Son of the Night

by Rafarofa

Vow

Son of the Night

Chapter 1 - Vow

It was about five and a half in the morning, the Moon was starting to set at one side of the horizon and already could be noticed a weak light rising from the other side, it was the cycle of day and night kept by ages by the regents of Equestria and, along with the night, several fillies and foals of the three kinds played together in an open field close to a nomadic settlement trying to enjoy the night to it's full extent before going to sleep. But there was one little foal that didn't share this thought and preferred to spend most of the night laying on his back admiring the Moon that shone high in the sky until the dawn.

With the end of the night voices were heard, they came from the settlement calling for the kids and, one by one, thet obeyed the calling and went to their tents. Nopony, however, called for the lonely foal for some time until one of the mothers did it. “Aster! You better come back too!” And with a leap the foal was standing. His fur was blue in a tone almost as dark as night's sky and that highlighted even more his iris that were white as cotton. He calmly walked heading for the settlement straighting his mane, which made his horn appear, and getting inside a smaller tent, he stretched his limbs and his two wings. After that and a long "YAWN", the young alicorn layed and put himself to sleep.

When he woke up it was still morning. He was alone in the tent as always, he was the only alicorn in the clan and even with the others helping and providing whenever possible, he had no family and lived alone. One of the leaders, a pegasus named Midnight Roar, said only that his parents had died when he was three and since then he was 'adopted' by the clan and, at that moment, with the age of seven, he had the biggest 'family' of all the foals. By the time he exited the tent he noticed a crowd at the center of the settlement, the council of leaders had reunited all the clan to announce something that would change Aster's life forever.

"The Council had a meeting during the day and we decided: the clan Nightkeeper isolated itself for too long. If the other ponys don't accept living along us who sleep during tha day and live during the night so we're going to the source of the night itself. Before me are the best blacksmiths, craftsponys, farmers and, above all, warriors that I've ever seen, all that talent gathered here instead of being used for the good of the kingdom. Today, my friends, we're going to Canterlot to offer our services to who, for our joy, rises every night the Moon we love so much!”

With shouts of joy and celebration the crowd dispersed slowly, Midnight Roar came down from a table on which was best to talk with everypony. "Cheer up, I heard that there are alicorns in Canterlot." He said to Aster who did not seem very excited about the news.

---

Four hours of travel seemed like a whole year for impatient children, but on the other hand Aster was alone in a corner, thinking. "What's the matter, son?" Asked an unicorn mare who was taking care of the children inside the wagon. "The Ruler of the Night, how is he?" Aster asked still with a thoughtful face. "Honestly, I have no idea." She said kind of disappointed with a little sigh. "But I'm sure that he is someone formidable, after all, to give us the night always on time so that we can live as we like most, he has to be." She continued, this time more lively.

---

The wagon stopped, everyone went down, the caravan had reached the gates of Canterlot. When Aster could see things ahead, another council member said: "Let us all walk together and calmly, we will have an audience with the king." The clan was instructed by the guard who was guiding them to wait at the base of large stairs that gave access to the main gate of the castle. Behind them was the end of the large market that was in the central area of Canterlot and alongside a delegation of dozens of guards to ensure the safety of the royal family during the hearing.

The gates opened, from it, came four ponies: A great white steed with mane, tail and beard all red with some orange streaks and that looked like a burning flame and a crown that looked like a Spartan helmet adorned with a sun made ​​of some yellow precious stone faceted just below the hole to pass the horn. His cutie mark was a yin-yang red and yellow surrounded by bundles also of these colors; a mare almost as large as the male beside her, the color of her fur resembled aquamarine, only slightly darker, her mane and tail gleamed with the silver color they had. Her cutie mark was a full moon in the night sky with the silhouette of a dragon on the moon; a white filly almost the same age as Aster with pink mane and tail and a blank flank, her discreet horn was lost of sight within the voluminous mane; and, being carried by the adult female, a baby with no more than two years, a little dark blue coat and lighter blue mane and tail. All were alicorns.

"Hello visitors, welcome to Canterlot, I'm Solaris III, King of Equestria and Ruler of the Sun and this is my family." He spoke with Royal Voice of Canterlot which surprised the clan and made ​​them to bow at a faster rate than they would when they knew he was the king. "So, what do you want?"

"Hail King Solaris, I am Midnight Roar, one of the leaders and representative of the clan Nightkeeper. Our clan was formed by the union of families that, unlike the normal ponies, are active at night and sleep during the day. We were born that way and we are proud of it but life in normal communities became complicated because the other ponies do not understand us and exclude us and this led us to unite. We became nomads but today we decided to fix it and to come to offer our services to the Ruler of the Moon and dedicate ourselves to his protection." Midnight Roar explained his history as the queen seemed to be more interested in the offer of the king himself.

"So in that case, I think the offer should be directed to me." She spoke including herself in the conversation. "I am Artemis, Queen of Equestria and Ruler of the Moon" She used the Royal Canterlot Voice sounding a bit lower than the King, just to make her heard by all, and when she spoke that she was the Ruler of the Moon, Aster immediately lifted his face to be able to see her, and until the end of the negotiations he was looking to the members of the royal family but most of all for the queen stopping only to see the fight.

"My queen," Midnight Roar spoke again. "So, we of clan Nightkeeper make this offer to Your Majesty: blacksmiths, craftsponys, guards, soldiers, all with exceptional skills and all at the service of the kingdom whenever necessary. Our warriors can provide protection to Your Majesty and your family as an elite guard and would be an excellent addition to the royal army. All we ask in return is the opportunity to live here in Canterlot."

"Elite Guard, you say..." said a pegasus with a similar armor to the soldiers, but more detailed and with white details in the golden metal, he arrived in the midst of the soldiers who were lined up next to the staircase. "But I see only a group of ponies as normal as any other. How will we know if what you say is true?"

"Captain Daggerwing, what do you mean?" She asked looking at the pegasus already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, we cannot guarantee that what they say is true. And since they spent so much living alone among themselves, how would they themselves know just how capable they are?" Daggerwing asked trying to put doubt in the mind of the queen.

"In this case," Midnight Roar replied looking at Daggerwing, "let us demonstrate our abilities. Meteor, Desert Thunder, come here." A pegasus stallion and an earth pony mare left the crowd and were each on one side of Midnight Roar. Daggerwing pointed to two soldiers and they put themselves ahead of others.

"So you want to prove your worth challenging the Lunar Guard? Alright." Daggerwing spoke in a tone of mockery.

"Lunar Guard?" Midnight Roar asked confused.

"The royal army is composed of two divisions: these here are the Lunar Guard, the other division, the Solar Guard is under the responsibility of another captain."

"Very well then, show what you are capable of." Artemis said at the top of the stairs, who knew her better could notice an excitement in her because the fight would happen in her honor. King Solaris did.

At the same moment the two Nightkeeper ponies drew their swords and began to fight each with one of the guards chosen by Daggerwing. Within minutes the guards were defeated and had barely tired the Nightkeepers.

"What did you think of them?" Artemis asked her husband in a normal voice.

"Not bad, I think it would be good to have them on our side. But the offer was made to you, so the last word is yours. "He also said in a normal voice.

"Midnight Roar, leader of the Nightkeepers, I, Queen Artemis of Canterlot and Equestria, accept your offer." Back to Royal Voice.

"We, the members of the clan Nightkeeper, swear our loyalty, our service and our protection to Your Majesty Queen Artemis, Regent of the Moon and the members of your family if one is needed or do you will." The whole clan proclaimed in chorus the vow.

"Then it is settled! From today on the warriors of clan Nightkeeper will be part of the Lunar Guard and I'd like to ask for the leader Midnight Roar to arrange for the Guard members receive training so that they will have the same skill displayed now by these two warriors." The queen turned and finished the sentence pointing to Desert Thunder and Meteor.

"As you wish, my queen." Midnight Roar ended up heading to the Queen bowing and then began to organize with the other clan members.

Chapter 1 - End

Author's Note:

It was a long week of thinking on the story, it's alreadt finished on my head, all I gotta do is put all the thinking on Word and send to the web. The story is first being posted in portuguese here: http://sonicrainboom.com.br/showthread.php?tid=9154&pid=261886#pid261886 , so if there's any lusophone on the site, feel free to check it. i'll try my best to translate the chapters on the same day that they are made but I can't guarantee that I'll succeed.
At last, i'd like to thank a personal friend of mine and the user Jade Ring and for giving me courage that I lacked to post the story.