The Moon's Precious Little Star

Chapters

Chapter One: A Star Brightens The Moon
Chapter Two: Trouble With Cults
Chapter Three: The Day Of Nightmares
Chapter Four: New Problems
Chapter Five: The Reveal Part Two
Chapter Six: New Friends And Allies
Chapter Seven: Abduction
Chapter Eight: Preparing For The Future Part One
Chapter Eight: Preparing For The Future Part Two
Chapter Five: The Reveal Part One

Chapter One: A Star Brightens The Moon

Sitting upon her throne, Princess Luna, Alicorn, and ruler of the night looked across the empty throne room and sighed. Once again, her night court was devoid of anypony other than her and her night guards. I had been like this ever since she and her sister defeated the god of chaos Discord. Though many ponies came to the night princess often in the early period after the defeat of the chaotic being, now, there were none. No matter how hard Luna tried to think of a reason for it, none came to mind: and it was making the night princess furious. Just thinking about how her subjects taking her work for granted and wasting her time frustrated the princess to no end. No longer in the mood to sit here for the remainder of the night, Luna nodded to the captain of her guard. Seeing his princess' silent command, she saluted her and rounded up the assembled thestrals. Once her escort detail was ready, Luna stood up and walked across the large room towards the ornate double doors.

Exiting the throne room, Luna watched as the castle maids stopped what they were doing and backed away from her and bowing, fear evident in their eyes. Unable to understand what would cause this reaction of the castle staff, the princess ignored them and turned to her escort detail.

"Captain, Thou can dismiss thine men; we will not need their services for the remainder of the night," Luna stated, but before she could start walking, Captain Dark Lance took a step forward.

"I must apologize, princess, but I can't follow that order," the captain said in response, surprising the princess at the blatant disregard for her order. "We have to escort you everywhere you go, especially since the Celestia cults are becoming more and more violent as of late," Dark lance quickly added when he saw Luna's disapproving stare. Hearing her guard captain's explanation, Luna allowed herself to relax a little and smiled.

"Do not worry, Captian, we are in the capital of the kingdom with guards all over, in the middle of the Everfree forest. One would have to be insane to try something here." The princess said to alleviate Dark Lance's worries. "Besides, we are only going to the castle gardens." After a few minutes of silent arguing between the guard captain and princess, Dark Lance relented and bowed before dismissing the escort detail, Luna alone to her thoughts.

Luna rolled her eyes as she watched the guard disappear around the corner. While she liked that Dark Lance was resolute in his devotion, she would also appreciate it if he wasn't so stubborn about watching over her twenty-four-seven like she was a filly that would get her hooves into the cookie jar as soon as he wasn't looking. Being several hundred years older than the guard captain, Luna chuckled at how ridiculous it was that he tried to treat her like a filly before she headed off to the castle gardens.

As Luna walked through the halls of the castle, she passed by more of the castle staff, and while she tried to be open and friendly with them, not a single one of them talked to her and shook with fear, ruining her mood even further. Why do they keep backing away from out of fear? What did I do to deserve this treatment? Luna thought to herself as she walked, her thoughts occasionally turning dark. If they want to fear me, then perhaps I should oblige them and show what it truly means to fear the night! Reaching the gardens and stepping out of the castle into the cold night air broke luna of her dark thoughts. The feeling of serenity the area created gave her enough peace to push them to the back of her mind for the time being. Dismissing the guards, she watched each one of them salute and file out of the area, once again leaving the princess alone. Walking to the center of the garden, Luna sat down and looked up at her night sky, the twinkling stars and soft light of her moon calming the troubled princess. As Luna stared up at her sky, her ears picked up a sound she had not heard in a long time and found it hard to place. No longer caring about the night sky, the princess strained her ears to identify the sound, and after a few moments, Luna managed to recognize the sound of a crying foal. Reacting faster than she could think, Luna sprung up onto her hooves and started to search the gardens, tearing the well-kept rose bushes apart in the process, telling herself that her sister would forgive her when she explained to Celestia her reasoning.

For several minutes the princess continued to search for the source of the crying. Feeling long since forgotten instincts swell up within her, driving the dark blue alicorn to a nearly feverish pace in her search. Finally, after tearing the garden to shreds, Luna managed to find the rose bush where the crying was the loudest. Pulling the flowers, leaves and branches aside, Luna peered into the rose bush to locate the foal, but instead of a pony, she found something else. The being lying in the rose bush was some strange hairless monkey; the only hair it had was a small tuft of dark brown hair on top of its head. The princess was brought out of her stupor when she heard the strange creature start to cry again. Shaking her head, Luna realized that the infant must be cold, having no coat to protect it from the elements. Lighting her horn, the princess performed a simple levitation spell and started the delicate process of removing the infant from the rose bush, careful not to cut its skin on the sharp thorns. Once the young being was free from the rose bush, Luna noticed several scratches and cuts all over its body. Worried that the wounds would become infected, Luna unfurled one of her wings and gently placed the infant into it, cradling the small creature close to her chest. Having most likely felt the contact from the lunar alicorn, the infant looked up at Luna and stared.

"What is it, little one? You have nothing to fear from us; we will not allow any harm to befall thou," Luna plainly stated to the infant. Luna thought that it didn't understand her for a few moments, but soon it started laughing and tried to reach up and grab her snout. It was a simple interaction between the two, but it was all Luna needed to feel the motherly instincts of a mare protecting her child, even if that child wasn't hers. "Come now; little one, let's get thou out of this cold," The princess said before heading back into the castle.

Much to Luna's surprise and resentment, the trek from the gardens was w relatively uninterrupted one. Not a single castle staff member stopped to ask the princess what she was carrying was. Not a single one of them stopped to ask her if she needed any assistance. She expected this of her guards, who knew she needed no help nor wanted any, but the castle staff were different and didn't know her as well. On the few occasions that Luna was unable to sleep, she would walk around the castle, sometimes conversing with her sister when she had the time. Whenever Celestia had something in her magic or wing, the maids wouldn't hesitate to ask her if she wanted them to carry it for her. It seemed as if the lunar alicorn was unworthy of the same sort of devotion as her sister, once again fanning the embers of her anger.

Reaching the ornate blue and silver doors of her room, Luna nodded to the two earth ponies who adorned the armour of her night guard, Saluting the two earth ponies turned and pushed open the massive double doors. Stepping inside her room, Luna had to question whoever made the doors to her and her sister's rooms so large. Indeed there was little reason to make them so dense that it took two earth ponies using all their strength to get them open. Even she and her sister had a hard time opening them, and they were the two most powerful beings in the kingdom. Rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of it all, Luna pushed those thoughts aside to focus on the task at hoof. As she approached her bed, she used her magic to create a makeshift cradle out of her blanket and carefully placed the infant within it. Once she was sure it was secure, Luna stomped her hoof times to summon one of the guards. One of the two earth ponies immediately rounded the corner and saluted.

"Guardstallion, we require thou to go and fetch us a healing salve from the infirmary, oh and send up a maid on your way as well." Hearing the princess' command, the guard saluted and galloped off. Once the earth pony had left, Luna refocused her attention on the infant who was crawling out of the makeshift cradle and towards her. "where dost thou think thee are going?" The princess asked as she watched the young creature crawl towards her. With a wing, she scooped up the infant and made her way to the center of her bed, laying on her legs so she could watch her newest charge explore his surroundings. A knock on her door drew the princess' attention, and standing there shaking was one of the castle maids.

"y-you as-asked for one of us, your majesty?" The maid hesitantly asked, resulting in Luna rolling her eyes at her fear.

"Yes, we did. We have a guest in the castle," Luna said, gesturing to the infant with a wing. "As thou can see, it is a foal and will most likely defecate at some point; dost thou know if there are any diapers in the castle?" Hearing the princess' strange request, the maid stared blankly at her for a moment before bringing herself back to reality. Tappin her chin, she looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment before looking at the princess and nodding.

"Yes, we do, your majesty. Would you like me to go and get you some?" The maid asked, her fear seemingly vanished. A little caught off by the maid's enthusiasm, Luna absentmindedly nodded and watched as the maid trotted off to get the diapers. The earth pony guard returned not long after the maid had left, a healing salve held firmly in his teeth. Regaining her composure somewhat, the princess took the ointment in her magic and thanked the guard before once again turning her attention to the infant, not noticing the scowl the guard was directing towards it. Popping the cork on the vial, Luna floated a small glob of it towards the infant's face, but much to her annoyance, it wouldn't stay still long enough to apply it.

"Please, little one, we need to apply the salve before thine cuts become infected," Luna unsuccessfully pleaded with the infant as, at the moment, it was more interested in catching the tip of her ethereal mane. Sighing, Luna used her magic to pick up the infant and sit him down in front of her so she could apply the salve. "This might sting a little; we apologize for any discomfort thou might feel." Carefully Luna applied the ointment to the infant's cuts, and the effect was immediate. The injury healed as if it wasn't even there, and much to Luna's surprise, the infant, didn't make a sound the whole time. Full-grown ponies were known to grumble and seeth once the salve was applied, but this strange infant just stared at the princess as she used it again and again. As the princess finished applying the ointment, she placed the cork back in the vile and floated it over to her dresser when a loud grumble startled her. "Are thou hungry little one?" Luna asked the infant, and almost as if to answer her made an unintelligible noise, making the alicorn giggle. "Very well, come, let's give thou a full belly."

Once again lighting her horn, Luna lifted the infant and brought him towards her lower half. Laying down on her side, she opened her back legs, exposing the two small mounds that were her breasts. Without even the faintest hint of hesitation, the infant wrapped his lips around the nipple of her teat and started to suck vigorously. With its little brain running on instinct, the infant didn't seem to care that Luna wasn't the same species as itself. As Luna watched the infant feed, she felt a strong sense of ease and relief wash over her. It was as if all her worries and anger were completely inconsequential, almost as if Faust herself sent this tiny infant. With one final suck, the infant dislodged himself from Luna's teat, happy and full. No longer feeling the infant's lips on her nipple, the princess levitated the young being over to her front and gave it an affectionate nuzzle before lifting him over her shoulder and lightly patting it on the back. After a few moments, a loud belch echoed throughout the room. Hearing the two guards outside her door jump Luna giggled at the ridiculous situation, her fears and worries fading away even more.

Recreating the makeshift cradle, Luna placed the infant back in it and watched as it yawned and rubbed its eyes. The long-dormant motherly instincts took effect; she leaned forward and placed a kiss upon the infant's head before closing her eyes and humming a lullaby to help it sleep. After about a minute of humming, Luna opened her eyes looked down at the sleeping infant, its peaceful expression sending another wave of happiness through the alicorn. Her joy soon faded when she realized that she had a duty to inform her sister about the infant. Sliding off of the bed slowly so she wouldn't wake the infant, she turned and looked at it one last time, feeling like this would be the last time she would see it before somberly exiting her room.

To the casual observer, Luna's journey from her room to her sister's might have seemed peaceful, but in her mind, a battle was currently underway by three different sides of her psyche: Altruism, selfishness, and one other that Luna couldn't place. Her altruistic side argued that it was her duty as a princess of Equestria to find the infants' parents and return it to them. The selfish side countered by citing the infant's happiness and how it wasn't right. She had to suffer just because some irresponsible creature lost her child in the Everfree, not to mention that its parents were most likely dead anyway. Finally, coming to the last, the one Luna couldn't place laughed at the notions of altruism and happiness. It plainly stated that if Luna wanted to keep the infant, she could do whatever she wanted because she was practically a god. It also noted that the citizens of Equestria were the cause for her unhappiness and that to feel better, she should take out her frustrations on them. Not raise some hairless monkey, out of all the voices this one was she tried to ignore the most.

After what felt like an eternity of self-reflection and possible insanity, Luna reached the massive golden doors of her Celestia's room — nodding to the two guards, the princess watched as they gave a short bow before turning and opening the doors. Stepping inside the sight in front of her would have shocked the lunar alicorn if she wasn't already used to it. They're sprawled out haphazardly on her bed was the revered princess of the day, her flowing rainbow coloured mane was static and deep pink, with knots and split ends all over the place — the pristine and well-kept white fur, stained with massive amounts of frosting from all the cake she consumed once no pony was watching. Though Luna was more than familiar with this sight, she didn't understand why Celestia didn't just put in a little effort to keep the charade up. Instead, she decides to go through a long and arduous routine every single morning before the sun rises to look like she usually does to the masses.

Luna climbed up onto the bed and placed a hoof on her sister's shoulder before lightly shaking, hoping to have caught her just as she fell asleep. Unfortunately for the night princess, it seemed that luck wasn't on her side as Celestia was in a deep sleep. Her sister was perhaps the heaviest sleeper in all of Equestria. Once she had fallen asleep, it was nigh impossible to wake her. The only thing harder to do was wake the dead, and a unicorn had figured out how to do that some time ago. Seeing no other option, Luna placed her other hoof on her other shoulder and started to shake Celestia vigorously, all to no avail. With her efforts beating no fruit, the princess of the night sat down and stared at the sleeping form of her sister, and as she stared at her, Luna felt her anger once again rear its ugly head. Without even thinking, the lunar alicorn stood back up and raised her hoof high above her head before bringing it down hard on her sister's cheek. From the force of the blow, Celestia's head snapped to the side, but she still didn't wake up. Again and again, Luna slapped her sister as hard as she could, growing more and more frustrated with her until she was so mad she wanted to murder her sister.

"Why won't you wake up, you stupid, disgusting slob of a whorse!" Luna screamed into her sister's ear, and even then, she still didn't wake up. Hearing the yelling on the other side of the door, but unable to make it out, the two guards burst into the room, swords drawn to defend their princess.

"Princess, are you all" Both guards stopped dead in their tracks at what they were seeing. Standing above the sleeping form of Princess Celestia was her little sister Luna glaring at them, her eyes like that of a dragon's. Even to these veteran guatdstallions, the sheer anger and promise of violence shook them to the core.

Seeing the look of utter fear on the two guard ponies' faces calmed Luna down enough for her to reason and see what she had just done, making her feel a tremendous amount of shame. Without a single word, the night princess got off of her sister's bed and exited the room, fleeing to the seclusion and safety of her chambers.

Reaching her room, Luna threw open the doors, not even bothering to acknowledge the two guards before slamming it closed. Now in the safety of her chamber, the princess allowed herself to calm down and catch her breath. I can't believe I just did that! What is wrong with me? Luna thought to herself as she paced back and forth in front of her door until a cry and smell tore attention back to reality. Frantically looking around, the princess noticed a pack of diapers sitting on her dresser, remembering that she had asked a maid to bring her some. Letting out a relieved breath, Luna lifted the infant off the bed and onto the floor before removing the diaper and revealing that the infant was male. Quickly wiping away the deification, Luna pulled out one of the new diapers and only now realized that the male infant didn't have a tail. The princess concentrated on the diaper, and using her magic, she filled in the hole for the tail and placed it on the infant. Now that he was changed, Luna gave the male an affectionate nuzzle. Feeling the princess' loving touch, the infant smiled and giggled at her, once again eroding the lunar alicorn's worries and making her feel like all was right in the world. Picking him up with a wing, Luna hopped back into her bed and gave the infant another nuzzle. I think I've come to a decision. I no longer want to feel angry at the world, and this strange foal makes me feel like everything is fine, so I'm going to raise him as my own and hope that his birth parents can forgive me, wherever they are. As the princess finished her thought, she came to a realization she didn't know his name.

"We don't suppose thou can tell us thine name?" Luna asked the infant, who only responded by giggling at her strange sounds. "We thought not." Tapping her a hoof against her chin, the princess tried to come up with a name that suited him, but nothing was coming to mind when she had a sudden epiphany. "We know, we shall call thou Orion. How does that sound?" Almost as if answering the princess's question, Orion reached up and grabbed Luna's snout. "We shall take that as a yes." With the naming out of the way, Luna cradled Orion in her front legs and cuddled with him for the remainder of the night.

Chapter Two: Trouble With Cults

About a week had passed since Princess Luna unofficially adopted the young Orion. Though there was no doubt in her mind that he made her happier than she had been in a while, taking care of a foal was much harder than the princess thought. While they were asleep during the day, Orion would wake up either from punching himself in his sleep or soiling himself that she would then have to clean up, plus several others. She couldn't even leave him with the maids that knew of his existence to find somewhere she could get a few moments of sleep as he would throw a temper tantrum until she returned. What vexed her the most, though, was when she was conducting her royal duties, Orion was as quiet as a mouse, and the maids wouldn't have to do anything except watch out for her sister.

Speaking of Celestia, her interference was making it harder to take care of the unofficial prince. The sun princess has a rather annoying tendency to barge into her sister's room without warning. To make sure her sister wouldn't discover Orion by accident, Luna placed several early warning spells along the corridor that led to her room that would only react to the magical signature of her sister. The largest precaution that she took was a secret chamber hidden beneath the floor of her room that was completely soundproof. If Celestia approached the night princess' bedroom for any reason, Luna or the maids would know well in advance and hide Orion, leaving Celestia entirely in the dark regarding his existence.

While thinking of the past week and finally getting one over her sister, Luna forgot where she was and started to chuckle to herself.

"What are you laughing at, Lulu?" Celestia asked, reminding Luna she was dining with her sister.

"Just a weird dream we had last day," Luna quickly explained.

"Oh, care to share it with me?" The sun princess asked excitedly, annoying the night princess.Damn it, I forgot that since she can't view dreams as I can, she was always curious about other ponies' dreams. Luna thought to herself and tried to come up with something quickly, but she was drawing a blank for all her experience involving the dreamscape.

"What were thou saying about the Canterhorn?" Luna asked, hoping that it would deflect her sister's inquiry. Celestia glared at her sister for a moment, taking particular note of how she tried to deflect her question, but it was Luna's decision to reveal what her dreams were, and it was no business of her to pry; she let it go.

"I was saying that the Canterhorn would be a perfect place to set up the new capital of the kingdom. No longer would our little ponies need to brave the Everfree to attend court, and we wouldn't need to risk the lives of the guard to keep the pathways open." Taking a bite of her blueberry pancakes, Luna tapped her chin with a hoof and thought about her sister's proposal. The Canterhorn would indeed be a better place than the Everfree. Perfect was pushing it a little in her mind as building on the side of the tallest mountain in all of Equestria would most definitely provide unforeseen challenges. While Luna thought of all the negatives of the proposed location, structural integrity being the biggest concern for her, she found that the benefits outweighed the negatives. Given that they would build it on the side of a mountain, the capital would have a natural defence against conquering armies, and only aerial forces could hope to take the city. Assassins would have a hard time getting to them, and most importantly to Luna, a system of caves that her bat ponies could live in so they could hopefully start to mingle with the rest of Equestrian society and would no longer be looked upon with suspicion.

"We think thou has picked a most wonderous place, sister and that thine subjects would agree," Luna excitedly exclaimed.

"I'm so glad you agree with me, dear sister, but seriously Luna, no pony uses old Equestrian anymore. Could you at least try to speak modern Equestrian?" Celestia asked with a sigh.

"I'll think about it, but no promises," Luna plainly stated.

"That's all I ask, Lulu. By the way, I've noticed that you seem to be more and more tired each time I see you, is something keeping you up?" Her sister's question nearly made the night princess choke on her food. Taking a large gulp of water to help her food down, Luna looked up at her sister, and the warm and motherly smile that usually put ponies at ease sent a chill down her spine.

"Honestly, sister, I'm worried about the cults dedicated to you," Luna stated on the fly, lying through her teeth, though it wasn't a complete lie. Luna was indeed worried about the cults; she and her sister forbade the worship of them as gods for a reason, and yet there was an alarmingly large number of ponies that ignored the law and worshiped them anyway. It wouldn't be so bad and would have only amounted to a minor annoyance if it wasn't for the fact that many of the cults dispised Luna and, by extension, her bat ponies: Threatening her and them on several occasions. What worried the princess of the night the most was if they could hold their laws with such callous disregard even though they thought Celestia was a god, what else might those ponies be capable of, and how far would they go for their beliefs? "I fear that one of these days, they will do something drastic, and we'll be unprepared to stop them!" Celestia let out a tired sigh and nodded her head.

"Your right, Luna; it indeed worries me that our little ponies would break the law as they do, but what can we do about it?" Celestia asked the younger Alicorn. Luna rolled her eyes at her sister's response; it was the same one every single time this subject was brought up. Every time Luna voiced her worries about the cults, Celestia would tell her there was nothing they could do and would shrug her shoulders and wash her hooves of it, almost as if she was incapable of making a hard decision.

"What we do is crack down on them!" Luna yelled as she slammed her hoof onto the table, knocking over their glasses and spilling their contents all over the food. "We can't allow our subjects to break the law so brazenly and get away with it! What sort of message does that send, TIa!?" At first, Celestia didn't say anything after her sister's outburst; instead, she picked up the knocked-over glasses and calmly placed them back onto the table.

"Luna, we can't allow ourselves to become tyrants. We can't ignore the fact that many ponies see us as living gods. We may not like it, and we can make all the laws we want to try and dissuade them, but in the end, we can't solve all of our problems by throwing them in the castle dungeons!" Celestia stated in a soft but authoritative voice.

She's never going t listen to you, she's never going to take what you say seriously. why allow yourself to go through this every single day? Why not just let go and let me do what you want! A voice sounded said in Luna's mind. Images of Celestia lying broken and defeated at her hooves flashed through the princess' mind; an eternal night, fear and respect from her ponies quickly followed suit. Shaking those thoughts from her head, Luna stood up and turned away from her sister.

"You can only say those things because your ponies aren't the ones in danger!" Luna cryptically said over her shoulder and left the dining room before her sister could say anything.

Throwing the door to her room open, Luna ordered her guards that under no circumstances was anypony to disturb her, not even if it was her sister. When they gave her a quick salute, she closed the door and made sure she locked it not only with a key but also magically before trotting across the room and towards the bookshelf on the opposite side. Luna had a wide assortment of adventure and action novels on her shelves, always wanting to go on adventures herself when she was but a filly. While she would usually pick one of the books to read as she curled up underneath her blankets before falling asleep, they weren't her target today. Looking over her shoulder, the princess of the night cast several anti-observation spells to make sure no pony was invisible in the room watching her. She also made sure her sister didn't place any observation spells of her own. When her sweep of the room was complete, she was sure she was in the clear. Luna pushed the bookshelf aside, revealing a chain behind it; Luna lit her horn and used her magic to pull the chain. Behind her, the sound of stone scraping against stone could her heard. Pushing the bookshelf back into place, Luna walked over to the entrance of her secret chamber and performed another magical sweep. Satisfied that her sweep again provided negative results, the night princess stepped inside the tunnel.

When Luna was clear of the entrance, she pulled another chain on the wall at the bottom of the stone steps. Ducking her head to make sure her mane didn't get caught, the princess watched as the entrance closed shut. Luna checked to make sure the entryway to the tunnel sealed correctly, and when she was sure it was, she trotted down the tunnel until she came upon a small room. The chamber was just big enough to hold the princess and two other ponies comfortably, and on either side of a crib in the middle of the room were the only other two ponies that knew this room existed. One was a bat pony with vibrant red fur and a bright silver mane, the other was a pegasus with a silver coat and a red mane, and both of them were castle maids. The two maids were the main reason Luna believed her bat ponies could one day join the rest of Equestria without being shunned as they were twins. Their father was a thestral in her nightguard, and their mother was one of the castle maids. How The two of them met and found any tie for romance given their different schedules still eluded the princess. The bat pony's name was Silver Wind, and her sister was called Crimson Mist.

Silver Wind was currently standing over the crib and jangling one of the toys Luna asked the two of them to buy in secret over Orion's face. On the other hoof, her sister was using the feathers of her wings to tickle the young colt. It seemed that the two of them competed to see who could keep the prince's attention the longest. Leaning against the wall, the princess watched the two for a few minutes; it warmed her heart to see them take to Orion as quickly as they did and gave the night Alicorn hope that the rest of Equestria would accept him as quickly. Luna cleared her throat and watched with amusement as the toe maides jumped away from the crib as if they were two fillies who got caught with their hooves in a cookie jar. Silver Wind even hid the toy underneath her wing.

"Be at ease, you two; there's no reason to act like a couple of foals who got caught doing something they weren't." The two sisters relaxed when they realized that it was their princess that startled them. The two maids backed away from the crib with a bow to give Luna room. Peering into the crib, the princess could feel the argument she had with her sister fade away upon seeing her son's smiling face. The second he spotted her, Orion let out an incoherent babble and grabbed hold of his mother's snout. For Being so young, the colt had a firm grip and hung off of Luna's until she removed him with her magic. Orion began to whine and cry but soon quieted down when she cradled him in her wing. With her son securely tucked into her appendage, the princess and the two maids left the room and made their way back through the passage.

Exiting the secret chamber, Luna dismissed the sisters and hopped up onto her bed. Placing Orion near her bottom half, she opened her legs so he could reach her teat. In all honesty, she didn't need to do this as she had bottles she could use, but Luna liked to do this as it made her feel like Orion's real mother. Once he was finished, the night princess burped him and placed him between her front legs and gave him an affectionate nuzzle. Orion opened his mouth, yawned and lazily rubbed his face. Luna gave her son another nuzzle before laying him down on the bed and humming a lullaby. Once Orion had fallen asleep, Luna rested her head on the bed and started to drift off. A sudden pounding at the door woke her up. Furious that she had been disturbed when she gave her guards explicit orders not to let that happen, Luna wanted to get up and furiously scream at her guards, but she instead chose to try and ignore it to fall back asleep. Unfortunately for the night princess, all her hopes were dashed as the pony on the other side of the door pounded away again and much harder than last time. Now worried that the sound of a hoof slamming against her door would wake her son, Luna quickly bundled Orion up in the blankets so that the pony on the other side of the door wouldn't see him and walked over to the door, throwing them open and startling the pony on the other side.

"I thought I said I was not to be disturbed?" Luna asked as she glared at the two guards. "Yet I was still awoken from my slumber!" The princess grumpily stated as she turned her attention to the pony standing in front of her. The pony before her was not of the regular night guard but a member of the scout corps as he did not wear the intimidating and predatory dark blue and silver armour the ponies standing to her side were wearing. Instead, he wore a simple dark blue leather cuirass that covered most of his body and a silver circlet that all scouts wore to allow them to communicate over long distances.

"I beg your pardon, princess," The scout apologized with a bow. "We spotted some members of the largest celestial cults, The Disciples Of The Sun, moving through the Everfree; we think they're going to attack the thestral settlement!" As soon as the scout finished relaying his report, all the colour in Luna's face vanished.

"Swift Strike, go wake the captain!" Luna ordered the guard on the right. "Dark Night, go and rouse the night guard, all of them!" She ordered the one on the left. Both guards gave her a quick salute before flying down the halls to complete the orders the princess gave them. "Now, take me to where you last saw the cultists," The princess said to the scout.

I really should have gone to my sister for help, Luna thought to herself as she watched a group of ponies in red cloaks with a golden trim march through the forest from behind a bush. It wasn't just a few members as the scout had said it was, but the whole of the cult was here. The disciples of the sun were the cult that had the single most number of ponies that made up its ranks: easily ranging in the hundreds. All over Equestria, Ponies pledged themselves to its teaching, and it seemed as if every one of them had gathered here in this forest today. If it weren't for the pressing issue that they were marching on her subject with the intent to cause harm, Luna would have flown back to the castle and gotten her sister's assistance. Unfortunately, she had already assembled the entirety of her nightguard, and she couldn't ask them to sit and wait for her to explain the situation to her sister, not while their families were on the line. Letting out a tired sigh, she waited for the cultists to move on and out of sight before signalling the guard to follow.

Before she and the night guard set out from the castle, Luna ordered the scout corps to get ahead of the cult and report back to her if there was a suitable location to set up and ambush. So far, none of them had reported back, and she was starting to get worried; while she had the utmost confidence in the scouts, the princess knew just how tenacious and dangerous this group could be. The princess of the night pushed past the bush she was hiding behind only to run headfirst into the cultists. For a few moments, the two of them stared awkwardly at each other until the cultist opened his mouth to call for his brothers and sisters. Reacting on pure instinct and as fast as possible, Luna spun around and bucked the robed pony in the jaw as hard as she could, no doubt shattering it in the process. The cultist flew through the air from the force of the buck and slammed into a tree before falling to the ground. Trotting over to the unconscious cultist, Luna looked him over to see if he was still alive. Leaning forward, Luna held her ear to the cultist's mouth, and when she heard faint, pained breaths, she let out a sigh of relief. While she may hate them for threatening her and her bat ponies, Luna didn't want to see any of them killed if she could help it. It just wasn't in a pony's nature to take a life; only the guard was trained to get over that aversion.

From out of the trees, one of the scouts sped towards Luna and saluted. The young thestral informed the princess that there was a large clearing a few kilometres away that the cultists were heading towards and that it would be the best place to ambush them as the trees on the sides of the clearing were too dense for a pony to get through. Thanking the scout, she ordered him to return to his unit as fast as she could. After giving the princess one last salute, he disappeared into the trees as quickly as he arrived. Now that she and the night guard had an ambush point, they no longer needed to skulk behind the cultists, and she ordered them to head towards the coordinates the scout relayed. As soon as the bat ponies started to move, Luna ordered two of them to escort the unconscious cult member to the castle for interrogation and get the royal surgeon to fix his jaw. The princess of the night watched the two guards haul the robed pony away towards the castle and shook her head. Why can't things be easy for once in my life? Luna thought to herself before galloping after her night guard.

Luna and the night guard managed to get ahead of the cult and reach the ambush point without any more incidents. Now all they needed to do was wait for the disciples of the sun to show up and surround them when the princess gave the order. Occasionally, one of the scouts would fly up next to the princess and relay how far the cult was; she would then tell the guard next to her the same information, and then he would do the same until the info came back to Luna so that along the way it didn't get messed up. Bout ten minutes later, movement in the tree line caught the princess' attention and the first of many robbed ponies made their way into the clearing.

One by one, the cultists came out of the tree line and out into the open, utterly unaware that the night guard currently surrounded them. Sometimes Luna could see the glint of metal underneath a cultist's robes; whether this was from a weapon, armour, or something else entirely, Luna couldn't tell.

"We should attack them now before they get too far in and we lose the leader," Dark Lance whispered into Luna's ear while pointing to the pony leading the group of cultists. Following the captain's hoof, Luna spotted the pony, who was undoubtedly the leader as his robes were much more elegant than the others, and an ornate golden sceptre floated beside him, allowing the princess to gauge that he was a unicorn.

"Nay, if we attack too soon, we run the risk of allowing too many to escape, and the cultists that fall here will be turned into martyrs for the others to rally behind. No, we attack when I'm confident that we can arrest all of them!" Dark Lance bowed before his princess and retook his position slightly behind her. Now that Luna had spoken her plan out loud, she realized that there was one glaring flaw with it, and that was the fact that the clearing was too small to hold every single cult member. Most of the cultists would be in the tree line waiting for their chance to either run or move up and attack the night guard; neither was in the princess' best interest to allow. While trying to think up a solution to that problem, Luna nearly forgot about an underutilized asset. "Shadow, front and center!" Luna ordered, and after a few seconds, the head of the lead scour popped out from the foliage overhead.

"What can Shadow do for you, my princess?" The lead scout asked in his raspy voice. Shadow was the head of the night guard scout corps and was a complete and utter mystery to the princess and the other guards. The thestral was almost entirely black; his fur and mane were a dark obsidian colouration that allowed him to blend in with the thing he was named after flawlessly: Only his deep red eyes stood out from the darkness.

"I want you to take the scout corps and move them behind the cultists. Once the guard and I engage them, I want you to prevent the ones in the tree line from escaping." After Luna finished relaying her orders, Shadow moved his head which the princess figured was a bow and slipped back into the foliage and out of sight.

However, it seemed fate had other plans for the princess as one of the more inexperienced and young of her guard had gotten a little over-anxious. With blade held firmly in his mouth, the young thestral leaped from his hiding place in the tees and sped towards the nearest cultist. With minimal effort, the guard sunk his blade into the neck of his target. Blood poured from the wound, the artery in his neck severed by the sword. The cultist opened his mouth, but all he could do was spew up more blood. The guard pulled his blade free of the cultist's neck, and the robed pony fell over onto the ground with a dying gurgle. Standing in front of the cultists with the blood of one of their own staining his sword, armour and fur, the young thestral's heart raced and swelled with pride at his first kill, but he also felt unbearably queasy at the same time. All thestrals expected them to turn tail and run at the sight of a night guardstallion covered in blood. However, they would be wrong as, without hesitation, the cultists threw off their robes to reveal that they were all wearing near-identical replicas of the day guard armour.

"Disciples of the sun indeed," Luna whispered to herself. Turning her head to Dark Lance, she nodded, giving the captain the order to attack.

Leaping from her perch in the tree, Luna lit her horn, materializing an ethereal sword, and flew towards the fear-stricken thestral as fast as possible. The distance she needed to cross wasn't considerable, but no matter how hard she flapped her wings, the guard stallion still seemed so far away to the princess. As if in slow motion, the night Alicorn was forced to watch as one of the cultists ran her blade through the frightened thestral's chest. Unable to stop it, Luna watched as the young thestral turned his head towards her, and the look of fear in his eyes nearly broke her. Landing on the ground, the princess skidded across the dirt and scooped up the dying guardstallion in her hooves and away from the cultist, but not before removing the head of the cultist who killed him from her shoulders. Not wanting to miss their chance to be the one to strike down the night Alicorn, the cult members charged her but were thrown across the clearing by a blast of magic from the princess when they got too close. Keeping the cult at bay, Luna stayed with the dying thestral until the light from his eyes wholly faded.

"What do we have here?" A voice that was way too calm for the situation asked, drawing the princess' attention from the dead thestral. Slowly Making his way out of the frenzy of battle was the cultist leader. He wore armour that was nigh identical to Celestia's battle attire. His fur was the same shade of white as her sister's, and his mane, while not the same rainbow coloured as Celestia's, still flowed as if it was in the wind. It was most likely that the armour he was wearing was enchanted to make himself look as close to his god as possible, and if it wasn't for the fact that his flank was covered, Luna suspected his cutie mark would look identical to her sister's as well. "Oh, it seems one of your Tartarus spawn has died," the cult leader jeered. Luna gently placed the dead guardstallion on the ground and stood up, all the while never taking her eyes off of her the cultist.

"Identify yourself!" Luna ordered as she pointed her ethereal sword at the pony's throat.

"Oh, how rude of me," The cult leaser apologized with a mocking bow. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Celestia Ascendant, a worshiper and chosen of the sun goddess, Celestia, and sworn enemy of her sister, the demon who stalks the night." After Ascendant was finished introducing himself, Luna could feel the dark presence in the back of her mind push forward. Just like in the dining room, her mind became filled with images of her standing victorious over the broken and bloody body of the pony in front of her. If luna was being honest with herself, it was rather tempting to let go and allow whatever it was to turn Celestail Ascendant into past, but she knew that if she did let go, there was no turning back and so Luna took several calming breaths, once again pushing the dark presence into the back of her mind.

"What pray tell makes you think you were chosen by my sister when she would never condone the acts you have taken?" Luna asked the unstable pony. It seemed that Celestial Ascendant wasn't expecting the princess' enquiry as his head shot up from his bow and stared at the Alicorn dumbly.

"You actually wish to hear my tale?" The cultist asked Luna, who nodded her head. "Well, then I shall be happy to regale you with the story of how the sun goddess herself saved me from death and chose me to put an end to your reign of terror!" Luna rolled her eyes as Celestial Ascendant started his story.

He told her of the time he was just a little colt playing in the field of his family's farm. A pack of Timberwolves had come out of the Everfree forest and began to attack his family. Running for his life, he ran towards the nearest town to get help but got cut off when the Timberwolves got ahead of him. Knowing that his death was not far off, he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable; yet it never came. Opening his eyes, he could see that the wolved had been turned into as, and Celestia was standing over them, shining with a radiance that only a god could possess. The Alicorn departed in a brilliant flash of light without a word, leaving him alone. Later that very same night, he was having a nightmare about being torn to shreds by the Timberwolves when he was once again saved by the visage of the sun Alicorn, only this time she didn't depart immediately and spoke to him. She told him that he didn't need to be afraid, nor should he be ashamed of running. She said to him that he would do something to make up for it in the future, but until then, she would keep his dreams free of nightmares.

"And when I heard of you, the princess who skulks in the dark, I knew that defeating you was what I needed to do to make up for my cowardice as a colt and free the sun goddess from her burden!" When Celestial Ascendant finished his story, he expected to see a look f shock and surprise on the night princess's face, but instead, she started laughing. "What's so funny!?" Ascendant demanded of the princess. Managing to stop, Luna wiped a tear from her eye and looked up at the cult leader with pity.

"What's so funny, Celestial Ascendant is just how pathetic and delusional you truly are!" The cult leader recoiled as if the princess' words and tone physically struck him. "You aren't chosen. My sister defends all towns from the creatures of the Everfree when the guard fails to keep them in check. And what's really funny is that it wasn't my sister who saved you from that nightmare: it was me." The cult leader couldn't believe what he was hearing. He refused to accept the night princess was telling the truth.

"You lie!" Ascendant screamed and stomped his hooves like a foal. "I know I was chosen; I know that there was no way a demon like you could do something as kind as to save a colt from a nightmare!" Luna let out a frustrated sigh at the cult leader's temper tantrum as it seemed like there would be no getting through to him.

"Believe what you will, but the reality of the situation is that you wasted most of your life chasing a fantasy!" The words from the princess were the last straw as Ascendant drew his blade and roared with anger before charging at the night Alicorn.

Luna effortlessly sidestepped the cult leader's reckless charge and brought her blade down with the intent of severing Celestial Ascendant's head from his neck and ending this fight as soon as she could. Ascendant spun around on his back hooves and used his armoured horseshoes to block her strike, catching the princess off guard at his competence. Pressing his advantage, the cult leader wildly swung his blade at Luna, hoping to fell the princess with death by a thousand cuts. The Alicorn's long life had thankfully given her plenty of battlefield experience, and she parried every one of his stikes. Blocking one final blow, Luna spun around and bucked the cult leader in the chest, and while his armour took the brunt of the force, he was still left winded and skidded across the dirt. Not letting up, the princess launched a beam of magic at Ascendant, but she soon learned that the armour he was wearing protected him from magic bassed attacks as her attack was defected by it. Recovering from the buck to the chest, Celestial Ascendant fired off his own beam of magic at the princess; being that she as an Alicorn, it was foal's play for her to deflect the beam. Surprisingly even matched, the two ponies glared and circled one another, each one of them looking for the slightest chance to take the other out.

"Give up, Celestial Ascendant! There is no way you and your brothers and sisters can win this battle!" Luna yelled at the cult leader. "Look around; your forces are being slaughtered one by one!" Ascendant did as the princess said, and she was right. More of his brothers and sisters lay dead on the ground than night guard, and for each guard they slay, five to ten cultists would die. "If you surrender now, I can assure the fair treatment of your cult, but you will be put on trial for crimes against the crown." Celestia Ascendant didn't trust the night princess any further than he could throw her, but if the battel kept on going the way it was, the entire cut would be wiped out within the hour. Seeing no other option, the cult leader dropped his sword and knelt before the princess.

"I surrender," Ascendant despondently said, surprising not only the surviving members of his cult but the princess and the night guard as well. "You will keep your promise and spare my brothers and sisters, right?" Ascendant pleaded. Nodding her head, Luna watched as the other cult members dropped their weapons and were cuffed by the night guard before they marched them towards the castle. Letting out a tired sigh, the night princess allowed herself to relax and thought about how much she wanted to tell Orion about the battle, not that he would understand her at his age, but maybe once he was older, it would be an exciting bedtime story. Once the last of the cult members and the night guard left the clearing, Luna took one last look around the recent battlefield to ensure no cultist was waiting in ambush. When she was sure none were left, Luna left the clearing and practically skipped back to the castle.

Chapter Three: The Day Of Nightmares

Arriving back at the castle with her guard, Luna remembered that her sister was most likely holding court at this time of day. Turning, She ordered a guard to inform her of their arrival. After a few minutes, the castle doors opened, and one by one, commoner and noble alike came out through the doors. Each of them stopped and looked at the cultists for a moment before continuing on their way. Once the stream of ponies exiting the castle ended, Luna and her bat ponies marched the cultists into the main hall and throne room.

Sitting on her throne, Celestia had a good vantage point to watch as her sister marched a group of ponies into the room, each one of them led in by a guard and in chains. Furious that her sister ignored her warnings about detaining the cults, the solar princess practically leaped off her thone and stomped her way over to her sister. Seeing Celestia's angered strides, each thestral of the night guard back a few feet out of fear as she got closer, but luna barely paid her sister any mind.

"Luna, I thought we agreed not to arrest anypony. Didn't you listen to a single word I said!?" Celestia accused with an edge in her voice so hard it would have made a full-grown griffon wet himself. Feeling her ire rise, Luna swiftly spun around to face her sister.

"No, you said we shouldn't arrest them, nit I never agreed to that," Luna said as she poked her sister in the chest with a hoof. "And yes, I did listen to what you said, but do you know what they were about to do?" Luna asked her "all-knowing" sister but didn't give her time to answer. "They were going to attack the thestral village, and I was not about to stand around and do nothing while innocent ponies were in danger!" Celestia couldn't believe what she was hearing; she knew that the cultists had an issue with her sister and the night guard, but to slaughter innocent ponies for simply being what they were was something she couldn't wrap her head around. The only thing she knew for sure was that Luna would never lie about something of such severity.

"Lulu, I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, and if what you say is true, then maybe I was wrong, and I need to rethink my strategy for dealing with these cults," Celestia said, catching her sister off guard and leaving her the one to not believe what she was hearing. Not once in her long life did Luna ever hear her sister say she was wrong about something; she always played up the all-knowing Alicorn act, but now after long last, did she admit she was wrong about something.

"I accept your apology, Tia. Now, if you'll excuse, I need to get these cultists to the dungeon, and then I need to go back to bed," Luna said as she trotted around and away from her sister.

"Wait before you go; there's something of great importance that I need to talk to you about," Celestia shouted after her sister.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait a little bit," Luna yelled back.

"Lulu wai- and she's gone. The day monarch let out an aggravated sigh before walking back to her thone. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way then."

Entering the castle dungeons, Luna marched her way past the cells containing the cultists, ignoring the sneers, insults and calls for her death until she reached the cell holding Celestial Ascendant.

"Did you come to gloat, demon?" Ascendant asked the night princess, the contempt in his voice clear as day. With a tired sigh, Luna shook her head.

"No, I have come to ask you to denounce all that you have done and to disband your group officially. If you do, I can guarantee you a lighter sentence," Luna offered the cult leader, who snorted with disdain.

"I may have surrendered, demon, but I will never stop fighting you, and if my sentence is to be death, then I will happily become a martyr for our cause!" The cult leader turned his back to the night princess and stared at the wall with nothing more to say.

"why?" Luna asked. Expecting more anger and vitriol, Ascendant turned back to face the night Alicorn and saw not a demon, nor a proud princess, but a pony that has been shunned and reviled for merely being who she was. "Why do you hate me so much? Whatever did I do to make you and the other ponies shun me and my night?" Luna asked as she fought back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. Ascendant couldn't believe what he was seeing; here was the demon he vowed to help defeat, looking so sad and vulnerable and looking as if the following words he spoke would shatter her into tiny pieces. For whatever reason, Ascendant couldn't bring himself to say what he wanted and turned his head away from the princess out of shame and didn't utter a single word. Seeing that the cult leader wasn't going to give her what she wanted, Luna turned away from the cell and stormed her way out of the dungeons, chastising herself for ever thinking she could reason with these ponies.

After Luna exited the dungeon and made it back to the main hall, her sister once again attempted to engage her on the crucial matter she wanted to discuss. Luna was not in the mood to deal with anything and pushed past her sister and exited the hall. The princess of the night raced through the halls of the castle, ignoring every and all ponies she passed until she reached her room. Throwing open the doors, she stepped into her room and immediately moved the bookshelf out of the way so she could pull the chain behind it. The secret entrance started to open as Luna reached it, and being that she was in a hurry, she didn't wait for it to finish opening and squeezed her way inside.

"Have you been a good colt, Orion?" Luna asked as she entered her son's secret room. Walking up to the crib, she took hold of the blanket and pulled it away, expecting Orion to be there; instead, she saw that her son wasn't there at all. Instantly panicking, Luna's mind raced with many different possibilities on what happened to him, the worst of which was that her sister found him. As Luna continued to panic, she tore the room apart in vain, hoping that her son was playing a game with her and hiding. Once the princess had thoroughly destroyed the room, she began marching to confront her sister when a thought occurred to her. Wait a minute, I don't remember putting Orion back in his crib when I left. Smacking herself on the side of her head, Luna remembered that in her haste to assemble the night guard, she left Orion on her bed. The princess of the night let out a relieved sigh and slowly put the room back together before trotting out of the camber and back into her room.

When Luna exited the chamber, she eyed her bed and looked for the form of her son, but the way the blankets were bundled up made it impossible for her to spot him. Given that she also couldn't hear anything coming from the bed, Luna figured that she must still be asleep and slowly tip hoofed her way over to the bed. Creeping up on the piece of furniture, she ignited her horn and pulled the blankets away, and her heart nearly stopped when she saw that Orion wasn't there either. Just as she did with the secret chamber, the princess of the night began to panic and started tearing her room apart. Using her Alicorn strength that could rival that of a minotaur's, Luna threw the furniture out of her way in the desperate search for her son. After a scant few minutes, the night princess' room looked like a pegasus conjured a tornado into, and yes, she didn't find Orion; he just wasn't there. Thoughts of her son crawling his way through the halls of the castle filled the princess' mind. The image of Celestia coming across him and taking him away either to put him in an orphanage or to keep for herself played over and over in her head until she could no longer stand it and sprung into action.

Luna violently threw open the doors to her room, easily tearing one of them clean off of its hinges and leaving the other askew before flying down the halls of the castle. Racing through the halls, Luna looked in every nook and cranny for her son, hoping that she could find him before her sister did and take him away from her forever. As she searched, the princess would stop every pony she saw and ask them if anything small and strange was moving through the castle. Unfortunately, none of them would answer her as her frayed state of mind made her look like she was mad. Rapidly realizing that asking the castle staff for assistance was futile, Luna ignored all ponies in the halls and began to search the rooms, the first being the quarters of her twin maids as that was the most likely place he could be.

The twins jumped out of bed when Luna threw open the doors to the room. The princess didn't even wait for the two of them to respond before she began her search. Both mares looked at each other, confused and wondering what caused their princess to be in such a state.

"Princess Luna, what's going on? Why are you destroying our room?" Crimson Mist asked.

"Orion is missing," Luna told the maid without looking at her nor ceasing her search. Instantly understanding the gravity of the situation, both twins offered their services to help find their princess' son. Thanking the maids for their assistance, Luna directed Crimson Mist to search the east end of the castle while Silver Wind would comb through the west. As the two sisters started to gallop down the hall, Luna stopped them and ordered that they avoid the day guard and her sister as much as possible. Understanding completely, the twins nodded and once again began galloping away, and once they were out of sight, the night princess allowed herself to calm down and, with a clear head, began wondering where her son could have gone. While she was deep in thought, Luna failed to notice the pony approaching her from behind and only realized when he loudly cleared his throat. Startled by the sudden sound, Luna spun around and stared at the guardstallion standing before her, wondering what he wanted as he just stood there.

"Princess Luna, your sister princess Celesti has requested your presence," the guard said to her in an overly formal tone.

"Yes, well. I'm sorry to disappoint my sister, but I', currently in the middle of something important at the moment," Luna replied to the guard's message before turning away from him.

"She says it's urgent," The guardstallion insisted. "The princess also says it has to do with your little secret." The way the guard emphasized the words little secret told Luna all she needed to know, and she spun back around to ask him to clarify, but he was already walking away from her and ignored her calls for him to stop. Alright, let's go and see what my sister has to say. Luna thought to herself as she began walking towards the throne room.

Standing in front of the throne room doors, Luna looked around and noticed that there wasn't a single pony around: not even the guards. It was clear to Luna that her sister was expecting something to happen between them and had ordered every pony from the castle. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Luna pushed all negative thoughts to the back of her mind and pushed open the massive double doors. The princess of the night stepped into the throne room and immediately spotted her sister sitting on her throne, which wasn't all that unusual for this time of day, but what she was holding turned her blood ice cold. While it wasn't easy to see from the far end of the room, Luna could see the unmistakable form of her son nestled in her sister's wing.

"Ah, Lulu, I'm so glad that you could join us," Celestia said with a smile when she noticed her sister approach. "There is an important matter we need to discuss."

"yes, we do, and I think it should be about respecting others' personal space," Luna stated with barely contained anger evident in her voice.

"Are you talking about when I took this little one from your room?" The day princess asked with a knowing smile, to which Luna curtly nodded, not trusting herself to speak for fear she would say something she regretted. "After you and the night guard went to go and confront the disciples of the sun, I paused court to go for a walk to clear my head as I was furious at your actions. When I got close to your room, I could her crying; poking my head inside, I saw this strange and unusual foal tangled in the blankets of your bed. Freeing it from its predicament, I took it and placed it in a basket behind my throne and waited for you to return so we could discuss your actions regarding it," Celestia explained to her sister, utterly oblivious to her continually rising anger.

"Orion," Luna muttered under her breath.

"What was that, sister?" Celestia asked, hearing her sister speak but not quite making out what she said.

"His name is Orion!" Luna snapped and yelled at her sister, stretching the use of the royal voice. The entire room shook with how loud the night princess was, and out of the corner of her eye, Celestia could see the windows vibrating as if they would break at any moment. When the room stopped shaking, the princess of the sun looked down at her younger sister and frowned. So I was right in my assumptions, she thought to herself as she stood up and walked down to Luna.

"Now that your little temper tantrum is over, do you have anything to say for yourself?" Celestia asked with a disappointed tone in her voice.

"Yes, give me back my son!" Luna demanded of her sister, not even taking note of her disappointed tone.

"I'm sorry, Lulu, but I can't do that," Celestia said with a shake of her head.

"Why the buck not?" Luna asked, her anger rising once again.

"Because he's not your don, Lulu, he belongs to his real parents; you had no right in taking him from them!" The princess of the night couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her sister thought that she had taken Orion from his birth parents like some villain from a foals book.

"Do you have such a low opinion of me that you would think me capable of foalnapping a child from their parents, Tia?"

"I don't know, Lulu," Celestia said with a certainty that to Luna felt like her sister just stabbed her in the heart. "All I know is that you have been keeping a strange foal locked away in your room and that you have been keeping him a secret," Celestia said with a frustrated sigh. "If you didn't steal him, then you will have no trouble telling me how you came across him?" Letting out an irritated groan, Luna reluctantly nodded and told her sister how she found Orion — telling her about when she went to their garden and encountered him in the rose bush. She recounted, trying to inform her of his existence and what she should do with him, but her heavy sleeping prevented that. Luna then explained that the way Orion would laugh and giggle at almost anything she said without a hint of fear made her happier than she had ever been and helped convince her to keep him and raise him as the prince of the night.

When were you going to tell me about him?" Celestia asked, interrupting Luna's story. The night princess knew this question would come up at some point, and dreading her sister's reaction to the answer; she nervously kicked the floor.

When he was old enough that separating us would have been cruel," Luna nervously replied. Silence quickly descended on the throne room, and to the younger Alicorn, it was worse than if her sister started to scold her. Taking a chance, Luna raised her head to look up at her sister, and as soon as she did, she regretted it. One of the most significant powers her sister had did not pertain to her magical prowess but her ability to make any creature feel guilty. With just a simple look of disappointment, she could get a battle-hardened veteran who resisted torture to confess everything, even the time they stole a cookie when he was a colt. Hell Luna also saw her reduce a full-grown male griffon to tears with that look: now it was being turned on her. Thankfully for the night princess, she had seen her sister use that same look on several ponies and so had partial immunity to its effects.

"Alright, I get it, sister being deceitful is wrong. Can I have my son back so we can go to sleep?" Luna begged.

"No," Celestia curtly responded.

"No, what do you mean, no?" Luna asked.

"Lulu, he's bot yours to keep or take at a whim, he has a family out there, and we need to return him to them," Celestia stated plainly.

"Tia, I found him abandoned in our garden in the middle of the Everfree. I highly doubt they are still alive."

"Be that as it may, we are the immortal rulers of Equestria, and we have sworn to put the needs of our ponies above our happiness, we can not allow ourselves to put our selfishness above their needs, I'm sorry, Lulu, but if I can't find his parents I will put him in a foster home, be assured that I'll make sure that Orion is well taken care of." For that second time in a short while, Luna couldn't believe what she was hearing. Orion made her happier than she had ever been in a long time, and now her sister was trying to take him away. Igniting her horn, the princess of the night took hold of the moon and moved the celestial body across the sky until it blocked out the sun. Noticing the shadows descending on the throne room, Celestia looked up and saw the moon eclipsing her sun. Spinning around to face her sister, she saw her hirn lit and the look of pure and ger and hatred on her face. Luna, what are you doing? Stop this foalishness at once!" Celestia ordered, to which the nigh princess scoffed and vigorously shook her head.

"You will return Orion to me, or I will make sure this eclipse lasts forever!" The longer Luna defied her sister, the more she could feel the dark presence in her mind push forward. As it got closer to the forefront of her consciousness, the princess' round pony eyes became daggers, looking like that of a dragon's.

"Please, Lulu, stop this; you can't do this! You can't allow your emotions to control you!" Celestia begged, but it was already too late. Her sister was long past listening to her and wouldn't stop until she got what she wanted. Letting out a long, drawn-out sigh, Celestia levitated Orion out of her wing and placed him into the basked she had behind her throne. She ensured he was tucked in properly before casting a protective barrier around him, knowing that he would be in harm's way in a few seconds. Turning to face her sister, the day princess could see the expectant look on her sister's face as she waited for her to return Orion to her. "You can stop looking at me like that, Lulu; I will not compromise my morals for any pony, not even you." Luna could no longer take her sister's stubborn refusal to give up Orion and launched herself towards Celestia.

Bearing her teeth which had now formed into fangs, Luna went straight for her sister's throat. Seeing her sister's attack coming, Celestia stepped to the side and watched as she flew past her and slammed headfirst into her throne. Quickly Recovering from her lunge, Luna sprung back up and tried again; this time, her sister didn't dodge the attack but conjured a shield that the night princess bounced off of and into the other throne. Feeling her anger reaching its boiling point, Luna fired off a beam of magic at her sister so large that it engulfed the barrier surrounding her. The shield protecting Celestia flickered as if it would fail at any moment; thankfully for her, it just barely managed to hold. When the blinding beam of magic finally stopped, Celestia rubbed her eyes with a hoof, and what she saw when her sight returned shocked her beyond belief. Standing right where her sister was, was a strange mare that was as tall as she was with a dark black coat. Het mane was much lighter and moved as if it had a mind of its own.

"I am Nightmare Moon, and the night shall last forever!" The mare bellowed before she threw her head back and started cackling. As soon as Nightmare Moon finished her cackle, she fired off another beam of magic at the sun, Alicorn. Though it wasn't as large as the one Luna fired off, it was much more potent and effortlessly shattered Celestia's barrier. Caught utterly off guard, Celestia started to panic and began haphazardly evading the follow-up attacks from her corrupted sister. Taking a glance over her shoulder, the sun princess could see the beams of magic blast apart and slice through the stone walls of the castle. I have a feeling that whichever of us wins this battle, we still lose our home, Celestia thought to herself with a sigh. With her momentary lapse in focus, Celestia failed to notice how close one of Nightmare Moon's attacks was too striking her in the chest and barely managed to evade. While she may have avoided taking her sister's attack directly, The beam still managed to graze Celestia's shoulder, burning it badly. The day monarch let out a pained yelp as she felt the intense burning of the attack as it passed her, burning away her coat and leaving an angry red burn as well as leaving the fur surrounding it blackened. The beam continued its trajectory until it impacted the ceiling and blasted a massive hole in the roof, which Celestia quickly flew through to give herself more breathing room.

When she was out of the castle, Celestia immediately spun around and fired off her own magical attack as her corrupted sister. Uncaring of her pain, Nightmare Moon powered through the assault and sped towards Celestia with the intent of impaling her on her horn. The sun princess threw out a shield a few feet in front of her and expected her sister to bounce off of it like last time, but once Nightmare Moon impacted the shield, she stayed where she was. Flapping her wings as hard as she could, the corrupted Alicorn continued to put pressure on her sister's defences until cracks started to appear and began to fail against her determination. With the sound of glass, the shield protecting the princess of the sun shattered, and the dark Alicorn continued her momentum. Thankfully for Celestia, Nightmare Moo's trajectory was redirected a little, and for the second time in a few seconds, she was saved from being hit dead center; Unfortunately, she couldn't say the same for her shoulder as her sister's horn impaled it. Screaming out in pain, the sun princess reacted out of instinct and smacked her corrupted sister as hard as she could in the muzzle, ripping her horn from her shoulder and sending her flying a few feet away. Looking down at the hole that now existed in her, Celestia could see her blood pour freely from the wound, staining her white coat red. Turning her head away from the now red-stained leg, the princess of the sun eyed the dark Alicorn that was her sister and watched as she gleefully lapped at the crimson liquid that ran down her horn.

"Ah, the blood of the sun is as tasty as I imagined," Nightmare Moon said with a dark chuckle and a smile that made Celestia's blood ice cold. "I can't wait to try more!" The corrupted Alicorn erected a wall of magic around herself, but unlike her sister, she had no intention of using it for simple defence as large menacing spikes sprouted from its surface. Knowing full well what her corrupted sister intended, Celestia mirrored her sand conjured her own offensive barrier and charged Nightmare MoonThe two powerful beings clashed, and the force of the collision combined with their raw magical power produced a shockwave strong enough that it shook the ground beneath them and created an earthquake that could be felt all across Equestria. Again and again, the two Alicorns collided, each creating a shockwave that rattled the damaged castle below, which helped to destroy it further. The longer the two princesses battled, the more haggard and wounded they became as the spikes on their barriers easily pierced the other, repeatedly cutting and impaling the two Alicorns. Staring each other down, the princesses braced themselves for one final attack as neither of them could afford to drag this out any longer. I had hoped Luna would be able to get a hold of herself by this point, but it seems I have no choice; I have to use the elements. I'm so sorry, Lulu, but I can't allow you to plunge the world into darkness. As Celestia finalized her plan, Nightmare Moon began her charge, and rather than start her own, Celestia stood her ground, waiting for her sister to get close before making her move. The corrupted Alicorn was about halfway to the sun monarch when she suddenly stopped and snapped her head towards the castle. Surprised at her sister's sudden hesitance, Celestia turned to their destroyed home herself and attempted to figure out what made Nightmare Moon stop. After only a few seconds, the princess of the day heard the sounds of a crying foal, and immediately she knew what had stopped her sister, who when she turned back to her was gone. Having no idea what her sister would do to Orion in her twisted state, Celestia dispelled her barrier and raced after Nightmare Moon.

Landing back in the throne room, the sun princess watched as her corrupted sister effortlessly smashed the barrier she created to keep Orion safe. As the dark Alicorn reached for him, Celestia crouched down and prepared herself to stop her, but she stopped when she way the look of motherly concern on Nightmare Moon's face. Celestia relaxed and watched as her sister's coat began to lighten and as she started to shrink back down to her original size. Just as quickly as the corrupted Alicorn arrived, Nightmare Moon was gone, and princess Luna was left cradling her son in her wing. Seeing the look of utter happiness her sister had as she held the foal, Celestia let out a tired sigh and wiled up to the two of them. Noticing her sister's approach, Luna pulled Orion to the other side to keep him out of Celestia's sight.

"There's no need for that, Lulu. I know see how much you care for him, and I now realize that I may have been rash in my decision to separate the two of you," Celestia said, much to you night princess' shock.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Luna asked, needing to hear the exact words from her sister to believe her.

"Yes, Luna, you can raise him as your son without any interference from me." Hearing Celestia's words, Luna jumped up and hugged her older sister, thanking her over and over as she cried tears of joy.

Destruction, death, madness, these were the things Luna saw every day since her battle with her sister when she was Nightmare Moon. The second she closed her eyes, she would see the same nightmare each and every time. Unable to move, she was forced to watch as her dark persona would strike down her sister with ease and drink her blood as if she were a vampony. Next, her doppelganger would go into the castle and shatter the barrier protecting her son; showing cleat signs of disdain for the foal, she lifted her leg as if to squash a bug. With an animalistic snarl, the dark Alicorn brought her hoof down on Orion as hard as she could; thankfully, for Luna, she woke up just before the impact.

Sitting up in bed, Luna let out a frustrated groan and wiped the sweat from her face that formed as she tossed and turned while she suffered from her nightmare. Needing to calm herself, the princess of the night turned to the crib that her son slept in, and when she saw that he wasn't there, she muttered a curse under her breath. Luna lazily slid out of bed, quickly brushed her mane before exiting her room and slowly shuffled her way through the hall to the stairs that led into the living room. Steadily descending the stairs, luna entered the living room and saw a sight that warmed her heart even though she was annoyed. Laying in the middle of the room on her stomach and stretched out was her sister with Orion safely in-between her front legs. For a few minutes, Luna just stood in the doorway and watched as the over a thousand years old Alicorn who moved the sun spoke incomprehensible gibberish to her son while tickling him with her wingtips.

"You know, sister, if you keep stealing him from his crib, he's never going to have a normal sleeping cycle," Luna finally spoke up, startling the other Alicorn. Standing up as regally as she could, Celestia dusted herself off and faced her sister.

"Well, what can I do? We have entirely different schedules, the only time I can see my nephew is just before the sunrise, and he's usually asleep by then."

"And to think that just a month ago you were so insistent that I couldn't keep him, now I can't seem to wake without finding my son missing from his crib," Luna said as she crossed the room to pick up her son. "Seeing that I'm awake now, why don't we do and check on the progress of the castle?" The night princess asked, and Celestia nodded her head in agreement.

After the battle between Celestia and the corrupted form of Luna, the two princesses were left without a home. Word of what transpired rapidly spread across the kingdom, and many ponies came to see if their princesses were alright. Once the two Alicorns assured the nation's citizens, they informed them of their plan to move the capital to the Canterhorn. Immediately the two of them were met with praise and the cries of ponies willing to volunteer to help in any way they could. Celestia and Luna tried to dissuade them, saying they had contracted several construction companies. The last thing they wanted was for their little ponies to inconvenience themselves for no reason, especially over their own mistakes, but they were having none of it and vowed to build them a temporary home until the construction ponies finished the new castle.

The two Alicorns stepped out of their temporary home and looked up to see that half of the new palace was done thanks to the construction team's dedication to seeing it done as quickly as possible. It would still take a few years until it became a capital worthy of the name, but the two princesses were confident that it would be grand no matter how long it took.

"Look, Oron, that will be our new home once it's finished, and this time you won't need to be locked away and kept secret," Luna said to her son. "I just hope that our little ponies can accept you as fast as my sister did." The princess of the night felt Celestia drape her wing over her withers.

"I'm sure they will, Lulu, I'm sure they will," Celestia reassured her sister. Whether she believed her or not, Luna pushed her negative thoughts to the back of her mind and decided that they would cross that bridge when they got there. For now, she just wanted to enjoy the happiness she felt with her family.

Chapter Four: New Problems

"I don't wanna eat meat!" Cried a young griffon as he turned his beak up at the slab of meat his parents placed in front of him.

"Come on, sweetie; you need to eat properly, don't you want to become a strong and dependable griffon like your father?" The chick's mother asked while his father nodded his head sagely.

"I don't want to be a strong griffon if it means the ponies at school continue to bully me for it!" The chick cried out. "I don't want to be a griffon anymore," he said as he lowered his head and began to cry. Immediately his parents got up and wrapped their arms around him in a comforting embrace. The three of them stayed like this until the son cried himself to sleep, upon which the father carefully placed him on his back and carried him up to bed.

Once he had his son neatly tucked in, the father headed back downstairs to talk to his wife about what to do. For over an hour, the two griffons bounced ideas off of one another, but each time one of them would come up with a solution, the other would find a flaw with the plan and poke a big hole in it. Growing increasingly more and more frustrated at their situation, the two griffons slumped back onto the couch and let out a defeated sigh.

"Welp, I'm out of ideas," the mother said with a sigh. The father wasn't faring any better as he lazily fell onto his side with an overdramatic huff. Feeling like all hope was lost, the father reached for a piece of paper to ask the princesses for help when he remembered that there was one other who could help. Sitting back up, he quickly tells his wife that he heard of a griffon doctor that travels all across Equestria, assisting others of their kind. Deciding that this doctor was the best hope for their son, the two griffons wrote a letter to him and got it to the maile mare as fast as they could. As they watched her go, the two of them could only wait and hope that this doctor could help their child.

A week passed since they sent the letter asking the doctor for help, and throughout that time, their son had gotten worse as he continued refusing to eat any meat. The two griffon parents grew increasingly more and more worried that the doctor didn't get their message, or he would be too late to help their son. Unable to do anything for their child, the parents paced around the living room to occupy their time and to stop themselves from thinking about the worst-case scenario. Their pacing was interrupted by a loud and rather aggressive knocking at the doot that startled both of them. Rushing through the house, the father opened the door and standing there was an old griffon with pale fur and deep gray feathers. The only thing he wore was a pair of glasses that sat comfortably on his beak.

"Alright, where is the patient?" The doctor asked as he pushed his way into the house, ignoring the father's outstretched claw. Walking into the living room, the doctor looked around and spotted the son sitting on the couch, hunched over and nervously picking at his talons. Instantly recognizing the signs of malnutrition and stress, he slowly walked up to the chick. "So you refuse to eat properly, do you," the doctor said, and the young griffon nervously nodded his head. "And I can assume that it's due to macking or bullying?" The doctor asked, though he already knew the answer to his question. Once again, the eaglet nodded his head in confirmation. Why is it always like this; why can't these ponies practice what they preach, the doctor thought to himself with a sigh. "You need to eat properly; otherwise, you'll end up even sicker than you already are and worry your parents even more than you are right now," the doctor explained to the cub, who finally looked up at the older griffon.

"I know, but I don't want the ponies at school to bully me anymore! Can't I eat something else instead?" The chick asked, and the doctor could only shake his head in response.

"I'm sorry, but no, no, you can't. We griffons are carnivores through and through, and eating what the ponies eat can make you sicker than you already are." After hearing the doctor's explanation, the son put his head back down and started to cry. From the entryway, the parents looked at one another, not knowing if they should step in and comfort their son, or let the doctor continue his work uninterrupted. With a huff of annoyance, the doctor opened his bag and rummaged around until he found what he needed. The mother and father watched as the old griffon pulled out a plain-looking pocket watch and lifted it to their son's face.

Noticing the pocket watch in his peripheral vision, the son looked back up and gave the doctor a confused look. Without a word and a reassuring smile, the old griffon began to swing the watch back and forth in front of the chick's face. For a few seconds, nothing happened, and the parents of the eaglet were wondering if the doctor was wasting their time when their son suddenly closed his eyes and fell asleep. Not sure as to what was going on, the parents nervously shuffled from side to side in the entryway and wondered what the doctor's plan was. Once the old griffon was satisfied that his patient was in a deep enough sleep, he put the pocket watch back in his bag and got to work.

"What was your son's name again?" The doctor asked the parents, who told him that it was Jonas. Nodding his head, the old griffon turned his attention back to his patient and smiled. "Alright, Jonas, I want you to listen to me very carefully, understand?" Immediately the chick nodded his head in response to the doctor's words. "From now on, you will no longer care if ponies see you eating meat. You won't care if the colts and fillies at school bully you, and if any of them object, you'll tell them off in the usual griffon way. The doctor told Jonas; though he knew the "usual griffon way" would cause a few problems on its own, he didn't want his patient to go through a relapse and waste all his efforts. "When I snap my claws, you will wake up and take all that I have said to heart and no longer trouble your parents with this nonsense about not eating properly." After a slow and deliberate count to three, the doctor snapped his claws, and Jonas immediately opened his eyes. Without any prompts, the parents rushed into the room and practically shover the doctor to the side so they could check on their son.

"Sweetie, are you all right?" Jonas' mother asked her son. For a few tense moments, their son didn't say anything and just looked forward with a blank expression on his face. Fearing that the doctor's hypnosis left his son brain dead, the father spun around and was about to break the older griffon's beak when his son finally spoke up.

"I'm fine mom. I'm so sorry that I worried you for so long, and I think I would like a steak, I'm starving," Jonas said to his parents, who beamed with happiness, and the three of them embraced in a hug. Seeing that he was no longer needed, the doctor picked up his bag and exited the house as quietly as he could so that the family could have their happy moment in peace, only leaving a bill and a note on whom to send the bits to as evidence he was ever there.

Having left the house, the doctor made his way through the center of town to the train station. As he walked through the streets, he couldn't help but take note of the sorry of the area. The buildings were in shambles, some of them even in advanced states of disrepair. There was trash littered all over the street, and he was sure he could see a few ponies in the alleyways huddled together doing something nefarious.

While he continued on his way, the doctor noticed that he was receiving some pretty intense glares of hatred and disdain. The old griffon did his best to ignore them as he completely understood why he was getting them. It had only been about a hundred years or so since the war between Equestria and the griffon empire came to an end. It was most likely some of them were still holding a grudge against his kind for how much strife they caused. Letting out a tired sigh, the doctor pushed his way through the crows of ponies until he reached the train station.

The second the doctor exited the crowd, he immediately noticed that the train sitting in the station wasn't the usual one. Instead of the worn down, beat up and overtaxed locomotive he was used to seeing in these remote border towns was an ornate train of pristine whites and dark blues. Wondering what in the world was going on, the doctor pushed his way forward to ask the conductor what was happening when the pony suddenly turned the second he spotted the griffon out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah, doctor Gabriel I presume?" The train conductor asked, and the doctor nodded his head in confirmation. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, but I must insist that you board the train immediately as the others are running behind schedule." Before Gabrel could say anything, the conductor walked behind the old griffon and started to push him onto the train. "Once you are inside, the royal guards shall take care of you." Once again, before he could say anything, the doctor was shoved into a train car and practically had the door slammed on his face.

Groaning, Gabriel turned to face the guards who, without a word, gestured for him to follow before they started marching in step with each other. Rolling his eyes at the guards' ridiculous insistence of stoicism, Gabriel reluctantly followed the armoured ponies through the train cars. Looking around, the doctor noticed that the inside of the cars was just as ornate as the outside; every wall seat and table had a golden trimming. The interior made the doctor feel like he was walking through a mini ballroom; there were even small chandeliers to light up the train at night. Stopping for a second, the old griffon poked the cushion of one of the seats, and it was one of the softest materials he had ever felt in his life, much better than the hardwood he was used to sitting on. After several minutes of walking and passing through several train cars, the guards stopped marching and stood on both sides of the door to the next car. Without a word, as usual, one of the guards opened the door and beckoned for the doctor to go on through. Wanting to get this over with as fast as possible, Gabriel walked through the door without protest and was shocked to see the pony waiting for him. Sitting in the middle of the train car was princess Luna.

"Ah, doctor Gabriel, it's so good to meet you," The princess of the night said to the doctor once she noticed that he was standing there. "Come sit down; there is much for us to discuss." Wanting to know what the lunar Alicorn could want from him, the doctor did as he was asked and sat across from the princess. "Now, I'm sure you are wondering what it is I need from you?:

"Yes, yes, I am, but I'm more curious as to why you came all the way out here personally rather than send a letter or one of your servants?" Gabriel asked the princess of the night, who nodded her head in understanding.

"It's rather simple, doctor, my sister and I have a problem that needs resolving, and neither of us trusted any other pony to come and get you," Luna said as she took a sip of her coffee. "And before you ask, yes, we have gone to several other doctors already, and none of them were able to help us. We hope that you'll be able to do what the others could not and put our minds at ease." Hearing what the princess had to say, the doctor found himself intrigued by their little problem. Just the thought of an old griffon like him solving a medical issue that the best doctors in the kingdom couldn't; nearly caused Gabriel burst out with laughter. Managing to compose himself, the doctor stifled his excitement and looked the princess directly in the eyes.

"Before I agree to help you, I need to know what it is that I'll be doing," Gabriel stated to the princess, who once again nodded her head.

"I understand, doctor, but at the same time I ask that you swear to keep all that I tell you to yourself, do I make myself clear?" The tone in the princess's voice made it very clear that if Gabriel betrayed her trust in any way, he wouldn't live long enough to regret it. Nodding his head, the old griffon stood up and placed a claw on his chest, and vowed to keep all secrets told to him in the strictest of confidence. Sitting back down, the doctor sat silently and waited for the princess to proceed at her own pace. "My son is sick," She said after a long and tense silence. "It seems no matter who we got to, there appears to be no pony in the entire kingdom that can figure out what is wrong with him!" The princess yelled as she stood up out of her seat and started to pace. "My sister and I hope that a non-pony doctor might have some insight as to what avails my son, and hopefully make him better." To say that the doctor was shocked would be an understatement. Not in a million years would he guess that one of the princesses would have a kid, it just didn't seem like something either of them would do or want, at least from what little he knew about them. With his curiosity running on overdrive, Gabriel couldn't agree faster.

"Alright, princess, I'll take a look and see what is wrong with your son," Gabriel said to the night princess. Letting out the breath she was holding, Luna sat back down and profusely thanked the doctor for his assistance.

Several hours later, the train came to a stop as it rolled into Cnaterlot station. Escorted by the guard, the princess and the griffon exited the train and stepped onto the platform. Stretching after the long journey, Gabriel looked around and was surprised to see the city as complete as it was. From where he was standing, the old griffon could see the palace, and what he assumed to be the noble district were both done. Going past those two districts, the farther away from the castle you got, the more sparse finished buildings became. While looking around, the doctor noticed that there seemed to be only one street that stretched from the train station to the palace. While Gabriel was looking around, the princess stepped off of the train and cleared her throat to catch the old griffon's attention. Feeling a little foolish for staring like a wide-eyed chick, the doctor spun around and apologized for his behaviour, but Luna just waved it off.

"You don't need to apologize, doctor, I understand that seeing how far the city had come in such a short time can be a little surprising, but we aren't here to sightsee, and I would like very much to move on as soon as possible," Luna said with a hin of worry in her voice that didn't go unnoticed by the old griffon. Pushing any unnecessary thought to the back of his head, Gabriel picked up his bag and followed the princess down the main road.

The Alicorn and griffon pair walked through the city in silence, both of them deep in thought and barely paying attention to where they were going. A few times while he wasn't paying attention, the doctor walked into a ladder and knocked a paint can off the step it was sitting.

"Hey, watch where you're going, you stupid fucking turkey!" The construction pony that was using the paint can cursed at the doctor. Not seeing any benefit to saying anything, Gabriel ignored the pony and kept on walking; unfortunately, the construction pegasus took issue with this and flew down in front of the old griffon. "Didn't you hear me you overgrown chicken?" The pegasus asked the doctor as he got in his face. "Don't you have something to say to me after you rudely knocked over my paint can?" Seeing no way out of this, Gabriel let out a tired sigh and apologized.

"I am so sorry, my good sir, for knocking over your paint can; I can assure you it will never happen again," Gabrel said with a mocking bow. The pegasus saw right through the doctor's mock apology and once again got in the griffon's face.

"Don't give me that half-assed nonsense. I expect a real apology, and I expect in now you fucking feathered fre-." The construction pony got cut off as princess Luna, who caught the tail end of his harsh words, sent him flying after she smacked his across the muzzle.

"How dare you use such filthy language to anyone, especially to a guest of your princesses! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Luna reprimanded.

"But your highness," the construction pony tried to explain, but was cut off as the princess raised a hoof.

"I don't want to heat it; I will be talking to your supervisor once my business with the doctor is complete. Perhaps you can think and reflect on your behaviour when looking for a new job; come along, doctor." With that, the Alicorn and griffon continued on their way and left the dejected pegasus lying on the ground.

The pair resumed their trek through the city, once again walking in silence and not speaking to each other. After a while, they began to pass through what Gabriel assumed to be the commercial district, and as the doctor looked around at all the shops, princess Luna was thinking about the racist slurs the construction pony threw at the old griffon.

"Doctor, I must apologize on behalf of my kingdom," Luna stated, breaking the silence and surprising the doctor. 'What that pony said to you was utterly unacceptable, and I ask for your forgiveness." Luna gave a shirt bow after her apology, leaving the old griffon confused and embarrassed.

"Please, princess stand up, you didn't do anything wrong, and besides it's not the first time some pony had called me that, hell I've even gotten it from my own kind before," Gabriel explained to the Alcorn, who while happy the doctor wasn't upset the insults. She wasn't so happy that he had received them in the past from the citizens of her kingdom.

Now that the air was cleared, the Alicorn and griffon quickly passed through the rest of the commercial district and entered the portion of the city that housed the kingdomes nobles, and the contrast was night and day. Where the houses of the common ponies had different designs based on where the construction ponies could fit them, the nobles, on the other hand, had a more unified look to them. Every single building in the district was an enormous mansion that could easily fit several dozen families with ease, though the doctor knew that only the nobles themselves would reside in the main house. Continuing to make his way through the district, the doctor could feel his blood begin to boil just by looking around as the nobility of any nation angered him beyond reason. The way they carried themselves and the fact that they loved to look down on those that they deem beneath them regardless of how much smarter they were then them drove the old griffon up the wall. Though none of that compared to what the doctor felt was the worst thing about the nobility, and that was the fact they got anyone they didn't like exiled from a kingdom, and on more than one occasion he had to stop himself from breaking their nose ar beak in a fit of rage.

Sensing Gabriel's growing anger, and knowing whom he was directing it at, princess Luna quickly teleported them from the noble district to the front of the castle. Disorientated from the sudden spatial warping, the doctor leaned against the princess for support so he wouldn't fall flat on his beak. While waiting for his head to stop spinning, the old griffon couldn't help but comment to the lunar Alicorn about how much he hated teleportation, which earned him a giggle and apology from the princess. Once the dizziness he felt subsided, Gabriel pushed himself off of the princess and took a couple of steps to test that he wouldn't fall over. Assured that he wouldn't collapse, the doctor nodded to Luna, and the two of them made their way into the castle proper. As he walked through the palace's gilded doors, Gabriel noticed that he was receiving the same looks he received elsewhere from the guards, but what surprised him was that the castle staff were greeting him like he was just another pony. Seeing the look of shock and confusion on the old griffon's face, Luna let out a hearty chuckle and explained to him that the castle staff have a standing order to ignore a guest's race until told otherwise to avoid offending them.

Completely caught off guard by the treatment he was receiving from the castle staff, Gabriel failed to notice him and the princess pass through the doors of the throne room. He only realized where he was when the doors slammed closed behind him, startling the old griffon and eliciting from him a frightened squawk. Unable to contain her amusement at the doctor's reaction, the lunar Alicorn burst out laughing.

'Luna, the is no way to treat our guest, Celestia reprimanded her sister from her thone. Managing to calm her fit of laughter, Luna rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on, sister, even you have to admit that it was a little funny," Luna accused, and much to the doctor's shock, the solar Alicorn nodded her head and chuckled.

"Yes, I'll admit that it was somewhat funny, but we shouldn't laugh at every pony or griffon that gets startled by those doors." Gabriel was unsure how he was supposed to react at the moment. Here he was standing in the throne room of the rulers of Equestria, and they were laughing and carrying in like regular pair of siblings. For as long as he had lived in this kingdom, Gabriel was told over and over again by the ponies he met hoe regal and god-like the Alicorn sisters were. They went on and on about how they radiated power the demanded respect and worship, and how they never allowed emotion to cloud their judgment, and how they never disagreed with each other in the throne room. Now before the griffon's very eyes, those rumours and fanciful words were proven wrong. "I'm so sorry that we laughed at your expense, doctor, but very few have gotten used to how loud those doors can be when they shut, and in a more formal setting we need to contain our laughter so we just couldn't help it this time," Celestia explained as she stood up and walked across the room. "Now that you are here, shall we get down to business?" Realizing that he was gawking like an idiot, the doctor awkwardly coughed into his closed talons and nodded his head.

"Yes, take me to the patient," Gabriel said to the princesses, who gestured for him to follow.

The princesses led the old griffon through the castle in relative silence, only breaking it on occasion to ask the doctor of his travels across the kingdom. Each time they asked him, the conversation would always turn to the state of whatever town he was visiting was, whether that be the buildings in the area, or the ponies themselves. Gabriel did his best to answer the princess' questions, but his focus had always been on the griffons the liked in the kingdom, and rarely if ever did he pay attention to anything else. When the conversation inevitably turned to how his fellow griffons were faring, the doctor bit his tongue to keep silent; as much as he wanted to tell the two Alicorns the brutal, honest truth, the old griffon knew this wasn't the time or place.

Sensing that they weren't going to her more out of the doctor, the princesses shut their mouthes and led him the rest of the way in silence until they reached a set of doors in Luna's colours. Gabriel, wanting to get this job over and done with so he could go back to his usual routine, placed his claw on one of the doors to open it, only to be stopped by princess Luna.

"Before you enter my domain, I must ask that you do not tell any pony, griffon or minotaur what you see in there, even under pain of death!" Gabriel rolled his eyes at the princesses theatrics and was about to remind the lunar Alicorn of his professionalism when she spoke again. "Please," Luna said, barely above a whisper. Looking into the night princess' eyes, Gabriel could see the fear and anxiety Luna was hiding clear as day.

'You have my word, princess Luna that my beak shall remain sealed, and that I shall not talk to anyone outside of this castle about what I saw," Gabriel said with a deep bow. With tears in her eyes, Luna thanked the old griffon over and over, only stopping when Celestia placed a hoof on her withers and cleared her throat.

"Now that everything is settled, shall we proceed with the medical examination?" The solar princess asked. Turning to meet the gaze of the older princess, Gabriel nodded his head and watched as the princesses opened the dorrs with their magic, and by how slow they opened made the old griffon realize that there was no way he was going to get them open with his strength alone. Inside, the room was surprisingly spartan with only a few pieces of mildly ornate blue and silver furniture decorating the room. What truly caught the doctor's attention, though, was the strange creature lying on the princess' bed. While Gabriel was staring at the thing on the bed, he barely noticed the two princesses walk past him and towards it.

"Doctor Gabriel, allow me to introduce my son, the crown prince Orion," Luna said with a sweep of her wing and pride in her voice. Looking between the bed and the princesses, the old griffon wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him in his old age.

"This is your son?" Gabriel asked as he walked up to the side of his bed, all the while never taking his eyes off of the young Orion. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see princess Luna nod her head. "Well, I can definitely see why you haven't told the rest of the kingdom about him yet," The doctor said as he got to work. " Even if your son was a pony, I highly doubt the nobles would accept him unless he were one of their own; the fact that he is something else entirely must make you very nervous," Gabriel stated as he examined Orion. Behind him, the doctor could hear once of hear one of the princesses, which he assumed was Luna, let out a heavy sigh.

'That is one of my concerns, yes, but at the moment, my son's health is my only concern, and the nobles can rot in Tartarus for all I care!" The concern in the night princess' voice and the hated she showed towards the nobility made the old griffon smile.

"By the way, princess, what have you been giving your son to eat?" Gabriel asked out of the blue.

"Just a standard pony diet."

"And what symptoms have you noticed your son suffering?" Taking a moment, Luna thought back to the last few months before answering the doctor's inquiry.

"His skin seems paler than usual. Recently he seems to be having trouble lifting his toys. I've also seen him have difficulty breathing on occasion, not to mention he seems a little moody lately. Once Luna was finished explaining, Gabriel let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his beak.

'Well, that definitely makes it easy to tell what is wrong with your son," the doctor said as he started to rummage through his bag. Luna took a step forward and was about to ask the old griffon what he was talking about when he suddenly tossed something over his shoulder. Catching the object with her magic, princess, Luna noticed that it was a bottle, turning it over she read the label.

"Vitamin b12 supplement, What is this for?" Luna asked. With another sig, the doctor stood up and faced the lunar Alicorn.

'That is a supplement for a vital and necessary vitamin that all meat-eating species need to survive," the doctor explained, and a soon as he finished, he noticed the colour drain from Luna's face.

"Are you telling me that my son in a carnivore?" Princess Luna asked with fear in her eyes, whether it was fear for her son's safety or the irrational fear ponies felt towards predatory species, the doctor couldn't tell.

"That's not a problem for you, is it?" Gabriel asked with just a tad too much smugness that got him a look from lunar Alicorn that could melt steel.

'I will love my son no matter what hie is, doctor, but I fear that his being a carnivore will make it much harder for the citizens of the kingdom to accept him." Once again, the words of the princess of the night made the old griffon smile.

"Well, you don't have to worry too much. The structure of your son's teeth tells me that he is an omnivore, not a carnivore, meaning you can feed him a pony diet, but don't forget the beef every once in a while." The princess of the night let out a sigh of relief and walked back over to her sister to let the doctor continue his work.

"Dipping his claw into his bag, Gabriel pulled out a syringe and carefully inserted it into Orion's arm and extracted a little blood. Returning to his bag, the old griffon slowly placed the vial of blood into a special padded pouch before turning his attention to the princesses once again.

"Alright, that should about do it. I have to check the blood sample to make sure my diagnosis is one hundred percent correct, but based on what you told me and the structure of Orion's teeth, I'm confident that it's a vitamin B Twelve deficiency he suffers from." Relieved that her son's life wasn't in danger, Luna walked up to the side of the bed and nuzzled the side of her son's head. "Now, if that is everything, I'll be on my way," Gabriel said as he picked up his bag and started towards the door but was stopped when princess Celestia stepped forward and cleared her throat.

'Before you go, doctor, me and my sister would like to offer you an invitation," the solar Alicorn said, catching the old griffon's attention. Turning to face the princesses, Gabriel gestured for her to continue. "Seeing that you were the only one out of several dozen doctors to figure out what was wrong with Orion, we would like to offer you a position here at the castle. You would primarily be Orion's doctor, but no pony will accost you if you wish to treat other patients," Celestia said with a smile.

"What about my regular patients, they are all poor or working-class griffons who can't pay from a ticker to Cantetlot every time they need to see me?" Gabriel asked, and much to his surprise, the solar princess' smile widened.

"Don't worry about all that, all they need to do is send you a letter like usual, and I will send a carriage to bring them here." IN an instant, the old griffon's surprise turned to shock. Not only were the rulers of the nation offering him a position in their home to keep the crown prince healthy, but they were also willing to bring random griffons into their home for nothing so he would agree. Finding all of his preconceptions about the princesses to be wrong, doctor Gabriel couldn't help but smile, and he wanted to see how much more wrong he was.

"Alright, you've got yourself a deal," Gabriel said with an outstretched claw. Feeling her smile widen even further, Celestia lited her hoof and shook with the doctor as best as she could.

Chapter Five: The Reveal Part Two

"Princess, what is that thing?" A noble pony asked as he approached Luna and Orion, along with a crowd of other nobles. Having just rescued her son from a horrible death, the princess of the night wasn't in the mood to deal with any pony, especially the nobles. So when a random noble pony decided to insult him by calling her son "thing" and "It," it put the princess further on edge. In the back of her mind, she could practically hear Nightmare Moon egging her on to attack the ignorant pony. "Please, princess, step away from that thing, it might be dangerous!" The noble pony pleaded, and though he thought he was helping, the noble insulted Orion a second time, lighting the fuse in Luna's mind that was Nightmare moon. Without warning, the princess of the night stood up and backed the noble right in the jaw, nearly shattering the bone and causing him to lose consciousness. Even though her victim was unconscious, Nightmare Moon still wasn't satisfied and urged Luna to step forward and crush his skull. The lunar Alicorn was only able to regain her self when her sister arrived on the scene and called out to her. When Luna sapped back to reality, she was met with the sight of ponies cowering before her, ready to bolt at a moment's notice. Feeling terrible for what she did, Luna stepped forward to apologize and explain herself, but when she did, the noble finched at her approach. Seeing their reaction and the fear in their eyes, Luna opened her mouth to say something, and yet she couldn't think of a single thing to say. So without a word, the princess of the night scooped up her son in her hooves and flew away from the scene as fast as she could.

A day later, and after a thorough talking to by her sister shortly after her outburst, Luna stood in Orion's room, pacing back and forth in front of her downtrodden son, who was trying to look as small as possible.

"Why can't you do as you are told?" Luna asked Orion, not that she expected him to answer as he tended to go quiet whenever he was in trouble. "Now, we have a group of angry noble banging on the castle doors, demanding an explanation!" The princess of the night angrily stated.

"To be fair, Lulu, this is as much your fault as his. Letting Nightmare Moon goad you into bucking a noble in the jaw and sending him to the hospital wasn't one of your best moments. Not to mention running off without explaining yourself didn't help," Celestia reminded her sister, to which Luna snorted dismissively. 'Perhaps if you go out and actually explain your prior actions, the noles might let give you a second chance." Of course, Celestia would want her to go and apologize, her first course of action whenever someone was angry with her and the kingdom, was to assume guilt and all but prostrate herself before the accuser, which drove Luna insane. Ignoring her sister's advice, Luna turned to face her son and was about to start reprimanding him again, but was cut off when he finally spoke.

"I'm... I'm sorry, mommy, I... I just wanted to show Dusk the observation orb, I didn't mean to cause trouble," Orion managed to out as he started crying. Sighing, the lunar Alicorn sat down next to her son and wrapped her front hooves around him in a hug.

"I know you didn't mean to cause trouble, but unfortunately, it happened anyway, and now we have to deal with it. I hope you understand why I'm yelling at you, right?" Luna asked her son, who nodded his head. Smiling, the princess of the night gave Orion a nuzzle before letting him go and standing up. "Now, the only question is how we are going to deal with the situation?" That was the million-bit question on both of the princess' minds. Not only are they dealing with an angry mob of nobles, but they are also dealing with the out of control rumours about Orion. It went from talk of him being some kind of pet the two of them found lost in the woods, all the way to Orion being an exotic sex toy from across the sea. Not knowing what they could say to stop the rumours, both the princesses stood in Orion's room in silence, contemplating their response.

"The only thing that I can think of is to hold a public address to apologize for what happened, and reveal that Orion is your son, and a part of the royal family," Celestia suggested when she finally spoke up. Sitting back down on the bed, Luna thought over what her sister's idea, and while she agreed on some level that it was the right move, she wasn't all that convinced that revealing Orion to the kingdom was a good idea.

"Are you sure, Tia? The rumours haven't gotten all that out of control, can't we just bribe a few ponies to help keep this quiet?" The princess of the night asked half-heartedly, and Celestia sadly shook her head.

"No, Luna, we can't nay; we shouldn't do such and underhoofed thing to our little ponies, they deserve to know the truth. Besides, wouldn't it be better for every pony to know of the crown prince's existence?" With a sigh, Luna looked down at her son, who, in turn, looked up at her. Celestia was right; it would be better if the kingdom knew of her son's existence, especially since she wouldn't need to keep him cooped up in the castle all the time. Luna's biggest worry and objection to her sister's plan, though, was the fact that Celestial Ascendant was still at large. Since his escape from the old castle's dungeon, he found renewed vigour in his cause and began claiming he was invincible, and that the favour of Celestia was upon him. The princess of the night worried that if she let the kingdom know of her son, he would become a target of that lunatic's cult, putting his life in danger. With a long, drawn-out breath, Luna came to a decision and nodded her head in agreement with her sister's plan.

"Alright, what do we need to do?"

Over the next couple of days, Celestia and Luna worked their tails off to make sure Orion was ready to appear before so many ponies. Having only ever known a small number of ponies, he hasn't been exposed to a crowd over ten, most of them being thestrals who kept to themselves. Princess Luna spent every single waking moment of the night with her son, drilling him on the proper way a prince should carry himself and how he should speak in front of a large crowd. While he was enthusiastic about making his mother proud of him, Orion wasn't all that cut out to follow instructions, and continually failed to get the mannerisms right. His constant failure put a major damper on the prince's spirits, which in turn caused him to fight Luna more and more each day until he refused to speak to any pony.

Standing in front of her son's room, the princess of the night knocked on the door, and upon not receiving and answer, let out a frustrated sigh. Testing the doorknob, and surprisingly finding that it wasn't locked, she opened the door and stepped into the room. Standing in the doorway, Luna looked around the room and saw that her son was nowhere to be found. Feeling her heart begin to race, the princess forced herself to remain calm as he had to be in here somewhere. Fearing her son might pull a disappearing act, she made sure that there were a couple of guards standing watch in the hallway. Getting an idea, Luna opened the door to his room before forcefully closing it, which no doubt startled the guards on the other side, and waited. It didn't take long for her plan to bear fruit as she heard a heavy but relieved sigh come from under the bed. Crossing the room, Luna stopped in front of the bed and lifted the sheets before crouching down to look under it. There under the mattress, just as she expected and curled up into a ball, was her son. With his back turned to the door, Oron had no idea that he was found out, and only noticed when his mother dragged him out with telekinesis. As soon as the prince felt the magic wrap around him, he struggled to free himself from her grip; unfortunately, no matter how hard he fought, Orion was unable to free himself from Luna's magic, and after a few attempts resigned himself to his fate. Once Luna got her son from under the bed, she laid on top of the matres and curled herself around him.

"Are you okay?" She asked Orion, who didn't say anything and simply shook his head. "Would you tell me what's wrong?" There was no answer from the prince at first, but after a few moments, he finally spoke.

"I can't get the movements or speech right, and I'm afraid of appearing in front of so many ponies and messing up." Was all Orion said in response before once again going quiet.

"It's alright to feel scared," Luna said in a comforting tone. "You've only been acquainted with a small number of ponies; it's only natural for you to feel a little fear."

"But I don't want to be afraid; Galatea says fear makes you weak! I want to be like you; you never get scared of anything!" No longer able to hold it, Orion buried his head in his mother's chest and started to cry. Seeing her son begin to break down, the lunar princess hugged him tightly.

"Please don't cry, being scared doesn't make you weak no matter what that griffoness says. Galatea is a griffon, and I'm not sure they can even feel an emotion like fear," Luan explained to her Orion, who stopped crying for a moment to look up at his mother. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret," she suddenly said in a conspiratorial tone. The lunar Alicorn leaned down to whisper in Orion's ear. "I sometimes get scared too." When she leaned back, Luna saw her son's eyes go wide in bewilderment and disbelief, which caused her to chuckle at his expression. "When you fell out of the tower and started plummeting towards the ground, I felt like my heart was going to break out of my chest." For a few seconds. Luna stared off into space as she vividly played back the memory of that night. When she looked back down at her son, she noticed that he had backed away from her slightly and that his head hung low. Leaning forwards, the princess of the night nuzzled her son and reassured him that she wasn't mad or blamed him for scaring her. For the rest of the night, Luna stayed curled around her son and told him of all the times she got scared until they both fell asleep in the morning.

After Orion and Luna's heart to heart, the prince began to take his lessons seriously again and even started to dedicate more and more of his free time to get them right. Even Dusk Walker and Galatea helped him when they could, though it was mostly just an excuse for them to spend time with their friend. Of course, the griffoness would rather do anything else than help the prince with his lessons, but she eas nothing if not loyal to those she considered close to her, not that she would tell him that. Dusk, on the other hand, was having the time of her life; she always liked to play make-believe, so when she was asked to help Orion by pretending to be apart of a crowd, she couldn't agree faster.

There was only one more day till the address, and Celestia felt that Orion was ready after seeing his rehearse his part the day prior. Unfortunately, her optimism was proven wrong as the prince locked himself in the bathroom and wouldn't come out. He felt incredibly sick to his stomach and hung his head over the toilet for more than half the night with his mother at his side, rubbing his back. Both Galatea and Dusk stood on the other side of the door, not sure what to do to help their friend. All they could do was stand there and cringe whenever they heard the sound of Orion retching through the door. Unable to stand the retching any longer, the filly and griffoness walked over to the bed. They tried to converse the best they could, though it wasn't an easy task given that neither of them was very fond of the other.

"Do you think that Orion is going to be okay?" Dusk asked Galatea, who let out a dismissive snort.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. You namby-pamby ponies may have raised him, but he's as tough as nails, and almost as tough as me," she said with a small smile. While she wasn't sure how to feel about the pony comment, Dusk couldn't agree more about how tough the prince was. The conversation between the two lulled, and an uncomfortable silence hung in the air that was only broken when the bathroom door opened. Luna stepped out of the bathroom, and at first, the filly and griffoness didn't see Orion with her. A second later, Galatea noticed her friend hanging off of his mother's back and asked the princess what happened. Luna didn't answer the question, and instead, walked up to the bed before slowly and carefully placing her son under the covers.

A sudden knock on the door announced the arrival of another pony. Stepping into the room, Celestia looked at her nephew with worry that nearly rivalled Luna's. It was her idea to address the kingdom and reveal Orion to the populace at large, and so when she heard that the prince wasn't feeling well, she rushed over to see if there was anything she could do to help as the solar monarch felt like she was responsible.

"Is he okay, Lulu?" Celestia asked, and unable to tell if he was better at the moment, the lunar monarch could only shake her head. With a sigh, Celestia crossed the room and sat down next to the bed. "Do you think he'll be ready for tomorrow?" She asked, and this time Luna smiled and nodded her head.

"Yes, I think he'll be fine by then, it just a little bout of nervousness," the princess of the night stated, and immediately after, Galatea burst out laughing.

"A 'little bout'? Orion's been puking his guts out half the night!" The griffoness yelled out between her bouts of laughter. Grumbling, Luna rolled her eyes and ignored Galatea's obnoxious laughter to keep her focus on her sister.

"Yes, well, regardless of how my son had been feeling for the past few hours, I have a good feeling that tomorrow will go well," Luna said with hope laced in her voice.

"I hope you're right, Lulu, I hope you're right."

Does the universe hate me or something? Luna thought to herself as she marched down the halls of the castle towards her son's chambers. Once again, the prince had locked himself into his room and refused to come out. When she woke up earlier in the night, Luna made sure Orion was up and told him that he needed to get ready. All seemed well, and her son showed no signs of stress or nervousness, but when he didn't show, even though the courtyard was steadily filling up with ponies, Luna knew something was wrong.

Reaching Orion's room, Luna tried to open the door and found that it was locked. With a sigh, she knocked on the door and waited for a response, and upon not receiving one, she rolled her eyes and channelled a spell. With a blinding flash of light, the lunar monarch teleported into the room and immediately spotted her son on the bed. He was wrapped in a cocoon made out of his blankets with a deep scowl on his face. Seeing her son in such a ridiculous manner caused any anger or frustration, Luna was feeling to cool.

"You know? I don't think cocooning yourself in your blankets will stop me from taking you to the courtyard," Luna stated with a playful smirk that earned her an annoyed huff from her son before he turned away from her. Rolling her eyes, the princess of the night walked up to the bed and sat next to Orion. "I know you're feeling nervous and scared, but you need to be strong, and if you do, I promise that everything will get better." That seemed to do the trick as Orion unwrapped himself from his banket and looked up at his mother.

"How can you be sure?" He asked through a quivering voice, Giving him a reassuring smile, Luna lunged forwards and tickled her son.

"Because I'm your mother, and mothers know everything." Being unable to keep his composure, no matter how hard he tried, Orion started to roll around on the bed as if it would somehow save him from his mother. After about a minute of tickle torture, Luna decided that her son had enough ad stopped, but not before kissing him on the forehead, which he hated. "Feeling better?" She asked, and even though he was grumbling about the kiss, Orion nodded his head. "Good, because now its time for you to bravely greet the kingdom."

Once Orion agreed to stop pouting, Luna opened the door to his room so the maids in charge of getting him properly clothed could enter. Without missing a beat, they filed into the room and dressed the young prince in elegant Blue and gold clothes. When they finished getting him ready, Luna ushered her son out of his room and through the halls. As the two of them rushed towards the castle's entrance, the princess drilled her son on how to conduct himself and what to say one last time, just to make sure this went as well as she hoped it would.

Standing next to the doors, Celestia greeted her sister and nephew when she noticed them coming. The solar monarch crouched down and looked at the young prince in the eyes and asked him if he was ready. Taking a deep breath, Orion nodded his head. Smiling, Celestia stood up and nodded her head to the two thestrals standing guard at the doors. The young prince watched with awe as his aunt stepped out to greet the crowd without a hint of fear or hesitation in her step.

"Greetings, my little ponies. I know its late, and most of you would like to be asleep in your beds, but I assure you it was necessary, and I thank you for coming regardless of how tired you must be. Now, as I'm sure all of you know by now, there is a rumour about a strange creature living in the castle. Well, tonight, my sister and I will reveal the truth and put the tales to rest." Once the solar monarch finished speaking, she stepped back to let her sister take her place.

"As my sister said, tonight we shall reveal the truth about this 'strange creature' you all keep hearing about," Luna said through gritted teeth, she didn't like referring to her son as a strange creature, even if it was necessary. "But first, I would like to Apologize to the Blueblood patriarch for my actions, and I hope tonight will help you all understand why I acted the way I did." Looking over the crowd, Luna spotted the nobles and saw that many of them were talking amongst themselves; unfortunately, most didn't look convinced. "The second thing you should know is that he isn't some dumb animal, but a fully sapient being like us ponies." Without waiting for more information, the news ponies surged forward to ask the princess to clarify what she meant. With the help of her sister, Luna managed to calm the journalists, promising them that they will be able to ask as many questions as they like later. "Now, the third thing is that I've adopted the being and made him my son, and he is now the crown prince of the night!" Unable to hold out for later, the news ponies went into a frenzy and began pushing each other out of the way to get closer to the princess. With a sigh, Luna turned away from the ponies and beckoned her son to step forward.

Taking a deep breath, Orion confidently stepped out of the castle, Or at least as boldly as he could manage while his legs were shaking like crazy. Seeing her son try and put on a brave face despite his obvious fear, Luna let out a small chuckle before turning her attention back to the news ponies to keep them from swarming her son, but, to her surprise, she didn't need to as all of them were staring wide-eyed at Orion. When the prince finally made it to where his mother was standing, he looked up at her for emotional support, When she looked down and saw the look on his face, Luna knelt nuzzled him while whispering words of encouragement in his ear. Thanks to her keen hearing, the princess was able to overhear the whispered conversations in the crowd, and it seemed that this simple, familiar gesture was winning over the crowd. Breaking away from his mother, Orion took another deep breath and faced the assembled ponies.

"He-hello, my n-names, Orion, it's nice to meet all of you," he said with a bow, which much t Celestia and Luna's shock and joy most of the ponies mirrored. "I'm not sure what species I am, but I can assure you I'm not an animal." Once again, the whispering in the crowd picked up; though this time, it was only from the ponies that were still skeptical of Orion, and mad that Luna harmed one of the nobles. "If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them," he said, and almost immediately, the news ponies rushed forward, even knocking over a few of the night guard in the process. Instinctively, the thestrals standing guard by the door sprag into action and shielded the prince, flaring their wings out and hissing menacingly to keep the reporters back.

"Enough! Your all acting like a bunch of foals!" Celestia shouted, using the royal voice to make sure every pony hear her over the chaos. It wasn't all that often that the average pony got to see Celestia mad, but when they did, the effect was immediate. Even Luna was shocked as she had seen her sister upset or mildly annoyed, she had never seen her sister yell at the common pony like this before, what made it even more shocking was that her made and tail had caught fire. Feeling ashamed of themselves, and fearing the solar monarch, the news ponies quickly backed up and returned to where they were standing when the princesses first stepped out of the castle. "Alright, now that you're all calm, for a line as best as you can, and we'' answer your questions." Not wanting to incur the wrath of the sun princess again, the news ponies hurriedly formed a queue. Now that the journalist ponies were calm, the two thestrals shielding Orion went back to their original position. Uncurling from the ball he put himself into, the prince stood back up and looked like he would bolt at any moment. Seeing the look on her son's face, Luna gave him another reassuring nuzzle.

While the princesses dealt with the press in the front, Celestial Ascendant stood in the very back of the crowd, out of sight of the Alicorn sisters and their guards. When the cult leader initially heard of the royal address, he passed it off as nothing important, especially since it had to do with Luna. His decision changed when he started to hear the rumours about the strange creature and had to go see if they were true in the hope, he might get some ammunition to use against the night princess. Now, not only did he have something to use against Luna, his cult had a much easier target than Luna herself, one that would hurt her more than any torture they could inflict on her. Seeing all he needed to see, Celestial Ascendant turned and walked away from the castle, all the while laughing to himself.

One by one, the news ponies who formed a queue walked up to the steps of the castle and asked their questions, most of which were on the subject of what race Orion as and where he came from. The prince did his best to answer the questions he received while getting some help from his mother and aunt from time to time. As the questions kept coming, Orion seemed to be growing in confidence, he no longer stuttered when he spoke, and there was a shorter pause between the inquiry and his response. For several hours, this pattern repeated itself, going late into the night and into the early morning, all in all, things were going better than Luna could have hoped for. That was until the lead reporter of the Equestrian Gazette stepped forward. The Equestrian Gazette was a trashy tabloid paper that liked to spread, at best, tales of fancy as truth, and at worst, outright slander. Some of the worst articles they had ever published were the ones that accused the entire noble class of being apart of a secret foalcon ring that groomed their foals into proper nobles by raping them, and claiming that the princesses were aliens hellbent on weakening the pony race with their talk of friendship. Naturally, both instances caused a considerable uproar and were forced to make a retraction, promising never to do anything like that again, which only lasted a few weeks before they wrote another slanderous article.

"Princess, you say you've made this creature your son, but how do you know that this isn't the first wave of some alien invasion strategy?" The news pony asked, directing the question at Luna. Knowing that her sister would have a hard time keeping her temper in check, considering it was taking all her willpower not to lash out herself, Celestia stepped forward and answered the question.

"While my sister and I don't know what species, Orion is, both of us are sure that he isn't apart of some invasin plan." The news mare scribbled some notes into her note pad, undoubtedly something slanderous that would paint the princesses and Orion in the worst light possible.

"Well, that's all and good, but how can we trust your word when you and your sister haven't proven that you yourselves aren't aliens? For all, we know you could be apart of it!" All around the mare, the other news ponies were booing and jeering at her, not that she cared one bit. Growing tired of this slanderous tabloid journalist, Luna stepped forward intending to put her in her place but was held back bt her sister, who had her usual "that would be a bad idea" look. Having no reason to distrust Celestia, the princess of the night nodded her head before stepping back.

"Please be reasonable, what can I say to reassure you that Orion is not a threat to the kingdom?" The solar monarch asked the news pony. Unseen by the princesses, the tabloid journalist smirked to herself before giving her response.

"I know a few ponies who are rather adept at sealing with mind control. If you would allow me to take the prince, with an armed escort, of course, they will determine if he has mind dominating abilities or not." No longer willing to remain quiet, Luna pushed past her sister and addressed the Equestrian Gazette journalist.

"Under no circumstances will I allow my son to go with you or any other ponies to test if her had 'mind dominating abilities.' I don't trust you or any other pony to take charge of, Orion, when there are still cultists on the lose, some of which have already made an attempt on my life once before!" All around the tabloid journalist, many of the other ponies began to whisper amongst themselves, asking why the princess was so mad and why she didn't want to make sure she wasn't being manipulated. The conversations picked up until there was a vast amount of the crowd demanding the prince be tested. Knowing that her work was done, the slanderous news pony bowed to the princesses before backing up into the crowd and disappearing from sight. From their vantage point, the princesses could see the number of ponies turn against them spread like wildfire, so Celestia quickly thanked the ponies for coming and tells them that there will be no more questions. A small uproar ensues as a large group of ponies surge forward to demand that the princesses hand over Orion. Reacting as fast as they could, the night guard blocks the way, allowing the royal family to retreat back into the castle.

Chapter Six: New Friends And Allies

Sitting on her throne, Luna stared angrily at the newspaper that was suspended in the air a few inches from her face, and the longer she did so, the angrier she became. It had been about three days since she, her son and her sister addressed the kingdom regarding the out of control rumours, and now the princesses were practically besieged by their own subjects. While the nobles and about a quarter of the kingdom were on the princess' side, and though they did what they could to ease tensions, the remaining populace was against them. For whatever reason, the remaining public believed the Equestrian Gazette article published about them. A large group of particularly concerned citizens camped outside of the castle, demanding the princesses hand over Orion. What truly drove the lunar Alicoen insane, though, was the fact that it wasn't the only paper published about the address, and the other news outlets were either on her side or neutral and stuck to honest journalism. Most of them even published favourable articles about the princesses to alleviate the public's concerns, but the citizens couldn't be swayed no matter how many came out.

The article was absolute nonsense, the kind of tall tales that would make a colt or filly blush out of embarrassment, but not the Equestrian Gazette; they had no shame. With her anger reaching a boiling point, Luna could feel herself losing control to Nightmare Moon and tossed the source of her anger across the room and let out a long defeated sigh. It really does seem like the universe hates me! With that depressing thought now running through her head, Luna was no longer willing to sit on her throne in this empty room any longer and stood up to leave. She didn't manage to get all that far as her royal assistant, Magic Hour, walked into the throne room and called out to her.

"Princess Luna, there is a pony that requests an audience with you!" Usually, magic Hour displayed no emotion when she spoke, always speaking with a flat no-nonsense tone, but now she seemed genuinely excited. The princess's immediate thought was to tell her assistant to tune the pony away, that the look of excitement on Magic Hour's face reigned in her impulsive decision, allowing her rational side to come through. Sitting back down on her throne, Luna told the thestral to let the pony in, and she happily did as the princess commanded. A few seconds later, the throne room's double doors opened, and in stepped a pony that the lunar monarch would never have guessed, one with pristine white fur and blond mane. It was quite a shock to the princess when Blueblood, the ninth patriarch of the Blueblood household, and one of, if not the most influential pony in Equestria besides the princesses themselves, confidently walked up to the throne.

"Greetings, Princess Luna, may the gentle light of the moon forever find you," Blueblood stated, reciting the ancient greeting the thestrals used for her before they became the backbone of her night guard. Luna looked the noble up and down, looking for any sign that the noble was patronizing her, all the while wondering where he could have heard that greeting. "I've never said this to any pony due to it being... let's call it a social faux pas in my usual circle of acquaintances, but I actually prefer the night to the fat, and you have always been my princess." Caught utterly off guard by the noble's statement, Luna's royal facade broke. Her jaw hung open loosely and swayed a little, almost as if it was attached to a hinge. When Blueblood saw the expression on the lunar Alicorn's face, he couldn't help but chuckle, though he did try to hide it by covering his mouth with his leg. If only my associates were here, then maybe they would see the princess Luna is just like every other pony, and not some foal eating monster, Blueblood sadly thought to himself. As the night's princess continued to stare dumbly at the noble, he looked around the room and noticed the newspaper that Luna tossed across the room earlier. "I see that you've been enjoying, Tall Tale's 'stories' as much as I have," Blueblood stated, which managed to break the princess out of her shocked stupor.

"Is that really her name?" Luna asked with a hint of skepticism in her voice.

"I don't think it's her real name. All the... research I've done on her and her family suggests that she changed it some time ago; unfortunately, what t really was seemed to be lost to time," Blueblood said with a shake of his head. The princess slumped back into her throne with a sigh and looked at the newspaper with disgust before turning her attention back to Blueblood.

"Why are you here, Blueblood? You and the other nobles never so much as considered coming to night court, so why appear before me now, while claiming to be one of my subjects?" Luna asked with an unintentional edge to her tone. The acidity in her voice didn't go unnoticed by the noble patriarch; now, whether Blueblood felt intimidated by the lunar Alicorn or not, he did a remarkable job of not showing it, all the while keeping a cordial smile on his face.

"Yes, well, while I can't speak for my peers, I can apologize profusely for the disrespect I have shown you and even show my sincerity in that statement." Blueblood followed his apology with a gesture that Luna would never have expected. Blueblood bowed before the princess, but unlike the usual sign of fealty, the noble kept going until the tip of his horn was touching the ground. Each breed of pony carried its own set of traditions, and cultural practices sperate from greater pony society. For unicorns, especially those in the upper classes, bowing with your horn touching the ground was seen as s sign of deep respect, even submission in some circles. The gesture was usually performed when a grave insult was made between two unicorns, and the offending pony wanted to get across that they were deeply remorseful of the deed. So when Blueblood allowed his horn to touch the floor, it erased all doubts in Luna's mind and told her that he was sincere in his statements. Finishing his bow, the noble stood back up and looked the princess in the eye. "I'm confident that you and your sister a familiar with unicorn customs, so believe me when I say that I am sorry for not showing you the proper respect you deserve and that you are my princess." The remark Blueblood made snapped Luna out of her shock, and in an attempt to regain her regal composure, she coughed into her hoof.

"Yes, my sister and I are versed in the practices of all ponies; we don't show favouritism," the princess stated in her now regained regal tone. " I also highly doubt that this is the only reason you would mess up your sleep schedule to come tonight, court." Blueblood's smile fell as he let out a short sigh.

"You are correct, princess; I didn't just come here to apologize," he explained with s slight shake of his head. "There is a... matter of some importance to me that I need help with, and I believe that prince Orion can help, so I ask you, as your humble servant, to take me to where he is." When Blueblood finished making his request, Luna visibly recoiled as if he had slapped her. What possible reason could Blueblood have for making such a request? He may have said he was my 'humble servant,' but what if this is some kind of tick! Luna thought to herself as she racked her brain, trying to guess the reason for the request. The princess had half a mind to deny him outright, but her brain's more rational side kicked in and demanded to know what the noble had in mind.

"Before I grant the request to see my son, I need you to tell me why I should do so?" Luna told Blueblood, who nodded his head and let out a tired sigh.

"My son, Blueblood, the tenth is... let's say reclusive. He prefers to spend his hays holed up in his room with his nose buried in a book. Anytime my wife and I try to coax him out to behave like a normal colt, he goes on a long tangent about why he needs to stay inside, and it's like talking to a brick wall," Blueblood explained while absentmindedly kicking the floor. As the noble patriarch explained his reasoning, Luna couldn't help but wonder what this had to do with her son or why Blueblood had to meet him. " I know what your thinking, princess; I can see it in your eyes. Your thinking, 'how does this have anything to do with my son?'"

"I hate it when nobles do that," Luna muttered to herself before gesturing for Blueblood to continue.

"Well, I had hoped to introduce them to each other, seeing as your son has experience being cooped up against his will-"

"I had my reasoning to do so, and I don't need to explain myself to any pony!" Luna angrily stated, interrupting Blueblood, who quickly raised his hooves into the air apologetically.

"I understand, I wasn't accusing you of anything, nor would I disagree with your actions given recent events. I was simply going to say that because Orion was kept locked away in the castle, who better to tell my son how boring it is to stay copped up inside all the time." Once Blueblood finished his explanation, Luna hung her head low in shame and apologized for snapping at him, which the noble accepted without hesitation. A silence descended on the throne room as the princess of the night thought about what Blueblood said, and it definitely made sense as her son frequently broke the rules to find something to alleviate his boredom. She even once caught him trying to sneak out of the castle through one of the windows on the ground floor, and the only thing that stopped him was that he was too mall to reach and had to stack chairs. "It has also come to my attention that the young prince only has two friends about the same age as himself, correct?" Blueblood asked, interrupting the princess's musings. Now having a good idea of what Blueblood had in mind, Luna nodded her head. "Given that fact, I had hoped that after I introduce myself to him, I would then bring my son over, and we could see if the two of them could be friends. I mean, wouldn't that be the best for both of them?"

Leaning back into her throne, Luna looked up at the ceiling and thought about what Blueblood suggested. It was a solid plan, for what little it was, Because While Galatea acted like a typical griffoness, though Mabey a little more aggressive than most, she wasn't a colt. Both her and her sister believed that life was a balancing act that resulted in harmony, including the ratio of friends and acquaintances that a pony had. Of course, there were always exceptions to that rule, as it wasn't easy to have an equal amount of everything, especially the gender of your friends. There was only one problem with Bluebood's suggestion, though: Luna didn't entirely trust him. He may have performed a bow of fealty to her, but what guarantee did the lunar Alicorn have that this wasn't some sort of long con, and his true intentions were to get Orion away from her so that he and whatever pony was on his side could do whatever they wanted with him. The only way she could think of to know the truth was to violate his rights and use dark magic to force him to tell her the truth, and that wasn't a rout she wanted to go down, even if Nightmare Moon pleaded for her to do so. The Nobel patriarch must have known the princess's direction because what he said next erased her remaining doubts.

"I can tell by the look on your face what your thinking, princess Luna, and I can assure you that I have no intention of betraying your trust. In fact, as a show of goodwill, I had my will changed so that upon my death at your hooves, all my worldly possessions and wealth shall be transferred over to you to do with as you please, leaving my family with nothing." This night was full of surprises, and for the second time tonight, Luna sat on her throne and stared at Blueblood with her mouth hanging open. It was almost unheard of for a noble to change the conditions of his or her will of their own accord, given that many of them thought they were always in control, so it was quite a shock when he made it, so she got everything instead of his son. If anything would convince the princess that his loyalty was one hundred percent genuine, that was it.

"Alright, Blueblood, I'll grant your request. Let's go and introduce you to Orion."

The princess and the noble walked through the castle halls in silence, neither of them feeling the need to fill the void with idle chatter. Blueblood was too focused on looking at how the decor was framed in the moonlight to talk. Like every other noble, he regularly attended day court, so he was rather familiar with how the decor looked in the sunlight. Unlike every other noble, though, he didn't come to complain, at least most of the time, but to instead come and see how Celestia was doing, treating her as if she were family. Luna wondered if that meant he felt that she was family as well; she was going to ask; however, due in part to her own pride as a severely independent pony and the thought of embarrassing herself with such a question, the princess refrained form asking.

Eventually, the two ponies made it to Orion's room, where the prince was currently in the middle of a lesson from his private teacher. Given that her son was a secret not all that long ago and that there were ponies out to get him, Luna didn't feel comfortable sending him to school, even with an armed escort. So she and her sister scoured the entire kingdom to find the best private tutor they could find, one who was willing to risk their lives and deal with constant verbal abuse to teach the prince. Stopping in front of her son's room, Luna was about to open the door when she heard a thumping from the other side, followed by the tutor's chastising voice.

"Young colt, stop banging your head in the table this instant, your going to hurt yourself!" The banging didn't stop and, in fact, increased in speed and volume. Knowing what her son was doing, the princess threw open the doors and rushed to her son's side.

"Orion, that's enough; banging your head won't make things easier for you," Luna stated as she wrapped her front legs around her son. Immediately the prince stopped slamming his head on the table and looked up at his mother.

"Princess Luna, thank the stars that you're here!" Right Lesson said, even using the proper expression when addressing the night's princess, once again proving the level of professionalism she had. "No matter how many times I tell him to stop, the prince keeps banging his head on the table, and I'm worried he's going to give himself a concussion." Luna knowingly nodded her head as this wasn't the first time that Orion had done this. For whatever reason, whenever Orion got upset, even a little, or overstimulated and confused, he would bang his head on the nearest object, whether that be a table or the wall. The princesses asked doctor Gabriel what could be wrong with him, and not even he could say what it was, so they went to a few of Equestria's best doctors; unfortunately, they didn't have an answer either. Some of them suggested dark magic, but Luna dismissed those diagnoses out of hoof since there was no way for her son to be exposed to such dangerous magic. Luna let go of her son and rubbed his back for a few moments before looking up at Right Lesson and telling her to take a short break, explaining that she had something important to discuss with Orion. The mare was about to argue that it wasn't necessary when she noticed Blueblood standing in the doorway. Quickly feeling out of place, Right Lesson bowed to the princess and swiftly but calmly exited the room, leaving the noble and two royals to converse. As soon as the tutor was gone, Blueblood stepped into the room and closed the doors behind him.

Feeling some pony come up behind him, Orion lifted his head off of the table and turned around to see the noble staring at him. Instantly recognizing him from a few weeks ago, the prince's eyes widened in surprise, and he looked between his mother and Blueblood. Seeing the fear in her son's face, Luna opened her mouth to reassure him that nothing would happen with her here when she was interrupted y Blueblood's laughter.

"It seems your memory is pretty sharp of a young colt," Blueblood stated with a chuckle. "Please be assured, young prince, I have no intention of harming you, not that the princess would allow me to do so." Out o the corner of his eye, the noble could see the lunar Alicorn sternly shaking her head. "No, young Orion, crown prince of the night, I don't come here to harm, but to ask, no plead for your help," Blueblood the ninth overdramatically stated with a bow, which earned him a confused look from the prince, and an eye roll from Luna.

"Wh-what do you need my h-help for?" Orion asked. Raising from his bow, Blueblood immediately laid on his stomach to look the prince in the eyes.

"Do you like being cooped up here in the palace?" The noble pony asked, which caught Orion off guard. Confused, he looked up at his mother for some kind of answer, and all she did was gesture for him to keep his attention n Blueblood. To Orion, that was a stupid question; of course, he hated being stuck in the castle all the time; there was nothing to do. Even if there was something fun for him to do, his mother forbade him from leaving the lunar wing to after for fear that some pony would sneak into the castle to hir him. So when he explained all this to the noble patriarch, he smiled and nodded his head. "That is what I thought. I ask this of you because my own son would rather stay cooped up in his room all day and night instead of going outside." The prince asked Blueblood what that was, and all he could do was shake his head. "I don't know, but I believe if you met him and explained what it would be like to be cooped up against his will, I would forever be in your debt." Once again, Orion looked to his mother for what to do, and she silently signalled that it was up to him by shrugging her shoulders. Turning his attention back to Blueblood, the young prince could see the desperation in his eyes.

Finding that he couldn't say no to the noble patriarch, Orion nodded his head and agreed to meet with Blueblood's son. Unable to contain his excitement, Blueblood sprang up and furiously shook the prince's hand, thanking him repeatedly for his help. When he finished thanking the prince, he turned to Luna and thanked her as well for her time and excused himself before quickly exiting the room, leaving the bewildered mother and child to stare at each other for a few moments before they burst into laughter.

Blueblood didn't return to the castle for the rest of the night, nor the night after, which left the prince confused and concerned. The noble left the castle so fast that she was he would have been back the very same night. Luna paced back and forth in the throne room, wondering if something had happened to Blueblood. It was a weird feeling for the princess of the night to care about a noble's well-being, but considering she and her family were in the public's crosshairs, she couldn't stop worrying. Luna feared that some pony saw Blueblood exiting the castle and decided to "press" him for information, likely foalnapping him and holding the noble in some secret location so he couldn't;t be found. The more she thought about it, the more the lunar Alicorn believed she had the right train of thought, convincing herself that she was right. Luna stopped pacing and was about to order the night guard to start a search for the missing noble when the doors to the throne room flew open. Startled by the sudden intrusion, Luna faced the doors and readied a spell that would instantly vaporize any attacked but calmed down when she heard the petulant whining the came from Blueblood the tenth. The young noble was his father's near spitting image; the only difference that Luns could see that would allow a pony to tell them apart was their eye colour. It was a testament to Blueblood's strong genetics that his son looked so much like him as most foals took after their mother, regardless of whether they were a filly or a colt. The older Blueblood dragged his son across the room by his tail, he would have used magic, but as Luna would later learn, the younger Blueblood was rather adept at disrupting levitation spells.

"I don't want to be out here; I want to keep reading!" The little noble cried out in vain as his father ignored him; he even seemed to have corks in his ears. When he stopped in front of the princess, Blueblood pulled his son forward and stepped on his tail to keep him in place. "Please, help me, princess Luna; I just want to stay in my room and read," Blueblood the tenth pleaded when he looked up at the lunar Alicorn.

"Alright, I finally managed to convince my son to come out of his room," Blueblood the ninth said as he pulled the corks out of his ears. Luna looked up at the stallion and shook her head disapprovingly. "You may disagree with my methods, princess Luna, but you have no idea how defiant my son can be when he puts him mind to it, which is most of the time." The little Blueblood spoke a quick retort that didn't paint his father in the best light, compared him to a tyrant like Sombra, and immediately went quiet. "You see what I mean!" Luna chuckled at the father and son antics as they continued to trade verbal barbs until she felt like it was getting out of hoof.

"Ok, I think you two have verbally assaulted each other enough for one night," Luna stated with an annoyed tone that was like a mother disciplining a couple of colts. Realizing how much like a foal he was acting, the older Blueblood stepped away from his son and coughed into his hoof.

"Yes, right, well, I apologize for wasting your time, princess. Perhaps we should get on with what we are here to do." Nodding her head, Luna turned and led the Bluebloods out of the throne room and through the castle.

Where the father had already seen the castle at night a few days ago and was now familiar with how it looked, the son was a stranger to these alls and kept his head on a swivel at all times. He also vigorously express how much he loved the decor, especially how it looked in the candle and moonlight. Luna thanked the young noble and asked him if he liked the night, and without hesitation, he began expositing all the things he enjoyed about the night, which was pretty much everything. Caught a little off guard by the colt's enthusiasm, the princess stopped walking and listened to Blueblood the tenth as he went on and on. It ha been a long time since any pony had complimented her night so thoroughly; the last pony to do so was her mentor, star swirl, the bearded, and given his relation to her, he never showed true reverence for her night, only ever explaining that he thought the night sky looked beautiful. So when this young colt, who was apart of a class of pony, she thought hated her with all their being, showed such enthusiasm for the night and moon, Luna found she was unable to hold back her emotions. As soon as the two Bluebloods heard the princess's sobs, they turned around, and immediately, the youngest was in front of her asking her what was wrong and if he had said something to make her upset. Springing forward, the princess of the night wrapped the young colt in a hug and thanked him over and over for his kind words. The elder Blueblood stood and watched with a smile on his face as his son returned the princess's hug without a second thought. It's about time something started going, princess Luna's way, he thought to himself. After a few minutes, to which the older Blueblood began to think was too long, Luna let go of his sone and led them the rest of the way with a slight bounce in her step.

When the three of them turned the corner that connected the all to Orion's room, they were surprised to find that Celestia was awake and standing in front of the prince's room like she was waiting for something. Out of the corner of her eye, the solar monarch noticed their approach and turned her head to face them with a smile.

"Greetings, Lulu; I'm glad to see you," Celestia said with an almost motherly tone. Walking up to the door, Luna stopped next to her sister and nodded.

"Hello, dear sister, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Luna asked her older sister, whose smiled widened just a little.

"Whatever do you mean?" The fanned innocence in Celestia's tone, which wasn't fooling the lunar monarch one bit, made Luna roll her eyes.

"Please, sister, I know that there is no way you would stay up past your bedtime without telling me and making preparations to sleep in." Celestia chuckled at her sister's remark and shook her head jovially.

"Alright, Lulu. I'm here because I heard about your deal with Blueblood, and I wanted to be here to see Orion make a new friend." Having heard the full context, Luna nodded her head and beckoned the to Bluebloods, who have been standing at the end of the hall, waiting to be acknowledged. When the two nobles stopped in front of the door, the elder Blueblood exchanged a few quick pleasantries with Celestia. On the other hand, his son stared at the door as a sudden bout of nervousness overcame him. Noticing the young colt shaking, Celestia knelt and reassured him he had nothing to worry about, and when he looked up at the two other adults for confirmation, they nodded their heads in agreement. Though his apprehension wasn't entirely gone, Blueblood, the tenth, felt a surge of new determination to see this through. After a few seconds to compose himself, he told the princesses that he was ready and followed behind them as they opened the door and entered the room.

Sitting in the middle of his bed, Orion watched as the door to his room slowly opened. While he was expecting his mother and two other ponies, he wasn't expecting to see his aunt enter along with them. For a brief moment, Orion thought that he was in trouble; thankfully, though, that thought passed quickly, and he felt ridiculous for even thinking it.

"Hello, Orion. Have you been having a good night so far?" Celestia asked, and the prince nodded his head. With a smile, the solar monarch crossed the room and nuzzled her nephew. "There's no need to be nervous; I'm sure the two of you are going to be the best of friends." Once again, Orion nodded his head when his aunt took a step back.

"It's good to see you again, my prince," Blueblood said with a deep bow when he stepped forward. Luna rolled her eyes and told the elder noble to knock off the theatrics. With a chuckle, the senior noble took a step back and allowed his son to take his place. The younger Blueblood finally managed to get a good look at the prince when he stepped out from behind his father, and he was surprised at how different he looked. When his father told him that the prince was another species, Blueblood, the tenth, thought that meant he was a pony breed from across the sea, not something utterly alien to him.

"H-hello, it... it's nice to meet you," Blueblood tenth nervously said.

"It's nice to mee you too," Orion said with a little more confidence, but not by much as Luna could hear the slight waver n his tone. After their brief greeting, the older ponies told the two to play together to get used to each other. As the two of them moved from the bed to the other side of the room where Orion's toys were, Luna couldn't help but think that this wasn't going to work, a sentiment silently held by Orion and the younger Blueblood.

Chapter Seven: Abduction

"I swear, the universe must have it out for me!" Blueblood, the ninth, said to himself while watching his son and Orion sit in the prince's room and read. A little less than a year had passed since the elder noble came to Luna with his plan to introduce the two to each other, and very little had gone according to plan. When he had his son meet the prince, it took a while for the two of them to warm up to each other. It took so long that both Blueblood and Luna thought that the whole endeavour was a lost cause and that they were wasting their time. Thankfully, they were proven wrong on that front as the two of them just clicked one night, and now we're practically inseparable; unfortunately, this where everything that the noble was trying to accomplish blew up in his face. Instead of Orion teaching his son that remaining cooped up inside all the time wasn't all that great and going outside was more fun, Blueblood, the tenth, taught him that reading could actually be enjoyable when it wasn't only textbooks for school work. Now all they do is sit in Orion's room and read a varied assortment of books; Orion even began reading his school books with renewed vigour. While initially happy about her son's new reading habit and improved grades, princess Luna was less impressed with how much it impacted his sleep schedule. It was already had for a colt to sleep all day and awake at night, but now that he refused to sleep until he finished a chapter, the issue became so dire that the princess was forced to use a sleep spell on her son more than once.

"It seems that the universe has it out for the both of us," Luna stated as she walked up next to the noble. Like Blueblood, the ninth, she too had high hopes for this arrangement and believed that becoming friends was the best for them. The princess wanted her son to stop wandering the castle unsupervised, and while initially, that seemed to be the case, it soon changed when Orion got the brilliant idea to show his new friend all the "cool" things in the castle. It was still less wandering than it used to be since he spent more time in his room; it was also the most dangerous time to do so. Luna was constantly worried that some pony would break into the castle and abscond with her son. Thankfully that hasn't happened, and many of the changes to her son's behaviour were well received, well, all except for a certain griffoness, who expressed her displeasure almost nightly. No pony was quite sure what Galatea's dissatisfaction was about, though Luna figured that it has something to do with how much time Orion was spending with Blueblood reading instead of getting into trouble with her. Coincidentally, Galatea was sitting in the room sulking and feeling bad for the young griffoness; Luna walked over to the corner and sat next to her. "Are you alright?" The princess asked softly, to which Galatea looked up and faced the monarch before giving her a dismissive snort.

"Of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be? I'm a griffon; nothing bothers us," Galatea stated with as much confidence and bluster she could muster, though she didn't do an outstanding job in hiding the pained edge in her tone, which Luna picked up on easily.

"You don't have to be the tough griffon others expect you to be all the time when it's just you and me; you know that, right?" Luna asked, and almost immediately, Galatea looked away and started to stare at the floor again. Neither of them said anything for about a minute, and just as the princess was beginning to think that the discussion had ended and that she was wasting her time, Galatea spoke up.

"I don't know what to do! I know that it's selfish to expect Orion to hang out with me every night, but at the same time, I don't like him hanging out with Blueblood: he's boring!" The griffoness exclaimed, a little too loudly as her outburst drew the attention of the very poy she was bad-mouthing. Thankfully, Blueblood, the tenth, didn't seem all that offended by her statement and went back to reading after a few moments of glaring. "See what I mean! I just insulted him, and he only gave me a dirty look: no calling me out, no yelling, and especially no fight. Orion would never let that happen and would have put me in my place!" Though Luna was a little concerned about Galatea's views on her son, it wasn't her place to criticize her as griffons placed a lot of value on the strength of any being, and they believed that it was one's place to defer to any being stronger than you; even though griffons constantly challenged for a reversal of the position. What Luna could do thought was give the young griffoness some perspective in the hopes that she could come to an understanding.

"Galatea, you have to understand that ponies are different from griffons. Ponies aren't as confrontational due to our values on harmony and friendship, and while not all will do this, most would rather turn the other cheek than cause an incident." Luna explained while trying to sound as calm and wise as possible, but failed as her tone came off more annoyed and confrontational than anything else. When she realized how she sounded, the princess hoped that the griffoness failed to pick up on that and focused on what she said instead of how she said it; unfortunately, she noticed the tone.

"You say that, and yet here you are getting all flustered and annoyed that I can't understand why you ponies act this way. Why is it that you and Orion are so much different from others of this kingdom? Orion will yell at me if I say something that upsets him. and he even fights me when I push too far, beating me every time; that's why I listen to him... most of the time." Sighing, Luna rubbed the back of her head and looked Galatea in the eye.

"Both my son and I are outliers among the denizens of the kingdom. First, you have to remember that Orion isn't a pony, and while I have raised him like one, his species obviously evolved to be hunters muck like you griffons. Secondly, I don't know why I have such a different disposition from other ponies, but it doesn't mean that others of my kind need nor should act like me and that you are going to have to get used to that." Luna stated, hoping that she managed to get thought to the young griffoness. A silence descended upon the two as Galatea thought over what the princess said to her, and while she didn't want to accept it, she couldn't deny that luna was right. "Getting back on topic, I'm sure that if you went over and talked to Orion instead of sulking in a corner, he would be happy to oblige your request to play." Nodding her head, Galatea stood up and walked over to the prince.

Sitting at the table in the middle of his room, Orion was wholly engrossed in his book. It was a fictional retelling of the princess's battle with the tyrant king Sombra. Where the real conflict was relatively uneventful, with both Luna and Celestia bursting into the crystal palace and blasting him with the elements of harmony: this was exciting. The entire conflict was extended by quite a bit. Instead of the conflict being over in an instant, the book makes it last for several years, dozens of excursions into enemy territory, hundreds of brutal battles, victories and defeats. It all ending in an epic confrontation between the princesses and the tyrant king that lasted for days, finally coming to a close when in a desperate move, Celestia channelled all the power of the elements into herself and drove her horn through the evil unicorn's heart. This was his second time reading this book, and it still managed to entertain him just like the first time. The prince was so absorbed in his reading that he failed to notice Galatra sit next to him; he only realized that she was there when she tapped his shoulder, making him jump. Seeing Orion jump the way he did, the griffoness couldn't help but laugh at him and thought the prince wasn't happy about being startled like that; he to started to laugh after a few seconds.

"That wasn't funny!" Orion stated, rather unconvincingly through his laughter. Galatea just laughed harder at this statement, even falling onto her back and rolling around on the floor. From across the table, Blueblood stared at the scene with a confused expression on his face. He looked over to where his father and the princess were standing for answers, but all they did was shrug their shoulders. Returning his attention to the prince and Griffoness, Blueblood saw that they had stopped laughing and were now wrestling as Galatea was trying to take the book from Orion.

"Come on! Hand over the book, will you; you've already read that once and don't need to reread it." The prince pushed Galatea away and tried to sit on the book to keep it from her, but the griffoness was having none of that and tackled him off of the chair before he could get a good grip to keep himself rooted to the spot. Blueblood stood up and looked on with worry as his friend was knocked to the ground. His concern turned to further confusion as he saw that the two had started laughing and were no longer interested in what happened to the book.

"You two are strange," Blueblood, the tenth, said, drawing the attention of the prince and griffoness. Feeling a little awkward under their stares, the little noble sat back down and tried to shrink into his chair as best he could. Looking between themselves and Blueblood, Orion and Galatea chuckled before getting up and dusting themselves off.

"I'm surprised that it took you this long to realize this," Orion stated with so much mirth that it almost came off as smug. Blueblood snorted with disdain at the comment, but other than that, he didn't say anything and went back to his reading. Without warning, the prince ripped the book from Blueblood's magic and set it down on the table, much to the young noble's chagrin. "You know what? Galatea's right; we've done very little but sit in my room and read for the past few weeks reading. How about we go out and do what Galatea want's for a little while?" Blueblood opened his mouth to protest, but before he could utter a single word, the griffoness slung her front leg around his neck in a light headlock.

"Come on, don't be such a foal, aren't you supposed to be a colt?" Galatea asked, and the little noble nodded his head. "Then why are you acting like a scared little filly?" Now, normally, a comment like that wouldn't have fazed Blueblood, But for some reason, when it came from the beak of the griffoness, he felt his blood boil as his temper flared up to meet the challenge. Slipping from the headlock, Blueblood stood up and looked Galatea in the eye. "Oh, is the little noble growing a spine? Dies he want to beat up the big mean gwiffion?" She asked with a baby voice to mock him. From the other side of the room, Luna and the older Blueblood looked on with concern, hoping that things wouldn't devolve into a fight as there was no way a pampered noble colt could take a griffon, even if he had magic at his disposal. "Come on, then, take a swing at me: I dare you!" Galatea demanded, but before Blueblood, the tenth could do what she asked of his, and the older ponies were forced to step in, Orion got between the both of them.

"Enough, you two! This is my room, and I say that there will no fighting, at least not for real." Almost immediately, the noble and griffoness went quiet and looked down at the ground with shame, which was rare for Galatea as she seldom felt bad for the actions she took. "Now, I want you two to apologize to each other."

"What? I didn't do anything; it was all her!" Blueblood whined, to which his father stood up to chastise his son for his foalish behaviour, but before he could say a single word, Orion beat him to it and cut him off.

"I don't care; I want you both to apologize!" Letting out a tired sigh, both Blueblood and Galatea stepped around the prince and apologized to each other. " Now, give each other a hug." With their eyes growing wide with surprise, the noble and griffoness looked between themselves and the prince. At the other end of the room, Blueblood, the ninth, also looked on with shock, while Luna did all she could not laugh as not to give away that her son was messing with them. Feeling like they were trapped, the little noble and griffoness reluctantly took a step towards each other. They were seconds away from hugging when the prince could no longer keep his composure and burst out laughing. Immediately realizing that they were being pranked, Blueblood and Galatea looked at the other and nodded their heads in silent agreement. Seeing the looks on his friend's faces, Orion didn't waste a second and took off running and bolted out the door, with his friends hot on his heels. Unable to contain herself any longer, the princess burst out laughing, soon followed by a hearty chuckle from Blueblood, the ninth.

Moving as fast as he could, Orion ran through the halls of the castle to escape the fury of his friends. Unfortunately, that was much easier said than done, as even though he towered over most creatures that made up the kingdom's citizens, one of them had wings, which evened the playing field by a large margin. The only reason the two of them hadn't managed to catch the prince yes was due to his headstart. No matter how hard he tried to lose them, Orion was unable to shake his pursuers. He would turn down halls at random in an attempt to escape, but due to how much time he had spent with Galatea exploring the castle, she knew the layout almost as well as he did. If the prince wanted to lose the pair, he would have to do something that Galatea wouldn't predict he would do: something that he was forbidden from doing under any circumstances.

Orion bolted up and down the halls, turning corner after corner, all the while narrowly dodging Galatea's attempts to grab him when he slowed down to round a corner. Eventually, he managed to reach his destination that was the lunar gardens. Given the many ponies wanted to take the prince away from the castle, he was forbidden from ever entering the lunar gardens without one of the princesses or a substantial escort. Since many of the plants in the lunar gardens needed the light of the moon to grow, it hung off the side of the castle, so any pegasus could swoop down and grab him, or a unicorn could teleport in and out before any pony knew what happened, not that Orion was thinking about that in his panicked state. As soon as he entered, the prince pressed his ear to the door and listened as his friends ran by, not even suspecting for a second that he had lost them. Backing away from the door, Orion let out a sigh of relief, thinking that he was out of danger: that was until he felt a presence behind him. Spinning around, he expected to see one of the night guard thestrals and that he would have to explain himself, but much to the young prince's shock and horror, it was a pony he had never seen before.

"It seems it's my lucky night. To think that I would find myself before the little prince all thanks to a whim," the strange pony said to himself, barely paying attention to Orion as he stared up at the night sky. Knowing full well that he was in danger and that he had to get away from the unicorn, Orion started to slowly back away from him and towards the door. As soon as the prince took a step, the stallion's head snapped in Orion's direction. "And where do you think you're going, hmm? Do you believe you can get away? Thinking you can run back inside and to the princesses for help?" The stallion asked with a dark chuckle. "No, young one, you can't escape your fate, so why don't you come along quietly?" Having far overstayed his welcome, Orion turned and bolted for the door; unfortunately, the young prince didn't get very far as the unicorn fired off a bolt of magic, that when it struck the prince in the back of the head, it made him feel incredibly tired. Almost immediately, the spell took effect, and Orion felt his entire body begin to go numb, which in turn caused him to lose his balance and fall face-first onto the cobblestone path. "Come now, little one, did you think that was going to work? You should say goodbye to this place, as it will be the last time you are ever going to see it." That was the last thing Orion heard before the spell kicked in full, and everything went dark.

"Why haven't you found him yet!?" Luna snapped at the thestrals that bowed before her. "It's been three months since he went missing, and you've found nothing!" The guards didn't respond, for there was nothing to say; they had failed not only the prince but their princess as well. When her guards didn't answer her, Luna stood up and, without a word, left the throne room, slamming the for behind her as hard as she could. Once the furious monarch was out of the room, the bat pony guards silently begged the princess for forgiveness for their failure.

Luna stormed through the castle, scattering every pony she came across as none of them wanted to incur her wrath. It wasn't a very well kept secret that the prince had gone missing. Mostly thanks to Luna's inability to control the royal voice when she was in a bad mood and because many ponies managed to spot Shadow leave the castle: the princess only sent him out when things were beyond dire. With many spotting, the night guard's head scout out and about, many of the castle staff began inquiring to the guard about what happened. Not even thinking about the consequence, the day guard was more than happy to divulge information about the prince's disappearance. Armed with this knowledge, some of the ponies in the castle cheered that the prince was gone and that Luna had suffered a "defeat" at the hooves of the righteous, exposing their affiliations with Celestia's cults. Those ponies didn't stay employed for very long, though, because as soon as their words reached the ears of the solar monarch, they were fired on the spot. Inevitably, these ponies complained about their termination, citing suppression of beliefs, but their complaints soon died on their tongues when Celestia told them they were lucky she was only firing them and not vaporizing them on the spot. Thankfully, most of the staff showed some concern for Orion's well-being, having grown accustomed to seeing him run through the castle halls with his friends close behind. While most of the staff showing concern was a good sign that Luna and her son were accepted, it did little to improve the lunar monarch's mood. Luna was so focused on finding her son; she barely reacted when a pony other than a guard talked to her, even when they offered to join the search parties.

Reaching her room, Luna nearly tore the doors off their hinges when she opened them and almost did it again when she slammed them shut. When all this was over, she needed to remember to replace those from all their abuse. It had been a brutal few months for the princess of the night since from day one of her son's foalnapping; she refused to sleep until he was found. It took all of Celestia's political acumen to convince her sister that she needed rest or she wouldn't be any help to her son when the time came to rescue him. Even then, Luna slept as little as she could, only resting for an hour or two before getting back to the search, any second she wasn't searching, she felt like she was wasting time. Every night the princess took to the skies and scoured the land for any sign that would lead her to the foalnapper that took her son. Even the most minute and inconsequential would have been enough for the mistress of the night, and yet she hadn't found a single clue. Flopping onto her bed, Luna buried her head in her pillows and fought with everything she had not to cry. As night after night passed without word on her son's whereabouts, Luna found it harder and harder to reign in her emotions, All she wanted to do was lar it all out and cry her heart out, but she wouldn't allow herself to do so, as she had told herself that she would only cry when Orion was safe and sound. The real problem, though, was Nightmare Moon; the worse Luna felt, the stronger her corrupted self became, and she could feel her struggling to take over and go on a rampage. On more than one occasion, the princess caught her eyes shift to become the Nightmare's draconic ones.

The princess's musings were interrupted when she heard the doors to her balcony open. Thinking that it was an assassin sent to kill her while she was emotionally drained and distraught, Luna sprung from her bed and faced the intruder with her horn alight, and yet there wasn't any pony there.

"I apologize for the intrusion, my princess, but I have knowledge that must be relayed to you," A voice suddenly said to Luna's left. In most cases, the average pony would have jumped and screamed at a mysterious voice talking to them from the shadows, but since Luna was familiar with all her guards' cadences, she turned and faced her head scut with a stern face. How he managed to slip into her room and appear beside her so easily was one of those mysteries she would never know unless Shadow decided to tell her, but Luna was sure that he intended to take his secret to the grave.

"You could have just knocked. If you were still standing at the door, I could have blown you to pieces." Luna reprimanded in a deadpan tone; not that shadow seemed to care or understand as he simply stared back at her with a blank expression.

"I have word on where the young prince is being held, and I thought that you would want to know right away instead of adhering to common decency." Immediately any anger or frustration Luna felt towards the thestral vanished, and she rushed forward and began shaking Shadow, asking him over and over when her son was. Disappearing in a puff of black smoke, Shadow reappeared a short distance away, out of the princess' reach and melded into the darkness around him; the only thing that allowed Luna to know that he was still there was his red eyes. "Please, princess, I know you want to find the prince as soon as possible, but I can't tell you anything if you don't allow me to speak," Shadow stated as reverently as he could. Feeling like her guard was scolding her like she was a filly, Luna pinned her ears back and gave him a sorry smile before she took a deep breath to calm herself down. Once she felt a little more composed, the princess asked the shadow bound thestral to continue. "He's being held in an abandoned building in a town on the other side of the Everfree forest. From what little I could gather from the ponies that live there, the building is the headquarters of some foalcon group that takes foals from their parents all across the kingdom to sell them on the black market." Once the guard finished relaying his report, Luna felt her stomach drop and her blood run cold. Almost immediately, the princess' mind ran rampant with thoughts and images of her son, helpless and broken as sick ponies raped him for their own amusement. It took her a moment, but the mistress of the night was able to reign in her rogue thoughts, and once she did so, she was consumed by a burning rage. If these ponies think that they will get away with this, then I'm going to teach them a lesson they'll never forget. Without a word, Luna turned and left the room, leaving the scout to look on with confusion, all the while, in the back of her mind, Nightmare moon cackled maniacally.

Sitting in a cell, Orion stared up at the ceiling and watched drops of water as they fell between the stones, not like there was much else to do, plus it kept his mind occupied so as not to think about the things these ponies did to him. The young prince had no idea where in Equestria he was, nor did he have much in the way to tell time, so he had no idea how long he had been here; it could've been weeks or months, there just wasn't a way keep track. The last thing that Orion could remember before waking up in this cell was trying to get away from a strange pony as he charged a spell; unfortunately, the prince couldn't remember any details about his assailant, so he was unable to pick him out from the myriad of ponies that came and went from the cells. Further down the dimly lit hall that made up the cellblock, Orion could hear the sound of other fillies and colts sobbing to themselves, many of whom made it rather hard for the prince to keep his mind off of where he was, but no matter how hard he wanted to, Orion couldn't blame them. Many of them had been trapped in the cages like animals for years. If he hadn't nearly died once already, Orion would most likely be in the same mindset as the others, but thankfully, he was much stronger than that, even though the thought of being here for years still terrified him. Not only would he be away from any pony that cared for him, but there was also nothing else for him to do but wallow in his own misery. Of course, that wasn't the worst thing that could happen to you in this place; the worst possible outcome Orion could think of was for one to succumb to the "lessons" these ponies "taught" them. Orion felt a chill run down his spine at the thought of the "lessons" he received: especially since he's seen the results first hand. Colts and fillies who accept these "lessons" break; what once made them a pony no longer existed; now they only exist to receive the "gifts" the older ponies give them. Like the other sane colts and fillies, the prince was forced to watch as one of the broken ones turned and presented themselves to one of the stallions or mares, all the while shaking with giddy excitement. The mere sight of it made the prince want to vomit.

Shaking his head, Orion put those thoughts to the back of his mind and tried to think of something else to preoccupy himself with so he didn't drive himself into a depression. Just as the prince was beginning to wind down, an older pony came into the cell block and smacked the bars with his cane, yelling at the wailing colts and fillies to stop crying and shut up. The prince remembered him from his "lessons," and from what Orion could tell, he was in charge of this group as all the others deferred to his opinions and decisions, not only that, but they also treated him with a severance that went father than simple ideological support. From the corner of his eye, the elder stallion saw the prince looking at him and flashed him a sleazy smile that made Orion's skin crawl. All the prince could do was hope that the old stallion to move on and go back to the main room; unfortunately, luck wasn't on Orion's side as the ageing stallion walked up to the cell.

"Good afternoon, young one. Oh, I'm sorry, but there's no way for you to tell time, is there?" There was a pause to allow the prince to answer the question, but instead, Orion defiantly remained silent. The smile that was on the stallion's face immediately disappeared and changed to a disappointed frown. "Still being defiant, I see. After our last lesson, I was hoping that you would have come to see things our way, but I guess that was a little too hopeful on my part. Not that I'm blaming you, the princesses did raise you the wrong way, and it's our job to correct that." Seeing the look on the old stallion's face, Orion realized that he had made a mistake in not responding and let out a defeated whine. Trying his hardest not to cry and give this sick pony more pleasure, Orion braced himself as he heard the cell door open, knowing full well that he was about to receive a "lesson." Thankfully, the old stallion didn't get all that close to him as the building shook, and a series of explosions went off overhead, taking his attention from the prince. "What in Tartarus was that?" The elder asked no pony in particular as another explosion rocked the building.

"Elder! We've got trouble; the day and night guard are raiding the building!" A pony explained between panicked breaths as he burst into the cell block.

"How did they find us?" The old stallion asked, and all the other pony could do in response was to shake his head.

"I have no idea, but the processes themselves are leading the charge, and from what little came back from the response teams, the Lunar one is cutting through our forces like they were nothing!" The second the elder unicorn heard that the princesses themselves were here, all the colour drained from his face. He knew that there was little chance for their security teams to repel both the night and day guard, but there was always a chance: Unfortunately, the princesses destroyed any and all hope of that small miracle happening. The only way the decrepit stallion could think of to allow his organization to survive was to sacrifice the security teams and order them to hold off the princesses as long as they could, so the more influential members might escape. The old unicorn gave the pony at the end of the hall those exact orders, and without hesitation, he saluted before leaving the cell block. Once the other pony was gone, the elder turned to face the prince, who had a smug smile plastered on his face.

"I wouldn't be so smug about this, young prince, for I worked far too hard to get you away from the princesses, and I'm not about to let them take you back so easily." The smile fell from Orion's face as he felt darkness overtake him.

"Where is my son!?" Luna yelled at the half-conscious stallion held aloft in her magic. The second the princess of the night entered the building, she began cutting a bloody swath through the forces that rushed to repel her and her guard, with many of them barely being able to stand before her for a second before being cut down like the animals they were. The few that didn't immediately expire didn't fare that much better as they had to deal with Luna's more than aggressive interrogation tactics, all the while barely managing to hold onto consciousness. Not even her sister's words were able to reach the lunar Alicorn as she rampaged through the building, and even though Celestia felt sick to her stomach as she watched her sister fall deeper and deeper to the dark voice in the back of her head, she could do nothing but sit back and watch it happen. The few times she tried to calm her sister down, the solar monarch found a blade pressed against her throat as Luna wouldn't allow any pony to stand in her way when she was so close to her son, not even her own sister. The only thing that Celestia knew that would quell the rage burning through Luna was for Orion to be found as soon as possible and ordered the day guard to double their efforts, not that the security forces made that task easy. Celestia feared that, at the rate they were going, Luna would give into Nightmare Moon's temptations before they could find Orion, and that was one thing the solar Alicorn could not allow.

"Princess Luna, we've spotted the prince! He's being carried away from the battle and through the building by an older unicorn stallion," Dark Lance stated as he ran up to the two monarchs. Without missing a beat, Luna dropped the pony she was shaking down for information and sped past her captain of the guard, paying no heed to their calls for her to wait. Once her sister was out of sigh, Celestia let out a sigh and helped Dark Lance up after Luna bowled him over in her hurry to get to Orion.

"Are you alright, captain?" Celestia asked, and the thestral, after looking himself over, nodded his head.

"Yes, princess, I'm fine, but I'm more worried about princess Luna being on her own without an escort."

"I fully agree, captain. She's not in her right mind at the moment, and I'm worried that she might end up doing something she would regret, lead the way," Celestia said to the captain, who gave her a quick bow before galloping down the hall after Luna. Celestia followed closely behind the thestral as worry began to build up in her core, telling her that something would go wrong if they didn't catch up to her.

Regaining consciousness, Orion felt himself bounce up and down at irregular intervals, letting him know that he was on some pony's back. Slowly and carefully, the prince lifted his head in such a way as not to give away that he had woken up and looked around as best he could. Orion couldn't see all that much from his position, now who it was that was carrying him, so he took a calculated risk and lifted his head a little more to see that the old stallion had slung him onto his back. The decrepit stallion was making good time and wasn't moving like he was near his death-bed, but more like he was in his twenties and was in the best shape of his life. How is he moving this fast, insist he ancient? Not even Galatea can move this fast while carrying me, and while I know she's much younger, she still has the advantage of being a griffon, plus she can fly!" Feeling movement on his back, the old unicorn looked over his shoulder and saw that Orion was awake, and when the prince looked up, the foalcon gave him a smug smile.

"I guess I should have known the sleep spell wouldn't keep you knocked out for long; it's not this first time that has happened. There's more to you than meets the eye, young Orion, and I can't wait till we find out together." Not liking the sound of that, the prince reacted as fast as he could and tried to push himself off of the unicorn's back, but no matter how hard he pushed, he couldn't get up; it was as if some force was keeping him pinned down. "Please don't make things harder than they need to be, Orion. We are going to be spending a lot of time together when we get out of here, and I would rather not have to do anything that might ruin that wonderful body of yours," the stallion stated with a tone that made the prince's skin crawl and stomach churn. As the elder continued down the hall, Orion could hear the sounds of battle overhead grow more and more distant, causing any remaining hope that his mother would rescue him to wither and die.

Just as the prince was about to lose all hope, a dagger shot out of the darkness and struck the old stallion in the leg. With a cry of pain, the ancient foalcon fell flat in his face, which in turn caused him to launch the prince off of his back. Still feeling the after-effects of the knockout spell used on him, Orion couldn't feel his arms or legs, so he could not brace himself as he fell to the floor. The prince closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable pain he knew he would feel, and yet after several seconds where he should of his the ground; he didn't. Thinking that one of the old unicorn's companions had caught him, Orion began to thrash around to escape, but he quickly stopped when he opened his eyes and stared into a pair of familiar red irises.

"I'm glad to see that you are safe, my prince," the dark thestral said with a warm smile. Upon seeing the thestral scout, Orion found he could not contain his emotions and began crying, burying his head in the bat pony's chest. Given Shadow's affinity for darkness and his already anti-social behaviour, he was unaccustomed to this sort of situation, so all he could think to do was awkwardly pat the prince's back and tell him he was safe. No matter how much he tried, Shadow couldn't get the prince to calm down, and he continued to cry his heart out. It seemed that there was nothing the bat pony could say to get the prince to stop crying, and just as he was beginning to think he was going to be here forever, Shadow saw the princess come around the corner. Shadow barely had time to let go of Orion and get out of the way before the princess collided with her son and wrapped her legs around him protectively. Over and over, the princess begged her son for his forgiveness for letting him get taken, and no matter how much he told her it wasn't her fault, she wouldn't listen. The Lunar monarch promised her son that nothing like this would happen again as she wouldn't let him out of her sight. The reunion of mother and son was interrupted when a bolt of magic struck the princess's side, blasting her into a wall. Letting out a vicious snarl upon seeing his princess hurt, Shadow turned and faced her assailant and charged with sword drawn, determined to end the old foalcon's life. With blade raised high, the thestral prepared to strike the decrepit pony down; unfortunately, he wouldn't get the chance as the unicorn conjured a shield around himself that easily repelled the bat pony, throwing him down the hall and rendering him unconscious.

"What a touching reunion, but aren't you all forgetting something?" The old unicorn asked with a cocky sneer. "Years, it took me years to create this group, and you ruined everything!" The ageing stallion emphasized his anger by kicking the unconscious princess in the ribs as hard as he could. "You and that whorse of a sister have been a thorn in the side of many ponies, and I think it's time we were rid of you two." Orion watched in horror as the old stallion took hold of Luna's sword and held it over her neck like an executioner. Poised and ready to strike down the princess, the unicorn savoured the moment for a few seconds before swiftly raised the sword and brought it back down. Crying out, Orion did something that no pony thought he was capable of and inadvertently let out a pressure wave of pure magic at the decrepit stallion, blasting him into the wall with a sickening splat as he flattened against it. Feeling all the anger and pain he felt over the past few months bubble up, the prince didn't let up and continued his assault. Even as bones snapped and organs ruptured, the prince didn't relent and only stopped when he felt a pair of hooves wrap around him.

"Orion, that enough now. It's alright; he can't hurt you now," Luna comfortingly whispered into his ear. The anger and desire to see the Unicron suffer vanished immediately, and all that was left was the sadness and emptiness. Once again, unable to control himself, Orion buried his head in his mother's chest and began to cry. At that moment, Celestia and the rest of the guard came around the corner, and upon seeing the state her family was in, rushed to them and embraced them. The three of them stayed like this until the prince cried himself into unconsciousness. The second Orion fell asleep, Clesita helped her sister up and gently placed her nephew onto her back before facing the night guard captain.

"I trust you have everything in hoof here, Captain?" Celestia asked Dark Lance, who nodded his head and bowed before issuing orders to the other thestrals under his command. While the thestral captain was giving orders, the lunar and solar monarchs began taking the young prince home and away from this nightmare he suffered through.

Chapter Eight: Preparing For The Future Part One

Laying upon her bed, Luna looked over the myriad of reports strewn around her that Blueblood, the ninth, gave her to look over. Only a few days had passed since she and her sister stormed the headquarters of what she now knew as the stallion/mare colt/filly lovers organization, and yet there was still more for the princess of the night to do. Now that she knew her son could use magic, Luna had to find out how it worked so she could teach him to control it; she also needed to find a suitable therapist as the prince fell into a depression shortly after returning to the castle. Then there was the fallout from revealing her son to the general public that they were still dealing with, and on top of all that, the leader of those colt cuddlers somehow survived being slammed into the wall and disappeared without a trace. Thankfully for the princess's sanity, Blueblood came riding in like one of the heroes from her adventure books. Thanks to the noble's efforts, he managed to convince many of the common ponies, who believed the Equestria gazette's lies, that Orion wasn't a threat and that he was no different from any of their foals. That was what all the papers scattered around the princess were about; most of them were reports that he wort on his own time to chronicle all of his efforts for the official record, while the others were letters of forgiveness.

"As you can see, princess Luna, I've made sure to categorize all of the ponies that are no longer opposed to you or the prince by their type and where they are from; is that to your liking?" Blueblood asked with a pleased smile. Looking up from the mess of papers scattered around her bed, Luna let out a tired yawn and looked the noble in the eye.

"Yes, this is very helpful, Blueblood, but did you really feel it was necessary to write a nearly thirty-page report? The lunar monarch asked the noble, who let out an indignant scoff at her question.

"Of course, it was necessary! How else will future generations know how useful I was to the royal family!?" Sighing, Luna shook her head and looked away from the noble to organize the reports and letters into an organized pile. "By the way, how is the young prince faring?" Blueblood asked, and immediately, Luna stopped stacking the papers and blankly stared at them for a few seconds before starting again.

"He's not doing so well. It seems that the event has impacted him more than we initially thought." Luna said without looking at the stallion in front of her. "Orion hasn't said anything about what happened, but I believe that it wasn't so much what he went through."

"Then what is it that's bothering him?" Blueblood asked, upon which the princess stopped her stacking and stared at the wall. Lost in her thoughts, Luna continued to stare at the wall as her mind filled with images of all those young colts and fillies locked in their cages. The princess allowed herself to get caught up in her memories of that night and was only brought back to reality when Blueblood coughed into his hoof. Shaking her head, the lunar princess did her best to push those images to the back of her mind before continuing.

"I think it was all the suffering the other colts and fillies went through. Orion's a sweet innocent boy who's confided I'm me many times about wanting to help the ponies when he's older. So I'm assuming that seeing so much suffering and not being able to do anything about it is what's bothering him so much," Luna explained with a strained tone. After the princess' explanation, a sombre silence descended upon the room as neither pony could think of what to say that might lift the mood. Then, almost as if the universe itself finally decided to take pity on the lunar monarch, the door to her room opened, and Celestia stepped inside with a bright smile. Immediately sensing the less than pleasant atmosphere in the room, the solar monarch's smile faded, and she let out a tired sigh while shaking her head.

"Lulu, why do you insist on doing this to yourself? Celestia asked as she made her way across the room and towards her sister's bed. "You insist on doing everything by yourself, and then you end up depressed and seep derived; why won't you allow me to help you?" No matter how many times Celestia asked her sister this question, it seemed that Luna was adamant that she needed to deal with the aftermath of her son's rescue herself. There wasn't anything that the solar princess wouldn't do for her family, and it wasn't as if Luna didn't know that, so it hurt Celestia that she wasn't asked for help.

"I've already told you many times why I don't ask you for help, Tia. You need to be up at the right time to raise the sun, and while I won't complain about a few more hours of the night, it isn't fair to make the ponies of the kingdom wait and panic because you stayed up to help me!" Of course, what Luna just said wasn't wrong, and on most occasions, Celestia would have agreed with her: but not this time.

"Yes, you are correct that I have a responsibility to all our little ponies, but let's not forget that you also have that responsibility, and don't think that I haven't noticed you also sleeping in a little longer than usual," Celestia said with a slightly reprimanding tone. "Besides, Orion's my family too, and there is nothing I won't do to help, so if the common pony needs to wait a little longer for the sun to rise, then they are going to wait!" As soon as her mind processed that last bit, Luna looked up at her sister and stared at her in disbelief; even Blueblood was shocked and let out a startled gasp before rushing to her side.

"Princess Celestia, you can't possibly mean that, can you?" He asked the monarch, who glared at him from out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes, I can mean that, Blueblood! I nearly lost my sister by getting too wrapped up in my duties as a ruler and letting them dictate how I act. So the last thing that I'm going to do is allow my nephew to suffer because of those duties!" Completely stunned by what she was hearing, Luna stared at her sister in dumbfounded disbelief. For many years Celestia would spend every waking hour obsessing over her duties to the common pony, even going so far as to lecture her sister on her's, even though the lunar monarch knew full well what her duties were. So the fact that she was now telling her sister and Blueblood that she didn't care if others thought she was shirking her responsibilities meant that it was something serious. "No matter what it is I have to do to keep my family safe, I will, and on that note, I've found the perfect teacher for Orion," Celestia said, turning her attention to her sister. " He's the best I know when it comes to teaching colts and fillies, who have magical... 'disabilities."

"He doesn't have a disability, Tia!" Luna snapped.

"Calm down, Lulu, I know he doesn't have a disability, but we don't have any idea how his magic works. My friend is probably the only pony that can help us at the moment," Celestia explained. Taking in what her sister said, Luna looked up at the ceiling, thinking over her option, but even though it made sense for her to agree, the lunar monarch's stubborn pride caused her to hesitate. "I feel that I should also mention that my friend is a licensed psychologist and can help Orion with his depression." Letting out a long and tired sigh, Luna looked back at her sister and nodded her head, telling her to go ahead and send a letter to her friend.

Sitting in the prince's room, Prion's friends kept a close eye on the sleeping royal while quietly conversing amongst themselves. Ever since the princesses found Orion and brought him back to the castle, he wasn't his usual upbeat self. The young royal had barely come out of his room since his return, and no matter how hard the others tried to cheer him up: nothing seemed to work, at least not for long. What made it even worse was that Orion wouldn't even talk to them about what happened to him, hampering their attempts to console him. He was so tight-lipped that he barely said a word to any pony, preferring to keep himself locked in his room. The only pony he would talk to was his mother and aunt, and even then, it took a lot of prodding and poking from them to get him to open up even a little, and no matter how many times they asked, she refused to tell her son's friends anything they discussed.

"So, do any of us have any ideas on how we can help Orion?" Blueblood, the tenth, asked the other two, who didn't say anything, and Galatea shook her head.

"Not a clue," the griffoness stated with an annoyed sigh. Looking to her left, Galatea wanted to hear what Dusk Walker's reply to the question was, but instead, she noticed the thestral had her head down and was intensely staring at the floor. "Yo, Equus to Dusk, Dusk Walker, you in there?" Galatea asked while waving her claw in the bat pony's face. Letting out a squeak of surprise, Dusk reeled back and looked up at the griffoness, who had a look of annoyance plastered on her face. "Do you think that you could participate in this conversation? What's so interesting about the floor?" Feeling embarrassed, Dusk apologized to her friends and began to relay her answer to Blueblood's question.

"While I don't know what I can do for him at right at this moment, but I do know what I can do when I'm a little older," Dusk cryptically stated. Both Blueblood and Galatea looked at their friend, expecting her to explain a little more, and when she didn't, the griffoness let out another annoyed sigh and flicked the thestral filly on the side of her head. "What was that for?" She asked, and Galatea rolled her eyes.

"Can you please elaborate and that statement you just made?" The griffoness asked her friend. Smacking the side of her head and laughing at her own absentmindedness, Dusk then began to explain further.

"Ok, please don't laugh when I tell you this, but I'm thinking about becoming a doctor," Dusk Walker explained. The thestral filly paused to allow the other two to laugh, knowing full well that Galatea would laugh to spite her. When neither of them so much as snickered, Dusk took the opportunity and continued. " Your uncle is the only being that knows or is willing to treat Orion when he's sick or hurt, so I thought that I would learn from him and take over when he gets too old to do his job." While Galatea didn't like the reminder of her uncle's mortality and let out an annoyed growl in response to her friend, she couldn't help but nod her head in agreement with the filly's decision.

"I have to say, Dusk, the is rather admirable of you," Blueblood stated with a smile on his face. "Your plan for the future made me realize a way that I can help Orion and that I need to ask my father to speed up my lessons on court politics. I hope that once Orion is old enough and starts getting involved with the court, he will allow me to be his political advisor." For a few minutes, the noble and thestral talked amongst themselves, going over every little thing that they could do for their friend when they were older. After the two of them finished their discussion, they turned their heads towards Galatea and asked her if she had any plans and if she did what it was.

"If you must know, I'm planning on joining the night guard!" The griffoness almost yelled as she puffed out her chest. Blueblood and Dusk sagely nodded their heads with smiles on their faces while commenting on how much sense her decision made, given her personality and disposition. Yet, as the two of them complimented their friend on her aspirations for the future, the smile fell from Galatea's face, and her bravado deflated as a deep frown formed on her beak. "It's the least I can do for him since it was my fault he got taken in the first place." Immediately, the mood in the room dropped to the floor, and the smiles that were on the faces of the noble and thestral faded.

"How can you say that?" Dusk asked with a quivering, worry-laced voice. "It was those horrible ponies that took him, not you!"

"Yeah, but if I hadn't chased him around the caste, they wouldn't have had the chance to take him!" The griffoness yelled before breaking down and crying. Utterly shocked at seeing the stoic and near perpetually angry griffon break down like this caused the rebuttal that Blueblood was about to say die in his throat. As her friend continued to cry, Dusk did the absolute best she could to try and console her, but no matter what she seemed to say: it only managed to make it worse. For a few minutes, the griffoness continued to cry without any sign that she was going to stop anytime soon, that was until she felt herself being pulled back into a tight embrace. Thinking that it was one of the princesses, Galatea pulled away and was about to start acting tough when she saw that Orion was the one who hugged her. While the three were discussing what they could do for the prince, said prince could hear them clear as night. So when he heard Galatea break down and blame herself for his foalnapping, Orion decided that he could no longer just lay in bed and sulk about how terrible the world could be when he was causing harm to the ones he cared about.

"Please don't blame yourself, Galatea; I was the one that antagonized the two of you. If I weren't trying to be such a butt and make you two feel embarrassed, you wouldn't have chased me in the first place," Orion somberly explained. While the prince intended to make his friend feel better, it has the complete opposite effect and only served to make the griffoness feel worse. Again, Galatea broke down and cried her heart out.

"Ho-how can you forgive me so fast? I was the one who chassed you! I forced you to hide, which got you captured by a cult of messed up foalcons!?" Galatea asked through her sobs.

"I can forgive you because you're one of my only friends, and I consider each one of you like family," Orion stated with a smile. Feeling a swell of happiness in her heart, Dusk Walker rushed forward and wrapped her front legs around her friend's neck, pulling him into a hug while burying her head in his chest and crying. Following the thestral's lead, Blueblood walked up to the prince, and while he didn't hug him, he did give Orion a friendly pat on the shoulder. Left somewhat dumbfounded at the statement Orion just made, Galatea stared blankly at her three friends for a few moments as they happily talked amongst themselves. Then, when the griffoness managed to break herself out of her stupor, she stood up and pushed the other two away from the prince and did something none of them thought they would see no matter how long they lived: Galatea bowing before the prince.

"Orion, I swear to you, I will become a member of the night guard, and I will make sure nothing bad happens to you ever again, giving up my life if I have to!" Not knowing what to do or say, Orion stood there awkwardly and stared at the griffoness with wide eyes until the door to his room opened, saving him from this unusual situation. Stepping into the room, Luna, Celestia, and the older Blueblood stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Galatea bowing before Orion. Left utterly confused, the princesses and noble looked between themselves and seemed to have a silent conversation for a few moments before nodding and smiling.

"So, are you feeling a little better, Orion? Luna asked as she broke away from her sister and the noble to cross the room and lay before her son so she could look him in the eye.

"I feel a little better thanks to every pony trying to cheer me up, but I still find it hard to fall asleep," Orion stated with a tired sigh. "The nightmares just won't stop, and while I know you've tried your hardest to chase them away, they just keep coming back!" Upon hearing her son's revelation that her efforts to soothe his sleep were ineffective, Luna sat up and pulled her son into a hug, all the while telling him that she was sorry that she couldn't help him. After a few moments of Orion telling his mother that she had nothing to be sorry for and that there must be a few things that even Alicorn magic couldn't fix, the two broke away with Orion telling Luna that he would be fine.

"Yes, well, hopefully, your aunt has something to tell you that will manage to cheer you up a little more," Luna said, which immediately caught the prince's attention, and he looked past his mother to Celestia with wide, expectant eyes.

"You remember that you've displayed the ability to use magic, right?" Celestia asked, and the prince slowly nodded his head. "Well, I've gotten in contact with an acquaintance, and I believe he would be the best teacher for you. All you have to do is say the word, and I'll send him a letter straight away, summoning him to the castle." For as long as he could remember, Orion wanted nothing more than be able to study magic. Yet because he wasn't a unicorn, there wasn't really a need for him: and yet, now that he had the opportunity, the prince found himself hesitating. The thing causing the prince to drag his feet was his own imagination; no matter how hard he tried, Orion couldn't help but imagine him losing control and hurting his friends and family. Sensing her son's growing unease, Luna pulled him into another hug and squeezed him tight until her managed to calm down. "Don't worry, Orion; I'm positive that you'll get a hold on you're magic and that the fears holding your heart captive will no longer trouble you," Celestia said with her usual calm, soothing voice. Between his mother's loving embrace and his aunt's confidence in him, Orion felt his confidence swell, which in turn brought forth a renewed desire for the prince to learn magic. Breaking away from his mother, the prince looked his aunt in the eye and told her to summon her acquaintance, and promised her that he wouldn't let her confidence in him go to waste; that he would learn to control his magic and use it for the benefit of the kingdom and all of its inhabitants.

...

A few days passed since Celestia sent the message to her acquaintance, and tonight was the night he was scheduled to arrive at the castle. However, as the night went on, Orion found himself unable to calm his nerves and could not sit still for too long, so he paced around the room to keep himself from losing his mind. Form Orion's bed, Luna watched her son pace back and forth in front of her; letting out a tired sigh, the princess decided that enough was enough, and ignited her horn. Then, taking hold of her son with her magic, the princess of the night lifted him into the air before bringing her son over to the best and placing him between her front legs. Orion struggled against his mother's magical grip to no avail, and as soon as he was placed on the bed, she crossed her front legs to hold him in place. The prince tried to get back up several times, but each time he tried, his mother tightened her grip, keeping him in place.

"Will you just sit still, please. Pacing around the room and working yourself into a panic isn't going to help you! All it's going to do is make you feel worse, plus your pacing is even starting to make me nervous," Luna explained to her son, who, after a few more seconds of struggling, let out an annoyed huff and crossed his arms.

"Fine!" Orion grumpily said. The princess rolled her eyes at her son's pouting face and let out a tired sigh. Though she just chastised her son for his inability to keep calm, Luna couldn't deny to herself that she, too, was finding it hard to sit still herself. The cause of her restlessness was how little she knew of her sister's associate; Celestia failed to provide her with any information of what this stallion's personality was like, what his teaching methods were, or if he would react negatively to her son upon meeting him. While Luna had the utmost confidence In her sister's ability to judge a pony's character, she couldn't help her natural-born paranoia get the better of her just a little bit.

A sudden knock on the door broke Luna's chain of thought; looking towards the door, she told the pony on the other side who knocked to enter, and in stepped one of her nightguards, who relayed that the teacher had arrived. Thanking the thestral, she told him to let the stallion in and rearrange herself and Orion to make themselves look more presentable. Shortly after the thestral stepped out of the room, an old stallion that looked like he was well into his twilight years entered. Looking at the ageing unicorn, Luna was immediately reminded of her and Celestia's old mentor Starswirl the bearded. The stallion had a coat colour almost identical to her teacher and a set of old but intense eyes that the legendary unicorn had; the only thing he was missing was the long white beard that gave him his namesake.

Upon entering the room, the unicorn stallion stopped just as he entered and stared at the mother and son pair. Much to the princess's surprise, he didn't react to Orion in any manner whatsoever and just continued to stare at him for several minutes. With an almost dismissive snort, the unicorn turned his gaze away from the prince to rummage through the saddlebags on his back; after a few seconds, he pulled out what looked like a stethoscope. Given her nature as an Alicorn, Luna never got sick, so she rarely has the opportunity to see a stethoscope up close, but even she could tell that this wasn't a normal one and rather than having earbuds that allowed one to listen to a heartbeat; it instead looked as if it connected to a horn. With his tool gripped in his magic, the unicorn stallion walked up to the prince and began to look him over.

"Where is your magic source?" The old stallion asked in a gruff, deep voice. Confused, Orion looked up at his mother, and Luna let out a sigh and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but we have no idea where his magical center is. We only recently discovered his talent for magic and haven't had the time to look for it," Luna explained to the unicorn, who let out another dismissive grunt before beginning to look over the prince once again. This time, he pressed the other end of his "stethoscope" all over Orion's body to find the epicentre of his magical strength and yet based on his face, it seemed like he was unable to find it. "Is there a problem?" Luna asked through a worry ladened voice. The unicorn pulled away from the prince and put his stethoscope back into his saddlebag with another grunt.

"It's not so much of a problem than it is that I'm surprised," he explained before once gain going quiet as he stared at Orion with a crunched-up brow. The staring contest between the prince and unicorn went on for a little while as neither one wanted to look away, and after some time, it started to get a little awkward for the princess. Coughing into her hoof, Luna managed to get the stallion's attention and asked him if he would go into further detail. The old unicorn nodded and bowed to the monarch with a grunt of annoyance before beginning his explanation. "Well, the thing that has me stumped is that he doesn't seem to have a magical core. Indeed, it appears that his entire body can channel magic, and on top of that, it feels like that magic is alive and moving through his body." Shocked, Luna looked back and forth between her son and the old unicorn several times, unsure what to think of that revelation. On the other hand, Orion just continued to stare blankly at the elder stallion, only having a small amount of knowledge about magic.

"So, what does that mean? Is that something we need to worry about?" Luna asked after managing to break out of her shocked stupor. At first, the unicorn didn't answer her; instead, he turned his back to the monarch to rummage through his saddlebags, much to the princess's annoyance. Suddenly the unicorn threw something over his shoulder towards the prince, who grabbed it out of the air. Turning it over, he saw that it was a name tag with the name Arcane Ward on it.

"What it means, princess Luna is that I've got my work cut out for me, and only time will tell if we have anything to worry about," Arcan Ward said with a satisfied smile.

Chapter Eight: Preparing For The Future Part Two

Where in Tartarus am I!? Galatea angrily thought to herself as she looked around the light-crushing darkness that currently enveloped her. It was near impossible to see anything; even when she looked down at her claws, they seemed blurry, almost as if the abyss around the griffoness wouldn't give her eyes a point to focus. Even though she had been "conscious" for a few moments, Galatea felt like she had spent an eternity floating around in this soul-crushing darkness. Suddenly, the void surrounding the griffoness began to warp and bend like water before reading, leaving her standing in the middle of Orion's bedroom. Utterly confused by what was going on, Galatea, not wanting to deal with this nonsense any longer, made for the door and attempted to grip the doorknob: only for her claws to phase right through it as if it wasn't even there. Again and again, she tried to open the door, only for her talons to continue passing through until she was ready to burst from anger.

"What is going on here? Someone come and open this blasted door!" Galatea angrily yelled as she began to frantically bang on the door, hoping that some pony would hear her. When no response came after several minutes of pounding, Galatea sighed in frustration and gave up, especially since her claws were starting to hurt. Rubbing her sore talons, she backed away from the door and spun around, figuring that if the front door wasn't going to work, then she would get out through the balcony. Almost as soon as she decided on her plan of action, the young griffoness noticed a strange shimmering mist out of the corner of her eye. Suddenly feeling an overpowering curiosity develop, she forgot what she was just about to do and made her way over to the fog. Reaching out, Galatea ran her talons through it for a few seconds before it unexpectedly moved and began forming the shape of a pony and a bipedal creature that looked a lot like Orion. When the haze finally finished forming, it had indeed taken the form of Orion, as well as a stage stallion she had never seen before. The Orion standing before the young griffoness would have been a near-identical copy of her friend if it weren't for the blank look in his eyes and the creepy smile plastered on his face.

"Oh, Galatea, I didn't see you there!" The copy prince stated, his tone and cadence cold and almost ethereal, almost as if it wasn't coming from his vocal cords, but the deepest recesses of her mind. "Have you come to save me?" He abruptly asked in a mocking tone. "Have you come to whisk me away and bring me back to the castle and my 'mother'?" Wait, what is he talking about? we're already at the caslte? When Galatea looked around to confirm that they were indeed at the palace, she noticed that instead of Orion's lavish room, she was standing in a cold and sparsely lit dungeon. "Well, you're a little late for that; I don't want to leave; how could I ever just up and abandon my master like that? He would be devastated, not to mention that I could never live without his loving affections." The words of the fake Orion brought Galatea's attention back to him, and she couldn't believe what she was hearing; this wasn't her friend, the Orion she knew would never talk like this, more would her abandon his family for anything. The young griffoness opened her beak to chew the false Orion out for being so weak, but her voice wouldn't come out. She repeatedly screamed until her throat was starting to hurt, and yet no matter how hard she tried, Galatea remained mute. This doesn't make sense? Why can't I speak? I spoke not that long ago! Though she would never admit it to any creature, panic was starting to overtake the young griffoness, and she found herself shaking from the fear welling up deep within her. As Galatea began to bang on the door once again as she slowly became more and more panicked, she failed to notice that Orion and the strange stallion had turned to face each other and started aggressively kissing. Hearing the sound of moaning behind her, Galatea looked over her shoulder, and what she saw caused her blood to boil. Wishing to stop this revulsive sight from continuing, Galatea spun around and prepared to charge the stallion with the intent of seeing him flying out of the balcony doors, yet, when she tired, the griffoness found herself rooted to the spot. Unable to move, Galatea was forced by whatever messed up cosmic force to watch her friend make out with some strange foalcon in what seemed like slow motion. After what seemed like an eternity, Orion separated from the stallion and slowly got to his knees. Having a good idea as to what would happen next, Galatea helplessly struggled to stop this, but no matter how hard she tried, Orion continued to inch closer and closer to the stallion's sheath.

Shooting up into a sitting position, Galatea gripped the sweat-soaked sheets of her bed as tightly as she could, tearing long streaks through them as her claws shredded the bedding. Sweat dripped off of her feathers and beak as she sat there, staring at the blanket she had gripped in her talons. Blast it all; that's the fourth time this week that I've had that stupid nightmare! Why can't I get over what happened? Orion already told me it wasn't my fault, so why!? Galatea angrily thought to herself. With her blood beginning to boil, the young griffoness raised a claw and swung it at the wall, stopping only a few centimetres from striking it when she remembered where she was. The first time she had this nightmare, Galatea put a hole through the wall, resulting in her getting yelled at by four grown ponies for about half an hour. She looked around the room to see if any of the sleeping thestrals had been awoken by her responses to her nightmare. When she saw that none of them were awake, Galatea let out a sigh of relief. The last thing that she needed right now was for the others to know she was suffering from nightmares; if Galatea had to deal with any more animosity from them, the griffoness was sure she would likely kill one of them in anger. Now fully awake and knowing that there was little chance of her falling asleep again, Galatea threw the blanket off of her and out of bed to do some late morning exercise.

"Alright, you sorry excuses for soldiers of the night, get your lazy flanks out of bed!" Drill Sergeant Take Down yelled as she flung the door to the barracks open with as much strength she could muster. Awoken suddenly from their peaceful sleep, the thestrals all around the room threw off their blankets and scrambled to stand at attention. The only creature in the room that didn't panic at all was Galatea, thanks to her already being awake and ready by the time Take Down came in. All around the room, the griffoness could see her fellow recruits glaring at her; with a sigh, she rolled her eyes and focused on the Sergeant, doing her best to ignore the thestrals. Ever since Galatea joined the night guard, she was the odd one out, being the only non-thestral inducted in a long while. The young griffoness faced a near-constant stream of harassment and pranks from her fellow recruits. The worst part of the whole experience was that the Sergeant liked to pay close attention to her based on her connection with the royal family. Not only did this mean that High expectations were placed on her at all times, but based on this, the thestrals of her company saw her as a brown noser, which in turn made their taunts and jeer all that more malicious.

"Okay, you worthless excuses for guard mares and stallions! Tonight I have an extra special treat for you! Galatea could see the other recruits tense up upon hearing those words all around the barracks. Sergeant Take Down walked into the room and stopped in front of Galatea, looking her in the eyes, which she hated, knowing full well that high expectations were now placed on her shoulders. Her connection to the prince and recommendation from princess Luna made her a favourite of every officer looking to elevate their status in Canterlot. This, in turn, was the birth of the rumour about her being a brown noser, especially when she would go above and beyond to prove to all the naysayers that she could make it in the night guard. "Tonight, you are going to fly around the base of the mountain as fast as you can until you drop! We need to see how long you foals can fly for, so hurry up and get moving; I want to see your tails out this door in the next few minutes!" Immediately, all the night guard recruits rushed around the barracks putting on their armour and collecting their weapons. Many purposely bumped into the griffoness as they made their way out the door. They always did this whenever they had to go out for training; Galatea figured it was a way for them to let her know that she wasn't welcome without angering the Sergeant. Yet, they didn't figure out that it only served to make her more determined to prove them wrong.

"Look at that oversized chicken! You'd think that she'd be embarrassed with how much flank kissing she does normally, but to go this far is just sad," one of the thestral mares towards the back of the formation said none too subtly. Galatea, leading at the front, heard her statement and turned her head to glare at her. The mare glared back at her, feeling absolutely no shame in being overheard. Rolling her eyes, Galatea looked away and went back to paying attention to her flight path before letting out a tired sigh. Almost as soon as the exercise started, the griffoness quickly overtook the other recruits, and she had no intention of slowing down or stopping for any reason.

"Oh, don't listen to that whorse; she's just jealous that she can't fly as fast or as long as you." Galatea looked over her shoulder and saw Night Whisp, one of the only night guard initiates that didn't seem to hate her guts, fly up next to her. "Tartarus, half of these mares wish they could be you; they just won't admit it," Nigh Whisp stated in an exasperated tone, to which the griffoness looked at her skeptically with a raised brow. "I'm serious! Not only did you pledge to join the night guard to protect your friend better, but you're also excelling at most of the exercises, thanks to that determination. Many of the mares find it rather romantic, and even that stallions find the display of loyalty commendable," Night Whis explained with a mirthful chuckle. The mere thought of her and Orion being together in any romantic way made the griffoness shudder in disgust; they were friends, good friends, but that was all they were and the idea that she joined the guard as a way to show that love made her scoff with indignation.

"Yeah, well, I wish they would take that kind of attitude on a nightly basis rather than harass me all the time!" Galatea stated with an annoyed growl. "Besides, they're all fools if they think that I joined the night guard as a show of love. They don't know me, Orion, nor our situation, and the fact that they're projecting their fantasies onto me makes me want to strangle them!" The thestral mere tuned her head and looked up at her flight companion with concern; she knew griffons had a temper, but this seemed to go above and beyond the usual. Not only that, but whenever a pony would ask her about the time the prince was foalnapped, she would visibly tense up. Then one could see a dark look form in her eyes, one that screamed she was contemplating murder.

"You know, if you'd just explain what happened between you and the prince, as well as what happened when he was foalnapped, I'm sure the others would back off a little," Nigh Whisp absentmindedly stated, to which Galatea tensed up, and looked at the thestral like she suddenly turned into an orthos and sprouted a second head. " I mean, you've told me many a time that you don't like imagining you and the prince together romantically, but whenever some pony asks you what he is to you, you snap at us! What are the others supposed to think whenever you get so defensive?" Just as Night Whisp had stated, when she looked up at the griffoness, it looked like she would take the thestrals head off. Luckily, she knew that Galatea was all bluster and that nothing would happen to her, but Night Whisp did have to admit that being glared at like that by an apex predator caused a chill to run down her spine. The griffoness continued to glare at her flight companion for several minutes, and just when Night Whisp was about to tell her to knock it off and forget what she just said, Galatea looked away and let out a tired sigh.

"Alright, I'll tell you, and only because you are the only one in the company that doesn't currently hate my guts." Utterly shocked, Night Whisp did a double-take and looked up with wide eyes at Galatea, who didn't take her eyes off from in front of her, continuing to stare forward. After a brief moment of silence where she thought about backing out, Galatea began explaining to Night Whisp what happened between her and Orion. Night Whisp listened to what she was told without interruption, even when the griffoness told her about the other fillies and colts trapped in that dungeon. Once Galatea finished telling that story, Night Whisp had a lot to think about and looked ahead with a thousand-yard stare. "Now you know, and while I'm sure that some pony will tell the company about this at some point. I should tell you that if you relay what I just told you to any creature outside of the guard, I'll wring your neck, regardless of our friendship!" Galatea stated darkly, to which Night Whisp nodded her head and reassured her friend that she wouldn't tell a soul, not that she would want a civilian to know anything about this anyway. Satisfied with the response, Galatea nodded her head and looked away from Night Whisp to focus on her flying, and when she did so, she realized that sometime during her storytelling, they had both fallen to the back of the formation.

"I'm sorely disappointed in you two!" Take Down yelled at Galatea and Night Whisp as she paced back and forth in front of the pair. The instructors expected all the recruits to keep a certain pace during the exercise to gauge the flight capability of each of them adequately. Thankfully, enough leniency allowed a pony to pull ahead without getting yelled at; the only thing they weren't supposed to do was slow down. Yet, during their conversation, that was precisely what the two of them did without realizing it, and while it was an accident, the instructors believed it was on purpose. "I told the two of you along with the rest of the company what I wanted to see, and yet, the two of you decided to start reminiscing about something in the middle of the exercise and did the one thing I told you not to do!" The drill Sergeant continued to yell, all the while the other thestrals snicked annoyingly behind her back. As if some divine being was looking out for them, Take Down spun around and stomped her hoof so hard Galatea was sure she heard the floor crack. "Who said you could laugh, you worthless excuses for soldiers!" It's all fun and games. Well then, can any of you care to explain to me what you did wrong?" Take Down asked the rest of the company, and all they could do in response was look at each other in confusion and shift in place nervously. Expecting some sort of answer, the Sergeant angrily tapped her hoof against the floor while she waited for the recruits to answer her question. When it was clear that none of the thestrals were going to speak up, Take Down let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head. "Well, if none of you are going to answer me, then I think you need a little more exercise to clear your minds." All around the room, the recruits groaned in dissatisfaction, followed by them glaring at Galatea and Night Whisp as they exited the barracks once again.

Finished with their punishment, the company marched back into the barracks, each one of them groaning from the pain they felt all over. As each thestral entered through the door, they had their wings hanging by their side and dragging along the floor. The only creature that didn't have its wings scraping against the floor was Galatea, and that was thanks to the fact that Griffons made for excellent endurance fliers. Thestrals, on the other hand, were more of an ambush flier, managing small bursts of speed that outclassed all others, but were only able to pull this off every few minutes. This type of flight made them exceptional city guards, allowing them to hide in the shadows and surprise any criminal or invader with ease, but, unfortunately, it made them poor choices for the military. That's what the previous exercises were for; to keep them flying until they felt like dropping in the hopes of improving their stamina. So when Galatea and Nigh Whisp slowed down, they messed up the reason they were even out there in the first place.

"How in Tartarus are you not tired!?" Night Whisp asked Galatea through pained wheezes as she tried to catch her breath. Not knowing how to answer without coming off as cocky or conceited, Galatea looked over her shoulder and smiled before making her way over to her bunk. As she crossed the room, the griffoness took note of the looks the other recruits were giving her, and she knew that she wasn't going to get a good day's sleep at this point. "No, seriously! Are you even mortal? I'm pretty sure that even the princess' would be tired after that!" Galatea let out a sigh and hopped up onto her bed before turning to address her compatriot.

"First of all, I am tired; who wouldn't be after what we went through. Second, I know princess Luna, and that would be considered a light warm-up for her. Third, the reason that I'm still standing so easily is thanks to the natural stamina that all griffons possess," the griffoness explained while flashing Night Whisp a prideful smirk, which resulted in said thestral rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"You say that, yet you still don't seem tired at all." Growling under her breath, Galatea was about to snap at the pestering bat pony when the door to the barracks suddenly opened, revealing one of the many butlers that worked at the castle on the other side. Not expecting any visitors this close to dawn, the entire company looked up from whatever they were doing to see who it was.

"Can I help you?" Drill Sergeant Take Down asked the stallion as he slowly scanned the room. As soon as his gaze fell upon Galatea, he practically shoved the Sergeant out of his way. Crossing the room, he stood in front of the griffoness and levitated an envelope out of his coat pocket. Taking it from him, Galatea turned it over and took note of Luna's signature, immediately understanding that the princess was summoning her. With his first task complete, the stallion turned and walked out of the barracks without a word, with Galatea following closely behind him.

Standing at attention outside the throne room, Galatea waited for the princess of the moon to call on her once she finished with night court. The young griffoness initially tried to pass the time by talking with the two thestral guards posted on either side of the door. Unfortunately, her plan didn't work out, as the guards wouldn't allow their professionalism to falter just so a rookie could entertain herself for a few minutes. With her initial plan in the dirt, Galatea decided to be the perfect example of a guard and stood stock-still in front of the doors while she waited.

It took some time, but after what felt like half the night, the doors to the throne room opened as night court concluded, and the ponies there to attend filed out of the room. Galatea watched the ponies leave the castle without moving her head, and none of them were what she was expecting. Given that it was as late at night, the young griffoness expected to see nobles with mundane problems that were overblown to high heaven. Yet the ponies she saw exiting the throne room were the poor and downtrodden; ponies that lived outside of Canterlot and didn't have the luxury of near twenty-four-seven security to keep them safe from the horrors of the world. While she watched from her vantage point, Galatea could see entire families pass her by with relieved smiles on their faces. Piecing things together, she figured that these ponies dropped everything to come to the capitol to beg the princess for help, placing all their hopes on her assistance.

Once the heard of ponies cleared out of the castle, the lunar princess' assistant, who Galatea never learned the name of, called out to her, allowing her to enter the throne room finally. The second she stepped foot into the room, Galatea felt herself being lifted off of her feet and pulled through the air towards the princess, who wrapped the young griffoness in a tight hug.

"How are you doing, Galatea?" Luna asked the griffoness, who could only respond with a startled squawk as the princess of the night squeezed her tighter. "It's been so quiet in Orion's room without you and the other two to keep him company," she stated when she let Galatea go from her nearly life-crushing grip.

"I'm fine, Princess Luna," Galatea said between breaths. "And I'm sorry that I haven't been by in a while, but it's not like I can just up and leave the barracks whenever I want." Luna nodded her head in understanding in response to the young griffoness, though she did tell her that all she needed to do was ask, and Take Down would get a letter allowing her to leave the barracks any time she wanted. Galatea immediately shook her head and told the lunar monarch that she wouldn't abuse her standing with the royal family like that, especially since she wanted to do this the right and proper way. Luna scrutinizingly eyed the griffoness, knowing full well that she wasn't telling her the whole truth, but decided to let it go ultimately, trusting that Galatea would say to her what was going on in due time.

"Well, It's good to know that things are going well for you; unfortunately, Orion hasn't been having the best time since you, Dusk, and Blueblood stopped visiting regularly." That immediately got the young guard's attention, and she looked at the princess with worry plastered on her face. "Don't worry, it's nothing too serious; fortunately, he's just been a little lonely lately," Luna stated reassuringly, to which Galatea let out a relieved sigh. "Unfortunately, there is something else that is worrying me at the moment," Luna whispered near conspiratorily. "It seems that the magic Orion uses is parasitic. It feeds off of his more negative emotions, allowing him to cast spells that should, at the very least, take a few weeks to master, yet he does it with little effort once he becomes frustrated with his failures." Luna explained, and though her tone was as soft and calm as she could make it as not to worry the young griffoness, it only served to make her sense of dread grow even worse. While Galatea didn't know much about the mechanics of pony magic, she at the very least knew that there was only one type of magic that was parasitic, and it was something that every magic-capable creature was taught never to use.

"Are you telling me that Orion is using dark magic?!" Galatea all but screamed, stating the princess, who quickly used her magic to clamp the griffon's beak shut.

"Do you want to scream that a little louder; I think there were ponies on the other side of the city that didn't hear you!" Luna whispered angrily. Galatea mumbled an apology to the princess through her magic sealed beak and mimicked zipping her beak shut. Nodding her head, Luna released her from her magical grasp and walked over to her throne. "I understand your concern, Galatea, but I assure you that the magic Orion uses isn't dark magic, but any creature would be forgiven for thinking so." Though the princess once again tried to use a reassuring tone to calm the griffoness, it did little to alieve her of the growing unease in the pit of her stomach. As part of their training, Galatea and the other recruits were forced to learn about dangerous magic and what they needed to look out for to protect the princess in the off chance some pony tried to use it against them. So the mere thought of one of the other recruits recognizing the similarities and preemptively harming Orion put Galatea on edge immensely. "On a more positive note," Luna suddenly stated, breaking the young griffoness out of her negative thoughts. "Both me and Orion have taken to stargazing before and after his lessons. He has an insatiable need to know about the different stars and constellations. I was elated when he asked about the night sky, and the first time, we spent the entire night staring up at the stars." The sheer happiness Galatea heard in the princess' voice brought a smile to her face and even managed to alleviate some of her fears. "So, is there anything that you need to talk about?" Luna asked the griffoness, who tapped her beak for a few moments before nodding her head and telling the princess what she was thinking.

Galatea and the lunar monarch continued to talk for the rest of the night, only stopping when Luna's assistant reminded her that she had other duties to attend to before Celestia rose the sun. Shocked at how late into the night it was, Luna dismissed the griffoness, who, with a salute, left the throne room and returned to the barracks. By the time Galatea returned to the barracks, the castle had begun the morning guard rotation. One by one, the thestral guards stationed all around the palace left their posts and returned to their beds as the ponies of the day guard replaced them. In the barracks, the bat ponies of her company were getting ready for bed when she entered. Almost as if they were one singular organism or linked in some great hive mind, all the thestrals in the room looked up at the griffoness. They all creepily stared at Galatea for a few moments before returning to what they were previously doing. The only one that didn't behave like the rest was Night Whisp, who immediately stopped what she was doing and made her way over to Galatea.

" So, what did the princess want to see you about?" The nosey thestral excitedly asked with a twinkle in her eye. It was clear to Galatea that her bubbly bat pony friend was sitting here the entire time, hoping that she would come back and share some juicy gossip with her.

"She just wanted to see how I was doing." Night Whisp stopped dead in her tracks and stared back at Galatea in disbelief. Her brain only started working again when the griffoness looked over her shoulder and flashed her a cheeky smile. She then began a barrage of parid-fire questions in the hopes of an explanation, to which Galatea promptly ignored. If what the princess told me is true, then the danger that Orion might face in the future is even greater than we once thought, but this time I'll be there to protect him!

Chapter Five: The Reveal Part One

Sitting on the balcony attached to her room, princess Luna looked out across the city and watched as her sister's sun slowly dipped below the horizon. From her vantage point, the lunar Aliconr could see many ponies throughout the city head inside for the night. With an annoyed click of her tongue, Luna lit her horn and pulled the moon over the horizon to replace the now ser sun. Even with her and her sister's increased attempts to get the kingdom's citizens to appreciate the beauty of the night, almost all of them continued to shun her night and moon in favour of Celestia's sun. Just as she did every night, Luna felt the murderous desires of Nightmare Moon surface for a few moments before fading back into her subconscious. Ever since that fateful day four years ago, Luns has felt Nightmare attempt to take over whenever she felt angry or upset at something or someone. It usually took a considerable amount of her willpower to keep her corrupted self from taking control; thankfully, though, the thought of Nightmare Moon hurting her son helped the Lunar monarch keep her at bay.

"Speaking of, Orion, I still have to wake him up," Luna spoke aloud to herself, and once she placed the moon in the correct spot, she stood up and headed back into her room. Stopping for a moment, Luna looked in the mirror to make sure she looked presentable before exiting her room. Given that Orion was five-years-old, both Celestia and Luna agreed that her no longer needed to sleep in the same bed as his adoptive mother and was given a room next to Luna's. Stopping in front of her son's bedroom, the princess of the night knocked on the door and waited for a response, and when she got none just as she expected, she sighed and entered his room. "Orion, it's time to ger up, I've already raised the moon so -" Luna cut herself off when she was that he wasn't in the room. Usually, she would see her son sprawled out on the bed with the covers thrown off, much like Celestia, and would have to fight to get him up; instead, it seemed he got up before her and took off somewhere.Now, where did he run off to?

Marching through the halls of the castle, Orion hummed and offbeat tune as he headed towards his destination. Suddenly feeling that something was off, the young prince stopped dead in his track and turned around.

'Will you hurry up and stop hiding!" Orion yelled down the hall. A few seconds later, the head of a thestral filly with white fur and a light pink mane popped out from around the corner. The filly was Dusk Walker, daughter of night guard captain, Dark lance, and for the past three years, she's been glued to Orion, constantly helping him with his schemes. The thing that always stood out to other ponies about Dusk was her mane and coat colour, which were the subject of many a rumour and misconceptions. The biggest one being that she was the secret love child of princess Celestia and Dark lance, conceived during a secret rendezvous between the monarch and soldier; there was even a novel written about it. Thankfully for all parties involved, the rumour was disproven rather quickly whenever Dusk stood next to her mother as they shared the same mane and fur colour.

"Orion, we shouldn't be doing this! What if we get caught, you know that the princesses won't be happy with us," the filly said, worry evident in her voice. Unconcerned Orion shook his head and chuckled,

"That's, only if we get caught, and we won't because I'm so good at sneaking around," Orion said with confidence, which the thestral filly didn't believe for a second.

'Except for the last time you dragged me around the castle, and my dad caught us, which resulted in getting scolded by the princesses!" The filly stated in a deadpan tone.

"You know what, Dusk? If your so worried about getting caught, then leave, I don't need you slowing me down!" Orion yelled as Dusk Walker, and almost immediately, she started to cry. The second the tears began to run down Dusk's face, Orion sighed and moved to her side to comfort his friend. For the past three years, it's been like this between the two, where Orion was fearless, blunt and rather rude at times, Dusk was kind, gentle and cried a little too easily, especially whenever someone was yelling. After about a minute or so passed, Dusk looked up at Orion with a pout.

"You big meanie!" Orion rolled his eyes at his friend's response and marched on, leaving her behind. Staying where she was for a few seconds, Dusk Walker thought about heading back to her room but ultimately decided that she had come this far and followed after Orion. Sudden;y the prince stopped dead in his tracks, which resulted in the pink and white thestral to bump into his back. She was about to ask him why he stopped when he covered her mouth and pulled her into an adjacent corridor.

The boy pressed himself and his friend as close to the wall as possible and listened as a group of ponies in clanking armour, which he assumed were night guards came closer. For the young prince, time came to a crawl, and the few seconds that it took for the group of thestrals to pass them felt like an eternity. Once the guards moved passed the two of them, Orion let our a breath that he didn't even realize he was holding. Looking to his left, he could see Dusk shaking like a leaf from the fear of getting caught. Sighing, Orion reached over and scratched behind his friend's ear; it was a gesture he learned could calm her down in an instant. The effect was immediate; Dusk stopped shaking and pressed her head into the palm of her hand.

"You okay?" He asked his friend, and she nodded her head slightly. "We can go back if you really want to," Orion said; though he would prefer to push on, he didn't want to go any further if it upset Dusk this much. While Dusk Walker wanted to go back to the safety of her room, she also knew how much Orion wanted to keep going. She also wanted to show her friend that she wasn't big foal, and so, in the end, she shook her head and pushed past the prince to take the lead. Stunned by Dusk's sudden bravery, Orion just stood where he was for a moment, trying to figure out what happened. By the time the prince came to his senses, Dusk was far down the hall, and he had to run to catch up with her.

Walking through the halls of the castle, Luna tried to look as calm as she could while heading towards her sister's room, all the while she kept an eye out for her son. She looked all over the lunar wing of the castle but didn't find a trace of him, the princess of the night even learned that Dusk Walker was missing as well. Luna hoped that the two of them were visiting Celestia in her room before she went to bed because if they weren't, it meant that Orion roped the filly into exploring the castle by themselves, even though that were forbidden from doing so. If the lunar monarch was being honest, she had no pony to blame but herself for her son's overindulgence when it came to exploration as she filled his head grand tales of explorers going off to remote and exotic locations. Normally Luna would be ecstatic that her son shared her love of adventure and exploration. However, the fact that her eas her adoptive son was still a secret to the rest of the kingdom, and she wasn't ready to reveal that fact yet for fear of him being rejected and ostracized by her subjects. The night princess cut off her train of thought as she stopped in front of her sister's room. Without even knocking, she pushed open the doors and stepped into the room. Startled by the sudden arrival, Celestia looked up from the mess of papers scattered across the table and was about to reprimand her uninvited guest when she noticed it was Luna.

"Lulu, to what do I owe this-"

"Is Orion here?" Luna asked, cutting her sister off, but not caring one bit that she did so. The lunar monarch did her best to hide it, but Celestia easily picked up on the hint of worry in her younger sister's voice.

"He's missing again, isn't he?" Celestia asked, and Luna reluctantly nodded her head. With a sigh, the solar monarch put down the report she held aloft in her magic and stood up. "Alright, let's go look for him."

" You need not concern yourself with this, sister; I have already dispatched the night guard to look out for Orion. Besides, it's already past the time you should be in bed; if you stay up any longer, you won't be able to wake up and raise the sun on time," Luna factually stated, and Celestia let out a little chuckle in response.

"Come now, Lulu, this won't be the first time I've stayed up past my bedtime chasing down rambunctious foals," She said with a knowing smile that made the lunar monarch blush fiercely. Knowing that there was nothing she could do to change her sister's mind, Luna reluctantly agreed to let her help and followed her sister out of the room.

Peeking his head out from around the corner, Orion looked up and down the hall to make sure it was clear, and once he was sure it was, he signalled for Dusk Walker to follow. Like her friend, she poked her head out from around the corner and looked around for a moment before following him. The two of them cautiously crept through the hallway, all the while straining their ears to listen for the slightest sound of trouble. After about a minute of listening, and not hearing anything, they figured that no pony was around and started to relax when a loud predatory screech broke the silence. On instinct, Dusk panicked and hid behind Orion for safety, while the prince followed the direction of the cry and saw a young griffoness coming their way. Immediately recognizing the female griffon, since she was the only one in the castle, Orion let out an annoyed groan and watched with trepidation as she landed in front of him.

"What are you doing here, Galatea?" The prince asked the griffoness once she was firmly on the ground. Galatea was the grandaughter of doctor Gabriel, who came to live in the castle a few months after the doctor settled in. After the doctor got everything sorted and became accustomed to life in the palace, Celestia pulled him aside and asked him if he had any family in the kingdom. After a brief silence, he told her that his son, his son's wife and their daughter lived in a town on the border near the griffon empire. Without missing a beat, the solar Alicorn turned to one of the castle staff and told them to bring her a quill and some paper so she could invite them to the castle, much to the doctor's protest. Once the letter was sent, Celestia asked Gabriel why he was so reluctant to see his family, and after some prodding from the nosey monarch, he relented and told her the reason. The last time Gabriel saw his family, they didn't part on the best of terms, and he was afraid that they might hate him. With some encouragement from the princess, the doctor agreed to meet with his son and his family, and much to his surprise, it went exceptionally well. He and his son made up, and the three of them were given a place to stay in the castle, much like Gabriel. Shortly after, Orion was introduced to Galatea, and the became fast friends and rivals.

"I was bored and decided to go and explore the castle a bit, and I figured that I would run into you on the way," Galatea explained with a shrug.

"You mean your parents just let you go out on your own?" Dusk asked as she peeked her head out from behind Orion.

'Of course not!" Galatea snapped, causing the filly to let out a terrified squeak and slip beck behind her friend. " I'm a griffon; I don't listen to anybody but myself!" While the prince was friends with the griffoness, the same could bot be said about Dusk Walker. For reasons that Orion couldn't fathom, Galatea seemed to hate the filly currently hiding behind his back. "Why do you hang out with this lame filly all the time? Am I not good enough for you, or do you like her more than me?" Galatea asked with an accusatory tone and then started going off on a tangent about his and Dusk's friendship. Becoming more and more worried that her shouting would attract attention, Orion flicked the griffoness on the beak. Nine times out of ten doing this would stop her rants long enough for him to get a few words in to calm her down. The other one out of ten would make her angrier, and they would get into a fight that would have to be broken up by an adult.

'Will you stop jumping to conclusions! I aksed Dusk to come with me because she was closer, besides, the last time I tried to wake you early in the evening, you nearly took my head off," Orion explained, and when she heard what she had done, the griffoness blushed a little. A silence descended upon the group for a moment or two before the prince patted Galatea on the head and invited her along, as long as she kept her fighting with Dusk Walker to a minimum.

"So, where do you think he could have gone, Lulu?" Celestia asked her younger sister, to which the lunar monarch shook her head.

"I have absolutely no idea," Luna said with a sigh. "In all honesty, he could be anywhere in the castle at this point, plus he's pretty good at not getting caught." Celestia listened to her sister's explanation and couldn't help but think that Orion was just like his mother when she was a filly. Feeling her sister's gaze upon her, Luna looked out of the corner of her eye and noticed the knowing smirk on Celestia's lips. "What are you smiling about, sister?" Luna asked the older Alicorn.

"Oh nothing, I'm just happy that even though he's adopted, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," the solar monarch explained, and Luna let out a groan at being reminded of her filly days.

"Please don't remind me of those da, I-" Luna cut herself off when she noticed one of her night guards coming towards them at full gallop.

"Your highnesses, we have word that one of the maids saw the prince and his friends head towards the observation tower," the guards said to the both of them. The two sisters looked at each other with worried faces, and without saying a word, took off down the hall as fast as they could.

Carefully and cautiously, Orion opened the door to the observation tower and looked around to make sure no pony was around. When he saw no sign of movement, he let out a sigh of relief and gestured for his friends to enter. One by one, they stepped into the circular room, and two out of three looked around in disappointment.

"Well, this sucks," Galatea said as she stepped into the middle of the room, seeing no walls, the roof only being held up by a few support pillars, not to mention the fact that it was empty. "What are we even doing here, there's nothing in this room?" While the griffoness wasn't looking at him, Orion smiled to himself and moved across the room to pull a lever. The sound of gears coming to life and grinding against one another caught the attention of the prince's friends. In the center of the room, right where Galatea was standing, as section of the floor parted, causing the griffoness to let out a surprised squawk as she jumped away. Slowly a marble pedestal with a crystal ball rose from beneath the floor. Once it stopped rising, the filly and griffoness began circling the marble pedestal, nearly bumping into each other several times in an attempt to spot anything that would tell them what it was they were looking at.

"W-what is it?" Dusk walker asked as she backed away from the pedestal to stand next to Orion. Smiling to himself, the prince walked up to the pillar and patted the side of it.

"This is the observation sphere, or at least that's what I call it. Mommy and auntie Celestia just call it the crystal ball," Orion explained toe the two of them before he reached up and picked up the glass ball. "Auntie Celestia says that she and mommy use it to chuck up on the ponies around the kingdom, though it does have a limited range when only one of them uses it." Both Dusk and Galatea looked at the observation sphere with wide-eyed excitement as Orion finally managed to remove it from the pedestal. Pushing Dusk out of the way, Galatea pressed her face to the orb in hopes of seeing some far off town, but when nothing happened, she stepped back and looked at the prince with a mixture of annoyance and confusion.

"Why isn't it doing anything?" She asked, and all Orion could do was shrug his shoulders in response.

"Truth be told, I have no idea how this thing works," Orion said with a sheepish smile. "I think magic is needed to turn it on, and none of us can use magic."

"Then why did you bring us here in the first place?" Galatea asked the prince, clearly annoyed that her time was wasted on something as lame as a crystal ball that couldn't be used.

"I simply wanted to show Dusk something cool; it's not like I asked you yo come along," Orion said bluntly to the griffoness. Without warning, the young griffon lunged forward and tackled the prince, knocking the crystal ball out of his hands. Thankfully, Dusk Walker was on the ball and caught the glass orb before it hit the floor and shattered into pieces.

The prince and griffoness rolled around the floor as they tried to get the upper hand on one another. While this was going on, Dusk was forced to watch the two of them fight, unsure as to whether they were play fighting or if they truly meant to hurt each other. Typically one would assume that the griffoness would have the upper hand in the fight thanks to her status as one of the planets apex predators, but Orion managed to hold his own against the griffon rather well. His long arms, and the fact that he stood a couple of feet taller than Galataea gave him the advantage in a fight. For about two minutes, the two of them tumbled about the room, neither one of them managing to get the upper hand until they got a little to close to the edge of the room. With no walls to stop a pony from falling, it was pure luck that through the two minutes of play fighting, the two of them didn't fall off; unfortunately, it seemed that their luck finally ran out. With a terrified scream from Dusk, both Orion and Galatea rolled off of the edge.

While she and her sister made their way to the observation tower, Luna grew more and more worried by the second as she felt like something terrible was about to happen to Orion.

"Lulu, you need to relax, nothing is going to happen to-" Celestia was cut off by the sound of a filly screaming her head off. The solar and lunar monarchs looked away from each other and saw a thestral filly galloping down the hall towards their position. Immediately recognizing Dusk Walker, Luna rushed forward and stopped her.

"Dusk Walker, where is Orion?" Luna asked the panicked filly, who began to explain what happened; the only problem was that due to her panicked state, her explanation came out as incoherent babble. Catching up to her sister, Celestia knelt in front of Dusk Walker and told her to take a few deep breaths and that she needed to calm down. Doing as she was told, the thestral filly took a few calming breaths, and once she was calm enough, she told the princesses what happened, from Orion waking her to the observation tower and the crystal ball.

"And then, Galatea tackled Orion, and the two of them rolled off of the edge!" Though her coat was already a pristine whiter, Celestia visibly paled when she heard that her nephew fell off of one of the castle towers.

"Hurry, Lulu, we must..." Celestia trailed off when she noticed that her sister was no longer next to her. The solar monarch looked around for her sister, but all she found was some broken glass on the floor and a shattered window.

Luna flapped her wings as hard as she could, speeding through the air in a desperate attempt to reach her son before he hit the ground. The second Dusk Walker mentioned that Galatea had joined them, she lept out the nearest window, not caring that shards of glass might end up embedded in her flesh. While Luna had nothing against the griffoness personally, the monarch knew that she, like most of her kind, had a temper, and on more than one occasion, got in trouble because of it. Though she was worried, and very near to having a heart attack, the princess of the night knew that Galatea was strong enough of a flier to stay aloft long enough for her to reach them, even while holding up her son. Rounding one last tower, Luna spotted the two children, and thankfully her assumption was correct, and Orion was holding onto his friend for dear life.

Shortly after the prince and griffoness came into view, Orion slipped from Galatea's grip and began plummeting towards the ground. Feeling her heart catch in her throat, Luna yelled out her son's name, inadvertently using the royal Canterlot voice banked into a dive. With adrenaline coursing through her body, she flapped her wings harder than she had ever done before, her muscles burning as she pushed them past their limit. Little by little, the lunar Alicorn closed the gap between herself and her son, but so was the gap between Orion and the ground. As Luna panicked, she suddenly had a moment of clarity and remembered that she had access to magic; lighting her horn, Luna took hold of her son with telekinesis and began to slow his descent. Once she had her front legs wrapped around Orion and he was safely secure, the princess of the night flared out her wings and slowed the rate of her descent, so she didn't slam into the ground at terminal velocity.

Once she was firmly on the ground, Princess Luna put Orion down, who was balling his eyes out now that he was no longer in danger and could do so. Looking over her son, Luna checked to see if there were and sort of injuries, and upon confirming that he wasn't physically injured, she wrapped her hooves around him in a hug, which he returned without delay. The two of them stayed like this for several minutes, neither of them willing to let the other go nor did they notice the growing crowd of nobles surrounding them.

"Princess Luna, what happened, and what is that thing?" One of the noble ponies asked, startling the princess and her son. Looking up, Luna finally noticed that she and Orion were surrounded and that her fear of Orion being discovered before they were ready was becoming a reality.