“Okay I got one for yah, a squad of Griffons vs. a Hydra.” two ponies walked calmly through the lamp lit streets of Canterlot. One was an Earth pony with a salt and pepper mane and light green fur a bit on the heavier side, and the other was a Unicorn with blue fur and green fur who looked to be a bit skinny and lanky. Both wore tan coats over their bodies, seemingly to hold off the chill of the night. The Earth pony had a small Stetson atop his head, and the Unicorn held a toothpick between his teeth.
“Easy one, Griffons have numbers and can fly, if yah gonna make the question as easy as that you might as well not bother even askin it,” the Earth pony said with a shake of his head.
The Unicorn took a moment to look offended before looking up toward the castle. “Okay, how about a tougher one then, a Hydra with
Unicorn horns and magic against a squad of Griffons?”
The Earth pony simply gave the Unicorn a dull glare. “Why not just throw in the Headless Pony and Bighoof while you are at it?”
“Because we made up both of those, there is a difference between real creatures with added features and fiction,” the Unicorn rolled his eyes and paused as the two came before the castle walls. “Welp, here we are.”
The Earth pony nodded and reached a hoof into his coat, pulling out a long rope with a metallic hook attached to the end of it. He bounced it twice in his hoof before launching it skyward, over the castle walls and directly into a position where it would latch on. “Good to go.”
The Unicorn nodded and quickly lit his horn, which cast a dull blue color that slid from his horn to their hooves. “Stick it spell good to go.”
The Earth pony gave a single nod and began to climb the rope, keeping his back hooves on the wall in order to stabilize himself. Once he reached the top he waved down for the Unicorn to join him. After a few minutes of climbing the Unicorn made it up with the Earth pony, both of them ducking to avoid a group of Pegasus guards flying above them.
“So you never did answer the question,” the Unicorn pointed out in a whisper. “Magic wielding Hydra or Griffons?”
The Earth pony gave a death glare to his companion. “Does this really seem like the time to be asking yah stupid questions?” with a quiet huff of annoyance the Earth pony took the rope between his teeth and began to pull it up. “Get ready to cast the invisibility spell.”
The Unicorn rolled his eyes and drew in a small breath. “I can only hold both for five minutes, so as soon as I do we need to get moving.”
The Earth pony gave a single nod and waited until the coast was clear, typing the end of the rope to the wall before making a second throw, ty. His aim was true and the hook landed in the window of one of the rooms, helpfully left open by a servant they had managed to bribe earlier.
“Now.” the Earth pony said under his breath.
The Unicorn nodded and cast his second spell, turning both ponies and the rope invisible. A few drops of sweat rolled down his face from effort, but he still managed to hold it together. “Five minutes, and remember this doesn’t cover noise.”
Both ponies began to slowly trek across the rope, the Stick It spell keeping their hooves firmly on the rope. Of course both still needed perfect balance, but they had trained for years to never make a mistake. They both managed to make it and slid silently into the room, the Earth pony made a signal and the Unicorn dropped both spells, quickly using his magic to untie the rope so the Earth pony could pull it back in.
Once they were both inside the Earth pony made signals with his front hoof. 'Maintain silence.'
The Unicorn gave a nod and followed alongside the Earth pony as they approached the bed at the end of the room, pausing in front of it to look at their target. The Princess of the Night herself, Luna.
The Earth pony reached into his coat and pulled out a small ball of thread that was a pale shade of white. At the same time the Unicorn used his magic to silently pull out a small ring from his coat. Both gave a nod before moving into action. The Earth pony tossed the ball of thread above the bed of the Princess, and when it reached the height of its arc the ball suddenly came apart to take the form of a net that fell over
Luna’s bed. The edge of the net attached itself to the ground like a spider’s web. Once the net had settled the Unicorn quickly moved the ring to slide over Luna’s horn, and when it was placed it locked in place, a small red light at the end of it sparking.
As soon as the ring was put in place Luna’s eyes shot open and she quickly tried to pull herself up. Yet despite her efforts the net kept her firmly stuck in place. Once she realized what was happening she tried to light her horn in order to release a spell to destroy the net, but the ring seemed to prevent her horn from being fully lit by her magic, preventing her from casting a single spell. “Who dare trap the Princess of the Night?” she asked, anger plain in her eyes.
“Eh, nobody important,” The Earth pony gave a shrug.
The Unicorn nodded in agreement and tapped his hooves hard against the floor. Since the guards weren’t running in it meant the rumors of the staff had been correct. The entire room had been sound proofed with a special spell, meaning they wouldn’t have to worry about any guards. “Yeah, just cleanup crew honestly.”
Luna’s face was that of pure rage, glaring at her captures with a stare that might have set lesser ponies aflame. “For what purpose have you entrapped me here scoundrels?”
“Scoundrels?” both ponies replied at the same time.
“Wait whatsa ‘scoundrel’?” the Unicorn asked, tilted his head to the side.
“It means criminal you bozo.” the Earth pony smacked his hoof into the back of the Unicorn’s neck and shook his head.
“Hey!” the Unicorn gave a rather hurt look to the Princess. “Just cause we do a bunch of illegal stuff doesn’t make us criminals, yah words can be hurtful you know.”
“Suck it up, we got her tied to a bed right now with Spider Thread, she has the right to call us any name she wants,” The Earth pony put his hoof to his face and sighed. “The things you have to do for a job.” when he lowered his hoof he saw a smile on Luna’s face.
“Spider Thread you say?” she began to struggle under the thread.
“Won’t do you any good Princess, once it’s in place Spider Thread is near impossible to break, it would be easier to get a Dragon away from its hoard.” the Earth pony began to reached into his coat.
“Ain’t that being a bit speciest?” the Unicorn asked with a frown. “I mean sure some dragons” are greedy and all, but you can’t just go tossing out generalizations about entire groups yah know?”
The Earth pony paused and looked toward his partner for a moment. “We are in the middle of an operation, and you are choosing now of all times to talk about this?”
“Well boss you know the first step toward changing yah views on things can be taken any time, the earlier the better?” the Unicorn looked away from the Earth pony and to Princess Luna, who was now towering over the Earth pony from behind. “Ain’t that right Princess?”
“Verily.” Luna said in a tone that dripped with venom.
“See even the Princess…” the Unicorn blinked and looked up at Luna, and then down at the Earth pony and gulped. “Uh boss, you might want to turn around.”
The Earth pony slowly turned and looked at Luna, before turning back to his partner. “Luna is standing behind me, isn’t she?”
The Unicorn nodded. “Yep.”
“Probably angry about the Spider Thread?”
“Indeed.” the Princess of the Night answered, vengeance in her eyes.
“Well…” the Earth pony raised his hind legs and bucked backward, sending the Princess flying back toward her bed. “Plan B!”
“Run away in terror while begging for mercy?” the Unicorn asked with a frown.
“That’s plan C you idiot, plan B!” The Earth pony cried out, dodging the beams of magic that Luna was now firing at him, having already removed the ring around her horn. “Before she roasts my flank!”
“Oh right plan B,” the Unicorn coughed once and pointed his front hoof at Luna. “Stop right there Nightmare Moon, you will not harm another pony!” the voice of the Unicorn changed, now taking on a much more commanding and strong tone to it.
Luna froze in mid attack at the name that she had been called only days earlier, before she had been cleansed by the Elements of Harmony. Images of her attacking other ponies flashed through her mind, the voices of the brave soldiers who had confronted her only to be struck down. For a moment she was frozen.
And a moment was all the Earth pony needed to gather his baring. He quickly slammed his hoof into the stone floor and smiled with satisfaction as the stone shot up and surrounded all but the head of the Night Princess. The Unicorn quickly joined in, summoning a shield around the Princess.
Luna quickly fired a ray of magic at the shield, but instead of breaking through the magic was absorbed by the shield, only making it stronger.
“An absorbing shield?” Luna let out a curse in a language that neither of the other ponies could understand. “That spell was erased even before my fall.”
“Yeah, you already called us scoundrels, so honestly is it that big of a surprise that we have things we shouldn’t?” the Earth pony pulled out a small box like device with a dish like attachment on the front and pointed it at her. “Now then, time to finish this.”
Luna struggled against the stones she was trapped in, knowing that it would do little good. This was an ancient Earth Pony spell, one that filled the ground with a pony’s inner power in order to trap foes. It worked on the same principle that Earth pony farmers used when harvesting their fruits, pushing their will through their bodies and into the plant that they needed to harvest. Along with the shield spell there was no way to break free. When the device was removed from the Earth ponies pocket she closed her eyes and sighed. If this was the payment for her past sins then she would accept it. For all the pain she caused, she was willing to pay this price.
The device beeped for a moment and the Earth Pony nodded. “Okay she’s good,” he slammed his hoof into the ground and the stone retreated back into the ground, remaking the detailed and beautiful pattern it had held before being disturbed. “Sorry for bothering you in the middle of the night Princess.”
The Unicorn looked over the results the device had shown and gave a nod. “Sweet, we don’t have to do something awful tonight.”
Luna opened her eyes and looked toward both of the ponies, surprise clear on her face. “Pardon?” she asked, confusion plain to hear on the single word.
“Well your Majesty we were just a bit worried that you still had a bit of the dark magic from the Nightmare you contracted with in order to become Nightmare Moon,” The Earth pony stowed away the device in his coat and gave a bow to the Princess, taking off his hat when he did so. “But you have a clean bill of health, nothing to worry about.”
“Who…are you?” Luna asked, still confused by the turn of events.
“Ah, right probably should do introductions now that we broke into your place and all,” the Earth pony waved his hoof over himself. “My name is Cloak, that bozo over there is Dagger.”
“Hello,” Dagger gave a wave toward the Princess with a large smile.
“We are part of the Blackguard, it’s our job to clean up after heroes,” the Cloak laughed a bit. “You see most heroes tend to beat the bad guys but don’t do much more then leave ‘em humiliated and hurting. Most of the time that’s fine since the motto of Equestria is that everyone deserves a chance at redemption. But sometimes if a threat is too big to be left alone.”
“We wack ‘em.” Dagger announced proudly.
“Idiot,” the Cloak smacked his companion in the back of the head. “You think a Princess whose been livin on the moon for a thousand years is gonna understand what wack means?”
Dagger rubbed the back of his neck and with wince. “Sorry boss, wasn’t really thinkin about that one.”
“Story of yer life,” the Cloak said under his breath. “Anyway we remove the threat in a permanent sense.”
The idea clicked in Luna’s head. “We are surprised that our sister would agree to such a Blackguard existing.”
“Well….” the Cloak coughed nervously into his hoof. “We aren’t exactly an official organization, more like funded by a few well-placed ponies to further protect Harmony and all that jazz.”
Dagger chuckled, earning a glare from his partner. “Sorry, just you were gettin on my case about her not knowing what a word meant, and you just mentioned a style a music that didn’t come out till years after she was locked up on the moon.”
Cloak blinked for a moment before letting out a small laugh. “Okay you got me on that case,” he turned toward Luna and smiled. “Now then if you could not tell Celestia we were here that would just be super, we don’t exactly get a lot of love around here because our job basically contradicts the basic sense of right and wrong around these parts.”
Luna stayed silent for a moment as she processed that request. “The device you used, is what you said true that we are cleaned of our infection?”
“Yeah, this thing was designed to detected possessing spirits, and it’s never been wrong before.” Cloak answered, warily waiting for Luna to answer his previous question. Celestia had never actively hunted for them before, because they usually stuck to the shadows and she couldn’t bring up any proof to actually charge them. But if Luna informed her sister of tonight they would be deader than a Timberwolf surrounded by a family of Phoenixes.
“Knowing that the Elements have fully rid us of the stain of the Nightmare is enough for us to suffer this indignity in silence,” Luna let out a small breath and gave them a rather warm smile. “We thank you for your service, and should you ever need aid know that our opinions are not mine sisters, and we do see why you and your Blackguard are needed in this land.” after all if she couldn’t be rid of her infection her sister would never have had the will to cleanse it of her. And she doubted that the being she once was would have been so easily defeated a second time.
“Right, well then we are going to be off.” Cloak dropped a small box on the ground and brought his hoof over it.
“Wait wait,” Dagger waved a hoof in front of him. “I still need to ask the Princess something important,” he paused for a moment before leaning forward. “Who do you think would win in a fight, a squad of Griffons or a Hydra with Unicorn horns and magic?”
The Princess blinked for a moment as she tried to process the question that had been leveled at her by the would be assassin. “Pardon?”
“Pretty straight forward question, you know if they met and had to duke it out which one would come out on top?” Dagger dodged Cloak’s hoof and stuck out his tongue. “Ha, say that one coming a mile…” Cloak bumped against Dagger and sent him to the ground. “…away.”
“You idiot, stop trying to bother the Princess with your dumb questions, don’t you think we caused her enough trouble tonight?” Cloak shook his head a bit.
“We believe that the Griffons would seize a victory in that battle,” the two ponies looked toward the Princess, who was smiling a rather amused smile. “After all, in a battle of one against many it is the teamwork of those who stand together who will seize the day.”
Dagger stood up and gave a small bow. “Thank you Princess, you are as wise as you are beautiful.”
“Stop trying to act all fancy around the Princess, if the mares at the dives aren’t going to fall for that what makes you think a Princess will?” the two ponies began to argue as Cloak brought his hoof down on the box, surrounding them with a green field of energy and teleporting them away from the castle.
Luna looked at the blank space that the two had left as the force field around her dissipated. With the excitement out of the way she collapsed back on her bed and laughed freely, tears flowing from her eyes. “I am free.” she said into the night. Tomorrow she would take back her duties raising the moon when the night came, and guarding the dreams of the precious ponies that her sister loved so. It had always been hard for Luna to understand why her sister cared for them as she did, but after meeting the Elements, and then the two of the Blackguard it was easy to see why. Even if they weren’t as strong alone, they had the potential to be great.
Author's Note
Thank you all for reading. If you enjoyed it feel free to leave a comment, comment if you didn't like it either, always open for critics. Oh and I am in need of an editor for this story, so if it tickles your fancy feel free to message me about it.
Author's Note
Story takes place after 'Boast Busters'. Remember to leave a comment.
A Major Problem
“So you are tellin me that two colts manage to wake up a hibernating Ursa Minor, outrun it, and manage to survive a rampage with enough time for Ms. Sparkle to put the creature back in its bed?” Dagger shook his head for a moment. “That doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“What are you talking about you maroon?” Cloak looked at his partner with a frown as the two walked through the dense forest of the Everfree. For most ponies walking the wilds of the forest would be dangerous beyond belief. But the two of them were far from normal.
“Well first off an Ursa Minor is the size of a house right?” Dagger waited for confirmation, continuing after getting a nod from his partner. “And these colts are tiny, so you are sayin that two runts outran a ticked off house sized bear?”
Cloak had to give him that point at the very least, either the colts were lucky or the Ursa Minor was stupid, even for a young creature. “Why are you so worked up over this?”
“It makes no sense, that’s all I am saying.” the Unicorn paused in front of the small mountain that stood before them. They had arrived at their destination.
“Are you saying that you would be happier at this moment if the story had ended with two colts getting mauled to death by an Ursa Minor?” Cloak reached under his overcoat and pulled out a small round object with a number of small lights zipping around inside of it.
Dagger paused for a moment and thought about that. “Know what? Think I am just going to keep quiet and be glad that nothing worse happened.”
“He can be taught.” Cloak said with a voice filled with sarcasm before tossing the orb deep into the cave and took a deep breath. What happened next was going to be far from pleasant.
The orb bounced against the cold stone of the cavern and rolled ever deeper in, the minor light coming off of it making it clear that the cave was very deep. But eventually the sound of the orb went silent, and a dull breathing sound could be heard coming from the cave.
“Equipment on,” Cloak declared, reaching under his overcoat once more and pulled out a pair of headphones and a pair of sunglasses. Dagger did the same, and both put them on. If anypony had come across them standing in front of a cave wearing sunglasses and headphones no doubt they would look mad.
But the reason for both became clear as the creature at the back of the cave started coming forth. At first the creature was covered by the darkness that consumed the depths of the cave, but as it came closer a light brilliant enough to be the rays of the sun shone out and lit away the darkness of the forest. With a few more massive steps the figure of the beast became clear. It had the appearance of a bear, but much larger, large enough that if it stood on both of its hind legs it would be the double the height of the castle in Canterlot. Its fur, or what appeared to be fur, was adorned with thousands of twinkling stars, though none of the twinkling orbs matched positions with the celestial bodies that made home in the night sky. The beasts eyes were perhaps the oddest part of it, both orbs burned with a fire that would remind one of looking into the sun, while the iris appeared to be the moon, with the pupil taking on the appearance of a swirling void of darkness.
“Pony of horn and magic, you would dare confront me after what your clan has done to my child?” the massive beast roared out. This was an
Ursa Major, one of the most dangerous beasts in the entire world. Magic was absorbed into its body, its fur was strong enough to bounce steel weapons off of it, and it could continue without air.
“Yes yes you are very scary and we are intimidated by you, could you turn down the light show so we can take off this ridiculous things?” Cloak asked, making a motion toward the sunglasses that were the only things standing between the furious light in the Ursa Major’s eyes and his own fragile orbs.
Dagger snickered a bit. “I don’t know boss, we do so many night missions these days that the sun is pretty good for my tan.”
“You dare ignor…” before the Ursa could finish that thought Cloak raised a hoof up and turned to his partner.
“Pardon me, your what?” Cloak asked with a certain amount of confusion in his voice.
“You know boss, my tan,” he moved back some of his fur to show the skin under it, which was just a paler version of his fur. “The Sun tans the skin.”
“Nopony can see your skin because of your fun, so why would it matter if you were getting a tan or not?” Cloak’s face went through a few changes, from confused to angry, from angry to indignant, before settling on a look most people would simply call absolute disappointment.
“Who says it’s for looks?” Dagger shook his head and smiled. “Having a tan prevents all kinds of nasty stuff boss.”
“Pardon me, but could you two get back to the point?” the Ursa Major asked, not used to having creatures that stood before her without the proper amount of trembling and fear. This was new and uncharted territory for her. The light from her eyes dimmed, more out of confusion then answering their previous request.
Both ponies looked back to her and blinked, as if they had forgotten she was there at all. “Sorry ma’am, lost track of things, just one moment.”
Cloak raised his hoof and wacked Dagger in the back of the head.
“Yow!” Dagger rubbed the spot that Cloak had struck. “What was dat for boss?”
“For distracting me from making negotiations with the lady with your stupidity.” Cloak said while fixing his overcoat, which had been knocked a bit unbalanced by his strike.
Dagger blinked for a moment and jumped back, pointing a hoof directly at his partner. “Bu-bu-but boss you were the one who got distracted in the first place!” he turned toward the Ursa Major. “Back me up here!”
“Well to be fair to your partner here you did…” the Ursa Major blinked when it realized what it was doing and roared out. “Do not try and
distract me from the subject of my child being awoken!”
“Eh, who was distracting you?” Cloak looked around, as if the culprit would be somewhere around them.
“Want us ta trample ‘em for yah?” Dagger asked, lighting up his horn with energy as if he was ready to cast a spell at whoever had bothered the Ursa.
“You, I, did,” the Ursa Major was starting to feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. In her long life she had never once met two beings
who could bring about this much pain in her just by existing. Even Discord at his worst had never annoyed her like these two had. “What is even going on?” she moaned out as one of her claws came to rest and massage her forehead.
“Well we were discussing how it would be top for you not to destroy Ponyville due to a couple of colt’s making a mistake.” Cloak held the gaze of the massive Ursa.
That seemed to be enough to get the monster back on topic. “For what was done I would have the lives of everypony involved, be they young or old whoever dared to harm my child will be destroyed.”
Cloak let out a deep sigh and shook his head. “Now you see this is why we came before Celestia did, if she were here she would offer her own life as the ruler in order to satisfy your bloodlust, which I am guessing you would accept?”
The Ursa Major gave a nod of its massive head. “Indeed, she would have the right to take on their punishment as the ruler.”
“But we can’t just allow our Princess to be killed like that, you must know that if she died the gates to a much greater darkness would be unleashed, I ask again in the name of sanity, let this be.” Cloak’s voice was pleading at this point, a show of desperation.
“I will have my due by most ancient rites.” the Ursa Major growled.
Cloak sighed deeply. “Dagger, do it.”
Dagger’s horn lit up and launched a flare high into the sky, exploding above the tops of the forest. “It’s done boss.” the stallion’s voice lacked its usual playfulness, instead it sounded somber.
“And what is this, some new trick to distract me?” the Ursa asked, her tone angry but curious.
“Not at all,” Cloak said with a small shake of his head. “It’s the signal for our forces to enter your child’s cave and kill him.” his voice sounded weary.
The Ursa Major’s eyes became bright as the sun once more, and she grabbed both Cloak and Dagger in her massive paws. “You would dare threaten my child once more?!”
“Yes.” replied Cloak.
“We already did, pretty silly to be asking if we would do something we already did.” replied Dagger.
“You will call off your assassins or I will soak this planet in the blood of everypony, young or old.” the Ursa’s voice was deep and dangerous, but even its tone couldn’t hide the fear for its cub.
“No doubt, a creature like you couldn’t be stopped by anypony in the entire world.” Cloak stated without interest.
“After yah kid dies you would most likely destroy every town in your way until there was nothing but barren ground and corpses.” added Dagger.
“But you would be doing it in a world without your son.” both said at the same time, staring into the burning orbs of the Ursa’s eyes.
For a moment none of the three moved. The mighty Ursa Major was frozen in a stalemate, desperately searching for some hint of a lie on either ponies face. “Your kind is a peaceful race, where in your Harmony is it allowed for you to murder children?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“Harmony is an ideal, and an ideal without strength to back it is the same as a nice dream.” Dagger answered.
“Nice to have, but impossible to keep.” Cloak added.
The Ursa kept the glare for a bit, before lowering her head in defeat, her eyes losing their shine. “Call off your assassins, and I will consider your debt paid for.”
“Do you swear by most ancient rites?” Cloak asked warily.
“I swear by most ancient rites to uphold the bargain I have made, and should I break it the Oathkeepers may drag me and all of mine to Tartarus.” the Ursa Major declared, placing both ponies on the ground.
Without a word Dagger launched up another flare to join the first, calling off the assassins from their work.
“Were done here, let’s go.” Cloak turned his back toward the Ursa Major’s cave and began to walk away with his partner.
“I am amazed, I had no idea that such darkness could exist in the world of light that Equestria supposedly upholds.” the Ursa Major mocked after them.
“Yeah we are monsters, demons, assassins, pretty much any bad name you call us fits the bill, but you know what?” Cloak turned and gave the
Ursa Major a chilling smile. “I just saved the life of a Princess, or if you look at it another way at least four other ponies, two of them just colts, so ask me if I give buck about it?”
With those words spoken the Ursa Major returned to her cave. She could fill her child was still alive and resting, and for now that was all that mattered.
Cloak and Dagger walked away silently. Despite knowing that what they did was right they couldn’t help but feel the weight of the gamble they had just taken. The moto of the Blackguard was ‘We will not go alone’. It was taken from a popular bit of poetry, and its meaning was clear.
Even if the world fell they would take a pound of flesh for it.
“So I don’t know about you boss, but my tan is great.” Dagger suddenly said as they walked through the dark forest.
“Shut up you moron.” Cloak said with his usual grunt.
The two of them suddenly laughed at the shift of mood and continued their path out of the forest, they would need to discuss things with their superiors, and leave no evidence of their involvement. If Celestia found out they had been willing to kill a child there would be no end to the Hades they would pay.