//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eight: The End 
// Story: Tales of Midnight: The Colony 
// by NA_SolarEclipse 
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	While I sent Warner, Sharpe, and Sunset back to the Colony, I went on my own to find and speak to Graham again. I had some questions for him that I was rather concerned Warner would just get angry about if I asked him. Most importantly however, I needed some time to think. The travel time to reach Graham would give me exactly that. It would be a bit of a journey from the wrecked Silver Sapphire to Graham’s Mission, at least the rest of the day. If not, some of the night as well. 
Since everything I heard from the spirits in the black books was the truth and I shouldn’t doubt then in the slightest, I had to ask Graham if anything of the sort was possible in the first place. Obviously Warner would have a slightly skewed view on the whole predicament, so an outside opinion on the matter would do nicely. Another thing, if only for my own sanity, I had to know if what I did was something that he had seen happen before. It was mostly for my own self-loathing, but I had to know if entire tribes were wiped out by situations like what had happened here with my victims. Was it self-defense? Or had I gone too far?
As I made my way up the mountain of which the Mission stood upon, I found myself making excuses as to why this was a dumb idea. I found myself trying to think of any kind of reason to go back and brave the night instead of ask the religious pony about what the hell was going on with my life. Many thoughts such as ‘he probably doesn’t know a lot about the subject’ or ‘he is going to call you a monster and send you away anyway.’ I found myself stifled in the last moments of evening at Graham’s door. I couldn’t bring myself to open the door. 
No, instead the door opened to me. In the open door frame sat Graham with a confused look on his face. “Why are you here again miss Midnight? I know I told you that I would be willing to help with anything else, but I was not expecting you to be back so soon.” There was a certain grace to his voice, it was deep and almost deserved a song to go along with it.
I fumbled over some words for a moment. I didn’t know what I wanted to ask first. “Um, actually there’s nothing wrong at the Colony no. It’s actually something personal I wanted to ask you. Could I come inside?” 
Graham looked at me for a moment, contemplating me. Then he smiled. “Of course, my door is always open for those seeking answers. Come in.” I backed away from the door, beckoning me inside.
As I passed through the door frame, the warmth of a proper home hit me like a warm blanket. It may not have been that much to marvel over, but it really felt like Graham had made a place for himself here. The Colony on the other hoof, was simply temporary until we could get transportation elsewhere. Edge said that he was sure the zebra tribes here had enough of the Colony and wanted to find some kind of way off the island, hopefully Warner would solve that. 
I sat on the ground next to the comfy bed and started mulling over my thoughts. “What is it that brings you back here Midnight?” Graham asked, sitting a few paces from me.
I knew he wasn’t going to like this. “I was wondering if you could tell me everything you know about the Black books.” 
As the question passed Graham’s ears, he sighed. “You read another didn’t you?” 
I grinned sheepishly. “Little bit.” 
Another sigh from Graham told me that he was a bit labored by this topic. “Well as you know the black books contain very powerful spells, but these spells are not powerful simply by their own right. While most spells simply draw on the energy of the caster, black magic draws on the bound soul of a pony who has either been sacrificed or convinced to do so.”
Well, in that case Charon wasn’t lying. At least in one sense. “Well, could you explain a bit about that? I’m completely in the dark about soul binding and the consequences of such.” 
“Consequences.” Graham nodded at the word, as if it were fitting in his mind. “If a pony were to be sacrificed in order to give up their soul to be bound to a spell, they would die in the process and their soul would simply continue to exist in the bound spell or object.” Another point for Charon, maybe he was the only honest one. “If a pony were to simply have their soul bound and not be sacrificed, their empty shell would walk the world until their soul has been released.” 
So Warner was just an empty shell, not fully himself. “I see.” I looked at the ground for a moment, trying to find the words for my next question. “Um, what would happen to that shell once their soul was released or absorbed?” 
Graham frowned at me. “Absorbed? You really have been listening to those books haven’t you?” I avoided eye contact with the religious pony. “If a bound soul is released, or absorbed in your case, the shell will simply catch up with all the lost time it had been empty. I have heard legends in which kings of the olden times have risen and fallen by the whims of black books and their souls keeping them on this world. The body will decay, but the pony will live until they have been turned to nothing more than a pile of bones. It is the most painful way I have witnessed a pony die. Death in war or by sickness is more merciful then rotting while you still live.” 
So that’s how he knew so much about this sort of thing. I was beginning to suspect that maybe he had read a black book himself, but I suppose a religious figure like him would have all kinds of ponies coming to him for help. Even those without souls to save. “What about a pony who has absorbed the souls of more than one pony? What happens to her?” I couldn’t even stop the words before they spilled out. 
Graham stared at me for a moment, until I looked him in the eyes as well. “Your eyes aren’t usually silver are they?” I froze for a moment, then shook my head slowly. “You’re worried about what will happen to you aren’t you?” 
I felt myself almost crying as I nodded, still keeping eye contact. Graham returned the nod and looked around for a moment. He got up, retrieved something from his bedside table and sat back down in front of me. I tried my best not to blink. I didn’t want my eyes to be empty and black here. I didn’t want to be a monster. 
“Here, look at this.” Graham pointed to the thing he had retrieved, a book open to a sort of hexagonal shape thing. I looked down at it and felt myself back away from it a little. “I see. Then you aren’t fully yourself then.” I looked back up to Graham slightly panicked, if that was a thing. “How many black books did you read?” 
I felt my heart rate soring. Why was I breathing so quickly? “Um, three? I think. Yeah, three.” I avoided looking at the hexagon shape at all costs. It frightened me for some reason. 
Graham picked up the book and read something, his eyes darting across the page quickly before turning it around and making me look at it. I turned my head away from it. “No! Midnight, I need you to look at this book. Look at this seal, I’m trying to help you.” 
I forced myself to look at the shape on the page, no matter how much I wanted to look away. Was I growling at it? Yes I was. I was actually growling at a shape on a page. 
“They are trying to get out Midnight. They are trying to surface themselves and take over your mind. There is one problem however, up until now they have been fighting. Now in the presence of this seal, they are trying to all force their will on you. You have to focus and do exactly as I say Midnight. Alright? Are you still there?” 
Graham reached out with a hoof to try and touch me, but I batted it away with my own hoof. Why did I do that? “I think so. Graham, what’s going to happen to me?” 
“Nothing Midnight. You’re going to be fine.” Why was it that I didn’t believe him? “Now I want you to count to seven alright? If you mess up or stop suddenly, start over.” 
That seemed really stupid. “Alright Graham. One, two, five-”
“No! Start over.”
I wanted to kick Graham in the face for that. On the other hoof, why did I say five? Five wasn’t until after four right? “Fine. One, two….three.” 
“You slowed down, try again.” I actually got up and was about to kick Graham in the face this time, but he forced me to sit back down with his forelegs. “Midnight. Start again.” 
I hated his face so much. Why was he so angry? Why was I so angry? “Fine, you worthless swine!” Graham didn’t even react to my words. Were they my words? I didn’t know anymore. “One! Two! Three! FourFiveSix-”
“Evenly Midnight! This doesn’t work if it’s not you counting!” 
What the hell was that supposed to mean? I was trying my best and he was yelling at me! I felt myself start to cry a little. Tears welled up in my eyes. “One…two…three-he.” I was absolutely bawling by this time. I couldn’t speak evenly. My face was hot with either sadness, or hate. I couldn’t decide.
“Midnight.” I looked up at Graham through my tears. He didn’t hold the slightest contempt for me, whereas I wanted to burn his face off until he didn’t have any more skin. “I know you’re in there somewhere.” 
I suddenly felt numb. The tears continued to stream down my face and I wanted more and more to burn his face off, but now I felt these things in a totally calm sort of way. Did that make sense? Calmly crying and wanting to melt face? “You’re not going to succeed here priest. She’s ours now.” I was surprised at the words that came from my mouth. That was definitely not me, I think. Was it?
“You won’t fool me monster. I can have you killed right now. Removed from this world, with the uttering of a few words.” Graham stared at me with hating eyes. “I don’t want it to come to that.” 
“Like hell you can, worm.” As if I was guided by string, I bit down on my own foreleg as hard as I could. I didn’t even wince at the pain, instead I smiled. “Blackmore will lead you to eternity, you don’t have to show me the way. I already know that road priest.” At the uttering of his name, my blood oozed out into the shape of a black sword pointed at Graham. “Any last words worm? Or should I just cut out your throat out for you?” Okay, that was definitely not me.
“When my time comes, I will go monster. You won’t be the judge of that.” Graham turned around and kicked me in the face, really hard. So hard that I dropped the blood sword and fell to my haunches, surprised. “Midnight! Count now! Seven!” 
As if I was hit with a sudden epiphany, I finally felt as though I was in control of my thoughts. I shook the kick off and focused. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven! There! Now what Grah-” All of the sudden, I felt myself fall to the ground and pass out. 



I opened my eyes to bright sunshine in the sky. I blinked a few times, getting used to the brightness and realized that I was lying on the ground. Getting up and looking around, I found that I was outside of Graham’s cabin. “What the heck happened?” I asked aloud. 
“The spirits of the black books almost consumed you Midnight.” I turned around to see Graham sitting in the grass with his eyes shut as if he was meditating. “I thought that they had completely taken you away, but you pulled through. I’m proud of you, for what it’s worth.” 
I cantered over to him and sat next to the meditating pony. “Um, thanks. What exactly do you mean almost consumed me? What happened?” 
Graham opened his eyes and looked at me. “They almost took over your mind, but you pulled through.” Great, that didn’t really explain a lot. “Had you not done so, I would have been forced to vanquish both them and you. I am glad it did not come to such violence.” 
I laughed a bit uncomfortable. “Hah, I am too. Being vanquished doesn’t exactly sound fun.” I looked around a bit. “How long has it been?” 
“Two days. The binding process is lengthy, but can be done.” I gave Graham a surprised look, at which he laughed a bit. “What? You look at me as if you have never heard of such a thing. Didn’t I already tell you a bit about binding and such already?” 
“Yeah, but I didn’t know it could be done by a pony that wasn’t… well wasn’t-”
“A unicorn?” He took the word right from my mouth. “It is difficult, but with the right equipment a binding can require only the right words.” 
Something still bothered me though. “What do you mean binding? Did you bind my soul to something?”
Graham hesitated for a few moments, but found the words he was looking for. “Not entirely Midnight. Only partially.” 
I didn’t like the sound of that.  “What do you mean partially?” 
Graham looked me dead in the eyes. “They had embedded themselves enough to control your consciousness, I had to bind such parts of your soul lest they do the same thing again. It was not an easy choice, but it was the moral one.” 
Moral choice? “I’m still not understanding what any of that means. You keep saying you bound them, but that doesn’t exactly tell me what that does.” I suddenly very much felt like a child getting early spell classes…from an earth pony.
Graham closed his eyes again, either thinking or just not wanting to look at my confusion. “They are bound to a powerful seal, but not permanently. Since part of your soul was caught up in the binding, I didn’t want to make it too powerful of a seal. While their spirits and some of you are bound to the seal, it is permeable enough for you to remember who you are. In that sense, also permeable enough for you to use the magic you gained from those spirits.” 
I thought for a moment on this, but was still bothered. “So, am I just a soulless shell now?”
Graham laughed a bit, again reminding me that I really have to get into the field of comedy. “Hah, well not really Midnight. It is only a partial soul binding, not a complete one. So no, you are very much yourself in that you shouldn’t feel any different than before you read your first black book. You shouldn’t feel any whispers of those spirits in your mind.” 
I smiled a bit. “Well that certainly sounds good. But…what if I die?” I suddenly felt much more somber at the thought, but I needed to know.
Graham stayed silent for a good, long while. I’m sure he was trying to find a simple way of explaining it. “I don’t know Midnight.”
Or not. “Well, can I die? Since I’m not completely soulless, what happens if I end up dying?” He stayed silent once more. “I need to know Graham.” 
Graham looked into my eyes very seriously. “Midnight. There is no right answer to that.” He let that sink into my mind for a bit, the continued. “While I think you are indeed still completely able to have the life leave your body, I doubt that it will be anything that I have ever seen. Quite simply, I have never seen any kind of situation like yours Midnight. It’s normally one pony’s soul I’m saving, not binding a pony who has four.” 
I wanted to be angry at him, but had no ground to stand on. While I wanted to know more, I didn’t have any right to be angry at Graham for doing his best. “I see.” I looked away from Graham, suddenly wanting to change the subject. “So what happens now?” I returned my gaze to the religious, tan pony. “Where do we go from here?” 
“We go about our lives Midnight.” Graham got up and started cantering over to his cabin, beckoning me to follow. “I have a feeling that your friends are very concerned for you, being here for so long.” 
I looked to the ground. He was right, I didn’t know I would be away for two entire days. That was too long to just disappear again. “I guess you’re right Graham.” I got up from my haunches and looked back to the tan earth pony. “I suppose I’ll see you when I see you, if I see you again.” 
I turned to start the path back down to the plains and to the Colony. “Midnight, wait.” I turned back around to Graham cantering over to me with a back pack, my back pack. “I think you should take this.” 
I hadn’t even realized I had brought it or dropped it. “Oh, thanks Graham.” I took the thing in my telekinesis and plopped it on the ground. 
“Inside, you will find your three empty black books. Also, you will find mine. It’s not much to you probably, but I find that when I am lost most I can find comfort in the verses within. I am by no means a saint, and that book is proof. While most pastors would have nigh a scratch on it, mine has been beaten and worn down for years. It’s rather difficult to find the…I’m getting off topic. Inside you will find the very seal that contains the three spirits and part of your soul. If you can find such a way to put the lost spirits back into those black books of yours or simply release them, find me and bring that book. Then I can unbind your soul. But one step at a time Midnight. Don’t rush it, think it over.” Graham looked rather distant as he explained everything to me. Almost like he wasn’t sure he could actually do such a thing.
I searched inside the back pack, and sure enough there was a white book inside that was worn almost to falling apart. Yet it remained in one piece somehow. “Thanks Graham. I guess it’s a little assuring to have part of my soul with me.” 
Graham smiled. “Check the bottom of the bag Midnight.” 
Confused, I shrugged and did so. I pulled out the four books and the wooden zebra mask, and gasped at what I saw at the bottom. “Graham, you don’t know how much I’ve missed this!” I pulled out my missing piece of lace from the back pack and smiled giddily. After replacing the rest of the contents, I pulled back my mane back into a manageable pony tail and tied the lace around it tightly. It felt so great to have wind meet my neck again. “Graham, where did you?” I looked up from the back pack and frowned. There was no Graham. The religious pony was simply gone. After looking around a bit, I gave up and smiled. “Thanks Graham. May you go where you are needed always.” 
With a smile, I turned and started down the path to the plains. I was going to miss him, but I had a feeling that I would see him again someday. 



Night was finally falling as I made my way closer to the Colony. Now with the living quarters being more than a few hollowed out trees, the place looked like ponies could actually live here. Perhaps I really had made a difference here. 
“Midnight!” I was stirred from my thoughts by the oddly out of place Sunset Gale galloping towards me. It was strange to see him not flying around as he usually was. 
“Sunset!” With a smile, I met the panting Pegasus and tried to give him a hug; that’s what ponies did when they were happy to see one another right? I was confused however when he pushed me away and sat down to catch his breath. “What’s wrong? Forgot how to fly or something?”
After panting and trying at words several times, Sunset sat up and caught his breath properly. His face was hilarious. “No, not that.” More panting, had he been running or something? “It’s Edge. He’s gone insane!” 
That certainly didn’t sound good. “What do you mean?” I asked quickly, reflecting on how many times I had asked that in the past few days. “Edge doesn’t go crazy. He makes sure the crazy ones don’t go, well, crazy.” 
Sunset had finally managed to get his breath back fully. “It’s not that! You’ve got to talk to him, he’s not thinking right.” 
I nodded firmly. “Alright, let’s go. Lead the way.” 
“No, can’t. Said if he saw me again he’d kill me himself.” Sunset looked around, as if expecting to find something that was going to assault him. “You’ve got to talk some sense into him. I tried and he told me I was banished from the Colony or something.”
No pony had the right to banish another. Even if he was some kind of commander of a rag tag group of exiles. That seemed a bit ironic. “Alright, where will you be? Where will you go?” I asked the yellow Pegasus.
Sunset looked into my eyes. “I don’t know Midnight. I just can’t stay here. I’ll find you, I promise!” With that, he continued his gallop in the direction opposite of the Colony. 
“Wait! Sunset!” He was gone, didn’t even hear me. Without as much as a hug too. Damn it. 
I turned back the way I was heading, towards the Colony. If there was something wrong with Edge, he had to be removed. I didn’t think that I had much a chance at fighting the stallion since he was like twice my size, so words were going to be my best friend. I hoped. With concern rife in my mind, I galloped as fast as I could to the Colony. 



Things seemed quite when I arrived at the circle of ramshackle log cabins that made up the Colony. No pony was around, or even in their small homes. What was going on? I trotted over to my cabin, and found nothing inside. “Where is every pony?” I asked aloud, hoping for an answer. 
My answer however, was a tree falling down in front of my cabin doorway. That was not a good sign. I leaped over the fallen tree and looked around. Just outside my door on the left, I saw Sharpe and Edge hugging over by the uprooted base of the tree. Wait, hugging didn’t usually have anything to do with forelegs around one another’s necks. Edge was choking Sharpe while he flailed about uselessly against his big brother. 
“Edge! Stop! What are you doing?” I demanded, quickly trotting over to the two. “What is the meaning of this?” 
Edge looked up from his brother choking and gave me a sour look. “This doesn’t concern you girl, move along now before I decide you’re next.” 
“I think this very well concerns me! That’s my friend you’re choking!” I forced Edge’s forelegs away from his brother’s neck long enough for the red pony to crawl towards me coughing. Edge simply watched with a sick grin on his face. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” 
Edge’s sick smile simply broadened. “Removing a traitor. So sad it happens to be my only living sibling.” I looked into Edge’s eyes, but only found anger in them. “Would you stop justice from being served?”
I looked down at Sharpe, finding his breath at last. “Midnight, don’t listen to him. He’s gone crazy, you’ve got to stop him.” He coughed out, getting to his hooves. “Should have never brought Warner back here.” 
“What? Why?” I stammered, confused. “Didn’t he show the other’s how to make a boat like I said he could?”
“Oh yes he did.” Edge answered. “And all it took was a few logs and clay all along. Soon enough, we will have a boat and finally be able to get off this forsaken place.” 
Well, that was exactly the plan wasn’t it? “Not just that Midnight!” I looked over to Sharpe, in a defensive stance. “He wants to go to the Marble City. He wants to get revenge for his being here.” 
“Justice is not revenge brother. If you stayed in your damn place and did as you were told, you wouldn’t be here! None of us would be here!” Edge yelled loudly at me and Sharpe. “No! We’d all be happy in our death. We’d serve as warning to others that the unicorns are ruthless animals! They said the Colony was going to be merciful, they were wrong.” 
With Edge’s yelling, some of the other ponies of the Colony started to gather around the three of us in a sort of sparse circle. “You and I both know it is petty revenge brother!” Sharpe yelled back from beside me. “The Marble City will deny us and put us to death anyway! You have the chance to live. A chance for all of us to live! You just want to throw it away on your revenge though. You want us all to hurt innocent ponies in the name of revenge. I won’t do it brother. I won’t hurt the ponies that we both defended just because you don’t like the place they sent you to.” 
Edge smiled sickly again. “It was them that decided to send us here brother. They wanted to simply sweep us under the rug so they didn’t have to look at us. Instead of simply putting us to death, they sent us away. Why am I even talking to you? You don’t know how much this place can take away from you Sharpe.” Edge looked around at the ponies circled around us. “I think I speak for us all when I say that it’s about time that we got a little bit of payback for their insolence.” He looked directly to me, eyes filled with hate. “Would you join us Midnight? Would you join us in serving justice to the sheep that watched idly by as the crown tried to keep our blood from its own hooves?” He held out a hoof to me, as if to beckon me over. 
“Don’t listen to him Midnight!” Sharpe pleaded beside me. “He only wants to go out in a blood bath. Don’t follow him in his march on death.”
“If you refuse, you will be a traitor like my brother. A traitor to the downtrodden and the evicted. You can either ride valiantly with justice on an assault on the ponies that put you here, or you can die here as a traitor to the greater good.” Some of the other ponies floated over a spear to the tall stallion. He took it in his magic and pointed it to me, spearhead towards himself. “Make your choice Midnight.” 
I looked to Sharpe once more, then to the ponies entrapping us in a circle like a preschool fight. I then looked at Edge, his face staunch and determined. “Edge.” I stared. “You do know that this is a suicide mission right? The guards aren’t going to welcome you back with open forelegs and just let you march on the Platinum palace. They’ll kill you, all of you.”
“Then we shall take as many as we can with us. They are better off dead than under the tyranny of the Platinum crown.” Edge did not even blink. He knew he was throwing away his life and the lives of the other ponies of the Colony, just to get a last bit of revenge against the crown for putting him here instead of simply killing him. 
I thought for a moment. On one hoof, I had death by my fellow exiles. It would be quick, and I would die with Sharpe. On the other, I had death by the Platinum guard. Probably just as quick, and I would be remembered as a murderer. 
Neither one sounded like a good idea. Death or death? No. I wasn’t about to let this be where I fall. I wasn’t about to throw my life away because some pony told me to. I wasn’t about to brand myself a traitor to any pony. “I’m sorry Edge. I can’t accept what you’re doing.” I had to raise my voice enough to be heard at the slight distance, but not to the yelling point that Edge had been at. “I refuse to throw my life away on the whims of some pony that just thought he would take control. I refuse to let you dictate these ponies’ lives as if they belong to you.” 
Edge dropped the spear and looked around the circle of ponies around us. “Midnight, you think that you can call me a dictator and just have me cast away?” He looked back to me, hate in his eyes once more. “These ponies are the ones who told me what they wanted. It was not my plan to use a boat to strike back to the Platinum crown! It is the will of the Colony that calls me to lead them, and they call me to lead them on a path of justice. I am not the mastermind you may think I am, I am simply what I am asked to be: a leader.” 
I didn’t believe it. My one weapon against the worst possible outcome was a dud. Usually when you throw the word dictator around, ponies get rampant and want to oust the dictator. I hadn’t counted on this settlement of criminals to desire revenge on the ponies that put them here. Then again, that made more sense that Edge being a dictator. 
I gave a quick look to Sharpe, whom of which gazed at me with sorrow in his eyes. “Midnight that was noble of you, but I don’t think there’s any way we can get out of this. Tell him you’ll go, tell him you’ll go with him so you can have a chance to run. You don’t deserve to die here with me.”
There was such determination in the red pony’s eyes. He was ready to die here if only I had the chance to continue living. I had another plan though. “I can’t do that Sharpe, I’m sorry.” I looked back over to Edge. “Well since you are dead set on this choice and are certain of what will happen, why not a little duel to spice things up? I’m sure you are aware of the rules of a duel?” I gave a side glance to Sharpe, giving me the most pleading look I’d ever seen on him. 
Edge laughed at the idea. “Hah, so you think you can defeat me girl? Is that what this is? You think you can defeat me and save the day? Be the hero?” I stared into his eyes, unwavering. “I can tell you one thing girl, you certainly have guts. Another thing I can tell you, even on the off chance that you kill me in this stunt it won’t change a thing. My living doesn’t change the ideals of the Colony. You are aware that there is no good way this can end for you right?” 
I nodded firmly. “Be that as it may, I’d rather die in an honorable duel with the commander than by the blade of execution.” 
Sharped begged that I desist, but I ignored him. “Well, I can honestly say that would be more fun than just having you put to death traitor. I accept your challenge Midnight.” Edge looked around the circle of watching ponies. “Do no interrupt, unless it is necessary.” He looked back to me. “Would you prefer to fight with spears? Or shall we devolve ourselves to hooves and horns?” 
Sharpe was pulled behind the crowd that circled me and Edge. I hoped that he would be okay. If I was lucky, my diversion would give him a chance to escape. “No, spears would be adequate. They aren’t proper dueling weapons, but they will have to do.” At my words, a spear was tossed over to my side. I picked it up in my magic, and suddenly realized I had no idea how the hell to use it. The pointy side went towards the thing I was tryin to stab right? 
“Excellent.” Edge scoffed, picking up a spear of his own with magic as well. “Shall we count down from three then?” 
“Go ahead.” The two of us circled each other defensively. 
“Alright then. May the best pony win.” Edge cracked his neck and smiled at me. “Three, two, one, draw!” With a whip of his horn, Edge hurled his spear at me with a frightening speed. 
“Whoa!” I jumped out of the way, just barely moving my hind legs out of the way in time. With his weapon stuck in the ground, I charged up to Edge with magically wielded spear alongside me. I would have stabbed him in the chest, but with a flash he was gone. 
Suddenly without a target, I looked around and found the tall brown pony picking up his spear with a smile on his face. “Oh come on Midnight. Don’t make this too easy now.” With another flash he was right in front of me, ready to run me through with his spear. I quick wave of my own spear knocked his away just in time to keep me from becoming a Midnight kabob, but before I could relish the small victory I was kicked in the chest with powerful hooves. The impact made me lose focus on my spear and sent me flying backwards a good few feet. 
I fought back to my hooves, coughing. When I looked up again, Edge was cantering toward me with two spears in his magical levitation fields. “If you were going to challenge me to a fight, you could at least make it interesting.” He lunged forward with spear aimed at me. I was able to get out of the way of the first, but a quick flick of his telekinesis sent the wooden end of his second spear into my chest. Being thrown off balance a bit, I fought to catch my breath again while putting a bit of distance between me and Edge. “What? Giving up already? I thought you were doing this for honor girl, not to be remembered as a coward.” With another flash, Edge was behind me with one spear pointed at my neck and the other at my forelegs. “There’s a reason not just any pony gets selected to be the captain of the guard. You have to be ruthless!” I jumped away from the angry spear-wielding pony as he attempted to perforate me. “You have to be smart!” I tried to kick one of the spears from his magical grasp, but he simply pulled it away and advanced with the other putting a stinging cut on my right foreleg. “You have to be three steps ahead of your opponent at all times!” With another flash Edge was to my right, trying to pincer me with his two spears. I jumped up to avoid them, but a high kick sent me on another flight to the ground. 
I barely managed to get to my hooves in time before he hurled a spear at me again. I wasn’t prepared for the projectile and now had a spear sticking out of my left hind leg. Searing pain shot though my entire body, forcing me to collapse again and stay down. I fought the screams of pain, but couldn’t help but cry out in agony. “What’s wrong Midnight? Suddenly not in the mood to go anywhere?” Edge taunted at me. I tried to pull my leg away from the spear, but it was rooted in the ground. I was literally pinned to the ground, and couldn’t get out. “Oops, that’s just because you aren’t able to. That’s much too bad, I was hoping this would at least be a challenge.” 
I watched as the smug stallion cantered closer and closer to me, certain of his victory. I forced myself to look back at the spear in my leg, trying to figure out how I could get it out. It was a gruesome sight with my blood pouring onto it from both sides. If he just left me here, I would bleed out before I could force the thing out. I was dead, I just hadn’t come to terms with it yet. 
Unless I did something stupid. I weighed the options as quickly as I could. I couldn’t find a better option, I had to. “You think you’ve won Edge.” I taunted, fighting the pain with gritted teeth. 
Edge stopped a few feet from me, looking down at me with a smile and spear pointed at my neck. “Oh, I don’t think that is something I am going to have to worry about Midnight. I just have one question: any last words?” 
Couldn’t have chosen a better phrase for me. “Yeah actually. I think you’ll regret asking.” Edge raised an eyebrow at me, amused at the slightest. “Charon!” As I yelled the name, a bolt of lightning erupted from my horn. A surprised Edge was sent flying a good distance, dropping his spear. I looked back at the spear protruding from my leg and grimaced. With grit teeth and a black aura eradiating from my horn, I forced myself to speak again. “Blackmore!” As if responding to my call, my blood turned an inky black color and swirled around the spear stuck in my leg. I quickly formed a sword from the abundance of ooze from my leg, one as long as my foreleg, and sliced the upper half of the spear away. I was free from most of it. 
Now was the worst part though. I forced myself to my hooves once more and looked away from the wound. Fighting all urges to stop, I pulled my leg out from the shortened end of the spear. I couldn’t stop myself from screaming. Every bump and imperfection on the spear’s handle made my leg scream with pain. After fighting every instinct to stop, I soon felt the spear release me from its wooden clutches. I was free! 
Even though the spear wasn’t in my leg anymore, I still felt as if it was. I couldn’t put any weight on my left hind leg, lest it burn more than it already was. I grit my teeth and pointed my blood blade at the now upright Edge. “And you call me the fool.” I taunted with a gritting smile.
Edge narrowed his gaze at me. “So you learned some tricks did you? Well, that certainly makes this more interesting. However, I don’t think I’m going to allow that.” With a jerk of his neck, ponies grabbed my hind legs and pinned me to the ground. “Black magic? I don’t think so Midnight.” I tried to hurl my blood blade at Edge, but he dodged it easily and continued to canter towards me. With my focus no longer on its shape, my blood blade fell to the ground as a simple puddle of blood. Still black. With a spear once more at my neck, Edge laughed. “Hah, you silly girl. While this is a fight I know I can win, I’d rather avoid the unnecessary injury to your soul before I send you to hell.” 
This was it. I was going to die here. No more tricks up my sleeves. I looked up at Edge standing over me with a smug smile on his muzzle. I closed my eyes, readying myself for the end. 
“Midnight!” 
“Call on her! Use her magic!” 
I opened my eyes to the whispers of Blackmore and Charon. They could still whisper to me? I thought that they were bound to the seal in Graham’s book…until I called upon them. “But I can’t, there’s no time!” I thought back. 
“Don’t be daft lass! Use her magic! Now!” 
I looked around me. Edge stood over me with a spear at my neck, three ponies kept me grounded, and several others watched with smiles on their faces. These ponies didn’t care for anything but hate. They didn’t want anything but revenge, and anything standing in their way was just another hurdle to cross. They wanted me to die. 
I may not have meant anything to the ponies of the Marble City. Hell I probably didn’t mean anything to any pony aside from Sharpe, Warner, Sunset, and Graham. But I’d be damned before I let these ruthless criminals kill innocent ponies in the name of revenge. If I could save the lives of many innocent ponies by taking the lives of a few criminals, then I didn’t care what they thought of me. 
Edge brought his spear back, ready to slit my throat and end my life. I wasn’t going to let him though. My horn glowed black, and I felt myself go numb as I spoke the name I swore I would never speak again. “Inferno!” Upon her name, my captors caught fire and let go. Edge was set ablaze before me. He screamed as he dropped his spear and rolled around trying to put out the flames. I could only smile as he continued to roll. “Burn now, you pig.” I smiled sickly at her choice of words. While I usually didn’t think well of the thoughts of Inferno, here I couldn’t have approved more. “All of you! Burn! Burn until there is nothing but beautiful ash!” 
It seemed that everything that I looked at simply caught fire; trees, makeshift cabins, even grass. Everything, and every pony was consumed in the beautiful blaze that surrounded me. I was deaf to the screams of the burning ponies, I could only hear the cackle of flames licking at everything around me. 
As I watched the world around me get consumed by the orange flames, I suddenly felt myself again. I no longer relished in the fire, no I felt its heat on my body. I had to get out of here! I looked around, but couldn’t make heads or tails of anything. In desperation, I picked a random direction and ran. I ran through the flames that licked at my sides and hooves. I ran until I felt sand under my hooves and slowed down. Here it was cool, and calm. I felt the waves of the ocean wash over my hooves and was brought back to my senses. 
After taking a few moments to collect myself, I thought about what I just did. I just burned the very place that I once tried to assist. All I wanted to do was help, but I could only manage to destroy it. Then again, was it better this way? Was it better that the Colony burned to ashes before it became a threat to innocent ponies? Why did I care anyway? I could have just let them go. Sure they would have attacked the Marble City, but was I no better before my coming here?
Then again I tried to kill the Princess, not just try to attack some ponies before being killed myself. Were they any worse than me? Then again, was I worse than them? I didn’t know, everything was so confusing. I didn’t know what was good anymore.  
I wished that the voices would come back. I wished they would make some kind of comment on what I just did. I wished they could at least bring my sprits back up after what just happened. A dark joke or something would be perfect, but they remained silent. 
Then something hit me. Sharpe was in there too. I started to trot back to the blaze of trees, but couldn’t continue. I fell to the sand, exhausted from the loss of blood. I looked back at my leg and found that it was still bleeding. Why didn’t it listen to me? Why didn’t it stop? These questions faded to obscurity as I passed out. 



“You can wake up now Midnight. You’re not dead anymore.” 
My eyes shot open to the words whispered in my ears. Were the voices back? I tried to get up, but pain and constriction around my hind leg stopped me. Instead I simply looked up to see Warner frowning down at me. “Warner! I thought they killed you.” I made an effort to get up and hug him, but he backed away. Confused, I gave him a hurt look. 
“Don’t try to give me those eyes lass. You aren’t you anymore.” His furrowed brow and distasteful look in his eyes told me everything.
Still, his words confused me. “No, I am me though. Graham found a way to bind the other ponies’ souls enough so I wouldn’t lose myself. I’m the same Midnight, I just-”
“No. You aren’t the Midnight I brought over here to be left to die. That Midnight didn’t have the right to choose if ponies had the right to live or die. That Midnight simply wanted to belong.” He got up and cantered a few steps away from me. “That Midnight was like Carlotta, young, hopeful, with a curious outlook on life. Now you’re nothing like her. You think simply binding souls to a book can change who you are. You think doing the right thing is killing ponies because they want freedom from their prison.” He looked back at me coldly. “You aren’t the same Midnight anymore, there’s nothing but fear and hate in your eyes.” 
I found myself almost crying at his words. Tears welled up in my eyes and made my vision blur. Blinking them away only hurt, I didn’t know why. “Warner, you don’t understand. I had to do something. They were going to hurt innocent ponies. If I didn’t stop them, it would have resulted in more lives being lost. It was the moral thing to do.” 
Warner stared at me coldly, not blinking. “Moral huh? There’s morality to murder then? Is that what you’re saying?” 
“Yes, I couldn’t let that happen. I had to take responsibility for what I helped start.” Even as I said the words, I didn’t believe them. Why did I suddenly think I was responsible for what the ponies of the Colony wanted? I wasn’t a judge to free will. 
Warner nodded slowly, taking in my excuse. “So, there was no other option? Killing them was the only way that this could be solved?” I started to respond, but Warner didn’t let me. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from being on this cursed plain of existence for as long as I have, it’s that things happen Midnight. Things beyond our control happen. Sometimes prisoners escape from their prison, and riot to the ponies who put them there. Sometimes ponies are taken as slaves, and forced to work until they die. Sometimes we have no responsibility for what happens.” 
His words made me angry. “Warner, what are you saying? Are you saying that when things such as this happen, we are just supposed to sit idly by and let them happen?”
Warner didn’t deviate his gaze. “No Midnight. I’m saying that we shouldn’t have the authority to say what happens in the world and what doesn’t. You think you did what was right here, but when you see the same things happen again you will know different. Everything that you think is right is an illusion Midnight. There isn’t morality in murder. There is morality in letting the world sort itself out. We aren’t responsible for anything that occurs, only what we do and think. We aren’t supposed to go about the world and make it what we find to be what we find to be ‘good.’ Our ‘good’ can very well be a nightmare for others. Do you think that the Colony ponies you burned thought your decision was ‘good?’ Because I think their burnt skeletons think otherwise. Do you think Edge wanted to have his life ended by an ignorant mare who blindly lashed out at his beliefs?” 
His words hit me like a bricks. I didn’t have the right to make any one thing justified. Having power doesn’t mean that we are supposed to waste it. I looked down at the injury in my leg, loosely wrapped in grass? “What is this then?” Warner remained silent though. “Why did you do this?” 
Warner looked me in the eyes, but less coldly. “I couldn’t let go. This was all too familiar. I couldn’t let her go again, she deserved better.” 
“What ever happened to the whole ‘no pony deciding who has the right to live and die’ thing you were telling me earlier? Why should I be allowed to live when you didn’t help the Colony ponies?” I looked him in the eyes with contempt. “Why me?” 
Warner closed his eyes and shook his head. “It was a moment of weakness. I couldn’t let Carlotta die again like she had before. Even as warped and corrupted by the books and your own intention as you are, I couldn’t let her just die again. Your soul may be corrupt and misguided, but you are still more like her than any other pony could be. Even though you have a marred and murky outlook on right, you still want to do right.” I fought the pain and forced myself to my hooves. “It was my last gift to the world before I go. I’m not going to be here much longer, the least I could do is leave some pony in my place who won’t abuse her curse.” 
I forced myself to limp over to the light blue stallion. “I can stop your death Warner. I just have to put the writ back in the book. Graham said he didn’t know what would happen, but I don’t care. You are a gift to the world Warner. I don’t care what happens to me, so long as-”
“I don’t have the right to decide if you live or die Midnight, but I can tell you right now that plan won’t end well.” He looked down on me with pity. “I’ll be left on this world until it falls to pieces, but you won’t survive the splitting. I’ve been waiting for many a decade for some pony to take my burden. Now that you have, I can’t make you give it back. I’m not going to trade your life so mine can continue, curse or not. I don’t have that right.” He turned around and started to canter away along the beach. “But I can’t change your mind either Midnight. If you sign your life away, I won’t let it be in vain. As tired as I am of the world and it of me, I’ll take the burden of eternity if you cannot bare it. It’s your choice, but make it quick. I won’t be around for much longer.” 
I started to follow Warner, but stopped. He wanted to be alone in his last few days, or not be around me if I signed his soul back into one of the books. I couldn’t plague him with my existence forever, so instead I picked up the back pack containing the black books and turned to the burnt tree line containing the Colony. While I limped from the hole in my leg, I did so with conviction. Suffering for my choices was the only way I could pay for them. 
As I entered the clearing that was once the Colony, I marveled at my surroundings. Everything was covered in a layer of grey ash. Like some kind of horror painting, burnt corpses of ponies lay half buried with their forelegs sticking out for mercy. I couldn’t recognize any of them, they were just blackened and charred skeletons that retained a thin layer of skin just for the gore of it. 
All of it was gone. Nothing but death and ashes remained. 
As I marveled at the sight, I bumped into something. “Ah!” I screamed, turning around in a defensive pose. What I saw however was an astonished Sunset, his eyes wide with fear and mouth hung open in awe.  “Oh my goodness Sunset!” I hugged the yellow Pegasus warmly, but he didn’t return it. I looked up at him confused. “Are you okay?”
He slowly looked down at me, shaking. “Midnight, what happened here?” 
If I was going to burn down settlements, I could at least take responsibility for doing so. “I burnt it down Sunset. I burnt it down because they turned against me.” I didn’t have to glorify it into the moral situation I had with Warner. There was not moral in lying. 
Sunset pushed me away, regarding me with disgust. I took a step toward him, but he took three back. “You…burnt them? All of them?” I looked down at a burnt corpse next to me and nodded slowly. “Midnight I…I don’t think I can look at you.” I turned to the yellow Pegasus, his eyes wide with fear. “A pony doesn’t do this sort of thing, not without being forced into it. A pony doesn’t just choose to wipe life away like this. A monster does.” 
I suddenly had second thoughts on the telling of this whole thing. I didn’t want to be a monster. “Sunset no, they made me-”
“Get away from me!” Sunset took to the sky, looking down at me from a few feet up. “I thought you were different Midnight. I didn’t want to believe that you could be the same as the others, but I was wrong. You were by far the one that needed to be sent away the most. You are more of a monster than the ponies that were here combined.” With that he took off, flying away from my view. I didn’t chase after him though. I knew I would never see him again. 
I sat down in the ashes in anger. I brought out the black books from my back pack. I may not have had a pen to write in them, but I had my blood. I held out my fore leg, about to bite it. “Midnight!” The voice surprised me. Had Sunset come back? 
Instead of Sunset though, Sharpe trotted to me in the ashes. I smiled and got up to hug the red stallion. “Sharpe, I thought they killed you. How did you survive the fire?” I looked up through tearful eyes.
Sharpe just laughed a bit. “Hah, nope I’m still around. Two of the bastards were taking me away to execute me or something, then a fire broke out. They panicked and let me go to go check on what went wrong, but I didn’t let them. When I was done knocking them out, the fire spread to where I was. I ran until I was out of the trees and watched the fire consume everything. When they finally stopped burning, I ran back here as fast as I could to see if you made it. You don’t know how happy I am to see you alive Midnight!” He hugged me even tighter, tears of his own falling from his eyes. “I thought we wouldn’t make it, but we survived.”
When he finally let go of me, I stepped back a bit. “Sharpe, I don’t deserve your tears. I’m the one who burnt this place to the ground. I killed them all.” I again looked about the ashes surrounding us. “I really am a monster.” I returned to the black books I had set down in the ashes. “A monster that doesn’t deserve life anymore.”  
Sharpe sat down next to me, finding the words he wanted. “Midnight, you aren’t a monster. Were they going to kill you?” I nodded slowly. “Self-defense isn’t something a monster thinks about Midnight. A monster would be the one to burn this place if it was a settlement for orphans and puppies.” 
I looked to the red stallion with tears streaming down my face. “Sure, it’s self-defense. Just like last time when I burned those zebras that just wanted to keep me from hurting everything around me. Too many lives would be saved if I had just let them kill me.” 
Sharpe stared down at me, eyes filled with concern. “Midnight you think you are a bad pony for doing this don’t you?” I nodded again. “If you are a bad pony, then I’m a terrible pony.” I looked up at him confused. “When I was in the guard, I would kill ponies that I was told to no questions asked. I didn’t know if they were only stealing to feed their families, and I didn’t care. I simply did so because I was told to.” He stood up and looked around again. “This is probably a fraction of what I’ve been told to kill in my years of ‘protecting.’ Sure those smugglers, thieves, and such were bad, but they weren’t murderers. They didn’t kill ponies just because they wanted to. At least I did it because the pony in charge had a reason for it, they just wanted to kill for the sake of killing Midnight. You shouldn’t feel bad for them, you did the right thing.” 
I buried my face in ashes and mumbled into them loud enough for Sharpe to hear. “What right did I have to decide if they die or live? I’m no better than them no matter how you look at it.” I sat up and brushed my face off. “That’s why I’m giving Warner this burden again. With the power I’ve been given, I’ve simply murdered with it. I don’t deserve it, or the right to continue living.” 
Sharpe looked down on me confused. “What do you plan on doing? Giving your life to him?” 
“In a manner of speaking, yes.” I opened one of the books and looked at its blank pages. “I’ll probably be killed by the exchange, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 
I brought my fore leg up to bite down on it again and write in the book with my blood, but Sharpe stopped me. I looked up at him teary eyed. “Look Midnight. My assignment with you was to watch over you until you got to the Colony, to make sure you were protected from Warner and yourself. I was supposed to keep you from jumping off the boat. Though we may be in the ruins of the Colony, I’m not going to stop my assignment. I’m going to protect you alright? You aren’t going to go and kill yourself now. Not until I’m dead anyway.” 
The determined look in his eyes was so sincere. He knew I was a monster and didn’t care, but I did. “Well, what are we going to do now?” 
Sharpe thought for a moment, looking up at the sky. “Well it’s getting pretty late, I think we need to find some place to get some rest. It’s too far to get to the Mission before night falls, and I don’t want to be caught in the dark. You said that old zebra camp had some tents still standing right?” I nodded slowly. “Well then! We’re going there then. And don’t think you’re not going Midnight. I’ll carry you if I have to.” 
Accepting that he wasn’t going to leave me alone until I complied, I got up and placed the black books back in my bag. “Fine.” With a smile, Sharpe turned around and started trotting. I followed him regrettably. I really didn’t want to, but having him come back and carry me sounded even worse. 



The night was alive with noise around us. Sharpe was asleep, sitting up near the front of the zebra cone tent entrance facing out. He insisted I try to get some sleep, but I couldn’t. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t make myself sleep. Their screams echoed through my mind instead. I laid awake while they lay dead.
I found myself bringing out the black books and thinking. I could give it all up now, I could let it all end now and I’d never harm some pony else. If what Warner said was true that is. If I would simply cease to be. That would be the most moral thing to do. 
Was that the moral thing to do? Kill a killer?
While it felt like the right choice, it was a selfish one. Instead of facing my actions and living with them, I would just throw my life away to avoid them. I didn’t deserve life, but throwing it away was the coward’s way out. 
Was I a coward? Would I run from my actions? 
I looked at the sleeping form of Sharpe, sitting up in the entryway. He stayed with me because he believed in me, he believed that I was better than the choices I had to make. I don’t know why he had such a good view of me, I was nothing but a burden to him since we met when he escorted me through the Marble city.
Things were simpler then. I was a suspected criminal simply being escorted to my fate and he was the guard tasked with taking me there. I clung to the life given back to me by Clover and he doubted the decision. It was simple then, nothing complicated. Just justice being served. 
Now things were too different. I was a monster killing in the name of self-defense and he was a guard who tasked himself with keeping me alive. I wanted to let go of my life, half taken by a priest and half taken by black magic and he doubted my decision of wanting to kill myself. I didn’t know what the just choice was. I didn’t deserve to. 
The night sang on as I contemplated all this. It was beautiful, the song birds sang their foreign melody and the crickets chirped in their own dialect. Why didn’t any pony else stop and listen to the night? It was more gorgeous than any symphony in a concert hall and so thick in the air, I swore I could reach out and touch it. 
It was then that I had a realization. Life, regardless of my decision tonight, would go on. If I lived, life would go on. If I died, life would go on. Either way, the world would still move onward. It really put things into perspective. I was nothing more than a single pony, not some gifted leader, not some great scholar, not some kind of hero. I was just a pony. 
I smiled at my epiphany. Maybe I couldn’t find my answer in a blank book. Maybe my answer was elsewhere in the world. Maybe my answer was some pony, not something. Maybe my answer wasn’t life.
I stared at the black book, contemplating for hours. When I made my decision, I smiled. “This one’s for you Warner. Gonna miss you, you crazy pony.” So finally after all these years, I made my own decision. Not one directed by some leader or by circumstance. I made a decision, and life would go on.