"Nightingale shouldn't exist anymore. She should be dead! She and the rest of the Shadowbolts! Executed when Nightmare Moon was banished!"
Blacklin found himself looking at the others in confusion. What was it about the bat-pony that had gotten Wind Whistler so freaked out like this? Sure, he hadn't known her long, but this outburst was odd to say the least.
Not that she hadn't been acting odd to begin with. Since they came back inside, she had been giving Nightingale strange looks. He had just chalked up to her being a bat pony. Like gryphons, they weren't exactly common.
Yet it seemed now like there was more to it. it was possible that he'd mistaken the pegasus' expression for curiosity instead of worry or remembrance. If that was the case, the question was pretty obvious.
"What are you talking about?" He asked. "She seems pretty alive to me."
The look he got from her sent shivers down his spine. It was one of fear, hatred, confusion, and disgust. He was at a loss. Just what could send such emotions into a pony he knew as calm and collected?
Wind Whistler pointed a hoof at Nightingale.
The pegasus was nearly frothing at the mouth by the time she finished. Her breaths came in harsh, angry pants. Her eyes were cold, hard and narrowed as she looked at Blacklin. The gryphon was unsure who she was more angry at: Himself or the bat pony she was accusing.
Nightingale, to her credit, was calm during Wind Whistler's tirade. If it upset her or caused any sort of emotion, Blacklin couldn't see it. Once Whistler had finished, she looked around at the others.
Now that the initial shock of Wind Whistler's outburst had faded, the others give each other bemused looks. Blacklin likened it to a group that were all in on some grand joke but refused to share it.
"If you are quite done, explanations can be done," Nightingale stated. Her voice was deep, soft and yet held a hard edge to it. Like spoken from one who commanded and knew they commanded. "Since I doubt that you would believe what I say, it would be best if Lady Twilight Sparkle told the story."
The title seemed to catch Twilight off guard. She blinked a few times in confusion before coughing and gathering herself up.
"Oh, yes, of course." She looked around briefly, as if trying to find an appropriate starting point.
"Tch, no, I'll tell it," Gilda stated, cutting Twilight off before she could even start. "Teacher's Pet would take too long."
She ran a talon through her head feathers and sighed softly before looking at Wind Whistler.
"Princess Celestia gave us the whole run down about Nightingale here," she said. "Teacher's Pet there had the same reaction you did. Utter freak out for stupid reasons cause she believed everything written in books."
Twilight huffed at the repeated use of "Teacher's Pet" but didn’t say anything, letting Gilda continue.
"And seriously, can you really picture Princess Celestia executing anyone?" the gryphoness asked. "She's locked up in stone, in the moon, and who knows where else. And these were the worst threats to Equestria. You really are a bookish dweeb."
She shook her head in mild disgust, ignoring the yell of protest from Wind Whistler before continuing.
"Anyway, here's the deal: Nightingale and her squad weren't executed. She was banished along with Princess Luna after their confrontation. Why it was written that they were killed? I don't know. Maybe they didn't want the worry that there was a chance that when Nightmare Moon came back she'd have a whole squad at her beck and call or something."
She shrugged and then goes on. "Didn't happen that way in the end. Nightingale and the rest of the Shadowbolts didn't return with Nightmare. Dash said she saw them when they all went to find Nightmare, but she just saw shades, a mockery of them to confuse Dash."
"But she still was a traitor!" Whistler exclaimed.
"LIES!" Nightingale's outburst caused the rest to jump back and Whistler to cower.
The batpony took a breath. "I say again, lies," she stated, calmer this time. "We were not traitors. Thou are mistaken in one thought. My Shadowbolts and I were not guards of Princess Celestia. We were and are loyal purely to Princess Luna. Through good or ill, we follow her. We were traitors not. We remained loyal to our Princess though it pained us."
She stomped her hoof in indignation. "And our loyalty was not betrayed! It was no Sun magic that freed us from our punishment! It was the light of the Moon which brought us back. The Sun had forgotten us."
She looked away, eyes narrowed slightly. "We do not hate the Sun, though we favor her not. Tis the Moon whom we serve, my Shadowbolts and I. It is by Her hoof that we agree to be part of this Long Patrol."
"Uh, yeah, what she said," Gilda said, rubbing the back of her neck. "In the whole aftermath of Nightmare's defeat and Princess Luna's return, Princess Celestia kinda forgot about the Shadowbolts."
"Princess Luna was not happy about that either," Twilight added. "Princess Celestia said that she spent an entire night yelling at her before she freed them herself."
"So, were they just recently released?" Blacklin asked at last, moving to keep himself between Whistler and Nightingale. He didn't think the pegasus would have another outburst, but he didn't wish to take any chances.
Nightingale shook her head. "No," she said. "It's been about four years now since Princess Luna rescued us. We have spent that time learning about how the world is now to help us fit in. Thankfully, not all seem to be as well read as certain ponies."
"No kidding," Lighting Dust interjected, speaking for the first time since they had arrived. "I didn't even know about this until Twilight had her freak out at the castle and I've been under her care for the past three years or so now. No one's freaked out like that before, not even stuffed shirt Firefly when they met. Ow!"
Nightingale gave Dust a stern look, wing folding back against her side after having smacked the pegasus with it. "Lightning Dust, I have told you time and time again to treat the Wonderbolt captains and former captains with respect despite how you may personally feel about them."
Lighting gave a sheepish smile and nods. "Yes, Ma'am, my apologies!"
Blacklin started to say something, but is cut off by a small buzzing from the orb next to him. He rolled his eyes and gave the others an apologetic look before tapping it lightly. Instead of opening up slowly into a window, the orb nearly burst open in a flash of light, revealing a large window this time showing a rather miffed looking Rainbow Dash sporting a Shadowbolts outfit.
She gave a low growl, glaring at Gilda and then Blacklin. Her image wavering as if there's interference of some kind.
"Grrrr. . . Looking at that and seeing my own, I demand that you lock Gilda and her in a room and don't let them out till they've worked things out! This sulking business of hers isn't helping!"
She crossed her forelegs and glared once more at Blacklin and then Gilda, as if emphasizing her point.
Blacklin, Gilda, and Moonlight all shared a look before turning back to the image of Rainbow Dash. Her words were confusing, though it doesn't take long for him to figure out that the "her" she had been mentioning was his own Dash. A soft laugh from Gilda confirmed to him that she'd come to that same conclusion.
The gryphoness' soft laughter soon got louder and a wide grin spread on her beak. "Oh man, hahahaha, wow. Really? You are out of the loop big time Dashie!" Gilda took a breath and wiped tears from her eyes before looking at the image. “Rainbow Dash and I made up like nearly three weeks ago! Ain't the best of friends anymore or anything like that, but there's no hard feelings."
Blacklin relaxed, noticing the tension that had been building in the room was dissipating from Gilda's laughter. Even Wind Whistler gave a small giggle at the rainbow maned mare's out of place outburst. it seemed that things were calming down and cooler heads prevailed once more.
"Could you come inside, we have something important to share," Twilight says, opening the door to the library.
Gilda, along with Lightning Dust and the unknown bat pony follow in after the unicorn mare, leaving Blacklin outside along with his sister. The older gryphon turns and gives Moonlight a quizzical look, causing her to smile in reply.
"Has to do with why Twilight and I have been gone all day and what Gilda has been doing," she says. "And a small secret we've been keeping." A small flash of shame and apologeticness crosses the hippogryph's face as she says the last part. Still, she gives her brother no time to follow up immediately, moving past him into the library.
The gryphon sighs softly enters in after her, shutting the door behind himself. He turns and looks at the females, noting the confused and curious look Wind Whistler had while regarding the bat pony. He also notes that it seemed as if she knew who the newcomer was.
A soft buzzing sound comes from the orb before it opens up into a small window.
"Seems like I'm not the only one meeting new ponies," comes Ember's voice, the yellow unicorn mare appearing in the window and looking around. "Who might they be?"
Blacklin is about to reply when Ember's interrupted by the sound of horrible male singing. Both gryphon and mare in the orb window wince at the screeching.
"That's what I'm hoping to find out now," he grits out. "For now, please do something about Opal being strangled. The poor dear needs to be left alone."
Ember gives him a quizzical look before wincing once more and padding off towards the source of the noise, starting to sing herself.
He notes that the window hadn't closed yet, instead the scene wavered briefly and shifted. Soon he is greeted by the sight of Lightning Dust in a shadowbolt uniform.
The figure of Lightning Dust looks at her doppelganger, standing between the batpony and Gilda and then looks at Blacklin. "Woah, is that me I see?" She asks. "Better be on your toes, Blacklin, because I had some attitude and I don't know if she's gotten that dose of humility the three of us were served."
Blacklin smirks slightly at that. He'd heard stories of Dust and her time at the Wonderbolts' Academy from Firefly. Cared too much about making records then being a teammate. Caused a small rift between Spitfire and Firefly for a period of time too from the sound of it.
"So it would seem," he says, looking at his own reality's Lightning Dust.
If there was any "attitude" it wasn't showing. The pegasus mare seemingly patiently sitting at attention, glancing around curiously. She almost seemed to parrot the batpony's calm demeanor, save for her tail flicking back and forth.
"Though I think we're good," he adds, tapping the window lightly, making it switch back to its orb form, before padding over to join his sister.
He glances around before looking at Twilight. "Okay, so what's up?" he asks.
"As you probably know," Twilight began, "the Griffon Kingdom has been in talks with Princess Celestia about improving relationship between themselves and Equestria. Strengthening the border and extending patrols on both sides as well as possibly setting up mixed troop garrisons in certain cities."
Blacklin blinks and then looks at Moonlight. This was news to him.
His sister gives an apologetic smile and chuckles nervously. "Surprise?" She says meekly. "That's actually kinda why we came here. Well, why Gilda did. We were with a few others who stayed behind in Canterlot while I traveled here."
"Tch, she didn't say anything cause she didn't want you to worry or anything," Gilda adds. "Plus, she did have to heal that wing of hers so it wasn't like she was going to be really useful in talks anyways." The brown and white gryphon shrugs and rolls her eyes. "Nope, that ended up on my shoulders. Been checking in near daily seeing how talks were going and all that."
Blacklin is silent for a moment, taking all that had been said so far in. He was upset, sort of. Feeling tricked and used, but he understood why Moonlight had done. He would have done the same if the roles were reversed. He had been doing the same nearly, spending five years away and telling no one in his family.
That being said, the rest of what was talked about soon fell into place as he looked at Lightning Dust and the bat pony. That they had arrived with Twilight, Gilda and Moonlight spoke volumes.
"And those talks went well?" he inquires.
Twilight nods and smiles, looking at the two newcomers.
"Yes, actually," she says. "Moonlight and Gilda are going to be permanent residents of Ponyville from now on. They, as well as Lightning Dust and Nightingale, will be Ponyville's squad of the new joint force between Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom: The Long Patrol."
Blacklin is about to inquire about the name when he's interrupted by a loud gasp from Wind Whistler. All look to her in confusion and are surprised to see her stumbling backwards from the batpony, shaking her head violently.
"No way," she says. "That is simply not possible. You shouldn't be here. Nightingale shouldn't exist anymore. She should be dead! She and the rest of the Shadowbolts! Executed when Nightmare Moon was banished!"
