All Alone

by lunas_servant

7: A Story Told

With the end of the trial Celestia dismissed herself and I followed Princess Luna back to her own reception hall. At the last minute, Luna took a turn away from the reception hall. Unsure if I was meant to follow her, I stopped at the corner.

Turning to look at me, Princess Luna said, "Come, we need to talk in private."

I continued following her until we reached a small chamber with food laid out on the table. My stomach growled. I had not realized just how hungry I was until I saw that food. I had not eaten since the eggs at Heart Charmer’s residence.

The Princess sat down by the table and smiled. "You may eat while we talk," she said.

I sat down respectfully across the table from my princess and said, "Food can wait, I think I know what you have to say, Princess, and it's more important than stuffing my stomach."

"It is important." She nodded. "Celestia has told me quite an interesting story about what happened in the first months of my banishment.” She paused, looking directly into my eyes. My face betrayed none of my regret. "I don't blame you for what you did, it was my fault. I planted the seeds of hatred and I'm sorry. Could you ever forgive me?"

"There is nothing to forgive Princess, what I did was done of my own free will..." I hesitated, wondering if I should tell her why I had lashed out as I had, if I should tell her that Celestia had attempted to wipe her from the memories of the ponies of Equestria. I decided against it, there was no reason to upset her. "I regret what I have done, but know that it was unavoidable. Celestia and her followers attacked your true servants in blind fear and I merely acted in their defense.

“There is something you should know, Princess. When you left your followers did not abandon you There were those who would always remember and await your return. To this day they still stand vigil, they are not aware that you have returned. The Children of the Night are waiting for you."

"The Children of the Night?" she asked.

I told her the story of how I met Dream Song, and of the Children of the Night. "I almost forgot!" I cried. "In the dungeons, there is an old pony down there, a Child of the Night. He is about to die. Please Princess," I begged. "You must let him out, he deserves better than to die in a dungeon."

"I will have the guards bring him up," said the princess, smiling at her companion. "In the meantime, tell me more about these Children of the Night."

“Put simply, the children of the night were those loyal to you even after your banishment. It didn’t take long for the ponies of Equestria to move on after you were banished, but there were some who chose to wander the night despite your absence,” I spoke with little emotion, my soldier’s experience kicked in and I might have been simply reading a report to my princess. I told her of meeting Dream Song for the first time, and how we had slowly gathered more and more of Luna’s followers as time went on.

“Without you to watch over the ponies at night, they began having nightmares. This led to widespread fear that was blamed on the children of the night. When I saw the suffering your followers endured, I couldn’t stand by and watch. At first, I had wanted vengeance against Celestia. But then, I just wanted to protect those who were innocent. Guilty only of being loyal to you.” Finally, my emotions broke through. Tears welled in my eyes as I told her the details of the war that should never have been. My voice broke and I looked away, unable to meet her gaze. “I did not mean for ponies to die.”

Princess Luna moved closer to me and spread her wings over my back comfortingly. "It's in the past Cloud Twist, we all have regrets, some of us more than others, all we can do is learn from our mistakes and move on."

I wiped my eyes with a hoof and realized what had happened. Princess Luna was comforting me when I was supposed to be the one protecting her, not the other way around. The door to the chamber opened and the bat pony that was sent to bring up the Child of the Night entered. Princess Luna pulled her wing from my back and nodded her head to him as he approached.

"Princess," the bat pony bowed before her. "I apologize for interrupting, but I thought you would like to know, the old bat pony in the dungeons, he has passed away. I went to release him as you asked but I found him curled up in a corner and he wasn't breathing."

Shock descended on me, gripping my heart more powerfully than the grief I had felt only a moment before. A shock that was surely mirrored on my face. That he should die just as he was about to be released was unthinkable. I looked up at the princess and saw a look of profound sadness. That is why she is my Princess, I thought to myself. No other could be so sad about the death of a pony she had never met.

I felt my shock turn to resolve. "I must not let this end here, with his final words he revealed to me the location of the other Children of the Night. ‘Where the falls come down, when the moon is full and at its brightest, it will light the path and you will surely find Salvation.’ "

Princess Luna looked at me and smiled. "Yes, we must find them. We must bring them back to Equestria where they belong."

"But Princess," I protested. "You must stay here and watch over Equestria, they need you."

"No, Cloud. Equestria has survived without me for a thousand years, I am sure they can survive without me until we find the Children of the Night," Princess Luna said wryly. "You said you knew where they were, but that sentence didn't make much sense. ‘Where the falls come down, when the moon is full and its brightest, it will light the path and you will surely find Salvation.’ What falls was he referring to?"

"I think he was referring to Neighagra Falls, the place of our first great battle. It makes sense that they would settle there in the end."

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"Captain, the foraging crew has returned and they found something peculiar. They came across a cockatrice next to a statue, the medical squad is attempting to revive the pony now."

The report startled me, why would a pony be wandering around in the woods? "Thank you Night Chaser," I replied, dismissing the scout. I headed out into the encampment. Our forces were camping in a clearing in the woods at the base of the falls. Nopony ever came into these woods so it was unlikely anypony would discover the Children of the Night and rat them out to the Day Guard, so why was this random pony wandering around the woods to be petrified by a cockatrice? I would soon find out.

As I entered the main encampment I found one of our medical ponies helping the stranger to his hooves. A unicorn colt! He couldn't have been more than 13 years old! "Where am I?" the colt asked, blinkingly taking in his surroundings.

"You're in the war camp of the Children of the Night. Who are you and what were you doing wandering around the forest at night?" I asked with authority.

"The Children of the Night? But then, why did you save me? I thought the children of the night were supposed to be evil, the bad guys," he asked with the ignorance of the majority of the populace of Equestria.

"That’s what your tyrannical ruler wants you to think. The ponies of Equestria would not be happy if they knew she was the one who started this war. Now, answer my question. Who are you and what were you doing wandering in the forest at night? Don't you know the forest is dangerous? If we hadn't been here you would have been stuck as a statue forever!"

"My name is Violet Smoke. I only came in the forest because my friends dared me to spend one night in the forest," he admitted. "I am truly grateful for your assistance and I’m sure my parents will be grateful as well. I know I have no right to ask such a thing, but could someone take me back to my village?"

"Violet Smoke, huh? Well, I would be happy to escort you myself, but as you know, we Children of the Night can not enter a village without causing a panic. I can take you within eyeshot of the village, but that's as far as I can go," I explained to him.

"Thank you very much Mr… I’m sorry, what’s your name?"

"Cloud Twist."

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"Not long after that the mayor of the village came looking for us. Turns out he was the boy’s father and he wanted to thank us," I explained to the princess. "From then on we had an ally, the mayor convinced the village that we were not to be feared, but rather respected."

"Sometimes, you just have to show ponies there is nothing to be afraid of," said Princess Luna. "It seems to me you were a very wise leader."

"Wise or not, I could not have done it without my friends, they helped me when I could not do it myself.”

"Friendship is a truly powerful thing, even my sister knows that. None of us would be here without our friends, and that includes me."

I smiled, knowing that she was right, friendship could easily be the most powerful force in Equestria.

Author's Note:

I apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter out, editing took a while

Edited by MadameDragonFlower

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[lunas_servant]

I have placed the story on hiatus. I have absolutely no clue how to put my thoughts on paper, or type as it were, as far as this story goes. I may return to this story one day but for now I am setting on a shelf.

[lunas_servant]

So I have managed to get my own life back on track and I feel it is time I began writing again. This story will be removed from hiatus and you can expect a new chapter within the week.