The Knights of Night

The golden, glistening halls of the Castle echoed with young foals' laughter and play as the two Princesses strolled casually through them, conversing quietly.

"You seem a bit more cheerful today, Luna. What's put you in this disposition?" Celestia's warm voice flooded the cold marble with the light of the sun.

"We can sense happiness and content from the Evergreen Forest, 'Tia. Maybe this time-"

"Big Brother!!" a high-pitched whine echoed behind the two elder Alicorns as a young pink filly chased her Pegasus sibling," tell me where you got the pretty feather now!!!"

"No way, Cherry Blossom! Find your own feathers to keep!" the young white stallion glided swiftly above his cousins, only to crash face-first into a  pillar and falling a foot from the ground.

" 'Moon," Celestia began," your younger sister wants to know where you came across the feather. Why not tell her?"

Blood Moon flattened his ears, his few flight feathers ruffling as he replied," Because I promised the other pony that I wouldn't tell anyone about them, not even you. Sorry."

"Is this 'friend' a girl?" Cherry Blossom's older baby blue sister, Lily, giggled with mischief. Blood Moon blinked , unfazed by her, simply picking himself up and checking the feather in his own small pouch around his neck. Lily had a gift for turning words around to haunt the speaker, and so he knew not to tell her anything.

"He's not going to tell, you two, if he's promised. Then he has to honor his word to that pony." Luna quickly concluded and attempted to finalize the conversation before an argument broke out. Celestia observed the younger foals; as she stared ardently at the ruby-tipped feather, old memories that had faded like paper photographs flooded back with the force of tidal waves from a full moon. Ayoung mare with identical feathers struggled in a net of sharp cords, her eyes blazing like wildfire, staring with the fright of a thousand dying souls. The smell of flowers that had died off from the rest of the land that day surrounded the net in her mind and the feather that rested in Blood Moon's neck pouch. Celestia began to feel the fear that the Knight rogue felt, knowing that the filly's predicament, if it were the other way around, would be her own.

"Aw, c'mon, please tell us?" Cherry Blossom begged her older brother," please, please, please????

Celestia looked down at the pink filly and began nervously," Now, Cherry Blossom, shouldn't you be helping your mother with  her new arrival?"

"We're allowed to help?" Lily looked as confused as her younger sister," no one really said we could."

"Even mothers need help, you two." Luna seconded Celestia's notion, unknowing of her sister's secrets. Before the older ponies could blink, the pink and blue Alicorns sped off in the other direction, towards a silver-spire tower.

Blood Moon sat down with a concentrated look," You only use that as an excuse to speak with other people in private, Celestia. What's going on?"

The pure white alicorn began pacing, as though waiting for something," There are some things that I haven't been honest with you two about, and I intend to tell them to you right now."

Luna gave a concerned gaze to her sister," 'Tia?"

"I know whose feather you have there, Blood Moon. She was once my personal bodyguard and best friend. Luna, you were just newly born at the time before our Mother had them banished and their village burnt."

"Our mother did what?!" the lavender princess stared in a horrified shock at her older sister.

Blood moon gazed silently; since he knew most of the story from his past, Celestia had told him, the child who could possibly be the only male ever actually born into the Royal family, seeing as Blue Blood had been adopted. The stories made him want to be a part of the Knight Clan, to be as strong as they had been through the banishment and through their fights.

"At a time before we were born, Mother had an unnatural infatuation with the leader of the Guards. His name was Meteor Knight at the time, and he was already married to a young Alicorn Mare who allowed many different colored Alicorns to be borne to our families. Without her, Cherry and Lily would be White or lavender like us, as would Cadance, and there would be no true way to distinguish any of us from the other."

"What did Mother do?"

"When she confronted Meteor about her feelings, he knew he didn't feel the same way, and he told her as much. Stunned at being rejected, our Mother used her power and stripped the entire Knight Clan of their rank, changing their name to that of Night. A few centuries later, after our Grandparents forced her to marry our father, Sol, Scythe Knight and I were born, not at the same time, but at least two centuries apart. Mother became too proud, attempting to mask her jealousy and hate for Night Opal and Night Meteor with the excessive broken pride. They'd already had a son and a daughter, Altair and Scythe Knight, both of whom were immediately taught a survival course in life and then made into guards. Altair became head of the castle guards, and Scythe Knight, my own."

'That might explain why she didn't really hurt me,' Blood moon sat on his haunches, but continued to listen. Luna looked ready to burst into tears by the story.

"We got along well, as though we were both sisters ourselves. Helping each other at every turn, but mother hated her. She looked a near spitting image of her father, making her even more angry. In her rage, our mother used her power again, placing a trap for Scythe Knight, attempting to tell me that Scythe was only trying to gain the Royal Family's trust in order to assassinate us. Many parts of her story didn't fit, and before she could think of the complete cover story, Meteor Knight retaliated in defense vocally, revealing the whole of it since she'd attacked his only daughter."

"How could he if he hadn't been there?" Blood Moon asked the question as though it were an interrogation.

"On the contrary, Blood Moon," Celestia remarked quite boldly," Meteor had been watching each of us in the shadows the whole time, waiting for Mother to strike at young Scythe."

"What did Mother do when this happened, 'Tia?" Luna's voice was a shred of a whisper, her blue eyes becoming sadder with the tale. It wasn't because Celestia hadn't told her, but because many of their servants had said that she was a striking image of their mother, and she might turn out just like her. Luna never got to know their mother since she'd died a few years after her birth.

"To the outrage of the commoners, Mother used her power for the last time, but this time to get rid of the Nights. She'd trained a group of soldiers led by our Captain Sun Burst's father, Sun Storm, to hunt the former guards down. Cosmos, our mother, had Sun Storm's soldiers burn the village down, and kill many of their sons, brothers, and fathers, which is why there are so few Alicorn stallions now. So far of what we know, Altair and Meteor Knight are the only two left."

Blood Moon explained the ponies' anger to Luna," The Knight Clan wasn't just known for their warriors, but for their herbalists, healers, and artisans. The entire Castles that our families lived in, the gardens, even the furniture was designed by the Knight Clan, and made by them. Nearly all of the Herbalist and healers in the Canterlot's villages were Knights, and they never gave their secrets away."

"They also grew some of the most beautiful flowers in their village. No matter where they were living, day lilies and violets followed them, seeming to grow like the wind blows wherever the Knights are." Celestia added dreamily, staring at the red and white flower in her mind's memory," our halls used to be filled with bouquets of them in many vases."

"Day lilies growing among a Night Clan? Isn't that contradictory?"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Night Reaper didn't flinch a muscle as she felt a pressured speeding hoof impact with her face, sending her flying into a pile of firewood and rocks. Warm, crimson blood flowed from her haunch and mouth as she struggled to rise. As her trembling, bruised body did, however, the same hoof met with her flesh once again, making her grit her teeth to keep a pained howl within her soul.

"You little bitch!!" Glacial Spear, Cobalt Winter's mother, screamed shrilly at the younger mare," you spared that accursed Royal whelp knowing from personal experience what they've don to us?! Are you stupid or do you think yourself a guide to lead the Day ponies to us?!!"

Night Reaper didn't answer or even look at all at the angry eyes gleaming with burning anger. She was just happy that Nightshaede didn't have to see this. She knew her father wouldn't stop the maiming unless it got out of hand. Mentally, however, she cut Glacial Spear's horn off and shoved it into her right back haunch.

"Maybe she still thinks herself equal to the Royal Whelp."

"That's enough!" the loud and ever authority-filled voice of Meteor Sky filled the village clearing, frightening the lesser ponies into submission, to drop their hooves, as though they'd never meant any harm.

"But they-"

"Night Reaper followed our orders to never harm a Royal unless they meant any harm back. And Glacial Spear, you will watch your tongue when addressing my family members. Or it will be YOUR body maimed by an angry crowd."

"You will be the death of us, Meteor." the mother growled at the clan leader madly. Night Reaper's eyes shot open, almost turned insane by the hostile emotion in the mare. Lunging faster than lightning could strike, the gray filly twisted her body, her left leg contacting with Glacial's chest, allowing Night Reaper to pin her down and crush her ankle bone into powder mixed with coagulated blood. Before she could strike with her front hooves, a black hoof gloved with an iridescent white found its place on Reaper's right shoulder.

"Calm down, Reaper," Altair's low and gentle voice matched her stern, angry look," you've taught her to stop hurting for quite a while this time."

"We are all equal, 'Spear," tears fell softly from Reaper's eyes as she crumpled next to her older brother," Royal, or Knight. Alicorn or Earth. Mare or Stallion. Leader or follower. We are all the same. And you are no different."

"And what about you, Reaper of Foals and Creatures?!" Glacial Spear sneered with pain," do you think yourself to be God, Almighty?"

Night Reaper's crimson eyes began to glow like rubies lit up in sunlight, bathing the aquamarine mare in a bloody vermilion light of its own. The gravely injured mare struggled defiantly to get up, trying to get out of the light that shone from the young filly's eyes, frightened of her now; feeling dizziness from the lack of air that was shut out by the crimson barrier, Glacial Spear simply lay down now, as her vision began to fade to black.

"Reaper, stop!" Altair's voice filled itself with their father's authority now, but Night Reaper had already closed her eyes, turning away. She knew when to stop.

"Instead of fighting with us, take care of your children, Cobalt Winter and Snow Lancet. They need you." Night Reaper looked down gently at the mother, who had suddenly lifted her head as her lungs filled with air once again," you will not be ready to reap for a while. And I will not make two young foals into orphans. You've taught your children wonderfully, Glacial Spear, but you need to raise them, now."

With a depressed sigh, Reaper walked away from the scene, towards her small, flower-laden house. Altair turned away from the injured mare for a second.

"Why did you let the Royal go, 'Night? After all, you and Father were the ones to suffer the most."

She turned to him," So did you, Altair. You just never realized it."

Altair stared at her, perplexed, at his younger sister, who simply continued on to her home.

Meteor Knight, who'd been silent, finally spoke to his eldest child," Night Reaper has been able to read other ponies' feelings far better than her own since she was born."

"Then why did she, Father? She knows that almost everypony who can remember the Exodus hates the Royals, and they frame the deaths of the the lost ones on the other Day Ponies as cleverly as possible."

Meteor looked at his son with a hint of sympathy," Because... She can see this story of Cosmos because of her Reaping. With the power she has, she's afraid she will crack as Cosmos did with her own Power."

"One has to accept all parts of themselves, my daughter, before they can fully understand the High Priestess card, including all magick and all limits." - Meteor Knight to N.R., 300,