“Cheerilee? Wha–”
“Twilight! I’m sorry, I know it’s late, but this is important! Can I come in? I need your help.”
Something in the low and desperate tone struck a chord with the alicorn. “Of course, what’s the emergency?”
Cheerilee stepped into the castle and closed the door behind her. “I don’t know what to do; I feel so out of my depth with this.”
“Cheerilee, slow down. Keep calm and tell me what the problem is.”
The teacher took several deep breaths. “…Well, I guess I should tell it the same way I heard it… Twilight, have you ever heard of a stallion named Midnight Star?”
The princess’s eyes and nostrils flared as she choked in shock. She quickly shot glances back and forth down the hall to make sure nopony was around, then in a flash of light, both mares vanished.
They rematerialized in a room on the far side of the castle. “Cheerilee, do not talk to anypony about that stallion.” Twilight hissed. “I need to know, did Nyx or one of the trio tell you about him?”
“No, it was–”
“Don’t tell me! Cheerilee, I can’t know how you found out about him. None of the princesses can. Or the trio for that matter.”
The trio? Twilight had mentioned Nyx too… Exactly how many fillies had this bastard gone after? “Twilight, I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
“…I can’t tell you Cheerilee. I can’t tell you about him or about what’s happening. I can’t help you at all.” The alicorn let out a breath and broke eye contact. “But I can tell you that whichever filly told you that name needs your help.”
Cheerilee was feeling rattled as she left Twilight’s castle. Whoever this Midnight Star character was, he was even more dangerous than she realized. She still couldn’t believe he had managed to get to Nyx, Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo as well as Diamond Tiara. Although she supposed it was possible… if he was powerful enough to scare Princess Twilight Sparkle…
She needed help.
“Cunning…”
“I am here Sir.”
“I sense something…”
“Do you not always?”
“Yes… But this is new… There are whispers on the wind… Even here, they are beginning to feel it…”
“Surely it is no threat to us sir.”
“Do not overestimate yourselves. I fear that confounded foal is meddling again.”
“Who? We shall eliminate any threat Sir.”
Dark laughter. “Better than you have tried. You would not be able to stand against him. But there is no need for that, he is already imprisoned. He meddles from afar, likely acting through another.”
“Who is he?”
“The Black Alicorn, The Stallion of Night, The Wishing Star, The Last Light…”
“Sir?”
“It would appear that Midnight Star has discovered our plans. Move the schedule up, I must be released as quickly as possible.”
“And the Warrior of Night Sir?”
“Capture the filly. Our presence has already been detected, so you need not worry about witnesses, but you must not be found yet.”
“It shall be done. I will send Treason and Deception with Subtlety.”
“Send Devotion as well, lest she fly away.”
“As you command.”
Cheerilee hesitated with her hoof hanging over the door. She had known and been friends with the mare since she was in school. The mare had even helped Cheerilee when she was undergoing that special training to get foals to talk about things they didn’t want to. But still… she hadn’t visited her friend in years…
She knocked.
Immediately she realized that the mare she was looking for was probably in bed. Cheerilee had left school the day after her visit with Twilight and come straight here, but Luna’s moon was still high in the sky. Before she could decide to leave the house’s occupants to their sleep however, the door opened.
“Flowers?” The familiar pegasus mare looked Cheerilee over. “It must be bad to bring you here this late. What is it?”
“It’s… a filly.” Cheerilee didn’t want to say too much in the open.
“Really? When I had mine they couldn’t tell me until after I had started showing. The improvements they’ve made in those spells since my day…”
Cheerilee blushed noticeably, an impressive feat for a fuchsia mare on a dark night. “No, I’m not – I – What? No!”
The pegasus started cackling. “Come in Flowers, we can talk about your problem in private.”
The earth pony followed her into the house, closing the door behind her. “Feathers… Did you really just make a joke?”
“Feathers” rolled her eyes. “No Flowers, I actually think you’re pregnant.”
“Two jokes? That’s… unlike you.”
“What can I say Flowers, retirement does strange things to a mare.”
“You’re officially retired now then?”
“…Yes. Forced retirement. Bucking bureaucrats. I’d stayed in for the maximum allowed time.”
“I see… Why are you limping?”
“Twisted my ankle playing with my little sister’s foals the other day. At this rate, when my girls get to be parents I’ll be in a wheelchair.”
“They always told you your adventures would catch up to you.”
“They wouldn’t have if they’d’ve let me stay in. I didn’t have a single problem until they made me retire!”
Cheerilee chuckled softly. Same old Feathers.
“Anyway Flowers, enough about me, you came with a problem. You mentioned a filly?”
“Yes, one of my students. She came to me with some questions, and they… worried me.”
“And so, you being you, you asked her some questions of your own. Which I’m sure she thought were completely innocent, just like all the other foals you helped.”
“…Scarily so. Feathers, I don’t have any proof, but I’m fairly certain she’s being molested.”
“So why’d you come to me? Much as I’d love another adventure Flowers, I’m the wrong pony for the job. You’ve still got that old Foal Services license, your professional opinion counts as evidence in a court of law. Take it to the town guards.”
“I don’t think they can handle this one Feathers. She’s been dream-groomed.”
The pegasus snorted. “So some unicorn got his hooves on some spell that lets him talk to her in her sleep. Still a problem for the guards, just make sure they’re thorough and delicate.”
“Successfully dream-groomed, Feathers.”
The pegasus paused. “What?”
“Whoever this guy is, he’s powerful. And dangerous. I went to Twilight Sparkle, and as soon as I mentioned his name, she got scared. Told me she couldn’t say anything about him, but I needed to get involved because the filly was in danger.”
Feathers whistled. “He’s bad enough to scare an alicorn princess? Okay, you’ve got me hooked. Who is this guy?”
“That’s actually what I was hoping you could help me with. I couldn’t find any record of him, so I’m pretty sure the name’s an alias, but apparently she’s not his first filly, so he might have used it before.
“I need you to see if you can find out anything about a stallion going by the name of Midnight Star.”
We’re going to backtrack a little bit now. We’ll dial it back to early afternoon, just as Cheerilee’s train was leaving Ponyville station. The setting is the Everfree Forest. The cast, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and most of the Crusaders (The trio, Nyx, and Twist of course, as well as Pipsqueak and Button).
None of them were quite sure who it was, but somepony had had the brilliant idea to try and go out looking for poison joke. The idea was to get some, bring it back home, and then try and grow it in a window box at the clubhouse.
After an hour of searching, they had yet to find a single poison joke plant. They had however managed to find several timberwolves.
Which was why they were running.
Nyx fired another blast as she jumped over a fallen log, Applebloom and Pipsqueak sliding through a small gap beneath it. At the same time, Sweetie threw a rock telekinetically as she and Silver Spoon dodged behind a tree. Meanwhile, Scootaloo, Twist, and Button Mash dove into a small stream as the wolf chasing them flew by over their heads.
While the predators were recovering, the foals circled up in the clearing. “Anypony see where Diamond Tiara went?” Nyx asked.
“I found her tiara,” Sweetie held it up in her magic. “But I don’t know where she went.”
“Ah think she got away. Hope she ran for help.”
Scootaloo nodded at Applebloom. “Probably. I think she got in trouble with Miss Cheerilee for not getting a grownup last time. Hope she finds Rainbow Dash.”
Pipsqueak spoke, “Honestly, I think I’d settle for just about anypony right now.”
Button eyed the three wolves now circling them. “Okay, three of them, seven of us. We’re surrounded and lower levels… except maybe Nyx. They don’t want to talk, so the riddle game and portion tactic are out. Maybe–”
“This isn’t one of your games!” Silver shouted at him. “Welcome to the real world!”
“He’s right though,” Nyx pointed out. “We don’t have a lot of options. Anypony got an idea?”
“There’s a cave over there,” Sweetie offered. “At least we won’t be surrounded anymore.”
“Good idea. Everypony ready? GO!”
The sudden break caught the timberwolves by surprise. They weren’t used to prey that knew evasion tactics (Nor were they as good at wrangling escaping Crusaders as the Ponyville adults had gotten). It was a tangled mess of running, jumping, and dodging, with Nyx and Sweetie shooting the occasional spell, but eventually they made it to the cave.
As soon as they were inside, Nyx covered the entrance to the cave with the shield spell Uncle Shiny had taught her. As the timberwolves pounded on the shield, the foals prepared themselves.
Sweetie picked up some jagged rocks in her magic. Button and Pipsqueak found a pair of sticks somewhere that they were holding like swords. Scootaloo started the meditation thingy she had learned back when they were trying for their martial arts cutie marks. Applebloom started going through the stretches her sister used in applebucking season. Silver and Twist started piling stones behind a pair of boulders.
All eyes snapped to their enemies as a large crack ran down Nyx’s shield. “Okay Crusaders,” The alicorn said, “Just like when we had that water war.”
Diamond Tiara peeked over the boulders again. She wasn’t sure how she had gotten separated from the others, but she had. When they first scattered, she had taken off with Applebloom and Scootaloo. That hadn’t even lasted a full minute!
When she had asked the fillies whether or not to go left where the path split, they had corrected her, told her to go right. After that she hadn’t been able to find anypony until a few moments ago when she had heard the fight. Now that she had, she wasn’t so sure she was mad at them for ditching her anymore.
Her friends were trapped in a cave. From the color, she guessed that the shield covering it was Nyx’s. Luckily Nyx was an alicorn, so her magic could probably hold out for a long time.
A long time… long enough to run for help? Cheerilee had been upset with her the last time she tried to save her friends herself…
The filly was about to run for town when she heard it. A resounding CRACK that echoed around the clearing. She looked again, and felt her heart sink in fear.
A ginormous crack ran down Nyx’s shield. There wasn’t time to run for help. She couldn’t get an adult. There was nopony around.
She was the only one who could do anything.
She saw it, out of the corner of her eye. The box had just showed up, over under that tree.
She found herself asking all the same questions she had been for over a week. Can I really be a Ranger? Do I even want to? It’s safe for me to stay in the castle at night. What if there’s another way? I don’t want to make a mistake, and…
Unbidden, other recent memories rolled through her mind.
”Unfortunately, without guardians, it becomes a trap for ponies like you.”
“Luna and I built this place to protect ponies like you.”
“I wish I could stand in her place… Apparently she’s the better pony for the job.” With a gasp, Diamond realized that Nyx had been talking about her at that time.
”It’s good to know that she has friends watching out for her.”
“I wish I was a better pony.”
“I’m proud of you Diamond Tiara.”
“Diamond! I… I just want you to know. If the time ever comes… I would be glad to get hurt for you.”
She needed to do something. She had to do something, she knew it. But the shadows… Some of the things she had read at night scared her. Did she really need the armor?
”As long as you are in the Night, you are within the reach of Darkness.”
“I have something special for you.”
“I can give you the ability to protect others.”
“The armor will disguise you to protect those you care about.”
“But remember that I’ve seen your faces and cutie marks, and I will be back for each of you.”
Yes. She needed the armor. She walked over to the box and tried to open it. She turned it, lifted it, rolled it, but no matter what she did, it stayed closed.
“Open already!” She hissed. The box didn’t respond. After a few moments and another thunderous crack from the shield, something occurred to her. Wiping the tears of frustration out of her eyes, she remembered that Nyx of the Night had mentioned the shadow armor responded to willpower.
Gently, she set her hoof on the box. “I want to be a Shadow Ranger.”
The box rolled itself to one side, landing right side up. Silver writing had shown up on the top, a poem of some kind. She recognized it, it had been carved into a wooden bookmark she had found in Volume III and was using now. She recited it by heart,
“Fighting darkness, born of Night,
Live in shadows, protect the light.
Stand for right and never fall.
I now heed the Shadows’ Call.”
The box didn’t open like she was expecting. Instead it started floating, twisting in the air as it spun around her. After she had turned around a couple of times to follow it, it stopped. Slowly, it sank until it was touching her shadow, then it went into her shadow like it had when Midnight first gave it to her.
At first, she thought it hadn’t done anything. She snorted in frustration and turned to leave. “Fine then, see if I need the fancy magic armor. I’ll go save my friends myself.” And then everything went black.
She never saw that her shadow was rising up behind her.
Diamond shook herself as she came to. Remembering where she was and what she was doing, she jumped to her feet. She was relieved to see that the timberwolves hadn’t gotten her friends yet. She started running towards them, thinking she could draw the wolves away. She stopped short as she caught sight of her reflection hopping over the stream on the edge of the clearing.
She sat up and shook the water out of her mane and coat, looking down at herself where she had fallen into the water out of shock.
She… wasn’t her? She looked like somepony else. Her coat was as black as Nyx’s, while her mane and tail were a harsh blue that matched her eyes and made her think of ice. Her cutie mark had been changed too, her namesake tiara replaced by a simple cut diamond.
Diamond looked up at the sound of shattering. The timberwolves had finally broken through Nyx’s barrier. She needed to get over there.
While she was galloping, she realized she had no idea how to get past the wolves to her friends. She remembered the books talking about some kind of shadow travel thing, but it was confusing. She wasn’t really sure what it meant when it talked about “willing yourself into shadow…”
She had stopped moving. Looking down, she saw that her hooves were… melting? Shadows were pouring out of her legs, about six inches from where they should have ended. She watched as the shadows moved up to her knee, and noticed a funny feeling as they did.
Oh. That’s what it means.
She set her hoof back down and focused on the feeling. It was kind of like when she went swimming, the way the water held her up but could pull her down too. She sank.
The pool of shadow that was left raced across the clearing. The book was right, this was faster than running. She slid under the timberwolves and into the cave.
Button was nursing a nasty gash over one eye, and it looked like Silver Spoon was down completely. Sweetie Bell and Twist were throwing rocks, while Pipsqueak and Scootaloo were dancing around hitting the wolves with sticks. Nyx was obviously exhausted, but still firing spells at the wolves.
The book had mentioned that you could carry passengers when you shadow traveled, but Diamond could feel herself getting tired already.
She was given her opening when one of the wolves threw Pipsqueak into Scootaloo, sending both of them tumbling across the cave floor. The pegasus screamed in pain as she landed on her wing badly. Nyx fired off multiple spells, forcing some distance between the foals and the wolves, but she tired quickly. The wolves began stalking forward…
And then Diamond rose from the shadows.
The timberwolves paused in surprise, but then kept coming, growling as they did so. Diamond didn’t think she could fight them… Could she bluff timberwolves? “Do you know what I am?”
She wasn’t sure if it was the tone or the words, but something made the timberwolves stop and sniff the air. Years of bullying helped her notice as their tails moved down towards their legs. “These foals are under the protection of the Night. And of me. Get out of here.”
For the briefest moment, it looked like it was going to work. The wolves backed slowly out of the cave, Diamond walking calmly towards them. As she left the cave though, she saw a flash in the corner of her eye.
Instinctively, she jumped back as one of the timberwolves bit down on the place where she had been. Apparently they had decided that they couldn’t win in the cave, but could in the field. Which was bad, since they needed to leave the cave to get home.
Diamond was feeling pretty stupid. She had honestly thought that she could just pick up the magic armor and save the day. Now she and her friends were probably going to get eaten.
And then a purple flash blew apart one of the timberwolves.