Lightning flashed, illuminating the shadowed plains for just a brief moment. The dark clouds blotted out the midnight moon, raining wet and irritating inconvenience upon anypony who happened to be unlucky enough to be caught in the downpour.
One such pony trudged down the waterlogged road to Midnight Castle, his cloak billowing out behind him in the strong wind. He shielded his soaked head with his right hoof, the rain splattering ineffectively against the dark armour which encased it.
He made it a few more steps through the mud before one of the guards at the sheltered security post caught sight of him. Giving a brief nod to the other guard, who nodded in assent and drew out a carbine, he approached the pony cautiously, trying - and failing - to keep his polished night-blue hoofguards clear of the muck.
"Excuse me, uh..." He tried to scrutinize the stranger's face. "... sir, but it appears that you are struggling. May I assist you?"
The pony looked up, green eyes examining the soldier's face. "Yes, you can. But not as a civilian."
"I'm not quite sure I understand."
A brief silence. "I am an officer in the Grand Army of the Republic."
The guard studied his face. "I apologize for the delay, then, sir, but I'm afraid that it's military policy to confirm your identity with a-"
"It's all here." The pony passed a small book to the guard, shielding it from the rain under his armoured hoof. The guard accepted it and, holding his head over it, flipped it open.
"... I see. However, Commander Ician, none of us were informed of your arrival, especially on tonight of all nights."
"Nopony was appraised of my departure from Midnight Castle either." He waved his right hoof. "It was confidential."
"I... see. Everything seems to be fine here, so I'll just help you-"
"That won't be necessary." Taking a moment to reconsider, Ician said, "Perhaps I might require your help up until we reach the castle. After that, I am familiar with the route to my quarters."
"Yes, Commander." The guard grasped him by the armoured hoof, all but hauling him through the mud and to the city gates. Ician ignored the sheer indignity of the situation, if only because he knew that the guard was only trying to help. Unfortunately, not all of them were too bright - most of the complex language they threw around was taken word-for-word from the public relations section of the Code of Conduct manual.
A few agonizingly slow seconds later, the guard dragged Ician out of the knee-deep muck and onto the elevated ground in front of the gate. "There you go."
"Many thanks." Ician brushed as much dirt as he could off his lower legs and gave the guard an appreciative smile.
"Are you sure you don't need me to escort you back to your quarters?"
"Fairly certain. Unless you feel the need to defend me from the rain."
"If you insist, I will-"
"I was making a joke."
"Oh." The guard paused. "It was very funny, Commander."
Ician sighed. "Forget it. Just return to your post. There are many dangers lurking in the dark of the night."
"At once." With a curt bow, the guard prepared to leave.
"Hold on."
The guard stopped. "Yes, Commander?"
"I would like to know: What is your name?"
"My... name?"
"Yes, your name."
"My name is Night Shade."
"Thank you." Ician waved dismissively. "You may leave now."
"Yes, Commander." Deciding, for no particular reason, to repeat the curt bow, he backtracked quickly and all but galloped back to his post.
"So?" His friend asked him as soon as he'd returned.
"A Commander." Shade replied. "And of all things, a Commander I've never heard of."
"Do you think he's the one the Princess asked us to look out for?"
"Maybe. He seems to have all the proper IDs, at least."
"Should we pass on the news to High Command?"
"I guess so. At the very least we can check to make sure that we've got the right guy."
Having resolved the issue - for now, at least - they both watched the waterlogged road in silence.
"So, Shade."
"Yeah, Umbra?"
"Why do you think there even is a Commander we've never heard of to begin with?"
Shade gazed out over the darkened plains. "I have no idea. And I think it'd be best for us not to know."
The winding roads of Midnight Castle, to which he had not yet grown accustomed, occupied Ician for a fair period of time. It was a very dark and dreary hour before his tired right hoof placed itself against the door of the house Princess Luna had designated as his office and pushed it open.
He entered. The only source of light was a flickering candle in the middle of the hallway which looked for all the world that it would go out at any second. A mare, decked out in fine Republic armour and sporting a pair of bat wings, stood vigil over the candle, the only presence in the otherwise empty building.
"Ah, Commander." The mare gave a slight inclination of her head. "You have returned."
"I have." He nodded. "Has everything progressed smoothly in my absence, Midnight?"
"All goes as the Princess wills."
"... Good." He heard the ruffling of feathers from the floor above him and smiled. "It is late. I should take my leave now."
"Of course." Midnight said. "Your room upstairs has been prepared for you."
A mischievous grin crossed his face. "By you, or by the cleaning staff that the Princess has been sending discreetly for the past few days?"
Midnight was taken aback. "How did you know?"
"I've been here for almost two weeks now. Surely you know that there's little I don't know."
"Hmph."
"Anyway, good night." Ician limped past her.
She noticed. "Still got problems with your hoof, huh?"
"I don't know how many times I have to say it." Ician huffed. "It isn't called a genetic disease for nothing. It's all in the genes. It can't be fixed."
"And how much do you know about genes, Commander?"
Ician paused. "Not much, unfortunately."
"Either way, I would've thought that Princess Luna's research team would have gotten a little further than what they had a thousand years ago."
He shrugged. "Master Mind had to live with it. I'll get by too."
"If you say so."
"Anyway, I'll be retiring to my chambers now. I don't wish to keep you around any longer than is strictly necessary. Go ahead and report back to the Princess."
Midnight didn't budge.
Ician frowned. "You're staying?"
"Well, the Princess did ask me to guard you all night, so..."
"Hm..." Ician paused to think. "In my opinion, you don't seem to be very enthusiastic."
"I'm not." She confessed.
"Not only am I a new Commander, but one whose existence the Princess refuses to share with the world lest she expose her secret weapon against Celestia." His eyes sparkled. "Such isolation would invariably lead to isolation of his security detail as well."
"... I guess."
"What were the orders that Princess Luna gave you?"
"She said that I was to ensure that you were safe and make sure you were always in my sight."
"Right." Ician sighed. "I don't suppose she expects you to watch me sleep, does she?"
"She... may have forgotten that you aren't a nocturnal creature like she and I are."
"Those bat wings are just part of the uniform, right?"
"Obviously." She flapped them up and down. "They're just illusions coating my wings."
"Meaning that, under your armour, you're just a normal pony who should, by all rights, be sleeping in the daytime."
"I've... adjusted."
"Right, right." Ician grinned. "Now, you're to ensure that I'm safe, are you?"
"Yes."
"So if I were still alive by the end of tonight, you would technically have fulfilled your obligation, whether or not you were actually here, right?"
"But it's my job to make sure that you're safe."
"By watching me, correct?"
"Yeah."
"Wait a second..." Ician looked around the room. "... there. See what's over on that table?"
"A... photo of you?"
"That's it. Go ahead and take it. You'll always keep me in your sights then."
Midnight eyed him. "Very crafty of you, Commander."
"Look at it this way; you are bound by military law to obey the orders of your superiors so long as they do not conflict with the orders of anypony else higher up. So I'm ordering you to go and enjoy yourself."
"But-"
"Just keep the picture with you."
She still looked uncertain.
"I'll tell the Princess you were here all night, if it'll make you feel better." Ician offered.
"But wouldn't that be a-"
"-lie? Not unless I define where 'here' is." He pointed to the front door. "Now go."
"Isn't it still raining?"
"The weather schedule says it'll stop at one in the morning. It's almost over."
She grinned. "I wouldn't want to disobey the orders of a Commander, now would I?"
"Perish the thought." He waved his hoof dismissively.
"If it's all the same to you, Commander, I think I'll stay inside till the rain stops."
"Good idea." Ician agreed. "I'll be going first, though."
"Good night, then." Midnight bowed - this one carried far more respect than the one she'd given him upon his arrival - and got to dutifully staring at the picture on the table.
Ician chuckled and, with a metaphorical spring in his step, limped up to the bedroom on the second floor. The first thing he noticed when he entered was the irate and very wet vulture on his windowsill.
"Sorry, Faye, but there was some business that required my attention."
She gave him the look that said I heard everything going on downstairs.
"Some orders to give. It's the same thing." Finding a seat on the bed, he sat down. "Speaking of orders, have you carried mine out?"
She nodded.
"And I'm right?"
She nodded again.
"I see. That means that everything is, in fact, going according to plan." He considered this piece of information. "Because know what his motives are."
Another nod.
"And also that of the 'infestation' he's going to be creating an intractable stalemate with."
Yet another nod.
"Are you going to be doing anything else other than nodding?"
She nodded.
"What?"
She shook her head.
"Never mind. The point is, he doesn't know that I know a few things I shouldn't. That will turn out in my favour."
Faye eyed him curiously.
"For instance, I know that, first and foremost, he'll be going after the Elements. They are the means to achieve his end - and also the artifacts that will seal his fate, if they fall into the wrong hooves."
Coming to terms with it, she nodded slowly.
"He really doesn't care how the war goes so long as he gets ahold of the Elements. In fact," Ician snorted, "he'll be happy if a stalemate comes around. All too happy."
Faye made a face.
"But of course, neither I nor our little infestation friends want this. To try and force a quick end, the infestation will strike at all the key points first." He mused. "Their greatest threats are the mercenaries. They're going to try and disable the respawn points somehow, I can bet on that."
The vulture looked at him.
"But if anything even more certain, it's that the Mirror Pool will be history before they invade."
Faye adopted a quizzical expression.
"Right, you were never told, were you?" Ician chuckled. "I don't think many other ponies know either. Not even the mercs, if my suspicions of the Administrator wiping their memories are true."
She looked at him, as if to say What is it?
"The mercenaries' origins, of course." He explained. "Between RED team and BLU, one set of ponies - and yes, a zebra and a dragon - have turned into two. I borrowed one of Luna's unicorn research divisions for a little bit to investigate this possibility. As it turns out, there are traces of Pool magic on all the mercs we tested. Which is basically the whole BLU team."
The expression of confusion on Faye's face slowly changed into one of understanding.
"This doesn't prove that they're the clones." Ician quickly said. "It just proves that they've been in the Mirror Pool. My guess is that both the clones and the originals have had their memory wiped so as to ensure that nopony knew how the Administrator's been keeping this stalemate alive for so long - by equalizing talent distribution among both teams almost totally evenly." He chuckled. "That, and I bet both sides are convinced that the other's just a bunch of changelings."
She nodded.
"Speaking of changelings," Ician said, "let's get back to the original topic. The Mirror Pool's going to go. I don't know how they're going to do it, but they will. They'll probably use explosives to either cause a cave-in or wipe it out totally so nopony will ever be able to use it again."
She nodded again.
"This means that we have extremely limited number of troops - even more so if I can't get the Republic and the Empire to work together after their sovereigns' deaths - and two teams of mercenaries who hate each other to the core. The infestation, on the other hoof, have a nigh-infinite number of troops at their disposal and a doggedness borne of the need to survive." He turned to Faye. "What do you think the odds of our victory are?"
She raised her talon and made the best impression of a zero as she could.
Ician grinned broadly. "I like those odds."
Faye shook her head in exasperation.
"Relax." He nudged the vulture jokingly. "It's a bit too early on to determine if we're really going to lose or not. After all, every battle won increases the odds of overall triumph, even if only slightly. Zero percent becomes one, then two, then three..." A little chuckle escaped his lips. "Soon enough, our victory will be assured."
Her gaze exuded dissatisfaction.
"Not really against the changeling infestation." He added. "But very, very much so against the Administrator."
The look she gave him was one which expressed the need for explanation quite clearly.
"He thinks we're on his side. We're not."
Faye raised her eyebrow.
"He doesn't know that we know that his aims are not synonymous with my aims."
Her cluelessness displayed itself on her face.
Ician sighed. "At some point in time, he's going to turn against us. Probably when he gets the Elements, because then he'll be almost unstoppable, especially if we're still battling it out with the changelings.
"But," he continued, "he thinks he's already won. He thinks that nopony is smart enough to defeat him. And that's good, because we'll sneak right under his radar. Then, when the time is right..." Ician drew an imaginary line across his neck. "... That's one malformed miscreant less for Equestria to worry about."
Faye nodded.
"He thinks that the Pyro's interview was the beginning of the end. In fact, it was only the end of the beginning. The real battle starts now. He's going for a stalemate." Ician grinned. "But I'm going for the checkmate."
"Are the preparations finally complete?"
"They are, my queen. The army will march on your order."
"Excellent. So begins phase one of the master plan."
"Should we move out at once?"
"No. I've yet to tie up some... loose ends, shall we say."
"Ah. We will wait, then."
"Yes. In the meantime, prepare our forces for immediate action. And when I say immediate, I mean immediate. I plan to attack the second I've finished taking care of unfinished business."
"Of course, your majesty. Shall I take my leave now?"
"You may."
...
"Now, my dear sisters, it's time for a fond farewell. I'm afraid I can't let your Equestria stand in the way of my nation's survival. My changelings will feed, no matter what my feelings for the two of you are.
"Fortunately, the only feeling there is is spite.
"I'm going to have a lot of fun tearing your self-righteous plots off their thrones."