((NOTE: "Twilight's Kingdom", all information revealed in it, and all events after it are non-canonical to this story.))
When strange black clouds gather over Equestria, it marks the beginning of a dangerous new adventure. Now the Mane Six must travel to a strange, dark realm to save the friends who are being held prisoner there. Will they succeed? Or will the darkness of this world consume all of Equestria?
Based on the original My Little Pony TV Special, "The Rescue from Midnight Castle".
Cover image by the highly-talented Elisto from deviantART: www.elisto.deviantart.com
Chapters (10)
Funny thing is, once I had watched the TV special myself I also pondered the idea of doing a Friendship is Magic version of 'Rescue at Midnight Castle'. Of course I already had many other plans for Friendship is Magic fanfics and decided to stick to focusing on my FlutterDash story plans, and perhaps in the future come back to writing a Friendship is Magic version of 'Rescue at Midnight Castle'. In thinking of creating my own version though I wondered, "why had no one else written this story yet? It seems like a logical thing to do and a rather interesting story could come out of it." Now I need not worry about creating my own version (though if I get the free time and inspiration for it I may do so anyway) because not only have you written one but it's also really good.
In a very successful connection of the show and the special you have managed to create quite a few twists I did not expect. You've put a lot of effort into giving the story a sense of mystery and it pays off, and despite having watched the special I am actually unsure of how the story will progress or what trials the characters will face. The description is great and vocabulary as well, the pacing so far has been wonderful and atmosphere can be felt quite well. The action scenes are nicely written, with obvious praise to the battle between Scorpan and Celestia, and I'm eager to find out what happens next.
The inclusion of Trixie is rather out of place (seriously, why is she back in Ponyville? Gilda appears to be connected to the plot in some way but Trixie just feels like a piece of fan service), and I think Big Macintosh, although in character, spoke a bit too often (the main joke with the character is that conversations usually end up with moments where he can get by with only saying 'eyup' and 'nope') but these are not exactly big issues. Overall I can say there is nothing that feels bad about the story so far, and as it has only just begun I can't quite voice any discontent in regards to my personal likes and dislikes. There are moments where it’s really slow pace can make things a bit dull but in fairness a slow pacing is better than a rushed pacing, and is also better suited for your more...mystery oriented style of storytelling.
Often when I think 'why has no one written this story idea yet' it ironically gets written...very badly. These first four chapters have eased any worries I had though, and so far you've impressed me. Superb job, keep up the great work!
216496 First off, thank you for the well thought-out comment, and I'm very glad you're enjoying it overall so far. ^_^
I'm particularly glad to hear that, despite your familiarity with the original special, you can't say for sure what's going to happen. It's very important to me, with Remakes of any kind, that the original not be stuck to so slavishly as to make the new version redundant, and particularly here, I want to make sure that the fundamentals of "Friendship Is Magic"'s world and cast are kept as important to the story as those of the original "Rescue from Midnight Castle".
My pacing is indeed a bit on the slow side, something I'm hoping to work on as the story progresses, but Iike you I'd rather the story move too slow than too fast, especially since the air of mystery isn't the only thing I want to maintain. The personal stakes of the characters are also a very important element of the story to me, and I want to make sure they receive proper focus. That said, I do hope that as the plot clicks into place more and more, the pace will pick up overall.
As for Trixie, I know it isn't immediately obvious, but she DOES have a part to play in all this.
As for why she's still in Ponyville, I just sort of assumed she's been hovering around there ever since the events of "Boast Busters"; Twilight seemed to imply she'd be back eventually at the end of that episode, so it didn't seem too unlikely to me. I agree Big Macintosh is maybe a bit too talkative, too, but in my defense, when I started writing this, his only significant appearance was "Apple Buck Season", where he actually did get enough dialogue to suggest he can and does talk a bit more than we've seen since.
Again, thank you for the comment, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story as I continue to work on it. :)
Wait, this story is on FimFiction now?
...and I'm the only one to uprate it?
Something odd is going on here...
im curios as to where this story is headed.
Error 4: You now have 5 comments
Glory: You have all the glory you need!
Midnight Castle: You went to the past to find this and the pain you went through too!
Break-In City (Storm The Gates!) - Tenacious D
SWEET!!! I thought this thing died months ago, and now there's a new chapter! What a pleasant surprise this is!!
401871 I think that's changed at this point, but thank you for being the first.
491954 Things will become clear with time... ;3
528476 It was hardly a pain at all, actually; I've long had a certain affection for the original Special this story's based on, which is why I was so excited to work on this story. :D Thank you for the comment, and I hope you continue to enjoy the 'fic. ^_^
528526 Tenacious D: Always Relevant. XD Thanks for the awesome mood-music, friend.
528916 Ha, yeah, as I've told everypony, this baby's going to be slow to update most of the time.
Still, I'm glad you continue to enjoy it, and I promise I'll see it through to the end. 
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Well I can't let a guy named after Gojira hanging, now can I?
532006 Thanks for that, though I feel compelled to point out my name stems from Gojira the giant monster (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EtGVXpLYXe4/Tx2H9rLWAwI/AAAAAAAAHp8/LIS91OCOCZY/s1600/godzillamininfo1954.jpg), not Gojira the Rock Band (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gojira).
OMG! I love this fic! I had no idea it was on Fimfiction! Now I can track it and comment on it and stuff, and there's a new update! This has officially made my whole month! Now to read it!
532626 So glad to hear you're a fan. I hope you enjoy the new chapter.
i cant believe you included the changlings in the description of who is wanting to attack. seriosly they just came out as a species.
532874 I felt the reference was small enough, the time since the Finale long enough, that it wouldn't be particularly Spoiler-y; my apologies if you yourself felt spoiled by it. ^^;
531756 achievements unlocked
You're Welcome: you're welcome.
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Well, that comment WAS posted a month ago.
535958 Yes, I know, and for some reason I didn't know about it until just recently. XD;
So I figured I'd reread this since it's been a while, and review as I go (which seems to be taking a rather long time...I'm slow but steady sometimes, it will definitely happen). As a huge fan of history and mythology I am always intrigued by the past of the royal sisters, love reading different takes on their origins or that of Nightmare Moon. Luna's characterization here just rings very true to me. It's the right balance between her endearing uncertainty and her god-like power. Wise enough to recognize how wrong her feelings are but powerless to change them; I think we've all had those moments. It's easy to sympathize with her, but she still has a legitimate dark side--I've always found that stories that try to portray her as solely manipulated by forces beyond her control, or otherwise make her actions seem more excusable tend to unwittingly rob her character of so much of its depth and their narrative of so much of its power, by removing such a central source of conflict. Of course, that's only my opinion and all, but for me it's just so dramatic and exciting to watch it unfold this way.
It's also very much for the best that Luna does resist at least for now. If it's too easy that hurts believability and that oh so palpable tension you've built up here, besides painting Luna as rather weak-willed and foolish. I mean, seriously, voice out of nowhere offers you your darkest desires and you just go SEEMS LEGIT and don't even take some time to think about it? Yeah, that would be bad. So, kudos for not rushing it, and for the most part avoiding the myriad pitfalls this plot presents (it does still kind of feel like you're trying too hard to justify things happening the way they do, comes across as kinda forced; it'd be better if you could find a way to be a bit more subtle about those points, imo, but obviously that is not easy to do without sacrificing clarity, which is probably more important in the end).
Two things come to mind regarding this being the untold story, that not even Celestia knows. One is that it's a great way to spark my interest, that feeling of having access to privileged information. The other is that it always struck me that a great deal of the real tragedy in these events lay in the lack of communication between the sisters...that if either had known the full truth of what was in the other's heart things might have turned out very differently indeed...
The atmosphere is beautifully dark and suspenseful, and into that perfectly fitting setting enters the mystery of who or what this voice is, and it just keeps drawing me deeper. Really, well done on that.
617044 Well first off, thank you for your Review, and I can't wait to see what you have to say for the rest of the story so far. :D
Anyway. I completely agree with you; making Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon completely a matter of Outside Influence would have been a big mistake in my eyes; indeed, I rarely if ever like using the "Completely Brainwashed" trick for that very reason: it strips a lot of the feeling of Consequence and Impact from any given betrayal. I prefer to try and work through the inherent issues of such a situation for the character. So I'm glad to hear you feel the element of outside influence I introduced here managed to work well without diminishing the depth of Luna's character. ^_^
And yes, that is indeed an intentional under-current, the idea that if only Celestia had known, things might have gone better, and that part of the reason this was able to happen was that the weight of new responsibility thrust on both Sisters led to a rift between them. You'll be seeing that idea explored more as the story progresses.
Again, thank you for the Review, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.
This sounds like an interesting idea and I'll read this soon (hopefully).
800930 Hope you do, and I hope you enjoy it when you do.
It updated! It actually UPDATED!
I'll post an actual comment after I actually read it. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Twilight_Sparkle_lolface.png
1285505 Hope you enjoy! For the record, I'm starting a new method of how I break down chapters that will hopefully help this story's pacing, and the speed at which it updates. ^_^
Do my eyes deceive?
Is this... an update? dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_rainbowderp_flip.png
Proceed...
1286238 Your eyes deceive thee not; this is indeed an update, and one which hath been made in such a fashion as to better insure more frequent updates in the future! :D
Pinkie Pie is right, of course. This is just Fluttershy's first time dealing some an entity or creature which has bottled away it's emotions in order to avoid another lash of the whip. Something that has been so thoroughly "Broken In" that even the THOUGHT of disobeying a direct order never crosses it's mind. A kind of Living Death in which the spirit passes on, but the body remains. It is the death of Hope.
...now raise your hoof if you want to see Fluttershy set off a Strydon Civil War.
/)
1287770 Evocatively and well-put. :) I don't want to say too much, but the topic of the creatures that live on the other side of the Black Clouds and Fluttershy's feelings about them is going to be important as the story progresses. ;3
The lack of any sort of scene transition is really jarring here.
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Not sure how I missed that one, actually, but thank you for pointing it out.
i know its too much too hope for but is there anyway you could include some of the heroes that saved the day from tirak before like FIREFLY, or one of the others. that would be sooo cool if you did. maybe since we didnt see firefly, or some of the others past the series premier, they got trapped in some weird dimension, that stopped time, and somehow with the awakening of tirake, this soo called dimension disapears, leaing firefly or one of the others with information, and knowledge of how to beat tirake...
hey it could happen, i often wondered where firefly went after escape from caste midnight, who knows she could of gone adventuring and stumbled onto, or fallen into the portal to this dimenson.
anywho its just an idea , but t would be cool to see one or some of the old crew that beat him, that would really give tirake a heart atack hehehe.
1694477 I definitely see the appeal of that idea, but for a whole bunch of reasons there really isn't room for it. Even setting aside the continuity issues, the Mane Six cover a lot of the same ground, character-wise, that the G1 Ponies from the original special did, and so to have them along for the ride'd only lead to a lot of redundancy.
That said, if it's any comfort, there is at least ONE character who helped the Heroes of the original special who WILL appear, and soon. ;3
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please say firefy, please say firefly , unless yor talking about the moochik and his smarter than he is bunny, or the fabulous seaponies.
on a side note i really only said maybe firefly could appear since a she was the most popular, and b she dissapeared after the movie, im thinking to go adventuring.
but yes i think i see the annnoying moochik, god help the ponieis if it is
....or i could be totally wrong and your going to get megan and the rainbow of lght locket, unless somehow the mane 6 are going to beat tirak with the freindship beem
...unless you man spikes freind the king turned dragon butt seeing how scorpannreacted i doubt it.
yes as u can tell ive lied mlp since g1 , hel ive even watched g2 and g3 but when it comes to the dreaded mlp baby episodes in g3.5 thats where the line of insanity is drawn.
1699557 Yes, I can tell you're quite passionate about old-school MLP, and I only hope my story ultimately lives up that passion in the end. ^_^
awsome an update to this awsome story...keep up the work this story is good
how dare you make the seaponies evil, bleahhhhhh. or are the just enchanted sea ponies due to tiraks magic....
anywho awsome chapter, cant wait to see who you bringback from the original gang. im assuming you are and not just the seaponies.
would be neat to see flutterponies again, seeing how poerfu they were in the show.
1918999 The full story behind this particular incarnation of the Sea Ponies will come to light in time, and I promise it'll make more sense then. ^_^
Very glad you continue to enjoy the story, and yes, there will be another character from the original special showing up in the not-too-distant future.... ;3
1920333 i know you prob have your own ideas about how this story should be but by any chance you like this idea im about to give, it would make the plot,and story much more intriging not to mention add more to the story in terms of writing material.
i know you prob want to go a certain direction with this but i doo have a great idea that might work....
what about having one or more of the mane 6 either a) a direct discendant from tiraks previous attack or b) this ones a total longshot but im going to say it anyway, what if one of the mane 6 or one of the ones in the dungeon is actually one of the ones that defeated him the first time, they prob just dont know it due to amnesia, or they do know it and dont want to tell. those might be good ideas, but as stated there just ideas. it would certainly bring a little spice to the story but its your story, these are just ideas.
so on that note keep up the awsome writing. i hope this story the best and a very very successful ending.
BTW I CANT BELIEVE PINKIE LASTED THAT LONG WITHOUT TALKING.
1924596 You've run this idea by me before, I think, and while it is intriguing in its own way, I still have to say no. It simply does not fit with what I have in mind for this story's plot and character arcs, sorry to say.
Still, I appreciate your continued support, and hope the story continues to satisfy. :D
And yes, it is impressive, but that's our Pinkie Pie: full of surprises.
1920333
Ah, yes. Corrupted Sea Ponies, and a hint towards seeing Angel's Lawful Good Doppelganger. Happiness abounds.
...wait, what do you mean you were hinting at the Muchick? Who cares about him? Are they going to "Double Rainbow" Tirak or something?
1927820 Glad you're diggin' the new Sea Ponies, sorry to hear you're disappointed we won't be meeting Lawful Good Angel. XD;
interesting, this story has been on fimfiction for a really long time.
3026146 That it has; I've been working on it for a long time, and still am. ^_^
Glad to see Celestia kick some ass.
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3029631 yeah, it felt good yo let Celestial strut her stuff a bit. ^_^
3026230
Glad to hear it. I was starting to worry. Quite a few of the long running fics I kept track of have had their authors go MIA on me, or had slapped the dreaded "Canceled" tag on them.
3267688 Well rest assured, I have every intention of seeing this one through to the end.