“You scream like a little filly,” snickered the colt from where he sat.
Chase’s ears were still pinned to his skull, his heart hammering in his chest like a drum from the scare he’d just gotten. He hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t alone in the room till he felt a pair of hooves grab his shoulders from behind and a voice spoke in his ear, resulting in a terrified scream from the white unicorn. The would-be attacker was none other than the bat pony he’d been warned about earlier, Star Dust, who was now sitting with his front legs wrapped about his middle, trying to contain his laughter.
“You snuck up on me,” he hissed. “Of course I screamed.”
“Well it’s not my fault you didn’t see me. Besides all I did was say hello.”
“You still snuck up behind me,” said Chase, pointing a hoof at him. “I don’t have eyes on the back of my head.”
Dusty just grinned, rubbing his eye with one hoof before standing back up. “You’re funny you know that?”
Chase just sighed heavily and prayed to Celestia that Wish would return quickly.
“Do I even want to know what that was about?” asked Wish as she flapped into the room, a plate held between her forehooves, on which balanced food and a glass with a light, almost amber coloured liquid. “Dusty are you sneaking up on ponies again?” He whistled innocently and she just rolled her eyes as she set the plate and glass down before looking over at Chase. “Don’t let him get to you, he’s just a big dork.”
“So, you heard that huh?” asked Chase, giving her a meek look.
“Well, I heard something from down the hall. You’re lucky no one else heard that, or if they did they didn’t care.” She flicked her tail as she sat down, turning her attention to the plate of food before her, wings folded up neatly to her back.
Curious about what she’d brought back, Chase trotted over for a closer look. He recognized the slices of pears and bananas that sat on the plate, but the others stumped him. There was a slice of a bright green fruit with rich red flesh, and a small, almost round purplish brown fruit, only it hadn’t been sliced open. As his gaze moved over the obscure looking fruits and brightly coloured flowers, he froze at what he saw next. Next to the fruit was a small heap of, well, bugs. There were two kinds, ones that looked like something like grubs and others that looked like ants with very large rear ends.
“Are those, bugs?” he squeaked, pointing a hoof tentatively at the offending things on the plate.
She looked at them, then at Chase and nodded quite calmly. “Of course they are. Meal worms and honey pot ants if you really want to know.” She reached over, picking up one of the large bodied ants and offering it to him. “You want to try one?”
He took a half step back and shook his head, “I think I’m good,” he said.
“Ohh, I’ll take it if you’re offering up food!” squeaked Star Dust excitedly, waving one leg in the air, a large grin plastered to his face. “I love those things. They taste like honey.”
“I thought you said you ate fruit, not bugs,” said Chase, watching as Star Dust took the bug, popping it into his mouth with a crunch.
“We do, but sometimes we eat bugs as well,” replied Wish with a shrug. “Sometimes we just need that extra protein boost and these are a perfect way to get that, high in protein and low in fat. And they taste pretty good if prepared right or with the right seasonings.” She indicated to the glass as she picked up one of the mealworms, dipping it in the light liquid. “Nectar, it’s sweet and light, and makes them taste quite good.” There was another crunch as she ate the nectar-coated mealworm.
“Stop looking at me like that, it’s not that weird. A long time ago insects were quite a staple in a pony’s diet, especially since they were so common. But with many new plants being grown and bred, that need has pretty much vanished. So if you want to try any you are completely welcome to do so.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hoof before looking at him again. “Besides, at least all we're eating are bugs. Remember earlier, when you asked what our fangs were used for if not drinking blood?” Chase nodded quietly and she continued. “Well, nowadays they’re used for biting through the tough skin of some fruits, like this guava,” she held up the green and red fruit for a moment. “But at one point Lunar Ponies were a lot more omnivorous, preferring small animals like rodents, for that needed protein boost. That was back during the time of Nightmare Moon. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of ‘vamponies’, that would drink you dry if you wandered out to late at night?”
Chase nodded again, “Yeah, I’ve heard of those. You’d be hard pressed to find one who hadn’t.”
Her mouth hardened into an emotionless line as she prodded the food about her plate with a hoof. “That’s where the stories came from. Occasionally the bodies of small animals would turn up, torn to pieces or drained of blood with tell tale fang marks on them. Sometimes there were witnesses who’d swear they saw a giant bat fly away. The stories of drinking pony blood were just that, stories. We don’t have the physical strength of an earth pony or magic of a unicorn to immobilize a fully-grown pony to drink their blood. But stories grow and get blown out of proportion so the dead rabbits eventually morphed into hapless ponies wandering late at night.”
She picked up the fruit she’d identified as a guava and bite into it with a rather loud slurping sound, holding it between her hooves as she chewed at it, leaving behind nothing but the skin.
“Unfortunately most knowledge of our kind after the events of Nightmare Moon was lost, as we all just slipped back into hiding. Being that we were loyal to Luna it became almost sport to try and hunt us down. Which is also probably why feeding on small animals was exchanged for insects and fruit, easier to remain hidden that way. It’s really only been within the last few decades that we’ve started to reemerge and the last few years we’ve begun reintegrating with the rest of Equestrian society. That’s why most of us end up here, as guards and soldiers.” She picked up one of the dark coloured fruits and offered it to Chase, “Fig?”
The sudden tone and subject change caught Chase off guard and it took him several moments to react to offer. “Um, alright, I suppose I could try one,” he said, levitating it out of her grasp, the fruit encased in his reddish glow of magic. “But really, bugs?”
“Hey, don’t knock it till you try it. Besides, I know for a fact that there are several high class Canterlot restaurants that have a dish served with these kinds of ants they market as being ‘exotic’ and ‘imported right from Zafrica’ and ponies think they’re being all fancy eating them.” She shook her head with an amused nicker. “It’s funny what the rich folks will eat if they think it’s ‘high class’.”
“They’re not imported?” asked Chase, still poking the fig with his magic as he tried to determine if the skin the edible or not and whether or not simply biting into it would suffice.
“If they really wanted to be fancy they could import them, but no as far as I can tell these are all raised within the borders of Equestria. They may not be from Canterlot, but they’re definitely from within our borders. Plus it saves on bits, why waste the bits on importing them when you can have’em bred and raised here? And yes you can bite through the fig, the skin isn’t that tough.” She added the last part in with a teasing smirk upon noticing that the fruit was still wrapped in the glow of his magic and uneaten.
He felt a blush tinge his cheeks, much to the amusement of Wish and Star Dust and lowered the fig to his snout. He’d never tried one before, so he hoped he wasn’t about to regret this. The fruit squished as he bit into it and found himself with a mouthful of seeds. Chase’s nose scrunched up at the taste, trying to decide if he liked it over not. It was a strange taste, something between a pear and a very sweet apple, but also crunchy as it seemed to contain an awful lot of seeds.
“So, what do you think?” she asked as he slowly swallowed the mouthful of fig he’d taken.
“It’s very, crunchy,” he said, licking a few drops of juice off his muzzle. “I’ve certainly never tasted a fruit like it before. Not sure I'd rank it as my favourites though. What about you? What's your favourite fruit?”
"Oranges, but they didn't have any tonight," Wish nodded. “We’ll get you snacking on bugs yet,” she said with a grin before turning back to her breakfast and digging in, leaving Chase to finish off the fig.
Chase sat back on his haunches, slowly munching on the fig, which remained encased in the red glow of his magic. He took it slow, still trying to decide if he actually liked the taste of the fig, or if it was simply tolerable. He wasn’t sure he wanted to eat another one though, at least not right away.
“So,” he started, trying to ignore the crunching of the insects as Wish polished off the last of her breakfast. “Is there actually a proper term for what I should be calling you?” he asked.
“I told you, Wish is plenty fine,” she replied.
He opened his mouth to retort, only to notice the smirk on her face and snorted, ears flattening. “You know what I mean.”
“I’m just teasing you,” she said. “But, if you want something other than ‘bat pony’ I suppose you could go with ‘Nocturns’, although it’s a very antiquated term it is probably the more correct name.” She rested he chin on her hooves, “Before you ask, ‘Lunar Guard’ is a sort of designation, just as you’re a ‘Solar Guard’.”
Chase nodded thoughtfully, “Nocturns huh? I’ll try to remember that, sounds a bit nicer than ‘bat pony’. I mean if you think about it, that’d be like you calling me a ‘horned pony’ or something like that.” This brought forth a few snickers from the others. “I mean, you’re not actually half bat are you?”
She shook her head, “No more than a pegasus is half bird.”
There was a soft clattering of hooves outside the door as a Nocturn peered inside, glancing about the room and looking towards Wish and Star Dust. “Hey Wish, Dust, either of you seen Cobalt? He never showed up for our game and he’s not in his room.”
Wish just shook her head but Star Dust spoke up. “He’s sitting in on the Midnight Courts tonight, one of the guards who was supposed to be working got sick and couldn’t go.”
“What? He’s at the Midnight Court? Why didn’t he tell me?”
“It was to spur of the moment, we were about to grab something to eat when he got the message. Guess there wasn’t any time to tell you. Course I’m sure he’ll be talking non-stop about it when he gets back.”
The colt in the door sighed and shook his head, “Lucky bugger, getting to sit in on the Midnight Court. I guess I’ll be seeing him later then. Thanks for the heads up, I’d have been walking around all night searching otherwise.” He gave a wave before trotting off and down the hall.
Once he was out of ear shot Wish nickered in amusement and shook her head, “Chase get out from under the table, he’s gone,” she said, tilting her head around to look under the table.
At the sound of approaching hooves Chase had ducked down out of sight, and only started moving under the table once the colt started speaking, and hadn’t moved since. He was sure that he was a decent pony, but Chase wasn’t supposed to be there and getting caught by someone else would not be a good thing.
His face appeared on the other side of the table a few moments later, his mane mussed up in a few places but looking no worse for wear. “What was that about the Midnight Courts?” he asked. “Anything like the Day Courts that Celestia holds?”
Wish nodded, “I would assume so, except this is Luna’s court. And I don’t know about the day courts, but the night brings out all the crazies. You would not believe the stories I’ve heard from them.”
“That bad?” asked Chase. He had no experience with the Day Courts, nor had he been around long enough to hear any stories about them.
“They can be, especially during the full moons. That really seems to be when the weird stuff escalates.” She snorted and shook her head, “Of course, if you try to ask any scientists about that they claim it’s a ‘coincidence’ and that there’s no link between the two.”
He tilted his head to one side, “You think there is?”
Wish just shrugged, “I dunno, but it always seems to be around the time of the full moon when the weirdness peaks. I’m sure you’ll see eventually.”
“How, I don’t sit in on Night Courts.”
“Perhaps not, but I’m sure you’ll hear stuff. Everypony around here does, especially when stuff goes crazy.” She hopped off the chair, tucking the empty chair under a wing. “Speaking of crazy stuff, what time do you think you’re supposed to be heading back? Sun up, just before or just after?”
“I’m not really sure. They just said ‘all night’ so I’d guess around sun up. You know what time the guards start to get up? I’d rather not get caught while going back to my room.”
She nodded, “You have a couple hours then, then don’t usually start moving around till after sun up, and even then I’ve never seen them leave their rooms till at least an hour after.” She looked back at Dusty, “And you, I’m only gong to be gone for a few minutes so no scaring the crap out him. Don’t need anyone thinking there’s foals running around here.”
He snickered and gave a mock salute, “Aye-aye ma’am.”
Chase blanched, “Hey, I don’t sound like a foal.”
She just smirked and shook her head, “Sure you don’t. Just try to keep it quiet alright?”
“I’ll be quiet, I don’t feel like attracting attention to myself, more so than I already have,” he said with a nod.
“A very sound plan if you ask me,” she said with a nod before trotting out of the room and down the hall.
“So, what’s it like spending time over here, among the likes of us?” asked Star Dust, breaking the silence that begun to settle over them.
“Well, it’s keeping me on my feet and alert that’s for sure,” he said with a weak laugh. “But seriously though, it’s interesting. It’s certainly not what I was expecting that’s for sure.”
The Nocturn gave him a curious look, scooting across the floor to face him, “What were you expecting?”
Chase flattened his ears back, lowering his head a little. “Honestly? As bad as I feel about saying it, I-I was expecting more hostility. I mean, at a first glance you are a bit frightening, I’d be lying if I said that at first the idea of meeting any of you didn’t scare me.” He looked away with a heavy sigh, he’d told Wish earlier that he wasn’t scared of her, but in actuality he had been. At least at first he had. “But after actually getting to meet you guys and talk to you, I feel kinda dumb for thinking that. You’re just another pony like me; only you sleep through the day and I sleep at night. Or at least I’m supposed to.” He yawned widely, trying and failing to hide it behind his hoof.
“Well, I’m glad you changed your mind about us,” he said after Chase stopped speaking. “It’s nice talking to someone who won’t run off screaming ‘vampony’ and flailing their hooves in the air like a madmare.”
Chase rested his chin on the edge of the table with a sigh, he felt exhausted. He should have been curled up in his bed under the covers, sleeping. Instead he was fighting the urge to fall asleep on his hooves. His short nap earlier had not done as much as he’d thought to help him in staying awake longer.
He gave a noise like a sigh, leaning his cheek on the table and letting his eyes droop. He could hear the light clattering of the Nocturn’s hooves across the floor somewhere behind him, Dust having since stopped talking to him.
Resting his eyes for a short moment or two certainly couldn’t hurt, he reasoned as his eyes closed again. Besides, it felt relaxing.
“Chase? Chase?” A hoof tapped the back of his shoulder the first time his name was spoken. After getting no reply or reaction, the tap turned into a gentle nudge and the voice a bit more impatient.
He mumbled something groggily as he lifted his head, the right side of his face tingling with an odd sensation. He rubbed his eyes slowly as he opened them and looked around the room. Wish was standing beside him, hoof resting on his shoulder as she’d nudged him awake. Off to her right stood Dust, who was grinning behind one hoof.
“Why’re ya looking at me like that?” he asked, slurring his words slightly.
“You fell asleep,” explained Wish. “Have a nice nap?”
“Nap?” He wiggled his jaw a bit, trying to bring feeling back into it. The side of his face had gone numb from being pressed against the side of the table for so long, and he didn’t like the sensation very much. “I wasn’t asleep.”
She snorted, “Yes you were, I got back here and you were napping with your head on the table. At least you weren’t drooling in your sleep. So we let you nap, Dust said you looked awfully tired as it was.”
Chase yawned again as he stretched before shaking his head vigorously in an attempt to wake himself up. “I am. On a regular day I could do this, staying up till dawn. But I think the last few days have caught up to me finally and I just want to sleep.”
“Perhaps you should return to your room,” suggested Wish. “The sun will be up in a short while, the least you can do is catch a few hours of sleep right?”
Sleep sounded like a wonderful thing, especially a couple hours worth in his bed. And he had spent the entire night in the night guard’s wing of things.
“I suppose I can wait out the last bit of it back where you found me,” he said as he ambled over to pick up his bag, which had sat forgotten on the small couch. He set it on his back, magically tightening and adjusting the straps so it wouldn’t slide off, before starting towards the door.
“Would you like some company?” asked Wish as he stepped out the door. “Somepony to make sure you don’t fall asleep while waiting at any rate.”
He was silent for a few moments, his sleep addled brain trying to process what she’d said, before giving a nod. “Sure why not. Company’s nice.”
Wish trotted alongside Chase as they walked down the hall, the unicorn’s head drooping for a few second before he quickly pulled it up again with a sharp jerk, as if he’d fallen asleep for a few seconds.
He’d managed to hide his exhaustion well enough for most of the night, especially after the earlier nap, but it had finally become too much and he’d fallen asleep. His whole body felt heavy and it took everything he had to keep from just curling up for another short nap.
Wish had said he’d slept for at least a good hour before she woke him, as he’d seemed too peaceful and tired to bother waking. She then went on to tell him that Star Dust had told her about their conversation, specifically what Chase had said about them. He wilted at this, staring at his hooves as he walked until she gave his shoulder a bump. Upon looking up he saw that she seemed to be smiling, the tips of her sharp teeth only just visible. It was a friendly smile, much to his surprise. He’d thought she’d be upset for sure, after all he’s said he wasn’t scared of her, and it had been a lie.
"You’re not, mad at me?” he asked.
“Of course not, why should I be? Ponies lie about what they are and aren’t scared of all the time, often it’s about the former because they don’t want anypony to think they’re scared of something.” She shook her head, “I’m not worried about it. Besides you put your fear aside now didn’t you?”
“Yeah that’s true,” he said with a slow nod. “It got me a new friend, well a couple actually.”
Satisfied that he longer seemed, glum, Wish carried on with a slight spring in her step, only stopping once they reached the end of the hall, and the place where they’d met.
“Might as well sit and wait,” she said, patting the ground beside her as she sat down.
“I just hope I don’t fall asleep,” replied Chase with another yawn as he sat down. He was too tired to light his horn, so he moved slowly and carefully so as not to sit on or bump into wish. He could see her eyes glint in the dim light, giving him a pretty good idea of where she was, but he still proceeded with caution.
“Then we’ll just have to keep you awake,” she proclaimed in a very matter-of-factly tone.
“How?”
She tapped her hoof on the stone thoughtfully before, “Well, we could talk, talking helps keep you awake.”
Chase shifted his position so his legs were tucked comfortably under his stomach before looking in her direction, “About what?”
She shrugged and he heard the movement of leathery wings folding and adjusting themselves against her back in the darkness.
“Actually, I do have a question that’s been nagging me,” he said. “Can you cloud-walk like pegasus can?” He suddenly realized how odd that must have sounded and backpedaled before she could speak. “S-sorry, it’s just we learned about how the three races have different magics in class; and pegasi along with flying, can control the weather and stuff. And well, you’re sort of like a pegasus with the wings and all. We didn’t exactly learn about Nocturns though.”
“Oh I’m not surprised about that,” she laughed, “But to answer your question yes, sort of. We can cloud walk, I think it’s a thing about winged beings since griffons can do it too. We’re not so good on the weather front though. See, since we’re nocturnal we’ve no reason to need to manipulate the weather, at least not in the same way the pegasi do. Sure we can push clouds about, clear away small storms, but not to the degree they can. If that makes any sense.”
It made enough sense to Chase and he wasn’t sure he wanted her to get into the specifics, that sort of thing would just put him to sleep out of boredom, which was the very thing he was trying to avoid doing. He nodded, “So, how does your magic manifest?” he asked.
“In our nocturnal adaptations. Our night vision is on par with that of a cat’s and we can hear noises you probably can’t. We’re also naturally able to fly and move silently, some more than others, and we can keep from being seen unless we want to be seen.”
Chase tilted his head in confusion, “You can make yourself invisible?”
“No, not really. We just, we can go unnoticed if we want to. I’m not sure how else to put it. It’s not true invisibility because we’re still there, but you could walk right past one of us and be completely unaware that you did.” She tapped her chin, trying to think of a better way to put it. “Like, like a ninja from Neighpon, they can make themselves unseen without using any magic. Or a cat, they tend to do that a lot as well. Does that make a bit more sense?”
“I-I think so,” he nodded slowly, “So, how good is your hearing?”
“Well, I can hear the sound of hoofsteps from the other end of the hall,” she said, turning to look down to the opposite end, a few small lights on the other end still flickering, though they had long since been dimmed so as not to disturb the sleepers. “And judging by the sounds of it they’re not armoured steps either, and there are several sets of them, some lighter than others. And some light chatter.” She looked at Chase, “Sounds like your uh, ‘buddies’ are coming to see if you stayed. Guess this means it’s time for you to go huh?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Chase slowly rose to his feet, shaking out the stiffness in them and hoping he wasn’t so tired that he’d collapse before getting back to his bed. “It was nice talking to you, maybe we should hang out again sometime, if we can find a time when us being awake overlaps.”
Wish smiled, but this one was different from her usual snarky or amused grins. This one seemed a lot softer. “I’d like that.”
As Chase looked down the hall he realized she was right, the other young guards and guards in training were making their way down the hall, though not as silently as they thought they were. With a deep breath, Chase started towards them, legs shaking in anticipation and exhaustion.
The one in the led was Iron Hoof, the large steel grey unicorn that had issued the challenge to Chase in the first place.
“He probably didn’t even last five minutes before he came a shaking mess.”
“Maybe he fainted in fear,” snickered another voice.
“I still can’t believe you made him do this stupid thing,” snorted a female voice. “You’re so immature, aren’t there other ways to haze the newbies, ones that don’t include them possibly getting in trouble?”
Iron Hoof laughed, “What, worried about the pipsqueak? He didn’t have to do it you know. And besides, what’s the worst that could happen to him? Everyone’s asleep.”
“I wish I was,” said Chase. He met them halfway down the hall in the windowed section, the floor and wall illuminated by light of the ever-creeping dawn. “I stayed, the whole night, can I go back to bed yet?”
For what felt like an eternity, but was more like a 30 seconds, they stared at him in shock and silence. Iron Hoof was the first to recover from the shock and speak.
“No bucking way!” He covered his mouth quickly, upon realizing he’d just about yelled and looked around the hall, hoping that no one had woken up. After nothing happened he lowered his hoof and shook his head, this time speaking much quieter, in a harsh hiss. “No way, you couldn’t have stayed the entire night. No pony’s ever stayed all night, they always come running back.”
“Well I’m not them,” replied Chase flatly. “And I stayed, and now I’m tired and I’d like to go sleep in my bed, if that’s not a problem.”
The older unicorn stammered, he had not been prepared for this outcome and was loathe to accepting it. “Prove it.” He said suddenly. “Prove you stayed all night.”
Chase clenched his jaw, was this guy serious? His tail flicked in annoyance as he flattened his ears. “That wasn’t part of the deal,” he hissed. “You just said I had to stay the night and I did. What’s wrong, you think I’m lying?”
“I can assure you, he’s not lying.” Wish stepped up beside Chase, having hung back behind him by only a few hoofsteps, though until she made her presence known at that point none of them had noticed her.
There was a squeal of surprise and the smaller of the trio bolted off and back down the hall, tail between his legs. The other two merely took a step back, though it was clear they were just as surprised.
“We hung out all night, and let me tell you, this guy plays a mean Old Nag.” She grinned as she hit his shoulder playfully.
“That-that-that,” Iron Hoof stammered, pointing a shaky hoof at Wish as he stumbled back. “You, spend the night hanging around, them?”
“Yeah, sure beat sitting on my rump alone all night,” said Chase with a shrug. “Now, if that isn’t proof enough for you, I’ll be going to bed, thank you.” He shared a quick hoof bump with her before trotting past the two ponies.
They soon followed him, though they trotted quite a bit faster than they’d arrived, nervously looking over their shoulder at her.
Chase gave a final look over his shoulder at her as he reached the end of the hall and waved before trotting off to his room. He was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
As Wish returned to the common room she was greeted by Star Dust, who was relaxing on the couch. "I know for a fact that oranges are not your favourite fruit Wish. Figs are." He looked up at her, "You shared your figs with him, you never share your figs with anypony. Let alone someone you just met."
She just smirked, "I guess I'm just full of surprises huh?"
"It would seem so."
-Fin-