Welcome Home, Thestral.
Nighttime across Equestria— a time when most ponies would end their day, falling into a blissful state of slumber to rest from the day’s events. From young fillies to aged stallions, many ponies slept under the pale glow of their princess's moon. Across the land, many rested in their beds, comfortable in their sheets and safe in their homes. However, not all ponies slept through the night. In fact, a large group was especially dedicated to guarding the nighttime:
The night guard.
It was a branch of the royal guard dedicated to protecting Canterlot castle while their princess slept. Although they never were able to enjoy the presence of their princess during the day, they took great pride in the fact that they guarded their sovereign while she was in her most vulnerable state, that they protected her while she slept, refusing to allow anyone to disrupt the peaceful slumber of their ruler.
That is what the normal guard would do, if most didn't find their positions now switched to allow for the addition of the thestral ponies and the return of the Lunar guard. Although not an easy decision, Princess Celestia believed the re-addition of the bat ponies would help soothe her sister's transition after her return from banishment. Despite being made with the best intentions in mind, many of the ponies under the night guard felt otherwise.
One pony in particular showed her discontent as she stormed down the hallway toward the office of the night guard captain, whom, she had no doubt, was to be reassigned as well. Her name was Morning Breeze— a bit ironic, given she served under the night guard, or rather, did. Now? Now, after three years, three bucking years of doing her duty, following her orders and being the best guard she could be, she was being reassigned. All that time meant nothing?
She snorted in frustration, putting more strength into each step she took. IT was unnecessary, but helpful in calming her mood. Everything had gone downhill with the return of Princess Luna. The alicorn had come seemingly out of nowhere, and was somehow related to that incident in Ponyville with Nightmare Moon. Whatever the reason, she hadn't been too disturbed by new princess, though some guards did not share her neutrality. Now she understood why, considering this princess had made their beloved ruler order a reassignment of the night guard to make way for those... those bat ponies!
She resisted the urge to snort again, continuing her walk through the large hallways of Canterlot castle and saluting the occasional remaining night guard as she made her way toward the captain's office. She angrily murmured under her breath as she passed another corner, approaching ever closer to her destination. She still didn't understand it. Why? Why in the name of Celestia herself they had allowed thestrals to become most of the night guard was shocking to say the least. Thestrals were a rarity in Equestria; at least, they used to be. She had seen the large group arrive as her shift started. They had even bowed to that new princess before Princess Celestia! No good bloodsuckers!!
"No", she mentally raised a hoof at herself, "Let's calm down, Morning. You're better than this; you don't need to let your anger control you". She stopped her current pace and took note of the surprising tension in her body. She let out a few deep breaths, enjoying the cool night air as it entered her. She hadn't realized how hot she was in her charcoal black armor, and she readjusted her breastplate to allow some air to escape. She smiled as her body began to relax, the anger from before slowly fading away.
"Better," she thought. She ruffled her wings slightly before continuing her walk, simply listening to the muffled sounds of her armored hooves against the carpeted floor. She took a glance out a nearby window, its large frame allowing moonlight to pour into the darkened hallway, illuminating the white pillars in ways the sunlight could not. She spotted the moon in the sky, missing its distinct mare-in-the-moon look.
Her mood darkened again as she thought of the new princess, and in turn, her new guard. This soon transferred to her anger at the thestrals.
Her mood returned to its irritated state. She was angry now at the thestrals for simply ruining her mood again, let alone her reassignment.
"Just get your flank to the captain's office, Morning."
She picked up her pace in an attempt to direct her thoughts elsewhere. Unfortunately, on turning a corner, she spotted the very root of her problems— a lot of roots. The heavy clanking of armor and marching ponies filled the hallway, the sounds resounding across the area. She couldn't but grit her teeth at the marching group of armored ponies approaching her. They wore a mix of dark violet armor that featured many spiked edges that, she had to admit, looked intimidating. However, her focus was more directed at the group of ponies wearing said armor. At least twenty thestrals marched toward her, with their unnatural slitted eyes, not to mention their rather animalistic wings.
She shivered slightly at the thought of those featherless wings. It was gross, simply put. She barely even caught note of their sharp fangs protruding from their closed mouths. Perhaps that myth they were bloodsuckers was not unfounded nonsense?
She realized that the large group was on a collision course with herself, but she was not going to divert her path for them. Not happening.
"Just try to get in my way! I dare you!"
She smiled inwardly at the thought of marching through this group, unyielding against their march. That alone kept her on her course, noting with some satisfaction as they began to part at her approach. She raised her head a little higher as the thestrals parted to allow her passage. She smiled as the larger stallions made way for her slightly smaller stature.
"Well, maybe they're not so-"
She felt herself shift as another body grazed her, and to her utter disbelief, heard the familiar scrape of armor against armor. She looked down and spotted a large violet mark across her armor... her perfectly clean, perfectly polished armor.
"Sorry about that," she heard a mature voice speak next to her, and looked up toward a paused thestral, who had a charcoal mark along his own armor. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the thestral's neutral expression.
"You bucking-"
"Watch where you're going," she spat venomously, intent on making her displeasure known. The thestral's eyes widened in surprise slightly, his ears standing a little straighter.
"I'm sorry?" he asked, confused.
Morning Breeze snorted again, a trait she picked up from her mother. Her eyes narrowed as she took a step toward the thestral.
"I said 'watch where you're going', or are those ears of yours just for show?" She indicated with her eyes. The thestral took note of the growing hostility of the mare, and spared a glance toward his comrades who had continued their walk. A few in the back glanced back at him in sympathy, but they were needed elsewhere.
He turned back to the white coated mare in her charcoal armor, her eyes attempting to drill a hole in his head.
"Is there a problem, ma'am?" he asked, hoping the answer would be better than the glares he was getting.
"Ma'am?! So I look old, is that it, bat pony!?" She pushed a hoof into the stallion's chest, emphasizing her point as she leaned closer. This stallion was her age, if not older! The thestral leaned back at the uncomfortably close mare before realizing the nickname the mare used. His bright yellow eyes narrowed as a thought clicked in his head. She is a guard, surely she wouldn't be...
He mentally sighed. He wouldn't be surprised.
"You have a problem with me, don't you?" The mare's eyes widened as he leaned back toward her, their faces inches apart.
Morning Breeze did feel some fear well inside her as the thestral's eyes bored into hers, but her anger reinforced her courage. She narrowed her own eyes in turn, a battle of wills ensuing between them.
"Your bucking right, I have a problem with you! I don't like your kind coming in here and acting like you own the place!" she stated angrily, her wings flaring slightly. The thestral's vision narrowed so much that she felt a slight trepidation at his reaction. Suddenly, he pulled away from her, letting out a rather sad sigh in her opinion.
"So that's it. You hate thestrals, don't you? We're nothing but worthless blood sucking monsters that creep in the night. It would be better if we had never been born, right?" he asked, each word ringing with the pain of old memories.
Morning blanched at the thestral's words. Worthless monsters? Better to have never been born? What!? She didn't understand where he was coming from with this. The thestral, believing his words to ring true, continued.
"My kind has had to deal with ponies like you before, ponies who look at us and see monsters because they are too afraid to understand what they don't know. I've dealt with a lot like you, and you won't be the last. I'm sorry that you think of me like that, but I won't apologize for what I am."
The Lunar guard stood tall, seeming to dwarf the already smaller mare. He splayed his wings outward, a show of both strength and defiance.
"I am a thestral," he stated coolly. "I am a loyal citizen of Equestria, I am a guardian to Princess Luna, and I am a pony just like you." The bat pony's stature faltered as his wings took on a limp look. He turned away from her, but still kept his gaze with hers.
"And just like anypony else"—he paused, finally looking away from the mare, a small frown beginning to form—"we have feelings, too.
"Well, I need to get going. Have a good night, miss." Morning felt herself flinch at his correction. She watched, dumbfounded, as the thestral began to walk away, leaving her alone in the hallway. She couldn't believe what had just happened.
"What was that!? He acted like I was some kind of... oh no."
Her head immediately shot to the where the bat pony was headed and spotted his dark violet tail pass around a corner. Scrambling to her hooves, she raced after him.
Astral Gazer walked down the hallway, letting out a dejected sigh as he tried to catch up to his squad-mates. He had hopes that he wouldn't find the ignorance that plagued regular ponies when it came to thestrals, but sadly, he was disappointed. It seems no matter where in Equestria, there would always be those ponies who hated him for simply being him. He sighed again.
"All these years and still manages to get to me."
He shook himself slightly, trying to get the thoughts out of his head. The conversation was over, he shouldn't brood on it. That was unnec-
"Hey, wait up!" His ears stood rigid as he heard the mare's call from behind him. Automatically, his body turned to face the voice. He was surprised at her tone, she didn't sound angry or irritated, she sounded... worried?
He spotted the pegasus in her charcoal armor round the corner, and unfortunately, directly into... him.
In the speed at which she was going, she had no time to react as she collided with him, actually lifting him off his hooves. The two tumbled in a mix of limbs and armor. None too soon, the two finally came to a stop. Astral felt his head spin as his vision attempted to stabilize. As it began to clarify, he suddenly took note that he was on lying on his back with a blur of black and white on top of him. His eyes widened as he realized what it was.
"...ow" The mare whispered, her voice slightly more high pitched. She rubbed her head, eyes closed to lessen the pain she was feeling, all the while leaving the thestral slack-jawed at their position. He couldn't help but feel the anxiety grip his body as the mare remained unaware of her current predicament. Unfortunately, he was pinned to the floor by her free hoof as it pressed into his left wing.
"What did I... oh" Her eyes lazily opened, only to shoot to their full size as she spotted the thestral under her. A paramount silence descended over the two as pegasus and thestral looked at each other with equal expressions of shock. The tension slowly grew between the two as they gazed at each other, sapphire eyes meeting luminescent yellow.
The silence may have lasted longer between the two, if not for the mare's hoof starting to press down harder on his wing. He winced as his wing attempted to curl back toward his body, only to stop with the hoof blocking its movement. The mare noticed this and immediately retracted her hoof to free the wing. Astral folded and unfolded the wing a few times, all the while both watching silently.
Satisfied, he folded the wing against his body and once again, and their eyes met. Finally however, the mare realized she was still on top of him.
"Sorry, sorry!" she apologized, carefully extracting herself off the stallion. The thestral was quick to get to his hooves and out of that position. As he looked to the mare this time, he found a saddened expression on her face, her ears splayed back against her helmet.
"Um, listen, I wanted to apologize for back there. It was unprofessional and just rude. I really am not like that normally, I'm just... I'm just really frustrated, ok?" She finished, Astral taking note of the slight anger at the end.
He definitely felt a bit surprised at her apology. She truly sounded sincere in it, though he couldn't help but feel some suspicion at the mare's sudden mood change.
"Well, I accept your apology," he said. Astral really wanted to end this conversation on a positive note, and was hoping to wrap it up quickly, but the pegasus had other ideas.
"Wait." She raised a hoof, afraid he was going to walk away. "I'm really not, not one of those ponies," she said, looking downcast. "I was raised better than that, and I will admit, I did feel somewhat afraid of you because of how you looked. And I feel ashamed about that. But..." She seemed to take a breather before looking back up at him, a new fire in her eyes.
"I just... I couldn't believe that I was being reassigned from the night guard. I've served on it for years, and when you guys just came in like nothing, I just felt, I felt a little..."
"Betrayed?" Astral asked.
The mare nodded. "Yeah. Well, it translated into anger. Anger at you. And that anger lead me to... you know." She waved a hoof in the air.
The thestral nodded, understanding washing over him. This pony wasn't angry at him because of his species, she was angry at him because he was taking her place. Although the thestrals guarded the night so long ago, he realized that when they left, that gap had to be filled. Filled by good ponies. Good ponies like her. It was wrong to take something like that from her.
"It's just," the pegasus started, "you work for something for so long, ya know? You try hard to do your best, and when you finally get it, you want to hold onto it, afraid if you don't, it'll slip away."
She took a deep breath before sitting down, the weight of the conversation emotionally exhausting. She looked at the floor, ashamed at her actions. She suddenly tensed as a wing wrapped over her. Raising her head, she found the thestral sitting next to her, a comforting smile on his muzzle.
"Hey, I know how it feels." When she raised an eyebrow, he continued, "When we heard of the return of Princess Luna, we were more than overjoyed. You see, a very long time ago, thestrals were the night guard, or the Lunar guard, to be more precise. We served Princess Luna and her night, for she was one of the few ponies that truly understood us, something we are ever grateful for. But when she left, and how she left, we went into hiding, as we were no longer accepted by regular ponies." He paused. "Those were bad times for us, but those times are over. Princess Luna is back, and we, hopefully, will be welcome backed as well. But it takes a long time to change the opinions of ponies, especially if they judge us before they even know us."
The mare's head drooped as the guilt came back.
"But if there are ponies out there, ponies like you that give us a chance, then... then maybe it won't be so bad." He smiled at the happy thought.
"It's still my fault for this whole situation. I'm truly sorry for making you feel like that. Listen... and you don't have to accept it... But there is a doughnut shop in town that makes the best doughnuts this side of Equestria. Maybe I could treat you to a few when where off duty?" A hopeful smile grew on her face.
He smiled back. "Sounds like a plan. But..." He looked down the hallway, all too aware of how far his group had gotten. "...I need to get going." The epiphany hit the mare like a train.
"Oh buck! I'm so sorry! I made you late!" She hopped to a standing position and grabbing one of Astral's hooves, pulling him up as well. He was a bit surprised at the pegasus' initiative.
"Again, sorry. If there is any trouble, just tell them to ask Sergeant Morning Breeze about it." She then paused, another realization coming to her. "Oh, and that's my name, by the way: Morning Breeze. Nice to meet you...?" She stretched out a hoof.
"Corporal Astral Gazer, at your service." He met the hoof, the two shaking happily. Their greeting ended, an awkward silence ensued once more, both unsure if there was anything else to say. Morning decided to end the conversation first, considering she started it on a bad note.
"Well, you better get going. We'll get those doughnuts some other time." she rubbed her neck sheepishly.
"Yeah, sounds good," he replied. Both nodding, they went their separate ways, both in a better place after their conversation.
"Hey Astral!" Morning's voice suddenly rang out. Gazer returned his attention to her as she looked toward the floor. "I don't know if anypony has told you this yet, and if not, I'd like to be the first to say..." She looked to him, a small smile on her face.
"Welcome home."