Equestria's Other Protectors

Chapter 1

Night walker sighed, facing off against his opponent. He was already tired of constantly getting into fights. No, he corrected himself, I am tired of having to explain myself every time I win. Even so, he couldn’t help but smile.  He hated the consequences, but he did enjoy fighting, and his smile only grew as the guard charged again. He had only been in the palace for three days, but he had been in multiple fights over that time, enough to notice that all the guards fought the same. It wasn’t surprising, since all the guards had all been trained in the same place, but it made the fights boring. He waited until the guard threw a punch, then made his move. Moving his body underneath the guard, Night threw him up into the air then turned around, bucking the guard into the wall and knocking him out. Night then sighed again, wishing the fight had been longer, before sitting down next to the guard and waiting for one of princesses to come.

When princess Celestia finally did arrive, he was surrounded by standing guards, with three more knocked out next to him. She hurriedly sent the guards away, and they took the unconscious ones with them, leaving only her and Night in the hallway. “Why does this happen every day?” She asked accusingly.

Night was still sitting calmly next to the wall, looking as if he hadn’t moved at all to knock out the other three. “If your guards stop attacking me, then I won’t have to fight back. Or they could learn to fight better, but I doubt that will happen.”

Celestia was used to his harsh tone by now and managed to withhold and harsh comment, instead focusing on the first part of his response. “You are a known criminal, one who has bested my guard repeatedly. And I can’t exactly advertise our arrangement, so they get suspicious and try to arrest you. This is why I am constantly telling you to be more careful in the palace, but you never listen.”

“I’m not much of the listening type, besides, it’s a good stress reliever.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again, realizing she wasn’t going to win. “At least try not to make too much trouble tonight. There is a big party being held in the ballroom for some of Equestria’s higher class ponies. Guard will be up, and the last thing I need is to have to check on you every few minutes.”

His eyes opened wider at her news, faking excitement. “Really, a big party? With lots of guards? I can’t wait.”

“You’re not invited.”

“Aww, come on princess. I’ve always dreamed of going to a big royal party. Then again, in most of my dreams I killed somepony. On second thought, maybe its best I didn’t go. Don’t want to tempt myself.”

Celestia sighed again, as she always seemed to when talking to Night. “If you are done with your jokes, I must insist you stay in your room tonight. We are showing off a new collection of artifacts that were just dug up underneath cloudsdale. There will be a lot more guards, and that means a lot more chances for you to cause trouble.”

Celestia expected him to agree, but as she spoke, she noticed a genuine interest in his eyes. “Your showing off artifacts, huh. It looks like I really will be going to that party.”

“What do you mean?” Celestia inquired, realizing he was no longer joking.

His smile returned as he spoke, taking as much enjoyment from upsetting the princess as fighting her guards, “If you are showing off artifacts that important, somepony is going to try to steal them. And only the best would try to steal from the castle. Ponies with the kind of skill you want on this team of mine. Its time I start gathering them.”

Celestia thought for a minute, mostly trying to think of a reason refuse him. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find a good one. It made sense that somepony would try to steal the artifacts, and now that she was thinking about it, he would probably be the best defense against them. “Very well. That is the kind of work we had intended for you, even without the benefit of building your team.”

He was fully smiling now, a genuine smile for the first time since his arrest. “See, we can agree with eachother. Now, I am going to need a few things. First, I need a suit tailored to fit all of my weapons. Second, I need an access pass that will allow me to get past the guards to any part of the castle. And third, I need an enchanted horn ring that will hide my magic emissions.”

“Those will be very hard to get in such a short time. But I will do my best if it means you will be able to keep the artifacts safe. They are very important to my sister, and are your first priority. I will have the items delivered to your room tonight before the party. This will be up to you, as my sister and I cannot help you. And do not think of crossing us, our spell will prevent that.”

Night nodded, still smiling slightly at the thought of actually having something to do. He had decided to make the best of this situation, and this would be his chance to see if that would be possible. As Celestia turned to leave, he spoke again. “What about bright eyes, has he told you anything yet?”

She turned back to face him, a softer look on her face, almost sad. “He did, yes. We spoke to him as soon as he woke up. You will be happy to know he was kicked out of my guard for using an illegal informant. When we asked about your parent’s killer, he gave us the name of a guard. Saying that the pony had bribed him into looking the other way. The problem is, the guard that he named disappeared a few years ago. We have started looking for him, and we intend to find him. But we need you to stay here, focus on building your team. We will give you more information when we can.”

Night hid his anger poorly, giving Celestia an angry look before regaining control of himself, simply bowing his head in defeat. He could do nothing no matter how much he wanted to. He knew from experience how easy it was to stay hidden from everypony. Nodding to Celestia, he decided it was better to have the princesses looking for the pony that killed his parents as opposed to doing it alone.  He didn’t say anything else as he headed back to his room, even ignoring the few guards that threw insults at him. He had hoped that he had finally found the pony that caused all this. He had risked everything to attack the guardhouse. And that risk had turned into his imprisonment. Though few would actually call this imprisonment.

He would never let celestia know this, but he actually enjoyed the situation he was in. It was a change from the constant running from city to city, and meeting with ponies that were no worse than the ones he killed. He now had the resources of the princesses behind him, and soon he would have a team as well. And it wasn’t like he had really cared about the money anyway. Thinking about all this had brightened his mood by the time he got back to his room. Stepping inside he started to go through his gear, thinking about what he would need for the party. He decided to only take a few things, easy to hide. There wouldn’t be a lot of fighting, not with thieves. His most valuable resource for this would be his magic.

As he thought about that, he got an idea, leaving his room quickly and hoping he remembered where he was going. Thankfully he did, ending up outside of Lunas chambers after a few minutes. Her guards tended to stand him more than Celsetia’s did, but not by much. “What are you doing here?” One asked harshly.

“I need something from her? Now are you going to get out of my way?”

“Why would she give you anything? You are a criminal; you are lucky the princesses even let you around the palace.”

Night was getting tired of this, so he decided to have some fun with them. “I need it for the party tonight.”

The guard scoffed, “Yeah, like they would let you into the party. Get out of here.”

He smiled softly, hiding his anger, “I really must insist you let me in. And I would rather not have to knock with your head.”

The guard’s response was cut off by the door opening. Upon seeing Luna he stood at attention, his voice clear of any previous emotion. “We are sorry Princess, this criminal was asking to see you and would not take no for an answer.”

Luna sighed, “We are awake now anyway. Allow him inside.”

The look of shock on the guards face forced night to hold back a laugh, instead walking past with a large smile on his face. Upon entering the room, he immediately noticed a few things. First, there were heavy black curtains drawn over the windows, probably to allow Luna to sleep during the day. Second, was the moving star pattern on the ceiling, it was like looking at the real night sky. This comforted him, since he was used to working at night. And the third thing was the size of the room. It was hard to tell with how dark it was, but the room was massive. At least compared to his. Truly fitting of a princess. After he processed all of this, he bowed to Luna, “Princess.”

She motioned for him to stand almost immediately, “What is it you want night walker?”

He had expected the harshness in her voice, but it still stung a bit. “I apologize for interrupting you. I was wondering I would be able to borrow some shadow crystals. Celestia has given me permission to go to the party tonight so that I can protect the artifacts being shown from theives. I was hoping I would be able to use the crystals to cast a tracking spell on the crowd without it completely draining me.”

She only nodded, walking to a corner of the room and pulling three crystals out of a drawer. He reached out to take them, but she held them back. “Before I give these to you, I wish to ask you some questions.” Night agreed, and she continued. “I want you to tell me about your parents and their connection to dark magic, as well as how you became an assassin. If we will be working together, I wish to understand you better.”

It was a sensitive subject for him, but he spoke anyway, the overwhelming presence of darkness serving to comfort him. “My parents were the highest level black mages in Equestria before you came back. They only wished to study the art and continue your teachings, but after your banishment black magic had been outlawed. We were chased constantly by ponies who thought they would get a reward for our capture. Ponies that were just hoping to use us as a bargaining chip for the other crimes they committed. One by one their apprentices were captured, some killed, and it took a toll on them. Eventually they realized that the guards would be coming for me next. So they tried to invent a spell to save us all, bring us into the shadow realm. But it was interrupted. A royal guard came in and killed them both. As they died they used their power to protect me. Ever since then my coat has been pitch black, and my black magic stronger than any normal pony’s. Some say it would even rival yours.”

He had expected her to be surprised, or interrupt him, but she did neither, keeping silent and waiting for him to continue. “After that, I became part of the underground, because I knew normal ponies would never except my magic. I stole things and did deliveries, but I was always looking for the pony that killed my parents. I wasn’t mad at you princesses; I knew that killing them wasn’t protocol. No, I wanted the individual pony. And one day, I thought I had found him. So I followed him home, and I killed him. It turned out the pony had a bounty on his head, but was not the one who had killed my parents. The ponies I had befriended from the underworld realized I had potential as an assassin, so they trained me. I swore from that day on that I would fight back against evil ponies. So that nopony would have to grow up without parents, or constantly on the run.”

He sat down after finishing the story, no emotion on his face, but Luna could see a few tears threatening to escape. Then she stood, walked over, and hugged him. He was surprised at first, but eventually relaxed into the hug. She felt like pure darkness, and that feeling gave him more comfort then she could ever imagine. After a minute she pulled back, handing the crystals over to him. “You may be a criminal, but you are honest. Not having me to help rule equestria caused many problems, including the hate of dark magic. For that, I am sorry. And while I may not trust you yet, I truly hope that I will come to. You will do well with us nightwalker, if you are able to set your ideals aside long enough to make some friends. But for now, go. The party will start soon.”

-Party-

Night Walker arrived at the party on time, despite his gear taking longer than expected to arrive. The palace ballroom was nicely decorated, fit for a high class party, but not drawing attention away from the multiple artifacts on display. The ponies in the room were  the complete opposite however. All dressed up in large and expensive clothes. The suit he was wearing allowed him to fit in, but he still felt out of place. Night was much more used to arenas and shady deals then high class events, but he did his best. Choosing to interact as little as possible, he moved over to look at the different artifacts on display.  Upon closer inspection, he saw that the artifacts were all part of the same object. It looked almost like a clock, but covered in weird symbols. After looking at those for a while, he started his plan.

He started walking around the perimeter of the ballroom. When he got to a specific part of the wall, he pulled out one of the crystals and anchored it, using a spell to make it invisible. He repeated this process twice more, making a sort of triangle with the three crystals. After that he moved to the middle of the room, preparing to cast his spell, but he was interrupted before he could. An earth pony in an elegant gown approached him, “Hello dear, lovely party isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.” He kept his responses short, hoping the conversation wouldn’t last long. Unfortunately, she continued.

“My name is Silver platter. I don’t believe I’ve seen you at these parties before. What is your name?”

Night didn’t recognize the name, but she seemed vaguely familiar. He put that thought to the side however, and focused on thinking of an answer. “My name is night. I am rather new to these kind of parties. I recently became friends with the princesses.”

She nodded, “Well I hope to see you around, I believe we could become very good friends.” With that she smiled and walked into the bathroom. Making sure she was alone, she then opened the stall door, revealing an unconscious royal guard. “I believe we will see each other again quite sooner than you think.” She said to herself as she started taking the armor off the guard.

Night walker ignored the mare’s words and started his spell as soon as she had walked out of sight. After a few seconds of casting, the spell was complete. A barrier around the ballroom that would alert him if anypony besides a guard left the room. And just in time too, as soon as the spell was cast, it was set off. A Pegasus mare was sneaking out into the castle. He smiled, this was where the real fun began. He walked over to the guards and showed them the access pass. They moved to the side and let him through, for once not recognizing him. After getting into the main parts of the castle he broke into a run, following the Pegasus.

When she had tripped the spell, it had put a tracker on her. Unfortunately, she was fast. He couldn’t catch up to her, but he knew where she was heading, and teleported to the royal vault. Even with his teleport her only beat her by seconds, turning to face her as she rounded the final corner. When she saw him, she stopped in surprise. “What are you doing here, this is my score.”

Night almost laughed, “I’m here to stop you. And to give you a choice.”

She scoffed, “Stop me? Do you know who I am?”

“Young pegasus, extremely fast, and full of herself. Sonic Ghost, fastest thief in equestria.”

She smiled at the recognition. “It’s so nice that even the guards around here know me.”

He moved towards her, flashing his hidden blades. “I am so much better than a guard.”

“Ah, the princesses have themselves a new lapdog. It’s a pity really, to see somepony with so much potential reduced to guarding the royal vault.”

“Why don’t you see how much potential I really have.” With that he ran at the thief, attempting to stab her in the foreleg. She moved out of the way and bucked him in the shoulder. He took a few steps back and recovered from the hit as she ran at him to attack again. She went to punch him but he took a step back to avoid it. As soon as the hoof went past him he slammed into her, knocking her off balance. She fell to the ground and rolled to recover, but not fast enough. As she got to her hooves he placed his hidden blade firmly against her neck.

“I must insist you hear me out.” She tried to get past him and run away, but he grabbed her with his magic, lifting her off the ground and pressing her against the wall.  She struggled and almost broke his magic hold on her, but he was skilled enough to keep hold of her. Barely.

“It doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice. But can you at least tell me your name?”

She had stopped struggling, which allowed him to focus on speaking. “Most call me nightmare blade.”

The surprise on her face was priceless. “You’re Nightmare blade? Why are you working for the princesses? You are the best assassin in equestria.”

“All will be explained soon enough. But you have already lost. We have all the time in the world.”

The cocky look returned to her face, “I’m afraid you’re wrong. You are the one that lost. And I will be out of prison before you know it.”

He sighed, about to retort, when he remembered the artifacts. She was after the vault, which meant was still somepony here to steal them. “Who else is here? Tell me.” He slammed her against the wall, but she only smiled. Using his magic, he created a collar around her neck. It was invisible, but she could feel it as he set her down. “Come.” She followed him reluctantly, pulling against his magic, but to no avail. He had to think fast, whoever was going to steal the artifacts would do it soon. He thought of an idea as the made it back to the ballroom, but he knew the princesses weren’t going to like it. In the end he decided it would be best to worry about that later, and focus on his job.

As they entered the room she did what he expected her to. She screamed. “Everyone get out of here, this pony is going to kill me!” As soon as the said this the entire room went into a panic. Guards rushed to the princesses and they were ushered out of the room. The rest surrounded him, while the high class ponies screamed and rushed for the doors. Night watched the crowd, looking for anypony acting different. He used his barrier to check for the artifacts on them as they left, but nopony had any. He had already known this would be the case, a professional would not leave like that, but he had still hoped. Instead he just sighed and started the second part of his plan. He ran, with the thief in tow.

He knew the castle well enough to not get stuck in a dead end, but doing so while running from guards was difficult. After a few wrong turns and close calls, he made it to his destination, finding himself face to face with both princesses in their throne room. “Hold her.” He said quickly, giving the thief a push and teleporting out before they could react. His teleport brought him to one of the crystals, which were thankfully still in the ballroom. Inside, he saw a guard opening the case to the final artifact. Picking it up and putting it in a bag. “Nice aren’t they?” He asked.

The guard turned quickly, but slowed when she saw him. “Ah, nightmare. You are a sight for sore eyes. Help me get out of here, I’ll give you part of the cut.”

On hearing her voice, he wanted to facehoof. It was the girl from earlier, but she looked completely different. That fact itself made him know exactly who it was. “Masquerade. I should have recognized you.”

She laughed, “No you shouldn’t have dear. It’s my job. Now come on, get me out of here. It’s a shame about Ghost, but I understand you needed an escape. After we heard you got caught they considered calling off this job, but I told them that you would be here. I knew we would be able to help you get out. Ghost didn’t like the idea, but it looks like she ended up helping you anyway. Oh well, you are worth more than her anyway. Come on, I have all of them, let’s go.”

He nodded, but motioned to the magic invisibility ring on his horn. “Get this magic inhibitor off me and I can teleport us out,” He lied. She nodded and removed it, wrapping her hooves around him as he focused his now visible magic for a teleport, causing both to them to fade into shadows and reappear. Masquerade hated his shadow magic, but they had done a job together before, so she knew how it felt. But as her body materialized again, she realized that they weren’t outside. They were in the throne room, surrounded by guards and with both princesses looking at them. Sonic Ghost was sitting next to them, also surrounded by guards. She moved away from nightmare quickly, shocked at his betrayal.

“Princesses,” he spoke, “I give you sonic ghost and masquerade.” Celestia looked surprised, but Luna smiled. “Good work night. You have done well, even if my sister did not believe in you.”

“What in Tartarus!” Masquerade yelled. “You work for the princesses?” Night only nodded, but Celestia explained.

“We captured him, and we gave him a choice, the same choice we give you. You can either submit to the law, in which case you will be banished for life, never to contact another pony again, for risk of revealing Night Walker’s true allegiance. Or, we could put a spell on you. This spell will allow us to keep track of your movements and actions, and stop you from doing anything illegal. You will still be able to do your jobs however. You will be put on a team with Night and you will work against crime in Equestria. If you agree to this you will be given housing and food, as long as you follow our rules during your normal lives, and we will know if you break them.”

Masquerade still looked mad, but Ghost was intrigued. “So the princesses are hiring criminals now?”

“We are hiring ponies with the capability to stop criminals, in ways that we would never be allowed to. You will still obey laws when not on missions, and even on missions there will be rules to follow. For example, Night is still not allowed to kill unless absolutely necessary. So no, we are not hiring criminals, we are arresting criminals, and turning them into protectors of Equestria. At least, that is how we see it. Night may give you a different answer, but you are free to ask him. We will give each of you a few days before you have to answer. Until then, we are assigning guards to watch over each of you, and putting a spell on you so that you cannot leave the palace.” After she finished speaking, her horn glowed, and she motioned to two of the guards, who stepped forward to stand by each of the criminals sides. “Enjoy the palace.” With that, and despite some struggling from masquerade, the room was cleared, leaving the princesses to themselves. “I hope he can convince them.”

Luna responded warmly, “Do not worry sister. I believe in him, they will join us soon enough.”