The captain of the night guard sat before his desk, staring dismally at the mountainous range of paperwork before him. A depressing sight he was forced to deal with night in and night out.

The suffocating presence of the incredibly tall tower of papers had taken its toll on the captain. Premature wrinkles had formed under his eyes that were difficult to make out from the dark bags. One could see from the supposed laugh lines on his face, in combination with the dull tinge of gray in his mane, the captain didn't exactly benefit from his position.

Slumping in his seat, he looked down at the only clear spot on his desk in preparation for another grueling night of paper shuffling. Except on the desk there was a small memo note.

The alarming message of “URGENT” printed in large and impossible to miss red letters on the front of the note made the captain notice it immediately.

Taking out a letter opener, he broke the seal and dug out the page contained within in. Flipping it open, he quickly scanned its contents.

Dear Captain Nightblaze,

Tonight, Canterlot officials shall commence the monthly inspection of your offices and work stations.

"Ugh, urgent my left cheek. Typical crap from the higher ups," Nightblaze noted, already accustomed to the dreaded inspection day. He had also gotten used to the alert messages they sent out at the last minute, leaving him little time to prepare. It didn't help that the day was randomly chosen at will.

Along with this inspection we shall look-over the reports from the guard stations, routes and lookout points. Armor, weapons, and rations shall also be checked on to make sure they are up to code.

Nightblaze rolled his eyes. "Whoopy. Another night of fun for me," he sighed under his breath, rubbing slowly at the bridge of his muzzle. "Pretentious aristrocratic tightwads who make it their goal in life to stomp me under their hooves and wipe my remains off a wall. What else can go wrong?" Despite already being fed up, he continued reading rather than crumpling the letter.

Another thing you should note, Captain Nightblaze, is that inspections of the cadets and their quarters shall begin immediately. Now that the night guard has an adequate enlistment program to hire the new generation of guards, we think it is in our best interest to see how well the cadets are doing under your tutelage.

Nightblaze's eyes went wide while his pupils shrunk. A small tremor shook its way up his back like a dark wave. Already a cold sweat formed on the back of his neck while his throat suddenly went parched.

Inspection shall commence immediately at midnight, under Luna’s full moon. We hope for your sake and ours that the inspection goes off without a hitch.

Sincerely,

The Office of Internal Canterlot Guard Services

Nightblaze read over the letter again, just to make sure he hadn’t mistaken anything. Then, just to make doubly sure, he read it a few more times after that.

"Dear Luna... I'm screwed," he muttered, head in his hooves at the ramifications of the letter.

Of all the things the inspectors had to get interested in, it just had to be the cadets. Those damned cadets. Nightblaze knew he could handle an inspection of his offices and guards. They at least met inspection standards. But the cadets...

"I'm really, really screwed."

Nightblaze ran a hoof over his grizzled muzzle that definitely needed a shave and thought over his options. A guard's instincts were only second to their training in a situation such as this one.

"Okay... okay, I can handle this," Nightblaze said to himself, tapping his hooves together. "I guess some of the cadets are ready for inspection... Beta squad is at tip-top performance, Gamma squad hasn't had a trip-up all week, and Delta is doing okay, all things considered. Almost all the cadet squads can handle whatever the inspectors throw at them. All except for..."

Nightblaze winced, his throat involuntarily constricting from muscle memory due to too much yelling. "Alpha squad." Just saying that despised name made his spirits sink lower than the deepest pit in Tartarus.

Glancing over at a particular pile of papers on his desk, he noted that stack alone was dedicated to Alpha squad.

"If the inspectors ever get a look at that squad, I'll be skinned alive for sure," Nightblaze said in realization. Tapping a hoof to his chin, he began recollecting the long list of faults Alpha had managed to gain over the past few weeks. "Let's see... Just this week alone the squad has failed their group teamwork activities, didn't clean up the mess hall properly, a fire was found going on near their quarters for a still unknown reason, and then there was the situation with the clogged toilet and explosion..."

Nightblaze leaned back in his seat and pathetically moaned. "I really am screwed."

"Uh, sir," Nightblaze's assistant called out, opening the door to glimpse at her boss silently weeping in his hooves.

"Huh?" Nightblaze sniffled, looking up and frowning in embarrassment at his assistant. "Haven't you heard about knocking, Harpy?"

"I did. You just didn't hear me over the..." Harpy waved her hoof at him. "Whatever this is."

"Well, what do you want? Can't you see my career is falling to ruin?"

Harpy rolled her eyes and pointed over her shoulder. "Alpha squad is here for their nightly assignment."

“Great! Just the ponies I don’t want to see!” Nightblaze planted his face on his desk and let out a quite pathetic moan. “When the inspectors arrive and see the mess that Alpha squad is, we’re doomed for sure. There’s no way I’ll keep my job with cadets being that bad.”

“Sir, why don’t you just kick the squad out of the academy?” Harpy asked. “I mean, them being gone won’t be too much of a loss to us.”

“Oh, I’ve thought, dreamed, and hoped for such a thing to occur,” Nightblaze said, lifting his face from his desk. “But one of the cadets is the top of her class. A true professional, even for a trainee. With her gone, a good quarter of the academy’s top scores go along with her. As for the other two, one is incompetent and not so bad. Really, training by now should have made him somewhat of a qualified guard. But then there’s him…”

“Yo, chief, can we come inside already?” a voice called out from beyond the door. “Shriek is gettin’ antsy!”

“I am not!” a female voice that sounded much gruffer than what one would expect argued.

“Then what about all your complaining about how we were gonna be late and then you saying I was a lazy ass?” the male voice countered.

“That’s because I was pointing out a fact, you lazy ass!”

“Both of you shut up out there!” Nightblaze snapped, his voice turning sour as both of the voices suddenly quieted down. Giving Harpy a sideways glare, he said, “Let the cadets in.”

With a shuffle of hooves Alpha squad marched into the room. A trio of young-faced bat ponies, the typical qualifications for acceptance into the night guard.

The first one in was a stallion that looked a little too fresh to be considered past a colt’s age. He was short, squat with a bit of chub; the oblivious smile on his face coupled with his full cheeks and innocent eyes made the cadet more suited for patrolling the halls of a school than those of a castle.

The second bat pony through the doors was a near opposite of the first. A mare with a lean muscle build and sharp eyes that had determination and confidence in her movements. She walked with an assertive trot that further defined her strong build. She radiated the look of a top-class warrior.

Finally, and most disappointing to Nightblaze, was the third cadet. A stallion who was very tall and thin, whose height wasn’t evident at first considering he slouched most of the time. Trudging to a spot in between the two, he stared at his captain with a bored expression, his stare glazed over as if he was looking into the distance at something else.

Nightblaze stood from his seat and saluted the cadets crisply. “Cadet Hopps,” he said to the first to enter.

“Reportin’ fer duty, captain!” the shortest of the group answered back, his accent the weirdest sounding Stalliongrad accent the captain had ever heard of.

“Cadet Shriek,” Nightblaze then said to the female member of the trio.

Shriek quickly saluted in a strict military fashion. “Reporting and standing at attention, Captain Nightblaze,” she said, holding the pose perfectly.

Nightblaze’s eyes shifted to the middle member last. For good reason, too. “Cadet Melody,” Nightblaze said, practically spitting that word out in contempt.

“For the last time, please, just call me Blue or Bluebird,” the cadet said, having already been through this process multiple times. “We already been through this a thousand times. And can it with your smug grin, Barley!” Blue snapped at the smallest member of their squad.

Barley Hopps covered his mouth with a hoof and stared apologetically at his squad mate. “Sorry, Blue, didn’t mean anythin’ by ya havin’ a mare’s name.”

“It’s not a mare’s name!” Blue replied quickly.

“Didn’t you say the reason your mother named you ‘Bluebird Melody’ is because she wanted a filly instead of a colt?” Shriek asked, arching a brow at her team member.

“Lies! Lies and slander!” Blue shouted, pointing an accusing hoof at Shriek. “How dare you create such a grievous lie upon my good name! My mother wanted a colt! My name’s just… a family tradition is all!”

Shriek smirked and narrowed her eyes at Blue. “Is it also a family tradition for the colts to be spineless buffoons?”

“Why you smug bi—”

“Alpha squad, shut up!” Nightblaze barked, his left eye twitching slightly.

The squad quickly ended their bickering at the much-feared sound of their captain’s command. Nightblaze mentally counted to ten, then added an extra five seconds for good measure. Finally, he released his held-in breath and opened his eyes to the much dreaded sight of Alpha squad.

“Now then, I have some news to tell you three,” Nightblaze said slowly.

“If it’s ‘bout the mess hall incident that happened at dusk, I can explain!” Blue interrupted. “See, Two-Bit was givin’ me a shifty look, and then I gone and saw him snatch the cookie on my tray. So I had to give ‘em a one two somehow, since I ain’t gonna take stuff like that from some lazy-eye bum like him. And then… things kinda escalated.”

Nightblaze held his hoof up before Blue could continue further. “While that’s certainly interesting, Blue, that isn’t what I wanted to talk to you all about. Monthly inspections are tonight.”

The three squad members looked at one another and shrugged. “But what do inspections have to do with us, sir?” Shriek asked, tilting her head to the side. “Aren’t they strictly for the guard force analysis only?”

“Normally, yes…” Nightblaze answered, sighing deeply. “But now that the night guard academy has grown, they’re here to see how the cadets are doing. Evaluations, I am guessing, shall commence at any time.”

The shared glances between the three, along with the nervous gulps and sweating, confirmed the group’s unaminous thoughts.

“As you three well know, Alpha squad is at the bottom of the list for academy qualifications, credentials, and overall performance.”

“Sir, that isn’t my fault!” Shriek interrupted. A hard look from the captain quickly quieted her tongue as she realized the insubordination she just commenced. Still, she stood strong under his glare and said, “I’ve tried everything to whip this squad into shape. Extra training, more studying for the exams, and team building exercises. They’re just impossible to work with! These two are beyond hopeless!”

“Oh no, you ain’t!” Blue shouted, shoving Shriek out of the way and approaching Nightblaze’s desk. “Don’t believe anythin’ from her mouth. From day one on the squad, it’s always been ‘bout her! Me this, nag ‘bout that,” Blue mimicked her voice in a mocking tone, casting her an angry glare. “And actin’ like a total and complete bitch! She thinks she can carry the squad all by herself, so she doesn’t care two bits ‘bout the rest of us!”

Shriek sucker punched Blue from his position at Nightblaze’s desk then got in the captain’s face herself bat wings flapping to keep her aloft above the desk. “And don’t you believe any of the lies coming from his mouth! If anyone is bringing the squad down, it’s him! He lazes around, does nothing to benefit the team, doesn’t listen to orders, and blatantly disrespects academy rules on a daily basis!”

“I like trains,” Barley blurted out.

Blue and Shriek stared at the short-set stallion with unamused looks. “Damnit, Barley,” Blue muttered, holding a hoof to his forehead. “We already frickin’ know! You say it every five damn minutes!”

“I say it cause we’re forgettin’ the important part of our jobs!” Barely reminded them.

Shriek scratched the top of her head. “Being the top qualified cadets to graduate to guard duty?”

“Nope,” Barley replied, shaking his head. “It’s all ‘bout us workin’ as a team. But that hasn’t happened since we’ve been stuck together in the same squad. All you two do is bicker like an old married couple.”

Blue gagged at the thought of being wedded to somepony like Shriek, while Shriek in turn stuck her tongue out to mimic retching.

“Wow, looks like the guy who grew up under a rock is right,” Nightblaze said, nodding his head in agreement with Barley's statement. “The purpose of the squads, other than putting the least qualified guards with the best so that both improve in overall performance, is for true teamwork to shine forth. Without that, you’ll never become a night guard. In this guard force you must learn to depend upon your teammate. Unless death from the enemy seems like a better alternative.”

The trio stared dully at the captain for a few tense moments. At least until Blue blurted out, “So we gonna get our flanks hoofed outta the academy or not?”

“Oh, please Captain, say it isn’t so!” Shriek begged, falling to her knees and reaching out to grab Nightblaze’s desk in a desperate grip. “The guard force is my dream! I’ve been training all my life in a vain hope of joining the solar guard, but now that I have a chance to become a night guard, I can’t let it slip away! Please, I beg of you, don’t let these two idiots ruin this for me!”

“I like trains.”

“Shut up, Barley!” both Blue and Shriek yelled at him.

“Shut your traps! That’s an order!” Nightblaze snapped at the three, quickly losing patience. “Nopony is gonna be kicked out of the academy anytime soon.” Shriek looked visibly relieved, while Blue frowned and looked off to the side away from Nightblaze’s gaze. Barley, of course, looked as clueless as ever.

Tapping his chin, a grin suddenly broke out on Nightblaze’s face. “And I do suppose I figured out a plan to benefit all of us. Suit up, cadets, because you’re hitting the streets!”

Blue and Shriek balked at their captain’s claim, while Barley eagerly clopped his hooves on the floor in glee.

“The streets? You mean… the streets of Canterlot?” Blue asked, lower lip actually quivering. “And not the nice, safe corridors of the castle?”

“Indeed,” Nightblaze replied, grin growing all the larger. Returning back to his seat and leaning back, he said, “See, this gets you out of my mane to deal with the inspectors, and teaches you a valuable lesson about teamwork.”

“But how can we possibly learn teamwork from patrolling the streets of the city?” Shriek asked, exasperated.

Nightblaze chuckled. “Oh believe me, you’ll learn something from patrolling the streets. The city changes tune overnight. Plus, this’ll be a good exercise for you three to finally learn what it takes to become a real night guard.”

“We get a night on the town, fellas and mares!” Barley said excitedly to his companions, jumping like a cute-faced bouncy ball around his compatriots. “Get to see some real night life. Ain’t this grand?”

Shriek looked visibly sickened at the thought of entering Canterlot at night. Especially considering who she was entering the city with. Blue in turn seemed tremendously disappointed. So much so he didn’t have the attention to tell Barley to shut up or shut his fat trap, as was per usual for the stallion.

“It sure is, Cadet Hopps,” Nightblaze laughed, enjoying the expressions from Alpha squad for the first time. “It sure is.”

“Well, this sucks,” Blue muttered, flapping his leathery wings to gain more altitude. The wind blew through his dark blue mane, the short mohawk not protecting his ears much from the icy chill of the breeze. The only clue somepony on the ground had that another pony was flying overhead was the shadow that passed over the night sky. Much like his namesake, Blue’s coat was a perfect mix of blue along with black to blend in excellently with the sky. Not too much like a Bluebird’s flamboyant colors, but well enough camouflage overall.

The mare directly beside him contrasted his color scheme in terms of visibility. With a coal black coat and even darker mane, Shriek stuck out like a sore thumb over the the moonlit sky with the vastness of twinkling stars above her. “What? The part about us having to patrol the streets of Canterlot when we’re still rookies, or the part about the captain having absolutely no faith in our abilities?”

Blue hummed to himself for a few seconds. “I’m gonna put my bet on the first option.”

“Like usual, you’re only thinking of yourself again,” Shriek sighed, ducking under incoming cloud cover.

“Hey, I don’t think for myself all the time!” Blue countered, lowering his left wing to glide through the air downward. “If I did, I would’ve worn a helmet.”

“Which I’ve been reminding you to do the entire time we’ve been up here!”

“Sheesh, you two argue more than an old pair of married gits,” Barley commented, sweeping through the air between the two in a lazy stride.

“Oh for the love of… Barley, we are not gettin’ married!” Blue yelled at the shorter squad member, baring his fanged teeth in Shriek’s direction. “I’d rather castrate myself with a pair of rusty safety scissors than tie myself down with her! Heck, my ears would probably bleed and fall off if I stuck around with her for much longer!”

“Keep on insulting me and you’ll find out what that feels like!” Shriek replied, narrowing her eyes and flaring her nostrils.

Barley rolled his eyes, descending downward to not be in the middle of one of the pair’s heated fights yet again. The little gray colt might’ve seemed plain with his barrel body shape and slicked back brown mane, but he still knew not to get too involved in trouble if he could help it. Shrugging, he dug out a flask from within his armor and took a couple of sips, sighing as the liquid traveled down his throat in a satisfying burning sensation. “Ah, that sure hits the spot!”

“Damnit, Barley, you know we’re not allowed to drink on the job!” Shriek shouted at him. Thumping him on the back of his helmet for good measure, she added, “Doesn’t help you look like a colt and half the bars in the city don’t think you’re legal to drink even with an ID.”

“Hey, I’ll have y’all know I’ve been drinkin’ since I was a little bugger!” Barley rubbed the back of his helmet and winced at the sore spot he found there from Shriek’s blow. “Why, the water from where I was from was so foul, booze was the only thing we could drink without keelin’ over.”

“Typical backcountry hick,” Blue said, rolling his eyes. “What, were your parents moonshiners or somethin’?”

“Nah. Lawyer and surgeon.”

Blue blinked and gawked at Barely. “Then what in Tartarus’ name are ya doin’ as a frickin’ guard? I thought you lived under a rock!”

“It was more of a boulder, actually,” Barley corrected him, spinning through the air in a barrel roll out of pure boredom. “Besides, every bat pony where I came from lived under boulders. We didn’t have no caves, so we made due with what we had.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you’re a trying to be a guard,” Shriek reminded him, dropping low to Barley's side to match his altitude.

“Well, that’s ‘cause this job is excitin’! Bein’ dressed in a military uniform, fightin’ bad guys, doin’ the good work that makes society run smoothly. I’ve been dreamin’ of becomin’ a guard all my life.” Flying upside down with ease, he chuckled. “Sure beats bein’ a stuffy ol’ lawyer or doc like my mum and pop, that’s for sure!”

“Wow… that’s actually pretty noble of you,” Shriek commended, while Blue just rolled his eyes behind her. “Truth be told, I’ve always wanted to be a guard myself, ever since I was a little filly.”

“Seriously?” Barley asked with an excited smile spread over his wide, chubby cheeks. “That’s just fantastic!”

Shriek smiled warmly at her teammate, a rare sight to see for the two stallions. “Yeah, I guess it is. My whole family has served in the guard force as long as I could remember. My parents, my brothers and sisters, and my grandparents and great grandparents before them. All dedicated to keeping the peace and protecting Equestria for the greater good.” Shriek looked up to the moon, her eyes sparkling under its luminous light. “And now I get to be the first in my family to serve in the night guard. The most prestigious guard force for bat ponies. My one true dream is to serve under Luna and protect her with my life.”

“Why’s that?” Barley asked.

“Because, she’s our princess,” Shriek answered. “More so than any others. We bat ponies have never been fully accepted into Equestria like the other three tribes. More outsiders than anything else. But Luna took our race under her wing and gave us a real purpose. To defend Equestria during the night from all threats. A purpose we have not served for nearly a thousand years now, since her banishment. But look at our future now!” Shriek swooped through the air, performing a full loopty-loop without breaking rank with her compatriots. “We’re guards again! Night guards at that, with our princess returned to us! There’s no way I’ll give up the chance to become the best guard I can possibly be!”

Blue flapped lazily behind the pair, so slumped down in his flying that his wings were the only part of his body positioned upright. “Okay, now that we’re done with the sappy backstories, can we get back to our job?”

“Oh, so mister laze around all night is finally eager to get back to work?” Shriek asked, a curious glint in her eyes as she stared intently at Blue. Flying backwards while directly in front of him, she asked, “What prompted this change of heart?”

“I… just wanna get this job over and done with,” Blue sputtered, eyes shifting to the left and right but not at her. Looking over Shriek’s shoulder, he pointed and said, “Cap said to head to the edge of the city then walk on the streets back to the castle. So I just wanna get that over with and then hit the showers. Can ya dig it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I can dig it.” Shriek nodded her head. Blue still noticed that devious smile that was beginning to make him sweat buckets was still there. Which was uncomfortably close to his own. He could actually see his own weirded out expression in the reflection of her eyes. “What I can’t dig is why you’re in the guard force in the first place.”

“Whatcha mean by that?”

“Well, let’s see…” Shriek held out one hoof and slowly tapped on it on it with the other. “For one thing, you’re a lazy smuck that doesn’t know one thing about being a guard.” Another tap. “You almost never listen to orders and disrespect just about everyone who is an authority figure.” Yet another tap. “And really, you aren’t cut out for a guard physically. While you do have height on you, you aren’t all that strong, or fit. You’re nearly a skeleton most of the time. Plus, that slouching you constantly do isn’t healthy for your back. You’ll definitely have some type of spinal problems in the future. Also, did I go over personal hygiene? Because brushing your teeth should definitely be first on the list. Next to doing something about those bags you always have under your eyes. As for your—”

“Shut up already!” Blue shouted in Shriek’s face, spittle hitting her cheek. “You don’t think I know that? Every day I had to hear ‘bout this and be criticized for it! And what I definitely don’t need is you acting like my mother and telling me what’s wrong with myself! I already know, okay!” Blue took in a shaky breath and flew around Shriek. “I already know…”

Shriek stared dismally at Blue, then turning her attention back to Barely. The short stallion shook his head sadly, turning his head away from Shriek.

“Blue, wait, I didn’t mean anything by it,” Shriek said, going back to Blue’s side.

“Just shut up,” Blue snapped at her, still keeping his head turned. Shriek was sure she caught a glimpse of tears in her teammate’s eyes. “Get back in line so we can finish our patrol, okay?”

Frowning, Shriek complied and took position in front of Blue with Barley at the very back. After just a few seconds of flying, Shriek turned her head and said, “Please, Blue, understand that sometimes I can be… a little too judgemental. I guess I got that from my parents. But believe me, I never meant to hurt you. I’m terribly sorry if I did so.”

“Hey, Shriek,” Blue spoke up, head still turned to the ground so far bellow.

“Yeah?”

Blue looked up, grinning the smuggest smile Shriek’s ever seen. “You have a hot ass.”

“Why you perverted piece of—” Shriek gritted her teeth together so hard she was sure she’d break her own jaw. Breaking rank and flying behind Barley, she murmured, “After I apologized to you, you still had to act like a bastard, huh? Expect this to be the last time I’m ever nice to you!”

“Looking forward to it,” Blue called over his shoulder, wiping a tear quickly and laughing joyfully. Spreading out his wings to full extent, he shouted, “Last one at the city’s edge buys drinks the next time we hit the pub!”

“Free drinks ahoy!” Barley shouted, zipping past the two so fast that lightning seemed to go at a turtle’s pace compared to him. The small stallion soared across the darkened skyline faster than the wind, already disappearing thanks to the city lights obscuring Blue and Shriek’s visions.

Squinting to where Barely disappeared at, Blue said, “Oh yeah, forgot the little guy has the fastest flight speed in the academy.”

“Try to remember that before you make a racing bet,” Shriek said, shooting Blue with her own smug grin before taking off in a rapid flight. “Especially with the mare with the second fastest flight speed in the academy!”

Seeing the two of them fly away, Blue smiled and stretched his back and wings out. Flapping at a temperate pace, Blue chuckled. “They actually think I’ll buy them a free round of drinks. Ha!”

The trio stared up at a sign. One with curiosity, one with disgust, and another with a familiar smile. The light from the neon lettering on the sign bathed the area in a pink luminescence, with sounds of much merriment and joy being heard from within the building’s walls.

Finally, it was Barley who broke the silence by asking, “What do y’all think this place is?”

“A disgusting hole for pigs,” Shriek immediately answered.

“A fun time,” Blue said just at the same time as her.

“See what I mean?” Shriek said, glaring at Blue with revulsion.

“Yeah. You just don’t know how to have fun is all,” Blue laughed, turning away from the building and continuing down the street.

“I don’t even like mares!” Shriek called out, quickly returning to Blue’s side to not break their formation. “What is it with you perverted stallions and lesbians anyways? Is the thought of mares bedding with others mares that appealing to you?”

“Why don’t you ask yourself that question, then tell me.” Looking over his shoulder, Blue whistled to Barley and yelled, “Yo, Barley, we can head in there after hours! Alright mate? We gotta get this job done with so the Cap doesn’t chew our heads!”

Barley slowly backed away from the stunning sign, having been captivated by its bright lettering. “What’s even in a ‘Gentlecolt’s Club’ anyways?”

“Heaven,” Blue replied, breaking out in laughter when Shriek glared at him again.

“Stallions,” Shriek said with a roll of her eyes and pursing of her lips. “I expected a bit more maturity out of you guys.”

“Hey, lighten up, tight ass,” Blue snickered. “Or don’t, since I’m enjoyin’ the view either way.”

Shriek stopped in her tracks and covered her flank with her tail. Turning around and moving close to Blue with her face noticeably red under her black coat, Shriek said, “Now listen here, Blue. I don’t say this often, but I’ll say it right now. If you crack one more joke about anything related to my posterior, I will kick your ass. Got it?”

“... I am now sorely tempted to use ‘crack’ and ‘posterior’ in a joke now,” Blue said, still beaming a wide smile at her.

Groaning, Shriek walked around Blue to the left side while Barley took point on the right, their usual triangle formation. “I’m never going to walk in front of you ever again.”

“Fine by me. I can still give you a looksy from the side. And speaking of sides...” Blue said, winking at her. His wink quickly ended by a hard smack on the face from Shriek’s hoof. “What the—”

Shriek rolled her eyes and facehoofed. “You really are a pig,” she said, kicking at Blue’s back leg for him to keep walking.

Grumbling, Blue trotted forward and the trio soon made their way into the city. Canterlot buzzed visibly around them with its night time antics. Ponies on their nightshift job bustled to and fro on the streets, comforted by the light of illuminating streets lamps that bathed the roads in a warm glow, along with the presence of the trio of cadets themselves. Though totally unready and unqualified for the job of patrolling the Canterlot streets at night, none of the citizens would know that just by looking at them.

“Wow… I was expecting more of a challenge,” Shriek commented, eyes scanning her surroundings, prepared to pick up any signs of danger. “I mean, Canterlot is Equestria’s capital and oldest city. I thought there’d be more hubbub on the streets than this.”

“What do you expect from the most protected city in Equestria?” Blue muttered to her side. “Ever since the changeling invasion, not so much as a peep has gone off in Canterlot without the guard force all over it like pretentiousness on a noble. Heck, a proper crime hasn’t been committed in Canterlot in months.”

“Does that mean we ain’t gonna see no action tonight?” Barley asked dejectedly.

“Nah. Cap sent us out on an even more useless assignment than patrolling the castle halls.” Blue shrugged, shifting the spear strapped to his back in between his wings to a more comfortable position. “Way I see it, Cap’s got us out here so we don’t screw things up when the inspectors arrive back at the academy. So basically a wild goose chase if I’ve ever seen one.”

“Well, whatever this is, we’re going to do it to the letter,” Shriek said, keeping her diligence at a constant high. Eyes always skirting the streets for trouble, her ears raised up to detect even the faintest hint of danger nearby. “We’ll show them that Alpha squad can take a serious assignment like this and see it through with flying colors.”

“Yessiree, ma’am!” Barley shouted out in joy, turning his head to take another quick sip from his hidden flask.

Shriek thumped him on the back of his helmet again.

“Damnit, Barley, what’d I say about drinking on the job?”

Barley's eyes rolled and his head and he took a couple of stumbling steps, nearly faceplanting on the street. “Do it after midnight? With a side of crumpets with grape jelly an’ a spot of tea?”

“Well, can you hardly blame the guy?” Blue chuckled, pointing to Barley’s cutie mark of an actual barely crop crossed over a black hammer. “His special talent is practically drinking.”

“That isn’t a special talent,” Shriek said, rubbing the bridge of her muzzle with a hoof. “That’s one step away from an addiction.”

“Oh really then? What’re you so great at, oh miss first-class warrior?” Blue asked. The duo left Barley to collect his thoughts and still rolling eyes as he walked right into a lampost.

“Is this just as excuse for me to show you my flank?” Shriek asked with a furrowed gaze directed at Blue.

Smiling as innocently as he could, Blue said, “I assure you, it’s simple curiosity, and nothing more.”

“You’re a terrible liar, you know that?”

“Yes, well, I’m also a very determined and annoying stallion when I want to be.”

Walking quietly for a few seconds, Shriek shrugged nonchalantly. “Ah, might as well so you don’t pester me the entire night.” Shriek briefly glanced down at her cutie mark, a full moon with three claw marks in the center. “I guess I don’t have to tell you twice that I’m pretty nifty with a pair of iron claws?”

Blue nodded, staring down at the claws strapped to her forelegs. Claws he’s seen slice and dice a training dummy in mere seconds. “Yeah. I’m guessing that’s how you got your mark?”

“Actually, no, I received my mark a little before my training with my claws,” Shriek admitted.

“Then how’d you get your mark?”

Shriek blushed briefly, turning her head away. “It’s for… for something in my past.”

“Hmm…” Blue nodded his head. “So it’s for something in your past. But doesn’t apply now, does it?”

“Not really,” Shriek said, avoiding a direct answer. “I mean, it still does apply to me. It probably will for the rest of my life. But now as a guard, not so much.”

“Okay, okay, I think I gotcha,” Blue said in agreement. “It has something to do with what you used to do a lot of in the past, but not so much in the present. I think I finally get it.”

Shriek blinked in surprise at him. “You do?”

“Yeah. It actually makes sense now.” Blue cracked a grin. “You used to be a huge slut, weren’t you?”

Blue immediately ducked, catching Shriek off guard with his expectation of her attack. Though him rolling on the ground and unable to hold back his laughter hinted to her that he was seeing her strike coming a mile away.

“You bastard!” Shriek yelled at the still sniggering Blue. Blue couldn’t hold his laughter for much longer, tears streaking down his face as chuckles wracked through his body. “You have not one scrap of decency in your body, you know that?”

“Yeah! Ain’t I a devious lil’ rascal?” Blue turned on his stomach, pounding the street with a hoof as his laughter finally died out.

Shriek glared hot daggers at him. Particularly to Blue’s own cutie mark; that of a crescent moon with bat wings sprouting from the sides. Huffing under her breath, she aimed a sharp and kick that landed with painful intensity at it. This ended Blue’s laughter right quick as pained tears replaced his joyful ones.

“Damn… that really hurt!” Blue cried out, rubbing tentatively at the sore spot on his flank that radiated a painful spike in his leg.

Shriek leaned down and faced Blue eye to eye. “So did talking to you.” She then left him there, uncaring whether he stared at her ass or not.

Just to make matters worse was Barley, who promptly fell and crashed atop Blue. “Ah, Blue, whatcha doin’ sittin’ in the middle of the street?” Barley asked, adjusting his helmet so he had a clear line of sight again. Shaking his head to clear his impaired vision from Shriek’s hit on his noggin, Barley looked down at Blue. “Hey, mate, did I really knock into you so hard? You’re cryin’.”

“No… that was Shriek,” Blue gasped, his brain being overrun with intense pain sensations. “Pissed her off way too much this time.”

“Looks like it,” Barely noted.

Shriek walked away from the pair, not even bothering to glance back. She quickly melded with the crowd walking the streets, soon becoming indistinguishable from Blue and Barley’s sight.

Picking himself up, Barley said with conviction, “We gotta get her back.”

“Why should we?” Blue asked, getting back to all fours much slower and with more soreness in his rump than Barley. “She’s just in her usual mood. She’ll get over it.”

“But ain’t we supposed to finish this assignment as a team?” Barley asked. “Captain and even Shriek herself said so.”

“Well, if she ain’t gonna listen to the Cap’s orders, then neither do we.” Blue started down the path of the street and waved a hoof over his shoulder. “I’m out. Peace!”

“Blue!” Barley called out, grabbing the end of his teammate’s hoof. A kick and a quickening of his trot, however, left Barley in the dust. “Please, Blue, wait up!” Barley begged, reaching out with a hoof to the rapidly exiting Blue. “Shriek, come back! Mates, please, it doesn’t have to be like this!”

Neither bat pony could hear him, or even bothered to. They quickly mingled with the crowd, leaving Barley all alone. The small stallion hung his head down in despair, abandoned by both his teammates. “Ah nuts… I guess there ain’t gonna be any drinkin’ at the pub after work hours afterall…”

“Help! Somepony, please, help me!” a distant voice called out. Barley’s ears snapped to attention, his specially adapted bat pony hearing working on the double to pinpoint the location of the cry.

While a bat pony’s hearing isn’t too vastly superior than that of a regular pony’s, it does have certain benefits. If near enough to a sound, a bat pony has the ability to figure out the exact location it’s coming from, even in total darkness.

Right now, Barley’s ears picked up the noise coming directly westward. From the slums of the city, if his memory was correct. Although this was one of the situations he desperately hoped it wasn’t.

Like all major cities, Canterlot had its poorer districts. It’s common nature for poverty to coincide with wealth. While the Canterlot slums weren’t the most despotic or derelict places in Equestria, it sure wasn’t a place a pony wanted to prance around in at night.

“Oh man,” Barley blurted. Cries for help plus slums of the city equaled not a good situation at all. But what should he do? Abandon all inhibitions about his lack of training to handle such a situation and the major handicap of having no backup from his teammates and go in running blind? Or wait for Blue and Shriek to help him take on whatever was lurking in the shadows of the night.

A quick sip from his flask and he knew what he had to do.

“I’m comin’! Do not worry, fair citizen!” Barley called out, charging headfirst into the unknown threat of the call for help. Down alleyway and through twisting streets he ran, his wings flared out to give him extra speed as he made his way to where the call came from. Finally rounding the final corner, he withdrew the heavy hammer he had strapped to his side and slid to a stop before the entrance of a dead end alley, hammer resting lightly on his shoulder.

Inspecting the darkness of the dead end, Barley spotted a lone hooded figure wrapped in a cloak and laying still on the ground. Throwing caution to the wind he quickly made his way over, falling to his knees at the figure’s side as he tried to get a better look. “Oi, mate, you okay there?” Barley asked, nudging the figure with a hoof. “Whoa, what happened?”

“Robbers,” the figure grunted, the only hint of an appearance being that the voice was feminine. “Jumped me… took everything I had.”

“Dayum,” Barley murmured, shifting his eyes to the left and right. Just an empty alleyway with trash piled up in the corners and windows boarded up overhead. Nothing too much to worry about… he hoped. “Well, don’t ya worry ‘bout nothin’ else, ma’am. I’m a night guard, so I’m gonna get ya home safe and sound.”

“You’re a night guard?” the mare asked, complete bafflement following her statement.

Barley chuckled. “Well, I got the armor on, don’t I? May not look much of the part, but uniform ain’t gonna lie.”

“Well then…” Barley fell back, his legs having been kicked out from under him from the cloaked mare. Grunting at the sharp pain in his back, Barley tried to get up, only to find a dagger held in a pinkish magical glow being held against his throat. “I didn’t know the night guards were accepting little colts into their ranks. Looks like the stallions and mares in black are getting desperate.”

The figure’s laugh echoed throughout the abandoned alleyway. Which, unfortunately for Barley, wasn’t so abandoned anymore. Thugs and other goons of various degrees of toughness and downright filthiness slinked into the now literal dead end.

“Um… am I missin’ somethin’?” Barley asked, scooting away on his rump from the intimidating presence of the mooks who toted around ugly grins and even uglier weapons. Wooden bats with rusty nails running through them, lead pipes almost rusted entirely out, and even the traditional dagger and sword blade for the good ol’ stabbing and cutting action.

The figure’s dagger pressed harder on Barley’s throat, nearly drawing blood as Barley gulped under the strain of the cold steel pressed so closely to his skin.

“Oh, I do believe the lil’ colt here doesn’t know what’s happening!” the figure said to her grimy compatriots. The crowd of goons laughed, most sporting decayed and rotted toothy grins that Barley could smell the stench of, even from a distance. Throwing off her hood, the figure revealed herself to be a quite beautiful brown coated unicorn mare with a silver flowing mane and ruby eyes. “The name’s Scarlet, kid. And you are about to be mugged.”

“Mugged? Me? Oh no, you got the wrong stallion,” Barley assured her, licking his dry lips as he winced once more at the cold bite of steel against his adam’s apple. “I’m just a guard is all. I ain’t got no money or anythin’ worth much of your time. Honest!”

“Oh, but you are worth our time,” Scarlet said with a nod of her head. “I wonder how much the guard force will pay to have one of their own come back in one piece?”

“Um… not much?”

“Wrong answer!” Scarlet snapped, pushing the dagger’s edge closer to Barley. He was practically spread out like a pancake on the ground in a bid to avoid the dagger from slicing his neck in two. Still smiling wickedly, Scarlet leaned down and whispered, “See, my companions and I have been waiting an awfully long time to score big and get out of this dump of a city. Petty thefts just aren’t gonna cut it no more. But a ransom with one of the colts in armor…” Scarlet’s smile increased to new maddening levels that tarnished her beauty with how much Barley’s realized truly malicious she was. “We can earn a real big score from something like that.”

Before the pair could continue their riveting discussion on scores and threatening lives for easy money, a pair of familiar shouts could be heard in the distance.

“Damnit, Barley, where’d you go now?” Blue called out, the sound of his fast approaching hooves echoing off the walls.

“I swear, Barley, if we’re late because of you, you’re not getting a drop of booze from the pub for an entire week!” Shriek added in.

“Who the—” Scarlet began, before her dagger was knocked from her telekinetic grip with a hard kick from Barley.

Rolling to his side and grabbing his hammer, he cupped a hoof to his mouth and screamed, “Guys, it’s a trap!”

“Say what?” Blue asked, both him and Shriek arriving around the corner to end up in the alleyway. Which was currently filled to the brim with gritty criminals with an urge to crack some heads of authority figures.

“Oh shit,” Shriek said. Her eyes widened at the vastness of the criminal crowd, all of whom glared with a combined storm of hatred at the duo.

“What she said,” Blue added on in shock. He stopped in his tracks at the overwhelming and ugly odds before them. Definitely not what he was expecting with another Barley incident.

“Boys,” Scarlet said, pulling out several daggers from her cloak with her magic. Pointing them all in Barley’s direction, she smiled intently, “leave at least one of them alive so we can make a profit. Knock the others into submission if you can help yourself. Tonight we got our payday!”

“Well damn,” Blue said, quickly drawing his spear from his back as the overflowing tide of mooks and goons approached him and Shriek. “I knew I should’ve slept in tonight.”

“You know, what Barley was sayin’ makes perfect sense right ‘bout now,” Blue commented, slowly backing away with Shriek as the wave of grisly faced thugs marched closer and closer. “It’s a trap, so we should leave. Get word to another guard patrol in the city or somethin’. Like, right about now would be a good idea for that, right?”

“And leave Barley behind?” Shriek asked. She caught sight of her teammate duking it out with the criminals’ leader, Scarlet. While her attacks with her multiple daggers would prove a threat to most ponies, Barley’s surprisingly quick reflexes and movement caused him to avoid most of her slashes and cuts. His mouth was wrapped around his hammer’s handle, jaw clenching hard to keep it in place. With one dagger stab to his right he’d duck to the left, flare out his wings to pick up some air to soar around the mare, then come in for an attack with a mighty blow of his hammer. It was all so fast and smooth for one of Barley’s size and body dimensions that you wouldn’t have expected to see such a sight more than once in your lifetime. “That isn’t going to happen.”

Blue shrunk before the first thug that popped into view. He was a stallion with a wretched facial complexion that only came from living in filth and never bathing most of one’s life. Though he did make up for it in pure intimidation, stench and muscles.

“M-maybe w-we should—” Blue was interrupted as Shriek let out a furious warrior shout that nearly exploded his ear drums. Jumping with her wings giving her extra lift, she descended upon the group of mooks like a lion to its prey. “—get backup…”

Much like a lion, Shriek was ferocious with her attacks. The claws from her gauntlets extended out with a quick flick of her hooves, three sharp metal claws curved to a wickedly sharp point and razor edge. With ease of movement she dodged one goon’s swipe of his axe at her head, the edge of the weapon just barely peeling the paint off of her helmet. Then with one rapid strike she knocked his weapon out of his mouth, and with her other hoof she grabbed him by the scruff of his dirty jacket and propelled him over her shoulder to crash into several of his companions.

All in all, she had already taken out up to four or or more bad guys in less than five seconds. And from the smile on her face and nod for the others to come at her, she wasn’t even breaking a sweat yet.

Glancing at one another, two mooks nodded and charged at her at the same time, circling around so one came from her left and the other from her right.

Shriek didn’t even look at either of her attackers. With a quick hop she sprung up in the air, just as the goons were within grabbing distance of her. Then with her back legs she kicked both of the back of their heads together, slamming their faces together in a gritty mash of broken noses and knocked in teeth.

“Blue, are you going to help anytime soon?” Shriek asked, kicking the throat of the next goon to get within her striking area. As he choked on his trachea, Shriek grabbed him with her claws and threw him at the crowd of thugs. “Because I can’t keep them off forever!”

“I… I… I…” Blue’s lips quivered as he hung onto his spear to keep himself from falling to the ground as his entire body shook underneath his armor. The mob of bad guys who hadn’t directed their attention to Shriek now stared at him. Their hungry eyes spoke to Blue immediately. He was easy prey. He was next. And most important of all...

He was screwed.

“I’m outta here!” Blue shouted, snapping on his spear with his teeth and running down the alley as fast as his hooves could take him. He was sure he could hear Shriek yell out ‘coward!’ behind him, but he wasn’t sure. His heartbeat was pumping so loud in his ears he couldn’t even hear himself breath.

The sound of following hoofsteps from the criminals stuck on his trail for some time, but Blue was in a death run for his life that did not slow down one bit. Flying off of walls, sliding across alleyways and even soaring across rooftops, Blue was not about to stop until he was positive his life would be safe.

Finally, after some time had passed and the thundering roar of hooves behind him died out, did Blue finally come to a rest. Heaving in and out gasps of desperately needed air, his spear dropped from his unclenched teeth, falling with a thud to the ground. His legs were sore, his heart threatened to explode out of his chest and he felt like collapsing to the ground from pure exhaustion as the adrenaline wore off… but at least he was alive.

And that was the important thing, right?

His teammates’ lives were at stake, and they could very well be dead by now, but at least he was alright. He wasn’t dead, like they probably were. He managed to survive. To get away safely. Just like always.

So why was he crying?

“Oh dear Celestia… mom and dad were right,” Blue cried into his hooves, crawling into a ball as another sob wracked through his body. “I ain’t a guard. I ain’t a good pony like Shriek or Barley. I’m a… a coward! A no-good coward who couldn’t even stick it out to help his friends!”

This wouldn’t be the first time he’d run away. From his responsibilities, from his friends, from the ponies who cared about him. Except now, he felt actual guilt over it. A painful, intense guilt that stabbed him in the heart and twisted deeper and deeper into him until he thought he’d surely cough up blood.

“What do I do?” Blue asked himself, squinting hard through the strain of tears. “How can I fix this? How?”

Blue shifted his gaze to his spear. The weapon he was assigned to when the squad was formed. Each squad needed a spears-pony, a hammer-pony, and a claw-pony to function to the best of their abilities. Each weapon worked in conjunction with the other, depending on the user’s ability to work with their squad. Its purpose was to draw on one another’s strengths and use it to their advantage in battle. A battle he currently abandoned to save himself.

And for once in his life, he was tired of thinking only about himself. That had gotten him nothing but grief and heartache over the years. But this time, his team needed him. Shriek and Barley needed him.

“And I’ll be damned if I don’t give my best shot at helping them,” Blue said, finishing his thought. Wiping his eyes and grabbing ahold of his spear, Blue stared up at the night sky. He smiled up as the moon shined down its benevolent light down upon him.

"Barley… this doesn’t look good!” Shriek grunted. She jumped to land a roundhouse kick to the face to the nearest mook she could hit at. Crashing to the ground, two other thugs quickly took his place.

“Yeah, I noticed!” Barley shouted back, ducking under a pipe that nearly collided with his jaw. Swinging his hammer with both hooves gripped on it tight, he sent his attacker packing with a devastating collision between hammer and both the thug’s kidneys. Stepping back to avoid another swipe of a spiked bat, he said, “We need backup, fast!”

Sidestepping a downward slash of a saber and delivery a critical blow with her claws, Shriek asked, “Where are we going to get any? Unless some miracle drops down on us, we’re doomed!”

In the best form of karma to ever befall the pair, their miracle really did drop from the sky. In the form of a surprise attack from a stallion screaming his throat raw as he swung his spear around like a madpony.

“I’m gonna lay a beat down on you bloody bastards!” Blue screamed, descending away from Shriek and Barley and going at it with the onslaught of attacks. With a two-hoofed grip on his spear, Blue swiped and smacked with his weapon with no sign of grace or even basic training. He was just winging it like a crazy pony. “It’s brawling time!”

“Blue’s come to our rescue!” Barley said with glee, while Shriek and even the goons stared with bewilderment at the screaming Blue and his barely concise attacks.

“Hey… he sure did,” Shriek agreed, kicking her back hoof out to impact quite painfully with the groin of a goon that tried to sneak up behind her. Smiling, she glanced down at Barley and asked, “Why don’t we show these thugs the ol’ Alpha team spirit?”

Barley adjusted his hammer onto his shoulder and grinned just as wide. “Thought you’d never ask!”

“Take this!” Blue spun around, clocking about six mooks all at once across their heads with the flat part of his spearhead’s blade, knocking them all back in an instance. Then with a flip of the handle the blunt end of his weapon concked itself right in between the eyes of an incoming bad guy. “And this!” Blue yelled ecstatically, his thoughts no longer coherent. With another swipe the blunt end caught the side of a goon’s face, popping out the entire right row of teeth in his mouth almost instantly. “And also that too!” Turning around quickly, Blue drove and uppercut with the spear to catch a thug right on his back leg, flipping him in the air to land with a thud on his head on the unforgiving alleyway floor. “And especially this!”

“Wow, Shriek, Blue might have ya beat in the badass who kicks ass department,” Barley chuckled, ducking another a swipe from an opponent and then sliding under his legs to bring him crashing to the ground on the other side with a hammer blow to the small of his back.

“Beginner’s luck!” Shriek replied with a bit of resentment. In a move a dancer would almost use, she spin into a field of attackers and used her claws to send a reckoning of scratches, slashes and cuts upon the lot of them. Escaping the now moaning pile of scumbags with not a scratch on her, Shriek huffed on her claws and wiped some of the excess dirt off the clothing of one of the downed thugs. “But the pro’s definitely have the best lucky streak, that’s for sure.”

Barley was about to reply back, except he suddenly felt his throat muscles convulse. Dropping his hammer and grabbing at his neck, Barley was lifted off his hooves from a magical force constricting on his neck. His legs kicked pathetically at empty air.

“Now then,” Scarlet began, holding a dagger to Barley’s throat, “I do believe enough of my men have been injured tonight? Don’t you agree? So, to make things easier for all of us, drop your weapons or tubby here gets it.”

Before Baley could get a word in edgewise, his eyes nearly popped out of his skull while his face grew a sickening blue from the lack of oxygen. “And please, do hurry up. I hate waiting.”

"So do I!" Blue yelled behind her. Turning her head with widened eyes, Scarlet barely moved her head out of the way in time to avoid getting her neck sliced in two from Blue's spearhead cutting through the air. Her cheek still got a nasty gash on it, the pain breaking her concentration of her magic on Barley.

Landing painfully to the ground, Scarlet was down for the count as Blue came at her swinging his spear in a killing blow.

"Blue!" Shriek shouted, halting the spear's path with an outreached claw. Throwing his weapon away, she said, "Snap out of it! We won!"

Blue blinked, looking down at his hooves that were no longer madly gripping his spear. Looking around, he noticed that the dead end was quickly clearing out. Barley was beating back the remainder of the thugs, and now that their leader was incapacitated, just about everypony was making haste to beat it with their tails between their legs.

"Oh... Oh wow," Blue muttered, rubbing his temple as the anslaught of adrenaline slowly left his body. "We did it. We actually did it. Whoa."

"Yeah," Shriek nodded, smiling in relief. Staring around at the unconscious and still moaning bodies of the goons, she chuckled. "I guess we actually did."

Barley came bouncing back to them, still buzzing with energy as he flashed them a toothy grin. "Wasn't that grand, mates? I haven't had a wilder time in my life!" Barley waved his hammer in the air, mimicking the previous fight while getting dangerously close to hitting Blue and Shriek. "They was comin' right at me and then wham and bam and then I gave one of 'em an extra grand slam right—"

"Okay, okay, Barley, we get it," Shriek said, just as she avoided getting her teeth knocked out from his hammer.

"And then Blue came in the nick in time to save our backsides!" Barley pointed out, grabbing ahold of Blue's chest in a death grip hug. "I knew you'd pull through for us, mate! I just knew it!"

"G-great..." Blue gasped, his neck threatening to collapse from Barley's strength. "Is my reward... being allowed to breathe now?”

"Sure thing, good buddy!" Barley released Blue, who greedily gulped in air like a fish out of water. Spreading out his diminutive wing span to full length, Barley saluted his teammates and said, "I'll head to the nearest patrol so we can round up the rest of the baddies. You guys gonna be alright while I'm out?"

Giggling at the sight of Blue turning even more blue than usual at his strained windpipe, Shriek shook her head and said, "Nah, I think we'll be fine, Barley."

Nodding, Barley took to the air in a flash, briefly leaving a dust trail behind himself.

Stretching, Shriek took a seat next to Blue on the ground, the stallion finally catching his breath. Sheathing her claws back into her gauntlet, she gave Blue a sideways glance. "Gotta say, Blue, I'm impressed."

Picking himself from the dirty ground and brushing some dirt off his shoulder, he said, "Oh, are ya now?"

"Well, more impressed than when you ran away," Shriek admitted, hers lips moving downward into a frown.

Blue gulped, brushing a hoof across his muzzle as he tried to think up an excuse. "I... uh... was just..."

Shriek shook her head and looked away. "Blue..."

"What’s your cutie mark mean?" Blue blurted out. Seeing Shriek's strange look, he said, "Before, you never told me what it really was."

"Is this just to avoid what I'm going to ask?"

Sighing, Blue asked, "Please, just tell me."

Looking down at the ground, Shriek remained silent. So long Blue was unsure whether she'd actually answer him. But finally, she said, "You aren't that far off from the bitch remark you always use."

"Really?" Blue asked with a raised brow.

"Yes, really. Back at home, I was even more dedicated to becoming a guard than I am now. I trained constantly, didn't have many friends, and didn't go out much either. And with the friends I did have..." Shriek sighed, taking a quick glance at her cutie mark and wincing. "They just didn't work out. That's when I finally realized I didn't need friends. As long as I became a guard, I didn't need anyone else. That's when my mark appeared. Guess I'm good at being a lone wolf, or something like that." Shriek shrugged. "Special talents are weird."

"Yeah, I getcha," Blue agreed, a small smile appearing on his face. "Truthfully, how I got my mark ain't much better."

Shriek looked at him, but didn't ask him to continue. Blue just licked his lips, mulling over his thoughts before continuing.

"See, my parents are filthy rich. Somethin' 'bout making the weapons and armor to supply the Equestrian guard force. I never grew up in a cave like regular bat pony. Just mansions and fancy pads for this guy."

"But if your family is so rich, why did you become a guard?" Shriek asked.

"Because, I got kicked outta the house. My parents were tired of me bein' a lazy mooch that did nothin' all day. And every other job they tried to get me on failed miserably." Blue groaned and lowered his head. "Whenever I've been given a job or an assignment, I never finish it. And whenever something gets too hard or troublesome, I bail. So my special talent is being a failure. Ain't that a riot?"

"Blue, I'm sure that's not what it means," Shriek said in an attempt to alleviate his troubles.

"Everypony knows that's what it means. You know what my folks did when I told them to screw off and that I'd become a guard to show them up?" Blue snorted. "They laughed. They laughed right in my face!"

Shriek bit her lower lip. "That must be awful."

"So that's why I haven't quit already. I promised myself this would be the one thing in my muck of a life I won't bail on," Blue said, chuckling at the end of his sentence. "But even then, I try my hardest so that they'll kick me outta of the academy anyways. Just so I can go back home and tell 'em that I stuck through it till the very end."

"Blue, that isn't any way to treat the guard force," Shriek told him. "We're supposed to be defenders of Equestria. This shouldn't have just been an exercise for you to prove a point to your parents."

"I know," Blue agreed,shaking his head sadly. "That's why I left you guys. I ain't cut out to be a guard. I just... I just can't do it."

Shriek rested a wing on Blue's shoulder. Blue stared at her in surprise, a tinge of red appearing in his cheeks. "But Blue, you did come back to us," Shriek said, smiling kindly at her teammate. "No matter how scared you were, you still came back."

"I guess I did," Blue chuckled, enjoying the weight of Shriek's wing on his shoulder. "I mean, I couldn't leave you guys to die, could I?"

"Which I'm very thankful for," Shriek laughed.

"And..." Blue shrugged. Staring up to the sky, he noticed the moon shining down on the pair. "I guess I was tired of running away all the time."

"So maybe your special talent isn't running away," Shriek said.

Blue turned his head to her and smiled, staring into her eyes. "And maybe your special isn't being such a loner after all."

"See guys, I told ya!" Barley shouted, suddenly before the pair with a full night guard force backing him up. Pointing to Shriek and Blie while hopping eagerly, he said, "They are an old married couple!"

Quickly the two cadets got to their hooves, Shriek snapping her wing back to her side while Blue looked away with an embarrassed blush appearing on his cheeks.

"Barley, how'd you get so back quick?" Blue asked, scooting away from Shriek.

"Guess who he ran into," Captain Nightblaze said, walking through the group of guards who parted out of his way.

"Cap?" Blue said. "But I thought you were doing inspections!"

"He currently still is," said a very prissy looking unicorn that stood next to the captain. Nightblaze stared at the unicorn official with deep contempt, but kept his mouth shut. The inspector took out his checklist and looked over it. "We were just in the process of checking out the border guards of the city walls when your teammate alerted us of... this."

The trio looked back at the large group of defeated thugs, then back at Nightblaze.

"So... we're in trouble?" Blue asked.

"On the contrary..." Nightblaze broke out into one of his rarely seen grins. "You managed to apprehend one of the notorious gangs in Canterlot. You wouldn't believe how many hours and work has been used to track these guys down. And hey, you even have their leader!" Nightblaze glanced at Scarlet, grimacing when he got a look at the large gash still bleeding on her cheek. "In less than stellar conditions, but still, nice job Alpha squad!"

The cadets stared at their captain with utterly shocked expressions all around. None of them had ever thought they'd actually hear the words 'nice job' and 'Alpha squad' used in the same sentence.

"Looking over the events of tonight and the commendable job of one of your cadet squads managing to take down a criminal gang, I can clearly see that you're running your guard force and academy at a qualified enough performance to pass inspections," the inspector said, nodding his head to the trio of cadets.

"So I get to keep my job for another month," Nightblaze muttered, wiping his forehead in relief. "That's a relief."

"We'll see," the inspector said, departing from the group.

"You heard that, mates?" Barley asked his teammates. "We did good!"

"No doubt," Shriek agreed, hoofbumping Barley's out reached hoof.

"Shut up!" Nightblaze commanded, the squad immediately standing to attention. "Cocky cadets make for poor guards. While you did good, you're still at the bottom of the academy list for performance. Which means I'm not going to let you guys up by a long shot."

Alpha squad all did a simultaneous, "Awwwww."

Looking at their wide eyes and quivering lips, Nightblaze looked deep into his heart and realized how much he really didn't want to deal with the squad for the rest of the night.

"Fine, fine, you get the entire night off," Nightblaze finally grumbled, turning his back to the three as they happily cried out in glee. "The shit I have to put up on a nightly basis with these cadets... ugh."

"So, cadets, where do you wanna celebrate?" Blue asked.

"I do believe someone made a bet earlier about a certain loser paying for drinks at the pub," Shriek reminded him.

"Free booze!" Barley blurted, tongue practically hanging out of his mouth like a dog. "I'm gonna get plastered off the good stuff!"

"Oh... heh, about that..." Blue gulped as he felt his neck prickle when Shriek unsheathed her claws right underneath his adam's apple. "I'd be glad to buy drinks!"

So the three cadets departed to spend the rest of the night in hazy, alcohol-fueled merriment. Well, at least two of them did. It was said later in the night when the tab came in and the mountain of mugs Barley managed to drink through finally reached the ceiling, Blue went to go cry in the corner. At least Shriek got a good laugh out of it.