“For the last bucking time, I’m not going to be Captain of the Lunar Guard, you old fart!” shouted the blue colt. That colt is Crescent Knight; the heir to being Captain of the Lunar Guard. A stubborn teenage pegasus with a lighter blue spiky mane; born into high expectations from his father. His mother died in battle a couple years ago, serving under the ranks of Princess Luna’s guard. After his mother’s death, Crescent blames his father and refuses to join the Lunar Guard. His current occupation is unemployed.
“Watch your tongue when speaking to your father, you little snot!” a purple mane stallion snapped, stomping on his desk. “You must inherent the family role as to serve and protect Equestria of the horrors of the night as Captain.” You guessed it. The purple mane stallion with bat wings arguing with Crescent Knight is the current Captain of the Lunar Guard, Shadow Knight. He’s the father of the blue colt glaring into his face. Shadow Knight is old and getting close to retirement. He wants his son to take his place, but his son is too stubborn to accept it. Crescent continues to get in trouble, so he asks for his nephew, Shining Armor, to watch over him.
“Why won’t you consider what your son wants to do, you ass?” Crescent argues also slamming his hooves on the desk. His anger is getting into the boiling point to buck Captain Knight in the face. The table is the only thing in his way.
“Because no pony else is a suitable candidate to be the captain; so you must set aside your differences and petty interests, and become Captain, you insolent foal,” Shadow snapped, slamming on the table again. He unfurled his bat wings, ready to jump at his son and give him a beating.
“My interests in music is not petty, you failure of a father.”
“Music won’t get you any closer to being Captain, you failure of a son.”
“Why won’t you accept me for who I am, you mother killer.”
The last words sent the Captain into pure rage, causing him to flip the table out the nearest window, landing next to a couple of surprised Royal Guards. “Why you ungrateful-“
“Enough!” Shining Armor shouted, standing in between the enraged stallions. “Crescent, go home.”
“Shining-” Crescent began.
“Now Crescent!” he snaps glaring at the blue colt.
“Y-You’re always taking his side, Shining.” He galloped out of his father’s office, feeling betrayed by his cousin. Slamming the door behind him, sending shudders throughout the room.
After a long moment of silence, Shadow took a seat on a nearby couch and sighed. “I’m getting too old for this, Shining Armor. Makes me think every day on where he gets his stubbornness from.”
“It’s a mystery, Uncle,” he giggles to his sarcastic remark. “He is your son.”
“I know, but after my wife’s death, he disregards everything I ask him and gets in trouble just to spite me.”
“He still loves you, Uncle. Just give him time to cool off.”
“I've given him two years to cool off; I’ve even gave him his own house to stay, so he doesn’t have to stay close to me. I’ve given him options, lessons, all the care I could give my son, but he still pushes me away like an unwanted toy.” He slumps farther down on the couch. Tears formed into his eyes as he continued, “I just don’t know what to do anymore, Shining.”
“I will deal with Crescent, Uncle. You cool off for a while and then head back to work. My guards will retrieve your desk.” Shining Armor trails off, leaving his uncle alone in his office.
“I won’t be working for much longer, Shining Armor,” the old stallion said as his voice trails off into a somber. “Not much time left…”
“You stupid…ungrateful…selfish…turd,” Crescent Knight yells out as he smashes anything he could get his hooves on. The house turned into a complete mess: broken chairs, smashed windows, even the walls had holes in them.
Crescent continues to let off his steam on his house, until Shining finally enters the chaos. The colt was huffing and tired, but still had strength to smash more items in his house. “It’s time for us to talk, Crescent,” the white stallion began. “So stop trashing the house, it has done nothing to you.” The colt finally stops before he breaks a diamond chandelier. Crescent coasts his way down and lands in front of his cousin before he could continue, “We’ve been friends and cousins since we were foals and that’s a long time. I know how much you hate your father, but-”
“No way, Shining,” Crescent interrupted. “You already know I won’t join just from you talking me into it.”
“Let me finish, Cousin…I know how much you hate your father, but you know that there must be a Captain for the Lunar Guard.”
“Why can’t you just take the job?”
“Because I’ve already been appointed as the Captain of the Royal Guard. I can’t take on another role like that.”
“Then have your sister do it.” Crescent’s voice became higher.
“Stop running away from this, Crescent!” Shining Armor said, raising his voice as well.
“Stop bothering me about this, Shining! You’re sounding like my father.”
“That’s because you continue to act like your father.”
“I am nothing like my father,” Crescent growled.
Shining Armor was about to lose his temper, but instead he took a deep breath and headed towards the door. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Cousin. Use this time to chill and relax; I’m not interested in losing a cousin because of his stubbornness. Please clean up and I’ll see you after work.” He didn’t say anything else as he gently shuts the door behind him.
Crescent Knight eventually calms down while cleaning up his mess. He’s gonna have somepony fix the windows later; but for now, he wants music and sleep. He pulled out his guitar from a closet and played a few tunes before dozing off.
“Crescent,” Shining Armor called out to the sleeping colt as he opens up the blinds. “It’s time for you to wake up and face a new day.” The blue colt only grumbled and shifted to his side so the sun can’t reach his eyes. Shining rolled his eyes and used the maroon magical grip from his horn to toss his cousin off the couch. “I said, ‘Wake up!’”
It took a few moments before Crescent finally grumbles and curses his way onto his hooves. “Knock it off, Shining,” Crescent protested, sitting at the table. “I don’t have anything planned for today.” He rubbed his eyes and stares at his cousin. Shining Armor was wearing the crest his uncle gave him for his wedding day. “What’s with the crest?”
“You forgot what day it is today, didn’t you?” Shining asked with a glare, “Of course I know what day it is,” Crescent responded as he took a glance at his calendar. “IIIIItttt’ssss…a Monday, in the middle of the Fall. And speaking of ‘Fall’, I’m going to go FALL asleep.” The colt trailed off and trots over to his couch.
Shining Armor became furious as he grabs his cousin with his magic and pulls him back. “It’s both your father’s birthday and retirement day!” he roared, making Crescent quiver before him. “I can’t believe you forgot Uncle’s most important day. I know you don’t like him, but you should at least appreciate him for bringing you into Equestria.”
Crescent’s cousin releases him of his grip after giving him a short lecture. “Horseapples, I’m sorry Shining. I guess after trashing my house, I forgot about that.” Shining only waved his cousin’s apology away, while he makes it for the exit. Crescent halts him by tugging on Shining’s blue mane. “Seriously, I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?”
Shining gives off a smirk and replies, “For starters, you need to change into formal clothing. You, also, need to go buy a present for Uncle.” Shining levitates a bag of bits out of his pocket and gives it to his blue cousin. “There’s plenty of bits in there for you to get your windows replaced too,” Shining adds with a teasing voice, holding up his hoof. Crescent happily bro-hoofs his cousin.
“Thanks Cuz. I’ll see you at the party.”
“So you do have a heart for your father.”
“No, I’m going to his party because this is one of the days I can hang out with you without having one of the Royal Guards interrupt.” Both of them laughed together before Shining took his leave. Alone, Crescent fixed himself some breakfast before heading out.
Shining Armor opens up the double doors, which led to the barracks of the Lunar Guard. His uncle was there along with Princess Luna. The room itself felt like you were staring off into a starry night. It was a bit too dark for Shining as he lit up his horn like candlelight and approached the two. He took a bow towards the Princess. “Good Morning, Princess Luna. Isn’t it late for you to be up at this hour?”
“Tis true, Captain Shining Armor. We shall take our leave.” Luna whispered something to Shadow Knight and disappears into the shadows of the dark room.
A few minutes of silence pasted before Shadow cleared his throat. “So what brings my nephew to the Barracks?” he asked.
“Is it wrong to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to my Uncle?” Shining backfires, making the Lunar Captain burst out laughing.
“Right you are, Shining. I almost forgot today was my birthday.” Shadow continued to laugh as Shining Armor face-hoofed himself thinking of Crescent forgetting this day as well. Shadow gave him a warm embrace while Shining did the same. “Thank you, Shining. This means a lot to me. You’re even wearing the crest I gave you.”
Shining blushed from his uncle’s kind words and gave him a hug. Their warm embrace didn’t last long, when they broke free a few seconds later. “I will see you at your party, Uncle; I have work to do.” With that he trotted to the door, but stopped for a moment. “Almost forgot, I got your son to agree to attend the party as well. Do try not to cause a scene by your petty arguments you always have with Crescent.”
Shadow wanted to argue about it, but he let his nephew go to do his duties. He made a quick sigh and stared at a photo that contained his former family. It was the only picture he had of both his wife and Crescent in the same picture. The family looked very happy in that picture. “Aurora,” the Captain sighed as he laid in his work place, remembering that one day…
Two months after Princess Luna was released from her prison and redeemed her title, the Lunar Guard was struggling to keep their princess safe from the assassin, who is now the most wanted pony in Equestria, which they are now going to take down.
Shadow’s team gathered around him as he starts the debriefing. “Our target is within that building,” he whispered to his team, pointing at a large castle which had a lot of ponies patrolling the border. “The Princesses wants all enemies to be eliminated by any means, preferably alive but if they seem too difficult…kill them.” He held out a picture to the team. The picture had a unicorn with a yellow coat and short green mane. “This is our primary target, Chaos Shards. He can be very mobile so we don’t know his current position within the castle. Be very careful everypony, he is extremely dangerous.” His team nodded to him.
“And how are we going to accomplish such a task?” a Lunar Guard asked behind him. He spun around to notice it was his wife, in armor and ready for action. “What makes this unicorn 'extremely dangerous'?"
"Chaos Shards has obtained an ancient relic, the Alicorn Amulet, that increases his magic to a full blown alicorn. We are the Night Guard, and we serve to protect the Princesses and their subjects. We will not sway from our duties, nor let anypony beat us down. We shall finally take out Chaos Shards and make the night safe for everypony we strive to protect. For we are…”
“THE LUNAR GUARD!!” shouted the entire group as they burst out of the bushes. They collided with their enemies. They stabbed, slashed, even bucked every pony they could find as they went inside the castle.
It wasn’t long until they found their target. He was lounging around on a couch, drinking some wine. “Ah, the Lunar Guard,” he spoke out loud. “I’ve been expecting you for a while now. I was starting to get boring. How would you ponies care for a drink or maybe-”
“Enough!” Shadow interrupted. “Chaos Shards, you are under arrest for treason, murder in the first-degree, and attempted assassination of Princess Luna. Turn yourself in, or else things won’t go smoothly for you.”
The unicorn laughed as if they were playing a game. “You think I’m defeated just yet?” he scoffed. “Don’t be silly.” He waved his hoof around playfully.
“You are easily outnumbered, and our armor shields us from magic. Face it…you’re under arrest.” Shadow motioned to his comrades as they readied their weapons.
Chaos only laughed at them as his horn lit up. In a few moments, the ground started to shake. The walls and floors vibrated and cracked when his horn grew brighter. “I already know about your armor, little foals. They shield you from SOME magic, but does it count when you and your team is about to get crushed by a million tons of heavy stone?” He laughed maniacally as he enveloped himself in his magic, teleporting himself away.
Shadow knew he had to get out, so he gave off an order, “Retreat. Take any exit you can find.” Everypony took off towards any windows or doors and jumped out as the castle came crashing down. Lots of debris and smoke clouded the area with its thick smog. The castle was no more and no sign of Chaos Shards. “Sound off everypony!” Shadow called out.
He could only hear a few ponies in the distance as he coughed and rubbed his eyes. He stretched his bat wings and took to the skies. He found the ponies he was looking for. They were shielded by a few unicorns using a protective spell, but there were only a few left. He widened his eyes in horror at the dead guards who were crushed under the castle.
“Aurora?!” he called out, but no answer. “Aurora, where are you?” He flew around the debris to find his wife. He finally found her under a pile of rocks as he flew down to her. He kicked and pushed the rocks off of her, but he could see that he was too late.
Tears gathered around his eyes as he stared at the limb body, covered in blood. “Aurora…y-you can’t do this to me now.” He embraced his dead wife. “Wake up damn you! T-That’s an order!” She did not respond. “You can’t leave me now. C-Crescent is expecting you home for star gazing again. N-Not now.” He wept over his lover while the remaining guards joined in. The memory fades away into nothingness…
Shadow Knight wiped the tears away from his dark face. No time for crying. he thought to himself as he stood up. Dad’s got to be strong for his important day. His final shift was over, it’s now time for the party. He opened his window and took flight towards his home.
