Children of the Night

I absolutely loved this video.

 

I saw it for the second time yesterday the video continues to be awesome.

 

Wonderful video. I've been watching this project since I saw the animatic, over a year ago... So worth the wait, no doubt.

 

Besides the song, isn't it kinda creepy?
She's just magically stealing away all of these kids to who knows where to do who knows what. How do we know none of them will get hurt or lost?
How do we know the parents won't be outraged at the fact their child was just... TAKEN, by their loving ruler?

 

Just google'd the song, it came from a film called Hocus Pocus, where some witches were kidnapping some kids. So ya, pretty fitting.

I have a feeling the creators meant for it to have a slightly eerie feeling to it.

 

Well, I can assure you guys that I've put a ton of thought into this video and watched it several times, haha. It's so wonderfully animated, plus I'm a huge fan of Luna ^-^ But yeah.. First time I watched it, my initial reaction was "This is beautiful and amazing but why are you kidnapping the little fillies and colts?!"

However, we can see that she's picking up the orphans. There was even one little colt shown sleeping in the streets, and that is pretty heavy.. Homelessness seems to be a non-issue in Equestria so far, but then again, I've come to the conclusion that the scruffy conditions of the world are due to it being right after the battle with Discord that lead to him being sealed away in the first place. And while coming to that conclusion, I thought to myself, "Well, come on, Luna.. It's nice that you want to whisk away the orphans, but just think here.. How will they ever hope to be adopted and cared for now?"

But suddenly I remembered something important. The first mare we see, writing by candlelight, addresses Luna as "our dear mother." This, thankfully, reveals that it wasn't so much a kidnapping as it was a mass-adoption. Princess Luna adopted the lot of them and raised them elsewhere. I think that's really quite sweet, though it doesn't change the creepy vibe of the video because of the song. That song still has me on the fence here.. It was originally a poem written by Edgar Allen Poe, then it was worked into the melody we all remember from "Hocus Pocus". The poem already has a macabre feel to it. It really feels like it's being spoken by somebody meaning to do harm to the children and charm them into following. Hence how in "Hocus Pocus" it was used to hypnotize herds of children and lead them to be killed by the witches.

Now obviously we know that Luna would never harm these children, so the context is clearly not the same, but the feeling of foreboding is still rooted deep into that creepy little lullaby. This has been an extreme source of conflict for me as it's clear that they are trying to push the image of her "darker" side, as opposed to her sister. And speaking of Celestia..

Celestia is right. Dividing a weakened kingdom is a BAD IDEA. Honest Abe said it best; "A house divided cannot stand." So as much as I support Luna wanting to care for the mass of orphans, I still don't entirely enjoy the idea of her whisking them all away to who-knows-where. Nor do I support Luna wanting to divide the kingdom in the first place for that matter. At this point, I'm not sure if the creators of this video are saying "Luna is totally right, so let's show her fleeing with the orphans into a pretty night sky." Or, on the other hand, they might be simply showing us her actions and leaving it up for us to decide whether she's justified or not. I feel that with a little more story to work with, I'd be more certain as to just how I feel about her actions here.

However, all that aside, I think we can all agree that the animation is fantastic. And even the song, though it may have that creepy edge to it, is very well-sung and a joy to listen to. I've hit the repeat button many times, viewing it in succession for several minutes at a time. The footage where Luna takes flight into the clouds with the children has become my new happy-place, it's just so beautiful to watch. So basically the creators of this video have me hooked on it because regardless of the story at work, I just can't get enough of Luna <3

Kudos to anybody who actually read all of this, haha. Sorry for it being so immense, but I thought long and hard about this video. Hope you liked my thoughts on the matter.

 

Proof that Luna is best princess

Not to mention her voice. I could write an entire paragraph about her wonderful voice, but credit goes to the original singer.

 

I loved her singing voice in that video so very much.

 

Okay how can anybody not have seen Hocus Pocus. I am stunned.

- - Auto Merge - -

Also this is the best fan animation I have seen.

 

I can't be the only person, right?
... Right?

...
... Right?
/me is terrible person.

 

I've known this from Hocus Pocus ever since I was an ickle chubby kid. And I knew this version of the song by KatetheGreat19 for a few years too! I think the song was used wonderfully and I'm glad it's received more attentin through the animation.