Third Person
Sapphire quickly ran around her room, grabbing things from her shelves as tears fell from her face. She didn’t notice Celestia standing in the doorway, watching her. The stuff she was carrying fell to the the ground with a crash as Celestia cleared her throat.
“What are you doing Sapphire?” Celestia asked, already knowing the answer.
“I’m leaving.” Sapphire began picking up the things she dropped. “I can’t stay here. Not after....” She choked up, not able to continue.
“Where will you go?”
“East.” She slipped some books into the bag laying on the bed. “Maybe visit my relatives in the Griffin Empire. Someone needs to inform them of what has happened.” She seemed to think for a moment as she continued to empty shelves. “Then...I don’t know. I guess we’ll see where life takes me.” The latch on the bag closed with a click and she slid it onto her back. “I’ve already taken what I want from my mom’s room. You can keep the rest.” With that, she shoved past Celestia and disappeared down the hall. Celestia didn’t move for a long time, simply staring at the now empty room. Then she fell to her knees and sobs filled the quiet halls.
Night Wing
An Icy trail led from the forest to the shattered remains of Starswirl’s tower. I was at the end of the trail, simply sitting and staring up at the tainted moon. Craters now marred it’s surface, ruining the clean whiteness it once had. I felt no emotion at the moment. The guards had already collected Moon’s body, the other guards involved were in the hospital along with Celestia, and Sapphire was gone. And I....I was alone. Alone among the shattered remains of my old life. Countless magical artifacts surrounded me, most broken but some preserved, however they provided no distraction.
And then, I felt angry. I knew who was responsible for this. My claws dug into the dirt and ice started spreading even further along the ground. And I know how to deal with the person responsible. I stood quickly and started slowly walking through the rubble of the tower. I levitated the Elements from where Celestia dropped them on the ground, having passed out after the fight, and drug them through the air beside me. I heard the soft sound of leathery wings beside me and the sound of hooves hitting the dirt. My head snapped around with a glare to see Silver stopped just behind me.
“Night....” She stopped and looked away from my gaze, down to the ground. “What do we do?” I saw so many emotions in her eyes as she looked back up to me.
‘I don’t know.’ With that I turned around and resumed my walk away from the castle.
“Sir!” Silver Wing called out to me. “You are the leader of the Lunar Guards! What should we do?” Then she went silent, waiting for my answer.
‘Not anymore.’ I looked over my shoulder just enough to see her in my peripheral. ‘You will have to find a new leader. I am no longer a Captain of the Guard.’ I faced forward once more, expecting her to leave. What I didn’t expect was the sound of her wing blades being opened. I turned to face her fully, One of her wings pointed to the side and the other toward me, while she stared at me with a mixture of anger, sadness, and exhaustion.
“Please. Don’t do this Night.” Tears started forming in her eyes as her wings wavered. “Don’t make me lose another friend tonight.” Then her wings dropped and she just stared at me hopelessly.
‘I can’t Silver.’ I turned to once more try and walk away, only for the sound of blades in dirt to stop me. Once more I turned around. Only this time Silver had her front legs bent and her chest to the ground. Her wings were so low, the blades were cutting into the ground.
“I, Silver Wing, Hearby declare-“
‘What are you doing Silver?’ I asked, confused. Not that she could see my writing.
“-That I, as well as all my descendants, will forever be in servitude to the one know as Night Wing, former captain of the Lunar Guard.” With that she rose us again, tears falling from her face. A small smile worked its way into her face. “There. Now you have to stay with me.”
I just stared at her blankly. ‘Go pack your things.’ She saluted with a small smile and took off to the castle. I huffed and finally continued my walk to a large cavern not far from the castle. My rage steadily grew as I got closer, but I fought to keep it contained. Dirt fell over the edge as I left claw marks in the small trail down into the cavern. The snaps and pops of heating ice were all around me as the earth started to freeze. A soft glow filled the cavern as I reached the bottom, almost creating a comforting atmosphere.
The glow came from a crystal tree peacefully sitting among the rocks. I calmly approached the tree and sat beside it, thinking about what I was about to do. An eye for an eye. With that thought I reached out and gently touched the surface. Instantly I was pulled into my mind, where the all too familiar Harmony greeted me. She had a sad look on her face, as if she felt sorrow for the events the happened just hours ago.
‘You can stop pretending Harmony. I know you meant for all this to happen.’
“That doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad about it Night. And you know you can talk like normal here.” She took a step toward me which her hand outstretched, but I took a step away. She frowned more but didn’t come any closer.
‘I don’t want to use my voice for you. It would be a waste.’ I glared at her. ‘You think you can do whatever you want to create the perfect world don’t you? You even erased my memories so I couldn’t help her.’
“I did what I had to. Luna wi-“
‘Don’t say her name. You don’t deserve to say it.’ Harmony just glared at me in response.
“She will be back in one thousand years. You know this. You can live forever, it’s not as if you won’t ever see her again.”
‘Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? Just how far are you willing to go for your vision of perfection!?’
“I don’t want to make a perfect world Night. I want to make a safe world. And I will go however far it takes.”
‘Well did you ever consider what would happen if you went too far with the wrong person?’ Ice was starting to spread across the nonexistent floor in my mind.
“What would happen Night? Would someone come after me? I’m the protector of this world, wha-“ Suddenly her voice cut off. She felt her throat for a moment, a look of surprise on her throat. “Wha-“ Her voice stopped again. She turned a panic filled gaze to me. She mouthed words at me, but no words came out.
‘I suppose you’ll find out what happens now. But don’t worry, it’s only one thousand years.’ A cruel smile over took my face. Harmony struggled as the ice spreading across the ground reached her feet. It slowly crawled up her legs, then higher, enveloping her until she was completely incased. Then I was yanked back to reality. I looked down to see my claw imbedded in the now frozen crystal. I yanked my claws out of the crystal with disgust then made my way to the exit, dropping the Elements on the ground in front of the tree.
So there will no harmony for the next thousand years?
9804375
He just trapped Harmony for one thousand years. Gave here a taste of her own medicine so to speak. Nothing horrible is going to happen because she is trapped, she just won’t be able to do anything for the same amount of time that Luna is trapped.
Love it. I pray to the dark gods that this is a return to regular updates as you are going in a great direction.
Now this is an example of a unique kind of cliff hanger, to me at least, since its not the situational kind but the plot development kind.
I can only hope that Night Wing at least talks with Celestia before leaving, since I don't think he would abandon his "sister" but with everything that just happened....
Can't wait to see where this goes!
Good, i hate that argument. Maybee this will open her eyes.
so the world learns to live without higher powers for 1000 years
harmony
chaos
sealed away
9804378
And since he's left the Elements in that cave with her, they, and by extension She, will have no say or influence on events one thousand years from now.
9804381
I hope I can update more as well. It’s not that I don’t have the ideas, but sometimes I don’t have the time or desire to write. So, I hope I will be able to put out more chapters soon. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy reading the comments. And I really do read EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.
So basically, "The ends justify the means" as long as the world is exactly the way you wants it a thousand years from now
Of course she didn't, she was too focused on the world a thousand years from now and how one version of it looked exactly how she wanted things to be
Yikes, the chapter is good, really good, just, yikes
9804375
Wether there will be harmony or not will depend on the depend
The entity named Harmony (the manipulative b%$#h) will not be present for a thousand years
Wat
9804401
I know the feel, my dude.
9804419
This is what I imagine when this site mentions the ponies kneeling:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myspecialphotography/3995624440
I like how Harmony is not all powerful or all knowing, it gives a lot more agency to the other characters. I also wonder what you'll do for the next chapters, as the official story starts back up with Twilight, you still have 1000 years to fill in. All in all, great work, keep it up, and don't die.
9804419
Horses have knees to. Four to be exact.
This is going to be good!
Been missing this so very much 💔.
I just realized how... unimaginative Harmony is.
She saw a future that looked like what she wanted and has strived to make the world like that, but he never once thought that maybe, just maybe, the world could become even better/safer if everyone got along in the present
9804452
I am well aware, but horses cannot fall to their knees because of the way that their leg's skeletal structure is made
9804478
Hmmmm I’m not sure I see what you mean.
DAAAAAAAMN night just brought down Harmony, not the bearers or anything like that but the literal embodiment of harmony.
An eye for an eye indeed. One thousand years of being frozen, possibly able to watch, but not able to interact with the world.
Beautiful.
9804478
9804482
It's magic, deal with it.
9804482
Their knees are backwards on their hind legs
9804525
Magic has nothing to do with this
Exclamation: HEVN ER TATT!
9804537
Informative: Incorrect. Most quadrupedal mammals have elongated feet and walk on their toes.
9804558
that's called having digitigrade feet
Very interesting, they say turnabout is fair play. Looking forward to seeing what happens next.
One does not bring human to world and hope he will act according to plan. Harmony. You stupid. Get some help. XD
Now, Night have 1000 years to f*ck with her world.
First: Discord + sledgehammer.
9804589
Informative: This Unit already knows that.
... yeah, really can't feel sorry for harmony here. Anyone willing to throw someone else under the bus (if not actually driving Luna insane in the first place) in the name of safety in a thousand years deserves everything that comes their way. I could kinda-sorta see it she was talking about one hundred years, but a thousand? That's dumb.
Heck, I don't think Night went far enough, if anything.
But boy was it satisfying to see it happen.
9804613
Build nation, get space program, when Harmony wakes up there be Luna sitting there waiting for her.
"'Sup?"
Harmony is then stoned for another thousand years.
9804624
I'm aware. I just figured that others reading this might not
Hey Harmony, there's a saying where I come from that fits with you.
"Who so ever shed mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed."
9804537
Yeah and it's not too uncommon for some quadrapeds to fall forward unto their front knees depending on the situation (usually bad footing or if something messes with their sense of balance especially when young and first born) and in some cases their rear legs immediately set down so yes they can fall to their knees. In this case if you need it to be overly descriptive it would probably be something like 'her forelegs crumbled beneath her and her hindlegs gave out immediately following'. However to me I automatically pictured it this way since like most readers we are aware we're dealing with quadrapeds as such there's no problem with the way its writ.
9804639
He's imprisioned a manipulative sociopath who incited murder without hesitation. Given the length and breadth of the tragedies that can be laid directly at Harmony's feet, I'd say he showed remarkable restraint.
1.
Now human is in control, that should bring balance beceause human race has duality, balance, etc and is gray in general.
2.
What is better for the world balance or harmony?
Balance should at least be better than that flawed harmony
3.
Night should tell Celestia that Harmony planned their family misery and their every tragedy
4.
After one thousand years if Harmony won't change Night Wing should just shatter the tree
5.
Also I'm curious if Discord was framed and Harmony eliminated competitor by making him everyone's enemy and in reality he was just making his job causing chaos, change and imbalance but harmony tricked him into doing things thinking she was his friend
6.
When Luna comes back he should trap her in some way so he could talk to her and explain that Harmony is behind everything
Her banishment
Her hustan death
Etc
He should also tell her to calm down and stop being puppet of Harmony like Celestia is or was (that depends if he told Celestia about Harmony, and her manipulation )
9804386
Maybe Night Wing will bring human balance?
9804754
All I want to hear after Luna's return is:
" Timber! "
9765823
Yeah, magic. It seems that Harmony tampered with our memories, too, to make us forget Harmony erased Night's memory. ♪♫
9804711
She didn’t kill anyone. She just erased Night’s mind of Luna being banished, so he couldn’t stop it.
9804798
Oh.....I can see how that looks like.....oh. It was supposed to be that Celestia snuck up on him and scared him. But uh.....wow, that sounds bad when I read it again. XD
i love it expecaly where he got revenge
9804537
Folks! PLEASE!!
Take a comparative anatomy course!
Horses (AND dogs AND cats) have the SAME number of knees as humans, in the SAME places in their legs, and they BEND THE SAME WAY as humans!
What you're thinking about is a horse's ankles (called the "hock").
Although horses DO have a part of their body that's called the "knee", it's in their front legs (arms) and are more correctly considered to be their wrist. The differences is simply due to the lengths of their individual bones are all different based on how they evolved to walk/run versus from how we humans evolved. Their thigh bones are simply shorter in relation to the rest of their legs, putting their actual knee nearly to the same level as their belly.
racingfactions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/hvh-700x413.jpg
FYI, as you should be able to see in the picture, their hooves are the tips of their middle fingers and middle toes. (the other digits in their hands and feet are either vestigial or completely missing due to their evolution).
Revenge is a dish that is best served cold
9804798
He's wondering the same thing, it kept him up all night.
.
.
.
That and the fact that it's dang near impossible to sleep with her hair lighting up the room like that, poor mare must sleep with a blindfold on.
9804891
Yes.....
9804897
That is a funny image. She is her own nightlight. Although I don’t recall Celestia’s hair lighting up in the show. Did it? I haven’t watched the show in a year or two.
9804632
See it gets worse when you think of it, Night and Celestia may have prevented Luna going insane, Harmony arbitrarily decided she wanted to be right more than anything and erased Night’s memories to make sure she was. Safety just seems to be a very poor excuse.