Three weeks of pure boredom. Three weeks of pure bliss. Call it whatever it could be assumed. To Sireen, those were the best moments of her job. The first six hours of her post consisted of staring listlessly at the shrubbery surrounding her nearby faculty. That part was NOT fun. Quite a dull prospect, really. Not much goes on in nature. It's like a blade of grass. While a single blade, or even hundreds, can be presumed interesting or beautiful to the eye, if it doesn't DO anything for several hours, it becomes...tedious.

Yes, that was the right word for watching grass grow.

Sometimes she'd focus on the sounds the nearby bats made as they swooped in and out of range over head. She could hear them, occasionally, their songs but whispers to her. Little voices giving advice only her kin could hear, but this too was hard pressed to hold her attention.

The next six hours of her shift however, were the best part.

She heard them before they appeared. Always sound before sight. She smiled, listening to the rhythmic clip of hooves impacting on dirt as they came round the corner.

Iron Crest and Crisp Words. Father and son, and her first non-bat pony friends.

Iron Crest was a pony whose job ran him late into the night, working on government documents and legal wards for the courts in the castle district of Canterlot. Some seriously questioned why a pegasus would want a desk job, as most chose adventurous or outdoorsy stuff, but after seeing his skill speak for itself, questions were left to dwindle into naught but dust. He'd explained to Sireen that he had had some initial issues with performing his duties. After two years of trying to stay on the day shift, he'd given in and let the night become his life. He always wore his neck tie and glasses, saying it was a habitual part of his life since darker times had taken over. Sireen decided to not question this, and focused on their meetings.

Her eyes fell to Crisp Words... The little scamp.

He was an avid reader who would dive head first into a pile of library books far above his school level, and come out all the wiser for it a few hours later. He'd easily confused Sireen with his huge vocabulary, and she'd made a mental note to check up on some of the words he'd spouted. Some just seemed too ridiculous to be real.

He also was a huge fan of batponies.

Upon meeting her the first time, he'd pelted her with questions so hurriedly that his father had to put a primary feather over his mouth just to shush him and tell him to breathe. He'd pouted at that, why breathe when more questions could be asked?

Logical, this one was.

She had smiled as he'd asked her if he could "inspect her personage", and had giggled when he'd nuzzled her open wing between the joints. He'd asked how old she was(with a blanching look of embarrassment from his father), asked if she had siblings, knew any other bat ponies he could talk to, and finally if she had family of her own.

"Do you have any children, Miss Wind?" Both adults had paled in color at the question, Iron Crest much more so then Sireen, odd...

Sireen looked back to Crisp, and her smile wilted slightly.

"Um, no, I don't, sadly. It's... Hard to make a family when you are.... A guard." She decided to leave out that bat pony history caused a lot of problems and keep things simple, but the boy was too smart for his own good.

"Is it because you're a bat pony? Ponies think you're scary huh?" She had blinked and frowned.

"...I...Yeah, I guess so, but not every pony is afraid of us. Just look at you and your father. Neither of you seem bothered by me right?" He shook his head and smiled.

"Nope! You're awesome!" She chuckled and ruffled his mane with a hoof.

"Then that's good enough for me."

They had continued talking for a couple hours, each pony getting a word in while Crisp belted out curiosities left and right. As the night wound on, Sireen and Iron relaxed around each other a bit more, telling stories here and there about the horrors of the workplace or the barracks. Things continued apace swimmingly, until Crisp yawned, a sound his father's ears perked up at.

"Oh, shoot. Is it that late already? Some pony is getting sleepy eyes." Crisp had mumbled while his head tilted downwards.

"...M'not sleepy, Da..." As Iron swiped a wing under his son, Sireen smiled warmly as the father deftly and gently slid his son onto his back, before positioning him so he was facing the same way as the pegasus. Tilting his head back he snuffled his son's mane and kissed him just above the horn before looking back to the mare and tilted his head into a gentle pony's bow. Sireen would be lying if she said she hadn't blushed ever so faintly.

"M'lady, thank you for keeping us in such good company on this pleasant evening. My son has loved these little outings, and it makes him smile a lot more than normal." Sireen kept her soft smile present as she leaned on her spear.

"The thanks should be mine, actually. I enjoy these meetings just as much as Crisp does. They bring me a little something to look forward to before I go back to the castle. You would not believe how boring it is back there. I...I wasn't kidding when I said it's hard to make friends or family outside of duty. For each visit, I wanted to personally thank you, Iron Crest. It means a lot to me."

He smiled brightly for several seconds and then nodded.

"Well, you're very welcome. I'll take my leave then. Good night, Sireen."

"Good night, Iron Crest, and..." She leaned forward till she was closer to Crisp.

"Good night to you as well, ya little Scamp."

"...Mm g'night, Mum..."

She blinked in surprise, hardly expecting a reply. Next to her, Iron Crest visibly stiffened.

"..He... Um, w-why did he just call me Mom?"

For a moment she watched the foal slept peacefully in between his father's shoulders, before Iron Crest sighed loudly, jarring her from her position and back to an upright one, albeit slightly hesitant. For a moment, Iron looked at a loss for words, his mouth opening for a moment before it closed again. Turning around, Iron Crest walked a few steps away, before looking back halfway at her. Not directly at her, just at the ground next to him.

"...Because, he doesn't have one ...At least... Not anymore..."

************ *********** ************* ************** ************ ************* ***********

Iron and Crisp did not show up to the park for the next three days, and Sireen began to worry that she'd overstepped her bounds and upset them. When she looked into his living arrangements, she found that he lived in the higher end of the merchant plaza of Canterlot. But after making her way to their address, to her dismay, she found a destroyed empty lot where a house had once stood. It looked like her information had been old. She knew a house fire when she saw one. The surrounding buildings bore the signs of charred wood on their sides, despite their new paint. No grass grew in the front yard, and the blackened foundation was all that remained.

She'd made sure to look into that.

'House Fire Kills Canterlot Castle Servant, Arson Presumed Cause' she’d read that old headline and the underlying article over and over again, but never found much of anything else in the archives about it. History had swept over it like a leaf in the wind. It happened, and then it was like time had let go of the memory completely.

As she left the barracks the next evening, intent on finding out where Iron actually lived, she was held up by another night guard.

"Captain wants to see you, Sireen. Official business." She thanked him and trudged to the Captain's office. Her little investigation would have to wait.

As she entered, the Captain, Swift Bite, looked up and smiled. He'd never been overly harsh with his soldiers, but not soft, either. He was the kind of captain one wished they got when joining the ranks. The right amount of maturity, with just enough calm to take a joke or prank.

"Ah, Sireen Wind. Have a seat. I have something we need to discuss." Sireen nodded and sat down in front of the dark oak desk. To her right was a large stack of papers that the Captain was rifling through. Each one bore the seal of Princess Luna, their Sovereign.

Feeling worry drip down the back of her neck she sucked in her breath and breathed out slowly.

"Sir, what do we need to discuss? I have a shift I need to get to." He chuckled, and slid a paper in front of her.

"That you do, but not the one you've been at for the past month. Order's from up above came through, You're being reassigned to guard a lord and lady in the higher elite's district. They specifically asked for a bat pony mare and you are one of three under my command. We don't have as many as is so this was a blessing."

Sireen gulped. Reassignment? But why? If there were other mares that could do it, why her? She shuffled her wings hesitantly.

"Um, permission to speak sir?"

"Granted. What is on your mind, soldier?"

"...Why me?" Swift Bite snorted and arched his brow at her.

"Why you? You don't sound too elated by this news. Nevertheless, you have been at that particular post for quite some time, at least a month in fact, and it was noted that you'd voiced complaints in the past about not feeling very useful. When I approached the other two mares about this job, they stated they were pleased with their current installments, but you seemed less thrilled by your position. I figured you could use the change of pace, liven things up a bit." he leaned forward and tapped the desk with a hoof, smirking.

"And I made sure you'll be paid handsomely for it too, these lords and ladies are rich bastards that have to pay higher fees for personal guard services. If that doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will."

No smile appeared on her face. In fact, she frowned, looking quite sad.

"I...See...Um, may I ask who will be filling in for me? I need to give them a note." Swift Bite blinked.

"A note? For who?"

"A friend." That made his eyes widen, and he leaned back, watching as the mare before him twitched an ear back. he sighed.

"...I see. Very well. No harm in keeping up to date with friends, though i'm quite surprised you made one at that post. I'll have the replacement come by and pick it up before he leaves. Dismissed."

For the first time since she was young, Sireen left with a large glimmer in her eyes, but that was all Swift Bite saw as she drooped her ears and exited his office.

He shrugged and went back to work.

Night guards didn't cry after all.

Author's Note

was going to add more to this one but it ended in a spot i felt was right.