Sirius rocketed through the night sky, tears blurring his vision. He flourished his wings faster and faster, propelling himself to speeds he had never before reached. His head was bolted straight, the wind roaring in his ears. He didn’t know where he was going, nor did he care. Sirius just needed to get away.
His heart ached fiercely. The constant outpouring of tears streamed from his eyes, flowing below his ears and wicked away by the wind.
There was darkness all around Sirius, the monochrome forest rushing past below him. He flew faster. He was so tired of the pain of never belonging.
He was a lunar pegasus, but he had been born to a solar earth pony, raised in a solar family, in a solar community. He was stuck somewhere in between, not fitting here nor there.
All his life he had been an outcast. The ponies in the village would throw rocks at him, his Mother had been trying to kill him the moment she realized she was pregnant with him, and now his half-sister had betrayed him. He squeezed his eyes shut, hot tears tickling his eyelids as they were drawn away by the howling wind.
“What kind of freak am I!?” Sirius howled into the wind. Not even my own mother can love me.
Maybe the villagers are right. Maybe I am a monster.
There was another spike of pain in his chest. His heart felt like a rock in his chest. Nopony wants me, he thought. Nopony will ever love me.
They will always looks at me with disgust and contempt.
I will be alone for the rest of my life, doomed to spend my remainder of years as an outsider looking in.
He opened his eyes, and came to a total halt. He blinked at what he saw before him. “How long have I been flying?” he asked himself.
The sliver of the moon on the horizon answered his question. He had been flying the entire night. He had been so absorbed in himself, he hadn’t even noticed the time passing.
He looked at the city outskirts sprawling before him. Orderly rows of bright fluorescent streetlights lined all the roads, gray concrete three-story apartment buildings lined up neat and orderly beside them, and in the distance he could see tall skyscrapers with soft white light blazing from their office windows. Sirius blinked, drawing closer to the city.
Sirius could see groups of pegasi flying over the mundane buildings on their way to their jobs. The streets were packed with the white and red lights of automobiles, their honking horns filling the air. The sidewalks were crammed with ponies wearing black suits and bowler hats, talking on their cellphones, and moving to some unknown destination.
Realizing how tired his wings were, he flew around to a less crowded part of the city and landed on the sidewalk. Bright neon signs were everywhere in this strip of the city, but Sirius didn’t like how shady this place looked. He trotted past desolate looking casinos, sex shops advertising porn on their windows, and other dubious establishments that catered to every vice imaginable.
His stomach growled. Sirius suddenly felt very foolish. He didn’t have a single bit on him. Here he was in a strange city, alone, and with no money.
Maybe he could look for scraps. He was good at that.
Sirius trotted past two scantily dressed mares using their magic to hold cigars to their mouths. Sirius stood up straight, mortified. One of the mares giggled, and they both began to laugh obnoxiously.
Nopony had ever touched him like that, he felt violated. Sirius began to gallop, not liking this place. But the farther he went, the more abandoned storefronts he saw, the sidewalk grew increasingly deteriorated, and soon he was sure this entire part of the city was forsaken.
The streetlights here were dimmer, and Sirius was frightened. He decided to go back the way he came. He turned around, but then he saw them. Three ponies were watching him some distance away. They were wearing masks, black leather jackets, and were carrying spiked clubs.
He was being followed.
Sirius was terrified. He trotted forward anxiously, trying to remain calm. He shot a glance backward and saw that they were gaining on him. All three of them were pegasi, there was no way he could escape.
This was probably gang territory, and Sirius was a trespasser.
He began to gallop, and looked back. They too were galloping in pursuit. Sirius turned around and crashed into something. He was roughly shoved back, and tripping over a downed power line, he tumbled to the ground.
“Look who wandered into the wrong neighborhood,” a gruff sounding stallion said from behind his changeling mask.
Sirius looked around frantically, the rubber insulation of the power line digging into his back. The other three ponies with the clubs had caught up to him. He squeaked in terror, and they all laughed.
“Oh, he’s a lunar pegasi! I bet he’s loaded!” a high pitched mare said, groping at Sirius’ clothing.
Sirius looked around, and noticed these ponies were all solar ponies.
“What do we do with him, boss?” a stallion said.
A hulking stallion unmasked himself, revealing a heavily pierced face and a black scar over his blind left eye. “Mug him. Make it quick, the cops have been aggressive lately.”
The mare pulled out a switchblade, and he could almost see her grinning from underneath her mask. Sirius edged away from her and the power line scraped him.
A wild idea struck him.
He lunged towards the mare, and she slashed at him with her switchblade. He dodged the slash and wrested the blade away from her. The six ponies surrounding him dove down on him all at once, and Sirius severed the power line.
The block was plunged in darkness, but Sirius’ night vision was excellent while theirs wasn’t.
The gang ponies tumbled over each other, and the mare grabbed Sirius’s legs as he tried to flee. He grabbed the still live power line with his wing and drove it down onto her skull.
She began to convulse and Sirius struggled free. He could smell burnt flesh and hair as he galloped away. Sirius spread his wings and groaned in pain. He saw that his wing was soaked in blood.
The gang mare must have grazed him with the switchblade.
He continued to gallop, and he heard the angered voices of the gang ponies behind him. They would definitely kill him now. The buildings were beginning to look livelier now, and he dove into the first one that looked open.
Sirius pushed through the glass doors and hid behind an aisle of what appeared to be some kind of candles. He watched the five gang ponies rush past outside, screaming obscenities at one another.
Sirius sighed, and took a deep breath. The overwhelming scent of incense invaded his nostrils. He gagged, coughing. “Geez, did someone set a hippy on fire?”
“No,” a mare timidly said.
Sirius looked around and spotted the mare hiding behind the counter. She was sky blue, a flowing white mane, and had a frightened look on her face.
“Oh, I was just joking,” Sirius said, trying to calm her nerves.
He looked around. There were bright neon signs everywhere advertising palm readings, tarot cards, séances, psychics for hire, and all sorts of other magical hijinks.
“Welcome to Madam Trixie’s,” the mare said, dressed in a lavender robe with stars embroidered on it. She bowed before him. “It is so kind of you, sir. A noble lunar pegasi visiting the shop of a poor daypony, he is most kind and generous.” She bolted back up, her lilac eyes staring at him. “You will invite your other lunar friends, yes?”
Sirius nodded.
Was this the difference in treatment between the Nightborn and the Dayborn that the old stallion had been talking about?
The Nightborn must embody the higher socio-economic classes in the cities. After all, they were Nightmare Moon’s favored people. Maybe it had been no coincidence that the ponies he had seen in this desolate part of the city were all Dayborn.
There must be quite a disparity for all Dayborns to automatically assume he was rich just because.
Sirius looked over at the mare. The velvet robed psychic had retreated behind her counter, grinning as if she had hit the jackpot at the casino.
Too bad Sirius didn’t have any money.
But he still looked around, intrigued by the novelty of the store. Never had he seen such exotic wares in his entire life.
Crystal globes which made you sleepy when you touched them, candles that induced lust when a pony inhaled the smoke, rings that actually detected your mood, there were so many cool things here.
Sirius was prodding a talking dragon figurine, when the faint pink glow caught his eye. He looked at the hot pink neon sign. It read: “LOVE POTIONS.”
He drew towards it, and below the neon sign, there was a softly trickling fountain. The water was pink and glowing, and the same enchanted liquid was stored in heart shaped vials. They were submerged in the water, and Sirius reached in and picked up a vial.
Madam Trixie appeared beside him. “Oh, a love potion,” she smiled. “Is there a mare in your life you’re trying to win over?”
“Yes,” Sirius said. “Though, I do not want a romantic love. I want a more companionate love, like…” he closed his eyes, visualizing. “Like the bond a mother would share with her foal. I want that kind of unconditional affection.”
She nodded. “Trixie understands, and the potion will work for both situations. It is a potent magic in the vials, and the effects will last several years.” Trixie shrugged. “But sometimes, if it is meant to be, the effects will never wear off.”
Sirius imagined it in his head. Mother was smiling at him, something she had never done before. She was beckoning him closer, and he fell into her warm embrace. She wrapped her hooves around him, kissing him, and softly stroking his mane. “I love you, son,” she whispered.
Sirius could feel tears falling from his eyes. He wrapped his wings around her tightly. “I love you too, Mother.”
Sirius sniffed, and the mental picture faded. He could still feel his mother’s warmth.
He felt a real hoof on his shoulder. The light blue mare was staring into his eyes. “Trixie feels like you really need the potion, so she will give it to you free of charge.”
He leaned forward and wrapped his hooves around her, clutching the vial. Trixie gasped in surprise. “Never has a Nightpony been so kind to me,” she murmured.
His stomach growled loudly.
Trixie looked at his belly. “Would this particular threstal be interested in sharing dinner with me?”
The doors of the store slammed open, and Sirius flipped around. Three gang ponies rushed in, covered in blood. “The cops are here!”
Trixie fled to a room in the back of the store, and the three gang ponies hid behind the aisles, cowering.
There was the crack of leathern wings, and the store windows were shattered as three Nightborn pegasi in armor made their entrance.
Sirius took a step back, and one of the armored ponies approached him. “Are you in good health, citizen?”
Sirius just stared, dumbstruck. He looks just like me, Sirius thought. They all do.
The Nightguard sighed, looking at his injured wing. “Someone get a medic in here, this stallion’s wing needs attention.”
Meanwhile, the other two Nightguard ponies had found the three gang members, and Sirius heard the whistling of police nightsticks descending, and the crunching sound they made as the Nightborn police struck them down.
The armored pony had moved past Sirius and the guards clamped manacles on the battered gang ponies and hauled them away.
A medic stepped in through the ruined entrance of the store, her horn glowing as she cleared the debris from her path. She approached him, and he stared at her in wonder.
This was the first time he had ever encountered ponies of his own species. He had known their existence, but seeing them for the first time somehow made it more true.
The mare looked him over, and she got a strange look in her eyes. “Captain!” she said, staring at his flank.
Sirius looked over and saw it. His cutie mark. It was a white wisp with glowing bubbles of light emanating from it. That had not been there an hour ago.
A muscular stallion with luminescent green eyes, and a dark blue body trotted in. He seemed to be very sure of himself as he approached the medic mare. He sized up Sirius, and then his eyes went wide when he noticed his cutie mark. “We’ve got a Dreamwalker with us.”
Sirius looked around, and saw that all the Nightguards were looking at him with admiration. He even detected a twinge of jealousy in the Captain’s eyes.
“Follow me,” the Captain said. “We’re taking you to headquarters. A gifted pony like you will fit right in with us.”
Gifted? Sirius liked the sound of that. It was one of those incredibly rare instances where he was genuinely being praised. Sirius enjoyed every bit of it.
The Captain led Sirius outside, and a luxurious carriage was waiting for them there. The Captain went first and opened the door for him. There was a mare sitting in the darkness inside, her ruby eyes glowing. Sirius sat inside first, and the Captain sat next to the mare.
The carriage lurched forward, but Sirius was too amazed with the comfy seats to pay attention to the other two ponies. He started to play with the dials, twisting one. His seat immediately began to warm up.
Now this, this was cool.
Sirius turned another dial, and he noticed the Captain staring in confusion while the ruby-eyed mare just seemed to be amused. The seat began to vibrate, a steady thumping on his hooves. Combined with the heat, it was perfect. “Ahhhh,” Sirius moaned.
“Interesting specimen you’ve brought for me, Captain Darkheart.” The mare mused.
The Captain snorted. “Oh, it’s interesting alright.”
The mare laughed, a soft and feminine sound. “Am I sensing a bit of envy?”
Soon, the carriage arrived at the huge skyscraper in the center of the city. After several security checkpoints, they finally stopped at the entrance.
The ruby eyes mare stepped out, and the Captain followed her. Sirius did the same.
They trotted up the red carpet, leading up to the glass façade of the building. He stared at it in awe. The ruby-eyes mare noticed his interest. “Welcome to headquarters, the center of Nightmare Moon’s operations in this region of the world,” the mare smiled. “My name is Ember, and I will be your guide.”
Ember opened the glass doors, and Sirius stepped into the cavernous lobby. It was a huge atrium, with white steel beams criss-crossing overhead. Dark blue and purple banners hung from the white ceiling, emblazoned with Nightmare Moon’s insignia.
They led him to an elevator, and Ember pressed the button for the second highest floor. As the glass room traveled upward, Sirius gasped. There were hundreds of Nightborn ponies moving about below, carrying out their duties to the Empress.
Sirius loved it. They all looked like him. No one gave him weird looks, or stared, or sneered. They actually looked at him with admiration. They respected him.
He felt immensely satisfied, and Ember noticed it. “Impressive, isn’t it?” He nodded his head vigorously. “You haven’t talked at all since we met. What’s your name?”
“Sirius,” he said.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Sirius.” Ember gestured to the space all around her. “You see, dreamwalking is a rare, but extremely powerful gift. Nightmare Moon treasures it above all other abilities.”
The elevator dinged, and the glass doors slid open. They entered another white room, and there were what appeared to be registration counters up front. Ember led him up to the counter and smiled. “Wait here, Sirius. I’ll be right back.”
Sirius returned her smile and she disappeared into a dark corridor in front of him. He looked around him. There was a sign stating, “Intelligence Central” above the elevator from where he had come.
He noticed some austere looking clerk ponies wandering about, doing paperwork, but other than that, there was nothing.
He looked up at the wall adjacent to him and saw these strange posters. He turned to them and looked at all of them intently. They were wanted posters.
Each poster had the picture of a criminal on it. There were bounties placed below, along with the crimes they were accused of. There was more information on where to turn them in further below.
Sirius noticed red markings over most of them. There were two distinct red marks: “SLAIN” and “APPREHENDED”.
They were some pretty wicked looking characters up here, Sirius thought. Armed Robbery, Larceny, Fraud…somehow these ponies had especially angered Nightmare Moon to earn them a place on this wall.
Sirius looked over perhaps fifty of them before he noticed one in particular. They portraits were all black and white, but he would recognize that mare anywhere. Mother?
It was definitely her. She looked the same in this sixteen year old picture as she did yesterday. It even had her mortar and pestle cutie mark, and said that she had two foals with her.
Sirius’ mind reeled. He read the crimes she was accused of: Mass Murder, Sedition, Sabotage, and Treason.
The pegasus began to perspire, his mind burning. What had Mother done!? Sirius looked to the portrait beside her, and noticed a pony who looked exactly like Cepheus. White pelt, golden hair, blue eyes…this must be Persei’s and Cepheus’ father. The red word “SLAIN” was stamped over his poster.
Sirius couldn’t believe this. He stared at the poster, questioning the mare on it.
“I see you’ve noticed our wall of criminals,” Ember said, and Sirius almost jumped.
“You frightened me,” Sirius said, his heart hammering in his chest. “I was just looking at all of them.”
Ember tilted her head, her orange mane hanging. “That is such a strange accent. I’ve been to all the cities in Equestria, but I’ve never heard such a country twang in anypony’s voice.” She paused, thinking. “You must be from the fringe colonies.”
Sirius nodded, and he couldn’t help but stare at Mother’s wanted poster. Ember looked to where he was so intently staring. “Do you know that mare?” she asked.
Sirius’ heart stopped. Ember detected his fear. “On this wall, are Equestria’s most notorious criminals.” Ember pointed her hoof at Mother. “That mare, she is one of Nightmare Moon’s most hated enemies. Her husband sacrificed himself to allow her and the children to escape, and we’ve been hunting her ever since.”
“What has she done?” Sirius stammered.
Ember’s voice became harsh. “She and her husband were responsible for the death of hundreds of foals in the city. She slandered our Empress, and promoted violence against the government. Many more ponies died because of her treasonous actions.”
Sirius blinked, and pulled out the love potion from his pocket. He stared at the glowing pink vial. I want Mother to love me, but now… He wasn’t sure what to do now. Mother had done so much evil… She had killed so many innocent ponies, spread dissent, and had even defied Nightmare Moon!
Ember had drawn closer to him, and he could feel her warmth. “Join us, Sirius.”
He blinked, and she nuzzled him. He felt a surge of warmth from his chest, enjoying her affection. “Join us, and together we can bring criminals like this to justice. We need talented ponies like you to join the Night Terrors.”
He edged away from her, the mention of the Night Terrors making him uneasy. He bumped into Captain Darkheart, and he grinned at Sirius. “You’ll be the elite of Nightmare Moon’s forces. Right next to the Empress herself.”
Ember drew close to him again. “You’ll have her favor, wealth, and everypony will look up to you.”
“Everypony will love me?” he asked, uncertainly.
Captain Darkheart nodded. “Everypony will absolutely adore you.”
Ember giggled. “I know I already do.”
Sirius smiled, and again looked down at the pink vial he had clutched in his hoof. Persei, Mother, Cepheus….
Captain Darkheart leaned in closer, and they both began circling him. “You’ll be a hero,” Darkheart said, moving behind him.
“The envy of everpony in Equestria,” Ember added.
Sirius was staring at the pink vial. He recalled the image of Mother and him embracing. He longed to feel that warmth in real life. But once the glamor of his fantasy faded, he remembered the reality of it all. It was the reason why he had fled here in the first place.
Mother hated him. She had almost choked him to death. She had beaten him. She had starved him. She wouldn’t even let him near her. Sirius tightened his grip on the love potion.
Captain Darkheart and Ember stood together. “Do your duty to Nightmare Moon, the true mother of all the Nightborn people,” they said in unison. “She loves all her children of the night, and you can make her life easier by bringing even one of these criminals to justice.”
He had never thought of the Empress as a mother figure, but they were right. We were her children, and she loved us all.
Could Sirius really turn Mother in to them? She is a criminal after all.
The love potion glowed especially bright in his hoof.
But I love her, Sirius thought. Even after all the abuse, she was his mother. Her, Cepheus, Persei, they were all his family…
Darkheart and Ember watched him. “Make your choice, Sirius. Who do you want to stand with?”