Advance Of Night.

I open my eyes slowly, my head spinning. My whole world feels like jelly on a plate, writhing and whirling out of control. I inhale deeply and a machine by my right ear rasps loudly, and a sour tasting gas is suddenly pumped into my face. I slowly raise a hoof, the movement slow and painful. I'm no stranger to pain in its various forms and I'm well aware of the difference between achy muscles and actual pain. This is actual pain that blossoms across my back from the roots of my wings up and down my spine and along the leading edges of my wings. White fire dances before my eyes and I gasp, the machine at my bedside wheezing as it pumps something into my face. I groan and then slowly reach for my face, trying to locate this thing strapped to my face. My hoof meets rubber, I follow it along my muzzle until it meets the elasticated strap of a mask of some kind then I bring my hoof  forward to the tip of my muzzle, where I find a rubberised hose extending from the mask..

I open my eyes, determined to find out where I am. The room is white, cold and sterile. The walls are a bilious shade of turquoise and the black and white tiled floor confirms my grim suspicions. I'm in a hospital of some kind, and judging by the ancient equipment and machinery by my bedside: it's a military hospital. I turn my head slowly, the mask limiting my freedom of movement. A small squat table sits at my bedside, loaded down with fruit and flowers of varying kinds, along with get-well cards, most of which are from my company although I notice one from Shining Armour and another from each one of the Princesses among the tasteless riot of colour that occupies my bedside table. I shift in my bed, reaching for the mask.

“I've got that.” The voice is firm but kind. It is also familiar. A mint green pegasus pony with a golden mane dressed in the loose fitting green flight-suit of an aerial attack pony steps into my field of view. “Just hold still you stupid Loonie and I'll get that off you nice and quick.” She leans in and tugs firmly at the ring on the mask with her teeth and starts to pull, the mask's elastic putting up quite a fight as it digs into the back of my head. I bite my lip, knowing I won't scream or shout, no matter how much it hurts; Not in the presence of a mare anyway.

She pulls the mask away and throws it to the side, grinning at me. I know I've heard her voice somewhere before, however my memory doesn't quite serve. She then turns to me and drops down onto her haunches.

“You didn't think you'd get away with skipping out on that cider you owe me?” The pegasus says brightly and memory washes back in a foul painful tide of bile and gunfire.

“You're Anchor-head,” I say, my voice rather weaker than I would like and the pegasus nods with a grin.

“Good guess, that's me alright, though the name's Lightning Dust.” The pony says brightly and I grimace as I try to sit up, pain slicing across my barrel.

“Nice to meet you *ha* I think,” I cough, a series of racking coughs shaking my shoulders, “I think I may have to have a rain check on the cider though. As you can see I've neglected to bring some with me... you can have some of the flowers though.” I offer her one of the larger bouquets and she takes it with a hoof, before slowly plucking one of the flowers from the stalk and crunching on it idly.

“Thanks... you know you've really stirred up the hornet's nest,” Lightning Dust says brightly “The Loonie who shot General Armour in the face... that poor stallion won't be taken seriously for weeks.” She seems to find the notion rather amusing and in fairness it is sort of funny to see Shining Armour get taken down a peg or two, even if he's not exactly a bad pony. He's a general first and foremost, the commander of a regiment, he should not be leading troops from the front, or at least not from the cutting edge. That being said, my intention was never to do lasting harm to the stallion's career.

“They looking to replace him?” I ask and she shakes her head, laughing

“Not over that little mishap silly, it'll take a lot worse to replace that stallion.” Lightning Dust leans back slightly, before taking a deep breath and her gaze flicks across my bed.

“What can I do for you?” I ask after the silence lengthens.

She coughs “I'm guessing you haven't done your FASTAC book, that little notepad that you all carry around with you?”

I mutter something unprintable as I remember the pile of paperwork that I'll need to fill out when I'm released from the hospital, a pile of documentation documenting both of the strikes I called in, documentation that will be used to grade not just me, but the pegasi who carried out the strikes.

“Yeah... that hasn't been done yet, why are you interested?” I ask, then realisation hits me. The first control I performed with her, when she came in and took out the chariot on the road, it was an illegal control. I didn't call her in or give her permission to fire and now she wants to cover her flank. She grimaces and blushes.

“You were too busy playing hero to do your job and talk to me, so we need to talk about what your report's going to say.”

“So you want me to falsify military information that could be used in a court of law to cover up an illegal ground strike danger close to friendly units?”

“Pretty much.”

“Cool, alright, write down what you want me to say and I'll get it squared away... m'am.” I look closer at the mint-green pegasus and I spot the golden shoulder bars and rings of a Royal Navy officer rather than the expected bar-codes of an RAF commissioned rank.

“Excellent, nice to see an NCO who knows his trade-” She begins, before I cut her off.

“If you'll go out for dinner with me when I'm released, ma'am.” I add, a broad smile crossing my muzzle. It's been a while since I've enjoyed the company of a mare after all. Lightning Dust chuckles and nods, her grin becoming saucy.

“Always thinking with your stick, typical colt, but sure, why the fuck not.” She pulls out a notepad from her saddlebags, flicking it out with a wing and together the two of us talk through the report, altering the details and changing the story as needed. An illegal control danger close to friendly forces becomes a danger close high priority control with enemy forces in close proximity. We don't even alter the events at all, just use a different word or change a meaning here or there. As we go through the report, I get to know Lightning Dust as a pony. She's a dropout of the Wonderbolt Academy, now a commissioned officer in the Royal Navy's 808th Naval Air Squadron, flying in air support roles or air superiority as depending on the brief. She's a dangerous pony who lives life in the fast lane and has even less time for rules and regs than I do. Aggressive, hyper-competent and ambitious as all hell. It doesn't hurt that as far as pegasi go, she's not a bad looker either.

We're still talking two hours later, when my next visitor comes in.

Princess Luna has a lot of titles. Princess of the Night, Defender of the Darkness, Ruler of Shadows and Protector of Canterlot to name but a few. However to me and to the other ponies of the Night Guard Regiment, she will always be The Boss, Boss-Mare, or Ma'am. Nopony in our regiment calls her 'Your Majesty'. To our knowledge, she doesn't mind.

The Boss looks pleased as she trots into my room, waving her hoof when Lightning Dust rises to her feet to sit the other pegasus down. Her mane is flowing naturally in the slow languid flow that comes when she's relaxed, and the stars are glittering like tiny beacons in her mane, another sign that she's in a good mood. Her bright turquoise eyes glitter with mischief and joy in equal measure. Her midnight blue coat practically gleams and her hoof boots and crown have been polished to a mirror shine.

“Ah, the architect of Shining Armour's downfall walks amongst the living once more!” Princess Luna's voice is bright and exuberant. “It gladdens our heart to see thee awake Corporal, thy actions shall live on in the history of our regiment and in after-dinner anecdotes for all of time. Truly thou hast wrought the impossible by laying low Shining Armour,” She trots over to my bed, sitting down on the opposite side to Lightning Dust, who clambers to her hooves and makes for the exit, leaving the half eaten flowers behind.

The Boss watches Lightning Dust leave, then turns to me, her voice becoming grim.

“Corporal, it pleases me to see thou art once more awake and sensible, truly we had feared for thy health,” Princess Luna says. “Thou absorbed enough rounds to strike a stronger stallion dead, thou art truly a lucky pony.” Luna's eyes flick downwards to my barrel and I tilt my head, remembering how Lightning Dust had done the same. Luna then scrunches her wings very slightly in sympathy and my confusion grows. I watch as the Princess of the Night clears her throat.

“Thou art lucky, yet unlucky in the same breath.” She says after a moment “Thou dost live a pegasus, but thy wings... thy wings took the majority of the hurt Corporal.” Luna's voice becomes soft and sad as she gazes sympathetically down at me. “Thou doest yet live and thou shall walk out of this hospital thanks to the skill of our surgeons, yet those surgeons were unable to save thy wings. I am truly sorry.”

My breath catches in my chest and I reel as though the Princess has just kicked me. My world wavers as I feel my vision clouding. I take deep breaths, reaching out to grab onto a fragment of my prior life as a pegasus pony, yet nothing is coming. I try to steady my breathing and keep myself under control. I will not cry, not in front of The Boss.

“There are other considerations.” Luna's tone hardens, her voice smashing through the doubts flowing around my head. “Thy plan was a good one, it achieved its intended objective and were this a war, I would be adding thy name to the Roll of Honour and giving thou a posthumous decoration. Yet this is not war, this is exercise, and two other ponies are in hospital because they helped thee execute thy brave but ultimately foolish stunt.”

Luna's tone is sharp enough to cut diamond and my head hangs low. I should have considered that before I threw myself and my comrades headfirst into danger.

“Thou shouldst consider thyself lucky that neither of them are so badly damaged as thee: they will resume normal service within the week. For thee however... Thou art brave and reckless, not stupid, nay you are an intelligent pony however... thy recklessness is a problem. It could get thyself killed or worse, thy comrades. I have decided that thy service in my regiment is no longer required.”

My mouth drops open in horror, my eyes widening as the last shreds of my world tumble from my grasping hooves, tumbling slowly out of my reach and into the abyss. “Thou mayest keep thy uniform however, and thy treasured blue beret. Thou shalt need both of them in thy new posting.”

My eyes widen, my descent halted with a brutal yank.

“You're not getting rid of me?” I whisper, but the Lunar Princess laughs.

“Good gracious no Corporal, thou art too useful to be disposed of. Nay the Crown is not dispensing with your services... instead we are directing them into a more suitable vein for thy talents. I wouldst explain more to thee, but there is another here who can do a better job than I.” The Princess of the Night turns and clears her throat.

“Chaos!” She calls into the hallway “I have need of thee.”

The stallion that trots into the room is a tall slender Unicorn, with rich tan fur and a short well groomed russet brown mane. A well maintained walrus moustache bristles across his upper lip. He's dressed in a loose fitting dark green Princess' Rifle Regiment polo shirt, though he clearly isn't in the Rifles anymore if he's wearing civilian clothes on base. His bright blue eyes gleam with mischief, as though he's in on a prank that the universe is planning on playing on everypony else. I've met soldiers like him in my time in the Night-Guards, when they would come in to teach us about certain subjects that couldn't be attended to in-house. The way they carried themselves, and the fact they got to carry whatever weapons they liked, not to mention they got priority for whatever kind of assets they needed. Needless to say, we all wanted to be them.

The Eclipse are a group of soldiers who are well known and at the same time shrouded in mystery. Nopony knows precisely what they do or who they are.  All that is known is that they're superb operators who do not generally leave loose ends hanging, and can strike from almost anywhere at any time. Up until twenty years ago, Eclipse were generally a footnote in Equestrian military annals, an anonymous unit shrouded in secrecy. Then Operation Stalker happened and Eclipse became a household name, a byword for Equestrian military excellence. Now there's an Eclipse operator in the room with me, I'm sure of it. It doesn't hurt that his mark is literally an eclipse.

Chaos trots up to the foot of my bed, as Luna climbs down from her seat. “I shall leave you two to your business.” She says politely and this stallion, 'Chaos', nods at the princess as she glides out, shutting the door behind her.

“Morning fellah.” Chaos says, his rich south-Trottingham accent grating slightly upon my ears “Glad ta see yer up Corporal, 's been quite a faakin' to-do over with the Golden-Geese on yer account.” His broad smile makes it plain that this particular pony considers that no bad thing. “That was some cheeky stunt you pulled, put the wind right up the regiment's training staff... I'll just say now, that no faakin' way would you have got away with that if you'd been up against my old regiment, but that's neither here nor there at this point.” He picks up the bouquet of half-eaten flowers that Lightning Dust had been eating when Princess Luna walked in and inspects it for a few moments before he leans in and tears the head off one of the bigger blooms, chewing thoughtfully.

“Somepony's already eaten some of that one, you can have this one-” I reach over with one hoof but Chaos shakes his head quickly as he swallows a mouthful and sets it aside.

“Nah mate, I had a big breakfast, anyway we've had a look at your records and you're quite the pony. Good words from everypony that matters, plus tour experience.”

“I wouldn't exactly call Gryphonia a tour, didn't get much done by way of kinetics.” I reply grimly, the memories stinking and bitter as they wash over me. Gryphonia had not been a pleasant place. We went in to assist with peacekeeping as a Combined Equine States Defence Alliance initiative after a particularly nasty bout of ethnic cleansing had picked up in Saraneighvo, which had sparked similar ethnic unrest between the other tribes of Griffons. About the only nice thing that could be said for that particular gig was that nobody, Griffon or otherwise, was shooting at us (Mostly). There was plenty of shooting going on but none of it at us, and all too often we were left picking up the pieces after one or the other tribes of gryphons decided to take lumps out of each other. Even worse, we were sometimes watching them knock seven bales of shit out of each other but we couldn't intervene due to CESDA's little decree that said we could only wipe them out if they started shooting us, so in short we were about as much use as hocks on a rock. I still have nightmares about that particular tour.

“Yeah, bollocks to that,” Chaos says bluntly. “Anypony can shoot straight if they've had their monocle zeroed properly. I need ponies who can think creatively and are willing to push their limits to beyond the breaking point. I need ponies who don't mind breaking rules and thinking for themselves. The way I see it, you Night Guards have a hard-on for that kind of thing anyway, and you're worse than most if your record is anything to go by,” He says with a smile. “Anyway, by all accounts you're competent enough to fit into Eclipse... you'll have to get past selection of course, but if you get in then you'll have plenty to do, I can promise you that,” He says, his words spinning a web of dreams before me. Already I can see myself going out on operations, calling in strikes and crawling through swamps, fighting for Equestria once more just in a more... covert role. It'll be like Daring Do. I break free of my reverie to realise Chaos is still talking.

“-So it'll be tough but I have every faith in your capabilities, you interested?” Chaos asks me and I nod emphatically, grinning.

“Yes err...” I trail off, looking for a rank marker or anything that'll tell me whether he's an officer or a noncom.

“Just Chaos will do mate.” Chaos says brightly “But that's good, give me a call once you're back on your hooves... now I'll give you a quick moment to enjoy those flowers, cheers for this bunch by the way.” He says, tossing the last scraps of the bouquet into the trash. He then levitates a business card with ECLIPSE printed on it out of his saddlebags, leaving it on my bedside table.

I look down at the business card and grin. It looks like things are going to be interesting.