Wyvern backed up a bit "You'r giving me an apprentice" she said shocked, Luna simply nodded and dropped the young bat-pony in front of her. "But I'v never had an apprentice"
"All the more reason for you to take one now" Luna said with a smile
"But I don't want an apprentice!"
Luna shrugged and walked away leaving Wyvern with the little bat pony to train. She sighed and glared at him. His mane was sticking out everywhere as was his tail. Like all bat-ponies his coat was a dull grey, his mane was a darker grey, and his wings where purple.. "What's your name runt" Wyvern asked looking down at the little bat-pony
"Moonlight ma'am" He replied trying to stand up strait and failing. He would have already been given basic fighting training by his parents. It didn't really matter at the moment it was time for bed anyway the sun would rise any moment.
Wyvern curled up next to another bat-pony and Moonlight curled up next to her. Everypony was coming back to Luna's room to sleep. The large, dome shaped room, housed all the bat-ponies as well as Luna herself. Thought the bat ponies slept the entire day Luna only slept part of it, and left about mid-day to be with her sister, for now though she was curled up in the center of the room. Everypony else slept in a huddle around her.
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Moonlight woke up as his brother whistled quietly in his ear. Silently He stood up and glanced around the room. His mentor was sound asleep and Luna had already left. Without a word he slipped out of the room with his brother and two other friends. Once they where out of the room he whispered "What do you want to play today" They almost always slipped out during the day so that they could play together.
"How about hide and seek?" Starlight, Moonlights brother whispered in reply
"Last time we almost got caught" Sapphire hissed
"I agree with Saph, we could play tag" Trickster whispered
"I'm good with playing tag" Moonlight was the oldest in the group
"Okay your it" Starlight ran off
Moonlight chased his friends through the abandon part of the castle. They always played in that part so they wouldn't be caught up past their bed time. As they ran they tagged one another, laughed, and chased each other around they had been at it maybe an hour when they ran into trouble.
Moonlight was running from Sapphire with Trickster and Starlight next to him when her ran right into somepony. Backing up her realized, shocked, he had crashed into Celestia herself. He gulped. Starlight and Trickster stood next to him and Sapphire, The only girl in their group, came silently to stand behind them.
On one side of Celestia stood a solar guard, on the other, standing upside down was Discord, He was the first to speak "Soooo these are Luna's bat-ponies. I'v seen a few at a distance but never up close I didn't realize they where so small" Moonlight's ears went back
"These ones are children" Celestia replied then she turned to the her guard "Will you go find Luna" he nodded and trotted away.
For a while the fillies endured Discords stairs in silence. Nether Celestia or Discord spoke to them, and there was a reason for that. While the bat-ponies understood Equestrian fine, they didn't ever speak it, not to say they couldn't, they could speak it if they wanted to, they just didn't want to. The bat-pones spoke in a a chirpy language only a few ponies, those who stayed up at night, understood.
It was a while before Luna showed up. "Is something wrong Tia? You normal come find me when you want to talk." In reply Celestia pointed at the four young ponies.
Moonlight wouldn't meet Luna's eye he stared shamefaced at his hooves instead. Everything was quiet for a moment before Luna turned to Celestia "Thank you for telling me I'll take them back to bed" Luna sighed.
Celestia smiled a little bit at the fillies, in a way that was supposed to be comforting and then walked away. Discord lingered for a moment and continued to stair before he to walked away.
Luna turned to the little bat-ponies "Lets get you all back to my room" she started walking leaving the four ponies trailing behind her. When they reached the door Luna turned to look at the bat-ponies "You are all to young to go wandering of on your own. What if something had happened to you? If you will not think of your selves think of how your parents would react if something bad happened to you. And you Moonlight, you should be ashamed, you should know better, your apprenticed now, you owe your loyalty to Wyvern, you don't have the right to wander away." She opened the door "Inside all of you."
When the four young disobedient bat-ponies obediently slipped inside they where met with the stair of every other bat-pony in the room. It seemed everypony was awake Luna had probably woken them up, she had a telepathic connection with all bat-ponies.
Starlight slunk over to his parents, Sapphire slipped over to her mother and Trickster walked quietly over to his brother.
Moonlight walked with his head down over to Wyvern and stood shamefaced in front of her. "Well." she demanded
"I'm sorry" He whispered
"And?" her voice was emotionless
"I will not wander off again."
Without another word Wyvern lay back down and went to sleep. Mostly everypony else had already gone back to bed. Luna had left the room. Moonlight lay a short distance from Wyvern not feeling he had the right to cuddle up with her and fell slowly asleep. He'd gotten of to a very bad start with his mentor he promised himself he would do better come the sunset.
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Wyvern nudged Moonlight awake. The young filly opened his eyes and looked at her "Time to get to work" she said shortly before walking over to a rack on the wall and pulling on her armor. Moonlight ran over to help, as was his duty as her apprentice. Luna walked here and there helping anypony who needed help. Luna came over to them and watched for a moment as Moonlight scrambled to get Wyvern in her armor.
"So Wyvern, still wish you didn't have an apprentice?" Luna asked sounding curious.
"We'll see if he's worth all the trouble" Wyvern replied flatly.
Moonlight considered himself lucky to have Wyvern as a mentor, she was well known for her temper, but she was also well known for being one of the best warriors on the lunar guard.
Eventually, when everypony was ready for the night ahead, everypony on the guard lined up. The members of the lunar guard who were not bat ponies had come to Luna's room by then, and stood in line with everypony else. The bat-ponies who went members of the lunar guard stood on the edges of the room. Moonlight stood next to and slightly behind Wyvern.
Luna addressed the crowd. "Good Night everypony," she started Moonlight had heard her give a speech to the lunar guard every night since he was born but he'd never been part of the guard before. "It is our duty to keep the ponies of Equestria safe as they sleep. However it is just as important to me that you all stay safe as-well. Last night we had a little trouble in the market, someponies got hurt. Next time don't get in a fight with a common thief." There was a market that ran just at night. The night before somepony had gotten into a fight with a thief and it had turned into a brawl dragging in several ponies. "Not every pony stays up at night but it can be said that everypony needs help at some point. So keep your eyes and ears open. Good luck. Fair thy all well" and with that Luna swung around and left the room.
"For Luna!" somepony yelled everypony guard else echoed the call.
Next the captain of the night guard stepped forward and started giving out assignments to the ponies who didn't have assigned routs already. As a senior guard Wyvern could go where she deemed fit and so she and several others slipped out the door. Once they where out of the palace Wyvern waited for a moment, soon her partner ran over to them. Comet was a large bat-pony and a good fighter. He was Wyvern's partner and the two of them had a reputation for being one of the best teams out there. "I don't know why Luna gave you an apprentice, Wyvern, I'm the one who wants one." as he spoke he smiled at Moonlight. You couldn't tell around his armor but his mane was short unlike Wyvern's her mane was long and covered one eye completely. However with her armor on, Moonlight could tell she had one yellow and one green eye.
Wyvern glared at Comet "You can take him if you want" she pushed Moonlight over to her partner.
"Not uh" Comet pushed him back "when I get an apprentice its going to be one who respects the night and doesn't wander around during the day."
Moonlight pinned his ears back.
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Soon they reached the market and started walking around. The night was cool and peaceful. Pones had stands out, and were selling all sorts of things. It took Moonlight a moment to realize Wyvern was looking at him "You cant wear the lunar guard armor till you'v graduated, but you do need something to protect yourself" she commented before walking over to a stall.
"You should fallow her" Comet whispered in his ear, blushing and remembering he was supposed to stay with his Mentor Moonlight trotted after Wyvern, Comet fallowed close behind.
When they came to the stall Wyvern looked around a bit. Moonlight was a little surprised to see that it sold armor and weapons. "lets see" Wyvern asked, in Equestrian. Moonlight blinked at her surprised but said nothing. After a moment of staring at everything she picked a vest, a dagger and a large metal ring. While Wyvern helped Moonlight into the vest Comet payed for the things. Comet payed for the things Wyvern had picked without the two of them exchanging a word. The ring went around his throat and the dagger slipped into a slit in his vest. As they walked away Moonlight gained enough courage to ask questions.
"What this for" He tapped the metal ring that fit like a collar around his neck.
"Don't you know?!" Comet chirped "Your a puppy and we're taking you on a walk, now we just need a leash."
"Pay him no mind" Wyvern shot a glare at Comet "It'll keep someone from sticking a knife in your neck"
"Oh..." Moonlight glanced around trying not to feel nervous "You spoke Equestrian when you bought it?"
"Not everypony out here understands our language the idea that we only ever chirp at each other in a myth." Wyvern replied.
"If we only spoke our own language all the time then how would we tell a day-walker that they where under arrest." Comet pointed out.
"We tell everypony not to speak Equestrian because we don't want anypony talking to Celestia unless something is terribly wrong and Luna is mortally wounded" Wyvern continued and Comet took two steps backwards to ward of the bad luck that came from speaking of injury to somepony.
Over the Next few hours Wyvern pointed out every thief and pickpocket to Moonlight, all she ever did to handle the situation was catch there eye and shake her head. "No point in raising a fuss" Comet chirped.
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Hours passed and the night grew old, the batpony also known as a moon pony named Moonlight flew along side his mentor and her partner to the castle. As they settled in Luna's room he helped his mentor out of her armor then curled up beside her to sleep. He was exhausted and well asleep by the time Luna came to bed.
Sleep comes easy for a batpony, dreaming for dreams sake is unheard of. If a batpony dreams it is a message from Luna, but not the Luna they spoke to in the night. For the princess of the night has three personality's,
The first is the one most speak to her as, Princess Luna ruler of the Night.
The second is the one she is infamous for, Nightmare Moon, a villain vanquished by the elements of harmony.
The last has many appearances and can mimic anypony just like a changeling can, she is Luna's purest identity, She is what she became when the elements of harmony restored balance to Luna's heart, She is the Dream walker, and the princesses most closely guarded secret.
It is the personality that guards the dreams of the ponies and brings dreams to the batponies. When you see her you often do not, when you hear her you hear nothing, to touch her is to touch a void.
It is this personality charged with keeping Nightmare moon caged, It is this personality who suffered in silence for one thousand years in punishment for allowing Nightmare Moon to gain control, because what else could Celestia do. Even the Princesses main personality did not speak to her often.
Those who know who she is, and meet her, do not speak of it.
That day Moonlight met her.
That day Moonlight dreamed for the first time.
It was incredible.
It was terrifying.
Moonlight closed his eyes. For a moment all was dark. then a single spot of light filled his vision. The universe spun then settled. Moonlight stood on the moon.
For a moment he stood confused then he spotted Luna sitting facing away from him, He ran to her "Luna? Luna! Where are we where's everypony else." She turned to face him and the young batpony froze for a moment Luna became Nightmare Moon, then she returned to normal.
"Be calm child." her voice carried the chime of a thousand bells, and the twinkle of a thousand stars "You are dreaming"
"N-No I-I cant be" He backed up "W-what do you want"
She smiled and turned to her true form, a young pony his size "I came to call on your aid"
"I-I'm still training" She came closer to him but he didn't dare move. "W-Wyvern would be better or Comet"
"And yet I picked you" her voice stayed calm. A coolness surrounded Moonlight calming him. The world spun again and they shot over the streets of Canterlot settling in front of an alley, "You wish to be a guard?" she asked calmly, he nodded. "What you will see here is real, do your duty as a Lunar Guard, young batpony." She stood and started walking away "My duty calls me elsewhere, I bid you good night, may the Moon protect you and the lunar wind lift your wings."
Moonlight watched her leave then walked down the ally, a pony lay dead. She was a young mare Pegasus with a coral pelt and white mane, Her cutie mark was that of a dove. Her throat had been slit but beyond that she was untouched. Before shock of the scene could take hold of him the world spun again and he woke.
Wyvern stood over her apprentice "Time to get up we have a long night ahead of us."
