The Last Descendant

by Cup of Coffee

Chapter 59

Brushing the dirt off his hands, Magnus looked around. The tools were in place, coal bins had been topped up for the rest of the day, the floors had been swept, and lastly, bits of metal, big and small, had been swept up and deposited into a barrel for melting down at a later date. Yup, things were in order.

“Hey, Hammerstrike, I’m done with the chores. Was there anything else you wanted me to do before I left?” Magnus called out over the din of the workshop, being the sound of hammers, files, and an assortment of other tools the usual fare for a metal working shop.

At the far end of the smithy, Hammerstrike sat by a treadle grinding wheel, performing the finishing touches on a pickaxe. At hearing Magnus, he stopped the wheel and looked over his shoulder; not at Magnus, but at the floor. When Iron Tower wasn’t around, Hammer was in charge.

“Looks good to me. Alright, you can go.” Hammer turned around to continue his work. “Oh, before you go. Tell Brilliant that the two of you are invited to dinner later this week, second to last or last day this week, okay? I’ll talk with the ladies and figure out a date.”

Magnus waved his hand, signalling that the message was received, as he picked up his jacket from the nail it was hanging on by the door. “I’ll tell her. See you tomorrow.”

Putting his jacket on outside, Magnus made a beeline for the small stream next to the smithy and dipped his hands into the cold water to wash away the rest of the dirt from his hands. Still, the work made Magnus feel useful. He knew now that there were jobs a human could do around here. Several weeks ago, when he began entertaining the idea about a job, he felt somewhat dismayed. Magic, he thought, was certainly a better way to do things around here. What couldn’t it do? As time passed, he learned that even though this world was a magical one, magic wasn’t used for everything. No, physical labour was necessary, and that was something he could do. Yes, even minor work had given him some positive experiences to bring with him into the future.

After washing his hands, Magnus headed towards town, hands in his jacket pockets and eyes aimed upwards, not in a hurry. Tonight was especially nice to be outside. The moon was full, the stars were twinkling, not a cloud in the sky, and the air was cold and crisp, just the same as it was back home in Montana, mere weeks before the first snow fell. He almost expected to hear the crows flying high and cawing. Snowcallers, his grandfather had called them. You always heard them before the snow fell, rarely in spring or summer.

‘Won’t be long now,’ he thought to himself. ‘Gotta wonder what ponies do during winter. Probably won’t sit inside all day. Do they have skis?’ Already, he was making brief plans for winter activities for himself, skiing being one way to get around outside in deep snow. He’d never been a fan of snowshoes; too bulky and slow, while skis were sleek and light to get around on.

The first few houses quickly came in sight, and mere moments after that, Magnus wandered through the streets of Hollow Shades. Both bat ponies and non-bat ponies milled about. It was like Ponyville, if the sun and moon had changed places—a lot of activity and ponies about, but in moonlight and starlight instead of sunlight.

As usual, Magnus drew a few looks, but as soon as he saw them wave or say good night, he recognized it was friendliness instead of curiosity, although those foals huddled together across the street, spying on him, looked like little bat pony versions of the CMC. Incredible how cute foals became even with those tiny stubby fangs and batty wings.

Upon reaching the town square, Magnus stopped and looked around. He originally had planned on going straight back to the castle, but then he’d be alone. Once a week, Brilliant would head into town and meet with old friends of hers. Hollow Shades had a Seniors Club that’d meet up once a week for a variety of activities and hobbies together at a community building next to the town hall, and tonight was the night they’d meet. Although he could just go back to the castle and find a big secret book on incredible magic, Magnus felt the desire to be outside for now. He’d been cooped up too long in the castle, and now that the weather was nice, he intended to capitalize on it.

Picking a street at random, Magnus began to walk, just to see where the road led him to, and he soon began to gaze in wonderment. Both sides of the road were lined with large trees with thick trunks, which had homes carved into them. It was amazing to see; a multi-storey home carved out of the interior of a huge tree, with windows and a front door, and even balconies. And strangest of all, the tree was still alive, despite having such ‘damage’ done to it.

With homes built into a tree, architectural style was impossible to see, at least from the outside. He had no idea what it looked like on the inside, but he knew that he’d see one soon. Hammerstrike and his family lived in a treehome, but he didn’t know exactly where in town. The point being, Hammer had talked about inviting him and Brilliant to dinner one day.

Reaching the end of the street, Magnus walked along one of the crossing roads and up a few streets until he found one that looked interesting enough to him. The houses were different here; some were treehomes, others were houses built among the branches of trees, and others again looked like the standard wood or black stone construction.

While looking a bit worn down, the homes of Hollow Shades seemed cozy enough, Magnus thought while walking slowly along the street, watching with great interest the neighbourhood around him and the ponies that lived there. Of course they easily noticed him wandering through the street, stopping what they were doing in order to stare at him for a few moments. Some of the bat ponies worked outside, tending to their dead or dying gardens, making compost or other chores, and others just sitting outside, enjoying the moonlight as if they sat in the sun.

Ending up at the market square again, Magnus once more chose an interesting street at random and headed down the street for some exploration. Repeating this procedure several times, he began mapping out Hollow Shades in his head, sorting out streets, houses, stores, cafes, restaurants , and the local bar. For a town that was roughly twice the size of Ponyville, it didn’t feel that much larger, mostly due to the trees everywhere obstructing the view of just about everything.

And opposed to Ponyville, the airspace above Hollow Shades was filled with flying ponies. The often-heard short screeching sounds they emitted stopped any collisions from happening, and their excellent night vision also helped a great deal.

After wandering around for about an hour or so, Magnus ended up at what he thought to be the south end of the town. This area was quite open compared to the rest of town, and the presence of benches, ponds, little streams, and playground equipment, as well as the copious amount of ponies sitting about told him that he found the local park. Picnics, stargazers, foals playing on playground equipment and playing games such as hide and seek— all this happened during the middle of the night. For a man used to the waking hours of the day, all this was a bit bizarre.

Following the softly lit path, he gathered the attention of some of the locals.

“Hello,” one smiling bat pony said to him.

“Nice night, isn’t it?” said another.

“Eeeee!” cried a few colts, jumping out from a bush in an attempt to scare him before running off, giggling mischievously .

It felt nice to be treated like a local and not as the newest thing in town.

Following the path and the lamps lighting up the way, Magnus came upon a strange-looking feature in the park. On a small hill stood a tall hedge with a gate set into it, and an ornate brass sign above the gate that said Hollow Shades Memorial. Wondering what this memorial was for, Magnus opened the little gate and went in. Beyond the gate was a wide open area, rectangular in shape and about as big in size as the town square. A variety of bushes and flowers, now dead or withering as summer was well and truly over, had been planted everywhere along the sides and in large flower pots, and several benches were placed within the hedge rectangle. Magnus felt as though he had walked into a church, especially since all the benches faced the same way, towards a large and wide pedestal which had five statues standing on it, one of which was very familiar. Behind the statues stood a large flat slab of black stone, reminiscent of obsidian, and it had unknown symbols carved into it. Upon closer inspection, the symbols appeared to be inlaid silver.

“Luna,” Magnus murmured as he walked closer to the pedestal. The statues were all life-size and the center one was the Princess of the Night herself, easily recognizable even in stone. She stood in a relaxed pose, as if the troubles of the world didn’t exist for her, gazing smilingly down at whoever stood in front of her. Magnus had no doubt that whoever carved these statues must have been a true master, worthy of a name even during the renaissance; the lifelike quality was uncanny and there wasn’t even a single mark of a tool or file anywhere on the statues. The statues were polished to the point that the surface of the stone was like glass.

Beneath Luna’s statue there was a silver plaque, polished to a mirror finish, and inlaid with letters of another metal, jet black, contrasting perfectly with the silvery background. The letters read:

Luna, Alicorn of the Moon and Princess of the Night

When we were doomed, you saved us

When we starved and thirsted, you led us to food and water

When we were homeless, you gave us a home

For these things and so much more, we are eternally grateful

“You saved them?” Magnus said out loud, looking at Luna’s statue.

On both sides of Luna stood statues of four other ponies, but these were dressed differently. The two on Luna’s right wore armour resembling the Night Guards’, appearing older in style and seemed practical instead of ceremonial.

The bat pony guard on Princess Luna’s far right was about the height of an average pony, looked strong but not overly muscular, had large wings tucked against his sides, and a tiny bit of mane peeked out from under his helmet. He also had an eye patch over his left eye and exuded a stoic appearance. Below his statue was a similar plaque to the one below Luna’s statue.

Prince Sunshine Smiles of Transylmania

Son of King Mystic Moon and Queen Lullaby

The first true Night Guard to our saviour, Princess Luna

“Interesting.” Magnus moved over to the statue closest to Luna’s right, that of the other bat pony guard.

Adorned in the same armour as Prince Sunshine Smiles, he was skinnier and taller, with wide open eyes, extra-long tufts of hair on both ears, and a sort of playful attitude to him, evident by his little smile, carved perfectly in stone. There was also a plaque below his statue too.

Prince Frolicsome Meadowlark of Transylmania

Son of King Mystic Moon and Queen Lullaby

The first true Night Guard to our savior, Princess Luna

Nodding, Magnus was pleased, having figured out the mystery as to why these two had statues made for them. Evidently, they were the first bat ponies to join the Night Guard directly under Luna, but they were also brothers, and royalty too.

Moving over to Luna’s left, he began investigating the two other statues, that of a stallion and a mare. The stallion looked old and wise, due to his long hair, short beard, and wrinkles, but the way he stood, leaning slightly forward, one hoof raised and wings spread, made him look as if he was ready for battle. His narrowed eyes and bared fangs added to his fearsome appearance. He, like the other two, also wore armour, but his was made to cover more of his body. He also bore weapons; the leading edge of his wings sported curved blades like a sabre, secured to his wings with some kind of contraption, and metal boots on his forelegs and hind legs. His shoes sported deadly curved blades, two on each boot and as long as a dagger. Whoever got sliced by those would likely not live long.

Underneath his statue was a plaque with a description that was quite odd.

King Mystic Moon of Transylmania

Last and eternal king of Transylmania

Fought alongside Princess Luna at the Battle of the Beast and saved her life. His sacrifice allowed the Tear of the Moon to fall

He eternally rests in the land of our tribe as was his wish

Magnus scratched his head as he finished reading the plaque. The words engraved on it were strange, to say the least. Battle of the Beast and Tear of the Moon? This required a thorough explanation. Perhaps Brilliant knew what it meant?

Finally, there was only one statue left, on Luna’s far left. It was a mare, seemingly younger than the stallion but older than the other two, evident by a few wrinkles on her face. She had long wavy hair that almost reached the ground and an elegantly braided tail. She had a kind motherly smile on her lips. Magnus had no doubt that in life she must have been a very good pony; she had that look about her. On her body she wore clothing, a tunic-like garb that wound around her neck, back and barrel. She, like the rest, also had a plaque dedicated to her, and like the former plaque, this one also befuddled Magnus.

Queen Lullaby of Transylmania

By her gift of sight, she saw our salvation and gave wise counsel

In our new homes she guided us with wisdom and patience, but often wept for those lost in our old homes

And she cried with joy each time a foal was born to us and so we did our best to make her joyful to the end of her days

Separated by borders no living being can cross, queen and king now watches over us from the endless stars above

If Magnus was confused earlier, now he had absolutely no idea what he was standing before. Was it a grave, a monument, a memorial park, or something else entirely? He had no idea what this place was, but he knew it was significant. The inscriptions on the statues explained a bit, but raised additional questions.

The polished black stone slab behind the statues was filled with symbols. The subtle spaces between strings of letters told Magnus that this was a language, but one very different from Equish, most likely it was the native language of the bat ponies, Transylmanian. However, no translation into Equish was on it, so it was impossible to know its meaning.

Several thoughts crossed his mind as he sat down on a bench close to the pedestal of statues. What land was Transylmania? Where was it located? How did these bat ponies come to Equestria? How did two princes end up as guards for Luna? How was Luna a savior to them? What did the stone slab say?

So caught up was Magnus in trying to solve the mystery in front of him, he failed to notice the pony entering the memorial garden. Not until the pony suddenly stood next to him and spoke did he react.

“I have noticed you often look thoughtful these days. Today is no different.”

Startled, Magnus quickly looked to his side, finding the living version of the statue standing next him. “Princess Luna!” he said, quickly getting up on his hooves. “Didn’t hear you come in.”

The Night Princess smiled. “I made an effort to stay silent. Those who come here often come in silent reverence. May I sit with you?”

Magnus motioned to the bench and scooted over to the other end and sat down. As Luna sat down, she smiled up at the statues and did something he didn’t expect a princess to do.

She inclined her head to the four statues. Not a formal, cold bow, but a respectful one.

“I should have come sooner, to see how you fare, but my duties have been many and plenty recently,” Luna turned back to Magnus, gazing at the stitches on his forehead. “Then one late afternoon we woke up to find you in the papers yet again. Sister explained everything, including your outburst.”

“Outburst is just a polite way of saying I was very angry,” Magnus stated simply and honestly. He had explained this simple fact so many times by now, he’d resorted to using a single sentence without any further explanation.

“And losing one’s temper is understandable, but not taking it out on others.” Luna turned to the statues. “In hindsight, I believe Baroness Star intervening as she did was the correct course. While my sister wanted to bring you back to Canterlot to serve time in the dungeons there, the Baroness’ quick thinking and knowledge of the old laws assured you that you would spend more time with her and her family while also serving your sentence.”

Nodding, Magnus had to agree. “Clever old girl, isn’t she? She’s impressed me, you know? Yeah, she might be old, but her mind is still quick and sharp like a razor.” He leaned back on the bench and chuckled. In retrospect, it was rather humorous that Celestia, immortal and royalty, had been legally outmanoeuvred by a pony who was the oldest mortal being Magnus had ever met. Yeah, the irony was very real.

“The Law of Night is required learning by the nobility of Hollow Shades.” Luna smiled. “It pleases me to hear that it is still respected and held to a high standard. Speaking of law, how does your sentence go? You are working now, are you not?”

“Yeah, I’m working for the local blacksmith in town,” replied Magnus, explaining further what work he did while Luna was a patient listener.

“It sounds as if you have begun as an apprentice to the metalworker. In olden times, the first tasks of the apprentice were to watch, listen, and do simple tasks while the master explained every step of the way. I am unsure of how it is done in this modern age, but I would like to think that some things do not change.”

“I haven’t been explained much; guess that means I’m not meant to be an apprentice. Not that Iron Tower gets much work anyway, or this entire town,” said Magnus, hinting to the state of Hollow Shades.

Next to him, Luna nodded solemnly. “I believe I know what you mean.” She sighed. Magnus had an inkling as to what Luna must have been thinking of. Hollow Shades had been quite the bustling prosperous town in ages past. Nothing was immune to change in the course of one thousand years, however.

Leaning back, Magnus inhaled the crisp night air, putting his hands in his jacket pockets. Luna still stared at the statues of the four ponies, smiling faintly.

“You knew them.” It was obvious, according to the words carved into the plaques.

“I did,” Luna confirmed, her little smile growing wider. “Sunshine Smiles and Frolicsome Meadowlark; the best friends I ever had. On duty, they were the greatest Night Guards to ever exist. Courageous, swift to act, always speaking honestly, and never did wrong by actions or words. To this day, my Night Guard still measures themselves against the standards set by Sunshine and Frolicsome.”

“From what the plaques say, it sounds as if they really set the bar extremely high,” Magnus murmured, not really knowing much about the standards of the guard, but if two ponies that lived ages ago were still held as the greatest guards to ever live, then they had to be damn near perfect.

“But they were different when not on duty or in uniform,” Luna continued. “Frolicsome could always make me laugh, no matter the circumstances. He would jest, sing and dance at the strangest of times, all to entertain his fellow ponies,” Luna giggled happily.

“And then there was Sunshine. Oh, a braver pony there never was, but also courageous and daring; if he did not become a guard, he would certainly have become a great explorer, adventurer, or wandering hero. What adventures we had together,” Luna finished with a happy sigh.

“What about the king and queen?” Magnus asked.

At the mention of the king, Luna’s smile faltered. “I hardly knew King Mystic, but he deeply impressed me with his determination and courage. Queen Lullaby, however, I knew for several years before she passed away. A wiser and kinder pony you could not find. She was a born leader to the bat pony tribe, a true inspiration.”

Magnus nodded and smiled. As her smile fell when she spoke of the king, her smile returned when she spoke of the queen. Luna’s good mood when talking about these ponies was a bit infectious.

“Luna, can I ask why two ponies decided to become guards when they could’ve been royalty? Has it something to do with you saving them?”

Luna shifted her gaze from the statues to the plaques. “I see you haven’t heard the full story of the founding of Hollow Shades from Baroness Star yet.”

“Not really, no. Only thing I’ve figured out so far is that the bat ponies aren’t native to Equestria; they weren’t part of the founding tribes.”

Luna nodded. “That would be correct. The bat ponies are in fact from a land far to the south, but came to Equestria… 1633 years ago on a winter night. But they did not come all at once, just my two friends and a few sailors. But their errand was not as explorers or diplomats, but in search of help.”

“Help?” Magnus looked from the statues to Luna; she had a faraway look in her eyes, thoughtful and with a bit of melancholy in them. Something bad had happened, and Magnus was too curious to leave it alone, so he asked.

Blinking slowly, Luna shook her head and smiled. “I would be doing the bat ponies' ancestors a disservice by not telling the story of their great sacrifice and heroism. You would be told the story anyway, sooner or later, and as I was there, my retelling would be the most accurate one you could ever hear.”

Clearing her throat and taking a moment to recollect her thoughts, the Moon Princess began with her human friend as a silent listener.

“Long ago, the bat ponies lived on a vast island far, far to the south, across the seas. On their island, by mountains, jungles, and forests, they fashioned their kingdom of Transylmania over time with the muscles of their bodies and the sweat of their brows. They built grand treetop villages, hollowed out trees for homes, grew vast fruit plantations, made great temples of stone, and thrived as a tribe. But the jungles and forests could be dangerous, filled with many types of beasts as they were, and as a result the bat ponies became fierce warriors. Taking advantage of the natural darkness of their deep forests, jungles, and even night itself, they mastered their environment to its fullest. And such they had lived for ages.”

“By the time of this story, their kingdom had been at peace for a long time. Nopony could have foreseen the calamity that suddenly rose from the sea and crawled onto land.” Luna’s brows furrowed and eyes became hard like steel.

“Calamity?” Magnus crooked a brow. “Some type of creature?”

“Indeed a creature, but a terrible one. A crablike monster of gigantic proportions from the deep oceans, pale as the winter snow, one like it has never been seen before or after. Its shell was much thicker and far more durable than a fully grown dragons’ scales, its pincers large enough to crush a galley with ease, and the size of its body was larger than a fortress. Truly a creature worthy to be called a Monster.”

“It caused destruction wherever it went,” Luna continued after a short pause. “It broke down trees and ate them, ravenous in its hunger, devouring all in its path. However, because of its immense size, it was easily spotted and the villagers evacuated to safer places. King Mystic Moon sent his bravest warriors to deal with it, for the beast had crushed villages and destroyed and eaten the ponies’ fruit orchards. Two thousand warriors he sent, each and every one lethal in combat.” Luna paused, longer than before. “Less than five hundred returned. Its natural defences were so strong that the bat ponies’ bladed shoes and wingblades could do no harm, and its sudden bursts of speed could take their best fliers by surprise. In addition, it was highly aggressive and… hungry.”

Magnus swallowed, feeling an icy chill run down his spine. Being eaten alive was one of his greatest fears. And fifteen hundred ponies died in a single day. All he could do was hope that they died quickly.

“So… what happened next?” he asked.

“The bat ponies changed tactics,” Luna replied. “They began bombarding it from an altitude with stones, but the monster's thick shell could not be cracked. Spears and heavy harpoons fared the same, nary a scratch. Fire did absolutely nothing, other than burning away parts of the forest, simply enraging the creature as its food source became ash.”

“Hope diminished each day,” continued Luna with a sad shake of her head. “To defend his subjects and their valuable and diminishing crops of food, King Mystic Moon sent warriors out daily in attempts to find a weak spot they could exploit, or to draw the beast away from villages to buy time to evacuate. But the end result always became the same; fewer warriors returned each time they were sent out. But the situation would become even worse. Sooner or later the beast would attack their mighty capitol of stone; the fortified temple city of Vesper where the refugees gathered, when all other sources of food ran out.”

“However,” Luna suddenly said, smiling and turning to Magnus. “There was hope.”

“How?” Magnus asked with a raised brow, having become invested in the story. So far, the story, actual events even, had been about nothing but absolute terror.

“Queen Lullaby, wife of King Mystic Moon and mother of Frolicsome and Sunshine. She had a rare gift; the ability to dream of events to come. Some called it future vision, future sight, or precognition, but they all mean the same. Shortly after the monstrous crab wandered ashore and the true scope of their situation became clear, Queen Lullaby had a dream. In it she saw her two sons embark on a ship and sail north, and upon their return, a grand fleet followed them, and the night cast the fleet in darkness. But in the skies above the moon shone down, a full moon with a crescent moon in it, and the moonlight guided their way. The queen had absolute faith in her visions and knew that her dream was a sign that their people could be saved. She told her husband and sons about what she dreamt, and her husband reluctantly agreed to send his only children in search of help. Mere days later, a ship set sail from their island kingdom carrying Prince Frolicsome Meadowlark and Prince Sunshine Smiles to the north in search of aid.”

“And that’s where you come in, right?” asked Magnus.

Luna nodded. “Yes. Their ship reached our shores in the second month of winter. It took them more than ten weeks to reach Equestria. They landed on our west coast, at a small village called Applewood. These days, Applewood is a sizable city.”

“I guess the bat ponies' appearance caused a bit of an uproar?” Magnus ventured, having a little experience in first meetings and first impressions.

“Oh, they did. Some believed that the newcomers were pirates or slavers, even pony monsters with their fangs and frightening wings. The local militia forcibly apprehended the two princes and the crew of their ship and brought them to the Everfree Castle in chains, to be brought before my sister and myself. Fortunately, Celestia was away at the time and the one they were brought before was me,” explained Luna, suddenly looking thoughtful, staring into thin air.

“I had never seen ponies like the ones that were brought before me that night in the castle in Everfree city. Dark in colour, each and every single one, with long pointy fangs, and wings with no feathers. They moved so silently that if my back was turned, I would not hear them were it not for the chains around their legs.

“I did not know their language, nor had I heard anything like it. We had to use translation spells to understand them. My first impression of the newcomers was… well, I was wary, but then flattered. So few ponies in those days spoke highly of the night, or even spoke of it at all, accustomed as they were to sleep away the night and not see its wonders, yet here were two strangers and their entourage, telling me that they stayed awake all throughout the night and slept away the day. They even venerated the moon as their deity; the Silver-Eyed Goddess called Nyx, mother of the stars.”

“Did you feel more at ease with them than with your own subjects?” asked Magnus, curious as to what Luna would answer, seeing as they worshipped the moon.

“Not initially, no,” Luna replied after a moment to think, but then smiled broadly. “But after some time spent speaking with them, hearing how they venerated the night, and the immense gratitude they offered me after hearing—and seeing—me command the moon to move, I felt absolutely delighted! Such honours I had never been given before; not even my sister had been offered words of such unparalleled praise.

“However, when the matter of their plight was explained to me, I knew I had to act fast. Nopony knew how long the bat ponies could last against the monster in their kingdom, and leaving them to their fate was simply out of the question. That very morning I sent missives to the Equestrian fleets in the east and west, commanding them to ready vessels to sail and fill their holds with food and water, enough to last for months. Transport ships, galleons, galleys, many different military ships made ready to sail. When word spread, many civilian trading vessels surprised me by also volunteering to join.”

“That’s some amazing commitment,” said Magnus, impressed by how the shipping community also wanted to help. “Altogether, how many ships sailed?”

“If my memory serves me correctly, over a hundred ships of different sizes, from the west and east,” Luna answered. “It all happened so fast, days flew by in a hurry, I nary slept at all, only to speak with Celestia and tell her of what was happening. But things finally came together and our two fleets agreed upon a meeting spot, a small island just south of the landmass Equestria is on. Two weeks later, everything was in order and we set sail. Equestrian ships were built far better and we were better sailors and navigators than the bat ponies. Even though we made better time, we still struggled finding their island. The bat ponies had not kept detailed maps of their voyage; to this day, I believe they were simply lucky to find Equestria.”

“But you did find their island, right?”

“Yes, we spotted smoke on the horizon after seven weeks at sea,” Luna said grimly. “We wasted no time and set an immediate course for the smoke and found large swathes of their island ablaze. Fearing the worst, I ordered my soldiers to be ready for battle and had my armour brought up from the ship's hold and readied myself for battle. However, we found no monster waiting for us. We quickly made our way onto the island and with the two princes as guides, we found the path to Vesper.”

Luna closed her eyes and sighed, and when she opened them again, she had a faraway look in her eyes, as if she still saw something from long ago. “The remaining bat ponies were safe, but their stocks of food had begun to run low and rationing was in effect. Nearly all their warriors had been spent, luring the monster as far away from the capital as they could in order to safeguard the civilians. Sadly, many villages were lost and many innocents lost their lives. When there were too few soldiers left to draw the beast away, the king decided to burn the forests and jungle to make smoke thick enough to confuse the crab monster and harm its breathing. The desperate tactic worked; the beast kept its distance. Our arrival was incredibly fortunate, as the fires were dying on that final day.

“We met with the king and queen,” Luna continued, turning to Magnus. “Both were happy to see their sons again, and happy to see us as well. Our ships had been spotted from the highest tower, and the king had prepared for our arrival. We immediately began making plans on how to proceed. Our first plan was to fight the monstrous crab somehow, but after hearing the mighty struggles the bat ponies had faced, I began to rethink our approach. Fighting the beast with our limited numbers would surely be a bloodbath, in the crab’s favor. We never reached any further in our discussion; scouts reported that the monster was advancing on the fortress city itself. I asked to see the beast with my own eyes; I hoped to spot a weakness I could exploit and bring it down decisively.”

“What did it look like, aside from being white and huge?” His imagination had made a few mental sketches.

“Six massive legs, thicker than the thickest tree trunk, and pointy. It sank into the ground wherever it walked. Four eyes on stalks, moving like the necks of a hydra from side to side and even capable of looking backwards, and two long antennae that searched along the ground for anything to eat. Two massive pincers, one larger than the other, but both large enough to lift and crush ships with ease, and a mouth as wide as a castle gate, both sides of the mouth were covered by much smaller pincers to grab and mash food with. I saw it tear up a tree root and tear it apart with ease just to eat it. It was truly a terribly hungry monster.”

Magnus shuddered. It sounded like a cross between a lobster and a crab, a walking nightmare alright, something Godzilla would fight for the last twenty minutes of a movie, getting wounded and then making a comeback at the end.

“Did you find a weakness?”

Luna shook her head. “I could see no obvious weak spot. Furthermore, the beast quickly drew closer and we had no time to make a detailed battle plan. All we could do was start an evacuation to the ships and bring as much food and water with us as we could. The supplies we brought with us had begun to dwindle, and as such, every drop of water and every single bit of food we could bring counted, in case the battle with the crab monster would last long. But we quickly realized that we would not make it; the beast moved quickly on land, and if it reached the ships, it would certainly destroy them, leaving us stranded with the beast.”

Magnus had to agree that getting to the ships would be smart, but the ships might’ve also had heavy weapons on-board.

“Weren’t the ships equipped for a fight?”

“Some had ballista and catapults on-board, yes, but they would not have been effective against the monster; its shell was too thick. Besides, the ship was where the bat ponies were headed,” Luna replied, looking back at the statues, inhaling deeply of the cold night air.

“I quickly understood that we had to draw it away in order to buy time for a successful evacuation, but the reputation of the beast was well-known, and I would not risk the soldiers I brought or the sailors on a suicide mission. The crab beast knew how to counter flying ponies, and earth ponies would stand no chance on hoof. Unicorns, I thought, might have stood a better chance with our combined magic for defence and attack, but we did not have that many unicorns with us to make a significant difference. That is why I decided to face the beast alone.”

Magnus raised a brow and turned to Luna. “You did what?” The princess looked determined, grim and steely-eyed. Maybe she wore the same facial expression back then? Still, going up alone against a gigantic, flesh-eating crab had to require balls the size of the full moon.

“I had two distinct advantages; my wings and my magic, and only one of these the crab knew how to counter. While staying out of its range, I could bring my full magical might upon it, striking it with all the spells in my vast repertoire. With its attention on me, the guard I brought could help with the evacuation and help gather more food and water before we had to flee the island,” Luna explained.

“Didn’t your soldiers protest, you going up alone against the crab?” Magnus asked. As far as he knew, bodyguards would never leave a VIP, and he doubted the Royal Guard would leave their princess.

“They did at first, but saw reason. None could fly and bombard the beast with magic at the same time. Furthermore, more attackers meant a higher chance of somepony dying, and that was something I wished to avoid. Even Princes Frolicsome Meadowlark and Sunshine Smiles expressed their desire to fight by my side, and the venerable King Mystic Moon was already dressed for battle. But as I mentioned, their aid would be better used for helping their ponies.”

“I set out alone, flying towards the ridge where the crab climbed, on its way towards the fortress city,” the princess explained, pausing for breath. “I will not lie; I was afraid. Only fools claim they do not fear when faced with mortal peril. However, fear is good; you refuse to take chances that could very well mean you end up hurt or dead, and this time I could not take any chances, not with so many counting on me.”

Luna paused, as if setting the scene before her mind's eye. “I flew high and silently, moving behind the crab and lined up for a vicious assault. The crab moved with determination, the temple city its goal. I think it may have seen, heard, or smelled the many ponies still in the city, thinking them to be an easy meal. I, however, thought otherwise and assaulted the monster with my magic.”

Magnus was on the edge of the bench, completely enraptured with the story by now. Forgotten was the story of Gandalf and the Balrog, Merlin, Harry Potter, every single magical character Magnus had ever heard of, seen in movies, read about, or played in games. All these characters had become nothing when Luna told of her own battle and her own magic versus that of a monster from the depths.

“What magic did you use?” he eagerly asked, hoping to gain some insight into alicorn level magic. His head was filled with so many possible and impossible spells; he could hardly think and listen to Luna at the same time.

“My first attacks were varied. Simple, but powerful blasts that can be compared to a powerful strike or buck, standard spells taught to the unicorns of the guard. Then I followed up with a variety of elemental spells; fire, ice, stone and rock, wind, and many others. However, my first attacks did little. The monster's shell was exceptionally durable, and to my surprise, quite resistant to magic.”

Magnus was about to ask more when Luna turned to him, saying, “Remember, my young human, that there are beings in this world that can resist magical spells to different degrees.”

The sentence Magnus was about to utter quickly died in his throat and the hand with the extended pointing finger he had raised was slowly lowered. “Oh.” As a kid, and even recently, he’d have thought that nothing could stand against magic, unless it was a defensive spell. “So, what did you do?”

“Although my spells did little, my plan was to buy us time, and now with the crab focusing on me, the plan worked. All I had to do was fly high and bombard the crab with whatever spell bothered it the most.”

Upon hearing this, Magnus had to laugh. “You simply bullied it!”

Although Magnus laughed, he quickly shut up when he saw the look Luna gave him; she looked downright insulted.

“I’m sorry about that; I shouldn't have laughed at something so serious,” he apologized sincerely.

“Call it what you wish, the point is it worked,” the princess replied coldly. “The monster was distracted and resorted to hurling rocks and tree stumps at me, which I easily dodged or caught with my magic and threw back at it. This is what I did for almost three hours, at which time I received a signal, an easily visible magical flare sent high in the sky from the shoreline. The ships had finished loading the ponies and were ready to leave the island. It was the evacuation signal I was waiting for.”

Although thoroughly impressed, Magnus felt a bit cheated. A battle against a huge, magical-resistant monster, and all Luna did was distract it. He hoped for something more, something… fantastically magical.

“However,” Magnus almost felt his pointy ears wanting to turn towards Luna, the way her grim voice took on a bit of an edge. “On my flight back to the ships, I spotted from high above a great threat we had all missed. The entire bay, and much further out, was very shallow. A yellow sandy bottom with red reefs, stretching for many kilotrots out at sea. The ships were laden with refugees and supplies, thus they were slow. Below me, the crab monster had followed me instead of going to the now empty city. My heart grew cold when I saw it run by me, going directly for the ships. I heard the ponies on the ships scream when they saw the crab enter the water and pursue the ships. They were frightened beyond comprehension. The little ones, they cried...”

Luna’s eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips. Her voice grew hard and sharp, and she spoke as if she was back on the battlefield. For a moment, Magnus swore he saw a puff of frost smoke exit her nostrils.

“I was beyond enraged! ‘How dare this foul beast threaten my beloved subjects! How dare it threaten my newfound friends!’” she exclaimed angrily. “What little fatigue I had suffered from the earlier battle felt distant when I reengaged the crab head on. I cast every spell to break shields and sunder armour I knew, and I poured on power in every offensive spell in my vast arsenal. My fireballs suddenly held a core of liquid fire exploding against its shell, spikes of ice became frigid winds that battered its defences and even froze the water below it solid in mere seconds, and the reefs themselves rose out of the water and became spiked fences to contain the beast. My second wind combined with my anger bore fruits; the beast was forced to retreat from my onslaught.”

Despite nodding eagerly and listening without interrupting, Magnus cheered internally! Now this was the kind of stuff he wanted to hear! Great magical powers destroying a monster, like something out of his childhood fantasies and adventures so long ago. He could easily imagine watching the battle between Luna and the crab monster. Luna versus the crab, Gandalf versus the Balrog. What also surprised him was the fact that it sounded as if Luna’s anger lent power to her spells.

“So,” Magnus ventured, barely keeping his excitement under wraps. “How did you kill it? Cooking it in fire or freezing it solid before shattering it?”

“Neither,” Princess Luna answered with a slight shake of her head. “Despite my anger, my forceful assault was still not enough to penetrate its hard shell. All I could do was keep it at bay, not destroy it, and with each passing moment the ships went further and further away. If I went after the ships, so too would the crab also follow and become their doom. If I stayed, I would eventually tire, and there was not a single cloud in sight to rest on.”

“Oh, that sounds really bad.” He could imagine running out of magic in a battle, at least in games. When he played World of Warcraft, he’d been in every endgame boss fight as his mage main, and going OOM in a fight had happened plenty of times, without any consequences other than guildies getting upset. But the same thing happening in real life was worse by indefinite margins.

Luna nodded. “It was. After mere minutes of calling upon all of my magical reserves, I felt magical fatigue slowly crawl closer and my stamina lessen. My movements slowed and my efforts to dodge the attacks worsened. I truly feared that I had met my demise. But it was at that moment that another pony intervened and drew its attention away from me,” Luna said proudly, turning to Magnus. “Mystic Moon, king of the bat ponies and ruler of Transylmania refused to stay safe on-board the ships with his subjects while I battled the beast on their behalf. He flew in, swiftly and silently, hind legs first and wearing bladed warshoes, and with a mighty buck struck one of the eyestalks of the crab. Although he could not harm it, the crab was shocked at such a sudden attack upon its eyes and showed signs of discomfort, resulting in it retreating further onto land.

“King Mystic and I spoke now that we had a brief moment of respite, and I asked him why he was not with his ponies. He told me that he was eternally grateful for saving his subjects from the crab monster, but adamantly stated that leaving me to take on the bane of his kingdom alone was against all he stood for.” Luna smiled warmly at the statue of the old king, as if seeing an old friend again for the first time in many years. Now that Magnus knew a bit more about what kind of pony King Mystic was, he could guess that the ferocious battle stance the statue posed in was actually how the king looked in that battle; determined and dangerous.

“What could I do but admire his resolve?” Luna asked. “I gladly welcomed his help against the beast, but we both knew very well that if we did not kill the monster soon then we would surely both tire and make a fatal mistake. Time was of the essence and my mind was hard at work attempting to find a way to break the crab. I had tried brute force, but the shell was too thick and too resistant to magic. I tried intricate spells of the mind, ones to deceive the eyes, but its defences were also there. Even simple illusions failed to work on it; perhaps its eyes could not see them? King Mystic’s finely crafted wingblades were honed to a razor's edge and could cleave a pony in half in flight, but they blunted and bent due to his repeated attacks. I understood then that our battle tactics would never work. We were doomed from the very start.”

“So how then?” Magnus asked, some of his impatience leaking through into his voice. “I mean, you’re here, the bat ponies all survived, and I haven’t heard anything about Twilight and her friends using those element thingies on some crab recently. You killed it, right?”

A toothless smile spread on Princess Luna’s face, one that looked out of place on the alicorn. She looked satisfied, but in an odd way, like a cartoon cat watching its helpless prey squirm, knowing she could kill it at any moment. Truthfully, Magnus suddenly felt uneasy by the dark alicorn's predator-like smile.

“Did you know that floating through space, there are a number of rocks in different sizes?” Luna questioned Magnus, looking up at the sky, and her silvery moon. Magnus also looked up at the shining orb high in the sky, wondering where she was going with this sudden and odd statement. “It is true. Sometimes, such rocks fall towards the planet at such speed that they catch fire; we call them shooting stars. If there are many, we call them meteor showers. Long ago, not long after I became a princess as a matter of fact, I would often wander upon the surface of the moon. To explore, to look upon Equus, and sometimes to visit the dark side to behold the endless universe and all its stars, unhindered by the light of the sun. Sometimes, I would amuse myself by tossing moon rocks into orbit, pondering why all the rocks I threw would circle the moon itself. No matter the size of the rocks, the smallest grains to the greatest boulders, they would all circle the moon. Even not on the surface of the moon, I could influence the rocks with my magic because they were still part of the moon itself.”

“Gravitational pull. Everything that has mass has gravitational pull. The rocks you threw have little mass and the moon has a lot, naturally they’ll be attracted to it and end up in orbit,” said Magnus, drawing on his own knowledge he picked up back home.

Luna gave Magnus an odd sideways look at his confusing statement, but continued nonetheless. “At the time of my fight with the crab, I desperately searched for a way to finally end the crab monster and the rocks I experimented with so long ago came to mind. I quickly formed a plan, one that was both complete and utter madness, but also desperate. It was a gamble to be sure, a desperate one, but I saw no other way and quickly explained my plan to King Mystic. He was equally shocked, but agreed to do his utmost to ensure our survival.”

“What was the plan?”

“Two parts we both had to play,” Luna began. “King Mystic would distract the beast and keep it in a small area. Meanwhile, I would search for a stone of proper size and bring it down onto the beast, ending it once and for all.”

Magnus’ jaw dropped and he was speechless, but his thoughts raced frantically. ‘Oh my good God! Are you shitting me?! Luna had a ‘Sephiroth Black Materia’ moment?! She actually dropped a meteor onto a crab?!’

Luna, not aware of Magnus staring at her in awe nor of his thoughts, continued retelling her story. “I had more than enough magic left to command the moon; it is quite easy due to my connection to it, no harder than lifting a boulder at a very long range. As I stretched out with my magic, I felt the moon respond to my command. The heavens became as dusk when the moon rose in the middle of the day, equally light and dark. King Mystic was so surprised to see the moon that he nearly got hit by the crab, but quickly reminded himself of the plan we devised. So also I began searching for a stone circling the moon, while standing on Equus. It was so difficult, like searching for a tiny grain of sand in a room of immense size, while the room is cast in complete and utter darkness. I was forced to feel with my magic, to search without eyes or feel as one can with hooves or feathers.”

Magnus tried to imagine the task Luna had, but quickly found he couldn’t relate. He didn’t even know that he could feel with magic, or what it would feel like. All he knew was to somehow wrap his magic around objects. But on a related note, he now had a new measure of the skill and magical prowess Luna possessed.

“After much time spent searching, I finally felt my magic close around something. A stone, perhaps the size of a cottage or a wagon home, good enough to shatter a magic-proof shell. Then I began my task of bringing it closer to Equus. The control I felt over the boulder was as light as a feather. It felt like the moon, only so much smaller, like it had little weight at all. But aiming was much more difficult than I had imagined. I was the haft of a flail, my magic the chain, and the stone was the iron ball at the end of the chain. The length of the chain changed as I brought the stone in faster and harder, the crab moved about, and moment by moment the stone came closer and closer. After just a few minutes I could see it with my bare eyes in the sky; a large star, moving rapidly across the skies trailing a tail of fire in its wake.”

Magnus closed his eyes and tried to imagine what it would have been like to be there, to see it happen, and then looking up and seeing a meteor coming straight towards you. Fear, he felt, wasn’t quite the correct word to use; it lacked something. Abject horror and certain doom sounded much better. How could you defend against a meteor? You couldn’t—all you could do was utter a quick prayer before everything ended.

“I was about to warn King Mystic that the meteor was on its way when it happened.” Magnus opened his eyes and looked to Luna, alerted by the sudden change in her voice. The night alicorn had a downcast look on her face, complete with sad eyes. Magnus knew that something terrible had happened. “King Mystic was a brave warrior and excellent flier, and for Faust knows how long he had kept up with the crab and not suffered a single injury, despite his age. All it took was the crab to land a single lucky hit, and sadly, that is what happened.”

Luna shook her head sadly. “He took the full brunt of the crab’s giant pincer, straight to his side. His armour and helmet was crafted by their finest smiths, but no armour could have saved him from the impact. I never heard him scream, he just flew lifeless through the air and disappeared into the underbrush of the jungle.”

Magnus looked away from Luna, towards the statue of the ancient king. He doubted the fierce warrior was the type that would’ve liked to die old and weakened by age in a bed.

“With the only one that distracted him gone, the crab never even bothered with me, as I had stayed out of the fight for a while,” Luna explained. “Now driven by hunger, it set off towards the beach once more, intent on chasing down the ships. At this moment, I had two choices; go search for King Mystic and lose control of the meteor, or leave him for the sake of everypony else and destroy the crab. It was… an easy choice, I am sad to say. He wished to protect his subjects, even with his life, otherwise, he would not have participated in the battle.”

Magnus had to nod in agreement. A warrior like him knew full and well what the possible outcomes would be, and still he fought. The more he heard, the more his respect grew for the old king.

“The crab was but a few kilotrots from the beach when I felt my control over the meteor begin to wane as the remains of my magic was nearly drained. It travelled so fast, directing it became nigh impossible. Only by using my final reserves of magic left could I give the meteor a final push to ensure it would strike true, and strike it did,” the princess stated firmly, a wicked smile adorning her lips. “The flaming stone struck right in front of the crab! Large boulders were tossed skywards, plant life nearby obliterated, unimaginable amounts of dust and dirt clouded my vision! The cloud spread outwards like a thick carpet, blocking the land below me from view. But above it all, I saw pieces of the crab monster fly through the sky; pincers, antenna, and legs. The monster was finally dead. King Mystic, his subjects, and his warriors who died to defend their tribe were avenged!” Luna concluded with no small amount of satisfaction.

Although Magnus sat stock still, playing the role of silent listener, his mind worked in overdrive and his mental self-image did cartwheels across his brain. So awesome! He couldn’t even imagine such a scene taking place in Hollywood! But that place was known for works of fiction, while what Luna did was actually true.

“So,” Magnus said carefully, trying to keep his composure. “With the crab dead, you could all return to the island, right?”

Luna glanced towards Magnus and shook her head, her former gleeful expression fading. “No, that accursed beast had one final evil trick to play, one that none could have foreseen. The bottom of the sea is a strange and unexplored place, and whatever the crab once ate deep in the abyss, whatever it made its diet of, had poisoned its flesh and blood to such a degree that the moment its shell was destroyed, a sickening green miasma erupted from its remains, now scattered over a vast area. Even high up in the sky as I was, I felt its effect. A lungful of that foul air caused me to feel as if I was being strangled. There was no air to breathe around me, and only by flying as high as I could did I manage to find air to breathe, yet the effects of the foul fumes affected me. I felt dizzy, sick to my core, my eyes watered and my nostrils and lungs felt as if they were as hot as dragon flame.”

Magnus was once again shocked speechless. The monster crab rightfully deserved its moniker; monster, in the truest sense of the word. Hard to kill, a destroyer and devourer, and even in death it could strike back one final time. He had to ask himself, does more of these giant crabs exist? And if they did, could Luna kill one easier this time around?

“How… how did…” Fumbling for words, Magnus settled for gesturing towards the alicorn.

“I live?” Luna questioned and got a nod as an answer. “High above the ground, I could barely see the ships so far away through the tears in my eyes, so I knew what direction to go. I was fatigued; my magical reserves were depleted, my lungs burned, my stamina was almost completely gone, and the effects of the sickening cloud became worse. To this day I have no recollection of how long it took me to catch up with the fleet, but I did reach them. According to the captain of the ship I landed on, I was unconscious by the time I fell from the sky and landed upon the deck. I was hurried below deck and remained unconscious for three days while the healers tended to me. It took me days to fully recover.”

“I can imagine that being an alicorn, your constitution is exceptional, compared to an ordinary pony,” said Magnus, referring to alicorns having traits from all three types of ponies, but also that they were so drastically different in many ways from mortal ponies.

“It is better than most,” Luna replied with a brief smile. “But even my sister, my niece Cadenza, Twilight, and myself can become sick. I have suffered broken bones, injuries, been bedridden by sickness and disease, been afflicted by plague, the common flu and even the cold, but have always recovered.”

Magnus made a note of Luna’s reply. Although seemingly immortal, the alicorns could in fact get sick just like everyone else. Were they ageless then, or extremely long-lived?

“What about the island, and the bat ponies? They never got back to their island then, did they?” Magnus inquired. Seeing as the bat ponies came to Equestria, their home island must have been in pretty bad shape after the crab’s rampage.

Luna sighed. “Sadly, no. As soon as I could stand unassisted, I wandered up onto the deck of my flagship to see the damage, even though I had been told what was happening at the island. The foul fumes had engulfed the island in a deadly mist. The remains of the crab were still there, rotting away, releasing their fumes, and would do so for a long time to come. With no other choice, it was decided to return to Equestria.”

“It must have been hard on the bat ponies, to see their home so close, but not being able to go back,” said Magnus, reminiscing on his own home and all he held dear and close to heart. Just thinking about what the word ‘home’ meant to him made his heart ache.

“Indeed, many tears were shed, both for their lost homes, but also for their fallen. The seemingly only bright spot in their hopeless situation was the fact that no children perished, as they had all been evacuated to the capitol when the monster began its rampage,” replied Luna. Although never mentioned during Luna’s retelling, Magnus had assumed that foals died, but hearing that every single foal actually survived those terrible days warmed his heart. They were so small, so innocent, like kittens.

“My friends Sunshine and Frolicsome were nigh unconsolable,” Luna continued. “They both loved their father dearly and would mourn him for a long time. Queen lullaby however, was different. Although she kept her sorrow in check, she put on a brave face for her subjects, who now looked to her for guidance. Only many months later did she allow her tears to flow freely. She was a strong mare.

“But our troubles were not yet over. Now we had many ships filled with bat ponies, and that meant many mouths to feed. Although the bat ponies had brought with them as much food and water as they could, and we had resupplied what we could, it would not last long. We estimated that we had only enough to last us all one week, at best. Thus, we were forced to search for nearby islands where we could resupply water and look for food. Scavenging for fruit, berries, anything that could sustain us. Even with laden ships, our supplies did not last long. Our journey would last much longer than any of us had anticipated.”

Magnus had already guessed that the return trip had to take longer. Constantly resupplying was necessary, but the ships were probably also very heavy and very slow with so many ponies on board.

“How long did it take you to return to Equestria?”

Luna pondered for a brief moment. “Nearly four months, if memory serves me right. The time spent during the voyage was one of constantly sending pegasi up high to scout for an island, seeking shelter from rough seas, as well as making repairs to our ships when the need arose. But the many weeks at sea also gave the bat ponies time to come to terms with the loss of their home. I gave the queen and the two princes my word that Equestria would offer all the help we could, whether it be lodging, food, or any supplies they required to make new homes. In addition, each night I conversed with Celestia on what to do and made preparations for our arrival.

“But the long days passed were not only spent in mourning and grief,” Luna added with a relieved smile. “Many days I spent conversing with Queen Lullaby and Princes Frolicsome and Sunshine. From them I learned many things, and they learned from me about Equestria. Many of the sailors and soldiers on board also became friendly with the bat ponies themselves, learning that they were not so different from them, despite their appearance. Many friendships were made during those dark and sorrowful days. Many orphaned foals were also adopted into new families during the voyage, which also raised morale considerably amongst the ponies.”

“So something positive came out of all the loss?” said Magnus. After so much happening to the bat ponies, they really needed a break. “How did it go when you came to Equestria?”

“By the time we arrived, word had spread far and wide,” began Luna, leaning back on the bench. “A new tribe of ponies, scary looking with their slit eyes, batlike wings, fangs, and darker colors, as opposed to so many others. There were many ponies who were very frightened of them, due to their natural differences to pegasi, earth, and unicorn ponies. Some were so frightened they refused to even go near them.”

Magnus was instantly confused. “Why?”

Heaving a sigh, Luna turned to Magnus. “As long as ponies have existed, creatures in the dark—predators—have stalked the night. Ponies feared the night because of these predators who hunt in the dark with their sharp claws and glistening fangs, so any creatures that preferred the night over the bright day were seen as dangerous and something to be feared. Simply put, it is our instinct to fear carnivores. So too did our subjects believe the same about the bat ponies. But the sailors and soldiers who befriended the bat ponies on the voyage did their best to vouch for them, often speaking publicly in their defence, saying that they were the same as us. While some heeded their good words, fear remained in many others, and the arrangements my sister did to accommodate our newfound friends proved very difficult as soon as our subjects saw our new friends with their own eyes. Mayors, village councils, elderponies—many came to my sister, refusing to house the bat ponies or even allow them to live or even go near their villages.”

Hearing ponies, small and adorable as they are, speaking and behaving like this reminded Magnus of what he’d learned about racism back on Earth. Anyone not looking like the locals were almost instantly ostracized. Blacks, Asians, Romani, Muslims, it didn’t matter their personality, religion, their beliefs or moral code; everyone who was not ‘One of Us’ became ‘One of Them’. Country and continent didn’t matter at all, racism happened on Earth, and continued to happen to this day. Magnus felt incredibly disappointed in the ponies.

But a bright spot in what happened in Equestria so long ago was that this racism against bat ponies seemed to have disappeared. However, what did the two sisters do about it all those years ago?

“Wasn’t there anything you and Celestia could’ve done?” asked Magnus.

“We tried,” Luna replied. “While we tried finding a solution, a tent village was created north of Las Pegasus in which the bat ponies could live while my sister and I attempted to persuade village leaders. However, they were stubborn and set in their ways. In a fit of impatience I sternly asserted that if the villagers did not let the bat ponies live amongst them, I would force them to do so. That... did not have the desired effect.”

“What do you mean?”

“I nearly caused several villages to secede,” Luna replied meekly, looking a bit ashamed. “I thought better of our subjects; I truly believed we were past the days of war, of animosity, of bigotry, between the three tribes. All it took was another tribe of ponies to appear and the ugliness of the past reared its hideous face once more. My utter frustration with our subjects was disheartening. I have never been a good speaker; that gift of charisma belongs to my sister.”

Magnus could imagine Luna standing before a group of ponies, yelling and nearly threatening them. He still remembered her face clearly that day he stood before her and Celestia in the throne room. At that time, he could almost feel the cold rage emanating from her. Even though she appeared calm, there was just something about her that unnerved him. But for the ponies to be on the receiving end of her frustration and anger, well, that had to be a very different experience.

“I know that the bat ponies ended up having homes here in Equestria; I celebrated Harvest Day with Brilliant and her family. Great food, and nice to do something together with them. So how did they settle in Hollow Shades?” He had somewhat of an inkling that the Galaxy family had something to do with that. After all, they had owned large parts of Equestria back then.

“Ah, now there is a good tale,” Luna remarked with a wide smile. “It just so happened that a certain captain on one of the largest trading ships that sailed south with us was one Count Sea Spray, which just so happened to be, at the time, the head of the Galaxy family. He saw the destruction of the homes of the bat ponies first hoof and felt immense pity for them. Upon hearing of the village leaders refusing to let the bat ponies live in their villages, he gifted the entire forest of Hollow Shades to them. A grand gift, if I may say so myself.

“Within a week, the bat ponies began their trek towards Hollow Shades, and upon arriving began building their homes. Some preferred to build their homes upon the strongest and sturdiest branches, while some used tools to hollow out tree trunks and make cozy homes out of them. Meanwhile, my sister and I sent wagon loads with food and various supplies for the bat ponies. But the food would not last them all throughout the upcoming winter, thus the bat ponies began foraging the forest for food, inadvertently creating the festival known as Harvest Day. The next year many plots of land had been cleared, ploughed, and seeded to grow enough food for the bat ponies.”

“That was immensely generous of the Count,” said Magnus, extremely impressed with his altruism. The forest was not a small parcel of land either. He didn’t know how many square kilometers, but hey, the bat ponies could build a large human-sized city in the forest if they so wished and have plenty of land to spare. That long ago, the Galaxy family was at its peak, meaning they also had enormous amounts of land to spare.

“It truly was,” Luna agreed. “Each and every day, over months and even years, their new home grew by leaps and bounds. I am not sure how many bat ponies lived in Hollow Shades at the time, but their new village, or shall I say town, was at its heyday more than ten times larger than it is today. The small settlement surrounding the castle became over time part of the new village of Hollow Shades, and its villagers also came to befriend their new neighbours. A few locals did not like the bat ponies at all, but the Count gave them the option to stay or leave. While some moved elsewhere, most ponies stayed. Ever since, the bat ponies and the Galaxy family have been good friends. And here, the seed of new friendship took roots and grew. Our subjects grew accustomed to the bat ponies, and within ten years the old mistrust was almost completely gone.”

Glad that things had sorted themselves out for the bat ponies, Magnus was curious regarding a few minor details. “What happened to the Queen and the Princes then? Did Queen Lullaby continue her rule over the bat ponies?”

When Luna didn’t answer and even looked bothered by his query, Magnus began to wonder if he had asked the wrong question. He was about to retract his question when Luna groaned.

“I hoped you would not ask that,” she began. “Yes, Queen Lullaby ruled for some time, but after four years she abdicated. When I asked her why she wished to step down, she told me that they no longer had a need for a queen, that they had somepony better than a queen. When I pressed further, she explained to me that the bat ponies looked to me for leadership, and that they had started building a temple for me. They... worshipped me, prayed to me, made intricate ceremonies all in my honour.”

“They thought you were a goddess?”

“Yes,” Luna answered, looking unsettled. “I am not a goddess, nor is my sister. I cannot hear prayers; I cannot fulfil wishes. I cannot see beyond life and death. Worship bothers me as ponies believe me to be something I am not. I am an alicorn, and alicorn does not mean deity.”

“Was it really that bad?” Magnus asked, wondering why Luna was so opposed to being treated like a goddess.

Luna turned to Magnus, frowned, and said, “When my sister and I defeated Discord long ago, we were not princesses, just high-ranking citizens of Equestria. Discord’s powers were great, so great in fact that many believed him to be a god, and since my sister and I managed to defeat him with the powers of the Elements of Harmony, those very ponies who believed Discord was a god, suddenly believed us to be greater goddesses, deities of the highest magnitude. Those ponies travelled all over Equestria, speaking of our divine power and telling exaggerated stories of our greatness. Within five years, temples had sprung up all over Equestria, and Sun and Moon cults were everywhere. Ponies prayed to us, self-proclaimed priests and priestesses held grand sermons every sunrise and moonrise, and offerings were made all in our name. Yes, believe me; cults and worship are more trouble than they are worth, especially when they are aimed at you. You know this; you prefer to be left alone. Would you like to be treated as a divine being wandering the land?”

“Well…” Magnus slowly uttered, then had a second thought. If he was treated like a god, anything he’d say would be taken literally, and seeing that he had the occasional brainfart, he was sure he’d cause trouble of the magnitude Discord would be proud of. “Forget I said anything.”

“Wisely spoken,” said Luna, having watched and listened to Magnus’ further reply. “My sister and I worked hard to stamp out the cults dedicated to us, and the temples built for our worship were repurposed for other uses. The same I did here in Hollow Shades. As for the queen, she abdicated peacefully and lived the remainder of her life in this very town, working hard to help her former subjects rebuild their lives as the matron of an orphanage for the foals from Transylmania. With so many of her subjects dead in their old homeland, she also made sure to celebrate each new life entering this village. By the end of her life, she told me she knew more than 800 new names. She died very old.”

That was a good way to spend her sunset years, Magnus thought; helping rebuild shattered lives, building dreams and watching life bloom. As a ruler, Queen Lullaby had a duty to her ponies, but there was little she could do against the crab monster. Spending the rest of her life making sure her former subjects would grow and prosper in their new land was the next best thing she could do.

Then Magnus looked ahead at the large pedestal with Luna and the two princes. “What about Sunshine and Frolicsome? They became your new guards, right?”

“They did, and they did it in a grand—and I must admit—surprising fashion,” Luna chuckled, smiling warmly. “Three years later, after the bat ponies had made their first homes in Hollow Shades and had planted crops, Frolicsome and Sunshine came to Castle Everfree to see me. In court, before a hundred nobles, Prince Sunshine Smiles and Prince Frolicsome Meadowlark prostrated themselves before me, publicly relinquished their claims to the throne of Transylmania and instead pledged themselves to me as my knights for the rest of their lives as a reward for helping them in their time of dire need.

“To say I was surprised was putting it mildly. I was not seeking a reward and I told them so. No reward was necessary. But the two princes were adamant. They would not take no for an answer. From that day until the day they drew their last breaths, they would be my personal guards, my knights, my protectors.” Luna’s smile grew wider. “How could I say no? I accepted their services then and there. I knew them well enough by then that I knew they would never accept my refusal, stubborn as they both were, and sincere in their words.

“But Frolicsome and Sunshine were not the last. Over the coming decades, more and more bat ponies sought to join the Royal Guard, to protect and guard me as I once protected them. So many applied, in fact, that around twenty years later, half the Royal Guard consisted of bat ponies. Still, some of my sisters' guards were wary of the bat ponies, and tensions arose. The bat ponies favoured me, paying little attention to my sister, while the rest, used to being awake during the day, tended to favour my sister. To ease tensions, the Day Guard and Night Guard were formed, my guards and sister’s guards, working together to safeguard us. But the bat ponies joining the guard also worked well to introduce them to the rest of Equestria. Fierce fighters, the bat ponies were often dispatched to outlying villages to fend off beasts, thus earning the trust of our subjects. It did not take long before mistrust of the bat ponies had all but faded.”

After having listened for so long, now knowing the events that transpired ages ago, Magnus had a good understanding of the bat ponies, what they went through, their struggles, and finally, their steely resolve. He rose from the bench, stretching his arms and legs after sitting still for so long. He then wandered over to one of the flowerbeds, picked up a few dead flowers that still had a few colourful petals on them and placed them at the base of the statues of the two former princes, the abdicated queen, and the king himself. After hearing what sacrifices they made, what they gave up, what they suffered, and how they found the strength to continue, a single dead flower for each was hardly enough, but it was all he could do now.

“There’s a lot of legends and myths among humans,” said Magnus, his voice unusually low and reverent, as if he stood in a church, knowing that wasn’t a place to raise his voice, “but what you just told me just about beats anything and everything I ever heard, simply because I know it to be true. If this was told on Earth, people would assume it to be the myth of a god or a fairy tale.”

“I assure you it is not a fairy tale,” Luna stated sharply, standing up and joining Magnus. “The bat ponies suffered much, and making light of their suffering by claiming it was all a fairy tale is dishonouring. The lives lost, the brave warriors that lured the crab away at the cost of their lives, the sacrifice of King Mystic, the journey to Equestria, the hostility they suffered, and the two princes that gave up their titles for my sake—none of it is made up.”

“I never said it was a fairytale,” Magnus countered. “Back home, unicorns, pegasi, griffons, dragons, and magic are the stuff of fairy tales. But seeing as all those things exist here, I truly believe that all this happened, no doubt in my mind. It’s just… for me, not used to these kinds of things, it’s difficult to express in words the, I guess you could say, awe. The respect I now have for these four, but also for you, for all you did for them.”

“Oh. I see. Well, I did not do it all alone; my sister helped more than I have mentioned,” said Luna, her former sharp tone dulled. Magnus was already sure Celestia would’ve helped; sitting idly by while Luna did all the work didn’t sound like her.

“What happened to your two guards anyway?” After hearing how the two former princes began their lives, he hoped for a happy end for the two of them, not one where they died in battle or something like that.

Picking up a pair of dead flowers, Luna enveloped the two of them with her magic, and their colours returned to their former glory, that of silvery white and blue. She placed them at the pedestals of her two friends, and spoke, her voice calm and level.

“After a long life filled with duty, adventures in foreign lands and in Equestria, friendship and love, Sunshine and Frolicsome died of old age. Sunshine was 87 when he died, Frolicsome followed his brother four years later at the age of 93. They were both married to three mares each, had multiple children and grandchildren. They had earned almost every award in service during their lifespan, but they refused every promotion offered to them, fearing that they would be posted someplace away from me. They remained hoof ponies in the Royal Guard their entire lives. At their funerals, the entire bat pony population attended, as well as the entire Royal Guard, myself, my sister, and many nobles who knew them.”

Magnus expected Luna to not say anything else after speaking so highly and emotionally about her friends, but that’s where he was wrong. Without a word Luna walked over to the statue of Queen Lullaby and spoke.

“Lullaby Song, nay, Queen Lullaby, saw nearly a hundred summers come and go. Her heart was pure and great, and beat stronger than any drum for her ponies. She suffered greatly after coming to Equestria. Many a night I was with her, fending off her nightmares born of grief and desire to join her husband. In the end she grew stronger both in mind and heart, and her desire to help her ponies find happiness grew. She helped build homes, she helped plant and harvest crops, raised funds from the Equestrian nobility to improve their new town, and from time to time I still hear her laughter in my dreams whenever she saw a new foal born to her ponies. In the end, she passed away one summer's eve and was at peace. Rest well, my friend.”

With that, Luna picked another flower from the flowerbeds, used her magic on it and the flower’s colours returned and was carefully placed at the queen’s pedestal.

Then she moved over to the statue of the king. Another flower was picked and its colours returned by her magic.

“Mystic Moon was a warrior king, perhaps the last true warrior king I knew. Fearless, ready to sacrifice his life if need be, he fought valiantly to the very end.” Luna began, her voice strong and without sorrow. Carefully, she placed a hoof upon his pedestal. “Your memory remains in your ponies, that of a warrior and a noble king, one who fell in defence of his subjects. Your ponies are still here, my old friend, and they remember you,” she said, placing the flower on his pedestal.

Magnus felt as if he was witness to some sort of memorial ceremony. After so many years had passed, he thought that the pain of losing friends would eventually fade, but seeing Luna becoming emotional over ponies that she knew over 1500 years changed his mind.

Then again, perhaps alicorns experienced time differently than mortals. Perhaps to her, it felt like a couple of years ago, but that wasn’t something he wanted to ask her of right now.

Still, the sorrow was still there. That made him think of his own future. Would he stand before a homemade memorial to his friends, many years from now when his body was frail and hair grey or gone? Would his homesickness still be there? Would he still miss his friends? A part of him said yes, but another part of him hoped that he didn’t so that he wouldn’t have to go through what Luna did, what Celestia did, all the friends they had lost over the years. Immortality, it would seem, had some aspects that were overrated.

Having placed a small enchanted flower at each of the statues, Luna moved closer to the centre one, that of herself and the stone slab behind her and her two guards.

“Have you learned any Transylmanian during your stay so far?” she asked, gazing up at the black stone slab, its polished surface like a mirror and silver lettering reflecting the moonlight and starlight.

Magnus moved to stand beside her, also looking at the unknown letters. “I was insulted in Transylmanian some time ago, but I doubt that counts.”

Luna smiled in amusement. “It does not. You should attempt to learn the language; it is very easy. Then you could understand what is inscribed on this stele.”

To Magnus, the intricate letters looked nothing like anything he’d seen on Earth, nor did it look like the Equish alphabet. He had luck with learning the language when he came to Equestria, thanks to Starswirl, and he knew some Lakota from his grandfather, having picked it up as Joseph tended to speak Lakȟótiyapi from time to time, but other than that Magnus had never studied any language at all.

“What does it say?”

“It is a retelling of the events that happened at the time of the bat ponies’ exodus to Equestria. It is written in a very old poetic style, traditional to the bat ponies at the time. This stele was erected some 40 years after they settled in Hollow Shades.” Clearing her throat and speaking formally and clearly, Luna translated the silvery language to Equish.

“Once our home, loved and cherished, olden earth and warming winds, sweet air and fragrant water, brightest days and quiet night, was our days

Darkest depths sent its destroyer, crushing home, village and kin, roaring bloodthirst, fearsome foe, unstoppable and skin like stone, fear struck our hearts

The horn of war, silver chime, king sent his mightiest to fight, brave and bold, clad in iron, making war, but tears shed in every home and hamlet

Rampage across forest, waters, village and fells, unstoppable fury and ravenous hunger, the end drew near, and too few stood left to fight

Across water dark, deep and treacherous, the queen saw far, crossing goddess sent by Nyx, mighty by strength, ferocious by wing, and daughter wielding magic strong

Fleeing to safety, across waters blue, salvation in sight, but beset by our hated foe, side by side, king and princess, waging war for the innocents, furious flame and winds of coldest death

But death came on swift wings for our graymaned king, battered and broken he fell in battle, yet his courage never wavered, for cowardice he did not know and felt no shame

Shedding tear, the princess cried, a cry to her mother, whose pain she heard; the moon became her eye and the tear of vengeance fell in fiery rage

Shattering earth, splintering log, breaking shell and rending flesh, mourning ended the destroyer, but no celebration came and the air once fair became the breath of death

Poison in her chest, the daughter of Nyx escaped the pony of bones, finding refuge among us, safe on waters unruly waves, sickness slowly left her, she saw our devastation and wept

Moons passed on water, despair at our hooves, sorrow heavy in our hearts for all was gone, yet hunger and thirst never took one, for the princess of the faraway lands guided us

The land of moon and sun promised hope, but harmony was not in all, inhabited by hostile few, wished we died in shattered homes, to never speak or fly again, to never dance in the dark of Nyx, or sing our songs of old

By generous hoof and kind heart, one who knew our plight, lavish lands and lush forest given to us, our homes to build, our food to grow, and our songs of old to sing again forevermore

To one and all, children of the night, speak often of our tales of woe, to not forget ancient home or kin in Nyx embrace, and never forget who threw down our hated foe, who slew it and avenged our kin

To Luna, Princess of Equestria, we give praise.”

“Wow,” Magnus uttered after several silent seconds. There was a clear distinct style to the poem which made it sound old. A lot of details were left out, but the gist of it was clearly understandable even after so many years. “They really worshipped you back then.”

Luna sighed, but by the sound of it, it was a happy sigh. “They did. Daughter of Nyx was my title amongst the bat ponies for decades after. The moonstone I hurled at the crab monster they interpreted as their goddess crying for their fallen king. It only fed into their adoration and belief. But in this modern age, such worship has long since been forgotten, and I have no wish to see it resurrected again.”

“Hm, I understand. But why did the bat ponies decide to settle in Equestria permanently? Didn’t they want to return home when the toxic cloud had dissipated? Surely it would be possible to find plants from any nearby islands and regrow the forest they lost.”

“We were unable to even set hoof on the island,” said Luna. “Some bat ponies still wanted to return to their home kingdom to rebuild and bury the bones of their dead. Five years after the bat ponies came to Equestria, I ordered an expedition back to the island to explore. They could not even get close to the island; the foul stench of the rotting carcass still fouled the air, and even the toxic fumes remained. All they saw of the island was a greenish mist on the horizon. A pegasus was sent high into the sky to observe the island from a great distance. All he saw was a dead land in which nothing had begun to grow. We thought that the fumes emanating from the decomposing crab had somehow poisoned the land itself, rendering it barren for the time being. The bat ponies could do nothing but wait.”

Magnus had a hard time believing it; after five years the crab was still decomposing and the land had still not recovered?! What the hell had the crab been eating? Considering the enormous size of it, decomposition would take time, but five years?

“I sent expeditions once every ten years, but they all reported the same. Later I sent expeditions once every fifty years. When the wind was right, they could get closer, but not walk ashore, and any plants had yet to grow. Even the land itself had yet to recover from the decaying carcass. As the decades passed and became centuries, fewer still wished to return, now seeing Equestria as their true home. At one point, I felt as if nopony wanted to return, and I even asked the villagers of Hollow Shades if they wished to return to their ancestral homeland. While some expressed some interest in seeing their ancestral homeland, the majority had no desire to resettle; Equestria was their home.”

“But that was over a millennia and a half ago. If I had to make a guess, I’d say someone wanted to see where they came from. I know I would. When was the last time you or Celestia sent someone to check on the island?” Magnus asked.

Luna let out a sad sigh, and Magnus knew that something had happened. “977 years ago,” came the sad reply. “The records with the coordinates to the island were lost in a major fire in the archives and no other records exist. Celestia knows; she searched for decades, every depository of documents in Equestria was turned upside down, but no records concerning the whereabouts of the island were found anywhere.”

Magnus was momentarily stunned into silence. A moment of carelessness or accident and just like that, the bat ponies had forever lost their homeland. Despite it becoming uninhabitable, it was still the place they all came from.

Magnus shook his head. “Weren’t any expeditions sent out to search for the island?”

“Celestia did order expeditions out, yes, and although they managed to map parts of the southern seas, they failed to find Transylmania. In that part of the southern seas, there are hundreds of islands. While some are habitable, others are claimed by other intelligent creatures who are very protective of their land, and others yet are inhabited by fierce and ferocious beasts that would make settling exceptionally difficult,” Luna explained, her ears drooping. “There are times I feel as if we failed the bat ponies. They were saved from their demise, but in return they could not return to their ancestral homeland. They lost so much.”

“They did, but they are alive.”

Luna looked at Magnus. The human sat with his arms crossed defiantly over his chest.

“They lived. Not only that, but they thrived, and they’re still here,” Magnus began, gesturing towards the direction of town. “All these years later and they’re still around, even after everything they lost, but they pushed through the grief, the sorrow, and even the initial hostility they were faced with, and came through unscathed. They hit rock bottom and from there the only way was up. But they weren’t alone; they had each other and they had you and your sister.”

Luna let a small smile grace her lips. “Thank you for reminding me. Thinking of their past and their losses has a way of bringing melancholy into my mind.”

Magnus shrugged. “The way I see it, the bat ponies are still rebuilding in a way. Their numbers still look few, but I think time can take care of that.”

“Few?” Luna asked, before beginning to laugh, much to Magnus’ confusion. “Do you believe that bat ponies only live in Hollow Shades?”

“Uh, no? I saw some of them in Canterlot, so I guess they have a small population there. Probably elsewhere too,” Magnus explained, drawing on his own recollection of seeing bat ponies back at the castle.

Luna smiled and let out a final chuckle. “Oh my dear human, you have so much to learn. Over fifteen centuries have passed since the bat ponies came to Equestria in a hundred ships. Their numbers were few then, compared to how many of them once lived. A century later, their numbers had swelled considerably. Today, I have no idea how many bat ponies there are, but you can find them in every major city in Equestria, and abroad too. You will find bat ponies in all pony kingdoms and all city states throughout the world, as well as other non-pony countries. Many think as you do, because they are asleep at night and rarely see bat ponies, but wander Canterlot or any other Equestrian city at night and you will be surprised. And Hollow Shades is not their only town; the area around Horseshoe Bay on the eastern coast holds many small villages in which the majority of inhabitants are bat ponies. The area is especially sunny there and the air humid, perfect for growing all manner of fruits which they delight in. So no, the bat ponies are far from few,” Luna finished with a chuckle.

Magnus felt dumb, having assumed that the bat ponies only lived in one town. After so many years, it would be natural that they moved around and settled elsewhere. If they didn’t, Hollow Shades would be the size of a huge city.

“Much to learn, you still have,” Magnus quoted, but refrained from doing the voice. This world still held so much to learn, even things so close to him and in plain sight that he couldn’t see it.

“Indeed you have, my friend,” Luna responded.

With a smile, the night princess stood up and gave a short but respectful bow towards the four statues. “While it is good to visit this memorial again and pay homage to my ancient friends, I believe there are places in this village that can cater to my current need.”

“And what need would that be?” Magnus asked as he rose from the bench, following Luna who marched towards the memorial’s exit.

“I hunger,” Luna replied cheerfully. “Come, my friend. We shall find a vendor of delectable pastries. My guards tell me that many traditional Transylmanian recipes are still held in high esteem in Hollow Shades; recipes passed down from their old homeland. And if we are lucky, we might be able to locate a bakery that sell star fruit pies; I remember them to be especially juicy.”

“I know of a bakery in town that has some pretty good blueberry cake. I can show you the way,” Magnus offered the princess, remembering the day he visited town alongside Brilliant.

“Please do.”

As soon as they crossed through the gates, Princess Luna and Magnus were met by quite a sight. Somehow, word had gotten around town that Princess Luna was visiting, and in turn almost the entire town had shown up outside, mare and stallions, young and old, all of them keeping a respectful distance to the memorial and the four bat pony guards guarding the gates. But as soon as they saw the princess, the crowd erupted into cheers and hollering, supportive clamouring and joyful calling of Luna’s name and title.

Magnus had no doubt; even after all these years, the bat ponies loved Luna. He saw it on their faces, their eyes, their smiles, their voices, you couldn’t fake adoration like theirs.

“Looks like your subjects have decided to come and show their devotion and support for you,” said Magnus with a grin.

When Luna didn’t reply, Magnus looked at the alicorn. She was obviously surprised, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open. Her wings had spread wide and one of her forelegs slightly raised, and somehow her entire body looked as if it had tensed up.

“This is my second visit to Hollow Shades after my banishment,” she said after several long seconds of silence, her foreleg slowly settling onto the ground. “And my first time seeing the descendants of Transylmania in over a thousand years. They still… honour me? Even after I nearly cast Equestria into darkness?”

Magnus noticed Luna swallow heavily. The alicorn looked deeply affected by the show of love the bats showered onto her. Perhaps she expected them to hold a grudge against her for what happened a thousand years ago, but that was clearly not the case.

In any case, the alicorn was rooted to the spot when she should’ve walked forward and met with her most beloved subjects. Was she really so surprised that she was still loved that her legs had completely seized up?

That theory went out the window as Luna began walking forward, slowly at first, towards the crowd of bat ponies. She stopped after a few paces and turned her head to Magnus.

“I am sorry, but pastries…” she began apologetically but was cut off by the human.

“I know,” Magnus replied, smiling and with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Go, meet your bat ponies.”

Luna smiled, gave a single nod in return and turned back to face her subjects, taking small steps first. The first ponies to approach her were surprisingly the children, their big eyes wide open and smiling like children seeing their favorite hero, and in a sense, she was exactly that to them, although they may not have known why. Nevertheless, their slow trot turned into a full stampede as the entire first few lines of fillies and colts surged towards her and in mere moments Luna was surrounded by tiny ponies.

Magnus chuckled as he walked past the crowd of ponies, looking back to see the mighty alicorn of the night get swarmed by miniature bat ponies, all asking questions of why this and why that while the adult ponies were watching the whole scene unfold. Coupled with the completely startled facial expression of Luna that melted away into a patient smile and kind eyes turned the scene into a heartwarming display of the herd nature that Magnus knew ponies were capable of.

And to Magnus, it all looked perfect.

After clearing the crowd, Magnus came upon a familiar pony that stood all the way at the back. Brilliant sat there alone on the lawn, looking at the crowd and Luna with a motherly smile.

“About time she paid the town a visit,” the elderly mare said as Magnus walked up and sat down next to her. “I know she used to come visit a lot back in the day. Let’s hope she’ll make a habit out of it.”

Magnus looked over to the princess, a mighty alicorn surrounded by children, answering their many questions, showing them her crown and gorget, and pointing up at the moon while telling the children something. All in all, Luna looked to be in her element.

“From my point of view, it looks like she’ll visit more often,” Magnus answered.

Author's Note:

Hey all, back again with a new chapter. It's been way too long. Sorry for the long wait.

I've been looking forward and dreading this chapter; looking forward because we finally get to know some batpony lore and history, and dreading it because I had to invent batpony history. Honestly, I've no idea how long my mind's been stewing with ideas and concepts, but this is what I came up with.

As usual, JBL is my editor and he does a kick-ass job about it. Thanks buddy, I oew you greatly. Head on over to his profile and show him some love and check out other stories he's worked on/working on, it's good stuff, promise.

And lastly, to my readers, new and old, thank you for all the support, upvotes and comments that drives me to write.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Contains small amounts of Anthro.

What do you mean by that?

[Cup of Coffee]

11047828
I was new to the rules of this website when I began writing this story, and seeing as the human character has some bodyparts that does not belong on a human, I thought the anthro tag was needed, even though all the ponies are non-anthro. Some ppl believe the anthro tag is needed, even though by perfect definition, the human is not anthro.

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

This has been a great story, very good world building, looking forward to the next chapter

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

Will any ponies due to some magical transformation become anthro for a chapter as a mini story, maybe fluttershy as she is the most like Lisa and for a temperately amount of time Magnus becomes a full pony?

[damnaion]

for the chapter

and yay you and this is alive.

[Fireeaters]

Nice

[Thunder Sparks]

It’s good that you are back. I was hoping for a new chapter for awhile. Anyway very good backstory for the bat-ponies. Keep up the good work.

[EnderHooves]

Beautiful. Wonderful story and memorial. I look forward to the next update.

[Xanderfox]

11047828
Magnus was partly turned into a Unicorn he's like a Unicorn Satyr bipedal with unicorn ears, horn, back legs and parts of his body are furry.

[Xanderfox]

Luna fought the Giant Enemy Crab! And she killed it by basically casting Meteor on it.

[Mitril]

Hearing ponies, small and adorable as they are, speaking and behaving like this reminded Magnus of what he’d learned about racism back on Earth. Anyone not looking like the locals were almost instantly ostracized. Blacks, Asians, Romani, Muslims, it didn’t matter their personality, religion, their beliefs or moral code; everyone who was not ‘One of Us’ became ‘One of Them’. Country and continent didn’t matter at all, racism happened on Earth, and continued to happen to this day. Magnus felt incredibly disappointed in the ponies.

The difference there is that pony racism is biological
It's not the same and only a moron would compare these two.

Humans aren't racist for these reasons
Black people aren't black because they hunt in the night, etc XD

[Cup of Coffee]

11048128
Really, Harry Potter? Copying Bedknobs and Broomsticks?

[Mitril]

Luna let out a sad sigh, and Magnus knew that something had happened. “977 years ago,” came the sad reply. “The records with the coordinates to the island were lost in a major fire in the archives and no other records exist. Celestia knows; she searched for decades, every depository of documents in Equestria was turned upside down, but no records concerning the whereabouts of the island were found anywhere.”

Magnus was momentarily stunned into silence. A moment of carelessness or accident and just like that, the bat ponies had forever lost their homeland. Despite it becoming uninhabitable, it was still the place they all came from.

Magnus shook his head. “Weren’t any expeditions sent out to search for the island?”

“Celestia did order expeditions out, yes, and although they managed to map parts of the southern seas, they failed to find Transylmania. In that part of the southern seas, there are hundreds of islands. While some are habitable, others are claimed by other intelligent creatures who are very protective of their land, and others yet are inhabited by fierce and ferocious beasts that would make settling exceptionally difficult,” Luna explained, her ears drooping. “There are times I feel as if we failed the bat ponies. They were saved from their demise, but in return they could not return to their ancestral homeland. They lost so much.”

Yeah kind of lazy to just stop looking for the island
If they could have done it with less advanced equipment and ships they should been able to find it at some point

My guess is the fire was sabotage.
Maybe someone's noble family planned this, so after many years they could for example reclaim the island for themselves without no one knowing.
The fire could have been also a group effort of several families, each wanting something else arased

My guess is that the crab's shell is still there, so they have very good armor and weapons,ships,etc too

[Booster Spice]

Songs for this chapter?

Children Of the Night?

Soldiers Of The Night?

[Cup of Coffee]

11048387
Oh right, I had plans to include a song for this chapter! Thanks for reminding me. I'll fix that in a few hours, just gotta find the right tune, preferably something by Chris Heron, formerly known as TheDashDub on youtube.

[Cup of Coffee]

11047868
thanks for the kind words

[Cup of Coffee]

11047873
While the idea has crossed my mind, I currently haven't planned for it. That doesn't mean I might explore the idea of Magnus temporarily becoming a pony.

[Cup of Coffee]

11047996
Thank you for the kind words. I've realized long ago that my tendency to write long chapters seriously hampers my progress and tests you -my readers- patience. Shorter chapters is something I've planned for ages, but every time I try to write a short one, perhaps 2000-3000k words, I always gets sidetracked. I need to work on my writing ability and myself in order to produce better chapters which are easier to read instead of these walls of texts I usually produce.

[Cup of Coffee]

11048014
Perfect explanation!

[Cup of Coffee]

11048143
I agree with you that I could have worded and explained it better, but at the moment I want to leave it as it is. I really can't find a better way to explain it right now. Besides, this chapter's been kicking my ass long enough.

[Cup of Coffee]

11048174
Lazy? I wouldn't say that; if the bat ponies don't want to return then why waste resources looking for an island that is a single grain of sand amongst hundreds of other grains? Luna basically explained that there were so many islands in that sea and that the bat ponies now see Equestria as their home.

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11048835
I hope any future backstory ideas are just as great & the rest of your story is just as good as this chapter, if you ever expanded the galaxy family how would you do it?
An idea I have is that brilliant somehow is the great- grandmother of twilight sparkle as you said before that members of the nobility would hide members that did not meet the requirements like hybrids maybe if Magnus turned into a pony twilight could turn into a human, a connection that could only happen if they where related and the story unfounded that Brilliant farther did not approve of a secret relationship & using magic made it seem if both the baby and farther passed away in an accident when he lost his memories.
What do you think?

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

May I ask if the next chapter will have a time gap like this chapter before it is published or will it be shorter?

[Xanderfox]

11048842
Humans use race incorrectly so it's little more than another word for "outsider", all living humans are homo sapiens, all the other human races died off in the ice age. I don't think Magnus has fully internalized the idea that in Equestria race is the same thing as species, so it is understandable he might find the fact hostility towards bat ponies was essentially eliminated in a few dozen generations, while humans still struggle to understand the fact we are a single race.

[Morphy]

11048015

Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

[Cup of Coffee]

11048928
Nah, the next chapter is roughly done, maybe 2-4 pages to go, then off to editing.

[Cup of Coffee]

11048906
Well, to me it seems to be a bit too complicated, and I haven't the slightest idea of how to make it work. You see, as I've written this story over the years, several ideas have popped into my mind. Some of them seem good at first glance, but the more I work on an idea, the more flaws I find until I drop it completely. Then there's the rest, those that I deem good and workable and write them into my story. Making one of the mane six into a member of the Galaxy family was an idea that came to me somewhat early, but was eventually dropped because I wanted OC's instead of well developed characters. While some of the current OC's might appear somewhat 2d and flat at the moment, I plan to elaborate and work on them. This, of course, isn't planned for all.

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11050764
May I ask which one of the Mane 6 did you think of connecting to the galaxy family & in what way?

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11050746
Looking forward to it.

[Cup of Coffee]

11050890
At first I planned for Rarity, due to the fact that her posh nature and suddenly finding out that she was distant nobility could result in a few funny situations, then I considered Fluttershy, but thought that her demure nature would be little to play around with. I lastly considered Twilight, but there are a lot of fics that has Twilight and her family being very minor nobles and that is a well trod path on fimfiction and I didn't want my fic to be another one. At around this point I gave up the idea and decided against the entire plan.

As for how they could be related, I thought that they could be a descendant of one of the family members that decided to leave the old castle.

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11051036
All those ideas sound good & I would have liked to see those events unfold, but I understand the need to remain original and the story you have made has been great, your world building like in your latest chapter has been great, will you do a chapter about the griffin king Luna visited in the opening?
Also what do you think of the idea of in some stories that Twilight & her family are minor nobles?

[Cup of Coffee]

11051140
Heh, the griffon king will have his part, believe me. He's been on my mind a lot, and I have plans, but what those plans are remains to be seen.

The stories in which Twilight's family is minor nobility is... well, I don't have anything against the idea, but they rally aren't according to the show. When Twilight became a princess, who really knows what honors were bestowed upon her parents, likely none at all. Still, I've read good, bad, and mediocre ones. The best ones, IMO, is the ones in which their titles aren't a big deal, the ones in which their lives aren't changed at all. They are still the normal suburban family.

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11051852
Good points with Twilight's family and nobility & will the ambassador's make a return, maybe the fallout of Diligent Ambition actions?

[Cup of Coffee]

11052101
I have a few ideas, but nothing set in stone for now.

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11052216
You said before that Magnus is in terms of magic at the level is low, do you have any plans for him to grow into a more powerful magic user, not on twilight's level but somewhere in-between her and the average unicorn,
Do you have any new spell like your thunder war spell or explore the different aspects of magic from Munges point of view, also due to the fact that Magnus is human will that have any affect on his magical ability like being able to learn magic from other races at a smaller scale or "scan" spells and temporally learn them for 24 hours & then unlearn them (Twilight would have a field day trying to learn about him and he would try on live with those new abilities)

[Bloody_Tofu]

Woot!

Thank you for more of this.

[Cup of Coffee]

11052245
I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head concerning Magnus' abilities. Been reading up on tropes concerning magic as well, and I have a general direction. I wish to avoid a power fantasy, like Magnus becoming Twilight levels powerful, instead, I want a different approach, not one in which power is all, but something different, a broader spectrum of sorts, not a jack-of-all-trades though.

I also want to explore magic from a human point of view, the initial fascination, the possibilities, the mind wandering and exploring the magic of Equestria. But I also want to explore trying and failing, sometimes with humorous results, and there I have some ideas. However, no copying or absorbing or scanning is currently in the works.

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11059670
Looking forward to happens in regard to magic, I do have a suggestion, before you said ponies have the ability to take a lighting strike and walk away & humans cannot, how about if Magnus has the ability to in short durations become immune to different forms of magic but also be unable cast it at at the same time?
Also will there be any forms of magic Magnus will be unable to use or could he make use of other creatures magic?

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11059670
Would you consider adding another human into the story, maybe a descendant of another unicorn "crossed wires" and had the same dreams as Magnus and went to the triangle but due to magic and trying to close the portal found themselves months into the future and in another land?

[Cup of Coffee]

11059746
No, I haven't planned for that at all.

As for your second question: no, I think that with proper training and instructions, Magnus will be able to cast a wide variety of spells.

[Cup of Coffee]

11061291
No, Magnus is the only human in Equestria and the rest of their world.

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11061767
Will you do any world building of the other pony tribes or races?

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11061766
Given that Brilliant is 118 and Magnus is a hybrid how long do you think he would be able to live & with the world knowing who his ancestor is will some of the villains try to control him for his family or information about another world?

Also why did the events Equestria Girls not happen in this world & will it events happen in any way?

[Cup of Coffee]

11062012
I have a few ideas, one of which I'm certain I will explore in this story, yes.

[Cup of Coffee]

11062019
I haven't really given it any thought yet, how old Magnus can become, but seeing as he is mostly human, he is likely to have a human lifespan.

The reason Equestria Girls didn't happen in this story is because I hadn't seen Equestria Girls when I began writing, and I still haven't seen it. I'm just not a fan of the idea of ponies going to humanland and turning into humans. Humans going to Equestria and turning into ponies is fine though.

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11062928
After Magnus was contacted to magic he had a vison of his different family members, will anything in regards to that aspect of his unique abilities into play in your story again, maybe he would be able to go into a sherlock Mind place or talk with different family members?
At the start of the story it was just after season 4 and later you indicated that seasons 1 through 3 happened in under a year, will you go forward in time in the show and if so will Magnus be a part of it in any way?

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11062909
Looking forward to it, also which is it is Magnus in a different part of the universe or in another plane of existence in relation to where he is from earth?

[Yaj-652-WOD-956-FAN]

11062928
In the show Star Swirl and the pillars of old where locked within void, if Star Swirl went to earth in your story how would he also be in the void with the pony of shadows, would casting the casting the spell unknowingly create another version of him where at that point one lived his life as normal and went to earth while another remined in the void until the events of the show, if it did how would the one who remained be different from the other who lived for over 20 years and another 1500 years as ghost?

[Cup of Coffee]

11063056
The vision he had of the past line of Starswirl's descendant, maybe he made that up in his mind, maybe it was Starswirl's doing, or maybe it was something else. That part I leave up to the readers to decide.

I'm not really sure how much time actually passed for S1-3, and the show is a bit notorious when it comes to time and such, thus I had very little reference for time passing, however, time will advance as it always does, but this story is mainly about Magnus, and him becoming a part of the Mane 6 adventures might not be likely for now.

[Cup of Coffee]

11063057
Which one sounds likely? Even I am not sure, but I like to think that with everything happening, Magnus is in another dimension.