"Him?"

"Yes Shining"

"You're serious aren't you Parker?"

"Sadly" I replied as we walked towards the guard wing.

"So Prince Blueblood challenged YOU, to a duel?" The Captain asked, not believing the pompous Prick- err I mean Prince would be stupid enough to challenge me. "Well, nopony is complaining, Blueblood is the least likeable noble in Equestria"

"I'm not surprised, the way he goes about addressing others" I said, opening the door to his office and taking up a chair as he sat upon his own. He took up a letter on his desk inside a pink aura of magic and opened it.

"A letter from Princess Celestia?" I asked, noting the wax seal adorning the envelope.

Shining took a moment, reading through the letter and looking back up at me. " yeah, she told me that I needed to assign two pegasi Nocturns to pull Luna's carriage. She also wishes you to go with her in costume." He said with a grin.

"Really now?... I just may have an idea" wearing a grin of my own.

The very next evening I donned my lightweight night ops equipment, it consisted of a black smock and combat pants with a balaclava and pair of matte black glasses to cover my eyes natural white. I forewent carrying my rifle with me for the purpose of keeping the weight down, the only weapons I was bringing were my sidearms, knives and taser. The taser was something which I was issued when I first started working around civilians, I never found a reason to use the thing, it had just sat in my Bergen everywhere I went. I guess the reasoning for giving it is was to allow us to detain civilians without resorting to killing them, of course that would never happen, but the top brass insisted on it, claiming it will come in handy... I guess they were right, just not exactly what they imagined. The taser was solid black and was placed inside my assault vest with the rest of my gear.

With the final touch of the Lunar Crest, my 'costume' was ready for nightmare night, Shining had explained the strangely Hallows Eve like celebration, the similarities being perfectly mirrored apart from the backstory, the holiday meant for hiding from a Nightmare Moon, Luna's apparent evil form.

I locked up my room and headed towards the Royal quarters once more, passing through the now almost empty hallways, the occasional shimmer of gold in the dark hallways being the tell of the patrols of the palace guard on patrol. After a few minutes of walking I had arrived at the doors, greeted by a salute from the two guards at the door, which I briefly returned and headed through the open doors.

"Good evening Captain" Luna greeted with a smile, her hair now looking similar to Celestia's own flowing mane, it's starry visage flowing within an unseen wind.

"And to you Ma'am, it appears your mane is now flowing?" I questioned.

"Ah yes, the Aetherical transformation of one's mane happens when one has attained, or in our case regained, a certain amount of magic. It is a phenomenon known to happen during extremely powerful magical surges, it can happen to any pony with enough magic." She explained, leading me towards the awaiting floating carriage outside her balcony. "But enough about my mane, we must make towards Ponyville, we express our interest in this holiday of sorts, it seems to be a point of joy for many a pony...although we do not understand it ourselves"

We embarked the carriage and set off towards the town below. " I'm sure you'll figure it out Ma'am, that's one of-" I was cut off by the crack of an arrow against the side of the carriage. I immediately threw myself over the Princess, shouting. " Take evasive! We're taking fire from the clouds!"

I harsh whistle flew by my head as another arrow was launched. A lone cloaked Pegasus dove from the clouds straight towards us, the flash of a blade attached to a hoof prompting me to unholster my Browning and place one round in the flyers wing. But not before the attacker screamed "Die imposter!" As the round connected and tore apart the female's wing. The resulting damage sent the pony diving into the forest below.

After a minute, I got off the Princess and turned to the two Nocturn pegasi who were pulling the carriage. "You two alright?" With the reply in affirmative I ordered " Bring us down in Ponyville, I want a hot landing, make a show of it. We carry on as planned, stay vigilant and return on the signal. Collect that body on the way back and alert Captain Shining. You ready Ma'am?"

"Yes, an attempt on my life shan't deter me from joining the festivities with mine subjects." She said as we began to dive at an ever steeper angle towards the cloud bank as Luna donned a cloak and pulled up the good.

Author's Note

And the first piece makes its move...

More next chapter!
Tac