Night Patrol ch 10
By foxgear
-break
Celestia flew through the early morning dew, raising the sun ever so slightly higher, she smiled basking in its rays, relieving the morning chill from her coat. Normally she wouldn't be flying alone, without her chariot, but she insisted to fly herself to the Crystal Empire for Cadenza's coronation. This was her first vacation from Canterlot in a long while; she didn't want anything reminding her of that dreaded place for at least a few days.
Stifling a yawn Celestia peered down at the fresh snow on the ground. Winter in Equestria has been light so far, which she enjoyed as it gave her a little more time to enjoy the fall before the snow really started to fall. Spotting a grove of trees she decides to land and stretch her legs with a good run through the woods.
Looking around for anypony nearby she was excited to find there were none. With a squeal of delight she began running at full speed, shaking the trees and causing the leaves to fall, showering her in a dazzling whirlwind of reds, yellows, and oranges. This was why she loved fall; it was so beautiful and colorful and best of all it meant shorter days, so she could actually spend some time with Luna…
Celestia trotted to a stop as she thought of Luna. They haven't talked face to face in months. She had been so busy that she hadn't even had time to send a letter. And then Luna sends her a one and it made her so happy! Until Symphony sent a later saying she invited Luna to Cadenza's coronation. Celestia had to hoof slap herself for forgetting to send Luna her invite to the event. She dreaded of what Luna might think when she received the letter, so she decided to wait till they could meet face to face to explain.
Deciding she's spent enough time on the ground Celestia prepared to take flight when she noticed something on the path ahead. Curious she trotted over to see what it was.
"Is this… is this blood?" She hesitantly questioned touching the red puddle with her hoof. She shivered as the thick red liquid stained her white coat. Franticly she began to look around for a wounded pony, while calling out to them.
"Hello? Is somepony here? If you can answer please speak up! I am here to help you!"
Hearing a low groan Celestia dashed towards the source of the sound, coming to a halt as she found the bruised and bloody form of a white Pegasus mare. She grimaced as she saw the mare's wing bent and broken, the bone sticking out and riddled with frostbite and infection. The mare spoke and Celestia leaned in so she could hear.
"Must… get… home… must get help… Luna…"
Celestia gasped "Luna?" (Has something happened to Luna?) She wondered fearfully.
Looking north to the Crystal Empire Celestia wondered what had happened. She wanted so badly to fly there right now at full speed, but couldn't with the injured mare. Gently she picked the mare up with her magic and placed her on her back. She hesitated momentary, before taking off for Canterlot. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't in good conscious leave the mare behind, nor could she go in horn blazing without knowing what was going on. She'd take the mare to Canterlot for healing and then plan from there.
"Just don't die before we get there." She begged the Pegasus as she pumped her wings faster.
-break
Pain was all she felt and darkness was all she could see. Was she dead? She felt like she was floating, so she must be dead, right? Wait… if she was dead then why did she feel pain? That must mean…
"The afterlife sucks!" Nightingale screamed as she once again returned to the land of the living. Suddenly there was light, too much light, in her option. She shielded her eyes with her fore hoof and found herself sinking. Bubbles floated upwards towards the light as her lungs filled with water.
(Why am I in a pool?) She wondered as two sets of hooves quickly pulled her above water. Her body felt weird, like it was lighter or of balance, because she didn't feel any water resistance on her left wing.
"There, there little pony, Shampoo no let you drown," A pink, blue haired pony said to her.
"Sister Shampoo is right, we take care of you. Princess Celestia said you take highest priority. I am Ginseng by the way." The second pony said, also a mare with her colored reversed. "How are feeling ms…?"
Nightingale coughed up a few more ounces of water as her mind tried to play catch up with what was going around her. "Uh… (cough, cough) Nightingale, did you say princess… what the buck happened to my wing!"
Nightingale stared blankly at her left flank and then to her right and then back again. Slowly she raised her right wing out of the water, flexing it, and then letting it settle back to her side. Then she tried to move her left wing, there was nothing, just a little stub of flesh and bone that stuck out of her body. Her wing was gone! Nightingale began breathing very heavily.
"I think she'd going into shock!" Shampoo said, quickly placing a nearby floating cloud beneath the Pegasus to keep her above water. "Ginseng help me calm her down!"
"Already on it!" She replied quickly getting to work. Within minutes they had the Pegasus stable again, but she was once again asleep.
"That was a close one." Shampoo said wiping her brow. "We should get her another blood transplant and get her on a real bed. I think the healing water has done all it could."
"Agreed, its shame we had to remove the wing, but it was beyond repair. Maybe if we had the time to get a Pegasus doctor here in time. We could have…"
"Enough Ginsengs, what's done is done. We'll do some research and prevent such a thing from ever happening again." Shampoo smiled encouragingly to her sister, only for it to turn into a frown as she remembered their other problem. "I just hope we can get out this mess without too much backlash from the nobles. Lord Yellowblood wasn't happy when the princess came to us and not his son, Doctor Goldcross."
"As if he's really knows what he's doing." Ginseng said with scorn. They worked eight years of their lives away learning all they could about medicine from here to Zebraland and that spoiled brat walks in one day and boom, head doctor, Outrageous.
The sisters did the rest of the work in silence, less some noble brown nosier over hear them. They had just gotten Nightingale onto the bed when princess Celestia entered the room, looking rather frizzed to say the least.
"Are you in need of a shampooing your majesty? Your mane is looking a little… rat nested…"
The Princess of the Sun shook her head as she sat down next to the bed. Her gaze fixed on Nightingale. "Has she said anything yet?"
The sisters looked nervously between one another, they played a quick game of straws with their hair to decide who gets to break the news to the princess and Ginseng drew short.
"She did awaken for a short while, but I'm afraid after seeing her wing removed she went into shock and fell back to sleep. There's no telling when she'll wake up next. Might I suggest you…"
"I'm staying." Celestia said firmly. "Tell Bison and Stronghold to cancel all meetings and events. I am not to be bothered."
"Of course princess, we'll bring you some tea and snacks later on." Ginseng and Shampoo bowed and exited the room.
Celestia vaguely noticed their departure. Her worry for the mare in front of her and for her sister was at the front of her mind. She tried sending a message via magic flame, but it was blocked by some powerful magical force. She has since tried to send fifty messages in the past few hours, all them failed. She wanted to fly to the Crystal Empire, find Luna, and get her out of there as quickly as possible, but logic told her wait. To find out what was going, so she could go with her best hoof forward and so she would wait.
"Please, my little pony, please wake up soon…"
-break
Nightingale awoke with groan and was feeling a little light headed, at least this time she wasn't in some pool, but rather a nice soft bed. Slowly she removed the blankets, wincing as dull aches of pain bombarded her nervous system. Carefully she touched the floor, wincing again as she applied weight to the leg, only for it to fall out from under her.
"Ugh!" She grunted, clenching her teeth so she wouldn't cry out. She didn't want those nurses or anypony to try and stop her from leaving. She's wasted too much time already! She had to get to the castle. Speaking of which where was she?
Going still Nightingale looked around the room, taking note of the elegant design, the pool where she'd been healed, and Princess Celestia sleeping by the bed… (Wait what?)
Whipping her head back around Nightingale confirmed that Celestia was indeed sleeping next to the bed she had been in. Meaning she was in Canterlot!
"Ok, ok, calm down." She whispered to herself. "I just need to get outside this heavy guarded castle, through a crowded city, and cross county to the castle; all without being noticed, with only one wing and extremely exhausted." Nightingale took a moment to plan things out and quickly come to a conclusion. "Yeah that's impossible. Plan B then."
Walking carefully Nightingale maneuvered to Celestia's side, stood on her hind legs, and set her mouth right next to Celestia's ears… and screamed really loud!
"Wake up princess! Rise and Shine!"
Celestia snapped awake. Though she only flinched a little bit, not the fly up and hit the ceiling kind of flinch Nightingale was expecting, but rather a, I knew it was coming flinch. It was kind of disappointing.
"I see your awake, my little pony." The princess said staring directly into Nightingale's eyes, causing the one winged Pegasus to shiver as it felt as if she were looking to her soul. "We have much to talk about."
Gathering her courage, Nightingale replied, "We do, and for the record, I am not little, I'm just a little undergrown."
"Of course," Celestia replied with a smile, though it quickly faded to something more serious. "Now how about we start things off with your name and how you gained your wounds?"
"I'm Nightingale of the Night Patrol; I am part of Princess Luna's Guard detail for her trip to the Crystal Empire…" Nightingale told Celestia the whole story, from arriving at the Empire to the changeling invasion and to her flying to get help.
Celestia took it all in without interrupting. Her tactical mind quickly went to work on how she could help take back the Crystal Empire. The first step would be rallying the noble's guards as they made up the bulk of the Equestrian warriors. Getting the nobles approval would be entirely different war.
"Thank you for your bravery Nightingale, rest assured I will handle things from here. Once I amass our forces I will…"
"We don't have time for that!" Nightingale blurted out. "We need to move fast! Take me the castle, let me speak with Commander Gadget and we can get a force up and ready before those nobles can sit down in their chairs to argue about useless things, such as what they'll be getting out of it."
"I'm sure once I tell them of the Empire's plight the nobles will come around and agree to help out friends in the north." Celestia said, but Nightingale only stared at her and shook her head.
"You know better, Princess, I know you do." She said limping towards the door. Halfway out she stopped and turned around. "When you come to your senses, come find me and I'll show you what your sister as created."
"Bison, Stronghold," Celestia called out to her guards. They emerged moments later from some secret passages in the walls. "Gather the nobles for an emergency meeting, tell them if they refuse to come I will personally see to it they are charged for treason."
The two guards bowed and took off, leaving Celestia to ponder Nightingales words as she made her way to the council chambers.
"Surely the nobles are not selfish enough as to leave fellow ponies hanging… could they?"
-later in the council chambers
Celestia sat at the head of the table as usual, but there was something different in her posture that made the nobles weary. Never before has the princess been so… harsh with her commands. Her face wasn't the usual soft kind expression they were used to exploiting, no; the princess before them was steely eyed and stern. They knew the princess would develop a back bone, but it was much too soon for their tastes.
"You are all probably wondering why you were called here on such short noticed, yes?" The Princess began, summoning a map of the world onto the table. "Our allies in the Crystal Empire are under attack, by not one, but two armies; that of Maredor and the Changeling hordes. My Sister, Princess Luna, currently leads the defense there. The status of Princess Symphony is unknown; the pony that informed me of the attack could only state that the Crystal princess was lying on the ground when they left to get help. My ponies, we are in dire times, if we do not rise up and take down the invaders now, I fear they will set their sights on Canterlot next. So I beg you, gather your forces and march with me north, to protect our kingdom."
Silence filled the room and Celestia was filled with hope that they would see reason and march with her. She was wrong though, so very wrong.
"We much fortify our defenses!" Greenblood yelled.
Yellowblood interjected, "No, we should go north, but only if we agree to Annex the Empire to Equestrian territory!"
"I agree!" Shouted Lord Blueblood.
"Why should we help at all? Let Sombra take the empire and form an alliance with him." Lady Violet suggested, earning a few nods for her suggestion.
Celestia could only look on with fear and disgust. Angrily she stomped out of the room, only when the doors were blown of their hinges did the nobles stop their arguing.
"Princess where are you going, we haven't come to an agreement yet!" Lord Yellowblood stated, a little too smugly for the princess's taste.
With burning eyes she turned and faced the nobles, the floor cracking beneath her hooves as her magic rose. "I'm going to go do what needs to be done! Stay here and crower in your beds for all I care!" With that she left, slamming the doors shut, only for them to fall again.
"She's getting bolder. Soon she might start listening to that damned sister of hers." Lord Yellowblood huffed as he fell back into his seat. "We must do something, to remind her of her true role as our puppet. Letting those common ponies think they have voice."
Greenblood nodded, "I agree and I think I have something in mind."
"Really, still going after that mare?" Lady Violet chuckled. "You're so vindictive Greenblood."
"Heh, I try."
"Do you really think this a good idea?" A voice said, causing the nobles to stop their banter and stare as the speaker, Duke Blueblood. "Now is not the time for such actions, but rather no action, give the princess a little wiggle room. Let her think she's in charge and soon enough things will slip back to as they were."
Yellowblood growled, "You're a fool Blueblood! Who knows how long that could take! That blasted Alicorn will outlive us all!"
"It's not just us we must worry about dear Yellowblood. We must think of the future. I for one am looking forward to my son taking my place at this table and I would assume the same for you all as well. Our goal is to preserve the noble class, less the princess become wiser and figure how much they don't need us." Blueblood slid out of his chair and began to walk away. "Good day to you all, I hope you do nothing foolish."
The remaining nobles whispered amongst themselves.
"That fool, does he not realize how close we are to project Eternal Rainbow? Now is the time push!" Yellowblood whispered fiercely. Greenblood and Violet blood nodded, along, but remaining two nobles Redblood and Orangeblood, who had remained silent all throughout the meeting, spoke up.
"We are in agreement with Blueblood. Haste makes waste as they say; we'll follow his lead on this matter. You three do as you wish. Come Cousin." Redblood said leading the way, Orangeblood right behind him.
"You're fools! All of you!" Yellowblood screamed at their backs. Slowly he sank back into his chair his chest throbbing.
"Take it easy my friend," Greenblood said rubbing Yellowblood's back, alieving the pain. "You're not well."
"All the more reason to speed things up, contact Doctor Hoofenstein, tell him we have another batch ready for him."
Violet and Green looked at one another with concern. "Is that wise? If we take too many…" Violet began, but a glare from Yellowblood silenced her. "Fine, but I fear our friends maybe right." She sighed trotting off as Greenblood helped Yellowblood up.
"Are you going abandon me too old friend?" Yellowblood asked Green.
Greenblood chuckled, shaking his head, "No, no, of course not, but perhaps they are right. We may be acting a bit too rashly. On the other hoof with both princesses out of the city, now is the perfect time to get things done."
"Agreed, come take me back home. We have much work to get done and so little time."
-break
Nightingale trotted down Canterlot's main road that lead straight out of the city, her pace slow, but steady. There was a lot of land between her and Luna's castle and running a full gallop would only delay her in the end. The thought of going to one of the Night patrol's outposts came to mind, till she remembered there were none close by. Strangely there were no villages between Canterlot and the castle of the two sisters, giving them no reason to build outposts out there. She'd have to bring that up in the future once everything is settled in the Empire.
As Nightingale passed through the gates of Canterlot and out into the wilds, a large shadow flew overhead. Behind her she hears a collective gasp as the sound of metal clicking against stone sound behind her.
"Change your mind already? That didn't take long." Nightingale turned to face the princess, grinning widely as she stared into Celestia's fiery pink eyes, at the moment she reminded her of Luna.
The princess of the sun nodded solemnly, "Indeed I have. Need a lift?"
"Well I am rather lacking a wing at the moment, so why not, not every day somepony gets to stand on the back of royalty." Nightingale said as she hopped on to Celestia's back, much to the shock of the nearby guards and citizens, "Tillie ho Princess!"
"Don't push it," Celestia warned.
Nightingale chuckled sheepishly, "Right of course, I forgot myself."
Celestia offered the one winged Pegasus a ghost of a smile as she took off. She was going to save her sister and everypony in the empire. She had too.
-break
It's been two days since Luna and the others had left to the Crystal Empire, leaving Gadget as supreme Commander of the night patrol. To say the job is stressful would be an understatement, but that wasn't what was causing the middle aged Unicorn to turn restlessly at night nor was it his inventions that caused him to consume nearly the entire castle's supply of coffee. No it was neither of those things that are bothering him. The absence of his precious daughter Dusk was the cause of his ills. Even with the princess's reassurance and Applejack vowing to keep an eye on her he could not help but worry. Only when he was busy doing something for somepony or tinkering around with an invention could he be as ease, but when the time come to sleep, he could not find it. Dusk was at the forefront of his mind and his fears of losing her where at their worst as he tried to reach the world of dreams.
A knock at the door brought him out his musing. Straightening in his chair and chugging down the last of his coffee he called them in. Much to his surprise it was Firefly, who was supposed to be setting up a new outpost in the wilds between the castle and Canterlot.
"Firefly? What's the matter? Why have you left your post?"
The pink Pegasus tapped the stone ground nervously before answering. "Well there's a bit of a situation, sir."
Gadget's eye's narrowed, "What kind of situation?"
"Well (Gulp)… its better if you just come with me and see for yourself."
"Fine, lead the way."
Firefly led him down to the courtyard, where at least two dozen Patrol squads were standing in a circle, their weapons posed and ready for use. Curious he made his way through the crowd; the Patrollers parting ways making a path for him and giving him a free line of sight to whatever it was that had everypony in frenzy. Needless to say he was rather surprised to see the princess of the Sun standing before him. His surprise quickly turned to worry as he spotted the pony next to her.
"Nightingale…" He gasped looking at the mare's missing wing. He was about to demand what happened, when he spotted something red dripping from the mare's side. A quick sniff and he instantly recognized the iron scent of blood. "Get me a medic team here now!"
The princess stepped forward, only to back off as the surrounding ponies moved in. "My personal healers attended to her, medical assistance is not…" Celestia's words fell silent as Nightingale dropped to her side exposing her hidden flank and her reopened wounds. Craning her neck back, Celestia was shocked to see more blood splattered on her back. (Why didn't she tell me her wounds reopened?)
Celestia stood silently as medic ponies rushed Nightingale to the hospital wing, leaving her alone in a crowd of very angry looking night ponies. Slowly they closed in on her; instinctively she prepared to defend herself, but the Unicorn that seemed to be in charge ordered them to stop.
"Enough all of you return to your posts. While Princess Celestia may not be our Princess, Luna would be very displeased if we treated her any less then the royal guest that she is. Now scatter, before I make you." Sure enough all the ponies quickly left, leaving Celestia and Gadget standing alone in the yard. "Come princess," Gadget called leading the way into the castle, "Let's get you cleaned up and perhaps you can tell me what happened to my subordinate."
"Of course… Mr…."
"Gadget, but you maybe know me better as Starwind the beardless."
Celestia blinked, "Starwind… Oh, yes! I remember now. Starswirl speaks very highly of you."
Gadget raised a brow as he led the princess to Luna's private bath. "Does he now? Strange that old stallion would give anypony praise. Anyways, here is the bath, as I'm sure you knew already. Feel free to explain what's going on while you bathe."
"You're going to stay?" Celestia inquired, a light blush appearing on her cheeks.
"Is that a problem? Luna listens to our reports and gives out orders well bathing. It's not like anypony isn't seeing anything more than usual, she said when she first did it. Granted we were all rather embarrassed at first, but we got used to it."
Celestia's blush grew deeper as she removed her regalia and stepped into the warm water. "Well then, I guess I should begin when I first found Nightingale on the northern border…"
She told Gadget everything she knew, from finding Nightingale, healing her, what Nightingale had reported to her about Sombra's and Chrysa's invasion, and the noble ponies squabbling. She told him all of it and he listened with rapped attention. Never once speaking up or interrupting, he just sat there listening; only the faint trembling of his hoof distinguished him from the statues around the bath. When Celestia finished Gadget stormed out of the room shouting orders at the top of his lungs, Celestia chasing after him, her Regalia forgotten.
"Firefly, Sixes, and Rawhide in the commander's quarters now!" In mere the minutes the three ponies gathered in the command center, Gadget was franticly throwing maps and other odd things onto the large table there, Celestia awkwardly standing off to the side watching him work. Three paused momentarily looking the regalia less princess over, before giving their full attention to their commander, who quickly explained the situation.
"The Crystal Empire is under attack and Princess Luna is stuck right in the middle of it. Our enemies are Sombra, King of Maredor and Queen Chrysa of the Changelings, according to the reports from Nightingale, who managed break through the enemy blockade, the Crystal heart was activated, but rather then destroying the enemy, it merely created a shield to keep them out. By Princess Celestia's accounts, the heart will maintain the shield for at least two days, three at the most. We already lost on day, so we must act quickly. Firefly, you will maintain our patrols here. Princess Luna would never forgive us if we abandon all our hard work just to save her."
"Aye, sir, I'll get right on it!" Firefly saluted.
"Good, now Rawhide, I need you hoof picks out most experienced troops, whatever their race, though Pegasus and Unicorns would be the most useful. They need to be fast too. This is a quick grab and run mission, we are not going there to fight a war, were just going to get our friends and any survivors out of there as quick as we can."
Rawhide nodded, "Ah'll get ya what you need Gadget, my troopers will be ready."
"Thank you, you two go and fill out your orders." Rawhide and Firefly saluted and left, leaving Sixes and Celestia alone with Gadget. "Sixes, we are going to need every dragon pony for this one, most importantly "Them"."
Celestia blinked, "Them? Who are them?" She asked speaking for the first time.
"How long will it take to recall them?" Gadget continued, ignoring Celestia's question. Sixes tapped his chin, his brow frowned.
"A few hours by myself, I'll take some flyers with me to reduce time, but it'll still a bit of time to track them down."
Gadget sighed, "I see. Well get to it right away. I'll have everything ready when they get here, dismissed." Sixes saluted and left, leaving Celestia and Gadget alone.
"What are you planning? It will take at least a week to march a force of any kind to the Crystal Empire, much less fend off two armies. We'll be heavily outnumbered!"
"Outnumbered, yes, out powered no," Gadget walked to the door, motioning Celestia to follow him. "Come with me Princess, I got something to show you."
-break
Gadget led her down what must have been a million stairs. By the time they reached the bottom Celestia's poor hooves felt like they'd been through a meat grinder. Speaking of meat she'd have to get some for the Griffon ambassador coming next month. Pig would do. It was the main reason they were raised, trade slaughter.
(Ugh, I'm getting off track! I wish Gadget would just tell me what it is he wants to show me!)
For the entirety of their journey Gadget had remained silent, ignoring her questions about the renovations to the castle and what Luna has been up too for this past few months. Anything to kill the silence, but the Graying Unicorn seemed determined to stay tight lipped. She wanted to press harder, unused to being ignored, but once she caught Gadget's eyes and felt the worry rolling off him, she decided to leave the Unicorn alone.
"Here we are." He said walking out into large open room. Celestia was awe struck by all the machines being built; she's never seen anything like it. She felt a tug on her wing and followed Gadget to the darkened part of the room.
"Lights!" Gadget yelled.
Celestia closed her eyes, shielding them from the bright crystal light up above. When her eyes adjusted her jaw dropped.
"This is the moon cutter," Gadget said with pride, "The first ever flying battleship. This is how we will travel to the Crystal Empire. Come on; let me give you a tour."
"This is the engine room, Gems inside these big metal pipes spin at high speeds to create energy to push the ship, while ice gems keep the engine cool, a cloud machine creates clouds for the ship to sail on. Next is the galley nothing much there and then we have the hanger to hold troops and equipment and finally the bridge, where we can stir and give out orders and there is the princess's chair." Gadget pointed to the black throne at the center of the bridge with a moon emblem engraved on it. "Any questions princess?" Gadget asked the shell shocked Celestia.
"What in Equestria was Luna thinking making such a thing." Celestia gasped, a flying war ship, the implications of such a thing, it made her shiver just thinking about it.
"Luna didn't make it." Gadget said turning to face Celestia. "I did. I designed it. I built it with my own hooves. Luna merely gave me the resources to make it."
"Why would you want to build such a thing?"
Gadget shrugged, "Who knows, it just came to me in a dream on night, woke up the next day and drew out the blue prints. Though there is one special feature Luna wanted added."
"And what is that?" Celestia asked.
"This!" Pulling on a leaver Luna's chair moved to the side, allowing a similar white chair with a golden sun engraved on it to rise next to it. "Despite your little spat, Princess Luna, insisted I add your very own chair. She said that well you may disagree at the moment, she knew there would be a time you two would come back to gather. Even though the Moon cutter has been done for some time now, she insisted it stay here till she made amends with you."
Celestia was speechless as she approached the throne. Tentatively she climbed onto the soft cushion, looking out the windows of the bridge and onto the landing deck. She closed her eyes, imagining Luna next to her, them together again, defending Equestria from their flying ship. Honestly the idea seemed much less horrifying now; in fact it reminded her of the old days. Maybe…
"Oh there is one more thing Luna left for you, princess."
"Please," Celestia raised her hoof, "Call me Celestia."
"Of course, Celestia, now please follow me. I think you'll like this one."
Gadget led her down to a vault, away from the other inventions. Thick steel doors blocked their path. A mere flick of his horn and the doors opened, revealing two mannequins. One was fitted with a suit of silver armor with a black moon emblazoned on the flank mail. Next to it was a suit of gold armor with the sun engraved on it and it looked like it fitted for her.
"Is this…"
"It is," Gadget finished, "Your armor. Luna requested it for you. It's adjustable in case your old measurements are… outdated. Will you need any assistance getting it on?"
Celestia shook her head. "No I… I want to do this myself. Please leave me."
Gadget nodded, "Of course, I will finish the preparations."
With that Gadget took his leave; leaving Celestia alone in the vault.
-break
"So we ride with Sun butt?"
"Yes, we will be under princess Celestia's command, till we rescue Princess Luna. Is that going to be a problem Sixes?" Gadget asked the black Rinin.
A tapping of steel against stone echoed, all eyes turned towards the sound only to look away from the sure radiance of light that come with it. Clad in armor of gold marched Celestia, her eyes were darkened by her helm, her hair was tied back floating weightlessly in the air, on her back rested two large golden axes big enough to cleave a pony in two with one swing. She looked like the legend depicted her back in the old days before the raise of Discord, no longer was she Celestia, Princess of the sun, she was Celestia the Sun warrior.
"I don't think I'll be having any issues Gadget," Said Sixes with coy smile, "In fact I maybe in love."
"Well keep it tucked my friend," Gadget whispered as Celestia approached them carrying Luna's armor in her magic. "You may find yourself burned."
"I'm fire proof remember?" Sixes added, receiving a quick kick the shin from Gadget.
"Are we ready to leave?" Celestia asked the two, her impressive aura nearly vanishing with her polite and somewhat strained tone. She was panting slightly. The weight of the armor put a lot of strain on her as it fed off her magic. No doubt from Luna's modifications, she'd have to ask how to use them later. For now she had to remain tough and keep up her posture. Sometime has passed since she last when to battle, but she understood the mentality of warriors, if she wanted their respect she would need to earn it, and showing any weakness would undermine that.
"Almost Princess, we are still waiting on some final preparations for the ship. The engines take some time to warm up," Gadget explained. "Oh look, here come the troops."
From the door way Rawhide emerged with a line of troops behind him, but it was the three dragon ponies behind him that got every ponies attention. They were tall, almost as tall as Celestia, and walked on sixed clawed legs, and they looked like nothing Celestia had ever seen before. For a moment she wondered if they were some left over creations of Discord because there was nothing natural about these ponies.
One was an orange reddish color with mane of fire, and unlike the other dragon ponies, lacked wings, then next one a green pony with a mane and tail made of crystal and sharp diamond like spikes sticking out of their knee joints and a long jagged Unicorn horn atop it's head, the third and final pony was pure white with two sets of wings and carried two Griffon swords on its side.
"Princess," Sixes said walking in front of the stunned Royalty, "Allow me to introduce, the Night Hunters, Overheat, Emerald Cutter, and Killing Perfection, our fiercest warriors, though some like to refer to them as the Monster Ponies."