Training of the Guard
Canterlot Castle: Night's POV
Night landed at the palace gates to see Luna waiting for him. "Luna!" Night shouted as he hugged his sister.
"Good to see you Night!" Luna responded.
"You too. Where's Celestia?" Night asks.
"In the throne room. And not all too happy about all this," Luna answers.
"So, she's still not on board," Night says grimly.
"She does support you training a new unit. Just not in the way you have in mind," Luna tells him. The two head to the throne room and the guards open the doors. Night sees Celestia in a deep conversation with a unicorn he's never seen before. He was white with multiple shades of blue in his mane and tail. He was also wearing a set of purple armor with gold highlights, which told Night that something was special about this guard. "Sister. Night's here," Luna calls out.
"Night. I didn't realize you've arrived. I have somepony to introduce to you," said Princess Celestia. She then motioned towards the white unicorn before properly introducing said unicorn. "This is Captain Shining Armor."
"It's an honor to meet you, your highness," Shining Armor says with a small bow in greetings.
"The honor is mine, Captain" Night responds.
"Captain Shining Armor will be helping you instruct the new unit. His expertise in that area will prove useful," Celestia explains. Night, however, is a little skeptical. Shining Armor's experience would be welcome, but the way Celestia was implying made Night feel uncomfortable. Luna must have picked up on this based on what she said next.
"Captain, can you give the three of us some time alone?" Luna asks.
"Of course," Shining Armor answers and signals the other guards to follow him out. Once the doors close Luna made her move.
"You said he would be doing this on his own," Luna accuses Celestia.
"I also have said on multiple occasions that I didn't want a unit built on the idea of war," Celestia points out.
"I'm not training an army. I'm making sure we have a stronger defense if a conflict does occur," Night counters.
"Equestria is at peace. We don't need a strong military force," Celestia points out.
"That doesn't mean that we will never need it. If an enemy attacks and we aren't prepared, we could lose a war before it even begins," Night counters.
"It seems clear our father understood this better than you," Luna starts. "We had a decent-sized army that could be called upon when we need it quickly. All this downsizing has left us exposed."
"I don't want to risk Equestrian lives by making us look like a threat!" Celestia shouts.
"If we don't pose a significant threat, then we might as well as roll out the red carpet and say, 'Hey there, you're free to take over our land!'" Night argues. This goes on for several minutes when they somehow hear a knock on the door and Shining Armor enters.
"Prince Night, the recruits are ready," he says.
"We'll discuss this later," Night tells Celestia and Luna as he follows Shining Armor to the training grounds. "So, what sized unit are we training?" Night asks Shining Armor.
"A lot of members of a company that are set to retire from guard service. They all either can't continue or are so close to the minimum standards that they can't continue. So, this unit will be company-sized consisting of a hundred and fifty troops," Shining Armor explains.
"I take it that this will be your unit?" Night asks.
"No. Companies are commanded by a Grade 1 Lieutenant, a captain tends to command either a regiment of troops or all royal guards. That's how it works in the Equestria Royal Guard. Platoons are commanded by Grade 2 Lieutenants. Grade 1 for companies. Commanders command a battalion. Captains have regiments as I previously stated. And the final rank of General, which is a wartime rank and is normally taken by either the long-serving Captains or royals," Shining Armor tells Night.
"You have a commanding officer in mind?" Night asks.
"Normally we have the recruits go through basic training first and look for leaders among them. Those who show potential are given the option to go to Officer's School for formal leadership evaluations and additional training, then rejoin the unit for the final phase of training. As for Non-Commissioned Officers, they are decided based on the new officer's observations of his or her troops," Shining Armor explains.
"I'll keep my eyes open. I take it Celestia told you about my idea for this unit?" Night questions.
"She did. May I speak freely your highness?" Shining Armor asks.
"Granted," Night responds.
"I don't like the idea of a fully combative unit. It's not a bad one, but I just don't see how it can be useful," Shining Armor tells Night.
"And I hope we never have to use it. But look at it this way: what if something were to take down Celestia, Luna, and myself, then attacked Equestria in full force? The guards would be unprepared to deal with a combat scenario because they were never taught to deal with one. I want to deal with a ready army at my back if Equestria was invaded," Night explains.
"Well, I'll do my best to support you, your highness," Shining Armor responds as they reach the training grounds where the troops seem to have gotten bored from waiting as they were talking among themselves like they were at a party. "Attention!" Shining yelled and the recruits immediately got into a box formation. Night then steps forward.
"Greetings. I'm sure many of you have heard of me, but for those of you don't know, I am Prince Night Storm. But from here on out you will refer to me as 'sir,' and this is Captain Shining Armor, and we will be your instructors. The others around you, will be your unit," Night says when he hears a snicker on his left. He looks over to see a brown earth pony trying to hold his laughter. Night then stands in front of him. "Is there something funny?" Night asks him.
"With all due respect, 'sir,' but I never thought I'd see a royal out of their golden throne," the soldier mocks.
"What's your name recruit?" Night asks.
"Mountain Cliff" he answers, still without any respect.
"Well, Recruit Cliff, you've just earned the unit the pleasure of a 20-mile run around the camp. So start running!" Night commands and hears some complaining. "NOW!" That startled them and the unit broke into a run along the route. Night and Shining Armor followed them and Night noticed that Cliff was falling behind. It was dusk when the unit completed the route, so Night dismissed them. "Well, not the way I planned this day to go," Night points out.
"There are worse days, I've trained some ponies like Cliff before. They need to be watched carefully," Shining Armor tells him.
"I'll take your word for it," Night responds and the two head over to get something to eat.
A few weeks later
Night was impressed, the recruits were progressing well and he planned to start formal combat training tomorrow. Cliff was still being difficult, but it was more in action than words now, which was an improvement in Night's mind. Night, however, was closely monitoring a unicorn by the name of Starry Sky. She was proving to be quite the skilled leader, and Shining Armor agreed with him. The two have a mutual understanding now, although Shining Armor seemed distracted recently. "Captain, you still here?" Night asked during one of the training sessions.
"Hm? Yeah, yeah," Shining Armor answered distracted.
"If there's something wrong I'm willing to help," Night tells him.
"Actually, there is something. I wanted to introduce you to somepony after this session," Shining Armor explains. Night nods and once the training ends for the day Shining Armor and Night head down into Canterlot.
"So, who'd you want to introduce me to?" Night asks.
"Somepony who actually wants to meet you, but hasn't gotten the chance yet," Shining Armor tells him and the two arrive at a small cafe where what stood out to Night was a pink alicorn. She was about Luna's height with a light blue crystal in the shape of a heart as her Cutie Mark. Shining Armor and Night then head over to her. "Cadence!" Shining calls out and the alicorn raises her head to look at him.
"Shining Armor!" Cadence shouts and wraps Shining Armor into a hug. When they separate Cadence turns her attention to Night. "You must be Prince Night Storm. I'm Princess Cadence, a pleasure to meet you."
"I thought me and my sisters were the only alicorns in Equestria," Night says confused.
"Not really, but I can understand why Princess's Celestia and Luna haven't gotten around to mentioning me," Cadence responds. The three sit down to talk and Night finds out that Shining Armor and Cadence were engaged. Night, begrudgingly, told Shining Armor and Cadence about Earth. Eventually, they got to talking about combat training for the recruits tomorrow. "I thought Equestria didn't need an army," Cadence says.
"Well, I don't want Equestria to be ill-prepared to fight a war if it comes our way. With luck, we'll never have to use it," Night explains to her.
"And you said that Earth's been in conflict for two hundred years?" Shining Armor asks.
"Yep, for hundreds of years, there has been a conflict in some part of the world. Fighting and war just seem to be human nature," Night clarifies.
"Wow. I guess when you live there for so long, you get used to it," Cadence comments.
Three Days Later
"Prince Night, the course is ready," Shining Armor told him. The recruits were woken and Night explained what the day's task will be.
"Today, you will all be running an obstacle course. Your goal will be to be the first one to cross the finish line. For those of you who think this will be easy, think again. There are spells on the course to prevent pegasi from flying over or around the course, and well as anti-teleportation spells. Now, I want everyone to form lines of five," Night told them and they quickly obeyed and formed 25 lines. "This is your team in the obstacle course. Since the course can't handle twenty-five teams at once, you will be racing six teams at a time. This will be a relay race. When your team member reaches the end of the course, that's when you are allowed to start," Night explained.
Starry Sky's POV
Starry Sky, along with her team, were the last team to run the course. She looked around and noticed that she was against Mountain Cliff, whom she was determined to beat. Prince Night blew his whistle and the teams began. Starry Sky was first on her team to go and she made it through the course without having to use her magic, which impressed even herself. When she got to the finish, she noticed Cliff was there; however, the rest of his team seemed to be lagging behind. Her team, on the other hoof, was following her route through and all got to the end first. "Good work everypony," Starry Sky told them. Prince Night Storm then land in front of the team.
"Well done, everypony gets dessert tonight, except Mountain Cliff and his team," he tells everypony.
"But, sir, I finished the course faster than anypony," Cliff pointed out.
"You may have finished first, but your team finished last. A team is only as strong as its weakest link. And this unit is one big team, remember that," Prince Night tells them. The Prince and Captain Shining Armor then dismiss them. Starry Sky went to the mess hall and she heard the usual grumbling from everypony.
"Honestly, I don't see the point in all this. He's acting like will be running off to war," somepony complained.
"I've heard rumors that say that's what he wants," the one next to him says. Starry Sky sat down next to her friend Dawnbreaker, who, like her, wasn't complaining.
"I just don't understand why they're complaining," Dawnbreaker says. "We should just be glad we'll have it if things go bad."
"I know what you mean. They'll come around eventually," Starry Sky reassures her friend.
Graduation Day: Night's POV
Night was proud, the unit had performed well in basic training and was preparing to go on to the second phase, though he wouldn't be a part of that. After the initial ceremonies, Night called Starry Sky, Dawnbreaker, and Havoc Winds over to him. "I've never been one for elaborate speeches, so I'll get straight to the point: you three have been recommended and approved for officer training. Now I should tell you that this is strictly voluntary. Should you choose to accept, you'll be training in the Officer's Academy while the rest of the unit goes through NCO training," Night tells them.
"Sir, there must be some mistake: the three of us couldn't have done that well," Havoc Winds countered.
"This isn't a mistake. Captain Shining Armor and I personally recommended you three. Though your modesty is well noted," Night replied.
"Well, thank you, sir," Dawnbreaker said.
"You don't have to call me 'sir' anymore, I'm no longer your instructor," Night told them then saluted them and they repaid the gesture.
Not much conflict in this chapter I'll admit. This is mainly a setup chapter, so the characters I've introduced will be pointed out later. There will also be chapters that show the effects of Night's idea for the Equestrian Army later. But, that said I do hope you enjoyed.