//------------------------------//
// Prologue Part One 
// Story: Even In Darkness, Light Can Be Found 
// by Night--Mist 
//------------------------------//

Celestia had just finished another Magical Lesson with Twilight. Today's lesson had been on changing water into non-alcoholic apple cider. And Twilight, as always, passed with flying colors. "Well done on today's lesson Twilight. Keep this up, and you may have our head butler ask for your help in making more delicious beverages."

Twilight merely blushed. This happened often when Celestia praised her achievements in front of guards and castle staff they passed. Celestia then began to converse on past lessons, and what Twilight planned to do to help her succeed at her next lesson. Just as they were nearing the dining hall for dinner, they heard a huge shattering of glass, and glanced up, only to see a young colt screaming as he plummeted in their direction. Celestia went wide eyed and with a swift action, caught the young colt in her arua of magic, letting him down slowly onto the floor. As he sat there, he trembled, obviously shaken up from his fall.

This was where Celestia got a clear picture of the colt she had saved from serious injury. He was of a race very rarely seen in Equestria. He was, a bat pony, or thestral as some liked to call them, being a cousin race of the Pegasi. His fur was a dark grey, and his mane and tail were of a mix of light grey and white. As the bat pony began to try and get to his feet, Celestia was quick to advise, "Take it easy there my little pony. You're okay, but you must take it slowly, that was quite a fall you took."

The young colt looked slowly up at Celestia, and replied, "S-Sorry for breaking your window, your highness. It was an accident. I lost control."

"Well, windows can be replaced. Ponies cannot dear. If you don't mind me asking, where are your parents. They must be worried about you to be out at this hour of the night," Celestia reasoned.

The young colt hung his head a bit, "I, I don't have any parents your majesty. I was told they passed away a while ago. I don't even know how, but, their grazing in the Elysian Fields now."

"Oh, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you young one," Celestia apologized.

"It's not your fault. You didn't know. I do miss them. But the orphanage did say that they would want me to be happy, even though they aren't with me right now," the young colt replied.

"Well, the orphanage caretakers are very wise to state that dear. If you don't mind me asking, what is your name young one?" Celestia inquired.

"It's Night Mist your highness," Night Mist said as he raised his head back up.

As Celestia heard the name, and Night Mist's eyes looked onto her, they reminded her of another stare she had been familiar of in her youth, far before the events of that terrible night 1000 years ago, but she just couldn't place it at this point. "Hmm, that name sounds familiar. But beside the point, I must say that I am impressed Night Mist. Not many pegasi or bat ponies your age take to flight that early. Who taught you?" Celestia wondered.

"Well, I, sort of, taught myself," Night Mist admitted.

This astounded Celestia. While he did need a lot of work on his flying skills, to have taught himself without another's help at his age was a feat in and of itself. But if he was going to become an excellent flyer, he needed a teacher. Then, an idea stuck Celestia. While she had developed a school to have Unicorns of gifted magic skill, perhaps, she should also look into developing a school for little flyers who showed great potential. And Night Mist, she could easily state, was already a prime pick with what he already presented. Perhaps she could look into asking a Wonderbolt or two to provide teaching when she couldn't. After a lot of fast thinking, Celestia stated, "Well, that is quite a feat. Why don't you join Twilight and me in the dining hall for dinner. I have a proposition I'd like to discuss."

Night Mist felt a little flustered. "M-Me. Eat at the palace. B-but.... I don't know anything about eating like royals do your majesty," He stuttered.

Twilight Sparkle chuckled, "Clearly you've never seen Princess Celestia eat before Nighty."

Night Mist blushed and made a goofy smile at Twilight calling him "Nighty". Celestia chimed in, "It is true. Only time I ever eat, as you say, "like royalty", is when it is an important event I have to attend. In other cases, I can be as messy as a foal. But before we walk on, let me make sure you don't have any injuries. If you do, I don't want you to strain yourself by trotting on a sprained leg or anything."

Celestia looked the young colt over, and as she parted his mane back a bit, a mark caught her attention. It was a crescent moon shape on his forhead. This mark was something Celestia had seen before. She had read about it in her books and seen it on some ponies of the past whom she remembered very well. But to not worry young Night Mist, she finished looking him over, and soon, found he was fine. Soon they made their way to the dining hall, and sat down to start eating, a few castle attendants were surprised by the bat pony's presence at the table, but after Celestia stated she would explain later, they when about their routines. As the appetizers were served, Celestia gestured to Night Mist, "So, young Night Mist. I understand that you are probably wanting to head back to the orphanage, but while you were asking for your appetizer and meal, I spoke with one of my guards and they stated the weather was about to get a little troublesome, so I already let the caretakers know of your situation and that you will stay here at the castle tonight. I understand it is short notice, but I already have some of my staff setting up a small bed for you in my chambers. Now, I know this seems a little out of the ordinary, but our unoccupied guest rooms, require a bit of refurbishing, so they're not ready to accept ponies to occupy them yet. Going to have to look into that later to straighten that out."

Night Mist giggled a bit at her face when she made herself look goofy, but then inquired, "But, are you sure. I-I mean, I, uh....."

Celestia was puzzled, obviously Night Mist had something on his mind he'd rather keep private then, she realized she could use a telepathy spell, and cast it, soon saying in thought, "You can tell me in thought. I understand if it's touchy for you to say it out loud dear, I am using telepathy right now to speak to you in mind."

Night Mist jumped by the surprise connection, but then he blushed as she explained, and soon replied in mind, "I'm afraid of the darkness. And I don't have my night light your majesty."

That caught Celestia off guard a bit. Sure she knew many fillies and colts had this nighttime fear, but to hear a bat pony admit it, now she felt maybe she had been a little too stereotypical about bat ponies. But beside the case, she was sure that she had a few left over from previous scholar she taught at the castle when they were little ones. But she felt there might be a deeper reason why Night Mist feared the dark that maybe even he was unaware of, and after their little chat here, there was something else she needed to discuss with him in private. She finally replied in thought, "Well, that won't be a problem dear. I have plenty of those at the castle. Some are even used to light the hallways since the torches were going out too often."

This stifled a giggle out loud from Night Mist, peaking Twilight's curiosity. "What so humorous?" she pried.

Celestia looked back to her student and replied, "Oh nothing important my dear, just letting Night Mist know that even the guards get scared of the dark."

Twilight chuckled and joked/admitted, "Yeah, even my brother, Shining Armor is scared of the dark."

Night Mist's jaw dropped, "Your brother is the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor?!"

"Yes, and... wait, how do you know my brother?" Twilight inquired.

Celestia's interests were peaked as well. And Night Mist answered, "He saved me from a timber wolf attack."

"Timberwolves?! In Canterlot?!" Celestia gasped.

"Well no. I was sort of trying to find a place to stay before coming to Canterlot Orphanage. I was near a town called, um, Ponyville I think the name was. That's where he found me. He took me straight to the capital's orphanage after he found out my situation. I still haven't gotten a chance to thank him for that," Night Mist stated.

Celestia was awe struck. Her Captain of the Royal guard had saved this young colt's life from magical beasts. She would have to recognize him for this somewhere down the line when she got the chance. She then stated, "Well, you're safe, and that's what matters. Anyways, getting onto a topic I had briefly spoke about earlier, Night Mist, I am wondering, would you be interested in taking flying lessons from me, to help improve the use of your wings?"

Night Mist hiccuped as he accidentally swallowed some soda he had sipped down the wrong tube, coughed before replying, "Y-You want to teach me your highness? But.... I thought that... that you only taught unicorns magic, not that I doubt your flying ability your majesty."

Celestia found it adorable how the young colt stumbled over his words. "That is true, I did found a school for talented unicorns, but I have been giving a lot of thought into starting a school for talented young fliers among the pegasi and bat ponies who show great potential. And your little, shall we say, crash landing was enough to impress me. I know that sounds odd that a crash landing would impress me, but the fact alone you self taught yourself to fly at such a young age was enough to impress anypony. In fact, if you learned properly, you may outdo any previous Wonderbolt, or pegasus guard. Wouldn't that be something?" Celestia propagated.

"But, I mean, don't you have a lot of, um, princessy stuff you have to take care of. I don't want you to waste time teaching me when you have other things you need to take care of," Night Mist stated.

Celestia chuckled, "While it is true I do a lot for the kingdom, you'll find that ruling well over 1000 years has sharpened my skills to complete daily tasks quite efficiently, sparing me a lot of time, and even lessons with Twilight and some of my other students at my magic school can be done in nearly no time. And helping you sharpen your flying skills would not be a waste of my time Night Mist. And I think you'll find I can out maneuver any Wonderbolt or guard, and they are some of my most skilled flyers. Remember, again, I have lived over 1000 years I just never issued the challenge to them, since I know they'd let me take the win of the challenge even if they were better then me."

Night Mist was speechless. The Princess of Day was asking him... a common bat pony, to become her pupil for flying? She could have easily taken him to one of those junior flight camps he heard so much about, but here she was, offering to be his personal mentor, on top of being Twilight Sparkle's mentor. He heard great things about Twilight. to learn things alongside her?..... This was a lot to take in. He finally mustered up the courage to speak and said, "Um, if you really think it best your highness, I'll do it."

"Well, glad we could settle that arrangement. And don't worry about having to return to the orphanage every night. I'll explain to them what's going on so you don't have to make such a long trek all the time to receive your lessons," Celestia stated.

"Thank you, your majesty," Night Mist gestured.

"You're welcome. Oh, and there's no more need for formalities dear. You can just address me as Celestia if you like when we're not at a public gathering. I've told the same thing to Twilight, but her habit of formally addressing me is hard to change," Celestia teased.

Twilight blushed once again at this statement, since she did have a hard time trying to kick the habbit of addressing the Princess formally. As the group soon finished their meal, they soon made their way to the chambers to rest. Celestia would inform her niece of the new student she had taken under her tutelage come morning, since she had been away on a public showing in Baltimare for the last week, and was on her way home. Once Twilight bid Celestia and Night Mist good night, the two made their way into Celestia's private living quarters. Night Mist was astonished. Although she dined in the castle's dining room, Celestia had her own kitchen, what he would consider a family den and a door to her bathroom in her quarters. It was a house within the castle. And then he saw two other doors. One he assumed was Celestia's bed chamber, but he couldn't place the other one. He'd have to ask Celestia later, as he watched one of the doors open and a maid walked out. "Good evening Princess Celestia and Sir Night Mist. The bed chamber is ready for both of you when you wish to turn in for the night," The maid stated.

"Thank you Misty Hooves. You may take your leave for tonight," Celestia stated.

"Thank you your highness," Misty replied.

Night Mist was a bit taken aback by being called "Sir" Night Mist, but he shrugged it off as her being polite in the princess's presence. Celestia soon sat down on the sofa in her den, and gestured Night Mist to join her. Night Mist soon situated himself in front of her and Celestia stated, "Night Mist, I know a lot of things are moving at a fast pace for you, but your thoughts will eventually catch up with all that's happened. But there was something else I wanted to bring to your attention, but privately."

"Okay, what is it Prin-, er, I mean, Celestia?" Night Mist inquired.

"Well, when I was looking you over for injuries, I noticed something. You have the mark of the Crescent Moon on your forehead. I know you maybe think it's a birth mark that doesn't mean much at all, but I have seen that mark before, and it's a sign you are destined for great things. Those who have bared this mark before you aspired to greatness in their lives. But this is the first time I have seen it on a bat pony," Celestia admitted.

"But, what will I become great at Celestia?.... I am a no pony," Night Mist stated bluntly.

"That is something I cannot answer Night Mist, but you will become a great pony. And you are not a no pony. Don't ever let any pony make you think your are worthless. We all have something to offer our world, and we all learn what that purpose is at some point in our lives. But you have much time to find your way Night Mist. The reason I did not want to bring this up in front of my student, is because she would start to bury herself in research trying to figure out what your crescent mark meant for you. It's a quirk she has, and I much would like to pry her nose out of those books if I can. Perhaps you can help in that aspect," Celestia proposed.

"I, I'm afraid I don't understand," Night Mist pondered what she said.

"Twilight needs some friends. She's more focused on her magic studies that even I am running out of things to teach her at her level right now. I do want her to go to the next level of her studies, but not so soon. If you think you can, perhaps, think of something that will get her mind off studying, and a little more out in the open," Celestia stated.

Night Mist thought about it, then he said, "Well, I don't have ones I can call friends yet, so, I guess your student is a start. But I don't want her to think I'm doing this because I was asked to. I want to do it to make good friends."

"And that's all I ask of you. I don't want to force a friendship between you two, but I would say that you get to know her. If you don't wish to be her friend after getting to know more about her, I can completely understand that dear. But now I feel perhaps I have given you a little too much to pressure yourself with for one night.  What do you say we get ready for bed?" Celestia asked.

Night Mist yawned, "Sounds good to me."

Celestia giggled at how he made the cute yawning scene, and soon guided him to the bathroom so they could brush their teeth. Soon after, she led him into her bed chamber, where a bed just his size sat near her massive bed that looked like it could fit her and at least 30 other ponies on it. Celestia soon installed a nightlight near Night Mist's bed, and the little Bat Pony soon passed out from the day's recent events. She smiled at him, and gently placed a cover of the moon's phases, and the stars over his sleeping form. A cover her sister once used when she was little. She soon maneuvered herself into her own bed and joined Night Mist and her faithful student Twilight, in dreamland.