Chapter 3: A Flight in the Night (Revised)

The first few weeks passed as Star Shield continued his duty of a guard.  Many moments were boring for him considering the fact that they would either stand around or walk around the palace all night.  Though there were moments when things were better, like when he would find Luna in the garden, he loved to go to that area when patrolling, they spoke about a great many things.  They would often walk through the aged part of the castle.  They rarely spoke on Luna's life, Star Shield thought it was because she didn't want to talk about it.

One night he was back out on patrol when Captain Shadow Song walked up to where he was stationed.  "Corporal Star Shield, Princess Luna would like to speak with you."

He was surprised.  "Ma'am?"

She shrugged.  "Princess Luna would like to speak with you, I would get there as quick as possible though, from my previous experiences she doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Star Shield quickly set off in the direction of her tower, which wasn't far away from where he was, usually the Royal Night Guard stayed near Luna's tower anyway.  He quickly went up the spiral staircase and to the Princess' room, the door was large and closed.  Two guards stood outside and nodded to him, one of them was Nightwing.  He whispered to his friend.  "Any idea why I'm here?"

Nightwing shook his head.  "Nope, good luck man."  The hell is that supposed to mean?

The door slowly opened and Star Shield walked inside, he had never gone into Luna's private quarters.  "Princess, I'm here!"  He called into the recesses of the room, it was very large, and lined with books to the ceiling.

He saw a shadow come down from someplace up above.  Luna landed not far from in front of him.  "Ah, Star Shield, good of you to come."

He cleared his voice.  "You wanted to see me Princess?"

She nodded and closed the door with her magic.  "I have been meaning to speak with you about something."

He listened intently.  "Yes ma'am, what is it?"

Her gaze fell for a moment and she bit her lip.  She seemed almost nervous before she spoke.  Why would the Princess be nervous?  Did I do something wrong?  "You have been a good soldier, and I was thinking well...."

Star Shield ears were riveted to her voice.  "Ma'am?"

She cleared her throat.  "I was wondering, if you would... perhaps... want to be my personal guard?"

He could feel his heart stop, he must've heard it wrong, it couldn't be right.  No bucking way...

"Ma'am?"

Luna began to look a little awkward.  "Would you like to become my personal guard?"

He slowly nodded his head.  "Of course Princess, I would love to!"

She let out a sigh and smiled.  "Thank you, I was afraid you would deny my request."

He became confused.  "Why would I?"

She smiled even wider.  Luna then talked about what Star Shield would do as her guard, he would be with her at almost all times, except for when he needed to sleep... and clean herself.  He would travel with her where ever she went, her next destination would be his hometown for Nightmare Night.  His armor would be given a visual enchantment signifying his rank and would be promoted to Second Lieutenant.  He couldn't believe that all of this was happening to him, to him it seemed like a dream, he could hardly believe that he would ever end up here, being in the Elite Royal Night Guard was enough of a surprise when he started out, but to become the Princess of the Night's personal guard was unthinkable!

She dismissed him to go back to his duties, and to pick up his new enchantment.  As he walked out Nightwing must have noticed his expression.  "You okay man, you look like your on Cloud Nine?"

He had a very goofy smile on his face.  "I'll tell you and Moonfire later."   He walked off quickly down towards the armory.  He found Shadow Song and told her what had happened, she seemed surprised at first.  She must've not known?  Shadow Song led them to large room, Star Shield was astonished at the weapons that were on the walls, they were lined with all different kinds of weapons and armor.

He was a little confused as to why he was here.  "Where are we Captain?"

"Princess Luna's armory."  She motioned to the weapon racks.  "She would want you to have one of her personal weapons, these were created by the Princess herself, so don't break them."

Star Shield looked through the amazing weapons, each were unique and seemed to have different attributes, only one weapon impressed him above the rest.  It was a crossbow, but with a very strange design.  "Captain, what's this?"

She looked at the crossbow.  "That crossbow can fire an arrow of energy, the power level changes depending on what you set it to.  It could be set for paralysis, or it could be charged to such a degree that it can take down very large targets.  An all around very effective weapon, the recoil is the only drawback."  She studied Star Shield's figure.  "Though... I don't think it'll be a problem for you."

A unicorn walked up to the Captain.  "We could go ahead and do the procedure now Captain."

Shadow Song nodded.  "Very well, Star Shield, stand still, this is the visual modification to your armor."

Before Star shield could think his armor was hit with a purple ball of light, his armor's color quickly changed to a violet so dark that it looked almost black.

"Finished Captain."

Shadow Song dismissed the unicorn, Star Shield gingerly picked up the crossbow, it was heavy, heavier than even the crossbow he trained with.  He walked out of the armory with a confident grin, some of the other guards were surprised to see him walking out of Luna's armory, Shadow Song disappeared, she apparently having to attend to some matters.  Dawn was approaching over the horizon and Star Shield wanted to talk with Moonfire and Nightwing before they crashed, which they did consistently.

They were standing in front of their bunks waiting for Star Shield.  When they saw his crossbow, they were surprised.  Moonfire was the first to speak.  "Where in the high heavens did you get that?  And what happened to your armor?"

Star Shield looked at his crossbow.  "Princess Luna."

Nightwing scoffed.  "Your kidding me?  Luna gave you one of her weapons?"

Star Shield stood proudly.  "Well, what do you think?"

Moonfire smiled.  "Not half bad, black looks good on you, what can that crossbow do."

Star Shield looked down at his crossbow.  "Basically anything, whatever I deem it needed to use."

Nightwing nodded.  "That is quite a weapon."

Star Shield chuckled.  "Thanks."

Moonfire pressed on.  "So why did Princess Luna give you these things, she sure as hell doesn't do that for everypony."

Star Shield motioned for them to come closer.  He whispered to his friends.  "She made me her personal guard."

Their expressions went from surprise at the new look, to surprise at the news of their friend.  Nightwing could only say.  "Your shitting me..."

Star Shield shook his head.  "I know right, it was amazing, I couldn't even believe the news!"

Moonfire patted her friend on the back.  "Getting cozy with our boss I see, nice one."

Star Shield's coat is thankfully black, so nopony could see his blush.  "N-no, nothing like that, she and I have just been talking for the past while, maybe she sees me as a friend, or someone she can trust."

Moonfire's eyes turned wide at Star Shield's slip.  "Wait, you've been talking with the Princess for how long?"

Star Shield shrugged, he was hoping this wouldn't become a big deal.  "Oh, you know, just a few days, maybe weeks."

Nightwing simply just gave up at what Star Shield said.  "Alright, I'm off to bed, I must just be dreaming you know."  He jumped up in his bunk.  "Good day Star Shield."

Moonfire didn't seem to want to drop it, but she did.  She went ahead and crawled into her bunk as well.  "Good work Star Shield."

Star Shield went off to his locker and dropped off his new crossbow and armor.  Should I come up with a name for it?  He went back to his bunk where both of his friends were already asleep.  He stretched as he got into his bed and let tiredness sweep over him.  What a night.  He rolled over in his bed and thought about Luna, his thoughts eventually led him to sleep.

He awoke early the next afternoon so that he could have more of the night to spend with Luna.  As always Moonfire and Nightwing were still asleep, he snuck out of his bed and to the washroom, he quickly cleaned himself and put on his armor, he hadn't gotten the change of appearance yet.  He walked outside into the cool evening air, he took a deep breath and made his way up to Luna's tower, there weren't any guards outside her door.  He quietly opened the door and made his way into the spacious room.  He scanned the room for Luna but didn't see anything, he looked over to the balcony window, the curtains were moving inside from the outside wind, dusk's light seeped into the dark room.

He could hear humming coming from outside, he peeked around the corner and immediately disappeared from sight.  From what he could see Princess Celestia was standing out on the balcony side by side with Luna.  The humming stopped and he could hear a voice.  "No use in hiding Star Shield."  Damn.

He cautiously walked out from behind the wall.  "Excuse me Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I didn't mean to intrude."

She smiled warmly at the worried pegasus.  "No need to fear Star Shield, Luna's told me plenty about you, you are more than welcome to join us considering you are her personal guard now."  I guess it would make sense she already knows that...

He nervously walked towards the edge of the balcony and stood next to Luna, all three looked out onto the amber landscape, lights were beginning to flicker on in the distant town of Ponyville.  He could hear the humming again, it came from the two sisters.  It was sweet and light, it sent shivers down his spine, the sound was utterly beautiful.  He recognized the tune, it was something his mother sung to him when he was young.  Though he didn't realize it at first, but he had begun to hum the tune as well, he was lost in the sound, even so far as continuing when the princesses stopped, they looked at him with surprise.

After about a minute he stopped and felt the sudden silence creep in, he turned to look at the princesses who were still holding the same expressions, expressions of disbelief.  He became very worried.  "What, was it something I said?"

Celestia shook her head.  She started slowly.  "No, it's just that... very few ponies know that song.  Where did you learn it?"

Star Shield's face began to heat up from the question.  "Umm, my mother sung it to me when I was young."

Luna was the next to speak.  "Do you know what that song is?"

He shook his head.  "No... should I?"

"That is one of the Songs of the Ancients.  It was the song of the Two Brothers."

Star Shield was confused.  "The Two Brothers?"

Celestia nodded.  "Yes, they're names were Angelikos and Erebus, they fought for ponykind against an ancient evil."

"What was it?"

Luna shrugged.  "Nopony knows, that was lost long ago, historians were few back in that time, and they didn't know of what the evil was.  Then again, history wasn't really recorded before that point.  The song was sung after they Two Brothers had defeated this darkness, it was made in their honor and slowly became lost to time.  Only a few ponies know of it, let alone know the melody."

"Why, or how, would my mom know of the song?"

"She must have had an ancestor that lived in that time, but that was long ago, your family must have been one of the few who passed it down."

Star Shield looked back out down into the valley.  "Well... thats interesting."

The two sisters became quiet, it was several minutes before Celestia spoke again.  "Would you like to see the setting of the sun?"

Star Shield looked to where the sun was at the crest of the farthest mountain range.  "I would love to Princess."

Celestia spread her wings and quickly lifted into the sky, her horn glowed a bright gold, the sun seemed to cast the same color.  Slowly the sun continued down, and sunk behind the mountain, Princess Luna then took off from the balcony as well.  Her horn glowed a deep ocean blue, he looked behind them to see a bright white sphere slowly appear in the sky.  It was an astounding view.

After their work was done the two landed back down on the balcony, Princess Celestia looked at her sister and the astounded guard.  "I believe I will leave you two to it."  She quickly flew off down to the castle grounds, he could see Captain Shining Armor waiting for her.

Luna and Star Shield looked out over the kingdom, it was rather beautiful in the nighttime scenery, clouds drifted over the valley, the moonlight cast a silver glow on everything it touched.  Star Shield stole a glance at Luna, her coat glowed in the night light, her cyan eyes glistened brightly.  She must've seen him steal his glance, since she looked at him, the two quickly broke contact and were blushing.

Star Shield was beginning to grow tired of the silence and awkwardness.  "Princess?"

"Yes?"

He looked into the sky.  "What do you say about having a little flight, you know, to stretch our wings?"

She nodded slowly and smiled warmly.  "That sounds wonderful."

Star Shield took off from the ground.  He turned to look at the Princess of the Night.  "Then lets go."  The two flew into the cool night sky, they soared over the valley and looked down onto the flickering town of Ponyville, Star Shield became lost in the flight.  He had always loved the night, but at this point of view, and flying with the Luna made it even better.  After what felt like hours they landed on fluffy clouds that were suspended in the sky.

Luna looked up to the moon and the stars, she smiled looking at her domain, her eyes strayed to the moon and her face changed, it became one of sadness.

Star Shield glided over to the cloud she was on.  "Is there something wrong Princess?"

She looked away, her expression was bitter.  "No, nothings wrong."

He looked at her with concern, his eyes were serious.  "You know, you are a pretty bad lier."

She looked up at him, she glared at her guard, the expression quickly subsided though.  "I don't know... its just that, I am saddened by the fact that nopony wants to look at my night.  Nopony seems to have the time for it."

Star Shield sat down beside her.  "Well Luna, the way I see it is that its quality over quantity.  Most ponies may love Celestia's day simply because that is when they work and such, but it is the special few, like the Royal Night Guard, and myself that truly enjoy the night much more than Celestia's day.  The day lacks a certain beauty that the night can provide, it is hot and bright while the night is cool and dark.  Simply saying, in my opinion, your night is much better than the day."

She smiled.  "Thank you."

He returned the smile.  "No, thank you."  He looked over the horizon to the sun coming back up, then he looked back to the palace and noticed the Princess of the Day on her balcony raising the sun.  He could almost swear that he saw her smile at him.

He stood.  "Come on Luna, let's go."

She got up from where she was sitting and brought the moon down, she looked at the sun as it raised, her gaze seemed much less bitter then it did in the beginning, but it was still sad.  The two flew off towards the tower, they parted ways after Luna thanked him for the kind words, Star Shield glided down and landed beside the barracks.  He walked inside and took off his armor, he felt some deeper sense of appreciation for some reason.  He crawled back in his bed and let sleep overtake him.