Read this story and all of its chapters in paragraph format with better editing, here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/129684/the-trials

This version of the story is heavily unedited.

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>There was a movement several years back, put forth by some students at one of the prestigious Canterlot Universities.
>It was a petition to the Princesses to change the name of my species.
>Apparently, 'bat pony' sounded a bit too much like a racial slur, similar to calling a pegasus, a 'bird pony'.
>The word they were going for, for my species? 'Thestrals.'
>Threshstralls? Test strolls? Flush stalls?
>Funnily enough, none of those 'social justice warriors' were bat ponies themselves.
>I didn't see a problem with 'bat pony', honestly.
>It was simple, straight-forward. Blunt. The image of a 'bat pony' immediately popped up in your mind.
>I heard that Princess Celestia was caught off guard by the movement--she had stayed silent for a good minute before composing herself to respond to the movement's representative.
>When the petition was heard, they held a vote all across Equestria.
>Thankfully, Celestia mentioned in the fine print that if over eighty percent of all bat ponies voted for 'yes' or 'no', it would go in our favour.
>In just a week, over ninety-five percent of all bat pony votes were for 'no.'
>I guess you can call my race as the type who doesn't care for such complications, as long as we're not hurting anybody.

"Interesting... you are one of the bat ponies, no?" the voice purred through the darkness.
"I... yes... wh-who are you?" the bat pony stammered, a pair of crude, iron hoof-claws attached to the end of his forelimbs.
"I've been waiting for one of your kind..."

---

>I don't blame us, to be honest.
>Ever since the very beginning, bat ponies have been a proud race--proud, meaning a rival to the pegasi, one way or another.
>We can be just as cocky, and just as brash.
>According to the history books, we were once sworn enemies to the feathered race of ponies.
>Mirroring their warrior society was ours; a society bred of soldiers, mainly to fend off predators and enemies.
>When the pegasi found Equestria with the other two races, and when the Princesses came, the hostilities towards our race stopped.
>Naturally, we served under Princess Luna.
>But then she went rogue and betrayed ponykind.
>Thankfully, we were forgiven, but were still scorned by the rest.
>Worse, a terrible, magical backlash from Luna's banishment event seeded into our home... the Everfree.
>And for years, the cancer spread throughout the vegetation and fauna.
>It was a hundred years before it became inhospitable, and the bat ponies migrated to two main locations.
>Half of us went south, taking refuge in a large, dark gave in the Equestrian Badlands.
>The other half of us went north-east, finding another forest that felt just like home.
>It had such a thick canopy, that the forest floor was always bathed in an almost eternal night.
>And where the leaves met the sun, delicious fruit like mangoes and lychee grew.
>Perfect for our nocturnal, fruit-loving kind.
>We called it, the Hollow Shades.

"You see, I have this strange relic..." the voice teased. 
It seened to come from every direction.
The poor bat pony felt helpless, trembling terribly in his spot against the cave wall. "I d-don't want your relic! I..."

---

>Fast forward to nine hundred years later, you have my generation, still upholding the tradition of training to join the Night Guard.
>Echo, Speck and I were good friends all throughout school.
>Night Watch always liked to tease me, though.
>It was Echo's determination and Speck's kindness that convinced me to join them in the Guard.
>I don't know how I felt about Night Watch following us, but I lived with it.
>Anyways, that's where we met Mosina and Gloomie--both from different parts of the world.
>Mosina liked to travel, and Gloomie grew up in a rural village among earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns.
>I heard Gloomie's parents were prestigious, though.

"I have one of your Umbra weapons," the voice spoke in a tempting tone. "This one..."
Through the darkness, a lone, seclusive light shone on a pedestal.
Levitating above it was a single, purple hoof-blade with one long, curved blade protruding out.
The bat pony shuddered, a strange feeling creeping up his spine.
"Umbra... N-no... I won't!"
"Serve me... and it's all yours..."

---

>That's when I learned that Echo wanted to be part of the Elite Night Guard.
>Speck, Night Watch, Gloomie and Mosina all agreed with her, and I reluctantly agreed.
>Crazier yet, despite our newby status in the Guard, we were allowed to participate in the Trials.
>A tradition, a test, for Princess Luna to choose who guards her, personally.
>Crazier yet, with the rise of the incursions, Elites were needed now more than ever.
>With her running around Equestria and surrounding nations so much, she needed a sizable roster, if only just for her personal guard.

"You want to serve her, don't you? You want to live up to your race's standards?"
"...Yes..."
"You don't want to disappoint your friends... your family..."
"No..."
"Tell me, little bat pony, what is your name?"
"...Aux."