Darkness Falls, Brightness Rises
I woke up, praying that the previous events had been a dream. Seeing the bars in front of me stopped that hope. Upon self inspection, I saw that my dark blue fur was matted down and stained red in some places. I saw my wings, those that marked me different than the other ponies. Those that condemned me to a life in darkness else the moisture in my body be gone. Those that marked a Night Pegasus. There were small tears in them, constantly sending throbbing pain through my body. The cell I was in had dust aplenty, along with cracks and a hole in the bottom of the cell for excretion.
I heard a banging noise on the bars. I looked at the bars and saw a griffon. It looked somewhat different than the normal griffons, it had a pure black body, and what looked like a panther and raven mix. All of my intelligence for griffons burst to the forefront. Raven types were supposedly smarter and faster of thinking than the other griffons and panther types were supposed to be agile, cold beings with little to no remorse. I didn't like the idea of a mix between the two.
"Food time for the dark pony!" the griffon said in an almost gleeful tone. He tossed a piece of meat into the cell. At first I balked at the idea. I knew I could eat it but being raised by ponies tends to make you squeamish about eating living things, especially considering we had seen a cow farm on the way here. I gave in at the end because of extreme pain in my gut. I started eating the meat, I was disgusted at first but as I got in the taste drew me in. It was seasoned pretty well with a good amount of pepper, I was glad they didn't put any salt on it.
A Night Unicorn I knew as Shadowburst yelled at me from the other side of the cell block. "Why? You know they have a cow farm, right Shadow Strike?" I nodded. "Why would you eat it then?" He was extremely disgusted.
I looked at him. "Burst, it doesn't matter if we eat it or not, the cow, if it is that, is already dead, if we don't eat it they'll have died for nothing," He looked disgusted with me. "There's also the fact that we will die if we don't, don't you want to go back to your family?" Even I was disgusted with suggesting it to him. I remembered his brother though. He would want his sibling to come back home. Burst was considering it for a second. He nodded, but had a disappointed look on his face. He went deeper into his cell and grabbed a piece of meat. I was just wishing that we didn't get issued the order to come here to spy on the griffons.
Our Princess of the Night was looking at us. She had a sad look on her face. "I will be sending you to the griffon lands..." I still remembered the first time she talked to us in the normal way. We were all shocked by the fact that the Princess who had always been speaking in an archaic way was able to talk like that. "...I didn't want to send you ponies to do this but Sister told me that she wouldn't send her ponies. Do you understand your task?" She looked truly sad.
"YES PRINCESS!" was the overwhelming reply. We traveled towards the griffon lands, no clue in our minds that we would end up in a griffon jail just a week after.
Burst was looking at me. I looked back. "Are we going to die Strike?" I continued to look at him as sadness creeped in. I was distracted from answering by a large banging noise at the end of the cell block.
I gazed down there and saw a manticore and hawk mix. He was walking down towards us with the rest of our group of soldiers. The griffon unlocked the cages and hooked us onto the leash. We were malnourished so we couldn't do much against the chains or the griffon. We were dragged along to an open field outside. The griffon staked the leash down at both ends. It was dark out, but the sun was coming. I was terrified, and for good reason. Night ponies of all three types burned when the sun was out.
I was a few years old, playing in the playroom and I noticed a window. My natural curiosity led me to want to see what was outside. Normally, I'd be asleep by now but the previous night had left me full of energy. I trotted over to the window. I placed my wing at the bottom of the blind and started to lift it up.
The sunlight hit my wing and my back and I suddenly felt an extreme pain. My wing dropped the window and I noticed extreme burns. I started crying very loudly, I was just a child after all. My mother, a shadow unicorn came in and healed me. I remembered not to go near daylight again.
The griffon looked at all of us. "Now, you may be wondering why I brought you out here today. The answer is, your Princesses sent you ponies out here to spy on us, and I remember learning that Night Ponies, like yourselves are very weak to sunlight. The sunrise will be coming very soon. Any questions?" A few of us raised our hooves. "That was rhetorical, goodbye," He had a sadistic glee in his voice.
One of the Night Bases tried to break the chains. Even their increased strength wouldn't let them break it. One of the Night Unicorns fired off the Dark Communication spell. He talked with Luna. I settled down for my fate. I knew when I was beaten. The night lasted longer then it should have, but the first rays of sunshine came through anyways.
When the sun's rays landed on me, I started burning. I didn't scream but it hurt. It hurt a lot.
I was in the throne room, hoping that my ponies wouldn't get hurt by the griffons. My sister had forced me to use my soldiers to spy on the griffons. I felt a small connection to one of my unicorns. Hello Onyx, how goes the griffon event? I was very worried because I had told them to only communicate like that to me if there was an emergency. He seemed very worried in the call as well. The griffons have captured us and are planning to leave us out at sunrise! I was shocked. Normally the griffons would not instantly kill any invaders. They would bargain. I couldn't leave my ponies to their death, so when the time for sunrise came around, I didn't lower the moon.
Celestia came to me when she saw. "Sister, why won't you lower the moon?" I shook my head. "My little ponies will be nervous! We can't leave the moon up," I saw worry for her ponies in her eyes. The ponies that lived their life in the day and slept all the way through my night. The ponies that insulted my ponies whenever they saw them, calling them freaks, monsters and abominations to ponykind.
"We shalt not lower the moon for thine subjects when there are more of our subjects out there about to be removed from life by thine sun," I hate talking like that but it's the only way she ever listens to me. How could she ask that of me? It was already starting to get to dangerous levels of population for my ponies. If I try to talk in the way that ponies have been talking for centuries I won't be listened to.
"Your subjects, not ours. Ours are out there about to be awake and in need of the sun. Your ponies don't need the night," How could she? How dare she?! I glared at her.
"All ponies are worth life! Not just yours!" She sent a condescending look at me!
"Your subjects are not true ponies. You will put this nation above your feelings sister,"
"If the life of our subjects is at stake, then We will go to the ends of Equus to find a way to save them. If the night is what they require to not die, then the Night. Will Last. Forever!" I saw my coat darkening and my talent mark becoming a perversion of itself. I was still in control of my mental functions though. I felt her trying to take control of the moon. My moon. I sent a beam of energy at her and it actually hurt her, unlike the times I sparred with her before. I felt her grip the Elements. Why? She knows what they do to the beings they're used on! "Would you banish your own sister just because she is trying to save lives?" She continued to pull them out.
"You give me no choice, sister. If you will not see the light, you will see Harmony!" She shot the beam at me. I knew that I could try to evade them but I also knew how pointless that would be. The beam hit me, I immediately felt a bond to the moon. I was being dragged up, but it was slower than I thought it would be. I could see anywhere I wanted to for a little while. As I saw the sun rise, I looked at my troops in the griffon lands. They were looking at the sun with horror, except for one. Shadow Strike. He was looking at the sun with a grim certainty. I didn't want to see that anymore.
I looked to Mount Canter, and the bipedal statue on the top of said mountain. I was worried that we didn't make the right choice with him. He will be back some day.
Author's Note
I was feeling slightly depressed so I wrote this. Enjoy!
