Midnight took a long sip of her coffee and let out an equally long sigh. The erratic and, quite frankly, insufficient sleep schedule she’d had since arriving in Hallow Shades was still affecting her, even with the sleep she’d gotten the night Twilight had become an alicorn. Everything that had happened the following day had gotten her so worked up that she’d stayed up into the small hours of the morning going over the trip in her mind as well as all the scenarios that could happen when they arrived at the clan. She’d finally stopped when Sapphire practically dragged her into the bed they were sharing at the castle before heading back to Ponyville the next morning. Her cuddling up to Midnight under her wing and steady, soft breathing as she’d fallen back asleep had calmed the kirin’s mind enough that she, too, soon slipped into blissful slumber, only to be awakened several hours later so they could catch their train home.

At the kitchen island with her were Sapphire, Squeaks, Windrunner, and Honey. The kitchen window was open but you couldn’t see much outside with Shoal’s head so close in order to listen in. Arina sat on Midnight’s head, dozing and making her owner rather jealous. Squeaks and Honey needed to be brought into the loop and not just because the kirin, pegasi, and dragon were going to be leaving again soon. On the train ride back, Midnight had asked the four that had come looking for her how dangerous the trip would be.

“Without the ship? Very,” Marina told her, “we got lucky that we didn’t run into any rocs or get attacked crossing the great southern swamp or get ambushed while we slept. With the ship, however, the only thing that would concern me are the rocs but since you and Shoal are going…” she shrugged and looked between her and Sapphire. While it was true that the kirin was concerned about her injured pegasus marefriend, she wanted to know how dangerous the trip would be for another reason.

Speaking of those four, they were currently bunking in the three unused rooms upstairs until the trip and, besides the dining room, Midnight was starting to wonder what the point of the house expansion had been if all those rooms were ever going to be used for was the occasional guest. At the moment they were also making Midnight envious by sleeping at a normal time (for them) and getting back into a normal rhythm. Snow had wanted to stay up and meet Honey and Squeaks properly but she’d yawned so much that they’d convinced her to sleep and meet them bright eyed and bushy-tailed when they all sat down to dinner that night.

The Darkfeather Rookery, on the other hoof, were currently roosting in trees near where Shoal rested in the forest as the dragon seemed to keep the more dangerous creatures away. Midnight planned to really sit down with Dimwood and Darling after the trip and see about setting up more permanent housing for the rookery. She figured some barn-like buildings, places big enough they could fly in and out of while being sheltered from the elements, would be the kind of home they’d like best.

“And that’s the plan going forward,” Sapphire finished, having picked up where Midnight had left off to sip her drink.

“So you’re going away again and for a while this time?” Squeaks asked, her ears drooping. She wasn’t as clingy a foal as she’d been when she first entered Midnight’s life but that didn’t mean she liked her mother leaving for a trip that had the potential to last at least a month or two. She was also probably worried because of everything Midnight had gone through recently.

“Actually, we’ll be going away for a while,” Midnight said, motioning between herself and Squeaks, “I’m bringing you with us this time.”

Squeaks’ yellow eyes grew wide and her ears perked back up. “Really!?”

“Really,” Midnight confirmed and the ears of all the adults folded down as the filly let out a happy yell and hugged her mother. Even Shoal flinched a bit and Arina shot up, jolted out of sleep by the noise. There was also a noise from upstairs but no-one came down to see what was going on.

“Are you sure about this?” Honey asked, massaging an ear. “I can’t imagine it’ll be a safe journey.”

“Yes but this also brings up the conditions you need to agree to if you’re going to go,” Midnight said, looking back down at the filly, who, upon hearing the word “conditions” lost some of her enthusiasm. Arina took the opportunity to fall from Midnight’s head on onto Squeaks’, where she began chirping unhappily at the thestral.

“Sorry Arina,” Squeaks said, flicking her ears forward so that her tuffs gently patted the spider until she was mollified.

“First of all,” Midnight continued, “you are to NEVER leave the airship unless it’s with myself, Sapphire, Windrunner, or other certain adults. I cannot stress just how dangerous it’ll be if you leave it once we’ve left Equestria. Secondly, because we’ll probably be gone for so long, we’ll be getting school work from Miss Cheerilee for you to do while we travel north so you don’t fall behind your friends and classmates. This won’t exactly be a vacation.”

Squeaks nodded up at her; it was about what she expected. “Stay on the ship and do my homework, got it.”

Midnight ruffled her daughter’s mane, after Arina climbed back onto her leg, and smiled. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of fun stuff to do once your daily lessons and our shifts are over. I’ll need you to look after Sapphire while Windrunner and I are on duty, anyway.”

Squeaks saluted and Sapphire gave her an exasperated expression which quickly turned into a smile.

“And she’ll be perfectly safe once we reach the Storm Clan,” Shoal added through the window. “As she’s Midnight’s daughter, she’ll be family. Anyone even dreaming of hurting her will have the wrath of the entire clan to deal with.”

They sat there for a second, imagining the kind of devastation that an entire angry wyvern clan could create, not to mention an enraged Midnight and Shoal. Overkill seemed like an understatement.

“I think we’ll be fine,” Sapphire finally said, “Squeaky’s learned her lesson before.”

The bat filly nodded in agreement.

“Then once I finish this cup I’ll head over to Cheerilee’s house and get that ball rolling. Between our own packing, getting the guard prepped, and incorporating the owl harpies into the guard it’s going to be a long week.” As she drained the coffee she noticed that Honey still had a deep, thoughtful look on her face. “This is still your house,” Midnight told her, guessing at what she was thinking, “there’s no reason you need to stay at the embassy while we’re away.”

Honey’s ears flicked. “Twilight and the others are going as ambassadors to the Storm Clan on behalf of Equestria, right?” she asked.

“Right,” Midnight said with a raised eyebrow.

“Then it would only make sense that my hive has an ambassador as well, just like with the Crystal Empire, right?” she continued, her voice expectant.

Midnight felt a smirk playing at her lips. “I suppose I’ll head over to town hall to get the utilities shut off while we’re gone as well.”

Summer sighed as they walked through town. “You’re never going to stop giving me reasons to worry, are you?”

“If I could flick a wing and make Equestria safe for eternity, I would, mom,” Midnight said. The two had run into each other while Midnight had been coming back from town hall. Summer had been curious about everything that had happened the other day with the bearers and why Midnight had been absent for pretty much the whole thing. Midnight had just finished telling her about her escapades in Hallow Shades, ending with their return to Ponyville. “Last thing I want for Squeaks or Autumn to worry about is their very lives,” Midnight said, digging out a small gem from her saddle bag and popping it in her mouth.

When her mother didn’t say anything to that, Midnight looked over at her and found Summer looking both at and past her. “Oh, sorry dear,” the unicorn said, “you just sounded like your father right then. He used to say things like that, mostly about you and how one day you wouldn’t need to be scared of how you look or what you are. He said it with such conviction, too, like it was a fact and not just a wish.” She chuckled. “If only he could see you now.”

Midnight slowed and when she noticed Summer slowed down as well. “I’m sorry,” the unicorn said, “we never actually talked about him did we?”

“Not without it ending in us yelling about something,” Midnight said, “seems that’s always how talking ended with us before.” The kirin took a deep breath and let it out slow. She and her mom had gotten along so much better since reuniting that it was hard to believe the screaming matches they used to have. Out of desire to not provoke such matches again, they’d both silently agreed to keep off the topic of her dad and focus on other things. Being a captain of the guard, built a life of her own, and experienced all she had since leaving home, it was incredibly easy to talk about everything and anything that wasn’t him. Apparently, Summer felt that they’d reached a good enough place in their rebuilt relationship to finally try and bring him up again. Midnight had purposely left out a certain part of her story as she hadn’t known how to tell her mom what was happening next because of it. Now that she’d breached the topic…

“Mom,” Midnight said, coming to a complete stop, Summer stopping a step later, “there’s a bit more that happened out there. We ran into two other owl harpies and two thestrals not from the Darkfeather Rookery, but from up north outside of Equestria. One harpy had a note for me. It… it was from Firestorm, dad’s dad.” Summer’s eyes went wide but she stayed silent so Midnight continued. “He wants me to visit the clan. When I asked the messenger if dad was there, they said he was but they refused to elaborate. Long story short, I’m going.”

Again, Summer didn’t say anything, but the emotions in her eyes told Midnight a lot. There was more, however, so she pushed on. “I’m not going alone, however, and I don’t mean with just the messenger. To sum up what happened next, the princesses are sending the bearers to the clan as ambassadors, which means the entire guard is going. A kind of bonus since now I don’t have to worry about leaving someone in charge. We’re also going north on a royal airship the princesses are providing and this thing is practically big enough to take half the town with us. Obviously that changed a lot of things for the better and so it won’t just be Windrunner, Shoal, and I going but Sapphire as well.”

“Even with her leg the way it is?” Summer asked.

“From what I was told as long as everyone stays on board the airship she should be safe, even more so when we reach the clan,” Midnight told her.

Summer nodded, accepting that. “Well, spend a good amount of time with Squeaky before you leave; I can’t imagine she’s happy that you both are leaving again so soon and for so long.” She’d expected a guilty look from Midnight at the thought of leaving her daughter behind and the look on the kirin’s face was one of guilt, just not the kind she expected. Instead of looking disappointed in herself, Midnight had the same look of guilt she used to have when Summer asked why some of her jewelry went missing.

“Squeaks is… coming with us,” Midnight admitted. “Like I said, the airship is perfectly safe.”

“Midnight,” Summer said disappointedly, “that is incredibly irresponsible.”

Despite herself, some heat leaked into Midnight’s voice. “Mom, she’s not a baby and she knows how to stay out of trouble, especially if the CMC aren’t involved. Furthermore it seems like I’ve barely been around much this summer, between missions, babysitting chaos creatures, and sleeping for the majority of two weeks. That airship will have the entire bearer guard on round the clock rotations as well as Shoal and myself flying around it AND a lot of Honey’s hive, all of whom treat her like some kind of honorary niece, not to mention Honey who acts like a big sister. Anyone or anything going after her will have everyone on board between her and them.” Here Midnight let out a huff, “and yeah, I’m being a little selfish but not just because I want my daughter with me. I want her to meet both her grandfather and great grandfather alongside me. I want them BOTH to see how much of my life they’ve missed. Is it petty? Sure, but according to Shoal even the idea of hurting her would be the farthest thing from their minds, so between that and how safe the ship will be, I think it’ll be alright for her to come with us. I’m also getting school work for her from Cheerilee since we’ll probably be gone for a while, so…” she ended with a shrug and an aggravated sigh.

Summer stayed silent after Midnight finished, either in thought or waiting to see if she had any other points. “It sounds like you’ve thought a lot about this,” Summer finally said.

“Some parts more than others,” Midnight confessed, “but I’ve already talked it over with Sapphire and the others and we all think that it’s safe enough to take Squeaks along.”

Summer nodded and let out a sigh of her own. “Well, you are her mother after all, so you do get the final say. Just be sure to keep my grandbaby safe, okay?”

“I’d face down ten hydras alone if it meant that,” Midnight said as they started walking again.

“While also keeping my oldest baby safe as well,” Summer added, poking her with her magic. The kirin didn’t feel anything but the message came through clear, like when Sapphire would bat her with her wing.

“As I’ve said before, I am not a masochist.”

“And are you sure the princesses are okay with letting her come along as well?”

“Technically I’m in charge of the expedition, so I can bring along anyone I want. Twilight wants to bring along a scientist or two as apparently there’s a lot of species north of Equestria that pony kind doesn’t know about, so it’s going to be a weird mix of a family reunion/diplomatic/scientific expedition. As long as the bearers are safe and we make contact with the Storm Clan, I don’t think they’d care if I brought a whole circus along.”

“And… say your father really is there this time; what are you going to say?” Summer asked gently.

“You know, Spike asked me that when we went on the dragon migration,” Midnight said after a few seconds of silence, “and I told him I really don’t know how I’ll react. I can picture a happy reunion, me yelling at him for being gone so long, some blend of both scenarios… I just know I’m going to tell him about everything he’s missed. I also told Spike that I didn’t care if he found a whole island of kirins, I was coming back here, to home in Ponyville.” Instead of another sigh, the kirin yawned then shook her head. “Speaking of home, I should get back. Several of the owl harpies from the rookery want to join the bearer guard and I want to be there for at least some of their training before we leave. I’m going to be sleeping until about the middle of the night then heading to the castle. New sleep schedule is very early to bed, very early to rise.”

“Won’t it be dangerous to fly over the Everfree forest that late at night?” Summer asked.

“Shoal,” the kirin said simply, “or go wyvern there and back. We’ve been thinking of expanding the path as well and possibly even paving it and setting up deterrents. We’ll probably do that eventually anyway once the castle is restored and becomes our new fort. Anyway,” she yawned again and opened her large wings, “I’ll see you later. And don’t worry,” she called back as she took off, “I’ll stop by to see Autumn before we leave.”

“Take care!” Summer called after her. When her daughter was gone, Summer turned back for home herself, head bent down in thought.

“Well, they’ve shown some real progress,” Midnight said, the Everfree flying by beneath them as they made their way from the castle back home. The progress the owl harpies were making was easing her initial worry about letting them enroll in the guard and was going to be one less thing for her to worry about as the date of departure drew near. The belly full of rabbit she had for breakfast helped with the feeling of content, for the moment at least. Well, really it was lunch for her until normal sleeping patterns were restored. She’d gotten to the castle a little after her namesake, just after the owl harpies had finished their lessons on the “basic” tongue and were getting ready to start the drill and PT part of their training. There were thirteen of them, about a fifth of the adults of the rookery that had signed up to be guards, including Darling herself. All of them knew enough “basic” to communicate and understand orders and their lessons had been going okay from what Midnight could hear. They couldn’t gossip at speed with the likes of Rarity but they already sounded less stilted than before.

“They’re determined, I’ll give them that,” Night said, squinting a bit as the first rays of the sun began to peak between the horizon and some low clouds in the distance. “Not that it isn’t obvious, but coordination still needs work. Hunting is one thing; a fight is another.”

“Still a better start than most ponies have,” Midnight noted, straightening out as her left wing caught an early thermal. “I think they’ll get up to speed soon enough.”

“Enough to be privates before the trip?” Night asked.

Midnight shook her head. “No, a week isn’t enough.” Currently the owl harpies all held the rank of “Trainee”, a temporary rank that she wanted to start calling those who signed up for the guard but wasn’t in the ranks proper yet. She’d wanted to start with those that signed up right after the wedding but with them mixed in with the transfers and the immediate deployment to the Crystal Empire, she’d just called everyone “Private” and the battle up there was enough training to give them the rank for real in her opinion. She hoped this trip wouldn’t be a repeat. “We’ll see how this trip goes. I’ll pair them up with some of the more promising privates when we leave. Not only should that help the trainees learn but it would also help to see who we can promote afterwards as well.”

“Promotions?” Night asked, surprised.

“Once they’re properly integrated, there’s going to be a lot of grunts spread between not so many officers,” Midnight explained. “I’ll promote some privates to corporal, a couple of corporals to sergeant, and so on. With them coming on board we’re going to have a proper night shift as well, so it would be better to have a proper chain of command at night as well.”

She gave Night a pointed looked. The night patrols hadn’t been a problem but up until that point only she, Star, and Dark were nocturnal by nature and there had been several guards who had been caught napping on the graveyard shift. Having more naturally nocturnal creatures on patrol would mean more and better eyes on the lookout as well as reduce the need for disciplinary action first thing in the morning.

“Well, that’s good,” Night said, stifling a yawn of her own and attempting to straighten her flying more. Midnight’s comments about promotions, increasing the night patrols, and her pointed look told the thestral that when they got back she would be expected to step up to a new role. A single First Lieutenant in the guard made sense; a single Lieutenant did not.

Midnight hummed in agreement. “And speaking of after we get back, the workers told me that they think they’ll have everything cleared out by the time we get back, so that’s something to look forward to,” she said, a small smile noticeable in the morning light. A team of ponies hoof-picked by Celestia and Luna had finally begun to go through the castle and start moving things out and disable the traps that had been left behind. They’d started while Midnight was away in Hallow Shades and, if their estimates were correct, the bearer guard would return from the north to a trap-fee, completely usable castle, minus wherever masonry work was found to be needed. That was certainly welcomed news and she looked forward to planning renovations.

“We’ll have to work out the barracks situation for the locals,” Night said. It had been known for some time that the current barracks weren’t permanent, so there’d been little gripping about how some of them, mainly the thestrals, got to live and sleep in their own homes while others got basic cots and little privacy. When it came to Midnight and Windrunner it was considered an officer’s privilege. With the proper, permanent barracks coming closer and closer to fruition, that arrangement might just be changing.

“Something we can discuss later,” Midnight said as they neared the edge of the forest. Below them, the owl harpies of the Darkfeather Rookery peeled off and headed for a light blue mass just inside the forest. Four thestrals and two owl harpies kept the course, these being Dark Cleaver, Star Chaser, Brick, Shade, Marina, and Snow. They all soon broke formation, everyone gently diving down towards their own home, Midnight descending with company on her tail.

They hadn’t been at the castle to train, though the kirin had spied them practicing some of the moves they’d seen out of the corner of her eyes, but because they didn’t have much else to do. Ponyville didn’t have much of a night life still, despite valiant attempts by a certain DJ, and they’d already toured Ponyville enough since coming back from Canterlot. Pinkie had certainly been welcoming, throwing them a “breakfast” welcome party that first night back and one again in Midnight’s yard the following night for the rookery, to the annoyance of the kirin in the house trying to sleep enough to not be a total grouch come her namesake.

While Brick, Shade, and Marina had asked the basic questions anyone would ask about a new place they were visiting, Snow asked a lot more questions about Midnight and her family. It seemed understandable, seeing as she was sent to find the kirin but since Midnight was returning with them to the clan they all seemed like things that Midnight would be telling her grandfather herself. Stuff like what she’d done since coming to town, who her friends were, and what she wanted to see and do in the future. She was starting to suspect that Snow was more than a messenger, possibly that they were even related in some way, but with how Snow stayed clamed up on the subject she wouldn’t know until they reached the clan. Besides, she wasn’t asking anything too personal, so there was no reason to be alarmed by what she asked. Not yet, anyway.

“Oh, I can’t wait!” the harpy in question said as they landed by the side door. “Sapphire said that she was going to get more of that “cereal” stuff you guys have for breakfast and she said she’d get the strawberry kind! Maybe me and Squeaks can do the mazes and stuff on the back of the box together!”

Snow’s exuberance at meeting the rest of Midnight’s family left them all feeling like they’d had a run in with Pinkie for the first time all over again. She’d zeroed in on Squeaks when she was introduced and it had taken the kirin loudly growling to get her to back off. After that she was more respectable of Squeaks’ personal space but she’d still spooked the filly enough that she stayed close to Midnight, Sapphire, or Honey whenever the owl harpy was in the same vicinity. She wasn’t underhoof like she used to be but she’d stay close enough to duck under them if Snow got close.

“I think you might want to give Squeaks some more time,” Marina tried gently.

“But we’ve barely spoken since we’ve met!” Snow said, starting to pout. “I’ve even kept my distance like you suggested!”

“That’s what happens when you rush up to a child and start talking loudly in their face,” Midnight said, a bit snappy. “She’ll approach you in time,” the kirin continued more gently when the harpy’s lower lip began to quiver and her light purple eyes became glossy, “but it’ll take more than a few days. Just keep doing what you’re doing and things should get better when we get on the ship.”

Snow visibly slumped but followed them inside.

To Midnight’s surprise she found Twilight sitting at the kitchen island with Sapphire talking over cups of coffee. “Midnight, good morning!” the newest alicorn greeted.

“Morning,” Midnight said as she moved to the counter to prepare her own cup. Marina and Brick opted for glasses of water, Shade took a piece of fruit from the basket on the island, and Snow stuck her muzzle in the cabinet where the cereal was kept. Arina, who had been on the counter listening to the two mares talk, skittered over and climbed up onto her owner, moving to and resting on her favorite spot. “You’re here early.”

The ex-unicorn nodded. “I wanted to ask to borrow that book of yours, the one with all those creatures in it.”

“ “The Detailed Guide to Mythical and Rare Creatures”?” Midnight asked

“That’s the one,” Twilight said with a nod. “One of the professors I want to bring along was good friends with the last pony who edited it and since there’s a good chance that we’ll find new information on this expedition, we want a basis on how off the old edition is.

“You mean like how I’m “Mythical due to lack of evidence”?” Midnight quoted with a raised eyebrow. “I never got around to reading the whole thing; wonder what it says about some other creatures,” she said as Honey, Windrunner, and Squeaks came down the stair into the kitchen.

“Hi Squeaks!” Snow said as she spotted the filly entering the kitchen. “Did you sleep alright?” she asked, putting down the box of cereal she’d fished out and going into another cabinet for a bowl.

“Um, good morning,” the thestral said, quickening her pace to follow Honey across the kitchen.

Midnight just sighed and drained her cup while Arina chirped something in an annoyed tone.

Author's Note

Alright, the start of a new batch of chapters!

The RoH isn't ready just yet, so everyone has time to get packed and ready, including the entire Storm Household. Yes, Midnight is bringing Squeaks along to meet her grandfather and great-grandfather. Will she regret it? At certain times but such is life. We'll see who else is hoping on the bandwagon (bandship?) next chapter!