I flopped onto the cold earth with all the grace of a dying fish. I was out of breath and scared, pissed, and relieved all at the same time as I took in the stone walls of the Night Guard's building, “What the buck was that!?” I shouted a few octaves louder than normal, but I didn't care. Whirling around, I looked up into the stand, ready and eager to say a number of horrible things to Martial Cadence.
Only she wasn't there. Nopony was here. I was left to scan the empty building in confusion. The shadowy box was gone, leaving the field open and bare. No recruits running through some gauntlet of the damned, no sergeant cursing out a line of ponies, and no observers. Just me, alone in the equivalent of a dark castle.
I rose to my hooves, the clanking of my armor the only thing breaking the silence. Did everypony go home and forget about me here? I snorted, beginning my journey back to the entrance with every intention of telling them all off, consequences be damned.
I was ten steps from the tunnel when a metal gate slammed into place before me, cutting me off. I jumped backwards on instinct only for my back hooves to catch together and send me flank over head. Just in time too as something struck dirt where I'd been a moment ago.
The lance that was buried in the dirt up to its cross-guard was a couple stallions in length and the mare that descended to it was the incarnation of evil itself. Martial Cadence retrieved her weapon in a flourish, transferring it from hoof to wing in a single motion where it stayed balanced on her outstretched wings. After realizing that she'd been aiming for me, I shouted, “What the buck are you doing, you psycho!?” Her answer made the blood in my veins freeze.
“Killing you.”
Then she was airborne. Looking back on it now, I have to admit that there was a lethal beauty to her movements. Lance and mare moved as one being as it twirled off of her wings to her waiting hoof. Curling it up against her body, she dove like a hunting falcon and it was all I could do just to roll to the side and avoid becoming an ornament for her blade.
Then I was forced to keep rolling like an obedient dog as she struck with the speed of a viper again and again. Thankfully, the curve of the room made up for my lack of grace and kept me just ahead of the seeking weapon as my old friend, Gravity, asserted itself. A friend that she didn't exactly care for, seeing how she gave a short hop to get into the air again.
Where had she come from!? I could have sworn that the entire room was empty a second ago. Was she some kind of ninja on top of being a demon in pony form? At least her frenzied assault had paused for the moment as she hovered above me, staring down at me impassively.
“Well? Will you not defend yourself,” she questioned, starting to circle me, forcing me to turn and keep her in my sights, “or will you die helplessly?” I wanted to snort. How did she think I was going to protect myself without a weapon? Strike that, even if I had a weapon, a few weeks of drills would never put me in the ballpark of contending with her. She had to be toying with me.
“Come on, Lieutenant, I beat your little Shadow Run! I didn't wash out, so I'm still working for the guard; you don't get to punish me yet!” I was grasping at straws. Why was she suddenly so actively aggressive? Sure, she wasn't exactly a fan of me, but I'll give her that she hadn't been trying to behead me from the start. At the time, she'd been treating me like a foal who had misbehaved.
My statement earned me a knowing smirk as she flicked her weapon across her shoulder. Her laugh was starting to make me feel stupid, “Did you,” she asked, “you think you know anything about the Shadow Run? Tell me then, where does it begin... and where does it end?”
Scrunching my nose, I peered up at her, “Well, apparently it starts with me see-,” I snorted for real this time, realization dawning on me, “it starts... with me...” I said, trying to comprehend the words even as I said them. Gritting my teeth, I rose up on my hind legs and pointed an accusatory hoof at “Martial Cadence.”
“You're not real... none of this is real!”
Her smirk never left her face as she drifted lazily across the air, “I'm not real? Is that so,” I never saw her move as a line of pain spread across my muzzle, the blade of her lance flicking in front of my eyes with my blood coating it, “are you still so sure?” I jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the next thrust of the blade.
It was all I could do to keep from being skewered by her as I used every ounce of agility I'd gained over the past few weeks. She was gloating the entire time, “Come now, I expected more of you. You decided the rules don't apply to you and chose to play the hero. Show me what you're made of, little hero. Fight me!”
“I told you,” I spat in the middle of my defensive movements, “it was all dumb luck! I never wanted this, I just wanted to be a normal stallion with normal pony problems! Every time, stupid ponies like you just see what you want to see! It! Was! Just! LUCK!”
“We are proud defenders of Equestria. Every day and every night we hone our skills to protect our homes from all threats. We don't believe in luck!” The strikes were becoming more frantic as... whatever this was seemed to take offense to my words. I couldn't help but get more and more frustrated as time went on.
I hated my Cutie Mark. Ever since I'd gotten the blasted thing, my life had become a string of misinterpretations and I just wanted it to stop. I wasn't a warrior or a guard. Yet here I was, trying not to get run through. True, I wasn't doing a very good job; the clash of metal on metal could attest to that as each of her strikes began to draw closer and closer to hitting their mark.
The pain was real enough even if nothing else was. I wasn't sure what sort of sick, twisted game was being played on the other recruits and me, but I had seen enough. I wasn't skilled enough to beat this image of the lieutenant in a fight and I couldn't dodge forever. I could already feel myself running out of steam.
...as much as I hated it, I was going to need some dumb luck.
With a sound of defeat, I glanced toward my flank and muttered bitterly, “Don't screw me on this.” Then I threw myself forward, hoping beyond hope that I wasn't about to die.
I was so going to die. The lance was aimed straight for my barrel and held tight in both of her hooves for a final strike. She was still smiling in that knowing way as I reversed direction and came toward her. This was the end. We both knew that without a shadow of a doubt.
Let me tell you, there's a moment when death is so far beyond certain that you get a sense of peace. Oh, no doubt this was going to hurt, but it was the last pain I was every going to have to deal with. Not to say that I was going quietly. My mind was in overdrive as the shining blade approached. All of the frustrations I'd felt over the years at all the stupid stunts I'd done by accident were boiling within me. Her smile only served to add fuel to the fire.
I wanted, for just one moment, to wipe that smile off of her face more than anything. This was going to hurt, but damn it, I was going to have the last laugh as I squared my shoulders and lowered my head.
I should probably take this moment to tell you that Sergeant Boomer was eager to rip into a recruit for any small slight. That included scuffs and dirt on your armor, so every day after practice all of us had to clean our armor until it shined. Add into that the natural dark of the building I was currently in and a well-placed torch and you can see why this was all just happenstance.
Light, meet helmet. Light's reflection, meet thestral eyes. She shut her eyes with a grunt and her sure stroke suddenly tipped to one side, skidding off my chestplate as I slammed into her. I may be pretty scrawny, but the bone structure of an earth pony is pretty dense and few pegasi, or thestrals in this case, usually have to deal with an earth pony baring down on them. So, with the sudden rush of air being knocked from her lungs, we went sprawling in a heap.
The lance clattered away, skidding off into the darkness as we hit the ground. We were equally surprised by this turn of events, but she was quicker to recover and she went from being on bottom to being on top. Pinned as I was, I could only look up at her as her smile gave way to the more familiar scowl.
Her lips parted, giving me a good look at those long fangs as she hissed. Rearing back her head, I only got a moment to process what she was going to do before she lunged for my neck and-
Suddenly turned into a cloud of bubbles that floated away...
“What?”
A soft, genuine chuckle filled the air, distinctly feminine, but thankfully not the Lieutenant. Did she even know how to laugh like this? Questions for later. I rolled to my belly and looked around for the source. Peering around didn't help. Much like before, this arena of doom was devoid of life other than myself.
“I must say,” came the voice that made my ear flick, “you have an unorthodox strategy for combat. Most would call it foolish, but it appears to work for you.” The structure around me faded, giving way to the void of “I can't see anything.” Well, I supposed that confirmed that I was still in the Shadow Run. The question was rapidly becoming “where does this nightmare end?”
Movement to my right caught my attention and I jumped up to face whatever this new threat might be. I was so not ready for what I saw. Just a few paces from me, emerging from the darkness, was a mare on par with the lieutenant for height, but that's where the similarities ended.
The mare in question had a deep, navy blue coat and her sapphire eyes gazed at me with a measure of mirth. Both mane and tail were living pieces of the sky pressing points of starlight against the void behind her. If that hasn't given you enough to piece together who I was looking at, here's what put the final nail in that coffin. The mare in front of me had her groomed wings extended to each side and her horn was aglow with azure magic.
Yes, wings and a horn...
“I'm sure that you have many questions.” Princess Luna herself stated to me....