//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: The Gathering of Clans 
// Story: Glowing in Everglow 
// by Darkmoon9 
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Diary Sunset Shimmer

Taking Niden's hill had proven a challenge, but not one we couldn’t overcome through friendship and cooperation. It was delightful to see Cozy and Twilight cooperating in trying to get past the hyenas, even if their plan didn’t work out. When we were discovered, it had required us working together as a well-oiled machine to overcome the fort’s defenders, everyone contributing something that would ensure our success. Cozy’s tactical insight and inspiring leadership, my holy magic, Twilight’s arcane might, Cipher’s quickness and dirty fighting, Silverwing’s intimidating frame and brutality and Shadow Chaser acting as a shield. 

After her close brush with death at Niden’s Hill scared her quite a bit, Cozy commissioned two suits of chainmail made of mithral, a metal as light as a feather but stronger than steel, one for her and one for Silverwing. The light weight of the armor would make sure that Silverwing could still wear it while flying while being properly protected. Twilight spent her time identifying the shirt that Cipher took from the gnoll leader, turns out it had an enchantment on it that could greatly amplify the wearer speed.

When we made our way to the gathering at the Turves a few days later, I spent quite a bit of time talking to Fazban, about his goals and his organization. Turns out that the Seekers of the One Herd were diplomats of sorts, sacrificing a permanent home to travel the lands preaching unity to the different tribes in service of their goal to one day unite ponykind. As this gathering could end up with a permanent alliance between Taralos and the Turves tribes, it was in his best interest to make sure everything went smoothly. I wasn’t too worried, my own diplomatic skills were not insignificant, neither were Fazban’s, but we also had our secret weapon, Cozy Glow, the most charismatic pony I had ever encountered. If anyone could rally the tribes behind her it would be Cozy. By this point I had absolute faith in her, at least when it came to her abilities to persuade others. And if Cozy fell short, I would be there to aid her.  

Our journey took us out of the hills and then onto the rolling plains that the Turves Tribespeople called theirs. With me acting at the group’s banner bearer, we saw ponies on the way, just watching, but not interfering with our travel, seemed like the banner was doing its job. I had heard tales of terrible things happening to people who cross these lands without permission. After a few days of travel, we came across an incredible sight, a tent city completely filling a small valley before us. The town at the center of the gathering was dwarfed by rows and rows of conical tents spreading out in all directions. Earth Ponies of all colors, genders and ages were running around yelling and talking. The noise was deafening, and the smell of unwashed ponies was even more overwhelming than at Moonshadow’s camp. 

We immediately sought out the leader of the Black Hooves clan, whose chieftain’s daughter we recently rescued from gem gnolls. Upon entering the camp of the Black Hooves, ponies started whispering to eachother, I could overhear the words:

"Are these the outsiders who saved the chieftain's daughter?" Some ponies went to the biggest, most important tent to inform what I presumed was the chieftain.

Soon a familiar pony came out to meet us, a thin earth pony with a jet-black coat, a dark blue mane with strings of red that flowed in the wind, she was built for stealth and speed rather than raw power, her brand of destiny was a Cresent Moon. She was Night's Blessing, one of ponies we rescued from the Gem Gnolls at Niden's Hill. She was the reason we were invited to the gathering in the first place. She seemed perky and upbeat, greeting Cozy with an enthusiastic hoofshake before moving on to shaking my hoof and then the rest of the group's. Night's blessing then told us to follow her to see her mother.

As Night's Blessing led us into the chieftain's tent, we came face to face with a mare that looked a lot like her daughter. She had a jet-black coat and a matching blue and red mane, but unlike her daughter, her demeanor was reserved rather than enthusiastic. She introduced herself as Chieftain Silent Hunter and quickly got to the point:

"I thank thee for saving my daughter. I am in your debt, anything I can do for thee in return?"

Cozy explained that we were there at the behest of Taralos as diplomats to secure alliances against the Gnoll King. Silent Hunter told her in a short and concise manner us that an alliance against the gem gnolls would be mutually advantageous, but that we needed to prove ourselves amongst the clans first for an alliance to not make the Black Hooves look bad. Night's Blessing told us there was a contest of skill going in at the gathering and we should join up. The glory we would win would not only prove us worthy allies of the Black Hooves clan, but of the other clans as well. Not all the clans were friendly to outsiders, and it would take a lot for some of them to agree to an alliance with Taralos. Especially the Thorn Briar and Bloody Ear Tribes.

Before we left the tent, I decided to take the opportunity to ask the chieftain:

"Do you happen to know anything about the disappearing act the Gnoll King tend to do when he is close to being defeated in battle. "

The chieftain looked like she was deep in thought for a moment, then told me there was a network of tunnels under the forest to the north, the Black Hooves sometimes used them to explore the area she provided a location for a tunnel entrance.

Night's Blessing decided to keep us company while she led us to the first trial in the competition. She told us about her clan, the Black Hooves. They were a clan preferring subtlety to warfare, she told us a legend from her clan about a trickster who outsmarted another clan to make it off with all their cattle. Cozy especially seemed to take great interest in that story. Night's Blessing told her that her clan greatly honored those who could outsmart their foes. The chieftain’s daughter told me that her clan were the most open to contact with the outside world. 

The first trial we entered was a contest of strength in the form of a rope tugging contest. The contestants were to bite down on opposite sides of the rope and attempt to drag the opposing contestant into a pit of mud. We decided to enter Silverwing into the competition. Silverwing struggled quite a bit in his first round as his opponent was quite strong, despite Silverwing's size advantage, but he eventually dragged his opponent into the mud.

Silverwing made it to the final where we was facing a familiar face, a sturdy and well-built young earth pony with a sun rising as his brand of destiny, carrying himself with dignity. Dawn Rising, the son of the Red Rock clan chieftain and Night's Blessing's coltfriend. I picked up that he gave Night's Blessing a sour look, I guess their relationship was on rocky grounds for some reason. I decided I would speak to him after the competition. 

Dawn Rising proved strong, but quickly fell into the mudpit, overwhelmed by Silverwing, but Dawn remained stoic as he got out of the mud pit. Silverwing was crowned the winner of the contest of strength.

This is where I decided to approach Dawn Rising. I introduced myself, he said he recognized me from the fort. We got into small talk before I asked him about his and Night's Blessing's relationship. He told me that they got together after the Night's Blessing had started coming to watch him during wrestling competitions, but she had done so under the guise of a pony of his clan. When he found out about the deception he had been pissed, Night's Blessing had apologized for her trickery, but he felt he couldn't trust anything she says because of it.

I had to go to Twilight for advice, she told me that she understood Dawn's conundrum, but that they should try to talk openly about their problems to re-establish their mutual trust. After all, we hadn't heard Night's Blessing's side of the story. The Princess of Friendship still had it.

Diary of Cozy Glow

During the gathering at the Turves I found myself getting along well with a mare called Night's Blessing, the same mare I had rescued a few weeks earlier. Both her and her entire clan seemed to have an appreciation for intelligent tricksters who could outwit their enemies. I told her modified stories about my past and how I almost became the ruler of my home realm. She seemed to listen with great interest. She told me that the gathering of clans had storytellers telling various stories from the different clans and that I could increase my standing with the clans and more easily secure an alliance with the more difficult clans if I participated.

Me and Night's Blessing talked for quite a while during the time Silverwing was conquering the Contest of Strength. She told me of how she used to sneak into the wrestling competitions of the Red Rock clan and saw this amazing warrior named Dawn Rising who she fell in love with. She did woo him, and he fell in love with her as well. But he did feel betrayed when he found out she had been lying about being in his clan. I told her I hoped they could work it out. 

I think I made another true friend that day in Night's Blessing. I was never good at making friends, not real ones, only ones who liked a version of me that didn't exist. I did think back to my time at the orphanage growing up. At the time I was a shut-in academic that the other foals picked on. It was only when I pretended to be sweet and innocent as well as equally dumb as everyone else that I gained any friends at all, and the bullies left me alone.

I had kept up this habit after I got in touch with Tirek, during my time in Twilight’s School of Friendship and even as I entered Everglow. Other than Cipher, the only pony I ever had opened up my real self to was Sunset, and she would not stand by me if she knew what I was planning. That only left Cipher as a real friend, as he knew of the darkness within my soul. Yet he had threatened me. Would a true friend really do that?

I wondered if I could be entirely honest with Night's Blessing, or if she would abandon me if she knew the truth. Night's Blessing stuck with me as I joined the circles of storytellers, it was starting to get late and the storytellers had gathered around a campfire, tribesponies were gathering around the storytellers in order to listen to their stories. Among their number was unicorn in flamboyant and colorful garments with a flute hanging from his mouth, he wasn’t very physically imposing, but his voice had real presence. I remember him from Niden’s Hill, one of Night’s Blessing’s friends Larksong. Larksong invited me into the circle of storytellers, Nights Blessing telling the rest of the circle that I had a real talent for the art of storytelling. Larksong then urged me to tell a story for the rest of the circle. I cast a glamour spell on myself to enhance my charisma and started telling the story of the prince’s missing horn, of course changing the ending to not implicate Scarlet Lance and implied that the horn was stolen by the Gnoll King instead. The story went well with the audience as well as the other storytellers who cheered and applauded, the sounds of hooves being smashed together was overwhelming. 

At that time, I noticed Sunset and Twilight in the crowd. They approached Night’s Blessing, telling her they wanted to ask her a few questions. They told her that her fiancé, Dawn Rising felt concerned over the fact she had lied about her clan. Night’s Blessing told them what she had told me, that she had made a habit of sneaking into the games of the Red Rock Clan and that it was there she had first fallen in love with Dawn Rising while watching him wrestle. She apologized for causing her fiancé and he worry, but she also told him that trickery was basically the way of her clan, and it being something about her that he just had to accept if they were going to be together. This seems to satisfy Sunset and Twilight, the relationship police, going back to Dawn Rising to explain things to him. This entire time I was just listening. Feeling a sting of concern for my friend, I asked her if she thought everything would be alright with her relationship. She told me it was probably fine, her and Dawn Rising have had arguments in the past, but they had already decided they would join in matrimony, and more importantly, both their parents had already made arrangements for the wedding. 

It soon became time to rest, we were welcomed as guests in the Black Hooves camp, where we rested for the night. The next morning it was time for the trial of agility, in which we entered Cipher as a contestant. An obstacle course had been set up among the tents. Nights Blessing also decided to participate in this event. Cipher was fast and jumped over each obstacle with ease but had a little bit of trouble walking on a narrow ledge that was part of the competition. Nevertheless, he placed second in this competition, second only to Night’s Blessing. Cipher looked very displeased by these results and told me he thought he could do better, yet second place would still give us a decent amount of notoriety. We just needed to keep this up if we wanted the respect of the clans. 

The second competition of the day was a wrestling contest, for which our group unanimously decided that Silverwing was our best candidate, after some grumbling from Shadow Chaser. This was the competition that Dawn Rising was the grand champion of. Meaning that if things went well, Silverwing and Dawn Rising would have a rematch after Dawn Rising’s defeat in the trial of strength. Silverwing pinned the first opponents to the ground with ease and moved on to the finals where he was facing Dawn Rising. Dawn attempted to grapple Silverwing to the ground, but it was difficult for him with an opponent so much larger, Silverwing used his great strength to his advantage and threw Dawn Rising to the floor, but Dawn used his superior agility to slip out of the griffin’s grasp and reverse the grapple, trying to pin Silverwing to the ground. Silverwing roared and summoned all his rage and strength to get out Dawn Rising’s hold, but the more agile Dawn Rising kept avoiding his grapples. It seems to me that he knew that he had the disadvantage when it came to raw strength, but he was much faster than Silverwing and much nimbler. The contestants struggled against each other for a while until Dawn Rising once again got Silverwing on the ground, he failed to get out of the pin even with his superior strength. Dawn Rising now needed to only hold Silverwing to the ground for a few more seconds, Dawn Rising was successful and won the match. 

Despite Silverwing’s loss, she told me this was the closest anyone had gotten to defeating Dawn Rising for a very long time and that Silverwing should be proud of that accomplishment. 

With the end of competitions for today. I spent the rest of the day talking to the tribesponies about the threat the gem gnolls posed to both our people. And that it could be the end of both of us if Taralos and the tribes of the Turves did not work together. Twilight, surprisingly enough, joined me in trying to convince the tribespeople of an alliance, I had to admit I appreciated her help even if I was certain I could manage this on my own. Even if Twilight’s friendship speeches were a bit cheesy. Our combined efforts seem to have garnered us quite a bit of positive attention. Soon everyone in the camp was talking about us, our performance in the contests and our mission to secure their alliance against the gem gnolls.  

When the final day of competitions came around, the first trial was a trial of accuracy, which involved throwing knives at targets hanging from ropes attached to the roof of the tents. Cipher was the obvious candidate as a contestant for this trial. There were going to be three targets increasingly further away in each contest, the one that hits the most of them in around was considered the winner. Both Cipher of his opponent hit all three targets in the first round. Meaning the contest would need to be decided by a bonus round, which went to Cipher, giving him the victory. Cipher faced off against Night’s Blessing in the finale, yet another rematch. Both hit their first target, the second target Cipher hit while Night’s Blessing missed, Cipher acing the first target as well while Night’s Blessing once again missed her target. Night’s Blessing looked visually irritated by her own back performance in this competition, meaning that I spent the next couple of minutes assuring her that it was fine and that she wasn’t losing her touch. Cipher seemed gleeful and heckled Night’s Blessing about her loss. I wonder if Cipher employed any kind of trickery to win the competition.

The last competition was a riddle contest. Me and Twilight were butting heads over which of us to would be the contestant in this competition. We decided to settle the score with a riddle contest of our own. Twilight started by giving me her riddle:

“I have cities, but no houses. I have water, but no fish. What am I?”

I had to think for a little while to figure out that one, but eventually I decided that maybe the riddle was referring to something inanimate. Then I remembered the map at the center of Twilight’s castle, yes, that must be it.

“A map” I told her. She seemed a bit annoyed that I was able to take that one. 

Now I needed to figure out a riddle that would stump even the great Twilight Sparkle.

“What is it, but no one wants, but no one wants to lose.”

This seem to confuse Twilight who after a while told me she couldn’t figure out the answer. I told her:

“A lawsuit.”

Rather than sulking about her loss, Twilight came to her senses: 

“You know what Cozy? Well done, not many ponies would be able to come up with a riddle I couldn’t solve.”


Then it became time for the actual competition, I easily managed to crush the first round by answering this riddle: 

“What bird do you associate with lifting weights?”

I knew the answer to that one, a crane. Quite amusing. 

I moved on to the final, where my opponent was none other than Larksong from the storytellers group. Larksong gave me a riddle to solve:

“Sometimes narrow, sometimes wide, wind or rain, I stay outside. Even if there’s heat or snow, from house to house I will still go. What am I?”

I knew the answer to that one, it was obvious.

“A path.”

Now it was my turn to come up with a riddle that would wipe the floor with him.

“Who can finish a book without finishing a sentence?”

This riddle seemed to confuse Larksong. Who told me he has no idea what the answer could be, after a few incorrect guesses, I told him:

“A prisoner”.

With that the riddle competition was settled with me as the winner. Night’s Blessing congratulated me on my victory, and Sunset and Cipher soon joined in. Twilight reluctantly complimented me once again, telling me that I was indeed quite a smart young mare, but that I shouldn’t get cocky and let it go to my head. Too late. 


With the competitions over and with several winners from our group, we were the talk of the entire gathering. We were soon invited back to the Black Hooves camp to seal our alliance with Silent Hunter. Who told us we should go and see the other clan leaders. Our first stop being the Red Rocks clan, where Dawn Rising was from. Dawn Rising told us about his clan, and how they valued strength and honor above all, his having the physically strongest warriors of all the clans, apart from the Bloodied Ear clan. He took us to see his father, who turned out to be a very old Earth pony with silver hair and wisdom in his eyes, he was sitting by a campfire surrounded by his warriors as we came into the camp. He introduced himself as chieftain Salty Ground. As we had already secured an alliance with the Black Hooves, Salty Ground agreed to an alliance after I explained to him the importance of stopping the Gnoll King. Salty Ground told me that the Gnoll King had his main base in a ruin in a nearby forest. Salty Ground recommended that we should see the Stone Marchers next. He told me they were a democratic clan where each family that made up you can have as much say as the chieftain.

The Stone Marchers were not as welcoming as the two clans we had previously dealt with. Our reputation and success in the competitions allowed us an audience with their chieftain, but the ponies still gave us wary looks. As we approached the chieftain’s tent, two guards stopped us from approaching a middle-aged pony who was listening to his tribe members. After a few moments, he said something to them, and then the middle-aged pony turned towards us. His coat was grey with flecks of muted color that gleamed in the sunlight. He introduced himself as Flint Thinker. He asked me what we were doing there and I explained to him about our mission to gather an alliance against the Gnoll King. Flint Thinker seems to be a cynic, telling me about what he perceived to be the faults of our plan:

“What if we lost? There would be a massacre and our clan would lose even more ponies. I remember when your kind forced us out of their cities, half of our clan died before we found food and water. And now you’re telling us to sacrifice our lives for your sake? “

I told him the following:

“The more clans we can rally to our cause the less ponies will die, the Gem Gnolls is a threat to all of us and if we don’t stand together, they may kill all of us. Your clan has a better chance of survival standing united with the rest of us than standing alone against the Gnoll King.”

The argument seems to have convinced the chieftain:

“Very well, I heard you already have an alliance with the Black Hooves and the Red Rocks. You speak sense, the Stone Marchers do have a greater chance of survival standing united with our fellow clans and the people of Taralos than we do alone.”

With our alliance secured, I asked chieftain Flint Thinker if he knew anything about the Gnoll King and his mysterious disappearances. He told me that he had heard rumors of the Gnoll King having an unusual amulet containing a teleportation spell that would take him to a specific ruin deep in the forest. I surmised this must be the same base of operations we heard about from the chieftain of the Red Rock clan earlier. Flint Thinker told me that the other two clans were the most hostile to the people of Taralos and it would be a miracle if I managed to convince them to join our alliance. Yet I still had to try, I was completely confident in my abilities. 

Night’s Blessing told me about the next clan I would have two try to agree to an alliance. The Thorn Briar clan was a clan of runners and scouts who valued speed and agility, thinking of all city dwellers as slow weaklings. As we approached their camp, we could hear the shouts and cheers of children, there were many racetracks scattered across their camp and young foals competing in races. Made me think back to my time at the orphanage, where the ponies would participate in such games, I always would come in last when I participated, making myself a laughingstock. So, I mostly stuck to watching them, reading a book on the sidelines. 

There was an elderly pony watching the foals race, she had a blood red coat and a wistful smile upon her face. She introduced herself as Thorn Rose, the chieftain of the Thorn Briar clan. She recognized both Cipher and Night’s Blessing as the ponies who took second place and first place in the trial of agility, beating out even her own tribesponies, something the chieftain was very impressed with. I told her about the alliance we were gathering to oppose the Gnoll King. Thorn Rose told us she would agree to an alliance, but only because we had the two fastest ponies in the Turves on our side. She also told me something interesting about the Gnoll King, at the very heart of his home base, there were the ruins of a temple. Perhaps it was this temple his amulet of teleportation could teleport him back to. 

Now it was time to try to convince the final and most hostile clan, the Bloodied Ear, who according to Night’s Blessing was a clan of warlike berserkers, who took any excuse they could to fight everyone, not just with people of Taralos, but the other clans. The gathering being one of very few times they were not on the warpath. As we entered the camp, we could see two ponies engaged in a mighty duel, one dressed in hide armor and wielding a massive double-headed axe. The pony with the axe quickly downed her opponent, barely winded, she turned towards us, holstering her axe as she does. The pony was covered in warpaint and introduced herself as Tongue Splitter, the chieftain of the bloodied ear. Night’s Blessing had told me everything I needed to know about her, a fearsome warrior who was famous for having decapitated four opponents in a single blow, severing all their tongues at the root. 

The chieftain asked me:

“What do you want outsider?”

When I try to explain to her about the alliance, she has told me this:

“Sounds to me like this alliance would greatly reduce our number of enemies we could fight, no thanks, I rather prove the might of our clan by fighting the gem gnolls on our own.”

I tried my best to convince her that it would be for the best that she joined our alliance. But she quickly grew tired of my talk and ushered us out of the camp. I guess getting all but one clan to agree to an alliance was good enough. 


We spent the rest of the week just having fun at the gathering. I spent most of my time with Night’s Blessing, she had many interesting stories of her past trickery and the trickery of her ancestors. We entertain each other with stories of how we fooled other people, as well as pranking other ponies at the Black Hooves camp, who did seem to take it in good fun.

At the final night of the gathering, I was the last one to remain awake at the Black Hooves camp. This week at the gathering had given me a lot to think about. I think I had made my first genuine friend in quite a while. And because of that it would not be easy for me to let her go. Maybe after the war was over, I could visit her at whatever location her clan had chosen to camp. But her people were nomadic so it would never be the same place, which could mean she could be challenging to track down. I might not ever see her again; the thought really bothered me.

As I laid awake on my bedroll, a familiar pony would approach me, Sunset Shimmer. She asked me if there was something bothering me. I told her the truth, that we would leave in the morning and that I would maybe never see Night’s Blessing again. Sunset laughed and told me she could always come see me in Vil, we could talk to the Queen Regent to make sure that the tribes would always be welcome in Taralos. Then she asked me:

“So you don’t consider me a friend? Considering you said she was your first one for a long time.”

I just told her:

“If you knew everything there is to know about me, you would abandon me, just like everyone else. With her, it’s different, Night’s Blessing and her clan appreciates my trickery, they accept me for who I truly am. Not what they want me to be.”

My statement seems to amuse Sunset.

“You mean how you secretly have a plan to become the monarch of Taralos? I have suspected that from the very beginning, but I hope you will come to realize that maybe power isn’t what you really want. After all, Twilight told me that you told her that one of your reasons for wanting to become the Empress of Equestria is that then everyone would have to be your friend. What I am suggesting is that maybe your desire for power is just a means to an end.”

I have never considered that before, why was it exactly that I desired power? I always just thought I was different from other people, smarter and more talented, and therefore deserving over the rest of them, if I ruled over them everyone would need to accept me as their superior. Yet maybe she had a point, maybe this desire for recognition came from my childhood at the orphanage, where I was absolutely no one, and had no friends, no real ones anyway. I just told her:

“How do you know this anyway? How do you know I am not just born evil?”

Sunset glanced at my flank and said:

“Have you taken a look at your own mark of destiny? It’s a chess piece, more specifically a rook. In my experience marks of destiny, or cutie marks as they are known in your home world are multifaceted. While it is likely yours does represent your skill at the game of chess, in addition to your skill as a tactician. The word rook could also mean to deceive. But I think there is a deeper meaning than even that. All your life, you have always desired to be a queen, but if that was truly your destiny, your mark of destiny would’ve been a queen piece, but it’s not, it’s a rook. I do have some knowledge of chess, and rooks are some of the most important endgame pieces vital to many checkmate strategies. But more importantly, rooks can be used in the act of castling in order to protect the king. Don’t you see Cozy? Your destiny is not to rule, but to be a vital support piece in protecting your kingdom. As the leader of the Defenders of Taralos, I say you are already fulfilling your destiny, you are truly being the Rook of Taralos.”

Sunset’s words gave me a lot to think about. Maybe she was right, maybe it was not my destiny to rule, maybe being a monarch would give me what I desire. Yet the idea of having to serve another for the rest of my life irked me, especially if that someone was Twilight. And even if I wanted to give up on my plans, Cipher would make sure I wouldn’t live to breathe another day.