Reddling woke up early the next day, a little wet spot of the fruit juice and his own drool soaking the pillow. Today was a new day, or rather, a new night, and a chance for him to set things right. He’d been glad to learn the direct sunlight at noon didn’t cause him to become a pile of ashes, although it felt uncomfortably warm. He'd slammed his helmet on and lowered the visor to keep his eyes from melting, but they still burned slightly in the light.

The daylight hours around the camp produced a feeling akin to a sleepy hamlet. The lack of activity made it a perfect time for Reddling to practice the flying that he’d missed out on the night before. His wings left him feeling oddly off balance and weird, but after a few flaps he was strong enough with them to get off the ground a few inches. The feeling of being airborn brought a small moment of happiness to Reddling that he couldn't really name as he watched the grass below him travel away as he flew forward, getting closer and closer until he fell face first into a pile of dirt.

Undeturred, Reddling turned towards the roof of his building with a sparkle in his eye as the sun beat down on his back from above.

Several hours of frustrating work gave way to little progress. As the noon sun gave way to an early midday, Reddling found himself barely able to jump and violently flap his wings hard enough to rest his hooves on the roof. The wingwork was quickly becoming an upper body workout as he repeatedly lifted himself the rest of the way onto his roof before jumping back down to earth and repeating the same process again.

Each time that Reddling found himself on top of his room it was exciting to see the whole complex. Unfortunately, it also served sore reminder that he was far away from actually being able to fly. The sun was not yet ready to begin setting when he found himself back inside, but the day had more than taken its toll. The sun felt draining, like somepony had put a straw into his neck and sucked the life right out of him in broad daylight.

I guess that’s why they tell you not to go out after dark. There are lots of monsters, and they tend to take the oddest of forms sometimes. Reddling laid back on his bed, tossing the thermos onto the floor and rolling up in his covers. He missed laying on his side, and it was suddenly making a lot of sense to him why pegasi chose to live in the clouds- not being able to sleep on your side without discomfort for your whole life would suck.

As the edges of his vision started to darken, Reddling couldn’t help but ponder the oddity of wings. Wings, be they covered with skin or covered with feathers were more than just tools of flying, they were a symbol. They symbolized being fully the master of your own world. Pegasi could swim, they could fly, and they could run. Reddling had never considered bat wings to be the same, but they were to him a sound replacement. If the whole world was bat ponies and Pegasi, then everypony would be happy. But there are no Pegasi in Silverfield.

---

Shapes shifted all around him, pressing themselves into form. Here and there a shadow doubted itself, throwing it’s nonexistent mass directly at the evening sun. Silver grass took form, comforting the still warm earth near the remains on an old castle. Reddling watched the castle with a homesick eye, looking down a rolling hill at his workplace and home.

The light was not scorching him, but at the same time he could not shake the feeling that he didn't belong here.It felt very wrong for him to be out in the sun, and even more foreign for him to be home.

Steeping forward, Reddling instantly found himself tracing his hoof over rough stones jutting out of the ground, whipping his tail at the various debris or construction supplies resting under tarps. Another step, and the entire castle seemed to move by like a blur until the throne room presented itself. The room lacked any grandeur, any splendor that might have impressed visitors had faded to the halls of time. At the back of the room sat a large stone throne that seemed to be ancient. On the left was a smaller throne, and to the right was the most well kept, albeit the smallest, of the thrones. Several cushions had been thrown onto the seat, and a small earth pony was sitting there, flipping through the pages of a large tomb and mumbling to himself.

Edging himself forward Reddling looked over his own shoulder at the book. All the text seemed to be melted together into something he couldn’t recognize. His younger self giggled, then uncomfortably reached behind himself and rubbed his back. When the hoof found its way back to the page, the colt drew his hoof across the page and left a smeered streak of red.Blood continued to leak out of the book, dripping onto the throne, cushions, and finally the floor with a soft patter like raindrops.

---

"No!" Reddling sat up with a horrible gasp, grappling with his covers and pillow, biting and punching them in vicious effort to throw off his fabric assailants. Reddling finally found his way above the covers just in time to topple onto the ground, landing on his wing with a groan while somepony knocked twice on his door.

“Hey! You awake?” Came a somewhat familiar voice, but he couldn’t make out who it was through the fogginess of sleep and his total disregard for learning the names and faces of any Equestrian around him, much less their voices.

his confusion at the voice quickly shifted to panic as the words sat in and he jumped to his hooves, running over to the armor sitting ready to be put on. hastily attaching the plates and cloth to his body, Reddling looked over his shoulder and yelled at the door, “Yeah, yeah! Just let me finish armour stuff!”

Dammit, you puked on the first day, and now you’re late on the second day? They’re going to kick me out at this rate. Reddling thought as his helmet rolled on the ground and he flung open the door, ready to toss a salute at whoever had decided to call on him.

“Wait, it’s okay, it’s still daytime!” came the voice, although the second part of it was drowned out by a screech of pain that echoed horribly around the room and the outside area. Reddling threw himself behind the door, cowering away from the sunlight as his mind seemed to cook itself from the broiling heat in his eyes. “Oh shoot, you didn’t- ah!” Reddling heard the pony walk in and shut the door behind them. Their step was light, and had it not been for the click of their armor, Reddling wasn’t even sure he would have heard them come in.

“You okay?” Reddling finally recognized the voice as that of Web, the pony who had brought him the juice before… and the same pony who had watched him puke his guts out behind some bleachers. Removing his hooves from his eyes, Reddling stood up with his eyes sealed shut and snapped to attention, facing what he hoped was where Web was standing.

“At ease.” Web replied. Reddling could feel her eyes watching him as he relaxed. He slowly opened his eyes to look at her, blinking to get shapes to stop blocking parts of his vision. “But seriously, are you okay? The stupid sun sucks until you get used to it.”

Reddling felt his head operate automatically. “I’m fine.” He said. Web herself lacked a helmet, but did not seem to be in any way affected by the sun.

“Did you talk to the Princess?” Web queried. Reddling stared stupidly at her, his heartbeat picking up as he memorized every feature of her face. she seemed to him to be one of the most classic bat ponies he'd ever read about, a true specimen of the night.

“Yes… Yes, er, ma’am.” Reddling corrected himself. Web leaned in, her amber eyes meeting his in a personal way he had not felt the previous day. It was a moment Reddling instantly decided he would never forget. Somepony might have found her eyes alluring, but for him they were frightening. They were mirror-like oval plates that reflected his own eyes brightly back at him, which had altered their shape and become somewhat more misty than he remembered. Despite the eagerness Web displayed in getting information from him, there was something wrong about her. In the same moment she seemed to draw him in with some sort of bat-like charm, but in the same notion he felt utter repulsion and unrequitable fear.

“Well?” Web leaned in further, tilting her head at him as she stretched out her word. “What did you decide? I assume you’re sticking it out, since you’re still here.”

You think that I would turn my back on my honour? On my only goal in life? That I’d forget my revenge, my cutie mark, and my destiny? I mean, this is what my cutie mark is- “Yeah, I’m staying.” Reddling said, keeping his voice completely neutral and emotionless.

Web was silent for a moment, just looking at him with those large amber eyes before she leaned back. “Well you don’t sound very- excited. Or interested… Something still bugging you?”

“Excitement can lead to making mistakes, I’m honoured to still be here despite my miserable performance last night.” Reddling replied.

“Well, Yeah. About that! Since you missed last night, I thought I’d get you out early and show you around.” Web said casually, leaning against his bed and picking up his helmet from under his desk, where it had rolled to a halt.

You want me to spend time with a random Equestrian, in the searing pain of the burning sunlight while wearing a dorky helmet? “Sounds good, uh, just lemme finish putting my armor on.”

“Yeah, of course.” Web said, offering him his helmet. Reddling put it on and checked the rest of his armor to make sure it was in order before going to his knife and picking it up from where he had thrown in the night before. Belting it on, he turned to Web again.

“Ready?” She asked, scanning his armor over as Reddling nodded.

The sun outside was unpleasantly warm as it had been before, although thankfully his eyes were not burning away this time. Web herself was looking straight down at the ground, her eyes squinted nearly shut.

“Anyway, this is where everypony lives. Training field’s there. You know that.” Web said, and Reddling returned her statement with a nod. Somehow Web must have noticed it, because she turned towards a few larger buildings. “We’ve got officer’s quarters, staff and command headquarters, a commissary, and a nice little bar for winding down.” Web looked up slightly, shooting him a fangy smile, but Reddling only nodded. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk, but he felt the more he spoke the more likely somepony would laugh or question his accent- or even worse, just simply not understand what he said at all.

“You hungry?” Web asked, turning both of them towards a medium sized building. “You haven’t had anything aside from that stuff I brought you, have you?” They both stepped inside the dimly lit building as Reddling shook his head no.

“I just assumed I could suck blood or something.” Reddling blurted out as he took off his helmet inside the building. Shuttering his eyelids together briefly before looking at Web, he was prepared for her to slap him at making such a general stereotype.

Turning to face her, Reddling saw that Web’s mouth was gaping at him. After a moment she burst out into a squeal of laughter. “Oh drink blood, that’s hilarious!”

Reddling rubbed his neck and frowned at her, running his hoof along the bite marks there. “Fine, bad joke.”

“Oh, uh, were you serious?” Web asked, her laughs repressing themselves into quiet snickering.

“They bit me.” Reddling said sourly, his mind dwelling on the thought. Everything around him seemed to shift out of focus for a second, colours distorting as the errie thoughts of his own insanity provoked themselves. Somepony bit me, and I have no idea who the bat was that sired me, but I’ll get revenge for this…

“-rough, but that’s just how it works.” Web said, Reddling only catching part of what she told him. “Most ponies do kind of get… freaked out at that part. That sort of thing is how all those nasty rumors about bat ponies get started. No, we don’t live on blood and stuff. We eat the same stuff ponies do.” She looked at him in the eyes with her same repulsing allure, “Mostly!”

“Mostly?” Reddling questioned. I see, so you just look like monsters. I guess that makes you a little more acceptable.

“We’ll get to that later though. Seriously though, breakfast?” Web asked. Reddling looked at the early evening light filtering through the blinds.

“It’s dinnerti-“ Reddling stopped, once again feeling his mind grow sour as his mouth gave an involuntary twitch. Bat ponies… “-Yes, sounds… nice.”

“Well come on then.” Web said, waltzing into the mess hall, which looked as though it could not sit more than two dozen ponies maximum. The place was totally empty, which suited Reddling fine since he was not one for company, although the serving counter also seemed to be totally empty as well.

“They seem closed.” Reddling commented, putting his helmet down and rubbing his chin. It’s dinnertime, this place should be packed- …bat ponies… they’re all bat ponies…

“Nah.” Web said, walking up to the counter and bellowing. “HEY, TIME TO WAKE UP, PONIES!” Reddling edged away to the door, grabbing his helmet and putting on a shocked face. Maybe if I act like I just got here, then it won’t look like I have to have special treatment for being less competent.

After a few moments, an earth pony poked his head out from the kitchen, looking out at Web. “Damn it Web, you’re not supposed to be up for another hour.”

“My friend had a late morning and an early night. Got anything ready?” Web asked as Reddling re-approached the counter, somewhat sad she had not thought of something else to say.

“All the cold stuff.” The earth pony said, looking over at Reddling. “What’cha want?”

Part of Reddling wanted to ask the earth pony for blood just to see what would happen, but finally defaulted to looking at Web for an answer. She just turned her head to look at him and giggled.

“Uh, hm… Uh, food. Good food…?” Reddling managed, eyeing the earth pony.

“Out here, all we have is crap food.” The earth pony said sourly.

“Fruit?” Reddling offered.

“Fruit it is.” A plate of apples, pears, and a mango landed on the counter, rattling and shaking a bit as it came to a stop in front of Reddling. He couldn’t help but nod in agreement with the earth pony about the crappy food. Somehow, the Equestrian cuisine had not lived up to his homeland, and had even served to make him sick for the first few weeks that he had been in the lands.

“Cold oats, mangos, and some hay, dearie!” Web called to the earth pony. Grunting, the earth pony actually brought out the plate and offered it to Web before turning back to his work. Web grabbed the tray and balanced it on her head as she waltzed to a table, skillfully dropping it off and sitting down. Reddling found himself sitting across from her, setting his helmet and plate down before looking down at the mango. The earth pony grumbled something unintelligible as Reddling poked the mango, trying to make out what sort of food they were trying to kill him with. Despite the fact he had eaten very little lately, he didn’t feel hungry at all, and Web was doing little to build his appetite across the table.

Web had instantly attacked her mango, shredding it’s skin with her teeth and fangs before ripping at the soft fleshy inside, flecks of juice covering her face and the table in front of her. Reddling picked up and apple and stuck it on his fangs before sucking, trying to see if he could draw any juices out of it. His fangs easily pierced it’s skin, letting it’s delicious juices seep out as he sucked in, drawing out the life from the tasty fruit. After a few loud slurps, the apple was little more than a limp, shriveled husk, hanging onto his fangs.

“So, why’d you sign up?” Web asked as Reddling took his knife out, discreetly using it to slice up his pear and remaining apples. He slowed his cutting only slightly as he thought of some sort of excuse to give her. Reddling was silent as he attacked his fruit, not meeting Web's gaze. He knew exactly why he’d signed up, but of course he could not tell Web that.

“Shrimp beat those other ponies, so here I am.” Web herself took out a small knife as he talked. It had a small spider made of jade inlaid on the handle, and seemed to be of very fine craftsmanship, although not as nice as his own knife. She wiped the blade on cloth before she cut an apple into bits.

“Could I borrow that cloth?” Reddling asked, holding out a hoof carefully.

“Uh… hehe, no, let me get you your own…” Web said distantly. She searched a small pack on her side for another cloth and drew it out. After examining it for a moment, she deemed it satisfactory and slid it over to him. Reddling quickly cleaned off his knife and put it away, storing the cloth in a small pouch on the inside of his armor. Web turned back to him, continuing with her thought.

“Well, yeah, you were good enough to get in, but that doesn’t really explain why you signed up.”

I need a good excuse, but not a lie, I bet these bats can taste lies. “Uh, I saw a notice. I read it, and decided I’d show up. That’s all, Ma’am.”

“Wait, so you didn’t know what you were doing and just signed up?” Web asked.

“I read the contract, and I agreed to it. I don’t remember getting bit in there, but as it goes.” Reddling’s mouth twitched as he finished, recalling the look on Ironhooves' face as he told him to go home, and they wouldn’t kill him.

“Oh my goodness no wonder you were freaking out! Most ponies sign up because they’re super passionate about the Night Guard, or want to start again with a new life, or are after the prestige and honor and mystery and all that- and you just walked in and went for it?

“Yes, I walked in, and the eq- the other ponies decided to use swords. I was one of the first to finish the… test. Here I am.” Reddling said, quietly comparing the smug Equestrians to the backwater Silverfieldian he had known in his young life.

“I’m kind of surprised you stayed, given how badly you were taking it last night. I guess your talk with Princess Luna helped… Well, we’re glad to have you with us.” Web said, examining an apple slice before she took a bite from it. Reddling said nothing and quietly tackled his food, trying to finish it before she had time to ask him many more questions.

“So, where you from? Never heard anypony who talks like you. The way you roll the rrrrrs.” Web mimicked. Reddling dropped his mango onto the plate, where it clattered around with the other remaining fruit.

“Ah! Uh, I’m not from around… uh, far away, pretty far south.”

Web looked at him for a moment, chewing an apple slice before swallowing. “Ah, I see. I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. Someponies have a past they’d rather leave behind. If you feel more comfortable about it later, feel free to talk about it. I won’t press you.”

No, it’s not that… “I’m not hiding anything… there is just nothing worth knowing. What about you?” Reddling asked, hoping to change the subject away from himself. Web replied with a half choked sound threw an apple slice. “Where are you from? If you want to say that is.”

Web swallowed and spoke slowly. “Up north. Had some trouble with some things, and had to go. Joined up with the army for a bit, and saw this as a change to start all over.” She shot him a smile full of her fangs again. “Working out pretty well so far.”

“Okay.” Reddling said pointedly, turning to his food as the earth pony began bringing out hot food and setting it up for serving. The other bats began pouring in, some of them looking over at Reddling and Web before focusing on the most important meal of the day.

“Hey, since you missed last night, want me to give you some tips before tonight? We’ll get you in the air and you can catch up, no problem.” Web asked him as he stood up.

“Uh, okay.” Reddling said, standing up with her.

“Alright then, one moment.” Web dropped the cloth she had used to clean her knife on the ground and produced a small match. She lit it in an instant and dropped it on the cloth, watching it burn quickly before stamping out the flames.

“Okay!” Web said.

Reddling pointed at the cloth. “Uh, should I?”

“Nah it’s fine now.” Web said.

Well, that isn’t strange at all! What was that even about…?

Outside, Web gave a quick rundown of the wing’s functions. She described all of the different parts as well as how to flap properly, the best ways to keep balance, and how to use legs to point yourself in the correct direction. While the explanation was very quick, it was effective enough for its uses.

“How far behind am I? Will I be up to scratch for tonight?” Reddling asked as they finished and the other bats began to leak out onto the field.

“Hmm, yeah. You’ll be alright.” Web said, and Reddling nodded, giving her a verbal thanks as his mind began to twitch. Everything had felt wrong today, from enjoying a meal with her to the personal lesson. The very idea of thanking an Equestrian for something like this seemed absurd, although Silverfield had done him no favors in preparation for this.

Training was spent in silence on Reddling’s part as he angrily lashed his inner feelings out at his homeland and the unfairness of such a place. Flying was hard, but when he found himself actually airborn for the first time, the feelings of joy were almost too much to keep inside. Still, Reddling breathed in cool night air and did not allow himself to betray anything to the other bats learning to fly beside him.

When midnight arrived, Web ordered that they land and go have lunch. Reddling took a seat over by the stands, looking out at the practice field and resting his tired wings. A green pony walked by and looked over at him shyly.

“You coming?” he asked. Reddling turned his head to glare at the fellow bat, considering his reply.

“Not hungry.” Reddling said. The green bat stood there for a moment, eyeing him bizarrely at the pronunciation of his words, but eventually shrugged and took off the join the others. Reddling found something peaceful about the night, he always had. It was a great time to meditate and clear his mind. Something about the serenity of the stars and cool wind seemed to keep the voices in his head at bay, even if it was only for a while. It was a crisp, cold clarity of thought found only at this time of day.

---

After practice everypony hit the showers. They were all competent fliers by the end of the night, but it was clear that Web and the green bat who had spoken to Reddling at the stands were far superior to rest of them. While the others gave each other idle banter and good natured teasing about training, Reddling found himself slinking out of the showers area and towards the mess hall. He’d considered drinking his own blood for fuel, but the redundancy of such a move soon registered with him as he pushed open the doors to the mess hall.

The earth pony was right where he had been left in the afternoon, lazily sitting behind the counter waiting for something to happen. “Do you have anything quick?” asked Reddling.

“Got some hay fries that should be fast.” The earth pony offered.

Reddling nodded to him. “Can I get that and a mango?”

“Yeah sure.” The earth pony quickly slopped together a plate and slid it out to Reddling, who nodded thanks to him and then went to hurry through his meal. While he had the mango dead and dry pretty quickly, it didn’t take long for the green bat to arrive. Reddling payed him no heed and just stuffed his mouth full of hay fries before tossing the rest of his food into a bin and leaving for his home. The green bat looked like he wanted to say something as he raised a hoof, but Reddling was already gone, leaving the pony to look down in dismay. The sky outside was starting to change colours and become brighter, but they were no trouble as every little home here seemed to be locked down with boards over the windows and blinds brought down all the time.

Reddling quickly let sleep find him when he returned to his quarters, although rest itself was out of the question. He tossed and turned all night, having various dreams about being told to turn back and go home by the commanders. Many of his dreams faded as soon as he awoke, but they were only to be overtaken by more dreams that took root as soon as he passed into dreamland again.

In the morning, he found his pillow damp again, although it wasn't from drool this time.

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