Academy Commandant Snowy Peaks regarded the three dangerous creatures before him with icy contempt. They represented chaos. Disorder. Destruction of all he had held dear throughout his entire service in the Royal Guard, from the time he walked through the gates of the Academy and took his oath of office until this very moment. In mere minutes, he was about to betray all of that, the infinite honor of the Royal Guard through centuries cast aside for this… frivolity.

Regrets were one thing, but he had pledged his word to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and that word — along with a direct personal order — was the only reason he even considered allowing these three onto the Royal Guard Academy training grounds. No Royal Guard had ever gone back on his word of honor, and he would not become the first, no matter the cost. But this price was high indeed.

At least his heart was lightened by the fact that one of the four had already failed to show up, leaving only three who would need to be ‘encouraged’ into abandoning their foolish quest. The Royal Guard were the best of the best, the finest stallions who had ever trod the soil of Equestria. It should only take a few days to make these weak, pathetic pretenders quit in disgrace, and return the Royal Guard to what it had always been.

“Oh, sorry I’m late! Really sorry! Sorrysorry!” A stunningly pink pegasus in a Canterlot police officer’s uniform fluttered down out of the darkening sky with a cascade of brilliant orange mane flowing out from under her cap and sweeping down her neck in a shortened tangle of braided plaits twice as long as any serving guard ever wore their own mane. Although her matching bright-orange tail was woven into a police regulation short plait, it was tied in a very non-regulation neon-pink bow with little yellow flowers on it. The constant flow of apologies from her did not stop even after she made a perfect four-point landing next to the other three uniformed mares standing outside the Commandant's office. “He didn’t want to get up this evening and it took forever to nurse and the pump wouldn’t seal, but I promise this will be the last time and once he gets used to my new schedule, I’m sure he’ll… I’m sorry?”

A hint of bafflement flickered across Commander Peaks’ stony expression as the rest of the assembled Academy training staff behind him chuckled almost below hearing range. He would have turned on them to unleash the anger that knotted his back, except that meant he would have to turn his tail on the four visually discomforted mares standing in parade rest on the Academy assembly area. Other than the new arrival, the unwanted interlopers had already been holding their positions for over an hour, and yet he recognized the same experienced set to their shoulders as his own staff displayed. If Luna had somehow forgotten about the ceremony, he could see both sets of ponies remaining standing out on the parade ground for hours, determined to outlast each other until the last one standing declared some sort of obtuse victory of the genders.

It would be a stallion, of course.

Still, it was unlikely Commander Peaks would be that lucky. Unlike Princess Celestia, whose precise schedules could be used to set a watch, Princess Luna had proven to be slightly more creative in her scheduling, although her arrival at a scheduled event was just as inevitable as the moonrise.

Not that she was late. The Lunar Princess was never late. Other ponies were early.

The schedule had originally called for the Princess of the Moon to arrive a half-hour ago for the purpose of giving some sort of encouraging speech to the four transferring policemares before they were officially sworn in as ‘Auxiliary Officers of the Royal Guard, Night Division’ and assigned to Princess Luna’s Personal Protective Unit. As much as he hated the idea of being forced to accept mares into what had been the exclusive domain of stallions for centuries, there was a little corner of his mind that had some sympathy for saddling them with that assignment. It took a particularly odd mindset to request duty inside Luna’s Domain of Darkness and Chaos, and although there had been no shortage of volunteers within the Royal Guard Academy, some of them seemed determined to frustrate his desire for a long and uneventful career that eventually would lead to becoming the Commander of the Night or Day Royal Guard like nearly every Academy Commandant before him. At least the ones who left the job with their sanity intact.

His frustration only grew when he considered that the entire disastrous idea had been triggered by some addle-pated idiot guard in the palace who lost his nerve when bringing Her Royal Highness an emergency roll — of all things — of toilet paper. Just because Princess Luna spooked some stupid stallions with that vermin she kept as a pet and her habit of casually slipping out of the darkness behind unsuspecting victims, particularly from the long sort of shadows that had begun to creep across the training grounds as the sun slipped closer to the horizon, did not grant permission for an officer of the Royal Guard to hesitate in carrying out the simplest of tasks that even a foal—

“Good evening, Commander.”

Commander Peaks most certainly did not let out a shriek, whirl around in a flurry of loose feathers, and pant in delayed panic at the sudden appearance of Princess Luna at his side. He might have uttered a small noise, turned carefully, and had a slightly elevated respiration rate at the close proximity of Her Highness to his left ear, but that was all. There was certainly no excuse for the rest of his assembled subordinates to break out in poorly stifled chuckles, and after a single glare brought them all back to proper military discipline, he turned to Princess Luna with a sharp salute.

“Your Highness, welcome to the Royal Guard Academy. As per your orders, the mares you have selected for your personal protection unit have arrived.”

“Thank you, Commander Peaks.” There was a fractional twist to the princess’ tranquil expression and one raised eyebrow that implied that she was able to read his impression of the new ‘guards’ right through his helmet. She nodded briefly before turning to face the setting sun and arranging herself for flight. “Beg pardon, for my diplomatic negotiations with the griffons have caused my schedule to be somewhat rushed as of late. We shall continue this conversation after I have completed my Royal Duty for the evening.”

There was an unmistakable majesty surrounding the Princess of the Night as she rose up into the darkening sky, and all of the noisy activity across the Academy training grounds trailed off to an attentive stillness. The sun dipped below the horizon and the resulting absolute darkness made his heart skip a beat until the cold light of the moon swept up into the sky and bathed the buildings in silver. Stars exploded into existence, spreading across the sky in swirls and bursts until the entirety of the dome of night was covered in their glory. There was an echoing sound between the buildings as every amazed guard and cadet in the Academy sucked in a breath of air and then scattered applause as Luna descended back down to the ground.

She turned to Commander Peaks with a slight nod. “Now, I understand you have some reservations about the mares I have selected for my personal protection unit. Speak.”

“Your Highness,” he began, feeling horribly off-center at the display that Princess Luna had just put on, as well as the beady opossum eyes peering out from inside her softly blowing mane, “as the Commandant of the Academy, I cannot condone releasing anypony to guard a princess who has not proved their worth in the sacred traditions of the Royal Guard.”

“Agreed,” said Luna.

“And that is why I cannot support your decision to place these four — wait. You agree?” Peaks blinked in surprise. The princess did not appear to be making a joke — as she had proved herself worthy of in a very royal fashion over the last few months — but maintained a perfectly even expression of cool royal concern.

“There has been a slight change of plans. The candidates we have selected are experienced officers in the Canterlot Police Department. We have reviewed their files and spoken with them at length. In our opinion, they are worthy of the position, however—” Luna’s voice rose just as Peaks was opening his mouth to protest “—we would be remiss if we were to ignore the advice of our trusted guard. Day Commander Swift Wings and Night Commander Buttercup both requested that the officers be exposed to the Academy for a period of time and pass the final exam before they are permitted within the ranks of our protective unit, and I have acceded to their request. As Commandant of the Academy, it shall be your responsibility to evaluate their fitness for the position over the next week, using the exact same criteria that all cadets are graded upon.”

For just a fraction of a second, Peaks could see an obsidian flash deep inside Princess Luna’s eyes that chilled him to the spine. There was no simple ice in that flicker of darkness, but the merciless cold of space that spoke volumes about the Princess of the Night’s seriousness on the topic.

“Just because I agreed to it, doesn't mean I have to like it,” growled Snowy Peaks as he signed his way down a stack of requisition forms in his office. “I can’t believe that she really expects a bunch of mares to pass the same tests that our Academy graduates need two years of intensive studying and training to pass. Certainly there’s some overlap with their police training, but it’s difficult to see how she can expect anything of these mares except failure.”

“Quite difficult indeed, sur.” Lieutenant Kudzu floated a second stack of forms over for his boss to sign and picked up the first set, sorting them into individual folders that glided across the room in his pale blue magic and settled into the appropriate filing cabinets. The lanky Cajun stallion had been Peaks’ aide for nearly five impeccable years of service now and could have qualified High Expert if there had been a rating in The Care and Feeding of Superior Officers. It was a comfortable position, but there were times he really wished his superior was somewhat more trainable. He coughed gently and nudged four thick folders towards Peaks before returning to his filing with a well-concealed frown. “However, if you were to review their personnel folders from the police department ahz I suggested—”

“I don’t need to look through any stupid paperwork to see how badly suited mares are for the physical rigors of the guard,” snapped Peaks. “Set up some time tomorrow night with one of the trainers who isn’t afraid to hit hard. Drill Sergeant Petunia preferably. It should take less than an hour to bloody their petite little noses and send them limping back to the Canterlot police station filing room where they belong.”

“Yes, sur,” said Kudzu, placing the last folder in the filing cabinet. “I’m surtain they’ll perform ahz expected.”