The Land of the Thestrals
We flew across Equestria until just after sunup. Nightfall spotted a cave on the edge of a forest and we stayed there for the day so the guards could get some rest. Since I had slept on the carriage, I decided to keep a lookout for anypony that might come out this way.
After about three hours of watching nothing but rolling green fields and not a single creature having crossed into my view, I decided to look around the forest on the outside of our small shelter to try and find something to occupy my time.
I stepped out of the cave and headed into the forest, going only far enough in so I wouldn’t lose view of the cave. The foliage was thick, but I managed to walk around without too much trouble. Once I got my bearings, I started to look around; I didn’t find much, a few big moss-covered rocks, a bunch of trees, and an old rotten log covered in mushrooms.
I was about to head back to the cave when I saw a green glow about fifty feet away. While it would take me out of view of the cave; I decided to check it out anyway. I couldn’t figure out what it was, and still couldn’t as I got closer. When I was about ten feet away, it suddenly moved; when it did, I saw another five green glows from elsewhere in the forest. I then suddenly got the feeling that I had just been led into a trap. My suspicions were confirmed when five timber-wolves came springing out of the bushes around me.
Not giving them a chance to surround me, I immediately took of running back towards the cave, the timber-wolves hot on my tail. I jumped over the thick foliage as best I could, but I ended up tripping over a vine and falling next to one of the big rocks that I had seen earlier. I couldn’t believe that it was going to end like this, devoured by a pack of timber-wolves in some backwater jungle. I closed my eyes and thought of Cloudflower and my mother; the two ponies I loved the most…
“YAAAAAHHH!!!!!” I heard a voice call out, then heard a crash as something knocked one of the timber-wolves to pieces, followed by four more crashes as whoever my savior was quickly kicked apart the others in the pack.
“Hey there, stranger, you alright? The timber-wolves are gone,” a feminine voice said.
I slowly opened my eyes to see a pony dressed in dark blue armor, holding a spear in her hooves.
“I think so…” I said, getting up and checking myself for any injuries. Other than some soreness in my shoulder where I hit the rock, I was fine.
“What are you doing out here? These woods are more full of Timber-wolves, manticores, and a bunch of other monsters than even the Everfree Forest. You’re lucky that I was around and heard you fall and hit that rock, or you’d be in five different stomachs right now!” The pony said, scolding me as if I were a child.
“My companions and I are taking shelter in a cave back that way, we’re on our way to the land of the Thestrals and they have been flying all night. I decided to go look around while they were sleeping to try and pass the time until nightfall.”
“Well, it seems you’re in more luck than you thought,” she said, pulling off her chest armor to reveal her wings, long and leathery, just like a thestral’s.
“Y-you’re a thestral? My companions said that there was still another day for us to fly to get to your territory.”
“Just who are your companions anyway?” she asked.
“I know them as Corporal Moonlight and Lieutenant Nightfall, both members of Princess Luna’s royal guard.”
“Did you say ‘Nightfall’?” she asked.
“Yes, why?”
“Can you take me to the cave? I think I know Nightfall.”
“Sure, I guess, it’s back this way. Come on.”
We walked back to the cave to find Nightfall and Moonlight in the same positions as when I left them. “They sure are hard sleepers,” I murmured to myself. The stranger thestral walked over to Nightfall and looked hard into his face.
“Father? Is that you?” she asked
Father? How old was Nightfall? He looked to me as old as twenty-seven, maybe twenty-eight. How could he have a daughter this old. I chalked it up to thestrals probably aging differently from normal ponies.
Nightfall twitched in his sleep, but didn’t wake up. I decided to step in and get the guard up. I walked up to him and gave him a quick shock spell, he jerked up and looked around, suddenly alert.
“Prince Francois what was that all about…” he trailed off when he saw the you thestral next to me.
“Father, is that you?” she asked again.
“Starlight?”
They stood there, frozen in place for what seemed like an eternity before she jumped forward and embraced her father in an ursa hug, tears streaming down both of their faces.
“Father, it’s been thirty years. What has taken so long?” Starlight finally said.
“You don’t know? Once a Thestral is taken for Princess Luna’s guard, he can never go back.”
“But you’re coming back now? And with one that’s not of our kind? What is happening?”
“Prince Francois, Corporal Moonlight, and I will answer all of your questions-”
“PRINCE!? YOU BROUGHT A ROYAL PONY TO OUR LANDS?!” Starlight suddenly yelled out, cutting off her father and waking up Moonlight.
“Starlight, that’s enough! I told you I would explain!” Nightfall scolded his daughter.
“Then start explaining,” she replied coldly.
“Prince Francois is not like Celestia or even like his mother, Princess Luna. He is trying to build an army to take them both down and he has promised that once he is on the throne, his first act will be to repeal the law that states that we cannot be above ground. In return, we give him our support in both toppling the regime of the sun goddess, and establishing his rule.”
“Do you really think we’d desert our posts and bring a royal pony back to our home without a reasonable explanation?” Moonlight chimed in.
“Alright, you’ve made your point.”
“Since we’re on the subject of ‘who, what, where’. Why exactly are you aboveground?” Nightfall said.
“It’d be easier to show you father rather than tell you. If you guys will follow me, you’ll find that you’re not as far from home as you thought,” she said, walking out of the cave.
We followed her for about a mile until we came upon what appeared to be an abandoned mineshaft.
“This is where we need to head down. I hope you can see well in the dark Prince Francois.”
“I’m the son of the princess of the night and a unicorn to boot. Do you really think I would be put off by that?” I said sarcastically.
“Then let’s go. Father, stick close to me. Moonlight, bring up the rear. Francois, stay in the middle of us.” Starlight said, lining us up.
“Got it. Dear Luna, it’ll be good to be back home…” Moonlight said with a sigh.
We started walking and it became clear very quickly that this was no mineshaft. There was a clear lack of digging equipment lying around and the shaft was a little too uniform. Going deeper I started hearing voices calling out to one another.
“Hey, can somepony help me with this?” one voice called out.
“Be right there!” another shouted back.
As we got closer to the voices I heard more and more voices until I could no longer decipher what each thestral was saying to one another. I saw some light up ahead and figured that at least a small crowd of thestrals was there.
When we stepped through the hole that held the light, I was greeted with what was an enormous underground city, easily the size of a place like Manehatten.
But when we stepped into view, what I saw wasn’t all that got my attention… All the voices I had been hearing suddenly stopped.
“Is that a unicorn?” I heard a small whisper
“Are those two with him Lunar Guards?” I heard another.
“CITIZENS OF ECLIPSE CITY!” Starlight yelled out, garnering the attention of the thestrals that hadn’t noticed us yet.
“YOU MAY KNOW ME AS STARLIGHT, THE CAPTAIN OF THE CITY GUARD! I HAVE COME TODAY TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE HAVE VISITORS THAT ARE UNDER MY FORMAL PROTECTION! IF ANY HARM COMES TO THEM WHILE THEY ARE HERE, ALL OF YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED HARSHLY!” she finished, putting emphasis on the word “harshly”.
She stepped down from her makeshift perch and led us towards a path that led towards the middle of town.
“That was for your own protection, Francois. If any of these thestrals were to find out who you were or what your position was, they would tear you to shreds.”
“Understood, thank you for that.” I replied.
We walked through town, drawing stares from every thestral we passed. As we walked, I couldn’t help but be amazed at how large the populace was. Obviously being forced to stay underground wasn’t going to keep them from prospering.
I was so distracted that I didn’t notice a child’s ball flying right towards me until it hit me in the side of the head. I looked around for whoever had thrown the ball and I saw a thestral foal hiding behind a couple of crates in an alley.
“Hey guys, hold up a second.” I said to the group as I picked up the ball in my magic and walked over to where the foal was hiding.
Upon seeing me coming, the foal reacted as I expected, trying to go further into his or her hiding place. As I walked up the the entrance of the alley, I knelt down and held the ball out to the foal.
“Hey there, is this yours?” I said soothingly.
“Y-yes,” the foal replied.
“Well here, it’s okay, I understand that accidents happen. What’s your name?”
“Solstice,” he said, crawling out from under the crates and taking the ball.
“Hello, Solstice, I’m Francois. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“Are you here to take my daddy away to be your guard?” he asked with a worried expression on his face. I laughed in response.
“Of course not. I’m here to talk to the leaders about helping me. Tell you what, how about you come with me?”
“Can I bring my ball with me?”
“Of course, come on and hop on my back.”
He came out of the alley and jumped onto my back, using his small wings to give him a bit of a lift in getting up that high.
As I walked back up to the group, Starlight rolled her eyes and said, “Are you quite done? We do still have a ways to go until we’re at the council’s chambers.”
“Yes, I’m ready. By the way, everypony, this is my new friend, Solstice.”
“H-hello…” he stuttered out.
Everyone else gave a small hello and we kept walking, Solstice keeping himself entertained by bouncing the ball off his head, and me retrieving it for him whenever he lost it.
“Um, Francois?” Solstice said after I retrieved his ball for the fourth time.
“Yes?”
“If you’re not down here for new royal guards, why are you here?”
I smiled, “I’m here because there are some things that need to be done that will benefit both me and the Thestral race.”
“How exactly will you help us?”
“I’ll repeal the law that states that you must stay underground. You’ll all be able to go out into the world and be able to aspire to be something more than a lunar guard.”
“And how will we help you?”
“You’re just full of questions aren’t you?”
“I’m just curious because it’s not often we have a pony come visit us. And when it happens, it’s Princess Luna and she takes a few of our best soldiers and they never come back. She took my best friend’s dad last time she came.”
“I understand; Your people will help me by fighting to have me on the throne instead of Princess Celestia. I’ve come here to try and convince your leaders to help me. Now if you don’t mind, I would like to think about what to say to your leaders when I get to their chambers. Go back to playing with your ball, I’ll keep getting it for you if and when you lose it.”
“Okay, Francois,” he said.
We walked for about a half-hour longer before we came to the entrance of what I assumed to be the council building. As we walked up to it, a pair of guards saluted Starlight and allowed us entry.
We walked into the building and were greeted by a receptionist that looked extremely bored until she saw Starlight.
“Oh, hello Captain, what can I do for you?” she asked, looking extremely embarrassed for slacking off.
“Is the council available at the moment? I have some extremely important matters that need to be discussed.”
“Let me check,” she said, looking through an appointment book, “I don’t see anything on the docket for another two hours. So you should be able to go in. I’ll let them know you’re coming.”
“Thank you,” Starlight said, walking down one of the hallways and motioning for us to follow.
As we walked down the hallway, I realized how foolish I would look with a foal on my back, “Hey Solstice?” I said
“Yeah?”
“Go ahead and climb down from me so I can talk to the council. If you still want to ride on somepony’s back, I’m sure Corporal Moonlight or Lieutenant Nightfall would be okay with it.”
“Okay,” he said, climbing down. He immediately went over to Moonlight and the guard bent down and let him up, casting an annoyed look my way. I shrugged in response.
When we got to the council chambers, we had to wait for a few minutes before they were ready for us. As we walked in, I was so nervous, I was nearly shaking, but I was able to keep my composure as we were led into the chamber and directed to a spot in the middle of the room where I was looking at the raised desks of seven thestrals.
“Captain Starlight, who is this unicorn and these two lunar guards you have brought before us?” asked one of the council.
“The lunar guards are Moonlight and Nightfall, Nightfall is my father, taken by Princess Luna thirty years ago. I have never met Moonlight before today. As for the unicorn, I would like for him to introduce himself.”
“As you wish. Unicorn, what is your name and why have you come to our lands.”
“My name is Francois Midnight and I am the son of Princess Luna. I have-”
“SON! PRINCESS LUNA!” one of the council members shouted out, cutting me off.
“Councilman Pitch, control yourself!” the head of the council said sharply. Then, turning back to me, “Please continue Prince Francois”
“Thank you. I have come because I have a proposition that will benefit both of us…” I went on to explain what had happened, the help I needed, and how I would help them if they decided to help me.
“I have two other requests, but they will be irrelevant if you decide not to help me.” I said, finishing my plea to the council.
After I was finished, they discussed amongst themselves for what felt like hours, but eventually came to a consensus.
“Prince Francois Midnight, after deliberation, we have put it to a vote, each council member will put hooves up or hooves down on their decision. Council, please show your votes now.”
One by one, they each put up their vote, I stood on shaky legs hoping that I had done enough to convince them. The first council member gave a hooves up, the second also gave a hooves up, then the third with a hooves up. I began to relax until I saw the fourth and fifth members give a hooves down, then came Councilman Pitch, and wasn’t surprised when he also gave a hooves down. It came down to the tie-breaker of the head council member. I looked down at the floor and hoped that I had convinced the last member.
“Prince Francois Midnight, before I cast my vote, what are your two requests if we decide to help you?”
I looked up and said, “If you decide to help me, I request that I receive combat training from your soldiers before we attack Canterlot. I was only able to take down Twilight Sparkle because I attacked in her sleep. When I fought Rainbow Dash, she kicked my flank, and was only able to kill her because of sheer luck that there was a knife in the room.”
“And your second request?”
“I request that any soldier that has a foal that is underage be held out of the battle for Canterlot. I know what it’s like to grow up without parents and I don’t want any foals, especially foals like my new friend Solstice, to not have their parents around,” I finished.
“Head Councilman Eclipse?” Councilman Pitch asked.
“Yes?” replied the elder thestral.
“I wish to change my vote. Prince Francois has convinced me that he does not want our help for his personal gain.”
“Me as well,” said another council member.
“Same here,” replied another.
“Well then, it seems that we are unanimous.” said the head councilman
“You mean…” I started.
“Prince Francois Midnight, you have our promise of assistance, both in putting you on the throne and establishing your rule over the lands of Equestria and the Thestral Kingdom. Your other requests are also approved. You will receive the same combat training as our military and any soldier that has a foal under the age of fifteen will be held out of the main battle for Canterlot.”
“I don’t know what to say, councilman…”
“Do you have any questions?”
“How soon can I start my training and how soon will your forces be ready to march on Canterlot.”
“You can start your training tomorrow. As for how long until we can march on Canterlot; I will have to speak to our military leaders before I can answer that.”
Turning to Moonlight and Nightfall, I said to them, “Both of you, thank you for everything. I think that you should both go meet with the military leaders because you guys have extensive knowledge about how Canterlot is protected, as well as knowing when the guards change shifts, etcetera.”
“Are you sure, Francois?” asked Moonlight.
“Yes, I’ll be fine, just go do your part to help liberate your people. I’ll be doing my part tomorrow.”
When we left the council building, Solstice jumped off Moonlight’s back and came over to me.
“Prince Francois?”
“Yes, my little friend?”
“Thank you…”
“For what?”
“Making sure my dad wouldn’t be leaving to go fight.”
I smiled at that, “Solstice, I was telling the truth when I said that I knew what it was like to grow up without parents. My mother was banished to the moon when I was only a few years older than you. I never knew my father, and neither my mother or my aunt would say anything to me about him other than he’s where I got the red stripe in my mane. I know how bad it can hurt to not have your parents around, and that’s a pain I wouldn’t want inflicted on my worst enemy.”
“Is there anything I can do to repay you for this?”
I was taken aback at this, but thought for a moment before responding, “Actually, there is. Take me to your house so I can meet your parents.”
“Okay, luckily I don’t live too far from here, let’s go.”
“Okay, give me a minute so I can tell Starlight.”
I went over and told her that I was going with Solstice to his house, and that I’d meet her back at the council building in a couple hours, then went back and started following Solstice to his house.
While we were walking, he kept looking up at me expectantly, I wasn’t sure what for until I remembered that he had enjoyed riding on my back. I picked up him and his ball in my magic and put him up on my back, to which he laughed and started playing with his ball again while giving me directions to his house.
We arrived at his house after about fifteen minutes of walking. He climbed down and knocked on the door. A few seconds passed and the door opened, revealing a thestral I assumed to be Solstice’s father.
“Hey dad!” Solstice said excitedly and hugging the stallion.
“Hey son, who’s this?”
“This is my new friend, Francois, he’s come to help us.”
“Help us how?” he asked
“I’ll explain if you’d like,” I cut in.
“Umm, sure, come on in. Solstice, go wash up for dinner.”
“Okay dad,” the colt said as he ran inside.
We walked into the house and into the living room, Solstice’s father sat down in a recliner and I took a seat on the sofa next to him.
“So what’s my son talking about when he says ‘you’re here to help us’?” he asked.
I went on to explain why I was here and what I planned to do.
“And how exactly does my son fit into this?”
“He doesn’t; while I was on my way to meet the council, he accidently hit me in the head with his ball, I went over to return it to him, and we just became friends.”
“How exactly?”
I explained what had happened between Solstice and I, both in first meeting and the conversation we had on the way to the council building.
“Well, Prince Francois, I must say that I’m grateful for what you’re doing. But with me being one of the best soldiers, I’ll be out there fighting-”
“No you won’t,” I said, cutting him off, “I spoke with the council and they said that any thestral with a foal under the age of fifteen will not participate in the battle for Canterlot. That was my request because I know how painful it is to grow up without parents.”
“Francois, I’m not sure what to do to repay you for this…”
“Having your son as a friend is enough, he’s such a smart little colt… Though now that I think of it; you said that you’re one of the top soldiers, right?”
“Yes…”
“I’ll need somepony to give me combat training so I’ll be able to fight against the solar guards. I would think that nopony would be better than you.”
He thought for a moment before nodding, “Alright, Francois, I’ll train you. You can even stay in our guest bedroom while you wait for the rest of the military to assemble and get ready to march on Canterlot.”
“That sounds fantastic, and I’m sure that Solstice will be happy as well. By the way, I never caught your name.”
“Blackout, my wife’s name is Darkside, but she’s out of town on deployment right now and won’t be back for another four months.” he replied.
He then called down the hallway, “Solstice! Dinner is ready!”
“Okay, I’m coming.” I heard him shout back.
After eating dinner with them, I suddenly remembered about Starlight. I told Blackout that I needed to go back to the council building to tell her that I’d be staying here, but he stopped me and told me that he’d go himself because he could get there faster.
While he was gone, Solstice and I went out into his backyard area to play for a few minutes before his bedtime. Mostly it was just him trying to get the ball passed me without me catching it in my magic. I eventually let him win when Blackout came landing in the backyard a few minutes later to tell Solstice that it was bedtime.
“I think I’m gonna hit the hay too, I’ve had a rough day.”
“Alright then, Solstice, show Francois where the guest room is, then go to your room and I’ll be in there in a minute.”
He led me inside and down the hall and pointed to a room on the right, “That’s where the guest room is, my room is down there,” he said, pointing down a different hallway.
“Alright then, goodnight Solstice, I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night Francois.” he said as we went to his room.
I walked in and stretched out on the bed, rubbing at my sore shoulder from when I was running from the timber-wolves. Thinking that it felt so long ago when it was really this morning.
I felt good in spirit though, I had accomplished a lot today. I had made contact with the thestrals, I had made a new friend, I had convinced the leaders to assist me. Other than the incident with the timber-wolves, it was almost a perfect day.
I fell asleep feeling confident that I would soon be sitting on the throne, with my own thestral army keeping the dissenters quiet.
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This chapter gave me so many feels!
Solstice is adorable!
This is interesting in that everythings going to be set up for the final confrontation. One thing that confuses me though is that it appears that the Thestrals resent Luna just as much as Celestia, while Francois only seems to resent Celestia.
Does Francois not know that his mother is probably going to be hurt badly by the rebelling Thestrals right along with Celestia? He's bringing death to all royal ponies and it's going to be his fault.
He was upset that Celestia had banished Luna even without killing her, so much so that he wanted to overthrow her one time before, and yet what he's doing to his mother is much worse. Luna will, of course, want to defend her sister from an invading army more than likely (unless Luna's corrupted too, which there haven't been any previous hints about). On the other hand Luna will not want to kill her own son. If she's torn by indecision that makes her very vulnerable.
Even if the Thestrals all loved Luna and only hated Celestia, Francois' actions would still be hurting Luna because one, it would hurt Celestia, who Luna loves, and two, it makes Luna look like she has very bad judgment for bringing Francois back to Equestria and asking for him to be pardoned.
That second one is already done though because Celestia knows from Agent Bentgrass that Francois is still evil. I really wonder what Luna is thinking now and whether she is prepared to help banish Francois or whether she will turn on Celestia. That could really make or break this battle.
3693262
The Thestrals resent Luna because she is simply going along with what Celestia has imposed on them and, rather than defend them, just takes a few of them when she needs new guards.
As far as what will happen to Luna if the attack is successful... You see in this chapter that Francois still loves her, so you can look forward to him at least telling his troops to not harm her.
As far as Luna goes, you're right, she will want to defend her sister, but at the same time, not fight her son. But when it comes down to it, well... I think River Song says it best
3676408
Feels wasn't really what I was going for, but now that you mention it... Solstice being worried about his father being taken and his and Francois's interactions would induce feels.
I can't believe I didn't see it while I was writing it, nice catch