“P...Princess Luna? Gah, Princess Luna!” I wasn't sure which hoof I should salute with or if I should bow. I ended up with both front hooves at my brow and my face in the dirt, much to her amusement. Her laughter was gentle and reserved. With a soft motion of her hoof, she beckoned me to rise.
“Please, don't stand on ceremony. I am no more Luna than you are that young colt you once were. In fact, I am less so,” she tittered at my confused look, “I am an echo. A piece of her magic woven into the structure that she helped build. Come, let me explain.” She turned, urging me to follow and I quickly fell in step behind her.
One hoof swept in everything around her, “As you've no doubt surmised, the Shadow Run is not an obstacle course in the traditional sense. When Luna returned from the moon, she was still a creature of a forgotten world. In her eyes, the ponies of today were... skittish, to put it gently.”
She paused, turning to face me, “It was difficult for her to accept peace at first and the Shadow Run represents that. In her heart, she held a fear that the enemies of Equestria would not hesitate to take advantage of the lax nature of the ponies around her. When she first started recruiting for the new Night Guard, she refused to accept anything less than the brave few, but how could she find those?”
The echo of Luna flapped her wings and hovered just above the ground, allowing her to gesture with both front hooves at the area around us. A small smile flit across her face, “by creating an obstacle course where the obstacles were not physical things, but the things locked deep in a pony's mind. Their fears.”
I stood quietly, taking in the information she was giving me. If every recruit was dealing with their unique fear and it manifested like my first one did, then, “...if it's alright to ask, what happens to those who fail an obstacle?”
Dropping to her hooves again, Echo (as I decided to call her) nodded to me, “Don't worry, failure doesn't mean anything too drastic. The illusion magic at work here is meant to simulate an experience as realistic as possible. Pain is something that happens here, but if an encounter were to end fatally, the illusion breaks and the pony in question is sent to the center of the field to wait. In truth, it's where you would have ended up if that attack had finished, but I deemed it that you had fulfilled the criteria for victory.”
I gazed at her with uncertainty, “...and what exactly is the criteria for victory?”
Ruffling her wings, Echo gave me an approving nod, “A fantastic question. The answer is facing what you fear most. There are three steps to this course: past, present, and future. You faced the fear of moving on as your past. Your present was the mare you feel is most dangerous to your way of life. The last I'll let you figure out on your own as it is... confusing, even to me.”
The inquiry must have been written on my face as she sighed and gestured for us to continue moving. After a moment of quiet, she spoke again, “Normally, I would not appear to you until the end of the third trial, but yours is... strange to say the least. It is not something that can be conjured here,” she held up a hoof to stall the question on my lips, “it wouldn't mean as much if I just told you what it is.”
Looking down at me, her face grew serious, “That being said, there is something to go over. You are not allowed to discuss the intricacies of the Shadow Run with any who have not completed the course in its entirety. Only a hooffull outside of the Night Guard can claim as such. In truth, by its design alone, the Shadow Run is not something that should be able to be beaten.”
I hesitated, looking up at her, “What about the recruits that don't complete it? They're going to wash out, aren't they?”
A shake of her head answered me, “Nay, that is just a ruse to make sure that the recruits try their best. In truth, all of you were guards ready for graduation. The Shadow Run is mostly used as a way to find... special recruits among you. Your victory puts you in with a small few.”
I blinked, then hopped backwards, “Wait, wait, wait! I'm sorry, I don't know what you thought you saw, but all of that wasn't real! I'm no super soldier, I'm just an idiot who winds up in the right spot at the wrong time! I'm just here because I was accused of being a vigilante, see?” I asked while raising my hoof to show the locator band.
The mare before me only smiled matronly as she sat down, “Lucky Signs, I possess a fragment of Luna's abilities. I have seen into your subconscious thoughts to find your fears. Your memories, safe as they are with me, are still with me. I, like her, do not believe in happenstance. I do believe in luck, just not chance. There is a strange, thinly defined difference between the two. Regardless, whether you want to believe it or not, you defeated the Shadow Run legitimately.”
Pointing a hoof at me, she continued, “When it would have been easier to stay still and be crushed, you moved forward to save yourself from the fire. When you were outmatched by a mare several times your better, you chose to fight back. Now, despite everything you claim, I know what you will do next. Despite how easy it would be to do the opposite.”
One of her wings flicked to the side, striking the air and creating a tear in reality. A pale light shone through, making me squint and shield my eyes. When my eyes adjusted, Echo was gone, leaving me with the portal. I just stared at it for a while.
She... wasn't wrong, but she wasn't right. I mean, who would just stand there when certain death was hanging over your head? On top of that, what was I supposed to do in that last one? Just lay down as a lance was put through my heart? What I did was something anypony would have done in my position.
...Right?
That single, uncertain thought is what doomed me as I look back on it. I was so sure that this was just one, giant mistake, but even an echo of a princess is enough to put doubt into the heart of a pony like me. I don't remember rising to my hooves, nor putting a hoof toward the rift.
I had to wonder, what kind of fear was Echo referring to. A fear that couldn't be conjured here? What did that even mean considering the way that my “past fear” chose to rear its head. I hesitated with a hoof in the air. Could I really face something worse than what I'd been dealing with up until now? Did I want to?
I felt my heart beat. In a way that can hardly be described, it spoke to me. It spoke of fear and courage, unrest and contentment, and so many other things that I could spend days listing them. Anypony who has been in a position like this knows what I'm talking about. It is a moment caught between backwards and forwards that brings every wall you've put up crumbling down.
There, at the bottom, is an eager foal looking forward, asking a simple question: what comes next?
I stepped into the light, tensing for whatever was to come...
My hooves clacked loudly on stone as I stepped out into the darkened interior of the Night Guard's barracks. The soft crackling of torches returned sound to the world as a signal that I was truly back as I looked around. Somehow, I'd been moved up into the stadium seating above the Shadow Run and looking down into it made me snort in surprise.
From up here, the dark box of illusions was see through and what I saw was odd. Toward the center of the box, several stallions in armor were milling about, looking dazed and confused while Sergeant Boomer appeared to be talking to them. The recruits that had refused to enter were sitting together near the tunnel, staring at the box in wide-eyed fear. Meanwhile, the rest of the recruits seemed to be floating about the box, running on air.
Strangely, if I looked at one of the floating recruits long enough, the box would suddenly change and reveal what the recruit was seeing, like a live play. Ooh, Spark Plug had a fear of moths? I was so not letting him live that one down anytime soon.
“What the buck is this?!” cried an all too familiar voice. Martial Cadence was suddenly in my face and seething. A quick glance revealed that the other ponies in the stands, no longer hidden from sight, appeared to be unicorns focused on powering the enchantment below. That was all the more I got to take in before a sharp jab to my chest drew my attention back to the lieutenant.
“How... what... why... when...?” it was almost funny how she seemed unable to pick a question. Not funny enough to laugh when she was already fired up like this. Her wings were swinging up and down like they were on hinges in her disbelief. On top of that, I wasn't sure if her pupils existed anymore with how thin they'd become.
She whirled toward the group of illusionists, “Cascade,” she shouted, drawing the attention of a stallion at the head of the group before pointing at me, “EXPLAIN!”
I had to credit the pony for the guts to scoff at the lieutenant, “He met with the echo. Everything checks out so there's nothing to explain. He made it through the Shadow Run.”
“That's impossible!!” the thestral thundered, wildly gesturing at me. Her next several attempts to communicate slid into some sort of combination of squeaks and gags. She looked at me and all I could do was shrug. She slumped to the ground like someone had grounded her for a month, continuing to point at me.
I cleared my throat, feeling a bit more confidant after her display, “Sorry to disappoint you, Lieutenant, but it looks like you won't be deciding my punishment after all.” Silence. Then she was grinning from ear to ear like a fiend as she slid back to her hooves. Thrusting her face near mine, she looked me dead in the eyes... and chuckled.
“Oh, you silly little colt,” she practically purred, “you're not getting away that easily. You think I come to watch this charade just because it's funny? Oh, no,” she was starting to freak me out as she slid past me, flicking her tail at my nose, “I come here for one reason, Lucky Signs. Whenever some colt or filly makes it through the Shadow Run, I'm there.”
I could already feel my blood starting to run cold as she glanced over her back at me, “Because when they do... they're mine,” my eyes widened the same amount as her grin, “that's right, Lucky... you work... for me now. I expect you in my office bright and early tomorrow for... orientation.” She was laughing the entire way out of the building.
As I stood there, all I could think was the same thing I said.
“Oh... buck....”