Loyalty to the Moon

Starbeam arrived just on time. She couldn't forgive herself if she'd come late, it would be completely degrading. The awful vision from earlier in the day had purely disturbed her, making her lost in thought on her way to the castle and slowing her down. She headed off to her assigned post, but was taken aback when she saw somepony else in her spot. But there was something really strange about this pony. He had menacing slitted irises, long, oddly-shaped ears, and his wings were featherless and bat-like. His armor was different from the regular guards as well. She trotted up to the peculiar stallion to inform him that he was obviously mistaken.

"Ahem." she cleared her throat. He didn't even bother to take notice.

"A-hem!" she tried again.

He turned his head, eyeing her. "Can't you see I'm busy?" he told her gruffly.

"I'm well aware of that," she said, irked. "but I'm afraid you're busy doing your parole in my post. If you would kindly move-"

"Don't think so." he interrupted. "Perhaps you should go check with the station manager, I'm entirely certain this is my spot."

Her temper inflamed at his words. Nopony spoke to her this way! She was about to give the trespasser a piece of her mind.

"Hey, Star!"

She suddenly glanced up, her anger subsiding. Dusk Wind was standing across the courtyard, surrounded by a few other quite confused-looking guards. She briskly went over to them.

"Dusk Wind, what's going on? What's with these weird new ponies?" she questioned him.

"We're not sure, they were already here when we got here, and they refuse to move." he answered.

"One of them told me I was the one who should get lost. Honestly, the nerve these ponies have!" another guard spat.

A few more of them began complaining as well, none of them pleased with this development.

"Alright, quiet down!" Starbeam shouted over them. They all went silent at her command. "We should all just go see McTarnish and find out just what the hay is happening around here."

The band of disgruntled night guards followed Star and Dusk to McTarnish's office. Entering, Starbeam found the old guard officer seated at his desk.

"What would be the meaning of this, Leftenant?" he asked, seemingly aggravated by the number of ponies crowded in the space.

"Well, sir, we were wondering the same thing. There's these ponies outside, claiming to have the rights to our place of duty." Dusk Wind reported to him.

"Those would be the new recruits, Leftenant. You all have been given a new assignment."

"Which would be..."

"Your job is now to patrol sections of the Everfree Forest. You are to go in pairs around your allocated position and report back to me at the end of the night. Here's the list of pairings and stations." he passed a sheet of paper forward. "If you fail to report back, I'll assume you were either incapableof living up to the expectations, which will possibly result in losing your rank as a castle guard, or that you were eaten by some living nightmare in the forest." A few of the attentive guards were perturbed by his last statement, looking anxiously at each other.

"Once you've had a look where you're to be, group and disperse. You're dismissed." McTarnish finished, going back to his paperwork.

They began to file out of the office, but Starbeam wasn't satisfied with this turn of events. She slammed her front hooves on his desk, knocking over a cup of pens. He glared at her, accordingly.

"Is there a problem?" he growled.

"There most certainly is," Starbeam replied, exasperatedly. "how could we be demoted like this? We have the utmost merit to retain our places. We have worked here for years, earning our status, and now these 'new recuits' are just able to come in and take our places? That is the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard!"

"Look, Starbeam. I think we both know that when you say 'we', you mean you. I understand that you would be troubled by this, but this is the way it is." McTarnish said to her, calmly.

"But-"

"Hey, if you're really bothered by it, go talk to the princesses about it. I don't make the rules, I just enforce them."

Starbeam was about to scream at him some more, but quickly withdrew.

Talk to... Luna? She made this happen? But... why? Does she think we're not good enough to serve her? That I'm not enough?

She turned around, leaving without a word. Still shocked, she made her way through the castle corridors to where Princess Luna was studying magic with StarSwirl and Celestia. She saw StarSwirl exampling a new spell he had been working on, to which he got Princess Celestia to practice first. Star walked up behind Luna, who had only been half watching and listening out of boredom.

"Princess?"

The lunar princess turned, surprised. "Oh, hello, Starbeam Prism. What brings you here?"

"Well, I wanted to have a word with you about the new guard arrangements."

"Oh, certainly. Why don't we step outside for a moment?"

Sparks flew from Celestia's horn, then abruptly withered out.

"Guess I need more practice," the white alicorn told her mentor. She directed her attention to her sister, whom was just about to slip unnoticed out of the room. "Luna, aren't you going to try this spell?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, yes. In a minute. I need to speak with one of my guards for a moment." she walked away before giving her sister a chance to answer.

Out in the hallway, Luna sighed with relief from being excused from the uneventful learning session. "So, my friend, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Luna, how could you replace the courtyard staff with these new ones? We've all worked so hard and so long to be where we were, does that not mean anything to you? And how could you reposition us to Everfree? There are things out there that could potentially be too dangerous for groups of two ponies at a time, and not all the troupes are exactly competent in situations like this! Do you not care about our safety? Are we... am I... expendable?"

Starbeam's instant outburst left the princess staring at her, startled. But she then gave a tight smile, putting a hoof of reassurance on her friend's shoulder. "I know it may have been a bit unexpected, but even I wasn't fully aware of the change, either. You see, these new ponies are much more adept at seeing and maneuvering at night, and my sister and I agreed it would be more beneficial to have them at close range of the castle in case of imminent threat."

"But... what are they? They're the strangest-looking ponies I've ever seen!" Star said, still confused about the topic.

"They're Bat Ponies. They may seem different at first, but they have unique qualities nopony else here has. And they're not completely used to us yet, either." Luna explained.

"But why would you send us to patrol Everfree? Would the Bat Ponies not be more suitable for the job if they are so great at navigating in the dark? And what about my troupes? Just a few nights ago, I was telling a couple of them off for slacking off."

Luna looked away for a moment, not seeming to have a just answer. "You just have to trust my decisions, Starbeam Prism. And besides, I wouldn't send you out there if I didn't know you could do a good job."

A voice called from inside the library. "Luna, are you going to study with us anytime soon?"

"Coming, sister!" Luna called back. She turned back to Starbeam. She put her hoof under her discontented friend's chin, raising her head to look at her. "Do you trust me, Starbeam Prism?"

Star looked into the princess' cyan eyes, and replied, "With my life."

Luna smiled. "Good. Farewell, my friend, perhaps we will meet later, hm?"

"Sure." Star agreed.

Luna went back into the library, leaving Starbeam to stand alone with her thoughts.

She then remembered that she had been assigned a partner to work with, who by now was probably wondering where she was. Returning to the courtyard, she saw a nervous yellow pegasus shuffling her hooves in the dirt outside the office. Suddenly her new task seemed even more dislikable. The yellow pegasus perked up a little when spotting Starbeam. Star briefly went over the list of pairings.

Ugh... yep. She's the one.

"Oh, good, you're here. I was worried you weren't coming, and that I'd have to go into the forest by myself, but I guess now we can go together." The yellow pegasus was particularly cheery about the whole thing, very much unlike her partner.

Star held back a sharp retort, and instead put on an unconvincing, fake smile. "Yes... I just had some business I had to take care of."

"My name is-"

"Sheep Shimmer. Yeah, I know all my recruits." Starbeam told her.

"Oh wow, you actually know my name? That's so great! I mean, nopony ever really knows who I am. Usually they just don't talk to me..."

Celestia knows why that is...

"Yes, well, I'm-"

"Starbeam Prism! Oh everypony here knows who you are. Just the other day, Brass Sheath and Emerald Pierce were saying how you were the most bossy pony out of all the guards and that everypony else thinks so too and... oh, oops! I wasn't supposed to tell you that..." she shuffled her hooves some more, kicking up the soil.

Star let out an irritated breath. "Right, well, we should probably get going."

"Oh, um, yeah, right."

As the two mares headed out into the wilderness, Starbeam's thoughts swirled in her brain.

Of all the ponies I could have possibly been put with, I had to get Sheep Shimmer. Sheep Shimmer! Honestly, that pony is afraid of her own shadow, not to mention also a total feather-head. I would have preferred Emerald Pierce over her.

For the first while, Sheep Shimmer continued to blather on about pointless things. Or at least, they were pointless in Starbeam's opinion. Plus, she never was really much of a conversationalist. As the trees became denser and it grew darker, Sheep Shimmer gradually quieted down, shaking with fright. Starbeam used her magic to light up the area, allowing them to see better. Rustling noises coming from the bushes made Shimmer squeak fretfully, and she hid behind Star. A large brown snake slithered out, not particularly caring much for the ponies. Starbeam rolled her eyes at the diffident pegasus that was using her as a hiding place.

"You can come out. It's just a snake." Star told her.

"A... snake?" she said squeamishly. "I hate snakes! They're so slimy and creepy and icky, and ooh! They give me the shivers just thinking about them!"

"They're not slimy, and besides, it's only the deadly ones that really matter."

Sheep Shimmer gulped. "You think there's any deadly snakes out here?"

"It wouldn't be surprising if there were. This place is infested with Cockatrices, Timber Wolves, and the likes, so it's not unlikely that there are."

Sheep Shimmer stood frozen, quaking in her shoes.

The rest of the night went on without any real problems, other than the fuss Shimmer made over every crackling leaf and gust of wind. When Starbeam returned to the castle to meet with Luna like they'd planned, she found she was unable to track the blue alicorn down. Tired from a long, grueling night, she decided to go home. She wouldn't have the company of Dusk Wind that morning since he'd left during her search for the princess.

She was so relieved to be able to finally flop down on her bed and fall asleep when she got home, grateful that night was over.