Chapter 5

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A knock on the door caused Fling Feather pause from his current task, which had been getting ready for his day of guard duty.

He honestly wasn’t sure why, but since their first shift after himhis and Fleece, those two moose brothers seemed to look forward to their shift. The how and why was beyond his understanding. So, anything to hold himself up from his shift was a welcome distraction.

Walking out of his room he opened the door, then paused upon seeing whom was standing on the other side. “Flash?” he asked, blinking at the griffoness. “Um... what’s up?”

That was when he noticed the terrified expression on her face. “Fling, we need to talk, now!”

Not one to be rude, at least to those who didn’t deserve it, Fling stepped back, allowing Flash inside, and closed the door behind him.

Flash moved through the small rarely barren living room and sat down on the couch, her hands on her lap, her eyes cast down.

Fling Feather moved to sit down in the armchair opposite the couch and leaned forward, his hands together.

There was silence as Flash just sat there, nervously wringing her hands together, whilst Fling waited patiently for her to speak.

After several minutes of silence, Fling sighed. “Alright, Flash, I know something’s bothering you. You came can here clearly wanting to talk to me about it, so what’s going on?”

Considering he had to go to his shift in half an hour, he wasn’t sure he could just wait for her to talk without prompting.

“I’ve been through infundibulum,” she mumbled.

“Pardon?” the griffon male asked, leaning his head to the side a little. “You’re going to need to speak up for me to hear you, Flashy.”

At once she gave the griffon equivalent of a pout. “Don’t call me Flashy! I’ve hated that since I was a chick and you know that!”

He smirked, leaning back, “Then tell me what’s going on, at a volume I can hear.” He was glad he gotten her out of her little funk at least.

Flash blinked, before sighing and looking down again. “Have you... ever thought, you know, about... having chicks of your own, someday?”

He blinked, not having expected that, then leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. “While I am as loyal as a guard can be to the king...” he sighed. “I highly doubt he’d ever let me settle down.”

“You... may not have a choice in the matter, Fling.”

The griffon returned his gaze to the female before him, cocking an eyebrow, “Huh?”

Flash fiddled with her hands, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. “I... a few days ago, I went through infundibulum. I... I think...” her expression firmed, mixing with fear and she looked up to him. “No, I know I’ve going to lay! Fling, I’m pregnant!”

For his part, Fling was frozen in his mind as he went over that information. Flash, a close friend of his since chickhood (though he’d technically been a teenager when she was a chick), was going to lay... and they’d been his chicks.

At once he hurried forward and pulled the anxious griffoness into a comforting embrace, “Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out, I promise.”

He would. Fling had been loyal as any guard could be to the king, even if he disagreed with the way the king and his son treated the females of the castle.

He, like his family, had always been in good standings with the king since his great grandfather’s days and the family had instilled respect for him since those times.

He was sure he could put a good word in for Flash. Her public service was almost up anyway, she had, what, a month left, maybe less? He was certain he could calmly explain the situation to the king, he was a reasonable stallion, after all. He wouldn’t force something beyond horrible on a female.

True the way females were treated in the castle was bad, but he wouldn’t do something so beyond morals that one would be horrified.

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Ciymon greeted the boys as they were heading out for their guard duty. It had been a month since they’d been posted there and he’d noticed something about their attitudes towards it after their first official day of strictly guarding that room none were now allowed to enter. At first they’d been moody about the idea. However, after the first few days, it was as if they couldn’t wait to get to guard duty and he was determined to find out why.

“Boys, have a seat,” he said, indicating to the seats at the table next to him.

Both glanced at each other, before Tuke spoke up,. “Uh, you sure we got the time, eh?”

Ciymon nodded, rolling his eyes,. “You do realize it’s still an hour before your shift, right?”

The moose glanced at each other again, smiling sheepishly, before moving to the table and sitting down.

“Where’s Ma, eh?” Rutt asked, looking around, though Ciymon had learned some of each twins’ quirks. Several tiny twitches above the eyes told him Rutt was simply trying to change the subject. Now why would he want to do that?

Ciymon waved a hand. “Doing her job as a healer. Rasmus’ personal guard got into a scrap with one of the other guards, something about owing money, or some other petty thing, and is now in the infirmary.”

The two nodded, knowing such a thing was rather common among the staff of the castle. Those that were friendly were all ones their mother or Ciymon were friends with.

Ciymon put his hands together on the table, interweaving his fingers., “Now, I want you boys to explain something to me.”

Tuke and Rutt glanced at each other, wondering where this was going.

“Uh, sure, eh?” Tuke said, nodding. “Whatcha wanna know, eh?”

Ciymon looked at the two with a serious expression, “Who are Celestia and Luna?”

At once they stiffened, their faces paling slightly.

“Uh... who’s who and who?” Rutt said in a bad attempt to sound calm. “Should we know those girls, eh?”

Ciymon simply raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. “I’d thought you boys could tell me, since you’ve been talking about them when you think your mother and I are asleep. And how did you guess I was referring to a female at all, hmm?”

Rutt glanced at Tuke, who gulped, so spoke up, “Uh, we... heard some o’ the maids say they used ta know girls with those names, eh?”

Ciymon gave a knowing smile with a raised eyebrow. “Really, boys? Because the only time I’ve ever heard of a female within Caridoon going by the name of Luna was a little over a thousand years ago. She mysteriously disappeared one night and no one ever saw her again.”

Both moose glanced at each other again, a few drops of sweat appearing on their brows.

Ciymon smiled, closing his eyes. “Now, I could just assume you two might have seen her name at some point during your school years... except that any information about her is in the restricted section of the library, which only people of my own position could possibly enter and I’m certain I never brought any books mentioning Luna in the slightest home with me before or after I met your mother.”

He leaned forward, opening his eyes again as he intertwined his fingers once more, lowering his hand onto his hands.

“So, I have to wonder... how could you boys know about her in the first place, as anyone not with clearance would be detected by the runes my ancestors placed upon the archives? They’re set to ward off anyone below the required rank and removed them before even getting to the books containing knowledge of her?”

They both shuddered under the caribou’s gaze as he waited for them to answer.

Finally, Rutt exploded, going on a tirade about everything that had been happening since they started guard duty for that room. With Tuke staring at him like he was a mad man, Rutt told him everything about Celestia, how she’d told them about Duneyrr lucking outin, after forcing her to take action to take back one of her subjects that Rasmus had brought to Cariboon against her will. How he’d trapped, trapping her Alicorn magic within the room they’d been sent to guard, what she’d told them about Luna and how Duneyrr had used her as his personally slave, simply because he wanted to, not caring about her being legally able to not have to be a slave at the time as, her age far exceeded the limit.

Once he’d finished, her was sweating profusely.

Ciymon, for his part, was sitting there, his hands having fallen ages ago. His expression was a mixture between blank and completely stunned.

After what seemed like forever to both the moose, his face paled,. “By the heavens. The collar. It was... ”

Both moose glanced at each other, before looking back to him.

“Collar? What collar, eh?” Tuke asked, cocking an eyebrow, though his voice betrayed his wariness.

Ciymon at once told the boys what he’d learned from Rasmus’ drunken rant. Now that he’d heard the boy tell him what they knew, and seeing how it corresponded to what he’d learned in the achieves, coupled with what he’d overheard weeks ago, it all fit into a picture that chilled the strong caribou to the bone.

“We can’t let that happen!” Rutt shouted in a panicked tone, though he slammed his fist on the table in anger. “He can’t do this! Celestia’s a wonderful pony and, from what she’s told us about her sister, she’s nice too.”

“The fact that we now know the reason why the night was foretold to become day so suddenly all those centuries ago, the fact that Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon can clearly be blamed upon Duneyrr himself,” Ciymon said, frowning as he rubbed his chin. “Tht fact that the pony silhouette disappeared from the moon was the sign of her escape.”

“We gotta tell Celestia!” Rutt cried, leaping from his chair.

He was stopped by Ciymon grabbing his arm, “Wait, boys, we... We need to be careful about this.”

When they both at him in confusion, some panic still mixed in with Rutt’s, he sighed.

“Boys, it’s clear from what Celestia has told you that Duneyrr has no idea she has survived, in a manner of speaking,” he said, putting his hands together. “And while I agree, we should inform her of this, we also need to find a way to take that collar out of the equation. If we do that, when Princess Luna comes to retrieve her sister’s magic, we won’t have to worry about our self-appointed king enslaving her.”

“How?!” Rutt demanded, his eyes wide with fear.

Ciymon could see it was obvious Rutt had a crush on Celestia. He sighed, thinking. “You said Celestia has made it clear (aside from you two, even if I am the only one save you that have knowledge of this), that no male is able to enter that room without suffering. If this is true and the collar was in there... would it not mean the collar could not be used.”

Both moose looked at each other with wide eyes, before nodding eagerly.

“The problem,” Ciymon went on, his eyes closed, “is Duneyrr keeps the collar in a very secure area of the castle.” He opened his eyes and rolled them. “Well, sort of.”

“Sort of?” Tuke raised an eyebrow in a frowning posture. “What’s that mean, eh?”

Ciymon snorted, both in humour and anger. “Well, if we simply had a guard who was close enough to the unicorn to know the details of that area, we could easily get the collar and place it in Celestia’s room. However, I know none of the guards I am friends with that have any knowledge as to what one could expect from where the collar is being held.”

Rutt glanced at his brother, then back to the caribou, “Uh, why’re ya so angry, eh?”

Ciymon glared, clenching his fists. “Because that bastard used caribou magic in creating that collar,” he all but snarled. “He involved my people’s magics and twisted them to make that—that—”

He said nothing more, glaring down at the table.

While neither moose would claim to being very smart, even they could tell this was a very touchy subject for the caribou and that a fast exit would be wise.

Hastily bidding Ciymon goodbye, they decided to amsrcay out of there as fast as they could.

Author's Note

hmmm. this could've been better i think, but this is the best i could get.

Next chapter, Celestia learns what is planned for her sister and Fling learns something that will alter his life (at least more than the knowledge that he's know going to be a father already has, anyway).

GAH! It's getting harder to not just jump on the ending, seriously, i almost just did that for this chapter.

Okay, this story shouldn't have too much longer to go.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and, til next time, later everypony.

*mumbles as he walks away* God, is this fic getting harder to write.