Conviction

by Y1

Chapters

Prologue: A Special Day
Chapter 1: Castle Blackrock
Chapter 2: A Month Later
Chapter 3: Descent
Chapter 4: Our Lady's Grace
Chapter 5: The World's End
Chapter 6: Pyra
Chapter 7: Hoofens
Chapter 8: Lights Fading, Voids Growing
Chapter 9: Thundering in Silence
Chapter 10: Scum
Chapter 11: In the Night

Prologue: A Special Day

Conviction

Prologue

A special Day

There is a beast out in the dark. It has no breath, it has no heart.

It silently watches, every day, and only laughs when we pray.

-Opening verse of ‘Curse of the Everfree’. Unknown author. Circa 0040.

“Be careful Goldie!” Mum shouted after me as my hooves clattered along the landing. “Don’t run on the stairs!” As if I could wait - it was Ascension Day! If there’s a day for running on the stairs, it’s Ascension Day! As I galloped down the stairs, nimbly bouncing off the midway landing, my hindhoof slipped on the ball that somepony left out after playing with it.

I shrieked, stumbled and tripped forwards as my back legs shot out from under me. My forehooves caught the stairs below firmly, and with a giggle I turned the fall into a cartwheel. Even a little trip can be fun. Daddy always says to seize the opportunities life brings you, so I did!

Then my face smacked into the wall. I stumbled to the ground, my eyes rolling, and I got a really good look at Daddy’s forge from the floor. Well, a really spinny look at least.

There was an anvil near the centre of the room, a whole bunch of tools, like hammers and tongs, were on one wall, and there was a bench right beneath them. There was a bunch of other blacksmithing stuff that I couldn’t remember the names of, but what was really cool were the three barrels that were near the anvil. One had fresh water in it, one had seawater, and the other had oil. Daddy used them for forging, when he dipped hot metals in them to make all the steam come out, but I liked it because the barrel full of normal water tasted funny, just like metal. So when someone asked me to bring them a drink I’d get them a glass full of that and they’d spit it out. It was funny. Mummy said I’d poison someone with that one day, but Daddy just thought it was really funny. Except when I did it to him. Then it wasn’t as funny.

Upstairs is where me, Mummy, and Daddy lived, but down here’s where Daddy works. Mummy complains about it being a fire hazard, but Daddy says that having the forge downstairs helps us stay warm in winter, also that he was careful and wouldn’t set the house on fire. Our house isn’t very big, with a kitchen and just two rooms. Mummy and Daddy share one, and they said I’d have to share mine when I had some more brothers and sisters. They never explained where I’d get brothers and sisters from, just that they were ‘coming’.

Our backyard was tiny, so the outhouse we had was really close, and when it got hot it smelled really bad. Daddy said we were lucky to have a backyard at all, and if we didn’t have one we’d either have to go on the street or have it indoors. Mummy still complained a lot though.

“Goldie!” Mum shouted after me, as my head spins. “Are you alright!?” she said, clattering down the stairs even faster than I did. Why does she get to run and I don’t? “You could’ve broken your neck!” she said, her hooves wrapping tightly around me. My eyes slid to the ball now lying beside me. I hoped Mum didn’t see it. “Darling...” she sighed, “If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times. Stop running on the stairs!” After a moment she frowned and picked up the ball with her teeth. Setting it on a table next to some of Daddy’s hammers, she turned to me. “And pick up after yourself, you could get hurt.”

I folded my ears back, pouting, and mumbled, “Sorry mum.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” she said, her hooves rubbing soothingly over my back. “It’s okay. Mummy just doesn’t want anything bad to happen to you.” After a moment of hugging me, she glared at me sternly. “And stop apologizing and just listen to me. You won’t have to apologize if you just do as I ask the first time.”

Staring down at the bare dirt of Daddy’s forge floor, I couldn’t think of anything to say to that. “Sorry,” I repeated.

I heard her sigh in frustration. “Goldie...”

“Oh, just let it go, Silver.” My daddy stepped down and ruffled my mane. I smiled up at him, and he chuckled. “Look, she’s fine.” He looked over to Mummy, and she sighed again as Daddy picked me up and I stood on his back. “It’s Ascension Day. Just let her have fun.” He smiled at her.

Mother glared at him for as long as she could, but it wasn’t long until she smiled, and I smiled because she smiled. “Just as long as she stays in sight.”

“Why?” he asked. “It’s Ascension Day. Nothing will go wrong. I promise.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Something could very easily go wrong among the bustling crowd of ponies that could crush her underhoof and no one would ever notice. It’s Ascension Day, Black. You know what that means...”

My dad didn’t pause for a moment as he crossed over and kissed her. I stuck out my tongue. Kissing was icky.

“It means we get to have a little big-pony fun this evening,” he murmured. “I might’ve bought you something nice to wear tonight.”

“Oh,” Mummy breathed, and it came fast and heavy, like she’d been running. “Yes.” Dad leaned over her - it wasn’t fair that colts were bigger than fillies, and always would be, even when we were all growed up - and nipped the back of her neck.

My mummy’s face went red, and she gasped. If I’d done that to another foal, she’d have sent me to bed without dessert, and as her eyes slid to its door, I wondered if she was about to send Daddy to his - uh, their - bedroom before dessert.

“Blaaaack!” Mom snipped, squirming out from under Dad’s neck, “not in front of Goldie!”

“Why?” I asked her, confused. Why do adults always need to keep things from kids? I thought it wasn’t fair that we have to wait till we’re older. I’m four now!

“Hey, Goldie!” My Daddy looked back at me and lowered his head so I wouldn’t have to look up at him. His eyes were brown like bread crust, and Mum said she could get lost in them. I thought that was silly because I couldn’t even fit inside them, and I was way smaller than she was. “How about I buy you some nice honey comb at the parade?”

I did a little dance on his back. “Yes-yes-yes!” I lowered my face, and waved my haunches in the air in pure delight. “Thank you daddy!”

He smiled and nuzzled me.

Riding on Daddy’s back as he walked through town was always lots of fun. He’s so strong. One day, I want to be as big and strong as him, and as pretty as Mummy! He’s a blacksmith, so his cutie mark’s an anvil. Mummy’s a carver, and we lived in the Harbourside Quarter. That’s where all the craftsponies live. It isn’t as pretty as the High Bred Quarter, but I liked it better there, anyway. All the houses were really close together, so when I climbed the house I could jump from building to building real easy. Mummy didn’t like it when I did that, she worried a lot. That’s just what mums do, isn’t it? She shouted at me to come down from there, but Daddy just laughed and watched.

It was how I got my cutie mark! I was the first foal I knew to get my cutie mark. I was really young, and I was so happy that I showed it to all my friends. They didn’t like it much. I kept showing it to them so they’d like it, but they were dummies and just stopped playing with me. It’s not my fault none of them had their cutie marks...

Oh! You probably don’t know it, but my special talent’s dancing. My cutie mark is a horseshoe with a swirl around it and looks really cool if you ask me.

I got my special talent by dancing on the roof! Mum was so worried, but she did make a really special dinner when I got down. Daddy was really proud, and everyone we knew said it was really special to get a cutie mark so young. Mum was worried it was going to my head, but why shouldn’t I be happy about it? If I got my cutie mark early, didn’t that mean I was special? Shouldn’t I get to act like I was special? It wasn’t fair that she got to-

Ooh! Wow. Look at all these ponies! From Daddy’s back, I could see over most of the crowd. The entire city was there! Unicorns and earth ponies and even some pegasi were coming out of their cloud houses to float around and join in the fun.

There were so many of them! All the colours and shapes and sizes. As I climbed onto Daddy’s head, he spat out a bit of dirt when my hoof went in his mouth, and flicked an ear when I stepped on it. Once I was up there, I looked around excitedly. There were so many ponies! I’d never seen so many in one place before!

The festival wasn’t happening in the High Bred Quarter, but it was close enough that we could even see Luna’s palace. The big white walls overlooked the herd of ponies that were gathered on the large flat space between the city’s inner walls and the rest of the not-as-rich ponies. I’d been inside the inner wall once, but not very far, just to the big temple that I could see through the open gate. There were some ponies coming out from the higher parts of the city, but they looked snooty with their noses in the air, and there were lots of bodyguards.

My dad steadily pushed through the crowd, he was really big so most ponies made way for him. A few unicorns glared at him, but everyone was happy and having too much fun to fight on a day like today.

Daddy said that Hoofens was the capital of Western Equestria, which meant it was really important for some reason. I couldn’t see the ocean from here, but there were a few seagulls flying above us and I knew the water wasn’t far. Hoofens was the biggest port in all of Equestria, because it was where Luna lived. Daddy said that stars were important to sailors for navigation, but I wasn’t really sure why.

“Ascension Day!” A unicorn wearing black robes shouted, and a bunch of ponies stopped to hear what he said. “Today is the day twenty years ago that our graceful Lady Luna, cast off the shackles of the whore Celestia! The day she donned her full divinity and lay claim to the throne of equinity as its one true divine!” He waved his hooves left and right. He looked silly, standing on a little crate and shouting himself hoarse. I giggled as he screamed, “If those heathen Celestians love their solar flame so much, then we will grant their desires and they will burn! The decadence of the Solar Empire will crumble, and all will know the grace of our Lady Luna! We will be her blessed! She will choose her most faithful to ascend with her into-”

I didn’t hear the rest of what he said, and I lost sight of him as Daddy walked away.

“Damn nut jobs.” Daddy muttered. “I believe in Lady Luna, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give up everything and just scream her name all day every day.”

Mummy nodded. “Yes. Those fools frighten me. With their nonsense talk of burning heathens and other foamy-lipped lies. My sister used to live in Canterlot.”

My dad replied seriously. “I know. We’ll pray that she’s not there anymore from now on. Maybe she’s already left that Tartarus-cursed place.”

“I do. Every night, I pray for her.”

He nodded and we continued through the crowd, and I forgot the silly stallion with his dirty robes.

“Come on dad! It’s time for the ceremony!” I shoved his back hoof as hard as I could, but he just wasn’t moving. Why are all adults so big? Why do I have to wait to be that big?

“Alright Goldie, alright.” He smiled at me gently and put me on his back. “It’s just the moon raising ceremony. You’ll get to see it next year.”

“Come on!” I hopped up and down on his back impatiently, my hooves sticky from honeycomb. “I wanna see the Princess!”

Dad was always patient with me, and he just gave a little roll of his eyes as he turned and we walked towards the street where everypony was gathering.

“Black, maybe we should take her home.” Mummy trotted up alongside us.

“Why?” He asked as he looked back at her with a smile on his face.

“What if she gets-”

“Relax, Silver,” he interrupted her. “There are thousands of foals here. She’d have to get spotted from that group, and then she’d have to be chosen among the hundreds of foals that get lined up.”

I had no idea what they were talking about, so I decided to chip in my two bits. “I wanna go to the ceremony!” I hopped up and down.

Mummy’s face stayed set in a worried frown. “I’m getting worried, can we please take her home?”

He sighed. “Silver, you know we can’t do that. The guards-”

“I know, I know.” She was shifting really nervously. “I’m really worried.” Mum looked at dad. “Please, I really think we need to take her home.”

I frowned. “But I wanna see the Princess!”

Mum continued without listening to me. “I just have this feeling that something really bad’s going to happen, and she’s of age and-”

“Silver!” My Dad interrupted her. “We don’t have a choice.” He nuzzled her. “We have to take her.” He stared into my mother’s eyes. “Don’t worry about it. Everything will be fine.” He promised her.

“Black, please we-”

A loud cough behind us made both Mum and Dad turn around.

There was a soldier standing behind us, his dark blue uniform looked nice on his red coat. Hes was glaring, and for some reason he didn’t wave back when I waved at him. “I hope that filly will be attending the ceremony.”

“Of course I will.” I jumped up and down on my dad’s back. “Come on, lets go, lets go!”

My dad gave the soldier a polite smile. “Of course. We’re loyal servants to our Lady’s grace.”

The soldier nodded. “Good.” He tilted his head towards where the ceremony was taking place. “After you sir.” There was no humour in his voice.

My Mummy and Daddy exchanged worried looks, but turned and started walking. Why were they so worried? We were going to see the Princess! What was there to worry about? We walked in silence, and soon we were near the front of the crowd with the soldier standing beside us.

The parade went by, and the soldiers all looked funny to me in their armour. A stallion walked at the head of the group, yelling about how great Luna was and how wonderful the war was.

Wow! With the way everyone was talking about her, I couldn’t wait to see her. I couldn’t sit still I was so excited.

“Black,” Mummy whispered to Daddy. “Take her down, she won’t be spotted as easily.”

My dad nodded.

“But Mum!” I protested. “I want to see! I won’t be able to from down there.”

“Goldie please, now’s not-”

“The foal will have a better view from where she is.” The soldier spoke, glaring at my Mum and Dad. “Leave her.”

I smiled at him. He was really nice.

Mum and Dad exchanged that worried look again, but I didn’t care as I smiled at the passing parade.

I stayed up there the entire parade! And my dad is really tall so I got to see everything! The caged manticores from the Everfree, the captured gryphons who had bread thrown at them, and everything else. They were supposed to be scary or something, but they were just funny looking bird cat things. I wanted to tug on one’s tail and see what happened.

Oh! And the nightkin! Bat ponies! They looked so cool with their dark coats and red and yellow cat eyes and leathery bat wings! Their blue armour was so cool! I wanted to run up and touch them, but I know Mum and Dad wouldn’t like that. Maybe if I asked the nice soldier he could-

“Quiet your voices for the grace of our Lady!” The nightkin at the front shouted over the crowd. “The time of ascension is at hoof, and all will still for Her proclamation!”

The crowd got really quiet, really fast.

He wasn’t dressed like the other nightkin. His armor had more blue on it, and he was a little bit shorter than most of the other bat ponies.

“Begin the choosing,” he ordered his soldiers.

Ponies around us started murmuring worriedly as nightkin began walking amongst it, selecting foals for no reason I could figure out. I just wanted them to hurry up! I wanted to see the Princess. My eyes met a pretty bat pony mare’s, so I smiled and waved at her. She watched me for a second, before her face broke into a cheerful grin and she started pushing her way through the crowd towards us.

Mum saw this and began breathing really fast and hard. “Black, she’s coming this way. She’s coming this way!”

“I know!” He said and looked to me. “Goldie, be a good foal and listen to me!” I cringed at how harsh he sounded. “Look down! Do not stare at the Princess or meet her gaze.” My ears wilted and he spoke again. “Do you hear me! Don’t-”

“Your foal please.” The bat pony mare appeared. She smiled at me, and I stared into her cat eyes. After a moment she glanced between my parents, her gaze hardening into a frown. “Is something wrong?”

“No, of course not.” My Daddy gave her a smile. “Hop down, Goldie. Go with the nice lady.”

I did what he said, but I was confused. Why were they so scared? We were about to see the Princess! What could go wrong?

I followed the nightkin, and stared up at her. I couldn’t see her mane or tail because she was wearing armour and a helmet, but her eyes were golden like my mane, and she had a pretty face. She wasn’t really paying attention to me, but there was a tiny smile at the corners of her mouth, and it reminded me of Daddy’s mouth. The way it always looked like he was just a second away from breaking into a smile.

After a moment she glanced across at me and caught me staring. “What?” she asked.

“You’re really pretty.” I smiled at her.

She chuckled and grinned. “Thanks.” The mare led me to the street the parade path was in. She told me, “Line up with the other foals.” I nodded and began to happily trot to where the other foals were. “Hey, good luck out there kid!” she called.

I turned to smile back at her, but she was gone, and I found myself standing between two colts my age.

I opened my mouth to speak to them, but then the crowd was hushed by the loud nightkin in the fancy armour.

“Make way for our Grace, Lady Luna!” he shouted. “The true Goddess of ponykind, and rightful ruler of equinity! She who shields us from the sun’s harsh light, and stops the spread of Discord!” He spread his leathery wings wide and rose on his hind hooves. “Our true divinity, and to whom we all owe our eternal servitude!” His eyes were half closed, and his voice carried across the whole crowd. “Service to each other, in service to our Grace! She who freed us from our selfishness and blasphemy, and found us each and all a place in the greater good under Her!”

As he finished the speech, the sun slowly began to set, and the entire world was cast into the dark of a moonless light. All there was to see by was the light of the stars. Then, a blue glow appeared down the street, and the crowd held its breath as the steady clip clop of hooves made its way towards us.

Beside me both colts stared at the ground, and I looked around confused as all the other colts and fillies did the same. I frowned. Why would they do that? They were going to miss the Princess!

When she finally came into view, I could only stare at her. I know Daddy told me not to, but he was always way nicer than Mum when it came to punishment, and sometimes I could get out of it with a pout and some watery eyes... So I decided I could stare at her.

She was so pretty. No, not pretty. She was beautiful. She was the greatest thing I had ever seen. Even greater than my cutie mark...

Her black coat was glowing. A soft blue light surrounded her, and ponies she passed stood out as she went by. Her pale blue armour shone and her elegant wings hung by her side. She was so tall and graceful, every one of her steps was perfect and longer than a thousand of mine. I felt like I could watch her walk forever. Her mane blew out, even though there was no wind. It shined and rippled and moved all on its own, and stars sparkled in it. I could only stare in complete awe as she came closer. Her eyes were a beautiful blue cat slit.

I watched, eyes wide and mouth open as she passed. She didn’t notice me, or any of the other foals before she walked away. Slowly but surely, she made her way to the stage, and I got a great look at her cutie mark. A purple splash and a moon. It was so much cooler than mine...

As she got closer to the end of the street, she walked up onto a stage and turned to face all of us. Her horn glowed, and behind her a full moon rose into the sky, lighting up the ceremony and celebration. My face spread into a smile, and I beamed at the Princess in flight, as she silhouetted herself against the big beautiful moon.

As it rose into the sky, Luna began to lower herself down, and eventually she came to a rest on the stage. Other ponies were watching the moon, but I was watching greatest pony I’d ever seen.

Slowly, she began to trot back towards me, her eyes darting from foal to foal. Every now and then she would nod at one, and then a nightkin would stand behind them as the ceremony continued. More colts were being chosen than fillies, and all the foals continued to stare at the ground. The colt next to me started to whimper as she got closer, and I frowned at him before I smiled again up at Luna. She was coming closer, her eyes roving over all of us. Then her eyes passed over me, and they stayed there looking at me. I only smiled at her more widely, and the corners of her mouth turned up.

In my head a voice whispered, A foal who would match the gaze of a goddess? There was a musical chuckle.

The beautiful Princess regarded me for a second longer, amusement all over her face, before she nodded and moved on.

I heard hoof steps, and the pretty bat-pony mare stood behind me. “Congratulations, kid,” she whispered.

I looked back to the princess, and watched as she walked away. I looked around, and counted twelve foals with nightkin standing behind them. Thirteen including me.

As the princess faded into the distance, the crowd broke into cheers, and all the parents came to reclaim their foals.

“Come with me,” the bat-pony lady said, and began to lead me to where all the other nightkin were gathering with their foals. “Welcome to the blessed dark.”

“What’s your name?” I asked as I happily trotted alongside her.

She smiled at me. “Chased Redemption. Though everyone calls me Chase.”

I nodded at her. “That’s a pretty name. But I mean your full one.”

She snorted and shook her head.

I looked back over my shoulder and spotted my parents, standing at the edge of the crowd staring at me.

I waved at them, but I don’t think they noticed because they didn’t wave back. Which was weird because I could swear they were looking right at me. Mum broke down and began to sob into my dad’s shoulders. He only stared with tears in his eyes, and I frowned at them confused.

What was wrong? Why were they so sad?

Chase called back to me. “Come on, kid.”

I hesitated for a second before I trotted after her happily. “My name’s Goldie,” I told her with a smile.

“Not anymore it’s not,” she replied.

“Why? Has it changed?” I asked feeling confused.

She nodded. “Yep.”

I frowned. “Well... what is it now?”

She shrugged, before the nightkin leader stepped forward next to her. “Song of Night,” he told me, and ruffled my mane. “Little one, your name shall be Song of Night.”

Chapter 1: Castle Blackrock

Conviction

Chapter 1

Castle Blackrock

She killed them all, that awful Curse. She slew his wife, his children, the servants and even salted his earth. Nothing stood of that once merry home, nothing but the foundation, on which she etched 'Everfree'.

'The End of Iron’, story four of 'Curse of the Everfree'. Author Wax Seal. Circa 0200.

“Come on, kid,” Chase said to me, “Out of the wagon.” She jerked her head towards the rear. Behind her, I could see a pegasus that had helped fly the wagon shaking off his straps.

I hopped off lightly and trotted alongside her. “Where are we?” I asked as I looked up at the great big castle.

“Castle Blackrock,” Chase said, and she sounded to me like mum did when talking about her old house in Canterlot. “Your new home.”

I didn’t think it looked much like a castle. In the stories castles were all pretty and elegant and had princesses in them and stuff. This one didn’t look like any of the ones in the books. This castle just made me think of daddy’s anvil. It was all big, black and blocky. Like some giant version of Daddy had made a big cube of dark iron and just forgot where he left it.

We were in the middle of a forest, and I didn’t know which forest it was -I’ve never even left Hoofens before!-, but we’d only been flying for the rest of the night, so I was pretty sure we weren’t that far from Hoofens. Surrounding the fortress on all sides was a field of stumps that stretched a few hundred yards to where the forest started. It took me a moment to realise that they had cut down all the trees to make room for the fortress.

I frowned. “What happened to my old home?”

“Nothing.” Chase looked back at me. “You’ll just be living here now.”

“Really?” I smiled up at the huge structure. “It’s so much bigger than dad’s forge!” I looked across at her. “How big is it?”

“I dunno,” she answered with a shrug. “But yeah, it’s probably a bit bigger than where you used to live.”

“Can I go exploring?” I looked over at her. “Please, please please?”

Chase shook her head and smiled. “Not yet. First they’re gonna settle in all these cry-babies, then I’ll show you around if you like.”

I looked around at the other foals, most of which were crying and wailing for their parents. Some of them were screaming and trying to run back to the carriages so nightkin were dragging them along. Most of the nightkin were being gentle, but one foal kicked hers in the face, and he growled and cuffed her over the ear pretty hard. Other than that one though, most of the nightkin were pushing their foals along with their hooves and wings. That didn’t stop most of them from screaming like little fillies though.

I wasn’t sad. I was feeling excited! This was all so new and amazing, and I got to hang out with bat ponies, and I saw Princess Luna! This was like, the greatest night ever!

“Why are they all crying?” I asked her.

“Eh. All the initiates are like that when they arrive.” She shrugged. “They get over it in like a month.”

“Well they’re all being cry-babies.” I snorted and walked a few steps ahead of her.

Chase laughed. “Heh. You’re alright kid. Show no fear, that’s how you make it in Castle Blackrock.”

“Corporal Chased!” The leader of the bat ponies, his voice booming loudly from up ahead.

“I’ll be back kid,” Chase patted my head. “Just keep going with the other foals.” She gave me a glare. “And don’t try to run away, kay?”

I nodded and smiled. “Okay!”

She gave a nod and a smirk before running back to her commander. “Yes, sir.” She saluted with her wings as she did so.

I watched her walk away before I went back to happily trotting inside. This place was so big! I couldn’t wait to see all of it.

The large gates closed behind us, and we were all now inside a big courtyard, with reddy brown dirt and only one actual entrance into the castle itself with. The big gate was made of dark wood and had lots of spider webs of carved black iron all over it, giving it a really big and intimidating look. The door into the fortress was closed, and there were more nightkin on the walls watching us. Without wings I couldn’t think of how I’d get up to the walls, so I guessed that the way would have to be inside. Or maybe all the nightkin could fly, so they didn’t need stairs. I counted fourteen on the ground with us, and that was after Chase and the bossy bat pony came back.

“Gather up the foals,” he ordered. “Let’s get them calmed and settled in.”

Chase waved me over, and I happily trotted to stand next to her. I fidgeted, bored, while some of the other foals were slowly coaxed and dragged into position. Most of them were screaming and crying, but a few were like me, just looking around at what was happening. As they came to a standstill, we all quieted, but a few of the bigger cry-babies were still sobbing and sniffling.

“What a bunch of little fillies,” I muttered.

“Shhh.” Chase nudged me. “Listen, this is important.”

The bossy bat pony cleared his throat, and I noticed he was standing on a slightly elevated stage.

“Greetings.” He said loudly. His voice was really deep coming from a pony that was actually a lot shorter than most of the other nightkin. “I am Captain Stygus.”

I blinked in surprise and looked at him more closely. I’d heard that name before... I think Mummy mentioned it once. Some story about... a battle that Luna won? I think? Now that I was up close, I could see that Stygus was a lot smaller than most of the other nightkin. He was average sized for a mare, but really small for a stallion. Not that he looked much like a filly, I could see the scars on him, and his face was definitely hard and square like a stallion’s. He had the same little smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth that Daddy did. Even though he wasn’t telling a joke, I bet he could tell a really funny one if he wanted to.

“These are the nightkin.” He pointed a hoof at a few different ponies. “Shade Eyed, Heavenly Mantle, Chased Redemption... you will get to know the rest of their names on your own. You are all here because you have been blessed by Luna and selected to be raised into the ranks of the Nightkin.”

I blinked in surprise. “Really?!” I squealed with delight, and blushed when everyone stared at me.

A small smile touched the corner of his mouth. “Yes, really.” He glanced at the other foals. “Though not all share your enthusiasm.”

I wanted to talk again, but Chase nudged me and I stayed quiet.

“Welcome to Castle Blackrock, the home of the nightkin, and now yours too. The ponies next to you are your mentors. For the first month you’re staying here you’ll be bunking with them. After that you’ll move into the barracks, and the thirteen of you will share a room. Your mentors will be with you until you're twelve, and ready to stand on your own hooves. Twelve years is where you meet the final bar between you and adulthood.”

I smiled back at Chase, and she winked before nudging me and turning my attention back to the front.

“They’re here to make the transition from normal life to Luna’s blessed path easier. Feel free to talk to them about any questions and concerns you might have. And please, remember, as nightkin we are all Luna’s children; even though someone outranks you, we are a family, and you’re free to talk to anyone here. As commander of the Nightkin, I am often away on missions and other duties for our Lady Grace, but whenever I’m here, feel free to seek me out.” He smiled at us. “I’m always happy to guide the young ones along the path.”

“Now, for a test.” With his mouth he pulled a cloth off a table behind him. “This is your dinner.” He said with a smile. On the table I spotted several pieces of bread. “You’ll note there are only five pieces of bread, and yet there are thirteen of you.” He turned around and smiled again. “It may seem sad now, but in time you will come to love your place here. Soon you will realise this has always been your home. Remember, there are many paths through the dark.” He nodded his head at us, before he flapped his wings and flew away.

All the foals sat there in confusion for a while, and I looked across at Chase. “I don’t get it. How are we all supposed to eat?”

She smiled at me. “You tell me. There’s five pieces of bread, and thirteen of you.”

I looked to the ground, feeling confused. “I’m no good at maths.”

She chuckled. “Well division’s one solution, but like Styggie said, there are many paths through the dark.” Chase tilted her head towards the stage. “I’m not supposed to tell you how to do this. If you want bread, then you better go get it.”

I glanced between her and the stage, before I stepped away from the group of foals and made my way onto the platform. I looked back at Chase, but she shooed me on with her hoof. I slowly approached the table, and hesitantly took one piece. I looked over my shoulder again at the other foals, who were watching me, before I fell on my haunches and started to eat.

The other foals watched for a second, before some of them began to make their way on stage. Three stayed behind, sitting in the dirt and crying, but before long all the bread on the plates were in the hooves of some of the foals, and the others that didn’t have any looked on hungrily.

A second later one of the five hungry ones rushed forward and snatched the bread from another foal. He pushed him over and began to eat it on his own. The pony he shoved fell onto his backside and started to cry.

I sat there eating my bread, until a grey pegasus with a white mane trotted up and snatched it from my hooves.

“That’s mine!” I shouted and looked across the courtyard. “Chase! He just took my bread!”

She looked at me and just shrugged. “Well? Get it back.”

The pegasus was backing away, the bread in his mouth and watching me carefully. I frowned at him.

“Give it back!” I ordered and walked towards him.

He shook his head and mumbled something I couldn’t hear through his mouthful of food.

I took a step closer, and noticed he was standing near the edge of the stage. After a moment's pause I headbutted him, and he slipped off the stage with a startled yelp. He landed on his side, and after a second began to cry.

I frowned down at him, before I hopped down and picked up my now slightly muddy food. I frowned at it. I didn’t want muddy bread. I jumped back up on stage, and found a pink earth pony filly with a red mane who was slowly chewing her own clean piece.

I dropped my bread in front of her and snatched the clean piece from her mouth. I turned to trot away when she shouted at me. “That’s not fair!”

I looked back at her, before I shrugged and sat down to eat my bread.

She just stared at me with an unhappy look on her face before she fell onto her haunches and started crying. “Muuuuhhhhhuuummy!”

I didn’t listen to her as I finished my bread. Once I was done I turned around and made my way over to Chase.

She was smirking at me as she ruffled my mane. “Well that’s one way to do it.”

“Did I pass the test?” I asked up at her, and my ears perked forward in excitement.

“Well you got the bread didn’t you?” She nudged me back towards the stage. “Remember kid, there’s more than one way to do this. See those two?” She pointed a hoof towards two unicorns who were each eating half a piece. “Strength in numbers. Sure they only get half each, but that’s better than nothing right?” She jerked her head towards the foals who hadn’t moved, and were still sitting there crying. “They’re the only ones who failed this one. They didn’t do anything to get what they wanted.”

I turned to her and smiled. “Oh! Well then I won didn’t I? I got the most bread and I got it first.”

Chase shrugged. “That’s one way of looking at it, but see those two?” She pointed a hoof towards the pegasus I’d shoved over, and the filly that I’d snatched the clean bread from. “They’re gonna hate you now. What happens if tomorrow they decide to team up and take your bread?”

I frowned. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

Chase nodded. “Exactly. If they think of that, and tomorrow they get your bread, then did you pass the test?”

“...No.”

“Gotta remember kid, yeah, the goal’s the bread, but there are a lot of paths through the dark. We all serve Luna in the end, but how we do that can be important too.”

I nodded at her. “I understand.”

Chase rolled her eyes and ruffled my mane. “I doubt that. Took me ages to get it.” She turned away. “Come on.” She jerked her head to the door leading into the fortress. “I’ll show you around.”

I grinned and happily trotted in front of her. “Okay!”

- - - - - - - -

After the greatest day ever, I was in my new bed with Chase lying nearby in another. She was reading a book and yawning as she rubbed her eyes. I didn’t feel very sleepy at all, so even though they were telling me to go to sleep, I was just lying in bed and fidgeting boredly.

The room I was sleeping in was way bigger than my old one, and Chase told me it was ours for the next month until I’d ‘settled in’. I wasn’t sure what that really meant, but I know that when it happened I’d be moving into a bigger room with all the other foals. Chase told me this was her room, so I guess that means all the stuff she had lying around was hers. There were two beds in the room, a little one for me and a bigger one by the window for her. There was a little nightstand next to her bed with a pile of books on it and a jewelry box. I tried opening the box, but she took it away from me before I had the chance. She said something about how I’d probably lose all her stuff if I played with it.

As I was shown around, Chase showed me some of the things I’d be doing. There were ponies from each age group all the way up to eighteen. She said the kids that were sixteen or older were kept in a separate part of the castle. I didn’t get to see everything, but I could easily just sneak away if I wanted, and see it when no one was looking. As nice as Chase was, I couldn’t wait for the month to end so I could get around on my own a bit more.

“Chase?”

“Yeah, Song, what’s up?” She looked across at me. This was the first time I’d seen Chase without her armour. She wasn’t an earth pony, so she was a bit thinner than Mummy, but she had a lot more muscles. Now that she wasn’t wearing her helmet I could see her mane was a pretty blue that was the same colour as Princess Luna’s near the edges, but got darker in the middle. She had three silver earrings in one ear, but none in the other. And she smirked a lot. It wasn’t a mean smirk, just a confident one. Like she always knew what she was doing and enjoyed doing it.

“Am I gonna have to fight for food tomorrow too, or will they just give it to us?” I asked her.

Chase nodded. “Probably. The bread thing’s only to get all the foals to realise they have to fight to get by. It’ll last a week or two depending on how Styggie thinks you’re all doing.” I nodded at her and she went back to reading.

After another moment's silence I had another question. “Why did Captain Stygus change my name? Was there something wrong with my old one?”

“No, there was nothing wrong with it. It’s just, that was the name your parents gave you, right? Well you’re no longer their foal anymore. You’re Luna’s now. So you get a new name from your new mother.”

“Oh...” I paused in thought. “So I have two mommies now?”

“No, just one.”

I frowned at her for being silly. “No... if Luna’s my new mum, and I already have one, then that means I have two mommies. One and one is two, right?” I scrunched my muzzle in thought. “Yeah, that’s right.”

Chase glanced over at me but didn’t say anything.

After a moment’s thought I realised the truth. “Oh, right. You must be counting daddy too.” I mean, duh. It was so obvious.

Chase glanced at me with a confused and amused expression on her face. “I think you got your math a little wrong, Song.”

I glanced at her and shook my head. “No, there’s mum, and there’s Luna, so that’s two, but then there’s dad so that makes it one...” Tapping a hoof against my chin thoughtfully I added, “I think.”

With a snort, Chase went back to reading. “Well that’s one thing we’re gonna have to work on.”

I sat there in silence for a moment, till I asked the one question that had been bugging me all day. “So, if I’m living here now, when will I see mum and dad again?”

Chase scrunched her face up and sighed. The book she was holding closed and she looked away from me mumbling, “She was gonna ask sooner or later. Get it done, nice and quick.”

Frowning at her, I said, “Mum always told me not to talk to myself. She said only crazy ponies did that.”

Glancing back at me with a smile on her face, Chase just shook her head. “You’re alright, kid.”

I tilted my head to the side, as I asked my question again. “So when are mum and dad coming here?”

She scratched the back of her head as she fished about for answer. “Uh... they’re not.”

I blinked in surprise.

“In fact... you’re never going to see them again.” She gave an apologetic little smile. “Sorry, kid.”

After a few moment of silence I asked with tears in my eyes, “Never?”

“Yeah... uh, never.”

“B-b-but I didn’t do anything wrong!” I sobbed out. “I’ll be good, I just want to go home.”

“No, no. It’s nothing you did wrong, kid.” She stepped over and sat on the bottom of my bed. “It’s what you did right.”

“But I want to go home!” I shouted out and put my head in my hooves. “I want my muhummy!”

“Ah, crap... I mean...” Chase put a hoof around my shoulder and pulled me in for a hug. “Listen kid, it’s not that bad I mean-” She cut off with a shocked blink as my hoof hit her face.

I jumped out of her arms, and turned around shouting angrily. “No! Take me back to my mum! I wanna go home!” My hoof stomped as I made the demand.

She stared at me in shock for a moment before she started chuckling as she rubbed her face. “Yikes Song, you got a pretty mean right hook there.”

“Take me home!” was all the answer I gave her.

Shaking her head, she hopped off the bed and came to stand in front of me. “I’m sorry kid, but you’re gonna become a nightkin. Lady Luna blessed you with this chance, and you don’t spurn the goddess’s gift.”

“I. Want. My. Mum.”

The corners of her mouth turned up into a smile. “You’re parents never really knew how to say no to you, did they?”

I stood my ground and stared at her defiantly.

After a moment Chase sighed and walked back to her bed. “You’re not gonna see your parents again. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is. Trust me, you’re better off anyway. Castle Blackrock is your home now.”

I turned around and walked to the door. After trying to push it open, I reared on my hind legs and tried to turn the door handle.

“It’s locked,” Chase told me.

I glared back at her, before I started hitting the door and pounding on it and shouting. “Somepony help! Let me out! I wanna go home!”

My hooves drummed against the wood, and I screamed and hollered and demanded and begged and no one answered. I kept expecting Mum or Dad to come in, to unlock the door and let me out, but no matter how much I called for them they didn’t come, and somehow, I knew they weren’t coming.

“Mummy!” I shouted desperately, my voice hoarse and cracking. “Mum.” I repeated and raised a throbbing hoof to hit the door again, but it hurt too much and I didn’t want to do it anymore. “Mummy...” I repeated and fell to my haunches sobbing.

They couldn’t be gone forever. They couldn’t... they were Mommy and Daddy. All little fillies were supposed to have mums and dads. I wasn’t naughty, was I? Was this because I didn’t listen to them?

“I’m sorry...” I whimpered as I fell to the floor in exhaustion. “Please, I’m sorry...”

Something warm draped over my back, and when I looked it was a black leathery wing. With tear-stained eyes I looked over at Chase, who was laying down next to me. There was a sad smile on her face, and she pulled me closer and wrapped me in a hug.

“It’s okay, Song,” she reassured me as she patted me on the back. “It’s all gonna be fine.”

Sobbing, I buried my face in her chest and whimpered into her coat. “I want to go home.”

There was a pause. “That was too muffled for me to hear, sorry.”

I looked up at her, staring into her pretty cat eyes. “I want to go home.”

She ruffled my mane, and hugged me against her chest again. “You already are home, with me. You just don’t know it yet.”

I sobbed and choked and whimpered as she picked me up and layed me down on the bed. I cried till I fell to sleep in her hold, as she rocked me and whispered in my ear, promising me everything was going to be fine in the end.

- - - - - - - -

The courtyard was a lot quieter than it was yesterday. There wasn’t any screaming or moaning like yesterday, and I think it was because the other foals were out of tears by now. Not me though. I’d never cry, because that’d be silly. I was a big filly, and big fillies don’t cry.

“How’d yours do?” one of the other Nightkin asked Chase as we got closer. “Mine,” he nodded at the pegasus colt at his hooves, “lasted damn hours. Sleeping during the night is bad enough, without some kid making it worse.” He yawned and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t think I got any sleep.”

Chase just chuckled. “Look, it’s for the foals, right? They’re only four years old. I think making them sleep during the day is harder for them than us sleeping at night.” She punched him in the shoulder and smirked. “Or is baby all grumpy cause he didn’t get any sleep last night? And how did mine go? She didn’t cry at all.” I smiled up at her gratefully as she ruffled my mane. “Little trooper this one.” With a wink, she lined me up with the colt and stood behind me as we waited for Stygus.

It was boring, so pretty soon I was looking around at everything. It took me a moment, but soon I realised that the colt standing next to me was the white and grey one from yesterday. The one that I’d pushed off the stage. He kept glaring at me, but I just rolled my eyes at him. He could be stupid if he wanted, but I didn’t care.

After a moment, Stygus entered the courtyard followed by-

“Princess Luna...” I whispered, awed as the most beautiful pony in the world walked just behind Stygus.

“The newest recruits, your Grace,” he said to her and bowed low as he waved towards us.

Luna cast a critical eye over us as she circled before commenting, “Last year’s batch was far superior.” Then a smirk appeared and her eyes darted over at us. Was the smile for me? The thought made me giddy. “But there are reasons we never judge something by appearances. Perhaps you shall have to prove to me why you’re my favourite, Stygus.”

He hesitated, before he answered with another bow. “Your Grace, these are the foals you chose. If they’re unsatisfactory then the ceremony can be conducted again.”

Luna glanced over at Stygus and began walking forward with a smile on her face. “Stygus, you may be my favourite for now, but I am immortal. There will be others you realise.”

Could it be me? I’d give anything to be her favourite.

Stygus paused for a moment, before he replied, “Lady Luna, I will service you till I’m unable, but at the moment I am strong. None of these foals have yet hardened into real warriors.” He glanced across at us with a half-smile and behind me I heard Chase snicker. “You’ll pardon me if I don’t feel threatened in my position just yet.”

“Who here is willing to take Stygus on?” Luna suddenly asked us.

I went to take a step forward, but Chase put her hoof on my tail. “Don’t be stupid, kid,” she hissed at me.

None of the other foals or nightkin took up her offer, and apparently I was the only one that wasn’t staring at the ground in fear.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Chase cuffed me over the ear. “No,” she repeated firmly.

“Disappointing. Perhaps those you brought before me were inadequate after all.” Luna turned a critical eye to Stygus. “Report to me after you’re done here. This is rather disappointing.”

For some reason Stygus smiled. He met her eyes as he replied. “My Lady, I will submit myself to any act you deem fit, and trust your judgement. After all, it was your wise judgement that chose these foals.”

Chase snickered behind me, but I didn’t get why. I opened my mouth to ask what was funny, but she hushed me with a look. Pouting, I looked across at Nightmare and Stygus. Why was he her favourite? Apparently she needed to punish him. Why had Chase stopped me? I wanted to try! My hoof stomped against the ground in frustration.

“Carry on.” Luna sat down in the shade and gazed at us. “I shall be evaluating your performance today; do not disappoint.”

“Hear that, Song?” Chase muttered at me. “Today’s the day to kick ass and take names.” I looked across and saw all the other foals getting similar advice from their nightkin. “Remember what I told you yesterday: there’s more than one way to do this.”

With that she pushed me ahead, and I found myself faced with the same puzzle as yesterday. Five meals, thirteen foals. After a moment’s hesitation, I decided to move quick, but the stupid cheating pegasi all beat me to the stage. There were only four of them, so that left one last chunk of bread for me, but it was taken by a stupid earth pony colt that got to it before me.

I stomped my hoof in frustration as all the bread was taken before I could get there. Quickly, I spotted the pegasi from yesterday that tried to take my bread, so I walked up to him and snatched it from his mouth. That was fair, right? He tried to take mine so I get to take his.

“Hey!” he complained, but I ignored him. For a moment he looked like he was about to try and take it back from me, but I growled at him through the food and he backed down. Then the earth pony filly I’d pushed yesterday stepped onto the stage. The colt glanced between me and her, before his eyes brightened with realisation and walked towards her. Fearfully, I watched as they spoke together, before both of them turned towards me again.

After a moment the pegasus stepped forwards. “Give it to us.”

Glancing between them, I shook my head no. I wasn’t scared! Even though... there were... two of them. I gulped nervously.

The earth pony stepped forward and stomped her hoof. “Give it!”

I immediately began chewing the bread as fast as I could.

With a growl they both charged at me, and I dropped the bread as they tackled me. With a grunt he started hitting me in the chest, but it didn’t hurt much. The earth pony though, she kicked me in the mouth and tears formed in my eyes. I curled up into a ball, and after a moment they both left me alone as I sobbed to myself.

They grabbed the bread I’d dropped and tore it in half.

“Hey, your half’s bigger than mine!” the filly complained.

“It was my idea,” he answered smugly. “I get more.”

“That’s not fair!” she argued back.

With tears in my eyes, I looked across at Chase. She was watching me and shaking her head sadly. I was disappointing her. That just made me sadder as I looked away from her, my sobbing louder. Not that I was sobbing! The two were still arguing as I lay there, until Princess Luna caught my eye. I blinked as I realised she was watching me, and I couldn’t tell what she was feeling. She was judging me... and I was failing.

I sniffed and wiped the tears from my eye. Standing up, I walk towards the two of them. They were still arguing about their share, and after a moment I growled and tackled the pegasus.

His hind legs accidently opened as he fell, and I kicked him in his colt parts. He shouted out in pain, and after another moment I kicked him there again. He didn’t get up as I turned around to look at the filly who was staring at me in shock. She hesitated for a second, before she charged at me with a shout, but I punched her in the face and she drew to halt. Holding a hoof to her face, and staring at me in shock, I reared up on my hind legs and hit her in the face again. She fell to the ground, and I starting kicking her in the face. She tried to protect her head, so I stomped on her stomach and when she tried to protect that, I kicked her in the face again. I kept doing that till she was crying and curled up into a ball.

Both of them were crying and not getting up again. Good. They were stupid bullies.

With one last kick, I turned around and picked up both pieces of bread. I hopped off the stage and trotted back to Chase where I began eating my bread.

“Damn kid,” she glanced between me and the stage. “Wasn’t what I had in mind, but you got it done.”

I grunted at her through a mouthful as I kept eating.

Chase chuckled to herself and nudged the nightkin who was partnered with the pegasus I’d kicked. “My kid kicks your kid’s ass.”

He gave her and me an annoyed glare, before he just rolled his eyes and trotted away.

Shaking her head and laughing, Chase looked back down to me. “You did good out there kid. I wonder if Luna noticed.”

“If those are the tactics we teach, then the Luna Guard shall become a joke,” said Luna to Stygus.

He smiled at her. “My Lady, this is only their second day. They’re not to begin combat training until they’ve matured, as you ordered.”

“Don’t worry, kid.” Chase whispered in my ear. “You did great. In front of Luna too.”

“Points are still being deducted. Lose any more and I may need to take drastic actions,” replied Luna.

“Well, your Grace, I guess I’ll have to make them back later.” He smirked up at her. “At the very least I doubt these foals will be able to service you the way I can.”

“Perhaps.” I think he expected something from Luna, but she didn’t say anything.

After a while, all the bread was eaten, the foals were lined up in front of their nightkin, and I was happy that the colt I’d kicked was still crying. After a moment Luna left the shade, and to Stygus’s surprise started to walk along the line of foals, examining them each one by one.

“My lady?” He asked, sounding a little confused. “Is everything, alright?”

She stopped at the end of the line that was closest to me. To my right was the pegasus colt, and further to my right was the earth pony filly.

Luna crouched down and tilted the filly’s head up, examining the wounds I had given her. “Might I offer some advice? Hold off on changing to a modelling career.”

Chase held back a laugh and after I understood the joke, I smiled at the filly. See? Even Princess Luna thought she was dumb and ugly!

A moment later, Luna had moved on and now she was in front of the pegasus colt, who still had his hind legs a little bit crossed. “Definitely not suitable to be my favoured guard.”

His ears folded down, and he just kept staring at the ground. Behind me Chase sucked air in through her teeth. “Ooh, burn,” she whispered, and I noticed Stygus smirking at the colt from the background.

His nightkin nudged him, and whispered something in his ear. The colt seemed a little less sad after that.

Then Luna was in front of me, and I was staring up into her beautiful eyes. Her mane billowed in front of me, and I wanted to touch it. Those blue cat eyes looked at me, and despite being really happy about it, I felt a little butterfly in my tummy. Was she going to be mean to me too? Or was Chase right, did I do good?

“Crude and unrefined.” Luna tilted my head up. “Passable. Just.”

I blinked at that, and felt a little disappointment at her not saying I did well. But didn’t Chase say I did good?

Behind me, Chase said something that made me blink in surprise. “Unrefined?” She chuckled. “Lady Luna, no foal was ever refined. She did better than Stygus did; if the stories I’m told are true, he went hungry on his second day.” Stygus raised an eyebrow at her.

“True.” Luna peered down at me. “Very well, Corporal. You have obviously chosen well, meet me in my office afterwards for your reward. Do not disappoint me with this one. She’s rough. Polishing her is your task. Do not fail me.”

“Yes, My Grace.” She answered, and I practically felt how happy she was. “We won’t disappoint.”

Stygus seemed a little shocked by that, and he stepped closer to Luna. “My Grace, is examining the foals individually truly necessary? Perhaps I should have their instructors set them to training early?” He gave Chase an irritated look.

“Unpredictability is key in war,” said Luna.

After a moment, Stygus nodded and bowed. “My Grace.” He turned around. “Nightkin! Take your foals to the practise yard, and await Astral Victory.”

All the nightkin shouted, “Yes, sir!” and I flattened my ears at the loud noise.

As we all walked away, Chase ruffled my mane with her hoof. “Great work today, Song. Keep it up.” She was grinning at me widely, and her fanged teeth gleamed. “Did you see the look on Stygus’s face? Priceless.”

I frowned up at her. “Does that mean you’re Luna’s favourite now?”

Chase shook her head. “No, Stygus has been top of the heap for a while now. But I think I just moved up a little bit.” She smiled over her shoulder at Luna and Stygus, before she ruffled my mane again. “I knew you were a winner when I saw you.”

We walked through the castle for a while, until we came to a place just inside the outer wall. A few of the nightkin had stepped over to congratulate Chase and wish her luck. Whatever that meant. And for some reason they were winking a lot.

When I asked her about that she said, “Don’t worry about it. You’ll know when you’re older.”

Great. Even here adults were telling me to wait until I was older.

“Fillies! Fall in!” A loud voice roared across the courtyard, and everypony jumped.

After a moment Chase chuckled. “Damn it, six years and that voice still has me jumping. Better get going. Vicky doesn’t like to be kept waiting. Go on, line up with the other foals.”

Soon I was lined up with the other fillies, and watching a large greying nightkin as he paced along in front of us. When he reached the end of the line, he turned around and walked back to the start.

“I am Arms Master Astral Victory, and if any of you even think of calling me anything other than ‘Arms Master’ or ‘Sir’, I’ll have you so deep in shit you’ll be crapping out your mouth! I’m not joking, someone needs to handle the castle’s lavatories, and the guy in charge of that owes me a favour!”

Swallowing nervously, I decided not to call him Vicky. Though I giggled to myself as I thought of the gruff stallion with a filly’s name. It was pretty funny.

“I’m the oldest living nightkin, and the first of our Lady Luna’s new order.” He bowed at the goddess, and she didn’t respond. “Now when I was told five minutes ago that I was gonna start the lot of you training early, my first thought was, ‘Holy shit! This has to be the meanest group of foals ever spat out of that city to make young Styggie break schedule.’ But now that I see you, this has to be the most lacklustre bunch of cross-eyed inbreds I ever laid eyes on!”

I blinked in surprise. I didn’t even know what that meant, but it sounded bad.

“Yeah, he’s right. We better start training all of you early, because the lot of you are gonna need it!” He barked out at us. “I can see right now it’s gonna take a lot of work to whip you lot into real nightkin.”

All the other fillies and colts were scared, but not me. I was not scared at all. Yeah he was big and loud and shouty and scarey and... really mean... and staring at me... and... walking towards me... and... I... wasn’t... scared... much.

“What are you looking at?!” He roared in my face.

Show no fear, show no fear. That’s what Chase told me. Show no fear.

With a shaking hoof, I gave a salute. “N-n-nothing sir. I wasn’t staring.”

“Better not have been!” He shouted, and against my will my ears flattened. Stupid ears, why wouldn’t they listen to me?

I gulp nervously, and nodded. “Sir, I wasn’t.”

“Good!” He shouted and turned away. “Today, we’re just gonna be doing exercises, to help build up muscle structure and strength in preparation for when you start your actual training. Because I wasn’t given any warning that I’d be training you today,” He gave Stygus a pointed glare, “I don’t have anything particularly special planned. But don’t think that means I’ll be going easy on you, though.” He paused and smiled out at us sadistically. “It’s the first day, and I like to break the new foals in.”

- - - - - - - -

Sweat rolled into my eye, and I barely had the energy to rub it away. My knees were trembling, I was breathing that weird hard way you do when you’re tired, and if anypony pushed me I’d fall over and not get back up. I would have looked over my shoulder to see if Chase was happy with me, or if Luna was watching, but the thought of moving my neck was too much.

“Just you three left?” Victory said as he paced in front of us.

The unicorns didn’t stand a chance. I was only just starting to feel tired when the first of them dropped out. That made me smile. They certainly wouldn’t get to be Luna’s favourite. It wasn’t long after that the rest of the unicorns were done, and there was just three pegasi and four earth ponies left. Then the pegasi started to drop out. Three of them went all at once, and there was just one last determined pegasus colt left. Not the one that I’d kicked, that dummy was one of the first pegasus to collapse.

Then an earth pony collapsed, and for the last two minutes it was just me and two colts. One pegasus, one earth pony, and me.

“Five made it past the second hour last year,” Astral Victory grumbled.

Two hours? Only two hours? I blinked back tears. It couldn’t have only been two hours, could it? Everything hurt so much.

“Well, if you three are up for it, there’s just one last thing before you fillies are done for the day.”

I gulped, and raised my eyes to watch as he walked over to three ropes hanging down.

“This one’s simple, climb up the rope as far as you can. Your nightkin will catch any pony that falls.”

That rope was really long, like... really really long. With trembling knees I looked up slowly until I saw the rope climb all the way to the top of the castle walls. They wanted us to climb that? That wasn’t fair; no way the pegasus wasn’t going to win that.

“Well, come on then!” Astral Victory snapped, and the three of us slowly made our way to him despite being tired enough to sleep without dinner.

On the way there, the pegasus colt collapsed, and Victory rolled his eyes. “Starlit Path, your colt’s tapped out already.”

His nightkin collected him, and it was just me and the earth pony left. With hooves trembling from punching and kicking wooden dummies all day, I grabbed the rope and braced my rear legs against the wall. The other foal copied my position, and after glancing at each other nervously we started climbing.

The moment I started, I knew I couldn’t make it to the top. I was too tired, and my arms were about to give out any second now. But with the way I was climbing, my hind legs were taking a lot of the weight too. Slowly and grunting in pain with every step I took, I kept climbing.

We had to have climbed forever. There was no way that when I looked down I’d barely moved up higher than my daddy was tall. Thinking of daddy made my chest hurt, and I barely held in a sob of exhaustion and sadness. The colt on the rope next to me wasn’t doing much better; he only just made it a little higher than I did.

Then his hind hooves started shaking and gave way, and his nightkin instructor caught him. Looking around, I noticed Chase standing below me and watching. She didn’t say anything, her wings just fluttering nervously. I looked up again, and saw the castle wall so far up. So... far... away...

Trembling, I looked straight ahead and started to climb again. I think some mean pony had decided to set my legs on fire. Or maybe the rope, because it was starting to hurt in my grip. With another choking sob, I dragged myself up a step. And another. And just one more after that. Then... I needed to take another... so I did. And then... one of my arms stopped working. It wasn’t listening to me, no matter how much I told it to move, so I was holding on with one arm and my two hind hooves. I hung like that for as long as I could before my hind legs gave away and I fell, only to land safely into Chase’s hooves.

“What a trooper,” she whispered in my ear. With a slow flutter, we came to land where all the other foals had collapsed on the ground with their nightkin watching over them like big brothers and sisters. Chase passed me a water skin, and I sucked down as much as I could. And kept sucking down more after that until Chase pulled it from my hooves. “Don’t drown yourself, Song,” she warned me.

After that I fell to my back panting, and I strained to hear what the Astral Victory was saying to Stygus.

“Not a bad lot, though I was thinking that colt’d beat the filly at the end.” He glanced over at me before looking back at Stygus. “Well, that’s it for the day. If I push ‘em anymore we’re gonna start to damage ‘em. As it is, I think you’ll have to go easy on ‘em tomorrow. Start ‘em on tactics or something in the morning, and I’ll take them for a short spin in the afternoon.”

Stygus nodded and turned to Luna. “My Lady, are they done for today? Or should I find some other activity for them?”

I stared at the beautiful goddess as I panted. I silently prayed she’d say no and that was it for today. I was more tired than I’d ever been before, and I wasn’t even sure if I could stand up again. Staring at Luna, I wondered if I’d done well. If she was pleased or had even noticed me.

“Pitiful. This lot is probably the worst I have ever seen and I have seen many.” Luna looked at Stygus. “If you can whip them into shape you shall be rewarded. Fail and...”

I felt a little sad as Stygus answered, “Of course your Grace, those were your instructions last year and the year before. I’m yet to fail. Indeed, those were the same words as the year before. If I may say so, your Grace, going by your own judgement it would appear your selection is getting consistently worse.”

“Class?” A sword appeared before Luna and she pointed it at Stygus. “You are about to witness a duel. Stygus, get up here.”

With another bow, Stygus said rather flatly, “Your Grace.” But I thought I could hear a certain amount of surprise in his voice.

Chase watched on as confused as I was. “Normally she lets him get away with a little cheek,” she murmured. “Keep your head down kid, and do exactly what she says if she says anything.”

With that, all the foals that could stand were lined up around the platform they were on. I was leaning against Chase, and having trouble standing on my own.

Stygus bowed to Luna, as he strapped a weird... thing... to his right hoof. “I’m permitted to use the ghost blade?” he asked her while he kept his eyes down.

“As if that will make any difference.”

He nodded again. “You once told me it could pierce the flesh of the divine.” After rising, he turned around and faced her from the other end of the ring. “I doubt it will happen, but I was taught by you to favour caution.”

“Sergeant Redemption, you shall be the judge. Swords only, no magic, no flight. Understood?” With a flick of her hoof, the sword shimmered and became longer and thinner. “Round ends when the other yields or is disabled.”

Chase seemed too surprised to respond for a moment, before she bowed. “As you command Your Grace, but... I’m a corporal.” She stepped away from me, and I had to stand on my own as Chase gave me an apologetic look.

“Consider yourself promoted.”

Chase blinked in surprise, before she grinned and landed on the stage between the two fighters. “As you command, Your Grace.” She raised both her wings, and stayed like that for a moment before she flashed them down and shouted, “Begin!”

Princess Luna moved first, and I didn’t even see her blade it moved so quick. Stygus blocked it with a ghostly blue sword that emerged from the thing on his wrist. That was one of the few blocks he made, because Luna’s sword flashed around and slashed his face. It wasn’t even a fight. It was just Stygus being kicked and slashed a lot. He could barely keep up, and every time he did block her attack, it was followed by another hit. From one end of the podium to the other he was beaten badly, and I think I heard something crack when her forehoof smashed into his chest. It was pretty gross.

Despite the beating though, Stygus was still standing and moving and fighting like he wasn’t hurt at all. He was steady on his hooves despite everything, and Luna never got the chance to force him to yield like the bullies in my old playground did to some of the weaker foals.

“She’s toying with him,” whispered one of nightkin to his own foal. “The last time Luna duelled someone, it took a blink of an eye and he was down.”

It wasn’t long though, till Stygus was too hurt to fight well anymore, and only managed to keep climbing to unsteady hooves after being knocked down again and again. Every time he got kicked, I cringed at the yucky fleshy thunk sound, and I wanted to throw up after Stygus lost his lunch to a particularly bad hit on the stomach. After that, he climbed to his hooves one last time, only for Luna to knock him over again, and press her sword to his neck.

“Yield?” she asked.

Through bloody teeth, he smiled up at her. “As you command My Grace,” and the blue sword on his wrist disappeared.

“Victory to Luna.” Chase said. “And new best speed for anypony to top Stygus, but I don’t think that really counts.” She bowed to Luna.

After a brief silence, Luna spoke up, “That is not what I asked.” Stygus cried out in pain as she stabbed her sword into his shoulder. “I ask for obedience, not blind following. I ask for love, not mockery. I allow some cheek, but I am still above you, and I am still your princess. Remember that.”

Without a backward glance, Luna turned around and began walking away. “Someone take him to the infirmary before he bleeds out. Also, Chase? My chambers. Now.”

“Uh... Your Grace,” she bowed. “Astral Victory, take Stygus.” She glanced across at me. “And Starlit Path, take Song of Night to my room. Make sure she gets a full meal and water.” With that, and a wink at me, she turned around and ran after Luna.

“Come along, Song.” Starlit Path told me, and draped over his back was the pegasus colt who’d fainted from exhaustion. “If you cannot walk, I will carry you. You shall dine with us.”

Slowly, and with aching hooves, I walked after him, but he thought I was going too slow, so I got to ride on his back. All the other nightkin went inside, and we followed them to a large mess hall. Starlit sat us both down at a table, before he left for a moment and came back with a clay jug of water and two cups. We both started drinking, and even though I knew it’d make me really need to go potty, I wasn’t done until I’d had five glasses.

Then he returned with two bowls of... something.

“Eat it,” he ordered as he set them down in front of us. “You’ll need to keep your strength up.”

I poked the grey... soupy... stuff with my spoon. It reminded me of... “Is this boogers?” I looked up at the nightkin.

He blinked at me in surprise before he laughed. “No, it is not, I assure you.”

I didn’t really believe him. “Is it food?”

“Yes,” He replied and nudged the bowl closer to me with his muzzle. “This here is the healthiest most energy packed food you’ll eat until you’re full nightkin.” He grinned at me, baring his fangs. “Eat it, and eat a lot of it, because after a day like today you’re gonna need all the energy you can get. Drink lots of water too.”

Both me and the colt glanced at each other, before I hesitantly took a mouthful. It tasted like... ew. “Can I have some salad please?” I asked as I pushed it away.

He snorted. “Yeah, you could. But Chase told me to get you well fed, and I know this is what she’d be feeding you.” He nudged it closer to me. “So, eat up, kid.”

I glanced down at the bowl, before I looked back up at him while making my eyes slightly watery and widening them. My lower lip trembled in a tiny pout and I deliberately crossed my forehooves. “Pweeease?” I asked again. Not even mother could resist that look... sometimes.

After a moment, he shook his head. “No, and stop looking at me like that.”

I pouted for real this time. “Can I go to bed?” I whimpered as I stared at the gunk.

“Look, kids.” He sighed and ruffled his wings in annoyance. “Eat it, or I’ll make you eat it.”

Me and the colt glanced at each other, before we reluctantly started eating. It was icky...

“It tastes like mud!” The colt whined.

“Well, Stern,” Starlit path patted him on the back, “It’s good for you, and you’ll never enjoy anything that is.”

By the time I was done, I wasn’t even tasting it anymore, just swallowing it as quickly as I could. I was dreaming of some of mum’s soup, or just a taste of her salad. Thinking of home made me sad, and I looked away as tears started to from in my eyes.

“So, Song... you’re pretty young to have a cutie mark.” He glanced at his colt, then back at me. “Stern Conviction and you are about the same age, right?”

I quickly rubbed my face and turned around smiling. I was happy to talk about my special talent. “I’m only four years old!” I turned so he could get a good look at my rump. My cutie mark, a gold hoof print with a blue swirl around it, was really cool if you asked me.

Apparently he thought so too, because he stared at it for a few moment before he looked back at me. “So what’s your special talent?”

“Dancing,” I replied happily.

“Huh,” he said flatly. “Not a lot of earth ponies have frivolous talents like dancing or the abstract. They’re usually craftsponies and the like.”

I blinked in surprise. Why didn’t he sound impressed? Slowly I turned my head and stared at my cutie mark. Wasn’t it special? Wasn’t it special that I got it so young? Wasn’t I special?

We finished the meal in silence, but both me and Stern Conviction were too tired to walk all the way, so we were carried to our rooms.

Starlit Path left me in Chase’s room, before he turned to walk away. “Get some rest,” he told me. “Not that that should be hard. Chase will be back in...” He shrugged. “Depends on Luna. Could be an hour, could be all day.”

He closed the door and I heard it lock from the outside. I wanted to explore! Maybe I could open the door if I pushed it hard enough or... the window! Hopping up onto Chase’s bed by the window, I peeked through it and outside. I pouted in disappointment when I saw that it was barred from the outside. And it wasn’t even high up too... if it wasn’t for those stupid bars I could get out.

With a disappointed sigh I sat down on Chase’s bed... it smelled like she did. The smell wasn’t as nice as my mum’s flowery smell or my dad’s irony metal smell, but it was kinda nice, like a summer night after some rain.

I snuggled into her blankets. I wasn’t sleepy or lonely or anything! But... it did feel nice to lie down, and curl up against her pillow. And... I really wanted to see my mum again... I wish she was here... or dad... or any of my old friends... not that I was really friends with them... or Chase. I wish I had anypony here.

I wasn’t crying! Because that’s stupid and only foals do that. I wasn’t a foal. I was an adult, I had my cutie mark, so I was a big filly now, and big fillies don’t cry. Even though I wasn’t crying, I might have gotten Chase’s pillow a little wet. I hope she doesn’t mind.

Slowly, even though I really wasn’t sleepy, I started to close my eyes.

- - - - - - - -

When I woke up, I didn’t remember much of my dream. Only that it had my mother in it, and that Dad was there.

The sound of hooves made me realise why I’d woken up, and I looked up to see the door open and a nightkin standing there.

“Chase?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes.

“Hey, Song,” she answered as she walked over to the bed. She nudged me over with her muzzle, and gave an exhausted grin. “Who said you could sleep on my bed?”

“Oh, I’m sorry I-”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Chase waved it off with a hoof. “Seriously, after today you earned it.”

I looked her up and down. She seemed... messy. Her mane was mussed up, and her coat was sweaty and ruffled. She smelled sweaty, like Dad did after he returned from the forge.

“What happened?” I frowned at her. “Why do you smell all funny?”

She paused for a moment and chuckled sheepishly as she scratched the back of her neck. “Don’t worry about it.”

“How did it go with Luna?” I asked.

“Uh...” She grinned again. “Really well...” Another laugh. “Yeah, like, really damn well.”

“... did she mention me?” I asked hopefully.

“Um... no, but there wasn’t really a lot talking.” Chase ruffled my mane. “Don’t worry kid, you did great, and if you keep it up you could make the green. Heck, you could make blue!”

“Green? Blue?”

She rolled her eyes. “Too tired to explain right now, but trust me it’s a good thing.” After a moment she added, “Want to hop off my bed?”

I stood up, and was about to jump down, when she touched her pillow.

She frowned at it, before she glanced up at me. “Song, have you been crying?”

I stiffened. “No.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Song, you don’t have to hide that from me. I’m here to help, so tell me what’s up.”

I just kicked the blankets at the edge of her bed nervously.

“It’s about your parents right?” She lay down on her bed and patted the spot next to her. “Come on, talk to me about it.”

“I wasn’t crying!” because big fillies don’t cry... but... I did walk over and lay down next to her.

She wrapped her wing around me. “Of course you weren’t.” It felt good to hear her say that as she ruffled my mane. “Because you’re a little trooper, aren’t you? Tough as nails and as bad as they come.”

I sniffled and nodded.

She snorted. “Bull.” I blinked in surprise as I looked up at her. She was staring down at me, and for once she wasn’t smiling. “Kid, do you think I don’t know how hard it is? You’ve just been taken away from your family, and inducted into the nightkin.” Rolling her eyes, she looked away from me. “You think I didn’t cry?”

I thought this was one of those times when adults talk that you’re supposed to listen. Not actually say anything, just listen.

“I still remember my mother, you know?” Chase rubbed my mane, and I don’t think she even knew she was doing it. “My dad was in the army, so I never saw him, but I remember my mum and my big sister. I was only four, so I don’t remember a lot but... we had this brown tablecloth that I always spilt the vase of water and tulips onto.” She chuckled. “And the day I was chosen, my sister bet me that night’s dishes that I wouldn’t even get picked for the first line up, let alone chosen by Luna.” She snorted and shook her head, and when she looked down at me she had tears in her eyes. “See? It still gets me, all these years later.” Chase nudged me with her hoof. “So if you’re telling me that you’re over it after one day?” A wry smile touched her lips. “Then I’m not sure if you’re really a pony.”

My lower lip trembled as I stared up at her. My mum was pretty. Beautiful with her silver shiny mane, and my dad was so big and strong and black. Like the anvil in his forge. They always used to call me Goldie, not Song or Gold Smith. They called me Goldie because of my mane.

I wasn’t crying. I wasn’t crying. And I wasn’t sobbing either!

Sniffling, I said, “I wanna go home!” I buried my face in her coat and wailed. “I wanna see my mum and my dad!”

Chase wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me in closer. “I know, kid. I know.” She nuzzled my neck. “Like I said, you’re already home, you just don’t know it yet.”

Chapter 2: A Month Later

Conviction

Chapter 2

A Month Later

"I thank you for your stupidity." She laughed as she danced on his gallows. "For without your strong heart and weak mind, I would never have ended these fellows."

Then the lever was pulled, just as the rug was pulled from under him. The pony with paint for blood fell, but was stopped just suddenly.

What was it that took his life away, maybe the crows that ate his corn? Or could it have been the hooded pony that fitted the rope and sheared his horn?

Or maybe it was love, for the mare with an enchanting laugh. The one that was always with him, and guided him down the path.

The Knights of Corn. Last Laugh. Circa 0120.

To me, the bird looked bored. Chase would have told me I was being silly, but I could swear that bird was as bored as I was. I didn’t know what kind of bird it was, but it was blue and pretty and had a brown beak. Whatever it was that birds were supposed to do, like flying and tweeting and stuff, it wasn’t doing them. It was just sitting there on the wall, pecking itself.

I wished it would do something. Like eat a worm, or start a fight with another bird. That might be fun to watch. I remember back home my mummy always hated worms and threw them out when I brought them inside, but if Daddy was home and Mummy wasn’t, he’d let me play with them on the forge room floor as long as he wasn’t busy. I missed daddy’s forge. It always smelled like the coal and limestone daddy smelted with. Even though he told me it was coke, I still always called it coal because it looked like it to me. I knew it annoyed him a little, and I giggled when he rolled his eyes. He made a silly face.

“Is something funny?” I blinked and looked over at the nightkin glaring at me.

Valued Teachings was mean. I wish Chase was teaching us, or maybe Stygus... Or even Victory. Everypony else complained that Astral Victory was mean, but I didn’t think so. As long as you did what he said, and didn’t pull funny faces when his back was turned, he left you alone.

Valued Teaching though... I hated this classroom and every minute I was in it. These rows of rich wooden desks, the stacks of parchment and scrolls with history on them, and maps... the whole place smelled like paper to me. I hated that smell. The whole room was boring and the same. All the desks were the exact same and they were all the same distance apart, so there wasn’t even anything for me to look at. The walls were the same dark rock as the rest of the castle, and the courtyard outside wasn’t much more exciting. Just a staircase up to the walls on the other side, and the orangey dirt that made up the ground. No one was even doing anything out there! The most exciting thing in the room was the window I was looking down at the courtyard through. And it was only exciting because Chase told me it was actually called a ‘murder hole’ and that was kind of a cool name for a window if you asked me.

“Uh...” I answered her. “Yes?” Was that the answer to the question?

“And what’s so funny?”

After a moment, I realised nothing was supposed to be funny. Oh...

“No! Nothing’s funny.” I looked around the room again, before glancing out the window. The bird was gone. I looked back to the teacher, hoping she’d leave me alone.

I didn’t like these lessons. It was supposed to be a break or easier than the time in the yard with Victory, but to me they were just boring. Listening to an adult talk for an hour was boring, and just sitting in place for an hour was even more boring. At least with Victory we were doing things.

“Are you bored then?” Teachings asked me from the front of the room. I blushed as I realised all the other fillies and colts were staring at me. I stared down at the desk. I wish my mane was longer so they couldn’t see me blush.

“Yes,” I answered correctly. Then I blinked. No! That wasn’t the correct answer! “I-I mean-”

“That you’re bored and wish I’d leave you alone?”

This time I didn’t answer. In the corner I noticed Strong Faith snickering at me. Strong Faith was that stupid-head grey and white pegasus I kicked in the doodle.

Teachings sighed and rolled her eyes. She didn’t look as funny when she did it as daddy did. “So can you tell me anything I just taught you?”

I nodded quickly. That was the right answer, the one that wouldn’t make her angry.

“So you were listening?” She raised her eyebrow, and I knew she didn’t believe me. “Can you tell what happened when reinforcements led by General Case Hardened arrived at the battle of the unicorn ranges?”

My ears folded low. “He... he... he won?”

Teachings snorted. “Over-simplified, and wrong. He lost that battle. Why did he lose that battle?”

“B-b-because he ran away?” Everyone was staring at me. I wish they’d stop staring at me.

“No he did not run away. General Case Hardened was many things, but a coward wasn’t one of them.” Finally leaving me alone, Valued Teachings walked back through the desks to the front of the class. “No, Case Hardened charged the enemy. A frontal charge led by earth pony skirmishers into the ranks of the unicorn war casters. That could be a reasonable tactic, but he failed to remember the mire and swamplands in between his troops and the unicorns. On such a battlefield, the armoured earth ponies were a liability with their heavy weight and slow movement.”

Strong Faith poked his tongue out at me, and I glared at him.

She turned back to face the class. “The correct use of armoured earth pony skirmishers would have been to-”

I glanced at the window and sat up a bit with a smile. Oh Look! The bird was back!

- - - - - - - -

Chase paced back and forth in front of me, and I knew she was annoyed. She looked like Mummy did when I walked mud into the house, or when daddy left his hammers on the kitchen table. After a second Chase stopped pacing and just looked down at me.

“Song...” She sighed and rubbed her face. My ears folded flat. “Why? I mean... just... why? It was a theory lesson, how could he... I mean... why did you have to hit him in the first place?”

“He was laughing at me,” I mumbled, “and he called me Pong of Shite.” He was a stupid head. He thought I wouldn’t hit him just because Teachings was in the room. He was wrong.

This hallway looked the exact same as the rest of Castle Black. No decorations on the walls, nothing pretty or fun. Just the occasional torch, though they were only lit at night, and even then they were spaced really far apart because the nightkin needed barely any light.

“Come on Song!” Chase even sounded like mummy did too. “Damn it, kid. It’s been a month and you’ve started how many fights? That part is over, Song. You’re not fighting for bread anymore, or proving yourself in front of Luna.” She grabbed my face and looked at my eye. “I mean, look at you! This is your second black eye since you got here!”

“I made both his eyes black...” I defended myself. “And the filly that helped him didn’t get back up.”

Chase grit her jaw. “That’s not the point, Song. You need to stop starting fights. You’ve already proven you’ll do fine in the physical part of being a nightkin, but now’s the time to make friends and start showing some leadership skills.”

“But I didn’t start that fight!” It’s not my fault that all the other foals were dummy heads and I didn’t want to be friends with them. I could have as many friends as I want! I scuffed my hoof on the floor. “And they keep calling me Pong of Shite.”

Chase let out a frustrated huff. “Look, I gotta get back to the yard, but we’re not done with this. Tonight we’re seriously gonna sit down and talk, but do not start another fight!” My ears folded down again as her tone got all angry. “I swear, if you get into another one... Just don’t. Alright? Don’t. And pay attention in class! I’m sick of having Val complain to me about you, got it?”

I nodded, but I didn’t meet her eyes.

“Good. Now I really gotta go, but... I’m here for you Song. You gotta start listening to me soon.” She ruffled my mane, and trotted back down the corridor. “Take her back to class! And make sure she doesn’t wander off.” She ordered over her shoulder.

“Come along, little one,” one of the castle’s unicorn servants said behind me.

I followed after her with my tail between my legs. I hate stupid theory.

- - - - - - - -

The rest of the lesson took ages. I know it was supposed to have been five minutes, but there’s no way that it was over that quick. I had to have been in that room all day.

“Alright, young ones. Arms Master Astral Victory will be taking you for the rest of the afternoon.” Some of the foals groaned, but I let out a relieved sigh. “The servants will take you all to the practice yard. Oh, and Song of Night?”

I was just stepping away from my desk when I froze with my hoof in the air. I didn’t even do anything wrong! What was I in trouble for now?

“Don’t give me that look.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Captain Stygus wants to see you in his office now.”

I blinked. “Why?”

“You can ask him that yourself when you get there.” She jerked her head at the door. “The servant outside will escort you there.”

“But I-”

Valued grit her jaw. “I’ve had enough trouble from you today, Song, so unless you want me to call Chased Redemption back here-”

“No!” I interrupted her, and she glared at me. “I-I mean... I’m sorry, Ms. Teachings. Uh... I’ll go.”

She snorted at me, before shaking her head and pointing at the door with her wing. “Just go.”

I quickly scrambled out of my seat, and behind me I could feel the other colts and fillies staring. Some of them were giggling, and I looked across at Strong Faith who mouthed at me, ‘Pong of Shite.’

I glared at him as I walked out. Stupid head. He was lucky I wasn’t gonna be in the yard, or I’d kick him off the climbing wall again. He couldn’t fly very well yet, but he always managed to slow himself down just enough to hurt his rump when he landed hard.

“Come, little one,” a unicorn said to me, while staring at the ground. “Master Stygus wishes to see you.”

The unicorn servants were weird. They were all adults, but they didn’t seem like grown ponies to me. They didn’t say anything to anyone other than the foals unless asked, and all of them seemed scared to me. And they even seemed a bit scared of the foals too. I didn’t really understand why. But whenever they saw a nightkin, it was like they were watching a snake or something.

This servant was a grassy green with a silver mane, and just like all the others I couldn’t see her cutie mark underneath the servants’ brown and blue cloak that they all wore for their uniform.

I’d never been to this part of the castle before, but to be honest I wasn’t that excited about it. Castle Blackrock all looks the same, except for the barracks and rooms where the higher ranked nightkin sleep.

The only thing that made this hallway any different from the others was the red carpet leading up the hall. We were fairly high up in the fortress, near the top of the main building. The only places that were higher up were the towers and the roof itself. We eventually came to a stop at the door at the end of the corridor.

The servant stepped forward, knocked, and said quietly, “Mistress Song, your lordship.”

A moment later, Stygus’ deep voice sounded through the wood. “Send her in.”

The servant bowed, even though there was no pony there to see it but me, and opened the door for me. I swallowed nervously, glancing at the servant who refused to meet my gaze, before I walked into the office.

Stygus’ office was way more plain than Chase’s room. He had a ripped white banner on the wall behind him with a picture of an orange sun on it, but other than that there weren’t any decorations at all. There was a desk with some maps and paper, and a shelf lined with books, and a table in the middle of the room with some little toys on it that looked a little like chess pieces. There was nothing pretty in here; everything in the room looked like it was there for a reason, like Stygus used it.

“Have a seat,” he told me from behind his desk. There were two chairs in front of it, and he watched me as I climbed up onto one of them. I sat there kicking my hooves for a second, before he smiled and leaned back in his chair. “So, how are you enjoying Castle Blackrock?”

I gulped. What did he want? “Uh... it’s nice.”

He snorted at that. “I’m sure. So,” he started again, “Do you know why you’re here?”

“...Am I in trouble?” I asked hesitantly.

He gave a wry smile at that, before he shook his head. “No, you’re not.” He shuffled through a few papers on his desk, before he moved a few aside. “But that’s something worth mentioning. You’ve gotten under quite a few ponies’ skin, especially for a foal that’s only been here one month.”

The floor looked really interesting to me suddenly. Was that carpet a browny red, or reddy brown?

“You’re lucky Chased Redemption is your mentor, few nightkin are as patient as she.” I heard the shuffling papers stop, and Stygus say, “But no, that is not what I was asking. What I’m asking is why are you here in Castle Black?”

“...because Luna picked me?”

“And what did Luna pick you for?”

I blinked at his question. “To be a nightkin?”

He nodded at me. “And what are the nightkin?”

I blinked again. “Uh... bat ponies?”

He smiled and rolled his eyes. “Let me rephrase that, what do the nightkin do?”

Was this a trick? “Um... They... do... Uh... what Luna asks?”

He blinked in surprise at my answer, before he tilted his head to the left and gave a little nod. “That’s actually correct. Not the point, but you’re not wrong. What will Luna ask us to do?”

“Uh...” I kicked a hoof against my chair. “I don’t know?”

“Well then, what have you been learning for the last month?”

“Uh... stuff about battles?”

He nodded and smiled. “Soldiers,” he said after a moment. “The nightkin do many things, but our greatest role is that of the soldier. We are the elite of Luna’s armies, and are the greatest of her servants.”

I was being looked at expectantly, and I paused as I tried to think of whether or not there was some question in that I was supposed to answer.

“Now then,” he continued. “Tell me, why are you here?”

“...To learn how to be a soldier?”

Stygus tapped his hooves together and leaned back in his chair. “Are you asking me, or is that your answer?”

After a pause I hesitantly said, “Uh... My answer?”

A snort of laughter, and he smiled at me. “Yes, Song. You’re here at Castle Black to learn to be a soldier.”

I nodded at that. We sat in silence for a moment, before I asked, “So... why am I here?” I waved at the room. “Am I in trouble?”

He stared at me for a moment, before he breathed out a sigh, and his shoulders slumped. “No, you’re not in trouble. I like to talk to all the foals at least once a year. We’re a family, and as such I like to know its younger siblings. You just got into trouble today, so I figured that I may as well start with you for the foals in your year.”

“Oh...” I stared at him for a moment. “So Chase isn’t gonna get mad at me?”

Stygus smiled wryly. “Sergeant Redemption isn’t one to get mad at anything at all really. It’s what I think makes her so effective as a nightkin. She can get frustrated maybe, irritated or disappointed, but she has the gift of being able to stay in control and relaxed in all but the most stressful of times. You’re lucky to have her as a mentor.

“Regardless, we’re here to talk about you.” He smiled at me pleasantly, and pushed a glass of water across the table towards me with his wing. “So, how are you finding your days among the blessed here at Castle Blackrock?”

After a moment, I shrugged. “Um... I like practise with Astral Victory, and... Chase is nice.”

“Yes, Arms Master Victory has mentioned you.” He started shuffling through the parchments on the desk. “Let me see if I can find it... Ah, here it is... Let’s see... ‘in general the group is standard mixed affair, earth ponies excel, unicorns fall behind and pegasus’ etcetera etcetera... Let me see if I can find where he mentions you...”

Then he said a bunch more things. I’d already had Miss Teachings saying things at me all day, so I found it hard to listen to another adult drone on about things like, ‘the second’, or ‘inability to contribute in group activities’. I wasn’t even sure what ‘inability’ meant, but it sounded boring. Eventually he stopped talking and looked up at me again.

After a moment I realised he was waiting for me to say something. “Oh... Um... thanks?”

He didn’t really seem to notice that. “So, you’re having a hard time getting along with the other foals?”

“Oh... Um... I don’t mind. They’re all stupid-heads anyway.”

He snorted out a laugh. “That wasn’t what I was really asking, but I suppose it answers my question. Reports from your other instructor Valued Teachings are less positive. She notes your inability to work in a group or a team, and when it comes to lectures or any other intellectual exercise you display a short attention span, boredom, and shyness when prompted to contribute.” He looked up at me again.

I looked at the ground and kicked my hooves.

“You’re only in your first month, so it’s certainly too soon to tell what sort or pony you’ll grow up to be, but at the moment it looks like you’re headed in the direction of The Second.”

I blinked at that. “Um... second place? In what?”

He paused for a moment. “Every year, thirteen foals from Hoofens are selected by our Lady Grace to have the honour of being inducted into the nightkin. There are a number of milestones in the lives of all our foals, the first major one being one month, tomorrow for you, when the foals are separated from their mentors and put into one barrack together. Another is age twelve, when you’re regarded as adult enough to no longer need a mentor, and the most important milestone, is age sixteen. That is when you will undergo the ritual to transform you into a true nightkin. There are three kinds of nightkin, but you only know of them as one. Nightkin are not special merely because they have bat wings and cat eyes.”

“They have funny teeth and ears too?” I suggested after a moment.

He snorted. “Yes young one, we have those too. But they are not what make us special. What makes us special are the abilities granted to us by our mother, Luna. Shadow Magic. There is a power to be found in the dark, and our Lady has graciously allowed us to trespass in what is her rightful domain. Shadows are everywhere, and just as some creatures draw energy from the sun, we can draw it from the dark. In the shadows resides energy. The three kinds of nightkin are: those who can draw in energy, those who can manipulate it, and those who can do both.”

He took a sip of water before he continued. “Those who can draw it in can use it as substitute energy, giving them the endurance to match and exceed all but the hardiest of earth ponies. Often we grant this to unicorns who become nightkin, to help compensate for their usual lack of toughness. Those who can manipulate the shadows are given an extra more technical edge to their combat, akin to the way a unicorn, or some pegasi, have an edge over earth ponies. We usually give this ability to earth ponies or pegasi.”

He looked at me expectantly, and I nodded to let him know I understood, even though I sorta didn’t.

“The third group of nightkin, the ones who can do both, are the least common, but easily the most dangerous. Not all ponies can become the third kind of nightkin, due to the inherent risks involved in going through the ritual twice, but those who can are the greatest of Luna’s warriors. The ritual isn’t intended to make the pony who undergoes it more powerful; rather, it’s intended to reduce their weaknesses, the exploitable flaws that plague each individual tribe of pony. There are other more obvious benefits to the ritual such as wings, enhanced eyesight, an expanded diet and greatly improved healing, but shadow magic is truly what gives the nightkin a unique edge. Our versatility on the battlefield allows us to win any fight and exploit any weakness our foes present.”

I nodded. “So... You think I should be the kind of nightkin that can do things with the shadows?”

He smiled at me. “Not quite, little one. ‘The Second’ is a title. Only three of the thirteen each year will be selected to undergo the ritual twice and be granted both abilities. ‘The First’ is chosen based on their intelligence and leadership skills. ‘The Second’ is chosen based on their prowess in combat and is regarded as the greatest warrior of their year; they’re intended to be the First’s right hoof, the brawn to supplement the brain. ‘The Third’ is given to the pony who I select based on their performance across the board. I was the Third of my year, and it is usually the Third who takes the Green.”

I blinked. “And... what’s the Green?”

He smiled at me. “I’m sure Chased Redemption will explain; after all, she was the Green of her year. Ask her about it, I’m surprised she hasn’t told you already.” He took another sip of water, and smiled at me. “So, I see you have a cutie mark. The purpose of this chat is to help me get to know you, yet I’ve done most of the talking. Why don’t you tell me what your special talent is?”

I smiled up at him. “Oh! My special talent is dancing!”

He nodded. “Dancing cutie marks aren’t so common among earth ponies, usually the pegasi are better known for their grace and sure-hoofedness.”

I just kicked my hooves. “Uh... thanks?”

“It wasn’t really a compliment, but you’re welcome, nonetheless.” After a moment he shook his head and said, “And what of your parents? Do you miss them?”

I froze. “No!” I didn’t miss them at all, and I wasn’t rubbing tears from my eye.

He stared at me for a moment. “It’s okay to tell me the truth. I understand that when you separate any foal from their parents that it’s only natural they’ll miss them.”

I sniffed and rubbed my nose. “I don’t miss them!” For some reason my stupid voice cracked when I said don’t.

Stygus sat there for a moment, looking at me before he shrugged. “Alright, enjoy your last night with Chase.” He tilted his head at the door. “Go, and send the foal at the door in.”

I nodded at him, and hopped down off the chair before I walked to the door.

“Oh, and Song?”

I hesitated at the door.

“Be sure to ask Chase about the Green. I’m sure she’ll have a lot to tell you, believe me when I say that you’re lucky to have her as your mentor. She’s a resource you should definitely be using.”

“I will,” I promised. I was just glad he didn’t keep asking me about Mummy and Daddy. I quickly pushed open the door and walked out.

- - - - - - - -

I yawned and rubbed my eyes.

“Feeling tired, Song?” Chase asked.

“I’m not tired!” I told her, and she just gave me that look all adults gave when you say that. Or that you don’t want to eat your grass, or when you don’t want to do the dishes. Actually, they give you that look for a lot of reasons. “I’m not!” I repeated and stomped my hoof.

“Uh huh.” She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at me. “And I’m an earth pony.”

I glanced at her wings and frowned. “But you’re not an earth pony. You’re a nightkin.”

She snorted at me, and opened the door to her bedroom. “You’re not wrong, but I did use to be a unicorn.”

I followed her into the room, and watched as she took the three silver rings out of her ear and put them in the jewellery box next to her bed.

“Really?”

“Yep,” she said as she shook her mane out and grabbed a brush from the bedside table. Closing the door before sitting down on the edge of her bed, she said, “I wasn’t always a nightkin.” Chase glanced over her shoulder, and patted the bed next to her. “Sit down, and I’ll brush your mane.”

When I sat where she told me to, Chase started running through my mane with the brush in her hoof. We sat like that for a while, and it felt good having her untangle my mane, even if she did yank a bit too hard when she found the knots.

“So, last night with just the two of us, huh?” Chase said after a while. “Tomorrow you’re into the barracks with the other foals in your year.”

I swallowed. “Uh huh.”

“You gonna miss me?” Chase asked jokingly.

I didn’t answer her, and just gulped. I didn’t want to leave Chase. I didn’t want to sleep in a room with all of those meanies.

“Song?” she said my name like a question.

“N-n-n-o!” I choked out, and rubbed the tears from my eye. When did I start crying?

“Oh, Song.” Chase chuckled. “You’re just too adorable.” She wrapped her hooves around me and pulled me into a cuddle. “Come on, give me a hug.”

I turned around and threw my forehooves around her. My face was wet, for some reason, it must have been because her chest was wet. Not because I was crying into it. Or sobbing. Big fillies don’t cry.

“Sh-sh-sh...” She rubbed my back. “It’s okay, Song. I’ll still be here. I’ll be here for as long as you need me, and even after that.”

“I-I- don’t wanna go,” I said quietly and looked up into her eyes. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“You won’t be alone.” She smiled as she looked down at me. “I’ll always be here for you, and I know you’re strong enough to do fine even if I wasn’t.” She poked me in the chest, and it tickled so I giggled through the tears. “You’re a little trooper, right? Tough as nails and only four years old. Trust me, you’ll do fine. Just remember, never show any weakness. That’s what it takes to get through in Castle Blackrock. You can be scared, or sad or hurt or angry, but never show it. No matter how bad it gets, when you’re at your worst, that’s your chance to show your best, alright?”

I didn’t answer her, but my lower lip trembled as I nodded at her.

She guffawed and looked up at the ceiling. “Wow, you’re adorable.” She ruffled my mane, undoing all the brushing she just did, and looked back down at me. “So, Stygus said he talked to you today. Said that you might have a shot at being the Second.” She smiled. “To be honest, I really doubt you’ve got a chance at making the First. I was kinda hoping you’d be the Third like me, but-”

She was interrupted by a knock on the door. After sighing and rolling her eyes, Chase walked to the door and opened it. Standing outside the door was a unicorn servant.

“What?” Chase said flatly.

“My pardons for the interruption, mi’lady,” the stallion said, glancing between me and Chase.

Chase just snorted. “What’s the problem? If Starlit needs more help with the Ten Years he can find somepony else.”

“Urgh... no mi’lady,” he said slowly. “Nightmare-”

“Nightmare?” Chase interrupted, sounding hard. She stepped forward and growled into his face. “I’m pretty sure I just misheard you. Luna herself has forbidden anyone calling her Nightmare, hasn’t she?”

“I-I-I-” he stuttered then blurted out, “Luna! Lady Luna has requested you in her bed chambers!” After a second he added, “Mi’lady.”

Chase straightened up in surprise. “Luna?” She repeated after a moment.

“Yes, mi’lady.”

Chase looked over her shoulder at me, and I saw that she was biting her lip. “Crud,” she said after a moment of looking at me. She sighed and looked back at the servant. “Please tell Lady Luna, that... I would love to spend the night in her chambers, however my ward, Song of Night, is in a vulnerable state right now, and I think it is important that I spend the night with her.” She pressed her hoof against his shoulder, and made him look into her eyes. “Use those words, and be certain to stress my reluctance in staying here. Alright?”

“Yes Mi’lady.”

“Good,” she said. “Now go.”

The servant bowed and left as Chase closed the door. She turned back to me and came over to sit next to me again.

“Sorry about that.” She glanced back at the door. “Look, we might not have a lot of time, so I’m gonna have to cut this short. Wipe your eyes, and chin up, alright?”

I nodded and dried my eyes.

Chase sighed. “I’m not gonna lie, things get a lot harder after today. At the end of every day you’re gonna walk back into those barracks dirty, bruised and teary eyed. The older foals are gonna be utterly ruthless, the only thing they won’t do to you is permanent damage. I’m still gonna be there for you, if I can I’ll make time for you each and every day, but I’m not always gonna get that chance. Understand? Things aren’t gonna be easy, but believe me, it’s all worth it when you turn sixteen. Things start to ease off a bit when you turn twelve. They encourage bullying up until a certain age, but after that they expect the foals to grow out of it.”

I blinked at her. “Um... what happens when I’m twelve?”

Chase hesitated. “Anyway, remember, if you want the Green, the way to do that isn’t by being the best. It’s by being Luna’s favourite.”

“What’s the Green?”

She blinked at me. “Right, you don’t know, do you?”

She stood up from her bed and opened up her closet. Inside I saw her nightkin armour, but she pulled out of it what looked like a sword hilt that she strapped to her hoof. After a moment, a green sword stretched out from the end of her hoof.

“This is the Green.” She waved it in the air a few times.

It was weird. I’d seen one from a distance when Stygus dueled Luna, but this was the first time I got to see one up close. The sword didn’t look very solid. It kinda made me think of glass. There was this black smokey stuff coming off it, and when she waved the sword it rippled like a puddle when you splash in it. It was straight and thin and I could see some letters on the blade.

“What does it say?” I asked.

She glanced at the lettering. “It says my name, ‘Chase’. When a nightkin turns eighteen, they are given a red ghost blade, except for one who gets a Green. The Green is forged by Luna herself for her favourite nightkin of that year, and the Blue is Stygus’s blade, given to him by Luna. It's for her absolute favourite among all the nightkin. Usually it’s the Third that takes the Green, but I’ve seen the Green taken by the First or Second, and I’ve even seen it taken by someone who wasn’t any of the three.” The blade shrunk down back into the hilt, and she unstrapped it. “The Green is for Luna’s favourite, the one that’s done the most to earn her affection, not the best.”

I nodded at her. “Can I look at it?”

She shrugged and unstrapped the sword before she passed it to me. It landed on the bed, and I picked it up. I tried to make the sword come out again, but couldn’t figure out how. Frowning, I looked into the hole where the sword was supposed to come out. I glanced over when I heard Chase laughing.

She had her hoof pressed against her face as she laughed. “So, the first thing you do when you get it is hold it right up to your face?” She chuckled again. “Good thing you need shadow magic to use it, or you’d be one very dead filly. A ghost blade can cut through any living or formerly living thing like it wasn’t even there. Skin, bone, wood, it doesn’t matter, a ghost blade will go through it like a hot knife through butter. Non-living things though? Steel, iron, rock, that sort of thing, you may as well just be using a normal sword. The ghost blade also doesn’t have any weight to it, so it can be hard to get through armour. Still, it cuts through leather armour no worries.” Chase smiled at me as she watched me fiddle with it. “Anyway, pass it back now.”

I handed her back the sword and she ruffled my mane again.

“Anyway, how about we-”

Just then the door opened, and that servant unicorn stallion from before came in. Except he looked different this time. His eyes had slit pupils like Luna’s, and there was black smoke coming out of his mouth and nose.

“Your Grace,” Chase said instantly and dropped to the floor in a bow.

“I was told a most curious thing,” the stallion said in a voice that sounded just like Luna’s. “Do you wish to know what it was?”

Chase hesitated for a moment. “Uh, yes, Your Highness?”

“I was told that you refused my command.” He... er... she? Luna, examined the stallion’s hoof. “So there I sat in my bedroom, all nice and comfortable in those socks you so adore, thinking to myself that it did not sound like you at all.”

“My Lady, I... Uh... That’s not to say I was disobeying your orders, just... asking you to reconsider. There are other nightkin who could have served your needs tonight, and I merely thought I should take care of young Song.” She glanced over at me. “Song, you’re in Luna’s presence. Get off the bed and bow.”

I quickly did what Chase said and bowed low to the ground next to her. Why did this stallion sound like Luna?

“Yes... your charge.” His eyes flicked down at me for a brief second.

“Er... Yes? I would certainly love to serve you, your highness, but I have to take care of Song; she has needs too. Perhaps someone else?”

“And what needs are those? Just have some servant take care of it, that is what they are here for.”

Chase glanced over at me again. “Your Grace, she’s a filly. A filly that was taken from her family just a month ago and tomorrow is going to be forced into fights she can’t possibly win. I think it would be best for Song if she was with me tonight.”

The stallion Luna rolled its eyes. “Well then bring her with you if you are that concerned.”

My ears perked up. A night with Luna and Chase? I liked that idea...

“I-I-I... Your Grace?” Chase said, sounding confused.

“Well a pony must learn about sexuality at some point in their life. I am the Mistress of the Night, and thus desire, sexuality and perversion all fall under my care.”

Why did Chase not want me to go? Maybe I could convince her. “I could learn about sexality and persversion,” I said, smiling at Chase hopefully.

“No!” Chase suddenly burst out. “I-I mean, that won’t be necessary, Your Highness.” She glanced over at me again, looking worried, before she turned back to the Luna stallion. “I’ll go with you.”

That wasn’t fair! “But Chase! I-”

“No, Song!” Chase said to me sternly. “You’re not coming with us.”

“Such a shame. Come now my dear, let us enjoy the night together.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Chase bowed low again. “Um, may I just have a quick word with Song before I come to your chambers?”

The stallion Luna rolled its eyes. “If you must, but who said anything about my chambers?”

“I... don’t follow, Your Grace.” Chase sounded confused. “The servant you’re possessing told me to come to your bed.”

“Are you saying I am not allowed to make a change of plans?”

“No, of course not, My Lady...” Chase answered hesitantly. “I just don’t know where you want me.”

“I shall wait here for you to get ready, but I was thinking the balcony, a roof that just happens to catch my fancy, or perhaps a cloud.” Luna paused for a second, thinking it over. “No, a cloud is too secluded, I feel; lacks that thrill, if you understand.”

“I... will meet you on the... Western Tower’s eastern balcony?” Chase suggested. “The one with the view of the training field, so you can see the other nightkin at practice, and with the view of the forest?”

Her ears perked up at that before a smile slowly spread over her features. “They’re practising with real weapons, correct? Till first blood, if I recall correctly... Change of plans, meet me in the training room in fifteen minutes. That should give them enough time to clear out the room and if you please me enough, I may move us onto the balcony once I’ve had my... fill...”

Chase blushed at that, and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “I-I...”

“Of course, you are allowed to arrive early, just know that if you do, I will not wait for everypony to leave.” And with that, the servant collapsed to the floor, and the smoke stopped rising from his mouth. He stood up and looked around, blinking. “Uh... when did I get here?” He didn’t sound like Luna anymore.

“Don’t know, don’t care!” Chase shoved him out the door. “Go clean a floor or something.” She slammed the door shut, turned back to me and sighed. “Sorry, Song.”

“Why can’t I come with you?” I asked, frowning as my ears folded down.

“Trust me, you just can’t.” Chase said as she walked over and hugged me. “I was planning on having the night with just the two of us, but...” She glanced over at the door. “I swear I didn’t know that Luna was planning on having me tonight.” A grin did appear on her muzzle. “Mind you, that’s not exactly the worst thing that could happen.”

“Please, Chase.” I whispered. “I don’t want to be alone anymore. I’ll be good if you take me, I’ll be really quiet, and Luna said she didn’t mind if I come.”

Chase sighed and massaged her temples. “No, Song. You can’t come, because... Ugh... Look, I’ll explain it to you someday, but I swear that if I could I wouldn’t leave you alone tonight, but having you with me isn’t an option, and turning down Luna never works.”

“Chase...”

“No. I’m sorry, Song. But no. You’re just gonna have to stay here tonight.” She glanced out the window. “Anyway, I better get going if I want to... I better get going.”

She ruffled my mane, and gave me another hug. She tried to move away, but I didn’t let go of her. Pausing, she sighed and stroked the back of my head.

“Let go Song.”

“No.”

Chase hugged me for another second, before she pried my arms off and stepped away. I stared up at her, my lower lip trembling, and she scrunched up her face. Sighing, she threw her ghost blade in the closet, and left the room. The door closed behind her, and I heard it lock from the outside.

Tears dropped off my face onto Chase’s bed, and I crawled over to her pillow. It still smelled like her, and so did her blankets. This wasn’t my first night alone, Luna had summoned her four times already, but this time it made me even more sad than usual.

Chase wasn’t Mummy, and she was a mare so she couldn’t be Daddy, but I still missed them so much and she helped me miss them less. I just wanted to forget them, because every time I thought about them I felt like crying. When Chase was here, she hugged me and helped me feel better. When she smiled and told me I was a trooper and tough and that I’d be fine, it helped me feel better, stronger.

“I want my Mummy,” I whispered into her pillow. No, it wasn’t Mummy’s pillow, it was Chase’s. “I want to go home.”

I don’t know how long I was awake for, but it felt like hours as I cried and the tears seemed to never stop. Eventually they did, and I did fall asleep, but my face was damp.

When I dreamed I saw me, a little filly with a golden blond mane, running towards two earth ponies, one a chocolate brown stallion with a black mane, and the other a tan brown with a silver grey mane. No matter how close I got to them they always seemed further and further away, and when I did see them they didn’t have faces. No eyes or lips or nose, just a deep shadow cast by their mane.

- - - - - - - -

“What are you doing at our table?”

He was twice my size. There were other things about him, like he was an earth pony and he had a yellow coat and blue hair, but all that mattered was he twice my size. And smirking at me. Oh, and there were three of him. Well, not three of him, but there were two colts standing behind him. And they were all looking at me.

I leaned down behind the table a little bit.

“I said, why are you sitting at our table?” he asked me and stepped forward angrily.

I’d never seen the mess hall so crowded before. Apparently that was because they tried to keep the new foals separate from the other ponies for the first month, but I still didn’t realise that I’d be sharing breakfast with foals that were as old as twelve. There were a few nightkin watching over us, but almost everyone in here was a foal.

The rumbling sound of a crowd was everywhere, and all the ponies that were moving into the hall seemed to be sticking together in groups of three or five. Not all the foals had tables to sit at. Actually, now that I looked around, a lot of the younger ones were standing near the walls and it was only the bigger foals that were sitting down... I gulped as I looked back at the three colts. Maybe sitting by myself wasn’t such a good idea...

“I-I-I’m sorry... I’ll move.”

“You better.” He stepped towards me again, and I jumped out of the seat quickly.

They all took seats around the table, still glaring at me, and after a moment I turned around and ran away. Not that I was scared! I just felt like running, not because I was scared -I never got scared!- but because I just felt like running... Yeah.

I noticed a bunch of foals my age grouping together near a wall so I trotted over to them. As I got closer, a bunch of them started watching me, and Strong Faith stepped between me and the rest of the group.

“Go away,” he said with stomp of his hoof.

I ignored the little white pegasus with the black eyes that I gave him, and shoved past him to stand in the centre of the group.

He huffed at me, before he turned to the other ponies. “Come on, let’s go somewhere else.”

After a few moments of staring at me and murmuring they turned and trotted away with him. Fine then, they could all be big stupid heads!

...But I noticed a mean looking twelve year old glaring at me, and not that I was scared, but I ran after them.

“Wait for me!”

Strong Faith pushed himself between me and the group again. He snorted and stomped his hoof. “None of us like you. Go away.”

I froze up, and he watched me for another moment before he turned around and walked away with the rest of the foals.

“Fine then!” I shouted at them. “You’re all stupid anyway!”

“Did you just call me stupid, you snot nosed little brat?” I flinched and looked across at the twelve year old I’d noticed staring at me before. He was walking towards me and snickering as I backed away. Not that I was... I swallowed as I looked up at the big brown unicorn colt.

“I-I-I no...” I took another step back from him and yelped as my hind hoof was wrapped in a pink magical aura that matched his eyes.

“I think you did,” he chuckled at me as I was dangled in front of him.

I kicked and screamed and struggled. “Let me go! I’ll tell my mum!” Then I covered my mouth with my hooves and only just realised my mistake.

“You’re gonna call your Mummy, are you?” He laughed. “Stupid little cry baby missing her mummy!” He tossed me up in the air, and I screamed on the way down till he caught me with his magic again. His magic gripped my neck, and he dragged me right up into his face. “Mummy’s not here foal, and your nightkin isn’t either.”

His breath smelled really bad, like milk and that grey slop we had to eat. I tried to pull away but he only dragged me closer, and I could see a little bit of grey sticking to some of his teeth.

“I got news for you, cry baby... Even if your nightkin was here, they wouldn’t do anything. So it’s just you and me...”

I was jerked away from his face and thrown onto the ground in front of him. Whimpering, I started to stand up when he kicked me in the stomach.

“Come on! Get up!”

I scrambled to my feet, and stumbled as he shoved me towards the door.

“Go on! Keep moving, cry baby.”

With him shoving me, I stumbled out of the dining room and down some corridors. “W-w-w-where are we going?”

He just laughed. “I need to take a shit.”

I didn’t know a laugh could sound so scary. We passed out of the main building, and headed through the courtyard where I’d watched the birds to the outhouses near the wall. There were a couple of nightkin around, sitting and practicing combat drills, but none of them really paid attention to us.

The bully yanked open the lavatory door, and jerked his head. “In.”

I quickly jumped inside and stared out at him, trembling. I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t scared. Show no fear. I wasn’t scared.

He stared at me for a moment, before a scary smile, that only scared me a little bit, came over his features. “No, I meant in.” He pointed a hoof behind me.

I turned around and gulped as I stared at the hole. The place where ponies sat and went potty... A fly buzzed out of it, flying in slow circles around the rim, and I could see dark brown stains on the wooden seat.

“I said!” I felt myself picked up in his magic again, and shrieked as he threw me into the hole. I caught onto the rim, and kicked and flailed as I barely managed to stop myself falling into the filth. “In!”

His hoof slammed into my face, and it was like the world was a bell that just got rung. I lost my grip on the rim, and fell screaming into a squishy smelly awful mess. It was in my nose, and in my mouth, and I coughed and gagged, and vomited, and coughed and gagged, and my eyes watered even though I wasn’t crying and in between the things my body was doing that I wasn’t telling it to do, I find myself sobbing and spitting things out of my mouth.

Then the light above me was blocked out, and I looked up only for something sloppy to land on my face. I could hear the bully laughing as he dropped more down onto me. It was in my eyes and in my mane, and I know Mummy always told me never to rub my eyes, but I did anyway and they only hurt worse because I did.

“Stooooooooop!” I screamed up at him. “Stooooooooooooooooop! Muuuuuuuuuuuummy!”

Then the light returned, and a stern voice barked, “That’s enough!”

Something black curled around my ankle, and I was dragged up and out, blinded by sunlight as the shadows tossed me out of the lavatory and onto the grass. I curled up into a ball, shivering and sobbing.

“Go back to the mess hall!” The stern voice barked again, and I heard hoof steps galloping away from me.

I looked up to see the bully running away, and glanced over to see a nightkin staring down at me, concern on his face as he covered his nose with one hoof. He watched me for a moment, before he sighed and turned away. “Try making some friends, kid. It helps... at least a little. Go-” He gagged and wiped his mouth. “Go find a servant to clean you up. Tell them the orders are from Hymn.” He glanced back at me, and saw me still lying there. “Didn’t you hear me! I said go!”

I staggered to my feet and ran back for the palace. Tears blurring my eyes made me crash into a wall, and I paused to choke out a sob before I ran in again.

- - - - - - - -

I wasn’t the only one sobbing. We didn’t even fight for top bunk when the day ended and we walked to our barracks with the servants. It was a big room, with lots of beds. Thirteen foals with seven bottom bunks and seven top. There was one spare for the servant that watched us, making sure none of us tried to leave during the night.

Not that anypony would try to leave. All of us were curled up and whimpering. Glad that the horrible, sad, bad, day was over, but miserable because we all knew we’d have it again tomorrow. Slowly and steadily, we all sobbed ourselves to sleep.

I missed Chase. I wished she was here with me. I wished I wasn’t here at all, but in Chase’s room and hugging her as she brushed my mane. My pillow was wet with tear stains, and even though big fillies don’t cry, I cried. And was scared. A salty smell over my head made me look up, and I flinched as a drop of water landed on the tip of my nose. Another drop fell, and I froze as I realised it wasn’t water, it was pee. The foal above me had wet the bed.

“Oh no... not here...” I heard what sounded like a colt whisper in complete despair.

Tomorrow I’m sleeping in the top bunk. No matter what. Another drop landed on my face, and I groaned and rolled out of the bed. With my pillows and blankets I lay down on the hard floor, and tried to get to sleep. It wasn’t easy. I still felt like crying, and I may have been a little bit, but the cold stone didn’t make it easier, and everything hurt. Eventually, I fell asleep.

That night, I dreamed of my bed back at Daddy’s forge. I knew that Mummy and Daddy were upstairs asleep, and Chase was in the room with me. Sleeping in a bed that faced the door, so if someone tried to break in to hurt me, Chase would stop them.

Chapter 3: Descent

Conviction

Chapter 3

Descent

That awful Curse fell on the world, and sought to make it burn.

We all begged forgiveness, from the night we spurned

The Sister wept for it to stop, but the laughter merely doubled.

The Beast watched from the void, as the world was turned to rubble.

Sixteenth verse of ‘Curse of the Everfree’. Unknown author. Circa 0040.

“Today, in celebration of the end of your eighth year in Castle Blackrock, I decided we should do something fun.”

We all groaned and prepared for the worst. Astral Victory’s idea of fun was very different from a sane pony’s. Or at least a pony that didn’t actually do the exercises, and instead just watched from the sidelines and hollered at anypony that fell. Some of the nightkin could be rather harsh with that too. You don’t usually see nightkin awake during the day, and the ones that you did were probably mentors with foals in training. It was like a competition for them, seeing who chose the best foal or something.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Chase among them. She was chatting with Starlit Path, but she kept an eye on me. Did she ever sleep? I knew she was one of Luna’s favourites and was usually busy with a lot of her own work, but she always made time for me during the day, even when there were bags the size of small fruits under her eyes. It was worrying how concerned she was for me. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate her, I just wished she would sometimes give me a bit more room.

The thirteen of us, the same thirteen that had fought for bread in this courtyard just eight years ago, were standing in line, ‘enjoying’ our last day as foals. After today, we would all be in our ninth year here, and no longer need our mentors.

Astral Victory frowned at us. “No, really. I mean it will actually be a fun experience for you all today. No drills, no exercise, no team building and crawling in the mud, just normal fun.”

Next to me, Strong Faith shifted his wings and looked like he was trying to figure out what the word ‘fun’ actually meant. Further down the line, Stern Conviction was looking nervous as he grit his jaw and swallowed. Me, I didn’t believe in ‘fun’ either. Astral Victory had something cruel planned, of that I was sure. I watched him closely, keeping an eye on his hooves and body language in case he suddenly jumped from ‘fun’ Astral, to ‘I don’t care if you can’t breathe, just keep running or I’ll make sure you’ll never breathe again’ Astral.

He rolled his eyes at us, and turned towards what he had set up in the courtyard today. Sometimes it was a field of mud and fishing wire, other times it was wooden platforms and ropes. When we were really unlucky, it was just posts in the ground that he expected us to run around until he was satisfied.

He never was.

Today it was nothing new, some wooden dummies, armoured wooden dummies, chickens in cages, and... a ghost blade? I wasn’t the only one that noticed as murmurs broke out among the other twelve year old. We watched as he strapped the hilt to his hoof’s right side, and turned around to face us again.

“You all know what ghost blades are, but I doubt any of you have seen what they do.” He held his hoof out from his body and a crimson red blade emerged, black smoke wafting off of it. “I thought today I’d give you the chance to see one in action, and try it out for yourselves while I power it for you.”

We stopped murmuring, waiting for him to continue. He just watched us for a moment, and we stared back, expecting him to demand we practice swinging the sword for the rest of the day or something. Or at least that’s what I was expecting. Stern Conviction just looked eager. No, this couldn’t be for real. He had something much crueler planned, right?

Astral Victory positioned himself in front of the wooden dummy and turned to face us. “I’m sure you’ve heard how easily a ghost blade cuts through any living or once living material?” Pivoting on his hind legs, he slashed out before returning to all fours, facing us again all in one smooth motion. “Watch.”

We stared at him for a second before we all heard the sound of splintering wood behind him. The wooden dummy split apart, its head dropping to the ground.

“A ghost blade will cut through any living thing that easily. Even dragonscale offers no resistance.” He moved across to stand next to an armoured dummy. “But, rock, iron, steel, anything like that...”

He twisted and slashed at the dummy, but his blade dinged right off with a sound like glass on steel.

“Almost useless. Really, a normal sword would be more dangerous.” He held the red blade up for us all to see again. “Still, it’ll cut through any magical protection, like a unicorn barrier or enchanted leather, the same way it cuts through ponies. A very useful and very dangerous weapon in the right hooves.”

Grunting with effort, he turned around and shoved his blade through the armoured dummy’s helmet and pulled it back out. We were all shocked to see a hole in the metal, but not the wood. A second later, the wood cracked and sawdust fell from its head, leaving behind a perfectly shaped wooden hole.

“Of course, like any half-decent sword, if you put enough effort in you can break through most armour. If you aim for the weak spots and land a clean hit, only the heaviest and thickest full body plate will save them.”

I imagined what that wooden pony would look like if he was flesh and blood. I’d never killed, and I was curious what it would be like. How would a pony react? I guess it must be different from pony to pony. A stoic earth pony would collapse as they keep trying to stand, a unicorn high-born might beg for his life even after he was bleeding. I glanced across at Strong Faith, who was staring at Astral Victory. How would Faith feel about having a foot of steel or... ghost? Magic? Whatever, how would he feel about having a foot of that shoved inside him?

A chicken clucking brought my attention back to Astral Victory, and the white chicken he had pinned under his hoof. The bird twisted, pecking, clawing, and trying to escape, but Astral was wearing a heavy leather glove and barely seemed to notice.

“This chicken, generously provided by the castle kitchen, will demonstrate what cutting into flesh with a ghost blade is like.”

The red ignited from his other hoof, and with careful precision, he dragged it across the chicken’s wing. The bird screeched and let out a pained cluck as its limb went oddly limp. Then, with a sudden burst of blood, the wing detached and fell to the ground.

“Ever wondered about the saying, ‘running around like a headless chicken’?” Astral asked us. A moment later he dragged the blade across the screeching bird’s neck and lifted his hoof from its back.

The chicken stood up and ran, making it a few paces before its head slid to the ground with a spray of blood. The bird’s body kept running after that, spasmodically throwing itself into the ground and jumping into the air for nearly a minute after its death. Eventually it stopped, and we all stood silent.

“And that’s where the saying comes from. You cut off a chicken’s head with any weapon, be it axe, sword, or ghost, and it’ll do that for a while.” Astral smiled at us, and the red on his wrist disappeared. “So, who would like to have a try?”

- - - - - - - -

The mess hall was buzzing with chatter. My year in particular were all excited about this morning, having spent it toying around with the deadly arcane. Most of them were bragging about what shapes they’d managed to carve into their dummies, or teasing each other about who hesitated at killing a chicken.

The tray in my mouth tasted just a little sickly sweet, like somepony forgot to clean it, but I didn’t really mind. The food smelled bad, but complaining about things was never a good idea, plus Chase had told me not eat anything today anyway.

“Hey Pong!” Strong Faith called out.

I rolled my eyes and ignored him as I walked past him and his friends.

“Pong! Come back!”

I sat down at my table, and dropped the plate in front of me. I was about to take a sip of water when I heard hoofsteps behind me.

“Hey Pong,” Strong Faith said as he sat across from me. “I wanted to-”

“That’s not my name.” I glared at him.

He blinked, and smiled. “Oh, sorry. That’s just what everypony calls you now.”

“I know,” I muttered with a pointed glare.

He coughed into his hoof. “Well, we all have given names.”

“Like ‘Pong of Shite’?”

He shifted in his seat awkwardly. “Uh... sorry about that.”

I didn’t answer and went to eat again.

“Anyway, Song, that was not what I wanted to talk about,” he continued. “I wanted to ask you about... today.”

Sighing, I dropped my fork, leaned forward, put my elbows on the table, and glared at him.

“What? I’ve asked everypony I can, I’m just trying to figure out what’s happening this afternoon is all. Your mentor is Chased Redemption, right? Has she told you anything?”

“If she has, why should I share with you?”

He seemed a little put off by that. “Well, we all need friends.”

“Are we friends?” I leaned in closer to him, glaring as hard as I could.

“Uh... well, there’s no reason we couldn’t be.”

I didn’t answer him, just took a sip of water and kept glaring.

“Well, other than the ‘Pong of Shite’ thing, but I swear that we’re not trying to be mean with that anymore. It was a stupid name I gave you when I was a foal, and I’m sorry about that.”

“Are you?” I asked pointedly.

He hesitated, before he sighed. “You don’t need to be like that, Po-Song. I’m honestly just trying to be friendly, and maybe find out if you know anything.”

I didn’t answer, I just took another drink.

“Look, I’m probably going to be the First in four years, and you or Stern Conviction are likely to be Second. The Second is the First’s right hoof, and if we’re probably going to work together a lot, there’s no reason for us to be enemies. Especially if you’re taking orders from me.”

“What makes you so certain you’ll be the First?”

“Because I’m the smartest, even if I’m probably the worst fighter here.”

I snorted at that.

“I am, and you know it,” he said, pointing a hoof at me. “And even if I wasn’t, there’s no reason for us not to be friends.”

Finishing my glass of water, I stood up from the table, leaving my food there untouched.

“Come on, Song. If you know something, tell me.”

After a moment, I sighed. “Don’t eat anything.”

He blinked at me. “What?”

“That’s what Chase told me. Don’t eat.”

His brow furrowed in confusion, but I didn’t wait for him to respond. I just trotted away, after a moment he called out to me, “Thank you!”

The servant gave me an odd look when I hoofed a full bowl of gruel back to him, but didn’t ask any questions. I was the first to leave the mess hall, though a few ponies gave me funny looks. I ignored them. If Chase told me not to eat, I wouldn’t. She’d never lied to me before.

- - - - - - - -

I knocked on the door, and waited.

“Yeah, Song, come in!” Chase sounded strained.

I pushed it open and found her hanging upside down, sweating and grunting as she did sit ups. Her rear legs were over a rafter, braced against the roof so she didn’t fall.

“Chase?”

“Sorry, give me a moment.” Chase flapped her wings, and pulled her hind legs out before she spun around and landed in front of me, grinning. “Nervous?”

Yes. “No.”

Chase laughed and put a hoof around my shoulder. “Of course not. Listen, this is... Alright, yeah it’s a big deal, but... trust me, this is a test you can’t fail. I’ve never even heard of a pony failing it.”

“I know.” I sat down on the bottom edge of Chase’s bed, and she sat next to me. I glanced to where my bed used to be, all those years ago. It was eight years ago, but I still missed sleeping in the same room as her.

Chase rolled her eyes and poked me with her hoof. “Come on, tell me what you’re thinking.”

I glanced over at her, thinking of what to say before I shrugged.

“Come on, there’s nothing to be worried about.” She ruffled my mane. “I went through the same thing and... Trust me, you’ll do fine. This is a test you can’t fail.”

I nodded. “Alright.”

She sighed in frustration. “Song, you know I’m always happy to talk with you, but you actually have to, you know, talk.”

“Sorry... It’s just...” I trailed off.

Chase watched me expectantly, before sighing.

“I didn’t eat anything,” I said after a moment, “Like you told me.”

Chase nodded. “Good. You could have eaten something if you wanted, it’s just... Uh, you’ll understand why I said don’t when you... Trust me, I wish I hadn’t eaten when I did the test.”

“Alright.”

We sat there in silence, before she put a hoof around my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine.”

I leaned into her, my stomach churning. “Chase... what was your name?”

“My name?” She frowned.

“Before it was Chased Redemption.”

“Oh...” She shifted awkwardly. “Why?”

“Because... I’m not sure I remember mine...”

Chase frowned. “Wasn’t it Goldie?”

“I... don’t think so. I mean, that was what I remember being called, but I don’t think that was my real name. I think it was a nickname my parents called me.” I frowned as I tried to remember their faces. They were earth ponies, like me, and my father was a stallion and my mother was a mare, and... my father was... handsome? Ugly? Scarred? Boyish?

Urgh. Why was it so hard to remember anything that happened before I came to Castle Blackrock? I remember my first day here perfectly, and meeting Luna’s gaze in the Ascension Day celebrations, and before that... My father, my blurry, indistinct father shouted... something, at me... Was it because he was angry?

Chase sat silently for a moment. “I don’t remember my name at all. When I was your age, the nightkin were... different. We were still new, there were only a few any older than us, Astral Victory, Stygus, and a few others that died later.

“Stygus just chose names for us off the top of his head. He stood there, pointed at each of us and said ‘this is your name now’. They were all things he could relate to Luna, like the night, hymns, faith, Redemption...” She frowned. “And that’s how it still is, more or less. Stygus just picks a name for you.” For a moment, she looked angry. “He’s not Luna. Whatever he might tell you, Stygus isn’t the gate between Our Goddess and us. If it was Luna who gave me my name, I’d be angry at any who called me Chase rather than Chased Redemption. But that name wasn’t from My Goddess, it was from Stygus.

“When it was my sixteenth, and I was taken to be with Her for the first time. Stygus ‘escorted’ me to her, but really, I think he’s jealous of all who share Her blessings. When Her Grace asked me my name, I stuttered. I told her ‘Ch-chase’ without thinking about the informality of using my short name. I realised my mistake and was about to correct myself when Stygus snapped at me. He said, ‘Not your pet name, your real name’, and in the sight of My Goddess I shouted back at him, ‘You mean the one you chose? I am my own mare, and I have as much right to name myself as you do.’ He was stunned, and I turned to face Luna, ‘Chase, Your Majesty. My name is Chase.’ Two years later when she selected me for the Green, Chase was the name on the blade.”

Huh. So that explains why ‘Chase’ was on her blade, and not her actual name. Why hadn’t I thought about that before? I should probably have noticed that and asked about it before now.

“A lot of nightkin choose a different name from the one Stygus gives. The point is that names are just words. The name your parents gave you is no more important than the name Stygus chose, or the one that pegasus in your year gave you. It’s not important if you can’t remember what your parents called you. Heck, even unblessed ponies usually change their names a few times.”

I nodded after a moment of silence. “Thanks, Chase.” It didn’t really make me feel better, but I was just glad she was there trying to help.

“Don’t worry about it.” She gave me a squeeze. “I always have time for you. What kind of mentor would I be if I didn’t?”

I shrugged.

“So...” Chase shifted and smiled at me. “Are you happy with Song as your name?”

“...I guess so,” I mumbled.

“Hmm... It doesn’t really fit you, you know. You can keep it if you want, but maybe you should think of another. Song of Night’s a bit of a mouthful anyway.” She grinned at me, her fangs gleaming. “Just don’t pick anything stupid like ‘Blood Letter’ or ‘Deadly Blade’. It might sound like a good idea at the time, but after the hundredth time somepony snickers when you get introduced, you’ll hate it.”

“Alright.”

She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Song. Talk to me here, you’re being so quiet.”

I swallowed, still thinking about my family. Or trying to. Whenever I tried to picture my parents’ faces, I found myself thinking of Chase instead. I never wanted to forget them, but I think I already had.

“Hey, it’s alright.” Chase brushed a tear out from under my eye. When had I started crying? “I know you’re nervous about the test, but trust me, you’ll do fine.”

Oh, I’d forgotten about that. Chase mentioning it just made my empty stomach churn.

She pulled me into a tight hug. “It’ll all be fine, Song. Just get it done as quickly as you can and... try not to think about it.”

“Think about what?” I asked her. “What is the test?”

“You know I’m not allowed to tell you.”

“Why not?”

She shifted in her seat. “I’m not allowed to, and I’m not going to, alright?”

I found myself staring at her floor, frowning in thought.

“You really can’t fail this one, Song, they don’t let you. I’m not saying it’s easy, just... Cross bridges as they come, alright? There’s no point worrying about it right now.”

“But you always told me that hope wasn’t a plan, that I should always try to think ahead.”

She snorted. “Yeah, well, no one piece of wisdom like that can really work in every situation. It’s up to you to decide what applies when.”

We sat in silence for another moment or two.

“Song is a bad name, isn’t it?” I said after I thought about it. “I can’t even sing.”

Chase laughed. “Well, if you think of a better one, let me know and I’ll only call you that. Got any ideas for-”

Just then there was a knock at the door. A moment later it opened, and a servant walked in.

“Second Lieutenant,” he bowed as he spoke. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but Song of Night’s time has come.”

I gulped.

Chase stood up, and tilted her head towards the door. “Come on, S-” She paused. “Come on, I’ll walk you there.”

After a second, I stood up and followed Chase out. We passed through the halls of the Castle in silence, broken up only by the clop of our hooves. The servant followed behind us at a distance, not saying a word.

We came down onto the Castle’s ground level, and we walked past the mess hall towards the dungeons and cellars. As we passed the mess, I saw other ponies in my year chatting with their mentors, all of them looking nervous in some way. We took a right and headed down another flight of stairs, stopping long enough for the servant to cast a light spell with his horn. Chase shielded her eyes from it, and stepped out of the circle of the light. She could see more clearly in the dark without magic than me and the servant could with it.

After a while of trotting through the dark with Chase leading the way, we came to a stop in front of another set of stairs heading down. At the bottom I could see torchlight, flickering ever so slightly.

“This is as far as I’m allowed to walk with you,” Chase said after a second. “After this... I won’t be your mentor any longer, but I’ll always be there for you.” Before I could answer her, she hugged me, and I saw tears glistening on her face. Then she released me and trotted away into the dark.

Pausing to brace myself, I turned and trotted down the stairs. When I came to the bottom I found a nightkin sitting on a bench, a book in hoof. How could he read in this dark with just a little torchlight? Was nightkin eyesight really that good? Opposite from him were several doors. Heavy iron doors with small covered windows.

The nightkin glanced up at me. “Song of Night?”

I nodded.

He stood up, leading me to a door before pulling it open. “In here.”

Swallowing nervously, I stepped past him into the room. What I saw wasn’t what I was expecting. It was a rectangular room with only one entrance, and lit surprisingly well with torches clustered tightly along the wall. To my left was a table with several waterskins, and in front of me was another table. Resting on it was a simple, unadorned, black steel dagger, glittering in the firelight.

That wasn’t what surprised me though. What surprised me was the earth pony chained to the furthest wall from me. A gag was tied over his mouth, and his hooves were pinned above his head. His eyes were wide with fear as he watched me, and he shouted something muffled. He tried to kick and escape, but no matter how much he rattled the chains around his hind hooves, he wouldn’t be able to free himself.

“This pony joined Celestia’s army, and bore arms against Luna’s soldiers. Her pronouncement for this crime is death.”

The pony screamed and twisted in his chains all the more.

“You can only leave once he’s dead.”

After a moment, I frowned and turned around. “I don’t understand-”

The door slammed in my face, and the window was slid shut.

After a moment I turned around and faced the pony again, terror and disbelief in his eyes. I looked at the knife on the table, then back up at him, then at the knife again. I fell to my haunches as realisation started to dawn on me.

I was supposed to kill him. They wanted me to kill this stallion.

My stare must have scared him, because he started squirming. “Hmmmmmf!” The pony on the wall screamed, making me flinch. “Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurghm!” Tears were in his eyes, and he was writhing, straining against the chains as hard as he could. “Ehm ee oh! Et me eeeeeeeeeee! Hehhhhhhhhlm! Hehhhhhhlm!”

I flattened my ears, and tried to cover them, but it didn’t help. He just kept screaming and screaming, staring at me like I was some kind of demon.

“Stop screaming!”

“Mmmmmmmmmmmmurgh!”

I grit my jaw. “Stop!”

He just hollered louder, the sound echoing through the room.

“I said, quiet!” I shouted at him, my voice cracking.

He stopped writhing, and stared at me, his chest heaving.

After meeting his gaze for a moment, I stood up. “I need to think,” I muttered as I paced back and forth in front of him.

Was this really the test? Just kill a pony? No, not a pony, a Celestian. Kill a Celestian? That seemed easy. They’d already tied him down, so what was the point of this?

If it was a puzzle it wasn’t a very clever one. I wasn’t the smartest in my year but even I could figure it out. The door was closed, the Celestian was the lock, the knife was the key. Key goes in lock, and the door opens. Simple, right?

I glanced at him.

Yeah, simple. Just kill the Celestian.

His coat was distorted in the firelight, but he was a pale colour, almost white. He had an orange and yellow striped mane, and glistening eyes surrounded by heavy bags. Ribs were showing underneath his skin, and he hadn’t been bathed in a while.

This wasn’t what I’d imagined a Celestian would look like. He just looked too normal. But I suppose he was what he was, even if he didn’t have froth on his lips and dumb, rabid eyes.

No, he definitely didn’t have lifeless eyes. He was begging me, tears rolling down his cheeks pathetically as he tried to get into my head with just his gaze.

I snorted and shook my head. Nope. It wasn’t going to work. Did he honestly think I’d forget what he was? A Celestian. Just a selfish heathen blasphemer that stood against Luna’s will. A soldier, that was what the nightkin had said. He took up arms against Lady Luna, so he had to die. Killing him was the right thing to do. It was Her will.

Nodding to myself in determination, I took the knife from the table and approached him. He started screaming again, louder this time. I came closer, and adjusted the leather grip in my teeth.

“-ol’ s’ill’,” I muttered around the knife.

He didn’t hold still, he just shook and writhed and shrieked, trying to escape. Squeezing my eyes and shut, I took a stab. His shrieking stopped, and there was a wet pop as the blade went through his skin.

I smelled something awful. Something like vomit. I opened my eyes, and looked up to see him staring down at me, still alive, his eyes wide in horror. Then I tasted something in my mouth. Something coppery and warm.

My gag reflex took over and I jerked away, spitting out the taste of blood. He started screaming again, louder than before, and I tried to ignore him as I got that awful, unnatural flavour off my tongue.

I shuddered and walked to the table with the water skins. I washed my mouth out and spat the water onto the floor, while the stallion’s painful sobbing and shrieking filled my ears. Then I started drinking as much water as I could, trying to get rid of the aftertaste. He was still screaming and crying. And the smell of vomit was filling the room.

I wiped water and blood from my chin as I turned around to look at him. The knife was dripping and buried in his gut. I must have stabbed into his stomach or something, because I could smell acid from here. And he was still screaming.

Oh, Luna. Drinking was a bad idea. The sight of that knife poking out of him made me turn around and throw up every drop of water that I just drank. Now I know why Chase told me not to eat anything. Dry heaving was better than tasting your last meal again.

And he never stopped screaming.

“Stop!” I yelled at him, getting frustrated. “Just shut it! Be quiet!”

He didn’t listen to me.

“Just die quietly!”

The Celestian was still screaming and I grit my jaw at just how loud it was. He was just one pony, how much noise could he possibly make?! Apparently it was a lot.

“Shut up!” I stomped my hoof. “You’re not allowed to scream!”

He didn’t listen. Maybe it was because he couldn’t hear me, or because he was too stupid to understand it wouldn’t save him, but he kept bellowing into his gag.

“Just be quiet!” I yelled. “Oh, Luna, why won’t you shut up?!”

His screams transformed into sobs, and that noise was even worse because it made me feel guilt for some reason. No, that wasn’t guilt. It couldn’t be. Killing a Celestian was the right thing to do. The smell was overpowering. I don’t know how long it’d take him to die, but he was still alive, and the smell of him was getting worse. Yeah, that had to be why my stomach was churning. It was just that horrible smell, wasn’t it? It couldn’t be guilt.

He was crying and staring at me with a look that mixed misery, resentment, and still begging for mercy. And he still wasn’t dead. The stallion was still staring at me, and sobbing and... Why wouldn’t he just die? I shuddered as I realised it could take all night if I didn’t step in and stab him again.

How long could he last? How long does it take for a wound to the stomach to kill a pony? I didn’t want to find out. I just needed to get away from this horrible smell and take a long bath.

I approached him, and he watched me warily with glistening eyes. He didn’t look very old. This soldier didn’t look any older than fifteen. Maybe he just looked really young for his age? Somehow I didn’t believe that.

“Look, I’ll make it quick.” Why was I bargaining with him? I didn’t need to bargain with him, I was the one with the power. He was the one that should be begging me to make it quick. “It’s better than you deserve anyway.”

His eyes bugged and he tried to pull away from me again. My teeth closed around the knife jutting out of his stomach, and the smell and feel of dried blood nearly made me throw up again. I yanked it out, he grunted in pain, and I had to hold back my gag reflex at the smell of bile this close to him. I tried to keep my tongue from touching the bloody handle, but I still got that awful coppery taste all through my mouth again.

Standing up on my hind hooves, and reaching up with my neck, I was about level with his throat.

He whimpered and tried to jerk away from me, but it didn’t help him.

The light’s faded from his eyes as the black voids of his pupils grew. He wheezed and gargled his last painful breath and died. The eyes are supposed to be the window to the soul, and I stared right into them as his soul left his body.

Oh sweet Luna, he had a soul. And a cutie mark, and a name and parents and things he liked doing and he really was a pony. Even if he was a Celestian, he was a living pony and I just killed him. I fell backwards onto my back, scrambling to my hooves away from him.

I trembled as I stared at the unmoving body with those dim, lifeless eyes that just moments before had been glistening with tears and focussed on me as I put a knife in his throat. I couldn’t get those last few seconds out of my head. The gurgling, the taste of blood in my mouth, the pressure of the knife between my teeth, his breath in my mane, and the lights fading. Oh, Luna, the lights fading.

I dry heaved again, and this time it wasn’t the smell that made me do it. Shuddering, I fell to the floor and realised what I’d done.

“I killed a pony.”

Shivering, I hugged myself and snatched up the water skin. I didn’t drink it, I just splashed it over my face and neck, trying to wash off some of the blood.

“It was Luna’s will. It was Luna’s will. It was Luna’s will,” I repeated to myself, pacing back and forth for a bit. That’s right, it was Luna’s order. It was the right thing to do, it had to be. Why would Luna have ordered it if it was the wrong thing?

She wouldn’t have. Luna was my Goddess, divinity in flesh, and the rightful ruler of this world. It wasn’t my place to question her.

That was it, that was the answer. She was right, and I was wrong. That had to be it. It didn’t matter if he had a soul or not, we all belonged to Luna, and she did with us as she saw fit. If she wanted him to be dead, and me to be the one that killed him, then that was right because she said it was right.

It was that simple. It was that simple.

“It’s Luna’s will.” I steeled myself, trotted over to the door and knocked. “The Celestian is dead!” I called out.

A moment later, the lock clicked and the door swung open. The nightkin stood there, staring down at my wet mane and the water dripping down my face. He glanced between me and the stallion chained to the wall, before, without a word, stepping aside and letting me past.

“Congratulations, little one. You’re no longer a foal, but an adult. A slight difference at times, but an important one.”

I didn’t answer him as I walked away from the dungeon, shutting the smell, and those eyes that just wouldn’t stop staring lifelessly, out of my mind. It was Luna’s will. I headed up the stairs and almost tripped over Chase in the dark.

“Hey, Song.” She tried to smile, but it disappeared off her face as soon as it appeared. “How did it go?”

I didn’t answer.

“Song?”

“I’m not Song,” I whispered. “Song’s a foal, I’m not a foal.” Not anymore.

“Uh... of course you’re not,” Chase answered, sounding slightly confused and a little worried. “So, who are you then?”

“I...” I didn’t know. I just didn’t want to be Song anymore.

A *slight** difference at times, but an important one.*

Slight. It had ‘S’ like Song, ‘ight’ like Night, and ‘L’ for Luna. It was like Chase’s name, made short and from the sounds of her old one.

I didn’t really care, but it would do.

“Slight,” I mumbled. “I’ll be Slight.”

“Alright...” Chase sounded a little confused. “If it’s what you want...?”

I nodded.

“Do you even know what it means?”

I shook my head. “I don’t care. It’s not Song.”

“Alright then... Slight?” She tested its sound out. “Slight?” She shrugged. “If it’s what you want... Are you sure you’re okay?”

I looked into her eyes. “It was Luna’s will.”

She blinked, then smiled gently and nuzzled me. “I’m proud of you. You’ve come so far, and I know you’ll serve Her Grace with conviction. Alright then, Song-Slight, let’s go get you cleaned up.” She stepped away from me and trotted towards the stairs up out of the cellar.

I followed after her, staying close.

Chapter 4: Our Lady's Grace

Conviction

Chapter 4

Our Lady's Grace

We know not how she was born, just that she existed.

What foul things had been done, to make a mare so twisted?

Was she built from the shadows, and spirits of the damned?

Pieces of The Beast's own heart, or blood of guiltless lamb?

Whatever place it was she crawled from, whatever lifeless womb,

We know that when she saw the world, she saw it as our tomb.

Eleventh verse of 'Curse of the Everfree'. Unknown author. Circa 0040.

I froze, spoon halfway to my mouth, as a pony sat at my table. The oats in the spoon's basin dripped out as I set it back into the bowl. I didn't turn to look at them, just stayed where I was. Why was somepony sitting at my table?

"I'm sorry, it's just that this table only had one pony at it, my friends are doing extra runs with Astral Victory, and all the other tables are occupied." A filly's voice. Pleasant enough and a touch nervous, but it grated on me nonetheless. "Is it okay if I sit here? Just for today?"

No. No it was not.

My stomach growled, asking me to keep eating, but instead I turned to glare at the intruder. The white maned thirteen year-old flinched at my look. Her green coat was the colour of pine needles, and she seemed uncomfortable as I stared at her.

Good.

I didn't like it when ponies watched me eat, she didn't like it when ponies stared at her. It was a mutual understanding.

"I swear I'll be silent, it will only be today and you're always eating alone anyway."

There was a reason for that. I let her know that reason as my glower hardened, and I leaned in closer to her. She was thirteen, I was sixteen. The way I was acting, she was expecting me to start a fight. A fight that she knew she couldn't win.

"I'll-I'll just go," she mumbled as she stood up, taking her food with her. As she trotted away, she glanced over her shoulder at me, and hastily looked forward again when she saw me still staring. I watched until she sat on the corner of a table with a few fourteen years, and nervously began eating while they ignored her.

Good.

I picked up my spoon again, and raised the oats to my lips.

"That was rather harsh."

My spoon clattered into the bowl as I turned to glare at my newest intruder.

Strong Faith ignored all common sense and sat at my table. Other ponies shouldn't be sitting at my table. I can't eat when they're there.

"If Astral finds out you're bullying the years under you, you'll be cleaning the castle's chamber pots again." He actually seemed concerned.

That wasn't bullying, I was just trying to eat here. Is it really that much to ask for a table to myself?

He sat there in increasingly awkward silence, trying to ignore how much I wanted him to go away. I wasn't being too subtle, was I?

"So, it's the announcement today," he started in a conversational tone.

Yes. Yes it was. Why did he feel the need to talk to me about it?

When my only answer was more silence, he continued. "Today is a big day, isn't it? We find out who will be First, Second, and Third."

I knew that. I may score near the bottom in strategy and leadership, but that didn't mean I couldn't remember the thing they've been telling us for the last twelve years. Today was the day. It's kind of hard to forget that when it's been looming over our lives for as long as any of us could remember.

He shifted his hooves, not touching his breakfast. He stared down for a moment, before looking back up at me. "Who do you think will be First?"

I blinked in surprise when I realised he was nervous. Frowning, I glanced around the room and saw his usual friends watching us, looking curious and surprised that we were talking. Stern Conviction in particular was watching us, looking a little worried. Why wasn't he asking them this? Why me? I wasn't Stygus, how should I know if he will be First?

I frowned back at Strong Faith, crossing my forelegs.

Apparently he'd followed my gaze to his usual friends, and understood my question. "I ask you because..." He sighed and looked down again. "I just cannot. I don't want them to see me nervous. I just needed to ask somepony, and you're here alone and..." he trailed off, looking at me expectantly.

I blinked in surprise, before sighing.

He wasn't here to annoy me, he was just here to settle the churning in his stomach. I don't know why he would be nervous, he really was the obvious choice for First. The chess piece cutie mark he had was a sign of his talent in strategy and battle. He was a terrible warrior, but definitely an effective leader. He had less reason to be nervous than I did. There was far less competition for First in this year than there was in others.

"First," I pointed my hoof at him. "Second," I rested it against my chest. "Third," I pointed a hoof towards Blessed March. After a moment, I smirked and pointed at myself again, "Green."

He blinked at me, before smirking back. "Who says you'll be Green when you might not even be Second?"

"Second," I repeated, "I am the best."

Strong Faith snorted. "Even if you do get Second, which Stern Conviction is just as likely to claim as you, the Green most often goes to the Third."

I shrugged. All I could do was remain faithful to our Lady and know that she would make the right choice, even if I wasn't it. Luna's will was law, and I would serve her faithfully no matter what rewards I received for doing so. That said, if she gave me the chance to prove myself to her, I would jump at the opportunity to earn her affections.

He leaned forward again. "Are you sure I'm to be First?"

I nodded.

He still seemed nervous, but a little less than when he first sat down."Thank you, Slight."

I simply rolled my eyes.

He sat there for a moment, and opened his mouth to speak again, but I interrupted.

"Now leave." I pointed a hoof at the table he usually sat at.

He blinked at me, frowning. "I-"

"Go away," I said firmly, glaring at him.

He looked confused for a moment, before he shrugged and stood up. "Alright, bye."

I didn't answer him as I picked up my spoon and watched him walk away. After I was sure he was gone, I went to eat my oats again. I froze when a shadow fell over me.

Gritting my jaw in frustration, I turned around to glare at whoever had disturbed me again. That glare dropped and I blinked in surprise when I saw the pony that was bothering me.

"Chase?"

She grinned and sat next to me. "Who'd you expect?"

I stared at her for a moment, before I smiled back. "When did you get back?" I frowned as I noticed the heavy bags under her eyes and the new scar on her cheek. Her mane was tangled and pointing in all directions, while her coat was grime-stained and I could see flakes of dried blood mixed through it.

"About half an hour ago." She yawned and stretched, her shoulders popping. "I came here straight from Hoofens."

I pointed at the marks on her cheek. "These?"

"Oh Well, I was with General Bishop out at Clover's Gap, with the vanguard, when we had a skirmish with some gryphons we didn't know were gonna be there." She tapped the mark on her cheek. "Bastard almost gutted me with these freaky hook blades they strap on their wings, but they retreated right after he scratched me. Bishop ordered us not to pursue because they probably had a larger force on the other side of the gap, and he wanted it scouted out first. I would have gone, but Luna sent orders and I was rotated out of his retinue and sent back here." She smiled and put her wing around me. "Which is fine by me. The big ceremony's happening today, huh?"

I nodded and looked back to my meal then back at Chase. I was hungry, but... It could wait. It had been a month since I'd seen her, and I was eager to catch up. Pushing the oats away from myself, I turned to Chase. "Gryphons?"

"Yeah." She grinned. "I'd never fought them till this month, but it was seriously interesting. It's a damn shame they joined with the Celestians, because I'd love to see a few of those brutes tearing into enemy lines with us holding their leashes. And some of them were really good warriors too; I was surprised by the range of martial styles and tactics I saw. I saw one outduel a blade caster with just two short swords, and I thought only nightkin with ghost blades, or a better blade caster, could do that. Not all of them were that great though; some of them just flew straight at me with an axe or a hammer or something. They had no uniformity, no consistency."

I nodded, interested. "General Bishop?"

"An interesting stallion, actually." Chase tapped her chin. "I didn't see any of his supposedly 'brilliant' strategies, but there weren't any actual battles either. I got the impression he was smart enough, and he didn't seem as scared of us or Luna as the rest of his soldiers. Not that he lacked discipline, he just knew where the line was and knew that he was a long way from crossing it."

Her ears perked up and she grinned, shoving me with her hoof. "Only two years from now, and you'll be on rotation with the rest of us, eh? You'll get to travel around under Luna's orders, smiting all sorts of exotic heathens, mixing with famous generals, and getting your own foal to mentor back here at Blackrock."

I nodded, my smile growing to match hers.

"I told you, Slight, it's hard, but it's worth it."

We sat in silence for a moment before I asked, "Chase? What's it like?"

"What's what like?" She replied.

"Being with Luna."

She blinked in surprise, before she smiled again and slapped me on the back. "Why? Nervous?"

I didn't answer her, just frowned in annoyance.

"Oh, I'm just teasing." She rolled her eyes. "You were more fun when you were a foal." Then she paused in thought, breathing in as she stared at the ceiling. After a moment or two, she looked back across at me. "It's... It's... surreal. I-" She snapped her mouth shut and thought for another moment. "My first time with Luna was the greatest night of my life, and any nightkin will tell you exactly the same thing."

Nodding at her, I turned to look back at the table, thinking of carnal pleasures delivered by the majesty of Our Grace.

It might be a few months until I experienced it, or it might just be a hoofful of days. Luna wouldn't bed my year by a schedule or en mass. She'd take her time, working her way through us one by one, sampling our intimacy and deciding her preferences. Those she enjoyed she would return to, those who failed to excite her would very rarely be cycled back to Castle Blackrock, spending most of their years loving her at a distance, or at best, among a crowd of others.

My heart started to beat a little faster at that thought. Or maybe a lot faster. I swallowed nervously. Our Beautiful Moon, alone with me, holding me, speaking with me, touching me, and judging me.

"So, how do you plan on getting the Green?"

I glanced at her confused.

"Yeah, plan. I mean, the first night's important, making a good impression and pleasing her, but it's not like you're going to be the only one in your year that will succeed in that. You need to stand out from the crowd, not just in bed but day to day as well. All nightkin have the same coat and mane, so you need to do something to distinguish yourself." Chase indicated the piercings in her ear. "Some get tattoos on their face and neck just to help Luna remember them. You don't need to do anything like that any time soon, your mane and coat are as unique as any other pony's, but after your first night with Luna, you might want to do your mane back in braid, or locks, or something that'll help you stand out in Luna's mind." After a second she added, "Don't shave it off though, you want to do something that makes you look unique, but, you know, actually attractive."

I considered her words as I turned back to my meal. My stomach growled at me to eat, but I wasn't comfortable doing that with Chase sitting right there.

"Oh, right." Chase muttered as she looked at me. "Your weird eating alone thing?"

I nodded.

Chase rolled her eyes and stood up. "You've got the day off till the ceremony, right?"

I smiled at her, nodding.

"Great," she grinned. "After you're done with breakfast, come to my room and we can catch up."

"Alright. "

"Gee, don't sound so enthusiastic," she yawned again as she turned away.

When she was gone, I turned back to my meal and resumed eating.

Just a few hours until the ceremony. Just a few hours until I'm one of The Three. Then it's just a few weeks till my night with Lady Luna.

And then, then I'll be a nightkin, one of Luna's own.

I think Stygus always stands above other nightkin because he's insecure about his height. None of the other officers bothered with the formality of finding an elevated position when making an announcement or speaking to the group. He was small for a stallion, but normally sized for a mare. I suspect for him to be Luna's favourite he'd have to be disproportionately endowed.

Internally, I sighed in annoyance and looked up, vaguely hearing him blather on about the esteem of our positions, and the incredible blessing we were to be granted. They'd only been telling us this since we first arrived twelve years ago; I'm not entirely certain why he felt the need to repeat it now.

I'm sure every one of us was as sick of it by now as I was, but none of us broke rank or spoke out. We all tried to hide it, but I could see the nerves on everypony present by the way they shifted their weight ever so slightly, or a pegasus ruffled his wings a little bit. I was nervous too, but I think I did a better job of hiding it, or at least disguising it as boredom.

Thirteen of us in a line, with Stygus standing on his podium, and our mentors watching from the walls around the courtyard. It wasn't much of a ceremony, but I suppose we hadn't really become nightkin yet. For all of Stygus' long winded speech, this was essentially an announcement more than anything else. The real change would come after Luna had her time with us.

"-and so I must congratulate each and every one. I know you will serve our Goddess with conviction and pride." He saluted us with his wing, and we all returned the gesture with our hooves, even the pegasi.

"So, without any more waiting, it's time to announce how you will serve Her Grace. Remember, no matter what role you are given, we are all blessed by her affections." He smiled, and stepped down. "Starting at the top, the First shall be Strong Faith."

Next to me, I practically heard him smiling and the tension release from his body. Strong Faith stepped forward and bowed low. "Thank you, Captain."

Stygus nodded and turned to us, and I felt my pulse rising. Now for the Second, which was to be me or Stern Conviction. No. It was to be me. I swallowed and stared at Stygus. It has to be me.

"The Second was an unusually difficult choice this year. Normally there is a clear leader when it comes to this title, but in this case there were two standouts."

I closed my eyes, and breathed out, trying to calm myself.

"Ultimately though, I decided that the title of Second should go to the pony with the highest victory ratio. Step forward, Stern Conviction."

My eyes bugged as my heart dropped to my stomach, and I looked across to see my rival looking relieved and overjoyed.

He stepped forward, a wide grin on his face as he bowed low.

"It is an honour, Sir."

I opened my mouth to protest, but hesitated when Stygus looked directly at me. We stared at each other for a moment, before he looked to the crowd again.

"The rank of Third will go to-"

I tuned him out, and looked over to Chase, whose jaw was taut. She didn't look disappointed, just angry. She wasn't staring at me though; rather, she was glaring at Stygus, who seemed not to notice. After a moment she looked back towards me, frowning in thought, then back to Stygus. Then she turned around, trotted down the stairs and out of the courtyard.

"Stygus is a fool!" Chase ranted as she paced in front of me. "A blind, vain, arrogant, jealous fool!"

I didn't comment as I sat at the edge of Chase's bed and stared at the ground.

"How could he have passed you over? The victory ratios are meaningless!" she shouted, and looked at me. "You are the better fighter, I've seen it! Stern has his strength, and that's the sole reason he was able to defeat you! He has a fair amount of talent, but compared to you it's nothing!"

I think Chase might have been slightly biased, but I agreed with the sentiment.

"The victory ratios weren't merely close, they were nearly indistinguishable! Four matches! Four matches worth of difference! And you two have duelled what has to be hundreds of times!"

I grit my jaw. "Chase."

She ignored me, and kept pacing. "No, Stygus didn't actually bother to spend time with your year and find your strengths and weaknesses for himself, he just relied on what your teachers had to say."

"Chase," I said a bit more loudly.

"You know, I bet the fact I was your mentor had some influence on his decision as well! He hates sharing Luna, and he's never liked me. Respected me, maybe, but doesn't change the fact he's always trying to rotate me out and away from Lady Luna."

"Chase!" I repeated and clopped my hooves to get her attention.

"That blind, arrogant, vain piece of-"

"Chase!" I shouted.

She paused in her pacing and looked at me.

"You're pacing and ranting," I said after a moment. "Not helping."

She frowned at me, but after a moment she sighed and nodded. "You're right." Sitting on the bed next to me, she turned and asked, "So, what are we going to do about this?"

I swallowed, and stared at the floor again. There was only one thing I really could do. "Move on? " Just saying that felt like a kick to the gut.

Chase sat next to me, silent for a moment before she put her hoof around my shoulder. I was taller than she was these days, but she still hugged me to her chest and stroked my mane. Part of me wanted to push her away and say I wasn't a foal anymore, most of me just wanted to accept the closeness and let her wipe away my tears.

The real pain of it was how long I'd worked towards this. Hours of my free time in the courtyard, now wasted. I practiced not just with the ponies from my year, but the years above me, and with any nightkin that was willing as well. This wasn't just something I merely wanted, this was something I'd been working towards ever since I was foal. And I had every chance of getting it too. It wasn't a pipe dream or wild flight of fancy, it was something I'd always had a very good chance of achieving. I was strong, fast, and I'd always enjoyed it.

My special talent lent itself well to the ebb and flow of combat, and though there was no music to accompany, I always loved the delicate hoof work and precise timing that came with every moment of combat. It wasn't my special talent, but in the absence of stage and song, it was the closest I ever got to utilizing it fully.

But now that all the work and passion was just... thrown away, I felt not just disappointed but resentment. Damn Stygus for not choosing me, damn Stern for being chosen, and damn Starlit Path for training him so well. I was holding back tears, and at the same time I was fighting the need to take a knife to Stern while he slept .

Damn it! That was my title! Mine!

After a moment, Chase stopped stroking my mane, and pushed me away from her as she stood up. Once more, she started pacing in front of me, frowning in thought. I watched her, wondering what she was about to suggest.

After a minute of silence broken only by her hooves on the stone floor, she stopped and turned to me. "There's still a way for you to become Second."

I didn't respond immediately, just watched for a moment, before I wiped my eyes and asked, "How?"

"We won't convince Stygus to change his mind. So, we go above him to the ultimate authority of Castle Blackrock."

I blinked. "Her Grace..."

"Exactly," Chase nodded, and started pacing again. "If we can prove to Luna herself that you deserve to be Second over Stern, then she'll definitely give the title to you. And, it'll help you stand out from the others in your year for the Green."

I nodded, smiling at the thought. The attentions of Lady Luna, and the title I deserved, it sounded almost too good to be true.

"But, it would be risky." Chase looked towards me. "Not just a little, but a lot."

I tilted my head to the side.

"If you make that challenge, Luna will see it as more than just you versus Stern, but also me against Stygus. You've been given an order by your captain, who's been chosen by your Goddess. By questioning his authority, you're mutinying against Luna's will. If you lose, that is. I'll have to back you up, or it won't be seen as a legitimate challenge. You'll need me to support your claim, so my neck will be on the line too."

I nodded.

"Sometime during this coming month, Luna will stop by the training yards and pick out someone from your year to be the first one blessed. When Luna does that, the first time that is, you challenge Stern Conviction to a duel. If you win, and it's a clean win, Luna will decide you should be Second. Stygus will be punished for picking the wrong pony, and chances are I'll get in her good books. If you lose though, the punishment will be harsh and humiliating, and you can kiss your chances of the Green goodbye. I'll be thrown on the spit with you, and probably rotated out to the worst station possible for a few months, maybe even Canterlot."

I frowned. "What will happen to Stern?"

"Nothing. If you beat him, he loses the title of Second, but won't be punished because it's not his fault Stygus made a bad decision. If he beats you, he's defended his title and nothing will come of it." Chase shook her head and turned to me. "Anyway, that doesn't really matter. What do you think?"

After a moment I shrugged at her.

She rolled her eyes and trotted forward to stare me in the eyes. "No, Slight, this is a big deal. This isn't just about you and me what you want, it's also about Stygus and if he really deserves to keep his rank. This won't just affect us, but all the nightkin. Do you think that you're the best warrior of your year?"

I swallowed. "Yes."

"Then it's your duty to serve Luna to the fullest of your abilities, regardless of what you want and the risk to yourself. To do otherwise would be blasphemy. I'm not going to force you to fight, but you need to remember that you're a servant of Lady Luna before anything else. All that really matters is how well you serve her. If you think you're the best warrior, and I think you are, it falls to you to prove that and to take that talent as far as you can in our Lady's service." Chase poked me in the chest. "Can you beat Stern Conviction?"

Nodding, I said, "Yes."

"Are you going to challenge him in the sight of our Goddess?" I opened my mouth to answer, but she cut across me. "Really think about this. Really, really think about this, Slight."

What was there that needed thinking about? It would be wrong of me not to challenge Stern, someone needed to stand up against Stygus, and it was my moral duty to fight for Luna's affections, was it not? And that even worked alongside my own desires to be Second. I could defeat Stern, so I would defeat Stern.

"I will challenge Stern Conviction."

Chase nodded at me, and turned away, pacing again. "Alright. Luna's away at the moment, but she'll be back sometime next week. After that, she could stop by your year at any time, but I'll do my best to keep her distracted. In the meantime, you need to practice, a lot. Talk to as many nightkin as you can, spar with as many ponies as you can fit in every hour, find all your weaknesses and work to remove them. If you fail... Well, just don't fail, for both our sakes."

I sat there until she started to glare at me.

"What are you still doing here? Go! It's day time! I'm going to sleep, and you're going to spend every spare hour you can between now and next week perfecting your technique." She started to shove me towards the door. "Go, go, go!"

I stumbled into the hall, and she slammed it shut behind me.

The week and a half passed in a blur, blending together in my mind as a giant mix of tension and aching muscles. The hours I burned away in training didn't really seem to help much. It takes much more than a week to really improve any combatant. Still, we were extremely close before, and as near as I could tell, Stern had actually relaxed a bit since being declared Second, so perhaps I'd taken ahead of him ever so slightly.

As soon as it started, the week ended, and before I knew it, I was lined up in the courtyard as the sun rose over the horizon, waiting to enact the genuinely dangerous part of the 'plan'. Really, it wasn't much of a plan, more of a hope that I could defeat Stern when it mattered most. I wasn't alone, and we were all standing at attention, watching as two from our year duelled in the ring before us. I was barely watching, my stomach churning nervously as I glanced at the current Second. I knew I could beat him, I'd done it before, but... Everypony has off days, and what if today was mine?

Stern Conviction was an earth pony's earth pony, or at least that was how Chase liked to describe him. He was easily the tallest in our year, and the thickest. Not an absolute giant, but certainly a solid sized lump of bone and muscle. He was stronger than I was, and had better endurance. I was an above average earth pony, taller than the average mare of my tribe and with a respectably large pool of earth pony magic. Stern though, was a spectacular earth pony with more raw magic in him than anypony else in our year, unicorn and pegasus included.

Fighting him was never easy, and today I found myself thinking only of just how hard he could buck and just how badly he could outlast me in an endurance contest.

No.

Gritting my jaw, I looked back ahead. I was the better warrior, more skillful, faster, and with better hoofwork. I could beat him. No, not only could, but would.

That was when she appeared. Oh goddess, my heart rate rose as she entered the courtyard, her blue armour glowing with power, her starry mane billowing. Her walk was regal, elegant, supple, perfect. It spoke of power, grace, poise, agility, and danger. She wasn't a mere pony, she was a Goddess, a force of nature. She could destroy this entire courtyard with less effort than it would take me to sip from a glass of water.

And I was about to risk her wrath.

I gulped, and glanced at Chase who was walking some small distance behind her. She caught my eyes, and glanced at Stern Conviction, then back at me. Her message was clear. Are you sure you want to do this?

I hesitated, but after a second I swallowed and nodded. To earn Luna's affections, I had to stand out. I was the best, now I just had to prove that in sight of my Goddess.

I stepped forward out of line, and raised my voice, "I challenge Stern Conviction."

Astral Victory paused, glancing at me with his eyebrows raised. Then he looked back to the two ponies in the ring, who had both stopped and were staring at me, and said, "Alright, you can fight him next-"

"No." I said firmly with a stomp, my heart racing like I'd been galloping for miles. "I challenge him for the rank of Second. He's not the greatest warrior of our year, I am."

Stygus' deep voice barked out, making me jump. "Song of Night , get back in line!"

I looked at Chase, who nodded at me, then back at Stygus. "No. Your judgment on the Second is flawed, and I wish to prove that to Lady Luna. You're not the ultimate authority here, our goddess is." I bowed low towards the princess.

"How curious, it has been a while since a challenge was issued." Luna smiled, showing the barest hint of her fangs, and glanced at Chase. "Stygus, you know the rules, let us hope that you were correct in your choice. Chase, for your sake, let us hope your charge knows what she's doing. It'd be such a shame to damage that beautiful body of yours."

Chase stepped forward and bowed low. "Slight is-"

"Song," Stygus corrected with a glare.

"Slight," she snapped back. "Slight is without any doubt in my mind the best warrior of this year. Stern Conviction is stronger and has more magic, which is the only reason he has ever been able to defeat her. Stygus is too blind to see it, relying on reports and victory tallies. In a few years' time, Slight will have matured more in body and magic and will clearly outshine him."

"Yes, yes, we care not for the why, merely that a challenge has been issued." Luna flicked a hoof before looking straight at me, her eyes trailing over my body as though she was inspecting me for the first time. I know I was merely being judged for worth, but my pulse soared even faster at her attention. Just that she was looking at me was enough to make my ears burn.

I rose up from my bow and trotted to the ring.

Astral was watching me with no expression. His eyes flicked over me, before he turned to face the assembled class. "Stern Conviction, step forward."

The class parted as Stern made his way to the front. He was looking at me, seeming slightly hurt that I'd done this to him. We both took positions on opposite sides of the ring, and he frowned at me.

"I wish to give Slight a chance to back out, before she does anything that merits punishing."

It was too late for that anyway. I simply shook my head.

"Slight, please. If you lose then..."

"Stop being a coward and fight!" I snapped before he could give the impression he was going to go easy to save me from losing.

He grit his jaw. "Slight," he warned. "Don't force this."

I turned to Astral Victory. "If he continues to try and escape, does that count as a forfeit?"

Stern stomped his hoof and snarled at me. "Fine then! You brought this on yourself!"

Astral stood in the centre of the ring, glancing between us sadly. "Are both the combatants ready?"

"Yes," Stern hissed, and lowered himself to the ground.

I nodded.

"And you both understand this is a true fight? No rules or sparring limitations, if you're at risk of serious injury there won't be any intervention?"

I nodded again and lowered myself, keeping my eyes on Stern.

Stern didn't even respond.

"Then, in that case..." Astral glanced between us again, "You may fight." Then he stepped out of the ring.

We started circling each other, and as always, Stern's hoofwork was precise and perfect. Each step measured and placed just the right distance apart. I shifted the direction left and he copied, circling with me. Neither of us stumbled or put a hoof wrong, so almost a minute passed with us just circling each other.

Then I stepped forward, and Stern darted in to meet me. His strikes were hard and fast, perfectly executed jabs and without overextending at all. No window opened up as I ducked between and under his strikes, before shifting back a step. He followed forward and feinted to his right. I spotted the move, and backed away again to avoid the heavy blow he prepared but didn't use.

Fighting Stern was always difficult. His defence perfect, but his offence slightly delayed. That wasn't an issue for him because his spectacular endurance allowed him to wear down anypony. With enough time, I'd be exhausted and sloppy and he'd take the advantage. He was a precision fighter, never leaving his guard open, but always pressing his opponent.

I wasn't a precision fighter. That's not to say that my hoofwork was slow or wrong, as much as I didn't care for the step-by-step perfection he strove for. To me it was a dance. It wasn't just about doing everything right, it was about feeling the ebb and flow of things, about you and your partner in violence. Not the rote learning of punches and hoof placement, but deciding moment by moment what the next step in the dance was and how to match the tune.

I twisted on my hind hooves, spinning past him and into the centre of the ring again. I didn't get the chance to strike him that I'd hoped for, as he perfectly pivoted and moved forward to keep the pressure up.

I moved forward too, his hoof brushing my ear-tip as I passed through his defence. I'd gotten lucky, I knew that, but it didn't matter. I was past his iron guard now. My strikes weren't half as hard as his, but they were better placed, and he was reeling after a painful clap to his ear. He still kept his perfect poise, but that wasn't saving him as I landed another blow on his jaw. Catching my hoof with his, he tried to land a counter attack. Sliding around it, I knocked his forehoof away, and with both his forehooves off the ground he had to rear back to stay upright. Spinning on my forehooves, I knocked his hind legs out from under him, and double bucked him in the stomach while he was still in the air.

It was a heavy blow, and I felt it in my legs as I was turning to face him again. Stern wasn't even winded as he stood back up with dust on his coat and frustration on his face. This time I darted forward to fight him, but no, his defence was back up and my attacks were all blocked. Overextending on my left, he landed a glancing blow on my shoulder that nearly knocked me out of balance.

Nearly.

His eyes widened as he realised what he'd expected to be a strong hit wasn't, and I was inside his guard again. He was backing from me now, barely keeping pace as I landed more than one solid hit on his chest and shoulder, but without much effect because of just how tough he was. Then I overextended, and his blow to my face knocked me clean off my hooves.

Even dazed, I rolled to standing and avoided his follow up strikes. Most of them. He still scored another blow to my face, no doubt blackening my eye, and a strike on my shoulder, leaving a large bruise.

Grabbing his hoof as he punched, and pivoting with his momentum, I threw him over my shoulder. He didn't land right this time, and I smashed my hoof into his exposed stomach, fully winding him. He rose to his hooves, but failed to block my strike to his head. Staggering away, he slammed into the ground again as I kicked the legs out from under him. My forehooves closed around his, and I pulled him upwards, head-butting his face. I think I cracked the cartilage in his nose as he fell back down.

Panting, I stepped away for a second, and he started to rise again. Darting in, I powered a strike into his kidney and he gasped in pain, stiffening. I stepped over him, and grabbed one of his forehooves, while I wrapped my hind legs around his neck. I tightened my grip, cutting off his breath and nearly yanking his foreleg out of its natural position.

"Yield," I ordered through gritted teeth.

He didn't answer, just wheezed for air.

"Yield. Tap your free hoof three times and I'll stop."

His free hoof went to the ground, but not to tap it. He tried to push himself back up, and I closed my eyes as I pulled on his leg. Screaming in pain as his foreleg dislocated, Stern tried to throw me off again, but needn't have bothered as I stood up by myself.

I'd won the fight. I didn't need to kick him when he was already down.

Then I blinked in realisation as a grin split my face. I'd won the fight! In sight of Lady Luna, I'd won the fight!

I looked over at Chase, and saw her grinning at me.

It was a good, clean fight, with no luck or dirty tricks at all. Well, there was luck when I got through his defence the first time, but other than that? I was the clear winner.

I turned to face Lady Luna and bowed.

Astral Victory barked out, "Win! Song of Night!"

"Slight," I corrected quietly, daring a look up at my Goddess as I waited on her reaction.

"Most impressive," her eyes narrowed as she looked over at Stygus, "Or perhaps, most lacking. Stygus, I want to see you in my chambers first thing tomorrow morning. You're dismissed."

"My Lady!" he protested. "Anypony can have an off day; the outcome of one duel doesn't prove that Song of Night is any better than Stern Conviction."

"Oh, is that so? Tell me, are you confident enough in your choice to agree to another duel tomorrow? And the day after? And the day after that?" Luna licked her lips. "You may be strong, but can your body take that punishment ?"

"M-my Lady," he stuttered as he bowed. "That's not what I was suggesting. I made an informed decision based on how Stern Conviction and Song of Night performed over the year. To the best of my knowledge Stern Conviction remains a stronger warrior."

"Therefore Stern Conviction should win more often, is that not so?" She began walking towards Stygus, her body swaying sensually with a feline grace. "I ask again, are you willing to put your body on the line?"

"...No, My Grace," he answered quietly.

"Ah, and thus we have our answer. You picked a pony you had no confidence in, and that, my dear Stygus, was your mistake. My office, tomorrow morning." Luna looked over at Chase. "You have chosen well; see me tomorrow morning as well." She finally made her way towards me, walking around me, eyes tracing every curve of my body. "Congratulations, your ploy paid off; you are now the Second."

"Thank you, Your Grace," I answered, still bowing as low as I could. My heart was racing, and I wanted nothing less than to stand up and dance and hold hooves with Chase while laughing like a mad pony. For obvious reasons, I didn't do that.

She was suddenly brushing up against me, her coat far softer than any silk, and I could feel her breath on my neck. I could have sworn she licked my ear as well, but that was surely my imagination. My already hammering heart beat faster and harder as blood rushed to my ears.

"Mmmmm..." She licked her lips and trotted past me, her tail brushing along my cheek. "My chambers. Now."

Obediently, I stood to trot after her, before I froze in sudden realisation. Her chambers. Now. Her chambers. Right now.

I put a hoof to my lip, and gulped when it came away bloody. I could feel it swelling, and I knew that my eye was as black as tar. I would be in the chambers of my Goddess while I was bruised and dirty and not ready to be in her presence at all.

For some reason I couldn't fathom now, I hadn't thought of that when planning this.

Luna stopped and looked back to glare at me. "Now," she hissed.

I immediately galloped after her, only glancing over my shoulder to see Stern Conviction glaring at me with hate, pain, and betrayal. He was clutching his shoulder, and being helped by a unicorn servant with a healing spell. Then I passed through the castle doors and lost sight of him.

Well he shouldn't have accepted the title of Second if he didn't deserve it.

I looked back ahead at Luna, and smiled to myself as I trotted more quickly to match her longer strides. Watching her walk usually entranced me, but now I just felt clumsy. With a dancing cutie mark, I had always been more graceful and sure-hoofed than even the pegasi in my year. But walking alongside Luna made me feel like a cow next to a cat. Except the cat was larger.

Her tail glittered with a thousand stars as I gazed at her movements, her cutie mark, and any part of her that I could lay my eyes on. Dimly, I realised I hadn't matched my goddess' gaze since I was a foal and too foolish to realise how wrong that was.

But that didn't matter. I'd done it. I'd earned the title of Second; I was now one of the Three. A wide grin split my face, and before I could help myself I rose up onto my hindhooves and did a giddy twirl. Halfway through it I realised what I was doing, and completed the motion as fast as I could, pretending it hadn't happened, but Luna was already staring at me with a smile on her face.

"Tell me, have you ever worn normal clothing before?" Her tail flicked up at me playfully. "With those dancing skills and some nice clothing..."

I gulped and stared at the ground. "No." My eyes widened as I realised how short an answer that was, too brusque for a higher ranking officer, let alone Lady Luna, the Liege of the Night herself. "I-I- Uh... That is, no, Your Grace. I never have."

"Well it is never too late to learn. I've got a particularly delicious outfit that would work perfectly on you." A shudder ran through my body as her gaze trailed along me. "Most definitely, but another time perhaps. I have something different in mind for tonight."

A blush covered my face, and I hated myself for it. I was the Second, wasn't I? The Second doesn't blush like a foal with a crush. "A-As you wish, your Grace."

Without warning I was forced against the wall, her tongue in my mouth, dominating me and forcing me to submit. I was too surprised to do anything other than stare at her closed eyes and freeze in blind panic. Then just as suddenly as it began, she was gone, walking along normally as she said over her shoulder, "Personally I find the crush rather endearing. It's a nice change of pace. "

I stared at her, mouth agape and panting before I remembered a conversation I'd once had with Chase.

"She can read your mind..." she chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck. "It makes things really incredible when she knows exactly what makes you squirm."

Luna could read my mind. Internally, I prayed that I hadn't thought of anything that would make her unhappy, and then I realised I was praying to her, Luna, the being reading the thoughts from my head, about her not seeing anything in my head that would displease her. The foolishness of such an action was undeniable.

I swallowed as I stared at her walking away, before I galloped to catch up. I slowed to a rapid trot when I was just behind her, and stared at the ground rather than her flank. Not that that helped, because I was still thinking of her flank.

Dimly, I became aware that I truly was bare before her. I might as well be a foal trying to hide a lie from a parent. Even more so, actually.

Was she reading my mind as I realised all this?

Though there was no answer, she moved directly before me, her tail slipping to one side as her flank swayed in my face. My mind froze, and my body reacted as I threw myself to the left, slamming into the wall on my bruised shoulder. A moment later I facehoofed.

Obviously, Luna wouldn't have done that if she hadn't wanted me to watch her flank. Why was I such a fool? I never wanted to be First, but perhaps a modicum of intelligence wasn't too much to ask for. Now I was acting like a true idiot in front of my Goddess. My dreams of how this night would go weren't quite surviving reality.

And then her laughter reached my already burning ears and I wished that I hadn't defeated Stern Conviction. I could have just been another nameless face among the nightkin, serving her in grateful silence. But no, I just had to be ambitious. I just had to be one of the Three, didn't I?

I shook my head and scowled, catching up to Luna again. No. This was what I wanted. This was what I'd earned. It was my duty to serve Lady Luna as best as I could, and that meant being the Second of my year.

With new-found determination, I set my eyes on her flank, staring at it intensely.

Then I realised just how stupid that was and looked at the ground again, blushing.

Would somepony please just end me?

This was the longest walk of my life, and Astral Victory occasionally took us on week long hikes.

Finally, we arrived at her chambers, and I was more grateful than I'd ever been to see something as simple as a door. Luna opened it with her magic and entered, and I went to trot after her, but hesitated in the doorway.

These were my Goddess's chambers, not just Chase's or the barracks. This was where divinity rested. Shouldn't there be more... ceremony, or something of the like, before I entered? Was it truly right for me to just walk in like-

I felt magic wrap around me and yank me into the room. Next thing I knew, I was slammed against the wall, Luna's mouth searching for mine, her tongue cleaning the blood from my face. It was a moment, before I lost myself to it, throwing myself at her with all the enthusiasm of a starving pony at a bowl of salad. I didn't even care that she had read that terrible analogy straight from my mind.

Only my mouth found air as she pulled back at the very last second, a smirk plastered all over her face. "Bad Slight. Tonight is a special night. Tonight you become a nightkin, so be a good girl, understand?"

Heat was flowing to my loins, and I wanted nothing more than to try and tackle her to the bed right then, but... I swallowed and stepped back, staring at the floor. Though I still fidgeted, anxious to start. Right then I didn't care about the ritual and the nightkin in any way. All I wanted was for her to take me.

I scowled as I realised what I'd just thought. "Take me?" I muttered, hating every fibre of my being.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, that is going to cost you." Her horn lit up and the ground beneath me burst to life, intricate lines running in all directions. Glowing red lines. There was a flash of light and a vial of a murky, almost white fluid levitated before me. "Drink up, my dear, for the most memorable night of your life."

I took the vial in my lips and tossed it back with no hesitation. My eyes bugged and my throat burned as whatever was in it went down as smooth as shattered glass. Instinctively, I tried to spit it out, but the liquid refused to leave me, crawling down to my stomach even as the vial smashed on the floor. Dimly, I was aware of my head hitting the ground, but mostly I was clutching my throat and trying to breathe.

It couldn't have been long before I was finally able to fill my lungs, but it felt like it had to be several minutes. Shakily, I rose to my hooves, every breath burning.

"What was that?" I whispered hoarsely, any feeling of arousal dead and gone.

"That was the start of something beautiful," she whispered seductively, her voice seemingly coming from all around me at the same time.

I blinked and searched for her, but I could only see shadow. Something inside me panicked, and I backed away from the endless dark, fear rising inside me. It took me a second, but I stomped down on my emotions and reasserted control. For some reason I was trembling, but it wasn't due to fear as I stepped forward again.

"My Lady, where are you?" I asked, spinning around slowly, searching for her. Oh, bad idea. Doing that made me dizzy, even if it was slow, and the world tilted. No the world hadn't tilted, I had. As I fell, the ground seemed to only get further and further from me, shrinking far off into the distance. Then, just as suddenly, it rose up and slammed into me.

I rolled onto my back, and stared up at a ceiling that... I blinked. I had no idea why, but I swear the roof was staring back at me. Why was the roof staring? Roofs shouldn't stare.

"Do not worry, my little pony, the fun is about to begin," came the silky whisper. A moment later, something straddled me around the waist, and pulled me up to rest again Luna's chest. Her silken coat made shivers roll down my spine, and I nuzzled against it. A moment later, a knife flashed.

"My Lady!" I shouted and tried to stand up, but her hooves held me firmly against her.

The knife buried into her chest, and blood sprayed over my face. I panicked and desperately tried to pull away, and then I smelled it.

Her blood smelled like... it smelled like... the deepest richest fruit I'd ever imagined. Like the finest wine anypony had ever made.

Before I knew what was happening, I snatched the knife from her chest and licked the blood off it, cutting my tongue as I did. I didn't care. That flavour enchanted me and demanded my all. I tossed the knife away and went straight to the source, suckling from the wound in her chest. Sadly though, the wound closed over, and the delicious flow stopped. I tried to bite into the flesh and rip it back open, but my blunted teeth found no purchase.

Then I felt a hoof against my chest, and I was pinned to the ground. A hoof flicked my nose, and a stern voice reprimanded, "No."

I whimpered as I stared up into her beautiful blue eyes. The cat-like slits seemed to grow, and I found the ground falling out from beneath me as I drifted up into her pupils. The world receded to the corners of my vision before vanishing entirely, and all that lay before me were voids of midnight.

Then she broke eye contact, and I collapsed to the ground with my head throbbing. A heavy warm cotton was stuffed inside my skull, and a voice inside me screamed. No wait, that wasn't inside me. That was me. Screaming.

When I realised I was screaming, I stopped and sat up confused. Why did I just scream? I wasn't in pain. Looking around, I saw I was still in Luna's chambers, sitting in the middle of a ring off runes and strange words written in languages I didn't understand. All the lines were glowing, and as I breathed in I realised some of those lines were drawn in blood. Luna's blood.

I dove for the nearest symbol with my mouth watering, just as I felt teeth close around my mane. Yanked out of the air, I was thrown on my back in the centre of the circle again, Luna glaring down at me.

"No, bad." She kicked my side and I yelped in pain as ribs cracked. "You've had yours. Stay."

I whimpered and nursed my side as she stepped out of the ring and turned to face me again. Her horn glowed and I was suddenly jerked into the air. The runes around me transformed from glowing red to a shadowy black. They spread like spider webs until the floor was covered in ashy looking powder.

Then I crooned. I don't know what happened, but I opened my mouth and some sound came out. A high pitched wailing, singing that sounded like more than one voice. It rose and fell and I realised I couldn't have been the one singing because I didn't have this much air in my lungs.

Then Luna's horn stopped glowing, and the circle disappeared. I hung there suspended in her telekinesis, as I looked up at my Goddess, panting.

She smirked and walked towards me, hips swaying and her wings ruffling excitedly. She breathed near my face, and I smelled something beautiful and floral on her breath. As she began nuzzling me, I was gently lowered to the ground, her wings covering my back. I could hear her heart beating, slower than mine, but rising steadily. She smiled down at me, touching my face with her hoof. I smiled up at her, leaning into her warmth.

Then I dove for her throat, dreaming of blood that sang.

Luna saw my clumsy attempt, and didn't even seem bothered as she moved with my momentum, throwing me to her bed. Then I fell, down, down, down, the roof spiralling far overhead as I dropped deep into the bowels of the earth. I didn't know when I landed, but I grunted with pain when I did. The black silk sheets covered a soft mattress, but even so, my broken ribs hurt terribly.

Then she was on top of me. Her tongue in my mouth as I was pressed down into the softness beneath me by the softness above me. I bit down, grabbing her tongue with my teeth and trying to make it bleed. Above me she shivered, and kissed harder. My forehooves wrapped around her neck and pulled her closer. Her lips mingled with mine, making me groan into her mouth even as I gnawed and chewed, seeking that glorious blood.

Then her tongue pressed against one of my teeth, and I felt it wobble. My eyes widened and a tiny amount of panic crawled through me as she touched more of my teeth. Then she pushed one, and it twisted out of its socket. I should have felt pain, instead I shuddered with delight as she pushed all of my teeth out of place one by one. I must have swallowed a few, but a second later she sat back and spat out the rest . My pearly whites glistened with blood as they tumbled to the mattress beside her, and she smiled at me, exposing her fangs.

She then nibbled my ear and trailed soft bites down the side of my neck. My ears flickered with pleasure, and inside my mouth I felt pressure along my gums as something inside them pressed upwards. Sharp canines pushed out of the holes were my teeth once were, and I faintly tasted blood in my mouth. It tasted good, and I probed the new teeth with my tongue, quivering in delight as Luna began trailing nibbling kisses across my chest, along my belly, and towards my marehood.

Then she kissed me in the mouth again, but she was still trailing kisses up my inner thigh. I blinked in confusion as I saw two Lunas sharing the bed with me. I opened my mouth to speak, when one Luna occupied it with her tongue. My hind leg kicked and twitched in delight as the other Luna's lips touched my other lips, and I gasped for air as I felt every muscle in my stomach tighten. She probed, her perfect tongue touching my inner wall.

Oh sweet glorious Grace.

One Goddess above me, holding me down and dominating me, another Goddess between my thighs, pleasuring me. No matter how I struggled, I would be subjected to sensations so glorious that words become paltry as I flail to describe just how divine this moment was.

Then her jaw clamped down. I struggled and tried to sit up at the shock of it, but the Lady above me kept me down, while Her Other Grace tore into the flesh of mare-folds. She was biting... something, something glorious. She wrenched and tore at me and I screamed with pleasure. My skin ripped away, as she pulled along my belly, exposing another layer of silky dark fur beneath. Wrenching and tearing, my old coat was pulled away with surprisingly little blood as the rending Luna ripped away the weak pathetic flesh of an earth pony, and left behind the perfect dark grey coat of a nightkin.

The Luna holding me down paused with her head over mine and I whimpered and smiled up at her. She smiled down at me and leaned in to kiss me, her tongue licking the blood off my newly emerged teeth. Then she pulled back and bit my upper lip. I smiled and nodded at her, not that she needed my permission.

The flesh of my face stung a little more than rest of me did as it was torn away, but it was the most glorious sensation of freedom. As if I'd been confined somewhere hot and moist and was now feeling crisp, cool air on my coat. The rest of my skin peeled away as smooth as cloth, and Luna's magic tossed the sodden, bloody mess over her shoulder.

The two Luna's then turned to each other, and kissed passionately. I sat up to join them, but without even a thought, the Luna bloody from tearing my folds away put her hoof out and held me to the bed. As I watched, my goddesses merged into one, and I was left with one true vision of perfection once more.

Her hoof nudged my shoulder, pushed me to the left, and I rolled over obediently. Her strong hooves steadily massaged my shoulder and back, and I felt my excitement dimming as the repetitive kneading didn't carry the same sensual pain and pleasure her teeth had. I started to rise again, when Luna pressed me down into the bed.

"Stay," she purred into my ear, but the heavy pressure on my back reminded me of how forceful she could be. I whimpered as my cracked ribs twinged, but I obediently went with it as Luna rolled me onto my belly and began to nibble at my sides. I was starting to feel aroused again, as her fanged teeth gently tested my skin until she bit lightly and drew blood.

Then she stabbed with her horn.

Deep and hard.

I'd never been with a stallion, or anypony for that matter, but I screamed at having Luna inside me. Every muscle in my body stiffened as Luna penetrated my side, and my wine-like juices squirted over her face. She licked her lips, savouring my flavour as she rolled me over. I was paralysed, unable to move as I almost whited out from the perfection I was experiencing.

Then Luna stabbed my other side.

My back arched and I screamed louder than I'd ever screamed before. I felt Luna's muzzle pushing the wound open further until her teeth gripped one of my ribs. I squirmed as she pushed my bones around, shifting them into position for what was to come next.

She tugged.

A bloody leathery black protrusion was dragged from me, as she brought my glistening wings into the candlelight. Everything ceased to mean anything. All that existed was Luna, my bleeding sides, and the waves of ecstasy rolling from my loins and across the rest of my body as she rolled me over and set to work doing the same for my other wing. My muffled cries into the pillow accompanied the wet slurp of new limbs being dragged out of my body and into the world.

Millennia later, reality returned and I collapsed back to the bed, still twitching occasionally, as Luna lay next to me.

Her wing draped over my back, and I stared at my trembling hooves. My coat was gone, torn from me and replaced with a new fur of dark grey. Shaking, I looked over to glance at my new wings, and they shifted on my back. I stretched them out, watching the black leathery limbs as they responded to my command as naturally as if I'd always had them. Tears touched my eyes as I stared at my new, perfect form, and I turned to look up at my Goddess.

She reached down, and wiped the tear from under my eye, blood glistening on her hoof. A mirror appeared beside her to show me my face. It was almost like my old one, but more shapely, more beautiful. Less blunt and broad like an earth pony, and more elegant and angular like a pegasus. My eyes had changed too, transforming into the cat-like golden slits all nightkin had. My ears had grown, and I smiled as I saw my teeth, now canine and predatory. The only thing unchanged was my cutie mark. The golden horseshoe surrounded by a blue swirl.

"Thank you," I whispered hoarsely.

"You'll have the chance to repay me," she purred back and nuzzled my face. "It's my turn now. Normally I prefer more experienced and refined hooves, but... in this case, I can see the appeal of the young and eager fumbling of a newborn ."

She was perfect. My Goddess was glorious and perfect and truly the ultimate good of Equestria. Of course I had to be Second. Not because it was about me, not at all. I'd been wrong to demand the rank because I wanted her affections. It made little difference whether or not I deserved the rank or not, all that mattered was that I served my Goddess with my all. And to do that, I had to be the best I could possibly be.

For her.

A small distinction perhaps, but an important one.

She smirked, and pulled me closer for a kiss. "Then serve me, little Slight." When her lips separated from mine, her wings pressed against my shoulder and pushed me down towards her fruits.

Days, weeks, months, years, it matters not. A glorious eternity later, I lay under the wings of perfection, the top of my head touching the bottom of her jaw. Her coat was smoother and softer than anything I'd ever touched, and the way it rubbed against me with her every breath made me shiver. Her leg around my chest tugged me closer, and she nuzzled me gently as she slept.

I smiled at her, and snuggled deeper into her perfect wings, and breathed her divine scent in deeply. It mingled with the sweat of my body, the blood of my change, and the bodily juices of our activities.

I watched her sleep for a moment or two, before I rested my head against her chest. Slowly sleep overtook me, and the warden of dreams granted me a peaceful rest under the wings of her affections. Chase hadn't been wrong.

This was the best day of my life.

Chapter 5: The World's End

Conviction

Chapter 5

The World’s End

“Fear not, my dearest sister,” said the Beast to all’s dismay.

“I leave a parting gift for you, and all who love the day.”

Thirteenth verse of ‘Curse of the Everfree’. Unknown author. Circa 0040.

The blow to my temple sent me staggering, before my forelegs were kicked out from under me and I crashed to the earth. I lay on the ground a moment, before I opened my eyes and looked up. I blinked away a drop of sweat that rolled into my eyes and focused on Harvest Moon as he stood above me grinning. Wincing, he reached down and offered me a hoof, but I ignored that and chose to stand unaided, despite the pain in my foreleg and spinning pressure in my head.

“Really good, much better this time.” He chuckled and wiped sweat from his brow. “You didn’t make the same mistakes as last round, and you’re getting better at directing and controlling my momentum. It still feels like you’re trying to dodge and move too much, but I can never seem to take advantage of that, so maybe that’s just me nitpicking.”

I nodded in thanks, but the action proved too much for my addled mind, and I almost stumbled again.

“Woah, easy there.” He moved next to me and helped me balance. “I didn’t mean to conk you on the head quite so hard.”

We stood like that for a time, panting while he caught his breath and helped me stand. After a few moments my head cleared enough for me to feel comfortable standing on my own.

“Are you alright?” he asked, concerned. “Chase will kill me if you have a concussion.”

I shook my head and stepped away from him before moving into position again on the opposite side of the ring. Lowering myself to fight, I tossed my sweaty mane out of my eyes and said, “Again.”

“No,” Harvest answered with a shake of his head as he stepped out of the ring. “That’s enough for this afternoon. The sun’s not even down yet and I still haven’t eaten.”

Frowning, I sighed and followed behind him.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” he replied with an annoyed snort. “The only reason I’m waking up this early to spar with you is because Chase ordered me to.”

I was limping slightly as I followed behind him, the bruise on my foreleg growing more pronounced.

“I don’t know why you feel the need to practice so much,” Harvest mumbled and stopped to stretch his shoulder where I had managed to score a solid blow. “Sure you’re Second, but I’m a Second as well and I’ve got actual field experience. You have the talent, Slight, but you’re not going to beat me until your first rotation.”

“It’s not about beating you.” I frowned as I followed him into the mess hall. The smell of fresh bread guided me past the rows of empty tables and towards the servers. I liked waking this early for the solitude and warm bread, mostly though it was for the uninterrupted practice.

He glanced back at me, his eyebrow raised. “...Stern?” He guessed after a second.

Shaking my head, I moved past him to the counter where a servant handed me a drink of milk, some fresh warm bread with butter, and stringy dry chicken that always tasted slightly burnt. The servant bowed at me, her eyes downcast, and to Harvest too when he stepped closer for his meal.

I balanced the tray on my wing as I stepped away and sat at a table by myself. A second later I flinched at the sound of Harvest sitting across from me.

“Then if it’s not about staying better than Stern, what is it about?” he asked, sounding concerned.

Huffing in annoyance, I stood and turned away from him, taking my tray with me.

“Hey!” he shouted, and he trotted faster to stand in front of me, wings flared in annoyance as he pawed the ground. “Don’t walk away from your senior like that.”

I blinked, then frowned. “Have you made corporal?”

He paused and shook his head. “No, but that doesn’t mean-”

Rolling my eyes, I reached out for his shadows and transformed them into an icy-smooth, flat surface that spread out beneath him. His eyes bugged, and he tried to grab his shadows back, but was unable to concentrate as stumbled without anything to stand on. My own shadow reached forward and tugged him to the left. He slid aside as I walked straight forward, past his clumsy flailing.

Behind me, I heard him stand up and dust himself off. “Last time I’m getting up this early for you,” he muttered, sounding bitter.

Chase was a first lieutenant. If she told a specialist to wake up early and help another specialist practice, he was going to wake up early and help. Still, he might complain to Chase about my treatment of him, and she might be upset with me for that.

Sighing, I moved the tray from my wing to my mouth, and cautiously flew up towards the eastern wall and only spilled a little of the milk as I landed. I took a seat on one of the ramparts, my hind legs dangling down over the edge. The sun was just setting, and I sipped the milk in silence as I watched. Usually I wasn’t interested in scenery, but up here I wasn’t likely to be interrupted and the view of the pinewood forests around us was somewhat nice. Perhaps I should come here more often?

I set the empty cup of milk down, and picked up the chicken. Wrinkling my nose at the ashy smell and taste, I sighed and longingly imagined the mornings I awoke in Luna’s bed with the previous night fresh in my mind, almost like a wondrous dream. She allowed me to share in the foods that were brought to her, and sometimes even enjoyed feeding me. My wings fluttered at the memory. The meals were delicious and sweet. Despite her fanged teeth she didn’t feast on meat as her nightkin did, but the delicious fruits and soft breads made my current meal seems fit for the dogs.

No matter which servant cooked, the meats always tasted terrible. No flavour, no texture, just carefully over-cooked and served as plain as water. It was the only real complaint I had about becoming a nightkin. Was there such a thing as fair tasting meat? I’d certainly never tried it.

Swallowing more of the stringy, dry chicken, and frowning at the burnt aftertaste, I set the rest of it aside and moved to the bread. Chewing gratefully on it, I paused when a crow landed on the rampart next to me. Its head was twisted right as it watched me with its left eye. It sat there for a moment, before it ruffled its feathers and hopped closer with a caw. A small smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as I reached out to pet it, but the bird jumped back a step and croaked in annoyance.

I watched it, and it watched back before I had an idea. Tearing off a piece of bread, I offered it to the bird. With its left eye, it stared at my outstretched hoof for a moment, before hopping forward and knocking the bread away.

“Hey!” I glared at it, and looked to wear my bread had fallen in the mulch below. “I might have eaten that.”

It cawed at me again and ruffled its feathers.

“Would you have preferred the chicken?” I asked dryly .

With a croak it hopped closer to me, its left eye watching.

Frowning, I took a string of chicken and offered that to the bird.

The crow happily grabbed the meat with its beak, and I blinked as I caught sight of its right eye. Or, more precisely, the hole where its right eye should have been. The bird only had one eye, and I watched it with some fascination as it ate more of the meat I offered.

“Does eating another bird make you a cannibal?” I asked it.

“Not really,” a voice said from behind me, and I flinched and nearly fell over the edge. “Falcons hunt and kill pigeons, so I guess a crow eating chicken wouldn’t be much different.” I turned around, glaring at Strong Faith who smiled at me with no small measure of mirth. “Is this your pet? I’m not sure I remember the last time I heard you speak so much.”

Gritting my jaw, I nodded at him respectfully. “Corporal.”

“Specialist,” he replied with a smirk and a formal nod, before glancing behind me at the crow. “Who’s your friend?”

I snorted in annoyance, before turning around and snatching up my tray again. Walking past him, I had to fight a groan as he followed.

“I could just order you to tell me,” he told me smugly.

A mere three days since we were granted official rank, and he was already happy to use it against me.

“I only met him this morning.”

“Oh really?” he asked. “I didn’t know you had a soft spot for small creatures.”

Gritting my jaw, I looked over my shoulder to glare at him, which only made him smile wider.

“Oh relax, Slight, I’m merely jesting.”

With a sigh I faced ahead once more, wondering how I could rid myself of him. Perhaps if I humoured him he’d lose interest. It was doubtful, but he wasn’t likely to leave if I continued ignoring him.

I set my tray down on another rampart and turned to face him. He froze, wings flared and hoof raised as though expecting me to strike him. That might be humorous, and I have to admit I was tempted, but striking a superior was rarely an idea worthy of pursuit, at least not if you enjoy sleeping. After a moment, he put his hoof down and settled his wings back against his sides.

Smirking once more, he asked, “Why are you always so confrontational? Do you hate us all so much?”

I groaned. “What do you want?”

“Am I such a chore?” he asked with another smirk.

I merely returned his question with a flat look.

“Alright, alright,” he waved a hoof and rolled his eyes. “I’m actually here because... well, you’re here.”

Was that sentence supposed to mean something?

He caught my expression and rapidly continued, “Look, I’m asking why you’re always waking this early. I’m curious about why Chase continues to order other nightkin to spar with you in the early hours of the evening.”

Many things about Strong Faith annoyed me. Things like his voice, his face, his personality, and his continued existence. Worst of all was his insistence on treating me like some kind of friend. Perhaps the Second was intended to be the immediate aide to the First, but outside of official duty, I was happy to spend my time separate from him. Not that he really seemed to notice.

Did I truly hate Strong?

No. At least no more than I disliked any other nightkin in my year. He still found a way to irritate me more than any of the others by incessantly involving himself in everypony’s affairs. I suppose he was trying to be a model officer, taking an interest in the wellbeing of those that worked under him, but was it so hard to understand how little I appreciated his company?

“Some might consider what First Lieutenant Chase is doing to be an abuse of her power. She’s no longer supposed to be your mentor, but she’s showing clear favouritism to you.”

“Luna knows.” I frowned at him. “She doesn’t care.”

His concerned eyes turned to surprise. “Luna knows? What about Stygus?”

“He knows but hasn’t tried to prevent it. Nor has Astral, or any of the First Lieutenants.”

He thought that over for a second, before he looked disappointed and scuffed his hoof on the wall. “I suspected as much.”

His reaction surprised me. After a moment, I was curious enough to ask, “Why? How does it concern you?”

Shrugging dejectedly, he smiled at me bitterly. “You’re to be the Green of our year.”

I blinked in surprise.

“Don’t look so shocked. The way you claimed Second earned her attention, and you’ve spent more nights in her bed than anyone else in our year. She likes you, Slight.”

Truly? I paused and thought back over it.

“I’ve been keeping count,” he continued. “Stygus hates you, Slight.” He gave a small grimace. “The only reason he hasn’t tried to put a stop to Chase’s favouritism is because he knows the lieutenant would go past him to Luna, and that there’s a good chance Luna would rule in your favour, which would just further Chase’s position and reduce his own.”

I paused to think over what he’d said, and realised I couldn’t fault his logic. A smile overcame my features as I considered the truth of his words.

“I was hoping to be the Green, and I thought I had a good chance too.” He chuckled sadly and scratched his mane. “But if Luna has so obviously overlooked Chase abusing her position, I doubt there’s any real question left as to who the Green will be.”

After a moment of thought, I broke into a wide grin and laughed. Strong seemed shocked by my reaction, but I ignored him as happiness and relief flooded through me. My wings flared and I rose to my hind-legs, spinning as I did. I danced across the wall, twirling and throwing myself into the air as I laughed before I fell to all fours and let my momentum carry me backwards. My wings snapped outwards, and I dived forwards into a cartwheel before I slid to a stop, balancing in my hind hooves as I pumped my wings to make me spin again, and threw a hoof into the air.

“Yes!”

When I landed, Strong was staring at me almost like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. I stared back at him, and realised he’d seen me giggling and prancing like a foal. The laughter left me and I fell back to all fours facing him, frowning.

After a moment, he smirked. “Well, I certainly never expected to see that.”

I scowled and turned back to my breakfast tray.

He chuckled, and I heard the flap of his wings as he flew away from me.

Shaking my head in disgust, I looked back out across the horizon as the last of the sun finally disappeared from sight, casting the pine forest into deep shadow. I breathed in deeply before I summoned all the shadows I could towards me, and looked towards the perfect, unmarked silvery Moon.

“Thank you, Your Grace,” I prayed, holding onto the shadows with the sacred magic she granted me. The tiniest fraction of a fraction of her perfect divine blood and power flowed through my veins, and for that I was forever grateful. “If it is your will for me to be the Green, I thank you for your favour and I ask that you might watch over me so that I may remain worthy of it. I have already sworn my all to you, so there is nothing left for me to offer you for this gift, other than my thanks and continued obedience, which have always been rightfully yours.”

I lowered my eyes from Her Moon and with the shadows I held drew her crescent moon and stars cutie mark onto the wall before me.

Truly I had been blessed. With the sun set, I finished my breakfast and turned to go about my nightly business.

- - - - - - - -

“The night will last forever!” Stygus shouted from atop the castle wall. “The whore Celestia’s power is broken, and the sun will never rise again!”

All the nightkin cried out in joy, all the foals yet to go through the ritual added their voices, and we pounded our hooves against the earth, screaming our jubilation to the heavens. More than three hundred ponies in the same place, all making as much noise as they could. I joined them, standing on my hind hooves with my wings flared, one hoof raised and roaring to the heavens. I might not like Stygus, but he was certainly the bearer of good news, and it was hard not to get caught up in the blood-warming, heart-pumping frenzy.

“The Celestian armies are breaking and retreating, everywhere from here to Tarwheel Gap!” Stygus continued, somehow staying louder than our cheers. “United under our Lady’s Grace, it’s only a matter of months until her armies have the entirety of Equestria in her hoof!”

Cheering, screaming, stomping. I was caught up in the moment as everypony in Castle Blackrock was pulled up into a frenzied roar of joy and celebration.

“After Equestria, we turn to the upstart gryphon tribals and punish them for daring to stand against the Might of the Moon! And from there we take the world! Our Goddess will be the one divine power! Nothing can hope to stand before her; any armies that assemble, any magic that defies her, all that are deluded enough to stand in the way of true perfection will be scattered like dust to the wind!”

Someone shouted out, “We’ll slay them all!” and everypony cheered.

“The path ahead is glorious, but for now we celebrate! This is a night of rest and revelry! All duties and lessons are suspended! Tonight we show our joy for Our Lady’s victory, and tomorrow we start our glorious march under Eternal Night! Eat, drink, and be merry! Consider that a standing order!”

We didn’t need a second invitation, or at least the others didn’t. They all broke rank and trotted off, chatting among themselves excitedly. I stood there awkwardly for a moment or two, unsure of what to do before I left to stand in the shadow of the east wall and watched the others be happy.

One of the palace servants took up a lute and started playing a jaunty tune at a second lieutenant’s orders. It wasn’t long until Astral stepped in with a drum and began playing a bass line ponies could dance to. Nightkin started to join in the fun too, looking almost like they were marching. A lot of the younger years, still with their natural manes and coats, joined in the fun. The servants started to bring food out from the kitchens, crisp, sweet, autumn fruits like apples and pomegranates.

The jaunty tune accompanied me as I made my way to the food table and I selected a ripe looking pink apple. I sat down and began to eat as I watched the ponies make merry. It was about the time I’d chewed through the core that I realised I didn’t actually want to celebrate with any of them.

Everypony I could see was happily chatting, joking, and laughing with their friends. There wasn’t anypony that I particularly wanted to talk to. My eyes flicked over to the dancers and I considered joining them, but decided against it when I thought of catching somepony’s eye and having to dance with them if they asked. Or maybe they’d change songs and expect us all to partner off.

Snorting and shaking my head, I watched for a moment with a growing sense of boredom. With a sigh, I stood up and headed away from the crowd, making my way indoors till the sound of music and laughter faded. I trotted through the halls of Castle Blackrock for a while, looking for something to entertain myself with, before eventually I gave up and trotted to the unused practice yards. No pony was there when I arrived, so I dragged out a padded, wooden dummy and started to pass the time with that.

I could hear the music from outside seep into the room, so rather than seriously try to work my skills, I let myself have fun with it. Moving to the tune of the song, punching and kicking to match the beat as I shifted back and forth. There were a few changes of song, and thus a few changes to my patterns and movements.

Twisting and turning around the dummy as I did, I almost missed the sound of the door opening again and some pony approaching. Pivoting on my forelegs, I turned to face whoever it was, but smiled when I saw it was Chase.

My grin faltered when I noticed her tired, disappointed look.

Chase looked impossibly young for someone who was coming close to their fortieth birthday. She could have passed for her late twenties if she wanted, maybe her early thirties. She had no wrinkles, no grey in her mane, just a mature face with scars to match. There was still that smile that was always at the corner of her mouth, and a mischievous grin that never failed to make her look almost like a teen again. Not that she was smiling now.

I watched as she walked closer, and didn’t move or react as she paused in front of me, just looking me up and down.

After a moment, she sighed and looked me in the eye. “Why did you do that to Harvest?”

I broke from her gaze and looked down, shifting my hooves awkwardly.

“Just answer me,” she groaned, sounding more tired than anything else.

“He was... being...” I shrugged after a moment, “Insistent.”

Chase sighed and rubbed her face, before giving me a flat look. “Slight, just...” She faltered for a word before groaning and staring at the ground. “I swear, there are times when you make me want to cave a skull in.”

I blinked in surprise, and had to fight the urge to take a cautious step backwards. “...Sorry?”

She snorted at that, and looked back up at me. “Don’t be sorry, just don’t do it again, alright? When I order someone to wake before sunset just so you can get some extra practice in, I expect you to treat them decently. Don’t ignore them or brush them off when they ask questions.” She frowned. “Actually, don’t do that to anypony, period. I get that you’re a bit... awkward when it comes to dealing with other ponies, but that doesn’t change the fact that the way you’re dealing with them is likely to cause a fight.”

I shrugged. “Better at fighting than I am at talking.”

Stomping her hoof, Chase snapped, “Damn it, Slight! I’m not joking about this!”

“Neither was I.”

She groaned and paced away from me a step. Turning around she stalked right up to my muzzle and jabbed a hoof into my chest. “When someone asks you a question, answer it. If I hear that you’ve done your damned silent glare again, I’m holding you back from your first rotation for another month.”

I blinked in surprise and protested. “That’s not fair-”

“Don’t you dare start complaining about it!” she snapped at me. “I’ve given you more than enough warnings. You can’t get through life only talking to me.”

“I don’t only talk to you...” I muttered and took a step back.

“Yeah? And who else do you talk to?” Chase challenged. “Somepony from your year? Oh wait, I forgot that you hate all of them.”

“I talk to Luna,” I growled.

“You’ve only seen her twice in the past few-”

“In prayer,” I interrupted.

She paused and snorted in annoyance. “That doesn’t count, and you know it.”

Scuffing a hoof, I opened my mouth to speak before I closed it again.

“Come on, who else have you talked with? Not who’s talked to you, but who have you talked with.”

I frowned and stared at the ground. I hated the way she always knew exactly what to say to make me feel bad. Like I was a foal again and I was disappointing her.

“That’s what I thought,” Chase muttered. After a moment, she sighed and looked into my eyes. “Listen, Slight, I don’t need to tell you that I care about you. You’re a sister to me, and I’m damn proud of you, alright? You’ve grown up into a great nightkin, and I couldn’t be happier with your dedication to Luna. You haven’t even seen combat yet, but you can still hold your own against any nightkin in Blackrock.” She stood alongside me, and bumped me with her hip. “But I’m still worried about you.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” I frowned at her.

Frowning right back at me, she said, “I swear, I’m not joking around with this, Slight. If you don’t start trying to get along with others, I’m going to keep you back here for a decade if I have to. I’m seriously thinking about getting you assigned to mentor a foal.”

I blanched at that and looked at her in horror.

“Hey, if it means getting you to open up to somepony that’s not me, I’m happy to do it.” How could she sound so reasonable while saying something like that?

“But I haven’t even got field experience,” I muttered. That was true, but really, I mostly didn’t want to coddle some brat for the next eight years. Wiping their eyes dry every time they trip and cooing them to sleep whenever they had a bad dream. I had nothing but respect for Chase, but I simply didn’t understand why she was such an eager mentor. As far as I could tell, there was no reason anyone would want to do it.

“Oh, don’t look like that.” Chase waved it off. “Being a mentor is one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do.” She looked me over. “And one of the most frustrating, but still.”

Sighing, I turned back to the practice dummy, and started to attack it again. Would she really do that to me if I didn’t start tolerating other nightkin better? Yes. She definitely would. If Chase had proven one thing over the years, it was that she was willing to go to any lengths to do what was best for me. If she mistakenly believed I needed to be more... ‘open’, she would make sure that happened.

Groaning, I headbutted the practice dummy.

Chase chuckled. “I always knew you had a head harder than a block of wood; I just never thought you’d try and prove it.”

I turned around and gave her a flat look.

“Anyway,” she continued, “what are you doing in here?”

Shrugging, I looked back to the dummy. “Practicing.”

“Stygus ordered everyone to celebrate tonight, and... this doesn’t look like much of a celebration.” She poked me in the shoulder. “Come on, let’s get back outside.”

If I said no, she would just order me to anyway, not to mention her ultimatum. If I refused or tried to get out if it, there was a good chance she’d see that as me trying to avoid other ponies, which... it might have been.

I groaned and kicked the dummy once more, before turning and following her outside.

“You make it sound like I’m asking you to clean out the barracks’ chamber pots.” She rolled her eyes.

At least chamber pots don’t talk.

Instead of saying that, I grunted at her, and watched the approaching crowd of revelers warily.

“Lighten up.” Chase jabbed me with her elbow. I gave her a sour look. “Ah, you’re no fun anymore. Why don’t you go dance with them?” She tilted her head towards the music being played.

Sighing in annoyance, I ignored her suggestion and kept walking.

“Oh, come on. It’s your special talent, isn’t it?” Chase trotted around until she stood directly in front of me. “It’s either that, or I’m ordering you to help the servants with the cooking.”

I looked upwards, thinking it over before I shrugged. “Deal.”

She blinked at that, before her lips turned to an unamused frown. “Just go dance, damn it. That’s an order.”

Staring back at her for a moment, I realised she wasn’t joking and turned around to walk towards the dancing ponies.

“And don’t you even think of starting another fight just to get out of it!” she called after me.

The crowd was dancing a merry jig as I approached, bouncing up and down to the sound of a violin. They were swaying back and forth across the courtyard, smiling and laughing hoof in hoof with each other as they swapped from one partner to another.

I stared at them with apprehension. Sighing, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Chase glaring at me. Turning my eyes back forward, I braced myself before stepping into the crowd and getting carried away by the tide of moving bodies. It was a simple dance, and it only took one partner before I picked it up.

One step in, left hoof tap, one step back, right hoof tap. Grab a hoof and spin around, stand upright and stomp back down. Go with your partner, twirling round, clap their hooves and fall to the ground. Roll to your hooves, grab theirs too, spin around, grab a new partner and start again.

There was something almost fun about it. A little niggling satisfaction I imagine anypony gets when using their special talent. Plus, the smiles on everypony’s faces were infectious.

Not that I was actually enjoying myself, just... it was hard to not smile when all the others were. And I certainly didn’t laugh as I spun through on the third run. I was most definitely not enjoying myself. And in absolutely no way did I giggle at the look on Strong Faith’s face when he saw I was partnered with him.

I twirled on my hind-hooves, definitely not having fun, but I might have enjoyed the feeling of grace and undeniable outward expression of emotion through action until I came to a halt as I saw my new dancing partner. We stared at each other for a few moments, and Stern Conviction’s lip curled into the makings of a snarl, before we the next couple knocked into us.

That spurred us into motion. If I stayed here, there was every chance he’d start a fight, and there was every chance Chase would blame me for it. Turning around, I walked away from the group.

I only made it a few steps before Chase stopped me. “What are you doing?” she asked pointedly.

“Stern was in there,” I answered and glanced over my shoulder. Blinking, I saw Stern Conviction leaving the crowd and trotting towards us.

I stepped back as he came closer, just a bit behind Chase. If he wanted to start a fight now, he would have to go through a First Lieutenant.

“Hiding behind your big sister?” Stern asked as he came closer, sneering at me.

I saw no need to answer him.

Chase disagreed apparently. She turned to face me and said, “You plan on answering him?”

I blinked in confusion, glancing between the two of them.

Chase knocked her head towards him.

Sighing, I got the ‘subtle’ hint and stepped forward. “No, but you won’t fight with a lieutenant here.”

Stern glanced at Chase, who was examining her hoof. “So you’re scared to face me?”

I snorted out a chuckle.

He grit his jaw and stepped forwards, when Chase held a hoof out in front of him and glared at me. “What did I say about starting fights?”

What? He was the one who was about to attack me.

She just rolled her eyes, as Stern said, “What’s so funny about that?”

“You might have been better than me two years ago,” I gave him a smirk, “but it’s not two years ago.”

“I was better!” he snapped. “The title was mine! It was rightfully mine!”

“If it was yours, you would still hold it,” I answered calmly, enjoying the way that my lack of passion seemed to be making him even angrier.

“You challenged me in front of Luna,” he hissed. “After I’d already been declared! It wasn’t a fair fight, you spent weeks preparing.”

“And you rested on your laurels,” I replied. “As the Second, it was your duty to stay ahead of us.” I waved a hoof in front of myself. “You failed.”

He grimaced at me, and opened his mouth to speak again, when Chase cut across him.

“This is pathetic.” Chase didn’t even look at him as she said it. “You’re two years late and whining like a foal about your own failure. Tonight is the first of Eternal Night, and you’re wasting it here, tossing away your pride when our orders are to celebrate.” Her eyes met his, and she frowned. “Show some dignity and waste your time elsewhere.”

He grit his jaw, but nodded to his superior officer and turned away.

Chase sighed and looked at me. “See that right there? That thing you just did? It’s what we call a conversation. It’s what ponies have when they’re trying to relay information.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes.

Chase shook her head and looked back towards Stern’s retreating form. “I was hoping this would give you a chance to try your hoof at some conflict resolution, but he just wanted to start a fight, so I stepped in.”

Personally, I like to think I resolve conflicts quite well. I mean, if I punch him and he doesn’t get back up, conflict resolved. Shrugging, I followed Chase as she trotted into the castle.

We walked together in silence for some time, until I realised I didn’t know where we were going. I considered asking, but after a moment I decided that whatever it was, I didn’t actually have anything better to do anyway.

We passed through the halls and corridors, until we eventually arrived at Chase’s room. She held the door open for me as I entered. I took my old seat on the end of the bed, and she walked over to her wardrobe.

Her room was bigger than the one she had when I was a foal, and closer to Luna’s chambers. She now had two wardrobes instead of one, as well a desk coated in carefully organised maps and papers. I was still in the barracks, and even if I was granted the Green I would stay there, but I still hoped to one day have a room of my own that I didn’t have to share with anyone else. That was unlikely though. The rooms were reserved for officers and mentors with foals in their first month. It was rare that a Second became an officer, and I definitely wasn’t going to take on a foal for eight years so I could share a room with it for just one month.

Chase moved from the wardrobe to me with a wooden box balanced on her wings. “I was gonna give you this after Luna declared the Green for your year, but I figure Eternal Night is just as much reason to celebrate.” She set it down on the bed and sat next to me. “I got this for you on my last rotation. Don’t ask me why, but I saw it and thought of you, okay?”

Her shadows pushed the box towards me , and I picked it up with my hooves. Nosing it open, I looked at what was inside and blinked at what I saw.

There was nothing wrong with it, just... “It’s a ribbon.”

“Yeah, I know,” she replied. “Not exactly a spectacular gift, but... I guess I thought you could use it.”

I lifted the ribbon out of the box, the long red length of it dangling over my foreleg. “Thanks?” It didn’t even look particularly well made. The edges of it were frayed and roughly cut, and there were brown and black stains on it.

She rolled her eyes at me, and I blinked as I noticed she wasn’t meeting my gaze. “It’s cut from the banner General High Ground brought to the Two Rivers. We didn’t get him before he called a retreat, but we still took down his banner-carrier and nearly half his force.”

I looked back at the ribbon again. “That’s... interesting?”

Chase looked away from me, sounding disappointed. “You needed a way to stand out, didn’t you? All nightkin look the same, so I just thought that if you tied that into your mane or something, it’d help you stand out more.”

I guess it would do that, but still. It felt like Chase wanted me to like this more than I did... Why was this so important to her? “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

That was a good question. I shrugged. “Why wouldn’t you be?”

She thought that was funny for some reason, and put a wing over my shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing.”

Frowning, I turned so I could stare right at her.

We sat like that for a moment, until eventually she laughed again and looked ahead. “It’s nothing, really. I just... wanted you to have something from me. You’re all grown up now and the ceremony’s in just a few days, so you’ll be rotated out of the fortress. All that you’ll take with you is your ghost blade, some supplies, and the armour they give you.” She swallowed. “I just wanted you to have this one thing from me. It looks nice, they’ll let you keep it, and it’ll help you stand out from the crowd a bit.” Not once did she look at me as she said all that.

I should have realised that this was quite personal for her. For as long as I can remember, I’d been the vulnerable one and Chase had been there to comfort me and help harden my skin. Now she sat there, having bared her own emotions to me, and it was my turn to hold her. It took me a moment to process all that, but when I did I knew there was no way I’d spurn her gift now.

I put a hoof on her shoulder and we held each other. “I’ll be fine,” I promised her.

She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “Yeah, I know, I know. You’re a little trooper and all, tough as nails and the most dangerous mare alive.” She nudged me with her elbow.

I snorted. Interesting that I was still a ‘little trooper’ when I was taller than she was.

I held up the ribbon. “Help me put it on.”

Chase shook her head. “No, don’t worry about it. If you don’t like it-”

I jabbed her in the side with a hoof. “Help me put it on,” I repeated firmly.

Rubbing her side, she smiled at me. “Alright, alright.”

I turned my back to her, and felt her hooves in my mane as she tied it into my hair. It was kind of nice, sitting while she tied my hair up for me. Some of the mares in my year enjoyed things like this. Sitting around and chatting as they fussed over each other’s appearance. I never really saw the appeal.

“Uh... I don’t really know what I’m doing here...” Chase said after a while. “I’m pretty sure we should have brushed your mane first, and I’m not even sure how we should style it either.”

Sighing, I looked at the ribbon and considered it for a second. “Just tie it around my neck?”

She blinked. “You sure?”

I shrugged. Truthfully, I probably wouldn’t be bothered to tie and untie my mane every morning anyway.

“Should have gotten you a pendant or something,” she muttered as she helped tie it up.

“I like it,” I told her over my shoulder.

“You haven’t even seen what you look like yet,” she replied.

“I still like it.”

“Only because I got it for you,” she murmured.

After a moment, I turned around and said the most appropriate thing that came to mind. “So?”

Chase blinked at that before she smiled at me.

We sat like that for a moment in mutual comfort and silence, before Chase stood up again. “Come on. This is probably the last chance we’ll get in months to hang out without worrying about rank and orders. Let’s go find something fun to do.”

Nodding, I followed her out of the room.

My forelegs tightened around Starlit Path’s neck. He kicked and flailed, trying to break from my grip, but I was stronger than he was and had better leverage. His wings flailed against the ground and battered my face, but he didn’t have enough direction or momentum to give me anything more than a leathery slap.

My cheek still stinging from the blow, I rolled us to the left so we were both on our side, and his wings were pinned under me. He tried to struggle, but didn’t really have a chance with only one of his forehooves free, the other held out from me by my own foreleg. I had to admire the way he fought to the end. He didn’t tap out or give up; he kept fighting right until Astral stepped into the ring and counted to three.

“Win, Slight!” Astral shouted out.

I let Starlit go and rolled away panting, but was pleased to note that he was breathing heavier than I was. Much heavier.

Around us, ponies cheered and booed, swapping coins and other trinkets they’d been betting with.

“Told you not to bet against her!” Chase crowed as she took coins from First Lieutenant Shadow Dance.

It wasn’t a real fight, just a wrestling ring. The truth was that Starlit was probably a better fighter than I was. Because he used to be a pegasus, he was smaller and more agile, especially when compared to a former earth pony like me. He was still as slippery as a greased eel, and I barely managed to pin him at all.

The castle courtyard was filled with nightkin. The music was still playing in the background, but the food had been moved away now, and everypony was more focussed on games like wrestling or horseshoes.

The mud in my coat was nice and cool, and I closed my eyes as I enjoyed my back against the ground. When I opened my eyes I saw the stars and moon above us, and I grinned at the idea that it was all I’d ever see when I looked up again. No more burning sun or bright glare, just the endless cool reaches of Her Grace’s domain.

After a moment I stood up, and held out a hoof to help Starlit stand again.

“Nice hold.” He winced and stretched his back, making a loud crack.

I nodded thanks, and he slowly walked away from the ring.

Astral trotted up to me and asked, “You want to see if you can make four in a row, or are you ready to let somepony else take a shot?”

“One more,” I replied as I moved to position in the ring.

“Alright.” He nodded at me before turning to the crowd. “Slight thinks she’s Luna’s gift at grappling!” his voice boomed out. “Three measly rounds, and her head’s swollen enough to crush her foes for her!”

Smirking, I rolled my eyes.

“Anyone here think they can beat her?” he shouted at the crowd. “Anypony here think they have what it takes to bring her down?”

One hoof stuck up in the air, and some sixteenth year, freshly reborn nightkin I didn’t recognise stepped forward. “I’ll take a crack at it,” he said, sounding too... chipper.

I looked him up and down, unimpressed. He was scrawny, even for a former unicorn. Maybe he’d fill out in a few years, but for now he was too thin and leanly muscled to stand a chance at grappling with me.

“Son, the idea is to end her streak, not make it go for even longer,” Astral remarked with a brow raised.

He shrugged and answered with a cheery smile, “Eh, it’s all in good fun, right?”

I decided I didn’t like him.

Astral glanced back at me. “Promise you won’t hurt him too much?”

With that voice and smile? How wasn’t I supposed to hurt him?

When I didn’t answer, Astral smirked and turned back to the challenger. “Alright then, Slight and Shadowed Joy.”

“Uh... I changed my name sir,” he interrupted hesitantly. “It’s Chipper now.”

That was what he wanted his name to be? It was almost like he existed for me to hurt him.

We faced each other in the ring, and I had to fight to keep the grin off my face. This was going to be fun.

“Ready?” Astral called.

“As I’ll ever be,” he answered merrily.

Oh, sweet Luna, yes. This was going to be a lot of fun.

We both waited for Astral’s mark, nearly nose to nose.

...

The seconds ticked away, and the tension steadily drained from the air.

“Master Victory?” Chipper asked without breaking eye contact from me.

There was no answer.

I glanced across and saw Astral not watching us at all, his attention somewhere else entirely. Instantly, I recognised it as another one of his tricks to throw us off guard for the fight, so I glared straight ahead at Chipper. He seemed to be thinking the same thing I was, staring straight back at me intently. I risked a look over his shoulder, and saw some of the nightkin in the crowd also distracted.

Hesitantly, I looked towards where they were all staring and saw the pink rays of dawn just starting to poke over the horizon.

That’s it? They were distracted by a pretty sunrise?

Snorting, I looked ahead again at Chipper.

Truly? Was a sunrise so remarkable?

My eyes widened. Before Chipper could react, I’d spread my wings and flown up to the castle wall, where a number of other nightkin had gathered to stare in horror at the rising sun. We watched in disbelieving unison as the golden orb rose above the horizon and into the sky, much faster than was natural.

Chase landed next to me. “That’s... that’s not possible.”

Within five minutes, the sun had gotten too bright for any of us to continue watching without shielding our eyes. It came to a stop in the middle of the sky over our heads, and none of the nightkin said anything.

Eventually, some fool said, “Wasn’t Eternal Night supposed to be... eternal?”

None of us answered him, all thinking the same thing.

Yes. Yes it was. Why had our Goddess promised us this, proclaimed it was here, declared that it was ours to share and love with her, and then undone it? Was this a joke? Had Stygus declared Eternal Night before he received word from Luna? Surely not even he could be that foolish? But then, the other answer was that Luna was defeated, which was simply impossible.

After a moment, Chase turned and said aloud, “Everypony, get a hold of yourselves! It’s just a sunrise, we’ve seen thousands before. Go back to your duties, this celebration is over.”

Someone protested, “But Lieutenant-”

“But what?” She cut across him, before turning to face the courtyard and all the assembled nightkin. “There’s students to be trained, practice to be done, and a thousand other things around Blackrock to be taken care of. Astral! Get these foals busy!” A hoof stamped against the ground when all of them just stared at her. “Well? Get to it!”

That broke all of us out of our stupor. With a flurry of leathery wings, nightkin took to the air, doing as Chase instructed. I spread my wings to fly among them, but Chase stepped in front of me.

“Slight, come with me. We need to find Stygus and the other first lieutenants.” Her eyes flickered up towards the sun then back to me. “Come on,” she ordered as she turned, spread her wings and flew away.

I glided behind her as she headed down over the courtyard and through the Castle’s main entrance. Watching her stride purposefully through the hall reminded me that there was nothing to actually worry about. The sun had risen? So what? That merely meant Luna hadn’t quite defeated Celestia yet. She’d succeed eventually, and then it would be true Eternal Night.

There was no growing pit of worry in my stomach, and I certainly wasn’t paying any attention to the way Chase’s wings would occasionally ruffle nervously. There was absolutely nothing to be worried about. Lady Luna just had a minor setback. Right?

Right?

“Right...” I murmured. After a moment, I swallowed and trotted closer. “Chase?”

“Not now, Slight,” she answered, distractedly looking down a corridor. “Keep an eye out for any officers.”

I nodded and fell back. She was right. I just needed to stay calm and let her figure this out.

We arrived at Stygus’ chambers, and Chase knocked on the door. When there was no response, she knocked again and yelled, “Stygus! Open up!” There was no answer again, so Chase turned to me and said, “Kick the door open.”

I blinked in surprise at her. Break open the door to a captain’s office? “Chase?”

She turned to me and growled, “I said, get that bloody door open, now.”

Nodding rapidly, I turned around and bucked the door as hard as I could. The shock reverberated through me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see the door still standing in its frame, completely unaffected.

Chase snorted in annoyance. “We’ll just shadow walk in.” Glancing up the hall, she pointed at a torch and said, “Douse that light.”

I obeyed, trotted over and put the lid on it. The flame smothered instantly, plunging the room into dark. Behind me, I felt Chase’s influence on the shadows. The energy in the room swirled towards her, and I turned around just in time to see her vanish into the wall. A second later, the door, opened and Chase stepped out of the room. She looked at me, and jerked her head into the room.

Nodding, I followed her inside.

The room was a mess. The bed was flipped over, and I could smell sour wine in the air along with bile. Stygus lay there in the middle of the room, snoring peacefully with a wineskin held against his chest.

“Damned fool!” Chase cursed and trotted towards him. She snatched up the skin and poured it out over his face. “Wake up!”

Coughing and snorting, Stygus sat up and spat out the drink as he rubbed his eyes. When his eyes settled on Chase and me, his lips curled into a sneer. “What do you want?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

“How long have you been drinking?” Chase snapped at him. “Alone.”

“What does it matter to you?!” he snapped at her, before wincing at the sound of his voice and clutching his head. “When the party started? Why, shouldn’t I celebrate?” For some reason he sounded bitter. “Eternal Night and the death of every heathen...” his tone turned somber. “What’s not to love?”

“So you don’t know?” Chase frowned at him.

“Know what? I haven’t talked to anypony since the party started.”

“This.” Chase walked to his balcony door and threw it open, casting the room in bright sunlight, which made me wince and avert my eyes.

Stygus hissed at the light, and clamped his eyes shut as he staggered towards the door. “Why would you let the sunlight in?”

“The sunlight.” Chase nodded. “The sun is up. Notice anything wrong with that?”

It took a moment, but Stygus’ expression went from hung-over and angry , to surprised and horrified. “Th-that’s impossible.”

“We need to contact Luna.” Chase stepped between him and the light source. “We need to find out what’s happening.”

Stygus nodded. “Yes, of course.” He turned and almost tripped as he staggered to his desk. From inside it, he brought out a quill, some ink, and a scroll. Quickly writing something down, he sealed it with a wax stamp of a batwing, before taking out a jar of green fire and dipping the note into it. The fire consumed the note, and a black smoke travelled from it out the window.

Dragon fire. The only way to send messages across the world faster than a pegasus courier.

Stygus opened his mouth and turned to us. “Right-” He cut himself off when the black smoke that had travelled out the window came back through it and coalesced to form the same scroll he had just sent, before burning to ash in seconds.

Apparently this dragon fire wasn’t in the mood to follow the laws of reality .

All three of us stared at the ashes in shock, before Stygus snatched up another piece of parchment and hastily scrawled something on it. He dipped that in the jar of dragon fire, and it too turned to smoke before travelling out the window. For a second, we all dared to believe that this message had been sent properly too, before it came back and burned away on Stygus’ desk.

“Is there something wrong with the dragon fire?” Chase asked after a moment.

Stygus shrugged at her. “It’s all that I have.” He snatched up a blank sheet and dipped that in the dragon fire too. It disappeared and came back before burning away like the ones before it. Frowning, Stygus turned to face us again. “I can’t contact Luna.”

We stood in silence for a moment or two, before I asked, “What does that mean?”

“What does that mean?” he repeated my question with a frown. “It means we can’t reach her, that’s what it means.”

“Why not?” Chase asked. “Do you know why we wouldn’t be able to?”

“No.” He shook his head, and glanced out the doorway at the bright sunny day. “I need to get my armour on. Chase, get out there and make sure the others aren’t panicking. Song, go and find the other officers, tell them to meet me in my office.”

“Slight,” I corrected as I walked away from him and out the door, but he didn’t even seem to hear me.

Except for Chase and Shadow Dance, I found all the other First Lieutenants in the castle dungeons, playing a game of cards over cups of wine. The Second Lieutenants were more scattered, one sleeping in his bunk, and another in the Castle butchery, petting pigs of all things. Eventually, I’d relayed Stygus’ orders to every officer in Blackrock, and I returned to his office to find Chase and find out where she wanted me to go next.

By the time I arrived there, Stygus and all the other officers were already on their way outside, dressed in full armour. Hesitantly, I trotted closer and followed them out to the courtyard. When we stepped out, Chase was in the middle of the courtyard watching everything and making sure all was well, but not actively giving out orders.

Stygus stepped closer to her, and whispered something in her ear. Chase nodded and stepped away, before coming closer to me. “Come on, we need to get our armour on.”

What? Why? I glanced up towards the sun before following her inside.

“Slight, I’m making you my acting sergeant for the moment,” she said over her shoulder to me. “Stay close to me, and unless Stygus himself gives you an order, everything I say to you takes priority, alright?”

Nodding in understanding, I followed her to the armoury where we both strapped on suits of deep purple plate armour. She helped me with the hard to reach buckles, and I helped her with hers. Chase passed me a red hoof blade , and without questioning why, I strapped it on.

Panic and worry seethed in my gut as we trotted back towards the courtyard, but I found myself pausing at a strange sound. Chase must have heard it too, because her ears perked up and her eyes widened. It was a sound I’d never heard before, this constant, dull, slapping roar. It almost made me think of hundreds of nightkin taking off at once.

“Pegasi!” Chase hissed and galloped to the front door. I followed after her, and a second later we arrived in the courtyard. All the nightkin were scrambling indoors, the officers barking orders as they all fled towards the armoury. Some of them weren’t fleeing though, staying where they were and looking outwards grimly.

Spreading my wings, I flew up to the wall behind Chase, and stared out at the horizon. Silhouetted against the blue sky were thousands of flying ponies. A horde of pegasi, completely smothering the horizon from one corner to the other, all flying towards Castle Blackrock.

“Damn it all to burn!” Chase snarled and turned away, heading back to the courtyard.

I blinked at her reaction, before glancing back at the approaching pegasi. Why was Castle Blackrock being approached by so many of Luna’s soldiers? That was when I noticed something that made my blood run cold. Some of them were flying with banners trailing in the wind behind them, great billowing folds of cloth bearing their heraldry for all to see.

The colours were white, orange, and gold, bearing the symbol of the sun. Those were Celestians. Thousands and thousands of Celestian pegasi, flying through Luna’s lands.

Where was Her Grace?! Why wasn’t she here smiting them all like skittering insects before the maw of a great beast? For that matter, where was our army? The legions of soldiers who joined our fight against the Sun’s tyranny? This Celestian army simply shouldn’t be there. How had it crossed so deep into our territory to strike at Blackrock itself?

“Slight!” My head snapped back, and I saw Chase down below. “We’re holding this courtyard! We need to buy time to get all the other nightkin armed and armoured, as well as move all the foals somewhere safe!” She opened her mouth to shout again, when a thunderous crack made me flinch.

I looked to the source of the noise and saw pegasi moving dark grey clouds into position over the castle before kicking them. Tongues of bright energy lanced out, filling the air with loud rolling booms and the smell of ozone.

Blackrock’s siege runes flared up, and the electrical assault was halted by an invisible shield. Crackling energy traced a domed silhouette over the places struck, and the kicked clouds started to leak rain and water over the castle.

“Slight!” Chase shouted, and I looked back across at her. She was pointing a hoof past me, and I turned to see hundreds of pegasus archers hovering in formation fifty paces from the castle, bow strings taut with arrows knocked.

I threw myself behind the parapet just as they fired. Arrows clattered against stone all across the wall and buried into the earth of the courtyard. One of the nightkin in the yard wasn’t fast enough to get behind crates and wagons, and fell gurgling with three arrows in his ribs.

Before they got the chance to reload and send a second volley, I heard Chase shout, “Everyone inside, now!”

A second swarm of death was fired before anypony broke cover, and the moment after every nightkin in the yard made a break for the entryway. With the aid of wings, we all made it just as the third volley was fired, and the entry door slammed shut just as the steel heads started to smack into it.

“Get ready to counterattack!” Chase barked to everyone in the castle’s entry hall. “The archers have pushed us out of the yard, and now they’re gonna try to hold it, but they only have airborne infantry. They won’t have time to set up defences, and they’re too lightly armoured to fight us on the ground.”

“Where are the other officers?” someone asked, and I looked around the room to see about forty nightkin standing around. Only Chase and I were armoured.

“They’re deeper in the castle, forming a plan and arming everypony else,” she answered the one asking. “We just need to buy them ten minutes before we can retreat and armour up with them. Understand?” she asked the group.

Everyone nodded. “What’s our plan?” someone asked her.

“Take the courtyard, stop any infantry from getting access through the main hall.” Chase frowned and looked back to the door. “I want ten ponies to stay here, hold the doors and keep an ear out for word from Stygus and the others. The rest of you are with me and Slight, we’ll use those tables as barricades for the archers and move towards the walls. Once we’re among their soldiers the archers won’t be able to fire and they’ll have to send in more skirmishers.” She looked back towards us, “Get the tables, and get ready. They should be moving into the yard now.”

We all nodded, and in seconds we had the tables set up and ready to move outside.

“Ready?” Chase asked, and we all nodded. “Alright, get that door open!”

The front gates slammed open, and sunlight streamed in along with a horde of arrows. They thunked ineffectually into our makeshift shields, and with a roar thirty of us charged out. We crossed the distance in bare seconds, and the archers never got the chance to fire another volley before we were among their friends and allies.

A pegasus clad in leather armour dived for me, a spear clutched in his fetlocks as he stood on his hind hooves, wings flared. I moved around the attack to strike at him with my ghost blade, but somepony bumped into me from the side, transforming my elegant response into an awkward stumble out of the way. The haft of the spear smashed into my helmet, and with a growl I launched myself at the pegasus. He brought the butt of the spear around to strike me again, but I ducked under the attack. His sturdy leather armour offered no resistance as my ghost blade plunged into his heart.

He froze, before I pushed him to the ground as a geyser of blood spurted from his chest. I managed to avoid most of it, but there was a still a warm spray that blinded me. Something crashed into my side while I wiped my eyes, and I stumbled into something else that hit hard enough to bruise even through my armour. Instinctively, I lashed out with my hoof blades and heard a sharp intake of air. When I opened my eyes, a pegasus stood there, a mace in his mouth and his eyes wide in horror.

I looked away just in time to avoid another spray into my eyes, and before I had the chance to look back at him, another pegasus threw himself at me. I went to slash him with my ghost blade, but I was standing too low and it scraped against the ground, stopping it from building the momentum needed for a full swing before I was stabbed by his hoof blade. It only scratched my chest, having landed at an awkward angle. I growled in anger and smashed my head into his nose. He gasped in pain and tried to pull away, but I grabbed his bladed forehoof and brought my ghost blade up through his leg. He screamed in pain and clutched at his still attached limb. His crying stopped when I slashed through his neck, and once his foreleg detached, I pushed him over just as his head slid off too.

I pulled the blade, and the hoof attached to it, out of my armour, tossed it away, and looked around to survey the battlefield. There had to be near to a hundred pegasi in the courtyard, and many more were swooping overhead to join the fray. Even unarmoured and without weapons, the nightkin were more than a match for any warrior under the heathen banner. Almost as sturdy as an earth pony, almost as fast as a pegasus, and with magic like a unicorn, we could fight on any battlefield. Our versatility gave us an advantage no other military force had, and down here in the courtyard, the slightly greater mobility of the pegasi was worth nothing.

Apparently I spent too long watching, and was bumped into by somepony. I turned around to face another Celestian, just as he turned to face me, and I instinctively kicked his knee joint. He collapsed with a cry that was silenced when I buried my ghost blade in the back of his head.

Right, I was in the middle of a battle. Now was not the time to be distracted.

Silently thanking the incompetent pegasus for reminding me of that, without using a bladed object, before I returned to the fray.

Fighting like this was different from fighting one on one. Astral had warned us of that and prepared us as best as he could, but I was still caught off-guard by the unrestrained madness of a melee. Tripping over a pony’s still twitching hooves and face planting in front of a charging pegasus was an entirely new experience for me, and I soon learned that being aware of my surroundings was more important than anything else. My dancing talent was much more useful when I wasn’t fighting as part of a group, and my armour plating was the only thing that saved me more than once.

The other nightkin weren’t as lucky. They fought valiantly and skillfully, snatching up spears and shields from fallen foes, and their magic gave them an edge as pegasi were tripped by their own shadows. Even so, there was little skill could do to prevent you being stabbed in the back while occupied in the front. The pegasus commander wasn’t foolish. Our initial charge left us somewhat scattered, and those of us that failed to regroup were soon picked off.

A constant stream of pegasi stopped any of us from catching our breath or helping the wounded, and even once we’d all collected together again some nightkin died from the sheer number of scratches and minor wounds. It soon became apparent that holding them off for ten minutes was an optimistic guess, and worse, stopping them here wasn’t as important when they could enter through the castle windows and land on the rooftops.

“Fighting retreat!” Chase shouted, as a nightkin slumped against her, bleeding at the neck. “Everypony back to the door!”

Rather than scrambling for the door and exposing our backs again, we allowed the pegasi to push us back. Slowly but steadily, we made it back to the door, breaking any pegasi foolish enough to close with us. Chase and I were the last ones through before we slammed the doors behind us and bolted them shut.

We panted for a moment, catching our breath as Chase looked us over and counted us. “Twenty three,” she muttered before flinching as a loud bang hit the hall doors. “Come on, we need get to the armoury. Who’s wounded?”

“Who isn’t?” one replied with a grimace, as he touched a hanging flap of skin on his chest.

“Who’s seriously wounded?” Chase replied.

No one answered. It took me a moment to realise that anyone who was seriously wounded died on our way back to the doors.

“Alright that’s... good,” Chase said as she realised the same fact. “Slight, you take the front, there might be some of them in here.”

I nodded, and trotted ahead of the group as we continued down the corridor. It was only about a minute before a fully armoured group of nightkin came running in the opposite direction.

“Ma’am, is the main door breached?” A nightkin with the heraldry of a second lieutenant saluted Chase as he paused in front of her.

“It wasn’t when we left it,” she answered him. “Where’s Stygus?”

“He’s commanding the defence from the first level of the east hall’s basement.”

Chase nodded, and the nightkin continued past us.

When we arrived at the armoury a few minutes later, the unarmoured nightkin stayed behind to get equipped and have their wounds treated by the servants. I trotted after Chase as she led the way to the east hall.

“You okay?” she asked me over her shoulder.

I nodded.

“You did good out there,” she looked back ahead.

I opened my mouth to tell her thanks, but instead I asked, “What’s happening?”

“We’re under attack,” she answered.

I knew that. “How?” I pressed her for answers.

“I don’t know,” she muttered. “Doesn’t make any sense. We had no hint that Celestia had even gathered so many pegasi in one place, and there’s no way they could have passed over so much of our territory without us noticing.”

Swallowing, I asked her the next question. “W-where’s Luna?”

Her breath hitched, but I didn’t see her break stride as she continued ahead. “I don’t know.”

The sound of our hooves on stone was the only noise either of us made until we arrived in Stygus’ unofficial command room. He stood there in the centre of the room, going over maps and barking out orders to sergeants and servants as he glared angrily at everything in sight.

“Captain,” Chase gave him a salute, “The main entrance has held, with seventeen nightkin casualties.”

“How many of those were wounded, and how many of those were dead?” he asked.

“Everyone but myself and Slight were wounded, the seventeen casualties were all dead.”

“Damn it!” Stygus snapped. “Did we lose anyone important?”

“No sir. Other than myself, everyone defending the courtyard were privates, specialists and corporals.”

Growling, he turned to glare at the map in front of him. “Can you tell me anything about the enemy?”

“All of their forces seem to be pegasi, equipped with rapid movement in mind. There’s a minimum of three thousand out there, probably closer to five thousand. They’re using storm clouds and lightning strikes, but the siege runes stopped those from having any effect.”

Stygus ground his teeth and opened his mouth to say something else when the entire room shook. Dust fell from the ceilings onto our heads, as we all braced ourselves for the bone rattling tremors to stop.

When they eventually did, someone coughed out some dust and asked, “What was that?”

“The siege runes just failed,” Chase answered grimly.

“Damn it,” Stygus growled and wiped dust off the map he’d been using. “This is a targeted assault against us specifically. The pegasi are here to kill the nightkin, regardless of casualties taken. They don’t even need to use strategy to defeat us at this point! Castle Blackrock is barely passable as a defensive location, and we’re outnumbered at least ten to one, probably more. They can just endlessly throw themselves at us, and eventually we’ll all be dead.”

“I know,” Chase frowned and stood next to him, observing the map. “Castle Blackrock’s location is a secret, so how did they even know to come here?”

“We were betrayed, that’s how,” Stygus muttered. “One of our generals had to have defected to let those pegasi past, and one of our servants has to be a spy.”

“Notice how the sun’s staying at its zenith?” Chase asked him. “Celestia’s know we’re under attack, and she’s stopping us from using Luna’s magic to escape.”

Stygus fell to his haunches. “And with the siege runes gone, there’s no way we can break out of here with an assault. Even if we did, they’d surround us and cut us down.”

They both fell silent as they stared at the maps. After a moment Stygus started chuckling as he ran his hooves through his mane. It took a moment, but Chase snorted and shook her head, sitting down next to him. “It just doesn't make sense,” she said.

“Chase, what does this mean?” I asked as I stepped forward.

She pawed the ground, before snorting and looking up at me. “It means pray.”

“We cannot win this battle, we cannot escape, nor can we keep them out.” Stygus looked across at me. “Chased Redemption is right. Pray, because only Luna can save us now.”

Chapter 6: Pyra