>Bat ponies sleep soundly, safe inside their homes, safe within the guarded walls of Hollow Shades.
>To the east of the settlement lay steady mountains, providing impassable fortification, and at the base the mountains provide the Shady Caves.
>Great for bars and other merry-making.
>To the west looms the Shady Forest, full of wild beast roaming in the shadows.
>Terrifying monsters that lay deep and the forest, yet occasionally can be found clawing at the walls protecting the civilized town from the savageness of the Forest.
>All those animals are nocturnal though.
>And the Day Watch is a joke.
>And Midnight Blossom, fiercest warrior, and more savage than each monster combined, is trapped in the endless day shift.
>Night Watch and Jasmine are trapped here too.
>Jasmine just brought some interesting herbs from the forest to brew some tea.
>So there’s that, at least.
“Let’s get this tea going Jasmine! I’ll get stuff for a fire-”
>Night blocks Midnight with her hoof.
>”You know we can’t have a fire here, right?”
“Of course I do! I was going to build it in front of the fence.”
>”We can’t have a fire anywhere around the fence kiwibrains, the walls are made of wood.”
“Well that was a bad move anyways…”
>Jasmine wedged herself between the two ponies and put her front hooves around the two of them.
>”Relax girls, I know a place along the wall made of stone, I go there to make tea during shifts all the time!”
>Picking flowers and making tea during shifts?
>It’s no wonder Florence put Jasmine on the day shift so often.
>Even if she was one of the best with claws.
“Alright Jasmine, I want to see this tea room of yours, better than being stuck here with that Luna darned Sun. You coming Night?”
>Night looked pensive for a moment, then looked out over to the thick forest.
>”I’ll keep watch.”
>Jasmine moved to pick up her basket of herbs
>”Sure thing! We’ll bring you back some tea.”
>She started walking along the wall to the northern end.
>Midnight rarely slacks on a job, but curiosity got the best of her this time.
>She follows Jasmine to the northern end of the fence, where it terminates at the face of a cliff.
>There Jasmine pokes at the wooden floor until she finds a niche, and pulling at the planks she reveals a stairway leading into the Cliffside.
>Midnight stares in awe.
“Why didn’t you tell us about this earlier?”
>”You girls never asked.”
>Rolling of the eyes commence.
>Darkness surrounds the two ponies as they walk down the stone steps.
>Jasmine begins clicking to compensate.
>Visualizing the space with Jasmine’s clicks, Midnight pictures an enormous underground cavern, with objects scattered throughout.
>Walking nearby an object with Jasmine, she identifies the object as an old mortar.
“What is this room?”
>”I think it’s an abandoned war caves. Anyway, grab some gunpowder from one of those things!”
>That seems dangerous.
>Not one to complain, Midnight finds a sack and begins to drag it over to Jasmine, who is currently filling one of the smaller cannons with water from a small cave pond.
>This is crazy.

>Back on the wall, Night Watch continues her meditation under the relentless sun.
>Discomfort can be overcome.
>Sight can be discarded.
>All she needs to see for miles are her ears.
>Sounds reveal everything.
>The sway of the leaves as the cool breeze ran through it.
>The creaks of the older trees, the slapping of their branches.
>The rumble of the earth as the caterpillar crawled away from its fallen leaf.
>Is she going bananas or does she really hear that caterpillar crawling?
>If only there was real danger to sense during the Day Watch.
>Still, every experience is an opportunity.
>And this is opportunity to hone her mental finesse.
>Or just waste a lot of time.
>At least Jasmine is bringing back some sweet, sweet, hallucinatory tea.
>Night Watch had second thoughts about joining in when Jasmine brought the red and white mushroom, but Midnight was so quick to agree…
>Let no one say Night is any less ballsy than Midnight.
>Suddenly night caught a new sound, disturbing her peaceful nature noise.
>This one coming from behind the wall…
>Midnight spun around and faced the movement, but slowly opened her eyes.
>Readjusting her vision to the light she saw a white pony trotting towards her post.
>Florence? Florence. Florence…
>Dang Florence, she can make this whole day go awry.
>Luckily Night is masterful at the art of deception.
>She’s about to dazzle the white pony with excuses for the others.
>”Hey Night, where’s every pony else?”
“Bathroom.”
>”Cool. Mind taking position as captain tonight?””
>As she asks she tightens a pack around her waist.
>Night wonders what powers she’ll have over her companions.
>And if the tea will wear off by then.
“Yeah! Where you going on such short notice anyways?”
>”I’ll just be travelling to Canterlot for some militant business.”
“Night Guard business?”
>”Oh nothing like that right now, but I’ll definitely be poking around and asking about it.”
“Who wouldn’t…”
>Most bat ponies took up jobs at the watch in hope to be recruited to the Night Guard.
>To be that close to Luna…
>”Right, well I’m off. Get every pony back to work, wherever they are.”
>Florence takes off into the daylight, disappearing rather quickly as a white and gold dot in the sky.
>Figures that she saw through the bathroom excuse.
>Night settles back into her meditative state.
>She wonders when that tea is coming around.
>Jasmine sprinkles some gunpowder onto her growing flame.
>Over the flame she proper a metal cannon, filled with water and herbs collected especially for her Amanita Sweet Tea!
>Family recipe.
>Meanwhile, Midnight stands away at an overly cautious distance away from the setup.
>May as well comfort her.
“You know this isn’t dangerous right, I do it all the time!”
>Shouting over the cracking of the fire is quite the challenge.
>”Why do you have to use gun powder? You have enough wood as it is!”
“And wait forever for the fire to get big and hot? Yeah right!”
>Besides, she has to get back to standing on top of the wall fence and looking menacing sometime.
>The tea will just help the time go by faster.
>And funner.
>Eventually Jasmine has a roaring fire and steaming water, all ready to sit for a bit.
>Once the tea is finished and still hot, she pours it into her handy tea container and away into her saddlebag.
>She takes her last ingredient, her red shroom, and sits it in the tea.
>Perfect.
“Let’s go back Midnight!”
>”Finally. Remind me to never come in this room with you.”
>Jasmine laughs, it’s not like Midnight to be worried.
>”Isn’t tea supposed to be relaxing?”
“Drinking it is. Making it is tense, controlled timing and temperature is very important in making good tea!”
>Midnight gives Jasmine a quizzical look.
>”You call that controlled?”
>Jasmine can’t help but giggle.
>Back with Night Watch, she prepares her portable tea set.
“We miss anything exciting?”
>”Just Florence, she’s off to Canterlot for business. Gave me temporary captain position.”
>Midnight jumps up.
>”What! I should be temporary captain!”
>Night calmly picks up her tea.
>”Calm down Middy, you should address your superiors appropriately.”
>Midnight is flabbergasted.
>”We’re the same rank!”
>”Not tonight.”
>As Midnight protests further, Jasmine contentedly picked up her teacup.
“We should have a toast!”
>Midnight looks back at her.
>Grumbling, she picks up her tea as well.
>”To crazy folk,” she mumbles as she looks at Jasmine.
>Night suppressed a grin.
>”To promotions.”
>Midnight glares at Night.
“To good times!”
>The three clink their cups together and softly sip from their cups.
>Midnight chugs hers.
“Wow midnight, don’t you think your diving into this trip a little too eagerly?”
>”This trip? What do you mean? Great tea though.”
>Jasmine and Night exchange looks.
>Jasmine fishes out the red shroom out of the teapot.
“You do know what this is, right?”
>”Yeah yeah, some sort of flavor herb. Why? You know we can’t all be herbalists like you right, haha…”
>Night slaps her forehead with her hoof.
>Jasmine just stares and shakes her head.
>Midnight starts to look concerned, but it quickly turns to apathy.
>”Alright. Let’s do this.”
“Okay!”
>Jasmine chugs her cup.