‘Same old cabin, I feel like I spend more time fixing it than actually living in there. Well that’s what I get for living in a thousand year old house...maybe I could replace it with a bioform?’

A rustle from the forest broke me from my revelry, I knew that rustle. I walked just inside the edge of the trees and came face to face with a familiar scarred gryphon, very familiar as I saw that same face every time I walked past a mirror.

“Something to report, Doppel?” Doppel was one of my ‘Enforcers,’ a corps of bioforms I created several centuries ago to make my job easier and act as a ready made army should I need one. ‘Work smarter, not harder.’ Doppel acted as my body double, giving me a presence in town while I was away working on various projects. Although recently he’s transitioned more into a messenger role, as I’d run out of projects for the time being and didn’t feel like pranking Celestia.

“Intelligence reports that Solar-2 is enroute to primary location to scout for event Sierra-1, subject’s estimated time of arrival is five minutes from now. Solar-1 will be following and arrive at an unknown time,” Translation: Celestia’s student, one ‘Twilight Sparkle,’ will be arriving in Ponyville to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration, Celestia will show up eventually. I had no idea why they insisted on talking like that, Doppel was usually pretty good about talking like a normal person.

“Alright, the current setup should be fine, we haven’t had any unfriendly creatures make it within a mile of the town in years. But I’ve got a bad feeling about this, have six of the best disguise as timber wolves and be ready to back me up,” I replied.

“Well thanks Applejack, but do you know where I can find the local monster hunter’s guild? It wasn’t on my overseer’s checklist. It must be some kind of test,” I said, feeling sick from all of the food I was just force-fed.

“Don’t rightly know what that is, but ah do know that we don’t have one a’ those ‘round here,” Applejack replied looking confused.

“What? But every town near a wild area has a monster hunter's guild, and the Everfree Forest is right next to the town. How does everypony stay safe from all the monsters?”

“Oh, yer lookin’ fer Best Defense, he’s a gryphon, lives in a cabin right near the border of the forest. Been around long as ah can remember, keepin’ the nasties away.”

“One gryphon? Wow, he must be awesome. Can we go meet him Twilight? I bet he’s got all sorts of cool stories and weapons and armor, just like a knight out of one of my comics,” Spike said excitedly from my back, his former sluggishness forgotten.

“I wouldn’t let him hear ya say that if ah were you, knights are sworn to the princess and old Best has got a grudge against her somthin’ fierce. Ah guess Celestia did somthin’ ages ago that Best ain’t never forgiven her for,” Applejack warned.

My mind was reeling, how could anypony be mad at the princess? What could she possibly have done to this gryphon? I had to know, I had to give this ‘Best Defense’ a piece of my mind. “Well, thanks for the info Applejack. Come on Spike, we’re going to meet this gryphon after all.”

It wasn’t hard to find the cabin Applejack was talking about. It sat directly between the town and the forest, as if the town had been built in the little structure’s shadow. Or hiding behind it. As I walked up to the door I noticed there was no doorknob but a simple loop of rusted metal to pull the door open with.

“Come on in, door hasn’t got a lock,” came a gruff voice from inside, causing both me and Spike to jump. ‘How did he know we were out here? Of course, he must have seen us walking up.’

“Oh, uh, okay, my name is..” I said using my magic to open the door and walk inside, immediately finding a heavily scarred and angry looking gryphon seated in a chair opposite the door. He was wearing a black vest that was almost invisible against his feathers, but had eight knives sheathed under his arms. ‘No, those aren’t knives. Those are the same swords that the royal guard uses, Shining has one! They look like knives on a gryphon.’

Suddenly feeling like a cornered mouse, my voice left me. This gryphon was nothing like the dignitaries I had met while living in the castle, more like a manticore or a dragon. A predator, something to be feared, and I understood now how he could equal a whole guild of monster hunters. That glare could probably turn a cockatrice to stone.

I wasn’t glaring. In truth I was fighting back a laugh. I had seen this same look on every new face that has walked into my home, true terror. They had all lived their lives without ever coming face to face with any real threat, and I couldn’t seem to get rid of the look that comes with being an apex predator. Admittedly I could probably try harder, but they always get over it after a few minutes of not being eaten, so I have my fun and they get used to my demeanor. Everybody wins.

“Wow, so you’re the one AJ was talking about? You really are like a knight from a comic, so powerful you can paralyze an opponent with a look. And eight swords, I bet you can swing them around with your wings, so cool. My wings haven’t grown in yet, but Twilight says to just give it time.” Right, I forgot about the dragon. They don’t have prey instincts.

“Hahahaha, now that’s funny,” I said, breaking my composure and likely Twilight’s pride, “But to answer your questions: yes, unless you’ve gotten lost looking for Shy’s place. No, I can’t paralyze people, ponies just do that when they first meet me. No, I don’t use these as swords, they’re too small for me, so I use them as throwing knives, see.” I drew one and pinned it in the doorframe. “And be careful when those wings come in, you aren’t invincible, and it takes some training to use them properly. Besides, if you become a menace I’ll have to hunt you down,” I said with a smile, letting the little guy think I was joking. He hadn’t seen the dragon skull sitting on my roof yet.

“I won’t,” he said, somehow both smiling and looking like I told him he couldn’t have any ice cream.

“Oh, looks like Twilight is returning to the land of the living,” about time, that took over three minutes. I was expecting better from Celestia’s protege.

“I can see how you can keep all of the monsters out of this area, with a glare like that,” she said, smiling apologetically.

“I wasn’t glaring, and I don’t,” I replied, standing up and walking over to my desk.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked walking over to where I was standing.

‘I’ll show you,” I said, pulling out a map reserved for answering this very question. It showed a portion of the Everfree Forest as well as Ponyville and the surrounding area. The part of the map that showed the area outside the forest and a bit of the way into it was shaded yellow, the rest of the forest was shaded red except for a small area that was blacked out. “The green areas are completely safe from any monster activity.”

“But there isn’t any green on that map,” said Twilight apprehensively.

“I know, the yellow areas are where I patrol and are as safe as you can be from any hostile monster activity. The red zone is not safe to enter and is completely wild. The black spot on that map is the ruins of Everfree Castle and the home of the reason this map isn’t solid green. The one creature in that forest who could kill me.”

“Nightmare Moon?”

That gave me pause. This was the thousandth year, wasn’t it? Tomorrow was the summer solstice, that meant the little sister would be released tonight. The one I had never met, the one I needed alive. I pulled a cigarette and lighter from a pouch on my vest and sat back down, never breaking eye contact with Twilight. I lit my cigarette and took a long drag, “Nightmare Moon, haven’t heard that name in years.”

“You know the legend? What can you tell me about the stars? Is there any way to stop it? And why are you mad at the princess?” Twilight rattled off, becoming angry towards the end.

“Twilight, I am over a thousand years old. It’s no legend, I was there. And unless something unexpected happens, both Celestia and Luna will die tonight,” I lied sadly.

“W-what, no. That can’t be, why would you say that?”

“Nightmare Moon was banished in that old castle, it’s where she’ll return. Problem is, Jekyll lives there now and I’m not convinced anything can stop that monster. He’ll butcher her like a timber wolf in the chicken pen. Celestia will undoubtedly take exception to her little sister being murdered and the cycle will repeat once more. Although, now that I’m thinking about it, Celestia’s always been good at the long game. She probably has some convoluted plan in place to keep that from happening. Did she give you any instructions when she sent you out here?”

Twilight and Spike had mirroring looks of shock and horror. Spike managed to break out of his stupor first, “She said to make some friends.”

“Then you’d best do just that, I’ll answer your other questions later. We’ll all have our parts to play tonight and I suspect you’ll be taking center stage,” I prophesied, walking them to the door, “Now go on, I suspect that list of yours will help.”

“Bye Mister Best,” called Spike from an awestruck Twilight’s back as she walked away, mumbling something about saving the world with a rainbow.

I closed the door and leaned against it, letting out a sigh before taking another drag off my forgotten cigarette, now mostly ash. ‘Can’t get cancer, fuckit’

“So that’s your game, eh Chelly? Just hit it with the Elements till it gives up? Never worked on me,” I thought out loud.

A few hours and a couple more cigarettes later I made my way to the town hall, occasionally stopping to wave or greet the townsfolk on the way. I arrived at the town hall to discover that the usual party had been moved to the library, seemed that at least Pinkie made a new friend today.

Pinkie and I had an arrangement in regard to my attendance to her parties, I would go to as many as possible while she acknowledged that I would be busy most of the time. In exchange, I contributed to her party fund and would take the day off on my birthday so she could throw “the most fantabulous bestest funnest party evar.” How she figured out when my birthday was, I may never know. I must admit however, it has been fun watching her one-up herself more and more with every passing year. Maybe someday she’ll fix the spelling on the invitations.

Once inside, I took a moment to ensure all of the equipment I would need was in its proper places and launched myself into an alcove opposite the main stage. Now that I was in position, it was a simple matter of more waiting until it was time for the ceremony.

One by one they began to arrive and take their places. Fluttershy corralled her bird friends into place, Rarity moved into place next to the curtain, and the rest took their places in the audience. I noticed Twilight and Spike in the audience as well, Twilight looking even more nervous than before.

I had wagered everything on the hunch that Nightmare Moon would be as dramatic as her sister. If she didn’t show up here in the next few minutes countless innocents would probably die, and their blood would be on my hands. I began to doubt myself, I didn’t know Nightmare Moon, I didn’t know how she thought, and I was in here instead of watching the town. Then Rarity opened the curtain and all of my fears were silenced. Rarity stood alone on the balcony and from my perch high above the crowd, I could see shadows swirling towards the stage. There she was, the fabled Nightmare Moon. I thought she’d be taller.

“Oh, my beloved subjects, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your precious little sun loving faces” I drew one of my knives.

I heard Rainbow shout, “What did you do with our princess?” I took aim. My art perfected over centuries of boredom.

“Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am?” The blade sliced of part of her mane as it passed, a perfect shot. I followed it down, landing straight legged inches from her nose. The floorboards cracked under the impact, Nightmare Moon cracked under my glare. And I was glaring this time. This was my town, and I was not going to let her harm one hair on their heads.

“What magic is this? We have faced gryphons before but thou carry thyself as if thou were a great army of demons!” ‘Oh god, it’s the enforcers all over again. They didn’t even talk like that a thousand years ago!’ I had actually faced an army of demons, I ate them. I was tired of this, time to remind the world why a town was founded in my shadow.

“Nightmare Moon, you are trespassing in my town. Too many have failed to heed this warning and ended up as stains on my talons. Leave, now.” ‘Oh, she broke out of her fear. That’s a new record.’ I was lifted into the air in a field of telekinesis before it split into two, one on my head the other on my body. She was going to decapitate me, I immediately grew small eyes and ears on my chest that would be hidden by my feathers.

“You dare to question our authority? You dare to show such disrespect? I’ll teach all of you what happens when you cross me.” My headless body hit the ground, my head landing nearby. I could hear that laughter and claims that the night would last forever, then everything went silent as I stood up. I couldn’t see much, but I could hear more than a few jaws hit the floor. I picked up my head and placed it back on my shoulders, returning my sight and hearing to their previous capabilities.

“I am cursed to walk this world until it ends, nothing you can do will harm me. Now, this town ain’t big enough for the both of us, and I’ve killed worse than you’ll ever be. Get out of my sight.” She dissolved into shadows and fled faster than anyone could blink. Although, I suppose seeing an enemy reattach their severed head would rattle anyone. “Twilight, you’ve done more research into this than anyone. Meet me at the library and we’ll figure out how to fix this mess.”

Author's Notes:

So, I haven't given up on finding someone to help with dialog and such. But I've put it on the back burner for now. This chapter took way to long, but I'm in my groove now and I'm going to keep cranking out chapters.