//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Midnight Starsong 
// by Pencyke 
//------------------------------//

	At an entrance to The Crystal Castle the guards were talking, "So I'm just sittin' at the bar, waiting fer me meal, when this furious mare just storms on up to me and practically screams-"
"Tall Tale!" The strong voice of the prince interrupted the two stallions, "How many times do I have to tell you that being a guard is not the same as being a bard!"
As Prince Shining Armor, begins to reprimand Tall Tale about his habits the other guard notices a night blue mare calmly trotting up to them. He thinks it'll be a good idea to show how good a guard he is so he steps in her way and forcefully demands, "Halt, who goes there."
The mare rolls her blood red eyes and tosses her purple/sky-blue mane, "What are you, blind?" she huffs loudly at the guard, "You should've seen Shining Armor leading me this way into the castle, but you were to busy not doing your duties as a guard and instead you're casually chatting with your friend, 'Tall Tale' was it?" 'She was obviously annoyed, and she had arrived right after Shining Armor,' thought the guard, 'But what if she's lying and is evil? Heh, if I stop her plan here then I'll go from zero to hero!' The guards mind made up he moved to apprehend this little pony-
-And was interrupted by Shining Armor, "Okay, Midnight let's go see Cadence." and with that the white unicorn and blue earth pony walked right past the guard into the castle, closing the door behind them.
The guard stared at the door as Tall Tale took his place next to it, "There goes my chance at heroism."
Tall Tale regards his colleague for a while. Eventually he speaks the single question on his mind, "You do heroin?"

The rest of the way to the throne room proved unquestionably quiet, save for the sound of hoof steps echoing down the near empty halls. When they arrived the huge double doors were magically thrown open, revealing a scene that Midnight was not expecting.
There were four playing cards at a table in the middle of the room. The tallest and most abnormal of them being the draconequus, Midnight noted to keep an eye on him. The other three were all alicorns and, by extension princesses. She immediately recognized Luna, and deducted that the white alicorn was her older sister Celestia. By process of elimination it is easy to see that the thin pink one is the Princess Cadence that you were sent here to see in the first place.
The first one to notice Shining and Midnight happened to be the draconequus who immediately appears next to her and the prince. "Ladies, our guest of honor has arrived," With his sudden appearance the white unicorn seemed to tense up. 'They must be on shaky terms.' observed the red eyed mare. The alicorns all turn to look at the three of you, "Shall I whisk us all away to someplace more appropriate and, more importantly by Pinkie Pie's standards, fun?"
All royalty in the room simultaneously shouted "NO!" prompting a chuckle from Midnight and a frown of disapproval from  the draconequus.
"Well fine, have it your way." He snapped with his bird claw and he materialized on a sofa by the table. "Aren't you going to tell us her name Luna? I thought that's what friends do when they introduce the other to some pony new."
"Discord, we are not friends," The princess of the night bluntly stated. Then with a sigh, "Though now that she has arrived it is only traditional that I introduce my pupil. Every pony I present to you Midnight Starsong."
"If she's your pupil, then where's her horn?" The draconequus now identified as discord spoke out again and burped out a whole presentation set into the middle of the room which he then appeared next to now wearing a lab coat and goggles. With a stick he pointed to the first item of the presentation depicting a unicorn's head and a diagram depicting how unicorns actually use magic. "As you all know a unicorn is able to use magic solely through their horn. It is the source of their power which is why pegasi and earth ponies have always been unable to use magic as unicorns do. You see the horn acts like a conduit of magic, with this conduit a unicorn is able to activate and pull magic from the astral plane of magic and channel it into a spell for a predetermined purpose. That is why she is unable to be your pupil."
Midnight yawned loudly as she walked over to where discord was standing showing off her sharp teeth, "Well discord, I'm sorry to burst your bubble but," the red eyed apprentice levitated herself to look discord strait in the eyes, herself surrounded by a red glow, "I. Just. Did."
Discord shrank away and grumbled, "I'm all for chaos but even I have rules."
That day every pony in the Crystal Empire heard a resounding "Really?"
"Excuse me."
"Normal ponies who live in harmony have rules, not creatures who live for chaos."
"Excuse me."
"Yes sister, and that would apply especially to one who would claim to be the master of chaos."
"Excuse me."
"I mean come on! What rules would you abide by of your own free will?"
"Excuse me."
"I myself am curious about these rules myself and would like to see them."
Midnight had had enough of being ignored by the group so she decided upon a different technique to get there attention.
The fanged pony sucked in as much air as she could and let out an ear-splitting roar that rattled the entire room. All living creatures in the room stopped to look at the pony's fierce visage. Any mice in the vicinity died on the spot. "Now then," Midnight said with a curt smile, "Why exactly am I here?"
Princess Cadence stepped forward trying to shake the ringing from her ears, "Well,"
That was when the rumbling started.
"That. We need you to go underground, into the crystal mines, to find and stop what is causing that seismic activity." The pink princess looked pleadingly at the mare of tho moon's new pupil, "If this goes on for much longer the entire Crystal Empire would most likely collapse."
"Okay, I'll do it." Midnight nonchalantly shrugged at the gathered royalty, "Sounds like fun."