Children of the Night: Reunion

by scarves-n-converse

Prologue: Discord's Plot

Long ago, the newly-formed kingdom of Equestria thrived, as Unicorns, Earth ponies, and Pegasi came together in harmony. But confusion soon struck as the clans began to dispute. They could not go on without some pony to govern them. But who was worthy? Fights broke out as all started to argue once again.

This went on for several weeks, and the clans felt that they would part ways again, but one day, three figures rose from over a summit. The trio was contrived of two winged unicorns, one ivory and tall with a flowing magenta mane, and the other deep azure and bold, though not with as much stature as the first. The last member of the group was a creature that no pony had ever seen before.

This creature's arms differentiated from each other. The left was of a bird-like breed, such as an eagle, and the right was that of like a cat, such as a panther or lion. Its head was like a pony's, but its tail was like a dragon. It also had two different wings.

The troupe descended the mountain. The white winged unicorn announced to the ponies that were all in awe--except for the ones that were still tearing each other apart-- that she was Celestia, daughter of Soleil, Keeper of the Shining Sun and Loyal One. The unicorn beside her was her sibling, called Luna, daughter of Lune, Keeper of the Gleaming Moon and Friend of the Children. They and their friend, the strange creature, had fled from their colony in another part of the world when forces of evil had overtaken it completely, destroying everything. The sisters proved their might that they had developed by showing their powers of raising and lowering the sun and moon at their will, controlling night and day themselves.

The clans were immediately impressed, for they had never seen ponies quite like these before. They made Celestia and Luna their rulers and built a palace for them and celebrated with great feasts that lasted weeks. Everyone was happy with the two sisters' reign...

...except for the strange creature that had come with them. He was a loner, keeping away from the other ponies, for whenever he was near, they fled in fright. The draconequus Discord, for that was his name, started to form a plot to overthrow the sisters and rule Equestria by himself.

Discord began to mimic the great powers that the unicorn sisters possessed, for he too was a magical being, but he added his own style to them. They were not harmful or dangerous, and they pleased him greatly. When he was prepared for his plan, he waited until the night of the full moon. When it came to pass, Discord went out into the town of the ponies and formed clouds of pink material, making them to pour out chocolate onto the ground. This awakened the fillies and colts of the towns, and they exited their homes to see what was going on. Discord explained deceivingly to them that he was a wish-granter that could make all of their dreams come true-- that is, if they followed him and made him king of them.

The foals greatly accepted, and followed Discord out of the towns, but this awakened Princess Luna, who had a deep supernatural connection with children. So she followed the draconequus to an empty field where hes began to rally the foals into becoming an army. Discord's power made them strong, and they soon grew so powerful that surely they could storm into the village and destroy every living thing. But Luna defeated Discord with her magic and foiled his plans, causing the children to grow weak once again and leading them back home to their families. Princess Luna then told her older sister of what had happened.

Furious with her former friend, Celestia banished Discord from Equestria-- forever. But he vowed this would not be his final hurrah.

Months later, Equestria lived in peace. The foals now had forgotten their temporary following of Discord, and their parents cherished them. But Discord, from his area of banishment, watched the foals, and, seeing how devoted the children were to their mothers and fathers, he eventually developed a devious plan that could not fail.

One night, when the moon was black as she sky above, the creature went out, his powers full, into the village of Equestria, sneaking into houses of every foal in town, took a long scale from his tail, and slaughtered the mothers and fathers of each child in Equestria. He then returned to his cave outside the kingdom. As the sun rose, Discord smiled as he heard the wails and cries of the foals of Equestria as they mourned the loss of their parents. Now they had no hope at all. They were completely lost.

Celestia and Luna rose to the sound of the children, and Luna found the reason of their weeping. Both sisters wailed a song of utter sadness, for though they were powerful, they could not restore lost life. When Celestia had regained herself, she took Luna and herself out of Equestria for a time so they could find a way to defeat Discord, putting the three most trusted ponies in the land-- Smart Cookie, Private Pansy, and Clover the Clever, who had first helped to form Equestria-- in command until they returned.

Shortly in their quest, the sisters found the Elements of Harmony, the magical stones that would aid them in their defeat of Discord. The princesses, with the Elements, turned Discord to stone.

Equestria was never quite the same after then. Some foals were sent into orphanages to live. Some lived on the street.

Some didn't survive at all, and their corpses littered the village in hidden corners where no pony would find them to properly bury.

This saddened Princess Luna, and she proposed that they form a new colony, where all the ponies would live in peace. But Celestia disagreed, saying it would weaken and shatter the kingdom. Luna silently disagreed in her heart and made a plan of deception, but with good intentions.

One night, Luna flew from her window, singing a hypnotizing lullaby and she flew throughout the town below. Colts and fillies alike floated from their windows and off of the streets and followed Luna through the clouds to a part of the world that no pony but the azure princess knew about. There she raised her "Children of the Night", and they lived happily under her rule. But one day, Celestia called out for Luna, and the young princess sadly left her children, knowing what was going to pass, and that she may never see them again. One little unicorn filly tried to stop her, but was sent back in tears. It was Luna's favored child, the one she loved most. Luna wished she could take the filly with her, but she knew that where the princess was going would be much too dangerous, and the girl would very likely get killed.

Luna met with her sister, who was angered that the Princess of the Night had disregarded her warnings. Now the village had fallen apart with almost no hope of recovery. Now that the foals were gone, the older ponies grew old and died with no young to replace them. Celestia knew in her heart that Luna's intentions had been right, but she would have to be punished for the kidnapping of young foals. The punishment was not to be brutal, but Luna took the calling as a challenge to the death, to see who was the better sister, and called upon the forces of the Nightmare, which had haunted her when she was young, transforming her into Nightmare Moon, evil ruler of all the nighttime.

Celestia nearly perished in the fight, but she called upon the Elements of Harmony and sent Luna, with tears in both sisters' eyes, to the moon, locked away until the stars would aid in her escape.

The Children of the Night missed their mother, and after hundreds of years, they started to die. But Luna's favored, the unicorn Gari, created a spell that would not let her die until she made peace with her mother. She knew it was a foolish choice, for she may never find the princess, but she was determined to find her mother again, and would never give up.

The black quill was set back down in its ink, and the unicorn formerly using it pulled her brown cloak over her head, shut the book she had written in, and lay down her head among the several corpses and skeletons of her former brothers and sisters, and, even though her heart had been broken hundreds of years ago, she still smiled at the moon as it rose, beginning another night.

Author's Note:

This was heart-wrenching to write. Really heartbreaking.

Also, I had a feeling a chapter name like "Discord's Plot" would go terribly wrong in some people's minds, but you need something to lighten the mood, right?

...Right?

Oh, yeah, leave a comment if you want. Criticism will be accepted with snuggles.

Comments

[Fire moon]

This is AMAZING !