Children of the Night

Chapter 2

Moonsinger

Princess Luna was still hugging her adopted daughter, when a low cough from one of the guards, brought her back to reality. A swift glance over her shoulder showed her, that Pin Cushion, a greycoated Earthpony stallion with blue mane, was trembling under her sisters weight. Deciding there would be time enough for celebrations later, Luna broke out of the embrace, even so the Unicorn mare gave her a look of disappointment. A gentle look from her end however, ensured the mare that she would make up for it later.

"I feel I owe all of you an explanation, but before that there are more urgent matters at hoof."

Luna turned towards two Pegasi stallions that were with the group that had come to their aid earlier.

"Starfire, Flametail, please bring my sister to the nearest Inn so she can rest. Don't forget to bring along a doctor though, I think she will need one."

"As you wish mother."

The two stallions said in unison before they took Celestia from Pin Cushion and flew off with her between them. The other five Ponies, didn't seem to want to move however. They continued to watch over Luna and her guards expectingly.

Goldshield and her comrades found themself in a quite difficult position, on the other hoof. Goldshield had been hesitant to just let these to Pegasi take Princess Celestia, but she had no other choice. She had seen these Ponies fight, and even if she hadn't she and the other guards were exhausted from galloping most of the night. There would be no way of taking out even one of them in their current state. All she could do, was to trust in Princess Luna, just like Shining Armor would have done.

"Verry well then... Everypony, I welcome you to my refuge. I welcome you to the garden of shadows."

Luna said kindly.

"Garden of shadows? Mind me, but that ain't a verry happy name for a place this lively.",

Cherry Pie commented, before she realized whom she was talking to and winced at her own words. Luna however just chuckled at her guards irony.

"You are quite right Cherry Pie, but this place was not founded on happy terms, nor in happy times. But before you get bored with my refuges history, let me introduce my daughter....."

The brown Unicorn mare with the dark brown ears, blonde tail and mane stepped forward.

"This, is Moonsinger. Before any of you ask, no she is not my biological daughter, but I love her no less because of that."

"Does that make her a Princess aswell?"

Quick Arrow asked, while tilting his head to one side like a puppy examining a particular interesting thing. Luna was about to answer him, when Moonsinger glared at Quick Arrow, and lashed out at him, her eyes glowing in rage.

"I do not desire any kind of royalty or recognition from you daylight Ponies! Your titles and ranks mean nothing to me, or any of us, neither do we recognize your "Princess" as the rightfull ruler of Equestria. She has done NOTHING to earn our respect, but cast us aside like garbage. The only authority we accept, is our dear mother."

There was so much poison in her tone, that Goldshield seriously feared for her comrades safety for a moment, when Luna interfered with Moonsingers fit of rage. Placing a hoof on her daughters shoulder, the Unicorn looked up at Luna. The Princess of the night, gave her a look of disappointment in return.

"I think it might be better, if I myself continue from here Moonsinger. I don't remember raising you to insult my sisters authority, or to lash out at my subjects."

The Unicorn mare looked down at her hooves, looking like a little filly that just got scolded for stealing a cookie from the cookie jar, her eyes slowly returning to her light green color.

"So what should you do, if you did something wrong?"

Princess Luna looked down on her daughter, with a smile on her face.

"Appoligize..."

"So?"

"Mother, I'm grown up now, there is no need to ...."

"Oh I think there is a need to lecture you, if you do something wrong. So come on, appologize to them."

"Awww, alright...."

Moonsinger turned towards the guards again and this time, her expression was one of joy and happiness. The angry Unicorn from just seconds ago, seemed so unreal all of a sudden.

"I greet thou and welcome you in the guarden of shadows. Everypony is welcome here, aslong as they stay true to our dear mother and her teachings. My name is Moonsinger and I sincerily appoligize for my earlier outburst, but Celestia is a touchy subject for me."

With that, she gave the group of guards a bow, as if she was greeting visiting royalty. They were so suprised, that they returned the gesture, not to be seen as rude. When all of them had stood up again, Luna put her left wing around her daughter, and gave her a look of approval, while pulling her closer to her.

"I imagine, there will be no more bad blood between us so let us continue where I left off earlier. I was about to tell you about this place, an I think it is crucial that you know these things before you wander it's streets. All of you might remember, that my sister and I have not always been the rulers of Equestria. The three races had been devided for a long time. Only after the events on Hearthwarming eve, did they start to work together. To ensure, that all three races had a say in the fate of the newfound kingdom, a grand council was formed. They made all the decissions and it seemed like everything was going fine, until Discord came along. He used his strange magic on the council and suddenly there was infighting between the races again. Strange enough my sister and I, both representatives of the Unicorns in the council, were immune to his influence. We ascended to Allicorns after we banished Discord with the ancient magic of the Elements of Harmony. After that, the land was in chaos and there was a great shortage in food. Many children had lost their homes and family due to the infighting that had ruled during that short amount of time. The Orphanages were overflowing and many foals never even got into one. Most had to fight for their survival on a daily basis. Moonsinger here, was one of them, back then her name was Cherry Scotch. On one of my visits to inspect an orphanage in Hoofington, I met her for the first time. We talked for a great length of time, and I would have liked to adopt her then, but I could not without my sisters permission. We had been decided upon as equal rulers to Equestria, but that also ment that neither of us could do something without the other one agreeing. I saw how awefull the foals were treated, and I heard stories from Cherry Scotch that made the hairs on my neck stand up in horror. I had to do something about it. Forming a plan in my head, I presented the idea of this place to my sister. Here I could teach the orphans how to plant and harvest crops. I could teach them what they needed to stay alive, in other words. Celestia however objected my idea. She thought that this would devide the kingdom and destabilze it even more. I started an argument with her, but she is quite headstrong. If she has decided something, there is no way of convincing her of something else."

Luna sighed as she remembered what she had done all those years ago. In retrospect it had been the right thing to do, but back then she had always been afraid of punishment for defying her sister.

"Long story short I did it anyway. One night, after I had put up the moon, I flew over all of Equestria and gahtered all the foals without a family. I brough them here, and created this barrier that shrinks everypony who steps inside. This way I created a whole land for my children. This clearing is only about a hundret feet in radius, but shrunk to the size of ants, millions can live here. With my magic I created this town, at the verry edge of the barrier, with a house for each of the older foals. They all took in several of the younger ones, and took care of them. I helped them as much as I could of course. Cherry Scotch, did not want to stay with any of the newly formed families, so I took her under my wing personally. That was when she became my adopted daughter.But I could only come by at night, and they where used to living in the light of day. That changed with time however. After a few months my children became nucturnal and I also discovered many other changes in them. Imagine my horror when I found out that my magic leaked out of the barrier and affected them. My worries were laid to rest soon when I discovered these changes were of positive nature. Earthponies inhertied some of my physical strenth, Unicorns some of my magical abilities and the Pegasi became faster then any of those outside the barrier. Also I discovered, that they age very slowly. Only about twice the rate of an Allicorn. For a mortal Pony that is quite amazing. All that is due to their life inside my barrier. Had I not done anything about it, many of them would have starved on the streets or had suffered an even more gruesome fate. And that's the sole reason why you can all come to know Ponies who were born long before you grandparents. The downside was, that my children became very sensitive to sunlight. They would never again be able to live like normal Ponies.... Me becoming Nightmare Moon, had something to do with that.... I wanted to bring eternal night, so my children wouldn't have to hide inside during daytime. I did it so that not every ray of sunlight hurt their eyes and caused them terrible headaches... I did it, so that my children could always be embraced by the gentle light of the moon... How my rebellion ended, you all know... I can't blame Moonsinger to feel a little angry over my banishment, nor any of the others, but please try to understand them. They see me as their mother, and Celestia took that away from them for a thousand years. So please try to get along with them. Now, let us leave it at that. Moonsinger, please escort them to the Inn. I trust my old quarters in the town hall are still intact?"

"Of course mother. Except the weekly cleaning, and changing of the sheets, the room has been left untouched."

"Very well. Captain Goldshield?"

"Yes your majesty?"

"Please follow Moonsinger with the rest of your squad. Tomorrow night we will have to start planning a counter attack. Chrysalis shall not win this...."

Absentminded, Luna started to trott towards the town hall, leaving her guards behind.

Moonsinger gestured for the guards to follow her, even so it was obvious that she would have loved to just throw them out of the barrier again, right into the changeling horde. Princess Lunas request to escort them however, and this seemed to be absolute for her. Something that was not up to debate. Goldshield sighed in relief. She wanted to sent a few guards with the Princess of the night, but the five remaining citizens of this strange place had already taken a defensive formation around her. A frown formed on her face. These Ponies would not let anyone near her, not even her own royal guard, of that much she was sure. Still more then frustrated about the facts that her rank and profession ment nothing here, she trotted after Moonsinger who had already gone ahead, followed by the other guards.

Quick Arrow looked around as the strange Unicorn mare, who was supposed to be Princess Lunas daughter, led them through the streets of this strange settlement. He saw a market going on, in the middle of the night, lit by several lanterns floating in the air. They were, no doubt, held in place by magic. The awkward silence among the small procession was unbearable for the energetic Pegasus.

"So..... What is this place called anyway? I mean you already told us that we are in the garden of shadows, but I think that's more like the name of this whole area, not only this town, is it not?"

He asked Moonsinger, trying to get a conversation going.

"You are right. This land, or better this clearing of the Everfree Forest, is called the guarden of shadows. This settlement is named Gemini.You will soon discover that many towns in the garden are named after constalations on the nightsky, in honor of our dear mother."

"How come you even knew we were in danger back there?"

Pin Cushion joined in with a Question of his own.

"Well, that is rather easy. All of us carry a spark of our mothers magic in us. When she used her powers to reach out to us, that spark acted like a compass, leading us right to her."

Moonsingers tone was still friendly, but she didn't turn around once to look at her mothers subjects.

"So what did you do to those changelings?"

This was Goldshield, who had just caught up with the group.

"Well... what would you do to somepony who was threatening your mother? We killed them of course. We've had to deal with changelings in the past, and they usually know better then to approach our land."

"You killed all of them?"

Quick Arrow added, the shock obvious in his voice.

"Yes we did. After you had left the area, about fifty of them came charging at us, but it was an uneven battle. I alone could have done it, if I had to."

Goldshield could not believe this. Princess Luna, as she knew her, was so gentle and kind, even so she was a little short tempered at times. But imagining that this mare, who talked about killing others as if it was the most natural thing to do, to be raised by the gentle Princess....

"Do you enjoy killing that much? Princess Celestia taught us, that killing is never right."

But even as the words left her muzzle, Goldshield knew she had made a mistake. Moonsinger turned around so quickly, that Goldshield almost collidet with her. Her eyes were once again aglow, and she was obviously furious.

"I do NOT enjoy taking another's life, but I will not let anypony escape if they endanger my mother, my sisters or my brothers! We are NO monsters, but we DO what has to be DONE! That is one of our dear mothers most important rules, and you better remember it! What good is mercy against an enemy ,that wants nothing more then to take your life and do horrible things to the ones you love? Sparing them only gives them more time to prepare better next time. More time to plan against you and eventually stab you in the back! I don't know how you bunch of naive foals got our mother through their lines, and I don't care. The fact that you did, is reason enough for me NOT to throw you out right away. That, and the fact that our dear mother wishes for your safety, are the sole reasons you are still here! It is true that everypony is welcome here, but I seriously don't think you will fit in. We will help you to recapture your kingdom, if that is what our dear mother wants. Afterwards however, I never want to see your sorry flanks here again, or I will show you WHY the changelings call me "Bloodsinger". Did I make myself completly clear?"

Most of the guards were shocked at the outburst, but Goldshield stood up to Moonsinger. She placed herself between her and the rest of the guards, her stance low, ready to charge.

"I am loyal to BOTH Princesses, no matter what you say. The Princess has ordered us to get along with you, and we do our best here to do so. We even show interest in the seperate culture you have developed in a millenia of seperation from us. Now, will you calm down, Moonsinger, or do I have to beat some sense back into you untill you understand that I didn't mean to insult you, or your lifestyle?"

Moonsingers eyes lost her glow immideatly, and for a moment she looked dumbstruck at the Earthpony mare, before breaking out in laughter.

"You? Beating sense into me?"

Goldshields anger grew stronger and stronger, since the Unicorn was not taking her serious. But were she to actually attack Moonsinger, she knew that she most likely would suffer the same fate as the changelings. Instead she decided on a different approach.

"Yeah well.... It was worth a try, wasn't it?"

She tried to make fun of her own previous statement, when Moonsingers hoof clapped on her shoulder.

"Maybe I misjudged you Goldshield. I like your sense of humor!"

A few minutes later

The atmosphere between Moonsinger and the guards had lightend up, even so she was mostly talking to Goldshield to whom she seemed to have taken a liking. She showed them many things, and it soon became obvious, that she showed them the scenic  route. The Luna temple, the Crater restaurant and even a strange counterpart to Ponyvilles Sweet Apple Acres were only a few of the sights that Moonsonger showed them.

After a while they reached the town square again, only a few hundred hooves away from where they had started. Goldshield sighed as her suspicissions were confirmed. This almost thirty minute detour surely was Moonsingers way of getting revenge for ticking her off earlier.  The now even more exhausted group, came to a stop in front of a building shaped like the head of a giant Timberwolf. Fair enough the sign above the door said "The Timberhead".