Lycus’s death has affected us all, but he has taught us enough to keep his vision alive. Let us not undo all of his hard work turning the Academy from a factory of killers to a forge of heroes.
-Message from Acting Praetor Shani to all Academy Centurions and Optios

“We are done for today!” the man in front of the door called.

Sunset Shimmer let out a sigh of relief. She had made her way to the front of the line by this point. She’d already seen several eager recruits tossed out into the fountain by the big intimidating centurion, and she didn’t want that to happen to her.

She had woken up late. Morning always came whether she liked it or not. Both Rainbow and Starlight had made it to the line before her, and if she hadn’t seen so many potential recruits get thrown into the fountain (especially those with full tactical gear or plate armor), she would have assumed that both had already been accepted.

Most of the recruits had some armor they were wearing over their training uniform. She noted the shorter man who looked like he was part of the USMC playing some sort of card game with a Celtic girl.

There was also a girl in black armor. She had a scar over her right eye. The sleek black armor she wore had a few blue highlights, but what really caught Sunset’s eye was the symbol on her shoulders, the symbol of the ancient Storm Sorceress, Sacanas.

“First-timer?” the girl asked Sunset.

“Yeah,” Sunset replied, moving closer to her. “Got any tips that can help?”

“You’re lucky that you missed this part. No first-timer has ever been accepted at this stage. From here on out you just have to impress one of the instructors with something spectacular. Last year, one girl got in by almost winning a fight with the Spartan centurion and someone else saved one of the optios from a vengeful reject, or so I heard.”

“What’s your name?”

“Tempest Shadow.”

“I’m Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset replied.

“So you’re the mythical Sunset Shimmer,” Tempest said with a smirk.

Sunset giggled. “I see my reputation precedes me.”

“Princess Twilight tends to talk about you a lot.”

“What does she say?”

Tempest shrugged. “Not much, just that you could serve as a role model for me and what I can become. Or something like that, she wasn’t entirely clear.”

“She told me about you, too,” Sunset mentioned.

“Really?”

“Oh, you know. She told me you attacked Canterlot, stole her power, then turned some guy to stone so she banished you to the Crystal Empire.”

“She banished me to Abyssinia,” Tempest immediately countered. “I voluntarily went to the Crystal Empire. And that was only because I–”

“Hey, Tempest!” the marine called from the table, interrupting Tempest. “Who do you have your eyes on for your strike team this time?”

Sunset and Tempest turned to the table with the marine and the Celtic girl. “I heard there’s a first-timer who got in on her first try this year,” Tempest replied. “She’s definitely on my list.”

Will opened his mouth to speak, but the Celtic girl interrupted. “Whatever. I’ll show that stupid Hikari this time around.” Sunset recognized the tone the Celtic girl spoke with. She had used it with Princess Celestia many times.

“You do know that she graduated last year, right?” the marine said. “Graduated top of her class in almost everything. Why she picked the bottom-scoring tiro as a rival, no one knows, but it clearly worked since they both graduated, unlike you.”

“You mean the dirt girl? Ha! That weakling couldn’t fight a twig.”

“I’d recommend you hold a healthy respect for Terra,” Tempest said. “At this point she could probably kick your ass from Manehattan to Vanhoover.” Sunset mentally noted this detail about Terra.

“I could still beat her,” the girl grumbled, crossing her arms. Sunset could tell bubbling just under the surface was a familiar temper that could blow at any moment.

The marine turned his head to Sunset. “Hey, my name’s Will,” he said. His tone seemed friendly enough.

“I’m Sunset.”

“Are you a friend of Tempest’s?” he asked with an upward tilt of his head.

“We’ll find out,” she said with a shrug. “Who’s she?” Sunset asked, pointing towards the Celtic girl.

“Her name’s Gaela. She really hates losing. It’s how she got dusted last time. Didn’t even make it through the first week. She really hates me telling anyone more than that.”

Gaela scowled.

Will glanced behind Sunset. “Oh great, newbies.” He looked back at Sunset. “No offense to you, of course, but these guys tend to make us experienced tirones reveal our deepest darkest secrets to get any advantage they can.”

A couple of other hopeful recruits were gathering around behind Sunset. Sunset recognized one as a Spartan hoplite.

“I heard you made it pretty far in the training last time,” the Spartan said to Will. “Tell us what we want to know.”

“Play me in this game first and maybe I will,” Will replied, holding up his cards.

“Fine.” The Spartan sat down next to Gaela, pushing her towards the other end of the table.

Will gestured to Sunset and Tempest to sit down next to him. “The game works better with more people,” he explained.

Will dealt seven cards to each player. He placed the rest face-down in the middle. He pulled one card off the top and placed it next to the stack, face-up. Nine of diamonds.

“You can only play a card if it has the same number or symbol as the card currently in play. The goal is to get rid of all of your cards. There’s also a few extra rules. You’ll find out as you play. I’ll go first, then Tempest.” Will played ten of diamonds.

Tempest grinned. “All hail the King,” she said, playing her card.

Sunset went next. She played her card silently. Will drew a card from the top of the deck and handed it to her. “Penalty for not saying ‘all hail the Jack’.”

The Spartan went next. Will once again drew a card from the top of the deck and gave it to the Spartan. “Penalty for not saying ‘have a nice day’.” Instead of playing her card, Gaela waited patiently. Will gave the Spartan a look.

“Fine. Have a nice day.”

Will drew another card and gave it to the Spartan. “Penalty for talking.”

“What? You’re penalizing me for talking when you said that I had to say something?”

Will drew two more cards and gave them to the Spartan. “Penalty for talking, penalty for arguing with the dealer.” The Spartan remained silent.

Gaela played her card and said, “Thank you.” Will then silently played his card.

“Why didn’t you penalize her for talking?” the Spartan asked, slamming his cards on the table.

“Penalty for talking,” Will said, giving the Spartan another card. “Point of order.” Will set his cards on the table. Tempest and Gaela did the same. “She’s played before. She knows the rules. You’re supposed to learn them as you go along. Point adjourned.” Will drew another card and gave it to Sunset. “Penalty for touching cards.”

Will, Gaela, Tempest, and the Spartan picked up their cards. Tempest looked at her cards for a moment, then drew a card. Sunset played, then it was the Spartan’s turn again. He played his card. Gaela drew a card. Will drew a card. Tempest played four of clubs. Sunset played jack of clubs, and as she placed the card on the pile, she said, “All hail the Jack.” Will nodded.

A few turns passed with nothing notable happening. Sunset picked up that she was supposed to say “All hail the Queen” whenever she played a queen, which thankfully happened before she played one.

The Spartan played queen of spades. “All hail the Queen,” he said.

Tempest tried to hold back a giggle. Gaela burst out laughing. Will smiled as he pulled a card from the top and gave it to the Spartan. “Penalty for not saying Queen of Spades.”

“I’ll penalize you for talking!” the Spartan said, picking up a card and throwing it at Will.

“Penalty for talking, penalty for dealing the dealer,” Will said, giving the Spartan the card that he just threw and another off the pile.

Gaela shrugged and played nine of spades, saying, “Nine of spades.”

“Ten of spades.”

“All hail the Jack, Jack of Spades.”

“All hail the King, King of Spades.”

The Spartan played three of spades. Will glanced at him, then the Spartan reluctantly said, “Three of spades.”

“Point of order,” Will said, putting down his cards. Tempest and Gaela followed suit. Sunset also put her cards down. “Congratulations, you’re learning the rules. Point adjourned.” Will drew a card from the top of the pile and handed it to the Spartan. “Penalty for touching cards.”

“What? This is a card game! Why am I being penalized for touching cards?”

Sunset sniggered.

“Penalty for talking.” The Spartan took the cards from Will and stopped talking.

After Tempest’s turn, Will took the cards that had already been played and shuffled them. Sunset then drew a card.

Several turns passed with nothing notable happening, besides three kings being played in a row. Then Will played seven of clubs and said, “Have a nice day.”

Tempest played her card and replied, “Thank you.” Sunset noted down the interaction for later.

After the Spartan’s turn, Gaela played a card and said, “Mao.” Sunset noted that she only had one card left. On Will’s turn, he did the same. He also only had one card left. Then Tempest played her card, and also had only one card left.

Sunset took her turn, then the Spartan. The Spartan played seven of hearts. Will gave him a look that said, “You know what you have to do.”

“Have a nice day,” he grumbled.

“Thank you,” Gaela said as she drew a card. Will also drew a card, as did Tempest. Sunset played ace of hearts. Tempest played ace of clubs. Sunset noted that aces switched directions. She played her last ace, sending it back to Tempest, who drew a card.

As she was waiting for Will to play, he drew a card and gave it to Sunset. “It is your turn.”

Sunset took the card and played seven of diamonds, saying, “Have a nice day. Mao.”

The Spartan played seven of spades, saying, “Have a nice day.”

Will drew two cards and gave them to the Spartan, saying, “Penalty for not saying ‘thank you’, penalty for not saying ‘seven of spades’.”

“Fine. Thank you.”

“Penalty for talking.”

Gaela chuckled and played ace of spades. “Thank you,” she said after playing her card. Will glanced at her, and then she added, “Ace of spades. Mao.”

A few seconds passed. Sunset looked the Spartan in the eye with a smirk. Will handed the Spartan a card, saying, “It is your turn.”

The Spartan grumbled and played his card. “Eight of spades.”

Gaela played eight of diamonds, ending the game. “Gaela, you’re dealer next time,” Will said, flipping his cards over. “You get to pick the new rule.”

As the Spartan got up to leave, Will said, “All I said was that you had to play the game, not win. What do you want to know?”

A man in a red coat interrupted before the Spartan could say anything. “Give us information on the training and the instructors.”

“What I will say is that everything has a hidden meaning. Not everything is as it seems. Oh, and you really should be prepared for the survival test in week four. A lot of tiros dust out then.” The Redcoat nodded, as did a few others. “The environment changes every single time. Last time was a forest in the Late Cretaceous, this time could be anywhere. I’ve heard rumors of a newly discovered continuum...”

”But how do we get into the training?” a Viking asked.

It takes most first-timers a few weeks to get in. Anyone attempting it again usually gets in without issue, like myself and Tempest.”

The Spartan spoke up. “Thomas said that last year, two first-timers got in on their first try. How did they do that?”

Will shrugged. “Hikari almost defeated Centurion Nikias in a sparring match. Pretty impressive since he’s a Spartan, like you.”

A Viking nodded. “I got in with him last time. He only lets you in if you’re bold and skilled in combat. If you’ve never fought in a war, he won’t even let you talk.”

“What about the other one?” someone asked.

“Roland,” Will said. “I think he cheated. Tricked an instructor into adding his name into the list.”

“He could have gotten in under his own skill like I did, but he’s lazy,” the Redcoat added.

“Really, Thomas? You’re one to talk. You pretended you were the greatest thing since sliced bread then got beaten so hard by Hikari that you lost all your points in the first week.”

The Redcoat—Thomas—slammed his hands on the table. “Watch your tone, colonial.”

“Buddy. My country had to save your country from the Germans, twice.”

“The Prussians are our allies. We certainly would never need saving from them.”

“For now. Just wait, Germany will overtake Britain.”

“I doubt it. It would take a miracle.”

“Oh, is that what we’re calling Bismarck now?”

“Regardless of what Germany does, Royal Britannia will still rule the waves.”

“Until the Second World War where America built a navy so powerful we had boats for the sole purpose of making ice cream. Our navy is so large its aviation wing is larger than your entire air force.”

“What’s an air force?” asked a man in Conquistador armor.

“Doesn’t matter,” Will replied, “Saturn City doesn’t field one unless you count the timeship fleets and Spain won’t have one for a few hundred years from your perspective.”

The conversation continued for another twenty minutes. Different first-timers were asking Will all sorts of questions about the training, and Will, as well as some other recruits, including Thomas, were answering them to the best of their ability. Sometimes Will and Thomas took more jabs at each other.

Sunset took a few mental notes on certain things in the earlier parts of training, where she would need every advantage to stay ahead.

After what felt like an hour, the crowd finally cleared.

Sunset exchanged contact information with Will and Tempest and went on her way.

Something most ponies didn’t know was that Sunset failed her entrance exam. Well, she didn’t either, until she went looking through her school records and found the judges’ notes. She had thought she did pretty well, despite the property damage.

Technically speaking, she didn’t fail the entire exam, only in safety and control, though both failures were waived because Princess Celestia promised to get those under control.

Since the initial application process for Aevum was done, the only way for her to get accepted now was to impress an instructor.

The one big thing she had wanted to learn by coming to Saturn City was what Princess Celestia did while she was here, but the Academy Archives she had heard about while waiting in line to enter the city were closed to anyone who wasn’t either a citizen or currently serving in the Aeon Legion, which meant she would have to get accepted first to dig through the records.

From what she was able to access from the holoreaders outside, she learned that not only was entering the city barred from any who did not have a squireship or a visa, but two years of military service was the only way a non-Saturn City native could obtain citizenship, and only citizens could get residences in Dar al-Salam and above. As the House of the Sun was in Elysium—which was more a collection of mansions than an actual sector of the city—Princess Celestia had been one of the Saturn City elite. Specifically, she had been an elite among elites. To her knowledge, the vast majority of the residents of Elysium were Saturnians who had been in the city since the very beginning.

After mentally annotating as much as she could remember from the conversation at the Academy, Sunset had returned to the House of the Sun. There, in the lounge—she thought it was a lounge, at least—she found Starlight, Rainbow Dash, Cheeto, Terra, Roland, and Hikari.

“What, did you throw a party in here just because I wasn’t here?” she jokingly asked.

“Nah,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I just invited them here so I could figure out how to get into the academy.”

“You couldn’t do that in the city?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged, but didn’t reply.

Roland then spoke up, “A question for Lady Shimmer: does this place truly belong to you?”

Sunset thought for a moment, then replied, “Technically not, but at this point it might as well.”

Roland nodded. “You must be quite important then.”

She then was caught up on what the other six had discussed as she caught them up on what she had discussed at the Academy. Apparently, last year, the head instructor was really strict even for military standards and could even be considered a bully, but his declassified personal logs had revealed that he in fact hated bullies, which Sunset found perfectly understandable (for personal reasons). The only reason he had the bully act was because he wanted the recruits united against a single enemy that he could control.

This would be the first year without him in charge of Aevum.

Centurion Nikias was the bearded centurion who often threw hopeful recruits into the fountain. Terra, Hikari, and Roland had Centurion Nikias as their primary instructor during their time at Aevum, and he wasn’t as intimidating as he looked once you got to know him. He also had a scar that occasionally moved around his face.

Then there was Centurion Isra, the resident swordmaster. Her favorite kind of student was the kind that could push through a tough situation and come through the other side stronger. Centurion Isra was the youngest of the senior instructors at the Academy at 132 years old. She had previously served in the Tenth Cohort during the Faceless War before transferring to Aevum Academy after Praetor Kairos’s disappearance.

The only other major instructor of note was Centurion Shani. She valued intelligence and talent above all else, caring little if you were an unaccomplished talentless idiot. Starlight had been accepted on her first try by Centurion Shani, as she was just as impressed as Abhinav by Starlight’s little escapade to the Changeling Hive (of course, they didn’t mention that detail out loud).

Once all was said and done, Rainbow Dash and Cheeto decided to try their luck with Nikias.

Later that day, Sunset returned to Aevum alongside Rainbow and Cheeto. According to Will, Centurion Nikias was holding a little tournament to find who out of the applicants was the best fighter. Rainbow Dash had eagerly signed up the moment she heard about it.

Sunset had decided to stay out of it because she realized that those trying their luck with Centurion Nikias rarely had any skills outside of combat prowess.

She was sitting off to the side watching Rainbow Dash fight a Hun—during which she was clearly using her geode to gain an edge—when Will sat down beside her.

“Hey, Sunset,” Will said. He gestured to the fights in the area. “Are you joining them?”

Sunset shook her head. “I’m just here to watch. What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see which first timers I should keep an eye on and which ones are just dead weight,” Will explained. “Of course, if they seem like dead weight but survive to the second week, it’s also worth keeping an eye on them because sheer determination can sometimes make up for a lack of other things.”

“So if they have both talent and determination, you’ll be paying double close attention?”

Will nodded. “Pretty much, yeah.” He pointed toward Cheeto, who had just finished a duel with a Scythian. “You see her? I like her.”

“She has... something,” Sunset agreed. “I don’t know what, but she has it.”

Eventually, both Rainbow Dash and Cheeto had been eliminated, but they had evidently impressed some of the optios who were there, as Rainbow came over to Sunset and Will the exact moment she finished talking to one of the optios.

“Sunset, guess what?” Her body was barely holding in her excitement. It felt as if the excitement contained within Rainbow Dash was leaking out into others.

“You made i–” Sunset began.

“I made it!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, immediately running off to Celestia knows where. Sunset shook her head, smiling.

Will chuckled. “I see you’re in good company, then.”

When Sunset returned to the House of the Sun, Galaxia beckoned her to the back.

The AI had changed form to that of an equine about a head taller than Sunset, which she assumed was around the same height as Princess Celestia—she had no frame of reference between pony and human sizes. Her coat was a pastel pink and her mane glittered like the night sky. Her eyes were the same color as Celestia’s—a light lavender.

“I am assuming you have had no luck,” Galaxia said, looking down slightly at Sunset. “I detect no changes regarding you in Minerva’s database.”

The gardens of the House of the Sun were not restricted to the front. Sunset and Galaxia were at the edge of the back gardens, which Sunset found reminiscent of an untamed forest.

“Yeah, but I know what to do now,” Sunset replied.

“And what would that be?” Galaxia asked.

“The prestige of impressing the big important instructors isn’t worth it and I should just talk to a lower ranking one.”

Galaxia nodded. “Pragmatic, but you lose bragging rights.”

Sunset shrugged. “Bragging rights are overrated.”

“From what I know of you, any advantage over everyone else, no matter how minuscule, is important to you. Even bragging rights.”

“But if you keep chasing a bragging rights reward while ignoring easy ways to get to a similar conclusion, you’ll have wasted time you could have spent doing something productive.”

Galaxia nodded. “Wise words.”

Sunset’s shieldwatch briefly glowed magenta before returning to its normal blue.

“Those are the materials you requested regarding Celestia.”

Sunset gave a quick nod before heading back to the Academy.

The optio that Sunset had approached to convince to accept her had been for some reason unable to access her files, so she was now following him to find a senior instructor.

She knew why her files were locked, of course, but she also knew that it would only be locked to anyone who didn’t absolutely need to know, and whoever the head instructor was probably needed to know.

“This sort of thing happens from time to time,” the optio said. “Almost always with the Second Cohort too. They tend to abuse the fact that they can lock information to clearance levels far above what their rank would normally allow for fun, but all it does is waste our time.” The optio looked back at her. “Was it the Second Cohort that squired you?”

Sunset nodded. It might not have been true, but it was close enough.

“Hm. I thought so. It’s very annoying.”

The optio stopped in front of a wall, making it disappear—these were fadedoors, as Sunset had learned. “Centurion Shani, I have something for you.”

Without looking up, Shani replied, “Praetor Shani. I may only be acting in this rank but you will address me by it as long as I do so.”

“I apologize, Praetor. This potential recruit has herself a locked file, so I brought her to see you.”

Shani looked up at Sunset. “I didn’t see you at the initial application process.”

“Yeah, I woke up late,” Sunset absentmindedly replied. She immediately regretted it upon remembering militaries valued punctuality.

Shani raised an eyebrow.

“I promise it won’t happen again,” Sunset quickly added.

Shani nodded. “If you show up even a second late to any part of training you will be dusted to serve as an example, so you won’t be completely useless.”

Sunset gulped.

Shani touched a few things on her shieldwatch holoface. “Let’s see. Praetor Co– huh. Haven’t heard of her in a while.” She stopped for a moment, a mildly confused look spreading across her face. “Hmm. I wonder if that would be something Lycus knew about.” She closed her holoface and looked directly at Sunset. “Academically, your achievements at your original school are quite impressive, and you certainly have done your fair share of fighting unusual opponents. Physically, there’s nothing wrong with you except for some slight malnutrition, which can very easily be fixed. However, if you turn out to be a fraud, you will be dusted to serve as an example. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Praetor,” Sunset said with a nod.

“Good, you’re already used to addressing me by title, unlike some people.” Shani glared at the optio as she said that last part.

The optio gave a nervous chuckle. “Understood, Praetor.”

Shani returned to what she was doing before Sunset arrived. “Good,” she said. “You are dismissed.”

“Welcome to the acceleration gym,” Will said. “It’s the perfect place for a training montage.”

Will had called Sunset there and asked her to bring her friends, so Starlight, Rainbow, and Cheeto were all there.

“It doesn’t look any different from a regular gym,” Rainbow Dash said, looking around at the equipment. She picked up a stick that seemed to change weight upon contact. “I can tell what most of this stuff is.”

“Well yes, it doesn’t look any different, the difference is in the effects from the accelerator,” Will explained, pointing at a pillar of light in the center of the gym. “Any workout you do here will have its effect multiplied, or accelerated, if you will. Anyway, regular gym equipment is here on the ground floor, fighting dojo is on the second floor, archery range is on the third floor, climbing wall is on the outside, and swimming pool is in the basement.” He pointed towards a map projected from the floor. “Save that to your shieldwatch if you get lost. Me and Tempest will be on the second floor if you need us.”

There was a track around the gym equipment, which is where they started, jogging four laps as a warmup. At first, Sunset was keeping up with Rainbow Dash, but it didn’t take long for her to fall behind. By the time she had finished her second lap, Starlight had almost caught up with her.

“How are you this bad?” Starlight teased as she passed Sunset. “I’m still not used to legs. You’ve had years to work on this.”

Sunset was too focused on getting enough oxygen to reply.

She collapsed before she even made it to the third lap.

“Come on, SunShim!” Rainbow Dash called as she lapped Sunset for the second time. “It’s really not that hard!”

“It is,” Sunset barely managed to say. “An entire freaking mile as a warmup? Really?”

Rainbow knelt down by Sunset. “I only made you jog. It’s not like you were running.” She held out her hand. “Come on, I’ll jog with you for your last lap.”

Sunset wound up walking the final stretch.

“Your endurance is terrible,” Rainbow Dash said as they finished. “You started off fine but you really can’t handle any distance.”

With her hands on her knees, mentally begging for water, Sunset replied, “Still too hard.”

After a quick water break, they moved onto stretches, which Starlight struggled much more with. After that, their training really began on the second floor.

“Roland told me that the actual training in the Academy will be hell compared to this,” Rainbow Dash said as she flipped Starlight on her back.

“I can’t possibly imagine anything worse than this,” Starlight groaned, with a slight hint of sarcasm.

Sunset did much better comparatively. More specifically, she made use of the karate she had learned with Rainbow Dash to take ten times longer to get her ass kicked than Starlight. She wasn’t bad, per se, just not as good as a third degree black belt who dabbled in Muay Thai.

While Rainbow Dash beat up on Starlight again, Cheeto stopped by.

“I was wondering where you disappeared off to,” Sunset said.

Cheeto shrugged. “Will wanted to see how good I am. He beat me a couple of times and gave me a few tips to improve.”

“You should try beating Rainbow Dash,” Sunset suggested.

Cheeto shrugged. “Don’t feel like it.”

Soon enough, Starlight collapsed right next to Sunset and Cheeto. “You girls are working me too hard.”

“Didn’t seem like you had a problem with it earlier when I was struggling,” Sunset replied, poking Starlight in the arm. “Besides, if you want to succeed here, you need to learn to throw a punch.”

Starlight rolled over. “That’s the problem! I don’t want to succeed! I just don’t want to get attacked by that crazy sword woman again!”

“You’re stuck here until one of us can protect you at all times, so you might as well pass the time. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“For starters, I could die.”

Sunset patted Sunset on the back. “Glimmy, if you died, I would learn necromancy.”

Starlight stared at Sunset for a moment. “Really?”

Sunset shook her head, smiling. “Nah. I’d rather not get in any more trouble with the Equestrian government than I already am. Really though, if you complete this training, you won’t need a bodyguard.”

Starlight pouted. “You think I don’t already know that?”

“Come on, Glimmy,” Sunset replied. “It will be fun.”

“Stop calling me Glimmy,” Starlight said.

“Whatever you say, GlimGlam!” Rainbow Dash announced as she plopped down next to them.

Starlight sighed. “Great.”

At the end of the day, Sunset was holed up in her room in the House of the Sun, reading everything she could find on Praetor Corona. She was almost certain that Praetor Corona and Princess Celestia were one and the same, she just needed to match the details with what Galaxia gave her.

Except the details refused to line up.

Praetor Corona had spent several thousand years in the city, at least since the Third Temporal War. Even taking into account the six hundred years that the Princess spent in the city, she couldn’t have arrived much earlier than the capture of the Forgotten Guns.

Celestia didn’t lie. She often danced around the truth, yes, but she never outright told a lie. She had said that she was exactly one thousand seven hundred and fifty four years old. Given the time of the legend of the first time she raised the sun, it lined up with the six hundred years figure.

Sunset stored her shieldwatch holoface away. She would figure things out later.

“Check.”

Caelum had never beaten Time King Endymion in chess before, but that never stopped him. When he wasn’t running a mission or training for the next one, he was sharpening his skills to eventually defeat his master.

“Excellent move,” Endymion said in response, “but you seem to have forgotten my bishop.”

With the bishop moving to block check, it revealed an attack elsewhere.

“Master, about Silverwind’s squire,” Caelum said as he moved his piece out of danger. It was to his own detriment, as unlike Endymion, he was unable to play optimally while talking.

“What about her?” Endymion asked, pushing one of his pawns forward.

“You said she was the key to the Legacy Library.” Caelum moved a knight to threaten Endymion’s bishop. “Do we not need the key?”

Endymion leaned forward, looking directly into Caelum’s eyes. “Using my own singularity AI is both a blessing and a curse. I do not have access to Minerva’s database, and if I try to access it, they will know. I still know nothing about her.”

“I spotted her near the Cohort Seven headquarters,” Caelum replied.

Endymion pondered a thought for a moment. “Captain Chih...”

“What is it, master?”

“He is currently a candidate for the vacancy among the Legendary Blades. Do you believe you can defeat him in a duel?”

Caelum nodded. “You taught me well enough.”

“Good. I will give you five weeks to capture her.” Endymion moved his rook down a few ranks. “Checkmate in six.”

Caelum calculated each move carefully, then pushed himself back from the table.

“You win as always.”

Author's Note

FYI, there was a brief timeskip between this chapter and the previous one.

Anyway, all of the major characters have been introduced now (well, except for Centurion Isra, but she’s been discussed): Sunset, Starlight, Rainbow Dash, Tempest, Will, Cheeto, Terra, Roland, and Hikari

If they remain unnamed for the next three chapters, they’re probably fodder

Anyway I need to stop procrastinating on the sister story… wish me luck

“Really, Thomas? You’re one to talk. You pretended you were the greatest thing since sliced bread then got beaten so hard by Hikari that you lost all your points.”

The Redcoat—Thomas—slammed his hands on the table. “Watch your tone, colonial.”

Also Thomas later that night: The fuck did he mean by “sliced bread”?