Silent Night

I was pacing outside the hallway to the throne room. When Princess Twilight asks to meet with me, that never means anything good. I was suited in my captain’s armor, a modified version of the armor of my predecessor, this one with a lighter build and holes for my leathery wings. I lacked a helmet as I needed sunglasses to help with my batty eyes. As I paced, I heard someone approaching me from the courtyard. I turned my head to see my lieutenant, Gallus. The blue griffon was a good soldier and a loyal friend from my days at the School of Friendship..

“Captain,” Gallus said as he approached, saluting.

“At ease, amica,” I said to him as he gained a more casual stance. “I have a bad feeling, dude.”

“Well, it’s not like the princess of Equestria summoned exclusively you to her office. This ain’t like when we would get detention with her.” Gallus said sarcastically, “But you got this, Nighty.”

“Don’t call me that,” I said flatly with a small smile.
Gallus replied immediately, “Absolutely not.”

“Last time she summoned just me, the Fancy Pants incident happened,” I pointed out, making him shiver.

“Who knew a flavored broach theft was tied to a milk smuggling ring?” He was groaning at the memory while he said, “But Night, you of all ponies can handle the stress of this.” He opened the doors to the hallway, and we began to walk to the throne room.

“I know I can; I am captain of the royal guard for nightmare’s sake; I am just exhausted. Numquam ego his diebus pacem impetrabo.” I said, forgetting Ponish is my second language and going back to Numbrian, or Old Ponish, as it’s called now.

“Night, you are speaking a dead language again,” Gallus said, snickering. I rolled my eyes and tried again.

“I just get no rest these days,” I said, making Gallus laugh with his raspy cackle.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, looking at him.

‘You never let yourself rest, you batty idiot. You insist on doing it all yourself. I watched you attend friendship school while raising an infant out of the dorms right after adjusting from living in tribes on the moon because your ancestors got banished by a dictator, and these days you refuse to hire a bookkeeper because you are a stubborn pony.” Gallus said he did not care about the guards hearing our conversation; however, my life put on display in front of my subordinates made me a tad upset.

“Well, the princess has to meet with me now, and I am anxious that this could be something serious.” I said bring the conversation back to topic.

“Well, she didn’t make a big deal over it, so there is nothing to worry about; just get briefed and briefly brief me.” Gallus said that as we got to the door to the throne room, he was now taking a stand on the left side of it.

“That makes me think there is something to worry about,” I said grimly before turning my head to him. “See you on the other side, Stultus.” Chuckling to myself over my secret insult, I opened the doors.

The throne room was a long room with a red carpet leading up to the throne. The walls were a pastel purple, with stained glass windows lining all the exterior sides of the room. The throne was elevated, with stairs leading upward to it. On the throne is the lavender alicorn known as Princess Twilight Sparkle. Her two-tone mane has just started getting flowy, standing about as tall as former Princess Luna. We both walked to the center of the room to greet, bowing in reverence as we met in the center.

“Princess, you summoned me; how may I assist you?” I said it with my muzzle to the ground. In truth, Twilight and I rarely acted professionally, but in case there were other guards in the room, I kept up the etiquette.

“You can rise, Night; it’s just us.” Twilight spoke as I stood, a fond smile adorning her face. “How have you been? It has been a while since we caught up; how is Dew?”

I chuckled before I responded, “I have been alright, same as Dew. Her birthday was last week; it is actually hard to believe she is already twelve years old, though she is still a chaotic gremlin. My little Gremlin, nonetheless, how about you?”

“I have been fine, but you are telling me I missed her birthday. I am so sorry about that. I’ll get her something soon.” Twilight then laughed a bit. “I still remember the first time I met her. I am still baffled that you managed to hide a baby in the dorms for months.”

“I am simply full of surprises, but Twilight,” I said, getting back to business. “You said you had an important task for me?”

“Yes, that. Well, Night, how would you like to aid me in helping my brother?” Twilight said much to my annoyance.

“Shining armor, no thank you. I would rather get kicked by Big Mac.” I said darkly that it was no secret that I had little respect for her brother. Shining Armor left the guard in a state of confusion and disarray, and the worst part was that it wasn’t even his fault. He was just too trusting of his subordinates. Corruption was so deeply rooted when I joined that it is still not gone half a decade after I became captain.

“It’s not about him, Night; it’s about their kid. Flurry has been struggling; I had a plan to help, and you are the only one eligible to assist.” Twilight said quickly, making me sigh. She either intentionally or not hit my soft spot. I can’t leave a child hanging. Call it mama bear instincts, but I was not invested.

“What is it, Twilight? I said it with a sigh.

“Flurry Heart has been struggling to make friends, and with them coming for a dinner visit tomorrow night, I was wondering if maybe you and Dew could attend. They are around the same age, and I was hoping it could be a good way to develop social skills.” Twilight said in one breath before smiling at me, slightly pleading.

“I don’t know Twilight; I don’t like dragging Dew into work stuff like this,” I said before smirking. “Maybe if I was allowed to make two mild insults to your brother during dinner, I would consider.”

“Night, that is a devious deal, as princess and his brother.”” She paused and smiled. “Go for it.”

“Then may I request early leave today to get Dew ready for tomorrow?” I asked, looking at the pony, who was technically my boss.

“Of course, Night, and thank you.” Twilight said as I started to leave.

“Yeah, yeah. Just remember my stipulation, and good night.” I said, exiting and closing the huge thing behind me. Gallus was standing on guard until I motioned for him to follow. He caught up and asked, “How did it go?”

“Well, Gallus, I was given my most dangerous task to date,” I said, hearing him hold his breath. I smirked and answered, “A normal domestic family dinner with my daughter.”

I started laughing when I heard him groan at my prank. However, I was nervous about this. My daughter socializing with royalty could only end with me needing at least one glass of wine. I would just need to warn Dew to be on her best behavior. How hard could that be?

Author's Note

I need to stop writing like dawg i feel like i am posting to much, but i can't stop. This will be a much longer story than I have written so far for these guys. The C Squad is now fully underway. This story takes place around 3 years before Swirl Cake. Night is one of my favorite characters to write, but I am low-key nervous to write The Sparkle Family, of course. I hope you enjoy!