Re-Enlistment

"This is a fairly standard reaction to the Night Guard popping in out of nowhere, as far as we've been informed. The other Guard were teleported into random districts in Canterlot. Two ended up in a park, and another three showed up in the middle of a merchant’s guild meeting. We don't have any pony trained in group teleportation, so we're going to sneak you out of here during the night. We'll be able to make a public announcement tomorrow, to ensure the populace doesn't panic when rumors start spreading about today." The Royal Guard explained.

"So, we're to sit here with a classroom of Foals and an exhausted school teacher for most of the day?" I asked.

"It's not so bad, as far as assignments go. We could have a talk with the teacher and turn this into a surprise lesson for the Foals, if you don't mind, that is."

"I'll have a talk with the others, but first, would you share your name?"

"I am Guard Swift Action." He responded with a proud smile.

"That is... surprisingly accurate of your parents to have named you."

"I get that a lot." He gave a salute, and walked over to the teacher to check on her.

Alright. Now I just have to convince every...batty... to talk with foals all day.

"Well, would you all like to--"

"Yeah!"

"Sure, why not."

"Foals are soooo cute!" Night Breeze finished, making silly noises at one of the fillies in their desk nearby, who giggled in delight.

That was easier than I'd expected.

After some persuading of the teacher, and reassurances that we didn't eat foals, Swift Action led a class that he called "Intro to Bat ponies 101".

"Alright class, what can you tell me about these bat ponies that is different from... other ponies?" he salvaged his question from appearing racist, by calling Earth, Unicorn and Pegasus ponies 'normal'.

"They look funny!" A buck yelled, earning some laughs along with a scornful look from their teacher.

"Maybe, but what specifically about them is different?" Swift continued.

"They have pointy teeth!"

"And they have really fuzzy coats and ears!"

"They have pointy eyes!"

"Fangs!"

"Bat wings!"

"They all look the same, except for that one with purple eyes!" A filly pointed directly at me, and the entire class suddenly took notice of that fact. I felt the eyes of around thirty foals, my fellow Night Guards and the Royals all staring at me at once. I slowly tried to move behind Moon Sight to get them to stop looking at me, but she shoved me forward into the spotlight.

"Eep!" I squeaked in surprise at the shove, causing the everypony to laugh at my startled noise.

"That one squeaks!"

"I think he's shy!"

"Bat ponies are shy~!" One taunted in a sing song voice.

"I'm definitely not shy!" Night Breeze declared, holding a hoof to her chest like a poster soldier while looking proud.

"That one isn't as squeaky as the stallion!"

Ouch, my stallion-inity.

"Now, now, class. Let’s not get carried away." Swift called while raising a hoof to grab the attention of the foals. "We've noticed that bat ponies have fangs, bat wings, slit pupils (Not pointy eyes), fuzzy coats and ears, and what else?" he asked.

"Um... really squeaky voices!"

"Shy stallions!"

"Cutie marks?"

"Yes! Cutie marks, as well as the other things you've mentioned class. Night Guards, would you care to show the class your Cutie Marks?"

We shared a look between us, and began taking off our Midnight purple and silver armor to set it behind us on the floor.

"Now, which one do you want to hear the cutie mark story of first, class?"

"Cool pony!" Some shouted.

"Quiet pony!" More shouted.

"Squeaky pony!" One foal shouted, to be joined by the rest of the class in a deafening repeat of "Squeaky pony!!"

Recovering from the deafening blast of audio, amidst squeaks of pain from our sensitive ears getting overloaded, I looked to Swift to confirm that I would be going first.

"Whenever you're ready, Night Guard." he said, moving aside to give me the room.

Oh great, Public speaking. A whole classroom of foals and guards, and a teacher...

"Can bat ponies talk?" An impatient foal asked.

"Yes, I can talk. I just don't like crowds a whole lot." I responded.

"Ha-ha! Shy pony is shy!" the foal yelled, before the teacher walked over and whispered something to him, causing him to look shamed.

"Alright... Well, as you can see, my cutie mark is a brown book. I know you're probably thinking 'Why would a Night Guard have a book for a cutie mark? Shouldn't he have something cool, like a sword or a crossbow, or maybe even a crossbow that shoots swords!'"

That earned a few laughs from the foals that knew anything about weaponry, as well as some of the guards thankfully.

"But the truth is, I never really thought I was going to be a guard in the first place. From about your ages, I was in love with books. From reading the unique stories that they held, to finding out knowledge about old cultures and fiction thought up by anypony who could put a few decent words together. I didn’t actually realize that my special talent would be related to books until... Actually this is really embarrassing..." I trailed off, not really wanting to continue my cutie mark story in front of so many.

"Wait, what's your name, Mister?" the filly that freed my head from the cubby had asked with a raised hoof.

"I am Novel Thought, Miss...?"

"Everypony calls me Ghost Trapper!" She enthusiastically shouted.

"That’s... Well that’s a very different name than what I've heard before."

"Why don't you want to continue your cutie mark story, Mister Novel?" she asked.

I sighed heavily before explaining, "Well, I didn't actually -get- my cutie mark for a very long time. I was doing work for my family for so long, doing things I hated just so we could get by day to day, that I never got the chance to do any sort of self-discovery until I was twenty one. Which technically I still am, if you discount the thousand years I’ve been frozen in stone."

"You were in stone for a thousand years?!" some of the class shouted at once, then giggling in surprise that they thought alike before turning to me.

"Yes, I was a statue in the Pony Cotta Army until a few days ago." I looked toward the teacher, "Have you talked about the Pony Cotta Army, or is it not in the history books?"

"I think that is taught in the advanced history class, but it's an elective course." she said, as I noticed she was interested in my story as well.

"Did it hurt to be a statue for so long?" One of the class asked.

"Could you move?"

"Were you awake the whole time?

"Did you get hungry?"

I explained that I was sleeping the whole time, and wasn't aware of anything that was going on for a thousand years. My fellow Night Guards confirmed that they had a similar experience.

"How'd you get your cutie mark?" Ghost Trapper asked.

"Well, it was during a course for the Night Guard Officer Corps some thousand years ago. We were supposed to be going over some training reports to get us ready for when we were on duty. I got really bored of the work, because I had completed it in a few minutes while others were still working on the first page. I decided to flip one of the pages over and start writing whatever came to mind so I could distract myself. Before I knew it, I had used the backs of every one of the reports and found the instructor looking over my shoulder at what I was doing. He had apparently shouted a few times to get my attention, but decided to see what was making me so entranced. When I came out of my little writing world, he took the pages and told me to watch my rear. Then I saw that my cutie mark had appeared. I also found out that he used my story as an example report for later recruits to go over."

"That’s pretty lame for a guard." the impatient foal from before taunted, before a filly smacked him and they both got scolded by the teacher.

"What's your story, Miss Cool Pony?" a filly asked, pointing to Night Breeze.

"Well my name is Night Breeze, and I got my cutie mark for sneaking up on a Cockatrice in the night and clobbering him with a big stick!" she declared, looking proud of herself.

"Coooool!" Some ponies ooo'd and aah'd as well.

That just made me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy. Except not. Oh well, they're foals and fillies. Children will be children.

"What about you?" One pointed at Lantern Light.

"Was riding on top of a carriage, and spotted a hurt Diamond Dog in the road. Called out for the carriage to stop, we put him in the wagon and drove him to a hospital. Now I got a Lantern on my flank." he put succinctly.

"What’s your name?"

"Lantern Light."

"Coooool." The ponies said again.

Bucking school foals.

"What about the quiet pony?" one said, pointing at Moon Sight.

"Moon was pretty. I liked it. Got a fancy telescope. Saw a bunch more of the moon. Got my cutie mark." she deadpanned, apparently bored.

"Cool?" A few of them said, sort of deflated from their expectations not being met.

Hah, take that!

***

One of the Royals looked at their watch (I learned that -that- was the metal ring around their hooves after an awkward conversation at lunch with a Royal Guard) and stated that it was time for us to move out.

We put our armor back on, as the Royal Guards tried to wake Charmed from her magically induced coma to no success. It was decided that she would be carried on the back of a Royal, due to the reaction of us being spotted, let alone with an unconscious and wounded mare with us.

"Alright, here’s the plan. Bat ponies stay on the rooftops, moving from building to building while you stay out of sight of the Earth and Unicorn ponies. We will make a big show of getting Charmed to the Royal Infirmary. That should attract most of the attention onto us, so long as you four stay out of sight and close to the buildings. We don’t want anypony spotting you if we can help it, or we'll have a whole other problem on our hands. You're supposed to be revealed to the population tomorrow in a controlled setting so nothing gets out of hoof." Swift Action briefed.

"If we see anypony in trouble, can we help out?" Lantern Light asked.

"The main goal is getting you four back to the Palace, but we -are- all still guards. If you can help somepony in need, go for it. Give you folks a little better PR."

"Pee Are?" I asked.

He gave me a look like I was an idiot before saying, "Public Relations."

"Oh, back in my day we just lopped off the heads of anypony that we didn't like." I responded, to see several mouths agape.

"What?" I asked, faking innocence. "They got better!"

"You chopped off heads!" A royal shouted.

"Of course not! I know what Public Relations is, I was joking!" I exclaimed.

Several faces became covered in hooves, and my helmet was slapped off of my head.

"Not funny, Novel."

***

We were getting close to the Palace, about three blocks away. We had stopped to try and help an old granny with her groceries, but had to retreat after she used her bags filled with apples like a large mace to ward off 'the con'sarned Changelings again.'

I don't know what a Changeling is, but they're apparently either bad news, or the equivalent of the lizard people that live in the sewers that everypony is convinced that runs all of Equestria and has secret dealings with Celestia, that are also related to Space aliens that are defeated by tin foil hats.

I’m not sure that anything seriously threatening would be defeated by headwear made of tin, but I’ve been gone for a thousand years. I suppose anything is possible this day and age, so I decided that I would buy my own hat of tin at some point in the future.

"Do you think tomorrow is gonna go any better than today, reactions wise?" Night Breeze asked as we hopped to the next building to keep pace with the very loud Royal Guards below. At this point they were starting to wake ponies up, but I thought it would be better if we just let them be instead of swooping down to inform them that the plan could be discarded. That might draw attention to ourselves before tomorrow, and it was sort of funny watching the theatrics.

"Well, if the Princesses are by our side and explain everything, I'm sure it will be fine." I responded.

"Where do you think they'll have us live? I don't want a repeat of when we had to move in to random ponies' homes and take up space. I mean, sure we paid for everything but it’s still really stressful to the families if they have a stranger in armor with weapons in their home." She continued.

"I’m not sure if they even -have- weapons anymore. Have you seen any of the Royals with swords or crossbows?"

"Now that I think about it, I haven't. Maybe they don’t get attacked a whole lot?" she offered.

"Well, if that were true, they wouldn't be needing to bring us out of our stone hibernation." I hopped over to the next building, a block away from the Palace gates.

"Then why don't they arm themselves with weapons? It only makes sense that you would need to defend yourself against whatever beasties or invaders there might be."

"Maybe they haven't needed weapons in a while? We've been gone a thousand years, so I expect a lot has changed. I just never thought that a lack of weaponry would be on the list."

We finished our row of buildings, waiting for the Royals to give us the all clear signal to swoop down and join them at the palace Gate.

Swift Action came cantering up to the posted guards with Charmed on his back. He was soon joined by his fellow Royals, as he waved a hoof above his head somewhere in our vague direction. We took that as the signal, and descended on the guards.

Apparently they were startled as we arrived, because a few of them almost leapt out of their armor when we came into the lantern light.

"Sweet Luna! You all scared me half to death, coming out of nowhere like that!" Swift Action said, recovering from a filly-ish scream.

"All I saw was your eyes coming down on us when you got near the lantern!" A gate guard declared.

The Night Guards and I shared looks, before devilishly smiling and taking flight again, leaving the Royals wondering where we had gone to.

"Boo!" I barked from a pillar holding up the gate, startling the guard below. I kept my mouth open to reveal my fangs just to add to the spook factor.

"Stop that! You're givin' me the heebie-jeebies!" the guard complained. "I swear, as soon as you lot are able to take up the night shift, I'm going on a vacation. First the Changelings, now you Night Guards creepin around and spookin' ponies."

I gave a squeaky laugh, before flittering down to Swift Action, making him scream a bit again at my sudden appearance. We were finally let through the palace gates, and led to our shared guest bedroom.

***

Upon seeing the wonderful and magnificent bed, we gave a collective yawn and i tossed my helmet to the side. It landed on the thick carpet with a soft metallic 'tink' as it rolled to a halt.

"Whelp. That was an interesting day. Anypony else going to take off their armor, or are we all just gonna buck it and sleep on the bed as we are?" I drowsily commented.

"I'm takin' my armor off, this stuff is exhausting." Night Breeze said, quickly undoing straps and wiggling out of the pieces she didn't want to bother with directly.

Moon Sight had already been taking off her armor as well, the second she closed the door behind us. I had gone to help Lantern Light with his armor, be he declined the help.

That made me sad, but I took it as a hint that he wasn't interested in anything but sleep. That, and catching his looks, I’m certain he was more interested in mares anyway.

Moon Sight and Night Breeze, however, took no pause to consider the implications of cuddling with another under the sheets of the bed.

"You two cozy?" I asked from the side of the bed.

"Yep! Moonie here has a really soft coat." She nuzzled into Moon Sight, who seemed relaxed and returned the favor.

"Great, we got two cuddling mares, a Colt-Cuddler Lieutenant, and a Stallion who at the moment, is very disappointed." Lantern Light pouted.

"Hey, we could still cuddle if you-" I tried, before being interrupted.

"Nope, I'm just fine, Lieu. Thanks, but no thanks."

My ears drooped as my fantasies went up in smoke, as I grabbed a pillow from the bed and decided to sleep above the sheets at the hoof of the bed.

"Oh come on, Lieu. Don't be like that. It gets cold at night and nopony wants to see a mopey and sad C.O." Night Breeze offered, lifting her section of the sheets.

"You sure? I don't want to interfere with your cuddling. Also, are you two going to call me Lieu as well now?" I was still upset, and a bit touchy.

"Well, if you want us to call you something else, just let us know. Now get over here before you freeze!" She beckoned with a hoof, while Moon wiggled to the side to give room.

"Just call me Novel, I like that a lot more than 'Lieu' or 'Any-kind-of-rank, Thought'." I said, holding my pillow in my mouth as I hopped onto the bed and took my spot between the mares.

"Oh, just my luck. Colt-Cuddler takes a spot between two nice, warm Filly fooling mares." Lantern Light grumbled, shifting his back to us and pulling his sheet over his head.

I frowned for a moment, before I was given a hug by Moon and Breeze.

"Hey, don't worry about it Novvie. I'm sure you'll find somepony someday soon!" She poked my muzzle with her hoof, before snuggling close to me.

Yeah. I probably would. But there was still tomorrow to get through, as well as everything else that could go wrong when it comes to introducing a new species of Bat ponies to a large crowd. Especially when the announcement isn't described beforehand, and kept as a surprise. Celestia must still love messing with her subjects.

Oh well, all that can be dealt with tomorrow. For now, I’m going to get some sleep and not worry about it.