Chapter 4: Nightmare Night (Revised)

Star Shield's dreams slowly drifted from the forest to a valley.  "Must this happen almost every night?"

He scanned the darkness for the dark creature.  "Good to see you like my company Star Shield."

Star Shield looked around.  "Why do you keep bothering me, I haven't done anything to provoke you."

The being laughed, as it always did.  "It is not that, a war is coming pony, I want you to be the first to see what will happen to your precious Equestria."  The landscape around him changed to scorched earth, Canterlot was ablaze and the valley below was nothing but devastation, corpses of ponies, stallions, mares, fillies, and colts.  The bodies stretched out as far as the eye could see, many of them were stabbed through with spears, some wandered aimlessly through the numerous bodies, screams could be heard in the distance.  A wave of darkness quickly approached and enclosed around Star Shield, he gagged at the smell, his eyes could see very well in the dark, he searched for the creature.  "This is what will happen pony, you are powerless to stop it."

Star Shield looked around in the darkness, it slowly began to burn his eyes.  "I won't let you win, we can stop you!"

"What can you do, you ponies are nothing against me."

His vision became irritated from the thick smoke, anger boiled in his chest, he could feel his muscles tense up.  He looked up, a ferocious growl escaped his mouth.  "I will find you demon, and when I do, not even Faust can save you!"

He lunged at the darkness, it's laugh enveloped the furious guard and Star Shield awoke from his dream.

***

Star Shield raised his head quickly after being jolted from the dream and hit the bunk about him, he rubbed the mark.  What the hell is with that thing, couldn't it go bother somepony else?  He groggily got out of his bed and went to the shower room, he turned on the water and let the heat of the shower wash away the dream.  He dried off and finished his daily procedure, he opened his locker and grabbed his armor, as he did everyday.  Another night, another dollar. He walked out of the barracks and towards Luna's tower, just as he had the night before.  Two guards were outside this time around, they nodded to him as he opened the door.  Luna was sitting on her throne reading a book when he walked in, as she heard the noise she looked up from it, her expression turned from deep thought to happiness.

She stepped down from her throne.  "Nice to see you Star Shield, are you ready?"

He wasn't very sure what she was talking about.  "For what?"

She laughed.  "For Nightmare Night of course, you surely haven't forgotten?"

Thats tonight?"  He chuckled.  "Guess I lost track of the days, we don't have a calendar for some reason in the barracks."

She smiled.  "It is alright."

They walked out onto the balcony and flew down to Canterlot Central, many ponies were milling about down below, going to clubs and doing other such things to celebrate Nightmare Night.  They landed by a sleek dark train in the station, quickly Star Shield could tell that it was Luna's.  It was black, with violet accents, it was stunning to look at.  Trains had become a much more used means of transportation, it took stress off of pegasi who would pull chariots.  Science and engineering produced faster and stronger trains, since then Canterlot Central was created in the capitol and all cities around Equestria, stations were required.

They stepped into the train, it was cool and dimly lit, the ceiling was enchanted to allow the night sky to shine into the car.

Several Royal Night Guards were standing inside the carriage.  They were drinking and cutting up at the bar, this was off-duty time, Nightmare Night is one of the RNG's favorite holidays, Luna allows them this night off, they all choose to go with her out of loyalty to her, and the fact that Pinkie Pie does some of the best parties in all of Equestria.  As soon as Princess Luna stepped into the car, their entire mood changed, they tried to look professional, some were failing badly, one had already consumed enough cider to start wobbling where he stood.

Luna smiled.  "As you were guards."  Some of them tried to salute the Princess, but fell over.

The guards quickly returned to their chatting, Luna and Star Shield continued through the train until they arrived at the Princess' private carriage.  Captain Shadow Song was standing in the carriage, drinking quietly as the train sped towards Ponyville, she saw the two walk in and waved at them.

They sat down on the couch that faced outside, they gazed out to the countryside, the last remnants of sunlight had disappeared allowing the moonlight to dominate the landscape.

The ride lasted a little over an hour, Luna and Star Shield sat and spoke to each other, Luna told him about the Elements of Harmony, he himself had never officially met them, let alone know their names. She listed them of, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.  He mentioned wanting to see his family since he was going to be in town, Luna seemed excited at his idea, she apparently wanted to meet them.

Princess Luna walked out of the train and got up on a platform in front of the entire town of Ponyville, she spoke in her famous Royal Canterlot Voice.  "Citizens of Ponyville, I thank you for being here on this glorious celebration! I wish you all the best and hope you have an enjoyable night!  With that, begin the festivities!"

Star Shield was a bit surprised at the shortness of the speech, he thought that they would be standing around for at least a couple of minutes.  As soon as Luna stepped down music pounded throughout the town from a white mare with an electric blue mane.  This feels more like a party than a festival, or a celebration.  He shrugged, quite frankly he didn't care, he would rather have a party as to a quiet gathering of the town.

Princess Luna motioned him to follow, they walked through the town, he hadn't been back in seemingly forever, it felt good to be home.

"So, where is your family Star Shield?"

Star Shield scratched his head.  "If they are doing what they did last year, then they would be running one of the stands."

Luna smiled.  "Would it be alright if we went and talked to them sometime?"

Star Shield still couldn't believe that the Princess of the Night seriously would want to meet his family.  "Sure, I don't mind, they would probably be thrilled that you would talk with them."

Luna stopped, they were in town square, she looked around for something.  "Is there something wrong Luna?"

She continued to look through the crowd and shook her head.  "No, I am trying to find Twilight and her friends."

Star Shield raised an eyebrow.  "Wouldn't they be easier to spot from up above?"

She looked at Star Shield.  She nodded sheepishly.  "Of course."  They flew several feet into the air, she pointed towards the outskirts of the crowd of ponies, to a tree specifically.  "That is where Twilight lives, I believe they are there."

Star Shield shrugged.  "Its worth a shot."  They flew down towards the tree, Star Shield walked up to the door and knocked, loud music came from within.  The door opened revealing a purple unicorn with a deep magenta and violet mane, judging by her excited expression at seeing Luna stand in the door, she must be Twilight Sparkle.

She smiled.  "Luna!  Come on in!"

Princess Luna rushed passed Star Shield, nearly knocking him over in the process.  "Twilight, it is so good to see you!"

Twilight hugged the Princess of the Night, which surprised Star Shield.  She looked at the guard standing on the doorstep.  "Who is this handsome stallion Luna?"

Luna blushed.  "Um, this is Star Shield, he is my new personal guard."

Twilight looked at the guard and smiled.  "I'm sorry Star Shield, your welcome to come in too."

Star Shield nodded and walked into the tree, it was a very crowded library, ponies were everywhere, the music pounded against the bookshelves, a small dragon sat on the staircase railing with a lamp shade on his head.  Ponies were dancing all over the place, the mare who was at the start of the celebration was the DJ here now.  He could see a pink pony jumping around, she could easily jump over the heads of all other ponies.  Pegasi were using the high arc ceiling to their advantage and were doing some weird air dance, while flying.

Princess Luna and Twilight pulled him along, up some stairs and into a room.  Inside were five other ponies, and the dragon.

Luna spoke to the group.  "My friends, this is Star Shield, he is my new personal guard."

The pink gravity defying pony jumped up and down.  "Oh wow, this is super awesome, so your her personal guard, does that mean that you two are dating?"

Star Shield felt his face begin to burn, a cyan pegasus laughed at his sudden change in demeanor.  "You hit the spot Pinkie Pie, he is as red as could be!"  I thought people couldn't see me blush, is it that bad?  She rolled in the air, still laughing of course.

Twilight glared at the cyan mare.  "Rainbow, that is no way to treat Princess Luna's new guard."  The mare came down from the ceiling and tried to stifle her laughter.

A orange earth pony mare walked up to him from the five, she held out her hoof, he took the shake and regretted it, he could feel his bones being misplaced as the strong mare nearly lifted him off of the ground.  "Howdy, mah name's Applejack, it sure is nice to meet one of Luna's friends from Canterlot!"

He smiled and nodded.  "Thank you."  He rubbed his shoulder from the shake.

After Applejack introduced herself, the unicorn named Rarity spoke to him, Star Shield had heard of her before, next and last was a young yellow pegasus, she must've been Fluttershy considering it took five minutes to introduce himself.

After they had all gotten acquainted, they returned to the party, which was still going as strong as it was when they went to the bedroom.  Each slowly got lost in the crowd, Star Shield stood to the outskirts.  He could see a large red stallion standing alone, he figured that it would be nice to talk to him.

He walked up to the large scarlet earth pony, he had to nearly shout over the music.  "Hey, my name's Star Shield, you?"

He held out a hoof, Star Shield cautiously took the shake and met worse results than he had when he shook Applejack's hoof.  Judging by how his cutie mark was a large green apple, and Applejack's was three red apples, he assumed they were family.  "Name's Macintosh, nice to meet yah."

Star Shield rubbed his sore shoulder.  "Thank you.  So who are you here with?"

He pointed to three small fillies.  "Mah sister Apple Bloom wanted to come to the party with her friends, I was sent to supervise."

A brown earth pony walked up to the two, he hoof bumped Macintosh.  "Hey Mac, didn't know you were here.  Who's this?"  He looked at Star Shield.

"His name's Star Shield."

The brown stallion looked Star Shield up and down.  "Night Guard?"

Star Shield nodded.  "Yeah, I'm here with Princess Luna."

The stallion raised an eyebrow, he analyzed the different look of his armor.  "Personal guard?"

"Yeah."

The stallion held out a hoof, Star Shield politely refused, saying that his shoulder wasn't doing very well.  The stallion went on to introduce himself.  "My name's Time Turner, most ponies call me Doctor Whooves though."

"What's your doctorate in?"

Time Turner jumped over that subject.  "So, how's being a personal guard?"

Star Shield was stumped by Time Turner's change in subject.  "Um, it's pretty nice, the work is pretty easy.  Princess Luna is a lot easier to talk to than I would have thought originally."

Time Turner nodded, his gaze trailed off into the crowd onto a pegasus mare, she was motioning for Time Turner to come to her.  "It was nice to meet you Star Shield, but I think that mare needs someone to dance with."  He walked off to the mare, she blushed and two began to dance with everypony else.

After Time Turner left, the three fillies walked up to Big Macintosh, the yellow one looked at Macintosh with pleading eyes.  "Mac, can we go get some caramel apples?"

Big Mac nodded and smiled, he waved goodbye to Star Shield and the four went out the door.  Star Shield stood alone for at least a half hour, he looked to the ponies dancing in the middle of the room, he almost felt sad that he couldn't join them.  He wasn't left alone for much longer, Rainbow Dash landed beside him.

She looked at him.  "Why are you standing over here alone Shield?"

He shrugged.  "I don't really dance, and Luna disappeared."

Rainbow scoffed.  "Are you kidding, you must not be looking."  She pointed through the crowd to the lonely princess, she sat at a table, sipping on a drink and looking at the ponies dancing with a look that was pretty close to envy.  "I see somepony whose in a similar situation."

Star Shield looked at Dash.  "What's your point?"

She pushed him in her direction.  "Oh come on, go dance with her, your acting like such a filly!"

Star Shield shook his head vigorously, he blushed at the thought of dancing with a princess.  "No, no I can't do that, I just got on the job like a few weeks ago, I couldn't."

Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "You guys are never going to dance if you don't engage, sitting will get you nowhere!"

Star Shield stood up straight.  "Fine, alright, I'll go see what I can do."  Rainbow nodded, her face smug as Star Shield sifted through the crowd.

Luna's gaze traveled to Star Shield as he made his way to her.  "Hey Princess."

She smiled at him.  "Hello Star Shield, enjoying the festivities?"

He nodded.  "Of course, this festival is the best!"

He sat down beside her and took a sip from some punch, Luna looked back to the dancing ponies, Star Shield looked at her, she was a very pretty mare.  What's the worst that could happen?  He shrugged to himself.

He poked Luna's shoulder.  "Would you want to dance Princess?"

She looked at him surprised, her gaze fell and blush spread across her face.  She raised her head back up and gave a small nod, Star Shield held out a hoof and lead her onto the dance floor.  They stood awkwardly in the middle of the crowd, each looked at the other with the same expressions, embarrassment, and bashfulness.  Star Shield smiled to try and encourage her, they slowly began to dance amongst the crowd, the music helped get them started, the music was light and energetic.  Rainbow looked at the two and smiled.  Damn right Star Shield, you go man!  After a few minutes the two began to get more intense in their movements, the heat of the room made sweat appear, the crowd had to part slightly to allow room, ponies on the edge of the room looked at the two dancing.  Eventually less and less ponies were dancing until it was only the couples on the dance floor.  Star Shield and Luna, after about a half hour the two came to a stop.  The music continued on, but the two were spent.

Star Shield looked at the Princess, who was equally as tired as he was, he could feel his ears begin to burn, the blush from earlier returned.  All he could do was smile, it was contagious, Luna did pretty much the same, she seemed even more embarrassed than he did.

Rainbow Dash approached them.  "Great work Shield, I didn't know you had it in you."

The party continued on until dawn's light could be seen from the windows, many ponies had already left, by the time the party was over there were only a few left, it included the Elements, Time Turner, the gray mare who's name was Ditzy Doo, Luna, and Star Shield.

Star Shield looked out and saw the dawn, he yawned and spoke to Luna.  "I think it's time to go Princess."

She returned the yawn.  "Yes, I agree."

She waved goodbye to her friends, they walked outside into the dawn air, Star Shield let the cold air fill his lungs.  They walked through the town, only a few ponies were still celebrating, the RNG had reported to the train, many had fallen asleep.  Two stood outside the carriage entrance, they bowed to the princess and nodded to Star Shield.  As soon as they stepped on board the train lurched forward, it sped quickly back towards Canterlot.

The train quietly pulled into the nearly abandoned station, there weren't any trains, or ponies on the platforms.  Star Shield looked around and into the dark rafters.  Something isn't right here.  Shadow Song must've sensed the same thing.  "Princess Luna, I would suggest you stay in the carriage."

Suddenly from the dark ceiling came an object, it fell into a bloody pile on the platform, it was one of the conductors.  Star Shield looked at the body, it was torn to shreds, blood seeped out of the corpse and onto the platform, he then looked back up into the rafters where other ponies from Canterlot were suspended, bleeding, with sightless eyes looking at the ground, horror solidified on their faces.  The whole of the Royal Night Guard was on high alert, any grogginess had disappeared, they looked to the ceiling for signs of the threat.  They heard a screech, down from the ceiling came ten creatures, they charged the ponies and began to tear at the nearest guards.  Star Shield was quick to pull out his crossbow, he fired an arrow into the closest creature, it vaporized right before them, the other two suffered the same fate at the hands of a the platoon of guards.

They looked at the dust that was left, Shadow Song walked up to the bloody conductor.  "Star Shield, take the Princess to her tower, now!"

Star Shield nodded, Luna stepped out of the carriage.  Star Shield told her what was going on, she looked at the corpse with horror, Moonfire and Nightwing flew beside the two as they rushed back to Canterlot Castle.  Princess Celestia was there with Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, they all walked into a private conference room.

Star Shield looked to the double doors where the princesses and Captain Shining Armor were behind.  He waited impatiently, eventually Shadow Song and the rest of the guard got to the castle.  The Captain stepped into the conference room and closed the door behind her.

After a couple of hours they all came out, each held a solemn expression.  Shadow Song addressed the entire guard, they had all assembled as soon as they heard the news.

"Guard at attention!"

All the ponies became riveted an organized, they looked to their Captain for news.

"As you all saw, one of the conductors was viciously attacked and murdered, we don't know specifically the origin of the threat, but the Princesses have figured out what it is, and where it could've came from."

The ponies nodded, but still looked at their Captain.

"Make no mistake fillies, we are now at war, an attack hasn't happened this close to the palace, the origin of the threat is believed to be across the Eastern Sea, on a remote island, one that until now has been inactive.  Recent scientific reports have found that the volcano on that island has become active."

One of the ERNG's officers spoke.  "Captain, how do we know that they are there, volcanoes aren't a powerful source."

She looked at the officer.  "Princess Celestia has used powerful tracer magic on the evidence that I have brought in, before the trail deteriorated altogether, she said it went far east, over the ocean."

The same officer spoke again.  "Do we know that this island is the right one."

This time she glared at the pony.  "We don't, but that is what you will believe, if the Princesses think it's right, then hell be damned if it is the wrong one, we are going there!  Understood!"

The guard saluted.  "Yes ma'am!"