A/N: well, here it is, enjoy everybody; this is where things get interesting.
The New Generation: chapter 9: unwelcomed visitors
It had been three days since Night Gale and the others began their training with Sky Breeze and Blazing Star, and it was the most exhausting three days of their lives.
Having a limited time to train them, Sky Breeze had to give them the most basic of fighting techniques, but even that took at least months to master, but he had to do it only three days, putting them through exhausting drills and demonstrations, all the muscles in their bodies became sore, but it the end it did the results did show.
Despite such little time to train them, Night Gale and the others, did very well, they all learned quickly, and became excellent fighters in such a short time, Sky Breeze and the Princesses were more than pleased, but tonight their new skills would be put to the test.
But for the time being, it was time for them to rest, due to their excellent progress, Sky Breeze and Blazing Star had given them a break for the rest of the day, and Night Gale planned on spending it with his marefriend.
Night Gale and Crystal walked into the room they shared, Night Gale groaned and threw himself on the bed, and pretended to fall asleep, Crystal could smile and laugh, "oh come on, it wasn't that bad, I'm a girl and I'm not that sore" she said as she sat on the side of the bed.
"How do you know, you didn't almost hit by an arrow…speaking of which, remind me to pay Solar Glaze back for that" as he lifted his head up, and got next to her, she smiled and kissed him on the cheek, "oh, you know he didn't mean it, it was an accident" she said as she got off and walked over to the bathroom.
"Yeah sure it was, he fired his arrow it reflected off the target and went straight at me, I'll get him back, just you wait" he said, she chuckled to herself, "okay sure, anyway, I'm going to take a shower, try not to do anything stupid" she said as she grabbed a towel with her magic, and walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
"no promises" Night Gale as he just sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought, he still couldn't help but worry about his parents, despite what the Princess said, he knew they would have to find them soon, he wondered how the other were taking it, especially Aurora, being the youngest, she seemed the most affected by it, but Night Gale knew they would pull through and find them.
(Later that night, castle wall)
The sun had set on the horizon, and Princess Luna had raised the moon, only a few hours before, and now it was well into the night, and the guards were patrolling the perimeter of the castle, without their captain, leadership of the royal guard, fell to Commander Striker, and he made sure that the castle had extra protection.
Near the main gate, some guards were patrolling along the wall, making sure everything was secure.
One of the guards was watching the wall, when he was interrupted by the lieutenant, "anything, Private" he said, the guard immediately made a salute, and the Lieutenant answered it with his own, "nothing sir, everything's quiet" he said, the Lieutenant was about to leave when he noticed something in the Private's eyes.
"you seem tired Private, why don't you return to the barracks, and get some sleep" he said, as good as it sounded, the Private wanted to stay at his post, "I can assure you I'm fine sir" he said trying to sound confident, but it didn't fool anypony.
"Private, we can't afford any distractions, we need everypony to be vigilant, return to the barracks, that's an order" he said, the Lieutenant hesitated, but slowly made his way down the stairs, just as the other guard spoke up, "are you sure that's wise sir, we need everypony we can get, letting him go alone, may not be very smart" the other guard said, the Lieutenant sighed and turned to him.
"I know, but we haven't had anything happen the entire time, I doubt anything's going to happen tonight…speaking of which, what do the other guards report, anything unusual?" he said, with a curious look on his face.
"no nothing, all areas report the same as always, but if I may sir, something doesn't seem right, I have a bad feeling about this" he said, the Lieutenant was about to speak up, when they suddenly heard the sound of clanging metal, rolling down the stairs, they turned that way, and walked over to the stairs, they looked up long the wall, and saw no other pony in sight.
The Lieutenant, being a unicorn, used the tip of his horn as a flashlight, they slowly began to walk down the stairs, but didn't see anything unusual, until they got to the bottom of the stairs, there laying in front of them, was a royal guard service helmet, simply laying on the ground.
The Lieutenant walked up to it, while the other guard began looking around, the Lieutenant picked up the helmet, and looked over it, he recognized it as the Private's, just as he did, he heard the guard cry out in surprise, he turned around, and saw a masked pony grabbing him around the neck from behind.
He was about to say something, when he suddenly felt something around his neck, he tried to break free, but it was too strong, he fought his opponents grip, but failed, and soon he felt heavy strain on his neck, and shortly after, they heard the sound of bones breaking, and the Lieutenant fell to the ground, dead.
The pony behind him walked up to the other one, and just as he did, more came out from behind the bushes, and down the stairs.
"The infiltration is complete, find your targets and take them out, if you get captured, we can't help you" he said as they all snuck their way into the castle.
(Night Gale and Crystal's room)
It was well past midnight, and all the ponies including the princesses were fast asleep, due to the exhausting training, Night Gale and Crystal were fast asleep, Crystal was cuddled up against Night Gale, while he had his hoof around her shoulder, both of them had smiles on their faces.
Suddenly they heard a clanging noise outside the room, it wasn't terribly loud, but enough to wake them up, they both shot up in bed, "what was that?" Crystal asked, holding on to Night Gale, he just shushed her, they slowly heard the door to their room opening, Night Gale turned to her, "okay, I'm going to get us out of here, when I do, I want you to run, find the nearest guard, and tell them what's happened" he said.
They watched as shadows began to move across the curtains, they both heard whispering, but it was too quiet to make them out, they heard the sound of arrows being pulled back on multiple crossbows, they remained quiet, as they watched the shadows moving, Night Gale closed his eyes, and focused his magic, and in one swift motion, a bright flash filled the room.
They ponies behind the curtain, "kill them now!" he said, and they opened fired, and the arrows tore through the curtains, and hit the bed, and just as they did, the finally stopped firing, and looked inside, to their surprise they didn't see anypony in there.
The pony on the far right, felt something tap on his shoulder, he slowly turned his head to the side, and was met with a heavy punch to the chin, making him fly across the room, and slam into the wall, the others all turned in that direction, and saw a very angry Night Gale standing there.
He looked back, "Crystal go, I'll handle these guys" he said, Crystal nodded and ran out of the room, Night Gale turned and faced the other assassins, he saw them unsheathe their knives, when they entered the room, there were six ponies, now there was only five left.
A strong silence fell over the room, as they all stared each other down, suddenly the two assassins in the front charged at Night Gale, and when they were a few feet in front of him, they jumped into the air, but Night Gale remembered what to do in his training, he ducked down, and they flew right over him, and when they right above him, Night Gale leaned forward and with all the might he could muster, he bucked them in their stomach's, sending them flying straight through the wall, and into the hallway, knocking them out instantly.
Night Gale smiled and turned back to the others, only to be met with a punch to the face, knocking him back, he skidded to a halt, and wiped the sweat from his face, he looked back up, and saw the other's charging at him, he saw one of them throwing another punch, Night Gale dodged to the side, and threw a punch himself, landing it on the attackers chin, staggering him.
Just as he did, he heard the sound of an arrow being pulled back on a crossbow; he turned around and saw a pony pointing a crossbow at him, just as he did, he also heard the sound of a pony coming up from behind him, just as the pony behind him jumped into the air, trying to tackle him, the pony in front fired off the arrow.
Night Gale noticed this, and dodged to the side, and the arrow hit the pony that was behind him in the shoulder, he fell to the floor shouting in pain.
Night Gale charged at him, and tackled him to the floor, and landed on top of him, he got up and began punching him in the face, until he was unconscious.
When he was done, he got up, and looked around for the third one, but he was nowhere in sight, just then he heard a familiar pony cry out for help, "Night Gale help me!" he heard Crystal call out from down the hall, "damn it" he said as he ran out of the room, as he did he notice the two ponies who landed outside the room, were no longer there.
He heard Crystal cry out again, and ran in that direction, until he found the source; he saw Crystal and some of the assassins standing at the end of the hall, "hey, let her go!" he yelled, the others looked over at him, one of them turned to the other two, "take care of him" he said as he began dragging Crystal away, while the other two got in a fighting stance.
Night Gale stared them down, and in a fit of rage, he charged forward, and when he was close enough, he jumped into the air, screaming wildly, but the assassins simply stepped to the side, and Night Gale crashed to the floor, and turned around, only to be met with a punch to the face, knocking him to the ground, he tried to get up but failed, until he was grabbed around the neck from behind.
He felt that he couldn't breathe and that the attacker was pulling his neck to the side, "time to die" he heard him whisper, but Night Gale wasn't giving up yet, he struggled but finally broke free of his grasp, and bucked him in the chest, knocking him out, and Night Gale got up and turned to face the second on.
He shouted as he charged forward and threw a punch, the pony narrowly dodged to the side, and so Night Gale brought his other hoof around, but again missed, he became angrier as he tried the same move again, and like the last time, the he evaded the attack, but instead of doing nothing, he brought his own hoof around, and hit Night Gale in the shoulder, hard enough to break it.
Night Gale cried out in pain, as he fell to the floor, the assassin just watched as he tried to push himself up, but Night Gale found it hard to balance his weight on the injured hoof, Night Gale turned around, and tried to swing again, but missed and in return the assassin did the same and hit Night Gale's other shoulder, making him fall down again.
Night Gale found it harder to balance his weight, and could only look up, he watched as the assassin unsheathed a knife, and raised it above him, Night Gale slowly felt his strength return to his hooves, and just as the assassin brought the knife down, Night Gale reached up, and grabbed the assassin's hoof, and stood up, surprised the assassin brought his hoof around but Night Gale caught it in his other hoof, and in one swift motion, he slammed his head into the attacker's, the force of the blow, instantly knocked him out.
The assassin fell to the floor, unconscious, Night Gale stood there breathing heavily, until he heard another scream, "Crystal!" he shouted, as he focused his magic to his horn, but found it hard to do so, he felt increasingly weak, as he tried to use his magic, and again fell to the floor, "what in the world?" he said but stopped when he heard yet another scream, deciding not to use that again, he took off running as fast as his hooves could carry him.
He followed the screams down multiple hallways, until they eventually led him out to the courtyard, he looked around, and suddenly saw the same pony dragging Crystal, he felt his anger boil over, and he sprinted after them, when he finally reached them, he jumped and tackled the assassin to the ground, and he landed on top, and began punching the pony, and just as he was about to, the pony dodged his next attack and punched him in the face, making Night Gale lose his focus, he then rolled them over so he was on top, he then unsheathed his knife.
By this time, Crystal had used her magic to untie herself, all she could do was watch in horror, the assassin put the knife to Night Gale's neck, "you're a fool, just like your father!" he shouted as he raised his hoof up, knife at the ready, Night Gale tried to break free but he felt increasingly weak, from his previous fights, so he was helpless to fight back, his vision began to blur.
All he could do was look up, he knew he couldn't win, all he did was close his eyes, but suddenly they heard a loud siren fill the air, and a bright light shined down on them, Night Gale opened his eyes, and looked up, he saw one of the air ships shining a light down on them, he looked up, and saw the assassin looking around frantically, he then saw multiple royal guard officers approach, crossbows at the ready.
The assassin was tackled to the ground, by one of the guards, Night Gale looked to the side, and saw Crystal run up to him, he saw her mouth moving, but didn't hear anything, and finally the last of his energy was gone, all he could do was close his eyes, and let the darkness take him.
A/N: wow, I told you things would get interesting, more is to come, that I can promise.