//------------------------------// // Prologue: Children // Story: Children of the Night // by Dark0592 //------------------------------// The castle was raised, the wards were in place and Luna had her little children at last. Twelve little foals, six fillies and six colts, all of them homeless or orphans. She believed they could have a better life with her here. It had been nearly two weeks since she sang her song and she decided to break off from Equestria. She walked through the halls of the castle. She could hear various noises and voices, that was the children. She was their mother of the night now, and she wouldn’t give it up for the world. There was one particular hall she stopped in front of. Twelve doors, six on each side, some doors closed and some doors open. She looked into the first on the left to find a little filly with a brown coat, reddish brown mane and tail and a darker brown on the ears. Her cutie mark was a keyhole. She was a pegasus, but her left wing was a bit smaller than the other one and looked almost dead. In truth it was, a birth defect had caused the filly’s wings to develop poorly. Luna had managed to fix the right one not long after arriving, but the process was painful so she was waiting for her to recover before doing so to the other. She turned to look at Luna from where she was scouring the room for something, her reddish brown eyes gleaming with a tint of frustration. “Mom! Have you seen my bottle of moondust?” She asked. “I’m sorry love, I haven’t. I’ll ask the others if they have for you, though, we’ll find it.” Luna replied lovingly. Spirit sighed but nodded happily and quickly hugged the dark princess before returning to scouring the room. Moondust, it was the magical dust from the moon that Luna had used as a medium to bring the foals to her as she sang. Spirit saved some of the glittering powder and kept it in a small vial. Luna opened the next door to find both a colt and a filly. The filly, Magpie, was black with white hooves and had a matching mane and tail, though there was a light blue streak going through both of them. Her cutie mark was a shining coin. Her orange eyes looked up at Luna and grinned. The colt, Nightshade, was a deep purple coloration with a gloriously red mane and tail. His cutie mark was a crimson music note. His light blue eyes, which matched Magpie’s streaks, looked up at her as well. “Mother, look! It’s so shiny and pretty!” Magpie exclaimed. Luna gained a knowing look as Magpie held up a small bottle of familiar glittering silver. “For the record, mother, I did tell her it was Spirit’s.” Nightshade said. Luna chuckled lightly and ruffled their manes. “Maggie, what have I told you about things in people’s rooms? Ask them if you can borrow or look at it, even if it’s shiny. And Nightshade, I know you wanted to see it too. Maybe next time, though, you would have had the foresight to at least let Spirit know you were borrowing it.” Luna started. She looked down at Magpie again and smiled warmly. “Your sister is ransacking her room looking for this, I imagine if you were to apologize and return it she won’t be mad at you. Nightshade you better go with her, make sure things don’t get ugly.” Luna giggled. “...Fiiine.” Magpie sighed. They both hugged her and they left at the same time, though the foals went back to the other door while Luna moved on. The third door on the left was open and empty, though the fourth had two fillies. The white coated unicorn with a pink mane and tail with a soft lavender streak was Moondancer. She had a cutie mark of a soft purple crescent moon with two stars in the curve and had eyes matching her streak. She was concentrating on a dance routine she had been teaching herself. Luna had to admit, she was getting rather good at it. The other filly sat and watched with an admittedly dumb look on her face. Night Light had a dark blue-green coat, her mane and tail were of a lighter shade with a dim neon green vertical stripes. Her cutie mark was three fireflies and she had soft blue eyes. Luna resigned to compliment her dancing later, she would like that very much. She moved on to the sixth door, as the fifth was also empty, and gained a very worried look when she found Springsign bandaging Gari’s leg. “Don’t worry mom! she’s just practicing!” Gari exclaimed, seeing Luna’s face. Gari was a unicorn of varying shades of brown with ginger mane and tail coloration. Her eyes were a dark emerald green and her cutie mark was two cookies, one with a bite on it, and speaking of there was a rather inviting plate of them on the nightstand. Luna ignored it, though. “I’m sorry if we worried you, oh this must look so bad, I just found a book on it and was just trying to learn in case anything DOES happen.” Springsign said. She had a grassy-green coat and a two toned main and tail consisting of dirt brown and lime green, though the green of the rind instead of the inside. Her eyes were a burning orange and her cutie mark was a nice orange and yellow flower. Luna sighed in relief and levitated a cookie from the plate and looked it over. “What was it this time?” She asked. She answered her own question, though, as her magic undid the transformation spell and all the cookies became assorted books and loose sheets of paper. Gari burped at that exact moment and Springsign giggled. “I told you that you shouldn’t have eaten that one...” She said. Luna just hugged the two of them and left to check on the other side. The side she was on was for the fillies and the other side was the colts. The first door she opened and found a colt staring at a candle. He had a white coat and a mane and tail like fire that matched the flame of his cutie mark. His crimson eyes were focused intently on the flame of the candle as it slowly but sure warped and twisted abnormally. “Candlelight, love? Be careful.” Luna said softly after he noticed she was there. He smiled and the circle the flame had formed warped into a checkmark, then a heart. Luna giggled and quickly kissed him on the forehead before leaving. The next room held the last four colts. There was Trotamundo, with his gingerbread-esq brown coat and messy white mane and tail. He had pale blue eyes and a cutie mark depicting an old-fashioned rucksack . There was Fly-By-Night, who had a deep blue coat and a two-toned white and blue-green mane and tail. He had yellow eyes and a cutie mark of a full moon with blue clouds and simplistic birds over it. Then there was Tingle and Wind Whisper. Tingle had a dark grey coat and incredibly messy electric yellow mane and tail. he had yellowish green eyes and a lightning bolt for a cutie mark. He zapped Wind Whisper with a tiny electric shock, who was light blue with a white mane, blue eyes and a gust of wind as a cutie mark. “Tingle! Stooop!” The rather feminine pegasus whined. “Oh come on, it doesn’t hurt that much!” Tingle laughed. Fly just shook his head and sighed in annoyance, his wings ruffling as he shifted his position. “Think of it this way, Wind, if he keeps doing it to you then you won’t feel it after a while!” Trotamundo said. “Or he could just stop, zapping your siblings isn’t the nicest thing to do.” Luna said. The four quickly perked up and ran to tackle her in a hug, though they couldn’t bring her to the ground as they expected. Luna giggled and caught them with her wings in a group hug before putting them down. “Tingle, you really should be more mindful with your electricity. It’s all fun and games until you singe a mane. Wind, just leave the room if he keeps doing it, I’m sure you can find room with another of your sisters or brother.” She said. She was smiling though, there was no real harm done. The two nodded and Wind glared at Tingle as a tiny electrical charge formed on the tip of the grinning unicorn’s horn. Luna just hefted a sigh, rolled her eyes and left. Her twelve children, they really were like a family. A bit rough around the edges, but nothing’s perfect. “Mom, why aren’t there other fillies and colts here?” Spirit asked as Luna passed her room. She stopped and looked in, her smile falling a little bit. The little filly must have been a bit mad at Magpie for taking one of her most cherished possessions. “Well, it’s kind of simple really...” Luna started as she entered the room and sat down next to the filly. “All of the grownups, and a lot of the other foals, back in Equestria didn’t really like the night. In fact, they sort of shunned it in favor for the day. They would all hide and avoid the night, but rejoice and play and have fun in the daylight. One day, though, I saw that there were a few little fillies and colts who loved the night like I did. They weren’t happy in Equestria, though, so I sang a magic song and took them away to a faraway place, where the sun can’t quite cast its shadow.” She continued. Spirit giggled and nuzzled up to her. “Now really, you know how Maggie is. At least she gave it back, right?” Luna asked. Spirit grumbled something. “You can guess a lot of things but she did give it back. You can’t be that angry with her.” Luna said. Spirit sighed and mumbled another ‘I guess’. “Good.” Luna giggled before kissing her on the forehead and leaving the room. She looked back as she saw Spirit leave as well and enter the door where Moondancer and Night Light were. This was almost too perfect, Luna thought. She would never let this end. Nothing is perfect, though, and that reinstated itself as she felt all of her wards instantaneously fall. --- Celestia and Luna stared each other down in the main hall of the castle. Behind Luna were her children. Behind Celestia was a contingent of royal guards. Celestia had an angry, and almost cocky, look on her face while Luna’s was a glare of pure fury. “What are you doing here?! This is OUR place!” Luna exclaimed. “What am I doing here? What do you think YOU’RE doing here?! You abducted twelve foals in the middle of the night and spirited them off to this place. You can’t just snatch up a dozen foals and expect nothing to come of it, it shakes ponies to their very being.” Celestia retorted. “I’m here to bring them back to where they belong and to try and talk some sense into you!” She continued. “Belong? So, you think that a bunch of homeless and orphaned foals belong back there? I am giving them a home and I am their mother. They are my Children of the Night, and I refuse to let them or myself return just to have the biggest shadow of them all eternally cast down upon them.” Luna said, her raging fury changing into a rather sinister calm. “Biggest shadow... what? You’ve gone mad, Luna. Guards, escort the foals out of here.” Celestia said, turning to her guards. Before they could move, though, there was a low hum in the air, the hum of pure power. “If you touch them you will not leave this place...” Luna warned. Celestia glared at her, but then nodded to her guards. They moved around Luna and made to move the foals along, but just as one of the guards’ hooves touched the shoulder of Gari, all of them were blown backwards with enough force to potentially put them through the three foot thick stone walls. Celestia managed to cushion their impact enough to only daze them, though. “Luna! How dare you attack your fellow ponies!” Celestia yelled, turning to glare at her sister after making sure her guards were alright. Her eyes widened in shock and she couldn’t help but take a step back as Luna wasn’t really Luna anymore. “My fellow ponies? Funny, I thought they were YOUR little ponies. YOUR little ponies don’t interest me in the slightest, I will make them mine!” The new Luna exclaimed, ending with a maniacal cackle. That most certainly was not Luna. “M-Mommy?” Gari said softly. The creature that took Luna’s form froze and looked towards them. Celestia gasped and sent a blast of magic towards the creature, thinking it would turn on them. The creature looked forward and deflected it, but a very surprised Luna was still looking at them. The creature looked to be made of the stuff of nightmares, and was swirling about around her. “Run!” Luna gasped as the shadows engulfed her once more, her surprise turning to a grin as she turned to face Celestia in full. “Go after them!” Celestia ordered her guards as she sent forth a constant stream of magic to hold off this nightmare while the guards rushed past her. The foals had only hesitated for a moment before listening to their mother. “Everyone in here!” Gari exclaimed when they reached the end of their hall, where there was an empty storage room. Spirit closed the door behind them and locked it and they all huddled into a corner. There were various bangs and sounds and rumbles as the battle raged on, and after only a few minutes there was a solid banging on the door. As it started to crack, Gari said something not even she really understood. “Brothers, Sisters, are we all true Children of the Night? Do we ever regret following the song, starting this family with Mom? Do we ever want to go back?” She asked softly as the faces of guards smashing through the door was seen through cracked holes that splintered away from the door. They all looked at her for a moment before saying the same thing in unison. “We are Children of the Night.” And with that, and a sudden flash, the room was empty as the guards managed to blast through it with sheer strength alone. Celestia stared up at the moon through one of the many holes in the ceiling, tears streaming down her face, as she watched the sphere of pure magic smash into it. That Nightmare was inside of it, and it was all she could do. She looked down as her guards entered the room. “The foals?” She asked, worried. “Gone, your highness. They disappeared, looked like teleportation but I don’t know.” The captain replied. “Fan out, find them. Search the surrounding forest, I’ll scan the castle.” She ordered coldly. They bowed and were out of the building in seconds. Celestia used a very powerful and potent scanning spell to cover the castle and a one mile radius surrounding it. Finding nothing, her sorrow and fury both combined and all of the magic spread out in the scanning spell condensed in front of her and exploded with enough force to blow the immensely thick walls away. The castle collapsed around her, stone and glass falling around her. What did fall on her simply disintegrated as she built up her power, what she had just done to her sister filling her mind. The guards with her on that day would never see their princess as the ever calm and composed princess they were used to ever again, at least not completely. With a shrieking scream of rage and deprivation, the area exploded again. This time, though, it warped the entire forest. The effects ignored the ruins of the castle and the guards. “This place will never be free of the sorrow here... Just as I will never be free of it either...” Celestia said softly to herself as she looked back up at the moon. “Princess? Are you alright?” Her captain asked, entering the ruins. “I don’t know...” She replied and started walking away. That captain heard what she had said, though, and as Celestia ignored the chariot and took off on her own wings he thought of what to call this unnamed place. The Everfree Forest. Fitting, really.