Night Court

I woke up late in the afternoon.

Since I was aiming to be Luna’s personal assistant I should get used to this.

I made my bed, cleaned up in the bathroom, and got dressed. My glasses seemed to be smudge on the edge. Not much of a bother. Vest seems fine after that manticore fight. Undamaged and still clean, amazing! Looks like my luck is good so far.

Luck…

How is it even possible to test luck?

Yeah, those unicorns developed the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. test but nopony could understand it. Except those unicorn doctors. Speaking of which, I should take the test sometime. Today would be a good idea… but I better find a sane doctor. I don’t care if Medic’s (the apparent restoration magic expect) the star healer in the castle with approval from the princesses themselves. I’m going to a doctor that doesn’t stitch a hydra heart in me!

“Mourning Teddy,” Nightingale greeted as I passed her in the hall.

“Mourning.”

Nightingale has only talked to me a few times. She’s a bitch but she’s still nice to have around. Visited me in the hospital everyday last week. Until Medic kicked her out so he could “practice medicine” on me. She was a moderate ranked night guard. Every night she would travel to a certain part of Equestria with three other guards to ensure each town was safe. With the amount of towns in this country, that’s a lot.

I head down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. I order some toast and sit in the same spot as yesterday.

A red unicorn stallion wearing sunglasses and a coat sit next to me. He was unfamiliar at first. Then I realize it was Black Light when he levitated a cup of tea in his deep purple aura.

“I hope you realize your chances of surviving are slim to none,” he monotony stated, “Your position makes your choice understandable however I recommend you reconsider.”

I glare at him as I receive my toast.

“I meant no offense. I just wish you don’t commit suicide.”

“I’ll think about it,” I growled.

“No you won’t.”

I took my toast and trotted away. Perhaps I can find a cheap doctor in the first tier?

“Only cheap doctor you’ll find is Medic,” Black Light stated, “You can go to him or go on without knowing.”

I flinched and had the thought that he was reading my mind. After I got that first thought out, I figured he poked around my head when he was in my dream last night. As odd as that sounds…

I humph and turned away.

“When you die, may I have your vest?” was the last thing I heard him say before escaping his sight.

I took a tour around the first tier to look for a doctor to do the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. test. All I had was 80 bits. The lowest the cheap doctors went was 140 bits. I gave up around seven. My stomach growled so I had dinner at a fast service place. I think it was called Ponic? Could be wrong, the sign was banged up pretty badly. I had a chili dog with tots and a soda. When I finished I flew back to the castle.

I managed to return to my room to find a lavender mare sitting on my bed.

“I thought you were going to leave,” Nightingale muttered.

“Just had to spend the last of my cash,” I lied, I still had 40 bits left.

“Luna said the test will be in the dungeon so nopony will complain about the screaming.”

I felt a bead of sweat at the thought of what this luck test involved. Nightingale lead me out the room to the dungeon. The walk felt long and tiresome. Nightingale refused to speak a word. That was something you’d never see in the same sentence! It felt like she regretted escorting me to the dungeon. She appeared sad.

After the depressing trek, we came into a room within the dungeon. Luna and Black Light stood in the center behind an alter. Nightingale pushed me with her to the center.

“None have survived this test,” Luna boldly stated, “This shall be your final chance to leave.”

“Please… just leave… I don’t want you to die,” Nightingale whimpered which shocked me deeply.

“Technically his chances are estimated at 36%,” Black Light chuckled, “quite the improvement from the last one.”

“What was the last one?”

“34% survival and 2% catatonic. I had hoped she’d go into a catatonic state so I could observe the effects on her mind. Alas, she decomposed before our eyes, what a pity.”

I restrained myself from vomiting. Not only at the thought of decomposing alive but the fact Black Light wished it on somepony! The fucks wrong with this guy?! Even Nightingale glared at him.

With a sigh, Luna held out a hoof above a dish. Black Light levitated a dagger into her hoof.

“Such annoyance,” he grumbled, “It would be easier to use telekinesis.”

Luna ignored his words as Nightingale stretched a strand of Luna’s hair. Using the dagger, Luna cut a small portion of her hair and placed it into the dish.

Black Light had a jug he must’ve gotten when my eyes left him. He levitated the jug to pour its contents in the dish.

Luna then used the dagger to stir the mixture, ensuring the dagger was completely coated in the substance.

“Please let him live,” Luna prayed as dark energy enveloped her horn. The black aura surrounded her. In a second, the aura focused on the dagger. The dagger was quickly enveloped in dark energy. Luna peacefully set in in the dish to bath.

The dish started bubbling. Green foam crawled over the edges. A couple drips fell to the floor. The expressions on their faces was regret. Even Black Light, the first expression he ever showed! Hopefully I’ll live to tell the tale of Black Light’s first expression.

“Drink,” Luna ordered.

With hesitation I looked into the dish. The foam stayed near the edge to reveal the dark dagger hissing at the bottom of the bowl. A foul stench whipped my nostrils. This was the final test and I plunged right in. A decision I kicked myself for making.

At first everything seemed fine. My vision turned green but that was it. Everyone had worried looks on their faces.

I started shaking and eventually fell to the floor, convoluting violently.

“Guards!” Nightingale shouted, “Get Medic in here four hours ago!”

My vision blurred with motion as Nightingale held me down. Luna bowed her head, eyeing me with guilt. Black light adjusted his shades with an interested hum.

“This did not happen last time, fascinating,” I heard him chuckle, “perhaps he will survive.”

I felt a cold burn run through my body. Ice water flowed through my veins. The convulsions of my body became violent. I unintentionally struck Nightingale square in the muzzle. She flinched but still held me tightly.

My eyes darted around the room, taking in every corner I saw. My eyes landed on a strange grey stallion, wearing a suite and fedora.

The stallion slowly walked to me. Completely ignored by anyone else in the room. I noticed he had a briefcase. He opened it and took out a syringe filled with dark substance. Which he injected right into my forehead. The fact Nightingale never saw this made me believe the whole thing was a hallucination. The stallion walked away through the back wall. Last thing I saw from him was the binocular mark on his flank.

My convulsions stopped. The cold burn went away. I finally felt calm as Nightingale started to panic. I could only remember the last thing that I heard.

“He’s still breathing? What a pity…” Obviously Black Light.

I finally woke up with Medic grinning at me.

My scream could be heard by the entire capital.

“Medic! We said no experiments!” Nightingale shouted as she broke the door.

“I haven’t done anything! He just now woke up!” Medic retorted.

Everyone who attended my final test was there. Which was to say the few ponies I met and talked to during my stay at the castle.

“Oh thank goodness,” Nightingale sighed, “I was so worried about you!”

Nightingale gently hugged me.

“Didn’t know you were into me,” I laughed.

Nightingale squeezed harder.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Ok, I get it! No more jokes for the day!”

She let go of me with a smug look.

“Yes, you two would make a lovely pair,” Black Light blandly stated, “Especially with you new features.”

“My what?”

Nightingale grabbed my wing.

“Looks like he doesn’t have them anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm… perhaps we should run some tests…”

“NO!” me, Nightingale, and Luna shouted.

“May I at least have a blood sample?” Medic imply asked with a syringe in his aura.

“Oh fuck no!”

I tried to force myself off the bed only to find myself strapped down.

“Apologies,” Luna said, “We had to ensure you would not struggle in your sleep.”

“I must insist we run some tests,” Black Light demanded, “who knows what consequences your concoction caused.”

“Teddy A Bear must have his rest before we do anything with him,” Luna glared.

“Very well,” Black Light sighed as he left.

Nightingale had unstrapped me and rolled her eyes as she watched Black Light leave.

“I don’t know why you let him stay.”

“He is difficult to communicate with but he has excellent judgment,” Luna sighed.

I hopped out of bed, feeling good. Whatever that stuff was, it made me feel awesome. Everyone in the room eyed me.

“Perhaps my über heart aided you with the test,” Medic deduced.

Considering I was the one that he decided to test on first, probably.

Luna whispered something in Medic’s and Nightingale’s ears. They left with panicked expressions. When Nightingale’s panicked, it’s probably serious. If Medic’s panicked, HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

The door closed, leaving me alone with Luna.

“How doth you feel, Teddy A Bear?” she asked.

“Pretty good,” I replied.

“Do you…” Luna hesitated for a moment, “feel anything around you?”

I burrowed an eyebrow as I said no.

Luna’s horn glowed. She had created a portal and levitated a book out of it.

“This is why the tests were of great importance,” she opened the book to a random page. Or did she intentionally open it on that page?

The page displayed a single pony with dark energy flowing through him.

“My charges are the Night, Dreams, and Luck,”

Luna tapped on the image, “Luck is an unpredictable force and has the potential to bring ruin if left unchecked.”

She turned the page. The new image showed the pony being devoured by a dark creature.

“If I am to have an assistant, he must be capable of keeping his luck in check,” Luna glared at me, “Understand this. You may have survived much but it will be in vain if you do not control yourself.”

“Wait, so this was just a lesson in self control?”

Luna nodded.

“Then why did you have to threaten my life?!” I held back some vulgar words since I was in the presence of royalty.

“I deal with these threats every night,” Luna stated, “You will need to be used to it if you are to assist me.”

I let out a huge sigh, “At least it’s a fun job… if it does have the potential to blow my hide clean off.”

“Or shatter your connection to reality, vaporize you into dust, make you believe you’re a hairless ape, and may cause you to become your own grandfather,” Luna giggled.

I did not know if I was suppose to laugh with her or regret not taking the job in Appleloosa.

“One last thing before we leave,” Luna put on her serious face.

She returned to the book and flipped it several pages, “There are those who use dark magic to harm others, just as there are those who use LIGHT magic to harm other,” she started to glow angry, “So I had to make a way to defend against it.”

Her horn glowed with dark energy. I felt something… odd… I suddenly felt a boost. Luna aimed the dark energy at me and fired.

I didn’t have much time to react and instinctually put my wings in front of me to act as a shield. I expected the blast to harm me. Instead, it seemed that I absorbed it. I looked around in confusion. My vision blurred and I felt a cold burn. The same feeling I had last night.

“Oh dear,” Luna gasped, “Seems to have some nasty side effects.”

With limited control, I growled at Luna. She levitated a nearby mirror to me.

The reflection I saw looked almost exactly like me, if a bit angry. Only exception was the bat wings and minor specks of deep blue lightning coming off of me.

“My fault, really, I shouldn’t have used so much dark energy.”

I flared my wings with tense muscles. It felt like I was about to pounce on Luna. The feelings slowly faded as I began to relax. Now I was somewhat exhausted from restraining myself.

“Excellent, You’ve passed the final test,” Luna smiled.

“Seriously?”

“Yes and no, the test was to see if you had the ability to withstand dark energy which requires a good amount of luck. The fact you gained some interesting dark powers and are able to control it is a bonus.”

“Dark powers? Sounds cool.”

“Well, to be precise, it’s merely your natural pegasus dark magic. The same way I was using unicorn dark magic. Like all magic it will be different for all species.”

“So what is pegasus dark magic?”

“You’ll have to learn some other day. I have to convince Tia to release the ridiculous ban on dark magic… after the Gala Tomorrow night.”

“The Gala?”

“The Grand Galloping Gala, a large party my sister started at the end of the summer as an attempt to ease her mind.”

“Big party? Sounds fun… Wait, ease her mind about what?”

Luna left the room in silence after that question.

The Grand Galloping Gala, big party… Wonder if Nightingale knows anything about it?