Chapter 12: Darkest Night
One month had passed since Nightmare Moon had brought about her night. The destruction of Canterlot was now common knowledge throughout Equestria, as was the banishment of the beloved princesses.
Practically every farm across the country was now growing the bland crops brought to them by the night ponies. It was considered a treat now to eat an apple, or anything that had required the sun’s light to grow.
Rainbow Dash and Solar Flare now found themselves in Cloudesdale. Emissaries had been dispatched to gather all the pegasi in Equestria who did weather jobs. The two friends now stood on the bottom floor of the weather factory, speaking in hushed tones to one another while they waited.
Finally, a Pegasus familiar to Rainbow Dash as the mayor of Cloudsedale flew down from above, calling attention to herself. She began a speech without landing.
“Your attention, please.” She shouted, her voice not making any echo in the cloud building.
“Pegasi of Equestria! You have been called here for an urgent matter having to do with the onset of winter!”
A ripple of quiet mutters ran through the assembled group of ponies.
The mayor continued. “The unicorns have been hard at work imitating the sun’s warmth, and I know you’ve all worked hard to keep the weather as it should be despite the er, change in government.”
The mayor spared a glance at a trio of the now-familiar bat winged pegasi under the emply of Nightmare Moon. The stoic ponies said nothing.
“At any rate, the Weather Council has, with Queen Nightmare Moon’s permission, decided to cancel winter.”
Another ripple of conversation ran through the assembled ponies, this one louder than the last. Rainbow Dash shot up into the air, her face flushed in the dim light.
“Cancel winter?! Since when can you just cancel an entire season?!” She shouted.
“I assure you this was no easy decision, but without the sun we would be unable to melt the snow as we always have.” The mayor explained, nodding her head toward the black guards, who seemed indifferent to Rainbow’s outburst.
“But what about winter holidays? Do we still get to celebrate those?” Solar Flare shouted sarcastically, joining his friend in the air.
“The queen has assured me that no holidays shall be restricted. Hearth’s Warming Eve will still be celebrated as it always has.” The mayor responded impatiently, clearly eager to be done with the situation.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and flew out a window, still stewing. Solar Flare followed, staying a few feet behind. The two flew in silence most of the way back to Ponyville, but landed on a cloud right outside. They had spent a lot of time doing this over the past month, just sitting on a cloud, talking and letting time slip past.
“Well this blows…” Rainbow muttered after a while.
“Yeah.” Solar Flare replied, looking at the full moon. It hadn’t waned at all the whole time Nightmare Moon had been back.
The two were silent for a while before Rainbow got bored and flew off towards her home. Solar Flare didn’t follow, but turned his course to the hospital in Ponyville, where he knew Elderberry would be.
-
Elderberry sat next to Raspberry’s bed, as he had spent practically every moment since his return to Ponyville doing. His mane was disheveled, his eyes were dark and his face was thickly stubbled.
He breathed a deep sigh as a doctor came in, took some readings off a machine and left without a word. They had long since abandoned trying to talk to the farmer, who only took his eyes off his daughter when he was asleep.
The filly’s mane had fallen out, a result of her treatment, and she spent most of her time asleep. Elderberry sighed again, glancing momentarily at the EKG. The rhythmic beeping was the only sound in the room.
The farmer spared a glance at the clock. It was 3:30 in the afternoon, but you would never have guessed that from looking outside. He had long since given up being angry, it did him no good.
Elderberry slumped back in his seat as the EKG flatlined, the beeps turning into one long continuous tone.
-
“NO!” Boysenberry wailed, her voice high pitched. It was a voice the doctor on call had heard before, but he never, ever got used to it. It was the voice of a mother who had lost a foal.
“Mrs. Berry, I can’t begin to express how sorry I am…” He muttered, pulling out his ever-faithful pocket response. He had been awake for eighteen hours straight and had been working almost that entire time.
“NO! NO, NO, NO!!” The unicorn screamed over and over, her agonized voice drilling into the doctor’s eardrums. Of course, he felt far too sorry for the mare to mind. She had collapsed on the ground, flopping around in pained throes.
Her husband said nothing, just stood behind her, his eyes fixed on a spot on the floor. A shudder would run through him on occasion but he was otherwise completely still.
The door to the filly’s room opened and a stretcher was pushed out, a white sheet covering something on it. The doctor levitated his glasses off with magic and wiped them on his coat, keeping a careful eye on the distraught mother.
A grey Pegasus landed softly halfway down the hall and approached on foot, his face confused. He looked from one pony to the next, his eyes finally coming to rest on the little stretcher being pushed slowly down the hall. His blue eyes began to glisten.
The doctor approached him.
“Are you a relative of the patient?”
“I’m her uncle.”
“I’m- very sorry for your loss Mr…”
“Solar Flare.” The Pegasus said somberly, glancing at Elderberry, who didn’t return the look.
Boysenberry screamed again, causing Solar Flare to wince. His eyes began to overflow.
“Do you need a moment alone with your sibling?” The doctor asked, gently laying his hoof on Solar Flare’s shoulder.
The Pegasus huffed, turned around and flew back out the door.
Elderberry moved now, laying a hoof on his wife’s shoulder. She shrugged him off, but he persisted. She crumpled into another fit of squalls, a puddle of tears quickly forming around her.
A couple nurses, after much coaxing, managed to get the parents into a side room and offered them some water while the doctor shuffled through some papers. This had been, by far, the worst shift of his entire career.
-
Nightmare Moon shifted in her throne. The stone seat was uncomfortable, and she was bored.
Redstar stood by her side, still as a statue. He stood there whenever he wasn’t on some mission. She had taken to sending the Pegasus on frivolous tasks just to get some time alone. His constant vigil got annoying after a while.
“Redstar.”
“Yes, your majesty?” The pony snapped to attention immediately, his eyes flashing briefly.
A mischievous plan entered the alicorn’s mind.
“Oh, nothing. I was just seeing if you were paying attention.” Nightmare Moon replied, polishing a hoof on her chest.
“Um, okay.” He turned his gaze forward again, his brow furrowed.
“Redstar?”
“Yes, your majesty?”
“Nothing.”
The Pegasus turned to her again, an eyebrow cocked. “Why are you doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“What do you think?!” He snapped. His dark coat immediately grew a shade darker and he covered his mouth with a hoof.
Nightmare Moon spread her wings and lifted a few feet in the air, casting a spell to cause a gust of wind to blow through the throne room. Redstar took two steps backward, lowring his head.
“You dare speak in such a manner to your queen?!” Nightmare Moon boomed, elevating her voice to the traditional royal Canterlot volume.
“N-No, y-your majesty! I would never, it’s just…”
Nightmare Moon dispelled the magic and stopped the wind, lowering herself back onto her throne. She shot her guard a wicked grin, to which he replied with a sheepish look.
“Oh, Redstar, you are just too easy…” The black alicorn returned to her place on her throne.
“I have new orders for you.” Nightmare Moon stated, her tone once again turning serious.
“Yes, my queen?”
“Fetch me a more comfortable throne.”
“Yes, right away!” Redstar unfurled his leathery wings and darted from the skylight into the night. Nightmare Moon sighed as she watched him go. A lock of her ethereal mane slithered apart from the rest, grasping something under her throne. She lifted the book out and opened it, flipping to a marked page.
-
Silver Hoof stood before a group of the most powerful spell casters she could assemble. All had their horns lit, feeding magic into the sky. The sun didn’t move an inch, just as it had refused to do the last three times they had attempted the spell.
It had now been one long, continuous day for a month. Crops were flourishing and the ponies were happy, but something had to be wrong. The princess of Equstria wouldn’t subject her servants to a month of night, would she?
“Still not working?” Windtrot asked gruffly, hovering down beside his companion.
“Not at all.” Silver Hoof replied, her voice lyrical despite her confusion.
“Well, I suppose we aren’t missing out on much.” Windtrot said with a shrug. He had his helmet off, revealing his closely cropped mane.
“Would you do something for me, commander?” Silver Hoof asked, flicking her mane.
“What?”
“I need you to send your fastest flier with a message to the princess of Equestria asking her about this change of tune.” Silver Hoof explained, dismissing her unicorns with a wave of her brightly polished hoof.
“Sure thing.” The two traveled back to the long hut where the three leaders now lived. Once inside, Silver Hoof jotted down a brief letter while the commander retrieved his messenger.
He returned with an orange soldier with an arrow cutie mark. Silver Hoof levitated the letter to the messenger, who gripped it between his teeth.
“Get that letter there asap, then get your flank back here. There’s a promotion in it for ya, soldier.”
“Yesh, sher!” The Pegasus stated dutifully around the letter in his mouth, saluting. He tucked the letter into a small bag on his side and flew out, leaving a visible orange afterimage in his wake.
“So you really think the princess is holding the sun here?” Windtrot asked, no emotion in his voice.
“If you want my true answer, then no. I don’t think that.”
“What could be doin’ it then?”
“I don’t know. Hopefully your messenger will return and tell us.”
-
Solar Flare sat alone in his home, an unimpressive one story house near town square. There was no fire in the fireplace and no candles were lit, the only light filtering in from the moon through the window.
A beam of silver moonlight shined across a photograph on the floor. It had been taken in Hood’s house three months before. Solar Flare, Hood and Elderberry were all gathered around the fireplace, one of their many get-togethers. There had been nothing particular about that night; it had just been the one time Elderberry had brought over a camera.
The Pegasus’ face was darkened by tears. This was the first time since this whole affair had sprung up that he had finally broken down. Everything had officially fallen apart.
Hood was gone, in all likelihood dead. Raspberry’s leukemia had finally caught up to her. He wasn’t really the filly’s uncle, but he may as well have been. There was still Rainbow Dash, who he had grown closer to than ever, but even she couldn’t brighten the situation up right now.
He huffed and smoothed his mane. At least it couldn’t get worse.
-
Twilight levitated some books into their proper places on the shelf. Spike was off somewhere with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the library needed a good reshelfing.
Somepony knocked on the door and Twilight opened it with magic. Rarity walked in slowly, her head low.
“Twilight, I’m afraid I have some bad news…” Rarity mumbled. Her voice was shallow, and Twilight could tell her friend had been crying.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, dropping a book carelessly.
“You remember Elderberry?”
“Yes, of course, why, is he okay?”
Rarity shook her head. “No, he’s not. His daughter, she-“ Rarity choked back a sob, dabbing at her eye with a handkerchief. “His daughter, Raspberry… She just passed away this afternoon.”
Twilight looked away. She hadn’t been very close to Hood’s older friend, in fact they hadn’t spoken since that fateful day a month before. Despite that, she felt sick with pity.
“There’s going to be a service tomorrow at noon, if you would like to attend.” Rarity said.
“Yeah, yeah I’ll be there.” Twilight muttered, placing another book on a shelf without looking at it.
-
It was supposed to rain the next day, but Solar Flare had made sure it didn’t. Now, Elderberry, Boysenberry, Solar Flare, Rainbow, Twilight, Rarity, and an assortment of relatives and friends from Ponyville were gathered around Mr. Waddle, who was delivering the funeral ceremony.
Boysenberry was sobbing throughout, as was Rarity. Elderberry appeared to have shut down completely and stared blankly into space.
Mr. Waddle finished the address and the undertaker lowered the small coffin into the deep hole in the ground.
-
Elderberry sat drinking wine directly from the bottle. Boysenberry had taken Blackberry to stay with her mother, so Elderberry did what he always did when he was depressed. He got drunk.
The door was nudged open and Solar Flare walked in.
“What do you want?” Elderberry grunted.
“I came over to make sure you didn’t drown.” Solar Flare replied.
“Do I honestly look like I’m in the mood for jokes?” The earth pony snapped.
“I wasn’t joking.” Solar Flare replied, knocking the bottle out of his friends hoof. It hit the floor and shattered, droplets of its contents scattering everywhere.
“What the hay was that for?!” Elderberry shouted, louder than he knew he should have.
“It’s been three days, and you haven’t even left the house!” Solar Flare shouted back.
“Why should I?” Elderberry growled, fixing his glare on a spot on the opposite wall.
“What do you think Boysenberry thinks about you sitting here, drinking yourself to death?”
“Shut up.”
“Or Blackberry? What kind of example is this for him?”
“I said shut up!”
“What would Raspberry think? Or Hood?”
Elderberry struck the Pegasus across the snout, sending him sprawling across the floor.
“Don’t even talk about him near me!” He roared, his face red.
Solar Flare spit out a drop of blood. “Why?”
“If he’s too good to even come back for my filly’s funeral then he’s dead to me. Never speak of him to me again.” The earth pony snarled.
“I can’t even imagine…” Solar Flare muttered, rising to his hooves shakily.
“No, you can’t.”
“I wasn’t talking about that!” Solar Flare shouted, wheeling around ferociously, his mane whipping out. “I wasn’t talking about you! Life sucks, but we all manage! I don’t care what you think about Hood! I thought the wrong thing about him once and look where it got us! Or didn’t get us! I don’t even know where the buck he is!”
Elderberry looked taken aback, but Solar Flare continued his rant, his nose bleeding slightly from Elderberry striking him.
“You know what the last thing I ever said to him was?! It was that Rainbow Dash thought this eternal night stuff was his fault! And you know what?! I thought so too!”
“Flare-“
“I know this is hard! I don’t even want to know how much pain you’re in right now! But getting drunk and blaming your friends is no way to handle it!” Solar Flare screamed, his voice cracking on his last sentence.
Elderberry gaped, his half drunk mind slowly absorbing his friend’s words.
Solar Flare was panting from his tirade, but his eyes shimmered painfully. He turned toward the still open door and spread his wings, preparing to leave.
“Hold it, now.”
The Pegasus turned back to his friend. The farmer’s eyes were now overflowing, a veritable ocean of tears spilling out. He was biting down on his lip hard, trying to stifle the painful sob battling to escape his throat.
Solar Flare laid a hoof on Elderberry’s shoulder and the earth pony collapsed into him, sobbing into his mane. The Pegasus was momentarily knocked off balance by his heavy friend, but steadied himself and collapsed into his own emotions.
Any other time, this would have been awkward, the two stallions embracing each other, but neither cared. They needed one another now more than ever.
-
Relan prowled silently through the mansion that had once been Moonlight’s home. It was now cold and abandoned. The furniture lat broken and wood rotten, the fireplace housed ancient ashes from many years before and a thick layer of dust covered everything, irritating the Drake Cat’s nose.
He sneezed for not the first time since he had entered, kicking up a cloud of dust. He shook his mane irritably, the dust wearing on his nerves.
When he had arrived, the lock had been forced open, apparently quite recently. Of course, the path from Ponyville to Trottingham took him nearly a month to walk, even with the everlasting night aiding in his attempts to avoid detection.
Two set of hoof prints traced a path through the dust, one smaller than the other. Relan had followed them through the foyeur, up the stairs and through the winding halls. The prints had taken a turn into a bedroom, to which the door stood open.
The Drake Cat silently crept into the room, a tendril of psychic energy reaching around in the dark. It brushed with another consciousness, and the lumpy mass under the covers on the bed shifted.
Relan approached the bed and ever so carefully lifted the covers away.
Two ponies were fast asleep, a mare and a filly. By the look of them, they hadn’t had a good night’s rest in quite some time. Their manes were ragged and tangled and both were unclean. Homeless, in all likelihood. Transients seeking out a place to lay their heads.
Relan couldn’t fault them for that.
The Drake Cat exited the house as silently as he had entered.
-
Twilight slid the last book into place and turned to look at her work. Her face read no emotion, but she was inwardly somewhat proud that she had managed to get the library properly re-shelved, what with all that had happened recently.
She looked at the clock. 12:35, past midnight. The unicorn stifled a yawn and made for bed, creeping past Spike as not to wake him.
Twilight was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, her physical and emotional exhaustion taking their tolls.
-
Twilight wandered slowly through Ponyville Park in the dark. When she approached the fountain, she dipped her head in and drank deeply, something she had seen other ponies doing but had never done herself. She found this odd for some reason.
When she lifted her head again, there was a pony resting on the bench. It was Boysenberry, the pony who had just lost her daughter. The unicorn was covered in a black blanket and was sobbing into her hooves.
Twilight places a hoof comfortingly on the ponies shoulder, trying to think of something comforting to say.
The mare looked at her now, except it was no longer Boysenberry, it was princess Luna.
“Twilight Sparkle, where are the Elements of Harmony?” Luna asked, her voice sad.
“I think Discord has them.” Twilight responded.
“But why would he need them? He doesn’t have any friends.” Luna responded, now with a hint of amusement.
“Maybe he wants to make some.”
“Perhaps.” Luna lowered her head and lifted the black blanket over herself like a hood.
“Maybe someday he could be friends with you and Celestia.” Twilight suggested.
“No. Because Celestia is on the sun, remember?” Luna asked, lowering her head and looking away.
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”
“Twilight.”
“Yes?”
The pony on the bench turned back to her once again, only this time it wasn’t Boysenberry or Luna. It was Hood.
-
Twilight shrieked as she awoke, desperately kicking at the blankets tangled around her hind legs. She relaxed when she recognized what they were.
She was drenched in cool sweat and found herself looking out the window to gauge the time. Of course, the full moon looked back down toward her, the Mare in the Moon watching over her as it always did now.