Pale Moonlight awoke with a start, the nocturne mare thrashing around in her bonds, her legs bound with some sort of metal shackles and her wings stuck down with green goo. She stopped struggling and examined her surroundings, noticing that her armour and weapons had been removed, leaving her naked on the floor. She was in some sort of cell; the walls appeared to be changeling in origin, which made sense considering she was captured outside a changeling hive. She tried to bend her neck down, attempting to bite at the cords binding her legs, but she just couldn’t reach.

“You’re not going to be able to bite through them”

Moonlight looked up towards the voice; a changeling soldier was eyeing her through the bars of her cell “and why is that, changeling?” she asked while returning to her task, once again trying to reach the ties

“Because the Humans said that they are made from ‘graphene poly-carbonate’ and they said that it makes them almost unbreakable”

Moonlight once again paused “What’s a ‘Human’?”

The changeling beamed at her smugly, obviously enjoying the fact that it knew something that the Lunar Guard didn’t

“The humans are those tall bipeds you ponies keep on calling ‘Monsters’, I thought you would know, considering The Commander was the one who captured you”

Moonlight shuddered at the thought of the bipedal monster, remembering those unblinking red eyes as it held her up with a single claw. The changeling saw this and grinned, revealing its two long fangs

“Oh bat-pony” it began in a soft sing-song voice “guess who you’re off to meet since you’re awake”

Moonlight’s eyes shot right open “Oh no…”

___________________________________________________________________________________

Chitter was currently very, very annoyed with Chatter, his fellow guard. Chatter had slightly overdone it with the bat-pony prisoner and the mare was currently flailing about fruitlessly in their magic fields as they walked through the prison towards an interrogation room.

“NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!”

“Shut up pony!” Chitter yelled, however this had no effect on the mare, the pony too caught up in its own mantra that it payed no attention to him. Chatter thought differently, finding the whole situation as well as Chitter’s annoyance hilarious, barely able to control the fit of laughter that he had been nursing since they dragged the mare from her cell.

As they passed the multiple cells other prisoners looked out at the spectacle. Over one-hundred prisoners having been captured after the carnage, the fearsome human weaponry that had been strapped to poor Buzz proving to be a devastating device. Its use had not come without a price however, Buzz having lost half his tail before the insane human scientist had put out the fire.

Chitter had not been at the main defensive line, instead he had been assigned to guard one of the many internal tunnels that dotted the hive but that didn’t stop him from hearing about the Commander’s exploits. The insane biped had strode out by himself and confronted the two Princesses of Equestria and survived, not to mention the four-thousand strong army that had been backing up the two deities. He had to admit, he really was glad he wasn’t in the mare’s place right now. The two guards reached the chosen room, placing the still screaming mare on the ground before exiting and shutting the door behind them, leaving the bat-pony alone.

Moonlight stopped her screaming after five more minutes, her lungs unable to keep up with her frantic cries. She lay in the dirt, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, as she awaited her fate. A loud creak sounded from the other end of the room, Moonlight being unable to turn her head to face the noise. Footsteps approached her, and her body began to tremble in fright as they stopped, what sounded like two of the humans beside her and two at the end of the room. The sound of a stool scraping back at the other end indicated that one of the humans had sat down.

“Pick her up out of the dirt Corporals, grab that stool over there” as the voice said this Moonlight felt two metal claws pick her up, Moonlight finding that she had barley any strength left with which to struggle. She was plopped down upon a smooth stool, her bound hind legs out in front of her and her forelegs pressed up against her chest. She examined her surroundings from her new upright position, noticing the two human soldiers on either side of her standing at attention, a white armoured biped examining her closely and at the end of the table sat the Human Commander, his red eyes blazing and the tiara on top of his head sparkling. The sight of the skull faced human made Moonlight’s body freeze in place.

“The subject appears to be afraid, Commander” Spoke the white biped

“Oh really Zarkrof,” The Commander replied sarcastically “I’m so glad that I remembered to bring a Xenobiologist along on the mission, God knows how we’d cope without you”

The ‘Xenobiologist’, this ‘Zarkrof’, let out a huff, the Human Commander’s response apparently upsetting him. Moonlight knew what a biologist was, but she was unsure what the pre-fix ‘Xeno’ meant.

“Continuing on” The Human Commander turned to address her “What is your name, pony?”

Moonlight could not bring herself to answer, too busy staring into those horrific eyes

“Perhaps you should remove your helmet Sir?” One of the humans next to her suggested

“Good idea Corporal” the Commander responded before raising its hands to the sides of its head, the helmet beginning to come off.

Moonlight stared at the Human’s face after it had removed its helmet, completely shocked that it wasn’t half as horrifying as she expected. Instead of baleful crimson eyes the Commander possessed a set of piercing blue irises, his eyes much smaller than a pony. He didn’t have a muzzle, instead a short outcropping of flesh seemed to serve as a nose and a separate mouth was located further down the bottom of his pinkish-white face. He had two rounded ears sticking out from the side of his head, a head which possessed a short cut mane which was a light shade of brown. Moonlight had to admit that the Monster’s face was not that… monstrous.

“So, let’s try again, what is your name?” Questioned the Commander again

Moonlight summoned up the will to answer “Corporal Pale Moonlight of her Majesty Princess Luna’s Lunar Guard”

“Luna, you mean that really loud blue Pegasus-unicorn horse?”

“She is an Alicorn, not a ‘Pegasus-Unicorn’, don’t you Humans know anything” replied Moonlight, slightly put-off about the fact that the Human had just referred to the Princess as a ‘horse’

“Eh, same difference, anyway, we sure seemed capable of defeating your pathetic excuse of an army young Miss”

“Oh yeah, well that was just a quarter of what we have, the Princesses are probably heading back to organise the rest now, so how’s that make you feel?” Moonlight said with a smug look on her face

‘Ha, let’s see how confident he is now!'

“Thankyou Moonlight, I’m sure that information is going to prove to be very useful to us”

Moonlight’s look dropped right off her face, realising that she had just told the humans how many troops they had.

“Excuse me Commander?” Moonlight turned and looked sullenly at the white human, the scientist having also removed his helmet

“Yes Zarkrof?”

“If you are done with the prisoner” Moonlight shivered as the scientist’s eyes traced her form “I would very much like to ask her some questions”

“Go ahead Doctor”

“Thank you Commander, now” Zarkrof addressed Moonlight “Miss Pale Moonlight, would you please tell me what species you are?”

Moonlight shifted in the chair, unsure if she should answer any more questions, however, telling them what species she was couldn’t hurt, could it?

“I’m a Nocturne mare, but everyone just calls us ‘Bat-Ponies’"

“Hang on” the Commander said “You just said ‘everyone’, how come you don’t say ‘everypony’ like the other Equestrians?”

“Well” began Moonlight “us Nocturnes live outside of Equestria, only a few of us live there, serving Princess Luna and that’s mainly because…”

“The Equestrians tend to be quite ‘problematic’ with other species” The Commander finished for her

“Yes” Moonlight felt a little bad admitting it, but she did know that Equestrians did tend to act a little… speciest. Nocturnes did not tend to suffer any abuse, mainly because it took a really stupid pony to insulte a Lunar Guard, but she had heard stories of Minotaurs, Griffons and even Zebras being treated differently by many ponies, it was only thanks to the good relations that the Princesses had fostered with the rulers of those particular nations that prevented Equestria as being seen as mostly speciest.

“Moving on” spoke the Doctor “How was your species created, I mean, you appear to possess traits from both the ‘Equidae’ and ‘Chiroptera’ families”

All the doctor got in response was a blank stare, prompting a sigh from the Commander

“He means you look like a bat got frisky with a pony, reeeaallly frisky” The Commander supplied, raising his eyebrows as he said ‘really frisky’

Moonlight blushed at the insinuation and Zarkrof shot the Commander a glare, a glare that was ignored, the Commander far too focused on Moonlight’s wings that had just shot up straight, breaking through the green goo

“Why did that just happen?” The Commander asked innocently, although Moonlight felt that he knew exactly what it meant

“No-noth-nothing” Moonlight’s blush intensified, trying in vain to force her wings down, the scientist scribbling down notes on a strange pad device which was emitting light

“Really Commander” the scientist commented, still proceeding to take notes regarding Moonlight’s embarrassment “you really don’t have any tact at all”

“Oh, I don’t have tact?” Questioned the Commander as grabbed the glowing device from the scientist, much to Zarkrof’s chagrin

“Let’s see here, diet, social structure, leadership structure- Oh, hello!” the Commander exclaimed, looking towards the scientist “Mating rituals, why Zarkrof, you dog you!”

“It’s purely for science Commander!” the scientist’s blush almost matched Moonlight’s “It is a standard question required by the operating guidelines, it’s merely so we-“

“Calm your tits, Zarkrof, I’m only joking, lighten up a little” The Commander turned back to Moonlight, her wings still fully extended

“Okay, let’s move this line of questioning to the rear of the list, make this a bit more comfortable for everyone” The Commander stated, causing Moonlight to sigh in relief

“Fine then” Zarkrof conceded “How old are you, and at what age are your species considered adults?”

“I’m Twenty-one years of age, and eighteen years of age is considered adult hood, although sixteen is considered the starting age for… your know” Moonlight really didn’t want to finish the sentence

“No, I don’t know, what is the age of sixteen important for” The Commander said, leaning forward eagerly, earning another glare from the scientist

“Sexual relations” Moonlight squeaked

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that” the Commander leaned forward, cupping a hand to his ear

“I SAID SEXUAL RELATIONS!” Moonlight yelled, the stress of the situation getting to her

“Are you alright in there Commander?” One of the Changeling Guards asked through the door

“Just Peachy!” replied the Commander, turning once again to Moonlight, the mare trying to make herself as small as possible.

“I think we’re done here” observed the Commander, feeling a twinge, only the smallest twinge of pity for the embarrassed mare

“But Commander, I still have many questions I want to ask the subject!” Pleaded the scientist

“No Zarkrof, you’ll have plenty of time to question her later, I think it’s time we all took a break, Corporals,” the humans either side of Moonlight saluted “give the prisoner time to recover from her ‘condition’, then take her back to her cell”

The Commander got off the stool, opening the door behind him, before turning around to look at Moonlight, the mare currently fidgeting in her Shackles, wings still out

“Get those cuffs of her when you return her, after all the entertainment she’s given me in this interrogation she deserves a little freedom” He said before walking out the door with the scientist leaving two amused humans and one incredibly embarrassed Lunar Guard behind.