> Return of the Lunar Guard
>  by DroshinNote
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> One more night at home
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Boot camp was, in one short words, Tartarus. Dusky wisp, Or Dusky as his friends called him, shivered at the thought of going back to that damned camp. He knew that boot camp was a required part of being part of the guard, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. It didn't help that since the reformation of the Lunar guard Luna herself had been hoof picking the hardest, meanest, and all together scariest ponies to train her recruits. Dusky wondered if the training was as hard for the Lunar recruits who were trained after Luna’s return from the moon. Comparatively the Dusk guard, Princess Twilight's guard, had it quite easy. Well, as easy that boot camp could be anyway.The Dusk guard became Equestria’s newest version of Celestia’s Royal guard after the retirement of the sisters. Though Luna had decided that that retirement was not for her apparently.

The dusk guards were first and foremost trained in group exercises and techniques. And while this does make for a quite effective unit, they tended to do less training for the individuals body. This meant less push ups, less one on one sparing, almost no 10 mile sprints, and so on. Luna’s lunar guard on the other hoof specializes in this particular field. This means that while they do train in squad exercises, each lunar guard was trained to be a one pony army. His instructor, Sargent Wire, would often say “A well put together team is effective. But a team put together of ponies who are as effective as 3 teams can be down right destructive.”

Either way, it was over now and Dusky had completed boot camp, and had his little graduation. Tomorrow he was being shipped out to wherever the Guard needed him. He sighed as he reached his front door, glad to be home. Quietly he retrieved his house key from a pocket located on his belt that held the tight, light-weight metal armor onto his pelt. After some trial and error he finally got the key in the hole and twisted. After a soft click he slowly pushed the door open and stepped into his house, careful not to wake his mother who was probably fast asleep by now. At Least he hoped she was.

“There is still time to drop out you know... A lot of ponies decide not to go on their last night. I mean you’ll be fined but you can stay here, safe and sound.” He heard the voice of his mother, Evening Brew, coming from the kitchen as he closed the door. Apparently he wasn’t going to be that lucky tonight. “The guard is dangerous, you know. You're father wouldn’t approve.” Dusky couldn’t help but cringe a bit at the reference of his missing father. His mother never did tell him where his father was, just insisted that he didn’t abandon them.  He sighed and entered the kitchen to find his mother who was putting the last touches on two steaming cups of hot cocoa, completed with a good amount of whip cream and some cinnamon sprinkled on top. Walking over to the table on the far side of the room, he took a seat and unlatched the helmet.

“Maybe not, though we would know for sure if he was actually here.” His mother stopped for a moment looking like she wanted to say something, but quickly let it go and sat on the other side of the table, sliding his cup over to him. He took a nice long look at his mother after slipping off his helmet. She was a dark blue unicorn, with a gray mane and eyes. Her hair wasn’t the longest and it wasn’t the straightest, curling slightly towards the ends. She was tall for a mare, but that was OK, that’s probably where he got his height from. Taking a good look he realized just how tired she looked. “Mom... You know I’ll be fine right? Equestria is safer than it has ever been thanks to Princess Twilight. Most of our surrounding nations are counted as friends, and those who aren't would dare attack a nation with so many allies. Crime rates have been going down for years. Besides all I’m going to do is fly around at night, using my bird's eye view to look out for trouble. And even if i DO see something I’m only supposed to alert the other guard in the area so that they-” he stopped dead in his tracks by an irritated glare from his mother.

“Dusky, don’t you dare tell your mother to stop worrying about her son. Besides... look at that” She pointed over towards a mirror hanging on a nearby wall. After a glance over at his mother he gave a small huff and looked into the mirror and stared. He saw himself, a dark blue pegasus with a light blue mane, freckles and eyes to match. His mane was chopped short so that his hair wouldn’t spill out of the front of his guard helmet. “That, right there is one of the most important things in my life.”

“The mirror?” He cocked his head and blinked a few times before he heard his mother sigh.

“I can’t tell if your joking or just overly tired from training. I mean you, you numbskull” She said with a small and sad smile. “Look, just... just be careful OK? I’m not going to stop worrying and I’m going to want letters whenever you get the chance.” She inspected the cocoa in front of her for a moment before blowing on it and lifting it with her hoofs, giving a small sip. As she lowered the cup he couldn’t help but wonder how she didn’t get any of the whip cream from the chocolate treat on her face “I won’t say I approve, but you are old enough to decide what to do with your life.” 

Dusky couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. His mother had hated the idea of joining guard for some time. Even if the only reason he wanted to was the opportunity of free schooling offered to those who serve a few years under the service of the crown. A perk of the guard that was heavily advertised after Princess Twilight took the throne. After a moment he relaxed himself and picked up his own cup.

For now he wouldn’t question why his mother had come around. He wouldn’t question why she was so against it in the first place. Instead he would enjoy his last night at home, sitting here with his mother, enjoying a nice cup of hot cocoa with Luna’s moon shining through a nearby kitchen window. A nice moment to remember once he is sent away to serve his country.
> Leaving home
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The following morning looked crisp and fresh, the dew glinting of the grass as the sun rose in the distance. Dusky took a deep breath in as he walked out the door. Leaning his head from one side to the other his bones gave him a few satisfying pops as he stretched in his purple guard armor. He bent down giving his knees the opportunity to crack as well, a bit disappointed when they did not. He collected his nerves and pushed them to the back of his head as he readied himself for the day. It was going to be a long day, a long train ride, and probably a long night considering that the lunar guard worked between sunset and sunrise. He then heard the door behind him open and felt his muscles tense up, not expecting his mother to be awake. They had said their goodbyes the night before and Dusky wasn’t sure he could take another round of them.

“What? No goodbye?” he heard his mother chuckle as she moved to stand beside him. “So you're off on your own then?” She then gave him a playful nudge when he didn’t answer. “My little Dusky, growing up. Seems like yesterday that-” Evening brew stopped mid sentence and let out a long sigh. “I’ve never been good with sappy stuff. Look, I said it last night and I will say it again. Write. To. Me. I don’t care if it's once a week or everyday, just let me know you're safe ok?” Glancing over just in time to see Dusky give a quick nod Evening let a sad smile slip onto her face as she sat down in the damp grass in front of their small home. “Good! Now get the buck out of here.” Dusky let out a yelp as he stumbled forwards, his mother shoving him with her front legs. “I can’t miss you until you're gone you know!”

“Yea, yea. I bet I will be able to hear you parting from the train station.” He gave his mother a rather good smile and eye roll combo before putting on his helmet and tightening it to his head while flexing out his wings. After a moment of hesitation, taking in the sight of his mother and his home one last time he took to the air. “Expect a letter soon Mom!” He shouted behind him as he flew to the local train station. Looking down he took a good look at the small village he knew as his home town. It wasn’t much really, a small coastal village named Celestial Cove between Baltimare and Fillydelphia. The ponies of this village made their livings in harvesting seaweed, selling treasures of the sea like pearls, and exporting fish to restaurants located in Equestria’s large cities. 

As he neared the Station he could see a few of the other ponies from his village who had joined him in boot camp. They were bunched up together in front of one of the open doors to the train ready to take them away from this village. Seems he wasn’t the only one who had decided to head home one last time before graduation. Thankfully the military site that was being used to train new guard ponies was just 2 hours to the west, about 30 minutes past Baltimare. This meant that a good nap on the train was quite possible. 

After a smooth landing Dusky trotted up to the ticket booth, pulling a few bits out of his armor. One quick exchange with the old stallion behind the glass later and he had his ticket. “Thank you.” Dusky gave the stallion a nod as he walked past the booth and up to the train, looking a few cars down at his fellow guardsmen chitting and chatting. He thought about introducing himself, or greeting the ones that he recognized but quickly let the idea die. He was still tired from staying up so late with his mother the night before and was sure he needed as much sleep as he could before his train ride ended. Besides he was sure that they would get to know each other at whatever small town they would be posted at. 

After boarding the train he looked around and found a nice empty row of seats towards the back of the train. Trotting over he quickly took his helmet back off and took a window seat and yawned. Leaning over Ducky shivered at the cold glass of the train's window. Not as comfy as his favorite pillow, but for a small nap it would do nicely. 

___________________________________________________________________

It was the train's horn that woke Dusky up. Looking out the window he could see that his destination was approaching, Camp Fleetfoot. One of Equestria's many guard outposts and the site chosen to train new recruits. Dusky collected his helmet, shoving it back on his head and strapping it tight. 

As the train slowed he sighed and collected himself. This was it and there was no turning back, no going home to his mother and his nice soft bed. Though he was sure that the barracks wherever he was stationed would have decent beds, so it wasn’t all that bad. In Fact after a moment of consideration he realized he was stressing out over nothing. As he told his mother before, the chances of him seeing action were almost zero. At Least he had comfort in that fact.

It only took another minute or two for the train to come to a stop. Getting up Dusky walked over to the train door and watched it slide open. He was greeted by what looked like a very busy morning for the camp. Guards marched, Drill Sergeants barked orders, and training exercises were being completed. After exiting the train Dusky headed for building 5E, the camp's mess hall where the larger camp meetings or award ceremonies take place. 

As he walked Dusky let his mind wander, think about all the places he could be put. In the last few years Equestria's population had grown quite fast. Most ponies were calling this a “foal explosion” or something along those lines. Personally Dusky didn’t enjoy the idea of an explosion of foals, and thought a different term should be used, but that's what the media went with. The main cause of this “explosion” was determined to be the joint attack of Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow. Though he was much younger at the time, he could remember seeing a lot more couples getting together following the attack, and he and his mother had to attend a lot of weddings. Apparently after a nation destroying event like that many couples decided to settle down before another event graced Equestria’s shores.

This increase of population started causing cities to get even more crowded, leading to the founding of new towns and the influx of population into already established small towns and villages. It also seemed like Princess Twilight liked this idea, considering she put into effect policies to help ponies who were tight on cash move out of the cities and into these smaller communities.

Finally reaching the building Dusky walked up to a booth stationed by the door where a chestnut colored pony looked up at him with an extremely unimpressed look. “Name?”

“Dusky Wisp. Lunar guard graduate” Dusky straightened himself up and gave the pony a salute.

“Yes, I can see that from the shiny purple armor.” The pony replied and reached for something under the desk while checking a clipboard sitting on the booth before him. “Here,” Dusky was then hoofed over a small purple gem. “Go inside and head to table 8, there you will meet the other recruits being shipped out with you. Have fun private.” 

Dusky nodded and walked past the booth and into the building. Around him were about 100 or so other ponies who had made it past boot camp. Looking around he quickly found his table, which at the moment was empty. Looking at the clock he noted that the meeting was set to begin at 9 sharp, and whoever was going to be stationed with him had 15 minutes left to get here. Hopefully he was going to be stationed with some level-headed, functional, reliable, and like-minded ponies who wouldn’t cause him any amount of stress.

All those hopes were dashed as a fiery red unicorn mare slammed down into the seat next to him, her light blonde mane a mess, and helmet spinning on the table in front of her. “Made it!” she gasped as she leaned onto the table in front of her.”Thought I was gonna miss the meeting. The one morning my body decides to ignore my alarm clock.” She sighed and shook her mane out a bit before using her magic to straighten and pull it back into a ponytail. With a giant smile she then turned to Dusky, “Oh hey! I’m Whiplash, guessing we are going to be stationed to the same place? Well It’s nice to meet you.” 
> The meeting
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Dusky was quite confused and a bit taken aback by the mare. To start with, he already knew her name. In Fact they were in the same batch of recruits during boot camp. About 150 ponies in total were trained by three separate drill sergeants in groups of 50. Thankfully they allowed for each batch to occupied their own barracks. Thinking back, Dusky could recall a number of things about the mare. She was usually the crankiest in the mornings, one of the most aggressive ponies during sparring, and had some problems with mood swings. 

Apparently his effort to remember his fellow recruits' names was quite wasted considering that she seemed to have no memory of Dusky. He sighed and opened his mouth to greet Whiplash, but by the time he had done so she had already scooted over to talk to a few other ponies who had sat on the opposite side of the table. A little irritated at this Dusky gave a soft huff.

“She tends to be all over the place. One tends to wonder where she gets all that energy.” Said a voice coming from Dusky s right. Quickly turning he found the voice belonged to another familiar face. The stallion beside him was a light blue unicorn with a seaweed color mane that was just long enough to threaten to cover his eyes. He spoke with a slight Canterlot accent that was almost easy to miss. Like whiplash this stallion was trained in the same batch as Dusky. His name was Credible Comeback, though most had shortened his name down to “Cred”. Cred then put his helmet on the table and leaned back in his chair a bit, waiting for a response.

Dusky realized after a moment that Cred was waiting for his response. “Oh, uh, yea I guess.” Glancing at the clock again he knew that he would be expected to keep this conversation going for at least a few more minutes. “Credible right?”

“Cred works just fine. No need to use full names when we are all among equals.” Cred said with a smirk. “We are both official guards of equal rank starting tonight.” He poked at his purple armor then at Dusky’s. “It’s only natural that we address each other in a more, comfortable way. Don’t you agree?”

Dusky squinted at Cred for a moment. He hadn’t really had the chance to interact with Cred during camp but something seemed off about him. He seemed so relaxed, so confident about every word. Maybe he just had some extremely high charisma? “Yea... So I’m guessing you and Whiplash are friends?” 

“Hm? Oh, yes! See miss Whiplash and I were partners in most of our training exercises.” Cred gave a small shrug and leaned his chair back to its original position.  “It was quite tough keeping up with her at times. While I took a few days to get used to the constant physical exertion of boot camp, she took to it like a fish does to water. Quite honestly I believe our instructor did this to get me in shape.” Cred then gave a tired laugh followed by a sigh. “If that was the goal I can say that it was quite successful at least. I have never been so sore or tired as I have been after coming here.” 

“I can imagine.” Dusky glanced to the other end of the table where Whiplash was talking off the ears of three of their fellow graduates. After a few moments of pony watching he turned back to Cred. “So where do you think we are gonna be post-” before he could finish his thoughts the lights in the makeshift auditorium started to dim. Everypony in the room turned their head towards the makeshift stage made out of extra tables pushed together. It seemed that the Military's budget wasn’t what it used to be. Though that would make sense considering how peaceful Equestria and its surrounding nations have been since Princess Twilight’s reign began.

Above this makeshift stage a few spot lights turned on and focused downwards, the beams of light converging onto one spot in the very center of the collection of tables. Standing under the spotlight was an official looking dark green earth pony with black hair wearing an official looking jacket only a shade darker then his coat and decorated with metals. The older stallion looked out on the crowd. “Hello. My name is General Long March. You all may call me General March. I may not be the first one to say this, but congratulations on passing your basic training course and joining the finest fighting force on the continent!” The general half spoke and half barked the beginnings of the speech into the crowd. Dusky sat, a little surprised a general would come to see the new recruits off. Equestria only had a few  generals, all of which worked directly under the Captain of Guard, which was currently being held by Princess Twilight's brother Shining Armor. How Shining Armor managed to juggle helping rule the crystal empire and commanding the Equestrian military all at once Dusky would never know.

“Today,” the general continued. “You will all be separated into groups. Each group will be posted to different Towns within Equestria to act as guardians and peace keepers. These groups shall be determined by the population of the towns, villages, or cities we shall be sending you to. Some of you will be leaving in groups of 12 to 15, others in groups of 2 or 3. Once there your groups will be joining the guards already posted at that location. Some of you will serve as replacements for ponies who are retiring from the service. I expect each one of you to remain vigilant while doing your duties! The dusk guard shall guard the land from dawn to dusk, the Lunar Guard shall watch while the moon hangs overhead and our civilians are asleep and vulnerable in their beds. While the moon is high, I expect Equestria to be safer than any other nation we know of. If it is not-'' The stallion leaned forward with a scowl. “I will Personally plant my hoof into the face of whatever fool DARES to endanger the safety of my home!” Straightening up the general cleared his throat. “Now as official guards there is only one more thing that must be done before you may all leave this room. Everypony here please put on your guard issued helmets.”

Dusky could hear the clattering of ponies grabbing their helmets and shoving them on their heads. Dusky looked over at Cred as he used his magic to smooth back his hair and slid the helmet onto his head and latched it in place. Dusky quickly did the same, though it took a bit longer using his hooves compared to Cred’s magic. 

“Good. Now,” General March then held up a small purple gem. “Each of you should of gotten one of these from the pony at the front door. Please insert these gems into the gem slot on the back of your helmets. This may take a moment, but once you hear the gem click in, give the rock a good smack.” As he spoke the General was thrown a helmet from a pony off stage. He quickly turned the helmet around to and slid the gem into a small indent in the back of the helmet.  

A bit confused, Dusky did as he was told, sliding the gem around the back of his helmet before feeling it click into the small slot made for the gem. He then gave the gem a slight push and held his breath. Blinking a few times Dusky realized the world around him was shimmering slightly. Looking around he could see what looked like purple sparkles covering his fellow ponies. The sparkles subsided and each of the ponies that were around him moments ago were gone, replaced by what looked to be a cookie cutter Lunar guard. It was quite a site, seeing a bright pink mare turn into a stocky grey pony that took the appearance of a stallion. Looking around some more he quickly realized that the only difference between the guards were their tribal features. Pegasi still had wings, Unicorns kept their horns, and Earth ponies seemed to be a bit stockier then the others. 

“Each gem has a small illusion spell infused in it.” The General explained. “We use these spells for a variety of reasons that you can ask you superior officers about when you reach your new homes. Until then just know this, if your gem gets damaged outside of duty, then you are paying for it. And these gems, plus the spell infused within cost quite a pretty bit.” The general let out a low rumble of a laugh. “Now each of you form up outside and your groups will be escorted to the proper train to take you to your first night shift. Guard the night well greenhorns! And remember, the moon watches us all!” The general then gave a quick salute before walking to the edge of the mashed together tables and stepping down.

“Well my friend,” Cred said as he got up from his chair, the illusion also affecting his voice slightly, making it harder to tell that it was actually Cred talking. The illusion magic took the smoothness from his voice and gave it a more rough gritty sound. “Shall we depart?”