Stars in the Shadow of Night

by Melody Song

The Following Morning (Interlude)

Shadowstar awoke in his chambers to see his Aunt had already raised the sun, it was peeking over the horizon. He could hear the sounds of battles and flinched. The fighting had already begun. There was a knock at his door and he got out of bed, heading for the door. He opened it to see Cadence. The older alicorn was smiling.

"Sister? What do you need?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to show you something, come look!" Cadence grabbed him by the hoof and dragged him away.

"I just wonder why you're so upbeat. Can't you hear the armies fighting?"

They paused and Cadence turned to look at him, eyes saddened. "Of course I can brother. But there's nothing we can do for them at the moment, so it is best to put it out of our minds for now."

"Really-"

"I'm not saying their lives aren't important." Cadence stopped him from retorting, raising a hoof. "I'm saying that while my heart aches for them, we cannot simply stop these battles. So for now, we should do our best to ignore the pain that we feel and focus on other tasks that will help take apart the reasoning of these warring kingdoms."

"...I see. Lead on, sister." Shadowstar smiled. "But does this thing you're showing me actually have anything to do with that or are you merely trying to get me to come with you?"

"...A little bit of both. It does involve your Resistance."

"They're not my anything. They named themselves and came for help, and I offered. That doesn't make me their leader."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on!" Cadence dragged him over to the room the Resistance was staying in.

Cadence opened the door with her magic gently, and Shadowstar peeked in. He instantly understood what Cadence was so excited about.

Ember and Thorax were curled up together, Ember with an arm over Thorax. Gabby and Gilda were holding each other nearby, and beside them lay Gallus, who had a wing tucked neatly around Sandbar. A slumbering Ocellus lay with a hole-covered leg locked around Smolder's shoulders. They were all sound asleep.

"Isn't it adorable?" Cadence whispered "And just think, if the rest of their kind saw what good friends they are, despite their differences, they might see reason."

"Yeah, it is a bit adorable, and that is a good idea Cadence..." Shadowstar trailed off and re-examined the scene before him. "Wait...where's Pharynx?"

Cadence did a double take, looking around the room. "I don't see him..."

"Let's look around the castle. He can't be far." Shadowstar said "I'll check the balcony."

"Why there?"

"He was sitting out there last night, I went out to talk to him. Maybe he never came inside..."

Shadowstar peeked out onto the balcony but saw nothing. Not even a huddled black mass that would indicate Pharynx had fallen asleep out there. Cadence trotted down the hall, mane swinging with her head as she looked side-to-side.

"How do we know if he's here? For all we know he could be disguised as a curtain." she remarked

"Pharynx promised me that he, Thorax, and Ocellus wouldn't use their powers in the castle. He has to be here somewhere..." Shadowstar said

Cadence went towards the room they'd let Tempest use. "Maybe Tempest has seen him..."

"I doubt it, he didn't seem too fond of her last night. He's probably going to steer clear of her for a while."

Cadence opened the door a crack and let out a soft giggle. "Or maybe the opposite."

Shadowstar raced over, and she waved a wing to quiet him, as if he could control the noise his hooves made on the floor. His jaw pretty much dropped as he saw what was inside the room. Tempest was lying in bed, asleep, and Pharynx was curled up on top of the blankets next to her.

"I-what?"

"This is why you will never understand love little brother." Cadence sighed "It's that typical, filly meets colt, colt not interested, then bonds with filly."

"...I don't think that's a real scenario. I'm going to wake up Pharynx. Most likely he doesn't even realize he's in here."

"What? I don't think he sleepwalks...they've been here for a night or two now and he's never-"

"I mean, he might have gone into the wrong room."

"...No, I don't think so." Cadence replied

Shadowstar rolled his eyes at her and trotted into the room, prodding Pharynx in the shoulder with his hoof.

"Huh?" Pharynx sat up, looking at Shadowstar.

"Pharynx, why are you in Tempest's room?"

Pharynx looked down at the mare and back up at Shadowstar. "Oh, well, after you left she came outside, and we talked for a bit. When we went inside I offered to help her back to her room since she was still limping pretty badly...I guess I fell asleep."

"Huh. So I guess neither of us were right." Cadence remarked

"Shush." Shadowstar hissed to her, then looked back at Pharynx. "Well, come on, before she wakes up."

Pharynx nodded and lifted off, his wings buzzing as he flew over to Cadence and landed by her. Shadowstar left the room and closed the door, so Tempest could leave when she was ready.

"I should probably go back to my room before the others wake up..." Pharynx yawned, fangs showing, and turned away from them to leave.

"Pharynx." Shadowstar called, and he glanced back. "Did you make peace with Tempest?"

"I think that's obvious Shadow." Pharynx yawned again and started trotting towards the room he shared with the others in the Resistance. "She's actually pretty cool. For a pony."

Cadence turned and gave Shadowstar a smug grin. "See, filly meets colt. Check. Colt not interested in filly. Check. Colt bonds with filly. Check."

"You are such a child..." Shadowstar grumbled, turning away to head to the dining room.

"I know you are but what am I?" Cadence asked teasingly, flouncing down the hallway after him.

-----------------------------------

Shadowstar walked into the dining room to see Twilight, Spike, and Shining digging into some pancakes. Celestia sat with her own stack of pancakes, eating a bit more properly.

"Good morning Auntie." Cadence said merrily as she sat down.

"Good morning Cadence. Good morning Shadowstar."

"Morning." he said, sitting down as two more plates of pancakes set themselves by himself and Cadence.

Luna walked in, yawning and fluttering her wings. "Good morning everypony."

"You look rather...alert today Princess." Twilight remarked, not sure if it was right for her to tease the royal.

"Oh, yes. I feel bad saying so, but this war has ensured everypony is either awake at night or having dreamless sleeps. It leaves me without a lot of nightmares to trek through." Luna said as she sat down, tone shifting to a more mellow one.

"I know...I searched too last night, for a little bit. Nothing." Shadowstar agreed, as Celestia set another stack of pancakes down by her sister.

"Are the other creatures joining us?" Shining Armor asked

"Cadence and I looked in on them while coming here. They're still asleep, I think the battle yesterday was hard on them. After all, it seems only a few really have any sort of training. None as rigorous as your own, Shining."

"Oh, I think I can fix that." Shining grinned, eyes gleaming.

"Don't you try it mister. Who knows if they'd even accept your training anyway." Twilight reprimanded bossily.

"We won't know until I ask..."

"No." Shadowstar and Cadence said as one.

"Betrayal!" Shining joked

"You're such a massive dork." Twilight said

"But he's my dork." Cadence replied

They heard a stifled giggle behind them and turned to see Ocellus standing with Gabby and Smolder. Gabby was snickering and Smolder was rubbing her eyes. Ocellus was hanging back, tongue flicking out.

"Sorry, it's just really cute." Gabby said

"Would you like to join us for breakfast?" Celestia asked, startling the others.

"I guess the battle earned them her trust..." Shadowstar thought

"Um...I-I don't know if that's a good idea...I don't want to accidentally hurt you..." Ocellus said "I-I mean, we can eat regular food but we also need love-"

"Oh, that's no problem!" Gabby gave her a big hug and Ocellus's mouth opened. She was drinking in Gabby's love, but some also left Ocellus and went back into Gabby, making the changeling glow pink slightly. "There, see?"

"Thanks." Ocellus sighed

"Hey, Smolder, right?" Spike asked, and Smolder nodded. He held up his plate. "I helped Celestia make these, they've got gemstones in 'em. Wanna try?"

"Er...I guess? What is it?"

"You've never seen pancakes before?"

"The only things I usually eat are gems and fish."

"Yum, fiiissshhh." Gabby said, swiping her tongue around her beak.

"Yeah...changelings eat fish too." Ocellus said "But we prefer other meats..."

"Well, we don't have any fish, but you'll like these pancakes, I think." Celestia said, levitating some to some empty chairs, where the three creatures sat down. "Ocellus, Gabby, you two can try these chocolate chip pancakes, Smolder, these are Spike's gemstone ones."

"Mm, these are really good." Gabby said after eating a few bites.

"Mm! This chocolate stuff tastes like love!" Ocellus exclaimed, eating rapidly.

"Huh. Crunchy. But that's probably the gems, right?" Smolder asked, and Spike gave her a thumbs up.

They heard hoofsteps and Thorax, Pharynx, and Ember walked in. Behind them, limping considerably, was Tempest Shadow. Pharynx was hanging back to talk with her in a low tone. Cadence eyed Shadowstar, smirking. Shadowstar rolled his eyes at her and continued eating. The four new creatures sat down as well, Thorax and Pharynx hesitating as Ocellus had done. They were soon joined by Gilda, Gallus, and Sandbar.

After breakfast, Celestia invited them all to join her in the gardens. Not wanting to ignore the summons of a royal, they agreed. The royal family made it outside first while the Resistance returned to their rooms to replace bandages of injures from the previous day's battle. When they got outside, they looked around at the ponies.

Luna and Shadowstar were lying in the shade of a few trees. Luna was reading and Shadowstar had his head on her shoulder, seemingly reading as well. Celestia lay nearby, in the sun. She had her wing over Spike, who was asleep. Twilight was reading a book nearby, while Cadence and Shining Armor talked together by a fountain.

Ocellus tentatively went to Twilight. "Um... wh-what are you reading?"

"Oh, this is about magical spells and their uses, I'm studying it."

"Can... can I see?"

"Of course."

Twilight shifted and Ocellus laid down beside her, leaning over to see the page. Smolder went to her after glancing at Ember for permission. Smolder sat down in the grass by Ocellus, laying a claw on Ocellus' back and playing with the grass they sat on with her other claw.

Thorax and Ember went to a sunny spot in the garden and curled up together, sprawling in the grass and letting the sun warm them. Gallus and Sandbar sat near them, Gallus stretching a wing over Sandbar and nuzzling the colt before dozing off. Gilda and Gabby laid down in the shade, Gabby reaching and beginning to preen Gilda's wings. Tempest and Pharynx sat near Shadowstar and Luna, beginning to talk about battle strategies.

Shadowstar looked up at Luna, who glanced down at him, and he spoke.

"You know... if you ignore the battle sounds... this almost seems normal." he murmured

"Today is not a day for worrying over war. Today is a day for family." Luna wrapped a wing over her son. "Everyone deserves a little peace. Though you are right... even with all these different creatures... it still seems this could be normal."

"It is." Shadowstar whispered "Sometimes... I dream of all creatures living in harmony. Just like this."

"I know. I have seen those dreams of yours." Luna nuzzled him. "Far in the future, perhaps, but not impossible, it seems."

"Really?" Shadowstar asked

"Of course." Luna then looked back to her book, and Shadowstar followed her gaze. "Nothing is impossible, as long as there are bright creatures with big dreams. And it's clear we have plenty of those."

Author's Note:

As you can tell from the title, this is an interlude-kind of-to the story. No, I'm not putting it on hiatus or anything, I just wanted a little lightheated filler chapter. As Cadence mentioned in this chapter, there is time for joy even in the darkest nights. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter and be on the lookout for another!

~Melody Song