“Do you know why the Captain wants to talk with us?” Sergeant (Sgt.) Dusk asks, already knowing my answer.

“Yes.”

“Well? What’s going on?”

“He will tell you when he gets here. Don’t ask again, Sgt.” I try not to be too short with the thestral, but she’s like this every time she’s called into a meeting.

“Vice Captain, why do you act so differently when the Captain isn’t around?” What?

“What?”

“You’re very straight edge and no nonsense. Which is something I expect from the second in command, but when the Captain is around you turn into a puppy. Which surprises me because your personality shifts even if us peons are around. Why do you always seem so eager whenever you talk to him?” That’s quite an outrageous series of statements to say to your superior.

“I owe him a great debt. I’m more surprised that all of you don’t feel that same level of admiration and respect for him.”

“Well of course, everypony in the Night Guard respects the Captain. Especially us bats, we know he’s the sword and shield of Her Grace. What kind of debt could you possibly owe him? Is it because he created an opportunity for all of you to escape your hive?”

For some reason I’m in a sharing mood today. “After Queen Aurora was killed, the false queen brought us into her court one by one. She told us to choose between swearing loyalty to her or exile. Except anyling that chose exile was killed on the spot. She understood that no creature would ever choose to die, so she led them to believe it was only exile.”

“...Brutal. Good thing you were able to escape before it was your turn.”

“I wasn’t. I was seconds away from being executed. The Captain cleanly cut through the executioner in time to save me. I almost got sick from how much hatred he was spewing towards the false queen. I caught a glimpse of their fight and was awe-struck. Then we all managed to escape in the chaos and marched to Equestria. Her Grace’s sister wasn’t sure what she was going to do with us, but he just walked in, fed all of us in one go, and suggested to the Princess that we live in the mines located under the city. Just recently he even bestowed a blessing on me that granted me immense power. All he’s done for me is give and give and give.”

“Woah…I thought the rumor that you worshiped him was an exaggeration until that article came out. Even then I didn’t really understand why you specifically were so devoted, but now it makes sense.”

“Would you like to join us on Monday nights? Any are welcome, but as a thestral it’d be easy for you. We meet in the eighth district inside the mines.” Of course she’ll say no, but I figured if I asked right after telling that story she’d be more likely to at least attend once.

“I…yeah. I mean, yes ma’am, I should at least give it a try, I suppose. What time on Mondays?”

“Half an hour before the guard shift change from day to night. Any Night Guards on duty are allowed to attend in their armor, but we usually finish up within 15 minutes or so, bu-”

“Good evening everyone, sorry for making all of you gear up and come to work early to attend this.” Within one syllable the entire room drops into silence. Such a commanding presence.

His Radiance sits down and we all follow suit. “First things first. I wanna preface this by saying that no one is punished, there’s no group punishment, no one is in trouble, so don’t get the wrong idea when I ask this question. Why did we fail to evacuate everyone into the mines?”

There’s a tense silence for several seconds and I assume they think this is a rhetorical question and he’s going to tell us why, but it’s not. “Hello? I don’t know the answer either, that’s why I’m asking. I need to know what went wrong that caused us to fail to perform something we’ve explicitly trained for.”

“We were in the middle of shift change, sir! All of the patrols were back at the castle passing down information to the Day Guards before they started their shifts.” I’m unsure of who that mare is, but I’m glad she spoke up.

“That’s it? Anyone else know of some contributing factors?” He just lets out a sigh as he slouches over. Another period of silence lingers in the room. “Alright, that's an easy enough fix. From now on all patrols will perform their shift change in whatever area they were patrolling at the time. Honestly not sure why we weren’t already doing that. That isn’t in effect immediately by the way. Since it involves the day walkers I'll have to bring it up with Captain Armor and Princess Celestia. I don’t see any reason why they’d oppose it though so expect something official to come out for that within a few days. Now I’m going to explain how I failed last night.”

I hope you’re sure about this, sir. I know you said you’d divulge this information, but even I’m not sure what exactly happened to him.

“Early last night I decided to go question the new changeling we had placed in the dungeons. Once I approached the drone their queen initiated conversation with me directly by possessing the drone. At the time there was magic in place that would alert me if the changeling lied about anything, and she revealed that dragons were razing the villages we have closest to the border with the badlands. I was overly confident in that magic when it didn’t register her statements as a lie, and I was arrogant when I teleported to the border completely alone. If it isn’t obvious by now that was a trap.”

It’s a bit nauseating how much guilt and regret he’s emitting. He pauses and lets out another sigh before looking straight up at the ceiling. “There was no village, it was just a dragon setting fire to random debris they’d planted. The changeling queen appeared and captured me. If Luna hadn’t taken the time to teleport out there and rescue me I probably would’ve been far later to arrive. Late enough that the death toll would probably be much worse than it already is. Anyways this is relevant because Chrysalis was colluding with the dragons. Once I was captured she told the dragons to proceed with the attack.”

Halfway through his tone of voice becomes flat and he has a far off look in his eyes. I noticed it when I was helping him cleanse his mind. The false queen's magic might be gone, but she’s still in his head. In a way that magic can’t fix. Every event, starting with Summit, he’s continued to bear responsibility for every death around him. He’s smart enough to know that even if he was here we still would’ve suffered losses. He can’t save everyling, but at the same time…I don’t have it in me to try and discourage him from having that mindset.

But, you don’t have to be a changeling to see that he can’t take much more. I’m not even sure if he’s aware of it himself but there’s times I’ll find him in his office just staring at the door with a blank look on his face. He’s there but he’s not there at the same time. I have to say his name several times to get a response and he acts like I just walked in the room.

“They’re going to have me court martialed for dereliction of duty. So I’m announcing my replacement ahead of time. If I get stripped of title and rank Elytra is going to move up to Captain. Whoever she wants to be the new Vice Captain is up to her.”

“Sir, it wouldn’t have mattered if you were here when the dragons attacked! There was too many of them spread out all over the city. It’s unreasonable to pin the blame for everypony's death on you. You can’t save everypony…..sir…” I look over at Sgt. Dusk in surprise at the sudden outburst. She wilts and tries to shrink and hide herself once he locks eyes with her.

“I doubt they’re blaming me for all of the deaths. I’m the one blaming myself for that. It’s a fact that the death toll would’ve been significantly reduced, though. As far as I know we didn’t lose a single life after I teleported here. That’s beside the point. None of this has been announced yet, but I wanted all of you to hear it from me. I doubt any of this will roll down onto you guys, but be prepared to get approached by journalists just in case. I don’t think I’ve got anything else to put out. Should I open the floor for questions? Hm… we’ve still got 15 minutes until we gotta relieve the Day Guards. Yeah if any of you have any questions feel free to ask. It doesn’t have to be related to what we talked about just now.”

“Sir! Is it true that you really healed all of the injured in the entire city before passing out?”

“Yep. That was a one time thing though, I don’t feel like getting into the specifics but I can’t use that magic again. Next.”

“Are we at war?”

“Probably. I don’t know how that works in this realm, but as far as I’m concerned we’re at war.” His tone became much more ominous in the second half of that response. “Good thing you mentioned that actually. Once the shift starts anyone not on patrol or gate duty is going to join me in the training fields for a new exercise. Next.”

“Are you really a God?”

“Yep. The Princesses are all Gods as well, but Princess Celestia hates being worshiped so she rejected the notion and made it illegal however many centuries ago. I’m trying to get that law reversed however. During reconstruction a temple will be built with areas for all of the alicorns and myself. Next.”

“Why aren’t you reviving anypony? I thought you could do that?”

“Harmony said no. She doesn’t like me reviving any of you. Since she’s apparently the overseer of all of your souls it’s within her power to prevent my magic. Something about upsetting the harmonious balance of life and death. Take any complaints up with her. Next.”

It’s silent in the room for several seconds so he rises to his feet. “Alright if that’s it I’m headed over to the training field. If you fall into that category I mentioned earlier I expect to see you over there as well.”

I stand up to go talk to him, but he pops out of existence as soon as he finishes talking.

1st Person POV - Nightmare Moon

“So, why did you drag me out here to this dirt pit? Are we sparring again?” As soon as Ignis teleports in I ask him what’s going on.

“We can if you want. I don’t really need anything from you, but I wasn’t sure what you had planned and didn’t want you to potentially end up waiting for me in my office for hours. Once I’m done here I’m going to Court, so I probably won’t be in the office at all tonight.” That’s quite considerate. I was going to stop by the library first, but I indeed would have ended up waiting around for him after that. It’s embarrassing to admit that though.

“Hmph. It’s not like I would’ve waited on you for hours! Quite the presumption you've come up with there.” I puff out one of my cheeks and expect him to laugh and talk about whatever a tsundere is, but after a few seconds of silence I glance over at the elf. Only to find him looking at the ground deep in thought.

“I guess that was a bit of an arrogant assumption on my part. I just assumed since you usually read or hang out in my office that…well, sorry I guess.” Wait, this isn’t what I meant to do!

“No! No. Sorry. You’re right and it was considerate. I just feel embarrassed saying that out loud. What’s with that reaction though? Normally you laugh at me whenever I say things like that.”

“Oh? I don’t know…I guess I just couldn’t tell you were doing it this time. Sorry.” Has he lost his confidence? Now that I think about it, everything he’s saying and doing is more muted than normal. He’s a bit quieter and less animated while he’s talking.

“No, it’s fine, really. Are you okay? You seem more reserved tonight.”

“I don’t feel any different…oh the guards are starting to show up, hang on.”

Perhaps he’s just being more serious with the situation we’re in now? I hope so.

“Alright so, I know you’re all very trained and well aware of how to fight in a battle. One force of soldiers versus another. But, what if Chrysalis were to fly in here and attack and I’m not here and the alicorns aren’t here? It’s going to fall on all of you to take her down. Same thing with those Elder Dragons. If we’re going to war you can bet your ass you’ll need to take those on at some point as well. That’s what we’re going to be training for today. You’re all gunna figure out how to work together, strategize, and take down a raid boss.”

“Is that why Nightmare Moon is here?” Which one of you said that? I don’t like the implication that I’m a threat they need to train for.

“Nah, she’s just here to watch. You’re all gunna be fighting me. First I’ll take all of you on in this form, and if you figure out a way to take me down I’ll change my size to something more dragon-like. Also, this isn’t a spar. I’m going to hold back enough to not kill you, but I want all of you to come at me with the intent to kill. You’ll get 10 minutes to think of a strategy.” He plops himself down and starts idly looking up at the sky as it finally settles down into a true night sky.

All of the thestrals, changelings, and the very few ponies all walk a decent distance away and form a big huddle to try and talk it out. I decide to sit down next to Ignis. “This is definitely a unique form of training. It’s quite niche though, do you really think they’ll ever have a chance to put this into practice?”

“I hope they never have to. But, if the worst comes to pass and they’re all that’s left…I want them to at least have a fighting chance. Here, get out of the arena, I’d probably just go find somewhere high up to watch from this is likely gunna get a bit crazy.”

“Hm? There’s still plenty of time left though?”

“You think Chrysalis will let them call a timeout and allow them to huddle up and strategize? I just wanted to give them a false sense of security so their panic is more real when I ambush them.” Oh.

“I suppose you have a point. Alright well please go easy on them.” He just waves his hand back and forth before turning invisible.

The next thing I know there’s a loud crash and I look up to see well over 20 guards flying through the air away from the castle and towards the dirt arena. Did he throw them?!

“That wasn’t 10 minutes, sir!”

“The enemy isn’t gunna give you 10 minutes either. Tough shit.”

…

They only lasted around a minute and a half. The entire training yard is littered with Night Guards laying on the ground groaning from exertion and pain. My consort causes me to be confused once more when he starts walking around and pointing at guards seemingly at random. He makes all of the ones he pointed out stand up, despite some of their protests, and walk with him to the center of the arena.

“I’ve gathered you 12 because you either showed me something exceptional, or because I see a lot of potential in you. Before I tell you what I have planned for you I need to ask you four a question.” He points to three thestrals and a changeling. “Have you considered becoming a follower of mine? Unfortunately this next part I can only perform with worshipers or followers, but you four are, in my opinion, worth recruiting. So, I figured I’d at least ask if you were interested in following me. You can ask these eight or Elytra about what that entails, I don’t really know what they do, but they qualify as followers one way or another. If you have absolutely no interest at all it won’t be held against you, you will receive no reprisal, no punishment. Just head back over to the main group and recuperate for round two.”

The changeling and two of the thestrals seem to accept becoming followers, but one of the thestrals limps out of the arena and back to his tired comrades.

“Alright all of you. I would like to make you 11 into clerics. You’ll be given access to a limited number of spells and a couple of helpful abilities to rally your allies in combat. The only requirement is that you always act as a beacon of Hope. You can never give up in the face of defeat, and you’ll be the light all of your fellow guards look to when things are dark. This also applies when you’re off duty. If you see someone in need and you have the capability and the time to fulfill that need then you should do it. Within a reasonable extent, of course. Obviously some things are just not realistically solvable in a reasonable amount of time. Do you agree?”

They all nod or give a verbal yes.

“Kneel.” In unison without a moment of hesitation they all lower their heads and bow. He goes over them one by one and places his hand on their head for a few seconds while reciting some small speech before moving on to the next. “Rise now, Clerics of Hope. Now I want you all to get some practice with your new abilities. All of you gather up five of the most injured or exhausted, there should be fifty five in total. Once you have your five I want you to cast Prayer of Healing and target your group of five. If you think you also need some healing then only grab four instead of five. Prayer of Healing can only target 5 creatures. The spell will take around 10 minutes to cast, and yes, even if you don’t have a horn you can do it.”

The thestrals walk away with wide eyes, seemingly dumbfounded and too overwhelmed to ask questions about what just happened. That was quite a lot of things to just dump casually on them like it's an afternoon stroll.

Once they disperse to go complete their task Ignis walks over to me and sits down letting out a big sigh as he leans back and rests on his palms. “That’s a pretty smart move. I didn’t even think of the possibility that you’d use this as a way to judge them individually.”

“In reality only one of them in particular was one I truly wanted to make a cleric. The other ten are all well above average though and showed some impressive feats for that short fight. You see that thestral that’s a bit shorter than the others? That’s Private Midnight Shine.”

“She was the last one standing when you announced the fight was over. I assumed she had just avoided confronting you and happened to be the only one left. Is that incorrect?”

“That is incorrect. I swatted that little shit out of the sky nine times and she kept getting back up. Not only that but she tried to rally her teammates to stand back up two times. Doing all of that when she didn’t even know that I was secretly screening for clerics? That’s a true Beacon. I’m sure she’s going to do great things.” High praises coming from Ignis. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him praise anypony like this before. He really values determination and grit over all else? Interesting.

“Are you a mastermind evil doer? Do you have a third or fourth secret purpose for this training? Hmmm?”

“They aren’t secrets, but yes. We’re at war and I have a bit of the opposite problem that they do. I’m confident in my ability to battle strong opponents in a one on one, but at war I’m likely going to be facing battalions and armies. I need more experience with fighting large groups of creatures en masse.”

I just snort in response. “Why? Are you planning on going out to the front lines alone?” I chuckle as I ask the ridiculous question, but after a couple of seconds I realize he isn’t laughing. “You’re joking right? That’s completely insane.”

“Is it? If I have the capability to defeat the entire enemy force in a battle why would I not do so? Why send out waves of my own guards to potentially die when I could just fly in and wipe out the entire enemy force on my own?”

I think he’s actually lost his mind. That's far too unhealthy of a mindset and is incredibly unsafe in practice. If you have your entire army out there you can count on somepony to have your back. But, if he goes out there alone all it'll take is one mistake and it's all over.

He stands up and stretches his arms straight up into the air. “Anyways, their break is over. I need to beat 'em up one more times.”

He walks over to the large group of guards and calls out to them. “Alright, now we’re gunna try this again but this time you’ll have 11 of my newly blessed clerics. Beacons, your abilities and spells excel at supporting your allies so I want you to get a good idea of how to utilize these new spells and abilities. I also want you to keep track of how many times you can use those spells and abilities, because you will only be able to use them a limited number of times per day.” He twists his torso a couple of times and places his hands against the small of his back before leaning back and causing his spine to let out a loud cracking noise. Then he drops into his fighting stance. “Alright round two let’s do it. Since it’s our first day with this new training method I’ll stop at two fights. After this one you’ll probably be too exhausted to learn anything useful from a third fight.”

They lasted four minutes this time.

Ignis walks over to me and wipes the sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand. “Now that was a decent warm up. There might be some hope, haha, for these guys. Didn’t mean to use my domain like that. I’m gunna shower and head over to Court now, thanks for hanging out Moonie.”

He seemed more normal just now, but his voice was still less energetic than normal and his eyes weren’t shining as brightly either. I’ll have to talk to Luna about this after she spends some time with him. I’m sure she’ll notice it as well.

“Oh! Moonie, by the way. Wanna join my party?”

Ignis Ferrum invites you to join his party.
Accept?
Yes. No.

Wait I recognize this…this is the same thing I saw when I was possessing him. When did he gain this power?! “Accept! Yes!”

You have formed a party with: Ignis Ferrum!

Welcome!

Character: Nightmare Moon - Divine Rank 3
Race: Alicorn

I feel dizzy… how can he just drop massively important knowledge so casually?!

Author's Note

I had more fun writing this one than I thought I would. Also I mightve done a bad job explaining the training area. It has the spell range that consists of lanes mages stand in and targets down range for them to shoot at.

Then there's a dirt arena that has no seating or separators. It became an arena because that's where ponies consistently sparred and their duels stomped out all the grass over time, making that spot into the "Dirt Arena" then there's just a lot of open area meant for doing whatever. There's equipment that can be brought out and put in those empty spots but its meant to be empty when not in use. For these two fights they used the entire training area. Unless the dirt arena is specifically mentioned like when he made the clerics.

Thanks for the thumbs up last chapter <3 that's the first and last time I'll ask for them. I didn't expect to actually hit 300 from just that one chapter so the number going up so fast felt really good. Much love to everyone

Oh also Nightmare joined the party. :D
And she's Divine Rank 3 :D

Thanks for reading! <3