Shepherd's Barracks, Training Yard

One week after Twilight, Sunset, and Spike's arrival in Ylisse

Sunset Shimmer deflected a blow from her opponent's wooden sword with the flat of her own wooden blade, and lunged forward, hoping to land the final blow. Her adversary, Lon'qu, easily dodged to the side and slashed at her arm. Sunset ducked, and countered the follow-up strike, as their feet left many marks in the sand beneath them.

Watching this session was Twilight and Lucina, with both of them resting off to the side under a balcony. Two large canteens of water lay nearby, and Twilight's face was streaked with sweat. She wiped her brow and forehead clear with her already-damp sleeve, and began to catch her breath at last. They had just finished a lance-training session, and Twilight was quite exhausted, mentally and physically.

In the week since their arrival in Ylisse, Twilight, Sunset, and Spike had been quite busy. After their first meeting with the Shepherds, each of the three Equestrians were assigned a pair of mentors to help them in their training and adjust to Ylissean life.

For Twilight, her mentors were Robin and Lucina, Sunset's were Frederick and Lon'qu, and Spike's case had been taken up by Tiki and Nowi. All three of them had been journaling their progress and observations in their spare time, and each had already filled up one journal apiece. After all, having to learn everything that the Shepherds did over their various tenures meant intensive study in more than a few subjects.

Sunset had immediately taken quite readily to using a sword, and as Lon'qu put it, she was improving steadily with each sparring session. Twilight had begun learning how to use Ylissean combat magic from Robin, and lances from Lucina. Both of them were among the foremost in those fields, but not the best, meaning that advanced training could come later.

On the other hand, Spike had begun working in the Ylissean Archives, where his skills in maintaining books and libraries could be put to good use. After all, you didn't become the number-one assistant to a Princess of Equestria without picking a few habits up. Tiki had started Spike's training off on transcribing some of her stories from her time with the Hero-King Marth, and he already had one almost memorized.

Now, as Sunset continued to dodge, parry, and counterattack against her opponent, Twilight watched with bated breath. Lon'qu's movements were very hard to keep track of, and his skill with a sword was undeniable.

"How'd he learn to fight like that?" Twilight asked Lucina.

"From what I know, Lon'qu has trained with the sword his entire life." Lucina replied. "He even served Khan Basilio of Regna Ferox for a time as his champion, which honed his abilities further through combat in the Feroxi arenas. I did have to unseat him for a time in order to help my father out during the early stages of the war against Plegia, but it all worked out in the end."

"I see." Twilight nodded. "So...the Feroxi Khans, they decide who rules for a time based solely on gladiatorial combat?"

"To a point." Lucina said, after taking a sip of water. "The West-Khan and the East Khan, in this case Basilio and Flavia, do have their champions enter combat to decide who rules for a seven-year term, if I remember correctly. Father and the Shepherds actually helped Flavia defeat Basilio, and thus, she took over during the duration of the wars against Plegia, Valm, and the Grimleal."

"An interesting system." Twilight noted. "I"ll have to ask either of the Khans for more info if I ever meet them."

"You probably will at some point." Lucina replied. "They usually visit at times of importance, so don't be overly concerned with it."

At that, they turned back to watch the end of Sunset's sparring session. Sunset was getting tired, and her movements were becoming slower and less steady in the process. She tried to dodge a final cut from Lon'qu to her torso, but she stumbled upon doing so. The Feroxi swordsmaster jabbed her in the chest, causing her to fall to the ground in a heap. After a few moments, breathing hard, she stood back up and looked at her Mentor, awaiting his observations.

"You're doing well, Sunset." Lon'qu reported. "You need to keep your guard up towards your chest and front, and learn not to draw out a duel when it is not necessary to do so. The longer a duel lasts, the more chances there are that you will fall instead of triumph. Aim to finish those fights quickly."

Sunset nodded, as she was too exhausted to speak. As she staggered over and re-racked her wooden sword, Twilight offered her a canteen of water. Sunset took a long drink, and once she was finished, wiped her mouth clear.

"Thanks." she rasped, sitting down. "…what's next?"

"That's all for now, I believe, but let me be sure." Lucina said, standing up and consulting a list of tasks she pulled out of her satchel. "Yes, you're all set for the evening, and I would recommend getting some rest."

"We'll make sure to." Twilight said, as the two Equestrians headed to the main barracks. There, they would find clean clothes and a warm shower, and after that, a fine dinner. Which, to the two worn-out Equestrians, sounded just about perfect to them both.

====

After spending nearly ten minutes each in the baths, Twilight and Sunset, now very much refreshed, and in clean and dry clothes, headed towards the dining area. The two of them had partially made up over the incident that brought them to Ylisse, and for now, the Element of Magic was kept in a safe in the barracks that, for now, only Chrom or Robin could open.

Once they retrieved their plates and silverware, and then took their seats, it wasn't long before the rest of the Shepherds filed in and did the same. Only, there was a new face in the crowd. Sunset and Twilight blinked a few times at seeing her, because she wore the exact same attire as Robin, and both had gray eyes.

"Who is she?" Twilight whispered. "She's definitely a Shepherd like us, but we didn't see her a week ago."

"Well, judging by the fact that she's wearing Grandmaster's attire, and kind of looks like Robin if he was a she, if you get my meaning…" Sunset replied. 'Maybe it's one of his relatives or something?"

"Those are good observations" the woman called over to them both, causing them to double-take as she approached. "I was in the field with my unit when you arrived a week ago, so I wasn't able to meet you until now."

"My name is Reflet, and I'm Robin's younger sister."

"It's nice to meet you." Twilight said, as she and Sunset shook hands with their new acquaintance. "I take it you're a Shepherd?"

"Not exactly." Reflet replied, sitting down. "I lead the Ylissean Outguard, a special unit that's …partially like the Shepherds. The reason that we're not as well known is that we like it that way. We deal with threats to the Halidom before they would require intervention from the Shepherds or the Ylissean army."

"For example, we've just come back from stopping a group of pirates from setting up a main camp in the eastern shores. Many of our missions are…preemptive, I suppose you could say."

"Really?" Twilight was astonished, yet impressed. "That's fascinating. How did you come up with that?"

"It was my brother's idea, and once the Exalt gave approval, I volunteered to lead and train those that joined me." Reflet nodded. "It's not exactly a role that gets you publicly rewarded, but the best rewards are often the small ones.”

“Such as the look of relief on a village chief's face when I told him that those pirates I mentioned wouldn't be a problem to his people going forward."

“So, on another note, how’d you three join the Shepherds? I’d imagine it happened recently.”

“We joined a week ago, and it’s a particularly long and complicated story.” Twilight replied. “We’re still working things out on our end.”

“I’d like to hear it sometime, but I won’t press you further.” Reflet nodded. As the four of them turned to their food-laden plates and just then began to eat, the sound of a bell could be heard from the center of the camp. To the Equestrians’ collective surprise, everyone present promptly stopped what they were doing and headed out of the mess hall.

“What’s going on?” Twilight called out to Gaius, who was passing by. “Where’s everyone going?”

“To the main hall!” Gaius replied. “That bell means we’ve got somewhere else to be! So get moving!”

After they hastily said goodbye to Reflet, the three Equestrians followed after Gaius, leaving their plates behind as well.

====

“Alright, is everyone here?” Chrom called out from the command table in the main hall as the Shepherds filed in and took their seats, with Twilight, Spike, and Sunset finding seats near the middle. Once Chrom was notified that all the currently available Shepherds were present, he cleared his throat and began to speak.

“We’ve just received a letter from a messenger that came from a village in the southwestern coasts of Ylisse. A few splintered pirate crews have apparently united under a new leader, and they’ve been raising hell at any village they find.”

“Sounds simple enough to me.” Vaike called out.

“You’d be mistaken, Vaike.” Chrom continued. “These pirates have also gotten into the slave trade, and have taken several hostages as leverage over the villages they’ve attacked to keep them from calling for help.”

“The messenger that we just received was one of these hostages, but he managed to escape and made it all the way here on horseback to warn us of their next target, which they plan to hit in three day’s time. Robin has already come up with our battle plan, which is as follows..”

Robin then came forward and set up a map for all to see as he spoke.

“We know that the pirates are heading to the northwest, and their next target is a village with a large bay to its south. There’s two main routes to get across the bay, a stone bridge and a foot trail. The bridge is the fastest way to the village, but is completely exposed to aerial and ranged attack. The foot trail is a long way around, but it’s heavily forested and thus impervious to mounted attack.”

“As such, our plan is to form a two-pronged defense on both the bridge and the clear end of the trail, and lure the pirates into a bottleneck, where we can trap them once reinforcements arrive from the nearby forts. That means we’ll need two teams.”

“The first team, which will be positioned at the bridge, will be led by yours truly, and supported by…Virion, Frederick, Stahl, Cordelia, Kellam, Maribelle, and Twilight. The second team will be led by Chrom, and supported by Lon’qu, Sully, Vaike, Cherche, Gregor, and Sunset Shimmer. Each team will split up once we know the pirates are coming, and take defensive positions at their assigned location. Once we have these pirates where we want them, we take our reinforcements, where we push to eliminate their commander and free the hostages.”

“Any questions?”

“How well are these pirates armed and organized?” Frederick asked.

“From what the messenger told us, they’re equipped with steel and iron weapons. They’ve also managed to recruit some mounted units, including cavaliers and Great Knights, with only a few magic users. Their leader is also reportedly a Griffon Rider, so expect most combat to be hand to hand.”

“Any chance of enemy reinforcements?” Vaike called.

“From what we can tell, the pirates are betting everything on this attack, so it’s not likely, but keep your eyes open. Our opponents are desperate, so they’ll try every trick they can think of to defeat us.”

“Any other questions? No? Then let’s get moving!”

As the Shepherds prepared to move out, Chrom brought Twilight and Sunset aside.

“This’ll be your first time in battle, so are you both prepared?” He asked. Twilight and Sunset both nodded in response.

“Good. Just keep in mind that these pirates are like many of the enemies we’ve fought in the past, meaning they will try to kill you and fight to the death if necessary. So show them the same. Understood?”

“Yes, we understand.” Sunset said. “You can count on us both.”

“Glad to hear it. Now mount up.”

As the three of them headed to the assembled convoy at the gates of the Shepherd’s barracks, Chrom rode out towards the southwest, and the others followed with great speed. Twilight breathed in and out, trying to steel herself for the upcoming battle as they rode.

However, as they passed by a thicket outside the walls of Ylisstol, a lone figure in the bushes watched them depart. He was clad in the Hoshidan garb of a Master Ninja, and was armed with a silver katana and shuriken.

Kaze gazed intently at the Shepherds as they vanished over the horizon, and then he leaped back into the shadows to alert his master, Corrin, the King of Valla, of this new development.

Author's Note

Update!