Author's Note

New chapter introducing some new characters!
Have fun!

The Twilight Guard (Night Glider)

Chapter Fourteen: The Twilight Guard (Night Glider POV)

Screamed orders echoed through castle, disturbing my peaceful sleep. I flicked my ears and buried my head deeper into the soft fur of my Princess and lover, trying to get back to my dreams.

Twilight groaned beside me, muttering something about how wasted our plans were to go to bed early.

She was right, because seconds later the door to her chambers burst open. “My Princess! Sergeant! There is a Royal Guard in front of our door demanding to speak with you or the Captain!”

I hissed and slowly got up to see who had so rudely burst into our chambers. The guard Angel Wings, a pegasus mare with a grey coat and scarlet mane stood before me, out of breath. The crimson streaks through her mane were messy, almost obscuring her cerulean eyes. Her cutie mark of a winged heart seemed fitting though, whenever trouble found anypony, she was always the first to be there. “Angel Wings,” I groaned, “why didn’t you sent him away?”

“I’m sorry, Sergeant, but there is a whole battalion of Royals in front of the castle! Something seems wrong.”

Setting a last, longing gaze upon Twilight who looked sleepily to me, I sighed. “Alright Angel, I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Are you sure you want to deal with it alone?” Twilight asked, wrapping a wing around me.

I slowly leaned into her embrace and gave her a soft kiss before untangling myself and leaving the bed. “I’m sure. Probably something silly and I’ll back in bed before you know it.”

Twilight smiled before laying her head back down. I lingered a few more moments before dressing in my lightest armor and following Angel out of the room. “Anyone else awake yet?”

“Besides the night shift? Nopony. But I had a hard time ensuring that, since the Royals were creating such a ruckus. Mint is still asleep, as well as Armor.”

“Let's keep it that way and see what they want,” I said, before quickening my pace.

We were just in time to see one of our guards in a small shouting match with a Royal. I could identify our guard as Grey Dust, a newer guard that took the basic night shift. The orange earth pony and Royal, I could see was Rune Shoe, the lieutenant of the local royal guard in ponyville. His chestnut mane and coat seemed fitting, given the rune cutie mark adorning his flank; he spent enough time in the dirt and in the field that his parent’s must’ve been psychics to get it right.

“I asked you ten minutes ago to get me your Princess or one of your officers ASAP! Why is this taking so long?” Rune grumbled.

“It is called sleep, and most ponies need it,” Dust replied with a snort before noticing me. “Sergeant. They claim to know something about an uprising going on against the princess.”

Rune looked me over before shaking his head “You're not the captain. I'm not speaking with you.”

“Well,” I said, giving him my best smile. “You'll have to take me. The captain is unavailable.”

“Then let me speak with the Princess!” He shot back and tried to get past us and up the stairs, which we immediately blocked.

“You are in the home of the Princess of Friendship. Show some manners or get out,” Angel hissed besides me.

“Shut up, soldier!” Was all Rune had to say and I had enough.

“Rune. You will leave, and you will do it now. If it really was as important as you claimed you would have talked to me. Guards, show them the way out.”

The Royals complained, but were quickly shoved to the door. Before they got out, however, something changed.

Rune turned and looked at me. It wasn't the angry look he had before. His eyes were empty now, soulless. As he spoke, it wasn't his voice either.

“In the name of our Princess of the Sun, Princess Twilight is to be restrained and handed over, as well as her guards. Disobeying will result in full force.”

“I’m not repeating myself, Rune. Leave,” I replied, trying to stay calm.

I think the moment I knew that something was wrong for sure was the moment Rune pulled out a magical discharge, blinding us all before screaming, “Kill them all, capture the Nightmare!”

***

Time seemed to have stopped as the pure, magical light flooded the room. I was really close to it so it literally knocked me back into Angel Wings. We both toppled to the floor, but before Rune could use the situation to his advantage, a shield blocked him held by a cerulean earth pony. I looked up at the pony with a dashing violet mane highlighted by indigo streaks. The three polished diamonds guarding her flank proved her mettle, showing the strength she carried. As her shield held strong, she looked down at me with her purple eyes that spoke grace about her. Then she spoke.

“Hey ya two useless pricks! Why didn’t ya wake me? Stand up and help me get rid of this nut,” Diamond Mint shouted as she continued to block Rune who now smashed into her shield in pure rage. “Quicker if you may!”

We scrambled to our hooves to help Diamond, but as soon as we tried, the two guards that had accompanied Rune attacked us. They had the same empty look as Rune, and I flinched as one shot a bolt at me.

It was barely deflected by my shoulder pads and I cursed myself for only wearing light armor. “Angel! We have to get rid of them quickly and sound the alarm!”

“We aren’t even near a crystal and I doubt we can get rid of them in time!” she screamed back, struggling to block the golden armored stallion that tried to crush her with his weight.

Twilight had installed soft shining, red crystals in every room of the castle. Once destroyed, they would send a magical impulse to every near outpost and Canterlot, signaling an alarm. It was a genius invention, but sadly they were pretty expensive and there was only one in the main hall which happened to be about a few dozen hooves away on the other side.

“I can’t evade mine, he could shoot me down with his bolts, but your attacker is an earth pony. Now get your ass moving and fly to the crystal!”

“Oh,” Angel said, whistling thoughtfully. “Yeah, I should stop forgetting about these in fights,” she chuckled and dodged her attacker with a powerful flap of her wings.

Rune, who was still in a fight with the captain saw her, however. “Shoot her down you idiots! If she sounds the alarm the Nightmare will wake and help them before we have the chance to restrain her!”

The unicorn I was locked in a fight lit up his horn and I was stupid enough to keep my eyes open. My sight temporarily blocked, I staggered back while I heard bolt after bolt fired. Fearing a scream and a dull sound of Angel falling, I instead heard mocking laughter.

“Where did they school ya aim? Kindergarten? Even my sister could hit me and she’s not even out of her diapers yet!” she mocked the unicorn. “You’re so stupid, you should go back to magic kindergarten so they can teach you to actually hit the target!”

I heard the unicorn growl and then a big discharge while my sight slowly returned. What I saw made me grin madly before I tackled the unicorn, while Rune groaned and Diamond and Angel cheered what was followed by a crash and loud ringing.

Angel had flown into the direction of the crystal, her mocking bringing the royal into more and more rage until he couldn’t control himself anymore. He unloaded a huge blast, but to his pure astonishment, Angel evaded his shot and he hit the crystal instead which exploded in bright red light.

“You idiot!” Rune screamed before turning and smashing both hind hooves into Diamond’s shield, sending her staggering back. Then he fled.

Or he would have if not for a giant purple barrier materializing in the doorway. Cursing, he turned and suddenly found himself muzzle to muzzle with my marefriend and princess.

And oh was she pissed.

“You invade my home. Attack my guards. Then a pegasus from your unit tries to kidnap me. Are you mad?”

For a second something changed in Rune’s eyes, then the same blank expression came back before he screamed out of his full lungs. “The Nightmare is awake! Alert our forces! We have to end her reign before it can truly begin! For the princesses!”

Twilight rolled her eyes and sent a bolt to his head, knocking him effectively out. The two guards left bolted at this sight and Twilight let them pass through her shield before raising it again. Then she came over to me with concern in her eyes, nuzzling me gently.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” I replied, enjoying the contact. “They tried to take us by surprise, but Rune acted surprisingly dumb. Something is really wrong.”

“I think they are being controlled,” Twilight grimaced. “Go up and change into your heaviest armor. Since the alarm went off already help should arrive soon. We have to prepare.”

***

I looked at my reflection in the mirror, checking to see if everything was in place while Night Armor fastened the leftover clips. She worked quickly and reliably, we all knew we could trust her. Armor? Check. Helmet? Check. Flawless azure coat? Double checked for Twi. I looked into my own cerulean eyes, thankful to not find an ounce of fear. I blew a strand of silvery hair from my face and flicked my head to get the rest of my mane away from my eyes when Armor spoke.

“How’s Twilight?” she asked, her voice muffled through the metal in her muzzle. The big thestral with an aubergine coat was quite the sight trying to talk with her mouthful. Her grey mane speckled with dark blue and black highlights was tucked neatly to one side, to keep from getting caught in the buckles. Her shield and moon cutiemark spoke well to her loyalties, and her deep purple eyes would be easy to get lost in… if I didn’t already have Princess Twilight.

“She’s fine, as always. Keeping a really cool head about this situation.”

“You know how lucky you are?” Night Armor snorted.

I grinned. “To have such an awesome marefriend? Sure! You done yet?”

“Two more clips,” she replied and after five seconds patted me with her hoof, “Done!”

Looking into the mirror again, I smiled. Fully covered in the heavy purple plates with silver and black accents. “You know, at first I really hated this armor and called Twilight overprotective. I wasn’t able to fly or walk correctly. But after all those months, I know what she did. While she might wanted to protect me, she wanted me to become stronger. I can run, sprint and dodge in this armor, and even fly for a limited amount of time.”

“You are the only one capable of it,” Night Armor hummed. “Not even Blue’s linebreakers are able to fly or dodge with their armor.”

“Thanks for the flattery,” I joked. “Let’s go, I’m sure they’re already waiting.”

I made a step, but she laid her hoof on my back. “I wish she would’ve made you captain.”

“You know why that wasn’t possible. As her marefriend, everypony would only see her preferring me over everypony else. The other princesses wouldn’t have accepted that, so it’s okay.”

“It still hurts?” she asked, lifting her hoof.

“Hey, I have an awesome marefriend! There’s got to be more than other princesses and a few royals pissing on my hooves before I break down,” I chuckled back.

Night Armor looked down but I quickly raised her head with my hoof. “Hey don’t worry. You will find the perfect partner for you as well. Sometimes it just takes some time.”

“Please don’t get all sappy on me,” she replied, acting like she was about to vomit before quickly evading my strike. “Okay, okay, let’s get down.”

I seem to have forgotten the time, because everypony was already waiting for us as we went down. Twilight glared at me, tapping her hoof impatiently on the ground and I shrunk down.

“Now that these two finally decided they could join us, let’s start. For whatever reason, the stationed Royal Guard attacks us. We don’t know why, except their weird statements, that they want to stop me from bringing nightly terror over Equestria.”

Angel snickered. but a harsh gaze reigned her quickly in.

“This battalion of Royals was sent here to support us should something happen or go wrong, like another Tirek incident.” Twilight continued. “Now all of them are attacking us for some strange reason. I suspect some sort of controlling magic, but I can’t prove it yet. I set up a powerful shield bubble around the castle and, as we speak, they are trying to break through.”

“Where is our reinforcement?” Night Armor asked.

Diamond Mint sighed, stepping forward. “Two hours away. Princess Luna sent word that the Lunar Army is on their way here via airship. We have to last those two hours!”

“There is something else we should do,” I cut in and Twilight looked at me, urging me to continue. “If they are truly being controlled, we should try and capture one, and try to get as much information as possible. It could help us find out who is responsible and put an end to this.”

Twilight nodded with a soft smile and I cheered internally. “Glider is right. If you can, capture one of the attackers, but your first priority is to protect the castle and yourself. Try to avoid killing any of the Royal Guard, instead knock them out.”

“Alright! You know what the deal is! Form four battalions! The first one will follow me and the princess to the stairs, we will be the main defense. Angel Wings, you will lead the defense troop on the towers inside to hinder any pegasi from trespassing. Night Armor, you will defend the inner circle of the castle. Night Glider, you will take two guards and protect your princess!” Diamond shouted her orders, making us all salute before scrambling off.

“Let’s show them what it means to mess with the Twilight Guard!!!”