The next morning proved to be a groggy one. Reddling had quickly taken a sip of Black Agnosia before opening Midnight’s book once more, hoping to get a good morning and day of reading in before sleep, but the drink had knocked him out in about a minute. His face had spent the night pressed to the paper, and the awkward sleeping position had left him feel sore. Whatever unholy ingredients Web had been put into the mix, it was more potent than she had cared to imply.

Each morning for the next week, Tops had tried to start a conversation with Reddling, and each time Reddling had ignored him. When Midnight asked if he was okay, he would simply wave it off or get up to leave. Sparing sessions continued to be Midnight and Reddling dueling, while Nightshade and Tops caught up on how to use new weapons they selected with Lunar. Tops had taken a pair of claws- which he wore everywhere now- as well as a lance which hung deftly on his back, while Nightshade had opted to change in her short sword for a longsword. Although Reddling was curious to find out how skilled the two of them were, his desire to keep himself safe from the monsters was more repulsive.

Reddling had finally been able to settle into life as a bat, just as the rest of his friends had. Evenings were spent at the bar with Bruiser as he and Reddling swapped small talk, occasionally with Midnight joining them. Tops and Nightshade spent much time alone together, usually with one wrapping a wing around the other as they practiced their heathenistic magic training. It had become easy for Reddling to nearly forget why he had ended up in the Night Guard in the first place, but every time he sparred with Midnight or Lunar, it came back as a stabbing memory that in the end, these ponies would be his enemies.

---

Winter was setting in now, and a light dusting of snow had come to the mountaintop. The dayponies still played out in their warm sun down below, soaking up the last rays of an odd summer. Reddling had remarked to Midnight that is was extremely odd the leaves did not change colour until the day before Winter, but Midnight had assured him this is how it had always been. So just as it had always been, Saturday morning marked the end of the week and began like every other day for Reddling as he trotted into the mess hall. With the except of Web, all of the others were already seated, eating their food with gusto. Web was still cleaning off her knife as Reddling appraised the foods, the earth pony smiling over the sneeze guard at him.

Reddling’s head snapped up at the earth pony. “Smiling? What did you do to my food?” Reddling demanded heatedly. In all the months that he had been here, the only other time he remembered the earth pony smiling at him was right before he served up literal firewater.

“Good morn- nothing, geez. Mango and hay?” The earth pony offered. Reddling nodded as they slid a tray to him, which he took carefully before heading to the table. As soon as he sat down, Tops slid over, looking at him from across the table.

“Morning, Reddling.” Tops said hopefully, trying to catch his eye. Reddling gave the ever so slightest nod as he looked over at the earth pony. He munched carefully on his apple, but did not swallow as his other eye looked at Web. She had finished cleaning her knife and sliced up an apple, but had now discarded her third slice, deeming it unfit. Reddling felt his jaw freeze up as he slowly spat the flesh of the apple back into itself, setting it down.

Picking up a fourth slice, Web sniffed this one, examining it intimately. Slowly looking up from the slice, she locked eyes with the earth pony for only half a second before the earth pony lowered its head. Reddling pounced up from the table, a hoof on his knife.

“What did you do to the food?” Reddling demanded of the earth pony. The others all looked shocked, with the exception of Web, who stood up and flipped the table quickly, running at the earth pony as a burst of green fire flew across the room. Reddling threw himself away from the fire, smacking into the wall as he drew his knife and shoved it into his mouth instinctively.

Web had ducked down against the serving counter as the green fire rammed into the table, causing it to go up in flames. Reddling looked over from the scene of food and broken wood flying everywhere to see the earth pony, only the creature before him was no longer the earth pony he knew. Instead, there was a long, gnarled horn protruding from its forehead, right above two buggy blue hue'd eyes. The creature was glowing with some energy Reddling could not make out beyond being a blue wispy cloak that hung to a growing black carapace that was replacing it's fur. Kicking at the serving counter, the creature made a break for the kitchen.

Web was already ahead of everypony, galloping out from under the serving counter and chasing her prey. She took only a moment to slam her blade back into its cover before whipping it back out again, the steel glistening with liquid. Bruiser, Midnight, and Nightshade were also heading for the kitchen, but Tops had made a break for the front door.

Steeling himself, Reddling ran after Tops. Tops wasted no time in getting into the air, flying towards the rear exit with his claws out. With a chance to exercise more room, Reddling slammed his knife away and drew out his sword, flying after the green pony in hopes they could both cut off the monster. Before they could reach the exit however, the blue bug had burst into the fields and was galloping away. No longer did the creature hold any visage of a pony- instead it was some sort of mangled animal covered in a jet black and shiny carapace with a twin set of gossamer wings. At seemingly random points in its mane and legs there were large potmarks that seemed to go all the way through the creature's body.

The creature looked up with slitted, glowing blue eyes that shined in the darkness. Aiming it’s horn at the exit, there was another blast of magic that hit the doorway, lighting the building on fire and sending small chunks of wood flying. When the smoke cleared Web darted from the embers. She seemed to be totally unharmed, and there was a look of anger and glee on her face as she spread her wings and lunged for the creature.

The monster darted and strafed it's way through the field, raising its horn and then swinging it through the air, leaving a deadly green arc of magic flying at Web, Tops, and Reddling. Reddling and Tops simply waited for an opening as they watched Web battle with the creature. If Reddling blinked, he found he would miss one of their movements- Web was far faster than he had given her credit for, and the event against the Diamond Dogs looked like childsplay compared to her movements now.

Midnight, Bruiser, and Nightshade burst from the burning building as Tops lowered his lance, diving down at the creature. Tops came close, but his lance missed, digging into the ground and sending him facefirst into the dirt. He rolled away for a quick recover however, preparing his claws for fighting. There was little stopping the creature from getting away as it ran towards a chain link fence, the only barrier between it and the forest. Reddling felt panic rise in his chest as he saw the situation turning quickly against his friends. Midnight and Bruiser were unable to touch the creature with its speed, while Nightshade had produced some manner of sick lighting that surrounded the area, flying at the monster. Despite any magic that connected with the creature, it seemed unscathed, still working it's way towards the fence as it dodged Web's strikes.

I'm trained to sneak! To wait in the shadows for my target, not rush headlong at it- but I guess now I don't have a choice. Reddling took his sword in his hooves and bent it over his shoulder in between wingbeats, throwing it down at the ground. The bastard sword hurled through the air and actually cut off some of the beast's mane as it stopped short. The bug wheeled back and flew into the air, hissing at the blade as it turned up to face Reddling. Drawing his knife, Reddling prepared to grapple with the creature, but it only continued to fly at him. They collided mid air, smashing painfully together as they wrapped their limbs around each other, fighting to stay airborn as they fell towards the ground. Reddling felt his knife knocked away before he could slice the creature open, and then the pain of his neck ripping splattered his world in red.

The world was full of many echos as Reddling felt himself smash into the ground with a loud crash, plumes of dust rising around him as he fought to his hooves. The bite was far from lethal, but Reddling could feel his world starting to ebb away at the edges of his vision. The monster had already made it over the fence, but had stopped now, and was smiling at Web.

Reddling had to stop when he heard it speak, for it's voice had a dissonance with it's appearance. The voice was like a musical, keeping every word lyrical, but the pitch was piercing, almost like the sound of crystal shattering. “Attend to your companion, Black Widow, If you’d like him to survive!” Reddling tore his knife from the ground and ran at the creature, running right into the chain link fence and falling over as the world around him warped. It felt like strands of reality were being pulled away one by one, stealing the angles and sides of shapes, leaving the colours of the world to swim together. Everything felt was suddenly sluggish as he pulled up to his hooves, running forward before landing back on his side, blinking at the nonexistent fence in front of him. Memories blurred together as he got up once more, trotting stupidly into the fence again. To his side, Web screamed something he could not understand. He felt two sets of forehooves grab him as he tried to move after the creature, which was now vanishing into a swirl of uncontainable paints mixing together.

“I said DISENGAGE!” Web screamed angrily, turning away from the monster and facing Reddling. Her face was quickly slipping away as sounds became more and more distant to him. “Midnight, Bruiser, get him to my quarters, now! And you two, there was something in the food, find it! If you feel ill, get to my quarters. Go!”

Reddling angrily shoved away from Midnight and Bruiser. Web’s words were not making sense, but he knew what he had to do- get to her quarters, and she’d do something; Web could protect him, Web would make him better, because Web took care of him. Midnight howled as Redding punched him in the upper region of his swimming shape, galloping between the shifting worlds in front of him. The earth did not seem to have gravity now, or perhaps his body had just become so light that he did not feel its effects.

There was a tingling feeling in the back of Reddling’s head, and he felt his neck catch fire as he pushed into Web’s quarters. The last sound he could hear over his own screaming was the clatter of hooves and the nonsensical words of Web’s voice. One last time, Reddling heard Web say something to him, mixing with a host of other voices he could not remember as he fell into the darkness of his own sleep.

---

Slowly, Reddling could feel the pain leaving his body. There was no longer anypony touching him or a biting pain in his neck. Indeed, he seemed to have gone completely numb over his entire body, with no stimulation anywhere. The only way he could reason with the sensation was to be floating, gently drifting away in a pleasant swirl of strange colours and sounds that were all leaking together.

Finally, Reddling found the power to lift a hoof, pushing through the colours and pulling himself up. The world righted itself as he fell onto a grassy field. Looking around him, thick green ichor made itself known as it began to steadily creep towards him. Other than the silver grass and ichor, the place was totally deserted. The world lacked a sky and any true understanding of horizons.

Reddling was not so much scared of touch as much as he was scared of the touch of strange things. The green snakes creeping at him definitely sat right in the middle of the strange things that shouldn’t touch him category. Even as he shrunk away from it, the ichor rose on another side, eventually surrounding him and grabbing onto his hooves. Reddling frantically tried to kick it off or rub it off himself, but the horrible ichor maintained itself in a thick tentacle shape, crawling up his body and constricting his chest. Reddling tried to stab at it, but quickly found he had no knife- nor did he have any wings. His entire body was being crushed to death as he was all alone in a grassy field. Looking up to the nonexistant sky overhead, He let out a cry for help. The only answer he received was a warm vine filling his mouth, blocking out air as it suffocating him.

The entire thing seemed to pulse with his own heart. The liquid was warm and sticky, leaving him with an oddly safe feeling on the inside even as he tried to bite at it. Another tentacle wrapped itself around his muzzle and clamped it shut on the tentacle that was still worming around inside his mouth.

Slowly, the world began to fade as the ichor infected his body, soaking every one of his organs. It oozed into his eyes and left a horrible slimy trail on his throat and lungs. Reddling felt himself sinking into the ground, away from everything as he gave his eyes one last little bat. Despite the impossible odds of it, he was sure that he had heard a voice cry out his name in all of the torture.

There was a sudden pain on his chest as something punched him in tune with the name calling getting louder. Reddling was now quite sure that somepony was calling for him, but he felt like he was underwater, such a long distance away from them. With one final mustering of his strength, Reddling pulled himself towards the voice, and away from the ichor and towards the surface of the water.

The water was icy cold as it hit his face, pouring all over his muzzle, eyelids, and mane. The ichor slunk away from him speedily as he took a gasp of air. There was another pain as he felt somepony punch him in the face, ripping him back into reality with an opening of the eyes.

---

Reddling took a gasp as he found himself in an extremely soft bed. All over he felt his body burning in a fever, everything sweating and balking at the heat to the point that felt chilled. Web and Cobalt were standing over him, looking down. Web’s mane was a mess and she seemed extremely disheveled, although Cobalt simply looked tired. Vials and rags were strewn all over the bed and a nightstand next the sweating figure of Web, who finally leaned back.

The room was Web’s, complete with all of her different projects in their respective jars. Behind her and Cobalt, Reddling could make out his companions. They looked universally ill and weak, as if they had all just defeated some horrible illness. Reddling could not remember much, but he was sure he looked at least as bad.

“What happened?” Reddling blurted. His voice was raspy and weak, and felt like it hadn’t been used in ages. The edges of his throat tore like paper as he drew breath back in.

“Whatever it was, it’s venomous.” Web said, throwing herself back into a large chair and resting, putting a hoof on her head and looking at the mess of a room that she now possessed.

“You’re lucky to be alive.” Cobalt said. Reddling moved his head to the side, staring at Web as his memories began to come into focus.

“It called you by another name… ah,” Reddling found himself unable to recall the words exactly. It had been some sort of spider, but he would be damned if he could remember the name of it.

“A nickname.” Web said. Reddling forced himself to rise, every one of his vitals screaming at him to lay back down.

“The others? Are you guys okay?” Reddling moved his eyes over to the four ill bats propped up against the wall as his vision swam. Cobalt pushed him back down as Web nodded, looking over at the other four.

“That thing put something in the food.” Tops said. “I don’t know if you were joking before, but you were totally right when you accused it.”

“Intuition.” Reddling coughed. “Did we catch it?”

Web spat on the ground before standing again. Her voice was terrifying, and her face was now a mask of sadistic anger, twisting all of her features out of alignment. “It got away… But we’ll fix that.”

“Green tentacles, they were choking and restraining me-“ Reddling tried to rely his dream, but Web cut him off.

“Fever dream. Ignore it.” She put a hoof to her head quickly, groaning. “Ugh, Reddling will be fine. Rest of you, dismissed.”

“I failed everypony out there.” Reddling said lowly as the others filed out. Web looked down at him, brushing her mane back and sighing.

“The food was poisoned too. Slow acting, but it might have been weighing all of you down.” Web turned away from him, averting her eyes to the door. Reddling knew that both of them were thinking about the fact that only the other four had eaten the food, and that neither he nor Web had indulged.

“Nothing gets away from me. Nothing.” Web snarled the last word as she went to the door, opening it again. Her voice was sad and low, almost depressed. “I’m going to take a walk. Reddling, stay down for a bit.”

The door slammed shut, leaving Reddling alone with Cobalt. Reddling only gave her one bitter glance before turning over on his side, extending his wing out and looking at the wall. He couldn’t look at this pony, the pony that had destroyed his friend, corrupted Tops into some monster. She was the one that trained monsters, that made her something like the monster of monsters.

Cobalt’s voice was soft when she spoke, faint and whispering smoothly into the air. “It was very touch and go there. I don’t think anypony but Web could have pulled that off, you’re very fortunate.” Reddling said nothing and ignored the unicorn’s words, still staring bitterly at the wooden wall in front of his face. He imagined that maybe if he glared at it long enough, the wood might start to chip away and maybe he could get some fresh air from outside. “Can I get you anything?” Cobalt was still eyeing him, not leaving the side of his bed despite the obvious attempts of the fevered pony in front of her trying to destroy the wall in front of him with powerful leers.

“No.” Reddling said simply after a few seconds. He shifted his hind hooves and sighed a little in relief as he felt his knife in its sheathe pressing against one of his legs.

“Not even something to drink?” Cobalt said plainly. There was a hint of something deeper in her voice, but Reddling couldn’t make it out.

“Unless you can help make sure I’m never a failure like that again with some magic trick, then leave me alone.” Reddling snarled, continuing to assault the wall in front of him with his eyes.

“Everypony fails sometimes. It’s a part of life- But that’s a lecture I’m sure you have no interest in hearing.” Cobalt’s voice was irritating in Reddling’s ear as he pulled the covers over his head. “Will you be alright by yourself?”

“Yes.” Reddling hissed at her. Cobalt turned to leave, but as Reddling heard her hoof on the door, she stopped.

“…Web must care for you. She’d have left anypony else to die. You should be very careful.” Reddling tried to hold his back, but soon felt the pressure in his skull become too much. He wrapped the covers over his face as he began to sob into the blanket, laying his head against the wall.

It was about an hour before Reddling felt good enough to turn away from his crying and return to staring at the ceiling. Slowly feeling returned to all of his limbs and the fever died back to an acceptable level, but everything still felt gross around him. The covers were damp from his sweat, and everything around him smelled of sick. Before Reddling could lift himself out of his bed however, the door cracked open, with two large ponies stepping inside.

“Oh- Reddling, you are awake.” Midnight said, standing next to Bruiser as they observed the scene. Reddling pushed his mane back quickly, trying to make it look a little more presentable.

“Yes.” Reddling blurbed simply, rubbing away some of the dampness that still clung to his eyes.

“How art thou?” Midnight said, approaching the bedside.

“Fine.” Reddling said simply again, putting no emotion or effort into his word.

“Needless to say, there shall be no training today. Are you hungry? We have determined the food remaining in the mess is safe.” Midnight offered. Reddling just stared at the ceiling, trying to work out if his body needed food or not. It was difficult to tell, what with being sick, however he was sure he was nearly dying of thirst.

“No.” Reddling said, shifting away from Bruiser and Midnight.

“We’ll be hanging out in the mess… arg, this is a huge pile of ponyfeathers.” Bruiser shook his head angrily. “When you’re good enough to stand, hit us up, alright? We wanna make sure you’re okay.”

“…Okay, thanks.” Reddling said, sinking into the pits of his mind again. If it hadn’t been for me going down, then we could’ve won. I went down, and if what Cobalt said was right, I held Web back. I don't understand how that creature moves so fast and got the better of me. I should be stronger and better trained to deal with monsters like that... Monsters that shoot lighting out of the ground, or ones that miss with their lance, or ones with a venomous bite, they are all the same, aren't they?

“-And if you require anything, please do not hesitate to ask. Farewell, Reddling. Pleasant dreams.” Midnight turned away, leaving with Bruiser as Reddling laughed quietly, finding himself alone with his thoughts again. The mind does horrible things someone who is left alone to their own devices after failing, Reddling knew that better than the others. Even the creature he had faced today made a far better assassin than he ever could; had it not been for Web, it probably would have succeeded. All of these thoughts continued to lead Reddling back to the same question- If he hadn’t held Web back, could she have defeated the monster?

But that in and of itself raised an even more alarming question. Why was it here in the first place? That thing was... powerful, and we're just lowly recruits. What does it gain by revealing itself openly to us?

Reddling turned his head as the door slammed open. Web trotted inside and over to the bed quickly.

“Can you stand?” She said somewhat dryly.

“Let’s find out.” Reddling replied. He turned and flipped his hooves out of his bed. His limbs were shaky under him, but he was able to stay on his hooves.

“Lunar’s here with new orders. Get on out.” Web said unhappily. Reddling couldn’t tell what was wrong with her- normally she was bubbly and giggly with him, but now she seemed to be only upset and angry.

She’s disappointed in me. Reddling realized, putting on his armor and knife. When he reached for his sword he found that only it’ sheathe rested there. Thinking back on the blurry details of the battle, Reddling quickly guessed no one had pulled the sword up and just left it there. Belting on the sheathe, he quickly hurried out and away from the seething Web.

Outside Lunar was not in front of the training field like normal, but instead in front of the mess hall. The others had all fallen in and were standing ready as Lunar looked over at Reddling. Hoping into line, Reddling snapped to the same statue position as his companions.

“Reddling, I understand you were poisoned. Are you recovered?” Lunar asked, keeping his eyes averted from the line of recruits.

“Yes, Sir.” Reddling called out.

“Good.” Lunar replied. “Venom and poison should not be taken lightly.”

Yeah, tell that to Web. Reddling thought, watching as Lunar paced, locking his eyes on the moon overhead.

“You are all being recalled to Canterlot. Training will continue, but you are also to assist in patrolling and safeguarding the city.” Lunar continued to pace with each word, looking frustrated.

There are more issues? Is he trying to say this hasn’t been an isolated incident? Surely they would not call on recruits who haven’t completed training to take on active duty unless the situation was bad.

“A section of the barracks will be quartered off for you. You will be issued more appropriate armor and weapons. Report to Canterlot Training Field at midnight tomorrow for more orders. That is all. The rest of the night is yours. Dismissed.” Lunar turned without another word and flew off.

When Lunar was gone they all stood back, relaxing. Tops looked down the line at Reddling, concern on his face. “Reddling? You alright?”

Reddling gave him the smallest of curt nods before turning away, keeping an eye on the green pony. Tops bit his lip and turned to go, looking like he was almost a bit upset. Reddling found his hooves guiding him back to Web’s quarters carefully. He stopped outside for a moment and breathed before knocking.

“I swear! If SOMEPONY ELSE is dying I am going to bucking kill you!” Reddling jumped back from the door slightly, but stayed outside her door.

“You could’ve left me in the field if that’s what you wanted.” Reddling called back in.

“Oh! Reddling!” the door swung open as Web turned back to cleaning he home. “Come in, come in…”

The room was still a bit messy, but Web seemed to have tackled most of the debris from taking care of sick ponies. Her face was still twitching slightly in anger, but otherwise she seemed to be mostly back to her old self.

“I wanted to thank you for saving my life out there.” Reddling said, blushing slightly as he proceeded to sit against the somewhat more dry sheets on her bed.

“Feh! It’s my job.” Web coughed, still cleaning up her place.

“Then thanks for being here to do your job- you seemed upset, I figured somepony should come check on you.” Reddling said. Web turned, her face twisting into an ugly mask as she looked at him with chilling levels of fury.

“When I get my hooves on that thing I’m going to rip it to pieces. I’m going to make its life a nightmare, I’m going to make it beg me to kill it before I’m finished!” Web’s voice was frantic, like some raving lunatic as the door to their cell was opened and light burned them.

“I guess you won’t be transferring to Canterlot with us then?” Reddling couldn’t hide the disappoint in his voice. He’d been afraid that Web might be leaving, and he was not sure how he could get through a day without her now. There was something… some feeling he couldn’t or didn’t want to name that he kept in the shadows, something bidding him to be around this Equestrian- or as his far less moody mind put it, Web was very pleasing company to him, unlike the other northern degenerates.

“Oh no, Afraid not. I’ve got a job to take care of- eeehehehee!” Web let out a mad giggle of eagerness as she turned back to her work, flicking her tail back and forth. “I’m going to hunt that thing, find it, and end it.”

“Who else is on the hunt?” Reddling asked. Web just smiled back at his concern and laughed.

“Oh, I’ll take care of myself.” Regaining her composure a bit, she waved a hoof. “Thanks for your concern, but I am fine.”

Reddling reached down and fiddled with his change purse, looking in at the crystals that he’d taken on his date with Web carefully, he took one out and set it on the bed absently. “I know you’ll be fine, because we’ve got a date after you kill this thing, right?”

“Yes… of course.” Web looked up, thinking for a moment. “Yeah, I’d be alright with that.”

You’re afflicted with the Nightmare too. That cannot be easy, but it’s going to be okay Web. I know you guys don’t mean to be monsters, it’s just what has happened to you. I’m going to help you- and Tops, and Nightshade! I’m going to cure you and make you better so you don’t have to suffer, and you’ll be free to enjoy life like other ponies. Trust me Web, I’ll help you, I swear! “Do you know who will be in charge of us in Canterlot, or will we be directly reporting to Lunar?” Reddling shook away his mental thoughts and returned to the realm of actual speech. “Also, you better get back quick, or I’ll run out of Black Agnosia."

“Lunar, yeah.” Web said simply. “You’ll survive, Just maybe- Well-“ she let out a tiny giggle. “I’m sure you’ll be fine!”

It’s saying things like that Web, that make me thing I should really be more scared of you than I am. “Let’s not have to find out.” Reddling said dryly.

“Yes, of course… Do you need anything else?” Web said, tossing some empty vials into a wastebasket.

“No, take care of yourself, and hurry back.” Reddling said, eyeing the wastebasket. The vials were sitting right on top, and he was sure he could scoop them up on his way out. Might be useful for storing Black Agnosia if I need to carry it into the field- or if I need to give somepony a little swig.

“Of course…” Web repeated. She turned her back to him, cleaning up the many different potions and ingredients that she had only an hour ago used to save his life. Reddling scooped up the vials as he left, and quickly returned to his room. Once he threw everything into his saddlebag, carefully wrapping the vials in his scarf and storing away the Black Agnosia jar carefully. Reddling realized as he checked all his equipment he had not yet bothered to go retrieve his sword, so he stepped outside to return to the battle sight. Reddling found the blade partially buried in the ground near the smoldering ruins of the back end of the mess hall. Today felt like it had lasted for an age, as if his entire life had come and passed him in a few hours.

---

When at last his thirst was too much to bare, Reddling trotted into the mess hall. Midnight and Tops looked over as he began dumping gallons of water over his face, gargling as he swallowed as much fluid as possible. After he was dripping wet from his mane all the way down his chest, Reddling turned back to the room, with both Midnight and Tops staring at him. Reddling blinked at the situation before him, looking around. Midnight and Tops appeared to be having lunch, but yet the earth pony was nowhere to be found.

“Midnight, Where is our scowling, hateful friend?” Reddling asked, trotting over and leaning forward on the table.

“I- the server?” Midnight asked, clearly taken aback.

“The one that turned into a giant bug and ran out, yeah. Where is the other one?” Reddling said.

“He was- he was that thing, wasn’t he?” Midnight’s voice fell as he uttered each word, a look of terror growing on the faces of all three ponies.

“Oh- Oh goodness, you’re probably right.” Tops said, standing. “Has anypony checked his quarters?”

“You two go check the bar and base exchange, I’ll go to his quarters.” Reddling said, turning an galloping from the room.

“Reddling! Hang on, it could be dangerous, we’re coming with you.” Tops said. Both of the other ponies rose and chased after Reddling as he ignored them, storming to the earth pony’s cabin and rearing back, kicking forward and slamming the door open, leaving it hanging from a hinge.

“EeeewUgh!” Reddling cried out in disgust and covered his mouth as Midnight and Tops peered in from behind. The room was almost completely destroyed. The blinds had all been ripped down, the bed was shredded, and the table broken to pieces. The earth pony was here- suspended to the wall, a thick green ichor clinging to him, encasing him in a strange green slime that held him upright in place, his back flat against the wood.

“Midnight, go get Web.” Reddling said, putting his hoof back down and trotting in. there was nothing remaining in the room of value from the looks of it, everything had simply been destroyed. Tops swore under his breath as Midnight stammered agreement and rushed off to locate Web.

“Hey, can you hear me?” Reddling said to the earth pony. The pony simply stared straight ahead, staring blankly at the mess in front of him. Each eye was fully open and wide, clashing against his paled skin. Reddling blinked at the lack of response. “I stole drinks from the bar when you were gone, I took the bits for my scarf out of the register, and you’re ugly!” Reddling called at the earth pony. The equine did not even blink, remaining completely still in his encasing.

“He isn’t dead, yet anyway- dammit, this is gross.” Reddling said, feeling a hoof onto the earth pony’s neck to take his pulse. The feeling was weak, but the pony was surely not dead.

“Hey! Hey! Wake up!” Tops called to the earth pony. When he received no response, Tops began to pull on the pony. “Help me get him down!”

“Don’t touch him!” Reddling snapped. Tops pulled back quickly, looking slightly frightened.

“We can’t just leave him like this!” Tops looked back at the earth pony desperately.

“So peel him off the wall, then what? Wait for him to get up and start moving around and chewing on us?” Reddling pulled open the earth pony’s drawers as Tops backed up further, aghast and disgusted. With the exception of a few dirty magazines that existed in one of the smashed in nightstands, there was nothing worth noting in the entire room. It seemed that the earth pony was a pony of simple tastes, or at least had been.

“Well, this is something.” Web’s voice said behind them. Tops and Reddling turned as Web strode forward.

“Why did nopony come check on him?” Reddling asked.

“We were a little busy.” Web said without looking at Reddling. Something bitter stung inside Reddling’s chest as he realized why nopony had been able to come check on the earth pony- they had all been too busy keeping him alive to save this poor pony from the fate that now encased him against the wall. Web grabbed the hilt of her knife and with one deft swing, she nicked the muzzle of the earth pony. Reddling waited for the pony to begin frothing at the mouth, but nothing happened. Those same wide, blank eyes continued to stare forward without soul or comprehension.

“Leave him. We’ll deal with him later.” Web turned, leaving the pony right where he was.

“Eh, let’s go then…” Reddling turned for the door, following Web out. Midnight followed, but Reddling noticed a confused- no, it was a concerned look on Tops’ face, as if he wanted to ask a question. However, Tops only bit his lip and looked down, trotting to the door with the other two.

When they were outside, Reddling stopped, and finally turned to Tops. “Tops.”

Tops turned, looking up wearily. “Reddling?”

“What do you want to say to me?” Reddling asked, not making eye contact with the green bat.

“…I dunno. I feel like you’ve been… ignoring me, shunning me, or something.”

Reddling turned away, looking at the ground. His chest gave an odd heave as he laughed quietly, trying to pass it off as a cough. I try not to make a habit of associating with freakish monsters… haha! One of them saved my life today though, didn’t they? Reddling began to trot away as a horrible but pleasurable tugging grabbed at his heart. It was the feeling of shunning somepony, of letting them know just how much you disliked them, how much you could not be around each other.

“R-Reddling?” Tops said, still standing there and waiting for a response.

“I am sure he is simply overwhelmed by the day. Let us go.” Midnight said, but Reddling turned, his face now a terrible picture of cruel twists as he smiled at Tops.

“Hold on- Tops, what race were you before you joined the Night Guard?” Reddling asked, smirking. An evil idea had occurred to him about what their kinship might be.

“…I was an Earth Pony.” Tops said quietly. He seemed a little surprised by the question, but stood his ground nonetheless.

Reddling took the answer in his stride, letting his grin grow slowly. “I’ve just been thinking- trying to figure out why an earth pony has a wing for a cutie mark! Care to solve the enigma?” Reddling grinned at Tops, who was silent for a moment before looking up at him, connecting his lime eyes with Reddling’s stormy grey.

“I always thought- like I was born the wrong race. I don’t know. Like I should have been a pegasi. I’m sure it sounds dumb, but I just always wanted wings. Felt like I should have them.” Tops continued to stare into Reddling’s eyes as he said this, creating some weird tension on the front of Reddling’s skull. It was not a pain, but rather something that seemed to repel him, keep some of his harshness and fury at bay.

“I guess that makes two of us.” Reddling said quietly.

“That’s why you joined the guard?” Tops asked, leaning forward curiously.

“I never asked for any of this, I joined the guard to prove something to myself.” Reddling coughed, not breaking eye contact even as he raised a hoof to his mouth, barely breathing his next words. “Did you ever have odd back pains growing up, Tops? Just a question.”

“No, why?” Tops asked, confused.

Reddling began to snicker, dropping his hoof before he burst out into a fit of highly audible laughter. Tops backed away, looking uncomfortable with the strange pony in front of him. Reddling however, could not care less, for he reasoned that if he didn't ask these things now, he might never get another chance to hear the answer. “Ha, haha! Just curious! And I’m not ignoring you Tops! See, we just had the nicest conversation.” Reddling turned, trotting off as he continued to snicker to himself.

“Honestly Reddling, it doesn’t seem like you’re being all that nice.” Tops said. Beginning to turn to go to his quarters. Midnight stared hopelessly at the scene before trotting back to his quarters as well. Reddling stayed still at Tops comment, looking up at the sky outside his own quarters.

“Is that so?” Reddling asked. A cold breeze swept over the mountain, bringing with it a single puffy cloud that blocked some of the moon’s radiance. Maybe one day I'll regret how I'm acting. You never know what the night can bring.

Before Reddling laid himself down to sleep, he pushed the Black Agnosia aside, grinning to himself as he prepared for an experience. His life had nearly been taken from him, and he planned to stop living for the future, and make the most of the present. Being cruel to Equestrians, abusing substances, murdering royalty, all good choices, but he'd have to take them all one step at a time.

Next Chapter: Inflections Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 27 Minutes