The shadows in the dark were moving. While Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy lowered Zecora and Twilight back to the others, they could see and even feel them closing in on them from all sides.
“What in the sam hill are they?!” Applejack whinnied, rearing on her hind legs. Rainbow didn’t know either. She could barely make out shapes moving to and fro in the shadows but here were so many and in such darkness that she couldn’t make out what they were.
Zecora mumbled something and held her staff in the air. The end began to glow a soft green, slowly filling up the room. Rainbow blinked, grateful for the light until she saw what it revealed. They were pegasi—maybe. Their featherless, bat-like wing membranes stretched and strained as they spread their wings, ears swiveling this way and that. Their eyes glowed white as they hissed, exposing white sharp fangs that were emphatically not used for eating grass and hay.
Rainbow tensed, readying herself for action.
Zecora’s face furrowed. “They’re bat ponies—thestrals, gargoyles, call them what you all might. They were loyal to Luna, and later aided Nightmare Moon in her fight.”
It was too late to head back through the door, they had already been cut off. The only way out was to fight their way through. Her companions took up positions beside her. She could feel the determination and drive coming off them, even the ones who were clearly not used to having to throw down, like Twilight or Rarity, not to mention Fluttershy.
That’s when she noticed Fluttershy slowly edging forward from their formation. She was clearly trembling, but still putting herself in front of the others. “Fluttershy, get over here!” She called to her. “We can’t protect you from there!”
“Wait, listen to me, we don't want to fight—” Fluttershy’s next words were lost as over a hundred bat ponies bellowed and charged them.
Rainbow Dash used her wings to give her some forward momentum as she threw herself into the oncoming horde, her outstretched hooves roughly connecting with several unhappy faces. She flew upwards, out of their reach. “Ha! You’re even uglier now than you were before!”
“Look out!” Rarity yelled.
Rainbow looked up and saw reinforcements bearing down on her from above. “All right, let’s see what you’ve got!” She zipped upwards, daring them to follow. She had their attention as she led them on a merry chase around the observatory, watching them try and fail to match her speed and agility. More than one crashed into one of their fellows or even into a wall while trying to mirror her sharp banks and sudden turns. It made her think of her games with the Canterlot guards, only for much higher stakes. Even so, the thrill and adrenaline it built up—she couldn’t help but grin.
One thestral, faster or bolder than the others, let out a piercing cry and dove down at Rainbow from above. She let him get close and at the last moment swung upwards with her hooves, striking him right in the chest. He went careening away, colliding with a pair of his fellows.
Having won a moment’s reprieve, Rainbow risked stealing a look down to see how the others were doing. She saw Applejack rearing around and using her hind legs to buck one unlucky gargoyle straight into a wall. Even Rarity was taking a few swings at them, even if they were more precise than powerful.
She kept looking to try and find a sign of the rest. There was a lot of confusion but she soon found the cause of it: Twilight had barricaded herself behind a shield of magic, and Pinkie Pie—well, she was being Pinkie Pie because somepony had to. She had somehow gotten on the back of one of the gargoyles who was flying around, furiously trying to throw her off. “Yee ha!” Pinkie giggled as she wrapped her legs around him tightly and refused to be removed. “Is this how you do it, Applejack?”
The farmpony in question looked up and let out a laugh. “You bet your granny it is! Ride that bucking bronco, cowpony!”
“That’s it, Applejack, spout more countryisms!” Rainbow called down. “I fight better when I’m annoyed!” Applejack made a rude gesture and spouted off a whole slew of authentic frontier gibberish at Rainbow, but she was smiling as she did it.
As Rainbow might’ve guessed, Zecora was having little trouble holding her own. She chanted softly under her breath as she fought—not in a spell so much as a meditation to keep her focus, even as she batted aside attacker after attacker with her eyes closed.
There was a momentary swirl of panic as Rainbow realized she didn’t see Fluttershy anywhere. Before she could look further, though, a new group of challengers flew up.
She put her new pursuers through their paces, Rainbow always keeping just out of their reach, far enough so they couldn’t touch her but not so far that they’d give up and go back to the others. She darted from place to place, doubling back only to circle around and end up chasing them for a while before they caught on. The confused creatures ended up crashing into one another as they tried to follow her ridiculous stunts, or simply tried to stay out of her way.
All the while, Rainbow tried keeping an eye open for Fluttershy. She eventually spotted her, but instead of fighting or hiding, Fluttershy was pulling an injured bat pony off to the side. Apparently she’d been at this for a while, since there were several bat ponies neatly and carefully put in resting positions along the wall.
Rainbow let her attention drag on Fluttershy for just a moment too long, for she was tackled out of the sky by a flying brick of a thestral. The breath was forced out of her lungs when he slammed her hard against the ground. Her vision blurred as she stared up at a snarling, fanged face that was much too close for comfort.
“Stop!” She heard Fluttershy plead as she ran over, tugging on one of its wings. “Please stop this! Why are you fighting us? What did we even do to you?!”
The gargoyle grumbled, its voice deep. “You trespassed in our lair.”
“We didn’t mean to,” Fluttershy answered. “We didn’t know anypony was inside. You were, um, kind of hiding in the dark.”
He growled angrily, baring his fangs. “The darkness is where we live. If we hid, it’s because that is what our kind does to survive the revenge inflicted upon our kind by your Sun Queen!”
The accusation stung Rainbow into shouting, “That’s a lie! Celestia would never do something like that!”
“Silence!” The gargoyle bellowed, his breath so strong it almost knocked Rainbow out. “You dare speak her name in my presence? The only queen we recognize is Luna Stellaris, She of the Brilliant Night.”
“But—” Rainbow’s objection fell off as Fluttershy held up a wing, temporarily stunning her into silence.
“I’m sorry, could you please tell us more?” Fluttershy’s lip trembled so she bit down on it. “Um, we’d like to know more about why ponies haven’t seen you in so long.”
He snarled, stretching his wings outward, looming over her. “Why should I answer you?”
“Please—please wait a moment!” When he paused, Fluttershy rushed on. “Please tell me your name?”
Rainbow saw the bat pony’s pointed ears rotate this way and that. “Why?” he grumbled, his voice as deep and ominous as an avalanche.
“Because I want to know.” She took a nervous, shuddering breath. “I know you aren’t a monster. You’re a pony and I want to understand you. Please, let me help you.”
There was a long pause. Rainbow Dash looked over to see the others still fighting to defend themselves while she just laid there, trapped. She was about a second away from using one of her hindlegs to kick the big guy right where guys really hated to be kicked when he answered, “My name is Nightshade.”
“That’s a nice name.” Fluttershy offered, while Rainbow thought it must be one of the most common bat pony names ever. “Can we maybe stop all the fighting while we talk please?”
Nightshade narrowed his eyes, then jerked his head. He let out a high-pitched noise and all the other gargoyles stopped fighting at once. Rainbow blinked, surprised. The rest of their group took the opportunity to regroup and catch their breath, but were still surrounded.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy exhaled with a smile. “If you don’t mind my asking, was that what you use for echolocation? I’ve helped a few bats and I recognize the sound they make.”
Nightshade nodded. “You are not surprised? Scared?” He narrowed his eyes. “That is how our kind was received a thousand years ago. Because we’re nocturnal, because we were different, we were lumped in with other creatures to fear in the dark.”
Fluttershy took a step forward as she reached out a hoof. “No, I’m not afraid of you. Being different doesn’t make you scary, let alone bad. I’m sorry ponies back then didn’t understand that.”
“There was one who did.” Nightshade tilted his head up, looking at the moon as it shone through the observatory’s roof. “Everypony knows the story of Hearth’s Warming and the founding of Equestria: the bedrock laid by the union of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns. But the rest of ponykind—Seaponies, Twinkle-Eyes, Crystal Ponies, Flutter Ponies, ourselves—were too small, too remote or too unimportant to be so recognized. While we may have been a part of Equestria, we were still a breed apart: underappreciated and overlooked, especially in a sun-loving world.” He snorted. “They were all blinded by the garish light of day. They did not see how the beauty of the soft glow of the moon and stars, or the tides they brought.
“But Queen Luna was different. She saw that we were overlooked and reached out her hoof to us, advocated for us. She welcomed us as her personal guards, decreed that none would lift a hoof against us. In gratitude we protected ponykind as it slumbered in the night, unappreciative of our Queen’s hard work and kindness.” He looked forlornly up at the moon a moment longer before turning back to Fluttershy. “She spoke up for all of us. Finally, we had hopes that we would be welcomed fully into the fold and appreciated like the rest of ponykind.”
He ground his hoof into the ground. “But it was not to be. When your Day Queen realized the depth of the love we had for her moon and stars, she became jealous and fearful. Now her sister had ponies who loved her as much as earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns loved her, and she could not stand it. She struck Luna down and exiled her, demonizing her and those who stood with her. With our advocate gone, our voice was silenced.”
“That sounds awful.” Fluttershy reached out to pat his leg before Rainbow could protest. “I know what it’s like to struggle to make yourself heard. What happened next?”
“We tried to rally the others,” Nightshade grumbled. “Tried to get them to stand up for the Queen who had stood up for them. But they had already fallen for the stories the Day Queen’s agents had spread.”
Fluttershy eyes lit up with understanding. “Is that why the Seaponies and the Twinkle-Eye ponies stay away from other ponies so much? They’re afraid that ponies would be mad at them for being friends with Luna?”
Rainbow blinked, but found herself nodding as the pieces started to slide together—why Celestia hadn’t wanted to talk about why the other kinds of ponies had kept to themselves for centuries and what had caused the tidal changes that had terrified the seaponies into withdrawing deeper into the seas.
The bat pony dipped his head. “Fearing reprisals for our support of Luna, the others distanced themselves from the rest of Equestria. The Seaponies retreated to their depths and tried to avoid contact with others; the Twinkle-Eyes hid in their mines and tried to forget; the Crystal Ponies were already gone, and who knows what happened to the Flutter Ponies?” His eyes hardened. “But we would not forgive, or forget. We stayed loyal to the one who was loyal to us and we waited. We waited for centuries, until tonight.” He spread his wings to full their span. “I know what the Long Night means: our Queen has returned. She escaped her imprisonment and has returned to uplift us, save us from the Tyranny of Celestia.”
Rainbow felt her blood roaring in her ears. Hearing Celestia maligned like that after she had sacrificed herself was more than she could take. "You have it so backwards it’s a wonder you aren’t flying flank-first! Celestia would never banish anypony who didn’t deserve it or punish ponies just because of who they liked! Are you forgetting about the part where Luna went insane and refused to lower the moon? I get you guys like the nightlife, but I think even you can see how many problems that would cause!”
From the way Nightshade growled at her, Rainbow realized she’d rolled a critical failure in diplomacy. She felt the tension ripple through Nightshade’s leg as he prepared to press down on her. Before he did, he looked over to Fluttershy, and to the thestrals she had pulled to the side, out of harm’s way. He stayed his hoof. “Your words are empty and meaningless. We know the truth.”
“As well you should.” Everypony present looked up to see none other than the Shadowbolts, hovering around the roof. They landed beside Nightshade and dipped their heads. Rainbow had thought they’d lost them ages ago, cursing their bad luck to have them show up again now. Except, she realized a moment later, it might not have been luck. The group had blacked out briefly when the seaponies were dragging them under. Had that been enough for them to dream, for Nightmare Moon to look in on them? Is that how they found them? Her mind raced. Did Nightmare Moon know what they were planning?
The big bat pony frowned, his eyes flicking over the Shadowbolts wings and ears. “You look like us, but I do not know you.”
“We are servants of the True Queen,” the Derpy-Shadowbolt announced.
The Cloud Kicker-Shadowbolt nodded. “Here to reward those who have stayed faithful.”
“Soon the whole world will know only night and your kind will never need to hide away again,” Blossomforth concluded.
“That does not answer my question.” Nightshade frowned, his lip curling down. If Rainbow had to guess, she’d say he found the way they spoke as annoying as she did. He gestured to Derpy, since she seemed to be the one in charge. “Step forward.” The Shadowbolts hesitated for a moment before complying, Derpy approaching them. Nightshade looked down at the pinned Rainbow, then back to Derpy. “I will ask you again: who are you?”
She fidgeted at that, unable or unwilling to answer. “I—”
She shook her head, one eye briefly going out of alignment before she forced it back into place, the other two Shadowbolts taking a step forward.
“Who I was is not important.”
Rainbow looked from Derpy to the others ‘bolts and back again. For a brief moment, Derpy had almost seemed liked an individual, even a bit like herself. Maybe that was why they always stuck so close together?
“Her name is Derpy,” Rainbow tossed in, her mind still shifting through things. “The others are Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth. They were my friends from Ponyville before Nightmare Moon got ahold of them. You can bet they didn’t look like cheap knock-offs of you guys before that!”
Nightshade regarded her, his ear twitching. “Is this true?” he demanded of the Derpy-bolt. “Were you pegasi like her?”
“We were perfected.” Derpy stretched her wing-membranes, showing off her new physique. “Your kind are the template.”
“The Queen desires that all should ponies adapt themselves to the Eternal Night,” Cloud Kicker added.
“And then—” Blossomforth started, but Nightshade stomped his hoof.
“Enough!” He drew himself up. “Does she think this is what we wanted? That all ponies should be transformed into becoming like us?! We wanted acceptance, not—this!”
“Our Queen thought you would be pleased.” Derpy tilted her head. “Our forms are a tribute to your loyalty.”
“Guess again,” Rainbow grunted at Nightshade. She was getting really sick of having him stand on top of her. “They’re not some kinda imitation-as-flattery. Sounds to me like Nightmare Moon just wanted mind-controlled slaves who don’t think and wouldn’t ever question her. You’ve been replaced.”
She was afraid she took it too far as Nightshade bellowed, rearing up and slamming his front hooves down perhaps an inch away from her head.
Yeah, definitely touched a nerve.
He leaned down and snarled in her face. “You lie!”
“I’m afraid she isn’t,” Fluttershy answered. “When Nightmare Moon appeared, she used her magic on them. They didn’t want her to, but she did it anyway. I know Luna used to protect you, but that’s not who she is anymore. Now she’s a pony who wants power so badly that she was willing to leave a little filly motherless.”
“Ignore them,” Derpy insisted, stepping forward. “Destroy these Sun-Lovers and take your rightful place as our Queen’s strong-right hoof. The ponies of Equestria can become part of your clan, should you wish it. If you wish to take your revenge, that can be arranged as well. After all It’s what your kind has waited a millenium for, isn’t it?”
“Is it?” Fluttershy echoed quietly.
Nightshade looked Fluttershy in the eye and Rainbow knew she had him. Nopony could look Fluttershy in the eye and be unaffected.
“No.”
He took his hooves off Rainbow’s chest. It was about damn time, she grumbled, while she rubbed her chest. He glared at the Shadowbolts.
“Get out.”
“Our Queen will be disappointed by your betrayal.” The Shadowbolts flared their wings in synch. “There will be consequences.”
“No greater than our disappointment in her,” Nightshade murmured. “Leave, or you will know the true meaning of suffering consequences. Fly!”
The Shadowbolts didn’t even attempt to argue further. They fled for the sky exit, the hisses and curses of the other bat ponies lending speed to their flight.
Nightshade watched them leave and kept watching, long after they were gone. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were rejoined by their friends by the time he looked back to them. “How can this be?” he asked in a breathless whisper. “We waited for her for a thousand years and now...”
“The only thing Nightmare Moon cares about is ruling Equestria, not taking care of anypony or creature.” Fluttershy flew over, putting a hoof on his massive shoulders. “I know this is hard for you to hear.”
“She was our champion and guardian,” Nightshade murmured in a daze. “Everypony else shunned us.”
“I’m sorry to hear that ponies back then didn’t know how to treat you better,” Fluttershy assured him, rubbing his shoulder. “But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try reaching out again.” She put her hooves on her hips, looking down at him sternly. “You didn’t even give us a chance before you attacked us, the same way you said ponies used to react to you.”
The oversized thestral sheepishly shuffled his hooves like a naughty foal, unable to meet Fluttershy’s gaze. A few gargoyles slowly made their way over, all eyes trained on her. Fluttershy hesitated, clearly nervous at speaking in front of a growing crowd. Rainbow climbed to her hooves and hovered beside her. She was afraid Fluttershy wouldn’t be able to go on, but before she could intervene Fluttershy found her voice again. “Nightmare Moon isn’t the same pony as the one who protected you all those years ago. She doesn’t care about you.”
Rainbow saw the look seeing that wash over the stunned gargoyles. None of them could look at Fluttershy and find a shred of deception or guile in her. They wilted in on themselves, knowing themselves abandoned by the one pony they thought they could always count on. Rainbow Dash felt a sudden stirring of empathy.
Fluttershy took a deep breath as she continued. “But I do.” All the bat ponies looked back up at her. “I’ve worked with creatures other ponies find scary: bats and owls and snakes and others. But all creatures, all kinds of ponies, deserve to be shown a little kindness and compassion.” She slowly walked up and gently rubbed the leg of one of the gargoyles with her hoof. “I know that someponies didn’t understand you and I’m sorry for that. We don’t want to use you or hurt you. We’d like to be your friends, if you’d let us.”
The gargoyles looked at Fluttershy’s wide pleading eyes, shimmering ever so slightly as she shyly patted the Nightshade’s shoulder again. They didn’t stand a chance.
Nightshade folded his wings against himself and nodded. “You have given us much to consider. Please, go in peace.” At a nod, the bat ponies parted ranks, leaving a path open to the exit. Rainbow, not quite convinced, put her wing across Fluttershy’s back and guided her towards the door, meeting the others. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be a trick. Just as they were about to leave, Nightshade called out. “Wait.”
Rainbow Dash felt her hackles raise, suspecting an ambush. She whirled around … just in time to see him kneel down, bowing to Fluttershy. The rest of the bat ponies soon followed suit until every one of them was kneeling to a stunned Fluttershy.
She turned a bright pink and let out a shy squeak. Rainbow knew that was Flutterese for ‘Thank you.’ Fluttershy managed a weak smile, waving slightly before her nerves got to her and she darted out of the observatory. Rainbow and the rest soon followed, none of them seemed any more capable of speech than she was.
Rainbow Dash, typically, recovered first. “Fluttershy! That. Was. Awesome!” She swooped down and picked her up, whirling them both around exuberantly in midair. “I can’t believe it!”
“Neither can I.” Fluttershy gasped, almost shaking.
“The way you told them off and got them to back down—” Dash gushed as she hugged her tightly. “Fluttershy, you are a champ!”
She blushed. “It was nothing really. I think they just needed to be shown a little compassion. It really goes a long way.”
“Heh, I guess so.” Rainbow patted her back. “And for the record? What you did back there was way cooler than trying to be more like me. Be awesome in your own way, okay?”
Fluttershy blushed, barely capable of doing more than nodding.
“Glad to hear it!” Rainbow grinned as she zipped ahead in the direction of the ruined castle. She looked around but it seemed as though the Shadowbolts had indeed headed off. There was nothing between them and the old castle! “It’s smooth flying all the waaaaah!” She found herself being roughly tossed backwards, her body surrounded by a glow of magical energy.
Standing directly in their path was a large dark unicorn standing in the shadows. When he stepped forward they saw a dark-coated stallion wearing dark purple armor. The only identifying mark on him was a dragon-like eye on the front of his armor.
He smirked, his voice at once familiar and foreign. “Hello Twiley, Dashie.”
Twilight gasped. “Shining Armor!”