Little risks spice up life
Little risks spice up life
To say that I was nervous would’ve been an understatement. Apprehensive, neurotic, or downright bat-shit worried? All of these would be much better descriptors than nervous. Shivering, I pressed my coat against the door and braced myself for the talk with Blue Moon. I should’ve known that my plans would blow up in my face.
Just behind me, the door smashed open and Grey Plate stepped out. The large, white pegasus stallion with a grey mane and armor cutie mark eyed me suspiciously, “Night Watch, what the hay are you doing here? I hope you’re not spying on us.”
“Me?” I stammered, “Of course not, that’s just silly. I, eh, was just resting here for a moment!”
Grey Plate frowned, “Night Watch, get out of here, and be quick about it.”
All I could do was nod. Grey Plate was much stronger than me. By that, I didn’t mean the strength of his body, but the strength of his group. He always seemed to have his friends with him, and when you argued with one, you argued with them all.
Not that I couldn’t hold my own. As a thestral, I was more than capable in a fight. Sure, I was a little short, but unlike the other mares I kept my jet-black hair short, my dark grey fur was well kept, my fangs sharp, and my lavender armor polished. My green eyes saw more than most, and with my short size, I was a expert with the hoofblades built into my greaves. However, even I knew I couldn’t take on a fully trained pegasus and his buddies in Celestia’s royal guard.
Great, now I have to make a new plan.
After all, my cutie mark was an eye on a purple spiral, not a dunce cap. Watching and inventing plans was my specialty. Not stupidly plunging head first into suicide situations.
Of course, how that explains what I just tried to do, I’ll never know.
I had known from the beginning that my plan was cursed to fail. But, cheery as always, I still tried it. However, step one was proving—as expected—to be impossible: getting Blue Moon alone.
That means I’ll never get the chance to ask her out.
I groaned at the thought and made my way to my chambers, cursing and huffing all the way. I earned several curious looks from passerbyers as I cursed my misfortune under my breath, or at least I did until I ran snout first into my superior officer.
“Night Watch,” Moon Shield said in a heavy authoritative tone as she glared at me, “Something the matter?”
“I don’t know if you’re the right one to talk to about it, ma’am,” I replied hesitantly after a quick, sharp salute. The pale-blue mare with light-black mane was my commanding officer. I knew from experience that she earned her moon around a shield as cutiemark. She had two accommodations for risking her life for saving others.
“You know that we’re not really on duty, right?” she asked, but I stayed silent, “Alright, Night. Mess hall and a fresh beer, now.”
On instinct alone, I followed her orders, letting her practically shove me over to the mess hall. In truth, she was probably my only real friend. Still, she outranked me, that meant I had to avoid her as much as possible when we were in public. The very place she had told me to go.
“Moon, that’s not really appropriate,” I tried to argue, but it fell on deaf ears, “Moon, we really don’t have to do this!”
“Nonsense, Night. You don’t get out much, so I’m giving you the opportunity to talk with a friend and tie up your sails.”
“What? Just what?”
“Uh, it’s a saying, Night. Now, come on,” Shield smiled, dragging me along.
Shield made sure that I stayed at her side. If I stopped, she would’ve simply shoved me forwards until we were in the mess. I sat down and waited for her to return with two mugs in her wings.
“There you go. Now, tell me what’s going on. You look like a filly that didn’t get a Heart’s and Hooves Day card,” Shield chuckled.
“Ugh, I’m not a filly anymore!” I complained.
She chuckled, “That’s true, but you’ll always be one in my book,” It was hard to stay mad at such a warming smile, “And I’ve known you long enough to know when something’s wrong. What is it?”
I sighed and took a deep sip from my mug before starting my tail, “You remember sparring and watch duty last week?” she nodded and I continued, ”You set me into one group with Blue Moon, and…. and,” I stopped.
“And what?” the pale-blue mare asked.
“I think I fell for her,” I whispered.
“You have a crush on Blue Moon?” she asked in disbelief, “Hoo, you are seriously in love with my cousin?”
“Your cousin?!” I shouted.
“Well, yes, Blue Moon is my cousin. Name’s not just coincidence,” Shield replied with a chuckle. She even swished around her light-black mane just for show.
“Alright, alright,” I threw my forehooves up, “I have a silly crush on your cousin. You going to tease me about it?”
“I’d never tease you about it,” there was that damn smile again, “So… have you made a move yet?”
“I… I tried. I worked up the nerve to ask her out, but everytime I do, my plans just go to shit!”
“The great Night Watch’s plans… fail?” I’ve never wanted to hit someone more in my life than right then
“That’s not funny,” I grumbled
“Tell me, what have you tried?” she asked with a smug grin.
“EVERYTHING!” My shout drew a lot of stares from all the ponies around us.
“Everything?” Shield asked, quite amused.
“I tried to send her letters, give her… hints and winks, even tried to simply talk to her. Everything just falls apart;” I mumbled.
“Have you tried just… I don’t know, talking to her?”
“Yes, I just tried talking to her, but of course all her high and mighty friends were there, including Grey Plate and his pals,” I replied, the venom in my voice quite apparent.
“Grey Plate, huh? That little sucker of Celestia’s been getting on my nerves for some time. Just because all the royal officers love him, he expects the same from us thestrals. Always trying his funny stuff with us, that dumb pegasus,” Shield grumbled.
“His funny stuff?” I asked.
“You know Red Wave from second squadron? The black mare with the fiery red mane?” Shield asked me. I nodded and she continued, “That bucker Grey used his friends to try and come onto her, trying to get her in for a quick night.”
“What happened?”
“She broke the muzzle of one of his friends, and let’s say she got him by his balls. Seriously, no one should mess around with thestrals out of Blood Wing’s bloodline. They’re all far nastier than they should be,” she mumbled silently.
“You think he’ll try it with Blue Moon, too?” I asked, fearing slightly that she might even agree.
“I don’t know, but I know that Blue always appreciated honest mares. If you go to her and tell her how you feel, she’ll understand. What I can’t promise you is that she’ll agree to a date or anything like that. But if she does let you down, she’ll be nice about it.”
“As long as she’s around Grey Plate, I can forget that.”
“And what if I helped you?” Shield whispered with a smile.
“How?”
“I can ask her to meet me, well, maybe after training for a small talk, and you just join?” she suggested.
“I don’t want you to use your rank or anything to hook me up with you cousin.”
“I’m helping a friend, not using rank, you silly filly,” Shield snorted, amused.
“Don’t call me that,” I mumbled.
She cuffed me around the ear, “I’ll never stop calling you that. You could be Captain one day, and you’ll still be my silly filly.”
I mumbled, but wasn’t about to turn down a good thing, “What do you have in mind?”
“Uh-uh, what do youhave in mind?”
“My plans all failed!”
“Only because you're thinking about it too close to home, close your eyes and take several deep breaths.”
I grumbled, but did as she asked.
“Okay, you know the objective, you know the assets you have, you know the enemy. Now put that legendary tactical brain of yours to good use. What’s the plan?”
“You said she appreciates honest mares. So I’ll talk with her calmly. Explain everything from last training on and what I feel. And then… then I either get a positive answer or… I get crushed,” I gulped.
She chuckled at me, “You’re not going to get crushed. So, how do you want to deploy me?”
“You?” I asked, shocked.
“Night, you’re training to be a tactician, the day will come, sooner than you expect, where you’re commanding armies. And yes, that includes me.”
I hummed in thought, “You just take her at your side after training. Talk with her in private, just what you always do with her. Then, at some point I just come by and you have to excuse yourself, leaving her alone with me?”
“And if the enemy shows up? Unexpectedly? After all, no plan survives contact.”
“I rip their throats out,” I growled.
“Works on the battlefield,” she chuckled, “But this is a different kind of battle.”
“We… I… You can distract them?” I asked.
“Possibly, but I can’t pull rank on Celestia’s guards.”
“What if… what if we run joint drills? Have them ‘show their stuff’ to all of us lowly night guards, then when they're done, they’ll be so tired that they’ll just want to go hop in the showers?”
“There’s that intellect. You may not see what others see in you, Night Watch, but I do.”
“But… how would we even set that up?”
“We already have joint drills with them first thing tomorrow morning,” That damn smile again.
“But… how… why…”
She laughed, “It was scheduled weeks ago, just kept private.”
“But why didn’t you just say this was your plan?” I asked pleadingly.
“My plan? Who said anything about being my plan, I was just talking,” she chuckled at me, “Now, get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow’s going to be a big day, and you’ll need your energy.”
I was left flabbergasted at how she managed to play me into coming up with exactly what she had planned. Then I was left wondering if she hadn’t, if it truly was nothing more than coincidence.
I’m normally good at mind games… normally.
This was as far from normal as I’d ever been.
***
I hated mornings, really hated them. It was something nearly every thestral did, but it was part of the training to change our poles. We had to be used to being awake during the day as much as we were at night.
Needless to say, the concept of a good night's rest was rather foreign among our race, and last night was no exception, especially with everything rampaging around my head.
Somehow, I made it to the training grounds and managed to line up with the rest of my unit before Moon Shield started roll call. Even with Moon Shield’s order to go to sleep, I hadn’t slacked off with polishing my armor last night, something that I knew would earn me the ior of everyone present.
Although, I was very tempted to dirty the hoofblades built into my greaves when I saw Moon call Grey Plate and his buddies up to the front. A little red would fit nicely with the lavender armor.
My thoughts died in my head when I looked over and saw her.
Blue Moon stood proud in the row, certainly the tallest mare in the row, and as such, she was easy enough to spot. I lost myself in her pinkish-red eyes, her two-tone blue mane and tail. They just seemed to swallow me whole, and I welcomed it. I traced her body down to her flank, disappointed at being unable to see her moon and stars cutie mark. The eye in the center always seems to be looking at me whenever I saw her, and it looked so familiar.
The eyes on our cutie marks are matching, just like we are meant for each other.
I shook my head clear of those dreams. Just because something was similar never meant it was the same. I learned that lesson the hard way from my first week in tactical training classes.
Moon Shield still said I was the only one who’d never made that mistake twice. Here was hoping I wouldn’t break that record.
“Alright everyone, to your places!”
“Wait.. what?” I stumbled.
“Wow, Night Watch, pay attention next time.”
I turned to see a stallion walk past me, “And you’re the one in training as a tactician? Celestia, I’m worried.”
“Wait, what’s going on?”
“Just follow me,” he mumbled.
I crouched low, cursing myself and wondering just how in Tartarus I zoned out and missed all of Moon Shield’s explanation.
Fortunately, my size did wonders to hide me.
Unfortunately, our superior officer knew my name, “Night Watch! Hurry up and drag your sorry flank!”
“Buck me,” I mumbled.
“Not even if you paid me,” Somepony whispered loud enough to draw a laugh from everypony around him.
The hoofblades came out after that.
“Night Watch, move with a purpose!”
“Can I stab that royal guard first?” I asked and raised a blade.
“Do that and you get to explain to Celestia why you killed the sorry coward.”
The mood shifted behind me and I smiled. They all heard what they were called, and none of them could say a word about it. And perhaps, more importantly, she hadn’t said I couldn’t.
I may be small, but no one could doubt my speed, or how deadly I was with my blades.
With a grin, I trotted up to the stage, holding my head high as I stood in front of everypony… in front of her…
Horseapples.
I’ve heard it said that Starswirl’s law states: When you can least afford something to go wrong, that’s when it absolutely will go wrong. Well… trotting to a stage, with your head held high, not looking where you’re going, directly in front of the mare you were crushing on, that’s the perfect storm of Starswirl’s law.
In my assuredness, I hadn’t retracted the hoofblades on my front hooves. They dug into the wooden platform and I tripped, landing face first and flank up in front of everypony.
The perfect reason for the quiet stallion from before to laugh loudly now. I had no plan to let it go that easily, not in front of Blue Moon. With a grin, I raised my right hoof, licking across the cold, polished metal and leaving a thin red line on it.
“So, you want to be the lucky one today? I can’t say I’ve had pegasus blood in a while, but you’ll do,” I whispered before licking my blood off the blade.
His coat was white, and while it should have been impossible, he paled by a few shades, gulping audibly. He took several steps back, whimpering.
“That’s better,” I replied, this time making sure to retract the hoofblades completely.
Moon Shield just glared at everypony else, as if daring them to laugh or worse, say something. To their credit, no one was that stupid.
I got up and stood beside her, embarrassed, but not showing it. I wouldn’t show it.
They could say what they wanted, the truth was that everypony makes mistakes. It’s not that you fall down that matters, it’s how you get back up. What made it better was that I saw Blue Moon’s curious gaze on me before shifting back to attention.
“Okay, Night Watch, I want you to form the Strike Teams for today’s obstacle course. Pick the ponies that work best with each other, whoever has the fastest time wins a three day pass.”
I blinked twice, “You want me?” my voice was a whisper.
“Why would you trust that to such a meek little mare?!” Grey Plate stepped forward, pointing his wing accusingly at me.
“Because I’m going to rip your bloody damn throat out soon enough,” I shot back before glaring into the crowd, “Now, all of you, back to your place in the line!”
Grey Plate hesitated, huffing in resistance, “You gotta be kidding me.”
“Grey Plate, you got three seconds to get back in line or I’ll make you a present in the form of one week duty in the mess hall. Now move your flank,” I shouted, and finally, he made it back into the row.
I smiled as I took the scene in. Of course, Grey was with all his friends besides him, but also Blue Moon, “Alright. Grey, I’m sure you’re more than willing to show the rest of us how it’s done, so why don’t you take your friends. All of you will do the obstacle course,” Grey grumbled, but stepped forward, trying to drag Blue with him, who hesitated, “Grey, I said you and your friends. Blue Moon will stay where she is. After all, we’re just the night guard, don’t you royal guard members want to show us how it’s done?”
My hoofblades almost came back out when I heard what he said next, “Don’t worry babe, when I get that three day pass, we’ll go out together.”
But what happened next also made me giggle. Blue Moon raised her eyebrow as if questioning him if he was serious, “I’m not your babe, you jerk. Just because you helped me one time doesn’t mean I'm your mare,” she huffed, swishing her mane to the other side while my breath stocked in my throat.
Okay, that’s a relief. She doesn’t want anything from him.
“We’ll see,” he said with a condescending grin as him and his buddies left for the starting line. I could only growl as I watched his smug muzzle turn to me.
There were times I really wanted to know what pegasus tasted like, if I wasn’t ninety-nine percent sure he’d taste like shit, I’d find out, “Grey, my promise still stands. Now stop staring at Blue Moon’s flank and move your own, I’m starting to loose my patience.”
I knew he didn’t care what I said, not even in front of everypony present. However, when Moon Shield growled, he definitely cared about that. Him and his two unicorn buddies moved with a little more spring in their step.
“Your time starts when I blow the whistle. However, I must warn you, if you don’t complete the course in ten minutes or less, you’ll have to do it again. The Strike Team with the fastest time gets a three day pass!” Moon Shield stated.
“Woohoo! And a thestral flank!” one of Grey’s friends cheered.
This time, I growled loud enough for everyone to hear, and all eyes turned to me while I tried to get a hold upon myself, “You’ll take Grey’s place under my hoofblades if you don’t shut your muzzle and move.”
Moon Shield blew her whistle, and my plan failed.
I hate to admit it, I really, really, really hate to admit it, but they were good. The three of them worked in tandem. With wings and magic forbidden, they used raw strength and teamwork to get through the course. They only tripped up one time; the third obstacle saw his grey unicorn buddy fall on his face when going over the log bridge, but even at that, they recovered nicely and logged a time of seven minutes, twenty three seconds.
Moon Shield only shrugged apologetically as I shot her a glare.
Great. Anyone with a plan B here?
“Well, looks like you got your work cut out for you. Think you can put together a team to beat that?” Moon Shield whispered.
“That’s five seconds shy of the record,” I whispered back.
“I think you can do it,” she smiled, “Just keep your eyes on the prize. Although, not for too long. Don’t need to distract yourself.”
I smiled upon that. With that motivation, I couldn’t fail. And I had exactly the right team for it.
Or so I thought. My first team I selected were the fastest sprinters in the night guard. They did well, but eight minutes twenty three seconds wasn’t enough. From there, everything went downhill, and rather quickly.
Sure, I was a master strategist, but there was one problem with the idea Moon Shield had; I didn’t really know these ponies. Not on a personal level to know who would work best with who.
My decisions were based on their records, those I knew, those I studied. How they interacted, who they liked? That I knew nothing about.
I should have been able to take some pride in the fact that not one team had to repeat the obstacle course. Something that’s never been done before.
I couldn’t. That fucker was still in the lead, and I only had two ponies left, plus myself.
“Red Wave, Blue Moon, it’s,” I paused.
“What’s wrong?” Moon Shield asked.
There was a smile on my face, “Red Wave, Blue Moon, Moon Shield, you’re up!”
There was an audible gasp from everyone present. Even those still panting looked up at me like I was crazy.
To her credit, Moon Shield just nodded and smiled at me, “You heard her, let’s go.”
If everyone’s muzzle was on the ground before, it now cratered into it.
Blue Moon looked puzzled, I could see part of her was happy it was—finally—her turn, but she had no idea what was going on.
I felt bad about that, I was trying to simply beat those jerks and then give her an easy team to run with. But that plan failed spectacularly.
Still, at least now she got to run with her cousin. An unexpected benefit, no doubt.
As I watched all three of them at the starting line, I got the distinct impression they were waiting for something. I blushed when Moon Shield looked up at me with a raised eyebrow.
Oh, yeah, right.
I blew the whistle, signaling them to start.
To say they were amazing would be to say Princess Celestia is kinda tall. Blue Moon and Moon Shield worked like, well, family. The two were perfectly in sync with each other, so much so that Red Wave barely slowed them down at all.
However, that changed at the last obstacle. Red Wave jumped down from the divider and twisted her hoof. I could see it despite the distance between us. Blue Moon and Moon Shield responded almost like they had planned it; the two picked her up and carried her across the finish line.
When I stopped the clock, my jaw almost fell off. Even with Red Wave’s injury, they clocked a time of seven minutes, twenty three seconds, tying with the royal guards.
“Well… it looks like we’ll need a tiebreaker,” I stated.
Everypony looked up at me, confused.
“Seven minutes, twenty three seconds,” I stated.
“Bullshit!” Grey Plate yelled as he barged up to look at the clock, “There’s no way in Ta—”
The stopwatch shut him up.
“But Red Wave can’t go again,” Blue moon said.
“There’s still me,” I replied, giving her a quick smile she returned, to my surprise.
“That’s cheating! You’re fresh!”
“Yeah, but they’re not,” I gestured over to Blue Moon and Moon Shield. Both of them were out of breath, still exhausted from the run, “Even with a five minute break, they won’t be as recovered as you three. I’d say it makes it fair, wouldn’t you? Or are you worried Celestia’s Guard won’t be able to keep up?”
“Any time, any place. Take five minutes, take ten, it won’t matter.”
I looked at Blue Moon and Moon Shield. Shield only shrugged, but Blue Moon smiled, “Give us five and it’ll be enough,” she said confidently.
Her smile nearly melted me, and I quickly turned away to look at Red Wave, trying to get the blush of my face, “Red, how are you?”
“Fine,” she grumbled back, “You three kick their flanks!”
“You know it,” Blue Moon said with a smile.
“You know, Night Watch, win or lose, you’ve impressed me today,” Moon Shield stated.
As much as those words meant to me, as much as I wanted to jump around like a little filly that just got her cutie mark, I barely heard her.
My eyes were locked on the other mare with us. Blue Moon was smiling at me with admiration. It took a lot to get her cousin’s seal of approval, yet I had not only gotten it, I had earned it.
As much as Starswirl’s law states that when it’s the worst time for something to happen practically guarantees that’s when it will happen. I think… I know… that the reverse is true as well. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, everything just lines up perfectly. Almost as if it were foretold by the stars themselves. Just like what happened next.
“Who said anything about losing? We’re going to win this thing!”
The grin on Blue Moon’s face was all the inspiration I needed. My head already started to plan out each obstacle in the course. I had seen them, heck, I had ran them more times than I cared to count. Of the eight, I knew that the first two were a trap, something to lure you into a false sense of security.
My tactical planning went to work; in my head I saw each of the obstacles, where to step, where to place your hooves, all of it. In less than a minute I had the most efficient course plotted for all three of us to take.
There was just three problems; tiebreakers were ran directly against the other team.
I reworked my calculations. We’d have the left side, they’d have the right. I moved Moon Shield from the center of our track to the right. It’d slow us down by three seconds, but they wouldn’t dare do something to her.
Not even they were that stupid.
“Red Wave, would you do the honors?” I asked, tossing her the whistle.
Red Wave caught it with her wing and winked before holding it in front of her muzzle. On my signal, she blew the whistle, “On your marks. Ready. Go!”
We started on the signal, head to head with the Royal Guards. Just as planned, they didn’t try anything stupid with Shield right at their side. It also helped that I had everything in my mind and lead my team safely through the obstacles. After the sixth, the Royal Guards fell back. Grey Plate cursed and huffed, but he couldn’t make up their delay.
“And Night Watch’s team wins!” Red Wave shouted as we passed the line, several hooves in front of the Royal Guards.
“That’s impossible!” Grey Plate breathed out, “They cheated!”
Moon Shield raised herself in front of him, glaring, “This was a fair run. Just because Night Watch is amazing at commanding and planning doesn’t mean we cheated.”
I blushed at that and looked around, seeing every thestral smiling or saluting me. It was a great feeling, to say the least. But the best thing was the look Blue Moon gave me. Of course, I couldn’t have my peace with that.
“That doesn’t mean she’s good, you just talk,” Grey Plate grumbled, murmurs of approval from the rows of Celestia’s Guard raising. Then he smiled, “She just did this to get Blue Moon’s attention. Too bad she’s not interested in little wimps like you, and already taken.”
Immediately, I could feel Blue Moon’s gaze upon me, as much as everypony else’s. Grey nodded, pleased with himself before moving to Blue, “Now, c’mon babe. Just because we lost doesn’t mean that we can’t have some fun.”
“Stick it up your sorry flank,” Blue Moon huffed before trotting up to me. Before I could say anything, she spoke up, “Was he right?” I nodded and she smiled, “Night Watch? Would you like to go out tomorrow night?”
Is this a dream?
My legs shook and my gaze blurred. I had no idea if she really said that, but her smile seemed to be honest. Not able to talk or think anymore, I simply stood there and babbled undefinable words. That was, until soft lips met mine.
Blue Moon pressed her lips gently against mine, snapping me out of my daze.
“You… you want to go out with me? With me?” I asked her with a shaking voice after we broke.
“Why not?” she smiled, “After all, I’ve found you interesting for a while now. And today only proved to me that you are special,” at that she blushed a bit, “I never dared to ask you out.”
What?! Her too?!
“Well, with that, we’re two. I always wanted to, but either I couldn’t bring up the courage, or my plans got fucked,” I admitted embarrassedly, giving a sheepish grin.
“The great and powerful planning skills of Night Watch failed to come up with a plan to ask me out?” she asked with a teasing grin, “I don’t know if I should be flattered or not.”
Moon Shield laughed lightly and shook her head, “That’s what I said!”
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” I said, rolling my eyes before reaching up and pulling Blue into another kiss to keep her from teasing me. Say what you will about kisses, but they work surprisingly well at keeping ponies from joking about your ability to plan things.
And more importantly, if this was the reward I got for failing to come up with a decent plan, I’d say that it was more than worth it to do it again. And again. Anything to keep that wonderful mare smiling at me.
Author's Note
Done!
Some Thestral story 
I love Moon Shield xP
