> A Squire's Tail- Lunar Guards
>  by BBkat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Canterlot Castle, the jewel of Canterlot and home of the Celestial Princesses Luna and Celestia and of course the home and training grounds of the Royal Guard. These elite guardsponies were tasked with guarding not just the Princesses and Canterlot, but Equestria in times of need. Others were trained and took jobs as security guards for such places as the museums or observatories.

Though Equestria was in a time of peace their services were still needed, most recently they had come into play during an invasion of Changelings in Canterlot. 

The attack had left them crippled and while no one was killed, many were injured in the attack and put out of commission. This meant an influx of new recruits and trainees and fresh new faces of ponies wishing to join the guard. 


Sun Chaser was one of these ponies. The off white colt trotted down the hall, blue eyes wide as he tried to contain his excitement. The ends of his rich blond mane ran unevenly along his neck, a few strands falling into his eyes every now and then. His short tail swished behind him happily.
This had been a dream of his ever since his cutie mark had appeared, a shield with a wing stretched across it and now he was only steps from making it real. As he walked down the hall he had to fight to keep from skipping with excitement.

Of course, compared to most of the other ponies and seasoned guards there, he was a gangly looking thing that looked as if he would break under the weight of armour and his magic was certainly far from being very strong either.

He shifted his bags to keep them from falling off his back before continuing down the hall. 

The guard’s living quarters were in a large building separate from the rest of the castle so that visitors did not accidentally wander into them if they got lost, something that had happened many times prior to the split. Attached to them was access to the training grounds and gardens. These barracks were split into dining halls, and sleeping quarters (one section for the male guards and one for the female guards, though the latter was smaller in number), with many new recruits stuck into the same sleeping quarters. 


A light red glow encompassed his horn as he levitated the paper in front of him again so that he could read the room number he needed to find. 

Room 12

He sighed and tucked it away again, that was right at the end of the hall. He wasn’t sure what to expect in the room, would he have roommates or a room to himself? He wouldn’t have to wait very long as he neared the door with the number 12 written across the top. Behind the door he could hear voices chattering and laughing, at least two or three.

The doorknob glowed as he opened the door and stuck his head inside carefully to look around. Almost right away the chattering stopped as several pairs of eyes turned to look at him. The speakers were three other colts, pegasus colts, and they all seemed to be studying the unicorn. 

A slate-grey coated pegasus with an ashen mane and tail looked down at him from the top of a bunk bed, while a cream coated one with a fiery mane and tail hung in the air, wings flapping slowly.  The third was seated on the ground and had a sky blue coat and dark blue mane and tail with lighter highlights.

The room itself was pretty plain, consisting of several bunk beds- the lack of ladders suggested they were made with pegasi in mind- a couple small dressers and plenty of space for them to store their things.

For a few moments Chase was beginning to wonder if he’d accidentally walked into the wrong room. 

“Uhh, this is room 12 right?” he finally asked, after pulling out the paper to double check and hoping he hadn’t misread the door. He began to fidget on the spot nervously; being stared at and put on the spotlight like this had always made him extremely jittery and uncomfortable. “I was uh, told this was where I was to bunk.”

They exchanged glances and muttered among themselves before the blue colt pointed towards the bottom bunk of one of the beds. 

“That’s yours. You can sleep there.”

“Oh, uh thanks.” He levitated his bags off his back, dropping them onto the foot of the bed before the climbing onto the bed and lying down, he just wanted to sleep. 

The last few days had been anything but peaceful or restful for him. They had been holding what could only be described as tryouts to scout out new recruits, and being there at the crack of dawn was the first test-regular guard training always started at crack of dawn so they needed to know who was going to commit to getting up that early. The rest of the day was spent being evaluated and tested to see if they could even keep up with the sort of rigorous training the guards went through. There were probably hundreds of ponies that came to tryouts, and less than half would actually make the cut. Sun Chaser had been one of the lucky few. Of course his boundless excitement had kept him from sleeping and now it was all catching up to him.

He sighed and closed his eyes, head resting on the pillow as he drifted off to sleep, his roommates having gone back to talking amongst themselves and ignoring him.


A hoof bumped his shoulder, jolting him from his sleep with a start and a snort.
“Hrmm, wassit? Was wrong?” he asked as he raised his head, blinking sleepily. It was the grey colt from earlier, wings folded tightly to his sides as he looked at Chase.

“You gonna sleep all day or do you actually want to eat?”

He stretched his legs out before rolling off the bed and onto the floor, landing on all fours. “It’s meal time already?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Yeah, you’ve been asleep for several hours. Come on, everyone else left for dinner already. If you don’t hurry you won’t get anything to eat.”

Chase stiffened before making a beeline to the door, “Then what are we still waiting around here for, let’s get a move on.”

“You’re just lucky I came back, the rest of the guys wanted to leave you here. And don’t tell them I woke you up, as far as anypony’s concerned I came back to turn the lights out and you woke up, got it?” He pointed a hoof, almost accusingly at the unicorn’s nose.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Now can we eat I’m starving, I completely missed lunch.”


---


With a full, happy belly the unicorn trotted back to his room, his roommates having gone back a while ago. They’d been pretty quiet, seemingly avoiding eye contact with him and saying nothing. He did however learn their names; the grey colt was Thunder Mane, the white colt was Sky Fire and the blue colt was Cloud Runner. They were all his age, which was why he’d been roomed with them.

He still couldn’t figure out why they always looked at him with contempt though seeing how they barely new each other. Well, all but Thunder Mane, he looked as if he wanted to give him a chance but couldn’t say anything as his friends had already made up their minds. 

Chase wasn’t too worried though, they were sure to warm up to him eventually, at least he hoped they would. For now it back to the room for another nap.

At least that had been what he’d hoped, he got no such luck, as the other three were wide-awake and sitting on the floor playing a board game. They looked up at him as he entered before going back to their game, the die rolling across the game board.

“Ha, landed on your square, back to start!” said one of them as he set his piece upon an occupied square.

Chase dropped onto his bed, levitating a book and quill from his bag and began writing, making notes about the day. It was an old habit from whenever he’d been away from home for long periods of time, like at camp. He hadn’t been writing long when the door creaked open and a new voice spoke.

“Hey, everypony’s gathering in the common room, you’re free to join us if you want.”

He looked over in time to see another unicorn colt like him in the doorway. 

Now Chase was curious, a gathering in the common room sounded like fun. He put his things away and hopped off the bed, curious to find out what was going on. Perhaps they were going to get to officially meet the other trainees. Most of them had only met in passing during the tryouts or at supper and their bunkmates were probably the only ones they’d had time to socialize with properly.


---


The common room was a lively enough place and one of the few places both the female and male guards mingled freely. At the moment there were half a dozen or so of the senior guards relaxing, either in chairs or couches or in front of the fireplace at the other end of the room. There were also a number of the new recruits, including the unicorn that had come to Chase’s room, Chase and his bunkmates. They all seemed to be in their own little groups, chattering among themselves all around excited. 

“Wow, seems we got a whole lot of scrawny ones this year,” came a rather loud, boisterous voice from the doorway. Almost immediately all heads and ears turned to look at the speaker, a large unicorn colt. “They’re getting lax on who they let in.”

Some of the older ponies rolled their eyes and went back to their business, paying the loudmouth no heed.

“I dunno Iron Hoof, we were all like that once,” said a slightly smaller pony at his side.

He snorted, “Speak for yourself. I was never a wimp like these foals.”

Sun Chaser tried to block out the older pony but the more he spoke the harder it got till he had to speak, which he quickly regretted. 

“We’re not wimps,” he said with a huff. 

Iron Hoof turned to look at him and Chase shrank back, ears drooping nervously. “Oh really? That so tough guy?” he asked, looming over the colt. 

Chase gulped as he took a timid step back, fearful of what the colt might do. 

“Care to back up your words?” he asked. 

“H-how?” he asked, swallowing the lump in his throat.

A malicious grin spread across his face, “Spend the whole night in the Lunar Guard wing. Shouldn’t be to hard should it?”

Chase was silent for a few moments, trying to figure if he’d heard right. “The-the whole night?”

“You heard me,” said the larger colt. “The whole night in the Night Guard’s wing.” 

The barracks, aside from being divided between mares and stallions, had two main, larger splits, the Lunar Guards and Regular Guards. Neither group ever really interacted with one, or even saw one another except during large events in which both had to attend.

Chase moved on the spot nervously as he looked up at the large unicorn. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked, “W-what if I get caught?”

“Then don’t get caught,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Obviously.”

Chase took a deep breath, trying to keep his composure. “Well, can I take something with me?” he asked. “I mean, if I’m going to spend till sun up there I need something to pass the time right?”

The older colt just waved his hoof dismissively, “Yeah fine whatever, but be quick about it.”

Fighting to keep from tripping over his shaking legs Sun Chaser scrambled off back to his room, returning a few moments later with a bag slung over his shoulder. “O-ok I’m ready now.”  

The large grey stallion nodded his head before turning his head and pointing down the hall, “Ok, the entrance to the wing is that way, at the end of the hall take a right, it’s rather hard to miss.”

Chase blinked in surprise and looked up at him, “Wait, you’re not going to come with me?”

“You’re big pony aren’t you? Or are you too scared to walk the hall yourself?” asked the unicorn in a mocking tone, casting his friends a sideways look of stifled laughter. 

Chase scowled, he knew what they were implying and he didn’t like it. “No way,” he stomped his hoof firmly as he looked up at him. “I’ll do it. I’ll spend the whole night there, you wait and see.” 

He strode towards the common room door, putting on a brave face before he looked out. The hall seemed so much longer than it had before. The young colt gulped, swallowing the lump in his throat as he started down the hall. Walking down this hall didn’t worry him; he’d have to walk down it anyways to return to his room. No once he got past there he had to creep past the sleeping quarters of the higher-ranking guards, if he was caught creeping around he would be in very deep trouble.

He flinched with every hoot-beat that sounded in the empty corridor, every sound a potential candidate to wake someone up. He stopped at the end of the hall and quickly glanced back at the common room doorway, they were still watching him, making sure he would go. One of them waved a hoof to keep him moving and he was sure they were laughing at him. 

With a deep breath he started moving again, taking each step painfully slow, at least until he got halfway down the hall, then he bolted. He wasn’t sure what made him do it, but he did, he bolted down the hall, trying to simultaneously run but move silently. He finally skidded to a stop and looked back down the hall, it was empty and silent. Chase heaved a sigh of relief, placing a hoof to his chest; he hadn’t woken anyone up. Thank Celestia for that. 

He looked around, finally taking time to observe his surroundings. Moonlight and a soft glow from the tip of his horn gave the unicorn enough light to see by. The hallway didn’t look much different from the others; stonewalls dotted with windows that looked out to the courtyards and training grounds, stone floors that caused his steps to echo loudly in the dead silence of the night. Chase looked out of the windows, this wouldn’t be a bad spot to spend the night, he could see the sky and with the stars and moon the darkness wasn’t too frightening. 

Unfortunately he couldn’t, the Night Guard’s wing was further on still. He felt his legs shake again, he’d only ever heard of the lunar ponies, Princess Luna’s personal guards. They had, if the stories were to be believed, large bat wings instead of feathered wings like most Pegasus and cat-slit eyes like Nightmare Moon herself, and fang-like teeth. That worried him the most; if they had fangs what did they eat? Did they really drink the blood of other ponies? Chase shuddered and shook his head; he didn’t want to find out and hoped he wouldn’t run into any of them.

Tearing his gaze from the night sky he continued back down the hall, the glow from his horn soon the only thing providing him with light. He looked around as he walked and soon realized he was in a new hall, the start of the Lunar wing he assumed. The light from his horn was soon unneeded as he was greeted by the light from torches on the wall. 

“This doesn’t seem so bad,” he thought as he looked around. It looked rather homely and not very different from the wing of the building he was living in. “I wonder how far I need to go, I mean this is far enough right?” It was still technically the Lunar Guard’s wing after all.

As he rounded a corner he found himself face to face with a pair of bright gold eyes with narrow cat-like pupils. 

“Who the heck are you?”
> Chapter 2
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	“Your ears do work right? I asked who in the heck are you?”

Chase’s hind legs shook, knocking together before giving out completely as his rump hit the floor. The speaker, and owner of the gold eyes, was a female pony with a dusky blue-grey coat and short upturned violet grey mane and tail, the latter of which was shorter than his. Her eyes were like a cat’s; deep amber and slitted, and a pair of membranous bat-like wings were folded to her sides. She cocked her head to one side and frowned when he failed to answer.

Chase stuttered as he tried to find his voice to answer her, the words coming out as nothing more than garbled gibberish, though eventually he managed to stammer out his name. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he was face to face with a Lunar Pony, a real one. Sure he was in their wing of the place, but he'd expected them to be, well, out. 

“Sun Chaser huh? You’re one of the Solar Guard right?” she asked. He nodded dumbly, still trying to will himself to speak. “Yeah, you definitely don’t belong here buddy.”

“I uh, got lost looking for the bathrooms,” he said quickly, finally having found his voice.

“With your book bag?” she pointed at the bag over his shoulder, “Yeah right.” He gulped, rear still planted firmly on the ground. She wasn’t buying it. “You know, I don’t think I’ve seen you ‘round before.”

“I-I just started today. This is my first night,” he said meekly.

She gave a groan and put her face in her hoof, “Oh no, are they doing this crap again?” She gave a sigh, “That explains everything.”

Now it was Sun Chaser’s turn to be confused. “It does?” he asked, cocking his head slightly. 

She nodded, “Yeah, they pulled this stunt last year with some the new recruits. It’s some sort of, initiation or hazing or something. You’re not the first one to be sent here to try and stay the night,” she shook her head and looked at Chase, “Why don’t you follow me, before the actual on duty guards catch you, I don’t think they’ll be as nice as me.”

“Follow you where?” he asked, rising to his hooves as he spoke. “And why?”

“The common room. Most everyone else is out; it’s my night off. Besides you seem like a nice guy and I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

He looked around nervously as he stood before taking a step forward. “Is it safe there for me?”

“I don’t see why not, it’s not like we’re going to eat you.” She laughed at her joke, tail swishing as she started walking. As she turned to lead him he got a look at her cutie mark, a shooting star.  

“Y-yeah I knew that,” he said with a nervous laugh. He didn’t know that, in fact until that moment all he knew about the Lunar Herd was what he’d heard from rumours, including ones about them eating ponies, or drinking their blood at least. “I mean that’s crazy talk, why would a pony eat other ponies?”

“Because they have teeth like this?” She spun around to face him, grinning widely to reveal her fang-like teeth. They weren’t large fangs like a Changeling’s, but they were clearly sharper and more pointed than a regular pony’s teeth.

He gave a whinny of fright and reared back, falling over and onto his back. He wasn’t sure how long he lay on his back staring up at the stone ceiling, legs tucked to his belly as he shook nervously, ears pinned to his skull. 

Her face came into his line of vision and she scowled, “You’re just like the others, you’re scared of me.”

He rolled onto his side, looking up at her timidly, “No, I mean yes, I mean I did but not really, I mean,” He let his head hit the ground with a dull thump. “I’m not helping myself am I?”

“Not really no.”

He sighed, “This night just keeps getting better and better,” he muttered sarcastically. “Fine, lead the way.” She gave a nod before continuing down the hall, Chase following close behind with his head held low. He berated himself silently as he followed her, what a wonderful first impression he was making of himself. The young unicorn glanced around as he walked, hoping nothing would jump out of the shadows at him. He wasn’t scared of her so much as it was she had startled him. Anypony would be if they suddenly found themselves nose to nose with a set of sharp teeth when they least expected it. He raised his head timidly, trying to look around at her. She didn’t seem that bad a pony to him, certainly nothing like what the stories about them had said. Save for an odd sense of humour she seemed quite nice.

“I hope you’re not staring at my flank back there,” she teased, glancing over her shoulder at him. 

“Of course not. Why would you think that?” He was taken back, what sort of colt did she make him out to be?

She laughed, “Luna above you’re so paranoid, can’t you tell when somepony is joking?” 

He just sighed, hanging his head again as he walked. “Apparently not. I’ve never been very good about picking up when somepony is joking like that, and it tends to make things, awkward.”

“Oh.” She rubbed the back of her head with her hoof, “Sorry, I’ll try not to do that.” She looked back at him and gave him a slight smile, “You know, you’re not half bad when you’re not screaming like a filly.”

His cheeks reddened with embarrassment, “You startled me that’s all. I wasn’t exactly expecting you to shove your face in mine like that, let alone seeing your, fangs.” He paused, “They are fangs right?”

She ran her tongue along them before nodding, “So of, but we don’t drink blood or anything, or eat meat for that matter. The only things we suck dry are fruit.” 

Now he was just plain confused, didn’t creatures with teeth like that eat meat? “So wait, what are your, fangs, for anyways?”

She chuckled, “You ask a lot of questions don’t ya?”

“Well, I’ve never met a Lunar Pony before. I guess I’m just curious that’s all.”

She smiled as she stopped in front of a door. “Well, I’ll be willing to answer your questions in here, but you gotta answer some of mine ok?” She pushed the door open, leading him inside. 

Much like his common room it was, spacey with a table and some chairs and a small fireplace. The colour scheme was different, a bit darker than he was used to and the ceiling had a good view of the night sky. It also seemed to have doors that he assumed connected it to other rooms.

“It’s not to different from our common room,” he said, “Save that giant window in the ceiling. What’s up with that?”

“So we can look at the moon and stars of course.” She gestured to a chair, “Sit down, I can see you’re just bursting with questions.”

“Like I said, I’ve never met a Lunar Pony before,” he said as he sat down. His bag was enveloped in a red glow as he lifted it off his back and set it on the floor beside him. “I’ve only ever heard what other ponies say, and I’m beginning to suspect they greatly exaggerate things.”

“That they do,” she said as she sat down, “Like the whole blood sucking bit, totally false unless blood means fruit juice. We’re not vampires, just more nocturnal than you.”

Chase laughed slightly, “Good, means my neck is safe.” A creaking from the other end of the room cause him to stop laughing and stiffen up, ears pointed forward. A door opened up and several voices carried out into the room. A pair of colts walked in, chattering between the two of them and apparently arguing about something. They looked almost identical, with ash grey coats, bat wings, feathered ear tips and gold eyes. Their manes were short and rather scruffy as were their tails. One of them was carrying something under his wing, but Chase couldn’t make out what it was.

“No, rules say you can’t do that. You have to roll 3 of the 6-sided ones for each stat, in order.” 

“Nuh-uh, you roll out all the stats first then pick which numbers you want for each stat.”

They bickered back and forth as they made their way to the table, having not yet noticed Sun Chaser. There was a thump as one of them placed something on the table before turning to the young mare. 

“Hey Wish can you help us out here?” he asked. “My brother thinks you roll the stats in order, but he’s wrong, you get to pick which stats the numbers go to. Tell him he’s wrong.”

She groaned, putting her face in her hoof. “You can do with either way, it all depends on the GM and their rules.”

The twins shared and look before looking back at her. “Really?” They said in unison.

“Yes really. Don’t you have rule books for this sort of thing?” There was a prolonged silence, broken only by a thud of her head on the table. “Guess I know what I’m getting you two for your birthdays and next Hearth’s Warming. Trying to figure out how to play Ponies and Castles without rule books, really?”

“We just borrowed Midnight’s books when we needed them,” said the one farthest from Chase.

Chase looked around, wondering if he’d suddenly become invisible. He tapped a hoof on the table, clearing his throat in an attempt to get their attention. While he hated being the center of attention he disliked being ignored even more.

“Oh, Chase!” She gave a meek smile, turning her attention to him. The twins turned to look at Chase finally, before looking between each other and then to Wish. 

“You, brought a friend back,” said one. 

“Who the heck is he? Certainly not one of ours,” said the other.

“Well, I’m glad to know I’m not invisible,” said Chase. 

She blushed in embarrassment, covering her mouth with her hooves. “I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce you. Sun Chaser, this is Comet and Star Dust. You two, this is Sun Chaser. I ran into him in the hall, literally.”

“Ok, but what was he doing here in the first place? He’s one of the Solar Ponies.”

Chase blinked, cocking his head to one side, Solar Pony wasn’t a term he’d heard before. Solar Guard or Day Guard yes, but Solar Pony, that was a new one.
“A dare,” he said, “I’m here on a dare. Or, I was in the halls on a dare; I’m right here because she, er-Wish was it? Dragged me here so I wouldn’t get in trouble.” He looked about nervously, “It won’t be a problem will it?”

“Naw, actually this makes things a lot easier. We needed one more player,” said Comet with a grin, picking up the object he placed on the table earlier. 

“For what? Ponies and Castles?”

“Naw, Old Nag.” He held up a pack of cards in one hoof and grinned. “You game?”

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Old Nag was a simple enough card game; the deck was dealt entirely, distributed evenly among the players and each ‘hand’ of cards had its pairs removed. The player to the left of the dealer started by taking a card from the dealer-who sat on their right-and adding it to their cards. This continued, each player taking a card from the player to their right till one was left with the Old Nag card, the one card nopony wanted to be left holding.
Sun Chaser scrutinized his cards, no Old Nag card in his hand, for now. 
“You know, you’re the first, non Lunar Pony we’ve had here,” said Comet as he took a card from his brother. 
Chase looked up at him, “Really?”
Wish nodded, “Yeah, of course I think that has to do with the fact that they usually run away screaming like a foal or shouting really crude insults at us when they see us.” She shook her head, “It’s kinda sad actually.”
“So instead you brought in the shaky, cowardly colt?” he asked her with a crooked grin. 
“Well I’d rather that than a brash, rude one who calls us ‘torn ears’ or ‘fang face’,” she said, pinning her ears back. “They’re horrible slurs and no pony seems to have a problem with shouting them to our faces.”
Chase was silent, he’d heard ponies use the terms before, not often but he’d heard them. He’d never used them; he’d only ever called them ‘bat ponies’ or ‘lunar ponies’. 
“Yeah, that kinda thing sucks doesn’t it?”
She blinked and looked up from her cards, “What would you know about it?” Her tone more of surprise than anything.
“Well, there’s a lot of ponies, especially those in the more, elite families that tend to look down on those of mixed parentage, especially the unicorns. So I’ve heard ‘half-blood’ thrown my way a lot.”
“Mixed parentage?”
He nodded, “My dad’s a unicorn, but my mom’s a pegasus. It also explains my name, which I’m always being told sounds more like a pegasus name, they thought I was going to be born a pegasus. But they liked the name so, it stuck.” Chase sighed, “It bites having foals tease you and worse when it’s from adults.” His horn glowed as he took a card from Wish and added it to his own. A pair. He removed the new pair and set them aside. “Seems everypony has their share of problems.”
“Yeah but you’re cool,” said Star Dust, “I mean you’re playing cards with us. How is that not cool?”
A ripple of laughter spread across the table from the four of them. Cards switched hooves and moved around the table and Chase had to suppress a grimace as the Old Nag card found its way to him. His eyes darted around the table nervously; he needed to get rid of the card quickly.
Chase shook his head, “Well, at least somepony thinks so. My father didn’t even want me to join the guard, wouldn’t have any of it.”
“Why not?” asked Comet, cocking his head to one side curiously. “Lots of ponies would consider it an honourable or noble thing to do.”
“I dunno, I think he wanted me to take up his profession,” replied Chase. “But I don’t want spend all day in a hot, dirty forge. Besides I can’t lift any of the equipment as it is.”
“Wait, your dad’s a blacksmith?” asked Comet.
Chase nodded, “Yeah basically. Occasionally he makes armour or weapons for the army, usually armour. Keeps him busy and away from home a lot.” The unicorn sighed as he took his turn; the Old Nag card was still in his hand, somehow Star Dust had continually managed to avoid taking it. “So when I told him what I was going to do, that I was going join the guards, he didn’t take it well.”
“What happened?” asked Wish. “I-if that’s not to personal a question to ask.”
He just shook his head, “It’s ok. He just got really loud and for a moment I thought he was going to overturn the coffee table. He just said that if I wanted to do that I had to do it on my own, he wasn’t helping me, in any way.”
Star Dust held one hoof up, as if to halt Chase’s story, “Wait, so you came to all those tryouts, at the crack of dawn, all on your own?”
Chase nodded in confirmation, he done just that. He’d had a bit of help from his mother in getting up and out in the mornings, and making sure he ate something before he left, but for the most part it was all him. The Lunar ponies gaped at him, before one of them finally spoke. 
“Now that’s dedication.”
The game continued on till Star Dust found himself holding the Old Nag card, having taken it from Chase and been unable to get rid of it.
“This bites,” groaned the colt, his head hitting the table with a thud as he put his card down. “I don’t wanna be an old nag.”
“Don’t worry only mares can be nags, you’d be a-uh,” Comet tapped his chin, “What’s the opposite of an old nag for a stallion? Oh right, an old geezer.”
Star Dust scowled, “That doesn’t help any.”
Ripples of laughter filled the room as Comet scooped up the cards back into a pile. Chase yawned, hiding it as best as he could behind one hoof, though his best was no good enough as Wish spotted it and giggled. 
“A little tired are we?” she asked.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night, or today and it’s catching up to me now, and it’s late” he replied. “Why aren’t any of you tired?”
She smirked, “We’re the Lunar guards, which means we work at night,” she said. Chase gave her a blank look and the mare snorted in annoyance, and rolled her eyes “It means we’re nocturnal genius. We sleep during the day and are awake at night.”
“You’re nocturnal, really?” he asked. 
Wish nodded, “Uh-huh. Always have been. How else do you think we take night shifts?”
Chase shrugged, “I dunno. I sorta assumed you were like everypony else and just adapted your sleep schedule to working at night.”
The Lunar ponies shared a laugh for a moment, Star Dust wiping a small tear from his eye. “Well, that’s a new one,” he said finally. “No, we’re naturally nocturnal, like bats.” He gave his wings a flap as if to demonstrate a point before folding them back up. He looked Chase up and down, now that he was no longer blocked by a table, the unicorn having stood up to stretch his legs, before speaking. “Alright, I have to ask, how on earth did you even make the cut. I mean no offence but you’re not exactly, well, build like a guard.” Comet and Wish shot him a dirty look, as if to say ‘that’s rude’ and he flinched slightly. “What I mean is you’re not exactly, um, big. You’re more, thin.” He made a motion in the air with his hooves suggesting broader shoulders and stature around Chase as he spoke.
“I’m not going to start as a guard right away,” said Chase. “I mean, I have to be trained first. I was told I was going to be a squire. I’ll eventually train under a guard or somepony, like an apprentice of sorts. At least that was how it was explained to me during the tryouts.” He rubbed the back of his head with a hoof as he spoke, “I know I don’t look like much at the moment but I am going to work hard to become a guard.”
Wish just shook her head, “Well, you’re got the determination that’s for sure. But you know, you do realize this means you’re gonna have practice in the morning right? If you don’t nap, you’re gonna be more asleep on your hooves than you are now.” She pointed at the colt, who was swaying slightly where he stood and looking rather tired. 
“Where would I sleep?” he asked, rubbing a eye with his hoof. 
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The couch, as it turned out, was where he was going to sleep and Chase was out like a light almost as soon as he lay down. He didn’t sleep for very long though, and after a short fifteen-minute nap he was up again.
“Have a good nap?” asked Wish as he clambered off the couch, shaking off the blanket Comet had pulled over him while he’d slept.
“Very,” he replied, stretching his forelegs out in front. He glanced around the room before looking back at her, “Hey, where’d the other two go?”
She just shrugged, “Out, didn’t say where though, not that I’m too worried.” 
Bleary eyed and partly awake Chase was not prepared for what happened next as he suddenly felt himself being tugged along the ground by an enthusiastic Wish who now held the end of his tail her teeth. 
“What in Equestria-? Wish, what are you doing?” he asked, front legs flailing as he tried to keep in one spot, and failing to do so.
“You’ll see, just hush up and follow me. You’ll love this I’m sure. At least, I hope you will.” She grinned at him over her shoulder and continued pulling him along.
She pushed the common room door open and stuck her head out to look around, releasing his tail in the process. 
“Coast is clear, come on and keep quiet,” she said, gesturing for Chase to follow her into the hall. 
The unicorn frowned, the coast was clear, what did she mean by that? Where there guards wandering about? There were probably night guards of course, given that this was their section of the dorms, but would they really be a problem? Not for Wish obviously, it would be like him getting in trouble for wandering his dorm during the day. But for Chase the Night Guards would definitely pose a problem, especially since he was uninvited there.
With his head held low he tip-toed down the hall after her, trying his best to keep from making noise as his hooves clattered on the stones. Needless to say, it wasn’t easy.
“So where are we going?” he asked, growing impatient as they walked down the hall.
She shook her head, “I told you already, you’ll see. Now hold your horses alright?”
He snorted in annoyance, so much secrecy. He really hoped this wasn’t going to get him in trouble.
Eventually the pair left the dorm and found themselves outside, on a path that led to the outdoor hedge maze. 
“The hedge maze, really?” asked Chase, “You brought me out to see the maze? I’m pretty sure everypony’s seen that thing.”
“Of course not you dork face. But we have to go through it to get to where we’re going,” she said, tossing her head back with a laugh before patting his head with a wing. “Now come on.”
“It’s kinda dark, we’re not going to get lost are we?”
“Not if you follow me. I’ve navigated that thing hundreds of times, I always go through when I’m bored.” Chase really hoped she was telling the truth about this, the last thing he wanted was to get lost in the hedge maze, at night. Even thought they had Luna’s moon and stars to light their path it was still very dark out and easy to get lost. 
He shivered as they approached the large hedges; they looked almost scary in the dark. Suddenly he felt a pair of hooves on his shoulders and he was propelled head first into the bushes of the maze with a strangled cry. 
“Keep quiet, now!” hissed Wish as she pushed him farther into the bush and he felt her back up against him. 
He tried to protest, he wanted to know why she’d thrown him into the bushes in the first place. He didn’t get the chance though as he heard her speak again, though this time not to him. 
“Captain Steel Blade, out for a walk too?”
A deep, clearly male voice spoke in response, one Chase didn’t recognize. “No, I have patrol tonight, so I have to get to my station. What about you? All alone tonight, the twins not with you?”
“Naw, I think they went off to read their Ponies and Castles books, or to find someone to play it with them. Or to eat.”
“I see, well enjoy your walk. I’ll see you later.” Heavy hoofsteps trailed off into the distance after the voice and he heard Wish sigh.
“Oh sweet Luna, that was too close for comfort. I completely forget that he walks this route to his post.” 
Teeth chomped down on his tail and he felt a sharp tug as she pulled on it. He whimpered in pain, flailing his hooves as he was pulled from the bushes by his tail, hitting the ground with a light thud. 
“That hurt,” he said, looking up at her, legs splayed out to each side. Twigs and leaves stuck in his mane and tail and small leaves clung to his coat. “What in Equestria did you do that to me for?”
She rolled her eyes, “How else was I going to get you out of there? I don’t have a fancy-schmancy horn like you do. I needed to hide you in there so my captain wouldn’t see you. It was spur of the moment ok? I panicked.” She extended her hoof to him, “Come on, let’s get moving, we shouldn’t have any problems now.”
He took her hoof, groaning as he stood up and shaking his head, trying to get rid of the bush debris that was still clinging to him. A glow encased his horn as he pulled out the sticks and leaves, tossing them aside. 
“I hope so, and no more throwing me into bushes alright? That was not fun at all. Or at least warn me next time you need to do something like that.”
She just giggled, “Alright, I’ll avoid doing that if I have to, so just keep an eye out.” She flicked her tail and gestured for Chase to follow as she started into the hedge maze.
“I hope you know where we’re going,” said Chase, looking around as they walked.
“I could walk this path in my sleep, so yes I have an idea of where we’re going,” she laughed. “So just keep close, I don’t need to be trying to locate you in the dark because you wandered off.”
“I can always light the way if you want,” he offered.
“You don’t need to, night vision remember?” she gestured to her eyes, “Luna’s moon is plenty of light for me to see by.”
Cat’s eyes, of course, how had he forgotten that? Chase shook his head at his own stupidity and continued walking behind her.
They passed one small clearing and he felt a shiver run down his spine as he looked inside. The only thing in it was a single, grotesque statue. It looked like a mish-mash of animals parts, two different horns, a body and tail that didn’t go together and four different limbs. He was posed oddly, something between a stretch and trying to cover his face. 
Discord. 
It didn’t need a nameplate, everyone knew who it was.
His rampage didn’t hit Canterlot as hard as it had other places, like Ponyville, but it was hard to forget the pink cotton candy clouds and chocolate rain and marshmallow street stones.
The unicorn shuddered at the memory before quickly trotting after Wish, who had gotten farther ahead while he’d stopped to look at the statue. The dim light of the moon made it look even more monstrous and, if he was going to be honest with himself, more frightening, that it did during the day.
“So how much farther do we need to go?” he asked once he’d caught up to her.
Wish laugh, “Oh you are impatient aren’t you? Just hold your horseshoes a few more minutes. Waiting never killed anyone.”
“I just hope this’ll still count as being on the your side of the barracks,” he said. 
“Hey, they don’t need to know you went outside, besides sitting in the common room all night would just get boring. Could you handle staying in your common room all day?”
Chase sighed, “Fair point. I’ll just follow your lead fearless one.”
Wish had to her tongue to do everything she could not to laugh at loud, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The rest of the walk was uneventful as they left the hedge maze and started along another small path and hill.
Chase shivered, his coat bristling as the chill moved down his spine. It hadn’t felt all that cold at first, but now that he’d been outside for a bit the cold was beginning to get to him. 
“You can relax, we’re almost there,” she said, noticing his shivering. “And it’s inside too.” She stopped and stretched one wing out towards a building that, somehow, Chase had not seen till that moment. “Welcome to the observatory.”
It was a tall, cylindrical building with an opening in the top and clear dome. Of course, compared to the rest of the castle it wasn’t very large or impressive looking. Then a thought occurred to him and he turned to Wish. 
“But wait, I thought this was like, the princess’ or something.”
Wish shook her head before pointing behind him, “You’re thinking of that one, the big one. This one’s the, public one. It’s not as large or as impressive of course, but anyone can use it, especially us.” 
Chase craned his neck to see what she was pointing at and sure enough there was a much larger observatory a ways off, near the edge of the Canterlot Castle. It was huge, almost towering over all the other buildings of the palace with a large telescope poking out through the top of a smaller building that stuck off of it.
“There are two?”
“Of course. Come on it, I’ll bet you’ve never seen the stars like this before.” She grinned as she trotted towards the observatory, pulling the door open as she waited for Chase. “Since there’s nothing interesting happening in the sky at the moment we shouldn’t have to worry about other ponies coming here. Of course when Secretariat’s Comet comes in a few weeks this place will probably be packed with ponies trying to get a closer look.”
Just inside the door was a small room and a short, curving staircase that led up into the actual observatory. Wish trotted up the stairs ahead of Chase, trotting up every other step as she went. The section at the top of the stairs was an open, empty circular room. There was a pile of astronomy books near a wall and the telescope sat pointed up at the stars. 
“Well, take a look,” she said, standing off to the side as Chase stepped into the observation room. “I bet you’ve never looked at the stars like this before.
She was right, he hadn’t. He’d only ever view them from his bedroom window, and even then for not long as his mother more often then not would pull the curtains closed and tell him to go to bed. And they didn’t own a telescope or binoculars, so his stargazing was limited to his own eyes. 
Trotting forwards he put his eye to the lens, peering into the sky. He frowned and drew his head back, looking at Wish, “Are you sure it’s working, I’m not seeing anything.”
“Well that doesn’t make any sense, if it was broken they’d put a sign up.”
“I’m telling you I don’t see anything.”
She sighed, “Here, lemme look.” As he stepped aside Wish peered through the lens. After a few moments of silence she looked up again at the sky, then back into the lens before taking a few steps back, laughing.
“What’s so funny?” asked Chase. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Oh Chase, just look through again.” He gave her an unsure look and she rolled her eyes, “Humour me ok?”
He sighed and once against switched places with her and looked through the telescope. “I still don’t see anything.” There was a squeak as the telescope moved and suddenly the bright, shining stars moved into view. “What did you do?” he asked, looking up at her. 
“I moved the telescope over smart guy. You were looking at a cloud.” To prove her point she pointed out the window, towards what Chase guessed had to be the only cloud in the sky. 
He opened his jaw to speak and closed it again silently and shook his head as a blush coated his cheeks. He felt utterly foolish now, a cloud, how could he not tell he was looking at a cloud? With a huff, trying to ignore the giggles from the bat pony mare, he went back to the telescope, shifting its position so it was, hopefully, pointed at the star he wanted.
What he saw through the telescope was amazing, no it was beyond amazing, it breathtaking. He couldn’t even tell if it was pointed at the correct part of the sky anymore, as the sky seemed to just explode in stars. What looked like ink black sky was now filled with many tiny, glittering stars when viewed through the telescope. 
Wish must have heard his gasp of surprise because she laughed slightly before patting his back. “Yeah, it’s something isn’t it?”
With one eye pressed to the telescope lens he moved the telescope around the sky, trying to pick out constellations or stars. Finding the constellation of The Great Bear didn’t take long once he had it pointed in the right direction, and it, like the rest of the sky, suddenly seemed to have exploded with stars around the large bright ones making up the constellation.
Lifting his head from the telescope he looked at the sky and tapped his chin with one hoof thoughtfully before an idea hit him. Readjusting the telescope he peered into it again. The silence was broken as he yelped and stumbled back, rubbing the eye that had been in the viewing lens. 
“Something wrong?” asked Wish, cocking her head to one side.
“Bright. The moon, it’s really bright through that thing,” he said, shaking his head to try and clear his vision. “I didn’t expect it to be that bright so close.”
“What were you expecting?’ she asked, still laughing behind her hoof.
“I don’t know, but not that bright. I mean, I know the sun would be bright, telescope or not, but I didn’t expect the moon to be so bright.” He paused for a moment as he moved his leg, trying to readjust his vision to the darkness. “I probably should have huh? I mean it is pretty full.”
“Probably. But that aside, what do you think? Neat no?”
He nodded, “You’re probably better at this than I am though.”
“Probably, but then again we’re taught how to read and navigate the night sky, helps if you get lost you know,” she said, taking her turn at the telescope. “I suspect you’ll probably learn how as well, though with the sun and daytime, stuff.”
Navigation, was that was going to be part of his training too? He wasn’t too sure he liked that idea very much, especially since he had a terrible sense of direction. Dismissing the thought, he made his way over to the pile of books and began to root through them while Wish looked at the sky. 
‘Beginner’s Guide to Astronomy’
‘A Compendium of Constellations’
‘Star Gazing for Amateurs’
‘Finding Your Way With the Night Sky’
‘Star Gazing for Dummies’
They all seemed to be generally the same, books on the stars and the night sky for those who knew next to nothing about stargazing. Some of them contained star maps, and one even had a rotating map so one could change it to show what could be in the sky on any given day. That was certainly interesting enough and Chase found himself rotating it to that night’s date. 
“Chase!” Wish’s voice broke the silence, startling Chase and causing him to yelp in surprise. The bat mare giggled, “Come over here ya goof, I found something you might find interesting.”
He exhaled heavily as he regained his composure and, after quickly restacking the books, made his way over to her side. “What did you find?” he asked. 
“Well, take a look and tell me what you think it is.”
He rolled his eyes before lowering his gaze to the telescope again. He could see, something in the view field. Something that didn’t look like a star, but rather a blurry, silvery shape, like a glowing cloud in the nighttime sky. 
“A, cloud?” he asked. “A glowing cloud?” He knew it was probably a dumb sounding guess, at night clouds, no matter their colour, tended to look like dark masses that blotted out the light, and he’d never heard of any that glowed. He may have liked looking at the sky, but he never claimed to actually know anything about it.
“Sort of, did you notice its shape?” Wish seemed to be grinning and pacing on the spot, almost as if she were excited about something. 
“Its shape?” He looked back at it, squinting slightly as he tried to discern a shape from it. “It doesn’t really look like anything, but there is a sort of void in it, but it’s hard to tell.”
“It’s the Horsehead Nebula!” she exclaimed. “I wasn’t even sure if this telescope was powerful enough to actually see it, but you can, even if it is small. Isn’t that so cool?”
Chase rubbed his leg as he thought of how to respond. Wish seemed to find this absolutely exciting and beyond cool, but he didn’t. Not to the extent that she did at any rate. Yeah it was cool and all, he did have to admit that, but he wasn’t jumping for joy over it. 
“Uh yeah, it is cool. I know I certainly wouldn’t have been able to find it if I had been looking,” he said after a few moments. “So do you come out here a lot?”
“When I have nothing else to do, and the twins are gone yeah,” she said. “It’s quiet and I can be with my thoughts, and there’s no one to bother me.” She seemed a lot quieter as she spoke, the previous excitement having been replaced with a calm that he couldn’t quite place. “And not many ponies are that interested in the stars. I mean, the closest I can get the twins to being interested in them is by telling them the stories behind the constellations, those they seem to like.” She sighed, running a hoof through her mane before giving him a small smile, “Thanks for, letting me drag you all the way out here, even if you’re not, all that interested in the stars.”
“I uh, I’m interested, what makes you think I’m not?” he asked quickly, faltering slightly as he spoke. 
“Your voice and mannerisms,” she replied. “I can tell you’re not super interested in this and only going along with it because I brought you here.”
“Not true, I’m interested in it, I’m just, um, overwhelmed?” He rubbed the back of his head nervously. “I mean until now all I’ve had to look at stars with was my bedroom window and these,” he pointed to his eyes. “So this is all new to me. So, how about you show me some more stuff up there?”
Wish gave an excited squeal, prancing on the spot before taking the telescope to look for more things.
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	While Chase may not have had the same enthusiasm for the stars that Wish had, he found himself enjoying his star gazing lesson. Listening to her explain things and seeing first hoof proved to be far more interesting than trying to learn from one of the books. 
The Horsehead Nebula had merely been the tip of the iceberg of things to see in the skies; there were double stars, star clusters, some of them even had names! The brightest, and apparently most well known star cluster, was one called The Seven Sisters, though Chase was sure that there were more than seven stars there. It resided in a different portion of the sky, or quadrant as Wish as put it. 
The strange astronomical terms confused him and he was more than sure he wasn’t going to be able to remember them all by the time all was said and done.
It was interesting nonetheless even if he didn’t understand half of what she was saying, the mare bouncing about the observatory, turning the telescope in different directions, flipping through books and talking. 
“So, I’m going to take a wild guess and say your special talent has to do with the stars, right?” asked Chase during a brief respite as she peered through the telescope to scan the skies. 
She replied with an ‘mmhhmm’ without even lifting her head, carefully adjusting the telescope as she tried to focus it on, something. 
“Care to elaborate?”
She lifted her head and gave him a confused look; tilting it to one side, “Elaborate on what?”
Chase just about face-hoofed where he stood. She hadn’t been listening as much as he’d thought. “Your special talent, how’s it related to the stars?”
“Oh!” She covered her mouth in embarrassment; tail swishing nervously when she realized her mistake. “Maps, I make maps, well star charts if you want to be specific. I can plot out the nighttime sky onto a map for ponies to look at, like the ones in the books over there.” She pointed to the pile of books behind him. 
“Got any in the books yet?” he asked. 
“No, I’m not that good, but I’m working on it. As corny as it sounds, that’s exactly where I want to get them put, or heck, just even to have one of the princess see my work.” She squealed like a foal at the thought, hooves pattering about where she stood. “Especially Princess Luna. I mean, could you imagine, the Princess of the Night herself actually seeing one?”
“Um…” Chase wasn’t sure what to say. Anypony would give their left hoof to have either one of the princesses so much as look at something they’d made, that was practically a fact. “So wait, why are you a guard then?”
“Because, maps don’t sell that well. I mean some maps do, maps of Canterlot sell like hot cakes to tourists, but star maps, not so much. I mean, schools and magazines will buy them, but they’re few and far between and even if someone does buy them I wouldn’t make that many bits from them.” She cast him a sideways glance, “Besides, the guard always needs someone who can read star maps, it’s a useful skill.”
“So wait, you’ve actually sold maps you made?” he asked. 
She nodded, “One to a school, one to a small magazine. Nice pocket change but, nothing I could make a living on. But I’m working on it, I’m going to get better and make the best maps I can.” She stomped one hoof on the ground in determination, a proud smile on her face.
She certainly had a dream, and by the sounds of it was going to pursue it, Chase had to that.  
“Well, that can’t be easy to do,” he said. 
“Finally!” She nearly yelled, the sudden increase in her volume causing Chase to jump. “Some pony who gets it. Every time I tell somepony what I do they make some quip about it being ‘easy’ and that ‘anypony could do it’. But it’s not easy at all; it’s actually quite hard. You have to get every star positioned just right or else the entire map is ruined. It’s no easier than making a map of the city, if anything it’s harder, because the city doesn’t move, the stars do. You may see a star in one spot, but look again in an hour and it’ll have moved. You can’t complete a map in one night, not really.” She shook her head with a sigh as she sat down, stretching her forelegs out in front of her. “I didn’t mean to vent like that on you, I’m sorry. It’s just, frustrating that everypony assumes that it’s super easy, ya know?”
He waved it off dismissively, “Naw it’s alright, everypony needs to vent once in a while. Besides it sounds like that’s been sitting on your chest for a while waiting to get off.”
“Just a little,” she admitted meekly, poking the floor with her hoof. “It’s been a while since somepony asked me about my talent though. Most just assume that because I’m a guard I’m good at fighting or something. I mean, look at Dusty, you’d never guess his talent has to do with stealth at a first glance.”
“Which one was he again?” asked Chase. 
“Oh, that’s Star Dust, but we all call him Dusty. He’s the twin with a cutie mark that’s a bat and cluster of stars. Doesn’t matter if he’s flying or walking, he could sneak up on anypony. We joke that he’s the resident ninja because of that. His brother’s a lot less, subtle.” She cast him a sideways glance, “So if you’re going to be wandering around our wing of the dorms, and you don’t know where he is, keep your eyes peeled.” 
Chase raised an eyebrow, “Oh, how come? And should I be worried?”
She smirked, “Because he seems to like dropping out of the sky on his friends in a sort of, flying tackle.”
He gulped nervously, suddenly very worried about wandering around alone. A thump against the back of his shoulder caught his attention and he looked up, having being staring at his hooves silently for the last couple moments. 
“Come on, we should get moving. I think I’ve bored you long enough chattering about stars.” She rose to her hooves and trotted towards the stairs, stopping at the top and glancing over her shoulder at him. “Well come on,” she said when he hadn’t move. “Or I’ll just leave you here and make you find your way back in the dark.”
This spurred him into action and Chase was on his hooves in the blink of an eye, trotting across the small room towards her. Being left behind was definitely not ideal, especially at night when he could get in trouble for being out. 
Their hooves clattered against the stone steps, the sound echoing loudly in the silence. Wish reached the door first pulling it open and waiting outside for Chase. Her breath fogged in the crisp night air as she let out a sigh. 
“So, where are we going?” he asked as he joined her, pulling the squeaky door shut behind him. 
“Back to the dorms. You may have eaten already, but I am hungry. Plus it’s cold out here.” 
“You make a very good point,” said Chase. 
The autumn air was unseasonably chilly as of late, feeling like it was later in the season than it really was and making the days cool and the nights chilly. There hadn’t been any frost yet, and Chase hoped it would hold off a bit longer. He disliked the cold, especially the feeling of a cold floor on his hooves first thing in the morning; it gave him more reason to stay in bed and less desire to get out. 
The trip back was far less eventful that the trip out, in fact it was uneventful and quiet. They slipped in the same door they’d come out, back into the warm building and headed towards the common room.
“You wait here alright, I’ll be right back. I’m just grabbing a bite to eat,” said Wish as they entered the common room.
“Why can’t I come?” he asked.
She gave him an incredulous look before shaking her head, “You’d stick out like a sore hoof. Just, wait here for five minutes, I won’t be long.”
“What if somepony comes back before you do?” he asked.
“They won’t, if they’re not on duty everypony’s probably eating, and like I said I won’t be long. Now just relax.” With a swish of her tail she trotted down the hall, leaving Chase sitting alone in the common room.
“I really hope she’s right,” he thought as he paced about the room, oblivious to the form creeping up behind him. At least until it was right on top of him at which point Chase screamed.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“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-