Author's Note

This is my first time writing in a few years, so I hope you are willing to leave some feedback for me. Happy new year, and I hope for many chapters to come.

This story is intended to be a nice-paced romance, where two ponies learn quite a bit about eachother... as well as an action novella, of the classic "I didn't sign up for this" type.

Let's see where it goes, shall we?

Her Return, His Duty

“The night that my peaceful life ended wasn’t the one where I was assigned my new duties. It was when all of us learned we had to practice our old ones.”

The night air was cool above Canterlot as the New Year approached. The stars overhead twinkled in the cool twilight air as the ponies below began their evening tasks. For most, it involved cleaning up after dinner, putting their foals to bed, and settling down for some much needed mom and dad time.

For others, it was time to get to work on their night shifts. A DJ began playing her beats in The Scratch while the Night Crowd began their celebration. A town watchpony put his baton on, beginning the patrol on the streets. In the palace, the Royal Solar Guards (night shift) roused themselves, checking into their posts before departing to kill time until dawn, when they could turn the quietest shift back over.

It wasn’t destined to be quiet for long, however. Noticed by only a few skywatchers and one purple unicorn in Ponyville, four stars converged behind the moon while a dark mist gathered outside the Canterlot Palace.

**********************

“Hey, Grape? Ever wonder why we’re here?”

Grapefruit, the pegasus mare assigned to Simple Task, rolled her eyes as they entered the gardens, the brilliant sky reflecting off her auburn eyes. “Probably because you were dumb enough to let Weave catch us playing polker. Who was on watch for her, anyway?”

He winced. “Fair enough. So, how’s Grelda?” he asked, grinning. Her relationship with a gryphon was the talk of the guard since the obnoxious bird had stormed into the barracks to inquire why her ‘future life-mate and chick-mother’ was not available for their anniversary. Not wanting to argue with a Gryphon outweighing any of them twice over, she had been directed to Fruit’s station amidst snickers.

“She’s fine. I’m actually going to pick up some of those Candied Plums on the way home. Our third anniversary is next week, and I don’t want to miss this one. We’re going to Gryphony for a week, she’s going to introduce me to her parents.”

For once, the sergeant looked a bit nervous. “I’d ask you for advice, but since your dating life can be found in your sock-drawer-”

Task chuckled. “I’ll find the right mare sometime. Anyway, what’s up with this fog?” he said, looking around at the mist that gathered on the edges of the garden. “I thought we weren’t due for any till next month?”

Normally, anything out of the ordinary would be reported at once… a hundred years ago. Ever since Celestia had gotten that never-to-be-sufficiently-damned phoenix, “Ordinary” had become a thing of the past. Instead, the two guards wandered over to the edge of the strangely thick, purple and black mist.

“That’s weird”, commented SImple Task. “That isn’t normal fog, is it?” Grape Fruit remained silent. Shaking his head, Task turned around, only to stop dead.

Sergeant Grape Fruit stared at him in shock, before looking down at the six inches of pure darkness protruding through her chest. The fog abruptly began to coalece into over a dozen wraith-like figures, each with pale eyes and gleaming fangs. As he looked on in horror, his mind frozen by the sheer shock of the impossible sight, she collapsed with an almost peaceful sigh.

“Grape-” he started, before a hand yanked his head back and a foot and a half of darkness released his life from his body. Within thirty seconds, the shadowy assassins stole into the palace, searching for their target.

**********************

Lieutenant Eclipse Penumbra, 2nd Royal Guards Detachment, Deputy Quartermaster, and Aide to the Night Guard, Royal Celestial Guard, was not particularly pleased. It had nothing to do with working a double shift over New Years and missing out on Hearth Warming Eve a couple weeks ago with the same. Rather, he was hungry, tired, and annoyed at having to fill out another missing uniform item request. Despite the ostensible care taken by the guardsponies involved, it seemed that non magical pieces of equipment had a habit of vanishing into thin air.

All too often, it ended up in some collector’s vault after a few bits changed hands.

Still. Quiet evening so far. No complaints, no shift disputes, and nothing unexpected. I should really clean up in here… my desk is getting a bit- The opening of the door behind him interrupted his thoughts.

“Lieutenant? Hey, Pen, Got that manifest for me?”

Captain Mithril Weave stood in the doorway to his tiny cubicle. Taller than the Unicorn she addressed by nearly two inches, she towered even without intending to, but her bored expression gave no hint of threat. The forms she referred to, JXC-433, were more conveniently known as “FUN guy lost his gear”.

“New helmet, arbalist, and tunic. Size medium, Model 3. For Corporal Winds, correct, Ma’am?” Eclipse Penumbra was the Night-Shift quartermaster for the Royal Guard, quite an honor for somepony with less than a year in the service. Studying accounting from Gryphons qualified one for such duties, however, and it meant he spent more time chasing lost bits than dangerous criminals, or even standing 4-hour watches at a time. Nopony wanted his job, which was just fine by him.

The mare inspected the presented form, nodding over it. “I’ll take this to Armory. You’re about due for mess, so go grab a bite to eat. Get me something too.” Eyes flicking over the younger unicorn, she shook her head. “For the love of Celestia, why are you working New Year’s too?”

Eclipse shrugged. “Same reason I worked Hearth Warming. You want I should get haybrowns and bits, and the same as usual for you?”

She nodded. “Coffee and Pretzel. One with salt on it, if you please. I got the munchies something bad. It’s a little too quiet tonight, I keep expecting somepony to fall down the stairs or show up drunk.” Mithril Weave was known for her laid-back nature, the hallmark of the Night Shift that had filled the duties of the Lunar Guard for a thousand years of peace. Still, it was like wrangling the ever-popular cat: Each would wander off if not kept strictly on a leash.

For most, it was a dead-end job, the place you got shuffled to when somepony was cheesed off or you got a bad performance review. For Eclipse, or Pen as he prefered for short, it was the ideal job for a quiet soul such as himself.

He knew that without any regular social contacts, most thought him a stuffy busybody, but just because he wasn’t interested in the more martial aspects of being a Guard didn’t mean he was less respected. Anypony who could ensure that everypony got paid in full, on time, and managed to find bits for bonuses was golden for the guard. As such, most greeted him as he passed in the quiet night-clad hallways.

The brilliant pale moon shone through a skylight, casting a violet and blue hue over the world as he mused. I wonder what Chef’s got for dessert today. Maybe brownies…. The unicorn never finished the thought as, just as he walked up to the Cafeteria, a cry of alarm went up.

Each guard carried a Whistle used to summon each other, and a single flare for non-unicorns. Going about in pairs, a thousand years of peace hadn’t caused total neglect in tradition. Ahead of him, two pegasi in dusky golden plate sprinted around the corner, coming to a careening halt as they spied the officer before them.

“Lieutenant Eclipse, Sir! We’ve got, ah, a problem!” The pegasi on the left was ten kinds of out of sort, his eyes wide with alarm. “It’s, ah, Rose and Parks, sir!”

When every night for six months had been peaceful, it didn’t take much to excite the bored troopers. ANYTHING, from a prank by Celestia’s pet Phoenix to somepony stumbling back drunk to the barracks could be seen as a full-scale changeling invasion by the end of the guard change. When a junior enlisted pony physically grabbed an officer and began dragging him over to the window, things were different.

“Corporal! What’s this about?” Eclipse demanded, looking at the clearly frightened pegasus. Enlisted didn’t usually seek staff officers when an alarm was raised, but pulling double duty wasn’t uncommon in the stripped-down Night Guard units. Everyone trained for everything… supposedly.

“Sir? Remember what Twilight was nattering about earlier? And that warning we got from High Up to stay alert? Well… now we’ve got THIS sir!” He pointed up, through the window, at the brightly shining full moon. Just as blankly as Eclipse, it stared back at him. Then it clicked, his eyes so good at spotting details widening.

Its… blank. Where’s the Mare in the Moon? Do the stars look a bit brighter than usual? I wonder… His mind stumbled. In a perfectly ordinary shift, filling out requisition and order forms, a snag had occurred. One he wasn’t sure how to rectify. Still, there was only one thing to do in this situation.

“Corporal… Pass the word to the rest of the guard. Have everypony on alert, and tell them to be ready for… something, anything.” The corporal nodded, his companion and him scuttling off as the hungry Lieutenant cast one last longing look at the mess hall before sprinting back the way he came.

***************

Captain Mithril Weave was also hungry. Unlike the quartermaster, her official second-in-command, she couldn’t spare the time to go and get herself a meal despite working the ‘quiet’ shift. Her constant patrolling had revealed no less than three patrols, six guards, all missing from their posts. The sad thing was, this was not the first time it had happened: New Years celebrations tended to end with quite a few reprimands for drunkenness on duty, to her eternal shame.

When the subordinate she sent for the food she requested returned without it, her eyebrows went up. When a short explanation consisting heavily of “You need to see this” and “We need to tell the Princess” along with her own viewing of the moon only added to the mystery, she knew without a doubt that the night was going from bad to worse. “I think the Purple Menace might have had a point. We need to ask Celestia about this.”

When the two of them approached the T-shaped intersection to the tower housing Princess Celestia’s Quarters and found the guards outside slumped on the ground, clearly dead, with two shades looming over them, it tended to arouse something closer to panic than rational thought.

“Intruders! INTRUDERS!” she shouted, drawing her sword. The two shades, looking like pegasi but… oddly blank, like silhouettes cut from dark thunderheads, turned towards the two of them. Behind, the door to the princess’ room was ajar, and the inside was already tossed as from a struggle. Snarling, the one on the left lunged for the Captain, its companion standing up and circling to the right, looking at the young Lieutenant.

“Identif-” was all Weave got out, before the creature darted forward, producing a sword of pure dark and leaning into the strike. Their blades met, and then Eclipse had no time to react as the creature facing him made its move. In an instant, its own blade manifested as it raced at the unicorn who was still attempting to draw his sword.

For all her other faults, Mithril Weave had not become a Captain of the Night Shift without being one of the best on the force. While she wasn’t THE best, she was easily one of the most skilled warriors and officers the guard had produced of late, and had vied with Shining Armor for the title of Captain General of the Royal Guard. She lost that match, but had no issues with her current one.

Eclipse Penumbra, on the other hand, was a committed bibliophile and clerk, with all the combat prowess of a first-year recruit tempered by more common sense than most veterans, translating to a desire to avoid fights than seek them. Nevertheless, the first oath any guard took was to lay down life and limb in defense of the crown, and whatever the thing he faced was, it clearly was a threat to that vow.

Yanking his sabre just in time, he brought it up horizontally across his face, blocking the opposing strike by mere centimeters from removing his horn. Snarling, the creature retracted, thrusting at his belly. Leaping back, he felt a sudden impact with the wall. Twisting aside, he yelped as the sword dove into the wall, embedding the creature there for a moment.

Time seemed to slow for him as he spun to look at the shade fighting his captain. Her back was to him, and for a moment the creature seemed to gain the upper hand as her sword clattered to the ground. Then it froze as her dagger went home under its chin.

From the chamber, two more creatures emerged, and then all was moving too quickly as his spin took him back around to his own foe. The shade’s blade came free of the stone wall as it turned to face him. The clerk was no match for the assassin, who pressed forward once, twice, and a third time. Each time, he backpedaled, moving away from the wall and to the entrance of the hallway to the Chamber Tower. The fourth time, he was not so lucky.

“PEN!”

The captain’s cry didn’t cut through the haze of blood as the Unicorn stared at the shattered remnant of his sword, suddenly aware that his face was burning while one of his eyes didn’t seem to be working anymore. With two deft strokes, the Pegasus mare disarmed her foes, quite literally, and turned as they puffed away into smoke while she faced her final foe, who loomed over her subordinate. With a cry and two powerful wing strokes, she tackled the creature against the wall as the Unicorn slumped against the floor, a vicious gash across his face and chest. This shade was different than the rest: Taller and stronger, it, headbutted her away before stabbing down at the injured Unicorn.

Flicking out with her dagger, she deflected the blow into the floor as she scooped up her sword from where it had fallen. Kicking the unicorn over backwards to get him out of the way, she spared a glance to make sure he was alright.

In an instant, she knew her mistake. This creature was far more canny than the rest, and didn’t hesitate to take advantage of her opening. For a moment, she didn’t feel a thing; then she looked down to where her left hand used to be, and her dagger lying on the ground.

“Oh. That’s… not good.” The single, mundane thought ran through her mind as she almost idly swatted its next thrust away. Right, then left, then right again, before she began to feel the loss of blood hitting her. Having never actually fought like this before, she could feel the ache in her muscles and the throb of her heart. Then, her chance: Its sword tip a bit too far to the left, and she shouldered in. The blade skittered across her pauldron as she leaned in, driving her own up to the hilt in its belly. For a moment, it glared at her; then it vanished into smoke with the rest.

When Eclipse forced his eye to open, struggling against the wave of confusion and pain radiating across his body, his first sight was Captain Weave slumped over, clutching her arm. The second, just before the pain sucked his world into darkness was the arrival of half a dozen other guards, many bearing injuries and wounds of their own, lead by a Unicorn Stallion clad in white armor, with the Golden Sun emblazoned on his chest and a shield at his side.

“See to the wounded! The rest of you, with me, hurry we don’t have much time…..”

*************************

The Events of Nightmare Moon’s return were not fully understood until the following morning… when it finally happened. During the night, ‘wraiths’ had spirited away Princess Celestia, despite the efforts of the woefully unprepared Night Guard. However, in a single bloody evening, the 37 surviving soldiers of the 60-strong garrison had become the only active Veteran unit in the Royal Army.

Captain Mithril Weave would survive her injuries; and she was commended for her actions. Lieutenant Eclipse Penumbra would remain in a coma for nearly a month while recovering from injuries to his horn and face. Though he would return to the guard, it was as a Reservist.

The actions of the Night Guard, unprepared and ill-suited to their tasks, nevertheless prevented greater tragedy: Buying enough time for reinforcements, the two officers ensured that the guards were able to alert Shining Armor and rouse a chase to recover the Princess from her abductors.

“Everyone involved,” he is quoted saying, “Is a hero. There are glaring flaws in our training and tactics: these WILL be addressed.”

For the rest of the guard, the newest addition was Princess Luna, rescued from the clutches of Nightmare Moon. Or so they were told.