Re-Enlistment

I awoke to find myself wrapped in the hooves of Lantern Light, snoring quietly and still in his armor. I had taken the time to clean and polish my armor before I slept, but it quickly proved pointless as being frozen in stone made degradation impossible.I honestly didn't mind Lantern Light's embrace, but It's not exactly ethically sound for a superior to be cuddling with a subordinate, not even to mention that we were both stallions. It was then that I noticed his helmet had come off, and that during the night, my coat had become soft and fluffy after being freed from the press of my armor. There were still two others in the room with us, both being mares. They were somewhat more reserved in their sleeping position, one of them managing to get under the covers before falling asleep, and the other had set their armor aside and collapsed on top of the covered mare.

Being squeezed tightly by Lantern, who was thankfully still asleep, I realized that I should probably get sorted before a thousand years of libido caught up with me. I was able to lift his hooves from their place around my torso, and found that my wings worked much in the way that I would've expected my pegasus wings to perform. I did my best to quietly maneuver around the spacious circular chamber of the guest quarters, and landed next to a tall mirror to get a better look at myself.

My hooves had been exposed from their coat, revealing an even darker shade of grey. I also noticed that my ears had fluffy tufts of fur inside and atop of them. My fangs were unsurprisingly sharp, and I wondered If I would need to eat meat now. I hoped not, because that would mean a whole new slew of awkwardness between the three pony species and batponies In general.

Deciding that putting my armor on would cause too much noise, I opened the door of the Guest Room in search of food. I was surprised to find two Royal Guard standing watch outside, and they directed equal surprise upon finding out what they were guarding
in the first place.

"Eee!" I squeaked, before covering my throat in confusion as to why I didn't shout like before.

"Aaaah!" The guards blurted in unison, before casting worried looks at another and returning their gaze to my confused self.

"We heard that there were special guests, but It'd never occurred to me that it would be some kind of mutated frea-" One of the guards started, before being rightly smacked upside the head by the other guard.

"You better've not been about to say what I think you were gonna say, because It would be a bucking shame to have to report that you insulted a royal guest to the Captain, Halberd." The guard glowered, lowering his hoof with a huff before turning to me.

"Sorry for the scare there, we weren't given much information so we got startled. I'm Tower Shield." He offered a hoof, and I shook it after a moment's pause.

"Do you know..." I trailed off, my voice in a higher register than I was used to. "Do you know where I could get some food?"

My voice had become alot more squeaky, and this was concerning.

"Yes, Sir. Just walk down the right side of this hallway, and take another right. That should lead you in the direction of the Dining Hall." Tower Shield said with a smile, returning to his post after giving a warning look at Halberd.

"Oh!" I literally chirped, before lowering my voice to try again. "Would you direct the others in the room to the Dining Hall as well? They're still asleep and I didn't want to disturb their rest."

"Oh course, Sir." Halberd saluted, and I resumed course to food-land.

Along the way, I made a point of testing out my voice. Trying every pitch I used to be able to complete, I was both dismayed that I was unable to mimic some of the voices I was able to in the past, but also relieved that I would be able to try out new voices to pass the time. Remembering a particular mare that had an infamous reputation, before also realizing that she was now long dead, I decided to repeat her voice in memory as best I could. I was ecstatic in finding that I could now copy it perfectly if I used a slightly deeper tone of my new high pitched and squeaky voice.

"Oh yeah?" I asked nopony, attempting to get the sultry, playful and youthful tone of the 'Mare of the Night' just perfect.

"Oh yeah. Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah?! Oh Yeeeaaaahhh." I swallowed, trying to lock in the vocal arrangement of the voice after every repetition, before rounding the corner to come face to face with a very disturbed guard team.

The guards both attempted to stare blankly at me, but the blushes on their faces spoke volumes about what they had thought was approaching them down the hallway. Absently, I wondered what my own blush would look like as my face burned, but I took this opportunity to have a bit of fun. I walked slowly up to the guard on the right side of the door in my best imitation of an over exaggerated mare's gait. I leaned in close to the guard's twitching left ear as he tried to stand like a statue.

"Oh yeah?" I whispered in the voice, causing the guard on the left side of the door to burst into laughter at his partner's obvious discomfort and intensifying blush as he covered his face with a hoof. I looked up from the crumpling guard at his partner before letting out a squeaky giggle, and continuing into the Dining Hall. Thankfully, nopony else had heard the display behind the thick wooden double doors.

I was one of the few early risers, noting that only one of the Night Guard in the hall was in their armor. There was seven of them in total, all around one of the smaller tables that had been moved into the room, in place of the single large table usually reserved for nobility. Trotting up to the cooks that were present, I was about to ask for a meal before I was interrupted by the bleat of a Ram from around the corner

"An' don' -you- tell me nothin' about cookin, ya buckin twit! Ye wouldn' know fine cookin' if it crawled out of a boilin' pot an nipped ye with a claw!" The obviously irate Ram had yelled, drawing attention from those gathered before turning his gaze to me.

"Ye were about te say somethin'?" He asked, his previous anger vaporizing like the stew placed next to him as he turned to look at me.

"Oh! Yer one o' them guests that the Princesses have so graciously decided to run a homeless shelter fer' aren't ye?" He glowered, his previous mood returning.

"Um... I'd just like some stew, if that's alright." I whimpered. A trained officer of the Night Guard, me, whimpering to this Ram chef in an oversized and fairly ridiculous hat.

"Wa's that laddy? I can' hear you over the sound of yer' incessant squeakin', An' that'd be fine as it were, if her Royal Fatness had deigned suitable to tell me what the bloody hay it is that all ye bat ponies'd be eatin' in tha' first place!" He shouted at the ceiling, before hoofing me a bowl of what looked like Apples in a thick... broth? Paste? I don't really know what to call it, honestly.

"Don' ye be givin' me that look! Go sit down 'an eat 'et!" he shouted, as I balanced the stew on my back, using my wings to hold it in place as I hurriedly trotted to the relative safety of my fellow Bat Ponies.

Taking a seat after placing my bowl down, I found the sympathetic looks of the ponies that had braved the angry Ram's wrath before me.

Now... To deal with whatever this strange thing before me is. Normally I wouldn't have given it a second thought, but this didn't smell like any typical Apple based soup-stew-broth thing I've had before. The apples were rainbow colored, and I haven't had the best experience with those, typically.

"If you don't want it, I'll have it." The batpony in armor said, setting down their own bowl that had been licked clean.

"Come on, at least let him have a chance to try it first." A pony to my right said. "It's actually not bad."

Bracing myself, I raised the bowl in my hooves and sipped, getting mostly just the broth...stuff.

By Celestia's Beard...

Before I knew what had happened, the entire bowl was absent of Apple goodness.

"Hurray, I was right!" The cheery voice of my nightmares exclaimed, as I lowered the bowl to come face to face with Charmed.

"Was it good? I bet it was good! I thought of it myself!" Charmed continued, driving those gathered to cover their ears.

"I'm gonna write all of this down in my scientific journal! I'm gonna get a tenure at the university and a pension and..." she exclaimed while hopping away in a world of her own, before shortly returning with a floating stack of books.

"Now, who wants to be the first test subj-- Uh, Aha ha... I mean, who wants to answer questions?" She asked with a suspicious smile.

Everypony looked amongst themselves, and decided to get seconds of the Apple weirdness instead.

***

Later in the day, and with everypony now awake and fed, we were brought to the briefing room of yesterday.

"All right, everypony. Gather around and listen up!" A unicorn mare in a lab coat announced, flanked by more studious types that were moving around all kinds of white boxes on wheels that would emit noise at steady intervals.

"Don't be alarmed. These are medical devices. They won't harm you, so long as you sit still and keep calm. You've been gone for a long time, and need to get vaccinated for all the new diseases and sicknesses that have cropped up. We are also going to decontaminate you, so
you don't end up bringing a plague back. Nopony wants to deal with the Black Death."

"The what?" whispered Lantern Light to my left.

"Don't ask me, I have no clue." I replied, dropping all of my former professionalism and decorum that I kept while in uniform.

He gave me a worried look, but we both resumed to listening.

"...ust going to feel a small pinch, and the nurses will take care of the rest. These machines here will monitor your vital signs so we will know if you're reacting badly to anything. Now, is anypony allergic to anything?"

Several hooves shot up, and I was guided to a curtained off bed by a nurse pegasus while everypony got to work with their assigned tasks.

"Okay, just hop up on this bed here, and we can get you all fixed up." The mare meekly said, as I made my way to the sterile looking push-bed. She was a light pink, with deep red and white mane, completed with soft orange eyes.

"What is your name?" She asked, clipboard in hoof and pen in mouth as I settled down.

"Lieutenant Novel Thought, Ma'am." I reported.

"Age before imprisonment?" She continued with a slight cringe.

"... Twenty one." I stated eventually, realizing that I was now technically far too old for anypony.

"Well, you already said your rank... Where were you stationed?"

"Everfree Forest." I thought a moment before asking, "That forest is still around, right?"

"Oh yes, but nopony ever goes there. Its really dangerous. Okay, What is your opinion on needles?" she asked, setting her tools aside while grabbing something out of sight.

"What do you mean, like sewing nee--EEE!" I squeaked in alarm, as a sharp pain went into my flank.

"Sorry about that. Some ponies faint or get sick when getting shots. It's just part of getting you ready to go outside, so don't worry about it." She explained, slightly shrinking under my gaze.

I grumbled a bit, before deciding that it wasn't worth anypony's time to get upset about a shot.

"It's alright, Ma'am. Just unexpected. Why would anypony get... Whoa." My vision was getting blurry, and I held my head in my forehooves before I slumped down on the bed.

"It's okay, you're just gonna take a little nap so we can get you through all the procedures without any fuss or pain. See you soon!" Her voice was distant as my senses retreated into the embrace of unconsciousness.