The captain of the night guard sat before his desk, staring dismally at the mountainous range of paperwork before him. A depressing sight he was forced to deal with night in and night out.

The suffocating presence of the incredibly tall tower of papers had taken its toll on the captain. Premature wrinkles had formed under his eyes that were difficult to make out from the dark bags. One could see from the supposed laugh lines on his face, in combination with the dull tinge of gray in his mane, the captain didn't exactly benefit from his position.

Slumping in his seat, he looked down at the only clear spot on his desk in preparation for another grueling night of paper shuffling. Except on the desk there was a small memo note.

The alarming message of “URGENT” printed in large and impossible to miss red letters on the front of the note made the captain notice it immediately.

Taking out a letter opener, he broke the seal and dug out the page contained within in. Flipping it open, he quickly scanned its contents.

Dear Captain Nightblaze,

Tonight, Canterlot officials shall commence the monthly inspection of your offices and work stations.

"Ugh, urgent my left cheek. Typical crap from the higher ups," Nightblaze noted, already accustomed to the dreaded inspection day. He had also gotten used to the alert messages they sent out at the last minute, leaving him little time to prepare. It didn't help that the day was randomly chosen at will.

Along with this inspection we shall look-over the reports from the guard stations, routes and lookout points. Armor, weapons, and rations shall also be checked on to make sure they are up to code.

Nightblaze rolled his eyes. "Whoopy. Another night of fun for me," he sighed under his breath, rubbing slowly at the bridge of his muzzle. "Pretentious aristrocratic tightwads who make it their goal in life to stomp me under their hooves and wipe my remains off a wall. What else can go wrong?" Despite already being fed up, he continued reading rather than crumpling the letter.

Another thing you should note, Captain Nightblaze, is that inspections of the cadets and their quarters shall begin immediately. Now that the night guard has an adequate enlistment program to hire the new generation of guards, we think it is in our best interest to see how well the cadets are doing under your tutelage.

Nightblaze's eyes went wide while his pupils shrunk. A small tremor shook its way up his back like a dark wave. Already a cold sweat formed on the back of his neck while his throat suddenly went parched.

Inspection shall commence immediately at midnight, under Luna’s full moon. We hope for your sake and ours that the inspection goes off without a hitch.

Sincerely,

The Office of Internal Canterlot Guard Services

Nightblaze read over the letter again, just to make sure he hadn’t mistaken anything. Then, just to make doubly sure, he read it a few more times after that.

"Dear Luna... I'm screwed," he muttered, head in his hooves at the ramifications of the letter.

Of all the things the inspectors had to get interested in, it just had to be the cadets. Those damned cadets. Nightblaze knew he could handle an inspection of his offices and guards. They at least met inspection standards. But the cadets...

"I'm really, really screwed."

Nightblaze ran a hoof over his grizzled muzzle that definitely needed a shave and thought over his options. A guard's instincts were only second to their training in a situation such as this one.

"Okay... okay, I can handle this," Nightblaze said to himself, tapping his hooves together. "I guess some of the cadets are ready for inspection... Beta squad is at tip-top performance, Gamma squad hasn't had a trip-up all week, and Delta is doing okay, all things considered. Almost all the cadet squads can handle whatever the inspectors throw at them. All except for..."

Nightblaze winced, his throat involuntarily constricting from muscle memory due to too much yelling. "Alpha squad." Just saying that despised name made his spirits sink lower than the deepest pit in Tartarus.

Glancing over at a particular pile of papers on his desk, he noted that stack alone was dedicated to Alpha squad.

"If the inspectors ever get a look at that squad, I'll be skinned alive for sure," Nightblaze said in realization. Tapping a hoof to his chin, he began recollecting the long list of faults Alpha had managed to gain over the past few weeks. "Let's see... Just this week alone the squad has failed their group teamwork activities, didn't clean up the mess hall properly, a fire was found going on near their quarters for a still unknown reason, and then there was the situation with the clogged toilet and explosion..."

Nightblaze leaned back in his seat and pathetically moaned. "I really am screwed."

"Uh, sir," Nightblaze's assistant called out, opening the door to glimpse at her boss silently weeping in his hooves.

"Huh?" Nightblaze sniffled, looking up and frowning in embarrassment at his assistant. "Haven't you heard about knocking, Harpy?"

"I did. You just didn't hear me over the..." Harpy waved her hoof at him. "Whatever this is."

"Well, what do you want? Can't you see my career is falling to ruin?"

Harpy rolled her eyes and pointed over her shoulder. "Alpha squad is here for their nightly assignment."

“Great! Just the ponies I don’t want to see!” Nightblaze planted his face on his desk and let out a quite pathetic moan. “When the inspectors arrive and see the mess that Alpha squad is, we’re doomed for sure. There’s no way I’ll keep my job with cadets being that bad.”

“Sir, why don’t you just kick the squad out of the academy?” Harpy asked. “I mean, them being gone won’t be too much of a loss to us.”

“Oh, I’ve thought, dreamed, and hoped for such a thing to occur,” Nightblaze said, lifting his face from his desk. “But one of the cadets is the top of her class. A true professional, even for a trainee. With her gone, a good quarter of the academy’s top scores go along with her. As for the other two, one is incompetent and not so bad. Really, training by now should have made him somewhat of a qualified guard. But then there’s him…”

“Yo, chief, can we come inside already?” a voice called out from beyond the door. “Shriek is gettin’ antsy!”

“I am not!” a female voice that sounded much gruffer than what one would expect argued.

“Then what about all your complaining about how we were gonna be late and then you saying I was a lazy ass?” the male voice countered.

“That’s because I was pointing out a fact, you lazy ass!”

“Both of you shut up out there!” Nightblaze snapped, his voice turning sour as both of the voices suddenly quieted down. Giving Harpy a sideways glare, he said, “Let the cadets in.”

With a shuffle of hooves Alpha squad marched into the room. A trio of young-faced bat ponies, the typical qualifications for acceptance into the night guard.

The first one in was a stallion that looked a little too fresh to be considered past a colt’s age. He was short, squat with a bit of chub; the oblivious smile on his face coupled with his full cheeks and innocent eyes made the cadet more suited for patrolling the halls of a school than those of a castle.

The second bat pony through the doors was a near opposite of the first. A mare with a lean muscle build and sharp eyes that had determination and confidence in her movements. She walked with an assertive trot that further defined her strong build. She radiated the look of a top-class warrior.

Finally, and most disappointing to Nightblaze, was the third cadet. A stallion who was very tall and thin, whose height wasn’t evident at first considering he slouched most of the time. Trudging to a spot in between the two, he stared at his captain with a bored expression, his stare glazed over as if he was looking into the distance at something else.

Nightblaze stood from his seat and saluted the cadets crisply. “Cadet Hopps,” he said to the first to enter.

“Reportin’ fer duty, captain!” the shortest of the group answered back, his accent the weirdest sounding Stalliongrad accent the captain had ever heard of.

“Cadet Shriek,” Nightblaze then said to the female member of the trio.

Shriek quickly saluted in a strict military fashion. “Reporting and standing at attention, Captain Nightblaze,” she said, holding the pose perfectly.

Nightblaze’s eyes shifted to the middle member last. For good reason, too. “Cadet Melody,” Nightblaze said, practically spitting that word out in contempt.

“For the last time, please, just call me Blue or Bluebird,” the cadet said, having already been through this process multiple times. “We already been through this a thousand times. And can it with your smug grin, Barley!” Blue snapped at the smallest member of their squad.

Barley Hopps covered his mouth with a hoof and stared apologetically at his squad mate. “Sorry, Blue, didn’t mean anythin’ by ya havin’ a mare’s name.”

“It’s not a mare’s name!” Blue replied quickly.

“Didn’t you say the reason your mother named you ‘Bluebird Melody’ is because she wanted a filly instead of a colt?” Shriek asked, arching a brow at her team member.

“Lies! Lies and slander!” Blue shouted, pointing an accusing hoof at Shriek. “How dare you create such a grievous lie upon my good name! My mother wanted a colt! My name’s just… a family tradition is all!”

Shriek smirked and narrowed her eyes at Blue. “Is it also a family tradition for the colts to be spineless buffoons?”

“Why you smug bi—”

“Alpha squad, shut up!” Nightblaze barked, his left eye twitching slightly.

The squad quickly ended their bickering at the much-feared sound of their captain’s command. Nightblaze mentally counted to ten, then added an extra five seconds for good measure. Finally, he released his held-in breath and opened his eyes to the much dreaded sight of Alpha squad.

“Now then, I have some news to tell you three,” Nightblaze said slowly.

“If it’s ‘bout the mess hall incident that happened at dusk, I can explain!” Blue interrupted. “See, Two-Bit was givin’ me a shifty look, and then I gone and saw him snatch the cookie on my tray. So I had to give ‘em a one two somehow, since I ain’t gonna take stuff like that from some lazy-eye bum like him. And then… things kinda escalated.”

Nightblaze held his hoof up before Blue could continue further. “While that’s certainly interesting, Blue, that isn’t what I wanted to talk to you all about. Monthly inspections are tonight.”

The three squad members looked at one another and shrugged. “But what do inspections have to do with us, sir?” Shriek asked, tilting her head to the side. “Aren’t they strictly for the guard force analysis only?”

“Normally, yes…” Nightblaze answered, sighing deeply. “But now that the night guard academy has grown, they’re here to see how the cadets are doing. Evaluations, I am guessing, shall commence at any time.”

The shared glances between the three, along with the nervous gulps and sweating, confirmed the group’s unaminous thoughts.

“As you three well know, Alpha squad is at the bottom of the list for academy qualifications, credentials, and overall performance.”

“Sir, that isn’t my fault!” Shriek interrupted. A hard look from the captain quickly quieted her tongue as she realized the insubordination she just commenced. Still, she stood strong under his glare and said, “I’ve tried everything to whip this squad into shape. Extra training, more studying for the exams, and team building exercises. They’re just impossible to work with! These two are beyond hopeless!”

“Oh no, you ain’t!” Blue shouted, shoving Shriek out of the way and approaching Nightblaze’s desk. “Don’t believe anythin’ from her mouth. From day one on the squad, it’s always been ‘bout her! Me this, nag ‘bout that,” Blue mimicked her voice in a mocking tone, casting her an angry glare. “And actin’ like a total and complete bitch! She thinks she can carry the squad all by herself, so she doesn’t care two bits ‘bout the rest of us!”

Shriek sucker punched Blue from his position at Nightblaze’s desk then got in the captain’s face herself bat wings flapping to keep her aloft above the desk. “And don’t you believe any of the lies coming from his mouth! If anyone is bringing the squad down, it’s him! He lazes around, does nothing to benefit the team, doesn’t listen to orders, and blatantly disrespects academy rules on a daily basis!”

“I like trains,” Barley blurted out.

Blue and Shriek stared at the short-set stallion with unamused looks. “Damnit, Barley,” Blue muttered, holding a hoof to his forehead. “We already frickin’ know! You say it every five damn minutes!”

“I say it cause we’re forgettin’ the important part of our jobs!” Barely reminded them.

Shriek scratched the top of her head. “Being the top qualified cadets to graduate to guard duty?”

“Nope,” Barley replied, shaking his head. “It’s all ‘bout us workin’ as a team. But that hasn’t happened since we’ve been stuck together in the same squad. All you two do is bicker like an old married couple.”

Blue gagged at the thought of being wedded to somepony like Shriek, while Shriek in turn stuck her tongue out to mimic retching.

“Wow, looks like the guy who grew up under a rock is right,” Nightblaze said, nodding his head in agreement with Barley's statement. “The purpose of the squads, other than putting the least qualified guards with the best so that both improve in overall performance, is for true teamwork to shine forth. Without that, you’ll never become a night guard. In this guard force you must learn to depend upon your teammate. Unless death from the enemy seems like a better alternative.”

The trio stared dully at the captain for a few tense moments. At least until Blue blurted out, “So we gonna get our flanks hoofed outta the academy or not?”

“Oh, please Captain, say it isn’t so!” Shriek begged, falling to her knees and reaching out to grab Nightblaze’s desk in a desperate grip. “The guard force is my dream! I’ve been training all my life in a vain hope of joining the solar guard, but now that I have a chance to become a night guard, I can’t let it slip away! Please, I beg of you, don’t let these two idiots ruin this for me!”

“I like trains.”

“Shut up, Barley!” both Blue and Shriek yelled at him.

“Shut your traps! That’s an order!” Nightblaze snapped at the three, quickly losing patience. “Nopony is gonna be kicked out of the academy anytime soon.” Shriek looked visibly relieved, while Blue frowned and looked off to the side away from Nightblaze’s gaze. Barley, of course, looked as clueless as ever.

Tapping his chin, a grin suddenly broke out on Nightblaze’s face. “And I do suppose I figured out a plan to benefit all of us. Suit up, cadets, because you’re hitting the streets!”

Blue and Shriek balked at their captain’s claim, while Barley eagerly clopped his hooves on the floor in glee.

“The streets? You mean… the streets of Canterlot?” Blue asked, lower lip actually quivering. “And not the nice, safe corridors of the castle?”

“Indeed,” Nightblaze replied, grin growing all the larger. Returning back to his seat and leaning back, he said, “See, this gets you out of my mane to deal with the inspectors, and teaches you a valuable lesson about teamwork.”

“But how can we possibly learn teamwork from patrolling the streets of the city?” Shriek asked, exasperated.

Nightblaze chuckled. “Oh believe me, you’ll learn something from patrolling the streets. The city changes tune overnight. Plus, this’ll be a good exercise for you three to finally learn what it takes to become a real night guard.”

“We get a night on the town, fellas and mares!” Barley said excitedly to his companions, jumping like a cute-faced bouncy ball around his compatriots. “Get to see some real night life. Ain’t this grand?”

Shriek looked visibly sickened at the thought of entering Canterlot at night. Especially considering who she was entering the city with. Blue in turn seemed tremendously disappointed. So much so he didn’t have the attention to tell Barley to shut up or shut his fat trap, as was per usual for the stallion.

“It sure is, Cadet Hopps,” Nightblaze laughed, enjoying the expressions from Alpha squad for the first time. “It sure is.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 2: Departure Of Grandure Estimated time remaining: 35 Minutes