The Smiling Warrior

Luna dropped the spell once the memory was over bringing the two back to the present. Once they were fully awake she said "Now I believe it is my turn is it not."

"Yes, give me a moment to prepare the spell for you two and how are you feeling Jack?" Celestia asked turning to the man with a sad but hopeful look on her face.

Jack sighed before looking her in the eyes. "You're so far almost fully forgiven for the issue but I still want to see Luna's." He replied evenly.

"Then let us begin." Luna said walking to her throne and sitting down taking the same position Celestia had while Jack moved to sit in front of her.

"Hope you have a good one." Jack said before feeling the spell slip him into the memory.

Snow. lots and lots of snow. Jack looked around the mountain top seeing only snow and solid stone with a black almost ink like storm above that occasionally lit up with a thunderous crash of metal striking metal.

"So whats your memory?" Jack asked turning to the sounds of footprints revealing Luna.

"You know of the tale of Nightmare Moon correct?" She said looking to the man who gave a nod. "What isn't written in the tale is how I became corrupted. When we had became friends with Scorched and eventually my sister his lover, he had given us a part of his power so that we could fight an enemy like Discord again and use the Elements better." She stated looking to the sky as what appeared like a meteor was crashing to the ground making a BOOM from impact.

Inside Jack saw what he knew as Nightmare Moon as she matched the description Twilight had given him when he first arrived. The figure got up, letting out a banshee like screech ready to charge back into the clouds but being knocked back down by a fiery fist from an armor clad Celestia. "Scorched got corrupted by his powers and since he gave you some of his you got corrupted when you let your anger about the ponies get out of control right?" Jack said turning to the scowling mare as Celestia was thrown away back into the sky followed by Moon.

Luna nodded her head not letting a sound out as her body trembled when Celestia let out a cry of pain after being hit by a beam of energy from Nightmare. Tears began forming in her eyes when Celestia's begging for her sister to come back to her reached them till finally Luna broke down crying causing Jack to reach over and pull her into a hug letting her head rest on his chest. "I was just so angry that what was supposed to be a blessing of power for me and my sister I turned into a weapon."

"Shhh dear no words, just breath and listen to my voice." Jack whispered above the clashing battle near them letting his deep voice vibrate in his chest calming the crying mare down. "A princess, no a mare, like you and your sister have been through a lot. I'm guessing you agreed to look at my mind when Celestia asked because of this memory didn't you?" He gently said rocking the mare in his arms as she slowly stopped crying only nodding her head. "You both have good reasons to fear the power I have. I certainly would have taken the same steps if I lived your lives and seen what you've seen but." He said causing the lunar princess to look up their faces only an inch away as she looked into his eyes while the battle slowly reached its climax. "Let me make this clear little one. " Jack whispered his voice and what he said sending a shiver down her body as she pressed closer. "I try not to hide many things and if you ever doubt how I will act or need to see who I truly am just ask. No need for secrets or tricks."

Luna couldn't stop herself as she closed her eyes and slowly leaned towards the man who was treating her so kindly after what she had done and how he talked to her but before their lips could connect a bright beam of rainbow color blasted through the sky sending Nightmare Moon to be locked away to her own celestial body, making the world fade away as the memory was over. She blushed once she realized how close she had gotten to Jack while he merely gave that smile he almost always had before chuckling.

Both woke up at the same time once Celestia cut the spell. She turned to the human with a bowed head not saying a word as he looked between the two. "You both are forgiven but do not ever make this mistake again. You need only ask and I will mostly likely tell if it's not to personal to me." He said his gaze meeting theirs in full force. "Now I believe we have kept the others waiting long enough." He added walking to the door followed by the princesses.

"Oh and one more thing for you two." Jack whispered so only they could hear making them glance at him. "Lets go on some dates to calm your nerves and allow you to ask some more questions so we can know each other better. Or get to KNOW each other better." He finished with a sharp smile growing on his face as the two rulers blushed.

"We um will see how our schedules um look." Stuttered out Celestia while Luna could only let out a squeak that rivaled Fluttershy when Jack looked to her.

The group conversed as they all moved through the halls when out of the corner of Jack's eye he spotted a strange construction. "What is that?" He asked, pointing towards what could be loosely described as a shooting range.

Shining and the others looked to where he was pointing before explaining "That's the shot course that recruits have to go through when becoming a guard. If i'm right princess my score should still be number one?" Looking towards Celestia.

She gave a thought before nodding. "I believe so though it's been a while since we last looked." She replied.

"Hey Jack this would be the perfect chance to help you try a ranged attack we were planning for you." Lucky said in his mind. "Get them to take you there while we explain how it's done!" He excitedly requested.

Shaking his head slightly Jack looked to the group with a smile. "Mind if we go there? I'd love to see how it works." He asked.

No one put any complaints to the idea so they moved through the castle to get outside and over to the range. On arriving Shining stepped up the a leader board reading over the names. "Yep, still number one." He proudly stated, pointing a thumb at the top as he smirked. "You wanted a demonstration so who better then me." He bragged slightly, stepping up to the line as a guardpony moved to the trigger for the whole thing. After getting comfortable he nodded towards his fellow guard before shouting "DRAW!"

Immediately on activation he sent multiple magic blasts down range, blowing targets clean apart, the score board rising fast. Every shot hit it's mark with no wasted movement, his precision like a machine. That is until One target moved randomly across the field and as his shot closed in it jerked to the side making him miss. By the end his score range ninety nine out of a hundred.

Everypony and even Jack clapped at the display of skill as he gave a bow. "And that's one of the reasons I was Captain of the guard." He said. "How was that for you Jack?" He asked, warming up now to the human.

While the show had been going Jack had been given a crash course from his two companions on how to fire his own shots. By the end of it he had a grasp on what to do but wasn't fully confident. Stepping forward he replied "That was amazing. Say, i'd like to test something. Mind if I give it a try?"

Everypony looked to him funny but Shining just nodded his head before stepping over to the trigger, gesturing for Jack to approach the line. "Be my guest. I'm curious to see what you can do." He said.

On stepping up Jack gave a nod when he was ready and as the targets began to fly he sent a few blasts down. Most fizzled out in the beginning before even making it half way but by the end he started to make contact though his shots had many errors. By the end he only scored a fifteen. The others gave a small clap at him even being able to send energy down but he looked to shining with a almost relaxed grin. "Ok, another go please." He requested.

Giving a small laugh Shining pulled the trigger again when Jack was ready. This time his shots rang out faster then before and even his score rose much quicker as he hit his marks, the wasted movement now seriously decreased. Soon when the end arrived his score had jumped significantly to a eighty seven. The others were stunned at the increase in skill from such a short time frame they forgot to clap.

"Jack, how did yo-?" Twilight was cut off by Jack when he turned to Shining with a massive grin and a competitive fire burning in his eyes.

"I GOT IT! I'm so close, one more time this record is mine!" He gleefully shouted, bouncing in his spot. Shining was being swept into the enthusiasm as well as the others. With a pull of the trigger for a third time Jack's shots rang out true. His score skyrocketed with perfect strikes until all that was left was the shot Shining missed. It moved through the air erratically like it had done many times before but this time when Jack let off a shot it looked to be on course, the target moved out of the way and everypony's hearts sank as they were seeing him miss.

That was until Jack swiped his finger through the air making his shot curve and strike the final target, the board lighting up with a perfect one hundred. The girls and Spike cheered , colliding with the man while Shining looked down the range at the broken target stunned.

"Curving the shot... why did I never think of that?" He asked himself, unable to keep a grin from growing as he shook Jack's hand while congratulating him on beating the record.