Three years passed in the turn of a page, Dawn graduated with flying colours. Her relationship with Cobalt had progressed from just meeting on some weekends to the point they were constantly together and had slept together more times than the pair could count (Their first time was very awkward for the young couple and ended in them both passed out on the floor.) Now the pair had moved into roomy apartment that they could afford to rent together in Canterlot, it had a beautiful view of the castle and was close to the little job Dawn had been offered by Legacy in the cafe she had opened on a corner, “Cosy Coffee.”

Cobalt had found a job in Celestia’s School for Gifted Colts and Fillies as their lab technician. The last one had been subject to the upteenth accident in the school and had quit after being turned pink. After the interview, the science teachers in the school had scooped up the blue stallion quickly into their ranks for his talents in chemical reactions and his uncanny ability to mix two chemicals together at the perfect percentages.

Dawn had also stopped dying her coat, after years of being a dull grey like Quizzy and Ratchet, she had worked out that nopony really cared if she shared her colour palette with her parents. She now wore her natural deep purple coat like a badge of honour to go and see Princess Luna.

The walk to the castle didn’t take long, she had been told in another beautiful letter that bringing the sword she had received three years ago would tell the guards she was welcome in the castle without supervision. Dawn smiled at the two guards at the gate, they silently nodded and waved the purple mare through. She wasn’t stopped at the grand doors to the castle either, after pausing a couple times down a long hallway, she knocked on the silvered door to the Nightcourt, it was made of a black obsidian inlaid with countless silver stars and gems.

“Enter!” The regal shout came from inside, Dawn choked down her fear and doubt in herself before walking through the great door, her sword on her back.

“Ah, Dawn!” Luna said, clapping her hooves together like an excited filly, she lit her horn up to close the grand doors with a telekinetic push before trotting down from her throne to meet her little protege. “You’re purple.”

Dawn bowed low to the Princess of the Night, “Yes… It’s my natural colour, Last time I met you I was dying my coat grey to um… to be like my parents.” Dawn said before standing up again, seeing the princess in her full, regal nature was odd after first meeting her more casual nature. “You sent for me?”

Luna nodded, “You remember three years ago when I sent you that letter and you came to meet me?” She asked, Dawn nodded and Luna began to walk away from her towards her throne, “I told you that I would keep a place in the Dreamguard for a little pegasus mare, right?”

“Um, yeah… You did, and then you gave me a sword.” Dawn said, taking the sheathed length of metal off her back.

“That was insurance Dawn, come come into the back here.” Luna mumbled to her before walking behind the throne. “You sleepy?”

Dawn didn’t really feel overly sleepy right now, “No, not really, should I be?” She asked.

Luna walked under a set of curtains and lay down on one of the cushions inside the small, dark room. “Come in and lie down Dawn.”

Dawn followed the princess, “Um, why?” She asked, sitting down on the other oversized cushion, lying the sword to her side.

“Just lie down Dawn, I’ll explain more in the Dreamscape.” Luna said forcefully, “And hold Xiphis against you.”

Dawn nodded, pulling the sword against her and lying down on folded hooves. Within a couple moments, Dawn was peacefully asleep.

--==========================--

Dawn sat up in her blank dreamscape, knocking the sword off her side and jumping at the unexpected clang it produced when it hit the ground. The sword was in the dream with her, that’s not how that works, you couldn’t simply put something in a dream from the real world.

Dawn was about to question it before her dream door was suddenly in her face, making her stumble back in surprise. The door was opened by a curious Princess Luna.

“Ah you are both here, come come Dawn.” Princess Luna beckoned Dawn, then before she could stand up, Luna turned around with a hard stare at the sword Dawn was sitting next to. “Don’t you get any attitude, Missy.”

“What?” Dawn asked, a little shocked, “I didn’t say anything Princess.” She complained, getting to her hooves.

Luna snorted. “I’m not talking to you Dawn, I am having a conversation with Xiphis.”

“Xiphis?” Dawn looked at the sword at her side. “But Xiphis is a sword.”

Luna smiled at the little mare and walked out into the dreamscape, “You have much to learn Dawn.”

Dawn picked up the sword and followed Luna into the starry abyss, still in awe of it’s ethereal beauty.

Luna was sitting down in the middle of the glassy bubbles, holding a small knife in front of her. “This is Carnwennan, he is my knife like Xiphis is your sword.” She smiled and waved her hoof, a tall stallion appeared next to her with a shower of sparkles. Dawn jumped back, her eyes widening at the sudden, surprising appearance of the tan stallion.

“And this is Carnwennan,” The princess gestured at the stallion standing next to her. He was draped with chainmail and had a small, unassuming crown on his head, his glossy fur showing through the holes in the mail.

The tall stallion bowed his head to Dawn respectfully but remained silent, not once taking his critical eyes off the sword in Dawn’s hooves.

“Draw Xiphis Dawn, she probably won’t bite.” Luna said after a moment, motioning with the short blade in her magic towards the still sheathed blade in Dawn’s grasp.

The little grey mare swallowed her doubts and nudged the hilt of the sword, it slipped slightly out of the sheath to reveal a light blue steel blade, Dawn put the sword between her teeth and yanked the rest of the perfect blade out of the sheath. The runes engraved in the blade glowed in the starry light of the dreamscape, bathing the whole blade in a dim blue sheen as dawn held it in her wavering grasp.

“Hold her in your forehoof, the pommel should make that easy.” Luna said, pointing to the straps on the handle of the sword.

Dawn slipped the sword onto her hoof and found that it was easy to wield, giving it a couple clumsy swings. “So, this is Xiphis?” She asked the pair of ponies standing in front of her, both of whom glanced at each other and shared a cheesy grin.

Dawn was quite surprised by the bright flash of light from the sword she was holding and how it shook in her hoof, reverberating with a note that sounded somewhere between a songbird and a cry of joy.

When Dawn could open her eyes again, there was a tall unicorn mare draped in elegant armour standing with her legs spread out, panting and looking extremely surprised.

Before Dawn could say anything, the mare stood up again and announced at the top of her lungs. “Bloody hell Luna, took your bloody time getting a replacement for Zak now didn’t you!”

The princess giggled, covering her mouth with an elegant hoof. “I would have let you out sooner Xiphis, but you know that you need a guard of your own to manifest.” Luna said to the annoyed mare.

“Well, who’s the victim this time Luley?” Xiphis said, turning around to look at the extremely surprised looking Dawn. “Isn’t she missing something Carnie? Ya know,” The unicorn tapped her horn, “She isn’t horny.”

Carnwennan spoke up for the first time with a deep, melodious voice, “This is Dawn, she is an exception to the rules concerning dreamwalking magic. A little bit like you are the exception within the ranks of the Axatite swords, As the first and eldest of the swords, I decided that the two exceptions should be placed together, I think that giving the youngest member of the guard such an exceptional blade would be a good idea.”

Dawn swallowed, “Um, Princess Luna, can I just ask you why we need swords that have magic ponies inside them?” She asked, then added a quick, “No offence…” When she felt Xiphis’ icy blue eyes bore into her like drills.

Luna smiled, “Simple, one reason Dawn. What happens when you’re walking about on your rounds, alone and you get jumped by something bigger than you that has teeth the size of Xipha?” She said pointedly.

“What happens?” Xipha said boisterously, “What happens is that I can pop out and stab that bitch in the eye till help gets here.” She started to parade around the group, “Come to think of it, when is the next time we can go stab some random monster up?”

“Patience Xiphis.” Carnwennan warned.

The taller mare sighed and folded her forehooves, sitting back on her haunches with a grumpy scowl etched onto her face.

Dawn was confused. She was meant to work alongside this loud, aggravating mare?

“Oi, Dawn is it?” Xiphis asked, turning to Dawn, “You look nice enough, I think we’ll work good enough together Looney, you still down for it Carnie?”

Carnwennan sighed and put his hoof to his forehead, “Yes, I endorsed you for a reason Xiphis, now please calm down so we may explain the situation to the obviously painfully clueless Mrs Dawn here.”

Xiphis sat down, apparently satisfied with Carnwennan’s endorsement.

Dawn was confused, she was still reeling from her sword’s sudden and unnerving… excitement. Luna slid her dagger into the sheath under her wing, Carnwennan relaxing a little bit and sitting down.

“The role of the Axatite swords is to supply the dreamguard with a weapon while they are in the dreamscape, as you probably know, unicorn magic doesn’t exactly work as one would expect while one is dreaming.” Princess Luna began, gesturing to the long horn upon her head. “We know that ninety nine times out of a hundred an unicorn’s levitation magic will work as expected inside the dreamworld. Most other spells will do something unexpected or won’t work at all.”

“And this is why we have the Axatite swords, due to the unique magic contained in the metal, they seem to have some affinity with the dreamscape.” She continued, “They have the rare ability to move between the waking world and the dream world along with a consciousness.”

Dawn nodded, “So, the swords move between the real world and here whenever we sleep?” She asked, trying to clarify it.

Carnwennan nodded, still watching Xiphis clutched in Dawn’s hooves like an eagle.

“And you have the swords instead of using your magic to fight stuff, right?” Dawn questioned, sliding Xiphis into her plain black scabbard.

“That is correct Dawn.” Luna said, “I’m not going to give an example of what happens to other magic inside the dreamscape because I have no idea what it might do.”

Dawn smiled, “So, does this mean I’ve got the place in the guard?” She asked probably a little too excitedly because Luna had to suppress a little giggle, making Dawn feel a little bit put out, her ears and wings drooping a little, “M-Maybe not then?”

“You have a place on the training program Dawn, I have had to change how Misty operates considering you haven’t exactly got a horn.” Luna said, tapping her hooves together. “You are going to meet the other guards soon too, and i’m warning you that they are probably the least professional bunch in private.”

“Whatever do you mean Princess?” Dawn asked, getting a little chuckle from Carnwennan.

Luna answered Dawn with a happy, distant smile, “You will find out given time little Dawn.”

They parted ways there, Dawn trotted back to her glossy bubble before tapping it with a hoof and feeling herself getting pulled back into her own dream before jolting awake in the pillow laden room, the princess gazing at her with a happy, wide smile.

Dawn’s legs had gone to sleep with how she was lying on them and felt like wet logs underneath her, she stretched her legs out and tried to stand up, wobbling and falling on her side. Princess Luna stifled a giggle at Dawn’s clumsiness before using a gentle magical grasp to pull Dawn back to her hooves.

“Thank you Princess.” Dawn breathed, testing her balance on her slowly awakening legs.

The older pony smiled and rose to her hooves, her silver horseshoes clicking rhythmically on the pristine marble floor as she walked from the cozy room back out into the throne room. “Come come Dawn, what you have just been shown is barely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how the guard works.” Luna said back into the room where Dawn was slowly wobbling out, Xiphis balanced on her back.

Dawn followed the Princess back into the throne room, the feeling having returned to her legs again. “What do you mean Princess?” She asked.

“I mean that you are to begin your training as soon as you can.” Princess Luna turned to Dawn and smiled, flaring her wings out dramatically, “For thau this day shall becomest a member of the Dreamguard of the Princess of the Night!”

With that, the elegant, tall mare made a dramatic exit, flaring her horn and tossing her mane, vanishing in a flurry of midnight purple feathers. While this exit was dramatic and well timed, it was definitely not very useful since half of the feathers flew right into Dawn’s face. The little pegasus was rather surprised by the assault of fluffy plumage and fell back on her rump, her face now covered entirely with feathers. She blinked a couple of times and shook her head to get the feathers off her face, succeeding mostly besides a couple of stragglers she brushed away from her face with a hoof.

“Alright then…” Dawn breathed, putting Xiphis back between her wings before starting to try and work her way through the labyrinth of castle hallways.

Author's Note

Aaaaaand this was a horrible chapter to write. Personally, this one is my least favourite one so far because to me it feels awfully rushed, and unnecessarily so.

For anyone interested, Xiphis is a Greek Xiphos and Carnwennan is the legendary dagger belonging to King Arthur. Yes Excalibur is in this story but she is much less important.

I do hope that you enjoy this trainwreck of a chapter, happy reading!