The Last Soldier Of The Night
The Last Soldier Of The Night
I sat in the chair at the hospital, watching the nurse talk with my grandfather. He was an elderly stallion with a coat of emerald green, with a grass green mane and tail, and the brightest shade of gold for eyes. His cutie mark was a jack card face colored a bright lime green. His name was Green Jack, the luckiest stallion we had ever known. He had cheated death a thousand times over and always had a tale to tell. But today, we saw the strong stallion laying helpless in his hospital bed, not asking if he would live but how long he had...
His old voice was rough as sand paper, but it always sounded like music to my ears. "Hey, jimmy..." I always hated that nickname, but I knew why he called me that. His brother, Jimmy Bar, was the best with his hooves. He was one of the few in our family that was an earth pony, but what he lacked in magic or flight he made up for in strength, and heart... Or so I've been told. I never had the chance to meet him, sadly.
"Yes, Pa?" It was a family tradition to call him that, because he refused to be considered a 'grandpa'.
"Did I eva tell you about the soldias of tha night...?" Did he ever tell me? He told us every story in his life a hundred times over. I could have recited the story by heart, Buckston accent and all. But I had to hear one more story from him before he could go, so I had to lie to him for the first time in my life.
"No, Pa, I don't think you've ever told me that one."
"Come hea'"
I got up and used my magic to carry the stool to his side, then sat down on it by his side.
"It was ova a hundred yea's ago..."
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I lived in a small herd in the northern part of Equestria. We resided in a cave, because the snow storm outside was too strong for us to travel. The herd was not a normal herd though. We were all banished from all the corners of Equestria, due to our crimes. Some had been banished for disturbing peaceful towns, others had tried to mess up the order of society, in hopes of starting a better order. My brother and I were banished from Buckston for stealing food and other things we were using to provide for unfortunate families that needed them more. In the end, however we all became a herd that helped each other survive.
We camped out in the cave in the dead of winter, and our fire went out. We all felt that we were going to die that night. Then we saw the fire light back up, in a dark blue color. We didn't question it, though, instead we warmed up by the fire and soon fell asleep. But when we woke up, we saw Princess Luna in our cave. She offered us a way out of that nightmare we lived in, as we struggled to survive. She asked for our services as her soldiers, and in exchange, we all got to live with her in the castle in the Everfree forest. Soon we all found ourselves in the throne room, awaiting our call to become a soldier, but I saw the look in Celestia's eyes. She was not ready to let us banished criminals fight for her. So we all accepted Princess Luna's full responsibility. We all put on our armor and from then on, we were known as the soldiers of the night. I stood there by my brother on the big day, and I knew that he was ready to fight for his princess, as much as i was. We all owed our lives to her, and we wanted to prove that her generosity was not for nothing.
Months later, we received intelligence that the changeling Army was invading, and Celestia's army was at the front lines, we were next in the defenses. Hours passed and we saw Chrysalis and her army approaching. The changeling army went through Celestia's army as if they were nothing. Few of the soldiers in gold returned that day, and Celestia feared that the castle would be taken over. That was when Princess Luna ordered us to defend our home. We immediately stormed out of the castle and went to fight. The changelings tried to trick us with their old tricks, but we knew who our brothers and sisters were, so we couldn't be tricked by those creatures and their deceptive magic.
With Jimmy by my left, and my adopted brother, Snowfall (snowdrop's son) at my right. We thought we were an unstoppable force, and as the war went on, we soon proved that we were. We fought for hours, picking up any who had fallen, and defending the castle with all of our strength, until the changelings retreated back to the outskirts of Equestria. But not before they left their fair share of casualties. Braveheart, our commander and strongest warrior, was taken away and never seen again. And my brother, Jimmy Bar was killed in the battle. He thought his jimmy bar and his armor were all he needed to fight... But he was wrong.
Now, Princess Luna always loved us as though each of us was one of her own, and we loved her in return. But with this love came the ability to see that she was hiding, a sorrow unlike any other. She was sad that few ponies could love the night she provided for Equestria, and she always questioned why most ponies would rather not enjoy her night, but we didn't have the answer for her. One night, I was on guard outside her room, when I heard her lament... Then, her voice became distorted and I soon ran to the others, thinking that it was a changeling in her room. We got our armor on and ran to the room, ready to fight, but we were already too late. We saw Celestia standing over Princess Luna's crown, and up in the sky we saw our princess was banished to the moon. All we could see from here was the silhouette of the Mare on the Moon.
In a blind rage, I stood at the front of the soldiers and raised my spear against Celestia, and soon all the other soldiers did the same. However I thought about my actions and saw that what we were doing would be dishonorable to our Princess, so I threw my spear to the ground and stormed out, and the others soon did the same. We knew our actions would be met with a great penalty, and none of us wanted our princess to see us this way, so this was our only option. We wandered Equestria every night, to repent for our failure to save our Princess. We raised our fillies and colts in the moonlight and passed down this story.
I can still remember the song we sang in memory of our call...
'As the sunset fades away, the yellow turns to gray...'
'The moonlight shines across the land, a calling we obey...'
'The purest blackest shadows rise to fight a greater fight...'
'My brothers and sisters move as one, we're soldiers of the night...'
'The times we live in now have changed, honor is long gone...'
'And now that good and evil are shades of gray, a cruel impasse is drawn...'
'For all the good we have created, it doesn't make us right...'
'But those of us who hide in darkness see a different kind of light...'
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I waited for the old stallion to keep telling the story, but i soon realized that he was laying in the bed, and was not breathing anymore. I was always told that with the technology of our time, we had no ability to save him... But I knew differently. Celestia could have saved him. She could have used her magic to heal his body and spirit, but she didn't care for him. She wanted to use her magic for her own needs, instead of the needs of others. She could have saved the last follower of Luna, but I knew that she didn't want to waste her efforts on a poor, old, Buckston-born unicorn.
I returned to the cave I was camping out in, and told the sad news to my herd. He was the last Soldier of the Night, and we were the only ones who carried their blood. Snowstorm, Snowfall's grandson, and his three pegasus sisters, Courage, son of Braveheart and his four earth pony brothers, my girlfriend Star Sapphire, the only remaining crystal pony decendant, and me, the last unicorn. We were all who remained of the herd the soldiers of the night once traveled in. I had enough of Equestria. Enough of the pain that we suffered through. Enough of the tyrannical rule that Celestia had. Others considered her 'a kind leader' but I knew her true nature; monstrous. my brothers and sisters also saw this side of her, and we knew it was time to take a drastic action to sve our blood. I immediately grabbed my hat and put it on, and then we gathered our belongings and ran to the castle. Finding ways past the incompetent guards Celestia had under her control, we managed our way to the forbidden hall.
The mirror hall.
It was said that through that mirror was a world that was dangerous and strange compared to Equestria, but I was not afraid of those rumors. I knew that anywhere was a better place to pass on my family lineage than under the iron hoof of Celestia. I took a look up to the moon, where the Mare on the moon was in full view, and I took a deep breath. "Princess Luna, you gave my Pa the strength to fight in your name... Give us the strength to live in this other world. I will not let your last soldier's blood fade from existence. We will continue your children's legacy." And with that I lifted my hood and walked into the mirror, feeling the warmth of the portal envelope me. I didn't know where I was going to wake up, but it didn't matter, as long as I left my legacy in Pa's name. As long as we all kept the legacy of the Soldiers of the Night.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
I closed the old journal and looked up at Princess Luna, confused about why she showed me this ancient story. "Princess, what does this have to do with me? I'm not a pony by birth."
"True, my child, but you possess the same spirit as my old friend, Green Jack. Like you, he was a helpful and kind pony who put others before himself, no mater the risk. I was once proud to call him my friend."
"But princess, I'm not as noble as him."
"Of course you are, child. Green Jack is your ancestor, after all."
"M-My ancestor?!"
"You were born human, but carry the same blood and instincts of an Equestrian."
In shock I started to loose my balance, but then I felt Luna's wing wrap around me gently. I was confused about how this happened, but instead of going through the troubling process of questioning it, I looked up at Luna and smiled a little. "I guess this was where I belong after all."
"Indeed it was, my child... Indeed it was, James."
As it was late, and her wing felt so warm around me, I soon drifted away into a deep slumber, laying beside the princess, listening to the discordant, yet soothing sounds of the Everfree Forest.
Author's Note
A couple weeks ago, on April 30th, my grandpa passed away. I received the news after listening to Soldiers Of The Noght for the millionth time, and I decided to write something to honor the old man. This story wraps his personality into a pony and puts him into the position of a Soldier Of The Night. I hope you like the story.
Rest In Peace, Pa.
