The Night Mare's Knight

Chapters

Prologue
A Strange if not Amusing Interview
Scandal
Unprecedented
Mind Seeds
Wingless Black Angel

Prologue

Growth and decay. Life and death. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Day, and night. The natural cycles of the world. Everypony in Canterlot knew of these cycles, and everypony saw them.

The changing of the Guard had become a natural cycle to the citizens of Canterlot after Luna had returned from the moon. The usual bronze-armored ponies of the day were relieved of duty by the cobalt-armored ponies of the Lunar Guard. They came at sunset, taking the place of the Celestial Guards, debriefing them before they left. At no point was there a Guard missing from a post.

This system was not an old one, however. It was recently implemented by the new Lunar Guard Captain. The new captain had come from nowhere, being the first applicant upon the return of Luna, and by extension, the return of a need for the Lunar Guard. When Luna first read the application, she laughed at the four things he had written: His name, gender, and that he was a unicorn. On the back, under the Why would you be best for the job? prompt, he had written: You'll see.

When Luna showed the application to her sister, both of them fell to the floor in a fit of laughter. However, Celestia was shocked to hear that she would actually give him an interview. Applications like his were usually passed off as jokes, and ignored.

Author's Note

The title should make this extremely obvious.

A Strange if not Amusing Interview

The sun was on its course down, sliding down the wall of sky like paint on a canvas. Luna sat in the palace gardens, a thousand-yard stare plastered to her face. Her gaze was fixed on the garden gate, just two hundred meters from her. Two bronze-armored guards stood at the gate, watching carefully. She looked down at her shadow, seeing that it had moved a good two degrees. Her gaze shifted back to the gate, her emerald eyes glazing over with another thousand-yard stare.

“Good evening, Princess Luna,” growled a deep and powerful voice. The sudden sound snapped the young (relatively speaking) alicorn to attention, eliciting a gasp as well. She spun around to face the voice, but saw nothing.

“My apologies for not showing myself,” the voice said from directly behind her. She swiveled again, but saw nothing. “I don’t much enjoy being out in the sun.”

“But how shall we see thy capabilities without light? The moon is new tonight,” she called into the wind. “And how dost thou continue speaking behind us without stepping into the sunlight?”

“All in due time, Princess,” the voice chuckled, again behind her. She gave up looking for the source of the voice. She looked to the sky again, seeing the sun hovering halfway down the horizon. Smiling lightly, she summoned her magic, activating a powerful spell. A deep blue aura enveloped the alicorn’s horn, expanding a considerable distance with the spell’s strain. To the east, the moon picked up from the horizon, as if not wanting the sun to see it. It stealthily slid up as the sun retreated behind the earth. As the moon rose completely over the horizon, the light blue veil gave way to Luna’s canvas. Stars and nebulas exposed themselves, figure skating across the sky, and around the moon.

A slight rustle behind Luna made her release the spell. Her head turned, looking only far enough to see if somepony was actually there. Seeing a silhouette, she grinned with satisfaction and turned to face the figure. The figure was covered in a ponderous looking set of armor. The armor included a helmet, which left only his eyes and horn unobscured, and covered his mane; a scarf, which covered the entirety of his neck and mane; a chest-plate, which covered his entire torso and underside, wrapping around his flank and blocking sight of his cutie mark; a cape, which coated his back, flowing over to cover his hindquarters, including his tail; and a set of boots that extended from hoof to chest, or flank, respectively. The armor itself was dark in color, matching the color of his horn almost precisely. It was segmented and jointed in multiple areas to free movement, and allow decent ventilation, but still looked like it restricted a significant amount of motion.

The sight surprised Luna. Everypony that had applied and been interviewed came either in something formal, or nothing at all. This pony before her was the first and only full-armored pony she’d ever met. Try as she might, she could not see even a square inch of skin.

Noting her surprise, he growled roughly, “Quite the sight, aren’t I?”

She looked into the pony’s eyes, seeing nothing there but black. She searched him for any form of identification, like a mane or coat color, or perhaps a cutie mark. Sadly, his scratched and roughed armor covered everything.

“Well, I’m here. I’m ready for anything. Shall we begin?” the figure asked.

“Aye. Let us begin, Darq,” Luna replied gruffly. “Now, we don’t have much to work with, due to thy lack of information. But I guess we’ll just have to go with what we have. How are your combat skills?”

“Ever wrestled a dragon?” Darq countered. “If not, you don’t want to. I have a nice gash from an adolescent’s claws on my right foreleg. Still won, though.”

“What level spells can you perform?” Luna asked.

“Highest I’ve gone is level thirty-two. But I’ve created a few of my own spells that I’m sure are far higher,” he replied.

“Oh? And what exactly is this spell that is level thirty-two?” Luna inquired with peaked interest.

“I’m just going to leave it at this,” he sighed nonchalantly. “I only use it in emergency. You, Celestia, Cadence, and even Shining Armor had best hope that I never need to use it.”

“I’ll allow you to keep thy privacy on that matter,” the Princess huffed. “I do wish to know, however, how many aura layers form over thy horn when you use this level thirty-two spell?”

“Four, ma’am,” he answered instantly.

“Ye mentioned earlier that ye hath invented a few spells of thine own,” Luna began, her head tilting ever so slightly to her right. “Perhaps ye would not mind if we asked for a demonstration of one of these spells?”

“Not at all, your majesty,” he responded. “I would however like you to pick a letter of the alphabet. I have a hard time choosing things at random.”

“We choose the letter ‘C’” she returned.

Darq took a wide stance, bracing himself as if to not be thrown by an unseen attack. His horn began to glow with a dark purple aura that could very easily have been mistaken for black. A layer of the aura became apparent around his horn, followed by a second layer around it, immediately succeeded by a third. As a fourth layer formed, Luna stepped back, sensing sheer power behind the spell. A layer of Darq’s aura formed around his entirety, his armor rattling silently in place. Her head tilted to the side, wondering as to the effect of the spell.

Darq seemed to grin. Four copies of himself stepped forth from the original standing before her. Each one was wearing the exact same armor, each scratch and detail in precisely the same position on all five Darqs. They formed a line before the lunar princess, each bowing simultaneously with each other. “Go ahead and touch. All five of me are tangible.”

She complied, tentatively poking the armor of each of the five ponies. Crickets chirped in the air, and the guards at the gate remained watchful, but did not notice the events taking place right at their tails. Luna’s jaw nearly dropped in disbelief. She had never seen such a spell in her life. There were now five of the same pony, wearing the same armor, standing before her. Each was just as tangible as the ground beneath her hooves,

“That is quite the spell,” Luna breathed, her eyes growing wide like a foal in an ice-cream shop. “What doth ye call it?”

“I call it the Shadow Clone spell,” he huffed proudly. “By far one of my favorites. It still glitches every once in a while because of its difficulty, but those are few and far between.”

Luna’s face adopted a confident smirk. Oh, this pony will prove most fun.

Scandal

"--ey were tangible, 'Tia! I felt the armor on each one," Luna raved, walking through the halls of Canterlot Palace. Celestia snorted in disbelief, rolling her eyes as a grin curled upon her lips. "The only thing that I didn't quite get was how he did it."

"I don't know, Luna," Celestia sighed in reply. "I haven't heard of this spell before."

"So what do you think of him being the Captain?" Luna asked bluntly, turning to look up at her sister.

"I believe that since he won't be much involved with my guards, you should do as you deem fit," the elder alicorn replied. She turned down a separate hallway, leaving her younger sister to ponder the decision.

Luna continued on, walking down the labrynth of hallways with practiced precision. She turned right, walking up a flight of red carpeted stairs. She turned to the left at the top of the stairs, the carpet now a deep blue that matched her starry mane. She trotted along to the end of the hallway, reaching her own room. She opened the door to be greeted by the sight of multiple knee-high stacks of paper laying around the circular room. They coated the dark blue carpet like leaves would the autumn ground, except these papers were in massive bricks rather than a thin layer.

She sighed, lifting the stacks of paper with magic, placing them on top of each other, turning once knee-high blocks into chest-high towers. She shuffled along the path she had just cleared for herself, her mind absent from her physical presence.

Her mind wandered through a forest of possible subjects, each idea blending into the forest without standing out in any particular manner. As it wandered though, it came across a tree that stood out from the others. Her mind focused in on the armored unicorn that had managed to confuse her and peak her interest in him at the same time.

As the morning wore on, the sun ran its usual path across the sky. The breeze flowed through the trees of the Everfree, dull whistles playing softly between the trees. Smoke rose from a small clearing in the forest, rising lazily as though to join the clouds above. In the clearing, five equine figures gathered around a small campfire. Each of them were a solid black color, save for their insect-like eyes and wings. One of them proudly wore a sort of crown on its head, a horn sticking out in front of it. The other four were small, like school-foals.

"And you're sure this will work?" the crowned one hissed, prodding their humble campfire with a stick. "You remember the last attempt at impersonating royalty."

"We're positive, your grace," one replied. "It will work because we won't actually be the princesses. We will be the one that nopony has met before. They won't suspect a thing."

The other three hissed and nodded, backing their comrade up. The crowned one stared back at them, his eyes narrowed in thought. "Fine. We shall go through with it. But if it turns out we started Changeling War Three, my mother will have all of our heads."

The four smaller Changelings gulped before nodding and accepting the consequences. "Begin Operation Farmland?"

The crowned one smirked, his fang glimmering in the morning light. "Begin."

Darq watched the eastern sky, hidden in a dark cave on Canterlot Mountain. He remained far enough back to be shielded from the sun's bright light, but close enough to keep his silent vigil on the sky. His armor hung from a few pegs in the stone wall, each piece mounted in positions relative to each other to make the appearance of another pony in the small cave.

Hmph. So you applied for Captain, eh? I would congratulate you, but then again that might be the absolute stupidest move you've ever made, a voice rang in Darq's mind.

Oh, shut up, Sunburst, his own mental voice countered. I don't need your crap right now.

I would gladly back off and let you do whatever it is you're doing, but you know exactly what happens whe--

I know what happens, numbskull. That's why I chose the Lunar Guard, Darq mentally growled. His lips had curled back in an angry snarl, revealing a set of fangs.

And what happens when the royals find out? Sunburst asked.

Darq smirked at that, his golden fang glimmering brightly from the dark. They don't.

Then let's be hypothetical for a moment. What happens if they find out? Sunburst persisted.

Then perhaps they know a cure, Darq replied.

Fine. Just try to not be murderous near the royals or the guards, Sunburst's voice sighed in exasperation.

"Hey," Darq growled. That was self defense and you know it.

And then you ate him, Sunburst countered.

Darq's face deadpanned. He calmly inhaled, quelling his mind. You and I would not be alive if I hadn't. With that final thought, he rose to his hooves. He levitated his armor from the wall, returning each piece to its home on his body. He smirked as each piece covered more of his pitch black coat, leaving naught but his horn and eyes exposed. As the moon began rising above the horizon, Darq exited the small cave, following a quaint trail down the mountain, avoiding direct sunlight at all costs.

Author's Note

Yay. I have now set up my beacon in the dark to aim the story towards. I spent a few days trying to figure out who my antagonist needed to be, and I didn't want to use Changelings, but they were my best option. Oh well. :3

<3 DarqFox

PS: I'm a bit sick, so sorry if that last little section of banter was not quite up to snuff. I don't write well with a runny nose and a headache. :L

Unprecedented

Guards stood at the palace gates, each about as stoic as the statues in the gardens. They had been trained as such, and would not show emotion on the job. However, one does not simply ignore a pony fully encloaked in heavy armor. The two guards standing on either side of the gate widened their stances as a figure emerged from the dark, stepping into the dim torchlight. The guard on the left side of the gate hollered, "Halt!"

"Who goes there?" Darq mocked, chuckling. "I have official business with the royals."

The guard on the right turned to the wall behind him, where a bulletin board had been hung. His eyes searched the assortment of notes, names, and sketches that littered the corkboard. Upon finding the note that verified the stranger's business, the guard turned back and called in return, "You're clear, Darq. Welcome to Canterlot Palace."

The armored unicorn trudged onwards into the palace. A pair of grand oaken doors nearly ten meters tall stood before him on well oiled brass hinges. They stood as firm as the stone walls they were hinged to, each block of wood in the door reinforced by iron braces. He stopped at the foot of the door, wondering how two ponies could pull the wooden monstrosity open. But despite Darq's logic, the doors slowly swung open as two guards on the inside pulled it open.

He stepped into the spacious entryway of the palace, the red daylight carpet that normally led into the various parts of the castle having been magically dyed blue for the night. Luna stood upon the stairway but a hundred meters before Darq, her eyes cast upon his armor. She giggled, shaking her head.

"Again with the armor?" she called across the hall. She stepped down from the landing, gradually closing the distance between them. "Eh, Captain?"

"Part of the job," Darq replied with a chuckle. "When do I begin?"

"Immediately," she answered.

"Paperwork?" he inquired.

"Stacks as tall as my sister," Luna teased. "Mostly recruit papers, and bureaucracy manuals. Good news is you get to cut the red tape that's been building up in the last thousand years." Her words dripped in sarcasm. Darq could just about taste the salty sarcasm as though it were a tasty squirrel.

"Politics," Darq cursed.

"Politics," Luna hissed. "Allow me to show you thy new office."

Politics, Sunburst added quietly.

"Aww... A desk job?" Darq whined humorously. He followed as Luna walked off to the right down a hallway that seemed to stretch for miles.

Ah... This amuses me to no end, Sunburst interjected, laughing uncontrollably within Darq's head. You got a desk job!

Oh, shut up, Darq mentally growled dismissively.

"Seventy percent of the Captain's job is paperwork," Luna sighed. "Meanwhile, my job is about ninety percent paperwork. You're the lucky one."

The pair stopped at a Celestia-sized wooden door. Upon the wood, the Lunar Guard emblem was emblazoned in fine silver. The emblem had collected a significant layer of dust, and a particularly large cobweb hung on the top right corner of the door from the lack of use. The brass hinges were heavily tarnished, the copper in the alloy already heavily oxidized, leaving several splotches of the chalky green rust on them. Out of the corner of Darq's eyes, he could have sworn he saw a black widow flee beneath the door. And if the door was any indication, there would likely be several of them behind said door.

Darq opened the door with his magic, earning a nearly ear-splitting creak from the well-over-one-thousand-years-old thing. Dust billowed forth from the dark room, the inky blackness within seeming to seep out like sunlight through a curtain. Luna sneezed and unfolded her wings to flap the dust away. Darq sniffed the air, exhaling as though he'd taken a deep breath. "Ah... Smells like insanity."

"That's the tip of the iceberg," she sighed exhasperatedly. "You want to smell insanity? Head to Ponyville on Nightmare Night. The pink one reeks of it."

Darq chuckled as his dry joke was returned. He activated a spell, a parasprite-sized beacon of light forming at the tip of his horn.

The room was by no means excessively large, though that judgement may have been inaccurate due to the several stacks of paper that reached Darq's chin in height. Papers of all kinds littered the floor, making a thin film over the carpet as though to protect it from the dust. About three meters in, there was what Darq assumed to be a desk made of some kind of dark wood. Atop it was a pile of papers and dust so great in size that Darq wondered at how the old desk hadn't been crushed by the weight. On the right wall, an old corkboard hung upon the wall, the cork already significantly molded away. In fact, only the pieces closest to the edges of the board had not completely molded away. To the left was another door, which since it was not as well preserved at the door that led into the hallway, was as rotten and molded as the corkboard on the opposite wall. The tiny bit that remained hung limply from the rusted brass hinges, the wall to which it was hinged beginning to rot away as well.

Darq shuddered. He thought for a moment before responding to the sight, "Quaint."

Luna nearly burst out laughing. She had not experienced such dry humor in ages, and his response to such a horrific sight struck her as extremely amusing. But the Lunar Princess held back the outburst, allowing a single snort of amusement to pass from her. "I'll see if there's anypony around that can fix the place up. We may have been gone for a millennium, but that does not excuse this lack of upkeep."

"Given the supplies, I can repair this old place in a few hours," Darq offered.

"Nay. Your job is Guard Captain," Luna said, "not Maintenance Pony. I'll go find somepony. If you feel like doing anything, all of that paperwork is over a thousand years old. Feel free to send it to the Archive section of the library."

Darq sighed, his horn glowing as he summoned the energy for a levitation spell.

"Oh, before we forget," Luna blurted at random. "Most ponies that send in application forms like yours get blown off as jokes. Congratulations on not only being taken seriously, but on landing the Captain position as well. Such an achievement is unprecedented."

Author's Note

There we go. That felt good. Lots of fun descriptions and crap. And a pinch of dry humor, too. :3

<3 DarqFox

Oh. And that picture was drawn by me. I didn't quite know how to describe it with words, so I drew it. Hope you guys like. :P

Mind Seeds

Dawn's rosy fingers reached into the sky, the sunlight beginning to pour over the tranquil land of Equestria. From the controlled chaos of Neigh York, Manehatten and other such cities, to the calm rural communities of Ponyville and Appleloosa, to the untouched wilderness of the Equestrian Badlands and the forsaken Everfree Forest, the light brought with it warmth. Darq glared out the barred window of the castle, knowing full well that he was trapped here for the day. His scowl grew as he watched the moon sink below the horizon, his hope of returning to his dark cave crushed. For now, he was as trapped as a fox in a hole. He stepped back from the window, taking his place in the shadows of Canterlot Palace. He stalked away from the window as though he was never there.

Luna sighed, drudging through the stacks of paperwork that had piled up in her chambers. Most of them were letters applying for a hearing in her Night Court, ranging from simple issues like suing a con artist, to accusations of capital offenses like murder. As she shrunk one of the hundred stacks of paper, her thoughts turned away from the words on each page and more towards the strange armored unicorn who was now her Guard Captain. Her mind raced to explain each and every scratch in the armor he wore, what he looked like beneath it, and other such details.

Her mind snapped back to attention with the suddenness of waking up to a splash of water to the face. An anonymous letter had floated before her, not written, but arranged. Each of the cut-out letters were pasted to the page in a similar manner to the stereotypical homicidal psychopath. She read over the note, which was a death-threat as she had assumed by the letter's format. She set it in a separate pile to be put on file with all of the others. She brushed the threat from her mind, and continued the usual grind of work before her.

A white pegasus guard in bronze armor traversed the gardens in a rather suspicious manner. Had there been other guards around, one might be curious as to why the guard was in the gardens, and not standing next to the gate or patrolling the wall for his shift. However, there was a distinct lack of other Celestial Guards around. The pegasus guard stopped behind a hedge, peering through it at a pair of guards that were patrolling the wall's perimeter. The pair consisted of another white pegasus in bronze armor, and a gray unicorn in similar armor. The guard in the bush grinned, seeing an opportunity before him. He paused, waiting for the pair to pass before him. Just as the pair passed by, he reached from the bushes, pulling the other pegasus into the well-kept shrubbery. He knocked the other guard out with a swift bash of his hoof, and he jumped out and took the place once occupied by the other pegasus. He retained a casual demeanor, imitating the original guard as though he was the original guard. The two continued on, making a few laps around the castle before turning off their route, heading back into the palace. As they entered the castle itself, the pegasus guard grinned, breaking away from his companion. He meandered down a long hallway, noting the crescent moons chiseled into the stone walls. He walked onwards, confident he was not being followed. However, he failed to notice a shadow on the ground with no owner. As he turned to the left down a different hall, a full-armored pony rose from the ownerless shadow. The armored figure teleported with a quick spell, appearing before the pegasus guard, mere inches from his face. Startled, he fell back on his haunches, jaw agape in surprise.

"Oh. Good morning, youngling," Darq growled lightly. The stunned pegasus did not answer, still staring at Darq in bewilderment.

"I don't have all of my facts down, but judging by your armor, you're a Celestial Guard, right?" Darq inquired.

The pegasus nodded, rising to his hooves again.

"Well. This is the Lunar Wing of the castle, if you couldn't tell by the crescent moons etched into the walls. You Solars aren't supposed to venture to this side without company and a reason," the armored unicorn stated. Beneath the helm of his armor, the faint glimmer of his golden fang shone past the metallic blockade as he smirked.

The white pegasus' eyes widened, realizing his mistake. He turned to run, but saw more of the armor encased unicorns out of the corners of his eyes. Fear froze his hooves to the carpeted floor with its frigid grip.

"I saw what you did," the armored one's voice whispered directly into the pegasus' ear as though he was right behind him. "As Captain of the Lunar Guard, I hereby place thee under arrest for impersonation and assault of a Celestial Guard."

A dark purple aura that could easily be mistaken for black generated around the two ponies. Both were lifted from the ground, a feeling of weightlessness filling the two. With a quick flash of blinding darkness, the pair of ponies were gone.

A full armored unicorn stood braced for a tsunami in a barren stone ravine. Before him stood a colossus the size of an Ursa Minor. Its lips were curled back in a snarl, revealing a set of yellowed teeth, each the size of his skull, and sharper than his horn. The long fur upon the beast's face was green with decades of moss growth, mixed with various browns of mud and dirt and dust. Stones stuck to the monster's legs and back as though they grew upon its hide. Upon its back, at the beast's waist level, was a large boulder that looked much like a balcony. It was smooth on the side that faced the sky as the colossus stood upon its two legs. Upon its back was a swollen green sore, a sickening green haze spouting forth from it.

A deafening roar exploded from the colossus' maw, bouncing off the stone walls of the ravine. Darq stood his ground, his stance wide, and his armor fresh. The colossus raised a massive hand, clods of dirt and rocks the size of hooves falling out of its dingy fur. Darq sidestepped swiftly, dodging most of the falling hazards. One glanced off his backplate, leaving a small scrape. The hand paused at a vertical position before swiftly accelerating back towards the ground. Darq galloped forwards between the slow monster's legs. The hand struck the ground, sending forth a powerful shockwave. It rolled from the origin of the strike, tripping Darq as he passed beneath the beast, scraping his chestplate against a rock. He got up and continued running. The beast lifted its hand from the dirt, a two-foot deep crater now embedded into the earth where its hand once was. Darq grinned beneath his armor, seeing a path up the beast's back to the sore. He levitated a stone from the ground, carefully focusing upon where the stone would fly. With minimal effort, the skull sized stone hurdled through the air. The rough projectile made contact with the back of the colossus' head with significant force. The ponderous beast fell forward, landing on its chest. Darq leapt upon the beast's leg, swiftly sprinting forth as it pushed itself back up again. He jumped as the incline became too great to run upon, grasping the balcony-boulder with his forehooves. He dangled for a moment as the colossus regained its balance, before pulling himself up.

"Luna..."

Darq cast a quick spell upon his boots, the glow only lasting a moment. He steadied himself as the beast took a heavy step forward. He inhaled deeply, jumping with all of his might to grip a pair of inset stones in the beast's hide. The enchanted boots gripped them like hands, allowing Darq to climb up the beast's back. As he made his way up, the beast realized that its adversary was now upon its back. It shook itself violently, its fur flailing around like whips. Darq held still, stabilizing himself between four rocks. When the beast stopped, Darq flung himself upwards to another set of stones just below the green sore.

"Luna."

Darq climbed up just a bit more, now within attacking range. He pulled his head back, his horn pointed at the sore. Without hesitation, he lunged forth, his sharp horn piercing the green sore with virtually no resistance. He pulled back as the beast's muscles tensed and locked with a mighty roar. He thrust his horn forward once more, the sore now draining a sickly purple fluid at a gush. Darq pushed himself from the colossus's back. As he fell through the air, he watched as the colossus fell back with him. With an inaudible curse, he teleported to the ground, sprinting to get out from under the beast lest he be crushed.

The beast landed with a thunderous thump. Rocks and debris flew forth from its landing site, a rather small rock striking Darq's back left boot as he ran. He skidded to a halt, turning to inspect his handiwork. The colossus lay face up on the ground in the shallow ravine, dead or extremely close to it. Darq grinned, removing the gore from his horn with a quick levitation spell. Using the same spell, he slowly began to remove his helm—

"Luna!"

Author's Note

This one took a while to find the inspiration for. I recently rediscovered some music from a video game my friend Deaux showed me called 'Shadow of the Colossus' for the PS2. The song from the game is called 'The Opened Way' if you want to go find it. Anyway, this marks the beginning of the romance side of the plot arc, as well as the adventure side of the plot arc. There is no turning back now. Everything is now primed. All I have to do now is let the story flow forth.

I very much hope you all enjoy my story. :3

PS: Head over to the URL below to give me your opinion on an idea that hath recently resurfaced.
http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/138938/readers-of-mine-i-need-thine-opinions

Wingless Black Angel

Luna looked up at her sister, who was laying down in front of her with an amused smile upon her face. She shook the daydream from her mind, her sister giggling at her. Luna blushed lightly beneath her fur, which was unnoticeable through her dark coat.

"Pleasant daydreams?" Celestia asked smugly.

Luna sighed, "My mind seems to be elsewhere..."

"Tell me about it," the white alicorn said. "Where is your mind?"

"Read my mind. Perhaps you would know better than I," Luna replied.

A knock at the door interrupted the two. It swung open a moment later, revealing the fully armored unicorn that had become the Lunar Guard Captain. Luna smiled without noticing, though Celestia did.

"Princesses. If you could follow me," he called gruffly. "We have a problem."

The trio arrived in the dungeons in relatively good time. The dank place did not get much use nowadays, seeing as there were higher security prisons elsewhere. However, there was one equine within the cold stone dungeon that was on the bad side of the bars. The one pegasus stallion had been sitting silently for roughly twelve minutes, and was casually tapping his hooves against the cold stone floor.

"Caught this one impersonating the guard he knocked out cold," Darq growled as he stopped before the cell. "He smells like a Changeling, but I know not the spell to expose one."

"So you were wondering if one of us could check?" Celestia asked rhetorically. Sarcasm nearly dripped from her voice. "I suppose I could check."

"Did I mention he had this under his backplate whilst sneaking through the Lunar Wing?" Darq hissed, removing a rather long dagger from his front right boot. The blade left a long narrow scratch on his boot where the blade slid along. He set the dagger upon the ground, a dull green luminance emanating from within the transparent blade.

Both alicorns gasped at the sight. Darq shuddered slightly, his rattling armor being the only indication that he had done so. "I don't believe that an enchanted diamond dagger is a standard weapon for the Celestial Guard."

The white alicorn of the day cast a quick spell, her horn glowing slightly, though no layer of her signature golden aura formed. The blade glowed gold for a moment, before fading back to green.

"That blade is meant to kill alicorns. It is enchanted by Changeling Royalty," Celestia shuddered. With considerably more magic, her horn glowed once more, this time with the aura forming an amorphous blob around her horn. The white pegasus within the cell was plucked from the ground without warning. As a second layer of aura formed, the pegasus' disguise burned away with green embers.

A small Changeling stood behind the iron bars. Its maw was pulled back in an annoyed snarl, and its wings twitching every few seconds. Darq's stance widened slightly.

"Well. I can only assume you were here to kill Princess Luna," Darq growled with restrained malice that made Celestia cringe. "Are you not here for that purpose? Is that not your task?"

The Changeling glared at him for a moment. Its insect-like eyes narrowed, as if focusing a beam of sunlight to burn ants with a magnifying glass. With no warning, the Changeling spat through the bars, hitting Darq's helm.

Darq did not react to it, not even activating a spell to clean the armor. "You know, I just got the Captain position. Less than twenty four hours ago. I'm not a lenient old-fart like the last Solar Captain. I know over two-hundred ways of killing a pony. Pegasus, unicorn, earth pony, sea pony, bat pony..." he paused for a moment. "Changeling... It doesn't matter to me."

"I think that's enough," Celestia interjected lightly.

"I could easily kill you here and now. I could make absolutely no mess, or a mess that would keep the castle-keeper staff busy for weeks," Darq continued.

"Stand down, Captain," Celestia asserted firmly.

"I'll be a fair pony one time. I'll let you go. Your weapon is mine, and if I see you again, I will not hesitate to end your life," Darq hissed, activating a light spell. A thin cut made its way over the Changeling's left cheek, zig-zagging into a rough sketch of a blade, an insect-like hiss of pain echoing through the stone dungeon. "That cut will heal over in about twelve minutes. It'll make a scar that will show even through a Changeling disguise, and is impossible to recreate. I never forget a scar. Don't let me see your scar again."

Luna's near incoherent thoughts bolted through her mind like Rainbow Dash clearing the Ponyville sky. The threat that Darq had just made against her potential assailant was impressive to say the least. She smiled inward at his act of defending her, knowing full-well that should the Changeling have gotten much further, she could be dead or dying right then. Many ponies might not see him as such, including her sister, but she had begun believing that Darq was a hero. A very rough, unconventional hero, but a hero.

However, Darq had absolute calm in his mind. One thought permeated his mind, filling it like a pitcher of lemonade. I'm going to kill you. His eyes beneath his helm narrowed in a glare, focused upon the Changeling that had so rudely intruded upon his day of exploring the wing of the castle he'd be working in for the next unknown period of time. He finally activated a spell to clean his helm, and walked away, leaving the two dumbstruck princesses to deal with the changeling.

Author's Note

It's been a while, eh? I've been a bit unsatisfied with this one, but I can't move forward without transitioning to a new chapter.

<3 DarqFox