Luna walked down the corridor to Celestia's room. She had allowed Midnight to take a night off with Octavia, ostensibly for him to properly recover from his breakdown, but more so that she could find out what had happened to him to plant the seeds in his mind. She opened the door to Celestia's room to find her sitting on her bed, a box open beside her. She looked up.
"Come in Luna. I have been expecting you."
Her voice was calm, but tense. Luna could sense something else, but it was something defined only by the way it couldn't be defined. She walked over to the bed and sat down beside her sister and the box.
"I noticed the breakdown that Midnight Guardian had. I expected you sooner, but I suppose that you didn't want to hurt him by letting him know what you were doing."
Luna nodded, keeping her mouth closed.
"He is a hero Luna. The things that he has done for Equestria..."
Celestia's voice trailed off. She looked down, tears filling her eyes. Looking up, into Luna's eyes, she said, in a voice so serious that Luna shook inside, "He is the greatest hero that Equestria has ever had. You must always remember that. He has saved this country so many times..."
She stopped again, her vehemence melting in the tears. Luna looked confused, her head reeling at the thought of Midnight being a hero. Surely Equestria hadn't been to war. There was no possible way... She voiced the thought. Celestia laughed harshly, the strangeness of her emotion eating to Luna's core.
"No Luna. Equestria has never been to war. That is why Midnight Guardian is a hero. You thought that his name was because he protected you. He has protected much more than one princess. I have no doubt that if it wasn't for him, all of Equestria might not be here."
Luna reeled back at the sheer suggestion. Surely, Celestia couldn't be serious, although the look in her eyes seemed to suggest it. Celestia pushed the box forwards, sliding it over to Luna. She picked a piece of paper off of the top and handed it to Luna. Luna began to read.
August 14, 989
Location classified
Indictment order for Sgt Midnight Guardian into the Equestrian special operations group. Report for selection and training to E 22 N 58 at 1700. You will be picked up there. Tell no one where you are going. This is classified level 1.
General Lightning
Luna let the paper drop to the bed. ESOG was real, or had been real. The mythical general Lightning was real. And Midnight had been a part of it. She looked into the box. Slotted inside were DVD's and crystals. Luna looked up at Celestia. Celestia responded by picking up a crystal and casting a spell. Luna felt her mind go blank.
The pegasi were dressed in black, helmets covered their heads, the dark shape of the helicopter followed them down as they ran overwatch on the area. I stood on the helicopter, holding my helmet pressed to my side. I looked down at the twenty mares and stallions waiting below. They seemed so small, their mouths open in shock. Helicopter technology had been a well kept secret for close to 100 years. Slowly, it descended, the wind whipping around the ponies on the ground. The pegasi had trained with helicopters and were able to maintain their flight control. I had trained them personally. The helicopter was only a few feet off of the ground now and so I jumped off, braced for landing and retained my hooves in front of the new recruits. Their mouths were still open. All of them, except for one, a young stallion in the front of the group.
He was a unicorn, dark, a blade as a cutie mark. A deep navy blue colour would be good in his new line of work, if he made it. But this was usually how it worked. Those who retained composure at the first sight of a helicopter would almost always pass basic training. As the helicopter lands behind me, my aide jumps out. I turned to him, speaking just loudly enough for him to hear me over the noise of the helicopter, but not loudly enough for the other ponies to hear.
"What is the name of that navy blue unicorn in the front row?"
My aide looked at the unicorn, then consulted his paperwork.
"Sergeant Guardian sir, Sergeant Midnight Guardian."
"I think he will do well."
"His scores are good sir, but anypony can fail."
"I know."
I turned back to the ponies arrayed before me. They dressed ranks, kit bags over some shoulders. Others hadn't packed. It was like this every year.
"Listen up!" I shouted. "You all belong to me now. If you pass training, you will become part of ESOG. If you fail, your memory of this rendez-vous will be wiped and you will be sent home. This is your only chance. There are no return attempts. You have only this one chance. If you blow it in training, same thing. If you think that you will not succeed, leave now."
There was some milling about then. Some turned and began to walk, two unicorns in black fatigues teleported in front of the group and cast the memory removal spell. They also put them into a deep sleep. I surveyed the mingling ponies and found one pair of eyes. They were looking straight into mine. It was unnerving. I recognised the pony instantly. It was Midnight Guardian.
Luna jerked back, her head recoiling from the unnatural memory. She looked up at Celestia, who simply replaced the crystal in the box.
"M- memories," stammered Luna. "They contain memories?"
Celestia nodded. Luna looked into the box. There were dozens of crystals in the box. Dozens of memories, all of them about Midnight and all after he had joined ESOG.
"The other boxes will be in your room. This is the spell to access the memories."
Celestia's horn flared again, and the memory of casting the spell, focusing on the feeling of the spell appeared in Luna's mind. She knew how to cast the spell now. Looking up at Celestia, she simply nodded.
"Go then, sister. I will watch for tonight. Go to your room and find the truth about your loyal guard."
Author's Note
There is the first chapter about Midnight Guardian's backstory. It is timed after the events of the next chapter of Luna's Boredom Cure. (Chapter 16) Personally, I like the memory crystals. Let me know what you all think. If you want me to get back to permanent third person, let me know about that too. I prefer third person, but I like the way that it works. Anyway, I hope that reading this intrigues you.
It has been a pleasure entertaining you and happy, or excited reading.
Luna sat in her chambers, a stack of boxes sitting in the cupboard. The night had begun and she had looked through the top papers from the first box. They were Midnight's test scores. He showed a high resistance to PTSD and other, similar disorders/conditions. He also displayed high intelligence and innovation. General Lightning had given an order, demanding recordings of Midnight's training, including weapons proficiency, magical potential and reactions in various circumstances. It appeared that Midnight had a fan.
Luna used her magic to lift a crystal from the first box and looked at the notations etched into the side.
Midnight Guardian
Day 1 of training
Sergeant K. Gummy
She cast Celestia's spell, letting herself slide into the memory.
I viewed the field, watching the twenty tired ponies assembling into ranks. A few didn't show it though. It was strange, normal guard training had the recruits getting up at 0600 while we had them up at 0300, but some of them didn't even look tired. There was that navy blue Midnight Guardian in the front rank, the pony that General Lightning had personally instructed me to watch. He stood there, staring at a point just over my shoulder, maintaining the 1000 metre stare of a professional operator. Most ponies looked like this by the end of training, provided that they didn't wash out, but some started off this way, and they seldom failed.
I began the hazing officially, taking in a huge breath, ready to bawl at the ranks of recruits.
"Sir, permission to speak, sir?" shouted Midnight.
I let the breath out. This was completely new. He had been out of training for a year and into the rather relaxed ranks of the Canterlot Palace Guard, but he spoke with perfect diction. The proper syntax of the request had been observed. I decided to let his speak.
"Permission granted recruit, but make it quick!" I shouted, keeping anger out of my voice as I did so.
"Sir, I don't believe that you will make me, or any of the recruits leave through any speech. All of us know and remember the correct syntax for communications during training. As such, any speech making would be burning through the day to no profit. I propose that we skip it and head directly to drills, sir!" Midnight shouted. It was a well placed argument and I agreed. My speech almost never made anyone quit, even though that was what it was designed to do.
"Very well then recruit. You are now the platoon leader. Training here is done differently, and I will be the one training you. You will be the one to lead your platoon through the drills. I say do it and you have to organise the people to my satisfaction to get the job done. For starters, and your quick interruption, your platoon can run ten laps around the base. I expect squad division and a list of squad leaders ready by dinner tonight. Come to my office after calisthenics to receive the data on your platoon," I shouted at them. Several of the ponies began to turn to begin running. Midnight stood there, eyes still fixed on that point over my shoulder.
"Did I say move?" he shouted, halting those who had begun to trot. Only then did he turn.
"When I am given an order, you do not carry it out until I instruct you to! That means that instead of the disorganized rabble that would be running, we can have a nicely ordered column. That means form up, rows of two. Keep formation through all ten laps. Do you understand?" Midnight yelled.
"Yes Platoon Leader!" replied the other recruits. I sat back, impressed. This colt showed real leadership capability. I watched them as they began to run to the gateway of the base, moving at a brisk canter that would allow them to run the full ten laps without undue discomfort. As they ran, I heard a brisk "One, two, one, two" coming from Midnight at the front of the column. I felt like this platoon's chances I the games this year were going to be good. Conjuring a letter to General Lightning, detailing the events of the past ten minutes, I sent it to him with a quick teleportation spell. I got a reply almost immediately. It had only one word written on it.
Impressive
Luna pulled herself out of the barely started memory to find a map of the base that the training had taken part on. She found it in the second box with details about the training regimen, duty rosters and other utility information. She pulled it out and took a look at it. The base was big. Really big. It had a circumference of five kilometres. She thought back to the memory and shook herself before lying back on her bed.
This was going to be harder than she thought. To see what Midnight had been through, without being able to change anything would be difficult. But what would be more difficult would be watching how much pain he would have to go through. She looked back at the map.
No, I will go through with it. For him!
Author's Note
The writers block was back for a rematch at the beginning of this chapter. Fortunately, I am amazing and managed to punch blockage in the face and kick it to the moon. The rest of the chapter took one hour to write. Something I need to clarify now. During the memories, if the originator of said memory knew something before I mention it, they will be used to it and will know what they are talking about. The games mentioned by the sergeant will be elaborated on in the future. If you get lost, don't worry. Luna gets lost when these things crop up as well. That will be normal. Let me know if you lose the general thrust of events though. That isn't normal.
The thing is that this is a far more serious and mysterious fic than Luna's Boredom Cure. It will have confusing moments and plot twists. But in the long run, it will be a pleasure entertaining you and happy reading.
