I am offered to visit a small pub in East Canterlot by a friendly night guard. I didn't know of this place since my visit here, but it is where all the guardsponies go to settle down after long nights. With Luna working tonight, I chose to take the stallion up on his offer, in hopes that a little alcohol would help me relax. Another fact about this bar was that it only allowed my kind to enter unless it was a captain of another guard.

So with the night sky over my head, a scarf to protect me from the autumn elements, I walk on towards my destination with a soft smile gracing my lips. I am glad that the city is much quieter during the night, as it should be. Autumn was in full bloom, ponies everywhere noticed that the leaves were changing color, and falling off. Most if not all the trees up in Canterlot were bare now, even the trees in the royal garden. I always loved this time of year, however this time I felt a little gloomy, as to why the guard asked me to visit, he wanted me to smile.

I've become a popular symbol, whether I liked it or not, I am. Among my kind, I have risen through the ranks, respected by everyone around me. They bowed as I walked, some of the mares in the guard would kiss me on the cheek or bite my ear. The stallions would hoof bump me or ask for a small duel. Other times both genders would ask for a drink with me. I actually hadn't tried anything that came from Equestria other than tea and fine castle stock wine.

The Night In I looked at the sign as I approached the bar there was a tall buff stallion standing next to the entrance. As soon as he saw me, he pushed the doors open.

"Right this way your highness."

I smile and nod as I walk in. Just as I open another set of doors, I hear the saddest, yet most powerful song I have ever heard.

Cold winter fast approaches
as we fearfully wait
the simplest of simple creatures
bound by the laws of fate

And as we shivered in the gutters
so far away from home
we lost the last of vestige of hope
freezing and alone

A shadow came to us in our dreams
with tales of better times
the royal princess of the night
forgave us for our crimes

and as the solar sister over looked
as nocturnal we became
we wore a darker armor
and carried a different flame

I watched as a stallion with emerald eyes jump onto a table, adorned with a badge marking him captain. "You now belong to the greater good! And you answer to a higher call! You are part of the best and the greatest, and there is NO ROOM FOR FAILURE! You will leave behind all weakness! You are no longer mortal! You are now SOLDIERS OF THE NIGHT! The crowd roars their cheers and sings more.

As the sunset fades away
the yellow turns to gray
the moonlight shines across the land
a calling we obey

fear is rising as shadows ride
to fight a greater fight
my brothers and sisters move as one
WE'RE SOLDIERS OF THE NIGHT!!

I love music, I truly do. Such a powerful and moving song, there must be a greater story behind it. I can't help be moved by their sad yet powerful song. I am a critical thinker when it comes to listening to music.

"Did you like it?" A mare walked up to me with a mug in her hoof. I nodded and held out my hoof to greet her. "My name is Dusk, it's a pleasure to meet the Prince of the Night."

I blush. "N-no, I am no prince."

She pushes me gently and laughs. "For now am I right? We're all waiting for you. You have an entire race of a different kind of pony on your side. Take it while you can!"

"I'd like to know what that song you all were singing was about. Can you perhaps tell me?"

She nods and motions me to follow her to a table. "Don't worry about me, strictly mares. Chicks not dicks right?" I laugh at her joke. She sounded a lot like my friend Octavia, both of them. "It was written by the first regime of guards two thousand years ago, when Celestia and Luna took to power."

"We were lost, confused, and freezing in our cells for the crimes we committed while Discord was in power. Luna saw that Celestia's guards were lacking slightly, and made the best move in history. She came to us in our time of need, to the ones who were truly felt awful about the crimes they've committed. Luna gave them a chance to redeem themselves, so she gave them two choices. One, they would freeze until they died, or two, they repented and became guards who watched over ponies while they slept."

"That's an awful lot of trust, but continue." I said.

"Anyways, the ponies who bathed in the sun were afraid of those who watched over them, fearing that they might strike at any point. We brought down the most violent criminals in Equestria, even Lord Tirek who threatened to take away our magic. We were lost for many years after Luna was banished. Celestia thought we were with her, when we were really with Equestria. We did not care...we did not join, in fact, we tried to help her out her madness."

"What brought our kind back into Equestria?"

"The Calling of the Oath to Order." She replied. "Everyone of us takes it when we move out of our cave homes. It goes....Ah! Yes! Darkness calls again, the Lunar princess needs once more, a battle waiting in the ashes, we fight another day. She calls us when we are needed, until then, flap thine leathered wings, fly until she asks for us once more."

"Deep..."

"We call Princess Luna our True Mother. I suppose now that you're with her, you're our True Father now." She laughs a little bit and drinks her ale down. "Hawk! Spark! Windy!" She calls over the other captains and they sit down at our table. "Everypony, this is Angel Caster, our True Father."

"Hail to the Father!" The one known as Windy smiles and strikes her hoof into the air. "May he live on with our divine mother!"

"She's a little into it...Her family was the first to answer to the call the True Mother sent out to all of us."

I laughed. "It is a pleasure to meet you all. I've been a bit lonely these days now that I can no longer rest with my love. She is often busy this time of year."

"She's preparing the events for the Gala." Hawk says while he sips on his drink. Then I see him pause, in fact, the whole building is looking directly at me. He bends closer to me, and sniffs. "Well....buck."

"What's the matter?"

"You're not of our kind are you? You got that sent..." Spark commented.

"Well...I have made love with her..."

"Will we expect a son or daughter soon?"

"I-I do not know. She is in heat, but we haven't made love in quite sometime. I am worried...Where I came from, usually we got married before we had children."

"Culture huh? Well, I guess that's understandable." Spark nodded. "When are you going to get married?"

I slowly hid myself by sliding under the table. "I...It's still on my mind...I do not know how Equestrians do it...I do not want to..."

"Offend her? Pft! As if, she is a mother to thousands of children, even if not by blood. Orphans are taken under her wings, every oprhan when they turn ten who isn't adopted will vanish only to reappear fully grown. Many think they travel to a different far away land, none that have come back may speak about it to outsiders." Hawk scratches his chin. "Where are you from?"

I smiled. "I'm not from this land you speak of, but from a far, distant land I am not allowed to speak freely about."

"I see..." Windy takes a sip and sets it back down. "Well, if you want to catch her eye when you purpose, she likes this lake out by a town called Ponyville."

"I've been there, but not to the lake. What's special about it?"

"It has this effect on mares that we can't explain. When the moon is directly over head, the water turns into this strange blue stuff. When you drink it, you get healed. They called it Moonshine or Moontindew."

"I like Moonshine better." I chuckled. "Alright, but what should I purpose with?"

"We all know she likes sapphires because it looks like her eyes." Dusk says with a smile and stands up on the table. "Attention ponies!" the room quiets down and attention is turned to her. "I would like to announce something big."

"Very soon this stallion will be Father of the Night, and father to foals in due time. I here by would like to create an oath, an oath to our father and to who may come after him."

"I, Dusk, here by vow to protect and help guard all that is his blood. He is our father, and as such we are his children!"

"We, are his children." The other ponies echo. "We, are his children."

"Brothers! Sisters! We shall rise! Soon, we will be equal with the day, and total twilight will come!

"Twilight will come...will come..." They echoed back.

"Hail! HAIL to the Night Father!"

I am unsure how I feel about this. There is a hint of worry that grows in my gut, but I feel like I shouldn't worry. These ponies lives are here because of what Luna had done thousands of years ago, and it brings a smile on my face. So all of these threstrals, they worship Luna like they are their Lord and Savior, and she is! They know they weren't chosen, but they know who gave them the gift of life.

Luna...you are kind. The kindest being that I know. You see it in their dreams, how much they adore you, how much they love you. They all smile, laugh, cry, play, jump, fly, and live, knowing you are responsible. They have been like this for two thousand years, and each year, they love you more and more.

I stand up from the table. "Thank you all, but I must be returning to the castle now."

"Do you wish us to guide you home? It is dangerous this time at night." Dusk asks.

"Sure, but keep your distance if you do not mind."

She nods. "Shadows be with us tonight!"

With that we leave the bar with smiles on our faces. Even though I haven't got to try their alcohol, I am glad to meet such a strange, massively extended family. They are strange truly, but their strangeness comes from their love. Love I hear in Equestria is what spurs on friendships and relationships. Should I marry Luna, which I am thinking about now, I would become a father of perhaps thousands of ponies. The thought fills my head a happiness.

If you'd ask me, and I know this sounds cheesy, but if you asked if I would fall in love with a magical horse, I'd think you belong in the craziest of crazy houses. This ponies are so crazy and inside it is that craziness that brings them together, drinking and singing old songs, reliving the same oaths their forefathers and mothers had once lived themselves. They remind me of my family and ancestry of great warriors who served the crown. It is strange how these lines nearly match up. They were given a second chance, my family was too.

I hear a set of hoofsteps behind me, and I know that Dusk is flying close by. It is probably that this stallion wasn't breaking any laws, following me back. I turn to him, and I get a full face of Blue Blood.

"Blood...." I nod to him.

He frowns. "Caster..." He still nods back.

"Is there a reason why you are meeting me here, alone, in the dark, next to a dark ally?"

"Yes, yes, yes, and yes, but for none of the reasons you may think." He throws me a sword. "I, Prince Blue Blood of the Celestial Order, challenge you to a Ragnarok Magic Duel. Do you accept?"

"I am not from this land Blue Blood, tell me, what does this duel imply?"

"It is a duel to the death. I have had it up to here with you. You've ruined my reputation while raising your public figure. In this duel I will win the rights to everything you hold dear." He sneers at me.

"Very well, I accept, however, I am not one to be messed with, so I ask that you take back your challange. I am a well trained swordsm-pony...Do not test me."

He takes a step forward. "No, I will hold this ground. There can only be one prince, and I was born here under the crown...You are but a delinquent, fool, and a stallion-whorse. When I kill you in rightful battle, I will claim all that you hold within Canterlot. Then I will disband the Night's Watch."

My eyes narrowed. "You dare stop a long time guard? For what? A petty rivalry? FINE!" I stomped my hooves down into the ground , cracking the pavement. "I will kill you for threatening my new life, my new love, my redemption! AND MOSTLY, MY FAMILY!"

"You have two weeks to prepare. It will be a public event, so everypony will see us duel, and everypony will see you fall."

"You are a prince of fools! I will not allow you to rule over these ponies one day longer! I have done nothing to you, but speak the truth. I have made my own oaths when I lost my parents! I would always speak what I have to say! AND I SAY DIE! DIE YOU PRINCE OF FOOLS! YOU ARE BUT A ASS WHO THINKS HE IS POWERFUL! DIE!" My magic flares up with his. However while he was expecting an attack, I teleported to the castle gates. I glare at the guards. "Do not let Blue Blood in....he plans to kill me soon, and I fear he would strike me in my sleep."

"Yes sir!"

Dusk lands next to me. "I saw it all, I'm so sorry!"

"It is not your fault Dusk. As your father, you will return to the bar, gather every able guard and help guard me. He will strike when no pony isn't looking."

She salutes. "Yes Night Father! It will be a pleasure, and honor to take this as your first assigned mission to us. We will not fail you."

Author's Note

Hooves up for Sylphstorm bitches! This one's for you!

Here's the peak for you all!