As the ceremony draws to a close everyone is allowed to interact with one another. Breaking off from the parade I make my way over to everyone as they get up from their seats. Running my hand over my chest I take the opportunity to admire the medals more closely. Five medals is a pretty good collection, most soldiers probably wouldn't even earn that many in their entire career as a soldier. Stepping up to everyone all of my squad members give a quick salute which I happily return.

"Congratulations, Captain," Sunny smiles as she steps up to me, "That's quite the promotion. Not to mention you are now in command of the entire guard for Ponyville and the Everfree."

Smirking I look to everyone, "Guarding a forest, sound like a piece of piss assignment."

Twilight makes her way to me, "You may change your tone when you actually look into the forest and do some research."

Shrugging I cross my arms, "It's a forest where the nature fends for itself and the weather isn't manipulated by you lot. Sounds exactly like a forest back home, just need to learn about the local wildlife to determine any threats."

"The Everfree holds many dangers which could come out at any time. Timber wolves, Ursa Majors, Dragons, Manticores and Cockatrices are just a few of the dangerous creatures that reside in."

Looking to the others I take a step back, "Okay so we will have to study up on the local wildlife. If we enter we go in groups and plan routes which the rest will know in case we run into trouble. But enough of that, we can talk about work another time. Let's go and get some grub."

When we walk down the hall we make our way to the doors which will lead towards the grand hall where food and drinks have been prepared. Once I reach the door a guard steps in front of me and salutes, "Sir, Princess Luna has requested that you see her in her chambers."

Looking back to everyone I wave them ahead, "You guys go on. I'll catch up with you shortly."

As they all start to make their way towards the hall I follow the guard as he takes me down a different route leading up the main stairs. Heading along the corridor I looks to all the stained glass windows as we pass them, walking down this particular corridor reminds me of a church back home with all it's illustrations of the bible. Not that I believe in that stuff, I was just forced to go to a Church of England school as a kid.

It takes a good five minutes of walking until I'm lead to the base of a tower. Stopping at the entrance the guard turns to me, "Directly to the top, the Princess instructed that you enter as soon as you get there."

Heading up the spiral stairs I slow once I reach the top. Outside the door leading to her room are two guards stationed there, these guards are unlike any I have seen. The easiest way to describe them would be part bat and part pony. Their eyes look almost lizard like which I can only guess provides them with incredible night eye, an extra tuft of fur stick out from the tips of their ears, their wings are that of a bat and their armour is a dark purple with a blue eye at the centre piece.

Stepping up to them I look closely over the one as I slowly push the door open, "Is the Princess in?"

"Yes, Sir," His voice is much deeper then that of the other guards, when he spoke I swore I could also see fangs.

Stepping in I close the door behind me and begin to look around the first room. It appears to be a study of some sorts, a desk sits in the centre with a large chair situated behind it, the right wall is covered entirely with a bookshelf and fireplace with a liquor cabinet positioned in the centre of the bookshelf. On the left side of the room near the entrance is a pair of sofas facing one another with a coffee table between them. The left of the room has a door which appears to lead into her bedroom from what I can see through the open door. A door on the far wall behind the desk leads onto the balcony with a large telescope positioned towards the end.

Stepping to the open door I make my way through, "Luna?" I don't see any sign of her. Stepping around the room I look closely at her bed, it seems to be styled as a half crest moon amongst the clouds with the sheets having a pattern of the night stars. Various windows are spaced around the room with dark indigo curtains. On one of the far walls is a large walk-in wardrobe and another door which is closed.

Stepping up to the bed I run a hand along the frame as I study the design closer. Behind me, the sound of a door opening grabs my attention. Pivoting I find the room which was closed now has Luna standing in the doorway, behind her I can see that the room was an en-suite bathroom, "John, thank you for coming."

"Of course. And if I may say something, your guards look really badass."

Chuckling Luna steps past me heading towards her study, "I'm glad you approve of them," I follow her through to the study where we both sit on opposite sofas.

"How come you wanted to see me?"

Her horn illuminates bringing over a bottle and two small glasses, "I wanted to thank you again for accepting the medal I presented you, also for accepting the position as Captain."

Shrugging I lean back into the chair, "Heck, I would have been eligible for promotion back home by now if I was still there."

"I wished to discuss that with you, your promotion to Captain," With her magic, she fills the two glasses and passes one to me, "As a Captain, you will obviously have more responsibilities and duties. I hope that won't be an issue for you?"

Swirling the drink around in the glass I look to her, "It won't be an issue, it should keep me busy. Also, I won't have to take shit from Shining, that's a bonus."

Luna raises an eyebrow, "I take it you're not fond of him?"

Scoffing I move forward on the seat, "Defiantly not, he's an asshole."

Luna smirks slightly at this, "Honestly I've never had many interactions with him on a personal level, he is Captain of the Solar Guard after all."

I take a sip from the glass, "You have two bodies of guards?"

Luna nods, "We do, the Solar Guard and the Lunar Guard."

"So those guards outside are members of the Lunar Guard? What exactly are they though?"

Luna drains a sizeable portion of her drink in one go, "They are Thestrals. Guards of the night specialised in nocturnal activities. Following my banishment they left Canterlot and settled within the Haysead Swamp south of Baltimare, they remained hidden until my return where they slowly began to rejoin Equestrian society and fill the role of my elite guards."

"If I'm honest I heard the name before in my world but never knew anything about them, they were just another mythological creature."

"Many ponies believed that themselves when they vanished, it wasn't until they returned that everypony began to remember their culture."

Resting the glass on the table I lean closer to Luna, "So if I am to take control of the area what resources are at my disposal?"

"A local barrack shall be constructed following your specifications, just keep within the budget provided. You will initially have twelve guards based there under your command so you will have to recruit four more guards. You will be provided with standard issue equipment along with rifles and ammunition given to us by the Griffin provisional government. As your guard for the town you will also be responsible for maintaining law and order within Ponyville, so make sure you brush up on Equestrian common law. And finally you will be expected to monitor the Everfree and report anything of note directly to Twilight or to us at the castle."

"About the guards, I wish to have Georg and Janine to join me in Ponyville."

Luna pauses as she looks to me, "The two Griffins? Why?"

"I worked well with Georg, he's a good soldier and a fine addition to my team when we were in the Griffin Empire. I think it would do good to show that Griffins can be trusted within our military units. I don't really care what species they are, after all I am a human in a nation populated primarily by ponies."

Luna ponders this for a moment, "Okay then, just make sure you train them thoroughly."

"Understood, I'd also like to recruit Dawnstar."

"Dawnstar? She isn't even in the military."

"If we are to monitor the Everfree I want someone gifted in magic with the capabilities to easily detect any anomalies. She would work with us as a civilian member of staff instead of a soldier. She may also be helpful in assisting me with developing new weapons and armours for the Equestrian military."

Luna finished off her drink in one last gulp, "Okay, I shall inform her of the position. But if she refuses it will not be forced upon her."

I lift my glass and slowly drain its contents, "Of course, so now I need just two more guards."

"Three more, Dawnstar will not be a guard."

"But she will require pay just like the rest stationed in Ponyville. Instead of recruiting three I will perform the duties alongside those under my command to make it twelve guards including myself and one civilian worker."

"You certainly are unique. Many officers here wouldn't even want to engage in those activities."

Chuckling I rub my hands together, "I'm not a desk jockey, I would get bored doing that. Besides I will leave Dawnstar a portion of the paperwork as part of her role. So now all I need it two more guards."

"My sister and I shall be picking them for you, it only depends on one factor."

Cocking an eyebrow I get up from the sofa, "What's that?"

"Each town or city Guard is assigned to either the Solar or Lunar Guard. You will get the right to chose which one you serve under, based upon that my sister and I have agreed to provide you with two elite guards from that group."

"Does it make any difference which Guard I chose to be affiliated with?"

Luna gets up and moves alongside me, "In all honesty? No it doesn't. You are just expected to take that sisters orders over the others. If you become a Solar Guard you answer to Celestia, if you become a Lunar Guard you answer to me."

Bringing my hand to my chest I tap my Lunar Cross, "Well seeing as you gave me this medal and have always had faith in me I think it's only fitting that I give my units loyalty to you."

A smile rapidly spreads across her face, "Thank you, John. I shall get your guards ready for you, I already have two in mind for you. Now I think you should head back down and mingle, no doubt many will want to congratulate you on your promotion. I shall see you in Ponyville on Nightmare Night."

I look to her with a blank expression on my face, "What the heck is Nightmare Night?"

"It's a festival around the story of Nightmare Moon. Foals collect candy from various places and offer it to Nightmare Moon so that she won't return and eat them. It's a load of nonsense, well I thought it was upon my return. Despite it's initially insulting appearance many of the young ones enjoy the night greatly, so I take part in scaring a few and making a personal appearance."

"So it's Halloween?"

Luna tilts her head, "Halloween? Your world has the same celebration?"

"Halloween is more of a kids thing, dress up as a monster of sorts and go around 'trick or treating' to get sweets. Older kids would go around tricking people by pulling pranks or scaring them."

"Well seeing as you are now a Lunar Guard I shall expect you to be my escort for the night. Now you may return to the celebration downstairs. I shall expect you to also have a costume for Nightmare Night."

Standing up I give a quick salute, "Yes, ma'am," Moving away I head for the door and exit the room where I close the door behind me. What am I? Ten years old? I have no idea what to even dress up as.

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The following day I managed to gather my team at the train station. Everyone had their basic kit with them, well apart from Janine since she wasn't yet in the military so she only had a standard sword. Dawnstar had accepted my proposal and agreed to join us, as we were all gathered at the station she kinda kept to herself. The girls from Ponyville would be returning later in the day, this would allow me to begin planning and preparation for the construction of the Ponyville barracks.

As the train starts to pull up two Thestral mares approach me from behind, their eyes partially closed to protect their sensitive eyes from the sun, "Captain Davies, I am Private Spectre," She has a grey coat with a short cropped jet black mane and tail, her eyes are a pale yellow. Her cutie mark is a full moon surrounded by a light mist.

"And I am Private Shadow," Again her coat is made of grey however her mane is black with a scarlet red streak down the centre, her eyes consisting of a pale red. I can't even tell what her cutie mark is supposed to be, it seems to only be a black blob so from her name I can only guess it is supposed to be a shadow.

Stepping to them I offer them my hand which they initially look to in confusion before they shake it, "First, don't bother with rank unless we are around other senior officers or Princess Luna and Celestia. Just call me John."

Shadow smiles as she turns to Spectre, "About time we got a commanding officer who isn't a snob."

Spectre just returns the gesture with her own grin, "Definitely. It may be our best posting yet."

"Oh I wouldn't say that so soon," Chaser steps alongside me, "John has a habit of bringing a storm down on himself. Only he could attend a small town festival and get attacked."

Chuckling I pat Chaser on the back, "That's what makes being under my command so exciting."

"Yeah, I'd rather not get shot again."

Moving to my vest and helmet I pick them both up, "Why not? It's nothing but fun," Stepping to the train I turn back to everyone, "Let's get to our new job shall we?"

The train journey mostly consisted of everyone getting to know our new members. I was able to learn that Shadow and Spectre were both sisters who joined together and were fresh out of training. Following that I just sat back and listened to what everyone had done with their time off. As you could guess most of them just spent the month back with their family and friends. Chaser decided to try and brag to me about how much tail he got, but following the rule of three it brings his number right down. It's a good thing he doesn't know about me and Spitfire otherwise he likely would have blabbed about it to everyone.

Reaching the station we all disembark, not many ponies are about at the moment which in all fairness is probably a good thing, I can't imagine the sight of a guard unit arriving in a quiet country town is a reassuring thought.

"Form in!" All the guards gets into their positions forming three ranks of four leaving a gap for me at the right hand side at the centre. Dawnstar remains alongside me not really knowing what to do on the order, "Dawnstar you don't need to follow military orders, just follow alongside us," Nodding she moves to the side and watches us intently, "Squad shun!" Everyone snaps to attention and locks their eyes forward, thankfully the day Janine and the others turned up I went over some basic military parade drill so they will know what I expect when I give orders. Some of the Equestrian parade orders were fairly different to the ones I've been trained to follow.

"I have been given information by Princess Luna with regards to our general duties whilst we are based here. We are the new guards for the town and are responsible for upholding the law. On top of that we are responsible for monitoring the Everfree forest and dealing with any threats it may present. Our initial base of operations will be within the town hall, we will remain there until the barracks have been constructed. We are to meet with the mayor to inform her of these plans, so that is where we are heading now," Standing to attention I look over everybody, "Squad will advance! Right turn!"

Everyone turns to their right and bring their left hooves, or paws, down to stamp into the ground. Since they walk on all fours that is the way they have to move to attention. Marching around them I fall into the gap they made leaving me at the front and centre of the squad with the two Thestrals on either side, "Squad! By the centre! Quick march!" As we step off I initially call out the steps to get everybody into time with the marching, since they walk on all fours they will bring down their rear hoof, or paw, on the order given.

As we march through town I'm sure you could image the amount of looks we get. The town is not used to seeing guards so seeing this many in one instance must be quite the spectacle. Occasionally as we march I call out the odd timing and order to turn us down the streets. Approaching the town hall I notice a figure looking out of the window, as we get closer the doors open revealing the mayor and her assistants as they make their way to the steps, "Squad halt!" Taking two more steps we all halt bringing our right legs down. Once stationary I march forward and halt in front of the mayor.

Pausing she looks to the unit of guards behind me, "Lieutenant? What is going on?"

Reaching into my pocket I take out a scroll and present it to her, "Captain, actually."

Taking the scroll she unrolls it and examines the contents. When I look over my shoulder I can see the towns folk gathered around watching with intrigue, I guess hearing about a military unit marching through town spreads quickly. When I turn back to the mayor I wait patiently as she finished reading the scroll, "You are the new Ponyville Guard?"

Bringing my hands behind my back I stand straight, "We are. The Princess will provide funding to construct the barrack. We will require a room at town hall to initially conduct our duties from, other then that we will need to discuss with yourself about acquiring a plot of land for the barracks."

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"What about here?" Pointing to the map I rest my finger on a free section near the market square.

"No," Chaser shakes his head, "The market is an essential part of the towns economic income. Building there can prevent any potential growth for us or the market itself."

Standing up I run my fingers through my hair, "Shit, you're right. It's a good central position but it would have too much of an effect on the town."

Dawnstar studies the map and brings her hoof down, "How about here on the outskirts of the Everfree? If we are to monitor the forest then it would be a prime location."

"True, but it's too far out of the way for the rest of the town. We also need to guard the town so it would leave us at a disadvantage. Maybe in the future we can have a small guard post here, but for now it isn't an option," Leaning on the table I dart my eyes over the map, "I want somewhere close to the town but with room to expand upon. If we are to guard the town we need an armoury to store equipment, a dormitory for guards to rest and a custody block to hold local prisoners."

Chaser starts to make clicking sounds with his tongue, "How about the road leading to Sweet Apple Acres? It's not too far from the town itself and there is plenty of land."

"It's a possibility. Sweet Apple Acres provides a lot of food for the town though, if the towns population increases then we may take up the land which would be best used for farmland."

Scoffing Chaser steps back from the table, "There's just no pleasing you."

"That's not true. You just don't know how to please me."

It's at that moment Sunny steps in and announces her presence, "That sounded fairly... suggestive."

Chaser turn to Sunny, "I bet you're an expert on knowing how to please him."

Blushing she narrows her eyes, "You're not going to let that go are you?"

"Nope."

Stepping between them I raise my arms, "Okay ladies, handbags down. We've got work to get on with," I turn to Sunny, "How did the reassurance patrols go?"

"Pretty good. Many of the locals seem fairly supportive of the new Guard. As long as we don't disrupt their day to day activities I doubt we will have any issues with them."

"That's what I like to hear," Stepping back to the table I remove my tunic and rest in on a chair, "If only things were like that for me in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. You guys get it easy, everybody here seems to love the Guard."

"That wasn't the case in your world?"

I scoff, "Hardly. In Afghanistan most people wouldn't give a shit if we died and the other half didn't want us there, luckily there were one or two people who thought we were amazing. In Northern Ireland tensions have been high with the army since 'The Troubles'."

Chaser groans, "Are you ever going to stop going on about Earth? You're in Equis now."

"Believe it or not I do miss home."

"Really? I never would have guessed," Chaser replies sarcastically, "You only mention it every other day."

I lightly slap him across the back of the head, "You're an asshole," But hey... he's my asshole.

Dawnstar clears her throat, "Can we please get back to business."

When I glance to Chaser he just rolls his eyes. Looking back to the map I trace my finger over the various plots of available land the Mayor told me were cleared for construction. Pausing I look to one location which peaks my interest, it is situated on a grassland between the rear of the Golden Oaks Library and the train track approximately one-hundred meters down the line from the station, "Here... it's perfect. Close to a major transport line to receive and send supplies, plenty of free room to expand and it's in a well known location so the town will know where we are if needed."

"... I agree, it appears to be a prime location. Shall I inform the Mayor of your decision?"

I slowly nod my head, "Yes, please. On your way out could you ask the rest of the guards to come in? I need to go over shifts and duties." Waiting patiently it only take a few minutes for everyone to come in, for the two sisters however they come in yawning as they are primarily nocturnal so I can only guess that they were woken up from their nap. "Fall in. Stand at ease, stand easy."

Everyone falls in and stands in a relaxed manor as they look to me, "It's pretty safe to say that Ponyville is generally a safe town, that being said there can always be exceptions. We will only have two guards on duty at one time to start with working in three shift patterns, early shift, late shift and night shift. We will work six days followed by six days off, two on early, two on late and two on nights. The shift times shall alternate so everyone will work two of each shift sets so you're not stuck working six night shifts. However should a serious incident occur those who are working on the same day will be expected to come on duty. This shift system should allow half of us to be on working patterns whilst the other half are off on rest days."

"Shift A will consist of myself, Corporal Sunny Shield, Lance Corporal Silver Spark, Private Crimson, Private Colbalt and Private Shadow. Shift B will have Sergeant Chaser, Corporal Sure Strike, Lance Corporal Georg, Private Janine, Private Spectre and Private Comet. Every month I shall alternate the shifts to give everyone the opportunity to work together. Before each shift rotation begins everyone can pick their partners to allow some diversity. Shift A will begin for the next six days starting tomorrow, so later today pick a partner to work with and then I shall decide what times everyone is working. Any questions?"

Georg raises his talon, "Why am I a Lance Corporal? I was a Corporal in the Royalist army."

"You left if I recalled to join the Equestrian Guard under my command. Since you've just enlisted and were a Corporal I decided to make you a Lance Corporal. I could make you a Private if you'd prefer."

"Umm... no thanks, being a Lance Corporal will suffice."

"Splendid. Squad fall out!" Everyone falls out and begins casually chatting to one another.

Shadow makes her way to me as she yawns, "Care to partner up then, John?"

"Sounds good, it will give me an opportunity to learn about you and your sister. Now go get some more sleep, we will be starting on the morning shift tomorrow."

"Great, I love mornings," She responds in a satire tone.

I chuckle softly, "I can tell. Now go on."

Smiling she starts to head off with her sister. Thankfully Luna had provided us with some funds for temporary accommodation so we rented out all the rooms at the local tavern for the rest of my team, I didn't have to worry as I would still be staying with Twilight in the library. As everyone gradually begins to leave to go about their last free day I look over the map and the various paperwork we have gathered.

So far so good. This posting doesn't seem too bad.