//------------------------------// // Night Guard: Heroes and Leaders // Story: Ink Blot's Unassorted Encyclopedia of Absolutely Everything // by Nevlamas //------------------------------// The Night Guard is one of the oldest organizations of Equestria, and the only one whose members are potentially immortal. Because of that, the collective memory of Luna’s chosen is in some ways richer and more diverse than even the archives of Canterlot. Like the Royal Guard, they treat the greatest among them with respect in life and with reverence in death. Stories of heroic deeds are used as educational anecdotes, sources of inspiration or simply for amusement. To the average Equestrian, their approach to lore will seem as strange as everything else about them: with so many of their greatest kin still alive and active, they do not distinguish legends from heroes, sagas from history. At the same time, they hold firm in their belief that every member of their order is unconditionally equal, which turns their habit of worshipping heroes into an outright paradox. The author has confronted several Black Priests with that conundrum, all of which have given the same answer: “No star is less, but some are more.”. He does not presume to understand that statement. Further research may be necessary. As a final note: while Night Guard are not commonly known for their verbosity, they do in fact turn rather talkative when approached upon this particular subject. The following articles have all been verified by several members of the Guard at least; on several occasions, reports were done by the very subject they referred to. Nevertheless, readers are advised to remember that Night Guard do not distinguish mythology from historiography. Only a few of these articles rely on scientific evidence as of now. The Centauri Twins As a star grows older, their understanding of the concept of family often changes dramatically. This drastic development is caused by two major effects: one the one hand, their ascension permanently detaches them from their original relatives – they often outlive their own bloodlines by centuries. On the other, they are trained to consider the Night Guard their new true family from the very beginning. Members of the order address each others as brothers and sisters and they mean so quite literally. They are convinced that spiritual similarity matters, not bodily relations (a belief that shows remarkable parallels to the one practiced by the alicorns). In general, the common idea of family means nothing to them. Of course, this rule as well is not without exceptions. Alva and Betta, called the Centauri Twins, are one of those. The both of them share that one title, and for a very good reason. Their story begins in a pegasus outpost somewhere in southern Equestria, in the fifth century of the nation’s existence, and could be the perfectly average tale of any Night Guard if it wasn’t telling of two beings instead of one: they grew up as weather makers, until one day a wandering group of moon priests stopped by their settlement. Cults worshipping Princess Luna were not uncommon at the time, so the monks were welcomed and given shelter. They would preach the ways of the moon and try to recruit new followers. Some would follow. Alva and Betta were amongst these. They travelled with the priests for a couple of years. They showed great promise and were soon initiated into the higher mysteries of the lunar cults – both at the same time, for their mentors knew that they wouldn’t keep secrets from each other anyway. In the time that followed, both sisters would be offered multiple opportunities to climb in the group’s hierarchy, but would always decline; each refused to assume a higher position if the other couldn’t do the same. One of their mentors eventually received a vision that ordered Alva to the stars. True to her sister even now, she ignored that command. For the first time in her life, Alva had denied an order. For the first time in history, a priestess of Luna had refused ascension. Understandably, her teachers were outraged. The vision had been an instruction passed down by the princess herself; refusing it was unacceptable. At the same time, forcing an ascendant to partake in the ritual of the stars was not an option either. Two nights later, while they were still trying to find a way to solve their dilemma, the leader of their group received a second vision: this time, Betta was called alongside her sister. Confronted with this change of plans, both sisters accepted the order immediately. The ritual was performed shortly after and for once it held more than one aspirant in its heart. Still today, the Centauri Twins are the only Night Guard that did not die by their own hand – each plunged their dagger into the other’s heart. At this point, it is the author’s belief that things take a turn towards the mythological: several sources all insist that during their death dream, when aspirants are judged by Princess Luna herself, the two of them would meet the astonished princess together, meaning that they did not only share a similar vision but the same one dream. Whether this is true or not: they passed the test and joined the stars above. For another five hundred years, they would never once be separated. They clung to each other in the night sky, their two lights shining as a single beacon in the south. They shared their duties, their discoveries, even their meditations. They continued to show great promise and earned the respect of their siblings, but also their suspicion: the Night Guard do not trust a soul that serves another mistress than Luna alone. When the Twilight War came and the Guard was split into castes, the sisters would for the first and the last time in their lives go different ways: Alva chose the Moon Smiths as her own while Betta joined the Moonlight Shadows. They were among the major part of the Night Guard that actively participated in the conflict. It would quickly turn out that their different choices had done little to set them apart. Now formally serving their respective corporals as much as the Nightmare, they would still cling to each other first and foremost. Alva forged the weapons that Betta would wield; legend has it that she made their hilts to fit perfectly into her own palm, identical to her twin sister’s. Betta was no remarkable fighter, nor was Alva’s smithery particularly fine – but when both were put together, they formed an unstoppable force. While they sealed their legacy with countless acts of heroism throughout the entire conflict, they could of course do nothing to change its outcome. When the Nightmare fell, they were among the few lucky survivors who were brought back to the stars by Commander Sirius and his Silver Guard. From that point on, their story fades to nothing. They lived for nearly another thousand years, but no great deeds followed on what they had done before. The Centauri Twins remained indifferent to the outside world; they did their duty to their princess, but aside from that focused on the only thing that mattered to them truly: each other. In the end, Betta would find her match in a Nightmare Guard she had been ordered to track. In the moment of her body’s death, not one but two stars disappeared in the sky; if the stories are true, Alva vanished with her sister, without a trace. As always in their long, long lives, the Centauri Twins had stayed together. Spectrum The Night Guard treat their heroes like embodiments of aphorisms. They are role models in very specific ways – though none of them quite as specific as Spectrum, called the Lord of Colours. He is considered the prime example of just one particular saying: that a madman and a genius are essentially the same. Born an earth walker in the third century after Luna’s banishment, Spectrum was called to the stars in his late youth. While most of the younger Night Guard tend to be less grim and bitter than those who fought in the Twilight War, he was proving to be well beyond even their average from the very beginning. With his kind and joyous heart overflowing with love for the whole wide world he was predestined to join the Dream Keeper caste, which he did merely a decade after his ascension. And from that point onwards, there was trouble. From the moment of his initiation until his death six centuries later he would constantly clash with Moon Petals, Corporal of his caste. There was simply too much Laughter in him; he utterly refused the Dream Keeper’s traditional philosophy and approached his duty with his very own methods instead. Most notably, these methods concerned his way of interacting with the Equestrians whose dreams he sought to heal. It was his stern belief that in order to comfort someone, one had to be as close as possible to them. Enacting this idea, he met his protégées in person. For every sickened soul that he tended to he would choose a mortal form below and rest his body beside theirs as he approached them in their dreams. He’d walk up to their dreaming selves smiling; he’d greet them warmly, explain his purpose, make an effort of healing them and then disappear, leaving not a memory behind. For his form, he would usually choose the least frightening appearance he could think of. With his patients, often children, being plagued by nightmares, he saw no point in scaring them even further. Instead of the black and silver of his order, he would wrap himself in garments of rainbow hues, glittering and sparkling with every step. He’d hide his pale skin beneath layers of face paint and occasionally dye his silver hair just as vibrantly. It was this behaviour that got him his mocking title, Lord of Colours. This is particularly noteworthy if one considers the time frame in which it happened: most of the populace had forgotten that Princess Luna and her Night Guard even existed, and Commander Sirius was eager to keep it that way. Spectrum’s less than subtle approach was considered an outright danger to the entire Guard. He would have been punished for his behaviour, no doubt, if not for one detail that simply couldn’t be ignored: his methods were met with unrivalled success. Spectrum died in the sixth century of his service while trying to protect a nightly wanderer from a raging manticore. By the time he did, he had long grown from a subject of ridicule into a living legend. He had cured thousands of Equestrians from their inner disharmonies. He had healed neurotic children in a single night. He had succeeded in cases where even Moon Petals had not. In later years, quite a few of his siblings tried to re-enact his behaviour, but without success. It has been concluded that it had been Spectrum himself who had made it work: madness in itself does not accomplish anything without genius to back it up. One part of his legacy remains influential, however: Luna herself, upon hearing tales of his deeds, chose to adopt one of them. She decided that from then on she would reveal herself to dreamers when required, though only the most lucid will remember meeting her afterwards. In doing so, her actions still keep the Lord of Colours alive. With every mortal man or woman waking from visions of the Silver Princess, his memory is honoured in the ancient ways again. Shimmer Swirl Shimmer Swirl’s legend is certainly the best documented of all the Night Guard’s folklore, simply because there are several Equestrian sources that back up the stories told by the Guard. The Guardian of White Tail Woods is a rather young member of the order, having been raised to the stars not even two centuries ago. Her cultural background is thus a lot more modern than what is commonly the case and so is her mindset as a result of that. Born into an age of individuality and prosperity, she allows herself to maintain personal preferences and beliefs beside her role as a daughter of Luna. Shimmer Swirl was destined to become a Silver Guard from the very beginning of her second life. She is a stern believer with little patience for doubt or hesitation. Once a mother to three children, she left her old existence after losing two of them to a pack of timberwolves raiding their village in the White Tail Woods one night. The assault had come without warning and had taken her small community by surprise, costing most of her neighbours their lives. Wounded and scared, but fuelled by the madness of a mother seeing her children threatened, the earth walker woman managed to form a ragtag defensive force and drive the invading creatures from her home. Mortally wounded by the furious beasts, Shimmer Swirl still refused to leave the settlement: with two daughters to bury and a little son to take care of, she couldn’t accept going anywhere, not to a hospital and not to her grave. For days after that she stayed alive, fighting her own demise with iron conviction. Eventually, during a short, fever-stricken rest, she was visited by a Black Priest who made her an offer most uncommon: despite her being uninitiated into the faith of the moon, despite not caring the slightest bit for the banished Princess Luna, he gave her the opportunity to undergo the ritual of the stars that would turn her into an immortal Night Guard. Strength and power were promised to her, enough to watch over her little son. It was these last words that made Shimmer Swirl agree. She could accept her own death, but the idea of leaving her last child behind was too frightening for her to stand. Shortly after, a group of moon cultists arrived at the ruined settlement. Led by their own dreams and visions they came at night like the timberwolves before, abducted the dying Shimmer Swirl from her bed and performed the ritual in all secrecy. To her neighbours and friends it was as if she had simply vanished into thin air one night. Only by meeting Princess Luna in her dying dream did Shimmer Swirl’s ascension turn from a scheme to trick death into something larger. Now seeing the world through the eyes of a star, she began to understand what the faith of the moon really meant to the world. She would finally learn the teachings that all her siblings had known long before their own first deaths and accept her role as a servant of the moon as a purpose in itself, not just means to an end. Looking down on Equestria, she now saw countless of thousands of her children resting beneath, all of them needing protection. Still, unlike so many of her siblings, she never forgot her roots. Since the day of her ascension, White Tail Woods never saw another nightly attack on any of its settlements. Her son would grow big and strong and then old and frail and never see his life in danger, convinced that he had been born under a lucky star – and never realising just how right he was. Countless nightly wanderers tell tales of strange visions that plagued them in the forest and that turned out to be warnings of dangers ahead, of the feeling of a shadow lurking just beyond their perception that seemed to watch every step they took or of sudden, inexplicable bursts of light that drove off dangerous creatures as they were just about to be pounced by them. The Guardian of White Tail Woods is considered the face of a modern Night Guard by many of her brothers and sisters and her persistence to maintain individuality has made her a role model for many. Other, even younger Silver Guard have taken to a similar behaviour, becoming wardens of their former homes first and foremost. While Corporal Fervent Gleam endorses this new kind of passion, Commander Sirius clearly disapproves of it. Ancient and zealous, the puritanical commander cares little for any break from tradition; worse than that, Shimmer Swirl, like the Centauri Twins, is the servant of two masters. While so many of the younger Guard have sided with Shimmer, Sirius cannot accept to see his subordinates be loyal to anyone but the princess herself. Dusk The unicorn Dusk is an ancient member of the Night Guard, born more than thirteen centuries ago; despite his long history of service however, he has only recently grown into a hero of his kind. Dusk was born under the name of Golden Fields in the high north, on the bleak steppes stretching between the Crystal Empire and the Sea of Song. The only unicorn in a settlement of earth walkers, he never felt at home among his family and decided to join a lunar cult when he was only sixteen. This was before the Twilight War, so the monks of his time did not need to hide away. Quite the contrary, they were openly recruiting acolytes for their faith. Golden Fields joined the order as a way to escape his boring life at home at first, but quickly adapted to his new surroundings. The metaphysical teachings of the monks awoke in him a feeling he had never known before: fascination. As his learning grew more and more profound he first abandoned his plans to run away at the first chance, then his plans to leave the group at all. It took him less than two years to ascent to priesthood and only another until he was called to the stars. There were older, wiser, more experienced and more powerful cultists in his group, but it was Golden Fields’ blazing ardour that caught the Black Priests’ attention. Overjoyed by their offer, the unicorn submitted to the ritual and died by his own hand shortly thereafter. His first meeting with Princess Luna struck the newborn star with a sense of boundless adoration that would never leave him again. Even amongst the pious Night Guard, he soon built up a reputation of being zealous to the point of fanatism. He adopted the name of Dusk and eagerly threw himself into his duties. When the time had come to choose a caste, the unicorn found himself torn between two factions: the Dream Keepers mirrored his compassionate heart, but the Reapers acknowledged his talents as a nightmare hunter. Eventually, the extremely gifted dream eater chose action before thought, joined the Reaper caste and swiftly earned his first title: Dream Glutton. For the longest time of his life, he remained there. He did his duties and excelled at them, but never performed any heroic acts to gain him the attention of his superiors. In the end he would not be known for his talents, but for his devotion. After the banishment of Princess Luna, the Night Guard’s influence on the world dwindled drastically. In her absence, they could not stop nightmares from taking hold in the world beneath and driving them back grew harder and harder. Eighty years ago, a particularly powerful spirit by the name of Eris began to make itself felt amongst the population of eastern Equestria. Fully aware of both the danger posed by such a great nightmare but also of the Night Guard’s dire situation, Commander Sirius ordered Corporal Evenfall to put his best still expendable dream eater on her. Evenfall chose Dusk. The unicorn obeyed. For decades and decades he hunted her, even though he quickly found her to be his equal at the least. Eris crept from host to host, leaving a trail of devastation in her wake. Dusk would seek out each of her victims, make them tell him all they knew about her and then pass them on to the Dream Keepers. Twenty years ago, his hunt rose to a new dimension when his prey escaped from the surface of Equestria and into another world. Relentless, Dusk requested Corporal Evenfall for permission to hunt her still – and was granted it. As we know, there are other worlds than our own. The vast majority of researchers are convinced that they lie beyond the outer spheres and the realms of darkness and disharmony in their own dimensions, countless other planes of existence that are alien to everything an Equestrian may know. Dusk could smell Eris’ trail throughout the darkness, but could not follow her through chaos. Instead he travelled north, beyond the Crystal Mountains and the banished Empire, crossing thousands of miles in the blink of an eye. There, at the edge of the world, lies one of the oldest wonders of the silver princess. The Wayward Lake is one of several mythical waters told to have been created by the alicorns in the first years of their reign, when the siblings were experimenting with their new powers. It is also one out of only two of these whose existence has been scientifically confirmed, Prince Melody’s Mirror Pool being the other. The Lake is the result of Princess Luna probing the limits of her magic: its ice has been enchanted with the power of the moon, a mysticism that allows it to transcend time and space completely. A single shard of that ice, crafted into a mirror and gifted to Queen Chrysalis of the Crystal Empire during a state visit, possesses the power to carry even common people into another reality – the Wayward Lake itself can carry any creature wherever they want to. Dusk, who had never once in his life as a Night Guard taken on a physical body, plunged into the frozen waters while still in his true form: a star falling straight from the night sky and disappearing from the world in hot pursuit of the nightmare he had sworn to destroy. And with that his tale ends, for there is no way back for him. Only when he sacrificed his connection to Equestria in order to fulfil his duty did Dusk join the realm of heroes. In absentia, his brothers and sisters granted him a new title: the Wandering Star. His story soon became a symbol of dedication: a star must do its duty, no matter the cost. Inkwell The origins of the Black Priest known as Inkwell are lost since countless generations. She is one of the oldest Night Guard alive, her birth predating even those of Moon Petals or the Centauri Twins. Early reports tell of a particularly well-read member of the Guard with a profound fascination for the metaphysical and the obscure. She continued studying the higher mysteries of the night even long after her ascension to the stars, and eventually mastered them on a level that no one else would ever achieve. When the Twilight War came, it was only natural for her to join the Black Priests and continue her labour as researcher and master mage. Far too engrossed into her studies to care about the actual conflict, she remained unscathed by the battle raging beneath – until it ended. After Luna’s banishment it was Commander Sirius who tied the scattered remains of the Night Guard back together and who organized them once more into an order with unity and purpose. While some of Inkwell’s kin were ordered back to their old duties, others were sent to the edge of the earth to gather the shards of Nightmare Moon’s empire, to search for fallen siblings or to hunt Nightmare Guard. The Black Priests however were given the most crucial task of all: to break the curse that had struck down Princess Luna, and to free her once and for all. A thousand years this task would take, that was the prophecy the Elements beneath had spoken, the same Elements that had woven the curse in the first place and whose might was not to be questioned – Sirius knew that to free their mistress meant to fight the single most powerful spell in the history of the world. Sixty-six of the Black Priest’s greatest thinkers, clerics and magicians were ordered to do the impossible. While every Night Guard caste knows and practices spell craft, it is the Black Priests that delve deepest into the recesses of mystical esotericism that is lunar magic. They are masters at dispelling any kind of metaphysical force, but in doing so they employ a method that is nearly impossible for the common mind to comprehend: by bending the laws of reason towards relativity, they alter reality with their thoughts alone. For a millennium without rest or pause, they fought the curse imprisoning Luna by plainly denying its existence. This may sound simple at first, but the educated reader will understand the amount of effort it would take to equip a fleeting concept like conviction with actual magical powers. The Priests tirelessly sought out new ways of thinking, deliberate logical fallacies or sources of uncertainty they could use to lever out the entire construct. They used doubt like a craftsman uses a crowbar. Out of the sixty-six Black Priests charged with the task, only Inkwell survived. When the spell was finally broken and Nightmare Moon returned, every Night Guard gathered to greet her back – except for them. Some had died of exhaustion, some had been overwhelmed by lurking nightmares, some had lost their minds and wandered out into the outer spheres where nothing could save them. Inkwell completed the monstrous spell by herself and then departed from her post like nothing had happened. Her new Corporal, Nightshade, found her some time later, drifting through the night sky without aim or purpose. Still today, Inkwell fights to regain her sanity. She is not yet aware that Princess Luna has been redeemed, nor does she recognize her own sisters and brothers. Perpetually locked into the moment when she last saw the world, her mind is a barren desert made of madness and delusion. Countless Dream Keepers and even Luna herself have tried to cure her, but all of them have eventually turned away in horror. They report that Inkwell still mumbles the endless catechisms of her great spell and that just by hearing the words they could feel them eating away at their sanity. Stardust The Night Guard Stardust was born in the fourth century of Celestia’s rule and elected Corporal of the Moon Smiths three hundred years later. As is the case for most of the Guard’s leaders, his actual election took place long after his siblings had first agreed that he’d be the next in line. Only when a Corporal dies can a Corporal be chosen, and thus it was the death of his predecessor that made him what he is today. Stardust is known as a reliable leader who has never overstepped any boundaries and whom the Dream Keeper Spectrum famously called a “veteran bore”. He is a stone-cold pragmatist and cares little for matters of the faith, or for anything not directly related to his work. He bears an aura of strength and level-headedness that makes him the perfect leader for a caste of craftsmen. He combines deft hands with commitment to his duties and an innate sense for his role as taskmaster. With his way of unquestioningly obeying orders he doesn’t even care about, Stardust has gained a reputation of being slothful, servile and even spineless amongst members of other castes. Such talk shows a distinct lack of knowledge, however, for his mind is not uncaring but perpetually occupied. In addition to his other tasks and burdens, the old Corporal has proven to be an exceptionally productive tinkerer. Ever the perfectionist, he tirelessly seeks new tools, new weapons, new items worth crafting for one reason or the other. He never ceases to improve existing designs either, and with remarkable success. Even the armour worn by Celestian Royal Guard today is partially based on a Silver Guard design that he came up with. Stardust remains a source of order in the Night Guard, uncommon in his normality. He has reformed the Moon Smiths into an efficient machine, working away towards perfection. He treats his inferiors like he treats himself: as tools, as parts of the clockwork that serve to do tasks and that’s all there is. Moon Petals Corporal Moon Petals of the Dream Keeper caste is doubtlessly one of the greatest Night Guard heroes who ever lived. She is a living legend that is looked up to and admired like only Commander Sirius or even Princess Luna beside her. From the moment of her first death 1200 years ago until today, she has been a shining example of absolute, flawless purity. For her wisdom and humility, she was elected Corporal when the Dream Keepers first were formed in the Twilight War and has led them ever since. Throughout the conflict she preached a way of love and understanding, fearlessly opposing the consuming rage of Nightmare Moon. Probably the only reason why the Nightmare never snuffed her out for that was that her talents simply made her irreplaceable. Dream Keepers specialize in healing the spirit, but do as well possess means to mend the body through the mind. Moon Petals possessed the mercy, will and spellpower to do both exceptionally well and her way of inspiring those around her just by being there for them pushed the Dream Keepers onwards like nothing else could. At the same time, she did what was nothing less than a sacrilege in the Nightmare’s eyes: she offered her gifts to her enemies just as much as her kin. She cared not for race or allegiance but only for the need of help. Even decorated heroes of the Celestian Solari would find themselves beneath her healing hands. Modern historiography may not even begin to understand the number of lives she has saved. On that subject it is to be noted that Researcher Dust Bunny’s project in the old Canterlot archives has recently brought up an interesting document: an ancient order written and signed by Captain Zenith of the Solari that names “the lady Moon Petals, verily an image of the moon maiden of old henceforth a favourite of the crown of Canterlot”, thus making her a champion of Celestia even while fighting on the other side of the war. By that decree, Moon Petals had been made untouchable –assaulting her would from then on be a dire crime. In retrospect, it seems no surprise that she survived the conflict unscathed. Throughout the Twilight War, Moon Petals asked the Dream Keepers to follow in her footsteps, but the Nightmare’s orders overruled her own. Nightmare Moon could not command Petals herself, as the Corporal simply refused to listen, but she could have the Keepers ignore her example. None of them had Moon Petals’ courage, and so they chose to obey the higher force. Once Nightmare Moon was banished, they were quick to change their minds. Like most Night Guard who had fought for the Nightmare only because they saw no other choice, they were quick to abandon all of her teachings and return to the old ways of the moon. Corporal Moon Petals swore allegiance to the new sovereign of the Night Guard – Commander Sirius – and her caste followed her in unison. Since that day a thousand years ago, the Dream Keepers have strictly followed her doctrine. Her careful hand has shaped them to be pensive and conservative, but also kind, strong and doubtlessly pure in their hearts. Fervent Gleam As mentioned in the corresponding article, Silver Guard have the persistent habit of dying quite young. Rare is the Corporal who manages to survive their office for more than half a century, as their caste expects them to take on the most dangerous tasks of all. Fervent Gleam, probably the youngest Corporal in the history of the Guard, was elected less than a decade ago and has already had a brush with death not once but twice. His ascension occurred in the recent past, predating Luna’s return by only forty years: he has not even surpassed his natural lifespan yet, which makes him a child in the eyes of other Night Guard. At the same time, the borderline mad courage he has been displaying for all his second life made them choose him as their Corporal, albeit with only a few votes ahead of his competitors. Fervent Gleam is known for his rash behaviour as much as his disdain for doubt or hesitation. He openly refuses the ways of the Black Priests as weak and pointless and is known to have had severe disagreements with both Moon Petals and Nightshade. Even Shimmer Swirl, the only Silver Guard prestigious enough to even dare opposing him, has been known to frown upon his orders time and time again. Still, his prowess in combat continues to impress. Like so many of his predecessors, Fervent Gleam is always on the lookout for a chance to prove himself. He has fought off cave trolls, timberwolves and even hydras assaulting nightly wanderers. He famously joined the Centauri Twins in their efforts to bring down a dragon terrorizing the eastern fringes of the Macintosh Hills and was supposedly involved in the assassination of the Nightmare Guard Blood Song. The Silver Guard have always been a source of renewal in the Night Guard order. They are a caste of the young and the brash that combine all the virtues and vices of youth in them. Fervent Gleam may be a highly controversial leader – but few will deny that he is just the kind of Corporal his subordinates deserve. Evenfall Evenfall, Corporal of the Dream Reapers, is definitely one of the more elusive chapters of Night Guard history. There are a number of oddities concerning his ascension that will likely never be resolved: why did a sergeant of the Celestian Solari who was known mostly for his iron faith suddenly turn his back on Celestia and join the ranks of the night? How could someone who fought in the Twilight War even consider betraying his own order in favour of a people that he had seen murdering his own friends and comrades just a few years before? A commonplace theory stresses the fact that the Celestian Solari were not without cruelty either, quite the contrary in fact. Evenfall is known to hide a soft and caring heart beneath his soldierly attitude, and perhaps the atrocities committed on both sides of the conflict made him lose faith in Harmony all together. In a state of disillusion and doubt, it might have been possible for a Black Priest to convince him that after the Nightmare’s defeat, the Night Guard had changed to the better – in contrary to the Solari, who established their rigorous faith with even greater ardour than before. This would also explain why unlike so many of his kin, Evenfall turned away from Equestria the very second his ascension was complete. Hunting nightmares in the outer fringes of the sky allowed him to continue in his duty without needing to interact with the ones he protected – the ones that had disappointed him so utterly. To keep his bitterness from consuming him, he turned instead to his military training to form a wall of resolution around his fragile heart. Much of the Solari he once was still lives on in the Night Guard he is today. Whether he was running away from his past or if his dedication was real: Evenfall would spend the greatest part of his second life with the iconic duty of his caste, the Dream Reapers. Throughout centuries of patient practice, he would eventually turn into the greatest living hunter in the entire Guard, easily surpassing even renowned elders like Crepuscule or Dusk. When he was elected Corporal, it was done in recognition of his talents, neither his past nor his qualities as a leader. Ironically, his past has of course equipped him with the qualities of a leader. Choosing a former Solari as their Corporal has led to some quarrel between the Dream Reapers and the Moonlight Shadows, some of which accused them of faith- and carelessness. The greater, more moderate part of the Guard welcomed his election however, and in time his good performance helped to silence all but the loudest of mouths. To this day, Evenfall’s true feelings remain a mystery. If his passion for the hunt truly was a way to escape his past, he never stopped running. Fact is that the Dream Reapers have found a capable and dedicated leader in the old soldier – and even if he ever regrets the decision he has made so many centuries ago, no one will hear of it. Silent Sigh Little is known about Evenfall’s past but nothing can be said about Silent Sigh’s, except for the fact that she has been Corporal of the Moonlight Shadows for the last two centuries – and that her election caused a cry of outrage to ripple through the Night Guard that to this day has not died down. All sources indicate that she herself made sure that her past turned as clouded as it is today – all traces and records have been wiped away, except for the memory of her oldest siblings; their silence however is as iron as hers, and the fiercely loyal Moonlight Shadows leave little hope for that to change. The caste of the waning crescent has always been looked upon with mistrust by the rest of the Guard. Silent Sigh’s behaviour and the obvious support of her followers have strengthened that general suspicion over the course of recent history, and have isolated the Shadows even further than before. Some whisperers have gone as far as to accuse her of being a Nightmare Guard, a spy that has infiltrated the order to sow disharmony from within. This serious accusation naturally clashes heavily with the fact that Silent Sigh is the direst hunter of the forsaken ones that Equestria has seen in ages. She has dedicated her entire caste to hunting the shadows of the past with such a passion that many of them have been able to forget that they too are just a relict of the Twilight War – this might be another reason why they defend her claim as eagerly as they do. Still the neutral observer will have to admit that her efforts have played a major part in keeping the Nightmare Guard at bay, which after Princess Luna’s return is more important now than ever before. However, her thankworthy choice of enemies does nothing to change what she is: a cold-blooded killer, an assassin in service of an alicorn princess which in itself is an outrage for most of the Night Guard. Only the grimmest of stars join the Moonlight Shadows, those who embrace the lounging for destruction that is inherent in every being. Silent Sigh is one of only a few unicorns among her caste, but has used her magical ability to compensate for her lack of wings. Instead of the lightning assaults favoured by the larger part of the Shadows, she has learned and perfected the martial art of Slinging, a technique that once was common amongst the entire Equestrian military but has mostly been abandoned or forgotten in modern times: it employs unicorn telekinesis to accelerate small, sharp disks of metal to extreme speeds and then fling them at an enemy. Such projectiles are nearly invisible, completely soundless and can kill an unarmoured target with a single strike without even betraying the attacker’s position. A powerful and well-trained Slinger can hit a moving target from hundreds of feet away. More than a few Nightmare Guard have met such an end by the hand of Corporal Silent Sigh; her way to kill unseen, unheard and without a trace is what earned her her curious nickname: Lady Lullaby, a title uttered rarely with reverence, often with a shiver. With her age not certain, it remains unknown if it was really only Nightmare Guard that she has put to sleep in the past. The sinister aura surrounding her name shows no signs of dispersing – and with the reputation of the Night Guard being as fragile as it is in the first place, she remains a thorn in Commander Sirius’ side: too valuable to condemn completely, to imperfect to welcome openly. Nightshade As Corporal of the Black Priests, Nightshade is responsible for keeping the faith and lore of the Night Guard alive within the order. Corporal Fervent Gleam insists that she was elected only recently. Reports given by her subordinates name her a hundred, a thousand or ten years old, call her by a dozen different titles, describe her as possessing a horn, wings or both but at the same time never claim that she is an alicorn (by appearance she seems to be a pegasus); most agree that she is female and a part of the Black Priests. Some state that their caste doesn’t even have a Corporal, others wonder whether she is their current leader or a past – or future! – one. The author has questioned Nightshade herself on the subject, who has thus far not denied or affirmed any of these claims. To my esteemed colleagues: this is ridiculous. Tell Paperback that I need a Silver Guard to talk with if he doesn’t want me to lose my mind. If he does want me to lose my mind, tell him that he won’t get my position either way. Look at this mess! I can’t work like this! The entire caste is bonkers, it’s like I’m listening to rambling infants! Tell him that if he doesn’t get me a reliable source of information within the week, he can take this article and shove it up his useless little- -Ink Blot