body shivered at that as her gaze lowered. It… made sense. They were in a mentor and student relationship, after all.

‘I shouldn’t be so hung up on this. It makes sense! It’s okay.’

“Did you approve of my match-up’s for the spars?”

Twilight’s ears twitched, and she looked up slightly at the trio.

“Of cou—”

“Ah, yes. We looked them over and hath deemed both sides have an equal chance of victory.”

Princess Luna stepped between Princess Celestia and Ratimir, looking at the human with a proud yet devious gaze. Princess Celestia blinked and stared at her sister.

“Tell us, Captain. Hath thou ever visited our tower, prior to our return?”

“Do you mean the northern tower, or the southwest tower, or the eastern tower?”

“Eastern!”

“Then no.”

“Then shall we show thou? It is currently our place of occupancy, and we would be willingly to show OUR captain-”

Princess Luna snapped her head and narrowed her eyes at her sister.

“-our establish chambers for future visits.”

Princess Celestia silently stared at her sister with an unreadable expression before giving a closed eye smile.

“Why are you Implying that I’ll visit again?”

“Because thou will.”

“I don’t wan—”

“Captain, thou will.”

Ratimir looked at Princess Luna with narrowed eyes. Princess Luna in returned simply smiled at the man.

After a minute of silence, Ratimir spoke up.

“Isn’t it quite scandalous for the lady of the night to invite a male to her chambers?”

Princess Luna immediately kicked Ratimir’s side.

“These will be thy chambers for now, my guardians.”

Princess Luna opened the wooden door to an old guard barrack’s room. The guards slowly walked into the room, looking around in some awe. It was obvious that the room was recently cleaned and refreshed, with the way the stone floors and walls gleamed under the magic light above. The beds denied any dust or webbing from their wooden frames, and every bed had their blankets neatly folded at the edge of the bed.

“We apologize, we were unable to completely renovate the room before thy arrival.”

The guards gave a simple nod of understanding.

“This is where we shall part ways. The spars shall take place before the sun rests and our moon awakens. Thy captain and we shall come to thee for preparation before then. Rest well, our guardians.”

The guards bow and Princess Luna smiles before closing the door. Letting out a small sigh and turning towards the remaining trio.

“Now then…”

Princess Luna looked over at Ratimir before snapping her attention to Princess Celestia.

“Sister, shouldn’t thou rest. The day and its duties belongs to thee after all.”

Princess Luna spoke with a smile on her face that betrayed the annoyed tone in her voice.

“Oh, I can stay up for a little bit longer.”

Princess Luna’s eye twitched.

“Sister, thy duties are very important, and it would truly be neglectful if we let you dismiss your health and duties.”

Princess Luna slowly moved her gaze over to Twilight and sent a closed eye smile to the young unicorn.

“Wouldn’t thou agree, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight jumped at the sudden inclusion.

“Oh um…”

Twilight glanced over at Princess Celestia and found her looking at Twilight with a small smile. Briefly she glanced over at Luna, finding the mare still smiling… though now her eyes slightly opened. Twilight shivered under the Lunar princess’s more… predatory gaze. She almost thought that Princess Luna’s pupils had turned slits, for a moment.

“Y-you're duties are important, Princess Celestia…”

Princess Celestia frowned and after a minute she released a sigh.

“I suppose the two of you are correct.”

Princess Celestia turns her head to Ratimir.

“Ratimir, you don't mind if I postpone our conversation.”

“Mn.”

Ratimir grunted.

“Mn, too. Goodnight then, I'll see you in the morning for breakfast!”

Princess Celestia lit her horn and vanished in a flash of light. Princess Luna let out a sigh of relief at her sister’s departure.

“Praise be! We are finally left to be!”

Ratimir sighed and crossed his arms.

“That was bothersome.”

Princess Luna quickly stepped forth towards Ratimir, beaming, Making Ratimir lean a bit back as his face shifted to clear uncomfort.

“Yes! Thou cannot believe how much of a test of patience this was! We were ready to depart, only for our sister to intercept and force her inclusion onto our greeting! We had it all planned, and she came and intercept it all!”

Princess Luna lightly stomped her hoof and snorted.

“She has always been like this, but we swear you our moon it seems she has become worse! Intercepting our attempts of communication! Hast she forgotten that you're our guard!? Even after we told her!?”

Princess Luna shook her, raising a hoof to press against the bridge of her snout as she released a sigh.

“’Tis matters not now. We have obtained freedom now, come Captain, let us depart towards our cham-” Princess Luna stopped her self and narrowed her eyes in thought. “-conference room to discuss and grant a showcase of things further.”

Ratimir simply gave her a nod and waited for her to lead. Princess Luna turns her attention to Twilight.

“Will thou join us or depart from here?”

“I… I think I’ll go to my room. I have… something to look into.”

Princess Luna nodded.

“Fair, though before thou departs, we do ponder a question.”

Princess Luna walked forward and leaned her head down to Twilight’s ear.

“Hath thou, noticed any abnormality from our captain?”

Twilight shivered slightly upon having the Princess Whisper in her ear before glancing at her with a confused look.

“Um… The only thing I can think of is that he seemed to be okay before we got on the train… But sometime during it… before we got off the train, his mood worsened.”

“We see…”

Princess Luna rose back up and smiled at Twilight.

“Farewell then, Twilight Sparkle. We hope thou hast a great rest.”

“Good… goodnight, Princess Luna. You too, Ratimir!”

“Mn.”

Ratimir grunted and turned away. Princess Luna gives Twilight one final nod before departing with Ratimir. Twilight stood back and watched the two disappear from her view, briefly she glanced over at the guard's door. She shakes her head and begins to follow a route towards her tower. Her mind swam of thoughts. What was with that question? Why was Princess Celestia so abnormal with Ratimir versus her? Why was Ratimir upset before? What did Princess Celestia give him to drink?

So many questions and yet no answers from any party. Twilight couldn’t help but feel like… a puppet. There were signs that there were things underneath the words, and faces of her higher ups. The root cause of all of this was Ratimir, yet the only information she had about his history was barely enough to fill in a page in her notebook. She had more information of his physiology and combat than she did of the being in control of it.

Princess Celestia was clearly interested in Ratimir, and now so does Princess Luna now too! Yet neither have spoken of their true connections to them! Twilight almost wanted to slap together am evidence board in her room, to place connections and have a visualization of her thoughts, just to see if she was just being paranoid or if there really was something amiss.

Twilight almost concluded that she would do that but paused. Her eyes wandered and looked around the castle walls.

A sparkle gleamed in her eyes.

‘Ratimir used to be part of the Solar Guard! He used to be in Canterlot! Why did I overlook that! If I want answer, then I’m in the place where the answers would be!’

Twilight quickly snapped open her saddlebags and roused through her notes, searching through her Ratimir section. Speed reading through until she found a key she was looking for. A quote she had written down from Princess Luna when she had first met Ratimir.

— “According to the document he was a member of my sister’s guard... rose through the ranks quite quickly and my sister decided to make him in charge of my guard and move them away. His name was Lord Loyal Blade,-”

Loyal Blade.

Twilight smiled as she stared at the name. Even if Princess Celestia was the ruler, she would find it difficult to completely cover up the past of someone who to be in the guard! After all the historic section has been on of Equestria's most protected pieces that shouldn't be changed nor manipulated as writtened by the leaders of the three tribes towards the end of the Grogar Era. But, it didm't mean that loop holes didn't exist.

‘That had to be why Prncess Celestia decided to tie Ratimir's acomplishments or feats, under fake idenity! After all there have been ponies who changed their names before! Making a loop hole in the rule, because there is no way for the ponies in the archiving department to know everytime somepony changed their name! It's possible that she used that excuse and with the lack of image and only her word! Of course!’

Which meant… that Ratimir / Loyal Blade would have military records. Twilight beamed truly for the first time tonight. If she could get a hold of those records, she not only could get a timeline of Ratimir’s history but also learn more about him. Twilight closed her notebook and launched it into her saddlebags. With no hesitation, Twilight booked it through the courtyard and headed to the Canterlot Archives.

The Countryside Knight

by Dark Krystal

I - A Task Most Strange

II - The Lunar Base in the Countryside

III - Interviewing the Lunar Guard

IV - The Lunar Captain

V - Stubborn

VI - First Report

VII - A Real Nightmare Night

VIII - The Full Moon Night

IX - The Moon and the Star

X - Mending the Night

XI - A New Era on the Horizon

XII - Second Report

XIII - A New Start

XIV - The Talk Before the Train

XV - A Bleary Start

XVI - The Indignant Train

XVII - Arrival