Author's Note

(See comments for pony guards captain name request)

Zeon is the name used in 'Anima: Beyond Fantasy' for a mage's mana pool.
Important aspects with mages in that setting are as follows.

Accumulation: How much zeon can be gathered from their pool in one combat round. If it is not enough to match the cost of a spell, it would require extra rounds to cast.
(one combat round is 3 seconds)

Innate spell: Is a spell with a zeon cost in a specific range, based on accumulation, that can be cast using nothing but environmental magic. High magic areas can increase the cost range. Normally a mage can only have one Innate spell going at a time, with a specific metamagic sphere it increases to two.

Metamagic sphere: Specialized magical training that modifies a caster's magic in various ways.

Zeon pool: Their internal reservoir of energy, used for casting spells.

Zeon regeneration: How much is restored to their pool on a daily basis. (Aidan's zeon regen happens at sunrise)

8- Recovery and Training

--Canterlot Castle: War Room--
-Two hours after the attack-

"I still can't believe you slept through all that!" Rainbow dash can't stop bringing up the topic. "I know I like to sleep, but you bring it to a whole new level. You could probably even sleep through a hurricane!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a deep sleeper. I'm well aware of it, now can we move past that?" Aidan desperately tries to change the subject.

The two are currently in the Canterlot Castle war room. After the earlier events, the two princesses have called an emergency meeting. Currently they are waiting on the other guard captains. Celestia and Luna both sit at the head of the table, reading the reports from the guards with Shining Armour's help. The other elements are sitting around Aidan, listening to him and Rainbow Dash go on about the whole sleeping through a battle thing.

Just as it seems Rainbow is about to continue on the subject, the door opens. Decorated earth pony, pegasus and unicorn guards enter the room and take the remaining open seats. "Good, we are all present. We may begin." Celestia speaks up, ending all other conversations.

"As all are aware, we have recently been attacked by forces never seen by ponykind. Our current information on these enemies is lacking. Luckily we do have someone here who knows of these creatures and their weaknesses." She gestures towards Aidan.

Aidan stands up and begins to inform those present. "The creatures that attacked are called Nyx, and they are darkness elementals. As they are made up of darkness made physical, most physical attacks will be as useful as fighting a fire with swords. To even have a chance at fighting them, one needs to use magic, enchanted items, or to channel's one's aura into their weapons."

"What do you mean by channeling aura?" the earth pony guard asks.

Aidan scratches the bridge of his nose. He knew this question was coming, but is still uncertain on how to answer."I am a poor teacher for this subject. As was explained to me, by the one who trained me in it's very basic use. Aura, or ki, is the power of one's soul. With training, one can learn to use it and even extend it past your body and through a weapon. This permits one to use even a stick to fight spirits or elemental creatures. You could even cut a spell in two with enough skill. Hopefully that makes sense."

"How about we move on, and you can try to explain it later." Luna interjects, to try and move the meeting forward.

"Good idea," Aidan agrees. "Continuing on, the Nyx are normally mindless servants and have limited range from their masters. The exception to this is if they are given a name by the one they serve. With the name comes personality and thought, as well as the ability to act independently and further from their master."

"It would seem the first priority will be having unicorns enchanting weapons for the guards." Shining Armour speaks up. "As it stands now the guards are not equipped to fight off another attack. The losses suffered from this attack are too great, and if they come in greater numbers."

"I agree with Shining Armour" the lunar guard captain adds in. "If not for the unicorn guards in the reserves, I'm afraid we would not have been able to drive them back."

"It is agreed. We will make the arrangements after sunrise." Celestia states, looking to her sister who nods in agreement. "I would also like to ask Aidan to train with our guard captains here. To teach them how best to fight these creatures."

"I'll see what I can do, but I'm not exactly the greatest with a sword. It would actually better to have them fight Cale." He motions to the owl on his shoulder. "He's the physical combatant between the two of us."

"You must be joking!" The unicorn guard speaks up, showing utter disdain for the idea of fighting an owl. "That thing would not last three seconds against even a recruit."

"You'll just have to see for yourself then." Aidan starts to take his seat once more, but is interrupted by Celestia.

"I think you have given us more than enough information at this time Aidan. If you wish, you may go rest before sunrise." She then turns her attention to the elements of harmony. "You all may want to go rest as well. Perhaps, it would be a good idea to have Aidan share Spike's room in the tower for the rest of the evening."

"Sure, this way I won't be the only guy there." Spike says excitedly.

"If Spike and Aidan are ok with it, I don't mind." Twilight nods while getting up from her seat. "We should go now if we want to get enough sleep before sunrise." She leads the way towards her tower.

--Canterlot Castle: Guard Training yard--
-Mid Morning, the next day-

Aidan stands in the training yard, having woken up with the sunrise. He takes the opportunity of the temporary quiet to work on his magical energies. With the new day, he was able to recover and restore some of his internal zeon reserves. With his magical energies restored, it also now permitted him to manipulate the ambient magic of the area. With the amount of magic in this world, he can cast more powerful spells as innate spell than normal.

Extending his index and middle finger, he begins to draw a symbol in the air while drawing on the ambient magical energies. A line of light is left behind, forming an arcane sigil. Upon the completion of the symbol, it fades and he begins to fly. Content with the effect, he begins to work on restoring his connection to his essence spell path. Taking a meditative position in the air, he begins focusing internally. Aidan manages to restore 12% of his path of essence before he is interrupted by the sound of ponies approaching.

"Is he floating? Without wings!?" Rainbow Dash asks, while she enters the training ground. She is accompanied by the rest of the elements of harmony, the two princesses, Cadence, Shining Armour and a handful of guards.

"I think he's using some sort of magic to fly." Twilight states as she pulls some parchment and quills out of her bag. "This is quite fascinating. I wonder if it's easier to cast than that spell I used to give Rarity wings. From when we visited Cloudsdale to cheer on Rainbow Dash."

"Don't remind me darling. I still sometimes have nightmares about falling out of the sky." Rarity says, while shuddering a little at the memory.

"Well I can't tell you how easy it would be for you to cast, but I only used the ambient energies to cast this spell." Aidan lands on the ground after speaking. "Is it time for the training session already?"

"Yes, if you don't mind. We can only stay awake so long after sunrise." Princess Luna says, as she takes a seat at the edge of the training ground. Her sister sits down next to her, placing a cup of tea down on a nearby table

Aidan nods an affirmative to Luna's request. "We are ready to start. Your guards just need to hit me to count as a win." He says while moving towards the center of the training grounds and sits down. "And they are more than welcome to use magic."

"You're joking right!?" a random unicorn guard states. "This is going to be too easy." The guard charges magic in her horn, attempting to telekinetically grip Aidan, to immobilize him. She then begins to strain in concentration. "I don't know how, but I can't get a grip on him. He's resisting the spell."

"Then try blasting him." A pegasus guard says as she charges at Aidan, wooden sword in hand. She gets within three feet of him, and within the blink of an eye is lying on her back in the grass. "What just happened? Where's my sword?"

Flying above Aidan, with the missing sword in claw, is Cale sounding out a simple "Who!"

"Did anybody else see that!?" Rainbow shouts out in sheers excitement. "That was AWESOME!"

Pinkie is dancing about with some pompoms. "He was all woosh, and kapow! Then she went flying and he took her sword!"

Twilight is just staring at the owl holding the sword, then looks to Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. "Are you two saying that you can see that!? All I saw was a silver blur." Pinkie and Rainbow both nod yes to the question.

"We now know for certain who defeated the shadows that got past the guards last night." Celestia says in between sips of her tea.

The guards start taking the training seriously, even the captains taking out wooden weapons. The unicorn captain takes charge and starts giving orders. "We attack in unison. Move as a squad and watch each other's flanks. He can't be everywhere at once." The guard force charges, together. Unicorns attacking with stunning spells, or using protective shields on their allies. Pegasus take to the sky and circle, waiting to exploit any opening. Earth pony take the direct route, and charge as one.

Cale moves with the ease of a master fighter. He darts about the ground, blocking blades and spells with silver wing. Countering with clenched claws against every blocked weapon. As the dust clears from the initial assault, the earth ponies are all defeated. There remains a third of the pegasus forces in the air, now keeping their distance. Only the unicorns have not suffered any losses.

"This is the sort of forces you can potentially face." Aidan says from his seated position. "Although Cale is individually stronger than the shadows that attacked. You must treat all encounters with the forces of my world, as if they had this potential. Underestimating them can lead to defeat." He stands up and Cale moves to perch on a training dummy. "Now, care to try spell combat?"

"I think we have been humiliated enough for one day." The unicorn captain says, quite humbled by the disparity in power. "And we would be grateful if your owl companion could help train us."

Cale takes wing and flies over to perch on Aidan's shoulder once more. "Good, let us begin."