Fallout Equestria: NightWings

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Creation of the Batponies
Chapter 5
Chapter 3

Chapter 1

As the saying goes: Friendship, friendship never changes. Can’t say that I agree on this. We Equestrians used to be friends with zebras and dragons and look where we are now. At each other’s throats, each faction trying to outclass the other in weapons, spells and others techno-magical marvels (usually deadly ones).

I say “We Equestrians”, but being a Batpony in the wonderful land of Equestria was no walk in the park. Even before that bloody war, we were treated like second class citizens. Sure, some would say we were integrated into the society. We could work, own a house. But jobs were scarce for us.

It’s true that our appearance can be unsettling: we have fangs, our wings have pointy bony tip. And bonus point, most of us has what you normal pony would call “the devil eyes”: cat-like eyes, with a pupil like a slit. Our colors tended to be on the darker side too, black, grey or navy blue being the most common, with shades of dark reddish brown and purple being a bit more rare.

We were the subjects of countless rumors concerning our fierce appearance, and our temper. Vampire, meat-eater, some even accused us of snatching foals to sacrifice them to Nightmare Moon (Thank Luna that these rumors stopped entirely when she returned).

So, yeah, with that in mind, we were forced to be at the edge of society. It was easier in small settlements, like Ponyville, or Appeloosa, as everypony would quickly recognize you for what you were and not for the rumors about your kind.

In the big cities, things were vastly different: Most jobs were closed to batponies. And when you can’t find a regular job and need to eat and pay rent, well, you don’t have many choices. Many resorted to stealing, though the most brutal of batponies were often employed by the various mafias around. Most of the mob bosses were griffins, and they immediately saw the potential of having a batpony hissing at somepony, all fangs out with glowing amber eyes. I was told many just coiled in terror at the sight.

After the return of our Royal Princess of the Night, things looked bright for some time. She gathered most of us, trying to get us jobs in her royal guard and court. Needless to say, places were not unlimited, and even with her generosity, trying to open local garrisons at some big cities, it was only a selected few that became her champions, her ambassadors of the Night.

Everypony could apply to pass the selections, be it earth pony, batpony, unicorn or pegasi.

The selections were hard; we were being pushed to our physical and psychological limits to test our abilities to their fullest. I prepared for this, to be as ready as anypony can be.

Imagine myself, an hopeful batpony in his 20s, wishing to become a guard. Black mane, dark reddish brown coat, with my wing membrane a bit lighter. Big reddish brown and seemingly normal eyes. Blank-flank. Yeah I know what you think, nopony that old can possibly be blank flank. Well, I was. I did everything I could think of, but nothing made the damn mark appear.

I thought that maybe, becoming a guard could help me earn my cutie mark, at last. It didn’t.

The selections took the best part of the day. I wasn’t great at the speed test, but endurance tests were more my things. Strength tests were too easy for me, and I did okay on the agility.

The final part of the selections was combat. I was pit against a slimmer batpony. Black as the darkest night, dark blue mane and wings, dark amber eyes. We had a selection of wooden weapons to choose from: daggers, swords, some horseshoe with claws and even a battle axe. He took a dagger, I chose the axe. And the combat began. Immediately, he went at me. I was built like an earth pony, and he was way more agile than me. I desperately deflected his blows, when suddenly he bolted and buck into the ground, launching dirt into my eyes.

The axe met the ground while I exclaimed, more surprised than hurt. And then, I felt a powerful buck into my genitals. The tears of pain in my eyes instantly cleared my vision, I saw red, and launched myself toward my opponent.

Next thing I know, I was held by telekinesis, several other ponies ready to restrain me, and my opponent on the ground, crying softly, with a broken nose, several deep bite marks bleeding on his front legs, and one hind leg at an odd angle.

He was taken out by medical unicorns. Still in a telekinesis bubble, I was transported in the ancient looking barracks to await the royal judgement of Her Lunar Highness. And then, I saw my reflection in the windows of the garrison: my eyes had a vertical slit, and were looking bright red. My fangs were visible, dried blood on my teeth.

If I hadn’t been in a telekinesis bubble, I would have flinched at my own image. The unicorns transported me in a room full of bunk beds, and left me there without a word.

Did I just blew my only chance at becoming part of the Night Guards?

I pushed these thoughts at the back of my head, and looked around for a mirror and something to clean myself, I was not gonna stay with blood on my teeths.

The room had a small bathroom, with a shower, a sink and a mirror. I looked closely in the mirror: I was back to my usual self, no more slit pupils or bright red eyes. I sighed and cleaned my fangs of the blood.

Footsteps echoed in the corridor outside the room. Judging by the noise, there was more than one pony coming.

I quickly went back to the room, and waited anxiously.

The door opened with a bang, and I saw the most scarred pony I had ever seen so far.

Khaki green, with a dark blond mane cut short, this stallion was no bigger than me, but it didn’t matter. His sheer presence made me feel like a foal, and his scars didn’t help: big one across his face, from left to right, a collection of what looked like claw marks on his neck and shoulders and more importantly, I could see a huge scar on this left side, near where wings would be on a Pegasus.

I was frozen, I didn’t know what to do. Should I try to explain what happened? I barely knew myself what happened. Should I try to apologize?

Before I could say a word, the pony opened his mouth and said: “Come!”

He didn’t speak loudly nor harshly, not that he needed too. He spoke with authority, and his expression showed he was not asking.

He turned and went back outside the room, showing me his right side at the same time: a scar identical to his left side flanks was there and I saw his cutie mark, a silver helmet.

No time to ponder, he was walking fast and I had to keep up. Outside the room, the same unicorns that escorted me before were waiting and walked behind me as I followed the unknown stallion.

Oddly, we didn’t take the same route as before, and went the other way, going further inside the barracks instead of going back outside in the testing area.

We walked for what felt like ages, but in truth, it must have been only a couple minutes.

I counted a lot of doors in the hallway we walked through, at least a dozen, all closed.

Finally, we reached the end of the corridor, a huge double wooden door, reinforced with metal plating.

The scarred stallion pushed it open with ease, and went inside the room beyond. As I passed the doors, I saw how thick and heavy they looked. I couldn’t help but marvel for a second at the strength of the scarred stallion, who opened them like they weighted nothing.

The room looked like a mess of sort, large tables were pushed to the walls, and it looked like it could accommodate a few hundred ponies at the same time.

As I entered the room itself, I suddenly felt cold.

Most of the area was filled with the applicants I saw earlier in the day, there was also a dozen Royal guards, their white coats and golden armor impossible to mistake. But, that was not what froze me.

At the end of the room, a dais was set up. Huge and ornate, with delicate golden carvings of sun and moons, two gilded thrones rested upon it.

And in those sat the eternal rulers of Equestria: Princess Celestia, and the newly returned Princess Luna. I noticed how Princess Luna seemed smaller than her royal sister and lacked a flowing mane, surely a sign of how recently she returned.

The scarred stallion kept walking towards the dais, and I had to hasten my pace to catch up. When he came close to the dais, he stopped abruptly, forcing me to stop behind him.

He bowed and spoke: “Your Highnesses”

I bowed a second later, and I could hear the unicorns behind me doing the same.

As my eyes now looked upon the cobblestone making up the floor, I heard a soft voice, unmistakable as everyone knew the voice of Celestia.

“Thank you, lieutenant. Now that every applicant is here, we may begin the final selection. My dear sister, if you please…”

A booming voice echoed, hurting my ears. I couldn’t help but let a yelp came out.

“I, LUNA, PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT, AM DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THE REFONDATION OF MY ROYAL GUARDS. AS THEE CAN SEE, THESE BARRACKS ARE THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD AND HOUSED THY ILLUSTRIOUS PREDECESSORS. MAY THEIR TALE BRING PRIDE AND ….”

Celestia voice intervened: “Luna, we talked about this. The Royal Canterlot voice is not in vogue in today’s age and you wouldn’t want to deafen those poor ponies.”

I could almost hear a faint smile intertwined with the words.

A new voice came through, softer: “I beg your pardon. As I was saying, every one of you was selected through various means. You are here because you want to join the new Night Guards. No matter your upbringing”

The speech continued on for long minutes, speaking of duty, of pride but also of fellowship and brotherhood. I could hear footsteps going back and forth on the dais.

Princess Luna pressed on, explaining how the night guards were the protector of the night and defenders of what may lurk in the shadows.

Her voice suddenly broke, I heard her clearing her throat before she continued:

“Long ago, when I became blinded by my darkest thoughts and emotions, when I went against my sister, the Night Guard stood before me, tried to reason me when my madness became apparent. Their defiance and their courage bought time for my sister, time she used to gather her own courage and do what needed to be done. Their actions prevented eternal night upon the land.”

“To each and everyone of you, I want to remind you of this: You are first the defenders of Equestria and its people, and our personal guard second. If my dark side ever surfaces again, I want you to think and do what needs to be done for Equestria’s sake first.”

“Every pony in this room has proven he is capable enough to become a guard. The selections cleared most of the ones not fit for roles in the Night Guard, the training will filter the rest. For everyone who may fail during training, you will be tested for positions in the Night Court, there is no shame in failing.”

She paused for a moment.

“Now, everypony, please leave the mess and follow the Guards who will assign each of you to a unit.”

Still bowing, I was confused. Did I pass? Did I fail? Should I continue to bow?

My neck was starting to ache in this uncomfortable position. The sounds of ponies going out of the room deafened all others sounds.

When everything became quiet again, I risked a glance around: no one was left in the mess, except me, the medical unicorns behind me and the lieutenant.

I started to lift my head a little.

“Now that this matter is resolved, let’s us tend to this one.”

I heard papers shifting

“Galzra, is it? You can stop bowing now”.

Neck aching from the effort of bowing so long, I straightened up to see the Princesses stepping out of the dais and coming toward the scarred stallion.

“I fear, dear sister, that this one may be too much trouble. I know his affliction, seen ponies lose themselves in it. In time of peace, those poor souls can snap at any time and lose their senses. It is too dangerous to integrate him in your newly reformed guards. What if a civilian punch him?”

“I beg to differ, Celestia. You saw what I saw on the combat test. He could have maimed the other batpony to death yet he didn’t.”

The sisters stopped just before the scarred stallion, looking straight at me. I felt uncomfortable under their gaze.

The voice of the scarred stallion cut through, like a blade slicing a cake yet tinged with respect.

“Pardon me, your Highnesses, if I may?”

Celestia and Luna shifted their gaze to him.

Celestia poke: “Certainly Lieutenant, it is exactly for that matter that we asked you to come here, to evaluate candidates. As a retired veteran of my own Guard, speak freely”

The stallion cleared his throat

“As your sister said, Princess Celestia, this one could have easily killed his opponents. He was stronger, bulkier. If he wanted, he could have chomped on the poor foul neck and cut the artery before any of us were close enough to react.”

He stopped for a second, and lifted a hoof

“But the important thing is, your Highness, he didn’t. Sure, he unleashed hell on the poor bastard, broke a few bones, scratched him with his wings, but in the end, nothing life threatening.”

“I saw his results, Galzra here cleared all the tests, though the speed test was a bit lacking. If I may, I managed other guards with the same affliction, they did just fine in the end. He just needs to stay in control when his temper flares up”

Celestia’s face shifted, showing concern.

The stallion spoke before she could.

“To ease your apprehensions, I will personally train him and his unit. If, at any time, I sense that he may not be a good fit for active duty, you can be sure I will not make him pass”

Princess Celestia sighed, then smiled faintly.

“I guess it’s decided then, dear sister.”

Princess Luna smiled widely.

“It seems so, indeed. Lieutenant, there are 4 others candidates without training instructor. I will assign them to your unit.”

The stallion bowed briefly “It would be my honor, your Highness”

The Royal Sisters turned to me, and Luna spoke.

“Congratulation, Galzra. Welcome to the Night Guard”

I bowed deeply, trying to speak but words refusing to cross my lips.

As I straightened up, the Princesses walked to the dais and out of the building, followed by a few guards that were hidden behind their thrones and the unicorns behind me.

The scarred stallion turned to me, his face stern.

“Son, before you go thank me or whatever, don’t think I did you any favor here. Im gonna make you work twice as hard to earn your place in the Guard. I will not accept anything but the utmost commitment, you understand?”

I gulped, but risked asking the question that burned my mind

“Sir, if I may? What was the “affliction” Princess Celestia spoke of?”

The scar on his face shifted as he spoke

“Son, you are berserk. I’ve seen enough of ponies like you during my days as guard to recognize it. When sufficiently hurt or angered, you go into a blind rage. Some, indeed, loses themselves in the rage, they destroy everything and everypony around them in but a moment. But most berserker can learn how to control their temper, and channel it to push through obstacles they wouldn’t clear otherwise. I’ll train you with this goal in mind.”

Suddenly, he grinned.

“Trust me, you’re gonna hate me long before the training is over”

He walked to the entrance of the mess, waving me to follow him.

The corridor was mostly empty by now. I could see ponies leaving the building.

Five ponies were waiting near the mess doors.

One of them was the biggest Earth pony I had ever seen, towering above everypony else. Black mane, dark blue coat, amber eyes. If not for the size and lack of wings he could have easily passed for a supersized batpony. His cutie mark was a full moon behind a shield.

Two others were chatting with each other, two mares by the sound of their voice, and batponies.

The first one was light grey, with an electric blue mane and turquoise eyes, her cutie mark looking like a spyglass. Her laugh echoed, sounding like delicate glass tinkles.

The second was bright green, her mane a fiery red, light blue eyes and a cloudy moon for a cutie mark.

The last two were a Pegasus and a unicorn. The unicorn was a bright purple, with a light bluish grey mane, his eyes a bright orange. His cutie mark looked like an exploding glass thingy.

As for the pegasus, he had a mint coat, light blonde mane and golden eyes. His cutie mark looked like shooting stars.

The scarred stallion cleared his throat loudly, cutting short the chatter between each of them.

“Listen up! My name is Lieutenant Bright Bolt and I will be your drill sergeant for the next year! I will not accept anything short of your absolute best. I will mold each and every pony on this unit into a competent guard, able to work as one with his teammates. You can call me “Sir”, “Sergeant”, “Lieutenant” and every combination including at least one of those terms. Do you understand, cadets?!”

“yessir, understood sir” we began. The lieutenant stopped us

“I SAID: DO YOU UNDERSTAND CADETS? I DON’T HEAR YOU”

As one, we all answered “SIR YES SIR”.

The sergeant grinned madly, a wild spark in his eyes, his face distorted by the scar and spoke:

“WELCOME, CADETS! WELCOME TO THE NIGHT GUARD!”

Ding! Level UP!
New perk: Berserk Rage!
When you suffer a critical hit or your health drops below 20%, you are overcome with rage.
You gain 20 damage resistance and deal 20% more damage while effect lasts but you may attack friends as well as foes.

Chapter 2

A blood moon shines above an apocalyptic landscape. Ruined buildings, ponies lying on the ground, the red light bathe the scene in a bloody glow.

An eerie laughter echoes and sends shivers down my spine.

A pair of yellow eyes appeared, floating in the air, with nothing else. They look amused

“Mmmm, my, my, my, what do we have here? HmhahahHAHAAA”

*DRIIIIIIIIIING*

I shot up, heart racing, and looked around me. It was just a horrible nightmare. I was in the barracks, in my assigned bunk bed. As the bell ring started to fade, echoing in the corridor, the bunk bed began to move as Iron Mountain woke up.

A year had passed since I first saw him and even after all this time, sometimes I still felt intimidated by the sheer bulk of his presence. Slowly getting up, I waited for him to get out of the way before letting myself out of the bed.

“‘Morning Iron, well slept?”

“Aye can’t complain. Bit short though, with last night training and waking up that early”

A groan echoed from the other bunk bed of the room “Can’t believe we have to get up that early, I thought we were the Night Guard, not the Dawn Guard”

Lilac Spark was not a morning unicorn, to be sure. His light blue mane was so tangled that he looked like a mad scientist.

“Hi Spark, well slept?” He shot me a glance, frowning slightly.

“Of course not, Galzra, what do you think? We were up way after midnight, and the sun has barely dawned. “

The door to the adjacent room echoed with the distinctive clack of the lock, and Cerulean Aura entered, passing a hoof into her electric blue mane.

“Boys, are you awfully loud this morning or do I need more sleep? My head is killing me.” My heart missed a beat, subjugated by her beauty.

“Today’s the day, right? Graduation Day?” a voice echoed behind her.

“Indeed” rumbled the deep voice of Iron Mountain

“Sweeeeet, that’s gonna be so cool! We are finally going to be Night Guards, I mean REAL Night Guards! I bet we’ll look SO sharp in the uniform! I can’t waiiiiiiiit”

Sunny, full name Sunny Beryl, was clapping her front hooves like a filly, practically dancing on her hind legs, her fiery mane swept left and right while her smile went as big as it could.

As the other units awoke, I could hear the rumble of voices and hooves in the distance.

Stretching my wings and my legs, feeling the aches of the night training, I observed: “If we want something to eat, we better hurry”.

“Yeah, the mess will be packed this morning, there’ll be outsiders that came to help prepare the ceremony” grumbled Spark. “By Luna, I need my morning coffee” he sighed.

“True”, “Indeed”, “Yeah, coffee sounds great!” replied the others. I couldn’t help but shiver at the idea.

“I don’t know how you can drink this, this … BREW. It’s nasty, yeurg!”

I frowned, remembering full well the first and only time they managed to get me to taste it. Hot, and fiercely bitter, I couldn’t drink more than 2 sips before being disgusted.

Cerulean laughed “This “brew”, as you call it, is the better way to get a rush of energy that early. And we’ll need the energy, if the Lieutenant has tasks for us today”.

As we spoke, the thunder of hooves and the chatter of a lot of ponies had come right to our door.

Iron went to the door leading to the corridor and said “Same as each day? You lot behind me so that we can get to the mess faster?”

Having the biggest pony of the guard as a teammate is pretty useful to carve a quick path to the mess. Everypony tend to avoid a mountain moving their way.

Each of us made a quick nod, and prepared to run for the fresh breakfast waiting.

“Alright, ready? GO!”

Iron unlocked and opened the door in the same movement, and got out. In a flash, the door was locked back, and we rushed behind him.

The corridor was so packed that it looked like a buffalo stampede. The sounds was also pretty much what you’d imagine a stampede sounds like, hundreds of hooves hammering the antique wooden floor in a rush to get first pick at the mess.

Despite the appearances, if anyone fell, the stampede would stop before any harm would happen. We lot may be hungry in the morning, but we are still disciplined and quick to react.

As we ran, I felt the stiffness of the training of the past night disappear as I motioned my legs, relishing in the rush of adrenaline it procured. A small smile crept on my face.

“Well, seems like you lot are going to be the first again this morning! Mind to keep me a place at the table? Got an errand to make for the armory, before I can get breakfast” said a joking voice just above me.

Twisting my neck to be able to see the one talking to me, my smile grew larger. Golden mane and mint coat, coal specks still fuming on his wings, Golden Mint was part of our unit before he requested to be transferred to the armory.

“Sure thing Minty, but we won’t be able to reserve you any grub, you know the rules” I snickered.

“No problem, Galzra, just need a place to sit, and it’ll be better to do that with friends” he laughed, and easily flew over the stampede, turning right to go to the armory.

The doors of the mess were visible in the distance. As we approached, our gallop turned to a slower pace, finally stopping right at the door. As effortlessly as if moving mere curtains of the lightest cloth, Iron got the door opened.

The mess was mostly the same as it was a year ago, almost. Same cobblestone on the floor, same walls with disparate stones. Even the Princesses dais was still there, lining the southern wall

Still, there were some new additions since then.

On the western and eastern walls were banners. Each of them more than a thousand years old, they were recovered by us, each unit tasked with finding a banner in the old Royal castle of the Everfree Forest to claim as our own and, if necessary, to repair and restore to its former glory.

20 or so banners adorned these 2 walls. Before each of them, there was a big table. Each unit had picked the customs to eat at the table directly in front of its banner, even if it was not really enforced by anypony.

I quickly followed Iron before I lost my place in the queue for breakfast. Lining the northern wall was the buffet.

I couldn’t smell the dishes (never could smell anything, really), but the simple sight of them made me lick my lips.

I grabbed a tray, a plate and a glass. The chef was a short and quite overweight pony, always smiling and eager to chat a bit with each of his “customers”.

“Ahaha, I see you lot are still the first in line, I’m sure it doesn’t have anything to do with the big mountain here”. He let a hearty laugh resonate in the mess hall. “So, what can I interest you in this morning? I got some eggs ready to be fried, or made into omelette, apple fritters…” he continued to list all he had, but I already found what I wanted and ceased to listen. The pastries with chocolate inside, I never could remember the name, but I could eat a whole platter of them if you let me. I heard the chef laugh saying “well it seems I don’t have to propose anything to you, kiddo, you already found your meal! Take those, I have others baking right now”. He shoved the platter on my tray with an smile and turned to face the ponies entering the mess.

As I walked toward our table, I grabbed a pitcher of applejuice and one of orange juice, cerulean and spark already took a pitcher of coffee each. The mess hall was now filling with all the recruits.

Taking place at our table, I saw Iron carefully coming back from the buffet with two trays of food, filled with plates of sunny side up eggs and small breads.

“Big appetite this morning Iron?” joked Sunny.

“Always, especially after a night training”.

I cleared my throat while I arrived, and boasted “and I got chocolate pastries, apple juice and orange juice for everypony!”

Spark smiled, finally seeming less grumpy. I could see he already drank his morning coffee.

“Hello there, friends. A small place at your humble table for a hungry pegasus?”

Minty smirked as he arrived. Iron, already eating half of a plate of eggs, gestured a good morning.

I squeezed a bit to let him a place at the table, putting down a tray with a single plate of omelette and some muffins.

“I grabbed those for everypony, I figured I might as well share the goodness” Minty said, as he winked maliciously.

Iron gulped the rest of his eggs, took a big sip of his coffee and said: “Less talk, more eating”.

*******

“Well, see you guys later at the graduation! I still got things to do at the forge to have everything ready for it!”

Minty waved and took off as soon as he finished his breakfast.

The thunder of conversations had died down in the mess hall, as half the units had already finished eating. Spark was still finishing up his breakfast, so we decided to wait for him and chat a bit, to appreciate the calm before the storm of the day.

I was not really paying attention to the conversation that went down, deep in my thoughts while admiring the banner of my unit.

Depicting a moon as red as fresh blood, above a pair of batpony wings, the banner was in a very bad shape when we found it. We never could figure out what was written on the bottom, the fabric was torn and tattered when we found it. So we fixed it without adding a motto.

The red moon was eerily similar to the ones I was seeing in my nightmares lately…

“Hey Galzra? Equestria to Galzra, do you copy?”

I snapped out of my reverie “What? Sorry I got distracted”.

Spark rolled his eyes “Come on, mate, we were talking about our plans for the week of leave we are gonna have after graduation”.

“Well, I’ll stay here, and go see my foster mother. It’s been a while since I last saw her”

Every pony at the table gawked and froze.

“You never told us about her, tell us everything!” asked Sunny, trying her best to keep a serious face (but failing).

“Aye, you told us you were from Canterlot, but we never got anything more outta you” nodded Iron in agreement.

I sighed, I put myself into that spot, and nopony would take me out of it. I took a deep breath, preparing to let it all out and…

“Come on guys, let him be. He’ll tell us when he’s ready; it may be painful and sensitive for him”. Spark scowled.

Well, it seemed I was saved by the bell. A bit surprising that it came from Spark, Iron Mountain was more of the silent type than him.

“No worries, you’ll tell us when you feel like it” Spark added for me, giving me a half-smile.

Nodding in thanks to him, I quickly finished eating while the others discussed their plans.

Sunny and Cerulean were going back to Cloudsdale, to visit their families. Iron planned to travel to Dodge City, a small city on the edge of the badlands and the Haysead Swamps, to check on some friends he made there prior to enlisting.

Spark sighed quietly. “As for me, I’ll stay there next week. My family made it very clear that I was not to go back home anytime soon”. He clenched his teeth.

A short cough interrupted our conversation. Spark, Cerulean and Sunny froze, while looking at the newcomer. I slowly turned around, knowing full well who had interrupted us.

Khaki coat, blonde mane cut short, scars all over… Yep, the Lieutenant was here. He didn’t look angry, at least.

“Cadets, may I remind you that today is graduation day? There are still plenty of things to prepare for this evening, so please, try to hurry up and get moving. And no excuses, I know that you were first here, as always.” His stern expression melted to a friendlier one, but a year of double training shifts taught us that, when Lieutenant Bright Bolt asked, you’d do well to get cracking.

“Aye Sir, we’ll get right on it ASAP” Iron responded, with a brief salute.

The Lieutenant nodded in agreement “That’s what I like to hear.” On these words, he trotted off of the mess hall.

“Well, you heard the Lieutenant everypony, time to get moving” said Iron while getting up.

Spark chomped the rest of his muffin in one go, still chewing as we cleaned the table and put our trays in the designated area.

Stepping outside was like looking at a destroyed anthill. Around a hundred pony all around the barracks training yard, cleaning, sweeping, putting away the equipment, and preparing the place for the graduation ceremony.

We spent the better part of the day on this task, making the yard presentable for the many distinguished guests Our Royal Princess of the Night invited. Rumors told that the elite of the Canterlot high society was attending, maybe even the Elements of Harmony!

As if returning Princess Luna to her former self was not enough, these 6 ponies outdid themselves a few months ago. As Discord, the spirit of Chaos, managed to escape and spread disharmony and despair, those same ponies put a stop to his nefarious plans and turned him back into stone. Since then, no one knew where his statue, which was once displayed in the Canterlot Royal Gardens, could be. Only the Royal Highnesses knew where the stone-clad draconequus was, and it was a well-kept secret.

As the sun started to set, the final preparations were completed.

Taking flight a brief moment before heading back in, I looked at the now unrecognizable training yard.

Rows of neatly arranged chairs dotted the cobblestones of half the training grounds, red carpets neatly dividing them and setting up paths from the entrance of the barracks to the stage.

A great stage was placed in the other half of the yard. Special construction workers came in, setting up the elaborate pieces that formed it into a coherent and impressive dais, complete with thick curtains hiding anything behind them. Strangely, the armory was behind it, as if to hide something.

Snapping back to reality at the view of the shadows lengthening on the grounds, I quickly landed and went back to our quarters. Looking at the sky, we had maybe an hour at most before the ceremony began.

Hurrying back inside, I found the rest of the unit already there. I could hear the mares rummaging in their rooms.

Iron was going out of the shower, nodding in my direction to indicate the bathroom was free. A quick shower later, I swiftly dressed up in the uniforms we were given earlier this week. Dark blue shirt, though not as dark as Iron's coat, with silver strings woven onto the fabric to form lines near the shoulders and the waist.

A black beret, with silver string along the edges, completed the ensemble. On it was a badge with the red moon and leathery pair of wings of our unit banner.

As I put the beret on my head, Cerulean and Sunny came out of their rooms, sporting the same uniform as us.

As we prepared to get out, somepony knocked on the door.

As the Lieutenant entered the room, we instinctively put ourselves at the ready, as if he was there to inspect the room.

Although there were similarities between his uniform and ours, there were significant differences.

For starters, he had a jacket, sporting a number of medals and decorations from his days in the Royal Guard. On the shoulders, several ribbons clearly showed his rank of Lieutenant of the Guard.

The silver strings on his jacket were much more intricate, though I couldn’t see the whole pattern. He didn’t have a beret, instead wearing a kepi. Same as our beret, the kepi had silver strings woven into it, forming a small band along the rim of the hat and visor and a badge with our banner was on the front of the hat.

His scarred face shifted as he grinned “At ease, cadets! Since we got a bit of time before the beginning of the ceremony, I wanted to speak with you in private”.

While we relaxed a bit, Bright Bolt continued “For the past year, you trained hard, dare I say harder than most. Each of you proved time and time again his dedication and commitment, though we lost a member of this unit, it was not because he wasn’t qualified. Golden Mint simply realized being a guard was not his calling, nothing wrong in that. As for you five, you endured everything, grew as ponies and as a unit! “

Starting to pace, the Lieutenant added “As a unit, you helped each other get through the most grueling training. None of you left a member of his unit behind, no matter the goal. Cadets, I’ll just say this: It was an honor and my privilege to teach you and see you overcome every odds to become what you are today! Be proud of what you accomplished!”

Stopping abruptly in front of me, he stared directly at me and kept quiet for a few seconds.

“Be proud, unit! But never let pride cloud your judgment, and never forget what you learned. It may save your lives one day.”

On these words, the Lieutenant brought his right hoof to his temple, looking at each and every one of us.

As if we were one, we each made the same movement, bringing our right hoof to our temple to salute him.

Nodding in approval, he began to walk out “Come now, cadets, it’s time.”

We followed the lieutenant out after locking the door, slowly making our way towards the training grounds.

As we walked, a feeling of solemnity came over me. I thought of everything that happened in the last year, going through the hardships of training and getting to know my teammates, as if I was reviving everything in that moment, that seemed to stretch into the infinite.

Snapping back to reality, I saw that the other units were being led in the same fashion by their commanding officer, everypony quiet and stern.

I also noticed that each of us matched the same pace, our hoof connecting with the ground at the exact same time. Nopony trained to march, yet we all acted like a single mind as we went out into the training grounds.

The moon was full, shining so bright that I had to squint for a moment before my eyes could adjust to it. My heart stopped when I saw how packed the grounds were.

Every single chair was occupied! I could see some ponies ushering words, but the sounds of our hoofsteps drowned everything. Around the perimeter of the grounds, guards from the Royal Guard (no, the Sun Guard now) were lining the 3 open walls, each of them sporting a stern look and their golden armor.

Slowly, our officers led us to the dais, to a ramp coming up from the side. Slowly, each unit took its positions with its commanding officer in front of it.

Our unit was the eleventh. Iron Mountain took position behind the Lieutenant, Spark and Cerulean on the left of Iron, Sunny and me on the right.

Standing at the ready, I could see that a small platform had been propped up against the opposing wall, where six ponies and a small dragon were seated. I could not see their colors clearly, as the silver hue of the moonlight dimmed them, but I did not need to. It was the Elements of Harmony themselves!

The echoes of hoofsteps died down as the last unit took its position on the dais. As we were waiting, I could feel the pressure and anxiety build up. The whole courtyard was looking directly at us, murmuring. I was so anxious that I would swear I saw a pair of golden eyes observing us from the roof of the barracks.

Suddenly, wings flaps echoed, and Princess Luna landed before the dais and proceeded to walk ceremoniously to it. Her appearance changed a lot since the selections: she almost doubled in height, her mane was now ethereal, flowing like a water current gleaming with stars and her coat went from indigo to a dark blue. As the Princess of the Night captured the sight of every pony present, her royal sister calmly and silently went to the platform were the Elements were seated.

Maintaining her Royal allure, Princess Luna went to the small stand at the edge of the dais and started speaking.

“Fillies and gentle colts, I thank thee for your presence at this singular event, the first Night Guard graduation in more than a millennia. This new generation of the Night Guard will be the first of many, and as such their task will be complicated. They must pave the way for the future and honor the past of the Guard. They must honor the deeds of their illustrious predecessors, which prevented our world from being strangled by an eternal night. Yet they must not fall in the trap of trying to conform to the past, as the future is yet to be written and as such they will need to adapt to it.”

As she spoke, Her Royal Highness of the Night gestured towards us.

“These fine ponies were selected on their physical abilities but also, this is as important, on the nobility of their heart. For strength and agility are nothing if the heart is lacking. As it is the heart of a pony that allows him or her to become its best self, to serve and protect ponykind requires a good heart.”

She proceeded to smile, a smile as bright as the moon above us.

“The ponies you see before you faced their training and emerged victorious. This is their victory, their triumph, their accomplishment. They now are truly the guardians of the Night. Sun Guard and Night Guard are now two sides of the same coin, protectors of the realm and ponykind.”

Deploying her entire wingspan, Princess Luna slowly reared up.

“So I ask you to celebrate their victory, their triumph with Us and welcome them as Night Guards”.

As she finished speaking, the Princess of the Night folded her wings, and resumed a more natural position.

A small stomping sound began. From my position, I could see that it came from a Sun Guard that slowly and repeatedly stomped his right hoof, with a solemn look on his face.

The guard next to him started to repeat the motion, with the other guards following down the line, the sound growing in intensity with each new guard.

Finally, after a moment, all Sun Guards were stomping their right hoof in a rhythm. Nopony ever explained this to me, but no explanation was needed as the meaning was quite clear:

The Sun Guards were welcoming us as fellow guards.

As pure joy invaded me at the sight of this act of pure fellowship, I still couldn’t shake the feeling I was hearing a lone hoof stomping out of sync with the rhythm.

Without moving a muscle, I scanned the roofs of the barracks. Then, I saw them again. Two golden eyes with slit pupils, dimly glistening in the pale silver moonlight, were observing us, observing me. As I locked my sight onto those eyes, they quickly disappeared, and a small shadow flew away from the roof, a shadow with bat wings…

As the shadow got out of sight, I saw that the Sun Guard regained their usual composure and stopped stomping, but the audience had taken over, clapping their hooves and cheering us.

Still smiling, the Royal Princess of the Night lifted a hoof in the air, and the night fell silent once more.

“Commanding officers of the Night Guard, you can now attach to the uniforms of your units the ribbon signaling their new rank”

As the princess spoke, each commanding officer turned in the same movement, and began adjusting the new rank onto the shoulder of his pupils. The Lieutenant took the time to nod and salute each of us after adjusting the ranks ribbons on our shoulders, when came my turn he added a pat on the shoulder.

During this time, I could hear the armory doors open behind the curtains of the dais, hidden from the public, and strange sounds began to be heard under the dais soon after.

I felt a small knock on the wooden planks of the dais. At the same time, the horn of the Princess began to softly glow.

As her horn’s glow brightened, hidden trapdoors opened in front of each unit, and platforms emerged.

On each platform were sets of armors on stands, one set of armor per Night Guard.

While brand new, the armor's design looked ancient, more ancient than those of the Sun Guard. The most notable feature was a ridge on the helmet, going from the top to the back of the neck, jagged and looking like a dragon’s crest, with distinct spines.

The armors were tinted a grey-blue hue, the helmet crest being dark blue with lighter indigo spines. Silvery carvings were visible on the armor, decorating it. I remarked that each helmet held a number near the temple, the number of the unit. The armor in front of me had the number 11 on its helmet.

The princess’s horn stopped glowing while a clack resonated. The platform stopped moving, fully emerged. A collective gasp of awe overcame the audience. A louder gasp came from the Elements of Harmony side.

Princess Luna turned away from the public, and toward us. Smiling once again, she spoke:

“CONGRATULATION, RECRUITS! You are now officially members of the Night Guard!”

Ding! Level UP!
New perk: Night Pony!
You are now a soldier of the night! Gain +2 to Intelligence and Perception during the night.

New perk: Military Training!
Rigorous military training made you quicker and tougher. You can now wear heavier armor without suffering penalty to your carry weight or your mobility.

Chapter 4

It took a few weeks to bring back home the bodies of Lieutenant Soarin, Blaze, FireStreak and Misty Fly.

During this time, Princess Celestia had met with various zebra tribes’ representatives and the Caesar, to try and defuse the diplomatic incident, while the freed hostages were being treated at the Canterlot Royal Hospital.

Princess Luna, on the other hoof, organised the funerals for the fallen heroes with Commander Spitfire and Fleetfoot, the only Wonderbolt survivors.

A day of mourning was declared on the day of the procession. Each Sun and Night Guard accompanied the funeral cortege, each of us wearing a black cloth on our right foreleg.

The sky was heavy with grey clouds, but the weather team made sure no rain would be due today. The curtain of clouds filtered the sun's light to a dull grey, casting all of Canterlot into a sombre tone.

From the main gate of the city to the mausoleum built for the occasion, the procession seemed to stretch for hours. We walked slowly, in total unison, framing the funeral carriages on each side. All flags in the Equestrian Capital were at half mast, in mourning.

Ponies from all classes were gathered on the sidewalks, most of them dressed in black or wearing a black legband on their right foreleg, like us. Some wept, whilst others remained stoic, but all of them were there to give a last tribute for the heroes that gave their lives to save others.

After an eternity of solemn walking, we reached the mausoleum.

It was located in the gardens of the Royal Palace, with a small area of grass and trees around it. The monument itself was made of the purest white stone; even in the grey light of this day, it almost glistened.

It was composed of 4 statues, representing our lost heroes in a defiant pose, their head high and turned to the horizon, as if to keep watch for any sign of danger. The statues were atop a large pyramid-like structure, with the top flattened into a plinth for the sculptures. Four holes were directly in front of the structure, four graves.

A large bronze plaque was fixed on the monument under the statues, detailing the noble deeds of each of the fallen Wonderbolts. A small area before the statue was paved with cobblestone, with a small alley connecting it to the main street. Rows of chairs were disposed on each side of this alley, reserved for families of the fallen and honored guests.

As we entered the park, our lines were divided into two, one on each side of it. By luck, I happened to be right next to the front rows of chairs on the right, next to the guests of honour.

As I stood there stoically, like I was supposed to, ponies came in, going either to the left, or right. There were very few ponies on the right side, the most remarkable of those being obviously the Elements of Harmony and Spike, Twilight Sparkle’s personal assistant. Each of them were dressed in formal black gowns. Two of them showed more sorrow than the others.

Pinkie Pie’s mane, usually known to be frizzy and wild, was deflated and almost straight, her complexion seeming greyer than her usually famous pink. There was no smile on her face, and that was maybe the most disturbing.

But the most heavily affected seemed to be Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were slightly swollen and red, indicating she’d been crying recently, but her expression and clenched teeth only showed anger and resentment.

It was no secret that she held the Wonderbolts in high esteem, and wished to become part of the squadron in the future.

As the last guest and family members took their places, the caskets of each fallen Wonderbolts were slowly brought before the monument and gently placed on the pavement.
Each of the coffins had the Equestrian flag draped atop them.Commander Spitfire and FleetFoot took place on the front left row, which was left completely empty by the families.

Both of them seemed tired, their eyes empty, their face only expressing sorrow and remorse. They wore the usual Wonderbolts uniform, a blue flight suit with yellow bolts, and a black legband on their right foreleg.

After a few minutes, faint hoofsteps echoed, and the Princesses made their entrance. Each of them were wearing black gowns; Her Highness Luna was even wearing a black lace veil, obscuring her face. Any remaining sound was snuffed out by their presence, like a candle suddenly blown out.

Princess Celestia’s horn began to glow, a soft golden glow reminiscent of the Sun. She let out a small sigh, then began speaking :

"My little ponies, we are all gathered here to honour the memory of Lieutenant Soarin, Blaze, FireStreak and Misty Fly. Who gave their lives to save seventeen ponies held hostage by pirates. As they battled the bandits, Captain Spitfire and FleetFoot were able to transport to safety the hostages. Four ponies gave their lives to save many more, but the price is too high even then. These pirates were far more prepared than we believed, and this lack of information on our end caused these losses.

We should have been better. We should have been able to save the hostages and bring every pony home. We failed Soarin, we failed Blaze, we failed FireStreak, we failed Misty Fly. Their families' sorrow is Equestria's sorrow, as today we mourn them. The only thing we can do to make it right going forward is to make sure their sacrifice wasn't in vain.

To make sure nopony has to suffer such a loss ever again."

As she spoke, the Princess’ face was stern and resolute, as if carved from alabaster.
Her expression shifted to hopeful, sorrow and grief still present, as she continued.

“In the last weeks, my sister and I debated what should be our course of action going forward.If mere pirates were able to inflict such heavy losses, We need to change our ways.”

Her face shifted, tears starting to bead at the corner of her eyes. Princess Luna reacted instantly, going closer to her Royal Sister, and went on with the speech in her stead.

“That’s why, My Sister Princess Celestia and I, Princess Luna, have decided to create a new corps : The Equestrian SkyGuard. They shall be more heavily trained than the Wonderbolts and they will become a shield for the innocent and for Equestria.
Recruitment will begin shortly, additional announcements will be made in the near future to explain their missions more clearly.”

Princess Celestia regained her composure, and finished.

“It is now time to pay the last tributes to our fallen”

On these words, me and seven other guards, four from the Sun Guard, began to walk to the caskets. Each coffin was tended by a Sun Guard and a Night Guard, we grabbed the edge of the flags draping each coffin and began the ritual folding of the flag that we repeated each day of the past weeks. After a few moments, the four flags were tightly folded in a rectangle, the sun and moon of the Equestrian flag on top.

SpitFire and FleeFoot stood up and came toward us. Each of the guards that folded the flags stood at attention, one hoof presenting the flags to them, the other at our temple.
The two Wonderbolts repeated the same ritual four times: They saluted us, then both of them took the flag solemnly, and brought it to the next of kin of the deceased. When this was finished, each of us returned to our previous station.

Princess Luna and Celestia spoke in Old Equestrian.At the same time they slowly took the caskets in their magics, lifting them gently off the ground and guiding them toward the graves. I could not understand a single word, but it seemed like a prayer for the deceased.

One by one, the coffins were gently placed in their respective grave and covered by dirt.
Once this was done, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia crossed their horns and cast a spell to let flowers grow on top of them.

As the ceremony finished, Spitfire and Fleetfoot went to talk to the families. A rainbow flash caught the corner of my eye, the last thing I would see of Rainbow Dash for the day.

The other Elements of Harmony were seemingly leaving, and the rest of the guards eased their posture. I began to walk to the monument of my fallen heroes, to pay a last homage.

The monument was only a few steps away, but for me, it felt like forever. My throat was tightening as I went closer and closer, tears pearling at my eyes, until I finally reached my destination.

Taking off my helmet, a cold feeling overcame me, both from my sweat-covered coat and my heart. Slowly I bowed my head towards the statues, my helmet close to my chest, as tears dripped silently whilst I fought to not break down.

Hoofsteps came toward me, a single pony by the sound of it.
Silently, I wiped the tears from my face and put my helmet back on before the pony reached me.

“Did you know them?” asked a soft weary voice.Facing the pony at my side, I realized it was Spitfire. Her eyes looked soulless, the bags under them clearly indicating she did not sleep recently. After a moment, I shook my head.

“No Ma'am, I can’t say I had the honour of knowing them personally. The Wonderbolts were always my heroes, growing up I always looked up to them. It’s just-I wanted to pay homage to their memory”.
The corners of my vision began to blur again.

A small smile crept on her face, illuminating her whole face. She sighed.

“Soarin would have liked that. He wanted to join the Wonderbolts to help others, even if by example. By the sound of it, I think he did inspire a lot of ponies like you to go for their dreams.”

Her voice cracked as she asked : ”I’m sorry, but could you leave me alone with them?”
I hastily nodded, and left her to mourn on her own while I joined the rest of my unit.

“You should ask your mommy about your inheritance”
I jumped to the left, as a greyish-pink mare suddenly appeared on my right. Pinkie Pie.

“I don't understand, what do you mean?”

She let a small laugh before replying “Don’t worry about it, silly, just ask her. Bye now, friend, I gotta join the others”.

What was that about? Before I could open my mouth, she hurried toward the rest of the Elements of Harmony.

After that, our squad walked silently toward the barracks, the city so quiet we could hear the gentle breeze. None of us dared to speak.

As we reached the barracks, the afternoon was well underway. The words of Pinkie Pie were still vivid in my head. What did she mean by “inheritance”?

The others were starting to chat, but I wasn’t listening. Still focused on the words of the Element of Laughter, I split up with the others to search for our officer. After a few minutes, I found him while he was getting out of the armory. The lieutenant looked troubled, I wondered quickly what could concern him this much before remembering why I was looking for him.

As he saw me, his scarred face adopted a puzzled look.
“Is there a problem, soldier?”

“Sir, is it possible for me to have the rest of the day off? Unless we have some assignments tonight?”

His muzzle contorted as his expression changed from puzzled to surprised. He narrowed his eyes.

“No assignments scheduled for your squad, son. Is there a reason for this sudden request, soldier?” Hearing the authority laced with the seemingly innocent question, I came to attention unconsciously.

“Not much, Sir. I just wanted to go to the orphanage, to help with the repairs and see my family, Sir”.

The response wasn’t exactly a lie, I wanted to see my family, but it wasn’t the whole truth either, and I didn't really want to tell him about the cryptic words of Pinkie Pie.

The Lieutenant never stopped staring straight at me, his golden eyes piercing, searching for a trace of lie on my face. He sighed, letting his mask go for a second, his face suddenly looking weary.

“I see. In time like these, I can understand why you would want to go see your family. Come, I’ll write you an authorization”.

Without waiting, he trotted off towards the barracks. I hurried behind him and followed him to an unfamiliar part of the barracks.

He stopped before a door, unlocked it and invited me inside. As I entered, I realized this was his office. As he took place behind his desk and sounds of shuffling papers arose, I looked around and saw several old photos on the walls.

One of them caught my eyes. It showed a young batpony, looking a lot like the Lieutenant, same eyes, same coat and same mane, the only difference being the bat-like wings.

“Ah, there it is! Come, you’ll have to sign that and you are free to go. I’ll finish the form and sign it on my own.”

Taking off my helmet, I motionned to the picture, unable to stop myself from asking
“Is that your son, sir? He looks exactly like you”.

He glanced at the picture I was pointing at, and laughed.

“This is me, before I joined the Sun Guard. Never had any family of my own, apart from my fellow guards”.

I froze, stopping from taking the pen as I suddenly understood why both his flanks bore huge scars. My horrified mind raced forward, imagining what life would be like if I lost my wings. I shuddered at the simple thought of it.

The Lieutenant caught my moment of realization and smiled faintly.
“It has been a long time since then, I learned how to live without them. Not that I had any choice, seeing how that hydra mangled my body.”

I quickly snapped back to reality and apologized profusely for being rude.

He dismissed my apologies with a hoof.
“No need to apologize. You didn’t know, and you were bound to learn about it sooner or later. Now, sign quickly, I’ve got a meeting with Princess Luna in less than an hour, and I'd like to grab a bite at the mess before going”.

Apologizing again, I quickly took the pen, and scribbled “Galzra” on the form. Before I left the room, the Lieutenant stopped me.
“Be there tomorrow before 10 o’clock, soldier. Don’t be late.”
His voice was calm and composed, yet there could be no mistake, this was an order.
I did a quick salute and left.

*******

Midway through my flight to the orphanage , I realized I still had my armor on me and grumbled as I felt the added weight on the flight muscles crossing my chest.

I stopped flapping my wings, spreading them as far and wide as possible to minimize the strain on my muscles and started gliding. That should be enough to prevent too much soreness tomorrow.

After a few minutes, the crescent moon on the roof of the orphanage was visible, and I began my descent, carefully angling my body to descend gently toward the ground. The roof looked good as new, the repairs seemed to be completed.

As I approached the street, several ponies were gathered close to the orphanage. Landing near the main door of the building, I began to raise my hoof to knock on the door, before somepony shouted behind me.
“Hey, you are a guard, right?”

Puzzled, I turned around, to see that the group was just before the stairs leading to the door. A dozen of them at least, all of them looked angry and tense. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. This did not look good.

“So? You a guard or no? You some kind of mute?”. Not the same voice i first heard. I couldn't figure where it came from

I swallowed my saliva, and carefully answered : “I’m indeed a member of the Night Guard. Is there a problem, everypony?”

Murmurs ran through the whole gathering.
Unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies alike, all of them with anger in their eyes and a frown on their face. An unstable powder keg of emotions.

I had a bad feeling about all this. One wrong move could tick them off, and who knows what they would do?

“EXCELLENT! Now, you can take away the zebra that lives in this run-down orphanage and the one that hurried inside to avoid us! Throw them in the dungeon or something!” The same voice that first hailed me.

This time, I managed to catch which pony talked. A green unicorn stallion, with blue mane and mauve eyes. He looked like the leader of this whole mob, but avoided carefully to be on the front row.

I narrowed my eyes, anger beginning to stir inside.
As I began to answer, I tried to instill as much authority as possible in my voice.
“Sir, I don’t see why I should do that. Did they do anything wrong? I know for a fact the zebra living here is an innocent colt, what do you blame him for? I’m not going to arrest somepony who is innocent”

The green unicorn face crumpled like he bit into something sour.

“They are enemies of Equestria! Their kind caused the death of four Wonderbolts!”
“Yeah! If you don't do your job, we will do it in your stead.”
“Out with the striped! Equestria for the ponies”

The whole mob was beginning to shout. Several of the front row ponies began to shake makeshift clubs menacingly.

I tried one last time to appease the crowd, even though my anger was starting to make my heart beat like a drum. The roaring sound of my blood racing in my ears began to drown the cacophony.

One pony, braver or dumber than the rest, began to climb the flight of stairs toward me.
I took one step toward him, standing as tall as I could, and I screamed at the interloper with all my might, my vision turning red as I ordered him to stay back.

He stopped, uncertainty and a sliver of fear filling his eyes.
The whole mob stopped shouting.

Suddenly, I heard a small click at the door behind me. Turning around abruptly, I saw Zimaha in the small opening, terror in his eyes. I could hear Bronco shouting and swearing somewhere inside.

As soon as they saw him, the mob started throwing rocks. The first one crashed near Zimaha’s head, his frightened jump causing the second one to miss him as well.

I didn’t pause to think, I grabbed the colt and wrapped my wings around Zimaha’s body to protect him, turning my back toward the crowd. He hugged me with all his strength, shivering in terror.

Small metallic sounds echoed when stones hit my armor. I suddenly felt something like a sting on my right ear and on my body, where it wasn’t covered by my armor

The rocks stopped falling as I heard a gallop near me and right after that the sound of a hoof connecting with somepony

“All of ya better get the fuck away, or Celestia helps me, I’ll beat all o’ ya with my bare hooves and use you snivelling fucks to wipe the floor!”

I raised my head slightly and warily opened an eye. Bronco was at the foot of the stairs, his hoof on the neck of the green unicorn, his back turned toward me. I could hear the unbridled anger and rage in his voice, his sides heaving like the bellow of a forge.

A small whimper came from the green unicorn, his muzzle bloody and most likely broken.

Suddenly,with a gust of wind, two dozen pegasi guards in golden armor swooped in. Some remained in the air above the crowd, whilst the rest landed around them with thunderous clatter of armour.

“EVERYPONY STAND DOWN! We’ll use force if necessary! You are all under arrest for Disturbing the peace, assaulting a member of their majesties' guard and racially motivated harassment! You have the right to remain silent, everything you say can and will be used against you….”

As the guards were reading their rights to the rioters, I started to unwrap my wings from around Zimaha. The little colt looked relieved, but his eyes were still full of fear.

A pegasus landed near me, his golden armor masking his cutie mark, his coat a bright white. I never understood why Sun Guards accepted to have their armor change their appearance...

“Are you alright? It looks like you got several cuts. Let me treat that”. He took some cotton out of his saddlebags, and began to wipe the blood from my ear. My ear flickered as a painful sting irradiated from the wound.

“Hmm,the rest is nothing to worry about, small scratches, but that one on your ear? You might keep a scar. The stone cut the skin pretty deep. Still, it won't be a problem if you keep it clean”
He bandaged the cut quickly, telling me how to disinfect it and clean it if needed.

All the while, Bronco was stating the events to another pegasus, which was intently writing everything down. The green unicorn was still firmly held on the ground by Bronco, despite his best effort to try and escape.

The medical pegasus finished examining me, then smiled at Zimaha and offered him a lollipop.
“It must have been scary, here, take it. I planned to keep it for myself, but you deserve it more than me for being a brave little colt”.

Zimaha hesitated, unsure of what to do. I nudged him gently toward the pegasus. A smile crept on the little zebra face and he took the lollipop while thanking the guard.

Bronco turned back toward us, lifting his hoof from the injured unicorn so that the guards may arrest and heal him.

As he joined us, Bronco spat on the ground, a disgusted look on his face.
“Pah, those bleedin’ idiots! Racist twats! Had the guards not arrived, i’d have beat ‘em to a bloody pulp!”

I smiled at his colourful swearing. His face became concerned.
“How you doin’ lad? Did they hurt you? and the colt?”

I shook my head. My right ear felt hot.
“Not really, just a cut on the ear. Are you alright Zimaha?”

The colt, already enjoying his lollipop, stopped just long enough to confirm everything was alright.

“Let’s go inside, lads.”

Bronco locked the door behind us, Zimaha following me closely.

A zebra appeared in the hallway of the entrance.
“What happened outside? The clamour seemed to subside.”

Before I could answer, Bronco reassured the visitor.
“Everything’s alright, the dobbers got arrested by the guards, good riddance. You’d better stay here tonight at least, to recover from the shock. We have plenty of empty rooms and beds”.

Bowing graciously, the zebra replied.
“Your hospitality is welcome, and I'll gladly accept to spend the night at your home. I did not plan to stay in this city for long, but alas, it seems fate decided my stay I should prolong”.

He turned toward me.
“Sir Guard, I thank you for your intervention. Had you not been there, this little one would have become the target of that insurrection.”

Our visitor looked like he had difficulty searching his words. His accent and intonation clearly indicated he did not grow up with our language. He had several golden rings adorning his ears, each of his hindlegs bearing a single golden bracelet. I could not decipher his cutie mark.

I smiled toward him, ruffling the mane of Zimaha at the same time.
“You don’t need to thank me, this colt is like a little brother to me. And you can call me Galzra, I'm off-duty so no need to be that formal.”

The zebra smiled largely, extending his right hoof.
“Ah, how rude of me. You can call me Imani. A pleasure to meet you, really”

I shook his hoof.
“The pleasure is all mine, Imani.”

The sound of the front door opening violently cut me off, a gallop of hooves following it.
Auntie appeared, her mane disheveled, her face full of motherly anguish.

“Zimaha, my little one, are you alright? Did they hurt you? I’ve been worried sick! Why did you open the door? The guard in the street filled me in.”

The little zebra began to stammer, struggling to find his words. Finally, he managed to blurt out that he heard me screaming at the top of my lungs and opened the door to let me in. Guilt gripped my heart, it was my fault if Zimaha put himself in danger.

Auntie hugged him tightly, apologizing from scaring him and finally realised I was there, along with Imani.

“Oh, I’m deeply sorry, I've been so worried that I have all but forgot my manners, please accept my apologies Mr?”

Imani bowed deeply, his chin almost touching his chest.
“There is no reason for you to apologize, Madam. Your concerns for this little one are understandably a higher importance than I am. I’m called Imani, what would your name be?”

She nodded to him.
“I’m Auntie Cookie, the owner of that orphanage. I’m truly sorry for my fellow ponies’ actions, I hope you’ll stay tonight at least, to make up for that?”

“Ah already proposed him t’stay the night. Knew it wouldn’t be trouble for ya, Ma’am”
Bronco intervened.

Auntie smiled largely, and nodded approvingly toward him. She then turned to me.
“So, my little one, is there a reason why you came tonight? Or did you somehow sense you’d be needed here?”

******

After I told the reasons for my presence, Auntie decided to wait after dinner and Zimaha bedtime for our talk.

Imani insisted on helping Bronco prepare dinner, and it was revealed he traveled with a wide array of spices both mild and strong to enhance the flavor of any dish.
Strangely, there were no foals except Zimaha, which sparked my curiosity about the situation. Auntie explained all of them found new families in the last few weeks, most of the paperworks already being made before the Wonderbolts’ Tragedy.

After dinner, Imani and Bronco went to the kitchen to discuss cooking and spices, while I read stories to Zimaha until he fell asleep on the couch.
I carefully lifted him on my back, and put him to bed, his room being next to mine.
As I went back to the living room, Auntie motioned toward her office and we went there to speak quietly.

“So, my little one, you said you came here because the Element of Laughter asked you to?”

I shifted in my seat, the reason felt awfully silly now that it was said out loud.

Scratching my neck with my hoof, I tried to recall what Pinkie Pie said exactly earlier today.

“Well, yes, said like that it seems really strange and all. Her exact words were “You should ask your mommy about your inheritance”. I know it seems silly, but I heard rumors that she always knows more than she lets on, and it felt awfully specific.”

Auntie put a hoof to her chin, slowly tapping it.
“Yes, I understand why you’d want to be sure, this seems too specific to be a joke.”
She sighed
“I’m terribly sorry, my dear, but unfortunately, I have no “inheritance” in your name. I have to admit I never even found your biological parents, in case you’d ever wonder where you were coming from”.

She suddenly perked up, her face going slightly whiter.

“Although, there is a strange package that arrived here yesterday. It seemed to have been lost in transit, it was supposed to be delivered on your 20th birthday last month. The poor mailmare, she was so flustered about it, she apologized several times for the delay. Apparently, her daughter was sick last month, and since the package was wrongly sent to her office of Ponyville instead of here, she was only able to finish catching up recently. When she realized the package was late and destined for Canterlot, she decided to deliver it herself instead of putting it through the postal processes again.”

She shook her head sympathetically.
“There are not a lot of ponies with that kind of dedication to their job, as I told her. I gave her some bits for her trouble, she was not obligated to deliver the package herself. I’ve put the package in your room, I thought it was some sort of gift from one of your friends you made at the guard, so I did not open it”.

We went to my room together.
The package was on my bed, a big box wrapped in a tough paper wrapper, closed tightly by strings secured by a still intact wax seal. The seal bore a logo of a gavel on top of a picture of Canterlot, and after turning the package, I found the sender’s address : “Canterlot Sun and Moon Notary, Business District, Canterlot”

I lifted an eyebrow in confusion, before using one of my wings spikes to carefully cut the strings.
Unwrapping the strings and paper wrapper, a solid wooden box was revealed underneath, with a typed letter attached on top of it.

I carefully picked up the letter, which had barely a few sentences.

“Sir,

Per our contract 1XR4T11, our firm was instructed to deliver this to you when you’d reach the age of 20 year old by the original client that hired us.
As the requirements are met, we now send to you this package that was left in our care over 20 years ago.
Per our agreement with the original client, you are to become the de-facto client of our firm concerning that particular contract.
We understand that all of this may cause a great deal of confusion and questions, and as such, I assure you that our firm and myself will be more than happy to oblige and guide you on these matters.
Feel free to contact us by sending us a mail or dropping by our Canterlot office, at your discretion.
Sincerely,
Mr Heart”

It took me several readings of the letter to fully understand it, and yet I couldn't quite grasp it.
It meant that somehow, somepony before I was even born left instructions concerning myself, tracking me until I was 20 to deliver this specific package.

“You should ask your mommy about your inheritance”
The voice of Pinkie Pie echoed in my head, and it finally clicked: this was what she was talking about.

Somehow, she knew. Was she a psychic? I always dismissed the accounts of some ponies being able to see the future, but I may have to reconsider my stance on that, it seemed.

“What is it, dear?”
I didn’t respond, but pushed the letter toward Auntie. A few minutes of silence as she read.

“Oh, dear. This is real. I had contacts with this firm in the past, for some other foals I managed at the time, they are well implanted and they were founded well before I knew how to read. This is an old and respectable firm, not one to indulge a joke, even if ordered to do so by the Princesses”
She handed me the letter back.
“This is something very private, I'll leave you alone. If you need me, I’ll be in my office for a few hours, or we can discuss tomorrow morning before you return to your station.”

My head was spinning.
“Thank you Auntie, I’ll have to wake up early tomorrow, I have to be at the barracks by 10 o’clock but I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow morning”.

She hugged me tight and kissed me on the cheek, like she did when I was a foal, before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

The dim light of the moon rising at the window clearly indicated the night was coming along, I'd better get on with it to get some sleep.

I struggled a moment with the lid of the box, until a satisfying “pop” echoed in the room.
The inside of the box was lined with some kind of green velvet, and nested in this velvet was two items : a wood-binded book or notebook, with a brass system to keep it closed and a smaller box.

Carefully taking each of them out of the big box, I was disappointed to find there was nothing else in it. I slowly tapped the inside of the box with my hoof, in case there was a double bottom, but nothing.

Turning my attention back towards the items, I dutifully examined the smaller box. It was wood, almost as red as blood with black veins and polished until it reflected the light. I could not get it open, and I did not want to get too rough on it and break it, so I put it back.

The book cover was made from the same wood, for all I knew. It looked very similar at least.
It did not take long to find how to open the “lock” as it was meant to keep the book closed, not locked tight.

The first thing that popped was the elegance of the calligraphy. Each word, each letter looked like art in my eyes.

I never managed to do better than write legibly, but this looked like something you would find in old books.

Before reading, I flipped through the pages, not trying to read, but just figuring out how long it was. Small notes and drawings were in the margins of some pages, but I flipped through too fast to really catch what was depicted.

All in all, that looked like something that took a lot of time and care. Realizing I would not sleep much that night, considering the sheer volume of pages, I sighed.

I went back to the first page, and started reading. My blood went cold, and my heart stopped while I began

“Hello, Galzra.
My name is Emerald Velvet, I'm an Earth pony, and I’m your mother.
It feels bizarre to write this down like this, and pretty awkward.
If you are reading this, it sadly means I never got to know you and vice-versa. I made dispositions with a law firm well-known for their professionalism and care toward their clients to have this book and a small box delivered to you on your 20th birthday, you’ll have to see them yourself for the rest.

I should talk a bit about me, to give you a bit of context concerning this whole situation.
I am an ethnologist and historian attached to the Canterlot Museum (well, technically was, since you are reading this in the future, this is really confusing).

Three years ago, I travelled around Equestria to search for more information about the settling of our country.

Did ponies come long before we began to call this land Equestria, or was Equestria an old nation that ponykind slowly appropriated, by trading over time or by war?

It may surprise you to learn this, but ponykind, as long as it may be, seems to have had some kind of wars long ago, though it seems like it was before the reign of the Princesses.

But I digress, the point is, I travelled all around Equestria, hoping to find old myths and legends passed down from generations, or archaeological sites to help me understand the past.

After a year and a half of travels, I was still no closer to having the littlest clues.
As I reached the Vanhoover area, locals told me about interesting legends and myths.
According to them, when the area was first settled, long before the reign of Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon, there were already ponies living there.

Well, to be accurate, they said that several batpony tribes lived there. Apparently, those tribes still existed to this day, continuing to live as they did back then.
There was a lot of nonsense in the tale that the locals told me. For once, I knew for sure that batponies don't kidnap foals and they surely do not indulge in cannibalism or anything that barbaric.

Separating relevant informations from baseless legends and crazy stories, I managed to learn than those tribes left the land to the settlers, on the condition that the settlers would let them live in peace in what is now known the Vanhoover Mountains or Unicorn Range, but was once called “Dragon’s Ridge”, due to to the whole mountain range looking like the back of a dragon.

The entire mountain range is as wild as the Everfree, weather as chaotic and as capricious as in this forest, filled with dangerous creatures, ranging from manticores and hydras to cockatrices.

But, the goal of my life was within reach. These years of searching were finally paying off!
I bought equipment for the dangerous hike, prepared rations and took plenty of canteens filled with purified water. As I did not know the area, better safe than sorry and take more than enough just in case, that was my thought.

With all the preparations complete, I took off and began the long hike in the mountains. The maps I had were not that accurate, as ponies did not go for hikes in those heavily forested mountains, but I figured that If i went and planned a route near the peaks, under the snow but above the canopy, i’d easily find water and signs of camps.
I started from the northernmost tip of the mountains range, and followed the mountains as they curved toward the south-west.

After more than a month of hiking, I had learned to replenish my water canteen as often as possible. As well as pick the comestible plants and mushrooms from survival books.

Then, two month in, I started hearing and seeing things. Rocks sliding where there was no wind to destabilize them, murmurs in the winds when they changed directions, strange smells floating around.

After a few days of these occurrences, I began to feel observed.
You know, the feeling you get in the back of your head when somepony is watching you and you feel the need to scratch the spot? That feeling.

I decided to set camp a bit more permanently in the area. I had seen plenty of berry bushes ripe for picking in the wood a few hundred meters away. There was even a small mountain stream nearby where I could replenish my water without trouble.

The first night I camped there, there was no wind as I closed my tent for the night, yet strange and brief gusts of winds buffeted my tent every now and then, stopping as quick as they began, with strange sounds, like a cloak clacking in the wind.

The second evening, after I had eaten, I left a plate with some leftovers, enough berries for a pony to eat and my last bread.

As soon as I went to bed, a gust of wind went and shook my tent, but this time, the moon was up and bright, and I saw the figure of a pony silhouetted by it on my tent.
As slowly and silently as possible, I got up and crawled toward the opening of the tent.
Opening it just enough to stick my eye on it, I saw a pony curiously sniffing the plate I had left, especially the bread.

The silver light of the moon was bright enough to see what this batpony looked like.
Taller than me, slender, with a bark colored coat, and a silver mane, with a braid tied close to his neck. His wings were bigger than those of the other batponies i had seen around.
Equestria. His cutie mark looked like a round white stone, with a blue streak across it.
He had tufts of hair on his ears and his eyes were the color of light seen through honey, golden and warm, with a cat-like slit. Oh and he was a stallion. And a well-built one at that too.

He had a necklace, made from a sort of red and blue string, with a pendant with the same kind of stone as his cutiemark, white but with blue hues where the light was reflected.

As he tried to nibble on the bread, his back turned toward me, I chose to reveal myself. I silently opened the tent enough for me to wiggle my way through.

I stifled a laugh at the situation, the batpony stalking me being stalked by me. This was some grand irony.

I cleared my throat loudly. The poor stallion yelped, and rolled face first, stumbling away from me while spilling the content of the plate on the ground, while simultaneously managing to half open his wings.

Landing on his back, I took a few steps and put my face above him, his eyes darting left and right trying to determine where to flee.
Note: (I’ve tried to transcribe what was said as precisely as possible, but there might be some forgotten parts, sorry about that).

“Hi, I’m Emerald Velvet. I’m an historian. What’s your name?”

“Ha, hmm, huuu”

“What’s the matter? Manticores got your tongue?”

“Am not supposed to talk to non-batponies.”

“Ah so you do talk! I’ve been searching for months in these mountains for batponies. I got a lot of questions for you, mister!”
I do admit, my own passion for history was spearheading the rolling barrage of questions I launched at that poor batpony.

His frown became more and more desperate, his eyes almost pleading.

“Hum, you know, lady, i’m not supposed to talk to you. We live peacefully here, ponies live peacefully out of the mountains, you ponies are supposed to not come here. The Goddess of the Night was supposed to keep you out and prevent you from settling here. It’s dangerous for ponies like you here.”
He talked as fast as he could, as if talking faster would prevent me from questioning him!

“Wait, the Goddess of the Night? Princess Luna?”
He nodded vehemently, shaking his head up and down.

“You do know that there is only Princess Celestia, right? Princess Luna was banished to the moon almost a thousand years ago, give or take a few years.”
He stopped moving, his eyes wide with shock.

I stepped back a bit, and sat down, and filled him in the last thousand years or so of history.
It took most of the night, and I took the opportunity to present myself again, explaining why I was there, why I wanted to meet the batpony tribes and such.

He introduced himself, explaining that he was scouting for food when he first noticed me 2 weeks ago, and that he started following me, first from far away and then closer, as wild beasts lived near, which explained why I noticed his presence.

Strangely, when he gave me his name, he did not say “My name is MoonShine”. He said “My name in your tongue is MoonShine”.

He led me to his tribe, which was not far by wings but took me several days to reach on hooves.

The settlement was amazing, built around the trees and rocks of the rough terrain. The bigger trees were hollow, with strangely shaped houses built inside, while many smaller trees supported the weights of other houses. Catwalks made from rope and wood connected each of them and I even noticed rope ladders reinforced and rolled up.

While Moonshine went toward the biggest trees of the small town, I sat up and drew the village on the notebook I was carrying at the time. (I added a copy on the next page for you).”

Indeed, the next page represented the village, the dense canopy of trees almost blocking the sun, a complex arrangement of catwalks and bridges forming an interconnected web.

I continued to read.

“It took a while before Moonshine came back, the light of sun significantly dimmed, telling me the afternoon was almost finished.

He didn’t speak much, only stating that the elders of the tribe wanted to talk with me.
It took me a while to climb the ladders, as it swayed back and forth a bit.

After I reached the top, I was surprised by the solidity and stability of the catwalks while Moonshine led me to the elders.

Two were indeed worthy of being called elders, their wrinkled faces making them look like old grandfathers, while the last one looked not much older than my teachers. The three of them seated in seats carved out of the wood from the very tree we were in.

Their expression was the same : a mask of stern and resolute disapproval. I realised they were not happy to see a pony from outside the tribe.

The oldest of them, a venerable batpony with a coat entirely greyed by the age and eyes as white as clouds, said something while standing up. I couldn’t understand a word of what he said. Still the tone clearly indicated a question, spoken with the authority of a ruler.

Moonshine took place beside me, and began translating. I was asked why I came to the mountains as the old agreement between batponies and the rest of ponykind clearly stated we were never to come settle here.

I began explaining the reasons for my presence in the Unicorn Range, stating my work and life goal to understand more about the older days of Equestria, reassuring them I was not there to settle or cause any trouble to them, as I was only a seeker of knowledge.

MoonShine translated my whole speech. The language was completely different from the equestrian language, even though I caught some old equestrian words mixed in.

The oldest elder sat back down, a satisfied look on his face. He smiled slightly, and nodded toward me, in approval.

Another one stood up, and asked, always in their language, what were my intentions concerning what I would learn and if I planned to disclose the hidden location of their tribe to the rest of Equestria. His khaki coat was quivering, as if he was angry.

Once again, I explained that my goal was only to gather legends, myths and their records of History. My work would only contain those and only those. No mention of their location would be ever added, apart from the already common knowledge that the batpony tribes lived in the Unicorn Range.

It took a few hours to answer every elders’ questions, and the sunlight had died down when we finished.

The oldest batpony stood up one last time, and said something toward MoonShine, who quickly translated that the elders were satisfied with my answers. They would allow me to live here as long as I needed, on the condition that I would not include the location of the tribe in my research and that I would keep an open mind concerning their traditions and customs.

As I agreed, the elders tapped their front hooves two times on their seats, before standing up and exiting the room.

Moonshine shook my hoof, stating that the elders gave him the responsibility to be my guide and that he was to help me as much as possible in my research.

I lived in the tribe for almost two years, recording each and every fairy tale, legends and myths. I learned their language enough to be able to understand them without needing a translator every minute at my side.

Their way of recording history was remarkable, strictly oral. Every foal learned from his parents, which in turn were schooled by their parents before that.
Their records spanned thousands of years, way before the official founding of Equestria, one of the oldest even speaking of the coronation of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, an event known only partially to this day.

During my stay with the tribe, I began to grow closer and closer with MoonShine. At first, our relations went from acquaintances working together to friends and then, it became more than that.

He showed me their art of refining moonstones and sunstones, and how they used them in their rituals.

It seems that batponies worship both the sun and moon, for the land cannot live and thrive without both. After a while, the tribe trusted me enough to reveal that the mountains did not provide everything in terms of food. In truth, they needed to hunt and eat meat to avoid anemia and other related health problems.”

I stopped my reading, shocked. A taste of bile rose in my mouth. I forced saliva down my throat, swallowing the bile with it, and resumed my readings

“It was as shocking for me as it must be for you, when first learning this, I have to admit that I threw up. The elders of the tribe explained to me that in the mountains, the soil was not rich enough to permit the growth of most foods the rest of ponykind takes for granted. Thus, to avoid malnutritions, the first batponies learned to hunt, and began to eat flesh.

Strict rules were enforced to avoid any unnecessary killing :
Each part of the killed animal must be eaten, used or respectfully buried.
The kills must be as quick and efficient as possible, to avoid as much suffering as possible.
The killing of young animals, expectant animals or mothers was not tolerated.
And most important of all : All of the animals must be non-sentient and must be unable to understand language.
As such, when hunting, batponies hide in the canopy of the trees, speaking and asking the animal if they understand them, and warning them that they were being hunted.
If an animal flees, he is considered intelligent enough to understand language and thus not to be hunted further.

It seems like they eat the strict minimum of meat required to keep them healthy, and that their main prey is roe deers. After killing their prey, they cut the head right where it was killed, and bury it there, its eyes facing the sky to guide its spirit towards it.

Before returning, they take the guts out and leave them on the ground, to avoid attracting predators back to their village. They then cut and process the rest of the body so that every usable part isn't wasted. It took me a while to be accustomed to it, but if I’m honest, I admit meat didn’t taste that bad. A bit salty, like when you bite your tongue and it bleeds.

After a year, even though I had recorded everything I needed for my research, my love for Moonshine kept me at the tribe for several more months, as I was reluctant to leave him behind to return to Canterlot.

Everything was so much simpler, so much easier there in the mountains and yet so exhilarating.

After a while, I began to settle in that life. Even though I lacked wings, I made a point to work as much as any other ponies there. Time passed like a dream, but every dream, no matter how blissful, must come to an end.

One night, I awoke to the sound of ruffled papers in the house I shared with Moonshine. Half asleep, I looked around and saw him go through my notebooks and paintings. Now fully awake, I slowly got out of bed and asked him what he was doing. He froze, a notebook still in his hooves and began stammering, trying to justify what he was doing.

My blood boiled yet I remained motionless while he explained. The elders gave him one task he did not tell me about : He was supposed to follow me, not only to translate but also to spy on me and report to the elders about what I did, what I recorded...

He began crying, asking for forgiveness, saying that although he loved me, he could not let me go back to Equestria and inform them of the customs of his kind.

That other ponies would never understand as I understood and that they would try to force the tribe out of their home or worse.

I coldly asked if everything was a lie. Our relationship, our complicity. If everything was the way it was because it was easier to keep an eye on me, and prevent me from going back and fulfilling my life’s work.

As he tried justifying his actions again, trying to convince me he never lied, I smacked him hard on the nose, quickly packed my things and ran away, taking with me a bag of pigment I used to paint. I managed to reach the nearest ladder and begin my descent before Moonshine could react, and once I was on the ladder, he did not try to stop me, afraid that I would fall.

He tried speaking and pleading, but my blood was beating in my ears and blocked his words.
Once I reached the ground, he landed in front of me, and began to try pleading again. I sharply threw the bag of pigments in his eyes, and he collapsed on his butt, coughing and rubbing his eyes to try to remove the fine powder.

I ran. I never ran that fast and that long before or ever since, I ran all night and all morning downhill, only to collapse of exhaustion when I reached the edge of the forest. I took refuge under the stump of a fallen tree, concealing my tent with moss and dirt. It used the last of my strength to pull myself inside and fall to the floor, my whole body protesting from the ordeal.

While I rested, I heard Moonshine calling me in the distance, coming closer and closer. He was not alone, as I heard several others calling each other out above me.

Despite their efforts, I managed to stay hidden that day and the following night, my limbs still aching from the run. In the middle of the night, I heard several voices above me again, too far to understand their words, but I recognized the sound of Moonshine’s voice, sniffling and sobbing.

I was tempted to get out of hiding, but I reminded myself of what he did. He tried to take my research away from me, the research I spent almost 5 years working on. Angry again, I steeled my heart and kept quiet.

In the morning, they were gone. After packing quickly, I continued to walk downhill, at a resolute pace. It took me two weeks to reach the foot of the mountains, and two more days before reaching the nearest train station on the line between Vanhoover and Canterlot.

When I arrived in Canterlot, I went to my home to unpack and compile my research, carefully selecting what to present and what to keep hidden.

Even if the tribe and Moonshine lied to me and tried to prevent me from sharing my research, I still held my end of our bargain, keeping their location and their secrets hidden.

The Canterlot Museum employees were all surprised to see me again. After almost two years with no contact, they figured I made a new life elsewhere. It took a few weeks but I managed to get my old job back, and began presenting my findings and theories about Ancient Equestria.

As time went by, I gradually became very sick. I could not keep down most foods, yet I steadily gained weight.

It took months before my colleagues managed to convince me to consult a doctor.
As my symptoms looked very concerning, he did a whole battery of tests to see if I had contracted any serious illness during my years of travelling.

It turned out that I wasn’t sick, but pregnant. The doctor called a colleague of his, a psychologist. When he arrived, both of them broke the news to me : I was pregnant, around 4 or 6 months along, far too advanced for abortion.

The psychologist insisted I needed to consult, as such a denial of pregnancy, to the point where I did not realize my state, had to be caused by a traumatic event. The news was shocking to me, so I accepted his offer. I see him every week since then, though I did not tell him all the truth, it helped me understand and accept my pregnancy through these last two months.

During an echography earlier this week, I found out I have several internal malformations. None of them are life-threatening right now, but they will potentially cause lethal complications during childbirth.

This is why I’m writing all of this, I can’t go back to Moonshine in my current state, and he’ll likely never learn what happened to me or even know you exist.

I did everything to ensure you eventually learn your roots. You are not even born but I love you so much, I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there for you or watch you grow up.

The small box sent with this book contains a lock of my mane. I ask you to please keep it closed, until you can one day travel to the Unicorn range and find the second half of your roots, if you so choose. Until then, please keep it safe.

The rest of this book contains everything I learned from the tribe, including what I did not share with my colleagues. I hope it inspires you to go and experience it by yourself.

With love, your Mom”

The sound of tears hitting the wooden floor echoed.

Plic

New Perk : Roots (level 1) - The unknowns of your past has been partially revealed. New locations are marked on your map and new dialogue interactions are now unlocked.

Creation of the Batponies

The most peculiar and oldest of batponies’ legends was about the legend of the creation of their race:

A small settlement of ponies lived at the foot of the Dragon’s Ridge, having made an alliance with a race of small nocturnal dragons nesting in the cliffs nearby.

The dragons provided protection against any wild creature, such as manticore and hydras, while the ponies provided food and warm shelter for the dragon eggs in the cold winter

One day, a spirit, wild and free, came from beyond the western sea and stumbled upon the settlement. He observed the way the two species worked, and was not pleased.

His realm was chaos and mischief, yet two races which had nothing in common had built a model of order and stability.

The trickster could not suffer the sight and vowed to destroy the order. He began to disguise himself as a dragon and burned crops, hoping to enrage ponies and push them to attack their allies.

His plan failed, as the ponies recognized him as an outsider, not one of the dragons they made a pact with.

This enraged the trickster spirit, and he became even more upset when the dragon elder came personally to apologize to the ponies.

He hatched a new plan, metamorphosing himself as a pony, he went to the dragons nesting grounds, and stole eggs, leaving them in a barn by the village.

But his second plan also failed, as a young pony saw him deposit the eggs and took them back to the dragons, who quickly forgave the ponies and accepted their apologies.

The Trickster was seething with rage, none of his plans worked, as the friendship between the two factions was beyond his abilities to lie and cheat.

Furious and mad, he decided to reveal himself and began to lay waste to the ponies’ town, claiming the lives of many, laughing all the while.

The dragons, seeing their friends’ home being attacked, reacted and came to their aid.

For many days and nights, ponies and dragons attacked the Trickster, yet they could not harm him, for he was Chaos Incarnate.

Laughing at the pathetic attempts of ponies and dragons, he snapped his fingers and stopped them in place.

If all of them were so happy with their relationship with their neighbors, he decided that the two factions would become one, and with another snap of his fingers, he gave draconic attributes to the ponies and pony attributes to the dragons, creating the first batponies.

He laughed at the confusion and chaos he created, rolling on his back with tears in his eyes.

But his evil act did not go unpunished.

The magic he used to merge the two races into one was too much for one entity alone, and the toll it exerted on his body quickly became apparent.

His body shifted and swelled, the magic building up inside him. After a moment, the Trickster exploded into a colorful array of colours.

From the body of the trickster, several creatures were created, dividing his powers. All of them scattered, but one.

The new incarnate of Chaos and disharmony. Discord, the draconequus.

He laughed a hearty laugh, joked about his father’s death and flew away, leaving the newly created batponies to find how to adapt to this new life.

To be honest, I have doubts that this is exactly what happened, especially considering that this story is passed from generations to generations strictly orally and is thus subject to slight alterations each time it is told.

But, all legends have a seed of truth in them, even though I never found it there.

Chapter 5

What I learned kept me up that night. Finally knowing where I came from lifted a weight on my mind that I didn’t even realize was there, but it created as many new questions as the ones that were answered.

I decided to push all of this in a corner of my mind, until I had time to think more calmly about it. Maybe discussing it with Auntie would help, or with my squad.

With a groan, I got up, and went to my window, my eyes catching a glint of light on the wooden box resting on my desk.

I opened the window and leaned on it, smiling slightly as the cool night air blew through my mane, pausing to admire the beauty of the night sky. The constellations were unknown to me, though several new stars around the full moon were shining brighter than the rest, four of them to be precise.

My right ear flickered, as a discreet yet annoying pulsating sensation irradiated from the wound I received earlier. I lightly touched the bandage, no wet feeling so the wound hadn’t reopened.

A peaceful feeling took over me, seeing the silver light enhance the beauty of the whole city. Forcing my eyes to shift, I looked at the city again. New details were revealed to me, I could see small shadows circling the castle far above, rats scurrying in the streets, patrols with their lanterns in the district.
The nights seemed so much more since the return of Princess Luna, the stars gleaming brighter, a deeper richness of the night tapestry revealed.

Discrete hoofsteps echoed in the corridor leading to my room, like somepony trying to be silent. Then, small knocks on the door followed by a whisper: “Galzra, are you sleeping?”.

I smiled as I heard the familiar voice, and looked toward the door as it opened. A small black and white head slipped through the opening.

Zimaha looked sheepish. “Can I come? I had a nightmare, I’m scared.” I motioned for him to enter and keep his voice down.

He nodded and closed the door as silently as possible. I ruffled his mane.
“Anything alright Zimaha? You can talk to me if you want”

He sat on the bed, not saying a word, keeping his head down. Suddenly concerned, I sat next to him, on the floor, to have my own head at his level.

“Does your ear hurt?” Surprised, I put a hoof on my right ear, feeling the heat of the wound through the bandage covering it. I tried to look Zimaha in the eyes, but he averted my gaze.

I tried to smile at him while responding: “Not really, Zima. It pulses a bit but it’s nothing, I got hurt worse during training.”

“Yeah, but it’s my fault. Without me you wouldn’t be hurt.”

It finally clicked in my head, the little colt was feeling guilty, thinking he was responsible for the whole ordeal.
I lifted his head up gently, noticing the tears forming in his eyes. I took a firm yet gentle expression.

“Zimaha, you are not at fault. If somepony is to blame, it’s the ones that threw the rocks, not you”

“But they wouldn’t have hurt you if I didn’t open the door. If I stayed inside, nothing would have happened.”

He was crying now, softly. My heart sank, it must have haunted him all evening. I didn’t know what to do to make him feel better.

Suddenly, Zimaha hugged me, taking me by surprise. He was muttering “Sorry” over and over. I stroked his mane, trying to comfort him like Auntie comforted me when I was a colt.

Gradually, his sobbing stopped, and he released me from his hug. Saying nothing, I motioned to the window, inviting him to observe the night with me.

The little zebra got up and followed me there, but he was far too small to reach the window. Without thinking, I put him on my back, and he leaned on my neck to observe the night sky.
We stayed a few minutes like this, silently observing the night sky without moving.

“Galzra?”
“Yeah?”
“Why your eyes are different? Normally your eyes are all round in the center, but now they look like the eyes of a cat.”

I had forgotten my eyes. I pondered for a minute on how to explain it.

“Well, it’s a batpony thing. Some batponies have only the round pupil in their eyes, some only got the cat’s eyes with a slit, and some, like me, can shift between round pupils and cat’s eyes. I was just born like that I suppose. I don't really know if it’s normal to do that or not.”

“Does it hurt? To change your eyes?”

I shrugged. “No, not at all. It’s hard to describe the feeling when I shift them. But no, it does not hurt, Zimaha.”

Feeling his body slipping a bit, I shifted my stance to stabilize him, opening my wings slightly to catch him if needed.

“What does it feel like to fly?”

“It feels amazing. A bit like swimming, but more free. Seeing the endless sky above you, the ground spinning below, it’s one of the best things I can imagine. The freedom you feel while flying is awesome”

I heard him sigh sadly. “I wish I could fly. I wanna see the clouds. But I can't”.

Sensing an opportunity to lift his mood, I opened my wings.
“You may be unable to fly by yourself, but I can be your wings, at least for a bit. Hold on tight, Zimaha.”

I felt him cling to my neck with his forelegs whilst he squeezed my flanks with his hindlegs to hold on. I pushed him slightly with my wings to get him seated more safely on my back, and leaped out of the open window.

Flapping my wings to get us higher, Zimaha held on as tightly as possible. I began gliding silently through the air. A small laugh of pure glee came from the little zebra.

I turned my head slightly to see his face, filled with joy and happiness. Gone was the sadness he showed only a few moments prior.

“You see those clouds above us, Zimaha? I’ll land on one so that you can see it more closely, but don't get off my back when I do! I may be able to walk on clouds, but you can’t.”

I saw him nod slightly, then felt him reaffirm his hold.
Beginning to ascend to the cumulonimbus I spotted earlier, Zimaha laughed again.

After a few minutes of ascending, I landed on the cloud. The soft surface sank slightly under my weight.

I turned my head again to look at Zimaha. “So, what do you think?”
His face was slightly pink from the wind but he was looking around him with glee and delight.
“It’s amazing! I can see everything. The houses look like squares!”

I chuckled, completely understanding his feelings. I had the same exact reactions when I finally managed to fly for the first time a little over 15 years ago.

“The moon is so pretty! I don’t know why other zebras are afraid of it. With no more unicorn on it, it shines so bright! But it doesn’t hurt to look at it like the sun does!”

I smiled to see him forget his worries and focus on the moment instead.

“We gotta come down now, Zima. You wanna see what a dive is?”

A small squeal of excitement answered my question. The little zebra held on tighter as I walked toward the edge of the cloud.

“Hold on really tight now, Zimaha. Try not to scream, it’s really late, I don't wanna wake up the neighbors”.

I then jumped over the edge of the cloud, diving toward the ground at an angle that allowed Zimaha to stay on my back while still feeling the speed.

After almost reaching the rooftop level of the tallest building in the Lower District, I shifted the angle and fully opened my wings, gliding in a circle to reduce my speed and then turned back toward the orphanage.

Flapping my wings slightly to reduce my speed further as I approached my opened window, I turned my head again. Zimaha had the largest smile I had ever seen on his face.

Landing softly on the wooden floor of the room, I sat down to allow the little one to come down.
He hugged me and thanked me for this, saying how magical it was to fly under the night sky and the full moon.

I smiled, happy to have lifted his spirits and turned his mind away from thinking about what happened the previous evening.

We walked silently in the corridor, chuckling together when we heard the loud snoring of Bronco downstairs.

I put him to bed, tucking him in before whispering him good night. Zimaha smiled, his eyelids closing by themselves, before he whispered “Good night, big brother” and went to sleep.

As I went back to my room, my mind realised what Zimaha called me, and I felt oddly proud to be called brother by the little zebra.

Yawning silently, I felt the weight of the day taking its toll and my body yearning for sleep.
My eyes heavy, I looked at the alarm to check if it was set. 7 o’ clock, enough to get ready and talk a bit with Auntie before going back to the barracks. Sleep set in almost instantly after I laid down.

*****

I woke up suddenly, the alarm clock blaring. Grumbling, I fumbled around to reach the clock, managing to shut it up quickly enough to avoid waking everyone up, I hoped. Sun was already up, but was still low in the sky.

After getting up and leaving the room, I heard some noises downstairs. Crackling from the fire, sound of pans and sizzling, someone was already up and working in the kitchen

I head downstairs as silently as possible, to avoid waking Zimaha.
Reaching the kitchen, I saw Bronco already hard at work making breakfast.
“Howdy lad, well slept?”

“Small night for me, Zimaha had a nightmare. I had to comfort him before he could sleep again”

Bronco shook his head, sadness on his face.
“Poor laddie, A’ should ap’logize when he wakes up. Never meant to scold him, A’ just got scared fer him.”

I smiled toward the stout earth pony. “Don't worry Bronco, I’m sure he’ll understand. Speaking of it, I forgot to thank you yesterday. Without you, it could have been ugly.”

“Pah!” He spat in the open bin.
“These scunners. I ought to beat them all up again to teach ‘em a lesson. Hope they get what they deserve. No need to thank me, what would A’ be to let my lads being beat up? Yer like my own sons, you two.”

While saying that, he smiled warmly toward me. Smoke began to come from behind him. Bronco wrinkled his nose, surely smelling the smell of burning.

“AH,bucking shit. The pancakes!”
He turned back, and managed to save the pancakes before they were too burned to be edible. I munched on them happily, not minding the burned bits one bit. Chocolate chips pancake, yum!

“Well, hello dear! You are up early. The Guard is a good influence on you, there was a time where you couldn’t get up until noon was almost there”
Auntie was up, her mane still sporting her nightcap. Bags under her eyes, she must have stayed up late to talk with me last night. A small pang of guilt gripped me.

I gulped the last of my pancakes before answering.
“Hi Auntie, yeah I figured I should get up early if I wanted to discuss a bit with you about last night and have time to go back to the barracks before 10.”

She took a pot of coffee and a mug, served herself a large swig of that brown thing and poured another one in a large glass for Bronco, who nodded a thanks while taking a seat.

“Well, dear, don’t keep us waiting, tell us everything you want to talk about. We are all ears”

I began explaining the whole story. My biological mom, what I learned about her, her life and the batponies. Auntie and Bronco listened attentively, never stopping me, nodding here and there.
As I reached the end, Bronco suddenly sneezed, but it felt fake and I realized why after noticing tears at the corners of his eyes.
It wasn’t that surprising, the stallion had a big softie heart behind all that rough exterior.

Auntie, though, didn’t try to cover her feelings. When I reached the end, she reached for her handkerchief and silently wiped some tears before speaking.
“My little one, I feel so sorry for you. To finally know where you come from, but find nopony there must be soul-crushing.”
She reached over the table to gently tap my hoof.

“To be honest, I don’t really know what to think or feel about it. Maybe after a while, when all of this will sink in?”

She smiled, nodding silently. She looked absentmindedly at the clock in the kitchen then asked:
“Aren’t you supposed to be back at 10 o’clock at your post? It is already past 9, you should hurry, dear.”

*****

It took me almost no time to finish getting ready, but by then, I had only half an hour left to fly back to the barracks.
I still took the time to say hello to Zimaha and Imani before leaving but I flew off soon after.

The morning air was still fresh from the night before. I flapped my wings as fast as possible, trying to get as much speed as possible to make it back on time. I didn’t even feel my armor’s and saddlebags weight.

No pony wanted to disappoint the Lieutenant, of all the commanding officers of the Lunar Guard. He had a way of making you regret any disappointment or shortcoming...

I continued to flap my wings until I reached a sufficient altitude, reoriented myself a bit to be directly in front of the barracks’ entrance, then went into a dive.

The wind of my flight screamed at my ears, the city scrolling fast under me. A sharp sting caught my right ears, making me wince as I pushed my speed even further.

The clock of the Castle began to ring the hour.
DING….. DING……. DING…… DING

I was almost there, I only needed to be in the training court before the last ringing, or at least I hoped the Lieutenant would count it as being on time.

DING …. DING….. DING……

I reached the entrance and simultaneously, deployed my wings to try and slow my descent and realised I went too fast as I felt a sharp pain in my chest with the brutal deceleration.

Well, at least I was on time but my flight muscles would hold a grudge for a few days.

I landed in the middle of the training yard just as the clock finished ringing and allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Well, this is cutting it short, but I suppose I can let it pass this time!”

I froze as I heard the Lieutenant behind me. Did I bump him in my hurry? I quickly turned and stood at the ready, anxious about the punishment he would bestow for my delay.

“At ease soldier, you made it on time. You’ll feel that rush for a few days though, I barely registered you at your speed, you are gonna be sore as hell for a while. It will help you plan your day better in the future”
His scarred face shifted into one of his signature smirks.
“Now, get back inside, we have a meeting planned in half an hour at the castle and we can’t be late. Gather the others and get back here pronto, tell them to get dressed too. MOVE!”

I jumped at the order, and ran inside, quickly reaching my dorm room. Hurrying inside, I relayed the orders and stored my saddlebags. It took each of them less than five minutes to get inside their armors and follow me outside.

The Lieutenant had a satisfied look on his face, and motioned for us to follow him as he trotted away.
It was only then that I realized he was also in full Lunar Guard armor.

I gulped while I realized what all of this meant.
Official meeting in full attire was screaming “Appointment with the Princesses in full view of the whole Canterlot court”.

Eyeing the others, I realized they knew as well as me the importance of what would happen.
Iron kept his cool, but his gait betrayed his worries. He stomped like every cobblestone was a snake to be crushed.
Spark was sweating, an anxious look on his face.
Cerulean’s gaze crossed mine, and I saw a similar stress in her eyes as my own.

Only Sunny looked calm, but compared to her usual cheeriness and prancing around, it was clear that she felt the same tension as the rest of us.

Time flew as we moved toward the castle, his walls looking bigger from the ground than what they looked like from the air.

Following the Lieutenant, we went inside then took a few turns inside the palace.
Everything was so perfectly clean that I felt guilty to bring dirt from outside on my sabatons.

After a few minutes, we reached a door, flanked on each side by Sun Guards.
They did a brief salute after recognizing the Lieutenant, and nodded briefly at our attention before opening the door and leading us inside.

The room was big, but it was not the throne room.
Confusion gripped me before I looked around and fully took what was happening.
A round table, big enough for at least fifty ponies, occupied the center.
A few dozen ponies were seated around it, arguing, maps and papers covering the whole surface between them.

After a quick look, I realized there weren't any other guards beside us or the Sun Guard around the room, so we just followed the Lieutenant by instinct.

He sat on the nearest chair while the other ponies glared at him. We stayed behind him, standing still and awaiting orders.

The door behind us opened again, and two sets of hoofsteps echoed in the suddenly silenced room.

I realized quickly why the silence: Princess Luna and Princess Celestia took place at the other end of the table, directly across from the Lieutenant.

Our whole squad stood at attention instinctively as the Princesses entered our field of view.
The air of the room felt electric and tense, as if a thunderstorm was about to explode.

I realized Spark’s gaze wasn’t fixed on the Royal Sisters, but on a random unicorn at the right side of the table.
A noble, assuredly, considering how his clothes looked of the finest quality, but there was something familiar behind the impeccable styled, middle aged stallion.
Then it struck me : he had the same facial features as Spark, the same orange eyes and the same mane color. Only his coat was different, a vibrant blue.
The anger in Spark’s gaze gave me the final answer: this was his father.

“Well, it seems like everypony is here, right on time. We can now proceed with the meeting…”
As Princess Celestia spoke, my head turned toward her without my consent. Her voice was soft but the authority behind it wasn’t hiding, an iron hoof in a velvet glove.

Spark’s father began to speak, his voice full of venom
“Princess, this is highly irregular. These meetings are supposed to be as secretive as possible, yet Lieutenant Bright Bolt here brought a bunch of common guards. We do not need to have enemies of Equestria learn of what will be said here”

His angry gaze turned toward us, then his eyes blinked rapidly, confused by Spark’s presence.

The Lieutenant stomped his right hoof on the table.
“Sir, I assure you these guards are as fine as the ones guarding this room at this very moment. Their duty is to Equestria and they won’t divulge a word of what will be said there. Now that this is addressed, let us hear what our Highnesses have to say without interruptions”.
His voice was deceptively calm, like the eye of a storm, his ears betraying his irritation.

Princess Luna smiled, apparently pleased at how the Lieutenant dealt with the interruption.
Princess Celestia cleared her throat lightly, before continuing.

“As each of you are aware, our relations with zebrakind degraded quite a bit in light of Equestria’s intervention to save the seventeen hostages.

Contrary to all denegations and information brought by the Caesar, the Wonderbolts managed to confirm that the pirates’ hideout was likely known by the zebra government for a long time, as zebra merchants actively avoided the area even prior to the hostage situation. And this despite the area's obvious advantages in terms of trade route.

We must assume the Caesar did not want to intervene at all and that maybe the pirates had some kind of deal with some level of the zebra government. At my latest diplomatic trip, the Caesar produced a ransom letter he assured was received a day after the death of the pirate, asking for a coffer of the finest Equestrian gemstones for each hostage.

However, whatever happened to cause this incident, we must try to extend a hoof for peace and hope the Caesar will reach for it. I already made arrangements and discussed the matter with him, though I don’t know how it will blossom.

In the meantime, we should secure our relations with our other neighbors and neutral parties, to at least maintain a status quo if the situation would continue to degrade further.

On the same page, the Equestria Skyguard recruitment will begin in a few days, full training will commence as soon as the first few squads are filled in.

We are aware that some disturbances happened around Equestria against resident or visiting zebras. This matter is of particular importance to me, as Equestria was founded on the very principle of tolerance toward all races!”

Celestia’s face briefly became distorted by anger, her eyes narrowed and her jaws clenched, before going back to her usual self-composure.

“Fortunately, these actions were only carried out by small groups and had no lasting consequences, as all of them were squashed quickly before any damage was done and thankfully, none happened in Canterlot as far as I’m aware.

My sister and I will personally address the whole nation on this. Is there anything that any one of you needs to bring up to our attention before we continue?”

The Lieutenant slowly denegated. I swiftly stepped forward, and put my hoof on his shoulder to catch his attention. He turned toward me, furious and about to shout, before I quickly whispered about what happened yesterday evening.

His face shifted from anger to concern as I pointed at my bandaged ear while explaining.
He quickly turned back as Princess Luna floated some papers to herself and cleared his throat.

“Sorry to interrupt, your Highnesses, but I just got a report that a small riot involving a dozen ponies had to be controlled by a Sun Guard pegasi squad yesterday evening. The official report must have been delayed”

Princess Luna raised an eyebrow, a puzzled look on her royal muzzle.
“Are you sure, Lieutenant? Where did you learn this? I admit I have some trouble believing this, I should have had the report when I began my duties last night.”

The Lieutenant motioned toward me and bowed slightly toward Princess Luna.
“I have the utmost faith concerning the source of the information, as it came from a guard I personally trained. Soldier, report the events, exactly as they happened.”

I took a step forward, feeling like I just swallowed a stone. The events of the day before flashed in my head as I described them concisely, pointing at my bandaged ear in conclusion of my explanations, the pulsating wound seemingly echoing my words.

Princess Celestia looked mortified while Princess Luna was horrified, dropping the masks for a moment as I reported. For a moment, they looked like normal ponies, ashamed and confused as to what they just heard.

The moment passed quickly however, and the Princesses regained their composure, regal and mighty rulers of Equestria again.

“We thank you for bringing this whole ordeal to our attention. We will wait for the full report of the Sun Guard before taking any punitive actions, but we’ll be sure to send somepony as soon as possible to extend formal apologies to the zebras Imani and Zimaha, currently lodging at the Crescent Moon Orphanage.”

Princess Luna bowed her head slightly while speaking, gratitude the only expression on her face.
“We also thank you for your timely intervention, even though you were off-duty at the time.”

My whole face became hot, as the only reason I could intervene was that the orphanage was my home, nothing more.
I bowed deeply, my eyes now at the level of the table, unsure if I had to say something else.

“At ease, soldier. Thank you for bringing this to my attention as soon as possible.”
The Lieutenant’s voice echoed in the room, the hidden subtleties behind his intervention clear for me : he had given me a way out of being questioned further by anypony on the table.

I gladly took it, standing back up and saluting briefly before falling behind him with the rest of the squad.
My teammates weren’t moving, but I felt their gaze. A lot of questions would need to be answered before the end of the day.

The rest of the meeting was uneventful. As the day advanced, lunch time came and went, without any sign of the meeting coming to a close, topics with no meaning for me came and went, too much to count or even remember.

Princess Luna looked weary, as she was usually sleeping by dawn. As she let out a small yawn, Princess Celestia finally called for the end of the meeting, asking the Lieutenant to stay a few more moments to discuss something in private with him.

We went outside, following the other ponies present at the meeting. We stayed beside the door, relaxing a bit.

“Lilac, we need to talk”.
Spark’s father was in front of him, trying to look down on Spark, but failing as our squadmate stood a good ten centimeters above his father.

“You need to stop this nonsense. We are nobles, we don’t play in the mud with the rest of ponykind. I ask you to stop this charade and act in a manner fitting of your status. You can’t be seen around Canterlot as a common guard. What would ponies think of us?”

Spark was angry, his eyes wide open as his father talked, his jaw clenched.
“Father, if you disrespect me again in front of my squadmate, I…”

“You what? I’m your father and you are going to OBEY me! You will not bring shame on our name, as long as I, Blueberry Spark, am alive!”

I prepared to intervene, but Iron was quicker despite his mass. He reached Spark’s father and lifted him off the ground with one hoof.

Iron growled : “I seem to recall, Sir, that my squadmate asked you to back off! Are you perhaps a bit deaf? If so, I’m sure I can repeat everything loud and clear enough that even you can understand the meaning of the words, Sir”.

A quick glance revealed we were all ready to back Iron’s affirmations, but Spark came beside Iron and lightly tapped his shoulder.

“It’s okay, big guy, lemme deal with him myself please. I need to do this, by myself.”

The black pony looked at Spark, then at the struggling unicorn he still firmly held above the ground.
He slowly nodded toward Spark, then released the noble, letting him struggle on his hooves.

“Father, I’m done. Mother and you never were family, you were merely my progenitor. The ones caring for me were the servants, the only thing you did for me was use me like a puppet to try and elevate your social standing. When I couldn’t cut it, you cast me away, like a broken toy thrown in the bin, and tried again with my little brother.”

Spark smiled, a venomous smile, devoid of warmth.
“Now, you remember what you said to me when I failed to enter Celestia’s School? Because I remember. You said that I was a failure that would never amount to anything, except leech from your wealth. Well, look at me! I’m doing something of myself, something I'm proud of. I found a better family there than I ever had before. I never want ANYTHING to do with you or mother EVER AGAIN”

He screamed the last words. His father recoiled, as if Spark had hit him.
My squadmate relaxed a bit.
“If my brother ever wants to reach out, I’ll welcome him with open arms. I’ll always welcome him. He is merely a victim in all of this, like I was”

Blueberry Spark’s mouth opened and closed a few times, without a sound, before he turned tail and practically ran out of the corridor.
As his father disappeared, Spark began to shiver and sat down to recover from his emotions.

I went beside him and poked his ribs with a hoof, smiling and winking at him.

Iron patted him on the back, almost sending Spark flying under his strength.
“Well done, brother. I think celebrations are in order, you deserve a reward for turning out this fine with such an asshole of a father.”

Sunny was laughing softly while congratulating Spark, Cerulean opting to a more direct elbow to the rib on his other side.

The door of the meeting room shot open. We instantly stood at attention, ready to answer any duty that would be assigned to us.
My stomach protested softly, and I began to pray in my head that whatever were the assignments could wait until I could grab a bite.

The Lieutenant got out, looking positively pissed! I had never seen him that angry, his scars looked ready to open again and cover his face with fresh wounds.

“All of you, inside, quick!”
We glanced at each other, worried about what could have put the Lieutenant in that foul mood.
We hurried inside, to avoid catching any of his anger.
Only the Princesses, the Lieutenant and us were present. Princess Luna was openly yawning now that the nobles were away, but told her sister that she could manage and to go grab something to eat.

Princess Celestia looked thankful for her sister’s proposition, but a bit of worry persisted as she asked if everything would be okay.

“ ‘Tia, please! I may be tired but I think I can do this without you needing to hover around me!”
Luna looked a bit annoyed at her sister’s insistence.

Celestia laughed and gave us a quick nod before leaving the room.

The selene princess stretched, before inviting us to take a seat at the table.

A map of northwestern Equestria was deployed on the map, detailing the area around vanhoover, the unicorn range and the Smokey Mountains.

A snarl came from the Lieutenant.
“Princess, I must make my opposition to this mission very clear. I vowed never to go back there. There are plenty of other candidates to send there instead of me and my squad.”
His face was tense, his scars almost white.

The princess sighed, not caring one bit about hiding how annoyed our officer’s objection made her.
“Lieutenant, I understand the circumstances that surrounded your departure from your home were complicated. However as I already explained five minute ago before you went to get your squad, you are the ONLY pony in an official capacity that has any knowledge of the area and the ponies we are trying to reach.”

Our commanding officer began to open his mouth, ready to voice his disagreement again.

The princess straightened up, all weariness disappearing from her face. She stood tall, above even Iron, who was taller than almost everypony.
Her eyes showed a glint of anger, and her voice resonated with authority in the room.

“Officer, WE ORDER YOU, AS PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA, AS PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT, TO FULFILL THIS MISSION!”

I put hooves on my ears, as she had switched to the Royal Canterlot Voice, far louder than any shout and carrying far more authority than I thought.

The Princess calmed herself, and her weariness reappeared.

The Lieutenant seemed defeated, slowly passing a hoof over his face. He looked tired, and old, his scars sunken deeper than before.
“It has been over 25 years, your Majesty. I’ll do what I can, but even if we are allowed to come near our objectives, there is no guarantee that they would allow ME to deliver this message. You must understand that? Besides, there is no guarantee than even IF, and it’s a big IF, we deliver the message, they would stay neutral.
Ponies haven’t been the most tolerant toward batponies in the past, all of the rumors and stories about us stealing foals and eating them did not go well.”

Princess Luna sighed.
“I fully understand your concerns, Lieutenant, however we have no other choices. We have no other pony knowing the area and the batpony culture enough to send them, we don’t want any faux-pas, especially now that our relations are strained with them.”

She pointed toward us.
“Besides, your squad is the only one containing that many ponies touched by the moon. This should ease the tension enough at the beginning to give you a chance to explain yourself”

The Lieutenant shook his head.
“Yes, Princess, I see your points. I accept the mission, but I guarantee nothing. It will all hinge on Ifs and Buts, but me and my soldiers will do our best with that”

The princess smiled
“I don’t ask anything more, Lieutenant. Now, if you excuse me, my rest is long overdue, and I need some sleep before tonight. I bid you farewell, my little ponies, and good luck on your journey. I’ll expect full reports regularly via the new field equipment you are to bring with you.”

She slowly walked out of the door, while our officer let his forehead down on the table.

After a minute, he groaned, and straightened up.
“Listen up, I’m not gonna repeat myself on this. We are tasked with finding and contacting the batpony tribe in the Unicorn Range. The other tribe has already contacted Princess Luna by itself almost two years ago on her return and settled in Equestria, so at least we won’t need to search everywhere in those bloody mountains.”

My blood froze.

“Sir, anything else you can tell us about these batponies?”
Iron was as diligent as ever. If the Lieutenant ever retired, he would be the one to replace him.

“Only this, soldier : They are fiercely territorial. They don’t usually allow ponies that are not “marked by the moon” to come close to them, and to be honest, ponies don't want to try anyway, which is just fine for the tribe, as centuries of false rumors and accusations from ponykind didn’t help ease the already existing tensions.”

He sighed, passing a hoof on his face.
“I also have to be honest with all of you : I’m a batpony, and I came from this tribe. I left the tribe because I don’t have the typical batpony eyes, and I'm thus blind as a mole in complete darkness, which made me a cripple for them.

He bared his teeth, before letting out a cold smile.
“And that was before I got mauled by a raging hydra and lost my wings completely, so the mission will likely hinge on the tribe focusing more on you four than me”

Pointing at Sunny, Cerulean, Iron and me, the Lieutenant shook his head.
“To be perfectly honest, we are likely to be chased down the mountain before we can try to explain our mission, but those are our orders and we must carry them. Take the rest of the day and tomorrow off, we leave with the next train, I’ll make all the arrangements. Dismissed!”

We quickly saluted and went away. My head was beating like a drum, what I learned less than 24 hours ago still fresh in my memory.

“So, we heading to Donut Joe for a bite? Might be a bit late in the day, but I’ll eat just about anythin’, even stale donuts and ice cold brew'' asked the deep rumbling voice of Iron as we walked out of the palace.

I couldn’t contain a smile at the sight of the mighty and massive earth pony massaging his belly while walking with a pitiful expression on his face.

“My treat everypony! I finally shut my father’s mouth, so lunch is on me!”

“Sounds good, what d’you say Galzra?”

I smiled feebly to Sunny while agreeing, my mind split between keeping for me what I learned the previous night and sharing it with my squad.

As we reached Donut Joe’s shop, I had made up my mind. Those ponies by my side were my friends, dare I say my family.

As we sat down with trays full of donuts and coffee (fruit juice for myself), I took a deep breath while looking down.

“Guys, I have to confess something…..”. All of my squadmates stopped speaking and eating, their faces suddenly grave and worried.

I sighed in the deafening silence that followed, and began to explain everything to them while eating.

******

The air was cold, that early in the morning, the sun barely above the horizon failing to warm us . We were waiting for the first train going to Vanhoover, as it was the only line with a stop near the Unicorn Range.

The last two days were kinda strange. I felt strange. Sharing my newly discovered roots to my squadmates was scary at first, but they showed a great deal of support. Which helped a lot to process the whole thing.

The Lieutenant was at the other end of the station, talking with two ponies dressed in the railway company’s uniform.
Most of what we would carry was light-weight, consisting of tents, canteens, rations and such, but we also got some unusual equipment. It looked like a box, with small telescopable rods on top, and dials with buttons on front. It came with a funny looking contraption that looked like one of those cranking devices attached to cave lamps for power.

The whole thing was big enough to take up all of Iron’s backpack, so each of ours was a little heavier, but nopony complained.

On top of all that, we were issued new armor. They were composed of metal plates, looking similar to the metal used on our other armor, attached to sturdy and thick cloths. Even though it lacked a helmet, the whole thing was light, and easier to move with.
The chestplate was emblazoned with our unit’s symbol, a liberty our friend Minty took while making them.

As I moved to try and warm up, a sharp pain came from my chest. Wincing, I massaged my stiff flight muscles, still feeling the consequences of my flight 48 hours earlier.

“Alright, Squad! Looks like our train is here!” barked the Lieutenant’s voice.

Sure enough, a faint steam cloud was appearing in the distance. Moving quickly, each member of the squad took its allotted bags, mine including my mother’s box.
The train was deceptively quick, by the time we took our bags, it had nearly reached the station’s platform. Its advance slowed to a crawl until, finally, the huge beast of iron and steam begrudgingly stopped.

Only two wagons were attached to the locomotive of the train, one of which was completely empty, the other only housing a few sleeping ponies, a few of which woke up and proceeded to get out.

The Lieutenant put on his equipment and saddlebags, and without a word or a sign, jumped nimbly aboard the empty wagon.

We glanced at each other, before Iron took the lead and climbed aboard, his frame barely passing the door.

The rest of us followed suite.

Chapter 3

For the first time since training began, I woke up naturally, as the morning bell had been deactivated for the week, the barracks eerily silent.

Yawning, I shot a glance around the room. It felt almost too big now that almost everypony went out on vacation. The only ones left were Spark and me, as both of us didn't have much family outside of our unit.

Stretching my wings while getting out of bed, I heard the shower running. Even with the sound of water coming from the bathroom, the room felt too empty. With a smile creeping onto my face, I remembered how I grumbled against the room being too small and too cramped when I moved in a year ago.

Iron went back to Dodge City to visit some old friends he had been keeping in touch with by mail. Both Sunny and Cerulean went back to Cloudsdale to spend some quality time with their families.

As I was about to knock on the bathroom door, the water suddenly stopped. A few moments later, Spark emerged from the bathroom, still drying his sky blue mane.

"Good morning, Spark."

Spark nodded. "Hey, Galzra, slept well? I mean, why do I even ask? Your snoring this morning proved you slept pretty well."

He grinned at his comment. I didn't know if he was joking or serious about me snoring.

"Yep, It's nice to be able to sleep in for a change," I replied as I went into the shower myself.

Turning the water on, I gasped as cold water struck me instead of the warm shower expected.

"SPARK! Turn back on the hot water, fuck!" I heard him laugh out loud, apparently delighted by his little joke.

Warm water began to flow from the showerhead.

Finally relaxing a bit under the warmth, I grumbled to his attention: "Thank you, could you please not do that?"

"No fun in that". I could hear the smile in Spark's response and practically see the grin as wide as his face.

I finished showering quickly and went back to the room.

Looking up the time, there was still an hour left before noon. I had to hurry to visit Auntie Cookie before lunch.

I took the saddlebags kept in my locker, where I had put the bits saved off my wages during the last year. They were heavier than expected.

Spark took his attention away from the book he was reading at his desk when he heard me ruffling around, a puzzled look on his face.

"Wait, are you going out? You need to do some shopping or something?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I'm going to visit my foster mom at the orphanage. If you want, you could join me. Pretty sure Auntie wouldn't mind meeting you".

He wanted to come, his curiosity perking up at the mention of my foster mother. He was trying his best to hide it, though, but after a year living 24/7 with him, I knew him as much as if we grew up together.

He looked embarrassed. "I mean, I don't want to impose myself…"

I cut him short, "Don't be silly, Spark. I invited you to come along."

As he let a small smile appear on his face, he replied, "All right, all right, let me get my stuff, and we'll get going".

A few minutes later, we were out of the barracks into the sunny Canterlot morning.

Walking to the orphanage by foot would be slower than just flying to the Lower District, but having company was a nice change.

"So, when do you plan on asking Cerulean out?" asked Spark out of the blue as we walked.

My cheeks suddenly as hot as red irons, I tried to deny "W-What? NO! I-I mean, we are teammates, nothing more".

Spark cut me, laughing softly. "Come on, mate, it's obvious. How you look at her, the way you stop dead in your tracks in the morning when she gets out of her room, need I say more? It's not like you're particularly subtle about it."

"Really? I didn't mean to make her uncomfortable, or act like, like a CREEP." I was almost hyperventilating while thinking about how creepy it must have been for Cerulean.

Spark's attitude went from playful to worried, "Hey Galzra. Galzra! Calm down, mate. I didn't mean like you were creepy about it or something. It just looks like you've only discovered love with a big L."

"You, you mean it? Don't lie to me to make me feel better, I'd prefer to know if I was being a creep or something".

He sighed, a concerned look on his face. "Look, I'm not known for being the most tactful pony around; I tend to be pretty blunt when saying things. Stop worrying for Luna's sake. I swear you are as anxious as you were when we met last year. Sure, everypony in the unit knows that you have a crush on Cerulean, but trust me, it leans more towards the adorable than the creepy."

Calming myself, I took some big inspiration to flush the anxiety away.

"Sorry. To answer your question, I don't know. I mean, I want to ask Cerulean out, but, well, she's part of our unit, you know? I don't wanna make it weird between us, whatever happens."

Spark shook his head, laughing faintly. "You worry too much. Sometimes you just gotta jump before you learn how to fly. You see what I mean? Whatever will happen, will happen, you're both adults, I'm sure you'll both figure a way not to make it weird."

Maintaining a brisk pace while speaking, we reached the Lower district quicker than I expected. The neighbourhood was the same as always, you could see some poor homeless ponies beg on some street corners, yet I counted far fewer than last year. The return of Her Royal Highness of the Night created a lot of jobs in its wake, and I heard that she insisted on hiring mainly jobless and poor ponies.

As we walked past these homeless ponies, I took the time to give them some bits. I knew that some would spend them on alcohol instead of food, but these ponies needed some help and compassion either way. Most of them pocketed the bits without saying a word, nodding at me in gratitude.

"CANTERLOT NEWS! Get the freshest information in all Equestria right here! Only a bit for the newspaper."

Shaking his newspapers like a banner was an orange earth pony colt. Spotting Spark and myself, he quickly came to our side.

"G'day, good sirs, might I interest you in the latest news? Only a bit for the paper!"

His marketing speech well established, the hawker practically stopped us to show us the latest news.

My curiosity piqued, I took two bits out of my saddlebags, hoofing them to the colt while telling him to keep the change.

I pocketed the newspaper and stored it in my saddlebags. I would have plenty of time to read it in the evening. The colt had disappeared almost instantly after I handed him the bits, likely to find more papers to sell.

Resuming walking, a few more minutes passed before spotting the outline of the roof of the Crescent Moon Orphanage.

As we approached, my heart sank when I saw how damaged the roof was. Many holes dented the tiles; an entire corner of the roof was completely rotten, showing a part of the attic.

Auntie Cookie failed to mention the full extent of the damages in the last letters she sent me. I only hoped what I could contribute was enough to pay for repairs. I felt a hoof on my shoulder and snapped out of my thoughts. Spark looked concerned.

"Is everything alright? You went pale suddenly; I thought you were going to pass out."

Letting out a sigh, I reassured him.

"No, everything's fine, it's just, the orphanage roof is so badly damaged, and I just hope it can be repaired. Funds are scarce enough as it is".

Spark gave me a half-smile and a pat on the shoulder before speaking.

"I'm sure it will be fine; maybe it won't be as bad up close? If necessary, I could always lend a hoof to do some repairs, although I'm no repair pony myself."

I nodded to thank him, and we quickly finished walking to the orphanage.

As Spark went to the massive door in front, I motioned for him to follow me and went to the back of the orphanage.

As we circled around the building, I could hear foals play and laugh. A stout earth pony with a black mane and caramel coat streaked with white guarded the door leading to the fenced backyard, his face permanently frozen in a frown.

As we closed the distance, his head turned to Spark and me, scanning us as if he dared us to try and get past him. He relaxed quickly when he recognized me.

"Howdy lad. You look well." His voice sounded as rough as it ever was, but I knew this pony had a heart as golden as can be.

"Hello, Bronco, how's it going at the orphanage?"

"Ha, lad, you know how it goes. Not enough funds, too much to repair. Lady Cookie does all she can with what she gets, but t'be honest with ya, t'is a miracle she managed to care for the young ones. We have barely enough to properly feed and clothe the foals." He sighed, an air of sadness clearly visible. Quickly, he composed himself and let out one of his rare smiles. "But, no need t' trouble yerself with all that, come in, come in. I take it the horned one is with ya? From the guard, I s'pose?"

"Exactly, sir. A pleasure to meet you" Bronco's smile grew larger.

"Pleasure all mine, kiddo. Now, come in, you two". He opened the door to the backyard, inviting us to go in. After Spark and I entered, he closed back the gate. It would be more accurate to call the backyard "the playground", as it was the area where foals could play and run all their hearts' content. I was pleased to see I did not recognize a single pony. That meant all the foals from last year found loving families to adopt them, which warmed my heart.

A small number of them were in the far corner of the playground, forming a circle in front of something. Whatever it was, I could hear the foals laughing at it. Curious, I decided to see what could entertain them so much there. Taking off, I saw a small black and white form in the middle of the circle. From above the group, I realized it was a little zebra foal, curled upon himself and shivering. The other foals were bombarding him with mud balls, laughing between each salvo.

My blood boiling, I quickly went above the group and landed before the small zebra to shield him. I snarled at the group: "Have you no shame? Why do you treat him like that?"

Most of them stepped back, mumbling vague apologies. Only one moved forward, a Pegasus, with a bright orange mane and dark green coat, older than the others. He bared his teeth at me as if to try and scare me.

"Get fucked, bat!"

I heard the zebra foal standing up and felt him squeezing my right foreleg in a tight hug. Still sniffling, he was whispering thanks while burying his muzzle in my foreleg. My anger was flaring up; I wanted to smack that pegasus brat. Suddenly, I saw a mud pile thrown at the green pegasus, covering him completely. Spark sauntered to the pegasus with a smug smile on his face. "You shouldn't play with mud. You are bound to slip and hurt yourself!"

I slowly went toward the back entrance of the orphanage, the zebra foal still squeezing my foreleg as if he was hanging to a piece of wood in a storm at sea. I reached for the door, but it was already open.

Auntie Cookie was there, her usual unchanging smile on her face. Her light brown mane had more grey streaks than I remembered, her cream coat better at hiding the sign of age. "My little one, I was wondering when you'd come to visit your Auntie".

Her voice was warm and reassuring, like a batch of her delicious cookies.

"Good morning Auntie, I'd gladly hug you, but there is a little one that beat you to it". Her smile wavered as concern crept on her face before she knelt to examine the foal squeezing my foreleg.

"Come now, Zimaha, you are safe. You can let go," she tried to reassure him, stroking his striped mane. The colt vigorously denied, shaking his head from left to right, his muzzle still buried in my foreleg. "No no no, mean bird head outside, mean mean. Not leaving protector, kind, help."

He sounded younger than what I'd thought, and his accent was peculiar. I'd never heard a pony speaking like that in all my life.

"Zima, you must let go. If you do, I'll give you some cookies," Auntie Cookie's best tool of persuasion, as usual, was her famous cookies. The little zebra's head came out of my foreleg, his blue eyes still shining from tears.

"Promise, cookies?"

"Of course, I promise." Auntie offered a motherly smile as she spoke. The foal slowly let go of my foreleg, sniffling. I smiled down at him. "You okay, little one?"

He nodded hesitantly before I gently ruffled his mane with a wing. Out of nowhere, Spark appeared, a mud pile still sliding off his face. Turning my head, I saw that the foals went to play with mud as you would with snowballs.

A few moments later, after Zimaha and Spark had been cleaned up, Auntie led us to her office, the small zebra shadowing my every move. As we walked along the corridors of the orphanage, memories came back of my childhood. Hide and seek games spanning whole afternoons, mad tag games where we orphans zoomed from one end of the building to the other. When we reached her office, Auntie motioned for us to take a seat on the couch and sofa while she went to retrieve cookies from the kitchen.

*****

Lunch hour came and went while Auntie and I discussed what happened since my joining of the Night Guard, with her reluctantly explaining the state of the roof.

Apparently, the chaos caused by Discord and his imprisonment had unforeseen consequences. As the lord of Chaos had made random buildings float in mid-air, pieces of those buildings were torn off. Only to come crashing down when his magic ran out, damaging and bringing down other structures, including the orphanage.

"I don't know when The Princesses will be able to give us some funds to rebuild the roof. There are still a lot of ponies that are homeless because of what happened a few months ago. And with the limited funding the orphanage got, we don't have enough to hire a contractor ourselves to repair the damages." Auntie grimaced as she spoke, working hard to keep her emotions in control.

During her explanation, my heart ached in my chest as I watched her face decompose into a twisted mask of worries. Taking the two sacks of bits from my saddlebags, I put them on the coffee table while scratching my neck with my hoof.

"Please, Auntie, take these. It's what I could save of my wages this year. It's not much, but I hope it will be enough to patch the worst while you wait for the relief funds". Seeing that much money on the table (literally), Auntie was shocked. She stuttered a few times before finally being able to speak.

"My little one, Galzra, I-I I can't accept all that money. What if you need it? Or …."

I cut her off before she could continue, "Auntie, this is as much my home as it is yours. You and Bronco were always there for me. You even adopted me legally! I can't let you live in a home without a roof, not to mention all those foals." Auntie wiped the corner of her eyes with a tissue and smiled faintly. She got up and hugged me tightly.

"Thank you, my little one! I'm sure there is more than enough there to repair the roof as good as new." She let me go, a hoof still on my shoulder and her smile widened. "That reminds me, your room is exactly like you left it. You should take some of your comics and books with you".

Spark, who had been unusually quiet, suddenly perked up from the armchair he was in.

"Well, well, well, the room of the secretive Galzra! That must be quite a sight. Would you mind showing me around, Ma'am?". A wide grin on his face, he was up to no good. I was gonna feel the sting of many jokes for quite some time after that.

Auntie let out a laugh and winked at his attention. "Of course, my dear, I'll show you his room with pleasure."

I muttered, "By Luna, what did I do to deserve that?"

While Auntie led us to my old room, she and Spark chatted like two tattletales. Exchanging embarrassing moments about my life I'd rather not have Spark privy of. Finally, after a few minutes that felt like hours, we came upon my room. The red door with peeling paint warmed my heart.

Taking the lead, I opened it and entered the room. Old posters adorned the walls, which ranged from various comics posters to faded Wonderbolts recruitment posters.

Leaning against the wall at my right was my desk and my collection of comics and fantasy books. On the left was my bed and nightstand. Directly across the room, the window was facing the backyard. The faded sky-blue wallpaper still showed a vague cloud pattern, albeit hardly visible. Inhaling deeply while taking a few steps in, the warmth of familiarity came over me. I grew up here, reading, dreaming of becoming a superhero or a cape and sword hero.

A half-smile crept on my face while I saw pamphlets on my desk. Some were detailing Princess Luna's return, while the rest was about the Night Guard selections, when and where to apply to pass them and explain the attributions of the work. Feeling a hoof poking me in my left shoulder, I turned my head to see Spark smiling. Zima trotted inside towards the bookcase, his eyes squinted to try and decipher the titles.

"See? I left everything in the same state that you left it in. Well, not entirely, I had to come and do some dusting, but everything is mostly at the same place that it was a year ago." Spark put his hindleg on my shoulders and leaned closer to whisper, "Mate, I'm jealous! How did you manage to get a genuine limited edition poster of "The Unstoppables" issue 11? I could never get my hooves on a copy, no matter how much I tried." I laughed, both surprised and amused that Spark was a diehard fan of that comic.

"Well, Spark, I got lucky. I just registered for the contest, and a month later, I had a parcel with the poster." Wide-eyed, Spark let a soft "You were the winner of that event? Sheesh, mate, you have no right to be that lucky. There must have been what, 2 million or so participants?"

"Something like that, I don't really recall how much." From the corner of my eyes, I could see Auntie smiling widely. Zima had seemingly disappeared. I suddenly felt a slight tap on my right shoulder and turned my head towards it. It was the little zebra, carefully holding a comic in his mouth. After catching my attention, he sat down and lifted it toward me. I smiled as I recognized the issue, as the cover featured a zebra shaman fighting a hydra bare-hoofed.

"What this?" asked Zima, his eyes wide. "Zebra like me on picture!"

Still smiling, I explained to Zimaha that it was an issue of "The Incredible Ashura".

"So, you see, Ashura is a shaman that left his tribe to travel the world, and he sees incredible things and often grapples with the supernatural and magical. Forcing him to use both his shamanic knowledge and his wits to get out of all sorts of situations. I got the whole series. If you want to read it, there are even a couple of issues where he teams up with some of the Unstoppables when he crosses their path during his travels!" If possible, Zimaha's eyes widened with glee.

"Really? Ashura is hero?" I chuckled at his enthusiasm and ruffled his mane.

"He sure is, Zimaha. If you want, you can come here to read it or any of my books. I won't mind if it's you. I know you'll take care to not damage the books and comics." Auntie intervened, "But first, you'll have to learn to read if you want to understand what is written inside. There are pictures inside the books, but the words are as important as the pictures."

Zima furiously nodded his head up and down in agreement.

******

When we left and said our goodbyes to Zimaha, Auntie and Bronco, it was close to the evening, and the sun was beginning to set on the horizon. Spark and I began to head back to the barracks.

"You know, mate, I'm jealous." Intrigued, I asked Spark why.

"You were an orphan, but you had everything I wish I had. A loving family that supports you no matter what. My family had money and power, but having every toy you ask for is no substitute for love and care. To be honest, the butlers and maids were more of a family than my own parents." I heard him sniffling, and when I turned to look at him, I could see him in tears.

"Everything I did was never enough for my parents. When I couldn't cut it for Celestia's School for gifted unicorns, they became even colder than they were before that. They focused most of their attention and care on my little brother, forcing him to train for hours with the best private teachers money could buy before he was even four years old. When he was accepted into Celestia's school, my parents were overjoyed. Finally, a chance to have someone of the family closer to the Princess, a pawn to further improve our rank in the aristocracy. I was pushed aside, all the attention and care devoted to my brother. To be frank, I'm not even sure they remarked that I went away to join the Night Guard. They didn't even try to contact me during the last year."

He sniffled one more time before adding, "Not even my little brother."

We were almost to the barracks, and the sun was almost entirely set by now. I didn't know how to react. I could feel the pain of Spark as he talked, my heart tightening as he spoke.

"You know Spark, you said it yourself. Our unit is a family. I'd be more than glad to call you my brother...» Before I could say more, Spark bear-hugged me. "Mate, thank you. I couldn't wish for a better family than our unit."

I let a small laugh. "We are in agreement then. The Lieutenant is kind of the grumpy but lovable uncle?"

He froze, wholly taken by surprise, and then he let out a hearty laugh. "Totally!"

We covered the rest of the distance to the barracks while the night was beginning and the moon rose. When we reached the barracks, we saw Minty going inside with a small group of Night Guards. We hurried inside and caught up with Minty. Spark spoke up quicker than me, asking what was going on. Minty shrugged his wings.

"I don't know, a Sun Guard officer came in earlier and asked for the commanding officers of the Night Guard. He seemed pretty upset about something. The Lieutenant and the other officers quickly went into one of the meeting rooms with him and stayed there for more than an hour or so. They all came out and asked everypony to gather every Night Guard still in the barracks and head to the mess. They didn't say more. They just said we need to all gather inside the mess. I tried to find you two, but you were out. You came back just in time!"

Spark and I exchanged a confused look. What could be significant enough to warrant the officers gathering everypony in the mess for an announcement?

When we entered the mess, every table and bench was pushed toward the walls. We joined the crowd, hushed whispers rippling through the crowd. I saw the Night Guards commanding officers gathered around a single white unicorn, clad in golden armour, standing out of the other officers' Night Guard armour. His horn beginning to glow, the Sun Guard cleared his throat. The mess hall fell silent.

"Today, at 11:21 am, in response to the ongoing hostage situation aboard The Equestrian Star and following the failure of diplomatic talks to resolve the situation with the Zebra Embassy and the Caesar, Princess Celestia tasked the Wonderbolts as led by Captain Spitfire, with the rescue of the hostages. The good news is all seventeen hostages were rescued."

His face began to shift like he was deeply hurt before he continued:

"However, Lieutenant Soaring, along with three members of the wonderbolts, was lost during the events of the operation. More information will be forwarded to all of you in the future, pending the return of the surviving wonderbolts and the hostages to Equestria."

Ding! Level UP!
New perk: Foal at heart!
Your inner foal allows special dialogues and interaction while dealing with foals and young ponies.