The day had come to a close for Midnight, giving him more happiness than he had ever experienced in life until now. Finding out that he was going to be a father to three little fillies, along with another colt, had made him the proudest, and happiest father in the entire universe. It was a shining moment for him, and he, of course, was going to talk about it constantly. The only agony that he would have to experience, would be the eleven months that would need to pass before the foals were born.

During that time however, he would have plenty of things to do, and many places to go. As of this moment though, he was talking to a very select few pegasi that were now assigned to guard his only living son. Though the Wonderbolts were the most elite flyers in Equestria, they were also quite stubborn when it came to royal decisions, as Midnight would quickly come to find out.

"Seriously?! You're assigning several of the Wonderbolts to guard Star permanently?!" Rainbow Dash spoke out in utter disbelief.

"Yes Dash, and you're the captain, so I expect you to live up to the title and make sure that he stays out of trouble." Midnight snorted out in slight annoyance.

"I thought that's what parents do, not the baby sitter." She groaned out, halting as she felt the room start to get slightly warmer. Slowly turning her head toward the dark Alicorn she gave a nervous gulp, backing up slightly as she noticed that his demeanor had quickly changed from his normal state, to something a little more, intimidating.

"Are you going to continue to argue over this, or are you going to shut your trap and do your job?" He growled out as his eyes began to emit a tiny trail of purple mist, his pupils flashing to a red before turning back to their normal emerald green.

"I'm going to argue of course." She began again. "What gives you the right to just up and give us orders like that?"

At this, Midnight could no longer contain himself. He had sworn that he would never say what he was about to say, but now was not the time to look bad, especially in front of the entire platoon of Wonderbolts.

"You know Dash, I've asked myself that same question many times before. What gives me the right..." He trailed off as his horn lit up, causing his regalia to quickly manifest onto his frame. He slowly turned back toward the pegasus as he trotted toward her.

"As your friend, I would expect you to help me in my time of need. Much as I have done for you in the past." He glared, causing her to back peddle. "I'm not asking much from you, just some time to protect something that I love and cherish when I cannot be around to do so. Do you know how much trust a single pony has to have from me in order to do that? They have to have my complete trust, not only for me to let them protect something that is irreplaceable. But something that I would kill any living being, and destroy anything in existence in order to keep safe. This trust that I have given you does not come to everyone Dash, it only goes to those that I know how to get the job done, and do it right."

"Still, we have shows to perform... what about those?" She asked cocking a brow.

"Fine then, only three of you will stay. I know that your team has more than enough capable fliers to go to the shows and perform. So then, what do you say to that? Does it seem like a fair decision?" The dark Alicorn asked as he loomed slightly over the pegasus.

"Well... I guess, but which of my team are you going to assign for guard duty?" She asked, hoping that it wouldn't be her.

"You are the captain now, so you're my first choice. As for the other two, I trust your decision on which ones to choose." He smiled warmly to her.

"You can't pick me though, I mean, I need to keep these guys in line during the shows. Do you know how badly our reputation will take a hit if one of them screws up and I'm not there to fix it?" She stated in disbelief, only to hear the others begin to argue with her in the background, clearly not happy about the remark.

"ENOUGH!" Midnight shouted out in the royal whee. "If you're not going to do this as my friend after everything I've already done for you, given you! Then I am ordering this as your king! You will guard my son until I see fit. I do not want to hear any further back talk, or questioning of my orders. You will comply, and do your job."

Rainbow, at this point just gawked in astonishment. Never once had Midnight taken the liberty of his title to this length. The dark Alicorn had always been so nice to her, given her so much freedom to do what she wanted, even in the Wonderbolts. But this... this was something Dash couldn't stay quiet on.

"Or what?!" She growled back, glaring toward the towering pony before her. That glare quickly vanished however as she watched Midnights horn light up before feeling a tingling sensation around her frame, then a slight weight change as everything became not only a few ounces lighter, but less confining.

"As of this moment Rainbow, your title as Captain of the Wonderbolts, has been stripped. You will remain on unpaid leave from the guard until I see fit. It seems that your loyalties lie elsewhere now that your head has grown too accustomed to the shape of Captain of the Wonderbolts.

"YOU CAN"T DO THAT!" Rainbow shouted angrily toward the Alicorn, seizing up quickly within his magic as he shouted right in her face.

"I JUST DID!" He snapped. "And if you want to spend a week in the dungeon, then keep talking! Otherwise, shut the hell up and get out of my sight!" He roared out as he quickly teleported the pegasus from the room, leaving the rest of the Wonderbolts in complete shock.

"Is there anypony else that wants to argue?" He snapped toward them, watching them all shake their heads. "Good, now who was second in command? I know Spitfire retired a while back, so somepony else must be next in line after Dash."

After a few seconds, a light blue pegasus with a dual striped orange mane stepped forward, lowering her goggles to around her neck as she spoke.

"I was next in line sire. Name's Lightning Dust." She smiled meekly toward her king, he giving one in return. She paused though seeing the Alicorns horn light up.

"Very well then, You are now the temporary Captain of the Wonderbolts. You will remain as such until Rainbow Dash decides to pull her head out of her ass and act like a true captain. If she doesn't, then expect your position to become permanent. Understood?" He asked seeing seeing her look at the medal that she now had adorning her chest.

Smiling widely, the pegasus gave a proud salute toward her king as he spoke up once more.

"Good, now pick the top two ponies from your team and take them to Starlights quarters. One of you will take position outside of his balcony, out of view from him, while the other two will remain at his door. Your duties have already been sent via scroll to a small table outside his room. Follow those and do not falter. You will protect him with your lives just like the unicorn guard I have stationed there."

"Why do you need us if you have unicorn guards there though?" She asked.

"Because unicorns cannot fly." He snorted in annoyance. "Now get your flanks in gear. Report any unusual activity through the telepathic link I've given to all of the guard."

"Yes sir!" She stated quickly before turning and pointing to two of her fellow Wonderbolts. "You two, follow me."

"The rest of you, get back to your plans for the shows you need to attend. I will call you if needed." Midnight stated as he dismissed them all.

After Rainbow Dashs sight returned, she found herself in the middle of Ponyville, with several ponies staring oddly at her. Giving a low growl, she flared her wings just before rocketing into the sky, silently cursing the Alicorn that had just taken her title, and possibly her dream from her. Giving an audible snort, she quickly gained speed heading back toward Canterlot, leaving a sonic rainboom in her wake.

After only a couple minutes of flight, the pegasus had arrived in the royal city of Equestria and landing just outside the main gate to the castle. Moving quickly toward the gate, she was halted by a pair of guard with lances.

"Wha.... hey, let me in! Do you know who I am?!" She spoke our in a growl.

"Yes, we do, and we have been notified that you are to remain outside of the castle until given permission to enter by the king or queen only. Until that time you are to keep your distance. We have also been instructed to toss you into the dungeon should you attempt to enter, so please..." The guard trailed off as he gave her a nervous smile. "Please don't make us have to fulfill that order Dash."

The pegasus growled out once again, stomping the ground in a fury as she got ready to launch herself into the air, halting as the guard cleared his throat, coming forth and speaking softly into her ear.

"Dash, I know I could get into a lot of trouble for this, but there is a hidden path you can take to get inside the castle. One that would be devoid of any guards. Take the ally way on the eastern side of the castle that seems a little more narrow than it should be. Then find the stone in the wall that looks different from the rest. Press it and it will open a doorway."

Dash stood there for a moment giving a determined smile and nod.

"Thanks, I owe ya one." She stated softly as she took off down the street to the designated location. The guard just giving a smirk as he turned and went back to his position beside he fellow guard at the gate.

"I can't believe you did that to her." The other guard sighed. "You do know she'll be caught and probably tossed into the dungeon."

"Yea, that's why I did it. Just glad she didn't recognize me or I'd be in a world of hurt right now." The pegasus chuckled. "She'll get her just deserts for breaking my wing all those years back. I was going to be a Wonderbolt, but that idiot decided it'd be fun to cause me to crash into a cloud that was right next to a mountain. I fell several hundred feet and shattered my left wing after that. Took me two years to be able to fly again. In my pinion, I'd like to see her wings clipped." He spat out in disgust, thinking about the hardship he had to go through all those years ago.

"That seems a little harsh, but I can feel your pain." His unicorn friend groaned. "She caused a lot of problems every time she was admitted into the hospital in Ponyville. She's the reason I actually quit being an orderly there, and it was freaking awesome pay."

"Then consider this some revenge for yourself as well. She'll get hers soon enough." The pegasus chuckled back.

Down the street and around the corner though, Dash was making her way down a small ally way that seemed to narrow around her as she went along. The walls seemed to warp and close in on her, making things feel more confined than they really were. Humming to herself, she spread her wings out causing the tips to press against the walls as she trotted slowly along. Although the walls seemed to be only a foot from her on either side, they were well past that.

A minute passed by as she walked along, looking at the wall to try and find the stone that would give her access to the castle. Normally she would just up and fly over the gate and straight into the palace, but Midnight had taken the liberty of placing a shield around the castle that would keep any pony from flying directly in. The would need to use the gates, or have a visitor spell cast on them so that they could move freely around the castle and the rest of Canterlot without bumping into the shield.

As she hummed over that thought, she finally located the stone in question along the wall. Giving it a quick tap, it caused a soft rumble to be heard as the coblestone wall fell back, opening a small door for the pegasus to go through.

"Alright, now it's time to find that fat head and talk some sense into him." She snorted as she trotted through the door, it quickly closing behind her.