Slip Breeze stared out at the vast savannah stretching before him. Ever since the changeling invasion of Kinshasa and their subsequent disappearance, the Royal Guard and Night Guard had been running small Long Patrol-based scouting unit randomly across the African continent. So far, no patrol had turned up anything. Slip glanced east, towards the lightening horizon. It would be daylight soon, and time to rest. The Day Guard’s turn would soon be up.
Unfortunately, the Long Patrol packed light. Food was plentiful enough in the savannah, so besides water, there was little to pack beyond tents and other sleep gear.
What there wasn’t room for were sleeping frames for the Night Guard’s batpony members.
Slowly and inevitably, the sun rose (on its own!) and shone bright rays across the gently waving grasses. Slip could hear the trumpet of an elephant greeting the dawn in the distance. A small herd of antelope graced peacefully to the northeast, preparing for at least a short nap themselves while their predators would do the same. Slip gently flapped his leathery wings, lifting into the air, then winged away towards camp.
The Day Guard had done well in waking, clearing the tents for their Night Guard compatriots. Slip sighed, then joined a group for breakfast. Thankfully, somepony had made the flight to pick up some fresh fruit. Batponies could easily eat whatever other ponies could, but they absolutely thrived on tropical fruits. Slip heaped his plate and began eying a small bottle placed at the batpony table for their convenience.
Most batponies were only ‘bat’ ponies thanks to an intricate armor enchantment, which darkened their coats and gave them the ability to near-silently wing through the nights, a valued ability for their oft secret missions. Slip, having proven himself, had joined an elite rank of batpony; those for whom the enchantment was made permanent. Very few could claim this at any one time.
Unfortunately, there were… side effects. Slip was now decidedly Nocturnal in nature, and his eyes, now slitted and yellow, were sensitive to the day’s sunlight.
The most relevant at the moment, though, was that the non-enchanted could simply take their armor off to sleep as a normal pony. The enchanted had no such option.
And as everypony knew, bats sleep upside down.
Slip popped a pill from the bottle, then sighed. Sleeping like normal made batponies ill, sick to their stomachs. The dramamine helped immensely. Since Slip was the only enchanted among the group, it was decided the sleeping frames weren’t needed.
Nopony asked Slip.