The Lunar Princess’s magic swirled to a stop, blinking her eyes open as her vision turned towards the window. With a flick of her horn, the moon vanished across the far horizon – just as her Sister’s sun took to the sky.

She looked down at her knight, arms still braced tightly around her. He had dozed off. She knew it would happen; he was still groggy from his injuries after all, and adjusting to a new sleep schedule would be difficult for him. With a few soft nuzzles, and a little bit of wiggling, she managed to pull herself free of Arin’s hold.

She blinked her heavy eyes, giving a tired yawn. She wouldn’t wake him; he needed to let his body heal for later, especially if he intended to learn how to wield Nocturne properly.

Quietly shutting the window and slipping out of her door, she made her way down the spiral staircase towards the central hub of the Crystal Castle. It seemed as if she could never escape towers; her own room lay at the tallest peak of Canterlot. To help with stargazing, of course. And while the Empire’s towers weren’t nearly as high, it was still an issue.

She was happy to find her memory of the place held well with all this time. Her last visit was during the Equestrian Games, after all. Entering the more cozy dining hall of the castle, she was happy to find Cadence, Shining, Celestia, and Vapor Wave waiting for her.

“Ah, Luna! Good morning!” Celestia chirped, though with less of a smile than usual. She had three separate cakes in front of her. Not slices. Cakes. They were small, but still. Vapor wave had face planted the table long ago, snoring soundly. A cup of cooling coffee in front of him. Underneath all eyes present, bags remained. Nopony had slept well, it seemed.

“Morning Celestia. Morning Cadence. Morning Shining. Morning Celestia’s knight, which we forget thy name.” She said with a yawn, tiredly taking a seat at the round dining area. The Crystal Castle was a lot less furnished than the familiar halls of Canterlot; it wasn’t common to find much adorning the halls, as the aegis of time had led to a lot of change within these stark walls.

Cadence had tried her best to make the place a little more homely, with carpets and rugs to reduce the echo and plenty of family photos to line whatever bare surface she could. Unfortunately, her life was simply too short to cover every wall, and the dining hall was severely lacking. The only blessing was the large pillows, and enough seating for twenty ponies.

She took a comfy cushion across from her sister, right next to Cadence. Shining was busy feeding their daughter with magic, the tiny filly giggling and spreading her wings. She had to think for a moment to remember the little cutie’s name. Flurry… Art? Mart? Cart? Oh! Flurry Heart, of course.

“So, Luna! Luna Luna, how are you and Arin getting along? Did you show him the bathroom?” Cadence said with a wide smile. Luna glared.

“Did thy think it a prank to set up such sweet touches, or were thou simply trying to leave Us a blushing mess in front of Our knight?” Luna scolded, reaching for a snack from the fruit basket in front of her. A banana, which she ate – ‘shell and all’, as her sister would say. The Crystal Castle had few staff to spare; a cook was not one of them. Any meals were prepared by the couple before her. Today was a simple breakfast of cereal with milk.

Luna had no clue as to what these ‘Trixies’ were, as she poured a bowl. But it felt like it was for foals.

“Well, I thought it would be a sweet gesture! He’s been through a lot, after all.” Her nose twitched, smiling. “And well, I can smell the soap on you…”

Luna blushed, saying nothing.

“…We appreciate the gesture. Thank you, Cadence.” She took a bite of the overly colorful cereal. Yes, it was definitely for foals.

“So Luna, speaking of the bath, where’s Arin?” Celestia said, biting into her ‘breakfast’. Luna noted that the stress was starting to get to her Sister; she only ate this much sweets whenever she had much too much to think about.

“He is resting. We decided to let him recover from his wounds.” She commented. She looked to Vapor Wave, with a flick of her horn the snoring stopped and he jolted awake.

“I don’t want tea!” He bumbled, darting up from the table. “Huh? What? Who?… Princess, are we under attack?”

Celestia gave a small giggle, pulling the stallion close with a wing. “We were just thinking about going for a cup of tea. Or several. And I need my faithful poison checker to check the tea for poison.” She smiled. His eyes went to pinpricks, whimpering.

“N-No, please, I-I can’t! Not again!”

“Our Sister is fibbing, Vapor. At ease.” Luna said with a smile, enjoying the antics while it lasted. The sun princess pouted, as the Pegasus collapsed to his side.

“This job is killing me…” He said beneath his breath. Celestia hummed, nibbling at pineapple upside down cake in delight.

“So, Luna, how’s Arin holding up mentally?” Shining asked, tipping a spoon full of a pea-mush into the filly’s muzzle. Flurry bit the spoon, teething away with a giggle. “I’m sure the wreck put him for a loop. Think he’s got the mental strength to be a knight? That’s something I couldn’t test him for.”

“He’s seen quite a bit over the last few weeks, this is true. But he is persistent that he wishes to keep his position. Additionally, he requests training with blades; if he must carry Nocturne to protect Us, he should be able to use it.” She spun the bowl idly around in her magic, particularly disinterested in cereal.

“Funny to think he might actually get to swing it around, huh?” Shining chuckled. “I believe I’m the last knight in a few hundred years to actually play a part in a conflict.”

“In modern history, that would be correct. We remember many a time knights have played a key role in Our protection.”

Celestia nodded; she was performing magic tricks on her side of the table. The trick was she could make cake disappear. In this example, she made all three of the pastries assorted before her vanish without a trace.

Vapor Wave sighed, drinking heavily from his coffee. This was too much. He couldn’t defend her from diabetes. He recalls vaguely her using his blade, Sun Song, to cut her cake last night. The shame he felt, when she asked for the sword, was immense.

Cake aside, she dabbled at her lips with a napkin, sighing in content. “I do believe I should set up an airship to take us back to Canterlot, Luna. We will have to charter our fleet from Canterlot, seeing as the Crystal Empire lacks an air fleet of their own.”

Luna nodded with a sigh. “Indeed. The attack had damaged the tracks; none other options exist. We are less than delighted to learn that Our safety is at risk, even here. We had hoped to at least visit a novelty shop, or perhaps a restaurant, with our knight.”

The love princess smiled at the thought, giving a long sigh. “It does sound romantic… but you know, Luna, your safety here is guaranteed. The Crystal Heart can help ward off evil or vile intentions quite well, and while we have less guards – they are highly effective.”

“Tis not worth the risk. These Seraphs have slipped under the gaze of too many of Canterlot’s watchful eyes to perform an assassination attempt on Our sister. How they knew of Our destination is beyond Us. Additionally, it does not seem to prevent Umbra’s presence.” Luna bit into her Trixie’s. They had grown soggy over the minutes, and evaporated any of her willpower to eat them.

“Well, I could just… order some takeout for you, and set up a picnic under the stars?” Cadence offered with a halfhearted smile. “We do have a small park nearby, and Shining could cast a magic barrier over it to give you both some privacy.”

Celestia blinked, “Cadence, I believe that’s bordering close to a date-”

Cadence’s magic zipped over Celestia’s lips, drawing a perturbed glare from the white alicorn. “So, what do you think, Luna?”

The night time Princess smiled, “The Crystal Empire does offer unique views of the stars, being so distant to Our home of Canterlot. And as Tia said, the Air Ship would take at least a day to arrive… It is better than nothing.”

She yawned, fluffing her blue wings. “But please… what is this ‘takeout’ you speak of?”

~

Arin awoke to a soft lump snuggled firmly against him. Curling up, he pulled the fluffy night Princess into his chest, kissing her forehead with a smile. She mumbled in her sleep, a grin forming on her soft blue lips. He couldn’t help but feel his heart melt, in the late day sun.

He had dozed off early, it seemed – and he gently pulled himself free of her grasp. Testing his arms and legs, he was happy to find that they had healed quite nicely. How long had he been knocked out? He sniffled, catching the scent of something on his nose. Fruit! He took the bowl into his hands, downing several grapes in a heartbeat.

Making quick work of the light meal, he stood up, eager to start his day. Judging by the sun in the sky, he had at least four hours until Luna would awake. Strapping his gear on, he fitted his blade on his hip.

He had a certain stallion in mind. He wanted to start training immediately, even if his shoulder had a bit of tug to it.

Venturing into the corridors, he instantly came to his first problem. He had no idea where he was. Nor what the castle even looked like from the outside. His only option at the moment was to take a spiral staircase down. Was he stationed in yet another tower?

For much too long, he wandered the halls of the stark crystal construction, looking out the windows he could to try and get a good idea of where to go next. Eventually, he bumped into Vapor Cloud at a corner, sighing in relief.

“Oh thank the feathers, Vapor, I’m so happy to see you. How the hell do I get out of here?” Arin asked. Vapor facehooved.

“I was seriously hoping I would run into Cadence or Shining. I have no idea. Celestia is playing hide and seek with me, I swear by her Mane I’m going to rip a knot out when I find her.” He growled, turning about the corridor to walk by Arin’s side.

“Is she really playing games with you?” Arin asked, as they began down another hall at random. How many corridors did this place have?! Why did everything have to look the same?

“No, she just decided to teleport, and forgot to bring me with her. Again. For the second time today. She’s always more playful when she’s stressed, I hear. I’m pretty sure we’re on the sixth floor of the castle…”

“Sixth floor? How tall is this place? Even Canterlot isn’t this bad!”

“Oh yeah, you didn’t get an outside view. I’m thinking this place is an easy twelve floors, getting smaller as you go up, until you reach the peak.”

Arin grunted. After a while, they found a flight of stairs that led downwards – thankfully. A few flights brought them into what they believed to be either an entry hall, or main corridor. It was there that they stumbled into Shining, who was talking with a crystal pony.

The Seraph blinked. Why did their skin look crystal-y? As if the building itself wasn’t crystal enough.

“Shining, oh thank the feathers we found you. I was looking for you in particular!” Arin sighed, drooping his shoulders in relief. “This place is massive! It’s worse than Canterlot, how do you deal with it?”

“One second.” He said a few more things quietly to the crystal mare, her blue hair twinkling softly as she giggled and nodded. With a bow, she turned to a nearby door – opening it to escape down a spiral stairway.

“Alright, alright. Feeling better, Arin?” He asked first, “And Vapor… what are you doing here? Celestia is in her room.”

“Are you kidding me?! She’s in her room the whole time? I swear I passed that stairway up like, four times! You can’t be serious!” He groaned, wanting to do nothing but roll to his side. Which he did, his armor clinking against the floor. “Why must she torment me so.”

“Because Celestia is well known for her pranks and teasing, especially when times are tough. Your best bet is to either get used to it, or one up her.” Shining offered, “if it were more serious circumstances, she wouldn’t have let you wander the halls for her, I’m sure.”

“I’m just going to lay here until she finds me. I can’t do this anymore. I’m done. Let her work it out.” Vapor groaned. Arin turned to his right, thinking he heard the sound of hoof on crystal. He could just spot Celestia’s flowing mane from behind a pillar.

He opted not to say anything, but instead turn to Shining Armor. “Shining, I want to train-”

“With the sword. Yep. I know. Luna already told me. To be quite honest, I didn’t think I’d need to teach you sword play, considering that Princess Luna could sleep through a changeling invasion. But, times change. We need to toughen you up, so I went ahead and set up a sparring arena for us on the ground. I was going to get you before the day was out, but I’m happy to see you found me first. C’mon, I’ll go easy on you.” Shining nodded to the Seraph, leading the way towards that very same staircase the crystal mare took.

~

The ground floor of the castle was impressive, to say the least. A spinning crystal heart floated ominously beneath it, illuminated in a pillar of soft light. The Castle itself domed over it, four legs looming down with four separate entrances to the living space within. It had plenty of space to move around in, as Arin was finding out pretty quickly by dodging another swipe from the wooden sword Shining had procured.

“Don’t just dodge, Arin. You need to stand your ground. Every inch I take puts me an inch closer to your Charge, and if I find myself too close, I would shift my focus to them instead of you. An Assassin bent on taking Luna’s life would consider you an afterthought. Parry my sword.”

Shining darted forward with the training weapon, Arin raising his blade in defense. Still, he had a habit of moving his feet, and stepped to the right while knocking the sword out of the way. Shining retaliated by swiping the blade at his unguarded legs, making him stumble with a grunt.

“Now you’re missing your ‘feet’, as Twilight called them, and pose no threat to me.” He said with a sigh. “Come on, this isn’t just self defense. You are taking an active role to attack the threat.”

“And what’s the difference?” Arin asked, rubbing his ankle with a hand, wincing.

“In self defense, your goal is to protect yourself and disengage, giving yourself as much room as possible to move and avoid blows; you want to turn tail and run the moment you can, so that someone can come to your aid. As a knight, you don’t have that kind of ground to move. You are not the target, you are the obstacle.”

Shining’s horn shined softly, patching up the bruise before it even formed. “Let’s try this again. Keep in mind that even Unicorns show signs of which angle they’re going to swing from; it’s not just instinct, I have to tilt my head to keep a strong hold of my weapon. While I could float the blade around me, you could disarm it with a simple swipe if I’m not holding the weapon steady in front of my horn.”

Shining swung the blade in a simple arc, before holding it in front. He darted forward, aiming to stab Arin in the chest. The Seraph keenly knocked the blade to the side, his left hand releasing the handle to bump Shining in the nose. The tactical boop forced the stallion to recoil, dropping the blade from his grasp as he rubbed his poor snout.

“Aha, you remember the Tactical Boop, I see. Well done.” He said, sniffling as a hoof ran over his poor snout. “Though I’m doubtful it could work against a Seraph. Pony noses have a lot of nerves within, bumping them in an aggressive jab can stun them for a moment.”

Arin smiled at his small victory, taking up a defensive stance. Shining picked up the blade, standing in front of him.

“I want you to approach me, now. The enemy wont always attack first, you may need to take charge and make the first move.”

Arin nodded, readying himself. He charged forward, sprinting into the Unicorn with wild determination. Shining stepped to the left, cleanly smacking him in the knee. The sudden hit made him lose his balance, stumble past, and fall right on his face.

“The only time you charge is in an attack formation, that will cover more angles than you could alone. Keep an aggressive pace, but don’t gallop. It’s a waste of energy.” His magic gleamed, helping the Seraph to his feet. “Again.”

Arin rubbed his knee, holding the blade steady. Approaching quickly, he gave a swing from his right in a hard slash, Shining taking one step back before jabbing him hard in the chest. Arin’s sword missed him entirely.

“I could see where you were going to swing a mile away, and since you put so much strength into the attack, you couldn’t adjust yourself to pull away before I countered.”

“Okay, this is much harder than I thought it would be.” Arin said, rubbing over the newly forming bruise. “How long until I’m competent with a blade?”

“How long? You’re never competent with the blade. Someone is always better. Training starts the moment you pick up the sword, and ends when the last drop of blood is spilled. You don’t become competent, you simply learn more than your opponent.” Shining stated, “There is no ‘master of the blade’, or someone who has nothing more to learn. Confidence is deadly, as someone who is sure they will win is shocked when they find themselves impaled on the receiving end of a weapon. Never think yourself above another challenger.”

“Even if say, Celestia or Luna trained for thousands of years with a sword, you wouldn’t call them Masters?”

Shining shook his head. “I would call them a challenging opponent. Anyone who carries a sword carries with it the intention to kill, and anyone who wishes to kill you, becomes a challenging opponent. Give a sword to a filly with the aim to kill me and I would treat them the same as I would any enemy. One I can learn from.”

“So I should be afraid of fillies then?” Arin laughed.

“No. You should be afraid of underestimating your enemy, and throwing caution to the wind. Why do you think you were able to disarm me earlier? Because I let you? No. I didn’t account for your hand jabbing me in the nose.”

His laughter trailed off, realizing that Shining had a point. No approach is flawless, and no technique is unstoppable. In a fight, you’re standing against two enemies – yourself, and your challenger. When you see a sword swinging at you, your first reaction is to jump out of the way, which is what your enemy wants. They want to tire you out, force you to move. You need to challenge their moves against your instinct, and press forward.

Arin took his blade up, and approached. Shining swung first, and Arin countered in a tilted slash up aimed for Shining’s throat. The magical hold of the wooden blade twisted, and Arin turned against it – yanking the Unicorn’s blade free of his magical aura. It clattered to the floor, the Seraph looking to the fallen weapon in shock.

But before he could speak, Shining’s magic yanked his feet out from under him – catching Arin’s training sword in his magical aura, and pointing it to his throat.

“You had an advantage. Don’t let your concentration waver because you think that you won. The battle only ends when your opponent is dead.” Shining once again dragged Arin up to his feet, smiling. “But you are learning. We’ve been out here a few hours, and you’re already getting the hang of it. I’m proud.”

The Seraph smiled, nodding. “Thank you. Shame I wont have you as a teacher back in Canterlot, when we all head back.”

“No, but you’ll have Vapor Wave. He’s not as trained as I am – but he knows enough to help solidify what you’ve learned. I’m sure Celestia wouldn’t mind spending a break watching you two duke it out.”

A gentle cough broke their conversation, the duo looking to their left to spot Luna sitting by the entryway in to the Castle. Her blue coat helped her blend in quite well, the orange sky filling the world around her.

“How long have you been sitting there, Luna?” Shining asked with a smile.

“Long enough to see Our Knight disarm thee.” She giggled, approaching the two. “My faith was well placed, it seems.”

“My faith? Don’t you mean Our-”

Luna’s wing slapped Arin in the stomach, forcing him to laugh. She rolled her eyes, joining the moment.

“Well, I should at least try to speak like a modern day Equestrian. It would be beneficial for me to do so. Even if it’s hard, Shining is right; you’re never too old to learn.”

The stallion nodded, returning the wooden blades to a nearby rack. “I’m happy to hear you’re trying. Celestia was complaining that you were getting worse after you went back to your room. Cadence thought it was endearing, for some reason.”

“Speaking of Our Niece… my Niece. Where is Cadence?” Luna asked.

“Oh, about that… she wanted to get your night ready for you. She said she wanted it to be special.”