Of The Night

by TheBrianJ

Epilogue

Party Favor, Double Diamond, and Sugar Belle stood on the the second floor of the town hall. They stared at the half-finished roof that dangled off the edge, barely avoiding falling to the ground by hanging on to support beams that were jutting out the side of the building. Party Favor and Sugar Belle glanced at each other.

“So, what happened?” Double Diamond asked.

“It just sorta slid off,” Sugar Belle replied. “I guess we didn’t secure it properly. Thankfully it caught there so it didn’t hit the ground, but neither of us want to touch it.”

“Well, let’s at least try to pull it back up so it’s not just hanging there,” Double Diamond said as he stepped forward.

Are you sure about this?” Party Favor said. “We should probably get somepony else to help out with this. This seems kinda… precarious.”

“No way, we can totally do this!” Double Diamond said. “We just have to grab it and pull it up the rest of the way. Once it’s here it’ll be fine, we can attach it later. But we can’t just leave it hanging there.”

“Double Diamond,” Sugar Belle said, “I’m glad you’re all gung-ho about this, but we really do need some help for this. I don’t think three of us can handle this.”

“Eh, maybe,” Double Diamond said. He trotted over and put his hooves on the side of the roof. “But at the very least we can give it a try, you know? We might be able to get it.”

As his hoof pressed on it, the weight shifted. Double Diamond stumbled back as the structure fell another few inches, falling off one of the beams holding it up. Double Diamond leapt and grabbed the corner as it buckled again, the whole roof feeling like it was going to come apart in his hooves.

“Okay I don’t think we have time now,” he said, planting is hooves on the floor as best he could.

Party Favor and Sugar Belle ran over and grabbed onto the roof, hanging on as it swung back and forth.

“Help!” Sugar Belle yelled. “Somepony, we need some help with the roof!”

“Hang on, I got it!” came a voice from the other side. The roof suddenly stopped swinging, and the three ponies could feel the weight gradually ease up. “You guys got it? I’m going to lower it down, just keep holding onto it so it won’t fall!”

Slowly they lowered the roof down, the fourth pony keeping it steady. Finally, the weight completely gave out.

“Alright, it’s on the ground!” she shouted.

The three ponies let go and held their breath, but the roof stayed leaning against the side of the building. They let out a collective sigh of relief.

“That could have been a disaster,” Party Favor said, wiping sweat from his brow.

“Yeesh,” the voice said. “This place is falling apart without me, huh?”

The three turned to the source of the voice. Double Diamond’s eyes went wide.

“Night Glider?!”

Night Glider dropped her saddle bag to the ground. “Hey guys!” She barely finished the sentence when Double DIamond ran up and grabbed her in a hug, accidentally dropping them both to the ground.

“Night Glider! You’re back!” he shouted, holding her tighter. “Oh man it is so great to see you again, we missed you all so much!” He jumped to his hoovers so he was standing over her. “What was it like? Did you see your family? Did you—” He paused as he stared down at Night Glider, then his face went red. “Oh, uh, sorry,” he said, then stepped back and let Night Glider get up.

“I’ve been gone just over a week, Double-D,” Night Glider said with a giggle as she reached out and hugged him. “You’re such a dork.”

Party Favor and Sugar Belle rushed in and joined the group hug. “We didn’t expect to see you back so soon!” Party Favor finally said. “So, what happened? Are you back to pick stuff up? What was Modus like?” He paused and stepped back as his ears fell. “Oh no… did they not let you back in?”

“No, they let me back in Modus, and I got to talk to my parents,” Night Glider said, pulling away from Double Diamond and Sugar Belle. It’s just that… well, a lot happened on my way home, and I kinda realized something that I should have figured out a while ago.”

“What?” Sugar Belle said. Night Glider smiled.

“That this is my home. That you guys are my family. I’m really sorry that I left so suddenly, I was being impulsive. I hope you guys don’t hold it against—”

“We won’t hold it against you!” Double Diamond practically shouted. Party Favor and Sugar Belle giggled as he cleared his throat. “I mean, of course we won’t. You’re our friend! You said this was something you had to do, and you did it. I’m just happy to see you back.”

“Yeah, we are too!” Sugar Belle said. “You’re gonna have to tell us everything that happened!”

“Absolutely,” Night Glider said. “But not right now. I wanna go say hi to everyone.”

“Sure!” Double DIamond said. “We’ll come with you. Everyone's gonna want to know that you’re back!”

He ran up alongside Night Glider and smiled at her, as the two of them trotted towards the stairs. Party Favor and Sugar Belle chuckled as they followed her down the stairs and out into town.

----------

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The stars were shining brightly, and the moon was hanging low in the distance. Night Glider sat on the roof, staring off into the distance at the stars. There was a light wind that was blowing her mane back. She took in a deep breath of the crisp night air.

She hadn’t been able to sleep. She had only gotten back to town a few hours ago after a long flight, but despite the journey back, every time she closed her eyes, her mind raced.

Her ears twitched.

“Hello?” she said, craning her neck to the side “Somepony down there?”

“Uh, hey,” a voice came from below.

“Double-D? What are you doing up so late?” She trotted to the edge of the roof and looked over at Double Diamond standing on the ground.

“I could ask you the same question,” Double Diamond said. “Actually, no, you’re kinda built for being nocturnal. I saw you sitting up here, just wondering if everything’s okay?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Everything’s great. Wanna come up?”

“Sure!” he replied, then glanced around. “Uh, don’t see a ladder around here…”

Night Glider jumped to her hooves and flew down. Before Double Diamond could even react, she had scooped him up by the legs and was carrying him up to the roof.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “This works too.”

Night Glider landed on the roof, letting go of Double Diamond and sitting down again. Double Diamond sat down next to her, and they both watched the sky.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No way. Thinking about too much.”

“Oh…” Double Diamond said, scratching the back of his head. “About Modus?”

Night Glider shook her head. “No. About a bunch of friends I have in Palmacolta. About a place called Cloudsdale that a bunch of pegasi invited me to come visit. About wanting to get this place up and running, make up for the time that I missed here.”

Double Diamond looked over at her. “Really? You’re not thinking about Modus?”

“Nah,” she said. “Not right now, anyway.”

“Right now?” Double Diamond shuffled his hoof against the floor. “Hey, Night Glider, I don’t think you told any of us yet… what exactly happened in Modus?”

Night Glider watched as a shooting star went by in the far distance. She took in another breath and turned to Double Diamond.

“Nothing,” she said.

Double Diamond raised an eyebrow. “Nothing?”

“Yeah,” Night Glider continued. “I went in, I talked to my parents about what I was doing with my life, and I left. I wasn’t even there twenty minutes.”

“Huh,” Double Diamond said. “I mean, after all that travel and everything you said to us, I kinda expected to hear that there was more.”

“Yeah, I did too,” she said. “But I got all the answers I was looking for on the way there. It was just a matter of realizing it for myself, you know?”

“So are you ever going to go back?”

Night Glider sighed. “No. The mayor made it clear, I got lucky to be let in, it’s never going to happen again. He’ll let me send letters to my parents, but other than that, the Modus part of my life is done forever.”

She didn’t say anything for another moment. Double Diamond scooted a bit closer to her.

“Sorry, Night Glider,” he said.

“Yeah. I’m losing a lot of my past. Most of it, really,” she said. She turned and looked Double Diamond in the eye, “But you know what? I have a whole new life to start here. They don’t want me there, and I’m finally okay with that. I think I like this new life way better than the old one anyway.”

She turned back to watch the night sky. Double Diamond scooted closer again, to the point where he was almost touching Night Glider. He looked around nervously and took a deep breath, then slowly leaned his head over onto her shoulder. Night Glider glanced down at him, then slowly smiled and rested her head on top of his.

“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m really happy you’re back,” Double Diamond said. “We all are. I know it’s tough to let go of home… but I’m really happy you did.”

Night Glider turned to look back out over the starry sky, as in the distance the moon seemed to shimmer brighter.

“Yeah,” she quietly said. “I am, too.”

Comments

[eggtosser]

Just a question, is this complete now or incomplete because usually epilogues mean the end but the incomplete status, which is equivalent to that of every thing, clashes.

Also, YAY. Love this story, very enjoyable. Just another question, so what is Modus exactly? I know it is a racist place, but who lives their? I can't write a question for me life can I? I'll just end this comment mid sente-

-King of Eggs

[Meta Four]

7675594 Modus is a whole town of Batponies.

[PropMaster]

Congrats on a successful ending! Nice work as always, my friend.

[TheBrianJ]

7675594

Oh god, I knew I forgot something. Yeah, the story is complete :)

And Modus is (putting this in spoilers just in case) an entire colony of just bat-ponies/sarosians. Night Glider was born to bat-pony parents, but as a mutation; she is just a pegasus, although she does posess some bat-pony traits such as increased hearing, echolocation abilities, and better agility while flying.

[eggtosser]

7675772 Huh, I was thinking it was the other way round but then I realized Night Glider is a Pegasus. During one of the chapters when it mentioned her hearing made me believe that she was either a bat pony (despite the fact she wasn't) or is just born abnormally. I guess I was wrong on both accounts. I don't know if the black box of annoyance needs to be used but I just want to use it.

[SoonToBeWriterBrony]

I would hope to see a squeal or something in the future. Or a chapter of princess Luna ripping the racist aholes there a new one. Other than that. A good story.

[VanillaWaffle]

*slow clap*

Very good story, highly under rated. Great ending. The whole story had my emotions going all over the place, and i hope to see more from you!

[Zaveryn]

I don't think I've ever read a Night Glider-centric story before. This is really good! I like the concept. I wish I could've seen Luna lay the smack down on Modus for treating someone so terribly all their life, heh.

[i_am_the_jam]

[aplauso]

[Lightning Bearer]

I can't really bring myself to feel too warm and fuzzy about her parents. I mean, it's nice that they "did what they could" to keep Night Glider from getting exiled, but... then they just let her leave? Knowing she had basically nowhere to go? I mean, if I lived in a town, and the people of that town treated my daughter like trash and then banished her, I'd tell that town to go to hell and leave with my daughter, and at least keep the family intact. It's hard not to interpret it as them choosing Modus over their own child.

But, Night Glider clearly wants them in her life, and is willing to forgive them, so I guess that's what matters. At least she has a real home now.

This was a really nice story. You took a cool character who's had surprisingly few fics written about her, and made it both interesting and canon-compatible. Very well done.

[Meta Four]

7675945
7676637
I agree that it would have been very cathartic to see Luna chewing out all those racists in Modus. But at the same time, I think it would've run counter to the theme of the story, possibly even undermining Night Glider's character development. The whole point of this story is for Night Glider to realize that the best thing she can do is to cut Modus out of her life. Just stop trying to earn the Sarosians' approval—stop basing her self-worth on the approval of judgmental assholes. So if the narrative did focus on the Sarosians getting their much-deserved verbal lashing, then the audience's happiness (and possibly Night Glider's, if she's there to witness it) is still beholden to the Sarosians. "I can't be happy until that asshole gets what he deserves," is just the flipside of "I can't be happy until I get that asshole to like me": you're letting that asshole dictate your happiness.

Maybe Luna will come back to Modus like hurricane and tear those Sarosians a new one. (There are hints in chapter 9, I think, that this will happen.) Or maybe she won't. Either way, it doesn't matter to Night Glider. Modus just isn't important to her anymore. She's got a new life, and she's going to find her own happiness regardless of what happens or doesn't happen to those jerks.

As the saying goes: the best revenge is a life well lived.

(There is another angle: wanting Luna to give the Sarosians what-for, to make certain that this kind of abuse doesn't happen again. That's a perfectly reasonable motive. But, I also think the narrative already assures us it won't happen again, due to the implications that the Sarosians are cruising for a stern talking-to. But one that we and Night Glider won't get to see.)

[SoonToBeWriterBrony]

7679994

One of the reason why I prefer it to be an epilogue or the last chapter of the story, something that happen after Night Glider goes back to her "home".

Furthermore, another reason why i would like to see that written, is that from certain angles, this is Luna's own tribe of ponies and they are doing (mostly) what the normal tribes did to her in a smaller scale. So even if she doesn't rip them a new one, her disappointment in them should be more than enough for them to start panicking and/or prostrating.

[Truthseeker]

Night Glider said, pulling away from Double Diamond and Sugar Belle. It’s just that… well, a lot happened on my way home, and I kinda realized something that I should have figured out a while ago.”

Missing quotation marks here.

I was considering downvoting this story because for a while it seemed like the theme was racist. It seemed like the moral of the story was 'stick with your own kind', which I very strongly disagree with. The ending did not have that feel though, so I will not downvote. I still hope the whole town burns down though. Bunch of racist assholes.

[Meta Four]

Hey howdy hey, some good news: Knighty went and added a bunch more character tags, including Night Glider and the rest of the Our Town gang. (Also there's a bat ponies tag, but maybe putting it on this story would be too much of a spoiler?)

[oak-tail]

Hmm... im still not sure what i think of this story.

For one, the whole "mystery" seems way too drawn out for how obvious it seemed (to me, anyway). It's such a mundane thing that having it try to stretch the entire way just to have it "revealed" at the end feels weak.

The arc of the story also felt off, like there was too much buildup to not much release. I felt likenit should have been longer or more epic or somthing, to justify the kind of buildup we got.

However, i did like the characters. Double D is a total lovable dork (i ship it), nightglider's trauma/struggle is interesting, her old grandpa/friend is very likeable. The parents are a bit generic/nondesript, tho. You also have an interesting conept with the whole modus situation.

I guess i just feel like this story can't decide whether it's a slice of life or fantasy adventure/mystery story. I really like the first few chapters, so maybe some cutting down of the later chapters would be beneficial (if that's something you'd care to do at this point). Overall though, it was enjoyable.

[Csquared08]

That was a really nice story. Again, I'm super glad I was looking through my old favorites and realized I never finished reading it. This was great.

[Tangerine Blast]

Just finished this after having it in my read later forever. Really awesome stuff! I loved how you characterized Night Glider and really built her journey. A super fun read!