Night Guards: Author’s notes
Phew… that was quite an experience. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to do an extended piece of creative writing on a schedule. (Yes, yes, with plenty of delays, but still!) Regardless, it was lots of fun, and it is not unlikely that more will follow!
But enough about me; the rest of this should be filled with more interesting bits of trivia and fun facts!
If for some reason you have chosen to view this part before finishing the story, be warned; possible spoilers are in store here.
Much of this story was written whilst listening to the soundtrack of Thor, particularly ‘Sons of Odin’ and ‘Earth to Asgard’. If you do listen to them on youtube, please try to refrain from making pony references in the comments. (Let’s try not to intrude into the fandoms of others, eh? There is enough animosity towards bronies as it is.)
Hammer and Anvil’s personalities were reversed in the first draft. I switched them because, I don’t know, ‘Anvil’ sounded like a name that would belong to someone with impertinent tendencies.
If you’re wondering why they weren’t speaking in Ye Olde English like Luna in the episode, it was because I felt there was no way I was going to be able to pull it off without making it incredibly awkward and stilted.
Best for last; I came up with the general plot for this story some time before the Luna Eclipsed episode. So, the characters were different. The first chapter was pretty much the same, minus Anvil and Hammer. Oh, and instead of those two, the protagonists were supposed to be Trixie, Gilda and Derpy. Yes, you read that right. It was going to involve some convoluted time travel loop, wherein Celestia forcibly sends them into the past to prevent Nightmare Moon’s victory, and they were going to return to the future in much the same way as those two. Not long after Luna’s episode aired, I decided that her Night Guards would be more interesting to write about. It was getting too difficult to ensure that the time travel plot was airtight, anyway. Discord, the windigos, zap apples, timber wolves – they were all added as more episodes aired, so long as they did not clash with what I had in mind for the story.
And if anyone’s wondering what Anvil and Hammer looked like prior to their transformation, whilst not wearing enchanted guard armour…
No points for guessing who's who. (Yeh, I know, the poses are the same as in the original picture. Lazy me.)
Anyways, I would like to thank everypony for taking the time to read this fanfic, it's been a blast writing for you!
mkay
images.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw1021_Rainbow_Dash_says_youre_awesome.gif
Planning on a sequel?
468714 A sequel would be awesome "The adventures of Luna, Hammer and Anvil"
468737 I guess i 'third' that suggestion. We need more of these 3.
That's one done, please give us more to read!
And it's been a blast reading it! Thank you for your effort. I think I'm going to go ahead and add you to my watch list.
we need more night gaurds, please please make a sequal.
No, thank you
It really was a great read. I don't even know that many stories that focus on the night guards anyway, so that made it all the better!
It was an amazing read! Thank you so much! I am eagerly looking forward to anything and everything you have to write in the future!
Great story, I really enjoyed it, definitely one of my favourites involving Luna's Guards
I'm sad to see it come to an end, but this has been an amazing story! I look forward to you next project.
It's certainly been a fun ride, and it's interesting to see little factoids behind its creation. ^^
...
Real quick, may I have permission to use Anvil and Hammer in a cameo in my story, as it also circles around the Night Guards (I refer to them as "Lunar Guards" in this case)?
This was a fun story to follow, you ought to make a sequel soon!
469595 Sorry, Just doesn't sound as Awesome as Sunshine Smiles and Frolicsome Meadowlark.
470482
I don't have a problem with that.
471834 *bows* Thank you kindly, both for the story and for the permission.
468714
Yes, I would appreciate any information on a follow up of some kind,
I really got into this!
I can say this was the best fanfic of NMM events ! Once again, well done
I loved this series. So here i give you 5 mustaches
Loved your story. It's been a great ride.
Uhm... Hammer's the one with the anvil, right?
SEQUEL PLZ !!
It's been a fantastic ride! Thank you so much for taking the time to finish this story! It's one of the best on the site, without a doubt. It's sad that it has come to an end, but everything good eventually does. I hope to see more from you, i'll definately be there to read it and thumb-it-up! oh btw, i only made this account so that i could comment/like/follow you (once i've figured out how) Keep up the good work!
great work, it was a good read. my only suggestion would be to lengthen the despair parts a bit, as you want the readers emotions to run high. I felt sad a t points which is good, but with a little improvement, i should be near tears if not crying. Otherwise, amazing, and I hope to read more of your work soon! And I'm not saying your bad, your actually amazing, but remember, you can always get better.
Hurray for constructive criticism.
496334
Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep that in mind for future pieces!
494163
You're welcome. And thank you for taking the time to read it!
Hmm...I didn't really think about it at the time, but Arcturus115 is right. There were moments that I thought, "Here we go, time to fight back tears." Then it never happened. I wasn't disappointed. I was too distracted by whatever was happening.
I'm trying to think of something else to give criticism on, but that's about it. The writing was solid and the grammer was easily understood. The characters were likable, and had realistic struggles...
Oh man, Discord's plan was so well done! I love that he managed to cause so much chaos, and in the midst of it all, secure his future release. Yaying brilliant! Luna's character was deep, too! She didn't just do a full 180 in personality, it was a slow decline into madness. I love the bit where Anvil and...that pegasus mare that was in prison were talking, and he realizes that he had noticed Luna's behavior was not crazy or deranged, but she was definitely being irrational. Ugh, it was so good! And you know, in the scene where Summer Cloud (just looked it up) was trying to protect Celestia, it was great that Hammer was the one to get there and protect Summer Cloud. It would have been predictable and cheesy if Anvil had made it. So kudos for taking a different route.
Okay...I'm done gushing. Good story, brony.
511708
Yeah, writing tear-inducing moments isn't exactly my forte. It's certainly something that I'll have to practice on, should the situation call for such scenes.
I'm glad that you enjoyed it, and thanks for the feedback!
Um, huh. I seem to have stumbled upon my own favourite sub-sub-sub genre of literature, as a pony story. Thanks so much for this story, it served as a welcome break from all the deep and depressing stories I've been reading lately.
Please, please turn this into a series. Your characters and writing style are so perfectly matched, a rarity in this fandom. You have just the right amount of humour and tension, and know when to back off. Don't worry about trying to write a tearjerker, it wouldn't suit the characters.
I have had this in my to read for a while now, finally had time for it today in the train. It was a very good read, enjoyed pretty much all of it and there was very little I didn't like. Well written, good story, fun enough. One thing tghat does bother me though, is Summer Cloud. Poor girl doesn't get a resolution. She is apparently forced to live the rest of her life with the guild. And we can assume that she never tells anypony about Discord. Also, Anvil doesn't even mention her when he wakes up from his imposed 1000 year nap. He doesn't even seem to think about it. Since everything else gets resolved, that seems a bit odd. And unfair towards her.
Other then that, great story.
I enjoyed the story and everything seemed good but I have to agree with Baree and Summer Cloud's fate felt like a loose end that was not completely taken care of.
All-in-all I did enjoy reading the story.
I greatly enjoyed this story. For one, it has a really intriguing premise - Luna's personal guards are probably one of the most interesting viewpoints you could have chosen for the story of Nightmare Moon, making sure I was instantly hooked. You pulled it off very well, too - I felt like this is what could actually have happened in canon, not like I was reading some sort of weird alternative fan interpretation of these events.
You also did a good job with the main characters. They faced thought-provoking choices and added a very unique point of view to these important historic events. Their personalities and backstories were not particularly deep, but for a story of this length that's perfectly fine. I quickly came to care for their troubles and root for them - which is doubly impressive since unlike with most fanfics that use established and well-loved characters from the canon, I had absolutely no attachment or preconceived notions about them before I dove into your story. Overall, Anvil and Hammer were really fun to read about.
The story was well plotted. Luna's decent was believably portrayed and I like how you gave Nightmare Moon sympathetic traits as well, like working tirelessly to create new light for her subjects. In the middle, it all felt a little weird with Discord suddenly plopping up as a helpful character, but in retrospect that was intentional weirdness that fits Discord very well. The foregone conclusion didnt't hurt the story much, since there was still plenty excitement in how we'd get there and what would happen to Hammer, Anvil and Summer along the way. Again, a testament to how well done these characters are!
I did have some quibbles during reading, though maybe I just misunderstood some things:
- If the Windigos were sealed away before Anvil and Hammer freed them, then where was the cold that killed the crops coming from before that? Was it really just Luna's night like the loyalists claimed? Since Discord sealed them away because he didn't like their influence on his world, I'd assume he'd also make sure they can't exert it from within their prison. Thought it might just have gotten some cracks over time, just like Discord's own. I don't recall that being adressed in the story though, or did I miss it?
- After Luna had just used the Elements against the Windigos, how could Celestia so quickly claim them as only hers? There was already much disharmony pent up inside Luna before the confrontation with Celestia (they had already fought once, after all), so I thought the transition from powerful wielder to unable to wield them was rather sudden. Luna did get clearly worse in that short time, but she was already bad before and could still use them.
- I was expecting a bit more resolution between Anvil and Summer, considering what happened between them and how they both betrayed the other at some point. I didn't expect them to get together or anything, but I was a bit disappointed that their last confrontation was off-screen and didn't resolve anything. I would have liked some more exploration on how Anvil ultimately felt about her using him, even though it was for a good purpose.
- Following from that, I thought it was odd that Anvil "forgot" to tell Celestia about Discord after Summer begged him and Hammer not do that the night before. After that, shouldn't he have made a conscious decision to tell or not to tell instead of just forgetting it by the morning?
I hope that's not too much nitpicking - none of these points detracted much from my enjoyment. It was a very good story that still leaves lots of room for more - either the character's new life in the present, or new adventures from the pre-Nightmare Moon era. Maybe you'll revisit these characters some day, I know I'd be along for the ride :)
612301
Glad you enjoyed it! Now, to address your quibbles:
- To your first question, yeah, the cold was due to both the Eternal Night and the windigos. Although Discord's prison could severely limit their influence on the world, he did not take into account the possibility that they would one day have the opportunity to feed on the resentment of an alicorn in a state of heightened magical and emotional stress.
- The way I imagined it, there are two ways in which the Elements can be used. Firstly, they can be used as a plain source of power, sorta like batteries. In her battle against the windigos, Luna was using them to augment her own destructive spells. This method only requires affinity with the gems; emotional stability isn't strictly necessary. Alternatively, the Elements can be used as agents of purification, which mainly requires internal harmony. This, I imagine, is the reason why paragons who aren't unicorns like two thirds of the Mane Six could still use them to defeat Nightmare Moon a second time.
548695
- Baree had raised this point earlier as well. There isn't really much that I can say about the issue, except that, yeah, some more closure between Summer and the two of them would not have been amiss. I was already late in submitting the chapter, so maybe I was a little too anxious to get it online.
- As for the fourth... eh, heh heh... Yeah, looking back, I cannot really see any reason why Anvil should have forgotten about telling Celestia about Discord. You're right, the decision should have been conscious. I originally had planned to put it down to stress after finding out what was in store for them, but I later on added the part where Summer had begged them to keep it a secret and forgot to adjust the earlier bits accordingly.
Of course, these explanations (in the case of points 1 and 2) should not be considered the only possible ones just because I've said so. If anyone has an explanation that would make more or just as much sense, feel free to roll with that instead. Thanks for taking the time to provide the lengthy feedback!
I finished reading the entire thing maybe ten minutes ago, and all I can think is how magnificent that was. I had planned to write something that explained the bat-guards in Luna Eclipsed, but this is far better than anything I could come up with. I'd rate it a solid 12/10. Definitely one of the better stories I've read in quite a while. Although I do find it uncanny that my idea was similar to yours in so many ways. Like you, I had a blacksmith pony that ended up friends with Luna as well as her personal Guard Captain. As this is now my involuntary head-canon, would you be opposed to my using Anvil and Hammer in a modified version of my story, even if it's only a cameo? Of course, that's only if it makes it off the ground, I am at the moment incapable of settling down to do actual writing.
625004
Glad you liked it.
646757
Sure, I don't have a problem with that. I wish you the best in your endeavours - don't give up!
read this again. Still epic. Unless MLP comes out with an episode that contradicts this I view this as Canon!
665108 I second this!
I CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE STORIES BY YOU
I find it funny... There was an anvil ad on the bottom of the fanfic when I read it!
An impressive tale from start to finish.
Loved every second of it.
I will be re reading this gem again.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I read this story by way of Greenlitsky's excellent dramatic narration over the course of a few commutes. Brilliantly done! I though Hammer and Anvil's personalities balanced each other's perfectly. Masterfully written from start to finish.
Keep up the good work!
Yes, I am quite aware of the fandom wars, for lack of a better term.
Excellent story!
The image link in this chapter is broken.
Fandom's should synergize not war.
6906380 Glad you liked it! Also, thanks for pointing out the broken link. Should be fixed now.
6906424
Yeah, fixed!
Wonderful idea of a story. I wonder how Celestia deal with the Wendigo?
If this two never started the Thestral bloodline... How they come to be?
10499245
There may not be any kind of thestral bloodline. Batte shy may just be a curse modeled off of the night guard.