25. Letters
The Last Nightguard
Letters
“A letter is the simplest and worst form of time-travel and telepathy at once. It takes ones thoughts and transports them through a different medium until they reform in another pony’s mind, well and completely scrambled.”
— Starswirl’s Book of Incomplete
“It is time.”
Eclipse shifted in place as his wife tucked the precious wooden box into his saddlebag, trying not to look up at the corrupted moon above them. Ponies had adjusted, changed, turned into new generations of ponies so slowly that he had not noticed, but now that he could look out across the explosive growth of Canterlot with its inhabitants scurrying about, he could see the occasional mismatched couple. Earth pony and pegasus, unicorn and the dark shape of a…
Well, it had been many years and the new ponies formed from Luna’s spell still had not settled on one name for their whole race, but Eclipse still thought of them as batponies no matter the new phrase of the day. It had been a long and difficult road to get the hard-headed aristocracy of all three races to admit that intermarriage was not some sort of dark conspiracy or inferior mating, but Eclipse had not needed to kill any of them to dampen their criticism of his own three-way pairing.
Although on damp days, Lord Marken still walked with a limp right where Penumbra had kicked him. Repeatedly. Then when he had complained to Dawns Light, she kicked him precisely in the same spot. Repeatedly. It saved his life. Eclipse would not have been so gentle.
“Wake up, Numbskull.” Penumbra tied down the saddlebag with her magic, then slapped him on the flank. “You’re lost in thought again.”
“No, I’m right where I need to be,” said Eclipse. He gave his wife a quick and daring kiss on the cheek since they were in public, sitting on the thin grass of the Canterlot palace, exactly on the spot that would eventually become the vast lawn where he had been blasted by the Elements of Harmony. Twice. Personally, he much preferred the present than the future.
Giving one last peek at his saddlebag where the sealed wooden box had been placed, he shifted positions with a creaking of old joints to point southward while his wife fussed over one of his saddlebag straps.
“One last message to the future,” she mused. “And you had to save the most dangerous for last.”
“Danger is relative,” said Eclipse. “I’ve spoken with Torch several times over the years, and he is quite reasonable if you are careful.”
“Unless you foul up and he burns you to a crisp, in which case—” Penumbra kissed him solidly on the lips for an extended period of time, only pulling back and looking him in the eyes when the giggling of nearby grandfoals peeking around the corner of the palace wall became too loud to ignore. “You better dodge if you peeve him off. Just because I’m done with having foals, doesn’t mean you’re unappreciated. Besides, it’s my turn tonight. Dawn had you yesterday.”
“There are nights I wonder what I got into.” He kissed her gently and briefly so the children peeking around the corner would make yucky noises again before adding, “Your sister isn’t here yet. Is Celestia having issues again tonight?”
“Far from it.” Penumbra allowed herself a small smile, which still looked good on her. “Celestia recognized her. By name. She’s coming back. Slowly, but you were right. Again.”
“I’ve seen her walking on her own several times out in the gardens,” said Eclipse. “That slow one-hoof-at-a-time pace is going to stick with her for centuries, which is good for anypony trying to keep up.”
“I just wish…” Much like her husband, Penumbra’s black coat had gone so much to grey that it looked as if she were perpetually covered in frost, and when she lowered her head to look down at the ground, the pink stripe running down her thinning mane was nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the silver hairs.
Eclipse gently lifted her chin until she looked him in the eyes again, seeing the immense talent and caring heart that her crabby exterior had hidden from him for far too long. “None of us will live to see her return, but you know what?” He jerked his head ever so subtly in the direction of their grandfoals, now gathered in sufficient numbers that they threatened to cascade over each other as they each tried to sneak a peek around the stonework of the palace. “Our generations yet to come will. I think it was meant to be that way.”
“Fate,” snorted Penumbra in a way that made it sound like a profanity. “The future is what we make of it. And that being said—” she swatted him on the rear “—get flying or you’ll never make it back here before sunrise.”
“As you command.” Eclipse rose into the night sky with a sweep of his strong wings, and in moments was lost to the stars above. The children who had been hiding nearby emerged in a flood of horns and wings, clustering around Penumbra in a welcome herd that she was learning, ever so slowly, to appreciate instead of dread.
“Auntie Pen,” said a small unicorn carrying a large printed book, one of the first volumes that an ‘anonymous’ benefactor had funded. “We want you to read us a story from your new book.”
“A story?” Penumbra looked over the woodcut cover of the hefty book and the large block letters that described the contents. Something deep inside regretted not having her name on the cover, but Luna had gotten into far too much trouble by demanding her own recognition, and this was Penumbra’s one small step of anonymity toward her imprisoned liege’s long path of redemption. “Are you certain you want that particular book? There are several new—”
“No,” declared a younger batpony with a pale pink stripe down her violet mane. The sight of her favorite grandfoal made Penumbra’s heart melt into a gooey mess, but she tried not to show it as Inflection continued, “Wanna princess story, g’ma.”
“Grandmother,” said Penumbra. “And you did not say the word.”
“G’anmother,” said Inflection carefully. “Now.”
“Please,” chorused the rest of the young ponies over Penumbra’s chuckle. Even if she could never see Luna again, her descendents would, and perhaps they would have some part in freeing her from Nightmare Moon. Improbable, but it could happen.
“Very well. Gather around, young ones.”
By the light of a dozen small horns, Penumbra made herself comfortable and opened the book to the first page. It took some time to get all of the children arranged, youngest close where they could be more appreciated, oldest in the back so they could see over their siblings, but in good time she could begin.
“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun…”
It was the first snow of Winter, and the two ruling alicorns were sitting on the balcony of the Royal Towers, looking out across the snow-clad city as night enfolded the residents and brought forth the brilliant stars. It was a moment of perfect peace after so much stress, and neither of the Royal Sisters could bring themselves to say a word.
That is until Celestia could no longer hold back.
“How, Luna?” One royal gold-clad hoof swept across their elevated vista, from the glittering lights of the Canterlot club scene to the nearby Royal University Astronomy towers, where diligent students of several races scrutinized the sky for any anomalies that might possibly bring another unexpected alicorn. “All of the resources of the entire world were unable to find an answer to Ebon Tide’s condition, and you came to me with a spell right out of the blue. No warning after weeks of research with no results at all, and—”
“Starswirl,” said Luna as if one word would shut her sister up and return their quiet moment of togetherness. She should have known better.
“That old fraud?” Celestia took a quick glance over her shoulder as if she had heard a bell jingle, then returned to a proper scrutiny of the grounds far below the tower where a lump in the snow hid the glazed section of soil from the last attempt to cure their Royal Guard. “He’s not back,” added Celestia in a somewhat hopeful tone. “We would have heard by now. The first thing he would do is go straight to us and complain about everything we’ve done wrong since he vanished.”
“True,” admitted Luna. “I still miss him. He was cantankerous, obstinate, stubborn to a fault, but he was right when he placed quill to parchment, no matter how complicated his scribing.”
“Even when he never completed his work or was completely wrong,” said Celestia, rising to her hooves and pointing with a wing for emphasis. “He left behind mirrors that only reflect other worlds every thirty moons and clocks that run sideways every third weekend. Half of his work is sealed away into his private archives in the mountain core, and the other half confounds every one of my students to no end. Given his tendency for short solutions to long problems, he would probably transport Eb to another dimension and close the door afterward.” Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “But I trust you did not use one of his shortcuts as you said.”
“Trust.” Luna looked up to the brilliant moon covering the snowcovered city in a blanket of silver light. “After my betrayal, you still trust me. You spoke not when I lied to the children about the spell for their own good, nor did you send them away when I asked for them to be included. So yes, I have at least regained some of the trust I squandered, correct?”
“I didn’t mean it that way, Luna.” She gestured with a wingtip and swirled a bit of loose snow around on the balcony. “I can’t not trust you. You’re my sister. Nothing can take that away from us.”
“Our Factotum would agree, wholeheartedly,” admitted Luna. “They were apprenticed once to Starswirl, but they lacked the thick skin necessary to tolerate his attitude and refused to let the old coot break them apart. Did I tell you that Dusky kicked him in the face once?”
“No, actually.” Celestia settled back down on the floor of the balcony and tucked her wings back into place. “I presume she never apologized, and of course he never apologized, and Dawn would have taken her sister’s side like a pair of angry badgers. It explains why they left his service and turned to ours before they killed him or worse. I never asked about specifics,” said Celestia. “Didn’t want to stir up emotions over something that was said and gone, and Dusky Withers had emotions enough for five or six ponies.”
“It is good she is dead and gone for many centuries,” said Luna. “For if she heard you speak her given name—”
Celestia shuddered and quickly added, “Penumbra. She and her sister were far too bright to be in our service, and yet I remember so little of them. Although every time I see a pony with a pink stripe in their mane—”
“Like your brilliant student,” said Luna.
“Like Twilight,” agreed Celestia. She settled back down on the balcony and looked out at the quiet night for a time before breaking the silence again. “It wasn’t something that Twilight found, was it?”
“She would have told you first,” said Luna, poorly concealing a smug smile. “And we must admit, without the children to occupy Eb’s time and calm his… That is our tendency to violent confrontation, the situation would have met a tragic end far earlier. There is a great amount of thankfulness which I must repay over the next years.”
Luna produced Eb’s frail wooden betrothal box and removed the piece of gold from inside. “We admit to our ignorance. We have always found it difficult to trust in others, but we trust ourself even less. Sometimes, my Factotum found it necessary to remind me. So you could say we had help from an entirely unexpected source that I should have expected.”
She turned the sheet of gold over and let it glow for a while in the cool silver light of the moon. For a long period of time, nothing happened. Then she leaned forward, breathed across the golden page, and small crabbed letters appeared etched into the gold.
Her Rockheaded Highness. The short one. It sounds like your stupid decision worked out for the best anyway. Get Starswirl’s Seventeenth Unsolved Theorem from his sealed archives. It took my sister and me a few years, but we solved the nonnegative rational function for the closed-loop paradox and slipped it back onto the shelf. If the daft old geezer shows back up, rub it in his face for me. Anyway, that should let you send our husband back to his origin point, if you don’t mess up the tau values when casting and leave any interesting parts of his behind. Try not to screw this one up more than you did already. Penumbra.
“We used to send each other coded messages on the backs of bits,” confessed Luna while Celestia was still reading. “There may still be a few antique stores, museums, and coin collections out there in Equestria with unexpected additions to their coins.”
“I always said Dusky was an unsung genius hiding behind a scowl,” said Celestia, taking a moment to wipe her eyes. “I suspect you really do have her distant descendent to thank for your release from Nightmare Moon. Twilight Sparkle has several of Dusky’s characteristics, although not her unique sense of tact. Thankfully.”
“Which would explain Shining Armor’s appeal to one of our kind,” mused Luna under her breath.
“What?” asked Celestia.
“Nothing.” Luna put the golden page back into the box and carefully placed it to one side before leaning up against her sister. “You know we’re still going to fight at times.”
“Of course.” Celestia nudged closer. “I look forward to it. The palace has been far too quiet.”
“And I’m going to lose my temper at you,” added Luna.
“As I most certainly will in return. Or on occasion, first.” Celestia nudged her sister and looked up at the stars. “That just means we have to appreciate these moments while we have them.”
“Certes.”
There was a long, long pause, broken only by distant pegasi flying around the city on whatever errands brought them out into the cold darkness and the distant faint sounds of an outdoor winter festival.
“Hearth’s Warming is still a holiday?” asked Luna abruptly.
“Of course.” Celestia stretched one wing over her sister. “I already have my present, so no need to shop.”
“Oh, not for you,” said Luna rather quickly. “We are owed a great number of gifts for our time spent away. If you need assistance wrapping them, we would be most happy to—”
* * *
Citizens of Canterlot were used to strange events in the sky, but tonight had one stranger than any living creature had ever seen. Two alicorns rocketed through the air, breaking apart winter clouds and hurtling balls of freshly compressed snow at each other. It took hours before they tired of their play and settled down at the Winterfair for a large mug of chocolate and some mint candy canes, but their actions were copied by many children around the city for weeks afterward, despite the discouragement of their parents.
After all, children will be children, no matter how old they are.
The End
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And complete. I’ll have a background blog on this with more details about the creation and I hope you enjoyed this little trip through history.
Another Georg piece added to the favourites list.
It was an enjoyable story, thank you for sharing it. I'll likely have other thoughts on a second read through!
All's well that ends well, thank you for the story.
On an extremely detailed scan and analysis, I wonder which of those symbols words and even overall size and layout were the most accurate and which were the fuzziest as they were affected by the greatest number of alternate worldlines by the greatest amount?
Dragon Lord Torch bid Ebon fare flight. And never saw him again.
Bravo! Bravo!
A most excellent story, thank you very much Georg!
I feel disappointed that it's complete now since I was looking forward towards your updates every day for the last week or so. Currently I don't know how to feel about the ending...happy, or sad, maybe lost. I hope Eb returns some day. Thanks for the great story.
Poor Eb got Han Solo'd for a thousand years into a foreign world, only to be Kyle Reese'd back once he'd formed new connections, and then he still couldn't reconnect to his daughters in order to maintain continuity.
Still, at least he got a happy ending with a new family.
I enjoyed this. Very reminiscent of Buggy and the Beast. Thanks for writing it!
Thank you for a great story.
That was amazing! I did pick up on a few of the secrets earlier on but wasn't positive. Great job completing the circuit on this one. I always look forward to your stories and enjoy the way that you release them. Always looking forward to the next one!
Hobbes
Great until the ending, but I'll admit thats my bias. Im one of those mutants who likes million word screeds of character developments as long as they go somewhere. Hell, barring a few missteps which I attribute to liberal bubbles (Fluttershy guilts Applejack to giving pests a breeding place to ransack other farms and vegan options to obligate carnivores why) I enjoyed the whole of MLP to the end. TNG... not so much, but thats another matter.
Its short, but as long as it needed to be. I personally would have liked to heard more about interclan politics, but thats just me. Better yet, seeing Eb adjust to the new age he was in, but that wasn't the story wanted to tell, fair enough.
In short, good story, sort of petered out on the end, but sure. Upvote from me.
Damn it Georg... you better be working on printed copies of all these Nocturne fics of yours cause for some reason crying to a story online doesn't have the same appeal as crying in a dark room alone with a single lamp and a good, good book.
Bravo once again on a fantastic story.
Outstanding work. Thank you for an incredible journey, one that should make for a whole new experience on the reread. Your stories are always worth the wait.
[Aplauso]
Got to say, Eb had no business being in command of anything after a thousand years. He’s an anachronism, knows nothing of current events, and had no place in dictating anything to anyone in the guard. To hell with what Luna says, she’s in the same position.
The only issue I can see with this story is the part where there was a nocturne guard alongside a Royal guard, because you’ve previously discussed how the only ones to survive Luna’s draining were some nocturne foals.
11416062 This is a clean-sheet story with no direct connections to any previous stories, because the last thing I wanted is "You have to read these six stories before this makes sense." Like I've done before. Yeah, not a good thing.
11416039 Celestia *gave* Luna her old job back, right by her side. Luna *kept* Eb in his position, right by her side. Equestria isn't exactly a constitutional republic after all. Ask the doctor about that 'Dread Sovereign' thing he found out about, or a certain Roman emperor about his horse in the Senate.
11416003 Like a duck, you don't see the frantic paddling underwater as I rush to stomp typos that only show up the day before chapter publication.
11415995 Hm. It is 99k words, which is about a good book length. Would take about a week to get into Lulu format, plus somebody to do the cover since I can't Photoshop worth beans. iisaw did that in an absolutely awesome way last time, but he's hard at work at a real money-making job now and I hate to bug him. Suffice it to say I'll consider it.
11415945 There's a well-known thing about writing mystery novels: each plot twist needs to be foreshadowed in passing twice, and the killer acting in a way that should bring suspicion three times, but feel free to cast a bunch of red herrings about for disguise.
11415876 Yeah, Eb only got shot in the face with the Friendship Canon four times, while that poor changeling had his head hammered so many times that he eventually wound up with Pinkie Pie, a sign of certain brain damage for certain.
11415869 A happy ending with indeterminate bits allows a reader to sub in their own thoughts and theories. For example, how many of those grandfoals are Eb's by way of his *original* daughters?
11415865 You're welcome.
11415820 You will note that Eb has visited Torch several times over the years. Unsure how many times that was for rematches.
11415807 Always glad to hear comments.
Magnifique. You never disappoint.
Still love. Good bootstrap paradox,even if the ending was somewhat of a suprise
T'was a nice story : )
11416039
While he was out of date in some aspects as you say, there are many aspects of leadership that remain immutable and Eb still lives and breathes many of those aspects. To discount an individual's knowledge, values, abilities and skills simply because of an assessment of 'being old and out of date' is arguably just as misguided as allowing a self important, arrogant and close minded officer to remain in charge. He may be modern and up to date but I know which one properly understands his role and duty better. Shining respected Eb as Eb exuded authority and determination but still provided guidance and recent knowledge. Between the two of them you had a formidable team with a young but capable and quick thinking officer combined with an experienced veteran whose mere presence engendered obedience and respect. Shining would have no doubt preferred more time with Eb.
All that said, Eb's role never really got defined in the modern time as he was sent back without officially being given a role in the modern guard.
Eb is flawed and damaged by what has happened to him and he will thrive better in his own time but he had the will to fulfil his duty regardless of where and when he was.
11416449
I’ve no issue with his character, but temporally speaking, replacing 8th Army commander Claude Auchinleck with William the Conqueror is ridiculous. Ignoring rank, it’s orders of magnitude of obsolescence in regards to threat assessment, procedures, tactics, logistical knowledge…a THOUSAND years is an immense gulf of time.
I’m aware this is an unpopular stance, but well, there it is, as Joseph II said. Thanks for the civil discourse on it, however. 🙂
Owed, with interest.
Whale done sir.
Whale done indeed.
11416586 11416449 Lemmie smack you two around a bit, in a loving manner and with a very soft pillow. In that regard, I'll pull a quote from the middle here.
There are three primary themes that circulate in this story: Trust, Duty, Agency. Luna is in a strange place, filled with strangers. The only pony she knows is her sister, who she tried to kill a few weeks ago (in her memory). Ebon Tide is known to her, trusted by her. He will not lie to her, although he will lie for her. If she gives him an order, she trusts that he will carry it out.
Now add in that he is Warmaster in a period of peace, a position as useless as (censored) on a boar, but of great use to her. The Royal Guard takes orders from the top down. By establishing him at the top, there will not be any conflicts when a guard refuses the orders of a princess and thereby erodes her authority. Instead, a guard refusing the order of a superior guard can be handled inside the Royal Guard, much as Eb proved. Note that he did not take over the position of Captain but immediately passed it on to a competent subordinate. He also did not immediately grab hold of the reins of power and demand the rest of the Royal Guard abase themselves as subordinates to his will.
I can wholeheartedly say that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this story over the passing weeks. I don’t normally read this type of story but it’s a good change of pace for me and it helped my clear my own thoughts for writing in the current arc of my own story. Keep up the good work
11416806
Personally I would like to see an old war stud like him out of his element, or at least in a position where he's having to deal with new things or learning to adapt.
It brings to mind, of all things, Kratos. After the deeds he'd done, what did he do? Left the battlefield, humped off into the ass end of Creation, and porked a giantess. And later on we see him actually being a father. Perhaps not a doting one, but a good one, a task he saw himself unprepared for. And in the interim, he spent his days hunting and in the daily trappings of life after felling gods and having a whole civilization who would have ripped each other to shreds do aforementioned things for him.
I wonder, is all, to how Ebon would have adjusted. Perhaps re enlisting and learning the new Guard? Going back and telling that one filly she might be better off with anyone other the Sacred Band, because their motto is probably NON PUELLAE LICET, SUNT YUCKY (if you're familar with history). Advancing his skills at nose picking, macrame, and expansion of Christianity? Who can say
Awesome story, I find myself wishing for more.
This was a fantastic read.
11416806
Eb not being in command was what I was aiming for with my comment of his role in the modern day being undefined. I saw him as an individual who understood his role as being to serve the Princesses and not to play the political games and curry favour as Shining's predecessor did. That said, his understanding of serving his Princesses needed some adjustment and he respected Shining's quick wit and honest assessments to start that process. This also covered the fact that there was no war for a Warmaster to wage but I got the impression that if he remained in the future his war would have been on those within the Guard who he perceived as being there for the wrong reasons and ensuring that the Guard were better prepared to meet the challenges that he perceived it as being too soft to defend Equestria from. I saw him as an advisor and conduit between the Guard and Luna.
All this is from my impressions... but as they say, "Your mileage may vary" and the Author always has the best knowledge of his characters and what their motivations are, we just come along for the ride and enjoy the experience they create for us. Thanks again, George.
Haven't read something that I enjoyed THAT much in a long time! Bravo! Loved it immensely, thank you!
11420481
...
Gotta admit, it's been a while since I've finished a Georg story, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. I always say that a story that ends in a way I can't predict (in a not bat$**t crazy insane way) is a good story. You certainly achieved that.
11420481
That you think booster shots and immunizations didn't exist until COVID-19 says more about your education than it does about the story.
11439111
11439233
Never said that Georg was trying to insert politics or that vaccines are a new thing. What I'm saying is that putting real-life references in a fic breaks the suspension of disbelief and takes me out of the story. It can be done well, but this was not that.
11443376
In fact you were saying exactly that:
and then despairing that other plot elements might come up with thinly veiled references to things that had actually happened recently (but also many times in the past).
Your attempt to retract that and instead claim it was just about 'real life references' in general is similarly murky, if only because you seem to be drawing an arbitrary line at something you think doesn't belong in this fictional world. It's certainly reasonable for them to know germ theory just based on the technology levels shown in the show itself, let alone the more detailed version Georg has been building.
Neat overall. Though now I have to go reread about Jake's adventures with his snipe after that one cameo.
Hey Georg, how do you feel about fan snippets?
11444270
I have had an "empty" notification (no link to the comment) show up, that's why this is posted only now.)
I can only repeat that I never said vaccines were a new thing, and I'm not trying to walk anything back (but I wish I had phrased things in a less confrontational way). Talking about "booster shots" is something that the average person didn't do before the last couple of years and the reference stands out. Inoculations - including ones that have to be taken in multiple shots - did exist, yes.
My beef is with reading about recent, real-world events in my escapist fiction. I don't like it, and I said so. If you don't believe me and want to assume some other motive that is fine, but I wish you'd assume good faith when reading the comment you were responding to.
I'd also like to apologize to Georg for the way the initial comment was phrased. It comes off as rude and I should have known better.
11453937
While I could believe that you personally have never heard the term 'booster shot' before recently (or at least don't remember it), it is absolutely still not actually recent nor in any way uncommon before recently. There are few series that are recommended into adult years, sure, but anyone who has had children (and the opportunity to give them decent medical care) would be familiar with things like, for instance, a tetanus booster. And before you say "but he's not a child!" he is still getting the full set because he's literally from the past.
What you have done, intentionally or not, is latch onto something completely natural that Georg put into the story at a point that makes sense, which happens to coincidentally be tangentially related to a concept that had been higher profile in real life events recently, and accuse him of trying to be 'relevant' or some other nonsense, it's not really clear anymore since you've said three different things now. Again, 'child needs to get some shots' is almost a cliche - that's how much this is not a 'recent events' plot thing.
Enjoyed this one very much! Your portrayal of military culture and mindset is outstanding. You keep writing a very high caliber of military versus civilian viewpoints. So.....you write it and I will most definitely will read it!
That was a good story.
11450395 As a frequent contributor to Never The Final Word, it would be very hypocritical of me to say no to a story-ette in a comment.
11463467 I will never be David Weber or Lois McMaster Bujold. That doesn't mean I can't read them.
11445076 One of the advantages of using a character in multiple stories is you get to know them better as a writer, how to use them to the best advantage, and how to squeeze out every bit of characterization. The disadvantage is you look back at the first time you used them and say "Oooo, that doesn't look so good now." I've had that happen with Pumpernickel, some with Grace, and perhaps just a tiny bit with Monster.
11426914 As an author, an ending that the reader CAN'T see coming is a bad thing. So is an inevitable ending that everybody sees far in advance. The best kind of ending is one where the reader punches the sky and proclaims "I knew it!" even though they really did not. Twilight Sparkle Makes a Coltfriend.... Literally is probably my best example of that.
11531175
Eh, I like being surprised.
This is a nice story and I enjoyed it. The only reason I saw the ending for Ebon Tide coming was because of the comments. Penumbra's message to Luna was quite funny.
I'm glad you plugged this on your October 31 2023 blog. I had missed it and it was a fantastic read. Kind of glad I read it a year late because I didn't have to wait for updates.