//------------------------------//
// Lighting the Forge 
// Story: Dominant Species 
// by DarkPhoenix 
//------------------------------//

	Chapter 10: Lighting the Forge

Twilight woke up earlier than she had been for the last few days. Having a restless night and barely any sleep helped that. By the time the sun peeked in through the curtains, she had been lying awake for over an hour.

She didn’t remember her dreams, only that they kept her up. When her eyes were closed, she saw only darkness. Despite everything that had happened yesterday, despite watching Swift Bloom die, her mind wasn’t haunting her with visions. Yet somehow, the darkness was worse. At least a vision she could confront head on. How could she fight against the darkness? Against nothing?

She glanced over to the window, seeing the sun coming up. There was no point in trying to sleep anymore. Instead, she’d best get prepared for whatever Midnight had in store for their training.

The first order of business, she decided, was to take a shower. She hadn’t had a chance to take one after the commotion yesterday, though somepony had been kind enough to wash the blood off her hooves at least.

Standing in the shower, she felt like she could still see the blood there. Her purple hooves were stained a dark red. It was a trick of her mind, and logically she knew that. However, she still found herself trying to scrub her hooves multiple times.

Feeling only slightly refreshed, she left the bathroom, only to see Midnight standing by the doorway. “You’re awake, good.” The thestral eyed her for a moment. “Training starts today. Get a bite to eat, nothing too filling, and meet in the training circle by the barracks in half an hour.”

Twilight took a good look at Midnight. Despite the fact that the thestral most likely stayed up all night, she looked no different. Her mane was brushed, her coat was clean, and her eyes showed no signs of tension. If she even felt anything for what happened yesterday, she was hiding it well.

“Fine,” Twilight said. “I’ll be there.”

Midnight nodded, turning around and leaving. 

The last thing that Twilight wanted was to go through training. Yet, she had to. No, she needed to. Yesterday had taught her that she was woefully unprepared for what was out there. Equestria was a peaceful nation, where a pony could easily live their whole life and not ever get in more than a schoolyard scrap. Fighting just wasn’t something that happened. So when it came down to it, she really had no knowledge of fighting, or desire to learn.

The other nations weren’t so peaceful. The Gryphons had a society based on fighting and military life. The Minotaurs valued strength and fighting prowess. The Zebras had rituals that combined dancing and sparring. Outside Equestria, the world was a violent place. She, and her friends, needed to be prepared for that. They needed to know how to defend themselves. 

But more than that, they needed to know how to protect others. Knowing how to fight allowed them to keep others safe. The entire reason the various Guard branches learned to fight was not so they could go out and be aggressors, but so they could defend the ponies of Equestria.

The thought of going out and purposefully hurting others was anathema to Twilight. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. But she knew that there would come a time when someone else would be in danger, and she would need to know what to do, how to react.

She left her room, heading for the dining hall. The castle was quieter than usual, an air of barely contained chaos pervading everything. The entire city was still on edge from what happened the day before. Servants were looking over their shoulders as they worked, eyeing each other with distrust.

Ponies were still suspicious of their neighbors, their coworkers. They were afraid that they would suddenly turn on them, try to kill them.The situation needed to be gotten under control, and soon. Cadance certainly had a lot of work to do in a very short amount of time. 

Twenty minutes, and a bowl of oats later, she was sitting calmly in the dirt alongside the training circle. While her stomach protested at the lack of food, Twilight decided it was wise to heed Midnight’s caution about a light breakfast. None of her other friends were there yet, and Midnight was missing as well.

Looking around idly, she noticed that the Crystal Empire’s guard barracks were different in terms of layout from the ones in Canterlot. Here, the training grounds were open to public viewing, with only a small fence surrounding it. Anypony walking past could see the guardsponies on the field, practicing with training dummies, running the track, or fighting in the circle.

Most of the ponies walking past didn’t spare the field a glance. They hurried along towards their destinations. Not that Twilight blamed them, the entire guard was mobilized right now, so she was the only one on the field.

Finally, she caught sight of several approaching ponies. Applejack and Rarity were walking across the field.

“Morning, Twi,” Applejack said. Rarity just mumbled something, looking like she was still half asleep. But somehow her mane was as pristine as ever.

“Good morning, AJ, Rarity,” Twilight responded.

They sat next to her, waiting. “Twilight, darling,” Rarity said. “Surely Shining told you about the training he went through. Was it horrible? Will we be subjected to the same grueling experience?”

“Shiny told me some about the training once when he was home on a break. It’s difficult, but it’s designed to be. Being a guardspony isn’t for the weak, so the training eliminates those who aren’t cut out for it. As for what we’ll be going through, I have no idea. Guard training is a long process, taking months to years. We don’t have that kind of time.”

“But surely you have a theory.”

Twilight sighed. She did have several theories, none of them pretty. Rarity looked like she’d been panicking and dreading this morning all night. So, rather than say anything, Twilight opted to comfort her friend.

“Rarity, we’re short on time, so I don’t think there’s much to worry about.”

The fashionista didn’t look convinced, but nodded her head. “If you say so.”

The three lapsed into silence, waiting for the others to show up. Pinkie and Fluttershy arrived a minute later, with Midnight flying in just after. Her slitted eyes surveyed the gathered ponies.

“Anypony seen Rainbow?” she asked. Twilight and the others shook their heads. “Well then, I guess we’re starting without her.”

Midnight walked into the center of the circle and stood facing them. “Princess Cadance wants me to teach you all how to defend yourselves. We had a long discussion about it yesterday, and the decision was made. We still have no idea what the dragon is capable of, so we need to be prepared for anything.”

A sudden wind kicked up the dirt, sending everypony coughing. When it cleared, Rainbow could be seen sitting at the end of the line, slightly panting, but otherwise looking like she’d been there the entire time.

“You’re late,” Midnight said, fixing the pegasus with a glare.

“It’s one minute past time,” Rainbow protested.

“You are late,” Midnight repeated. Rainbow opened her mouth to say something, but a raised hoof cut her off. “I’m sure you have a long list of excuses,” she continued, “but I’m not interested in hearing them. Instead, know this. Being late will absolutely not be tolerated. Do it again, and you’ll find yourself running the track until I say stop. Do it again after that, and you’ll be running the track with weights on. Clear?”

Rainbow didn’t say anything, prompting Midnight to repeat herself. “I said, clear?”

The muttered response was enough to satisfy the thestral. “I’m sure none of you really want to be here right now. Only guard recruits come willingly to the grueling experiences here on the training grounds. Elements of Harmony or no, you’re still ponies who are probably not at all ready for such an intense regimen. Still, the six of you are the most important ponies in the world and that paints some rather large targets on your backs. This means you’re going to have to learn some basic combat skills in order to protect not only yourselves, but those around you.

“We’ve already seen the dragon can control others. How? We don’t know, entirely. What we do know is that the guardsponies who attacked the city yesterday, and all of the ponies who surfaced afterwards, were all present at the battle outside Canterlot. According to your own testimony, you are the only survivors of that battle. So something else is going on.”

Twilight gasped, her mind connecting the dots. She’d assumed that the guardsponies were stationed elsewhere and the dragon had gotten to them somehow. Yet if they were at Canterlot, then there was no way they survived. The guard there had been wiped out to a pony by the fireballs.

She remembered clearly that the fireballs had left nothing behind, no body, no lock of mane, nothing. If now those ponies were out and walking around under the control of the dragon, then there was more to the magic involved than just fire.

Midnight was correct in that they knew nothing about the dragon. Its magic couldn’t be detected the way unicorn magic could. It was an entirely new being. They desperately needed to understand it, to learn about it. The information about the guardsponies brought forth two theories in Twilight’s mind: The first being that the fireballs didn’t kill the ponies, instead the explosion of power transported them somewhere else, where the dragon simply overrode their magical signature with its own. The second, and more terrifying theory, was that the fireballs killed the ponies, and that the dragon injected its own magic to bring them back to life not as puppets, but as an extension of itself.

Her friends showed mixed looks of confusion and comprehension. Some of them, like Rarity, seemed to get it, while others, like Rainbow, didn’t.

“Before we begin training,” Midnight said. “I need to assess what each of you knows. I need to identify your strengths and weaknesses. To that end, you’re each going to take a test.”

Rainbow groaned, her hoof hitting her face. “A test, really?”

Midnight nodded. “A test. But don’t worry, it’s easy.” She gestured to the circle. “You’re each going to fight me, one at a time.”

Everypony spoke up, each voicing their displeasure at Midnight’s test. Even Twilight was unsure. How would fighting show Midnight anything? None of them were trained, except Rainbow who’d taken some lessons in hoof-to-hoof combat from an old ex-guardspony.

Midnight held up a hoof again, waiting until it got quiet. “Normally, I’d run ponies through a series of tests, but we don’t have that kind of time. So this is the expedited version.”

She walked up to the edge of the circle. “Normally during a spar like this, there’d be rules. However, this is a special situation. I want all of you to not hold back. Twilight, Rarity, you may use your magic. Fluttershy, Rainbow, you can use your wings. Pinkie, Applejack, don’t hold back your strength. If you don’t go all out, I can’t accurately gauge your skills. Don’t worry about hurting me. You fight me until you can’t, I call an end to the fight, or you take me out.”

She moved back into the circle, taking up a position halfway between the middle and the edge. “There’s no ringouts, there’s no forbidden areas to hit. There’s only you and me, fighting. Twilight,” Midnight called. “You’re up first.”

Hesitantly, Twilight stood up. She knew that guardsponies sparred all the time, it was a way to practice their skills against another live opponent, against somepony who could think and react. Somewhere in her mind, she knew that sooner or later they’d be sparring, but she had just thought they’d learn something first.

She entered the circle, taking up a position across from Midnight. The thestral had lowered her stance, wings primed and ready to respond at a moment’s notice. Twilight had recognized it as a stance designed to allow maximum potential, with as little openings as possible, from one of Shining’s books she snuck a look at once. She could go any direction, including up into the air, nearly instantly. As a seasoned guard, her reflexes would be superb.

All of Twilight’s knowledge of fighting came from books she’d read. Most of them didn’t go into much detail about stances and positioning. Instead, she simply stood, eyeing Midnight.

“Oh, and one more thing before we begin,” Midnight said. “I’m not just testing you on your offensive skills, but your defensive as well. To that end, I will be trying to hit you.” She paused a moment, allowing that to sink in.

Twilight felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Midnight was easily one of the best fighters in all of Equestria. It was she who had gone head to head against a large drake a couple of years ago when it had breached Equestria from the Dragonlands and attacked, and emerged victorious. Hopefully she’d be holding back, or else this fight would be over in seconds.

“Begin,” Midnight said.

For a second, neither of them even blinked. Midnight was waiting for Twilight to make the first move, while Twilight simply tried to figure out what to do. She had never learned any offensive magic, though some of her normal spells could be used to hinder the Captain. To make matters worse, she quickly concluded that she stood no chance against Midnight in hoof to hoof combat. It would be imperative that she keep the thestral at a distance, or she would lose instantly.

Twilight ignited her horn and attempted to grab on to Midnight. If she could get ahold of the thestral telekinetically, then it would be easy to keep her away. However, as soon as her horn lit up, Midnight darted away to the left.

Twilight tried to follow her, but she was too fast. The captain circled around, then dove at Twilight’s side. The telekinesis spell she was powering quickly found a different target. She gathered the magic, condensed it into a small point, and used that to grab onto her own tail, pulling her away from the dive.

Midnight shot past Twilight, who suddenly realized the thestral wasn’t messing around. If she’d hit at that speed it would have hurt, a lot. If Midnight was holding back, Twilight didn’t want to know what would happen if she went all out.

Distantly she heard her friends gasp, but she forced them out of her mind, willing herself to remain focused. Midnight was already banking back around. However, with the tight turn she bled a lot of speed and Twilight was now able to track her.

Gathering more magic, she pushed down on Midnight’s back, driving her towards the ground and keeping the thestral from completing her turn. It didn’t work as well as she’d hoped. The thestral still rode the push and landed on her hooves alongside Twilight. If she hadn’t pushed when she did, Midnight would have pile drived her.

Before Twilight could even think to step away, Midnight had already turned and launched at her. Hooves wrapped around Twilight’s neck, pulling down then tossing her to the side. She hit the ground, not hard enough to drive the air out of her lungs, but hard enough to cause her to gasp.

She scrambled up just in time to get a hoof in her side, and a second one colliding with her cheek. She collapsed onto the ground again under the force of the blows. Desperate to get Midnight away from her, she sent out a pulse of energy, blasting Midnight back.

Her side throbbed where she was hit, and her cheek was on fire. She didn’t taste blood, so she couldn’t be hitting that hard. But Twilight was pretty sure she’d be feeling it in the morning.

Still, she couldn’t let the pain distract her. Already the thestral had recovered and was closing in again.

Twilight performed a rapid teleport, appearing behind Midnight, who launched a hoof at somepony who was no longer there. Rather than lose her balance, the captain moved with the hit, rolling with her momentum and coming out still standing.

Summoning her magic again, Twilight waited for Midnight to make a move. She didn’t cast any spells, but simply kept it formless and ready for anything.

The batpony stared at her for a moment, before once again darting off. She circled right this time, diving again with a repeat of her first move.

This time, Twilight used a different tactic. She caused a small burst of light to appear in front of Midnight, temporarily blinding her and allowing the unicorn to avoid the hit.

Thus began a dance that lasted for several more minutes. Midnight would come in for an attack and Twilight would try to nudge her off course just enough to miss, or she would narrowly dodge the hit. They were at an impasse, Midnight not being able to hit Twilight, and Twilight knowing that she didn’t stand a chance against the Captain. But she was still determined to last as long as possible.

Finally, Midnight stopped, coming to rest on the ground. Twilight kept some magic in her horn, but the thestral made no move. “Attack me,” Midnight said. “Stop dodging and actually hit me.” Her stance lowered, getting ready. “We’re not here to dance. Unless you try to attack, things will get ugly.”

She launched herself straight forward, instead of to the side like usual. Even with the gathered magic, Twilight almost didn’t react in time. Acting purely on instinct, she erected a shield around her.

Midnight didn’t have any time to react, even with her reflexes. She hit the shield, bouncing off and spiraling away. For just a moment, her guard was down and she was vulnerable to attack as she regained control.

Twilight watched her trajectory. Midnight’s hooves skidded through the dirt, leaving small furrows before she launched once more.

This time, Midnight turned abruptly with the force from her takeoff instead of banking. She then came to a quick landing a few paces from Twilight. “Why won’t you fight?”

“I am fighting,” Twilight said.

“No, you’re defending. Right there you had the perfect moment to attack. I was completely open. Yet you just watched me. Why?”

“I...” Twilight trailed off. Why didn’t she attack? The entire fight, she’d only been making sure that Midnight stayed away from her. Her side and cheek still smarted from those two blows. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Midnight walked slowly up to Twilight. When she was standing in front of her, the Captain reached out, grabbed Twilight’s neck and threw her down. She straddled Twilight’s back, one hoof wrapped around her neck and applying pressure.

Twilight’s neck was at a very uncomfortable angle and it was difficult to breathe. “I’m taking it easy on you, you know,” Midnight said. “I have no qualms about injuring you.” 

“Hey! You can’t do that!” Rainbow yelled. She and Applejack were up and coming over towards them.

Midnight looked over at them, her next words stopping them in their tracks. “That goes for all of you. If you won’t fight, then I’m going to show you just how ugly I can be, how ugly things will get when you’re fighting real enemies.” She shot them both a fierce glare. “Now sit back down, all of you.”

She leaned over Twilight, bringing her mouth right by her ear. The increased weight pressed her muzzle into the dirt. “Do I make myself clear?” Twilight was silent, still trying to get a decent breath, prompting Midnight to speak again. “Answer me!”

“I get it,” she managed to get out. The weight on Twilight’s back disappeared and she stood up, snorting dirt out of her nostrils.

Midnight had moved away several steps. “Fight me like you mean it. If you won’t fight me to save yourself, then you’d best imagine that I’m threatening your friends.” She stared at Twilight for a moment. “Whatever you have to do to convince yourself to fight, do it. Otherwise I will stop holding back, and this fight will end when you can no longer stand up.”

Twilight prepared herself, gathering magic in her horn. She didn’t want to fight Midnight, she didn’t want to hurt her. But, she didn’t want to fail, either.

Yesterday she’d failed, and Swift Bloom had died. Berry Fields was now left without a mother or father, an orphan because of her failure. If the price of that was watching other ponies suffer and die on her account, then she was not about to let it happen again. 

She wanted to learn how to defend others, and the first step along that path, according to the captain, was fighting her. Twilight wasn’t sure how this would accomplish her goal, but she’d see it done, if Midnight said so.

They took their places on the field once again and faced each other. However, this time, she didn’t wait for Midnight to attack. Instead, she fired off a spell as soon as the match began. It was a simple bolt of kinetic energy, designed to apply force to an object without using telekinesis. Rather than wrapping an object in a magical field for motion, it simply applied a single, directional force. The bolt sped towards Midnight, who was in the middle of taking off. The captain, unable to dodge in time, turned her side towards the bolt. She took the impact on her midsection and moved with the force. Her hooves slid in the dirt slightly, but she remained on her hooves.

In rapid, succession, Twilight launched a dozen bolts. She thought back to the snowball fight outside Swift’s home, where she purposefully missed with some snowballs in order to direct her opponent where she wanted them to go. She applied the same theory here with the bolts, to restrict Midnight’s movements to where she wanted her to go.

Unlike the snowballs, Twilight didn’t bother restricting the number of bolts. Dozens of pieces of magic went flying at Midnight.

Midnight quickly flared her wings, kicking up a cloud of dust and obscuring Twilight’s vision of her. She squinted, trying to see through the cloud. Then a shape darted out, coming at her left side.

Three more bolts went at the shape, and Twilight performed a rapid teleportation to her right. Midnight missed her lunge, not that it inconvenienced her at all. She recovered almost instantly, her head whipping around as the flash of Twilight’s teleportation spell also revealed where she was. She spun in the air and continued the charge, already coming at Twilight before she even had her hooves steady from the teleport.

Twilight threw out several more bolts, each of which Midnight dodged. Once again, Twilight was forced to think fast and dive out of the way. She berated herself for not having another teleportation spell ready. The captain was too fast and able to dodge simple kinetic bolts. Twilight was going to have to think of something more potent to win the fight.

She got to her hooves just in time to get knocked right back off. Midnight had changed direction faster than she’d anticipated, again. The Captain’s hooves drove into her side, knocking the wind out of her. 

They fell over, Midnight on top of Twilight, who was already struggling to breathe. A hoof jammed into her stomach and she nearly lost the oats she had for breakfast. In close quarters like this, Midnight was going to win. Twilight needed to get away.

She unleashed a wave of magical energy, blasting Midnight off her and away. Flaring her wings to land safely, the Captain graced the dirt for only an instant, flapping and traveling just over the ground at Twilight.

Twilight didn’t even bother trying to stand up, instead she put up another shield. This time, Midnight was ready and quickly maneouvered her hooves in front of her so she could drive them into the shield.

The shield held strong, keeping Twilight encased inside its protective bubble. Midnight slid down the outside. It would have been comical in a different situation. The Captain’s face betrayed nothing of what she must be thinking while Twilight bought time to think of something.

Midnight was fast and agile. She used her speed to quickly close the distance to her opponent and engage them in close quarters. That speed also carried over into her swings, as her strikes were relentless.

Twilight felt a twinge in her magic as Midnight struck the shield again. She couldn’t keep this shield up forever; eventually she’d exhaust herself while letting her opponent just sit there. Now was the time to act.

She gathered more magic, crafting a spell while still holding her shield. She had a plan for when she dropped the shield. If she did this right, she’d have a split second to release her spell before Midnight was on her. In that second, she was going to finish the fight, one way or another.

When the magic was ready, she released her hold on the shield. It flickered, and in that moment, Midnight dived for her while she let her spell loose. It took a split second for the spell to take effect, and in that time, the Captain’s hoof found its target.

A veil of darkness descended on the field, one that Twilight could see through but left everypony else blind. In the back of her mind, Twilight registered her friends shouting out in alarm, but her main focus was on Midnight.

The bat pony blocked her entire vision. With her focus just barely coming off her spell, she was unable to move in time before Midnight struck her. An intense pain erupted through her horn, blinding her to everything as she collapsed.

A unicorn’s horn was both a strength and a weakness. It was very sensitive to touch. Right now, Twilight’s horn felt like it was on fire. Going for her horn was a low blow for Midnight, but also a good tactical move. There was a reason most unicorns didn’t let anypony, outside of a select few, touch their horn.

As Midnight struck Twilight’s horn, it caused her to lose all concentration. While she had gotten her darkness spell off, it was of little use now as all she could think of was the pain.

Twilight staggered, unable to gather her bearings as her head swam. A sudden weight drove her to the ground, but instead of hitting just dirt, she was against something softer. However, a pressure appeared around her neck that was anything but soft. It cut off her air, causing her to panic and flail.

The hoof on her horn flew off roughly as she flailed. Her vision slowly swan back in. The darkness spell was still active, but fading. Midnight had a hoof around her neck, pressing down enough to where she was gasping for air. Her other hoof found its way the side of Twilight’s head. “You’re dead,” Midnight said. 

The thestral loosened her grip just a bit. “From here I can break your neck if you twitch.” She let Twilight go, who breathed deep, trying to fill her lungs with air, and get rid of the lingering pain.

They stood up as the darkness lifted completely. Her friends had been unable to see what had happened, so they looked concerned. Applejack was asking aloud what was going on. However, Midnight ignored her.

“You fought well, Twilight,” Midnight said. She gestured over to her friends. “Go sit, recover,” she continued “Applejack! You’re up.”

Twilight shakily walked over to her friends, taking a seat as the farmer stood up and took her place. “What happened, Twilight? Did you win?” Rainbow asked.

“No, I didn’t,” she responded, wiping a few tears from her eyes. “I lost.” Her head hurt, her side hurt, and she was still having to take deep lungfuls of air. Midnight was a very skilled fighter, so she’d never expected to win, though once she found her dedication, she certainly tried. The level of violence she’d just participated in... It was nothing like she dreamed, and they were just getting started.

Fluttershy came over. “Let me take a look at you.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy, but I’m fine. She didn’t hit that hard.” Her tone was flat and she refused to meet her friend’s no doubt worried gaze.

The pegasus gazed at her in silence for a moment, but backed off. In truth, the worst physical pain was from her horn, but what hurt worse was that she’d lost. The rest of the blows were hard, they would most certainly bruise. Midnight was fighting at just the right level.

Twilight watched her friend face off against the Captain. This would be an intense fight. There was a strong chance that either Applejack, Midnight, or both of them would get hurt, as the fight would take place almost entirely at close quarters. Midnight had speed, but Applejack was powerful. All those years of apple bucking meant she could kick hard and with precision. Midnight would have to be on the defensive against those strikes.

“You sure about not holding back?” Applejack asked skeptically.

Midnight nodded. “I am,” she confirmed, lowering her stance. “Begin.”

They both sat there, waiting for the other to make the first move. After several moments, Midnight moved. She darted towards one side, just like she had with Twilight.

Applejack spun, lining up her hooves for a kick. Midnight ducked, sliding around the hooves and landing three rapid hits on Applejack, which the farmer didn’t even seem to feel. Instead, she struck out with her front hoof, which glanced off Midnight’s side.

Rather than move away and continue charging, Midnight stopped, staying close to Applejack. That was a smart move. Midnight had already figured out that Applejack relied on those powerful kicks to do the most damage.This way, staying in close and face to face, the captain reduced the chance she’d be facing the buck.

The two ponies traded blows, Applejack landing only one for every three that Midnight did. It was fierce, with neither of them backing down. Midnight’s blows were quick, but they lacked enough power for a pony as tough as Applejack to be phased by them. On the other hoof, Applejack’s hits were strong, but slow and predictable. Midnight was able to dodge them with ease.

It seemed Applejack was holding her own against the captain, which was impressive for somepony who didn’t know how to fight properly. However, it was quickly becoming all too clear that the blows Midnight continued to land were beginning to take their toll. Even Applejack had a limit to how much abuse her body could take.

Finally, after several minutes, of furious exchange, Midnight got the upper hoof. Applejack faltered, allowing the thestral to get a firm hold on the farmer, lifting her up and driving her hard into the dirt. She followed that up by twisting Applejack’s foreleg behind her back, pinning and putting strain on it.

Applejack struggled, until Midnight put more pressure on her leg, increasing the pain the farmer must be feeling. “You’re done,” Midnight said.

She let Applejack go, who got up cautiously. As soon as the leg that had been twisted came into contact with the ground, she winced, but stood on all four legs, albeit shakily. Panting gasps marked her breathing. It took her a moment to recover before she managed to walk off the field.

“Rarity,” Midnight called out. “You’re next.”

Twilight expected the fashionista to argue, to proclaim that she wasn’t a fighter, that fighting was dirty or maybe give some other excuse. Instead, to the unicorn’s surprise, she simply stood up, brushed herself off, and walked into the ring.

When she got into position, she eyed Midnight. She didn’t say anything, just stood there.

The thestral seemed to sense something and she cocked her head to the side. Twilight could see a slight smile on her muzzle. “Are you ready?”

Rarity planted her hooves and gave a small nod, still not saying anything. She had a look of determination in her eye that, to Twilight, was out of place. How was it that she was ready to fight?

Midnight lowered her stance. “Begin.”

Rarity’s horn lit up as she aimed a small cloud of dust at Midnight. It was a dirty tactic, trying to blind her opponent like that, but Twilight understood completely, having used a similar tactic with the darkness spell. One thing that Shining had taught her was that if you could gain an advantage in a fight, do so..

Midnight’s reaction time was still impeccable and she quickly raised a forehoof to protect her eyes. But, when her hoof lowered, Rarity was already moving. Another cloud of dust went flying at the Captain, who dodged it this time instead of blocking it.

Rarity continued to distract Midnight, aiming dust at the thestral’s eyes while she dug into her mane with her magic. Several small shapes, encased in Rarity’s blue aura, appeared out of the well-groomed coiffure. Twilight couldn’t see what they were, only that they glinted in the sunlight.

Taking only a moment to be sure of her aim, Rarity sent the half dozen objects at Midnight. They flew quickly, cutting through the air and flashing as they zipped towards their target. They looked like little mirrors, catching the sunlight and throwing it back.

Midnight managed to dodge half of them, but the remaining three struck her, where they embedded themselves in her flesh. She showed no sign of pain, instead taking advantage of the fact that Rarity was no longer shoving dirt at her to try and close the distance.

The objects that had missed Midnight came zooming back. They buried themselves in her flank while at the same time, another cloud of dust hastily made it’s way towards her. Midnight ignored the attack, continuing her charge at Rarity.

Rarity tried to move out of the way, but she was too slow and Midnight got her in a hold. They both fell over, Midnight landing on top and repeating what she did with Applejack: twisting the hoof above her head.

Instead of giving up, Rarity’s horn lit up again. Several more objects came out of her mane, which began to lose its shape. Midnight was forced to release Rarity and dodge as the pins darted at her face.

Rolling in the dirt, Rarity stood up. Even more objects, which Twilight now understood were mane pins, joined the few that had already been sent at Midnight, hovering in the air next to Rarity. Rarity’s mane was a mess, the usual mass of pins no longer holding it up.

Sending another cloud of dust at Midnight, Rarity also broke the pins into two groups, sending one at the Captain’s left, the other at her right side. Midnight, faced with an attack on three sides, finally took to the air.

The dust cloud passed under her, but the two groups of pins changed direction, still following her. Midnight soared away, a glowing cloud of small pins chasing after her.

The skill with which Rarity controlled the individual objects was amazing to watch. Most of the pins followed Midnight in a large group, but a few would break off, trying to cut off the thestral. Occasionally Midnight would have to spiral out of the way.

Rarity chased Midnight around, using the pins to make sure she couldn’t get closer. Each time she tried to fly in close, the pins would form a defensive screen that Midnight couldn’t risk plowing through.

As the fight went on, Twilight noticed that Rarity wasn’t moving much, no more than a step or two in any direction. Once the thestral had taken flight, the fashionista had stayed still. Twilight wasn’t sure this was a good idea, giving Midnight a stationary target, and time to plan something. Rarity should be moving around.

After several minutes, Midnight changed her tactic. She would slow down, and let the pins catch up. Then, once a couple had sunk themselves into her skin, she’d take off again.

Twilight wondered what she was doing. With a start, she saw that the number of pins was steadily declining. Midnight was forcing Rarity to use up her stock of pins, running her out so she could get in and attack. She hoped Rarity would notice soon.

It seemed to dawn on Rarity what Midnight was up to, as she withdrew the pins, keeping them close to her. Midnight circled her, darting in and out, testing the shield. Wherever she got close, Rarity would form up the pins. If Midnight darted inside, she risked taking a pin to her eye.

Their duel of precision lasted for a few seconds longer before Midnight darted straight into the pins. Instead of pulling back as they formed up, she raised a hoof in front of her eyes and plowed forward. She couldn’t see, but she was also safe from being blinded. Several pins dug themselves into her hoof, another into her cheek.

Colliding with Rarity, Midnight grabbed her horn. Twilight winced, having just gone through the same thing. She watched as the remaining pins dropped to the dirt as Rarity lost her concentration with a painful grimace.

One twist later, and Rarity was defeated. The entire duel had lasted no more than a couple minutes. It had been a short fight, but an intense one. Rarity lay in the dirt, still in too much lingering pain to stand up. Midnight got to her hooves without any issues.

While Rarity recovered, Midnight brought her head up to her side, biting down and removing a pin. A single drop of blood fell from the glinting metal and into the dirt. She showed no sign of pain, despite there being at least two dozen, if not more, pieces of metal sticking in her.

“Interesting tactic, using the pins,” Midnight said. In the space of a minute, Midnight repeated the procedure. Each time she grasped a pin with her teeth and pulled it out. There were several in her face, for these ones, she grasped them with a hoof, removing them. In this time, Rarity tried to stand once, but her shaking hooves prevented that.

When Rarity had recovered enough to stand up, she looked at the pins. Gingerly taking them in her magic, she didn’t put them back in or fix her mane. Instead, she walked back over to the others, covered in dirt and laying the pins next to her.

“Um, Rarity? Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked. The pegasus moved hesitantly closer.

She sat down. “I’m... fine,” she said shakily. “I’m a mess. I’m in desperate need of a shower and a brush.” She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “But, I’m fine.”

Twilight could tell that she was anything but fine. She was shaking and steadfastly refusing to look down at herself. Her resolve was winning out over her desire to be a proper mare, but for how long? Twilight could imagine, all too vividly, her breaking down at some point and making a break for the castle. That same determination she showed before the fight transforming into wanting to get cleaned up.

Midnight regarded Rarity, curiosity on her face. “You fight with conviction. I must admit, I didn’t expect that from you.”

The fashionista’s mouth moved. It looked like she was chewing. Several times she started to say something, then stopped. “I... I’m not doing this for you, if that’s what you want to know.” She wasn’t looking at Midnight, or anypony. Instead, she was looking at the ground. Her voice was quiet. “Not even for the Princess, or even for my friends. I’m doing this for Sweetie Belle.”

The thestral chuckled. “Excellent.” Her eyes roamed over all of them. “Take note of Rarity, she has the right mindset.

“Fighting to safeguard the world is impossible. You lose all sense of perspective. Instead, you should pick one pony, one pony that you absolutely cannot live without, and each time you fight, you are fighting to protect that pony. You understand that if you lose, then you have failed to protect that pony. So you fight, and you win, because you’re not fighting for yourself.”

She gazed at each one of them in turn as she continued speaking. “This will give you focus, it will keep you strong against all odds. It puts a face on the price of failure: if you lose, you’ve failed to protect that pony.

“You may not realize it yet, but when you fight there will be a drive to win. You want to win to keep this pony safe. When you fight for somepony else, somepony other than yourself, you can overcome anything.”

The thestral paused. “I had meant to go over this later, but Rarity’s brought it up. Just remember that there’s no greater motivator than to protect those that you hold dear.”

Twilight caught something in Midnight’s speech. Her tone changed at the end. It gained a slight somber edge to it. Her face betrayed nothing, but it seemed to the unicorn that the captain had some experience with what she was saying. She wondered who Midnight fought for.

Midnight looked straight at Rarity, who had a look of determination on her face. “You’ve already chosen your pony.”

“It wasn’t a choice,” Rarity said. She took in a deep breath, letting it out in a rush of air. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I watched her instead. As she lay there, I... I just knew. I knew that she was counting on me to keep her safe. If I have to get dirty, to learn how to fight, to keep her safe, then I’ll do it.” Her words were at first hesitant, but by the end there was a conviction that everypony present could feel.

Twilight thought about that. She went into the fight not wanting to fail, certainly. That had been her motivation. Yet she’d lost track of things. Instead of motivating her to win, it confused her, caused her priorities to be misplaced.

To fight for a single pony... Who did she care about enough to fight for? Almost everypony she knew and loved was already gone, from her parents to Shining to Celestia. Cadance and Spike were still alive, as were her friends. But who was the one pony she couldn’t live without? She didn’t know, there wasn’t anypony more important than her friends now.

Midnight was sitting in the circle, seeming to take a moment to recover herself. She’d just fought three opponents in a row without a break in between, yet she was barely even breathing hard.

“Fluttershy, your turn.”

“Hey now, wait a minute,” Rainbow said. “There’s no way Fluttershy can beat you. No offense, ‘Shy.”

Midnight looked over at Rainbow. “None of your three friends have managed to beat me. Beating me isn’t the point, showing me what you can do, is.”

“Rainbow, it’ll be all right,” Fluttershy broke in. “Everypony else has fought, so it only makes sense for me to do it as well.”

“‘Shy?” Rainbow asked.

Fluttershy didn’t respond. Instead she stood up, walking into the circle. Twilight could tell that she had shaky legs, as she wobbled just a bit. But she never wavered from her path.

When she got to the spot she was supposed to start at, she stood, looking at Midnight. The thestral didn’t even bother asking if she was ready, instead she lowered her stance. “Begin.”

She sprinted straight at Fluttershy, who stood her ground. Twilight watched in horror as the captain swung her hoof full speed at her friend. Fluttershy let out a startled sound, dropping to the ground and covering her head with her hooves.

Midnight halted her charge, skidding in the dirt and nearly colliding with the pegasus. When she didn’t feel anything, Fluttershy peeked her head out. “You’re not going to fight, are you?” Midnight asked.

Fluttershy nodded. “I won’t fight.”

“Even if your friends’ lives depends on it? Even if all of Equestria is counting on you?”

“Yes.”

Midnight lowered her hoof, setting it on the ground. “Why?”

“Because fighting is wrong. I know why you do it, and why we need to learn it, but it’s still wrong. I won’t fight,” she repeated.

“Why won’t you fight? I want to know your reasons.”

Fluttershy pawed at the ground. “Fighting hurts others. Not just ponies, but other beings as well.”

“It also protects them.”

The pegasus nodded. “It does. But that doesn’t mean everypony needs to do it.”

Midnight regarded Fluttershy. “You’re here to learn how to fight.”

“No,” Fluttershy countered. “I’m here to learn how to help others. There’s a difference.”

“If you won’t fight, why should we take you along? You’ll only get in the way and be a burden.”

“Hey!” Applejack shouted. “You leave ‘Shy alone. She doesn’t wanna hurt nopony.”

“Applejack,” Fluttershy said, her usually soft voice hard and determined. “Please, let me handle this.”

Twilight was surprised at Fluttershy. She knew that the pegasus wouldn’t want to fight, but since the rest of them were doing it, she’d go along with it. Apparently Rarity wasn’t the only one to do some thinking last night. She wondered how much sleep any of them got.

“I may not want to fight, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be a burden,” Fluttershy insisted. “I’m good at taking care of animals, and with some practice I can use that to help heal ponies. You talk about fighting, but what about when you get hurt? Somepony needs to help you. And that pony can be me.”

Midnight regarded Fluttershy. “So a medic. But even guard medics know how to defend themselves, it’s required. Are you willing to at least learn self-defense?”

The pegasus shook her head. “No. I won’t bring harm to another.”

“It’s not harming another, it’s self defense.”

“No. Even if I start with that, where do I draw the line? It’s all or nothing, and I choose nothing.”

“Is there nothing I, or anyone else, can do to convince you? What if Cadance gave you a direct order?”

“I. Will. Not. Hurt. Anypony.” The conviction in her tone was strange to hear.

“I had a feeling this is what would happen.” Midnight nodded her head slowly. “One final question. If I were to start fighting you, would you just stand there and take it?”

Twilight heard somepony next to her gasp. She didn’t think Midnight was being serious about beating up on Fluttershy, but she wasn’t sure, either.

Fluttershy’s stance became defensive, her legs tensing in preparation to bolt, but still, she nodded.

“Fine,” Midnight said. “Go sit down. Pinkie, you’re next.”

The pegasus was shaking so bad that she stumbled as she walked out of the circle. When she made it back to her spot, she collapsed rather than sat down. Twilight stood up, going over to her friend. “You okay, Fluttershy?”

She let out a whoosh of air. “I’m... I’m okay, I think.” She was shaking, but her voice sounded strong.

Pinkie, showing her usual enthusiasm, shot up and bounced into the circle. “So I get to fight you, huh? This should be fun, I haven’t fought anything since those meanie changelings came and tried to take over Canterlot Castle.” She put a hoof to her chin. “And even before then I’ve never really fought anything. I like to have fun which means I giggle at things. Usually if they’re nasty meanie things they tend to go away.” She removed her hoof from her chin. “But, sometimes they say things like, ‘What is wrong with you?’ Which is silly because there’s nothing wrong with me, ex—”

“Please, stop talking,” Midnight interrupted. “Are you ready?”

Pinkie nodded vigorously, her mane bobbing around. “Yessiree! I am!”

Closing her eyes, Midnight breathed deeply. As she exhaled, her eyes opened and she lowered her stance. “Begin.”

Once again, the thestral darted forward. She opened each fight with almost exactly the same move. Twilight, now that she was an observer, noticed that. Maybe Midnight was just comfortable in what she knew, and just used the same attack each time. Twilight filed away that information for later.

Pinkie, still smiling, stepped to the side, dodging. She didn’t try and get in a counter hit, instead letting Midnight go past her. 

The Captain changed course quickly once more coming head on at Pinkie. The mare opened her arms, like she was trying to hug Midnight.

They collided, both of them rolling over in the dirt.. Somehow, Pinkie ended up on top of Midnight. “Silly filly,” she said. “That’s not how you hug a pony.”

Midnight kicked Pinkie’s back, sending her flipping up and over the Captain. Getting up, she drove a series of punches at Pinkie.

Ducking and dodging, Pinkie evaded each strike. Reaching out a hoof, she grabbed a strike, seeming to be attempting to shake Midnight’s hoof.

The Captain looked surprised for a moment, before she retaliated. Using her other forehoof, she grabbed Pinkie’s extended hoof, twisting her body and throwing the mare over her shoulder.

Pinkie landed in the dirt upside down. Midnight took advantage of that by delivering two rapid strikes to her head.

Rolling away, Pinkie bounded to her hooves. This time, she went on the offensive, tucking her body and rolling forward, under Midnight’s guard. She came out of the roll standing on her hind hooves, forelegs spread out in the air.

Midnight was thrown upwards by the action. Flaring her wings to correct her fall, she folded them once stabilized, dropping down towards Pinkie.

Still standing on her hind hooves, Pinkie was knocked over, Midnight riding her body down and wrapping her hooves around Pinkie’s neck. She applied pressure, attempting to choke Pinkie into submission.

Using her strength, Pinkie was able to stand up with Midnight on her back. She shook herself like a wet dog, attempting to dislodge the Captain. 

However, Midnight was tenacious, keeping her hold for several seconds, until she was flung away. Turning a flip in the air, she landed on her hooves, skidding through the dirt to a stop. Her hooves barely touched the ground before she launched at her opponent once again.

Pinkie opened her arms, but Twilight didn’t think that Midnight would fall for the same trick twice. Sure enough, the Captain wrapped her hooves around Pinkie’s midsection and rather than tackle her, she lifted the pony up and into the air. She curved up and around, piledriving Pinkie into the ground.

Pinkie’s head lurched forward and she lost all her air. Twilight winced. That hit had to have hurt, even through an Earth Pony’s resilience.

Midnight straddled Pinkie, delivering three powerful strike to her midsection, ensuring that she wouldn’t be able to draw a breath. While Pinkie gasped for air, Midnight managed to get her in a headlock.

“I could kill you right here, with just a twist of the neck. You’re done,” Midnight said. She released Pinkie, who was still gasping. “Your tactics were rather unique, and interesting, for somepony who claims to not fight.”

After a moment, Pinkie was able to pull herself to her hooves. “I think ponies who fight are meanies. Except for the Guard, because they are fighting to protect other ponies. I don’t want to be a meanie. But if I’m learning to fight so I can protect others then that makes it okay.” She leaned over and pulled Midnight a bone crushing hug.

Midnight struggled and tried to free herself, but Twilight knew from experience that it was nearly impossible to escape from a Pinkie hug. The captain placed her hooves on Pinkie’s chest, pushing off. She flailed around, trying to smack Pinkie. Finally, she accepted the inevitable, a look of displeasure on her face.

When Pinkie finally released the Captain, she bounced back over to the others. Midnight scowled at her as she left. Finally, she shook her head and refocused on the prismatic pegasus bouncing eagerly on the sidelines. “Rainbow, you’re up.”

Rainbow shot up. “Aw yeah! Time to really show you all how to really fight.”

Twilight had to resist facehoofing. Even after watching Midnight beat four of her friends, Rainbow was still convinced she could take on the captain. Normally, Twilight wouldn’t advocate violence, but in this case, watching Rainbow lose to Midnight could possibly be a tad bit enjoyable.

With a flap of her wings, Rainbow darted into the circle. She hovered, punching and kicking the air. “You ready for this?”

Midnight had a small smirk on her face. “You know, I think I am. However, for you I’m adding a special rule: No leaving the confines of this field.” Her hoof tapped the ground for emphasis. “You can fly, you can even go as high as you want, but don’t leave this field. There is no sense in us chasing each other all across the city and scaring the citizens.”

“Heh, you just don’t want them to see how awesome I am.”

The Captain’s response was simply to lower her stance. Rainbow landed as well, mirroring Midnight’s pose.

“Begin.”

The two combatants flew at each other, meeting in a flurry of hooves. Both of them were quick, and both of them had fighting experience. Midnight was a member of the guard, while Rainbow had taken lessons from an ex-guardspony who lived in Ponyville. The difference between them was that Midnight had more experience than Rainbow, and her abilities had been tested in true combat. Twilight knew, having faced Midnight herself, that no amount of generic training could hope to match what Midnight could accomplish.

Twilight could barely follow as Midnight threw a lightning fast punch at Rainbow, who then dodged and countered with a kick. In a fluid motion, the thestral deflected the kick while delivering a strike to Rainbow’s jaw. Shrugging off the hit, the pegasus managed to score her own strike on Midnight before they disengaged.

An instant later, they were back at it, trading blows at breakneck speed for almost a full minute. It seemed like they were evenly matched, though Twilight suspected Midnight was holding back. There was no way the thestral, with a lifetime of practice, was only just keeping even with the brash, untried, pegasus.

Midnight’s hoof collided with Rainbow’s head just above her eye at the same time Rainbow landed a devastating blow right on the captain’s jaw. Both of them fell back, Rainbow closing her left eye as a thin trickle of blood ran over her eyebrow and down her cheek.

Reaching up a hoof, Midnight wiped her jaw. The dark coat on her hoof came back glossy wet, most likely with blood. She spat out a glob of red onto the dirt.

“So, whatcha think of me now?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, I think you are a better fighter than I gave you credit for.“ Rainbow smirked, but Midnight wasn’t done. “However, you still have a lot to learn.”

She launched at Rainbow, using her wings to turn herself upside down. With another flap, she angled her body so that her head was pointed at the ground and her hooves aimed straight at Rainbow.

Rainbow darted forward, but Midnight was able to use her position to rotate once more, so she was flying level with the ground and shoot right towards the pegasus. Not expecting this, Rainbow was taken by surprise as Midnight collided with her back, driving them forward.

From her position on top of Rainbow, Midnight drove her into the dirt, not stopping and scraping her along the ground. A long, shallow furrow was left in their wake until Midnight pulled up and tossed Rainbow away.

With flared wings, Rainbow came to a halt. She and Midnight launched at each other again, this time their battle taking place above the ground. They would circle one another, taking turns darting in, occasionally meeting and exchanging a few blows.

After Rainbow’s trip through the dirt, her cyan coat was now mottled with brown spots. Some of those spots were mixed with red, as blood flowed from several scrapes and cuts. She was getting angry.

“Looks like we’re evenly matched,” Rainbow said as they hovered for a moment.

“Is that so?”

“I’ve landed just as many hits on you as you have on me. So yeah, I’d say so.”

Midnight laughed. “Your attitude is going to get you in a lot of trouble, Dash.”

“Oh, puh-leeze,” Rainbow scoffed. “As if anypony could take me out,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Enough, Rainbow. I could have ended this fight multiple times already. You have some skill, certainly more than your peers, but in a real fight you’re going to have to do much better than this.”

Rainbow scoffed again and held out a hoof, gesturing at Midnight. “Bring it on, gimmie all you got.”

Midnight narrowed her eyes as Twilight groaned. This wasn’t going to be pretty. She had no doubt the thestral could wipe the floor with Rainbow, but the pegasus’ inflated ego just wouldn’t let her see..

“As you wish,” Midnight replied. She darted forward again, only this time it was faster than Twilight had seen so far. At the last second, she rotated her body, twisting through Rainbow’s attempt to block and driving her hooves into the pegasus’ gut.

Once more, Midnight twisted, driving Rainbow into the ground like she had to Pinkie. Utilizing only the power in her wings, she lifted up the pegasus and threw her into the ground again.

Her hoof lashed out, striking Rainbow’s forelegs one after the other. To Twilight’s shock, both legs went limp, as if they were broken or Rainbow has lost all control of them.

Flapping her wings, Rainbow tried to escape. Yet she could barely muster a quarter flap, as Midnight was using both of their body weights to keep her wings pinned to the ground. Midnight struck one wing, which stopped flapping and lay limp.

With a sharp rap to the head, Midnight sent Rainbow into a daze, from which she rolled the pegasus over onto her stomach. There she lifted Rainbow’s head and wrapped a hoof around her neck, squeezing tight until her entire body went limp.

Twilight, with Fluttershy right behind her, stood up and moved onto the field. “What are you doing? You’re going to kill her!” she exclaimed.

Midnight stood up, dropping Rainbow’s head into the dirt. The pegasus wasn’t moving, and Twilight feared that she’d actually been right. She rushed towards the pegasus, until the captain intercepted her.

“Get off the field, unless you want to fight again,” she said.

“But Rainbow—”

“If I wanted to kill her, Twilight, I would have.” 

Twilight wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It sounded like Rainbow was alive still, but she wasn’t moving. She and Fluttershy stopped moving, afraid of challenging the thestral in case she wasn’t kidding about fighting them again.

It was a long moment, them staring at each other, until Rainbow let out a groan, blowing dust away from her muzzle.

Gripping Rainbow’s tail in her teeth, Midnight dragged her right past Twilight and over to the others, depositing her outside the circle. Fluttershy wasted no time in looking her over, while berating Midnight.

“You hurt her! What did you do? Why can’t she move her legs? How could you do that? You knew that Rainbow wasn’t as good as you and you still went all out.”

“She’s fine. The only thing that is permanently harmed is her ego,” Midnight said, talking to Fluttershy. “This is what happens when you let your pride get the better of your judgement. And until Rainbow gets her attitude straightened out, this is how it’s going to be.” The Captain knelt down, putting her face right in Rainbow’s. “And I wasn’t going all out even then. The point of this is to not permanently harm you. Imagine if I didn’t have that restriction.”

“A lesson?” Rarity said. “Don’t you think that’s a bit... excessive for a lesson?”

Glancing at Rarity, Midnight replied. “I just hit some pressure points on her legs and wings. All it did was numb her, she’ll regain feeling and control in a few minutes.” She turned back to Rainbow. “One thing you’re going to have to learn is that there is no place on a battlefield for an ego. All that will do is get the ponies around you hurt, and yourself as well.”

Rainbow laughed weakly, still trying to get a decent breath. “I still made you fight harder.”

Midnight scoffed. “You made me do nothing. However, if you still don’t believe me, then I’ll be more than happy to prove my point to you, time and painful time again, until it sinks in. Remember, you’re here to learn, which you can’t do if you’re stubborn and egotistical.”

She walked away, back into the circle, where she sat facing them. Despite having now fought all of them, and winning each time, she was barely even breathing hard. She’d been hit, punctured with needles, and had to be bleeding still, yet she showed no sign of discomfort.

Stamping her hoof into the ground, a puff of dirt pulsing up. “Now, I have a fairly good idea about each of your strengths and weaknesses. Usually in the Guard, this would be where we start general training, designed to counter your weaknesses so that everypony is on an even field.” She paused, mulling over her next words as Twilight heard her friends whisper among themselves. “However,” she continued, overriding their chatter. “That takes time. Time which we do not have.”

She looked up at the sun, which was approaching its zenith. “Take half an hour, go get something to eat and rest. After that, be back here where I’ll talk to each of you one on one about what happens next.” With that, she turned around, heading towards the barracks building.

Twilight looked at her friends. “Are any of you even hungry?” she asked.

Applejack nodded, as did Pinkie. Rarity shook her head, but stood up. “I am not. However, I could certainly do with a wash. And I’m afraid I’ll need to wash my mane pins as well.”

“I’ll stay here with Rainbow, make sure she recovers,” Fluttershy said. “You all go on inside.”

“You sure? I can always bring something out here,” Twilight said, glancing worriedly at Rainbow.

“I’m sure. Go on.”

“Okay.” Still unsure, Twilight followed Applejack inside. Rarity split off from them, heading up to the rooms. Twilight could tell that she was trying to keep her head held high, but the prospect of being so close to a shower was making it difficult for her to not run.

The three remaining ponies headed into the dining room, taking a seat at the table. A servant noticed their entrance and took their food orders before heading through a door.

They sat in silence, nopony willing to talk about the morning’s events. Twilight finally cleared her throat. “Well, that was an, ah... Interesting morning?” she remarked lamely.

“It sure was,” Pinkie agreed, as exuberant as ever. “Midnight was a nice meanie pants. Even though she fought all of us except for Fluttershy she managed to not hurt anypony except for Rainbow.”

“Well, Rainbow does have that ego of hers,” Applejack said with a frown. “I may not like her methods, but Midnight does have a good message.”

“That was a little extreme,” Twilight agreed. “I mean, I don’t think the captain would ever seriously hurt Rainbow, but she took it a little too far.” She pursed her lips together, shaking her head. “But, on the other hoof, Rainbow did bring it upon herself.”

They spent their half hour eating small salads and discussing the various fights. Twilight had to explain to her friends what had happened at the end of her fight, since they couldn’t see thanks to the darkness spell. She also spent quite a bit of time sharing her observations with the two earth ponies.

After she explained what she saw Midnight do when Pinkie hugged her, Applejack sat back, raising her eyebrows. “Shucks, Twi. I reckon you’ve got this learning thing down pat. You’ll be the best of all of us in no time.”

Twilight blushed, her cheeks heating up, but let the compliment slide as they quickly finished their food.

When they arrived back at the training field, Rainbow was sitting up, an icepack pressed to her head where Midnight had struck her. Fluttershy was watching over her.

“How’re you feeling, Rainbow?” Twilight asked.

“I have a headache, and I’m sure there’ll be bruising tomorrow.” She rolled her neck, producing several cracks. “She really did a number on me, but at least for a while there I was giving as good as I got.”

It seemed Midnight’s demonstration had dented Rainbow’s ego very little. Twilight felt bad for both of them. The captain would have her hooves full trying to teach Rainbow, and the brash pegasus would probably get a few more demonstrations like that before everything was over.

Rarity exited the castle soon after and joined them, her coat pristine and with her mane redone in its usual curls. “Well, I feel much better.”

“Rare,” Applejack said, speaking quietly. “About what you said about Sweetie Belle...”

“What about it?” Rarity tensed up slightly, not quite sure what to expect.

Applejack took in a deep breath, steeling herself. “I just want you to know that I did the same thing last night, and Applebloom is why I’m doing this. She was so little when our parents died. Granny Smith and Big Mac were busy taking over the farm, which left me to raise Applebloom. She’s more than a sister to me, if that means anything.” She trailed off, until Rarity came over next to her friend, setting a hoof on her shoulder. Applejack nodded before continuing. “If I have to learn how to fight to know that AB has a future, then... then I will.”

Rarity kept her hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “I know just what you mean. I didn’t raise Sweetie in the same fashion that you did Applebloom, but she’s why I’m doing this.”

The two friends embraced, sharing their bond. Twilight looked away, feeling like she was intruding on something special. It was dumb, but part of her felt jealous that they’d both found someone so quickly. There were so many ponies that she cared about, how could she choose just one? How could they? What was she missing that they’ve already figured out?

Less than a minute later, Midnight came out of the barracks. She flew over to them, taking a seat inside the training circle.

“Are you all rested?” Without waiting for a response, she continued. “Before I talk to each of you personally, I’d like to go over the general plan I had for your training.” She paused, frowning as she glanced at them in turn. “As much as I want to, we simply don’t have the time to work on both your strengths and your weaknesses. We’ll be lucky to turn what talents you have into something useful so that your shortcomings don’t hold everypony back in the field.” She stopped again and grimaced. “It’s hardly ideal, but it’s what we’ve got.

“To that end, you won’t be training as a group. That would be a waste of time if we’re focusing on your strengths. Thankfully, my guard will be arriving, well, they damn well better be, today. I know some ponies in their ranks that can help each and every one of you train without me standing there. I’ll try and source some guards from the Crystal Guard as well. Some days you’ll be with me, the rest of the time it’ll be with the ponies I designate. As much as I want to oversee everything, I can’t.

“Now, before you start whining about being split up, I understand that your potency for teamwork is strong. Therefore, I’ve decided to put you through fitness training together. I suspect this will be easy for some of you, but more difficult for others.” She didn’t look at anypony in particular as she said that, though Twilight felt like she knew who Midnight was referring to. “The point of this will be to attune each of you to your companion’s strengths which they are honing, but also to their weaknesses that you must be aware of.

“I’ll work up a more detailed schedule tonight, but as a basic idea, you’ll spend mornings doing your fitness training as a group. Then in the afternoons, you’ll split up individually, where you’ll work on your skills.”

She stood up. “Now, I’ll talk to each of you and let you know what I saw this morning, as well as where you’re going to go from here. All of you, come with me.”

Getting up, Twilight walked behind Midnight, and over to the barracks. The captain led them into the building. When they reached a door, she told the others to wait in the corridor, beckoning Twilight to come inside.. She wondered what the Captain had to say about her, what she’d learned from their fight this morning.

Midnight sat behind a desk, indicating Twilight to sit across from her. “I’m curious, Twilight. I’ve heard a lot about your from your brother, as well as the Princesses. You’re an accomplished mage, personal student to Celestia, and an Element of Harmony. So tell me, what do you think our fight showed me?”

Twilight was taken aback by the question. She’d expected Midnight to get straight to the point.

Thinking back to the fight, she reviewed it in her mind. “Well, you were obviously holding back, as you so aptly demonstrated on Rainbow.”

Midnight nodded. “I was, but that’s not the only thing.”

Twilight tried to come up with what Midnight was referring to. “You had to goad me into actually fighting.”

Midnight cocked her head to the side, pursing her lips. “Not exactly, but close enough. And we’ll talk about that.”

Twilight winced. Midnight didn’t sound disappointed, but the admission was like a slap in the face. She’d been so worried about not failing that she’d completely forgotten to succeed. The more she tried to think about what Midnight was getting at, the less she came up with.

“I’m afraid that I just don’t know enough about fighting to understand,” she admitted.

“Well, as you pointed out, I was taking it easy on you all. I made sure that my moves were easy to read, a term called telegraphing. I restricted myself to using only a few moves over and over. So tell me, how did I win?”

“Because you’re better than me.” 

Midnight interrupted her. “Stop right there. That’s the quickest and easiest way to immediately psych yourself into losing a fight subconsciously, before the real fight’s even begun. It was nothing I did to make you lose, it was you and your moral restraints that kept you from prevailing.

“Twilight, I have one piece of advice for you. Always walk away from a loss thinking that they didn’t win that fight, but instead, I lost because of something I did or did not do. Then, you can learn how to get better without the psychological hindrance of thinking that somepony is better than you. Because they aren’t.”

The captain fixed her with a piercing gaze. “Don’t tell me you aren’t strong enough with your magic to pick me up and throw me across the training field.”

“But that would hurt you!” Twilight exclaimed.

“From what I’ve heard about you, you’re the single most powerful unicorn since Starswirl the Bearded. And probably smarter, as well.” Twilight felt her cheeks heat up at that. She never liked it when other ponies played up her strength like that. “With that kind of power, it should’ve been foal’s play for you to take me out in a second.

“There are plenty of ways you could’ve disabled me without hurting me. A pony as smart as you has to be familiar with anatomy. You could’ve applied magical pressure at just the right spot to take me out of commission. You could’ve encased me in a bubble and taken out all the air until I passed out. You could’ve knocked me out with a single magical hit. So there was no reason I should’ve won that fight.”

“I can’t do that to you! What if you got hurt?” Twilight protested. There was no way she could be like that in a friendly sparring match.

“Twilight, not wanting to hurt another pony is admirable. But what about in a battle situation? I think that you proved yesterday that you can easily defeat not just one, but two opponents.”

“That’s low,” Twilight said. “Good ponies died yesterday, including a friend.” She knew what she’d done yesterday. Using her magic, she’d killed two of those corrupted ponies. Just like Midnight had said, she’d done so swiftly and brutally. Yet even though those two had killed others, she still felt sick over having taken their lives.

“Yes, they did. But because of your actions, more ponies lived. If you hadn’t done what you did, then who’s to say those two wouldn’t have killed somepony else?”

Midnight glanced sympathetically at Twilight, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Killing another being isn’t easy,” she continued in a soft voice. “I’ve done it far more than you have, and let me tell you that it never gets any easier.”

“But you did it yesterday as well, I saw you. You did it just like that!” Twilight swiped her hoof through the air in front of them.

Midnight sighed. “The horrible truth is that you never get used to it, you just get inured to the effects of it. You can push them aside, always thinking of how this is for the better.”

“I... I don’t know if I ever want that to happen to me.”

“Well, Celestia-willing, you won’t ever have to.” She dropped her hoof to the ground. “My hope is that you never need to use this training. But I’d also rather you have it and not need it, than get into a fight and not know what to do.”

Midnight’s words made sense. Equus was a big world, with a lot of different types of beings, not all of them meant others well. If they were going to be traveling everywhere, then there was a good chance they’d need to defend themselves at some point.

“Now,” Midnight continued. “For you, your strength is fairly obvious. Your magical ability is ridiculously strong, so your training will focus on honing that, bringing it up to its full potential. I noticed that you used a lot of basic spells, but repurposed them to attack. That’s good, but there’s other spells you can learn as well. I know of a unicorn in my guard who can work with you.”

She got up, pacing a bit. “Now, you fought well, once you started fighting. You already have a good grasp of tactics. Your strategies were sound, for the most part. The Sergeant will teach you magic, and I will work with you and your friends on fitness.”

“How long do you think this training will take?”

“Normally, Guard basic training is a year. However, I don’t think we can take any longer than a month before you need to leave. I’d like to try getting it done in less time, but that would require a massive effort by all six of you.”

“May I ask, what about the others? What will they be training?”

Midnight stared at Twilight for a moment, her lips pursed together. “Even if I don’t tell you, I’m sure they will. Besides, it’s not exactly a secret.” She sat down again. “Let’s see... I’ll just start at the top, I suppose.

“Applejack has both strength and stamina. If we focus on that, then she will be a powerhouse. Anypony behind those legs of hers is in for a nasty surprise. Rarity’s magical ability is not as powerful as yours, but she has a very precise control based on the way she used those pins.” Midnight rubbed her flank. “Those were not pleasant.”

Twilight chuckled. “I’ve seen her handling scissors, fabric, a sewing machine, and pins all at the same time.”

Nodding, Midnight continued. “I think we can work with that. Even with weaker magic than you, she can be a very precise attacker. Even a single mane pin can become deadly if aimed properly.”

Midnight paused, seeming to think for a moment. “I’m not entirely sure what to do with Fluttershy. She’s adamant about not fighting, which I think is a mistake. Yet, I can’t, and won’t, force her to fight. So, for now, I’m going to have her learning from my best medic about field techniques and battlefield medicine. At the same time, she needs to learn how to defend herself. Maybe I’ll be able to have my medics teach her a thing or two, discreetly,” she mused.

“I don’t think you’re ever going to get her to fight. She’s a pacifist to the letter. I don’t think she’d even squash a bug if her life depended on it.”

“We’ll see... I just wouldn’t feel right, sending her out there unprepared. If something did happen, you all would have to protect her, then what do we do? Her inability to fight will also place a burden on your maneuverability as a group, which is not acceptable. Anyway, Pinkie. She was certainly a surprise.”

“Yeah, that she is.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anypony fight like her before. It was more like she was... I don’t know. Hugging, shaking my hoof, rolling and throwing?”

Twilight held up a hoof. “It’s for the best if you don’t try and understand her. You’ll just go mad if you do.”

Shaking her head, Midnight continued. “Well, she obviously has the strength of an Earth Pony, but more than that she’s agile. Not many ponies could roll around like she does. I’m not entirely sure how to use that, but I’ll think of something.”

She took in a deep breath, letting it out. “And then there’s Rainbow.” Midnight paused, letting the statement sink in. “That mare has one of the biggest egos I’ve ever seen. If she can’t get that under control, then it’s a weakness that no amount of training can compensate for.”

“She’s always had a bit of an ego problem. It got better after my friends and I taught her a lesson in humility, but before too long it was back.”

“Really? Well, she’s a decent fighter, I’ll give her that much. Overly cocky, but has a good basic grasp of things. And she’s fast, very fast. I can think of a few ways to focus on that speed.”

“So that’s it?”

Midnight nodded. “Yes. Anyway, you know what you’ll be doing, so go on and head back out. I’ll talk to the others and then address you all as a group one more time today. Tomorrow, your individual training starts.”

Twilight got up, heading back towards her friends, but Midnight’s voice stopped her. “Oh, and send Applejack in here, please.”

Nodding, Twilight headed back to her friends. She barely made it out of the office before she was already being interrogated.

“What’d she say?”

“So, what’s going on?”

“Girls, girls” Twilight said. “Relax. All she’s doing is explaining what each of us will be working on. You’ll find out for yourselves.” She sat down in the hallway. “Applejack, she wants to see you next.”

The farmer nodded, tipping her hat and striding towards the office, opening the door and heading inside.

“So Twilight, what did you talk about?” Rainbow asked.

“Rainbow, you’ll find out soon enough. There’s no reason for me to repeat everything.” The pegasus frowned, but didn’t say anything else.

Twilight thought about all that Midnight had told her. Focusing on everypony’s strength could be a good thing. If somepony was strong enough in one area, it could overshadow their weakness. Or, it could backfire and exaggerate their weakness. It was overall a risky strategy, but it made sense given the extremely limited timeframe. They would just have to hope they could work well enough as a team to cancel out any issues.

If they had more time, then perhaps they could bring out their strengths, and work on compensating for their weaknesses, but that just wasn’t possible. They didn’t know how long the dragon would be idle, so they couldn’t afford any more than this short amount of time to prepare.

The afternoon passed with them chatting amongst themselves, one by one heading inside to talk to Midnight. The biggest topic once each pony returned was what they would be working on, and theories on what their individual training would be like.

Finally, Rainbow came out of the office, Midnight right behind her. The thestral stood just outside of the door. She took a moment to compose herself before speaking. “Okay, you each know more or less what you’ll be doing, so here’s what’s going to happen from here on out.

“You’ll meet out in the field at eight o’clock each morning. As I said, tardiness will not be tolerated. From eight until half past eleven, you will do fitness training. Lots of running and physical exercise. Some of you are already in good shape, but you all need some work. I’ll have an exact schedule of activities, personalized for each of you, in the morning.

“11:30 until 12:30 will be lunch. Then from 12:30 until dinner, you will be in your individual training. You’ll meet who you’ll be working with tomorrow. This will happen every day until you’re ready.”

“Every day?” Twilight asked.

“Every day,” Midnight confirmed. “There’s no time for days off. You need to push yourselves and get through this.”

She paused for a moment and sighed. “I’ll level with you now. This will probably be the most grueling experience each of you has, or ever will, go through. I’m going to push you harder than any guards. We do not have room for failure. Equestria itself is on the line. Remind yourself of that any time you think you’re not able to continue. Because you are going to fail, and hurt, and hate me. But, if you stay the course, I promise you will come out the other side stronger and more confident than ever before.”

Midnight looked at each of them in turn. “Now, you may think that I’m asking the impossible, trying to push you harder than I push the guards I train. But I’ll tell you this now, I’m not. Pushing a pony is a dynamic process, limits are different for each individual... I will merely be pushing your limits to the breaking point far more often than usual, not expect you to perform the impossible.

“At this point, you are not only our best hope, but our only hope.” She gestures with a foreleg out towards the city. “They are all counting on you, but more than that, that one pony, the one that you’re fighting for, is counting on you.”

She let her leg drop back to the ground. “Fight for them. Fight and learn and suffer so that they don’t have to, so that they will live to see the sun rise, again and again. Fight so that at the end of the day, you can hold them in your arms again.”

Twilight expected Midnight’s voice to get louder and louder during her statement, but instead she got quiet. There was truth resonating in her words, but something else as well. Twilight couldn’t quite put her hoof on what it was.

Midnight’s eyes became hard. “This isn’t a walk in the park anymore. Go back to the palace. Eat and get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, your training truly begins.” The thestral turned around after dismissing them, heading back to the barracks.

Watching her walk away, Twilight tried to figure out what she was talking about during her speech. She didn’t show any outward signs of anything, but there was something in the way she spoke. Midnight was hiding something.

Until today, the captain had been all business. Her exterior was relaxed and confident, but still getting things done. During the fight yesterday, and it’s aftermath, she had expertly taken control of the situation, proving that she was no slouch.

Today, she’d shown a softer side that Twilight didn’t know existed. She’d consoled her about yesterday, as well as seeming to care about them and what was going to happen over the coming weeks. There was far more to Midnight than what meets the eye.

Together, she and her friends left the training field, heading up the stairs and into the palace. It was still early for dinner, so Twilight decided to take a page from Rarity’s book and take a shower. Her coat was still dirty from her fight and being thrown to the ground. She hoped the warm water would help soothe her already aching muscles.

Upstairs, she found Spike in her room. He was sitting at the desk, a quill in his claw and writing in a small book. When she closed the door, he turned around. “Hi, Twilight.”

“Hey, Spike. What’re you doing?” She tried to peer over his shoulder, only for him to cover the writing.

“It’s... private. Sorry.”

Twilight suspected that he was writing in his journal. She knew he kept one as she’d found it one day hidden in the kitchen. He’d tucked it into a cabinet, behind the pots and pans. Considering he was the only one who ever cooked, it was actually a good hiding spot. Unfortunately for him, Applejack had come by asking to borrow some pots so she’d have enough to make jam for a town festival. When getting the pots, Twilight had found the journal.

As soon as she figured out what it was, she closed it and carefully set it back. Spike was more than allowed a place to write his private thoughts, and Twilight wouldn’t pry or snoop.

“Okay, Spike.” She stepped away from the dragon. “I’m just going to take a shower.”

He waved his free claw at her. “You look like you need one. What happened to you?”

“I’m fine, Spike,” she said. An idea occurred to her, she put on her best Rarity impression. “Oh no! My mane is ruined and there’s a speck of dust on my coat?” Putting a hoof to her forehead, she pretended to faint. “This is the worst! Possible! Thing!”

She lay there for a moment, until Spike started laughing. “That’s pretty good. But you forgot to drag over a couch to faint on.”

Standing up again, she smiled at him. “True.” She fanned a hoof across her face. “I guess I just don’t have a flair for the dramatic like she does.”

They shared a laugh over their friend’s antics. Twilight took in a deep breath. It felt good to be able to laugh after the past two days. Sometimes, it felt like all the happiness had been sucked out of the world. To know that she could share a stupid joke and still laugh was refreshing.

Spike may have a crush on Rarity, which no matter how hard he tried to hide it, everypony knew about. Yet even he could poke fun at the fashionista’s flair for theatrics. The little dragon was a good friend and assistant.

Still chuckling, she headed into the bathroom, turning on the shower. As steam filled the room, fogging up the mirror, she looked into it. Her reflection was distorted, but it was her. She wondered how she could feel so different, but look the same? With a sigh, she stepped under the water.

As the water pounded on her, streaming through her coat and down the drain, a thought struck her. Midnight had told them to find somepony that they cared about, somepony to fight for. Rarity and Applejack’s decisions had already been made. They were lucky, having family members so close. Her only close family members were already dead. Well, except for Spike.

She’d hatched him when she was just a little filly. She’d raised him all these years since. Sure she’d had help from Celestia in the beginning, but she’d done most of the work, and continued to raise him. She was really his prominent mother figure in his life..

In some way, she was like Applejack, taking care of Applebloom, or Rarity and Sweetie Belle when their parents were away for their jobs. He was her little brother, but she was also his caretaker.

They fought and argued like siblings, but at the end of the day, they still loved each other. More than once they’d argued and she’d gone off to study. Sometimes she fell asleep in her book, but when she awoke, there’d be a blanket around her and the lights would be out. Even though the last thing they’d done was argue, he still cared about her.

He could make a mess and she’d get mad, but five minutes later she’d find herself forgiving him. He worked hard around the library, making sure ponies knew where to find things while cleaning up, reshelving, and still helping her with her studies. Somedays she felt like she took him for granted.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that her life simply wouldn’t be the same without Spike in it. They’d grown up together, lived together, worked together. Hay, if she thought about it, they probably knew each other better than they knew themselves. They helped each other out. They confided fears or concerns, and never gave up on each other.

She already knew what life was like without her parents, without Shining, without Celestia. She was living that life every day now. One thing she was certain about was that she didn’t want to know what her life would be like without Spike in it.

If she needed a certain pony to fight for, she didn’t have one... 

Instead, she had a certain dragon. 

She’d fight so that he could continue to be the amazing dragon that he was. She would fight, for him. Because he deserved everything she could give him, because she wanted the very best life he could possibly have. Yes, that was incentive enough to make her go to Tartarus and back, to go through with the training.

Turning off the shower, she stepped out. A quick spell later and her coat was completely dry. There was something she needed to do.

Exiting the bathroom, she saw that Spike was still sitting at the desk. The little book was gone, hidden away somewhere. In its place was a piece of parchment that he was folding into a shape. He must be working on his origami again.

Coming up behind him, she wrapped her forelegs around him and drew him close. His scales were cool to the touch, but underneath them a subtle warmth could be felt. 

He yelped at the sudden contact, struggling for a second until he realized what was happening. “Uh, Twilight?” he asked.

“Yes Spike?”

“If you want a hug, just ask. You scared me there.”

She picked him up and out of the chair, setting him down on the floor. Without the chair in the way, she was better able to hug him. “Spike. I want a hug.”

He obliged, squirming around in her grip until they were facing each other. With his face pressed into her chest and her head resting on top of his, they embraced.

She squeezed him tightly, not wanting to let go. “Spike, I don’t know if I’ve ever said this, but thank you. For everything.”

He looked up at her, questioningly. “For what?”

Twilight gave him a warm smile. “For being you,” she said simply. “For being the best assistant and friend I could ever ask for. For being there for me when I need you. And for being a wonderful, amazing brother.”

“Aww, thanks Twilight. You’re pretty awesome yourself.” His gaze grew concerned. “Is something wrong?”

She shook her head. “No. I just found something is all.”

“Well what did you find?”

With a smile, she kissed his forehead. “A reason.”

When she didn’t elaborate on that, he just shrugged. “Must be a pretty good reason.”

Finally pulling away from the hug, she responded. “It is. The best reason of all.”

“Ya know, sometimes I think I understand you. And then you go and do something like this.”

She laughed. “Just know that I love you, Spike.”

He pretended to be disgusted, but couldn’t keep up the charade for long. “I love you too, Twilight.”

As he climbed back up into the chair, she peered at the parchment he was folding. “Trying some more crafting?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I found a book on origami in the library here that had some interesting new designs I wanted to try.”

“You’ll have to show me when you’re done.”

“Sure.”

Glancing at the clock, she figured dinner would probably be in about an hour. That left her just enough time to head to the library. If she really was going to learn how to fight, she might as well start researching now.

“I’m going to the library, so if somepony comes looking for me, tell them I’m down there.”

“Okay. Do you need help with anything?”

“No, thanks. I’m okay.”

She left the room, heading down the stairs. The library was located on the main floor, next to the throne room. Like Canterlot Castle, the Crystal Palace’s throne room had windows set into it, allowing the light to flow into the room. 

However, unlike Canterlot, this palace was built more straight up, so the windows were actually illusions. The throne room was in the center of the spire, so the windows would simply look into the rooms next door.

Trotting and humming a little tune, Twilight entered the library. Letting out a wistful sigh, she beheld the wonders of the library. Row after row of books stacked high met her vision. Shelves as tall as the ceiling, stretching out into what almost seemed like an endless depth. Tables piled with books, the wood sagging under their weight, accompanied the shelves. To Twilight, with the ends of the tables curled upwards, the middle sinking down, they looked like smiles, happy to support the knowledge. The odd smell of ink, paper, and old, overly polished wood assaulted her nose.

These things were familiar to her. She breathed deep and recalled how she spent hours and hours growing up in a library very much like this one. Her friends may laugh and call her an egghead, a bookworm, but there was just something so satisfying and simple about books. If there was knowledge to be had, a topic she sought, she knew that these well-worn tomes would never let her down.

Unlike a public library, this one had no front desk, nopony blockading the entrance and exit. There was nothing standing between her and infinite knowledge.

The Crystal Empire’s libraries had undergone massive revisions since its return. Many books on modern affairs had been imported, and the late librarian had received quite a bit of advice from Twilight herself on a more efficient filing system. Honing in on her target, she navigated the rows until she found what she wanted.

There, sitting on the shelves before her, were books on fighting and tactics. Ancient tomes from ages past mingled with new additions from Equestria proper.

She had an idea of where she wanted to start. As much as she would like to focus on more general tactics and strategy, there simply wasn’t time for it. Tomorrow, and the next few weeks, were going to test her mettle, and knowledge, of pony on pony fighting, not battle smarts.

Twilight sighed wistfully as she recalled the times when Shining would bring home books of his own for study. She, of course, would jump on them immediately. But then she would find out that they were texts on warfare, or journals from long past generals. These books had never interested her beyond the history within their pages, but Shining had always found a way to get her to at least give them a token read. His enthusiasm for the art of commanding had spurred her to learn enough about battle tactics just so she could spend more time talking to him about it.

Thinking about Shining brought forth feelings of regret. She missed him. They’d been living separate lives, but he’d never been more than a letter away. Now he was gone. Looking at all the books, she realized how much she had learned just because he had been interested in it. He really was a big part of her life.

The Crystal Empire, thanks to its banishment from reality, had old texts from such fighting luminaries as Commander Hurricane.  Books on troops tactics, from squads to entire armies, descriptions for one on one battles, fighting manuals for a wide variety of styles, all were contained in these few shelves.

Twilight browsed the titles and authors. There had to be books that were relevant to her situation in here, she just had to find them.

Pulling a few likely tomes, she brought them over to a table. After a quick reading of the table of contents, she had the books organized into what was likely to be the most helpful, to least helpful.

Over the next hour, she immersed herself into the world of fighting and military tactics. While large-scale military tactics were low on her list of things to learn, much of the text was just that. Very little was on the detailed descriptions of fighting styles and moves that she deemed helpful to her situation. As much as she wanted to study battlefield layouts, these things were best left up to generals and captains, not ponies like her.

Though she wasn’t one to just dismiss them outright. She would set those books to the side for now. Maybe later, if she had time, she’d be able to give them more attention. Odds were she’d never get to use that information, but it would be nice to know it.

As she read, she absorbed the information. Magic may be her special talent, but it required knowledge to be good at, and knowledge required learning. Never had she needed to read a book more than once to recall it nearly perfectly, especially where magic was involved. Her mind automatically sorted things and filed them, allowing her to quickly retrieve the information.

Minutes turned into hours. Twilight lost herself in the texts. The diagrams of body positions, the descriptions of battles, and the artistic works of bygone armor sets were all observed and filed away in a growing section of Twilight’s mind. This was her calling, where she was most comfortable: learning, in a quiet niche, surrounded by knowledge.

The sound of a clearing throat behind her dragged her out of the haze she was in. Turning around, she beheld a stallion, dressed in the usual servant gear of the palace.

“Princess Cadance would like me to inform you that dinner is ready in the dining room.”

“Ah. Thank you for telling me.”

“Would the madam like an escort?”

“Um, no. Thank you. I know where it is.”

“Very well.” The stallion trotted off, disappearing between the rows.

Briefly, Twilight debated on what to do with her stack of books. If dinner was ready than she had no time to take them up to her room. In Canterlot, there was a special table off in the corner of the library that was hers, everypony knew to not touch it. Here, that wasn’t the case. However, hopefully nopony would reshelve the books if she just left them here.

Cautiously, she left the books where they were on the table. It wouldn’t take her too long to gather them again if somepony did put them back.

Heading back through the palace, she noticed that the servants were in better spirits than they were this morning. Rather than creeping through the hallways, looking over their shoulders, they had their heads held high, staring straight ahead. They were no longer avoiding each other, just focused on their tasks as they normally would.

The change was obvious. Something had happened today to at least inspire the servants. If there was a change in the Crystal ponies, then she’d been too busy to notice as they passed by the training field.

Entering the dining room, she saw the usual setup at the table. Seated at the head of the table was Cadance, followed by her friends. The seat to Cadance’s right was empty, while the one to her left was filled by Midnight. Twilight didn’t think she’d ever seen the Captain at the table before.

Cadance gestured to the seat on her right. As Twilight climbed into the chair, Cadance greeted her. “Hello, Twilight. How’d the training go today?”

Shooting a glance across the table at Midnight, Twilight shrugged. “Well enough, I guess. Midnight would know more about that than me.”

“I’m sure I’ll be hearing from the Captain soon. I want to hear from you, though.”

“She fought each of us one on one in a sparring match, to identify our strengths and weaknesses. From here, we’re supposed to start training tomorrow.”

Cadance set a hoof on Twilight’s. “We’re...” Her voice hitched, but she recovered quickly. “I’m proud of you, Twilight, for doing this. If there was any other way, I’d take it in a moment.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight said, gripping Cadance’s hoof. “This needs to be done. And besides,” She looked over at Midnight. “I found my reason.”

The Captain gave her a small smile and a nod. “Good.”

Twilight recounted her fight to Cadance while they waited on the food to arrive. Midnight remained quiet, although she was listening carefully to what was said.

When she was finished, she lapsed into silence. She just wasn’t sure of what to talk about next. Cadance was just looking at her. Feeling uncomfortable, Twilight changed the topic. “Say Cadance, did something happen today?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, things seem different than this morning. Everypony around here seems less on edge.”

The food showed up right then, interrupting Cadance’s reply. They waited until everypony was served, and Cadance took a bite of her food. “It took all night and part of the morning, but everypony in the city has been scanned. There’s no more of those... things here. Also, I’ve got checkpoints set up at all roads leading into the city. Ponies are still wary, but the idea of being secure again has raised their spirits.”

Twilight nodded thoughtfully. “That’s good.”

“It is. And when the Lunar Guard gets here from Manehatten, they can help.” Twilight remembered that the Lunar Guard had been stationed in cities around Equestria, and they hadn’t been at the battle for Canterlot.

Cadance regarded Midnight. “Speaking of which, when will they get here?”

The thestral put a hoof to her chin, tapping it a few times as she thought. “Tonight. I’d say several hours after the moon rises. I’ll coordinate with you and your Captain to plan out how to effectively use them, though some of my guard will be busy helping me with training. Also, I’d like to speak with you about using some of your guard to help with training as well.”

“We’re stretched thin as it is, what do you need?”

“I need your best unicorn spellcaster, fastest pegasus, and strongest earth pony.” She waved a hoof in the air. “Don’t send me your highest ranked, I don’t care about that. I want your best.”

Cadance used her fork to play with her food. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you. Don’t worry about having even more holes in the city defenses. As soon as my guard shows up, we’ll have more than enough ponies to go around.” The captain returned to her meal.

Twilight’s attention was diverted by a particularly loud exclamation from Pinkie. She was standing on her hind legs on the table, gesticulating wildly about something. Twilight was able to pick out something about the cutie mark crusaders amongst the rapid-fire babble. Looking around the table at her friends, she realized there was something, or more accurately somepony, missing. “Cadance, what happened with Berry? Did she go home with her grandparents?”

Setting her fork down, Cadance lowered her eyes until they were staring at the table. “No, she didn’t.”

Twilight gave Cadance a puzzled look. “Why not?” If everypony in the city had been scanned, then surely Berry’s grandparents had been located and informed of what had happened. Why wouldn’t they want to come and retrieve their granddaughter?

“Twilight, Fleetwing and Green Hoof are dead.”

Twilight’s heart sank in her chest. “No...”

“The best we can tell, they were with a group of ponies all heading back to their neighborhood, when one of them turned out to be one of those things. It killed them, and three others, before the Guard was able to stop it.”

“Does...” Twilight’s voice caught in her throat. “Does Berry know?”

Cadance nodded. “She does. I told her myself.”

Silence reigned at the table after Cadance’s comment. The good mood had been stolen away as the ponies were reminded of the consequences that lay before them. “So what’s going to happen to her now?”

“I don’t know. As far as we’re aware, she no longer has any living relatives. Swift had no siblings. We’re going through records to see if her husband has any family who’d be willing to take her in. If not, then she’s a ward of the state. However, I’ve decided that she may stay here at the palace until we know for sure about her family.”

“Where is she now?”

“She’s still in her room. I think she wanted to be left alone for a while. That was just before lunch.”

Twilight’s plan to return to the library was canceled as she resolved to see Berry when she finished eating. The filly needed to know that she wasn’t alone right now, that she had support from not only Cadance, but from Twilight as well.

The rest of dinner was spent in a somber mood. Twilight was surprised at how quickly she’d forgotten that more ponies than just the ones at the speech had died. Now it all came crashing back down on her.

It was for situations like this that they were going through training. Berry wasn’t the only one whose family had been torn apart yesterday. Other ponies had lost parents, siblings, foals. Twilight wanted to make sure that nopony went through something like that again. But more than that, she wanted to make sure that never happened to Spike.

Quickly finishing her meal, Twilight excused herself from the table. As she rounded the table, Cadance caught her eye and gave her a knowing nod. She returned the look with a grim smile and a nod.

Leaving the dining room, she made her way back up the stairs to the guest quarters. She had no idea what she was going to say, or how to even broach the subject, but she’d think of something. Before she knew it, she was standing outside the door to Berry’s room. Taking a deep breath, she knocked.

“Who is it?” a voice called from inside.

“Berry, it’s me, Twilight.”

For several long moments, there was no sound from behind the door. Twilight called out twice more, each time receiving no answer.

She was just about to open the door and enter, Berry needed to know that she wasn’t alone, when the door opened. Framed in the doorway was the small, cream filly. Her eyes were red and the coat around her muzzle was matted and crusty.

“May I come in?” Twilight asked.

Berry nodded, stepping aside and letting her in. Once inside, Twilight closed the door behind her. The filly trudged over to the bed, which was unmade, the sheets being scattered haphazardly around the mattress.

“Berry,” Twilight said, stepping over to the bed. “I’m so sorry for what happened.”

The filly sniffed. “Thanks,” she mumbled. 

Not entirely sure what to do, Twilight opted for wrapping Berry in a hug. The filly didn’t struggle, but neither did she reciprocate.

“I’m here for you, if you need anything.”

Berry’s head turned upwards, her eyes looking straight into Twilight’s. “Why? Why did Mommy have to die? Why did Granny and Grampa have to die? Why did those mean ponies kill them? I thought the guard was supposed to take care of the mean ponies.”

There was so much pain in Berry’s voice. She’d most likely been crying all day. From her own experience, Twilight suspected the filly would be cried out by now. She was right, and now she was looking for answers, for justification. But Twilight had neither of those, all she could offer was a little solace.

“Berry, I wish I knew. Swift and your grandparents, they weren’t singled out or targeted specifically. They just...” She trailed off, unsure of how to explain this.

“They were just there.”

Twilight’s ears drooped. “Yeah, they were. I wish there was some reason, some higher purpose for why this happened, but if there is, I can’t see it. I’m sorry.”

A few tears leaked from Berry’s eyes. She pushed herself deeper into Twilight’s hug as several mumbled words spilled out. “...Hurts.”

Pulling the filly closer against her chest, Twilight softly stroked her head with a hoof. “I know, Berry. I know how much it hurts. I’m so sorry.”

Berry didn’t cry again, though Twilight felt a few more tears seep into her coat. Instead, she simply lay in Twilight’s arms, silent.

“...Hate them,” came the mumbled words from the filly.

“What?” Twilight asked.

She pulled away from Twilight. “I said that I hate them,” she repeated vehemently. “I hate those ponies who killed Mommy. I’m glad you killed them.”

“Berry, killing is never a good thing, no matter what.”

“But you did it. You killed those bad ponies.”

“I... I had no choice. But, I feel really bad about it.” Twilight sighed. “I can understand your hate, but there shouldn’t be a reason for you to be glad somepony is dead. Even if that pony did terrible things, you should never be happy that they’re dead.”

“I don’t care,” she retorted. “They killed Mommy, and now they’re dead.”

Twilight eyed the filly carefully. This was the last emotion Twilight wanted Berry feeling, but she already seemed very set in her conclusion. She stared, unseeing, into Berry’s eyes as she tried to think of a response that would dispel her negative emotions.

“I hate them, and I hate that dragon.” She looked up at Twilight angrily. “Twilight, are you going to kill the dragon?”

The question caught Twilight off guard. She wasn’t even aware that Berry knew the truth about what was going on. Then again, she’d been in the city for several days before the attack during the speech, so she most likely heard the truth on the street while out with Swift one day.

What were they going to do to the dragon? What could they do? The Elements had failed, and she wasn’t entirely sure how they could kill something larger than a city. Maybe they could kick it off the planet somehow?

“We’re going to defeat it, Berry. I don’t know how just yet, but we will win.” They didn’t really have much of a choice, as the only alternative was to be subjugated and exterminated. It really was a fight for their very survival.

“I hope you kill it,” she said. For someone so young, there was so much hate in her voice. Her entire world had been turned upside down and destroyed. Now she was looking for someone to blame. While it wasn’t an entirely unfounded reaction, especially from a child, her anger and sense of revenge was far too overblown.

“Don’t say that,” Twilight reprimanded with a frown. “You should never wish for death.”

“I do!” she yelled, startling Twilight. “Those ponies killed Mommy, but they were with the dragon. It’s his fault she’s gone and I want him dead. I want him dead. I want...” Her voice broke up. “I want Mommy back.”

She curled up on the bed, head tucked under a foreleg. Her only movement was a subtle shaking of her body, and the rise and fall of her chest.

“Berry?” Twilight asked.

“Go away,” she said.

Twilight reached out a hoof, setting it on the filly’s shoulder.

“I said go away.” The filly let out a small sniffle.

“Berry, no. I am not leaving you like this. Your emotions are all over the place and you’re saying things that are way out line.”

The filly sat up and turned angrily towards Twilight, but she cut her off before Berry could say a word. “No.” Twilight glared at the filly. “You don’t understand the implications of what you’re saying. Justice is one thing, revenge is another. Yes, the dragon deserves to die, there is no question about that.

“But I’ve lost my brother, my own parents, and—” Twilight’s voice caught in her throat, but she plowed on. She needed to say this. “And many ponies I hold dear. But you don’t see me acting angry and wishing for fantasies.” Twilight paused to take a breath, silencing Berry with another glare. “You need to control your attitude and feelings, they get in the way of you actually accomplishing the thing you want the most.”

Twilight let her hoof drop to the floor, standing tall. “If you want the dragon dead, then you need to get up and help as much as you can so that it happens. I know this sounds harsh, but this isn’t what your parents, or grandparents, would want to see from you. They would want you to be focusing on living your life, on making things better.

“The world is a hard place, Berry. It can be unfair and cruel. But hating it isn’t going to change anything, your actions will. And if you stay angry, then nothing good will come of it once you leave this room.”

Twilight wrapped Berry in a hug once more. “I’m sorry for being so harsh. If you need me, if you want to talk, then come find me.”

When Berry didn’t reply, Twilight ended the embrace before leaving. Gently closing the door, she decided to go back to the library. It would be a good idea to continue her research, and she could always think more clearly in a library.

Berry’s attitude worried her. The filly had so much hate in her. She’d lost so much in so little time and was now trying to deal with it. She was lashing out and blaming things. Admittedly, they were the right things, but that didn’t make it right.

It was still too early for her to listen to advice and think clearly, though Twilight hoped that something in her speech had made it through. Her emotions were blinding her. Twilight only hoped that Berry would listen when she had some time to come to terms with what had happened. Letting that hate foster inside would be dangerous. She’d seen before what strong negative emotions could do to a pony. Jealousy and a desire for revenge had twisted Trixie until she messed around with ancient artifacts.

Trixie had eventually overcome her emotions, and even sought penance for her actions. Twilight briefly wondered where Trixie was. The last she heard, the showmare was still out traveling and performing. She hoped that Trixie wasn’t in Canterlot that night.

As she descended the stairs and into the entry hall, Twilight noticed a commotion at the front doors. Curious, she headed over there, pushing her way through a group of servants.

Outside, arrayed in front of the steps, were about a hundred ponies. Twilight could see Cadance and Midnight standing in front of them.

Walking down the steps, Twilight looked across the gathered ponies. They were all wearing the purple armor of the Lunar Guard. Each of them showed the signs of being a thestral.

Contrary to what average ponies were lead to believe, not all thestrals had wings. There were earth ponies and unicorns as well. What made a thestral were a few, more unique, differences. All thestrals had vertical pupils, giving them low-light vision unsurpassed by any regular pony. They all had sharp canine teeth. Though whether they actually ate meat, Twilight wasn’t sure. She’d never seen one consume it, at least. The final mark of a thestral were the little tufts of fur on the tops of their ears, which were slightly more angular and gave them hearing above that of a pony’s.

Pegasi had the bat-like wings instead of the normal feathered versions. Unicorns and earth ponies were much the same as their pony counterparts, with similar builds.

The only thestrals were all in the Lunar Guard. Whether they were some sort of secret pony race that only served Luna, or they were created through ritualistic magic, Twilight didn’t know. The members of the Guard took the secret to their graves, and Luna herself never spoke about it. All the texts she’d read about them boiled down to conjecture and guesswork. Though maybe if she was going to be spending so much time with one while training, she’d ask him or her about it. Or maybe Midnight would be more open to talking about it.

Midnight was speaking to her Guard. “We’re here to help Princess Cadance and bolster the Crystal Empire. Tomorrow morning there will be an intel briefing, as I’m sure most of you are wondering why we aren’t still in Equestria. For tonight, head to the barracks. Eat, and get a good night’s sleep.”

She saluted her troops, who all saluted back in unison. The Lunar Guard moved off, Lieutenants hustling them along.

“It’s good to see them all here,” Cadance said.

“I still think we’d be better off staying in Equestria,” Midnight said. “I don’t trust the others to stay out. You know, Princess, the Gryphons will take any excuse to start stealing some of our land.”

“Be that as it may, Captain, you have your orders.” She sighed, then continued in a quiet voice. “It doesn’t matter anymore, Midnight. Unless this plan with Twilight and her friends pans out, there won’t be an Equestria to come back to.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Midnight said. Without saluting, or waiting for a dismissal, she set off after her troops.

“Twilight,” Cadance greeted. “How’s Berry doing?”

“She’s upset.”

They walked back up the steps and into the palace. “I’d imagine so,” Cadance replied. “She just lost her entire family in one afternoon. Having gone through similar, I’d imagine you know what she’s going through.”

“I...” Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I do, though, that’s not what worries me.” She sighed. “Berry’s angry, disturbingly so. She told me that she’s glad that I killed those two things yesterday. She expressed a wish to kill the dragon.”

“While that is not good, it’s hardly worrisome.”

“What do you mean?”

They’d reached the throne room, Cadance stopping at her throne to pick up some papers. “Twilight, she’s young. Tell me, when the same thing happened to you, did you feel angry?”

“Yeah, I did,” she admitted, scuffing a hoof on the ground.

“The difference between you and Berry is that you’re older than she is. You’ve had more experiences that she has. Berry’s too young to really know how to cope with something this traumatizing. She lacks the maturity that you and I have.”

They left the throne room, heading down a hallway. “Right now, being sad hurts too much for her, so she’s latching on to a less painful emotion: hate. By hating what happened, and those responsible for it, she can hide from her pain and sadness.”

Twilight shook her head. “Cadance, Berry is still in her room, where she’s been all day. I’m afraid she’s taking it too far. I remember being this mad as a filly, but by the time the day was over, I’d either forgotten about being mad, or things were too out of my control for me to keep caring. Aren’t you worried that she’s too deeply mired in her emotions?”

Cadance shook her head. “Only if she keeps it up. Though right now, it’s actually a good thing. If she were to try and process everything at once, I fear that she’d shut down, become almost catatonic. At least this way, she’s still here.”

Stopping in front of a door, Cadance gave Twilight a nuzzle. “Give her a few days. If she’s still like that, then you and I can talk to her. Hopefully by then we’ll have found some family and she’ll be around ponies she loves. Until then, just support her and be there for her. That’s all we can do right now.”

“I...” Twilight sighed. “Okay. You’re right, Cadance.”

Cadance giggled. “Well, that’s rare, Twilight admitting that somepony else is right.”

“Hey!” Twilight said indignantly.

“I’m just kidding.” Cadance mussed up Twilight’s mane with a hoof. “Now go on, I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than sit in on a meeting about...” She glanced down at her papers. “Ah yes, food supplies and current projections.”

Twilight batted Cadance’s hoof away with a small chuckle. “Yes, as exciting as that sounds, I’m afraid the library requires my attention.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Cadance gave her a quick hug. “Go on.” She opened the door and went inside.

Twilight headed further down the hallway, arriving at the library. She mulled over Cadance’s words. She trusted the alicorn, but she still wasn’t entirely sure that leaving Berry alone was the best thing to do.

As soon as she opened the door to the library, all the familiarity washed over her. Making her way back through the shelves, she was glad to see that her little table was untouched, the books all still laying there. She took in a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh. Within moments of arriving, she was able to pick up exactly where she left off. This was what she loved, where she belonged, not on some battlefield or training ground. She wasn’t a fighter. But, Spike was counting on her to succeed. So, for him, she’d try her best to become one.

Several hours later, she was facedown in a book, groaning. There were pictures and diagrams in some of the books, showing her what fighting was supposed to look like, but none of it made sense to her. The stances and poses talked about so many different things. About styles and preferences, about how this felt or what your strength was. She was getting a sinking feeling that this wasn’t going to make much sense until she got out on the field and actually started going through the motions.

It almost piqued her inner student, almost made her eager enough for the next day. But, the recollection of how brutal her first fight was squashed her desires rather quickly. The pain from Midnight’s strikes had faded, but there would be bruises and soreness in the morning, and to more than just her body. She didn’t particularly want to experience that again.

Frustrated, she opted to at least leave the books on the table, in case she wanted them. Standing up, she felt her joints pop. As she was stretching, her eye caught something in the still open book on the table. Unable to stifle her curiosity, she sat back down to read the passage immediately.

Eventually, she looked up at a clock on the wall with a yawn. Dinner was some time ago, though she wasn’t hungry for a snack. Instead, she was actually feeling tired. It would probably be a good idea if she tried to sleep, since tomorrow would likely prove to be a long day.

Heading back up to her room, she found a surprise waiting for her. Spike had constructed a little nest out of pillows on the floor. He was curled up in it, covered by a blanket. He must’ve decided that he’d rather sleep in her room than the one Cadance had set aside for him. Just seeing him made her feel more at ease, like she was back home in the library.

Smiling at his sleeping figure, she quietly snuck into the bathroom, brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed. When she was finished, she knelt down next to Spike.

“Love you too, Spike.” She brushed the top of his head lightly with her hoof, being careful to not wake him.

Climbing into bed, she lay amongst the covers, staring up at the ceiling. As was becoming a common occurrence lately, she had no idea what tomorrow would hold for her. Fitness training sounded like they’d just be running for three hours straight, not something she was looking forward to. As for the individual work... she wasn’t sure.

Scenario after scenario entered her mind. Each of them filled with painful thoughts of ways she’d hate the training. She was still thinking about them even as her eyelids closed and she fell asleep.