House of Sun

by Riossumari

Assemble the Team

An eerie silence fell over the Canterlot throne room, Tempest standing in the center of the room her soldiers setting the petrified princesses around her. A moment later Grubber entered the throne room nervously, the sound of the main doors shutting made Tempest look back and turn to see him.

“Grubber, where’s the last one?” she asked.

Grubber chuckled for a moment and scratched the back of his head before answering, “Well, see… we almost had her, but then she tried to blast us with magic and you know the shields we have deflect and block magic…then her attack ricocheted and hit the bridge we were all standing on and then...she fell into the river and got away.”

Tempest’s eyes went wide with anger, she took a step towards him and shouted, “She got away!? Search the city then, send the guards out to scour the area around Canterlot! NOW!!” Grubber nervously turned and ran out of the room, shutting the doors behind him with a loud bang. Tempest stood trying to compose herself when a familiar voice suddenly spoke up.

“Tempest, that was a bit cruel don’t you think?” Tempest turned and to her surprise she saw the Storm King enter the throne room from the opposite side of the room. Tempest quickly bowed in respect,

“Your highness, I...I wasn’t expecting you so early.” she said. The Storm King walked around the throne room looking at the princesses,

“So these are the ponies he’s so afraid of? Pffft, they weren’t that dangerous obviously…” the Storm King said as he poked the petrified Celestia’s horn. Tempest looked up at him puzzled, “Who’s afraid of the princesses?” she asked. The Storm King looked back at Tempest and stomped towards her,

“Does it matter? No, I think what REALLY matters here Tempest is that you promised me four Alicorns and their magic. But I only see three here, do you see the problem? You do want your horn back right? Well until I have all four ponies magic, I won’t and I can’t give you your horn back. So what do you think you should be doing right now?” he asked.

Tempest looked away and nodded in respect, “Yes your highness, I’ll lead the team to find her right away. I won’t let you down.” she answered.

Twilight walked along the dirt road, the others following close behind with Trixie pulling her caravan at the rear. They’d been walking all day long and were all exhausted now, but finally Twilight saw their destination just on the horizon.

“There it is, we finally made it.” Twilight said, they all started to trot at a quicker pace at the sight of Ponyville. They were all ready to finally rest after what had transpired earlier, Twilight looked up at the sky and saw the sun was still out. Normally this would be when the sun was setting she thought, it made her pause and think to how she couldn’t keep her family safe.

“Hey, you alright Twilight?” Trixie asked as she came to a stop beside her, Gabby and Sweetie going ahead of them.

“I don’t know, but...I have to fix this somehow. Every pony back in Canterlot is counting on me right now.” Twilight replied. Trixie smiled and gave Twilight a friendly nudge,

“You mean counting on us! We’re not about to let you do this all on your own you know, that’s what friends are for. And the Great and Powerful Trixie, knows you make friends better than any pony.” Trixie said before trotting ahead to catch up. Twilight smiled at her friends words and walked into town with the others, not even three feet into town did Twilight hear a voice call out.

“TWILIGHT!!!” Before any pony could see the source a pink blur dove out of the sky from above and tackled Twilight into a full hug, when Twilight recovered she saw a familiar pink pony hugging her tightly.

“Pinkie, its great to see you again…” she said. Pinkie hugged her friend tight and nuzzled her cheek against Twilight’s,

“You didn’t say you were coming to visit! I have to throw together an emergency party now!” Pinkie said. Sweetie Belle quickly trot over to the two and poked Pinkie’s side getting her attention.

“We don’t have time for a party Pinkie, we’ve got an emergency back in Canterlot! Twilight’s family is in trouble, we gotta save them!” Sweetie explained. Pinkie gasped putting her hooves to her cheeks in response to Sweetie Belle’s words,

“Oh my stars! No wonder your here without telling me first, we need every pony on deck!” Pinkie shouted. Twilight stood up and dusted herself off,

“My Aunt Luna told me to go north and find the “Children of the Night”, is there anywhere in town I can do some research? Whoever these children are they sound like they might be our best chance to save every pony.” Twilight asked. Pinkie put her hoof around Twilight and pulled her close pointing in the distance.

“Sure is, you can use the Golden Oak library! There’s tons of books in there! You go get to work Twilight, I’ll get the rest of the team together!” Pinkie said before darting off.

“Wait, team? Pinkie, who’re you?…” before Twilight could finish though she was gone in another pink blur, Twilight groaned in frustration. Pinkie was a great friend she thought but right now she didn’t have time for her games or antics.

Gabby looked down at Sweetie Belle and asked, “So where’s the library at? You lived here, right Sweetie Belle?” Gabby asked. Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement and pointed in the direction of the library and ran ahead of every pony else, Trixie barely had time to unhook the harness from her caravan before catching up to the others. Sweetie led them a short distance across Ponyville to a large tree refurbished into a building.

“Here it is, come on. The mayor always keeps it unlocked during the day so ponies can use it.” Sweetie Belle said as she pushed open the door.

Twilight walked into the library and looked around in awe, it wasn’t half as big as the palace library like she was used to but beggars can’t be choosers she thought.

“All right every creature, let’s get to work. We’ve got ponies counting on us back home and we’ve got a lot of books to go through. Now let’s find out who and where the Children of the Night are exactly.” Twilight announced. They all started in different spots across the library looking through as many books as they could hoping to find some kind of answer. Almost a full two hours passed and Twilight and the others had gone through almost a quarter of the books in the library when Pinkie suddenly burst into the building announcing her presence.

“We’re here Twilight! And we’re ready to help save the day!” she shouted. Pinkie hopped into the library in her usual energetic way, following behind her was Applejack, Big Macintosh, and lastly Fluttershy.

“Oh hi guys, sorry to show up out of nowhere like this. Things are...not good back in Canterlot.” Twilight explained.

“I got all the best ponies in Ponyville to help out! I would’ve gotten Rainbow Dash too, but she hasn’t gotten back yet. Something about dusty lightning and making wash cloths or something.” Pinkie said.

Applejack walked over and sat down across from Twilight, “Pinkie told us somethin’ was goin on back in Canterlot, if there’s anyway we can help just say the word Twilight. I imagine yer short hoofed right now as it is.” Applejack said with a smile, Big Mac then adding his usual “Eeyup” after his sister spoke.

Before Twilight could answer Gabby suddenly shouted with excitement, “I found something!” She flew over and landed next to Twilight setting down an old Equestrian atlas, and pointed to a part of a map inside.

“Lookit! Right here, it mentions an old song mentioning the Children of the night. Something about a Garden of Shadows, here in the Crescent Moon Valley.” Gabby excitedly explained. Twilight picked up the book to see for herself,

“Its not much, but its definitely the best lead we have so far. And what’s more its almost directly north of Canterlot, I think this might be what we’re looking for!” she said with a smile.

“But...no pony goes to the Crescent Moon Valley…” Fluttershy spoke up, every pony looked at the timid pegasus a little confused which made her look away shyly for a second.

“You don’t know the story? Its an old Pegasus tale, I don’t really like it cause its scary though. The Crescent Moon Valley is haunted by terrifying gargoyles with large scary bat wings. Every pony who goes in there is snatched up and never seen again…” Fluttershy explained. An uneasy air of tension quickly filled the room, but then Twilight broke the silence confidently.

“Every pony is counting on us, and not just Canterlot either. Every pony in Equestria, the Storm King isn’t going to stop with just Canterlot he’ll eventually start to go after other cities as well. So we need to go to the Crescent Moon Valley and get the help my Aunt told me to. Now who’s with me?” Every creature suddenly smiled and with a triumphant cheer they agreed to follow Twilight.

Tempest stood at the bridge where Grubber had said Twilight was last seen, she looked around at the damage and then down at the river below.

“So...um, are we in trouble right now? The Storm King isn’t exactly known for being forgiving you know.” Grubber said nervously. Tempest didn’t answer though instead she slowly walked across the bridge trying to see where Twilight could’ve gotten to. Grubber and two guards followed a short distance behind her watching her study the area. Tempest looked up towards the river, seeing a small clearing next to it not far from that was the road leading out of Canterlot. Tempest’s gaze slowly moved upward towrds the horizon and then just above the distant tree line she could see town hall of Ponyville just barely poking up over. With a sinister grin Tempest smiled and whispered to herself,

“There you are...”

Author's Note:

God this took me sooo long to get done, my job has taking its toll on me this last month. I got overtime twice and I am exhausted. But finally managed to find the time to get this update done and posted. And I know I said I was gonna explain where Spike was this chapter and I apologize for that. But a friend who helps me brainstorm on occasion gave me a REALLY good idea on how to use Spike to bring in another character from the movie, and I couldn't resist. So Spike will appear later on, and I'll have him explain where and what he's been up to. As for the Children of the Night, I'm sure most of you can probably figure out where I'm going with that now, and I'll be sure to add them soon. Anyway, leave the usual comment and like and I'll try and get the next update posted asap.

Comments

[Melody Song]

Ooh, this is going to be good!! Great chapter!

[SpikeSmolder fan]

Good update here & good use of Golden Oaks for getting info about the Children of the Night, looking forward to where it's heading next!

Also glad you have something big planned for Spike next time around. The little guy was quite resourceful in canon when he needed to be so I can't wait to see what you have in mind for him here!

[Twilight_Shimmer]

Nice ref to the "Come Little Children" Mlp animation

[Riossumari]

11139140
It is one of my favorite Pony music videos, plus its all about Luna.

[Twilight_Shimmer]

11139181
Aka best princess XD

[Comickook]

Excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Yeah, Storm King, you are lucky that Celestia, Luna and Cadance are already stoned, otherwise they would give a pretty good demonstration of why Grogar is so worried about them. And, good use of the Golden Oaks Library to find out more about the Children of the Night AND Pinkie assembling that team as quickly as she did (this is obviously set during Wonderbolt Academy given the mention of Lightning Dust). Also appreciated Fluttershy providing some heads up on that pegasus legend as a warning.

Very definitely looking forward to more of this (especially the answer concerning Spike's whereabouts).

[SuperSonicHeroes]

The Children of the Night are going to be interesting. Hopefully they will be willing to lend a hand.

[redandready45]

Can't wait for the next chapter.

[Twilight Is Cool]

*claps* ANOTHER GREAT CHAPTER! They always get better and better!

Gotta say, I was half expecting Twilight and the others to finally meet Rainbow Dash, but I guess that's still a ways off.. *shrugs* oh well!

I know you'll do a better job with how Twilight and the others save every better then the movie... I know I already said that, but I can't help but be a little steamed at the way they made Twilight so stressed out in that movie! No offense to those who like the movie, but that's just how I feel.

Anyway, keep up the great work! As always, I can't WAIT for the next chapter!!

[DavisSentoV5]

Worth the wait