Shadows in the Sun
by sIDsleeper
Chapter 1. - Reassignment
On a dark night, in the caves deep under Canterlot Castle, Princess Luna was sitting in a brightly lit room with a dark stallion. He was sitting in one of two identical chairs across the Princess, separated from her by a large oakwood desk, which was laden by scrolls of reports, stationaries and a crystal vase with a single moon lily in it, radiating an elegant cyan blue glow from it’s petals, that suggested that the flower was more than likely enchanted. They were sitting there in complete silence. The only noise that could be heard was the scratching of a quill across a scroll that Luna was signing, then she neatly rolled it up, put it with the others in a pile on her right, then took a new one to read from another pile to the left of her. The stallion wore an unimpressed, sceptical look on his face as he watched the Princess reapeat the process for the fourteenth time. He was an averagely built earth pony -more on the small side of average- with a short, dark purple coat covering almost his entire body, except for his muzzle, his hooves and a strange angular spot that was partially covered by his mane where his fur was tinted cyan. His long, slicked back mane and his tail wore the same cyan color with streaks of purple, that matched his coat. His eyes were almost glowing despite the ample lighting, and they were colored not unlike the moon lily on Luna’s desk.
“Do you actually needed me, or am I just here, so you don’t have to sit here alone?” asked the stallion, finally fed up with the silence.
“Patience is a virtue. I thought you might have actually developed some by now.” said Luna withouth looking up from her work.
“By now you should know, that patience wasn’t ever really my thing!”
“And yet here you are, waiting for whatever We... I have summoned you here for.” retorted Luna with a sly smile.
“Like I have a choice!”
“Oh, but you do! Come here and give me a shoulder rub. All this paper work is wrecking my back!” smiled Luna at him.
“Yeah, I think I’ll have to decline the offer, and just pretend you didn’t even brought that up.”
Luna let out a hearty laugh. “You just can’t take a joke.”
With that, the stallion’s cheeks adopted an uncharacteristical red color and he fell silent again.
Luna noticed this, and decided to tease him a little more. “Aww, you’re so cute when you’re embarrassed.” chuckled the Night Princess.
He didn’t say a word, just turned his head to the side and pouted. Luna rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the scroll in front of her.
A few more minutes passed by with Luna attending to the reports. In that time the stallion had cooled down and leaned back in his chair, crossing his hooves across his chest.
From the other side of the room, where a large double door stood, came the sound of knocking. The triplet of thuds on the finely carved stone doors cut harshly into the silence ruling over the room.
“You may enter!” said Luna in a slightly raised voice.
A second later the doors swung ajar, revealing a bluish-grey stallion with white mane that had a signle lock of golden streak in it. His right eye was a brilliant ruby color, and the other was obstructed by his mane, that fell over it.
Luna looked up at him, and the other stallion slowly turned to face his way. He stood at attention, then saluted sharply and said “Captain Shattered Aegis of Her Majesty’s Night Guard, Tactical Intelligence bureau.”
“At ease Aegis, you’re not here on official busines…” said Luna, then after a second of thought she added “...well, not on entirely-official business!”
At that Aegis dropped the salute, then noticed the stallion glaring at him with a bored expression on his face, but payed him no mind.
“Who’s the chump, Luna?” asked the purple stallion, turning back to the Princess.
“You’d better watch your manners in the presence of the Princess, unless you wish to find yourself on the receiving end of a lesson in respect from the Night Guard!” snapped at him Aegis.
“Uh-huh!” said the other, visibly unfazed by Aegis’ words.
Aegis opened his mouth to say something, when Luna stamped her hoof on her desk hard.
“Enough!” she said in a surprisingly calm voice, considering her previous action. “Sit down Aegis!” she motioned to the empty seat next to the purple stallion. “You should drop the issue, he is of the Guard too, and one of the few I consider my personal friends...much like yourself!”
Aegis took the offered seat and fell silent in embarrassment. Luna faced the two stallion, then took a deep breath.
“Let me introduce you to Major Midnight Peril, Daytime Operative Division of the Night Guard! He’s my best special agent.”
“In fact, the only D.O.D. agent in the Night Guard!” said Peril straightening up in his seat, apparent smugness radiating off of him.
“That is about to change, and to answer your previous question, Aegis here, is the only son of the late Colonel Misty Night, who I’m certain you are quite familiar with!”
Peril’s eyes widened and his jaw fell open at the double implication. “Ol’ Vapor’s….but I thought…” he looked Luna in the eyes questioningly, then turned to look the young stallion over again, and finally back to Luna “in the D.O.D.?”
“Yes, and yes. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, that Aegis is unique, and thus I believe he could be quite an asset as a daytime agent.”
Peril shut his gaping mouth, stood up, turned to Aegis, saluted him curtly, then offered him a hoof. “I had the opportunity to work with your father, and I had a great deal of respect for him. Vapor was a good friend and a beacon for the thestrals. I’m sorry about before.”
Aegis stood up, retuned the salute and took Peril’s hoof “Likewise. I’ve jumped into conclusions.”
Peril smiled at him and added “Now that I know, you really do remind me of him, just much younger. You have his mane.” then he sat down again. His face returned to it’s default unimpressed state. He faced Luna and asked “So, now that my division has essentially doubled in horsepower, I would like to know the reason, but before that, there’s a more pressing issue.”
“Which is?” asked Luna confused.
“I want a raise!” said Peril with a straight face.
“You’re not getting any,” shot him down Luna coldly, then continued with a giggle “but I’ll raise the budget of the division to 300%, since you’ll be getting another new member, and I’m already enjoying how you’re going to hate this! In fact, probably both of you will!”
Author's Note
First chapter of my first published fic. No sugar coating please! You don't have to be cruel, but say what you think! I need the critique. Get the comments flowing! Tell me where I messed up, correct my grammatical mistakes, so I can become better.
I didn't have an editor and proofreader, so there'll be probably a lot of mistakes.
See you guys in the next chapter, and thank you for reading!
