Darkness. That was the first thing that struck me as I woke from my daze. That was quickly followed by all of my body deciding to impale itself with thousands of tiny swords in an effort to make sure the nerves were still working.

"Aaah!"

"Calm down, you're safe now." A reassuring and soft voice said somewhere to my left, as I tried to come to a halt. My body was still protesting its existence as I tried to stand at attention and find the source of the voice.

"Listen to my voice. That's it, perfect." the voice said, my vision still determined to be absent in my time of need.

I was then further assaulted by tingling sensations as my head was grabbed in a magical field of energy. This time it was my eyes that decided that they too, wanted to be stabbed by an army of breezies. Painfully blinking and shaking my head as I was released, my vision came back in a strange rosy hue. I may have been struck by a rainbow, but I remember without fault that the world was NOT that color. My vision returned to normal as I looked towards a well lit mare.

"Your eyes will take some getting used to, but don't worry about it all that much. It's normal!" the voice cheerfully explained, as I noted the turquoise mare with black and sky blue hair and the most wonderful golden eyes.

"Charmed." she said, holding out a hoof to me.

"Pardon?"

"My name, silly. I'm called Charmed." she withdrew her hoof with a smile, and I took the opportunity to get my bearings.

I was in a large chamber, in some kind of cave with a rediculously high ceiling. Behind Charmed were more unicorns, along with members of the Royal Guard. Pegasai, Unicorns and Earth Ponies all present, as well as... wait.

What kind of pony is THAT?

"Oh Luna, what happened to me?!" A pony dressed in the armor of the Night Guard had wailed. His body was a dark grey, with his mane a two-tone combination of grey and blue. His eyes held slitted pupils with a color of bright yellow. All of this would have been strange, excepting that his wings now had membranes in place of feathers. Leathery bat wings.

I then took stock of my own figure, and gasped. I too was given a dark grey coat, replacing the one of white that I had been born with.

"I... I would like a mirror, please." I hesitantly asked the unicorn named Charmed, who had graciously waited for me to come back to reality. Apparently she had been expecting this reaction, as she lifted a strange square mirror from her saddle bags. Below the mirror was a tray filled with various powders and brushes.

"Don't mind the mirror, its for cosmetics!" She explained way too cheerfully for the situation, as I attempted to see myself in the compact mirror.

Slit pupils. They were still purple, thankfully, and my mane had survived it's stay underneath my helmet. The coloration had changed though. What was once an orange and red mane with trim of gold, had become a light grey and purple mane with trim of silver. I smiled, as I didn't really mind the change in mane coloration, but that gave me a whole new subject to be concerned about.

I had FANGS.

"Aaah!"

Charmed had found me hiding behind a stone pedestal, holding another of the Night Guard that had been frozen into a statue by the Elements of Harmony. It was then that I noticed that my own pegasus wings had changed into that of a bat.

"Those are normal, too. We'll be going over all of the changes that you'll have noticed during orientation!" she chirped, still in far too pleasant of a tone for my liking in this situation.

"Miss Charmed, given my current predicament, your voice is far too filled with mirth." I stated sourly, withdrawing myself from behind the statue of a very surprised pegasus of the Night Guard, who would probably be equally surprised to learn that she was no longer, in fact, a pegasus.

"What's not to be excited about? You're coming back to Equestria after a thousand years of imprisonment in stone! There's so much to see, and to do!" She continued, with her typical mantra of 'all is wonderful and right in the world'. Then I noticed a small bit of information that she had stated previously.

"Hold a moment. One thousand years of imprisonment, you said?" I asked, holding a hoof in an effort to stop her continuous barrage of cheer.

"Yes sir eee! One thousand years of being turned to stone and stored in a cave, so nopony or creature could harm your entombed souls. It's pretty neat, if you ask me. You're all like living history!" It was at this point that I noticed her cutie mark was that of an Egriffian mummy in a casket, holding a scythe and some other artifact in another claw.

"You're... an Archaeologist, I presume?"

"Wait, you're telling me that there was Archaeology way back in your time? That means that theres even more ancient cultures that nopony has ever even seen! This is amazing! Im going to tell everypony all abou..." She ranted, hopping around and running from pony to pony with her newfound 'discovery' as I tuned her out and began to experiment with my new wings. After all, if this was to be the rest of my life, I might as well get used to the fact that I had fangs... and was part bat.

That would have to wait for later, however. I was still in a fairly large cave with row upon row of statued Night Guard. I wondered if I would be able to recognize the faces of any of them, as I was walking towards the other guard that had been 'thawed' for lack of a better term, with me. I found him hiding behind a statue, as I had been, and joined the Royal Guard and accompanying archaeologist that were attempting to coax him from his fortified position.

"Would you tell us your name?" The archaeologist mare asked, as she inched closer to the frightened guard.

"What's the point?! Everypony I know is dead, theres no way that you'd know who I am! It doesn't matter who I am anymore!" The guard wailed, accidently biting his lip with his fangs in anger and letting out a squeak of pain. He wasn't taking the changes as well as I had been, but I decided to do what I could to help him out.

"I might know your name. Would you share yours? I am Novel Thought, Lieutenant of Luna's Night Guard, Everfree Watch." I held out a hoof to the cowering night guard, hoping my rank and officer's training would help in this kind of situation. I've seen guards come back from fighting Manticores with less jitters than this, and it was worrying to think that not everypony that returned from their forced slumber would adjust as quickly as I had.

"L-Lieutenant Thought?" He stammered, before grabbing my hoof and righting himself, making sure his armor was in order before I stopped him with a hoof on his shoulder.

"It is alright, Night Guard. This isn't the time for drill and ceremony. Would you share your name? It can't do to simply call you 'Night Guard' as there is more than just the two of us." I moved to stand beside him, and rested a hoof on his back in order to point with my other hoof at the rows of frozen Night Guard in the chamber we occupied.

"Every one of those statues is another Night Guard, like us. We're all going to need to take some time to adjust, not only to our new...forms, but to Equestria as it stands." I was doing my best to keep a calm and reassuring demeanor, but I was worried beyond belief at what would be expected of us as soon as we were free of this cave. Or, to make matters worse, if we were going to be held accountable for our actions a millennia after the fact.

"Y-you mean t-that... All of those statues are ponies?" He was shaking, but getting his nerve back slowly and steadily.

"Yes. Every single statue you see, is another pony. Just like us, a Night Guard just like us. We are the first two, and we must set the example for those that follow. We have alot that has been dealt to us, but we will persevere." I let go of the Night Guard, setting myself down to stand next to him with a smile of confidence that I didn't truly feel myself.

"Now then, what should I call you?" I asked, adjusting his helmet from its lopsided perch on his head.

"I am Guard Lantern Light, sir." He stated, more spirit in his voice and swiftly recovering from his display earlier.

"Excellent, Guard Light. You are an exemplar of what the Night Guard looks for in a pony." I left it up to Lantern to determine what that was, exactly.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Novel Thought?" I turned to see the Royal Guard from before, along with the Archaeologist, standing there in wait.

"Yes?" I asked, returning the salute he had given me as I had turned to see him.

"You and Guard Lantern Light are correct in that you're the first to have been revived. Through the cave entrance, over by Charmed, is the Royal Palace. We will be holding a short briefing about the changes that Equestria has gone through in your absence. We will explain everything as fully as possible at that time. If you would like to stay, to help other Guard with their return to the living, it would be most appreciated. The choice is yours, sir."

"Ooh! And we get to ask you all kinds of questions abo-" The archaeologist had started, before being silenced by the hoof of the royal guard being stuck into her mouth.

"Not now, Dusty. They've -just- woken up. Ask them later, when they're not coming out of a thousand year slumber."

"Thank you, Guard...?" I asked, searching for a name.

"I am Sergeant Rising Sun." he responded with a slobbery salute, as 'Dusty' wiped her mouth of drool. To Sun's credit, he didn't flinch when he realized that his hoof was covered in saliva.

"Many thanks, Sergeant Sun." I returned the salute, and told Lantern Light to continue to the briefing room without me.

For a few hours afterwards, I went through the same process as I had with Lantern. Some were more like myself, in that they did not show signs of panic or mental breakdown. The majority, however, were very distraught. Some even took to the skies, only to realize with painful clarity that they were in a cave, and come crashing back down to the floor. Sergeant Sun was a Unicorn that specialized in light and healing magic, being of great help to those who would have suffered injury in their panic.

Finally complete, and our numbers having been calmed down and martialed to the briefing room, A Royal Guard Captain came through the large wooden doors. He was a Unicorn of stocky build, with snow white coat with blue hooves, three tone mane of light to dark blues, and a deep blue shield cutie mark with a pink star adorning the center, with three sparkles above it.

"Welcome to Canterlot, everypony." The captain said with a smile, looking amongst the gathered and still worried Night Guards.

"I am Captain Shining Armor, of the Canterlot Royal Guard. You all will be staying here for a time, as you are brought up to speed regarding the changes of custom and policy in Equestria following your thousand years of imprisonment." This started some murmurs in the gathered crowd, but was soon silenced by their remembered discipline.

"I understand that some of you have voiced concerns about what has happened following the events of Nightmare Moon, and I can assure you that nopony here will be punished any further for their involvement during that period of conflict. Princess Celestia has decided that a thousand years trapped in stone is more than she would have ever given. We ask that for the first week of your stay here in the Royal Palace that you not travel outside the Palace grounds. We've yet to publicly announce your collective return, and would like to keep this very hush-hush for now."

That seemed odd to me, but I suppose that could just be written up to the fact that there had been a millennia since I was even familiar with any sort of policy.

"You will be staying in the Guest Rooms of the palace, until more permanent living arrangements can be made, following the planned announcement on Wednesday. Oh, for those of you wondering, it is currently Saturday." There were a few comments about what year it was, but they were overlooked as Captain Armor continued his speech. "Princess Luna has also been freed from her own banishment on the moon, and her corruption by Nightmare Moon. She too is undergoing the same process you all will be, and asks that you remain strong for Equestria and the ponies that you protect, should you wish to continue serving in the Night Guard."

"Does that mean that we'll have a thousand years of pay to collect?" I heard a voice whisper to my left, before the clang of an armored hoof smacking a breastplate was heard.

"Don't be an idiot! We're lucky they didn't punish the lot of us for being part of attempted Regicide and a coup!" Another voice, to my far left had hissed at the first guard, as my attention returned to the Captain.

"...and we of the Royal Guard hope that you will ask us any questions you may have. If we cannot answer your questions, we recommend visiting the Royal Library in the eastern wing of the Palace. Thank you for attending. Dismissed!" He finished with a salute, and was answered with the resounding beat of a hundred hooves smacking their breastplate, before most realized that the captain had raised his hoof to level with his eyebrow.

"Heh... At ease, everypony. There's a lot of changes to go over, so don't beat yourself up about it." He smiled, before leaving the room with two Royal Guards in tow. The remaining Guard was lead to their rooms, the sheer number of 'guests' forcing us to take four to a room. Given that there was only one bed to each room, this caused a few problems. Luckily, most were too tired to be truly concerned about being in a mixed gender pile on the large beds. The beds themselves were more posh and soft than the military bunks they were used to. I later found out that some had passed out on contact, armor and all.

Author's Note

Huzzah, stories. Yep, the OC and myself look the same.
If this gains in popularity, then ill have another reason to
Keep writing this story! Ill continue regardless, because
Writing is fun, but if you enjoy the story be sure to let
Me know!