Author's Note

I'm back!
A mix of Video games, college and life has distracted me from this story and now i'm back in the saddle, for now ... until something else knocks me off... so without further a due, the latest chapter!

A rude awakening.

I screamed in agony as I woke, grabbing the knife that was lodged firmly into my rib cage and stopping it from slipping further into my chest, the knife rested just above my now racing heart. The pain was immense, but it told me I was still alive, I could still fight back.

I slammed a knee into the cloaked pony's barrel and rolled to my feet, facing the shadowy figure as it recovered and unsheathed another blade."Drop the weapon and surrender peacefully and I won't hurt you." I said, palming my pistol in it's holster in preparation for the pony's response. The response however, was simple, a flash of a blade and a jab was responded to by a step backwards by myself and one round placed squarely between his eyes, blowing out the back of his head onto the wall in a splatter of brains, blood and bones.

Suddenly, I lost vision and collapsed against the alley wall, my helmet scraping against the rough surface of the bricks. I lay slumped against the wall for a moment, listening out anything else while I attempted to recompose myself. After reholstering my pistol, I pulled on the knife planted in my chest and flicked it out, adding another spray of gore onto the now dripping brick wall across from me. I grunted in pain as I covered my wound with a concoction of chemicals and a sterile adhesive pad from my first aid kit, ensuring the wound would stay clean and preventing infection. I collected the knife and stowed it one of my cargo pockets as evidence, hoping that it would be traceable in some way.

Stepping out of the alleyway caused a chorus of screams to echo down the street to my right, a stattaco of hooves thundered towards me as flashes of gold rushed through, slowly fading back into the ever blurring crowd in front of me. The last thing going through my head before I hit the ground? "Fuck that guy"

I awoke once again within the castle, this time within the Royal Guard medical centre, recognising where I was from my explorations during the little time off I've had since arriving. "I see you're awake, you should be dead given what was in your system when you were dragged here by the princess and her escort group. A knife covered with a horrible mixture of poisons and toxins designed to kill an Alicorn that have been outlawed for thousands of years, straight to the chest and yet here you are, fresh as a daisy? You should be glad the Ponyville guard had a medic who knew how to draw out most of the poison, otherwise you'd be lay on a slab in the Mortuary instead of sat here in the comfort of that bed" The doctor in front of me stated, scanning the sheets floating in front of him before nodding slightly to himself and looking back at me.

"Our assessments put you in the clear, avoid breaking the wound and if you feel ill of health again, be sure to pop by my office and I'll give you the once over. While this is certainly not one of the weirdest encounters with a patient I've had, it's certainly up there in convenience. I just so happen to be your new GP, any injuries or ailments you think require a second opinion and you come to me. If I'm not in my office, I'll be in the training field hospital or my room, don't hesitate to ask me if I've got the time for an inquiry. See you around, I'm off to deal with a recruit who thought it would be a good idea to annoy one of the sergeant majors, enough to warrant a broom lodged in the nether regions rather fiercly." He chuckled, trailing off as he trotted out of the doors and into the busy hallway.

As he exited, he left the door open so that the Princess and the two guards who were pulling the sky chariot could enter. "It seems I missed the party, it looks like you three were having fun without me?" I joked, gesturing to the still sweating and out of breath guards and raggled hair of the Lunar Princess.

"If your version of fun is dragging an unconscious sack of overgrown ape all the way across ponyville and then racing you to the hospital by chariot, then yes, we've had TONS of fun." The Princess grumpily said, creasing her brow slightly in annoyance.

"Hey, it's not my fault my body can't handle something designed to kill an immortal well. At least I'm still breathing, for now at least anyway. Sorry about the party, both of them" I said, referring to both my earlier joke and nightmare night itself.

"Apologies accepted, collect your gear from the cabinet and get some down time, I expect to see you at my door tomorow morning in your armour. Be careful not to open that wound as well, the doctors placed healing runes around the opening, it should be healed by the end of the night if you're careful with it." She then turned and moved to leave and stopped within the door. "My sister shall be with us tomorrow, I expect the best." And with that she left, trotting down the hallway with her escort and leaving me to change into my gear and head back to my room.

On the way back I was dragged into Shining's office by a Solar Guard Private, lets say Private Fuckwit for now, you'll understand why in a minute. So, not long after exiting the Medical Wing, I was approached by Fuckwit, this Orange numpty decided it'd be a grand idea to come running around the corner and slam into my chest. As you could understand that hurt quite a bit considering the hole in my chest and force at which a fully grown stallion in gold armour can hit. I pulled myself up and looked upon fuckwit, considering dragging him by his blue hair all the way to Shining, then back to the infirmary to get his eyes and ears checked after being thoroughly skullfucked through a good old fashioned beasting. Of course I was in too much pain and was tired enough to not give enough shits and simply settled on asking "What's your fucking malfunction Private?"

"N-None Sir, I was trying to find you under orders of Captain Armour Sir." Fuckwit stated, pulling himself to attention and giving off a sloppy half-assed salute.

"You're lucky I'm too tired and have a hole in my chest, otherwise I might have been tempted in beasting you to Blighty and back. What does Armour want Private?" I asked, returning the salute and looking down upon Fuckwit.

"U-Urm... he didn't say, just said he needed to talk to you about a Pegasus and that's it. Do you know the way Sir?" The fuckwit asked, sweeping his hair that hung on top of the helmet.

"Yes I do, I didn't quite catch your name Private?..." I inquired.

"Private Flash Sentry, Sir, Pegasi Mail branch of the Royal Logistics Corps." He stated, showing his flash of a scroll with wings crossed with a sword. "Got attached to Captain Shining for all his priority mail, so I guess I am also his gofer now."

"Goodbye Private, I shouldn't keep the Captain waiting."I said waving him off and heading down the hallways towards Shining's office.

Welcome to the Shitlist,Flash Sentry, you broke the one rule, never give a pissed off officer of any rank your name, they WILL remember you later.

I entered Shining's office with a sigh "Any news on the attackers then? " I asked, leaning againsts the now closed door.

Shining's horn glowed for a brief moment, coating the room for a moment before he took a deep breath "Well, it seems the crossbows they were using were made using multiple easy to find and untraceable material, all we know is it was made in equestrian borders based on the materials themselves, nothing else is specific enough to be useful. The Pegasus and Earth pony were both complete blanks, their cutie marks were chemically burned off, the blade you recovered however is a different story. One of the military historians caught wind of this and wanted to take a look once we were done analysing the poisons and low and behold... you were attacked by a cult that worships nightamare moon and a deity they call the night mother." He scratched his head, leaning back a little.

" Apparently they were a part of the hit squads that took out most of the palace's defences during the nightmare moon incident. They aren't much now since they haven't been active for a thousand years, but I guess they're back now the Princess has returned." He sighed and took a sip from the coffee mug on his desk, loosing a bit of respect from myself for not drinking tea. "That's all we know, nothing else I could tell you, you should probably get some sleep, you've had a pretty rough night."

"Will do,thanks for the info, see you tomorrow mate" I said, waving Shining off as I stepped back into the hallway and headed to my nice comfy bed for some well needed rest.