Blight Squad

Chapters

Cold and Hungry
Odd Occurrence
The Dream
Training
A Walk Through the Woods
The Battle
What Are We?
A Small Visit
The Dark Ones

Cold and Hungry

"Midnight, please slow down!" my friend Kwill, who was hauling one of the troop's supply carts, said behind me. "I'm about to collapse!"

I stopped a little way ahead of him on the muddy, slush-strewn trail. We were already almost a quarter-kilometer behind the rest of our troop whose marching could be heard echoing through the snow-covered Everfree Forest.

It was midsummer when Queen Chrysalis tried to invade Shining Armor's and Princess Cadence's wedding. Ever since then we've been getting reports of multiple Changeling attack on the village that lies in the middle of the Everfree Forest, Everfree Village. Now it's late autumn, very nearly winter, and my squad has been ordered to go into the village to protect the survivors and stop the Changeling raids.

I sat on a rock close to the tree line that bordered the trail and took off the sopping rags that wrapped around my nearly frostbitten hooves and sighed, "These cloths barely do anything, they're so wet!" I decided to put them in my saddlebag. "I'll put them over a fire, if we can set one up."

I looked back to Kwill who was still a few meters away. "Come on Kwill, hurry up or they'll leave us behind!"

He tried to look up at me, but was more comfortable leaving his head down. He muttered something which I couldn't hear.

"What?" I called.

"Nothing," he called back, straining to pull the cart which caught on an exposed root. He kept pulling on the cart, trying to get it to move, until his hind legs slid out from underneath him and his rump hit the mud track with a wet squelch. I heard him breathing in hard gasps. "I..." he began, "I...can't go on...like this. My hooves are frozen, my coat is so wet it doesn't even keep me warm. Oh, Celestia, what are we out here for?!" After this he bowed his head and I saw his shoulders shake while shimmering droplets slid down his muzzle and dropped to the slush.

I walked over to him and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Hey, we have to keep moving otherwise we'll most likely freeze to death out here. Just wait, pretty soon we'll be sitting around a warm fire, drinking some coffee and eating radishes. You love radishes, don't you?"

Kwill sniffled and wiped his muzzle with his fore-hoof. "Yeah, that does sound good." He finally raised his head to look at me, his eyes red and puffy, almost making him look like an albino with his white coat.

"Here," I said as I stood up and unharnessed him from the cart, "I'll drag this box for awhile."

He nodded and stood up. I then said, "Help me get this cart free." We forced our numb hooves to move. Kwill pushed on the cart as I pulled. The cartwheel rolled over the root with a thud, and we were able to make our way to catch up with the rest of the troop.

"Midnight! Kwill! You're late!"

As we trudged along for what seemed like hours, the seemingly never-ending wall of trees finally broke, and we came upon a small clearing encircled by the surrounding forest where our troop was setting up rows of tents. We also heard the gruff voice of our squad's three-legged sergeant, Round Shield.

"Since you were late with the food cart nopony here got to eat! If I see any provisions missing from that cart I swear I will make you run laps around this clearing all night!" He said this as he walked over to the cart. He lifted the tarp that covered the top and, seeing nothing missing, put the tarp back down. "Nothing seems to be missing, so your punishment for being late is to collect dry firewood!"

"Yes, Sir!" Kwill and I said in unison. We rose our right fore-hoof to our crowns in salute. When Round Shield returned the gesture I unbuckled myself from the cart and turned with Kwill to look for wood.

"And put those helmets on!" Round Shield shouted behind us. "The only way you're going to keep that metal warm is to wear it at all times!"

"Yes, Sir!" we responded.

That evening, I was ordered to go on first watch. I went to my tent and donned my chest plate, hoof and leg guards, neck plates, body plates, and helmet, all of which I stuffed with rags for insulation. It helped a little bit, but the cloth would sometimes slip out of place and the cold metal would rub against my skin through my coat, sending a chill down my spine. I then strapped my shield to my left fore-hoof and my sword to my right fore-hoof. After this long--and rather difficult--process I pushed my tent flap aside with my muzzle and stepped into the frigid winter-night air.

The cold air bit into my lungs as I breathed in. I trod over to the perimeter of the camp and started my patrol.

I've always hated going on the night watch. For one, I was terrified of the dark, never knowing what lurked in those unforgiving shadows. The trees only made it worse, manipulating the moonlight to make the branches look like crooked, mutilated claws just waiting to snare somepony in their scraggly grasp.

The moon was the only reprieve from the darkness that surrounded me. I stood rigid, listening for anything that might be the sign of some sort of night ambush. I was pretty jumpy so when something tapped me on the shoulder I swung my sword around and nearly decapitated a fellow Guard. I sighed and said, "You never sneak up on an ally! I could have killed ou!"

The corporal who startled me, named Red Dawn for his red coat, and orange and yellow mane, and who also had a Russian accent said, "Apologies, comrade. I only wanted to tell you that I have moon-down shift. Go to bed, comrade," and he gave me a gentle push toward the camp.

I never realized how tired I really was: when I went inside my tent I just let my armor fall to the floor as I unbuckled all of the pieces. I then crawled under the blankets and fell into a restless sleep.

Odd Occurrence

The following morning, we woke the way we always do on missions: to the sound of Reveille just before Princess Celestia raised the sun.

I threw off the warm blankets, stretched as far as my cramped tent would allow, donned my now-freezing armor, and quickly made my way outside.

The sky was clear as it waited for the sun to take its place within its dome.

Immediately after breakfast an assembly was called at the center of camp.

Round Shield was standing with Silver Hooves, his second-in-command, named so for his shiny grey hooves.

"Stallions! We're camped about three kilometers away from Everfree Village--the town that we got the messages from saying they were attack by Changelings. I need three Pegasi volunteers to fly over to the village and see what the status is of the survivors." With that he had Silver Hooves point to three random Pegasi and continued, "Congrats, you volunteered. I want that report within the hour, understood?"

The trio replied, "Yes, Sir!" saluted, and departed for the village.

"As for the rest of you," Round Shield continued, "if this camp isn't cleaned up and ready for march by the time those Pegasi come back then I swear by my pretty, shiny helmet I will kick all of your rumps so hard, Princess Celestia won't have to worry about banishing you to the moon 'caus I'll have sent you all there myself!" He finished off with a curt, "Dismissed!" and we scattered to pack our things and wait for the Pegasi to return.

I had just finished packing my tent away when I heard a commotion coming from the far end of our now rather vacant-looking campsite. I decided to go over and wee what was going on. Round Shield was questioning the three Pegasi that he sent to check on the survivors.

"'Just fine?' What do you mean they're 'just fine?'" he shouted.

Despite the volume, the Pegasi remained standing, stoically, at attention.

"Exactly what we mean, Sir," a light-beige Pegasus with white wings, a blonde mane, black hooves, and glasses, replied. "All of the buildings are fine--not a scratch! Nopony looked injured or in mourning. We even went down there ourselves and asked around if there had been any attacks at all since summer." He paused to catch his breath and continued, "They just looked at us with confused expressions, said no, and went on with their business. The only scratches we found were the ruts in the mud from years of carts running through it."

Shield looked to the other two Pegasi and asked, "Is what he's saying true?"

"Yes, Sir!"

Round Shield stared at the ground while deep in though and finally shouted, "Everypony! Stop what you're doing and set your tents back up! We're going to be staying here for a while!"

Everypony looked at each other with confused looks--me and Kwill particularly--and shuffled away in quiet frustration to set our tents up again.

"Everfree Village wasn't attacked?" Kwill asked me as we walked to our tents after dinner. "Are you sure you heard them correctly?"

I looked at him sharply. "If I didn't then my Cutie Mark isn't Draco!"

"Do you..." Kwill began, but then shook his head and said, "Nah, she wouldn't."

"Who wouldn't do what?" I asked.

"Well..." he looked around to make sure nopony was eavesdropping, motioned for me to move closer and whispered in my ear, "Do you think, perhaps, that somepony set us up?"

"Well," I began, carefully wording my sentence, "I've been having my own suspicions of that as well; I'm pretty sure everypony here has. The only question here is who?"

A worried look crossed his face as he said, "I've heard some ponies say that Princess Celestia is to blame."

I looked at him curiously. "I don't think she would do that; it would paint a pretty bad picture for her if we were to report it."

Kwill shrugged and said, "She could cover it up with propaganda and/or call the reports acts of treason against her."

I shook my head. "I'm pretty sure just talking about this is treason."

When we arrived at my tent I bid Kwill goodnight and slipped inside, took off my armor, putting it away this time, and crawled under the blankets. I was stuck in deep though that night.
There was no way that Princess Celestia would set us up for this. But if she did...why?

I put myself to sleep by humming the song that Princess Luna hummed during my dream the previous night. That night, I had a dream that, from then on, changed my entire life forever.

The Dream

All I saw was black; I didn't even seem to be standing on a solid surface. Everything was pitch black--there didn't seem o be anything to see. The crushing darkness started to make me feel exceedingly uncomfortable.

The never-ending black then started turning to a dark grey. I looked up and saw that an artificial moon was forming in what would have been the sky. The moon's brightness continued to rise until I finally had to look away, it was so bright.

In my peripheral vision I saw a shape form from out of the moon. It didn't have a specific shape. It was just an amoebic mass that was so black it seemed to absorb the light around it.

The viscous shadow lowered itself from the grey "sky" until it was eye-level with me at about five meters or so away.

Finally, the black amoeba writhed itself int an oval shape.

Images suddenly appeared on the oval, as though they were being projected from somewhere. A the images showed different things--my parents; me and Kwill when we were younger--I realized it was showing me my memories.

"Why?" I asked to nothing in particular.

The images shifted to memories of the small grocery store that my parents passed dwon to me.

"I remember that," I said, suddenly recalling why I was in Princess Celestia's Royal Guard, "I never got very good business."

The images shifted to two ponies in business suits.

"Without very much money I couldn't pay the rent to the company that my parents leased the building from. They threatened to evict me."

The image shifted again, this time to an image of a bank.

"I was desperate," I explained, "I tried to rob a bank to get enough money to pay the rent." Tears started to form as images of Celestia and the Guard appeared. "I was arrested in the act. The Princess said I could redeem myself if I served in her Guard."

The tears started to slowly slide down my cheeks.

Finally the images disappeared and the amoeba started writhing again. It grew front legs and back legs. It grew a neck and a head. The head sprouted ears and a spiraled horn. A mane that sparkled like starlight flowed outward form the back of the neck. It grew a tail the same color as the mane. A pair of wings sprouted form the amoeba's sides.

Standing where the amoeba was moments before was the Royal Princess of the Night, Princess Luna.

Suddenly my heart launched into my throat, my tear ducts felt like they burst, and I broke down right there in front of her. Tears streamed down my face as I practically shouted, "Oh, Luna! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I was desperate! Please! Please forgive me!"

She lifted my chin up with a gentle hoof and looked at me with a calm, understanding look in her eyes. "Thou are forgiven. But save thy tears for the news to come, Midnight."

She then spread her wings and lifted herself to the moon until she was but a silhouette against the white orb.

When she was in place an explosion of moonbeams scattered throughout the darkness until the void was as bright as day.

Soldiers from my squad started to materialize around me, Kwill coming up on my left. We looked at each other with confused looks. I saw that his eyes were red as though he had been crying.

"What are you doing in my dream?" he asked.

"Your dream?" As more ponies from our troop kept appearing I finally realized that everypony's dreams were being massed into one.

Round Shield and Silver Hooves were on my right.

When everypony form our troop had appeared, Princess Luna addressed us, "Everypony! We have distressing news: Princess Celestia has abandoned thee!"

At this, startled and surprised murmurs ran through the crowd.

Luna continued, "She has seen thee as nothing more than blights upon her Guard with thine injuries," she gestured to Round Shield who looked at the stump of his back-left leg, "thine defects," she gestured to Kwill who had more tears rolling down his face, "and thine criminal histories," she gestured to me. "She created the reports of the attacks on the Everfree Village, and sent thee out here on a false mission to freeze, and die alone.

"Well, we will tell you right now: thou are no blight, thou are not weak, and thou are not alone!"

She spread her feathered, ebony wings to their full width, her eyes turned as white as the moon behind her, and her horn glowed a dark blue that spread to the rest of her body. The blue light then spread to the rest of us and a very elaborate armor materialized on our bodies.

The armor was ebony, dark blue, and black. It was the same design as the armor that Nightmare Moon wore, but each piece was adorned with a different constellation. On the brow of the helmet and the middle of the chest-plate was a crescent moon.

The hoof guards were complex pieces of equipment; the hoof guard on my right forehoof had a cuff on the far outside that could swivel and lock in place by way of a gear. A sword's handle was supposed to go into the cuff and lock in place.
When not in use the cuff would swivel so that the sword pointed upward so it wouldn't jab into the ground.

On the opposite hoof guard was a lock where a shield would attach.

We looked at each other in awe until Luna said, "Thou are now my elite Soldiers of the Night! Thou are nocturnal! We rule through the night until the light of dawn!" She took a pause and said, "Now, by the powers vested in us, we hereby pardon thee of all wrongs thou may have committed!"

The dream finally started to fade away, but before it vanished completely Princess Luna said one more thing: "Sleep until the night, troops! We shall meet again to fight the evils that dwell in our shadows!"

Training

When I woke, the first thing I noticed was that it was still rather dark. I stayed under the covers to wait until Reveille sounded at dawn, but it was only getting darker.

"What...?" Confused, I exited my tent and instead of light rising form the east, I saw light receding in the west. Did we sleep through the entire day? I saw other ponies exit their tents and notice the same thing I did about the sunlight.

I dashed back into my tent and searched for my Royal Guard armor, and found that it had changed into the armor from the mass-dream.

I slowly walked back outside trying to comprehend what had taken place last night.

I walked over to Kwill's tent and pushed aside the front flap, finding Kwill with his hooves on either side of his head, hyperventilating; his eyes were wide, his pupils fearfully dilated.

he didn't even look up when he asked, panicked, "Did that really happen last night? Did that happen?"

He stood up and started rapidly pacing across the small expanse of his tent. "Princess Celestia...abandoned us? Why would she do that? How could she do that?!" He stopped and looked at me. "Did...that...happen?"

"Yes," I replied, "I'm afraid it did."

Kwill collapsed onto his rump and started trembling in shock, his mouth hanging open.

I pulled a blanked from the floor with my teeth and draped it over him and said, "I don't know why Celestia would behave this way. It doesn't make any sense to me either."

Kwill looked up at me. "Apparently you're not affected as heavily by it as I am!" Kwill shouted. "I on the other hand...the Royal Guard was my life! How could she take that away from me! ...From us!

I just looked at the ground; I didn't have a reply.

After a few more minutes of ranting, Kwill took a deep breath, donned his new armor, and we stepped outside together.

We walked in silence for a couple moments until I finally said, "At least you're not afraid of the dark. What's a nocturnal pony who's afraid of the dark?"

Kwill chuckled, but then he full-on laughed.

"It's not funny!" I shouted, even as some amusement crept over my face and I started to laugh along with him.

Kwill wiped his eyes and said, "Well, that's awkward. You're now nocturnal but you're afraid of the dark..." He shook his head. "That's just ironic on so many levels. I don't know what Luna was thinking making you into what we are now. Who knows? Maybe you'll get over it?"

We stopped at my tent so I could grab by own armor.

At that time the sunset had completely faded away, and the moon had finally risen just above the treetops.

I noticed that, as it grew darker, my eyesight was getting better, as though they were modified to see in the dark.

A shadow appeared on the moon, and from out of that shadow appeared Princess Luna, who proceeded to glide down to the middle of our encampment and addressed us all in her Canterlot voice, "Soldiers of the Night! Come forth, for thy new liege has arrived!"

Round Shield stepped forward, and we saw, to our amazement, that he had all four legs back. "You heard her, stallions! Form up! Our leader wants words!"

"He's quick to change loyalties," Kwill whispered to me. "It's as though he wasn't affected at all by last night's news!"

"I guess you can't dwell on past matters," I whispered back, "otherwise you'll most likely be haunted by them for the rest of your life. Not to mention, Luna healed him of his missing leg! I guess that's reason enough for him to change loyalties."

When everypony had arrived, Luna began, "We must begin training at once! Thou must learn how to use your new hoof guards. Round Shield, please step up."

I noticed that she was wearing the same armor that we were wearing. Does she intend to fight alongside us?

Round Shield did as told.

When he was about ten meters away, Luna said, "Attack us."

Round Shield was taken aback. "Your Highness? I don't think I could bring myself to hurt--,"

"Do not think of us as your rulers right now. Think of us as some horrible creature that needs to be put out of its misery. Show no mercy!"

Round Shield was still rather hesitant, but he did as Princess Luna commanded. Before he did anything, Luna instructed, "Thy blade is connected to thine thoughts. Use thine mind to tell the blade what to do. To bring it forward, say in thine mind, 'Forward.'"

After a moment Round Shield's blade was no longer pointing up, but turned to point forward.

"Now, attack!" Luna yelled. She hand't pointed her own sword forward yet.

Round Shield charged. I could barely look, but I forced myself to anyway. Round Shield tried to thrust his sword at Luna's chest, but she quickly swept the blade aside with her shield. When he was wide open, she hit Round Shield in the chest with her sword's pommel--for he couldn't bring his shield forward without losing balance--knocking him across the circle that we formed.

We stood there motionless, in shock, staring at the bested best. Round Shield was the greatest swordspony we knew, yet here he was lying on the moonlit dirt, wind knocked out of him. We knew at that moment that we were fighting things that our wildest nightmares couldn't possibly fathom.

"Thou are going to have to do better than that if thou are going to survive even a single night!" Luna proclaimed.

Round Shield stood up, coughing to get air into his lungs again. He stood, faced Luna again, and charged, this time zig-zagging in an attempt to confuse Luna so that she wouldn't know which direction he was going to attack.

Luna remained motionless.

When Round Shield was close enough, he veered to his left, Luna's sword-hoof's side, and tried to stab at her side. Luna didn't even flinch as Round Shield proceeded to try to stab at her. To Round Shield's astonishment, the blade only glanced off of the armor in a small shower of sparks; the blade didn't even leave a dent.

Luna swept Round Shield from off of his hooves with her right wing, which she had lifted as Shield attacked her side to keep it from getting punctured.

Their dancing continued for a few minutes, until Round Shield was finally able to get the edge of his sword up to Luna's chin.

"Very good," she breathed.

Round Shield lowered his sword, his legs shaking with exertion, his breath heavy.

Luna said to us, "Get into groups of two and spar until the moon has lowered beneath the trees. At that time, we will show you how to use your shield not only for defense, but for offense as well."

Kwill and I found a bare spot to spar in. Kwill took an offensive stance as I stood my ground in a more defensive stature. Kwill and I stood, studying each other; how was one going to attack? How was the other going to defend?

Kwill brought his sword forward.

I continued to watch for anything that might betray his movements: eye movements, shiftiness, twitch of the ear, tail, anything.

Finally, he charged.

His eyes suddenly shifted to my left. I stepped to the right, told my sword to come forth, and brought the flat of my sword around to land on his flank as he sped past me; he was moving too fast to slow down in time.

He was able to finally skid to a stop to face me again. This time I charged as he was still getting his bearings. He brought his sword forward so as I might impale myself upon it, but I brought my shield up to knock his sword skyward just as my sword receded to point toward my shoulder, and thrust my sword's pommel into his chest-plate, knocking him to the ground. He lay on the ground, groaning.

I decided I may have gone a little overboard with that routine. I went over and offered him my hoof to help him. He took it, and stood back up.

"You want to go again?" I asked.

"Have at thee!"

We continued until the moon had lowered behind the treetops and Luna called us back for offensive shield maneuvers. We then sparred some more to practice those maneuvers.

After this, the first light of dawn was starting to appear. We were tired and beaten, but we felt like we accomplished something that night.

The next night, Luna taught us how disappear from one area and reappear in a different area via the shadows on the ground, called "Shadow Teleportation".

"It's rather difficult at first, for thou must feel like thou are part of the shadow thou are trying to use for the teleportation. Thou must also determine which shadow thou want to reappear in before the process, otherwise thou will become one with the shadow world and never get out. That is why thou must master this technique in case thou need to get thyself out of a sticky situation. It must be flawless, or it will have dire consequences." She walked over to a shadow of a tree, gestured at a shadow across the clearing, and said, "We are going to reappear over there."

She closed her eyes, stood motionless, and seemed to quickly sink into the shadow she was standing in. We looked over to the other shadow and, sure enough, she had successfully reappeared in that shadow.

"Is anypony brave enough to go first?" she asked in almost a sing-song voice.

Kwill decided he would try it first.

"Remember," Luna told him, "make sure thou knows where thou wants to go first."

Kwill nodded, stepped into a shadow, and, after a few moments, sunk completely into the shadow. He didn't reappear for a couple seconds; I began to worry he may have been lost to the shadow world.

But he managed to reappear in my own shadow.

"Well done, Kwill!" exclaimed Luna.

"Thank you, Princess," he replied, blushing.

"Anypony else?" she asked.

"I will," I said as I raised my hoof. I stepped forward into the shadow that Kwill had used. I located a shadow on the other side of the clearing. That one. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and said to myself, I am one with the shadow. I am one with the shadow. I am one with the shadow. I continued repeating this to myself until Round Shield shouted, somewhat distantly, "Oi! Midnight! Open your bloody eyes!"

I opened them and saw that I was not standing near the rest of the troop, but in the shadow that I had chosen as my destination. Amazing! I didn't even feel myself move at all!

I trotted back over, giddiness overtaking me as the though of what I had just risked finally registered into my mind.

"Very good, Midnight!" Luna said as I took my place next to Kwill. "A bit late on realizing thou had arrived at thy destination, but otherwise very well done!"

"Thank you, Princess!"

It took about an hour for everypony else to practice the Shadow Teleportation. After that we were told to practice the maneuver during battle practice.

We continued until dawn approached, and we turned in for the day.
The next evening, we went through a different drill that tested us of everything we had learned.

The next week, we got some very big news.

A Walk Through the Woods

When Luna landed onto the earth in our soon-to-be-vacant campsite, Round Shield shouted, "Stallions! Form up! Two rows! Single file! Midnight and Kwill! You've got the supply carts!"

"Yes, Sir!" we replied, after which Kwill gave out a small grown.

When our troop had formed two more-or-less straight lines, Luna strode along the file giving something of a pep talk. "This night, we begin our march into our first battle! We will make Kekra wish she had never enslaved and kidnapped innocent ponies! We will give no quarter to the guilty! Show no mercy to the slavers! We will win this battle and we will show my sister that you are not the weak, whimpering foals she thinks you are! For we are the Soldiers of the Night!"

The entire troop cried out with a bloodcurdling roar as Princess Luna delivered the final sentence. I merely stared at the ground between my hooves in silence. After about a half-minute, the troop finally died down, and Princess Luna flew into the night sky.

Round Shield, who was at the head of the column with Silver Hooves, shouted, "Stallions! Forward march!" and we all moved as one into the dark forest.

Even though I was with other ponies, I was still afraid of the dark. I couldn't bear not knowing what was hiding in those trees watching us, if there was anything there at all.

What made it worse was my reluctance to fight in this battle. I don't think I could ever bring myself to kill a fellow pony. yeah, I had the potential to fight Changelings--they're not even ponies--but other pony beings? I don't think I could stomach taking the life of a fellow pony.

My brain had decided to split into two parts, one side saying I should fight, the other trying to be more reasonable.

...But they're supposedly enslaving other ponies; that makes it okay to bring justice upon them, right?

Killing isn't justice, it's murder; besides, I think I'm going to have to see if for myself before I can judge whether somepony deserves to live or die.

They're raiding villages, kidnapping innocent ponies, using them for who-knows-what!

Again, I'll believe it when I see it.

When you do see it, and it turns out to be true, then will you be willing to fight...to kill? I shook my head, trying to clear away the conflict for at least tonight.

We stopped when the sun was starting to rise. Because we were going to continue moving the next evening we decided not to set up tents; it would only slow us down. So, we got out our bedrolls and sleeping bags, and set up on either side of the road.

During the day, I was awakened by the sounds of hoofsteps.

I got up to see Princess Luna standing in the shadow of a tree. I decided to talk to her to see if she could help me with my predicament. I walked over to her side, making my presence known with a simple, "Princess."

She responded, "Midnight."

After a few minutes of silence I sighed and began, "Princess, I don't know whether or not I should partake in this battle." She looked over at me with a curious look, and I continued, "I don't think I could bring myself to kill another pony. Changelings I can manage--they're just animals who feed on the love we have for others--but ponies are a whole different smoke. Do you know what I should do?"

Luna stared into the distance for a few seconds before replying, "Midnight, we are sorry, but we don't think we can help thee with this. This is something thou must decide for thyself. We can give thee a nudge, but in the end it's going to have to be thou who makes the right decision."

I lowered my head and said, "I understand, Your Highness."

Just then I heard the sound of carts rolling through the mud. I looked toward the road and saw what appeared to be an exodus: simple, grim-faced pony folk were hauling bags, and carts all loaded with supplies. They were going north toward Canterlot, the opposite direction of where our troop was going.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"Refugees from Kekra's attacks, seeking shelter and protection," Luna answered. I looked at her and noticed something in her eyes: a mixture of sadness and fury, no doubt building up to be released in the coming battle.

"Refugees?" This was worse that I thought! "There are so few of them."

"Kekra leaves little to now survivors."

"What does she do with the ones she captures?"

"Forces some into her ranks, uses some as servants...others she uses for personal sacrifices."

"What?! Sacrifices?!"

"The Dark Ones are a cult who believe that they are the only 'pure' race. Kekra's followers worship her as a deity. They make sacrifices of those ponies they capture who are seen as too weak to be used as anything else."

"You've seen this before?" I asked with rising panic.

She closed her eyes and bowed her head in sadness. "Yes, we have." Her horn began to glow blue and an image appeared before us. It showed some form of congregation of ponies all dressed in black, simple, hooded cloaks. At the head of this congregation was a raised stone dais. Upon this dais was a crying little colt. He was being held down by two ponies, one at each end of the dais. Another pony walked up to the table, an elaborate dagger held between its teeth. A Unicorn in a more adorned cloak, whom I took to be Kekra, was observing from a decorated rock, just beyond the sacrificial table. Another Unicorn raised the dagger with magic, pointed it downward toward the wide-eyed colt...and the image faded.

"That's when we could look no more," Luna explained.

"Stars above," I muttered. Anger and fury which I had never felt before began to well up inside me. If there was one thing I hated more than killing, it was unjust killing for a false deity. "Thank you for the nudge, Princess. I will fight."

"Stallions! Wakey wakey! We've got marching to do! Round Shield's voice rang through the forest after Reveille had signaled sunset.

I wormed my way out of the sleeping bag, put on my armor, rolled everything up, threw it in the cart, hitched myself up, and I was ready to go.

"Well," Round Shield sarcastically observed, "I'd say that was the fastest clean-up I've seen you do yet, Midnight."

I responded with a short, "Sir."

Round Shield looked at me questioningly and asked, "Why so grim? I though I was the serious one around here?"

"Sorry Sir, but after what Princess Luna showed me last day, I think the only thing that will humor me will be the screams of terror from the so-called Dark Ones as we descend upon their ranks."

"What did she show you? Kwill, who was watching a little ways away, asked.

"The Dark Ones apparently make sacrifices to their leader. They believe she's some sort of deity."

"Are you serious?" Kwill asked.

"Yes," I replied, "but we are going to make their all-powerful goddess bleed."

"Oooh," Round Shield said. "I'm gettin' tingles."

We continued marching through the forest all through the night. We ended up marching past a camp of refugees. Having been awakened by the sound of our marching, a few curious, wide-eyed faces peered out of their tents and stared at us until we marched past.

The next morning, we rolled out our sleeping bags and went to bed, but none of us could sleep for the anticipation of the coming battle.

When the sun set, we packed our things in an eerie silence; there were no thoughts to share that had already been said. Tonight was the night we would meet the Dark Ones in the field of battle.

Princess Luna stepped forward and said, "We need a Pegasus to scout out the location of the Dark Ones."

One of the Pegasi who had been part of the trio that brought the fateful news of Everfree Village raised his hoof. "I'll go."

"Very well. We need that report when the moon rises."

The Pegasus replied, "Yes, Princess!" and took off to the south.

Kwill and I sere sparring when the Pegasus returned just as the first light of the waning crescent was visible on the obscured horizon.

"Your Majesty," he panted, "the Dark Ones are on the plains just bordering the forest. We're about a good hour's march away from exiting the forest."

"Good work," she replied. She looked to Round Shield, who stood nearby with Silver Hooves, and nodded.

Round Shield filled his lungs and shouted, "Alright, stallions! Form up! We march for the plains!"

The Battle

The Pegasus spoke true, for it was about an hour that the trees broke, and we entered onto a vast snow-covered plain. I could see small dwellings in the distance to the west; to the east was flatland; to the south we could see a shimmering line that spanned a small portion of the horizon.

Luna glared toward the shimmering line and said, "Look well troops, for before us stands our foe: the Dark Ones. Show no mercy, for thou shall receive none! Forward march!"

We marched across the plain, approaching the row of cultists slowly but surely.

Fifteen minutes we marched, our troop expanding until it was but three lines of ponies, each about a quarter mile long, until both armies were half a mile away from each other. Then, we stopped.

A voice from our enemy reached our ears: "Luna! Why don't you run along home to Canterlot to your sniveling disgrace of a sister?"

Luna shouted back, "Why would we do that when we could easily send thee in our stead in chains, Kekra?"

"Is that a challenge?!"

"No, that was an acceptance of thine surrender!"

Kekra roared in fury and charged, her army following behind her.

Luna brought her sword forward and yelled, "Soldiers of the Night! Charge!" and we galloped across the plains toward Armageddon. Time seemed to slow down as both armies got closer to each other. I brought my sword forward. Kwill and I exchanged glances. A great roar sounded in my ears, and we clashed.

I ran into a cultist who tried to slash at me with a dagger tied to hos hoof. I dodged the attach and hit him in the head with my shield sending him sprawling, unconscious, onto the snow only to be trampled by other ponies, Kekra's and Luna's alike. I slashed at another cultist, but my blade bounced off of him with a clang. He tried to go for a chest jab during my rebound, but I parried with my sword and sent my own blade so far through his hooded head that the tip protruded through the other side of his hood.

One, I though to myself. My blade was pinched inside the pony's head; I had a little trouble getting it out, during which time two cultist tried to descend upon me from behind.

Idiots, I though as I bucked one of them in the face, feeling a crunch as his muzzle caved in. Two. The other stepped to my right to take advantage of my stuck sword predicament. I was powerless to stop his blade from coming down, but before he could touch me, Kwill rammed into his side, sending him crashing to the ground. I let out a sigh of relief when he sent his sword through the cultist's armpit.

I gave him a wide-eyed nod. "Thanks."

He looked at me and trod over to me. He started hacking away at the corpse's head to help free my sword.

After, we turned and we were able to spy Luna and Kekra dueling each other with both arms and magic. We tried to make our way toward them to give Luna a hoof, but we were quickly blocked by three more cultists. We charged at each other.

Kwill sustained a cut on the left of his face. We dispatched the cultists and continued making our way to Luna and Kekra. I quickly ran through my body count through my head. Four.

We were finally able to reach Luna and Kekra. Before we could attack Kekra, though, Round Shield bounded forward and tried to charge Kekra's flank, but she quickly turned and sent a bolt of cold, white lightning toward Round Shield which struck him in the chest. I heard Kwill shout, "No! Round Shield!" and went to catch our sergeant's scorched body. I just stopped and stared, my eyes wide, my brain not being able to comprehend what had just happened.

It was only when I felt pain in my back-left leg that I snapped from my reverie. I turned my head and saw that a cultist had sneaked up on me and stuck me with a dagger. I turned the rest of my body, yanking the blade from my leg, and brought my shield across the cultist's face, snapping his neck from the force of the blow. Five.

Luna and Kekra were still locked in combat. I ran toward Kekra, blade put away. I barely heard Kwill shout, "Midnight! Wait!" I ignored him. Kekra turned toward me and things happened in slow motion.

Kekra's horn glowed white. Lightning shot from the tip. I melted into the shadow, narrowly missing the deadly electricity. I reappeared in her shadow. I brought my sword forward and across, severing Kekra's horn from her head. Luna shot a bolt of blue energy toward Kekra's stump of a horn. Kekra fell to the ground, her head a smoking mass.

Suddenly, everypony stopped. We knew the battle was over. The cultists laid down their weapons and lowered their heads in surrender. We lined them up in single file and presented them before Luna. She exhaled, inhaled and said, "All of thee who wish to join our ranks, step forward! We promise no harm will fall upon thee!" Fourteen of the twenty-one survivors stepped forward. The others remained motionless. "Very well. The rest of thee shall be tried for treason! You are now at the mercy of Princess Celestia!" With that, Luna cast a spell and the seven cultists who did not step forward disappeared. "It would seem that our sister will find that she is missing room in her dungeons."

Luna approached the body of Round Shield whom Silver Hooves was cradling. He laid out his body in front of Luna.

Luna asked, "Would anypony like to say any words?"

Silver Hooves stepped forward. "Round Shield," he began, "you were the best leader we could ever have. You always got us into the stickiest situations, but you would always gut us back out. You were our mentor and taught us...well, you didn't really teach us anything besides discipline, and you were really good at that. In the end you got what you wanted: a glorious death in battle. I hope it was glorious enough."

Silver Hooves stepped backward. Luna cast a spell and Round Shield's body turned into stardust and floated up to the sky.

What Are We?

Dawn approached as we were patching ourselves up and healing our wounded. We decided to set up camp a little ways away from the battlefield. I watched the sun rise for the first time in nine days. I ached practically everywhere, my muscles were sore. My entire body yearned to get out of the heavy metal of my armor.

Kwill approached me, a bandage on the left side of his face. "It's getting late," he said, "we should head for bed. We need the rest."

"I know."

Kwill sighed, bid me good-day, and headed to his tent.

I finally realized who I was meant to be. No longer was I afraid of the dark; I yearned for it.
No longer did I walk among the Solar Empire; as far as they were concerned, I was an outcast.

But we all now see a different kind of light. The light of the Moon. For we are, and always will be, Princess Luna's Soldiers of the Night.

A Small Visit

During the night I had a rather odd dream: I was walking along a moonlit riverside with one side--the side across from me--bearing a treeline.

At first I only heard two things: my hoofsteps, and the gentle burbling of the river. But then I heard a third noise, louder than even the river: humming. It was coming from inside the treeline quiet at first, but then it got louder and closer.

After a few moments I finally found the source of the humming, for a pony, hooded and cloaked, face obscured, slowly walked out of the treeline. I couldn't even see the pony's mane or tail. The only things I could make out from the pony was that it was a mare, for the humming had a feminine tone, and that she was a Unicorn, for I could see the tip of a spiraled horn protruding out from under the hood. The cloak was too long for me to see her hooves.

Still humming, she approached the riverbank, lowered her head to the water, and took long gulps of the clear liquid.

After she drank her fill, she lifted her head and looked directly at me. The last thing I saw were her eyelids lifting to reveal two white, glowing orbs.

As the dream faded away only one waking thought raced across my mind: Luna!

The Dark Ones

Luna landed in our clearing the way she did every night since that one. She filled her lungs and proclaimed, "Soldiers! We have received word from the Celestial Dragons that the creatures we have feared were going to be on the move have started moving!"

The Celestial Dragons! The princesses are in league with the Celestial Dragons?! the Celestial Dragons are a mysterious race of Dragons that reside in space and supposedly know everything there is to know about the cosmos. They create and watch over the stars, which also means that they know the fate of every living thing, but they reveal specific fates to only a select few. Maybe now that we're part of a more elite troop, we'll actually get to meet them?

But Princess Luna said she's afraid of something? What could be so powerful that it would have the Ruler of the Night afraid?

Luna continued, "They are creatures known as the Dark Ones; they are like us, nocturnal, using the shadows to their advantage, outcast by Celestia, but they seek to enslave all races for their own uses. They are led by a dark mare known as Kekra. She is very powerful and she must be stopped. The Dragons tell me the Dark Ones have been moving through the countryside near Ponyvill. We intend to meet them in battle on the plains near this forest two days from now. We must move tonight!"

She lifted off the ground, saying, "We will return within the hour. By then we must be ready to march." She flew away, leaving us to clear up camp.

I was lost in though as I packed my things. We're finally going into combat. I don't know how I should feel about this. We'll be fighting in the dark! Well, at least we'll be on open ground.

I dragged my saddlebags out of my tent to start collapsing it. I unstaked the two main poled on either end. When the tent crumpled in on itself, I took a look at other ponies in the troop. They all had some form of grin on their face. Even Kwill looked a little excited. Everyone looks so happy to finally see some action. So, why am I full of dread when I think of the coming battle? I sighed again, rolled up my tent, stuffed it with my saddlebags, and plopped onto the ground to await Princess Luna.