//------------------------------// // Black Knights and Dark Side Battle cries // Story: Graveyard Shift // by TDR //------------------------------// Graveyard Shift By TDR Black Knights and Dark Side Battle cries [ Two months later] Luna smiled a little looking over the reports for the training her group had been going through. Jer'rahd had brought a few extra drill sergeants together and put a training class for the group that took advantage of and stressed their unique abilities and body types. Despite being assigned to the task by her sister, Luna took note that Jer'rahd rather enjoyed the challenge of designing the odd training. Much to the groups anguish. The exercises and courses he set up were more than enough to work all of them, including Mesa. Luna was unsure how he did it but she was actually rather glad Tia had assigned him to the unit. After two months even the most fit among them was showing signs of built muscle and loss of any excess fat they might have had, well save Mesa, Lockheed, and Millstone. But one didn't expect them to change. The two months had also lead to some interesting discoveries involving the group of them as Jer'rahd and his team put together a much more complex bio's of all seven of them. Ginger Gold. The mare had changed twice in the time she was in training. The first time she was kept under close observation as well as remaining contained. The large form she had changed into was very reminiscent of a normal wolf, only much bigger. It's fur color was the same as Ginger's though more course. In all she simply looked like a massive wolf, albeit one the size of Princess Celestia. Luna brought an entire team of highly skilled magi in to have a look at her. In wolf form Ginger behaved much like a normal dog sniffing her new environment, before finding a place to lay down. Despite the fact the change only lasted three days before she turned back it was still enough time for the magi to isolate a number of things involved with the curse. In particular the part of the curse that spread it to others. Luna included Twilight Sparkle, Moon Dancer, and a number of other individuals from her sisters school in the investigation, sending them the documents and information. Nearly all of them returned with the same things pointed out. Utilizing that information the magi were able to enchant an item that would repress the curses ability to be spread. Meaning she wouldn't be able to infect any one else. Ginger had the item put into a self adjusting collar, then accused any one who brought it up of kink shaming. The second time Ginger changed, Luna herself ventured into the enclosure. Rather than finding her as a wild animal as expected the changed Ginger simply seemed indifferent to the Moon Princess, not even seeming to mind or care if Luna touched her unless it got personal. Further investigation showed her reaction was much the same when any one else in the magi group or her team did the same, save for three exceptions. First she tried to eat Mesa. No one was surprised, nor in much of a hurry to stop her from going after the annoying fox. Secondly she seemed rather wary of Stigma, she didn't growl or attack him , but she did her best to keep some one else between him and her. This was some what odd as Ginger and Stigma got along quite well when she wasn't a wolf. And lastly she seemed rather interested in Millstone. Going so far as to scoop up the flailing discordian and carry him around by the nape of his neck like a lost puppy. Millstone was not thrilled about that. Despite resolving to keep an eye on her, Luna did not think Ginger was any sort of danger provided she could be trained to work with the team even when cursed. That sort of training would be explained and tested when she changed again. Outside of her curse Ginger was exactly what one would expect of a Celestial Ranger. She knew countless bits of information on a wide variety of monsters, was skilled in the use of traps, swords and crossbows. She could easily survive in any environment she was tested in, and displayed the lack of issue with killing that most Royal Guard still had after all her time hunting down threats to pony kind. Psychologically she was one of the better adjusted of the team, save she wasn't a fan of working with others or big cities like Canterlot. She was also a shameless flirt according to at least three of the trainers, including Jer'rahd. Millstone The colt is another interesting one and perhaps the biggest wild card in the group she had. Discordians by their nature are odd. They are born randomly in random places and none of them ever look the same save for the occasional part coming from the same sort of creature, but it's always a different side or limb than any other who had a part from that creature. The main theory was that they were remnants from the Chaos war where Celestia and Luna beat Discord. There had been perhaps a score of them born in the time between when Discord was defeated and Nightmare Moon appeared. In the thousand years after that Celestia only was made aware of three, including Millstone. That was not counting the sixty five abominations that were created by this particular discordian. Evidently two of the others while Luna was away went on a rampage as well. One killing eight or nine ponies before killing herself, and another sinking an entire city into a swamp, though the last had no proof. In the past many of them were killed by horrified parents, or fearful villagers. The few that survived into adulthood usually only did so by hiding themselves away or being sold to a circus as a freak. Which despite what many think, was a strong environment and a rather tight knit community that they often thrived in. Several of them had children themselves which had no sign of any of their parents problems. Millstone it seemed had grown up in a time where science knew about birth defects and he was treated as a curiosity by doctors, but a target by every one else for being different. One of the main problems with ponies was anything that was not a pony was something to be feared or shunned. Luna was not happy that Celestia had let it progress beyond what had driven her to become Nightmare to begin with. Millstone's physical skills were not that great. The training helped him receive a level of coordination he had other wise lacked, but strength training and endurance training did not seem to do anything for him and in these fields he lingered behind every one else, save Mesa who intentionally skewed his testing. His magic was likewise hard to get a read on. It is incredibly powerful, but it didn't have any sort of focus. In fact the more Millstone tried for one result, the more likely the magic would wind up being a chaotic mess and do what it wanted. But if his attempts and intent were vague enough, the result would be the same. For example if he tried to turn a bowl of oranges into apples, he might wind up with a bathtub full of baboons. But if he tried to turn the bowl of fruit into other fruit without specifying or focusing on anything he might want beyond the most vague terms, the oranges would wind up changing into other fruit, granted it could be anything from apples, to wax fruit, and in one very odd case, a very dandy stallion was teleported from his home to take the place of the fruit. But it was still fruit. He could get the results he wanted, but not exactly. The more vague he tried to make something the more likely it would do as intended. Simply desiring to destroy the training dummies might cast a fireball, or summon a swarm of straw eating butterflies. This of course was a different story when he got angry. The angrier he got, the more potent his powers became. This was missed at first because the teen was already a furious ball of angst most of the time. The few times he wasn't, his powers were much weaker, until the frustration of his powers being weaker drove him back to being a seething grump again. Getting him to a peak of rage where something could be done was a risk in of itself. A risk one of the researchers decided to take. The unicorn Phase Shift was a stallion with a reddish brown coat and orange and yellow streaked hair. Phase shift was now a three year old female mountain goat, with saxophones for horns and a coat that changed color depending on her mood. The testing area where Phase Shift decided to egg Millstone on was now a chaotic mess of food, candy, and singing fish that lived in the custard walls. Some how the room retained it's structural integrity and didn't rot. It has also become something of a holy ground to those studying chaos magic. Millstone was eventually calmed down and as since had undergone psychiatric evaluation. The poor colt has a number of issues, everything from simple trust issues and anger issues all the way to feelings of inadequacy and an ever present fear of what he can do and what others might do to him. He is most comfortable with his books and has seemingly at least formed a bit of a bond with the groups other book lover, Locasta, who also knows what it's like to be targeted for what she is. He is also the only one who Mesa will not directly pick on or prank. Locasta. The centaur is the most willing to deal with what ever she is put through in this training. She is already fairly strong with a good endurance, but she did not take well to any of the weapons training. She's certainly passable, but given Jer'rahd couldn't find any trainers with her body type to assist, passable is the best she might be able to muster unless she practices on her own, something she has no interest in. The magic training on the other hoof, was something she took too like a duck to water. Her power pool was not that great, though she was never trained on how to exercise it to strengthen it. It was found that she did indeed draw magic from things, but she did so like a number of other known creatures, pulling their power from the environment around her. This made casting spells in her vicinity more difficult, the range was measured at about ten feet around her, but a skilled caster had no issue getting past this. It was also tested to see if she could drain the magic from objects or ponies. She tried, but evidently was unaware of the technique or ability that allowed one of her kind in the past to do so. Mentally she was in fairly good shape, though the fear of failure and the depression of being banished from her homeland were noted. Perhaps in time Luna could fix that, but for now Locasta seemed content to study. She and Millstone talk sometimes about what they have read, though given Millstone prefers fiction and Locasta prefers factual books, their interests rarely overlap. Her focus is such that if Mesa decides to mess with her, the results tend to be fairly big in order to get a reaction. Naunet The naga was another who took to the training well. She was likely the most physically fit out of the lot of them save Ginger though her movements gave the training course designers bigger fits than Locasta's body did. She also refused weapon training completely, going so far as to take hits from her sparing partner rather than attempt to harm them. Most of the fights either wound up with her wandering off, or if pressed binding her partner up in her coils until they couldn't move. Evidently something she had been forced to do to help those who didn't think they needed help in the past. As a medical practitioner however she knew enough that more skilled doctors needed to be brought in to train her. It took some time to find those that were willing to do so as most of the unicorn doctors in Canterlot thought it beneath them. A few earth pony and pegasi doctors were brought in and a griffon surgeon was found who had time to teach some one, though his temperament was a tad harsh. Naunet learned quickly and was proven to be quite capable and steady with her hands when administering aide. Mentally she had no real issues save her pacifism That she was sheltered in the jungle for most of her life left her in awe of many things in the city, and anything that is technically advanced. She is also the closest to Mesa as she finds the foxes antics amusing most of the time and often will come to his defense if he angers some one else. Mesa will tease her, but it's little more than light ribbing here and there as even the annoying fur ball knows it's not wise to make the healer of the party angry at you. Her biggest weakness is a strong aversion to the cold. The one time Mesa hit her with a snowball, she grabbed him and used the fox himself to clean the cold off her scales like a dish rag much to Mesa's protest. Stigma The changeling is the only one aside from Ginger and Lockheed who seems to have any military training at all. While he is quite skilled in a straight up fight, infiltration and information seem to be his biggest strengths. Jer'rahd has caught him at least twice in his office looking over the notes taken on the rest of the group. Jer'rahd actually suspects it has been more than that, and that Stigma allowed himself to be caught at least one of those times just to ask a question about something he read that he wasn't supposed to. Magically, Stigma was about as powerful as the average unicorn, knowing a few personal tricks beyond light and levitation. The biggest issue came when he was told to reveal what he was. Jer'rahd and the other trainers were not happy with the idea that a race like his existed. Prince was less thrilled. The rest of the group reacted differently. Locasta and Naunet sought to study him. Lockheed seemed to reevaluate his opinion of the pony. Mesa thought it was fascinating and set out to try and figure out how to make him involuntarily change as a prank. Millstone seemed indifferent. Ginger continuously tried to badger him into taking forms that would later feature very prominently in dreams she had later on that Luna refused to talk about. Luna did force all of them to swear to silence about this, invoking a horrid promise featuring cupcakes, that while none understood, all of them with magic ability could feel when it was completed. Mentally Stigma was a hard read as information on what his race was normally like was unknown. Revenge was a very high priority for him and he did his best to keep every one at forelimbs length. Whether or not this was due to his own perceived failings or a death wish he had that he didn't wish to drag others into was unknown. Lockheed. Physically he looked as he did the day he was turned to stone, including still being stone. Reversing the cockatrice's stare was proving far more difficult than expected simply due to the length of time he had spent as a statue. Standard depetrification spells did nothing and only with an alicorn level version of animate object was he even able to move at all. He doesn't eat, he doesn't breath, he talks with more of a telepathy spell that had been reworked to his beak by Luna. This caused a problem at first until he managed to work out the difference between what he wanted to say and what he thought. He can't be exhausted, and most spells that would affect living creatures have no affect on him at all. Of course there are large down sides. He cannot fly, and his weight keeps him from jumping or climbing well. Really no one knows how he got into the loft to be able to jump down near Princess Celestia and he simple smiles when asked. Another issue is he cannot be healed normally. And just moving around tends to cause hairline cracks in his body and odd wear. There are some workarounds for this and a simple 'mend ' spell works like healing for him. A problem as well is despite being stone, it is less natural stone and more like concrete, bits can flake off and he is not as sturdy as he should be. That his training had him more of a striker that relied on his speed is causing all sorts of issues with his retraining. Mentally he is almost as big a mess as Millstone. Trapped unmoving in stone for so long has given him a number of complexes including claustrophobia, cleithrophobia, and minor panic attacks for seemingly no reason if he stands still for too long. He has a strong if justified hatred of Princess Celestia, and cockatrices, yet he also has a strong distaste for his own country and how it seems to be operating. Of an interesting note however his mind has not faded or cracked from his long imprisonment beyond the development of the phobias. Jer'rahd has found he has a very keen mind still and has a head for strategy and logistics and has suggested him for more of a planner and strategist than an actual combatant on the team. He is Mesa's favorite target as he tends to have the worst reactions to the foxes pranking. Mesa. This fucking kitsune. There is no way to get a read on the damn thing. At times he's stronger than anything else , other times he's weak enough that a stray breeze blows him over. He seems smart as he can be and clever at times then other times he's dumb as a rock. Mesa takes far too much delight in messing with everyone in the group and the training unit. There are only three he will listen to. Naunet and the fox seem to have become friends, but he only listens to her some times. If Princess Luna tells him to do something he will generally do it. And given on their first meeting and the prank that was played on Jer'rahd, the Guard Captains first response was to put the kitsune through a wall in reprisal. When Mesa pulled himself out o the hole, Jer'rahd asked if he would like another. Mesa politely declined. While he no longer pranks Jer'rahd, he also only sporadic listens to him. Another thing is that he tries to avoid Millstone. When asked, the cryptic thing simply stated the boy had been through enough, he then placed a taxidermy cockatrice on Lockheed's back without the griffon noticing at first. Words were shouted that were not fit to print when he did notice. The fox is clever, and while getting him to prove this is difficult as the damn beast is more chaotic than the discordian nothing he does is outright malicious or harmful. Princess Luna states this is a great improvement on the way he used to be. Mesa has shown rather potent magic as well, though all of it seems musically based as the fox either sings, hums or beats a time, on several occasions he has some how spontaneously activated a heart song in a group of others who carry on with the song despite no one knowing what the song is about as it is often in some foreign tongue. Because of this we know Mesa, Locasta, and Ginger have lovely singing voices. Naunet tries, Mill stone does not. Lockheed has a terrible singing voice which he is annoyed by, and Stigma sounds like hooves on a chalk board. Mentally there's no way to get a read on him as he acts like he has the attention span of a four year old and while new things will hold his interest once in a while, they won't for long. Hence why most of the training courses are fully changed every week or so just to keep testing Mesa. If not for the fact he can do some rather interesting things with his singing, and his pranks tend to have the added bonus of amusing whoever is not the target, and most importantly Princess Luna vouches for him, some one likely would have mailed him to another country by now. Princess Luna sighed shifting in her chair. She had not spoken to her sister about her team since their argument about it two months ago. Granted that was fine with her as no attempts had been made to break them up, or arrest any members. Well aside from Mesa, but the fox couldn't help tease the nobles in the neighboring villas. Luna saw no reason to stop him so long as no harm was done and what ever he did could be replaced. The fox earned pay for this but had no use for it so it was simply placed into a fund for prank repair. She really needed to come up with a name for the group. She had tossed around ideas a bit , everything from the Lunar Guard, which was already taken by those Royal Guard who thought to protect her, to Moon patrol which was stupid and dumb. The team worked together fairly well, with a few exceptions and Jer'rahd reported them as being as field ready as he could make them. She had the perfect starting mission for them as well. It was a simple eviction, but the one needing to be removed was a fairly large dragon camped out on a mountain near the Everfree. Prince had already reported that her sister was preparing a letter to ask Twilight and her group to remove the slumbering beast before the smoke he expelled caused problems with the weather as thick as it was. Luna planned to act first and have her team do it. If only she could think of a ahhh.... That would do. It was a newer term, one she had never heard before, but it was used as referencing working the wee hours of the night on a third shift. The term itself was vaguely threatening as well, while remaining vague enough to not cause issues. It gave her a small measure of joy to find there were some ponies who preferred working these hours and being up and awake in her beautiful night, and that was not even including the oddly termed Canterlot 'night life'. She had yet to go to one of these 'clubs' but it would be something to check on later. For now her 'Graveyard Shift', had a mission.