It was noon, and Sunset Shimmer was now pacing in front of a small group of unicorns, whom had been gathered by Trixie and Lightning in the barn. Some of them seemed rather nervous about being here, but others were enthusiastic about either stopping the invasion of Fillydelphia or having the opportunity to learn more about magic from a professional.
"Alright, everypony." said Sunset, strutting about in her green ensemble. "I suppose you all know why you're here?"
"Yes, ma'am!" said the unicorns in unison.
Sunset turned to look at them all, flaring her sunglasses in their direction.
"Allow me to introduce myself." she continued. "My name is Sunset Shimmer. I am the former student of Princess Celestia, and the current student of Princess Luna. As you'd probably guess, I know quite a bit about magic. And we're here to help you all with those creatures attacking your town."
"It's about time." said a unicorn.
"Yeah!" shouted another in agreement. "This will be the last time that I have to deal with those blasted manticores tearing my stores apart!"
"And we're getting one of the princess' own disciples to guide us, too!" cheered a third. "It's a miracle!"
"Thanks, you're all too kind." said Sunset, before clearing her throat. "All right, everypony! It's time to put your hoof down on these monsters attacking you. While you're here, you will learn how to help yourselves and those around you! And the first thing we will do...is turn this broken-down farm into a training area for the rest of Fillydelphia!"
Two or three unicorns groaned.
"So you want us to do construction work?" asked one of the neigh-sayers. "But I've never done anything like that in my life! I own a flower shop, for Celestia's sake!"
"And would you prefer that those creatures destroy that, too?" countered Sunset Shimmer.
"Well, no..."
"Then I want you ponies to go out into that field, and do something fancy with all that farming equipment out there!"
"Yes, ma'am!" the unicorns said together, before departing from the barn.
For the next two hours, the group of ponies was working out in the fields, using their magic to reverse-engineer the equipment that was initially laid out on the field. In time, there was an obstacle course that all three kinds of ponies could use. There was even a makeshift catapault that pegasi could be speedily launched from.
"Wow, this looks so...cool!" said Lightning Dust, when she saw the course. "It almost reminds me of the Wonderbolts Academy!"
"You were with the Wonderbolts?" asked Trixie Lulamoon.
"Yeah." answered the blonde pegasus. "Well, I trained to be one. But I was kicked out for being too reckless."
"I'm sure you learned from that mistake now, right?"
"I sure did."
"Alright, Lightning!" Sunset called to her. "Your exercise is up now! Don't let me down!"
Lightning Dust flew off to the obstacle course, with her two friends cheering her on.
Meanwhile, Radiant Dawn was drilling the Night Guard in their training quarters, which was built inside a vast cave deep inside the mountain. Luckily, the chambers were illuminated by torchlight, or being able to work in this cavernous area would be impossible for most of the ponies in the Night Guard.
"Listen up, you shut-eyed weaklings!" Radiant said to the other guards. "I have been appointed by Princess Celestia herself to train you all to your limits! As your new drill instructor, I demand only the respect required to cooperate with not only me, but your brothers-in-arms! Do you understand me?"
"Sir, yes sir!" said the various earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns in silver armor.
"Alright, then." said Radiant, easing up. "Now that I've got your attention, I would like to have the pegasi and unicorns pair up with each other."
Quickly, each pegasus guard flew over to a unicorn, and each pair stood apart from each other.
"Very good, my fine stallions and mares." Red Dawn said, proudly. "Now you have found a partner, so you are ready to learn how to work together as a team. The unicorns shall use their magic to detect objects in the darkness, and the pegasi will seek them out. Follow me, everypony."
Radiant directed the teams to a large silver door that led further underground.
"But, sir..." inquired an earth pony guard. "What about us?"
"You are welcome to observe our scouting teams in action." answered Radiant Dawn. "Now come along, if you prefer to do so."
He saw the earth pony guards grumbling in annoyance, so he added:
"Look, it's not that I have anything against earth ponies!" he said. "In fact, one of my best friends back home is an earth pony. I promise that I'll do something for you all next time."
Radiant Dawn and his recruits went through the door, and onto a balcony overlooking an even larger chamber that was mostly unlit. They could barely see a number of openings on the other side.
"I have had Princess Luna's bat-ponies place two-hundred pieces of copper throughout this network of caves." he explained. "You each have five minutes to find as many as you can. The team that finds the most copper, and brings it to me will win. I want one team to go at a time. Remember, the unicorn shall stand here on the platform, and use their magic to find the copper. They will then direct their pegasus partner to retrieve it. Any further questions?"
"No, sir!" said the unicorns and pegasi.
Radiant approached the team nearest the end of the balcony: a male unicorn with a silver coat and black mane, and a male pegasus with a red mane and brown coat.
"Identify yourselves to me, if you would please." he addressed them.
"Silver Shadow, at your service." said the unicorn, with a bow.
"Crimson Cloud, reporting for duty." said the pegasus, with a salute.
"Good." said Radiant. "You two shall go first."
The other teams retired back to the other side of the door, while Radiant Dawn, Crimson Cloud, and Silver Shadow waited on the platform.
"And...go!" shouted the orange-red instructor.
Silver Shadow stood in the middle of the platform, and stroked the air with his horn. Once in a while, his horn would glow with a pale aura. Every time this happened, Crimson Cloud would speed into the darkness, and re-emerge with some copper pieces in his pouch. He emptied them at Radiant's hooves, and then waited for Silver to detect another cache of copper. When the five minutes were up, Radiant had Silver and Crimson count all the copper pieces that they acquired through their teamwork.
"Sir, we have acquired a perfect fifty." said Silver Shadow, once he finished counting.
"Good work." said their instructor. "Now, you are both excused at this time. As you return to the other room, send the next team in here."
"Yes, sir!" said Silver and Crimson together.
They went back through the door, and in came a male unicorn with a dark gray coat and white mane, and a female pegasus with a white coat and orange mane.
"Just to give you two a fair warning:" said Red Dawn. "The first team acquired quite a number of copper pieces already. Make sure that you remain conscious of your surroundings. Now give me your names."
"Night Runner, sir!" replied the unicorn.
"Sky Boom!" stated the pegasus.
"Get into position." said Red. "And...begin!"
Night Runner began searching feverishly through the darkness, straining to detect the copper pieces. Forty-five seconds later, his horn was still unlit.
"Oh, come on!" commented Radiant. "The bat-ponies couldn't have hidden the other copper pieces that well!"
Right on cue, the gray unicorn's horn illuminated with a blue aura. Sky Boom soared off of the balcony, in order to search for the copper pieces that her partner detected. Two minutes later, she returned with a fair amount of copper in her pouch.
"Anything else?" Sky asked Runner, as soon as the pouch was emptied.
"Yep, we've got another one, over there!" said Night Runner, when his horn lit up again. "Quickly, now!"
"On it!"
The pegasus flew into the openings again, and returned almost immediately with another scoop of copper in her pouch. She emptied it, and then flew on again when the unicorn detected another hiding place. She did not return until only twenty seconds remained. Night Runner did not detect another pile until immediately before the time limit expired.
"Count 'em up!" ordered Radiant.
"Twenty-three, sir!" said Sky Boom, after counting them.
"Twenty-four, actually." corrected Night Runner.
"Either way, that is a decent amount." said Radiant. "Send the next group in after you leave."
Next, entered a female unicorn with an orange coat and blonde mane, followed by a male pegasus with a purple coat and bluish-green mane.
"Names, please." said Radiant.
"Crown Jewel." said the unicorn, absent-mindedly.
"Green Aether." said the pegasus.
"Get yourselves in position." said Radiant Dawn.
When the unicorn and pegasus were both standing side-by-side on the edge of the balcony, Radiant told them to start. But for a while, Crown Jewel was unable to detect any copper pieces. After thirty seconds, Green Aether became impatient, and flew off into the darkness without any directions.
"Hey, get back here now!" shouted Radiant after him. "You're not supposed to fly off until your partner's detected copper!"
But the pegasus did not fly back. Meanwhile, Crown Jewel was still searching about with her magic. She detected some copper pieces in the opening opposite of the one Aether flew into. Since her partner wasn't there to collect it, she decided to use her own telekinesis to bring it to her. But Radiant, however, wasn't amused by this, either.
"I saw that!" he snapped. "You're not supposed to collect it yourself! That was your partner's job! Just leave it where it was, and find another area."
"Sorry, sir." said Crown Jewel, nervously.
Green Aether then flew back, and was about to empty his pouch in front of Radiant, when he found himself with several sparks shooting off into his face, due to Radiant's unstable magic. When the sparks cleared, he was looking straight into Radiant Dawn's glaring copper eyes.
"Put...those...back!" growled the orange-red stallion.
"But, sir! I found a whole bunch of--"
"Now!" shouted the large unicorn.
"Right, then..." said Green Aether, flying off in a panic to return the copper to its original locations.
Then Green Aether returned, and he and his partner stood nervously before their instructor, who was ominously looming over them.
"You two are missing the point of this exercise!" scolded Radiant. "It's supposed to be about teamwork! And right now, getting you two to work together is like trying to get a dragon to mate with a cockatrice."
"Eww." moaned Crown Jewel, softly.
"That's right." said Radiant. "That sums up how I feel about this little mismatch of yours. Now unless you can prove to me in the next two minutes that you two can work together, I will personally see to it that you two won't be guarding anything bigger than a three-year-old filly's birthday party!"
The unicorn and pegasus gulped loudly, then assumed their original positions. Crown Jewel was able to detect yet another set of copper pieces, and Green Aether promptly flew into the darkness to retrieve it. He returned, just in time to present it to Radiant Dawn.
"Time's up, my little ponies." said Radiant. "Time to count up!"
Aether emptied the pouch, and counted them carefully.
"We have...twelve." said Green Aether, nervously. "I'm sorry about what--"
"You two are dismissed...for now." said Radiant, in a forgiving tone. "I trust you two have learned an important lesson from this?"
"Yes, sir!" said Aether and Jewel.
"Send in the next team!" Red Dawn called over to the door, after Crown Jewel and Green Aether left.
The hours crawled on, and nearly all the teams had made their attempts. Many fared well, while others did poorly. At five o'clock in the afternoon, Radiant Dawn had the last unicorn-pegasus team (a female unicorn named Moondancer, and a female pegasus named Firefly) count up the huge pile of copper pieces they had recovered through their marvelous teamwork and coordination.
"Well, how many do you two have?" asked Radiant.
"Hang on, sir." said Moondancer, quietly counting the pieces. "Sixty-two, sixty-three..."
Radiant tilted his head to listen. Suddenly, Moondancer cheered loudly when she finished.
"Sixty-seven!" she exclaimed, happily.
"Wow, you two actually beat Silver Shadow and Crimson Cloud's record!" said Red Dawn, impressed. "And Firefly, I am particularly proud of you. Not only were you very quick and agile as you flew through the tunnels, but you're probably the only pegasus on any of the teams to actually give your partner advice on which directions to check when she was trying to detect those pieces. I trust you two will make a fine addition to the Night Guard!"
"Aw, shucks..." Firefly blushed, flattered.
"Okay, you two." said Radiant. "Time for you to come with me, and we'll see your peers."
"Yes, sir!" said the two mares.
Radiant Dawn, Firefly, and Moondancer left the room, and went to meet with the other members of the Night Guard. Radiant stood before them all, and prepared to give a speech. All eyes were focused on him.
"Alright, my fellow ponies." he said. "This was a good session. I am proud of all of you! Yes, even Crown Jewel and Green Aether."
The unicorn and pegasus shifted uneasily in place.
"This was actually a very good start for you all, so that you can understand teamwork. You will see that the night shift isn't as lonely as you may have thought. Even in the darkness, you are among friends and allies. Now, you'd better return to your sleeping quarters. The Night Court will begin in two hours. Princess Luna will want her guards to be up and ready when it happens. You are all dismissed."