Dream Guards

"Well since you seem to have made such a great first...well second impression why don't you continue Nightshade" Luna said half jokingly.

With a slight blush nightshade cleared his throat.

"Well twilight as I was saying, your couldn't rightly call it a liza-"

"YOU KNOW WHAT I BUCKING MEANT!!" Luna roared

"Forgive him Twilight he can be a bit of a comedian. At least he thinks he's funny" One of the other bat ponies said with a grin.

"Well that wasn't what I was expecting from him after last night to say the least but its nice to see that you bat ponies aren't vicious monsters with no sense of humor all the time."

"You sure are trying to stay on our good side aren't you" A bat pony mare hissed from behind Luna as the night princess stepped between the two.

"Well then I think its time to get back to business here." A second mare said. "Come on now tell her your pathetic story Nightshade"

"Hey!....Ahem, well then lets start from the beginning. As you know we bat ponies are a mysterious breed. At least that's how we like to keep it. We have always been shunned and ostracized since our dear princess had her little tangle with jealousy. We swore an oath to stand by the Princess of the Night no matter what. And though it seemed like madness we as a race chose to stay faithful. Our ancestors battled our fellow guards as Celestia and Luna fought their own battle. Our race is one that takes great pride in our combative skills of hoof and fang so our forefathers held their own against the three other races."

"Wait a minute...do you drink blood? You said you enjoy using your fangs as a weapon" Twilight interrupted

"No no Twilight. We are more in kin to fruit bats than vampire bats. But just because we like sweet fruits doesn't mean we wont use our teeth when things go sour. Use it or lose it as they say." Nightshade said with a wink.

"One more dirty joke and I'm going to tell my sister what you just implied to her student" Luna warned

"Oh come on you usually give me ten a day before you start hitting me and I've only used six!....Which is spelled very similar to-"

"That's it go sit in the corner!!!" Luna said as she pointed her hoof to a stool already placed there.

"Is that stool there just for him?" Twilight asked incredulously

"Act like a foal get treated like a foal" one of the mares stated flatly.

"Cactus blossom, would you please continue where your immature team mate left off" Luna said

The mare in question stepped from the shadow into the dim light. She had a greenish gray coat and a creamy white mane that had a spiky look to it.

"As you wish princess. Good afternoon Twilight. As my partner was saying during the battle of the long night our ancest-"

"Partner? As in you two are a couple?" Twilight asked curiously

"Oh buck no!! He drives me wing itching mad. He is my partner for when there are missions that require two of us. Despite all his talk he never gets any"

"Hey that not very-"

"NO TALKING ON TIME OUT DIPSHIT" Blossom yelled

"Now you see how she got her name, Very pretty but can a bit prickly" Nightshade dared to add

"Can I hurt him please?" Blossom begged Luna as she reached for her half moon shaped boomerang like blade

"Later when your off duty perhaps, for now just....please continue" Luna said with a sigh

"Well as I was saying, during the battle of the long night our ancestors held their own despite the drastic difference in numbers. But when Nightmare Moon was banished and Celestia was emerged from the rubble of Castle Everfree they knew that it was over. Because there was no longer a princess to uphold their oath too there was no reason to continue to fight their brothers and sisters of the Day Guard."

"So where did you all go for the last thousand years?" Twilight asked, eager to learn something she for once didn't already know.

"I was getting to that if you would close your mouth and open your ears"

"Easy Cactus" Luna warned "She may not look it but Twilight is very skilled in combative magic."

"From what I heard in the debrief until we were interrupted she was nothing but a damsel in distress last night that our resident clown had to save."

"I can still hear you!" Said the voice from the corner

"And your still on time out!" Cactus yelled again at her unruly partner.

"How do you two possible work together on these "missions" if you cant stand each other?" Twilight asked

"When your in the guard you have to understand the difference between professional time, and personal time. As much as I hate to say it Nightshade here is a very good fighter and his close in fighting style complements my ability to eliminate a target by throwing my blade."

"Aww thanks cactus pear" Nightshade cooed in a smooth voice

Just then he received a very crude mane cut as the moon shaped blade embedded itself in the wall a few inches above his head.

"I said don't call me that!!"

"Children can we please get this moving I should have been in bed hours ago." said a the other bat stallion.

"Id be happy to if Nightshade would shut the buck up!"

At this point twilight didn't know what to think anymore. She had only seen the Night Guard in their professional setting around the castle. She was beginning to see that their behavior was just as ridiculous and goofy if not more than the Day Guard that she had gotten to know personally growing up.

"I should introduce Night Shade to Pinkie" Twilight thought to herself... Before quickly realizing that was a horrible idea.

"As I was saying" Cactus Blossom said after taking a deep breath. "At the conclusion of the battle between the two alicorns our ancestors lay down their arms and put their fate in the hooves of Celestia. We are told that Celestia did not want to punish us as we were only upholding our vows and surrendered peacefully when our duties were no longer justified. However part of being ruler is dealing with politics, and the citizens of Equestria demanded vengeance for what they thought was our betrayal. The bat ponies were exiled from the kingdom."

"Tis why I shy away from politics and leave that part of ruling to my sister, I am not one that would be able to do what is wrong only to do what others believe is right" Luna said.

"Then what is it you do besides raise the moon Princess?" Twilight asked

"Is it not obvious? I am the Princess of War."

"War?" Twilight asked shocked

"Yes war, do you not honestly believe that this world is as beautiful and peaceful all over? There is a lot that can be accomplished with different kinds of magic. Cadence uses love, my sister is blessed with powers vastly greater than any other Alicorn. And I have a mind for tactics and secrecy. But the ponies of equestira have their own. Peace brings them happiness and their happiness is a source of great power. You saw that first hand at the crystal empire. Without happiness the crystal ponies were powerless to hold back Sombra. Giving the majority of ponies a sense of peace even if it is a false peace is necessary to keep Equestria strong. It is why you see the guard stationed here in Canterlot are spit and polish. We don't want the citizens to know what the guard really does. It is a world of dirt, blood, bullets and pain. It is the sacrifice of the few for the many and the brotherhood that give the guards their pride in their thankless occupation. Despite our attempts we were not able to keep the war with the Griffon Empire in the dark. It was far to costly. Your brother himself had his first taste of combat there, him and Captain Fleethoof were forever bonded by their experiences there.

"My brother saw combat? Who is Fleethoof, How come I have never seen him out on the training grounds?"

"Yes he saw more than he probably cared to see. As for Fleethoof he is the captain of another unit we like to keep quiet about. He is also your brothers closes friend and comrade. If your brother cares to tell you about him that's his choice but he knows what he may say and may not say. I am honestly surprised you didn't meet him at the Everfree Forest incident. I heard Scootaloo was very happy to see that little grey Pegasus return from the forest unharmed." Luna added remembering the orange filly she had helped.

At the mention of the Everfree incident the bat ponies in the room became very somber. They knew all too well about the horrors that took the lives of a few of lunar guard brothers and sisters. They also knew that the surviving two were now under the command of Captain Fleethoof, whatever it was that his unit did. The unit may have been top secret but the Lunar guard was a tight knit society and nothing ever went unnoticed.

"Well if its a secret I know my brother wouldn't say anything. He is far too professional. But as for seeing combat why wouldn't he tell me."

"Twilight....Would you really want to know those things about your brother? There are things that the royal guard must do to protect Equestia that no pony wishes they had to do. And in turn they don't tell their loved ones in order to protect those who look up to them. I'm sure your brother didn't want to lie to you. He just wants you to always look at him as your, oh what was it...BBBFF or something, don't know what the hay he was talking about.

"Big Brother Best Friend Forever..." Twilight whispered

"That was it, he merely wishes that you will always look at him as the person who was the kind brother you had growing up. He doesn't want you to look at him and see the blood on his hooves."

"Say no more, I understand." Twilight said somberly. But since you mentioned it why don't any of the bat ponies here use the rifles is see the guard training with outside the walls. Wouldn't it be a lot easier than hoof to hoof?

"A very good question Twilight, I'll let Shadow Blitz answer that one" Said the princess of the night

The other stallion now exited the shadow into the dim light. He had a stronger build to Nightshade and a much more of a serious air to him. When he came to a stop he leaned causally against a large halberd axe held in the hook of his wing. The axe had the classic moon shaped blade of the lunar guards watch ponies but with a lightning bold shaped blade protruding from the end.

"Good afternoon miss sparkle. To answer your question I must first explain to you the means in which we cross the bridge so to speak between the dream world and consciousness. As you know each of the pony breeds has its own special strengths and abilities. Pegasi are agile and can manipulate the weather. Unicorns as you know yourself have telepathy which they seem to find new practical applications for depending on how gifted the pony. Earth ponies though at first glace seem nothing special has a gift with growing plants and all the food we need. Without them many would starve. They also have a higher stamina and strength than your average pony. Us bat ponies however don't have any of those abilities. We sleep during the day. We are creatures of the night. We are incredibly stealthy which is why we have been able to go un noticed for so many centuries. The citizens of Equestria eventually forgot about the battle of the long night and Nightmare moon which is why we were able to return from the shadows when Luna returned"

"Then why are you never seen around Equestria?"

"We still prefer to keep to ourselves as we never forgot the loss of trust between the bat ponies and the other breeds. We have colonies in mountain caves. That is where the civilian bat ponies reside. Reintroduction of our race into the guard takes time so other than bat ponies assigned to special units like this one and special trainers like in the new Marine units all of our bat pony warriors are stationed on a base knows as The Shades." Shadow explained

"That's understandable it took her a while to re acquaint herself with society" Twilight said motioning to Luna

"Yes that's true. But as I was saying, We bat ponies have an ability that few know about. You now know that ability is to enter dreams. Our armor and weapons has to be enchanted however by Luna."

"Then why not have her enchant the guns?"

"She could and we would be able to bring them but they would be no more useful than a bludgeon."

"Don't be talking shit on bludgeons" A mare yet to be introduced to twilight said

"I never said there was anything wrong with them Star Glow" Shadow said

As he spoke the second bat pony mare stepped into the light clutching a spiked mace in her teeth. She had a dark black coat that seemed to shimmer a dull light. Her mane was a cobalt blue and her eyes were nearly silver in color.

"Hiya I'm Star Glow but you can call me Glowey!"

"Pleasure to meet you" twilight said with a smile, happy to see a happy go lucky personality that wasn't completely batty.

"If you don't mind I'll take it from here partner"

"Go right ahead Star, you understand this science stuff more than me anyway" Said Shadow

"I heard you like science Twilight so I am sure this will be easy for you to understand. Enchanting a rifle is easy as it is just mechanism to fire the rounds. It's the rounds however that are tricky. You see when a bullet is fired and the gunpowder goes from a solid to a gas it changes its chemical structure."

"Therefore it is no longer what it was when it was enchanted!!" Twilight yelled

"Exactly. Since while being fired it is no longer an enchanted item it simply disappears as it is oxidizing in the chamber. That's why you cant fire bullets in the dream world. You wouldn't want to anyway given our mission. We aren't supposed to be discovered" She said a the last word little louder in a teasing voice so that the pony in the corner could hear.

"Is time out over yet" Nightshade moaned

"Yes you may return to the group as long as you promise to quit acting like a foal in front of my sisters pupil." Luna said

"And perhaps you can finish this discussion with an explanation of last night events to your missions subject."

"Very well. So last night you had the pleasure of meeting me at work. I know you have seen me around the grounds while exercising but it was only by accident that you saw me last night. I was waiting for you to gain some distance from the changelings before I was going to make my move and eliminate them and faze out of the dream would without you seeing me. However you decided that you wanted to forget where the walls were inside your house. Was thinking of fazing out and abandoning the mission till another night but when you thought that hiding in the closet would do you some good I left it to chance that you would have time to recognize me while I went to work on those bugs. I also heard you were having these nightmares for a while and didn't want you to have to go through it another night."

"Well I am thankful that you decided to show yourself. And I am sorry that you got bitten. How is it that you are still hurt even after coming back out of the dream world?" Twilight asked

"Its not a problem everyone on the team has taken a few bumps and bruises. Just take a look at Shadow."

Twilight looked over to see Star Glow blowing a raspberry with her tongue through her partners wing. Twilight tried to act concerned while simultaneously tying to stifle her giggles at the bat pony mares antics.

"How did that happen?"

"Just because we cant use guns doesn't mean nightmares cant" Shadow said while clamping Star Glows tongue between his hooves"

"Wet me go!!" his partner squealed

"Wet you what? I don't have any water left?" Shadow said with a smirk holding onto his partners tongue for a few more seconds before releasing the mare

"Jerk!"

"Goofball"

Twilight could definitely tell those two enjoyed each others company even though Shadow was a serious pony most of the time he enjoyed the antics of his teammate. She was just at that right level of crazy for him.

"As I said." Nightshade said deciding to be the on topic pony for once. "Though we possess the ability to be in the dream word we don't become the dream itself. We are part of it but still mortal. If we get hurt in the dream world we carry that injury back with us. And if we die in the dream world....we don't come back."

"So why do you do it? Why put your life at risk to kill something that doesn't even really exist?"

"We all have our reasons, I do it because no one else can stand me in other units" Nightshade said with a little more pride than one would expect.

"I do it because I love the combat" Said Cactus Blossom

"I do it because it is an honor to serve the citizens"  Shadow added

"I just like to see all the silly things ponies dream about!!" Star Glow said gleefully

"How long has this been going on for? How many ponies have been visited by you four in their nightmares. I know at least one of you was in Spikes dream one night. Have you been in any other pony's I knows dreams?"

"Probably all of them" Luna said casualy

"ALL OF THEM?" Twilight said in shock

"Shadow go get the Ponyville files"

"Yes Princess" Shadow responded.

"So Twilight, would you like to know what nightmares your friend have had? Some of them are pretty interesting" Luna said with a smile.