Worlds Apart: Unity

by MrBackpack

Chapter 4 - Misery Loves Company

The night air was crisp, the smell of fall slowly turning to winter ticked the back of my nose. Calm and clear skies, twinkling stars set in a sea of night, the moon, a lighthouse.

I took several deep breaths, letting the tension in my withers slowly ebb away.

A small smile wormed its way across my muzzle, it was Sunday, my last evening off for the week and I was giving it up for flying lessons. Again.

High Marshal Evening Song had taken it very personally when I told her that I didn’t know how to fly and had rearranged her entire schedule to teach me.

We’d had to call off yesterday’s lesson thanks to a wild rainstorm that had floated over the city and the High Marshal, along with the Praetorian General, was called in to help organize the weather ponies in clearing the skies. The operation had taken hours and more than one pegasus had been struck by lightning. Thankfully, no injuries, just some burnt feathers and damaged egos.

“Hi!” chirped a small voice from right behind me, breaking me out of my thoughts and almost startling me out of my skin.

“Um… Hello,” I said slowly, picking myself up off the ground after regathering my wits, and took a good long look at the foal that had snuck up on me.

He was a small thing, the tips of his ears would have just brushed the bottom of my barrel if I were standing over him. He was a deep magenta-like color with a charcoal mane and sky blue eyes, one bright, silver, fang protruded out over the right side of his mouth. He cocked his head at me, taking his own look at me.

We sat there, in silence, just staring at each other.

“Are you looking for somepony?” I asked after I couldn’t take our impromptu staring contest anymore.

“Nope.”

“Can I help you with something?”

“I dunno.”

I heaved a sigh and the colt giggled at me.

Being the adult that I am, I blew a raspberry at him.

“You’re funny,” he said as he scratched at his ear with his rear hoof.

“Am not.”

“Are too,” he replied, taking one of his wings in his mouth and nibbling at the ridge of one of the finger bones.

A thestral!

“Silver Fang,” called a voice from a little ways away. “What did I say about chewing on your wings?”

“Don’t ‘cause it's gross,” he grumbled, dropping the appendage from his mouth. “But it itches!”

“Feather Stroke,” Evening Song greeted, trotting up to the colt and I, pointedly ignoring his last comment. “I see you’ve met Silver Fang.”

“Yeeessss,” I said slowly, trying to figure out how she knew this colt. “Just now.”

“He’s funny,” giggled the now named Silver Fang as he rubbed himself against Evening Song’s legs.

“He is a silly pony isn’t he?” the mare chuckled, giving him a nuzzle of her own. “Now, go play for a few minutes while I talk with Feather Stroke.”

“Okay!” Silver Fang shouted, taking off in a gallop.

“Stay where I can see you!”

“Yes momma!” he called back, already neck deep in the palace garden’s flowers.

Momma?

“I didn’t know that you had a son, Song,” I said, grinning and trotting over to her before sitting back on my haunches, she watched her foal run around the gardens fondly, warming his flight muscles with every step. “Who’s the lucky stallion?”

Her smile fell off her muzzle, leaving only a sudden and deep melancholy; it was like I had blown out a candle.

“He’s not around anymore,” she replied, refusing to meet my eyes, her voice forlorn.

“Oh, ponyfeathers, Song, I-”

“Don’t worry about it Feather. It’s a long story.”

“Well, if you want to talk, my door is always open.”

“That’s rich,” She snorted. “Coming from you of all ponies.”

I winced.

The silence between us stretched awkwardly. I was about to open my mouth to apologize again, when:

“Momma momma,” Cried Silver Fang, rushing over to us at a full gallop. “Look what I caught!”

He had a small moth on his hoof.

“I see it, honey,” His mother cooed at him, giving him a small nuzzle. “Do you know what it is?”

“Yeah!” he chirped, careful not to send the bug fluttering away. “Itsa Biston betularia, the peppered moth!”

“Very good. Now, what do we say?”

“Frauen und Bier immer von unten!” He exclaimed, pushing his little chest out proudly.

My Germane might have been more than a little rusty, but I was one hundred percent sure that that was not what Evening Song meant.

“No, Silver Fang,” Evening Song sighed, one hoof rubbing her forehead. “Try again.”

“Dank sei der Nachtmutter?’ The colt asked, his ears drooping.

“Closer. That’s what we say when we’re eating. What do we say when we’ve caught something and somepony hasn’t?”

“Oh!” Silver Fang immediately perked up and turned to me, the hoof with the moth on it extended. “Willst du ein bisschen?”

“Uh,” I started, wrong-hooved. “No, Silver Fang, it’s all yours. Thank you.”

The colt didn’t hesitate in popping the moth into his mouth, crunching down happily.

Evening Song gave me an odd look.

“What?” I asked, turning to look at her with one brow raised.

“Nothing,” she said quickly, returning her gaze to her son. “I’ll tell you later.”

I didn’t press her. By the moon and the stars, there was no telling what cultural gaff I had just made.

We started out with drills that Silver Fang already knew and he complained, loudly, about having to do them with me at my pace. First, the three of us trotted out laps around the gardens, pumping our wings with every step. Then was galloping and flapping, following the same pattern. After that was more galloping, holding our wings out flat, parallel to the ground, and trying to generate lift. Silver Fang was successful with getting off the ground, I floundered like a winged hippo.

Finally, we "cooled down" by trotting up one of the Palace’s towers and glided down into the gardens. That was Silver Fang’s favorite part, he raced up the tower steps at least three times as many as I was able to drag my tired carcass up those stairs.

/＼ ^._.^ ／\

My wings still hurt a night later and I didn’t even get off the ground.

Luna was still giggling about it three hours later.

Night Court had begun quietly, two petitioners had approached the crown with minor concerns. One sought priority placement on the repairs list, an arch in their gardens had destroyed their west most conservatory, denied. The other wished for a royal appeal in their suit against another business. I took their request paperwork, made sure that it was filled out properly while Luna told him that his request would be looked into once she and her sister had reviewed all of the relevant court documents.

At the moment, it looked like evening would close without another petitioner.

Fine by me.

I wanted out of Court as soon as possible, I already knew that the next few days weren’t going to be fun, even with all of the time off that I had arranged with Hard Hat.

Luna was lounging on the throne, idly flipping through a paperback and chewing on another peach.

I had finished my lunch some time ago and was sitting stiffly next to the throne, doing my best to appear anything other than what I felt.

Our Day was coming.

My nightmares always got worse around this time of year, and despite what Luna liked to preach, I always thought that they helped, a righteous punishment for what I did.

Now though?

Luna was flexing her newfound ability to break through and stop them.

I loved her for that.

And I hated her for it too.

I found my thoughts taking dark turns more and more often and I couldn’t sleep. Memories of happier times were my constant companion: My dog Emma, Mom, even working at the hospital. I had a purpose back home, a productive life.

Here? In Equestria?

I was an over-glorified secretary to a Princess that had numerous other subjects, servants, and employees that could do what I did so much better than I.

Shifting on my cushion, I glanced at my reflection in the golden throne, my eyes lingering on my own, markless flanks.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at myself. Six years in and I still didn’t have a special talent, what kind of pony was I?

“Stop looking for one,” Luna remarked, breaking into my thoughts. “It will come when it comes.”

“How do you know what I was thinking?”

“Normally, body language. With you? I can just tell.”

“Am I that easy?”

“Yes.”

I opened my mouth to verbally jab back at her when the Sentinel at the entrance banged his spear on the marble floor.

“Announcing petitioner Full Harvest, and her foals Green Spring and Bubbling Brook.”

Luna and I sat up and watched the three ponies approach: A middle aged mare with a pale yellow coat and a forest green mane with a shockingly pumpkin orange streak. The foals were a nut brown earth pony filly with a lime green mane and a pegasus colt with cool blue coat and silver mane.

The three of them bowed deeply before the throne, the colt coughed loudly as he knelt down.

“Rise, please,” said Luna with a regal smile, her voice calm and comforting. “How may the crown assist you?”

“Your Highness,” Full Harvest began as she sat and gathered the colt into her forelegs, rocking him gently. “I know that you’re busy with keep-”

“Nay,” nickered Luna, interrupting the mare. “There is no task, no situation that would keep us from helping our ponies. Please, tell us what is wrong.”

“Timberwolves!” the little filly shouted, exploded really. “They attacked our farm!”

“Babbling Brook!” admonished her mother. “That is no way to speak to the Princess!”

“Yes-uh!” countered the little filly. “Daddy always says that you don’t get nowhere beatin’ aroun’ no bush.”

Luna and I sat, stunned, for a moment while the mother and daughter argued.

“Miss Harvest,” Luna interrupted, ignoring my chuckling and stepped off of the dais and closer to the three of them. “If you would please give Us the details of your farm, We will ensure your safety. The timberwolves have long forgotten their place.”

“We have just a small farm, your majesty,” Fully Harvest replied after a moment, she was obviously uncomfortable with the casual nature of Luna’s Court. “Just west of Manehattan, near the Hollow Shades forest.”

Luna and I inhaled, loudly, together.

Hollow Shades was ancestral home of some of the original thestral clans, many of them still kept estates within the dark wood. It was also where the Solar Praetorians and Lunar Sentinels regularly ran drills and war games.

“High Marshal!” cried Luna, whirling and beckoning to mare that appeared with her cry. “Lord Feather Stroke.”

I stood and approached the Princess and her petitioners, High Marshal Evening Song trotting over alongside me.

“My Princess,” I said as I came to a stop.

“You will gather all information relevant to this attack on our ponies and coordinate with the High Marshal on how best We will respond.”

“Yes, my Princess,” I agreed, bowing as the Princess turned and began to trot back to her throne, Evening Song saluted.

“Ma’am,” I said as I turned to Full Harvest and her foals, Luna began to make her way back to her throne, her anger and frustration clearly visible on her young face. “If you wou-”

“Wait!” shouted Bubbling Brook again, making my ears ring with the volume. “What about Artie?”

Who?

“Brook,” admonished her mother, giving her a sharp look.

“You said that I could ask!”

“Babbling Brook, the Princess has already heard us, we won’t bother her with that.”

“But you promised!”

“I did no such thing. Apologize to the Princess and these nice ponies. Now.”

I watched as the small filly deflated.

Luna turned back to the small family, a curious smile on her face.

“Nay,” She interrupted, stopping the apology before it could even leave the foal’s mouth. “There is no need to apologize.”

The Princess trotted back over to us, taking a seat close to the filly and gently drew Babbling Brook to her side with one wing.

“Tell us.”

Those two words, accompanied with the wing hug, broke the dam that had been failing to keep the small girl quiet.

“It’s Artie, Princess,” She started, tears gathering in her eyes. “He was hurt. We were out in the fields helpin’ daddy when they came. Hic Daddy yell’d for us tuh run. Me and Artie ran fast’r than we ever had b’fore. Artie tripped and one of the wolves got ‘im.”

Whatever was left of the filly’s control broke and she started crying in earnest, sobbing and wailing into Luna’s side.

“Paint Brush is fine, Lord Feather Stroke,” said Full Harvest after tapping my shoulder and getting my attention. “The doctor’s say that he’ll make a full recovery.”

“Artie?” I asked, nodding and giving the mare a small smile.

“Her name for her middle brother,” Full Harvest replied with a fond roll of her eyes. “Ever since he got his cutie mark, she’s been calling him ‘Artie’ and there’s nothing that her father nor I can do to stop her.”

Evening Song and I quickly gathered the name of her family’s farm, the address, and the names of any other families that had had problems with the nature spirits.

It broke my heart to hear that at least one whole family was no longer with us.

“Of course, my little pony,” Cooed Luna down to the no-longer-crying Babbling Brook. “We will make sure of it.”

“Thank you!” the filly giggled, throwing her forelegs around Luna.

The High Marshal and I shared another look.

“Ma’am,” Evening Song said, turning to look at the mare who was busy patting her young son on the back, the poor colt was in the middle of a coughing fit. “What hospital is ‘Artie’ at?”

“Manehattan General, why?”

“We take care of our own, Ma’am,” was the High Marshal’s only reply as she made note of the name on the report. I knew full well that, by the time that the moon set, all of "Artie's" bills would be paid and there would be at least two Lunar Sentinel honor guard stationed outside of the colt's room.

Harmony help those poor timberwolves, the Sentinels would have no mercy.

When Luna had finished chatting with Babbling Brook and Evening Song and I had started working on the Lunar Sentinels’ response to the timberwolf threat, the three petitioners made their leave, begging exhaustion as well as a long trip back home the following morning.

I took a quick glance at the clock hanging in a small alcove, out of site of any petitioning pony. It was almost three in the morning.

Perfect.

“My Princess,” I said, leaving Evening Song to her maps and muster reports for the Hallow Shades garrison.

“Lord Feather Stroke?” Luna replied, looking over a piece of parchment floating in her magic.

“I’m afraid that I will be taking my leave for the rest of the night, I will see you on the morrow.”

Her eyes searched mine for several moments before widening ever-so-slightly.

“Oh! Of course Lord Feather Stroke,” she said, dropping the parchment on the arm of her throne and flew over, landing next to me and pressing close. She then said, in a much quieter voice: “Is there anything that I can do for you?”

“No Lu,” I sighed back to her, giving her a small nuzzle. “I just need to be alone for a while.”

She didn’t reply, just looked up at me sadly and nodded.

I couldn’t help but wonder how much longer would I be taller than her? A year? Three? No matter, she was a growing princess, but, if I were being honest with myself, I would miss it. It wouldn’t be too much longer before she didn’t need me around anymore.

/＼ ^._.^ ／\

The next few nights passed in a blur of happy memories turned dark and a bleak emptiness filled my heart.

I still attended Night Court, Celestia expected me to be at Luna’s side at all times when she was available to her subjects. My nightly reports of the proceedings went to Silver Quill, on time, and in triplicate, as required.

But I did nothing else.

Windsor arranged to have meals brought to me rather than me having to go to the Palace’s dining rooms with the other members of the staff.

My butler is a saint among ponies. He never once chastised me for shutting myself in my rooms for those two days. Windsor forwent his normal assistants in keeping up appearance for Night Court, attending me by himself, he even left my mane alone.

I took long baths in scented water, slept, and repeated for two whole, dark days; the crackle of the fires in the hearth my only accompaniment.

On the third day, Windsor came into my rooms, announcing that I had a visitor.

“Tell them to go away,” I said, not lifting my head from my pillow, he had just woken me from another nap.

“They’re rather insistent on seeing you, sir.”

“I don’t want to see anypony.”

“I understand sir.”

I waited for the tell tale sound of his hooves on the obsidian floor to indicate that he had left, but no such sound came

“Are you going to go tell them?”

“Ah, no, sir.”

“And why not?” I said as I picked myself up from my nest of blankets and pillows.

“Because you’re being a horseapple, Feather,” stated High Marshal Evening Song as she trotted into my room and gave Windsor a shoulder bump.

“Evening Song,” I said slowly, giving the mare a deadpan look. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I asked the Princess what was up. I wondered why my friend was acting like a zombie.” She snarked at me before hopping up and into my nest with a small flap of her wings. “Little did I know how much he was hurting.”

“I didn’t want ponies knowing.”

“Why?”

“There’s enough going on without me heaping my issues on top of it all, I can take care of myself.”

“That’s a load of horseapples, and you know it. What do you think friends are for?”

I ignored her and hopped out of bed trying to put space between us, she followed right on my heels.

“Hey! What the hay is your problem? I’m trying to help you!”

“I don’t need help.”

“Yes,” she snorted, walking around to look me in the eyes. I kept turning away from her, I didn't want to look at her. “You do.”

“I don’t want help.”

“Well, too bad, you’re going to get it.”

“Did Luna put you up to this?”

“No, I came as soon as she told me what day was yesterday.”

“Of course she told you,” I rolled my eyes. “Never could keep her mouth shut.”

“She told me that this is some ritual that you do every year, how I never noticed is beyond me. Every year you lock yourself up in your room, miserable and hating yourself, and you’re impossible for weeks after too.”

“I’m on duty three hundred-and-sixty-two days of the year, I just want a break. Is that too much to ask?”

“Of course it isn't, Feather," she murmured, putting a hoof on my shoulder. "Night Mother knows that the rest of the staff takes more time off than you do. Tartarus, Silver Quill takes four weeks every year. You take three days and even then, you only take three days off of your second job.”

“Then why are you here interrupting my time off?”

“Because you need somepony to buck some sense into your thick head.”

“And you volunteered?”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“Then why did you say it?”

“Why are you being such a jerk, Feather? This isn’t like you.”

“Then you don’t know me that well.”

“I think I know you better than you think I do.”

“What else did Luna tell you about me?”

“Hah,” she huffed. “Nothing actually. She and I know that you are an incredibly private pony. I learned everything that I know just from knowing you.”

“What do you know then, Song? What?”

“I know that you love Princess Luna,” she started, holding up a hoof to stop me when I opened my mouth to reply. “Don’t. Yes, all ponies love our Princesses, but not like you do, and I’m not talking romantically either, don’t try and get offended.”

I nickered at her wordlessly and turned my head away from her, glaring into the fire that Windsor was stoking into a roaring blaze.

“I know that you had a fiancée when you returned with Princess Luna, a fiancée that left several months later without any warning.”

I tensed, every muscle in my body as taught as iron. Song was treading on very delicate ice.

“I also know that you are an incredibly patient, giving, and understanding pony that puts up with so much garbage from Princess Celestia that I don’t know how you survive.”

I huffed, not saying anything.

“Look at me,” She grabbed my head with both of her hooves and made me meet her eyes. “Star Shine leaving wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes it was.”

“I didn’t know her all that well, I admit, but I did see how much you loved her. We all did. You bent yourself into knots trying to keep her.”

I pulled my head out of her hooves and turned bodily away from her.

“Please leave.”

“Whatever happened isn’t-”

“It is my fault!” I shouted, rounding on her, causing her to recoil, the emptiness in my heart filling with fire and rage. “And I deserve to feel miserable!”

“You don’t get it do you?” Bellowed Evening Song right back at me, she got inches from my face, hot with anger. “You aren’t the only one to have screwed up! You aren’t the only one to have lost a loved one thanks to something that you did!”

“How simple do you think that I am, High Marshal?” I snarled with a step back. “I know that I’m not the only one. But I am-”

Evening Song opened her mouth to cut me off but I barreled through her.

“I am the only one to have destroyed another pony's life by simply doing what I thought was the right thing. Thanks to me, Star Shine is stuck here. Forever. Thanks to me, she’ll never see her family again. Thanks to me, she’ll never see her friends again either. Not only did I throw away my life, I threw hers away too.”

“How do you think Princess Luna feels about what she did?” she roared, her wings flaring. “How do you think I think of Silver Fang?!”

I took a step back, ears flat against my head, my anger fleeing in light of her admittance.

I had no idea how to respond to that.

“My son,” She continued softly, looking down, her entire body wilting. “My only son. The one pony that I love more than any other pony. My little light in the night.”

She glared back up at me, a real fire in her eyes.

“You didn’t see the look on his father’s face when he was born. You didn’t see how my herdmates rejected him and me for having him. They knew that I was a Lunar Sentinel and that was bad enough. They didn’t trust the Princess, she’d been gone for a thousand years! We were trying to work through it, but after Silver Fang…”

She trailed off, our eyes still locked and I couldn’t look away.

“You don’t know do you?” she asked after a long moment.

“Know what?”

“How we see the Princess.”

“We?”

“We, us, thestrals.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

She sighed and shook her head.

“We love Princess Luna, Feather. Probably as much as you do. Almost as much as she loves you seeing as how you're her father and all. As an entire tribe, we love her. She saved us. Without the Princess there would be no thestrals around anymore, we would have been lost to the cold and the dark.”

“I’m not-”

“Let me finish.” She cut me off, again. “Back then, after the first Hearth's Warming and the windigos were banished to the Frozen North, the Three Tribes still had things to work out to truly get along. It was rough. Nopony agreed on anything. Except their fear and hatred of thestrals. And why wouldn’t they? We were organized and ruthless and they were not. It wasn’t until the sisters arrived and took control of the Three and taught them the magic of friendship that they had any chance against us. They hunted us. Hunted. Drove us out of our ancestral homes and into the light.”

“I can’t see Princess Celestia or Luna allowing that.”

“It was a different time, Feather. They were different too. Both Princesses were foaled and grew up in times of war.”

“Oh.”

“It wasn’t long before we were but a shell of our former selves, scavenging what little that we could, running from skirmishes, retreating and fleeing as the Three carved out their new kingdom out of what remained of ours.”

I sat, taking everything that Evening Song was telling me, shocked.

“The commander and chief of the United Pony Coalition pushed for our extermination. We were too dangerous to be left alone. Neither Princess would hear of it, they said that it would make them not better than the windigos. Celestia forbade such an attack, they were to leave us alone.”

“But wouldn’t that…?”

“Yes, we would have been prey to anything else out there. Celestia’s proclamation was taken literally rather than how it was meant. Instead of not attacking us, Equestria cut all ties with the few thestral families that managed to last as long as they did. Without the trade and assistance of the few towns that we had managed to find refuge in, we were excommunicated, an entire race of ponies written off as nothing more than a bad dream.”

Evening Song looked up and out the window, gazing intently at the moon shining through.

“Princess Luna heard our prayers and came to us. She fought for our place in Equestria, by her side. She gave us lands, helped us rebuild, gave us purpose, created her own, personal, guard made up entirely of thestrals to show everypony that we were not to be feared nor mistrusted. She loved us and we loved her.”

I watched as a shiver ran through the mar in front of me and I could see Windsor wince.

“Then Nightmare Moon happened.” Evening Son snarled. “We were her first targets. That monster could sense our ancestral memory of pride and exploited our old hurt as much as she exploited the fears and depression of Princess Luna. We were her puppets in the war against her sister, pawns and tools to be used to hurt and kill.”

“But Princess Celestia stopped her.”

“Aye, that she did. Banished our beloved Night Mother and imprisoned her in her moon for a thousand years. But the damage had been done. We weren’t her loyal subjects anymore, we were traitors to the crown, the fact that we had been controlled meant nothing. As one, the Lunar Sentinels resigned and hung up their barding. We retreated back into our caves and hollows to lick our wounds and recover.”

“What happened?” I asked gently, wanting to hear more.

“When the Princess returned at the Nightmare was vanquished for good by Twilight Sparkle, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“We threw the celebration to end all celebrations. Our Night Mother had returned.”

“But that’s not all, is it?”

“No, it’s not.” She said, deflating even further and sinking to her haunches. “We weren’t the same and neither was she. Gone was the confident ruler of the night skies. She was still as honest and loyal as she had been, but the laughter was gone. She was still our Night Mother and she always would be.”

She paused a moment, I could tell that she was picking her next words carefully.

“There are some of us that can’t see beyond the monster that was Nightmare Moon. Oh, they still love and revere the Princess, she is still our Princess.”

“I still don’t understand. I appreciate the history lesson, but I don’t see-”

“Did you know that a thestral always breeds true?”

“What?”

“No matter the mother or the father, if one of them is a thestral, the foal will always be a thestral.”

“What?”

“Nightmare Moon was not our progenitor like the legends say, but she did change us. She wanted more troops, more tools to subjugate. It’s like a curse. One so deep and intermingled with our magic that the Elements of Harmony weren’t able to break it. No pony knows how she did it. We are proud of what we are, make no mistake Feather, but that’s not something that’s easy to forgive. Some of us won’t.”

“I still don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“I’m getting there. When I joined up with the Lunar Sentinels I was cast out of my clan. They stripped me of my possessions, my family, my friends, even my name. Evening Song isn’t the name that I was foaled with, I don’t even remember what my name was.”

“Jeeze, Song-”

“No. Don’t.”

I stopped the apology that was on the tip of my tongue.

“I don’t regret a single thing about my decision and I don’t want any apologies. Princess Luna herself gave me my name and I couldn’t be happier with it. I worked my flank off to get where I am today, and I don’t give a damn what any pony has to say about the Night Mother.”

She paused again and I didn’t know what to say.

“A few years into my service, I joined a small herd. A pegasus stallion and two unicorn mares. I was so happy, they loved me and I loved them. They already had four foals, a pair of twins and two older fillies. I was Mommy Song. And then I had to go and buck everything up by getting pregnant.”

I reached out and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“You don’t have to go on, I get it.”

“No,” she gasped, almost a sob, as she put one of her hooves over mine and gave me a grateful look. “I need to tell somepony.”

I gave her a small nod, letting her continue in her own time.

“I knew all about our curse or whatever you want to call it. They knew about it too, I told them as soon as I knew I was pregnant. Sure, they all said that it was wonderful to have another thestral in our herd. I believed them. When the day arrived, I was on desk duty and I gave birth to my son in the palace hospital, Luna was right there with me, holding my hoof and encouraging. His father didn’t arrive until hours later despite the Princess sending a runner as soon as I went into labor.”

She sniffed and rubbed her nose with one leg.

“He didn’t even look at Silver Fang, he barely made the effort to be in the room with us. Our other foals didn’t want to see him either. When I had to work, I couldn’t trust them to look after him. They gave him a bottle and left him in his crib, crying and wailing for hours, Feather, hours. Then, when he started teething, and nipped at his father’s hoof, I had to stop the stupid stallion from striking my little boy.”

I was dumbstruck. Sure, I may not have been the biggest fan of toddlers, especially when teeth started getting involved, but that didn’t mean that I could ever raise a hoof to one.

“I said things, shouted really, and left. Flew straight to the Princess, Silver Fang in my hooves and cried into her coat all night long. She took the two of us into her personal chambers for weeks, sent three of her personal guards to gather my things from their flat, and even babysat Silver Fang on multiple occasions, she even took him to Night Court. Strapped him right to her chest and everything.”

She broke down, sobbing, her wounds opened afresh.

I didn’t say anything, there was nothing that I could say that hadn’t been said. Just gathered her into my chest, forelegs and wings wrapping around her and let her cry.

Cry for the life that she’d lost with her herd. Her lost family. But, most of all, for Silver Fang.

No, her situation wasn’t the same as mine, nothing could be, I was an anomaly.

But that didn’t matter, not really.

What did matter was Evening Song. in that moment, she wasn't Evening Song, High Marshal of the Lunar Sentinels, she was just Evening Song, mother to a colt named Silver Fang. My friend.

And she was hurting.

“I’m not her father,” I said after a long while of holding and gently rocking her.

“What?”

“Luna, I’m not her father.”

“Yes you are.”

“What? No I’m not.”

“You still don’t see her like we do, do you? I’m not talking about thestrals either, I’m talking about everypony else.”

I shook my head, confused.

“We all see the Princess, co-ruler of Equestria. The Guardian of Dreams. The Night Mother. You don’t see any of that. You see her as that little filly you rescued six years ago, the foal you tucked into bed and read bedtime stories to.”

I opened my mouth to refute her statement, but found that I couldn’t, it was true.

“And the moon only knows how many times I’ve seen you carry the Princess back to her rooms after she fell asleep while the two of you were out on your field trips.”

“So? I’m not the only one that would have done that, she was just a little filly the last time we had one.”

“Maybe, but would any pony else have forbidden her ice cream when she was being a brat?”

“Not my word, but probably.”

“Okay, maybe, but would any other pony have gotten the kitchens to follow that ban?”

I winced, she was making too many good points.

“Okay, maybe I act like her father, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

She sighed, shook her head and leaned into me, still wrapped in my wings and forelegs.

We were quiet for a long time, just basking on the comfort that we offered each other. Two broken souls with enough baggage to fill the Canterlot Express.

“Did you really call Her Majesty, Princess Luna, a ‘brat’?” asked Windsor from his seat near the fireplace. I had forgotten that he was even there.

“Ehh,” I sighed, giving Evening Song another squeeze before letting go and stepping away from her. “She deserved it.”

Windsor rolled his eyes and Evening song giggled.

“I suppose you have some tragic backstory too, don’t you Windsor?” I asked my butler, giving him a wry grin.

“Don’t look at me,” he sniffed, pointing his nose to the sky. “I’m a bachelor.”

Comments

[Kek lel]

:)

[Skyblazer9]

I enjoyed the backstory of Evening Song and her child Silver Fang.