Luna
I paced around the dining hall rapidly as i thought about what happened. I had tears going down my face as i tried to deny the events that had transpired. “Its going to be fine Luna!” I told my self. “He-He-He will probably be fine! He was fne last time he got killed! Yes! Thats right, he’ll be absolutely fine!” Celestia watched from the table alongside Starswirl. He still had his head leaned miserably on the table.
“Luna!” Tia called out to me. I stopped pacing and looked at her. “Night will be fine, ok?” She tried to reassure me. I know hes been dead before, but......if he can just come back to life, why has he been gone so long? I started pacing again. What if...What if he could only do it one time? These thoughts continued to plague me even as the doors burst open.
“We came as fast as we could!!” Black Iron shouted out Silver wing, Moon Beam, and Luna Lotus ran in beside him. “What happened!?”
“Is Night ok!? Where is he?” Silver frantically looked around as Moon and Lotus looked at each other in worry. I just stopped and pointed at a cloth covered lump on the table. “No.....” Silver ran up to the table and yanked back the cloth. The others followed her as I sat down and cried. Night lay on the table, cold amd still. His feathers had turned pitch black when he died. His eyes where closed and he had an almost peaceful look on his face.
“You.....” Silver turned to look at Starswirl. She had murder in her eyes, and all could see it.
“Silver!” Tia shouted. “Don't do anything you’ll regret.”
“Oh don’t worry princess. I won’t regret it.” Silver lept at Swirl, intent on choking to life from him. Just before her hooves touched him she stopped midair. “What the-!?” She looked down to see a yellow telekinesis field holding her. “Grrrr! Let me go!” Swirl didn’t even look up from his position as Celestia held back Silver.
“That’s enough!” Celestia’s voice rang out through the room. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Celestia. “Now, I believe there has been enough death today. Silver, I’m going to let you down. And when I do, I expect you to stand still and be silent!” Tia unceremoniously dropped Silver onto the table. She scrambled to her hooves and stood stiffly.
“We don’t know for sure if Night is really dead or not.” Tia started,
“What do you mean? Hes right here!” Lotus cried out.
“Be silent!” Celestia yelled. Everyone, including me, pinned their ears onto their head. “Night has been dead before. The shadow killed him, and he came back to us. So, with that knowledge, I believe he will do so again. He can come back like a phoenix, and like a phoenix it will most likely be bright and flashy when he comes back.” Celestia took a breath. “I want you to take several guards with you and search the forest. It shouldn’t be hard to find where he is.”
Iron snapped a salute. “Yes ma’am, we will leave at once.” He walked up to the grief stricken Silver and dragged her out the door behind him. Lotus and Moon looked at Night’s body once more before leaving as well.
“I hope you're right sister. I really do.” I told Tia. I walked over to the table and sat down beside Night.
Night Wing
I shot through the sky towards the castle. The cool night air whistled past me as the tree tops blurred by. I can’t believe Swirl killed me! I dodged around a tall tree and continued toward the castle. When someone says, ‘Hey! You should stop!’ You should probably stop! Especially when you’re dealing with dangerous magic! I rose up higher in the sky, breaking through the cloud layer.
The clouds were thick tonight and the moon reflected off of them beautifully. It actually helped me to calm down as I flew over them. Even if I did just get killed, I can’t say I regret being here. I slowed down and glided over the silvery sea. I have a family again. And I get to do and see things that I never could on earth. I descended into the tops of the clouds, letting them flow over my wings as I flew. I could see the castle through a hole in the clouds, it wasn’t very far now.
I had calmed down during the flight, and didn’t feel like strangling Swirl anymore. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t have revenge. I dove down toward Swirl’s room and landed on the balcony quietly. I could see a lump through the window, slowly rising and falling under the sheets. Puuuuuuurfect. I opened the door slowly and slipped into the room. I quietly closed the door behind me and made my way over to the bed. Now, how to do this.... I pondered Over what exactly I was going to do for a moment. Aha! I leaned over the bed and turned my feathers black. Then I made the feathers around my eyes glow red. I put my face right next to Swirl’s and waited a moment.
“CHKCHKCHKCHK!” I made a loud clicking noise. Starswirl’s eyes snapped open.
Luna
“AAAAAAAAAAAH!!” A scream echoed through the castle. I jumped out of my bed and looked around my room. “AAAAAH!” That sounded like Starswirl! I ran out of my room and down the hall, all sorts of images flashing through my mind. Did Silver come back for him!? Ooooh! I ran even faster until I reached his door. Then I turned around and bucked it open. Nothing could prepare me for what I saw inside.
I saw Night standing to the side with an evil smile, and in the center of the room where two portals. One on the roof and one on the floor. Starswirl was falling through them with and ever increasing speed. “AAAAH!! Please! Stop! I already said I was sorry!”
“Hur hur hur!” Night just laughed as he fell even faster. ‘Oh man, I love portals!’ He looked at me. His smile quickly disappeared when he saw the tears on my face. ‘Luna! Are you ok!?’ He ran up to me and hugged me.
“I though you were gone!” I sobbed onto his shoulder. I cried harder than I ever had before. “I’m so glad your ok!” I squeezed him as hard as I could. I didn’t ever want to let him go.
“What’s going on in here!?” Celestia ran in. “What in the world.....” She stopped when she saw Starswirl falling. Then she saw me and Night to the side. “NIGHTWING!” She jumped onto us and hugged us. “Your back! I knew you would be ok. You had to be.” She sniffled as we all held each other. “I don’t know what we would do if your weren’t ok.”
“Somebody! Heeeeeeelp!” Swirl yelled in the background. I ignored him as I hugged Night.
Night Wing
We all sat around the dining hall table. My old body was laid on the table like a dark version of myself. I picked up one of the talons and dropped it down again. It hit the solid wood with a THUMP. ’Starswirl.’
“Yes?” He looked at me with sorrowful eyes.
‘Why, when I told you to stop, did you not stop the spell?’ I turned to glare at him.
“What?” Luna and Celestia both looked at Swirl as Celestia spoke up. “What exactly happened down in the lab?”
‘I’ll tell you what happened.’ I looked them in the eyes. ‘Starswirl made a mistake. A big one.’ I looked back at Swirl. ‘I was teaching him the portal spell, he has been begging me to teach him as you both know.’ I stood from the table and started pacing on the stone floor. ‘The spell required a lot of mana. I was confident Starswirl could handle it for a short while. And I was right. He opened up a portal successfully.’ I stopped pacing and looked at Swirl once more. His mane was a mess and his eyes had bags under them. ‘But then it started to destabilize. He couldn’t keep that amount of mana flowing through his horn and keep it stable, not the first time he tried the spell. I did it on accident the first time I cast the spell. So the portal collapsed and the energy had to go somewhere. Unfortunately that somewhere was my neck.’ I walked up to my dead body and turned the head, showing the hole where the left side used to be.
“Night. I am so sor-.” Swirl began.
‘It hurt Starswirl. A lot. But you know what hurt more than choking to death?’ I spun around to face him, anger in my eyes. ‘What hurts more was that I got killed by my family, because they couldn’t listen to me.’ I walked up to him. ‘Why didn’t you stop Swirl? You had to know you couldn’t keep up the spell. You’ve been a mage for nearly a hundred years!’ I patiently waited for an answer.
“I....I was cocky.” He hung his head in shame. “For years I have been the powerful mage that everyone looks up to. I know more about magic than anyone, I have more practice and experience, and I have been alive for a very long time.” He looked back up at us. “So when you made a new spell.....well, how could I resist learning it? And when you finally agreed to teach me.....I suppose I felt I could handle it with no problem. I have always done magic with ease, why would this be any different.” He looked down again. “Sadly I was very wrong. I thought I could do it perfectly on the first try. I let my pride get the better of me. And it cost us all dearly.” He activated his magic and levitated off his wizard hat. He spun it in front of him as he stared into space.
“I am not going to live forever, in fact I fear my time will come soon. And as much as it pains me to do so......I must step down as the royal mage. There are other ponies that are better suited for this position.” He sighed. “I am sorry Night. I do hope you can forgive me for this mistake.” He set his hat on the table and looked at us sadly. He stood from the table and walked toward the door. We all watched as he left, unable to say anything. I'm sorry as well Swirl. And I already have forgiven you. I just don’t want you to make this mistake again.
Just before Swirl reached the door, it opened in front of him. Silver, Iron, Lotus, and Moon walked in as he walked out. Silver gave him a glare but said nothing as they approached the table. “Your majesties, we have found a clearing in the for-.” Silver stopped as she noticed me. The next thing I knew I was on the floor as she hugged me. “Thank the sky your ok!” She squeezed me more.
“So, he really does come back huh?” Lotus thought out loud. She smiled as she walked over to me. “Well Captain, this is one of the few times I’ve been happy I didn’t get a promotion.”
“You wouldn’t have been promoted if Night died.” Iron raised an eyebrow at Lotus.
“Oh shut it Blacky.” She smirked at him. “You’re ruining the moment.”
ice breath for night
fire breath for phoenixes
make it happen my friend
Interesting i Wonder how Star Swirl is going to dead
someone got an ice bag for this poor fool? that was a wicked burn.
Okay, 1: that's kinda sad, regarding Starswirl, as much as he might deserve it.
But 2: that portal punishment is hilarious. I only ever thought of it as a way to gain momentum in the portal games, but I guess that it is a great torture method too.
However, the question really is, how did they get him down?
9149747
They just shut off the portals and watched Starswirl go bouncing on the floor......or they hilariously tried to get him out while the portals were active and all got pulled in.....Lol, I didn’t think that far into it.
9149673
*thinking face*
You’ve got my support!
9149785
You've got to remember that, as Starswirl said himself, he is very old. That was the equivilent of dropping a 70 year old off of the roof of a house, if they got rid of the portals. If not, I'm kinda imagining one of them getting hit by Starswirl and getting caught in the portal as they try to grab him.
One question I have, what about the blue steal that was made of his feathers? You said in the last chapter that Luna’s breastplate ternd black.
Silver x night, silver x night, silver x night! *chanting continues * 😂😂😂
Great chapters as always. A couple spelling errors both nothing crazy. Loved the interaction between the characters this time around
Soooo is this going to be a recurring thing of him dying and leaving behind corpses?
Because it would be great if there was a reserved cemetery in the Castle and later Canterlot solely for all of Night's many deaths. With each gravestone having the name of the person who killed him in big blocky letters.
Several of which have his own guard's names appearing and perhaps multiple instances of Celestia or Luna's name
Great story! Love all of these adventures of Magic Birb!
The part where Starswirl was falling through two portals gave me such nostalgia of Portal and the Chapter was really good, like always
9149673
I approve
9149747
Magic?
9149922
... I feel dumb now. Yeah. Magic. That works.
I was imagining Luna just charging at Starswirl as he slowly became a blur. But magic is a good point... Cos, y'know. Ponies.
Jest helped me "write" this chapter. Right is the opposite of left. Or might makes right.
9149673
Have my vote.
It was a nice chapter, but you should probably explaine why he left a dead body behind this time when he died, and why the metall changed color even if only temporary during his downtime.
9150015
The metal could probably do with some explaining, but I think I know about the body. The last time he died he was torn apart and eaten. If the shadow didn't eat him, then that meant there were pieces in a town long abandoned by the townsfolk, which means there would be no reason to see a body again storywise.
9150015
His feathers turn black when he dies, the metal is made from his feathers, it's not a leap in logic that when he dies the metal would also turn black.
9150351
But why... Is the metal bound to his body, his magic, his soul?.... if the answer is his soul than he is screwed!. say hello to friendly necromancers or other soul magic wielders. If it is his body then why, it would have to be tuned to something to hold that link to start with.
And if the metal is bound to his personal magic pool or soul, then If someone gets their hands on one of the items made with his feathers they can cripple him with casting of spells or possibly dominate him from afar.
So Night Wing did neither re-birth (like phoenix) nor regenerating, but instead got conjured into a new body? Quite a strange kind of immortality here. But, again, what would he do with his old body?
9150364
It’s simply a change in the metal that happens when he dies. Nothing more, nothing less. I may do more with it later, but for now it just turns black when he’s dead, then goes back to normal when he revives.
9150776
Sooo, it's not bound to "original" body and don't lose properties when it's dead. Good to know.
If it wasn't so - it could be an interesting mechanism to protect anything he made. Something he made got to the wrong hooves/claws - just one suicide and magical things is null and void.
Also mentioned above idea with personal cemetery is awesome and stupid at the same time.
Yes it's somewhat funny and symbolic, but at the same time it reveals that he isn't mortal. No more element of surprise.
9150620
I think that after a while he'll just start eating his old body
9151260
He does change colors a couple times when he gets mad.
9151267
I wonder what I would taste like when I died...
9151887
Now now, we wouldn't want to make Golden panic to much! After all, I need her alive...…MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
I was a bit surprised. I expected them to not know that he is immortal. I mean, the one time he died it seemed like the others thought that he survived the beast simply. Back then there was no reaction indicating they knew about this ability. I mean they would have talked with him about it I imagine and there was just no talk mentioning that. Coming back to life is after all nothing normal. Regenerative abilities were much more likely compared to rebirth and I personally thought that this was the conclusion they would reach instead of the truth. I guess that is something that I missed in the chapters of his first death.
Also I miss snuggles. It is hard to tell with Nightwing if he is snuggling often or not seeing as it is not so often mentioned here and there. I mean then the snuggle thing started with the bat ponies I thought it would be a more defining aspect of this character and he would get a snuggle harem or have later than changelings for snuggling as an example. Just something about his character I wasn't sure about.
great chapter
Okay, so two things, one story related, one business related.
What happened to Misty and the others? They seem to have missed the time gap train and fallen in obscurity.
You have an editor, okay, but do you have a proofreader? Someone to correct the grammatical and spelling mistakes? Or does your editor say they do that too, but still miss a bunch?
9154822
Excellent question! Im surprised your the first to ask it. Misty and the others are still around. They have just drifted off in their own lives. They will be reintroduced later.
On the matter of a proof reader....im not sure. I always thought an editor was a proof reader. And any mistakes I miss I usually correct later.
9159498
Editors can usually proof read if they want to, but more often they're more for restructuring sentences, improving or clarifying them or making your ideas more clear. Proof readers are more for error checking, spelling, grammar and the like; sometimes I'll point something out to the editor if something doesn't make sense to me and help them that way as well.
9199180
It has been fixed
Rereading this already (you can tell I get bored really quickly), and I have a few questions as a result:
How big is Nightwing? I might've missed something, but I'm having a real hard time trying to find any size comparasions. He can carry a filly in his claws, and is a 'huge hawk', but that's as much as I got.
Will the human world come into play? Starswirl made the mirror portal there, and we've already come across the sirens. Add that to the fact that Nightwing was originally a human, and all this could create an possible and interesting story arc.
Hey, random thought, maybe Nightwing gets stuck in the human world? If this fic will end up playing catch up to the show, that might be a good way to fast forward time. Also explains why Starswirl made the mirror in the first place, if Night takes one of his own portals there.
I also want to know how far time line wise is this story gonna go. Will it be to Nightmare Moon (if she even ends up existing, I see that Alt. Universe tag), or perhaps even getting to the show? Or is all that spoilers?
9208847
Good questions and ideas! I can’t efen answer some of the questions! I plan for this story to take place over one thousand years, plus a hundred or so. We’ll see what happens when I get there. Currently Nightwing has been in Equestria for......X amount of years? XD It’s been about two years or so. So I have quite a ways to go. And, of course, there will be a few time skips. I will tell you however, I’m not going to write 1000 years later. I have things planned throughout those years.
Onto the Human world question.........I’m honestly not sure.
Night wing’s size? He is around the size of a full grown pony....currently. (Cough hint hint cough)
Some of your questions I can’t answer because I want people to figure it out. But it’s ok! You will have plenty of space bird to read!
9208947
First off: 'space bird' hehe. I don't know why, but I find that hilarious.
And I sort of suspected a lot of these answers were the, well, answers. It's sort of annoying, but I can't blame you. This story just has so many directions to go in, and very little hints for the future (apart from the one you literally just said.)
Eh, whatever. So long as the story continues, we'll get answers.
You're*
9150620
Lotus: "Silver! Did you say you were just about to bury Nightwing's corpse?"
Silver: "Yes, I did."
Lotus: "I'm shocked! Shocked and dismayed. May I remind you that we are short on supplies here? We can't afford to take perfectly good magical feathers and throw them into a hole in the ground! Always pluck the birb bald first--I've told you that before!"
*Silver nods meekly*
Lotus: "Sorry, Captain Nightwing. She meant to say, 'plucked naked and tossed into the latrine pit'. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused."
Celestia and Luna: ""
9312830
Statement: .....No. *CAT SLAP*
Ok so he regenerates like a phoenix, right? Then why is it that he doesn’t appear where he died and his body is left behind? Phoenixes regenerate via bursting into flames and turning to ash. Within that ash (depending on who you ask) either an egg appears or a new Phoenix is born, with the former hatching soon after. The rebirth happens where the Phoenix died.
Night here seems to work completely differently. For starters, when he dies he doesn’t burst into flames or melt or explode or anything. His body remains. Secondly, he is not rebirthed, but instead regenerated. Thirdly, he appears in the forest instead of where he dies.
You say he regenerates like a Phoenix but I say no, he doesn’t at all regenerate like a phoenix. There are 0 similarities.
Its equestria there will be differences than normal mythology
9386295
The previous time he died he burst into snow. Idk why it's different this time
Now you’re thinking with portals
10/10. A way better revenge than i predicted