Skyline woke to the sensation of two ponies perched on him. His eyes snapped open. "What?!"

Night Wind and Sure Arrow peered at him, smiling brightly. "Morning!"

"Good morning!"

Skyline wiped his eyes with a yawn. "Where did you two come from?" He gave them each a nuzzle in turn. "Silly question." He gently nudged them away to make room for him to roll to his hooves. "But don't sneak up on me like that."

"Gonna do it." Sure stuck out her tongue.

Night rubbed behind his head. "She dared me, don't be mad."

Skyline snorted softly. "I won't. You're going to need more daring in your life. Both of you." He rubbed over their manes with a wing. "I'm proud of both of you." With a kiss on each of their heads, he went out to make breakfast for them all. "I have work today, and you two have school. Are you ready? Did you do your homework?"

Sure Arrow stepped into the kitchen behind him. "Ummmmm, mostly?" She gave him an innocent smile. "But you always check it, so I know it'll be right."

Skyline snorted gently. "Night?" He flipped the omelette he was making. "How about you?"

Night Wind trotted in a few steps behind Sure Arrow. "Ready." He jumped up onto a chair, stretching his wings out with a yawn. "It's gonna be a boring day. More math. Ugh."

Sure hopped up across from her brother. "History's worse."

"Is not." Skyline began setting plates before either. "History tells you where you're going, and why you're there. As a soldier, both are very important. It may end up saving your back end." He set down their omelettes. "I hope you like them." He stood by while they dug in. "Enjoy."

Night Wind devoured his food, stuffing it into his mouth as fast as possible. "Mmm, you cook real good! Can you show me how you do that?"

Skyline shuffled nervously at that. "I would love to, but I need to head to work, and you need to get to school." He shrugged. "I'll teach you some other time." He paused briefly. "Actually." He turned back to Night Wind. "You do well in math, show me what you learned tonight, and I'll show you how to cook those eggs. How about that?"

Night Wind bobbed his head quickly. "I will!" He stuffed the last of his omelette into his mouth with a little chirp. "And I'm gonna do great in math too!" He hopped to the ground, reinvigorated. "Let's go, Sure!"

Sure Arrow looked up from her plate, not quite done yet. "Wait, what?" She blinked at him for a moment. "Okay." She swallowed down the last few bites and joined him in a scurry. "I'm usually the one leading the way." But, that day, Night Wind had motivation, and she had to trail behind him.

Skyline moved to scoop up the plates, tail curling. "Now that is my kind of breakfast." He couldn't help but feel some pride, knowing his son had taken up his cooking offer. "Two happy foals." He placed the plates in the sink but didn't wash them. There wasn't time. He took flight out the door, closing it with a swat of his tail as he zoomed towards work elsewhere in the castle.

After a quick shower, he checked his mail, finding a note from Luna. 'Check on the drones.' He decided he should do that before his first task of the day. He headed for the barracks, sweeping inside. There, he saw three of the drones looking in the long mirrors, turning about. "What are you doing?" Skyline landed, walking towards them.

One of the drones turned towards him, their mouth dropping open in an O of surprise. "Uh! We, uh."

Skyline gave him a look. "Yes?"

"We're just getting used to these bodies," admitted one of them, flapping their bat wings. "I never wore a disguise this long." They tilted their head back and forth. "It feels nice."

Skyline chuckled softly. "Well, that's good." He touched his snout to each of theirs in turn. "So, do you have any questions?"

One drone inclined their head the other way. "Why are you acting like you care about us?"

"Yeah." Another frowned a little. "It's making me nervous."

Skyline backed half a step, forced to remember when it felt like that, to be such a scared and lonely drone. "Because, hm." He couldn't just say because he did. They wouldn't trust that. "Your performance reflects on me. I want you to do your best, so I look good. Now, any questions? Just ask me, and I'll answer them. Well, to the best of my ability."

A drone gave Skyline a long, measuring look. "You act a lot like they do."

Skyline shrugged his wings. "What kind of infiltrator would I be if I didn't act like them? I'm working on my night guard act too, but they haven't given me anything to do, yet." He brushed a hoof across his nose. "Any other questions?"

They seemed to consider that. One took a step forward. "A lady pony is interested in me, I think. What should I do?"

"Ooooh, that's hard." Skyline settled down with a grin. "Well, do you like her back? Don't say no. Just, uh, what do you think of her?"

The drone considered. "Well, since I'm wearing a female form, I thought I'd be safe from females, but she's still interested. I don't know what for. We can't make foals, even if I was a pony." She huffed gently. "Did I do something wrong? I just got here."

Skyline rubbed his chin with a hoof. "No, I don't think so." He stepped closer to them. "I think the ponies are different. They seem to want love from their own kind. Some of them like other ponies that are exactly the same, mares with mares, stallions with stallions. If you like them, go with it. If you don't, tell them. If you do, there'll be love in it, but they'll start a relationship if you let them." He inhaled slowly. "It's complicated, and it's hard, but we can find love from the ponies."

"We're getting this for free? We just have to ask?"

Skyline laughed at that. "Well, not exactly." He reached for the chin of one of the stallion drones that was drooling a little. "None of that. If you get personally involved, they will give and they will take. They'll expect you to care about them and their day and they'll do the same. The love can come thick and rich, but you'll work for it. Do you understand?"

They looked among themselves, confused and concerned. "It's supposed to be easy!"

Skyline looked into their eyes. "For some of us, maybe. We all get different kinds of love. If this scares you too much, focus on being good night guards, and avoid romance. You'll get love, just not as quickly. Maybe more quietly, too."

The drones stared back at him with wide eyes. "What if they figure us out? They're going to find out eventually."

Skyline put his hooves up. "We skipped that step. Luna and they know you're changelings. So long as you do your part, as a night guard, they have no complaints. I wouldn't be so reckless as to show off in front of other ponies though. Some will still reject you if they knew what you really were. You need to learn which ones are open-minded."

The drones made soft noises that sounded like they were getting it. As one, they cheered and marched out towards the practice field.

Skyline watched them go, then went to the window to stare after them. He gave a low chuckle. "Good luck."

The door behind him swung open, letting a guard stallion enter. "Sky!" Pointed Thought quickly marched to Skyline's side. "Nice to see you." He rubbed against his friend, tail flicking.

Skyline's tail wagged in response, which led him to blushing. "We're on duty."

"Doesn't stop me from saying hi." Pointed directed his horn towards the practice field. "Let me get my armor on and we can go get our drills in. Luna ordered us all to keep up our training."

Skyline glanced back at him with a little smile. "You mean yours." He dropped to all fours. "I'm good."

Pointed shoved Skyline with a hoof. "I don't think so, mom. You need practice even more after all that time caring for those foals." He hurried to his armor and started wriggling into the suit rapidly. "At least I can remember what my body is supposed to do."

Skyline rose, quickly striding towards Pointed. "You jerk!" He pushed him back. "That's not fair."

"Sorry." Pointed glanced away. "Really. I don't know what it's like, to, um, be a changeling. To be whatever I want to be that day. It must be so odd." He got the last of his armor in place, bat wings erupting from his back as the magic took hold. "Yeah, night guard, ready for duty. There, all better." He flexed his wings wide. "Let's go."

Skyline forced himself to smile at him. "It has its advantages, shapeshifting." He started for the door. Green flames overtook him as he shifted to simply be wearing armor. "Not having to get dressed is one of them."

Pointed held the door open with his wing as they left. "Ah, well, don't rub it in." He bounced down the hallway beside Skyline. "I see your family is doing well."

"So good." Skyline sighed with pleasure, thinking of his foals. "And maybe getting company, if the drones work out. They're getting used to things, but I think they'll be fine. Be nice to them."

"Yeah, sure, of course." Pointed shrugged his wings. "I'll show them how we do it around here." He spread his hooves. "Everyone says I'm good at this."

Skyline couldn't help but feel warm at the mention of that. "You really are. When you aren't distracted." He thumped against Pointed, then hurried into a proper trot out onto the field. "Skyline, reporting in!"

The squad leader gave him a quick salute with her wing. "Sir!" She stood, with the rest of the guard, before Skyline. "Always good to have you on the field, but you get no special treatment, and you are a minute late. Start running until I say stop!"

Skyline begrudgingly took off into a loping run around the perimeter of the practice field. He soon began panting with the effort, though his training had been enough to let him keep going. He did his best to not let any fatigue show, lest more ponies think his mothering time had slowed him down.

When they were finally allowed to stop, Skyline panted for breath, stretching out his wings and giving them a quick flap. "Not bad." He wiped at his brow. "You keep us busy."

The sergeant of the day flashed a smile as she turned to them all. "Glad you think so. It's my job. Today's group training involves flight. I want to see you all up in the air! Two laps around Canterlot!" She thumped a hoof into the dirt. "Go!"

Skyline drew a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "Right." He tucked his wings in close and took off into the sky with the others. "Plenty of aerobics today."

"Yeah." Pointed sailed in close to Skyline. "I think tomorrow's target practice. Plenty of weight training in that. How are you doing?"

Skyline flexed his wings, spreading them wide for a moment. "Pretty good. I'm flying well." He eyed Pointed Thought for a moment. "You okay? You look a little tired."

Pointed sighed softly. "Nothing I can't fly through!" He saluted with a wing, wobbling in the air before he got both flapping in proper sync. "What's the exercise?"

The sergeant flew past them both, coming to a hover in the center of their formation. "Exercise is to spread out. When I call your name, report here." She held a hoof up, counting off each as she named them. She formed them into two even rows and sent them flying around in tight patterns. "If you bump into your partner, you fail. Stay tight and on target, go on!"

Skyline huffed at that, snapping his wings close to avoid one pony's tail as they fluttered past. "This is going to be hard."

Pointed swung wide to avoid a collision. Many in the formation had such close calls, but, to their credit, none of them crashed into one another. The maneuvers were exhausting, but the focus necessary kept their minds off the aches in their wings.

The sergeant blew her whistle in a shrill tweet, getting all their attention. "Alright, last maneuver. Fall into formation!"

They all got into a line, though there was some fumbling as they drifted past each other and struggled to get back into order. Once they were mostly together, she looked them over with a careful eye. "I'll give you a B-. I expect better. You should expect more air drills in the future." She pointed back towards the castle. "You're all dismissed. Hit the showers."

Skyline exhaled softly. "Not too bad." He dove for the ground, tucking his wings in tight as he cut through the air. As soon as he touched down, he turned on his hooves and trotted for the showers, tail swishing behind him.

Pointed caught up at his side. "I've been thinking."

"Dangerous." Skyline smirked, glancing aside at his fellow soldier. "Yeah?"

Pointed cleared his throat. "Well, my family was talking about it, but... um. If we had a weekend together, you could come meet them. We could cook together."

Skyline almost tripped in surprise. "Oh, um, that's nice of you." He angled his ears. "My kids would have to come. They're not old enough to leave for a weekend."

"Nah, they can come too." Pointed brought his hooves up. "My little cousins would love to play with bat ponies."

"That sounds great." Skyline turned on his heels, leading Pointed towards the locker room. "Huh, legit surprised." But in a good way, if his smile was any sign.

Author's Note

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