The group of four crouched in the grass, staring at the shack from a good distance away. The door swung open with an ominous creak. From inside, a mare stepped out. She looked worn down, like she was half dead already. She looked around nervously, as if even the grass around her wasn't exempt from concern. Anything could attack her, and she seemed to be preparing herself for it. Only when she was sure did she take quick, frightful dashes of steps around her shack towards a worn down well that used to service it.

Night looked from one to another. "Let's go," he whispered. He pushed the grass aside, lifting off his front hooves. "Come on!"

Merry put a hoof on his shoulder. "I was expecting a bad pony, not—" She waved a hoof slowly at the skulking and defeated pony. "that. I feel like we're just picking on her."

The mare took some water into a cup, and sipped it.

Dawn watched the mare carefully, frowning at the way she moved, and how she acted so scared of everything around her. "If she was in jail, and expects somepony to come catch her, that explains a lot of it."

Star grumbled under her breath. "We should still go grab her."

"Why?" Merry said with a shake of her head. "She doesn't seem dangerous, and she's just getting a drink." She gestured at the nearby well with a hoof. "Ponies are allowed to do that."

Night groaned at her. "You have a point. A really good one." He pointed at her. "Let me think."

Star nodded and crossed her legs. She settled into a sitting pose, staring at the shack in the woods. The mare returned inside, closing the door with care. She had looked around cautiously before returning. "I say we talk to her, and ask her why she was put in prison. If it was for a good reason, then we grab her."

Merry shook her head. "We shouldn't ask her anything. It'll be too obvious at that point."

Night grunted in frustration. "It's not the easy way." He took a slower breath. "But we don't live the easy way." He looked over to Dawn, who was staring intently at the house.

"Uh, Dawn, what are you doing?" Night asked.

Dawn blinked and turned away from the house. "I've been trying to listen to her in there." He pointed towards the shack. "She's whispering, to herself I think."

"Something scary?" Merry leaned in, squinting at the shack.

"I don't know." They shivered. "I only hear little snips and snatches of things." Their ears twitched as they concentrated on the noises inside.

Night stepped forward. "We'll find out. Let's turn down the lights."

Star nodded and her horn glowed. Darkness seeped out, spreading around them. It crept across the grass like a slow wave. When it reached the house, it began creeping up the sides of the walls and roof.

When it was all dark, Night closed the distance to the door at an easy trot and knocked on it directly. "Miss?" He backed up in a dart a few feet away.

A moment later, the door creaked open with a slow swing. The mare peeked her head out, glancing left then right.

"I think she can't see us," said Star in a low whisper.

Night nodded. "That was the idea. Miss? Sorry to bother you, but we have a question. Why were you put in prison?"

The mare stared off into the darkness. She shuddered quietly before looking down at herself. "I'll tell ya, I guess, if yer goan' to stand around and ask things." She sank miserably. "Inner beasts don't always come out like that. Musta ate somethin'."

"We, well," Night stammered. He turned away, thinking hard on it.

Dawn stepped closer. "Miss, are you really so dangerous? Is there something we should be afraid of?"

The mare let out a slow breath, head hanging down. "Maybe ya should be."

Star gasped softly at the response.

Night stood his ground. "What did you do? Why are the guards chasing after you?"

"I tried killin' somepony." She laughed bitterly. "Almost worked, jus' got me thrown away."

Night scowled, pointing at her. "She's a bad pony. Let's get her," he whispered to his co-conspirators.

The mare looked around wildly. "Who was that?! Who said that?" Her eyes narrowed as she focused on them, even though she couldn't really see. "Are you the voice? Are ya the voice in ma head, come to take me?"

Merry didn't look confident entirely, but didn't back away either. With a sudden grunt, she charged forward, crashing right into the mare. Both went tumbling, the mare weaker than she even looked.

Star and Dawn rushed in with ropes, wrapping the mare up.

She tried to flee, thrashing. "I'm dangerous! Leave me alone!" she screeched at the top of her lungs, throwing herself around as much as she could. But the gang of foals proved to be more than enough to handle her weakened form. The darkness faded, no longer being concentrated on, and returning sight to the mare and Merry.

Night pointed at the mare with a smile. "Alright! We got a bad guy, so now we just need to get her back to town." He turned around and looked back the way they had come, then back to her. "We'll work together."

With Merry on one side and Night on the other, they hefted up the mare, quietly sobbing, onto their shared backs.

Dawn fluttered overhead. Star brought up the rear of the group.

"This will show everypony," Dawn smiled with clear victory.

***

They didn't get to where they were planning. The guards spotted them long before then, rushing up. "Who's that?" asked one as they closed the distance. Able to examine her properly, he gasped, lowering his spear. "That's one of the escapees!"

"Good job little foals," said another guard. He looked at them with a bright smile, lifting up the mare. "We'll handle this one."

"Please don't hurt her!" Merry stepped forward, looking nervous for the mare she'd just helped capture. "She's not dangerous."

The guard shook his head. "We won't hurt her. She has a jailcell with her name waiting for her. Tell us your names, little ones."

The group introduced themselves one by one.

"Well, that's very interesting. We'll be sure to let Princess Celestia know how helpful you've been."

"So, when will she be coming?" Dawn fluttered in front of the guard, looking him in the eyes.

The guard gently pushed her back. "I can't say with certainty when she'll visit a specific little town like this. We are guards, not her schedule-makers."

"Secretary?" asked the other, inspecting the mare's ropes. "We sure ain't one of those."

The foals looked at one another, smiling with excitement and pride. They'd done something good for the town and proven they were heroes.

As the guards moved off with their captured prisoner, Star turned to the other foals with a pleased expression. "See, we helped." A thought came to her, causing a frown. "But why didn't she look dangerous? She looked sick and weak."

Merry shrugged. "Maybe she was just pretending?" She didn't look so convinced by that. "I don't think it's that simple."

"We should tell the town about this." Night bounced with clear energy. "Everypony'll want to hear how we saved them from a bad pony."

"Right!" The other three cheered in unison with their approval.

The group of foals parted ways as they stepped out, going in different directions to spread the word about what they'd done. Some of the adults nodded along with their words, while others looked doubtful. It didn't matter. They'd gotten some attention, and a few ponies who didn't believe them went to check with the guards and ask if that really happened.

As they met up again at Miss Sweep's house, the foals were practically bouncing with energy and pride. Dawn pointed a wing at the house. "Come inside, Merry. We'd love to introduce you to our mom. She's really nice."

Merry nodded and followed the group inside.

"Miss Sweep?" Star peeked in slowly. "I don't think she's here." She lifted her head and called for their mother once more.

"I was taking a nap." Sweep walked in at a casual pace, yawning. "Oh." She stopped, spotting Merry. "Look at this. You all made a new friend?" Her voice had a twinge of both surprise and pleasure to it. She leaned down to get a closer look at Merry, who blushed lightly. "Ain't you cute? I'm Miss Sweep." She hurried right past towards the kitchen. "Let me get something for your bellies."

The foals all followed Miss Sweep into the kitchen. The instant they got in there, she started pulling out ingredients and setting them up on the counter.

"You don't have to go to any trouble," Merry said shyly, looking over at the other foals.

Night snickered softly. "You can't stop her once she gets cooking, and it's always worth it." He opened up a drawer to reveal stacks of recipes. "She likes making treats. It's basically all we eat."

Merry raised an eyebrow. "That sounds a little unhealthy."

Sweets looked over her shoulder. "They're layin' it on thick. They get three square meals and a few snacks at times. Don't ya worry about them."

As they spoke, Miss Sweep started humming to herself, putting together the first of the treats she planned to serve.

Merry stepped up beside Night. "So, your momma seems real nice."

Night whirled towards her. "She's the best. Um, she's not our mom mom, but she took us in, and that makes her even nicer." He smiled warmly. "She's like the mom we all wished we had."

Star nodded slowly. She looked down at her hooves. "Our parents didn't really like us. They were scared." She sighed with distant memories. "But Miss Sweep does, and we love her back."

"Aw." Sweep placed a bowl of easily grabbed yummies down on the table. "Nice to hear that once in a while." Food out of her hooves, she grabbed up her foals for a good hug. She held them close, kissing each on the cheeks. "So sweet! And I love you all back."

The foals blushed as one at those warm words, squirming only a little bit in her grip.

Merry giggled at the sight. "I'm glad you have a good family. My family's nice too. Different than yours, but nice." She smiled brightly, taking up a bit of food to nibble on.

Dawn flitted about the room as he nibbled on a cookie from the bowl. "It'd be really neat if we could find more ponies like us."

Night raised a doubting brow. "I don't think there are more Eclipse Born. We're lucky we found each other." He looked down thoughtfully for a moment, trying to remember something. "I don't think any other town is supposed to have ponies like us."

"I know." Dawn shook his head, looking down.

Merry cleared her throat softly. "What's an 'Eclipse Born', anyway?"

Dawn looked to her with surprise, then to his siblings, who all seemed equally shocked. "How do you not know about Eclipse Born?" He shook his head. "Um, well, they're born under an eclipse." He nodded quickly. "The special one. We were born at just the right time, or wrong time, depending on who you ask."

Star waved a hoof. "Ponies think that means we're bad. But it just means we're different."

Night nodded in agreement, shuffling over to sit next to her. "We don't have anything wrong with us. Some of us can do odd things. I just like magic, and that isn't that strange, um, is it?"

"It's not," Dawn agreed with a nod.

"Not one bit." Star smiled at Night. "I'm glad you like magic. It suits you."

"Right?!" Dawn fluttered up into the air again.

Merry sat back, looking from one of them to the other as they talked. "You made that dark. That was, um, unusual. I couldn't see, but you all acted like you could."

The others exchanged looks.

"We could," Dawn answered with a nod.

"How?" Merry leaned over, looking curious.

"Easy. We can all see in the dark, because we're Eclipse Born," Night said simply, as if that was a complete answer. "Oh, oops, guess I do have one small odd thing." He laughed with obvious tension, glancing away.

"Neat." Merry looked far more intrigued than scared by it. "What can—"

Dawn landed before her, wings turned into leathery bat wings and the rest of him changed with it, a bat pony instead of a pegasus. "I can do this."

Merry stared at Dawn, eyes wide. "Whoa. What else can you turn into? Oh, what about flying? Are your wings stronger like that? Or—"

Dawn laughed, looking pleased at the attention. "It's different. My ears are more sensitive when I'm like this. My wings aren't stronger, but I can do sharper turns. It feels a bit different, and oh, I can do this." They squeaked like a squeezed toy as they flitted around in a circle.

Merry watched with delight as they talked. "Can I touch your wing?" She reached up, carefully touching the base of it. He didn't resist as she explored curiously. "Wow. I never saw a pony with wings like this." She looked him in the eyes. "You look so different, but not in a bad way."

Dawn blushed lightly, glancing away with a shy smile. "Thanks. I don't use it often, though." He returned to his normal pegasus form, wings feathery instead of leather.

"I can't believe it," she murmured, looking down. "So, what can you two do? Night can cast spells that are a little unusual, and Dawn turns into a bat pony. That leaves Star."

Star blushed faintly, looking at Night. "I don't have anything as neat as them. You already saw mine. I'm the pony that made all that dark, so we could talk to that mare."

Night nodded quickly, looking over at Star. He spoke with clear conviction. "It's really neat!" He pointed a hoof up towards the ceiling. "She's great with her magic."

Star shook her head furiously. "Not nearly as good as you! Darkness is my main 'spell' and I don't even think it's really a spell."

"Sure it is." Night stepped over, hugging her gently with a wing. "I know you don't think of yourself like that, but we both work real hard. You just haven't figured yours out yet."

Star wrinkled her snout. "There's not much to figure out. I do it, and things get dark. Isn't that it?"

Night put his hoof around Star. "You can do a lot more with your magic if you just let it be a part of yourself." He tapped his head with his free hoof. "Think about it. Right now, you just make you and everything around you dark, but what if you could make specific things dark."

He moved in aside Merry. "If you made it dark just around Merry, she couldn't see. We wouldn't do that to Merry, but somepony we wanted to not see?"

"Oh." Star smiled warmly, her cheeks reddening from the attention. "You really believe in me. Thank you, Night. But how would I make it do that?"

Night reached out one wing, which had become a bat wing despite his other still being a feathery pegasus one. "Like this. At first, I could only do all of it at once, but I practiced and got better control, slowly."

Star stared at him with confusion, then down at herself. "So, I need to imagine my magic only happening in one place?"

"Try it," Night said simply.

She turned her focus towards Merry, closing her eyes. "Is it okay, Merry? I don't want to scare you."

Merry laughed and shook her head. "It's just a little darkness." She spread her hooves out. "Do it, Star."

Star nodded and closed her eyes. She concentrated, her horn glowing as she tried to guide the darkness to just Merry.

The darkness came, but it was a floating ball just between them, floating harmlessly there.

Merry inclined her head at it. "Close."

Star opened her eyes to see what she had done. "Oh, but, wow! That means I can do it." She applauded despite her failure to blind Merry. "I'm going to have to practice a lot more." She clapped her hooves. "I'll save that for later."

Merry nodded, looking from one to the other. "That's real cool you all have these gifts." She looked at each of the foals, smiling. "I'm so glad we're friends now." She put a hoof to her cheek. "But I don't have any of that. I'm just a pony. A little strong for my age, but that's about it."

Dawn shook her head. "It's nice having somepony normal around. I mean—" She blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Um, I didn't mean it that way."

Night closed in on Merry's side, leaning against her a little. "You don't need to be anything but what you already are, which is great."

She gave him a hug, nuzzling gently into him. "Thanks. That means a lot." She looked down as she spoke, then up and around at them all again, a smile on her lips. "You're a lot nicer than some of the whispers I heard. I knew they were a bunch of nonsense anyway."

Author's Note

They did the thing! Now everyone will love them, right? Merry seems to like them at least.

Join the special community of folks who like my stories and/or get your own here at atreon!

Don't want to do an ongoing thing? You could

Join my discord to chat!