The Moon was faint this dark night, too many clouds hid the light. The streets of Canterlot were faintly illuminated with street lights. There was nopony on the streets, even the mice were absent. Rushing along the rooftops of the city, a cloaked figure leaped from one roof to the other, making no noise as it made its way to the castle. The guards did their patrol as normal, unaware of the incoming intruder. As if the darkness coated and hid the figure, the mystery intruder made it to the courtyard, moving silently and unseen. Darting from one dark corner to the next, the figure infiltrated the castle.

Darting through the halls, the figure remained unnoticed. It travel swift and silent through the shadows; no guard detected or felt anything. It was searching; this figure moved from room to room, seeking something. It wasn't too long until it found it's prize. A large wooden door, with large golden suns and stars embroidering it. The cloaked figure revealed a horn and opened the door. Quietly, the figure sneaked its way into the chambers and spied its prey; the defenseless, sleeping Princess Celestia.

Reaching under its cloak, the figure pulled a small, curved black dagger. Gripping it tight;y in its teeth, the figure charged at Celestia. Again and again, the figure stabbed and slashed at Celestia, feathers and pieces of pillows went everywhere. The assassin illuminated its horn to see its killed prey. To the assassin's shock, Princess Celestia wasn't there, only several lage pillows with deep gashes were in the bed.

"Got ya!" Shouted Nightwing, as he stood at the doorway. "No where to go piss ant."

The failed assassin looked back and ran, but with no where to go, jumped off the balcony. Nightwing didn't hesitate and ran after, being a pegasus, the assassin was easily caught. The assassin started to struggle in Nightwing's hooves.

"Hold still ya moron." Nightwing said. "If you keep struggling-"

But it was too late, the figure fell, the sound of a loud crash and bang on the stone courtyard ground. Nightwing landed nearby as several night guards came. Nightwing looked at the pony, with a grip of the teeth, he removed the cloak. The assassin was a unicorn but there was definitely something wrong. It had no cutie mark, no mane or tail, and its coat was a hardened, black exterior.

"What is that?" A guard asked.

Suddenly, the pony opened it's blank white eyes and looked at Nightwing, it was too weak to move.

"Tell me who you are and why you tried to kill Princess Celestia." Nightwing interrogated.

"The.Night.Will.Come." The pony's monotone voice was void of all emotion.

Nightwing wanted to ask more questions, but the black unicorn was enveloped in shadows and faded away to nothing. The only thing remaining was the cloak and the strange dagger.

"What was that?" Another guard asked. "Captain?"

"Wake the Princess and summon Princess Luna." Nightwing order.

The guards scrambled about to gather the two Princesses. Nightwing remained, staring at where the assassin was before and gazed at the dagger.

"The night will come." Nightwing mumbled to himself. Looking up at where the Moon would be behind the clouds. "Is it time?"

The royal throne room was filled with guards, both day and night guards were at every entrance and lined every wall. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sat upon their thrones. Night Captain Nightwing stood besides Day Captain Shining Armor.

"Captain Nightwing." Princess Luna asked. "We have been informed you have an answer why our sister was almost assassinated. Is this correct?"

"Yes your highness." Nightwing stepped forward, looking around the room and maintaining a very serious composure. "As most of the guards were not informed, we received an anonymous letter stating that there was a plot to kill Princess Celestia." He then presented the strange dagger. "The assailant was armed only with this."

"But what about the assassin?" Princess Celestia asked.

"A unicorn as I could tell." Nightwing answered with a regrettable sigh. "Unfortunately, the unicorn in no longer here."

"Explain if you would." Luna requested.

"After a quick look over, the unicorn had no cutie mark, mane or tail." Nightwing explained. "Its gender was unidentifiable, it's eyes were white and the coat was a hard, black exterior. But the strangest this was its last words: 'The night will come.'."

"The night will come?" Celestia asked in confusion. "Luna, do you know-"

Celestia didn't need to finish, Luna had a look in her eye that said everything. It didn't look like Luna knew the answer but something was causing her great concern.

"At any rate." Celestia added. "You are to find out the origins of this dagger and anything about this message."

The meeting was adjourned and everypony went back to bed. Aside from practically the guards, the rest of night went fine, but Luna couldn't get those words out of her head.

"They can't be." Luna mumbled to herself.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Back at an unidentifiable place, a group of several ponies met, their bodies were heavily cloaked and their muzzles hidden in shadow.

"It seems your plans have failed us." One pony, definitely a mare's voice.

"No, my plan went perfectly." A stallion's voice responded. "Now they know of us and the fear shall break Celestia."

"As long as only Celestia is targeted." Another stallion, almost sounded like an elderly pony's voice.

"Agreed." The stallion and mare nodded with the rest.

"But the gathering has been called." The mare said. "You know what this means."

"Yes, all the children shall return." The stallion answered. "Maybe our time has come. But enough of that, we have preparations to make."

The group of ponies then placed the hooves upon their chest. "May the Goddess bless our actions...Amen."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

"I wonder what the Princesses want?" Rune asked aloud to Dusk as they exited the Canterlot train station.

"I don't know but we better hurry." Dusk said, as the two galloped as fast as they could.

"We would of been here faster if we used my teleportation array." Rune joked.

"I don't even trust you to open a cookie jar, let alone a teleportation link." Dusk answered.

It wasn't long before Dusk and Rune reached the castle and boy were there a lot of guards.

"I'm going on a limb here." Rune joked. "But I'm assuming something happened."

"It's about time you shit heads made it." Nightwing said, approaching Dusk and Rune, while accompanied by Shining Armor.

"Hello to you too Nightwing." Rune replied. "So what did we miss?"

"Come with us." Armor gestured. "There was an assassination attempt on Princess Celestia last night."

"Is the Princess okay?!" Dusk was borderline panic.

"She's fine." Nightwing answered. "We received an anonymous letter warning us of the attack. So the assassination attempt was prevented."

"So why ask us to come?" Rune asked.

"Well..you see..." Armor had to think his explanation through. "Since the assassin well vanished, the attempted murder weapon was recovered and we want you two to look it over."

"Vanished?" Both Dusk and Rune asked.

"Here's the simpler explanation." Nightwing explained. "Dusk, you're Princess Celestia's protege, so she trusts your opinion and help. But you Rune..." Nightwing took a firm grip of Rune's head and pushed down hard, as if trying to crush it. "The only reason your sorry ass was allowed here was for two reasons. The first is Princess Luna gave you the Arch-Mage title, so you have her trust in all matters. Second, despite everything else that's wrong about you, you have a good memory and take interest in stupid and random facts. We're hoping one of those facts is useful."

Rune was going to respond, but Armor intervened. "Let us end that little discussion before it goes the wrong way. Come with us."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

"Are you going to tell me?" Celestia asked Luna in Luna's chambers.

"Tell you what?" Luna played innocent.

"You know more about this than you're letting on." Celestia asked. "You know I don't like to force myself into your personal affairs but I could've died. So if you know anything-"

"We cannot." Luna said, her eyes mirrored her sorrow. "Anything we would know died almost a thousand years ago."

"I understand." Celestia knew that Luna had nothing to do with it but she knew something.

"Your highnesses." A day guard came into the room. "Dusk Shine and Dawn Rune have arrived."

"Good work." Celestia smiled. "We will greet them shortly."

"Yes." The guard bowed and was off.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

"So what are we looking at here?" Rune stupidly asked, looking at the dagger.

"This was the weapon in question." Armor explained.

"That must really hurt your pride." Rune joked, looking at Nightwing. "Letting some would be assassin get so far in and then get away."

Nightwing, in a swift motion, grabbed Rune by the head and smacked it down to the ground. "Two things moron. One, I didn't let the assassin get away, it evaporated into shadows, and two, just because you have a title, doesn't mean I can't still smack a bitch like you."

"I see." Rune answered, just not responded to the slammed his head down. "So what can you tell us about this weapon?"

"We were hoping you two could assist with that." Princess Celestia answered, walking in the room with Princess Luna.

"Princess?!" Dusk and Rune gave a polite bow.

"What makes you think we can help?" Rune asked.

"We trust you would have some knowledge regarding this." Luna answered. "We assumed you would find such subject interesting enough to know something."

"Well." Rune looked the dagger over. He stared and stared at it for a long while. "Well..."

"Well......???" The other ponies asked.

Rune raised his hoof and rubbed the back of his head. "I got nothing. Tee Hee."

Everypony in the room practically facehoofed themselves.

"What was with that stupidly long pause?! Or that 'tee hee' in the end?!" Nightwing shouted, shaking Rune back and forth violently.

"In his defense." Dusk reluctantly stated. "I have never seen this type of weapon before."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." Armor said warmly to his younger brother.

"I call unfair treatment!" Rune demanded at Armor, then felt the force of Luna's hoof smacking him to the floor.

"We called you here to help, not act as a fool." Luna stated.

"That might be too hard for him." Nightwing responded with a faint chuckle.

"I may not know about the dagger." Rune smiled with some confidence. "But I know a pony who might." Rune then grabbed the dagger in his teeth and ran off. "I'm gonna borrow this."

"Rune?!" Dusk shouted, bowing to everypony and chasing after Rune. "Slow down!"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Canterlot, an out of the way small building, in the back of an unused but relatively cleaned alley way, a unseen pony lets out a sneeze.

Closing the book this pony was reading, looking out the nearby window, the pony sighed. "I have a bad feeling that I'm gonna see a bad customer."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

"We're here." Rune smiled at Dusk.

Dusk chased after Rune, not knowing where he was going. But at the end, Dusk found himself besides Rune and staring at a building, that resided in a clean but empty alley way.

"So where are we?" Dusk asked.

"A book shop I know." Rune answered.

"You actually go to book stores?" Dusk was a tad surprised at Rune.

"Well I've known the owner since I was a colt. She's a close friend to Mum. She's like a big sister I never had." Rune answered. "She should help...or stab me.."

"Wait, why stab you?" Dusk asked, but wasn't too surprise to hear that a pony wanted to hurt Rune.

"I may or may not of upset her before. I don't remember." Rune laughed a bit, opening the door.

The interior was definitely larger than the exterior, with all the shelves and books around, it looked more like a library than a store. Looking around as the two walked in, Dusk noticed there wasn't a soul to be seen and even scarier was when Dusk looked at wall at the front desk. Hanging up on the wall was a massive sword that looked more like a giant cleaver than anything. So Dusk definitely wasn't feeling the safest. Maybe this wasn't a good-

"Calligraphy?!" Rune called in the large, empty store. "Where are you! It's me, Rune!"

"Maybe this pony isn't-" Dusk was interrupted when a smaller kitchen knife flew by, just skimming his nose and imbedding in the front desk. "WWWAAAAHHHH!!!!!???"

"Oh yeah she's here." Rune, once again was unaffected by what should be terrifying.

"You know stores are meant to be quiet and peaceful Dawn Rune." A unicorn mare walked out of the corridor, letting out a deep sigh as if she was experiencing the worst of headaches.

"Hello Calligraphy." Rune greeted with a smile, as if seeing an old friend.

Dusk, after worrying for his life, looked the mare over. She was light blue in color with a well maintained white mane and tail. Her cutie mark appeared to be an atom under a microscope. Her dark blue magical aura was busy floating several large stacks of books.

"What do you want Rune?" Calligraphy asked, staring down rune with her piercing black eyes.

"We need your help identifying this." Rune levitated the dagger, passing it to Calligraphy.

Her eyes lit up as she looked the weapon over. "Where did you get this?"

"Somepony tried to kill Celestia with it." Dusk answered.

"What?!" Calligraphy was surprised and shocked to hear that. "I hope the Princess is alright."

"She wasn't harmed." Dusk said. "The guards received a warning before the attack."

"I see." Calligraphy was already going through the books, looking for answers, but let out a sigh of relief. "Here we go." Calligraphy brought an old looking book with no title. Turning through the pages, Calligraphy brought up the page she was looking for. "Here we go; "The Children of the Night."."

"The Children of the Night?" Dusk and Rune asked.

"They're not very well known." Calligraphy began her lecture. "There was a time a thouand years ago, where a group of ponies worshiped Princess Luna above Princess Celestia."

"Really?" Rune interrupted. "I borderline stalk Luna and her history and never heard of that."

Rune felt the smack of a rolled up sheet of paper smack him hard on the head.

"Don't interrupt." Calligraphy continued. "This group quickly faded from history when Nightmare Moon came and Luna's banishment occurred. All that is left is this sign, they crest." Calligraphy pointed at an insignia on the page. It was a crescent moon tuned on its side with a star above it. "Look at this." Calligraphy lifted the dagger and pointed out the same insignia was on the dagger. "You know what this means?"

"That these Children of the Night are real?!" Rune was a bit too excited about this.

"Of course not." Calligraphy let out a playful laugh. "This is obviously some group that not only hates Celestia but whats to play pretend."

There was then a knock on the door. Nopony walked in, nor was the door opened. Only a sealed letter was put through the mail slot. Calligraphy walked over and opened the letter. Her eyes became widened with surprise and slight fear.

"Well that's enough for today!" She said, practically throwing Dusk and Rune out. "I do need to get back to work so come by another time!"

Before either stallions could say anything, they were back in the alley.

"I wonder what that was about." Dusk asked.

"No clue." Rune said, holding the book with the Children of the Night section. "But we have a clue."

In the book store, Calligraphy looked over the letter again and again and again, until she couldn't stand to look at it and set it a blaze with her horn. "It's too soon."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I don't think this is a good idea." Dusk warned Rune as they walked the night streets.

After being forced out of Calligraphy's chop, Rune couldn't stop thinking that he forgot something important. After a long debate that took hours of convincing, Rune was able to help convince Dusk to sneak in Calligraphy's shop.

"You've been saying that for the last ten minutes." Rune laughed a bit, using magic to pick the store's lock.

Both ponies crept into the dark store. Their entry went unnoticed.

"So what are we looking for?" Dusk asked, wanting to leave.

"I know I saw that insignia before in here." Rune said. "I don't remember where."

"And what do you think you are doing Dawn Rune?" The ponies heard behind them, only a few feet in the store.

Both ponies turned around slowly to see the angry eye of Calligraphy, levitating the massive cleaver blade.

"You have to the count of now to explain." Calligraphy demanded.

"I remember now!" Rune said, guess the instant fear jogged his memory. "I have a question for you."

"You broke into my shop, my home to ask what is probably a stupid question?!" Calligraphy raised the cleaver.

"You've had this cleaver for as long as I've known you right?" Rune asked.

"Yes, what's your point?" Calligraphy asked.

"And you once told me you've had it all your life right?" Rune asked.

"So?" Calligraphy was about to swing down, or at least threaten to.

"Then why is The Children of the Night's insignia on your cleaver?" Rune asked.

Calligraphy's eyes blew open becoming the size of plate with shock. She lowered the weapon and looked at the part where the blade met the handle and there it was. Though faint and scratched, the insignia of a turned over crescent moon with a star over it was there.

"So the Children of the Night still exist don't they." Rune declared like a lawyer winning a case. "You. Are. A. Children. Of. The. Night!"

Calligraphy dropped the cleaver, the blade stuck to the wooden floor. She didn't know what to say, where to start.

"What do you want?" Calligraphy gave up.

"Huh?" Rune was enjoying his success.

"What do I have to give you to make you never speak of this to anypony?" Calligraphy offered.

"I want to know everything." Rune answered. "I want to know everything about the Children of the Night."

Calligraphy didn't answer, but her head was screaming with stress and mixed emotions.

"Please forgive me." She whispered too quietly for the others to here. "Very well. I will tell you everything."

Calligraphy started walking further into the store, gesturing the others to follow.

"Where are we going?" Dusk asked, not really sure why.

"Well as you may of guessed." Calligraphy admitted. "That letter was a message to all the Children. The call has been made, all Children must return."

"Return where?" Dusk asked.

"Home." Calligraphy said, lighting her horn and a section of the floor separated, revealing a stone stair case.

"Okay, that is cool." Rune said.

The three ponies walked down the stairs, the dark, stone corridors were lit by the light of Calligraphy's horn. After a few minutes of walking in the tunnel, the trio reached a boat, a canal boat that rest on the edge of a small stream as if they were at an underground river.

"We're sailing to this place?" Dusk asked.

"It's tradition." Calligraphy answered. "I cannot give all the answers, but once we are there, then we can talk. But for now, get in the boat."

Dusk and Rune got into the boat and Calligraphy sat at the back, the light on her horn shoot out at ignited the lantern that hung at the front of the boat. As if on cue, the boat began to move. The water was calm, there was no breeze. But the boat moved at a steady pace.

"Here it comes." Calligraphy spoke up, her horn lit a darker blue, almost black color. Her black eyes began to glow the same shade of blue. Her words soon became song.
"Come, little children, I'll take thee away

Into a land of enchantment

Come, little children, the time's come to play

Here in my garden of shadows."

"What are you singing?" Rune asked.

"The song of our Mother, who gave us salvation." Calligraphy answered as she continued her song.

"Follow, sweet children, I'll show thee the way

Through all the pain and the sorrows

Weep not, poor children, for life is this way

Murdering beauty and passions."

"Rune, look." Dusk said, noticing that the river was widening, almost become a large lake, or even a small sea.

"What happened?" Rune asked.

"We are almost there." Calligraphy answered. "Some of the other Children have come."

Dusk and Rune looked around to see other boats similar to theirs. As if compelled to, Dusk and Rune could hear the other boats singing the same song as Calligraphy.

"Hush now, dear children, it must be this way

Too weary of life and deceptions

Rest now, my children, for soon we'll away

Into the calm and the quiet."

Dusk and Rune then saw it. A massive castle, surrounded by a small village. The castle almost looked like Canterlot castle but there was no icons of the Sun. Instead, there were the insignias.. Looking around, they could see an open sky, it was clear and twinkling with stars and a massive full Moon. But there was something wrong with this Moon, it didn't have the commandment rune carved on it or any indication of it. Looking back, neither Rune nor Dusk could see where they came from.

"Almost." Calligraphy said, not only her voice, but the voices of countless ponies on countless boats joined in their song.

"Come, little children, I'll take thee away

Into a land of enchantment

Come, little children, the time's come to play

Here in my garden of shadows."

As the song ended, Dusk, Rune and Calligraphy's boat landed and they stepped onto the stone harbor. Looking around, Rune almost felt a strange sense of wonder. Only hours ago, he was told these Children of the Night did not exist, but now he was standing in a small city devoted to the Children.

"Come." Calligraphy said, throwing a cloak on herself and Dusk and Rune. "We must head to the castle."

"Why?" Rune asked.

"If the situation is what I'm afraid of." Calligraphy explained quickly. "Then Princess Celestia won't be the only life at stake."