The sun was still high in the sky, allowing Star Screech to wander about the field with little in the way of shadow to show her position. The Night Guard didn't particularly like attacking in the day, but of all the times in the day, right around noon seemed best.

Slowly, Star walked behind a group of Royal Guards as she crept into their base unnoticed. The stance of each Guard cried of agitation, annoyance and exhaustion. They probably hadn't slept in a day or two, and none had a full meal in days. The constant harassment by the Night Guard had seen to that. For all their agitation and effort the guards were not focused at all and Star was able to move easily behind them without being seen or noticed.

She wandered around their make shift camp. Hiding in tents when groups walked by on patrol. At least one Guard was asleep, using the handle of his paint sword to prop his head up in an effort to seem awake. A smirk crossed Star's face as she thought about kicking the sword out from under him, or hitting him with her hoof claws. A shake of her head forced the smile away and she turned to venture deeper into the tent strewn camp. She needed a bigger target than just one Guard.

She found their makeshift barracks all setup with cots. Only two of which were in use despite the clear exhaustion of all around her. She considered taking the tent down by knocking out one of the center posts. It would cause the commotion Jack wanted, but would make it hard for her to get out once it fell. There had to be something better. She moved on.

The sound of a group of Royal Guards marching around the corner caused her to freeze. Thinking quickly, she ducked under the nearby barrack's tent. Thankfully nopony inside was awake, still she hid under a cot just to be sure she wasn't seen. Outside the tent, the group of four guards marched by and wandered off to parts unknown.

“Mmmm… is it lunch time yet?” One of the two sleeping colts began mumbling next to her. His sleep stirred either by her presence or the marching outside.

With great stealth and silence, Star peeked out from under the cot and moved underneath the tent, making her way back outside. She stood there for a moment, motionless. Prepping her wings and legs for a quick getaway if needed. But there was nothing. Just the silence of the rustling wind and flapping tents. Either the guard didn't pay attention to her, or was already back asleep. A breath escaped her lips as her body relaxed. A shake of her head cleared it of any doubts and she moved on.

The next stop was going to be their armory. Maybe she could light something on fire there? She frowned subconsciously and shook her head at the thought, that would be too dangerous. She wanted to cause a commotion, not kill or hurt any pony.

Then she saw it. A small tent, with a table that would have been empty save for the small plate of thinly cut rolls on top. Surprisingly the guards were not present or fighting over the scraps.

'Perfect,' Star thought as she saw it.

Just behind the table was one small crate left over. A single crate containing at most fifty more rolls. Her frame hugged the ground as she crept her way into the tent towards the wooden cube full of tasty goodness.

As Star loomed over the crate she couldn't help but smell the fragrant breads inside. Carefully, she opened the lid and looked over the rolls with mouthwatering eyes. Inside of them were clearly little pieces of fruit, maybe mango or papaya. Something sweet no doubt. Far better than the dry buttery rolls and breads they had stolen earlier. Star had to have one before she left. Her hoof grabbed at the nearest sweet, and pulled it forth. Her tongue rolled out of her mouth as she shoved the end of the roll into her open maw.

It was good. So help her, the roll was actually good. Unlike the battlefield rations they had taken before, these rolls tasted like they were something special. Of course Star didn't realize it, but originally these rolls were supposed to be a treat. To be given out on the last night of the game, or after it was over whichever would have come first. What was supposed to have been a reward had become the Royal Guard's last stop against starvation.

With the crate on her back Star lazily began walking out of the tent. Her mouth sucking and gnawing at the sweet roll all the while. She wasn't really paying attention to her flanks.

"You!" A deep raspy voice called out from behind her.

The bat pony's iris constricted as her eyes went wide. She hadn't been paying attention. Her head slowly turned around as the single Royal Guard glared at her with daggers in her eyes. The yellow and white mare behind her look absolutely and utterly pissed off. It took the Royal Guard mare a moment to process if Star was actually there or if she was just some sleepless hunger crazed hallucination.

Star wouldn't give the mare the time to debate with herself. Her mouth opened and dropped the roll before she turned to run.

The sound of the Royal Guard yelling behind her snapped everyone in the camp to attention and they quickly began the chase after her. She dropped the crate she had on her back and began to run as fast as she could. The call of alarm was deafening, as she ran away. Not far from her front right hoof, a single poorly aimed paint arrow landed on the ground as a small number of Guards began to fire at her.

The Royal Guards ran after her, following the bat pony out of their camp. A few stood back, watching as so many of the guards violated Shining's order to remain composed and stay in some kind of formation.

“Quick! Don't lose her!” One of the Royal Guard shouted.

“She's heading for the tree line! Don't let her go in or we'll lose her!” Shouted another.

A quick flash of light from the nearby tree line caught one of the guard's sleepless eyes. The flash was sunlight being reflected off a tiny lens and it told the Guard all he needed to know. There were more Night Guard inside that tree line, hidden.

The one Guard who saw it stopped in his tracks and grabbed a nearby pegasus. He pointed to the quick flash of light in the trees, and the silhouette of another bat pony behind it. The pegasus guard nodded, she could see it too, and just beyond that pony was the slight hint of color from a tent or cloth. That had to be their base, it just had to! The two ponies nodded to each other in silent acknowledgment.

Ignoring the orders her captain had given earlier, the pegasus turned around and spread her wings out. With a quick flap she made a beeline straight for the captain. He needed to know, NOW!

Star reached the tree line, and behind her a wave of Royal Guard continued to pursue her like a pack of rabid hounds. She turned her head catching sight of them gaining behind her. The group of Royal Guard ponies were swarming her flank. On quick glance she knew it had to be all of them from the camp. All running after her, trying to catch that one annoying fly that would not stop buzzing around their heads.

Star's attention wasn't on the ground in front of her, and she felt a sudden jolt as her hoof caught on a rock. She stumbled, her muzzle impacting the ground in front of her. Dirt and sweat filled her nostrils, the dank smell informing her that this wasn't quite going to plan.

"Help!" The bat pony screamed. "They're here!" She cried to the ponies in the tree line, hopeful they could help her.

From around the tree line ponies jumped out to defend Star, but they were hopelessly outnumbered. Still they all knew they had to protect her, and would do their best to save her. Rock Slide ran out and tried to pick her up, to run back in the tree line with her where they could seemingly hide and maybe still run away. But it was no use, without warning a paint arrow came streaking out of the sky, hitting him right in his rock shaped cutie mark and ass. He was out.

His body stumbled and impacted the ground spilling Star below him.

“Buck!” He swore a few times as he pulled himself up. His body protected Star's as he took two more arrows to his side. “Buck you! I'm already out!” he screamed.

Star managed to scramble to her hooves and ducked into the trees as more arrows came down forcing the Night Guard just past the tree line, while the Royal Guard began to surround them.

Meanwhile, with agonizing slowness Rock Slide began his walk off the field, making it a point to watch the Royal Guard try and attack his remaining squad. A smirk crossed his muzzle at their apparent futility and he stopped to watch from atop the nearby hill to watch the last battle unfold. The Wonderbolts overhead were too preoccupied to notice the lone Night Guard standing to the side. Watching the chaos below.

Inside the tree line the group of Night Guard began yelling at each other. No one was sure what to do exactly, and neither Jack nor Mani were anywhere to be found. He had prepared him for this very moment, yet with out his direct leadership no one knew exactly what move to make.

“We should stick to the plan! Jack wanted us to pull them away from the camp. We need to run to the opposite side of the tree line and run.” One of them yelled.

“We can't, they've already surrounded the trees. There's no escaping.” Green hoof muttered. He knew what they had to do. The only left for them too do. One last stand. Maybe they could distract the Royal Guards just long enough for this all to work.

Back in the Royal Camp Shining was just about to yell at one of his pegasus who violated his no flying rule when she rapidly told him something he couldn't believe. The location of the Night Guard camp. Without further questioning he ran to the edge of the Royal Guard camp. On this edge at the tip of the nearest hill he could see if what she had said was true. His head and legs screamed with fatigue and pain as he limped, and his hunger brought about a moment of dizziness, but it didn't matter. Down below he could see it, what appeared to be the remaining Night Guard hiding in the trees.

The last group of Night Guard had setup camp less then 200 meters from their camp. There were at least nine down there by the looks of it, maybe more deeper inside. That had to be the last of them. The insult was palpable, but now Shining saw his opportunity to end this mocking battle and he seized it. He called the rest of his nearby Guard on to the field. The few remaining Royal Guard not on patrol ran from the camp, screaming and hollering. Their form was disorganized, and chaotic. Were times different Shining would have chewed each and everyone of them out. Force them all to scrub the latrines with their tooth brushes even. But right now, that didn't seem to matter because here and now, they would strike and cull all the Night Guard in this one fell swoop.

“Surround the tree line! Don't let any of them escape!” He yelled at the pegasus Guard.

'Especially that bucking ape.' He thought.

She nodded and ran down to the rest of the Guards.

Shining Armor's head pounded and his eyes were tired. He was going to end this and be in bed with in the next hour. His thoughts drifted from the battle for a moment as about his wife Cadence and how lonely she would be.

He shook his head, 'No.' there would be time for those thoughts later. After this battle, after a meal, after sleep.

Maybe, just maybe he would even congratulate the ape on his innovate tactics?

“Ha,” he began to laugh to himself. The ape's tactics had been maddening, and without honor. Certainly not worthy of recognition.

Still, they had been effective. A short shake of his head and he forced the thoughts out. He could worry about the debriefing of this battle, after it was over.

Shining felt a smile tug across his face smugly as he watched all his Guard capture most of the remaining Night Guard on the field. It was hard to tell since his eyes wouldn't focus properly, but it looked like ten in total so far, one of whom was very injured. He watched the small battle unfold below, accompanied only by his two cloest guards. The three of them were exhausted and hungry. They focused only on the battle below, unable to handle or think about anything other than the inevitable victory they saw.

Shining Armor couldn't wait to see that human ape thing, get flushed out from the trees or perhaps he would run deeper still, holding off the end of this absurd game for as long as possible. It didn't matter, Shining knew their victory was assured now, and the ape had to know too.

“This is most excellent." He spoke to his two subordinates with glee. "We can finally end this once we…"

He stopped mid-sentence as he saw his two Guards looking back at him in shock and horror, unsure why he glared at Pin Point and Cloudy Days. "What's wrong with you two, what-" Shining felt a wooden blade at his throat, just gently enough not to leave a mark. Then there was one word spoken from it's holder. A single word which caused Shining Armor's heart to stop for a moment.

It said, "Surrender."

Shining turned to look at the human behind him, and his three companions. He had no idea how the human and his bat ponies had bypassed all his guards. It took a moment for it to register, there weren't anymore guards behind him. All around the camp was empty, as all the Guards were either out scouting or down at the tree line trying to capture the Night Guard. In his insomnia driven state, fueled by the fires of hunger and fatigue, he had missed it. No one was protecting their flank.

Two Wonderbolts descended from the clouds to observe the unusual event, neither fully understanding what was going on but they were under orders not to interfere so asking questions was out.

Jack pointed at one Wonderbolt, a young mare with a silvery red mane and golden body.

“You.” He called to the Wonderbolt. “I have captured Shining Armor and forced a surrender of the entire Royal Guard team.”

The Wonderbolt continued to float there, bobbing slowly up and down, just behind behind her goggles her eyes blinked. “What?” She asked still uncertain about what was going on.

The rulebook at her side bounce and shook as she floated just a few feet above him. Reaching his arms up, Jack snatched the book from her side, and began to rapidly flip through it.

“Hey!” She protested. “That's mine you can't do that!”

Ignoring her complaints Jack quickly flipped through the pages and found what he was looking for. It took him only a few seconds to read it, the text matched his notes. Sure the speech was more formal and legalistic, and it lack the commentary, but the core was there. With a smug smile he could not control his hand shoved the relevant section into her face. “Read it.” He commanded...

Back at the Royal balcony, the princess and the three generals were gathered around for the end of the games. The generals held their own around the map, Maximus and Tanium spoke at length about matters beyond the game, while Fire Wall sat hunched over the table in appertain meditation. Or he could have just been asleep, it was hard to tell.

The pink alicorn pranced over to the game map, "I can't believe how long this game has gone on for. It's almost been the full three days." Cadence spoke with a pang of sadness in her voice. She missed her husband dearly. He had spent the week before the game preparing, leaving her mostly alone. So of course she was now very lonely both mentally and physically.

"The Night Guard have really been a thorn in the Royal Guard’s side for this game. I thought they'd be the first to lose." The pout on her muzzle grew as she thought more and more about her missing mate and what she would do with him once the game was over. He was going to miss another night of sleep if she had anything to say about it.

A Wonderbolt flew in from the field and began quickly relaying instructions to the board controller who started to scramble, moving pieces where he could. Not more than a minute later, another Wonderbolt showed up giving the pegasus in charge of the board new information. The colt at the board blinked in surprise before finally picking up some of the Night Guard pieces and putting them down. For the entire game, fifteen Night Guard pieces had remained off the board untracked. With this past update, they could finally be placed on the board, well all but four of them.

Throughout the majority of the game, the Wonderbolts had been unable to find the Night Guard. So these pieces had been off to the side for most of the game. Left in play, but not observed. To finally see where they were, and in force was unexpected. Everyone around the game board knew immediately that whatever this was, was going to be the end game. From the sheer overwhelming numbers on one side, it was obvious who should win.

Before the pony at the board could finish, a third Wonderbolt appeared and sent the other two back out. There was still more information, and it didn't seem to make much sense. The pegasus at the board was forced to use his wings along with his hooves as he scrabbled to setup the map, but it was proving difficult. Every few seconds another Wonderbolt would fly in and give updates, some of which seemed to contradict each other. Apparently the Night Guard had set up camp deep inside of a thick tree line and there was no way to see inside. That would explain why the Wonderbolts could never seem to keep track of them.

Though, there were still the four pieces unaccounted for and the pegasus still had no idea what to do with them. He was tempted to just throw them into the camp with the other Night Guard.

The commotion around the board began to draw the Princesses' attention.

Twilight walked up next to Cadence and gave her a soft bump on her side as she snuggled into her sitter in law for a hug. "I'm surprised my brother wasn't able to do more against them, but the Night Guard’s tactics have been erratic this game." Twilight slowly walked over to Cadance to study the map with her as the pegasus was frantically trying to update it. In truth, she didn't know whether she should root for her brother or Jack more. Though it didn't really matter, there was no way the Night Guard could win this.

Fire Wall was still sitting over the map in his apparent meditation, as Twilight came along side of him.

"Hmmm..." The old bat pony let out a mild growl at seeing one of his guards removed from the map.

Twilight jumped slight as she was startled by the sound, thinking the pony wasn't even paying attention. "Something wrong Fire Wall?" She spoke out of mild concern.

"It's the board princess. This seems like a desperate last move on the Night Guard's part. The grouping seems disorganized and chaotic. They've performed so well over the past few days, I just don't understand why they would throw it away like... this!" Fire Wall was very clearly agitated by the board in front of him.

Twilight looked at the pieces, and tried to consider it all. She didn't know too much about actual combat, but did know a bit about tactics from her books. "Well, you know Fire Wall, there are over a hundred of the Royal Guard left and only fifteen of the Night Guard." That just seemed to make the General frown even more. "Considering the game will be over in a few more hours regardless it seems, almost heroic, and honorable." Her voice perked up slightly, as she tried to show the General the lighter side of losing.

*Crack*

The old pony hit the side of the large marble table. The noise startled the others in the area.

Taking a breath, Fire Wall apologized for his quick out burst, "Forgive me princesses, I didn't mean any offense to you. I had just hoped that perhaps this year would be different."

His eyes threatened to burn a hole in the table as he continued to glare at the board. Behind him, Maximus came to comfort his old companion.

Tanium wandered to the map with a massive grin on his face, believing the battle would be over and decided in his teams favor shortly. Thankfully, for him, he kept his mouth shut and didn't provoke the bat pony General any further.

*Brruuuu* *Bruuuu* *Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu*

In the distance the sound of the game horn could be heard, two quick blows, and a final elongated one signaling the end of the Game.

"Ah, it would seem the game is over." Celestia looked at the old general, and tried to sooth his battered ego "General Fire Wall, your team did admirably. They lasted till the end while facing superior numbers on all sides. Even my beloved Day Guard couldn't say the same." Princess Celestia spoke in her soft and soothing voice, trying her best to comfort the old General.

The General felt a hoof placed on his shoulder. Looking over and behind himself, he saw princess Luna smile at him. The first time she had smiled around him in what felt like a month. She didn't say it there, but she was slightly relieved to see her team lose.

"Our sister is right dear General. The Night Guard did well considering their handicap. You have trained them all so well." She paused to consider he next words carefully. "Perhaps it is time we considered bolstering our ranks a little to give the other Guards more of a challenge next season?"

Off in the distance the remaining forces began walking across the field, heading towards the gate and viewing area. The Princesses turned to watch the teams from afar, as they made their way back to normal life.

Fire Wall turned back to consider the board as everyone except for Twilight wandered to the edge of sitting area. The Wonderbolts had stopped updating the map as soon as the horn blew, but Fire Wall couldn't help and noticed all the pieces on the board, four of which still seemed unaccounted for. One of these pieces was Jack's own. The old gears in the general's mind began to turn as he studied the board and saw one potentially fatal mistake in the Royal Guard's formation.

"I wonder..." He spoke in barely a whisper. He knew Jack would not be one to just run while the rest of his squad fell, his actions thus far had shown that. There had to be more to his incursion, and that single opening, that single mistake in Shining's formation could explain it all.

At the end of balcony both flags of the Night and Royal guard were removed. The Wonderbolt holding the Royal Guard flag flew up to place it on the winner’s pike just above the gates, only to be stopped by another. There seemed to be some amount of confusion amongst the Wonderbolts as to which flag should be placed there.

The general chuckled to himself lightly, "heh, I do wonder…" he spoke softly so that only the ghosts who seemed to linger may hear.

Twilight was just watching in confusion unsure of the chaos unfolding both on and off the battlefield. Off the balcony the forces of the two teams could be seen walking over the nearby hill. There was some shouting and yelling as the groups made their way to the gate.

It seemed like there was something wrong below. All the ponies, including Fire Wall and Twilight, walked to the side of the balcony, watching the argument that was happening below. None of them had noticed that the Night Guard’s flag now flew above the gates, signaling their victory.

Down on the field, the human guard's faced beamed with a smile on his well deserved victory. All around him his fellow guards cheered and a few even sung. It was an amazing victory for the seemingly outmatched Night Guard. For a moment, Jack reflected on his win remembering how everything went down earlier in the day...

It was still fairly early in the morning, and the sun just began to rise over the game field. The Royal Guard wasted no time in forming their search parties. Each Guard knew the sooner they found the last of the cowardly Night Guard, the sooner they could leave this cursed game and get some much needed food and sleep. All through out the previous night, the Night Guard was relentless in attacks. No one else from the Royal Guard was lost, beyond the first two, but no one was able to sleep or relax.

As morning came the attacks stopped. Shining took the lull in aggression to give his team their final morning briefing. Scorched earth, was the topic. They had searched every major field and open area in the arena, but had come up with nothing. The Night Guard might be hiding somewhere in the open like the General Guard had, but Shining no longer thought so. Every time the Night Guard would attack, they would fall back to a tree line and disappear.

That's where they had to be hiding, in the middle of a thick brush of trees somewhere. Given the ape who was with them, and by all accounts leading them it made too much sense. This time, they weren't going to leave a single tree line unsearched. They were going to find the Night Guard, no matter where they might be hiding.

The Royal Guard had already exhausted all the possible hiding locations in the Night Guard's quadrant. So they had to be somewhere else. Shining reasoned they were probably in the Day Guard's area since they were taken out of the game so early on. That quadrant had been unpatrolled for most of the game, being seen as unnecessary, until now. No real captain would think of setting up camp in another player's area, though not against any rules it would be seen as dishonorable, and a spit in the face.

Shining also knew that they had to be somewhat close by too. Their attacks were too frequent and rapid for their camp to be very far out. All in all, his team had about a square kilometer or so of ground to search. Easily done, with the over one hundred Guards he had left.

Of course, Shining had no idea just how close the Night Guard really were.

Just over two hundred meters away, Wind Runner spied the Royal Guard's camp using the monocular she found at the bottom of one of the stolen crates. She was sorry none of the team had noticed it earlier, as it made observations so much easier.

Not far behind her, hidden in the dense thicket, the remaining Night Guard sat around discussing upcoming plans and ideas. No one had any real idea what to do at this point, and Jack was oddly silent. His head was tilted down, and engrossed in his sheet of paper that he had been staring at since very early in the morning.

For what felt like the thousandth time, Jack read over one section again:

“Guards caught at sword point can be forced to surrender during a capture.

No extra points are gained, but any troops under them are forced to surrender as well.

Surrendering is not thought honorable and not often done in modern games.

It is reserved only for the most stubborn commanders who refuse to admit defeat.

To capture, local forces [not global] have to be greater than or equal to opposing ones.”

The human hunched over his parchment paper, rereading the small notes he had made again and again, looking for evidence there was more or that he had misquoted something. He had scrawled these lines in particular very quickly, not really thinking it all that useful at the time. He couldn't be completely sure he wrote it in it's entirety or that it was even correct. His gears turned as he thought about the full section of the rulebook this passage came from, but unfortunately he kept drawing a blank. This was the only fragment of a chance he could see, and he didn't even know if it was real or not. He was growing frustrated, and knew time was running out.

“Jack.” Mani called out from the circle. “The Royal Guard is sending out their search parties. What's the plan?”

Quickly, Jack looked up from his notes at the Night Guard in front of him. They were all depending on him now. And not just to lead them, but to win. So far in all three days of searching, this was the only idea he had come up with that would possibly allow them victory with such maddeningly inferior forces. It wasn't the best idea, but it might work. Assuming he understood the rules right, they needed to figure out a way to isolate the captain from most of his squad. A difficult aspect to be sure, but perhaps not impossible. Some of Shining's behavior has been very predictable, his actions in battle choice among them.

Jack knew some of his own squad wouldn't like the idea, Mani for sure. It was risky, and to be honest, questionable, but it was the only real chance they had.

“You guys may not like this idea, but…” He took a breath, and saw each of their reactions. A few were on the edge of their seats, and few looked like they were about to groan. “We're going to try and capture Shining Armor.”

It took a moment, but a few of them laughed at the idea thinking it was a joke, and at least one did in fact groan, but just as Jack had predicted Mani objected with, “You can't be serious?”

It took the better part of the next half hour outlining the plan he had just formulated to the team. Like everything else this game, it would be risky, and there was a chance it wouldn't succeed. Just like before, the Night Guard would run in to raid the camp and than pull out. However unlike before they would try not to be completely hidden once they ran. They would have to drag the Royal Guard away from the camp with the promises of a massive reward. The entire Night Guard camp. Jack doubted there was much else that could make Shining ignore his flank. It was going to be messy, no doubt the Royal Guard were already very alert for any kind of trap that might be set up. It had to be done just right.

Mani held a scowl on his face for the whole explanation. His retort was expected, “So lets say this diversion works, and they come out in force, what then? We walk up to Shining and ask him to put his hooves in the air? I mean what's going to make him surrender.” He protested.

“Well, that's kind of my point, he wont have a choice. If we sneak up on him and hold him at sword point we can force a capture and a surrender. There's no option to refuse, it's just automatic.” Jack tried to speak slowly for everyone to understand, but there were still lingering doubts and questions.

“But how? I don't understand how you can force a capture like this?” Mani further complained, bringing up the questions and comments he knew the rest of the squad had, but would not bring up. Either out of respect or mild fear of embarrassing themselves.

Once more, Jack went to his note sheet and pointed out the section. “Ok, so a capture can only happen at sword point, and you have to have the same or more Guards present to capture. So 1:1 is fine, 2:1 fine, even 200:199 would be fine. but 199:200 wouldn't work-” He wasn't able to finish as Mani cut him off.

"Exactly!” Mani nearly shouted, interrupting Jack's thought process. He pointed around to the small group of guards, “Look, there are only fifteen of us, at best the Royal Guard is just over one hundred strong. We don't have the numbers to surrender their whole team."

"We wouldn't have to." Again Jack pointed at one particular line. “Local forces have to outnumber them. Not global forces but local ones. If we isolate Shining armor we can do this.”

Mani took the note sheet from Jack's hands and read the section over a few times, having more than a bit of trouble reading the human's handwriting. Finally, with a dismissive head shake he gave the note back to Jack. “I don't know. This sounds like a technicality to me.” Mani complained, his voice notably calmer as he began to seriously consider the idea.

“I admit, it's not as grand or glorious as many of us would want. But it's in the rules, and it's fair. If you think about battlefield tactics, it makes sense too.” A handful of confused expression greeted his statement.

Fumbling with his fingers, he tried to think of a way to explain. A way that would let this small group leave with some of their honor in tact.“Taking out the commander of an army, would throw the army into chaos. Capturing them would do the same. It makes sense from a tactical standpoint. Cut off the head and the body dies.”

That analogy worked, and a handful of sparks lit up in the ponies eyes as what Jack said suddenly seemed to make sense and sink in. None of them were used to thinking like this. Tactics for most ponies was about finding ways to argue off the battle field, rather than on it. A real fight for them would be little more than marching on a field and letting superior numbers determine victory. The more Jack considered the game he had been playing the more and more he truly began to realize just how far behind the Equestrian Guards were compared to the armies from Earth, and not just in terms of weaponry. The simple fact was they didn't even know how to use what they had.

Mani begrudgingly gave into the plan. He didn't like it, but it really was the only one anyone had come up with. “Ok. So how do we pull Shining away from his Guards?”

“We don't. Not exactly anyway. Instead of pulling him away from his army, we're going to pull his army away from him. Shining likes to stand behind, on a large body, like a hill or something so he can observe the battle below without actually putting his command in jeopardy. Usually it would be a solid defensive position, but we're going to use that against him. We give the Royal Guard something to chase, with a large prize at the end, and he'll take the bait. Given his exhaustion he's going to want to end this quick and likely isn't thinking clearly. I don't think he'll hesitate to send his whole squad in if he thinks he can end this now. Leaving his rear unprotected for a small group of us to rush in and take him.”

Jack took a breath and sighed, he could already seem Mani ready to object again. He knew what Mani would object to. Instead of waiting, Jack answered before it could be asked. “But, that's the another problem. The only prize big enough is our whole camp. When we do this, there wont be any going back. Either Shining leaves his flank unguarded and we're able to sneak up behind him or we lose.” Jack's final point was met with silence.

For a whole minute the squad sat around in an eerie quiet, no one quite sure what to say or do. A few, Mani included, was hoping someone else would say something. Another plan, a change of ideas, anything that might make this all easier to stomach. They had spent the better part of three days on this game. To risk it all on this one gamble was hard.

Wind Runner looked between her fellow guards, and forced a smile. She liked to gamble. Breaking the silence she asked, “So, where do we start?”

About an hour later, across the battlefield Wind Runner and Mani followed some of the scout parties, watching where they would explore. There were five groups, each with about twenty ponies. Mani and Wind had one job to do right now, make five quick campfires in some very deep brush. Distractions for the scouts.

With any luck, a campfire made deep in the woods would be seen and smelt by the Royal Guards. The would then search out the source, spending valuable time looking for ghost which weren't there. If Mani and Wind did this right, the scouts would be too busy chasing shadows to head back to their camp, leaving Shining Armor's main group undermanned.

From the distant trees, Mani could see the smoke from one such campfire slowly drift above the tree line. Below, a single Royal Guard noticed and pointed it out to his commander. The scouting party stopped in their tracks and began to circle the unoccupied trees. It would take them hours to search the small forest fully.

'Perfect.' Mani thought.

Once each of the scouting groups were fully distracted, part two of the plan came into effect. Quickly the Night Guard disassembled the bulk of their camp, taking out tenting and some of the blankets to hang just inside the tree line. They had to be careful here, the items needed to be seen as soon as you where in a hoof's distance of the tree line, but no further.

Finally, the last and most important part of the plan. Star would lead a single pony mission to cause a distraction in the base. If things got too heated, she could screech, giving her ample time to trot away while the Guards followed her. While she was doing that, four of them, Jack and Mani included would circle around the base and sneak up on Shining's flank.

Once everything in the base was ready, the five Night Guard slowly left their base. Star took a right to head around the Royal Guard's camp, while Jack, Mani, Wind Runner and Tollem made their way behind the Royal Guard's camp.

Green Hoof held his breath as he watched the group leave camp, the ache in his leg making it difficult to focus. The pain didn't matter though, he needed to watch, and see. As soon as the Royal Guard came near the camp, he was going to have to provide range support. Anything to buy the other team whatever time they needed.

Star slowly crept from the tree line, and headed toward the Royal Guard's camp. She needed to make some kind of distraction to attract their attention...

"NO!" Shining armor yelled at the top of his lungs to one of his subordinates. "I WILL NOT CONCEDE DEFEAT!"

Jack snapped out of his trance. Not far from him Shining Armor held a deep scorn on his face. The Captain ground his teeth against each other with such force it was a miracle his teeth didn't just shatter. He had no idea what exactly his subordinate said to him, but Jack quickly go the hint, and moved away from Shining Armor.

The smile on the human's face dwindled as he gazed around the extremely angry, tired and hungry Royal Guard.

He was no longer speaking, or cheering like the rest of the Night Guard and was quite somber about the whole event.

Sensing the agitation around him, Mani trotted up to Jack and whispered in his ear, "Do they seem mad to you?”

Taking a moment, Jack surveyed the field of scowls and angry faces once more. Every gaze he caught from the Royal Guard felt like daggers.

"No, I think it's worse then that. They're legitimately pissed off at us." He spoke with a shake of his head.

Off to his side he could hear the Night Guard laughing and cheering at their victory still. The first victory in what must have been aeons. "Mani, do me a favor and tell our guys to keep it down. No need to rub salt in the wound." He looked Mani in the eyes, "Our guys did good, but we can celebrate later."

"Good?!" Shining stopped at hearing Jack's praise of his squad. "Your squad was one of the most disorganized inefficient and awful teams I've ever faced!"

Jack tried to keep his own emotions in check. He both wanted to speak up and defend his team, but also cower from the Captain’s intimidating stance. He chose the highest road he could "Captain, I understand you are upset, but the game is over. We can debrief each other tomorrow after we all get some much need rest."

Shining stomped his hooves on the ground and almost growled at Jack. Who was now becoming quite concerned. The Night Guard had stopped laughing and become quite somber at the large group of Guards around them.

Jack held up his hand in a gentle stop manner. "Shining, calm down. Look if it makes you feel better we would be happy to walk off the field first. You can be the last to leave." Jack reached his hand out to shake a hoof he hoped would be there. He didn't notice the Royal Guard off to his side approach him

"Stay away from our captain!" The guard shouted.

Before he could even acknowledge the protest, Jack felt a sharp pain in his side and fell to the ground. His head hit something hard and then there was blackness.

Author's Note

And that's it for War Games.

Originally, Day Dreams was going to be broken up into 3 Parts/Books. Part 1was going to end about 2/3 chapters after this. While I have those chapters sketched out, I still haven't sat down to write them. Unfortunately, I lost my drive to write earlier in the year and I just haven't gotten it back. I don't want to say my stories are dead, but I'm not sure if I will be writing any more. Limbo, is probably the better term for it.