//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine - Just an Average day... // Story: The Midnight Mares - Crazy Canterlot Catastrophe. // by Ausbrony //------------------------------// “Styled Mane?” “Here ma’am!” “Leafy Meadow?” “Here I am!” “Pickett Midnight?” Nobody said anything. “Miss Midnight?” And still not a single word was said. Everypony began to search around for the troublesome small unicorn. Perhaps she had already fallen asleep? No, the snores would be far too evident. The old earth pony mare sighed and looked at the clock in the wall, tapping her hoof with every passing second, “Three… two… one…” Slam “Welcome Miss Midnight. Glad to see you’re joining us.” The teacher sighed and turned to the panting navy blue mare with an unamused, unsurprised, disappointed gaze in her deep black eyes, “What's your excuse this time?” “So listen, there was this dude in the cafeteria who—” “Don't care. Now mind sitting down so we can start the class Miss Midnight?” The mare interrupted with that incredibly thick and annoying Canterlot accent of hers. Pockets mumbled something about a prehistoric ass and looked around to see most of the seats in the back taken. Well buck. She slowly shifted her gaze to the other seats, moving closer and closer to the front row until realizing two things. First, the only seats available were the ones next to the class nerd. And second, luckily enough that nerd was the same crimson red earth pony that had helped her the other day, Steel Lance. “Lancey! Buddy!” Pockets said chipperly and hopped onto the chair next to his own, “Guess who's sitting next to you today~” “Oh hey.” He replied nonchalantly, looking down at his notebook and quickly writing something down, his mind seemingly in something else entirely. Pockets looked down at the book intrigued by whatever he was doing, tilting her head to have a better look. Scribbled all around were different formulas and lists, all seemingly of arcane nature. Yet before she could see anything else, the notebook was abruptly closed on her. “Uhm…” Pickett blinked twice, very much confused and slowly turning to Lance. “Sorry, but… that's kind of a private project of mine right now.” He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. Yet his expression was changed to that of utter fear when he saw Pockets’ face. “Lemme see!” She squeaked out and snatched the notebook from Lance’s hooves, much to the poor stallion’s shock and horror. She opened the little notebook and cleared her throat, extending her hoof to stop Lance from getting closer, “Let’s see…” “Stop that!” The stallion squeaked, his arms flailing around. “We have the drawing of… a stallion. Alright I don’t judge. Hmmm...” “Stop it! Pickett come on!” “What’s this… high levels of emotional energy? Uncontrollable love?” “Gaaah!” The poor Lance groaned and gave up, just laying there with his body leaning against Pockets’ extended hoof. Yet much to his surprise… Pockets was frowning? She kept on reading silently, her magic turning page after page… before widening her gaze and dropping the book. Turning to Lance, she had but one thing to say, “You… how did you?” “We found him outside of my house. My family and I have… experience with emotion-related magic.” The stallion muttered, his face still looking down in defeat. And then Pockets pulled her hoof back and let the stallion fall on her lap. “Ouch…” He muttered and raised his gaze, accommodating his now foggy glasses, “We’ve been studying him, trying to find a cure.” “And have you found one yet?” The unicorn mare whispered as she leaned her head closer, to an almost terrifying extent. “U-Uhm… we're getting somewhere?” He shrugged, what the heck was wrong with this mare!? “But why do you even care? Why are you acting like if this is so freaking important?” “Because…” Pockets’ ears flattened, biting down on her lower lip. “Because I—” “Miss Midnight! If you could please stop corrupting our star student and pay attention to class?” The teacher huffed, eyes narrowed in annoyance. The entire classroom was looking at them both, making Lance squeak and squirms in embarrassment as he hid his face behind a book. “Uhm… sure, sure. “ Pockets gulped and sat down on her butt, her gaze shifting awkwardly from side to side. “Well then as I was saying…” The teacher mare began once more, only to be interrupted by… screams and furious knocking on the door? “Students…” She sighed and kicked her table, a rapier falling from a hidden compartment beneath it, “Hold still… “ But of course, nobody listened. And the sound of everypony taking their respective weapons out echoed throughout. “... Of course. But no fighting unless you got no other choice.” The teacher muttered and walked up to the door, slowly… opening it… To see a female guard staring into the room with blank, wide eyes. The teacher blinked and slowly raised her rapier, the expression on the armored mare making it very much obvious something was wrong, “Uhm, pardon me? Anything I can help you with Miss?” The guard just remained silent… before tumbling down and falling to the floor. And the teacher had a clear view of the stallion that was growling at her, a massive warhammer on his grasp. “I don't get paid enough for this…” The teacher mused, before stepping back just in time to dodge the hammer that slammed into the floor. “Attack!” Every single one of the students cried out and stormed outside, striking the hammer-wielding stallion down and then going after the rest. Oh they messed with the wrong school! Pockets smirked as she dodged two spears that barely grazed her coat “We’re almost there.” Quick commented as she flew above the rather less populated part of the city, the southern suburbs, “And just as I expected, look at all those zombie stallions. What in Celestia’s name kind of enemy did you girls make?” “The short version is that Pockets has some weird ‘Emotion magic’,” Midnight explained as they flew. “And whoever this bitch is, she has the same power.” “Emotion magic? Well… that’s something you don’t hear every day.” The pegasus sighed and kept an eye out, “It’ll take hours and hours trying to find those three… if only we had some freaking clue or something.” Then Midnight’s eyes widened. “A park!” she said suddenly. “An abandoned one somewhere around here. She mentioned one last time we spoke.” “Abandoned… Union Park!” Quick said quickly before turning left and then diving down, barely above the buildings, “Union Park! Wasn’t that an old abandoned park on this side of Canterlot? Let’s see… there!” She quickly flew forwards and then dove down again, swiftly dodging all sorts of obstacles that got in her way like stop signs, posts, trees, and even the zombie ponies were no match for her quick flight and sharp reflexes, that and she did knock them out cold as she flew by. “Whoa,” Midnight whistled as she continued to fly higher up. “Not bad for a maid. Not bad at all~” “Yeah we can talk about my speed later when all this is sorted out.” Quick said before finally spotting the old park and landing in front of the stone statue, three ponies of different races hugging and smiling in harmony, that stood in the middle of the vine ridden park, which was more vegetation than anything after years of little to no maintenance. After all, the southern outskirts of Canterlot had been almost completely abandoned due to its unstable grounding and was home mostly to small fabrics and lower class housings. The perfect place to get as far away from the castle and the guard as possible. “I hate to break it to you, but I don’t see anyone here.” Midnight landed and looked around the empty park. “No… nononono! Where are they? She said… she said she’d be here!” This was bad. Pockets was going to die because Midnight believed the words of a lunatic. “We better keep looking.” Quick said and began to investigate the area with her eyes, trying to pick on every detail, “Maybe there’s a secret hatch, or some sort of note… we have to check every corner.” She flew up to the statue and took a good look at it. And there it was… on the unicorn’s horn rested an impaled flyer. “Onyx and Steely’s Iron. Iron-based products for your every need. If it’s sturdy and hard, we can make it!” Well someone needed to fire their marketing department, “Midnight, wasn’t there a bunch of missing stallion reports two days ago? Some factory workers.” “I...I don’t know,” Midnight replied, looking at the desolate park. She stomped her hoof as her frown deepened. “I hate this! I hate not being able to protect anyone! I had a filly… A Celestia. Damned. Filly save my bucking life. TWICE!” Even kids were better bloody guards than her… “Yup. You’re right.” The Pegasus said with a sigh before picking up the flyer, “A kid is better than you, you should give your badge to her.” Midnight stared at her, her expression was an interesting mix between shock and stabby... “She’s better than you because even though she’s just a kid, a filly, she wanted to help. She stopped crying over the fact that she was in trouble, that she was weak, and armed herself with more courage than you and bucking did something.” She turned to Midnight with a rather pissed expression, “Are you seriously going to rest easy knowing a kid did better than you? Or are you going to stop getting mad at your fucking self, whining like a baby, and go out there to get your marefriend back!? You want to prove you can protect her? Then go protect her!” She tossed Midnight the flyer, “I can’t believe this, a Royal Guard wasting time like this. I know you’re better than this, the question is… do you know it?” Midnight looked at the pegasus mare before she sighed. She was being so un-awesome right now. “You’re right. I’m Midnight-bucking-Song, and I’m very good at what I do.” She flapped her wings and took to the sky. “Now, let’s go and find my marefriend and your griffonfriend okay?” “She’s not my ‘griffonfriend’, she’s my partner.” Quick huffed with a rather vibrant blush that betrayed her attempts at professionality, following behind. The two exchanged a knowing nod, before taking off in search for the old factory… Where someone eagerly waited for them to arrive. “Protect… factory… don’t let intruders get in… Mistress Aroma commanded me to…” Those were the words that the buffy stallions who roamed the surrounding area of Onyx and Steely’s Iron Factory kept repeating over and over again in the most monotone voice possible. Looking below, hidden in a cloud, Quick tried to find any blind spots that could get them to easily sneak into the place without being caught, unfortunately… “Blast!” She grunted, “Whoever has them is no fool, that’s one tight formation. It’d be almost impossible for us to just sneak in. And I see some Pegasus guards as well, we can’t dive in without letting everyone down there and their grandmothers know we’re here.” “Fine by me,” Midnight replied as she decided to take a page out of Cereza’s book. “Subtlety had it’s chance, and she knows we’re coming anyway…” “It’ll be hard getting rid of all those ponies without knocking them dead.” Quick reminded her, “We’d be walking right into the wasp’s nest, you sure you want to do this?” “Here’s the plan,” she replied. “I’m the target here, I don’t know why. But we’ll get inside. You get Pockets and Sphinx outta there, while I distract the bitch and her guards. Think you can do that for me?” “Deal.” She nodded. The two got ready to dive in, fearless, with just one task in mind. “Ready?” Quick asked the thestral. “I was born ready,” Midnight nodded as she unsheathed her blades. The two nodded, before diving down… just in time to see the massive explosion that got rid of half the building, the mushroom of smoke almost reaching their height. Midnight grabbed Quick’s tail before she could fly right into the explosion. They hovered there for a second before the thestral looked at the pegasus. “Your girlfriend is weird. You know this right?” “First of all, not my girlfriend. Second of all, right back at ya.” She chuckled, “Now let’s make sure our crazy idiots didn’t get themselves killed alright?” “Banzaaiiii!” Midnight screeched and dove towards the building. The building… was chaos. The zombie thugs growled and barked at the two females on the middle of the room, who tried to fight their way out of this horror movie scene. “Dear, something tells me we’ll be in quite some trouble soon. These lovely brain-washed ponies will just keep coming, and I’m starting to get a tad exhausted after what happened before.” Cereza said before grabbing a stallion’s throat and throwing him into a steel beam. “Don’t worry, Midnight will come, I know it!” Pockets said between pants as she blasted two ponies away with her shock spell, only for four more to come at her, “I know it…” “Yes, hope, we really need that right now.” Cereza sighed as she crashed two ponies’ heads against each other. The the ceiling exploded as Midnight landed on the ground with a heavy thud, using her hindlegs and one forehoof, the concrete cracked slightly as she made an entrance much like a comic book superhero. “Who’s ready for a beating?” she asked as she looked up and drew her blades. “Whoo! Superhero landing! Terrible for your knees but damn it looks badass!” Pockets chuckled before nuzzling the thestral, “I knew you'd come.” “Aaaand you totally ruined my moment,” Midnight rolled her eyes but returned the nuzzle. “And of course I would. Like I’d leave you and Quickie’s ‘Not-Girlfriend’ here by yourselves.” “Aww and here I thought you loved me.” Cereza pouted at Quick Step, who groaned with a deep blush, “We’ll discuss our relationship status later dearies. We have a zombie army to take down!” “Epic back-on-back butt-kicking time?” Pockets asked with an eager grin. “Nope, Quick Step is going to get you and Sphinxy outta here while I hold ‘em off,” Midnight replied. “Then we’ll get some reinforcements.” “Really?” Pockets groaned, “You always do this! I'm not a weak damsel in distress you know? I can kick some serious flank!” “Uhm girls?” Cereza tried, and failed, to catch their attention as more hordes of brain-washed stallions approached. “I know you can, can you let me look after you just once!” Midnight yelled back. “I almost lost you again! This time, I’m protecting you!” “Uhm, you can have a couple’s fight later. We should really do something about those guys. “ Quick pointed at the stallions. “By putting yourself in danger!?” Pockets yelled as well, ignoring Quick Step, “No bucking way! Do you really think I can just leave happily knowing my marefriend is risking her life for me? I want to look after you as well but you never let me!” “That's sweet dearies but—” “Yes, do you really think these brain-dead idiots are a match for me?” Midnight exclaimed. “I mean, I just took down Dead Drop… again! I think a few zombies should be pretty damned easy.” “We are screwed…” Quick sighed. Pockets rolled her eyes with an even louder groan, “Zombies? Zombies!? I'm not worried about the bucking zombies you stubborn mare! I'm worried about—” “Who… dares… INTERRUPT THE RITUAL!?” Came an earth-shaking shout of sheer, unadulterated anger that echoed throughout the factory. “Was worried about that bitch.” Pickett sighed, “Midnight… meet my cousin.” “You!” Sweet Aroma snapped and pointed at the four mares, “How dare you!?” Midnight stared at the deer with a raised eyebrow. “That’s your cousin? I was… not expecting something so… cute.” The deer blushed and looked away with an annoyed Huff, “I'm not cute, I'm elegant.” She mumbled under her breath, “Irrelevant! You idiotic mare just interrupted one of Equus’ most important, ground-breaking events! Sooo, I'll give you an offer. Give me my cousin back so I can extract her powers, and I'll let you four go, deal? “ “Hmm…’ Midnight tapped her chin. “Let’s see. Hand my marefriend over to a lunatic. A cute one, but a loony nonetheless. Oooor, kick your sorry flank from here to Appleloosa…” She pointed her blade at Aroma and smirked. “It’s a no brainer. get ready for a spanking you little brat.” “And believe me, she spanks hard~” Pockets smirked and lit up her horn, “You want my powers? I'll give them to you… in the shape of a blast to the face!“ Aroma growled in annoyance, a pair of ethereal, vibrant red butterfly wings extended from her back, taking her off the floor, “Ohhh my lovely servants~? Take them out!” She ordered. The zombie stallions growled as well, before jumping at the mares. Quick took five down in one sweep, Cereza took out six with just one wing. The dream team was back together and ready to kick some Zombie flank. “Go get our terrible host dearies.” Cereza hummed as she easily took care of the incoming hordes. “We’ll keep them at bay! “ Quick added. “Seriously?” Midnight stared at the pair as they mulched through the horde. “W-Well, fine!’ She spread her wings and looked at the deer. She’d just attack, hard and fast. With a loud screech, she took off at blinding speeds, racing straight towards Sweet Aroma… "And of course she had to fly up there. For Celestia’s sake… up the stairs it is.” Pockets sighed as she started to sneak past the incoming zombies. Meanwhile up on the balcony of the heavily damaged office that debated between staying still and falling apart from the second floor, Aroma simply sighed and allowed her body to shine a strong dark red. Midnight got closer… and closer… and closer… and, did she just phase right through the deer? Yup she did, and if it wasn’t for her quick reflexes she’d have crashed into the office’s wall. “You can’t win, night pony. Your kind has no way of harming me, as simple as that!” Aroma said with a cold giggle, “I on the other hand… can easily hurt you, and after all the trouble you all have caused me? You better believe I'll hurt you and I'll hurt you bad!” “Pockets, you have really annoying imaginary friends,” Midnight commented as she flipped herself around to stare at the doe. Well this was going to be annoying to say the least. “You’re… telling me?” Pockets said between pants. Those were some unnecessarily tall stairs, “So… how are we going to deal with this, any ideas batty?” “Well my go to plan of ‘punch her til she gives up’ is out,” Midnight frowned. Then she got an idea. While intangibility spells were something she hadn’t encountered often… she did know how to deal with them. “She likely has to ‘phase in’ in order to use another spell or to actually hit us. That’s our chance.” “Got it!” The unicorn nodded and charged up her magic, “I hit her a lot, you kick her butt out of Canterlot. Time to shine!” “Oh shut up already!” Aroma growled. Her horns began emitting a thick red fog, which slowly began materializing into several tentacles of anger-powered magic that were soon fired at them at amazing speeds. “Yeah sorry, not really into hentai!” Pockets said with a taunting smirk before firing off a barrage of small, yet quick beams of magic at the incoming tentacles, pushing them back and keeping them at bay, “Go, go, go!” “You know, they do feel kinda nice,” Midnight said as she flew forward, extending her wingblades. “I found a book and showed it to Moonie, and well~” She left that idea hanging as she lashed out with her blades, aiming for the doe’s horns. Two more horns sprouted from Aroma’s back, which quickly grabbed Midnight’s legs before flailing her into a wall with a whip-like sound, creating a thestral-shaped hole on it “Pathetic, and you call yourself fast!” And then she jumped with a rather cute squeak when a beam of magic stung her butt. “Oopsie~ My aim is kinda bad.” Pockets said with an innocent pout before blowing the deer a raspberry. Aroma was not amused one bit. She stomped into the floor with a rageful growl, glaring at her with sheer anger, “Why you little piece of—” Then a hoof connected with her face with a loud crack. Midnight using the momentum from her being thrown to come back and deal a powerful buck. Aroma was sent spiralling across the room and into a pile of crates, the old boxes shattering on impact. “Who’s slow now?” she smirked. “You… annoying... FOOLS!” She screeched and flew forwards, the tentacles taking hold of the crates. A rather large scratch spread across the right side of her face, what looked like orange trails of smoke coming out of it, “I will squash you like the flying rat you are!” And then, she began throwing crates at them, crate after crate filled with small iron bars flying across the room. Midnight rolled her eyes as she dodged the crates easily, she was literally dancing around them. “Ohh, so close. Nope. Missed again. Are you even aiming? Whoo, I felt the breeze from that one.” “Breeze?” The deer smirked and dropped the remaining crates, “Oh I’ll make you feel the breeze alright! DIE YOU FLY!” The wings on the deer’s back suddenly grew to incredible size, every flap sending a powerful breeze that nearly pushed the two mares back. “Oh come on! Why can’t I freaking do that!?” Pockets groaned. Aroma smirked… and began flapping faster. Winds that rivaled a small hurricane began pushing them back into the wall, keeping their backs pinned to the cold metal, “Try to fly out of that, FLY!” She cackled. Midnight grabbed Pockets as they were sent flying out of the window and back into the warehouse, the bat-shaped wrecking ball wiping out a Solar Guard about to stab Quick Step. “Evil cackle… saying ‘fool’ a lot, evil henchmen,” Midnight groaned as she got up and released Pockets from her hug. “Lookit that, I win the badguy bingo.” “Nope, I still need ‘Gets her ass kicked by two sexy mares’ to win it myself.” Pockets smirked and quickly hid behind a crate. “So, how is the final showdown going?” Quickie asked as she bucked two pegasus’ head into unconsciousness, “You’re winning, right?” “Um, yeah, totes,” Midnight said as she dusted herself off. In the meantime, more guards had walked inside, and the four girls were finding themselves rather outnumbered. “Well, this… is probably bad.” They knocked aside a few of the zombies and found a pile of crates to use as cover. “Oh Primavera, where are you~? I just want to crunch your bones and feed on your magic!” Aroma growled, a powerful blast of air sending several zombie guards flying into the sky, “Come on, come on, I don’t have much time left!” “Midnight, I have an idea. It’s crazy, stupid, and I may or may not regret it later. But I think it might work.” Pockets said quietly to avoid being heard. She was already getting pretty damn tired of this relative. “You have an idea?” Midnight raised an eyebrow. But at this point, she was open to suggestion. “Okay love, let’s hear it.” While Pockets explained her totally reasonable and awesome plan, Sweet Aroma was blasting crate after crate in search of the two mares. She was infuriated, irritated, incredibly annoyed and tired of this charade, “Why is being evil so difficult these days!? Bloody die will ya!” She screamed before blowing another chunk of crates away. “OK… that's the plan. And I know what you're about to say, and that you probably won't agree with it. But… I really think this could work, and I want you to trust me, trust that I can do it. Please, trust me.” Pockets begged pleadingly, her eyes showing the thestral she couldn't be more sure about this. “No, N. O. NO!” Midnight replied with a shake of her head. “That is a really stupid plan. If something goes wrong, she will seriously hurt or kill you,” The thestral drew her blades and nodded. “Look, I still think I should distract her while you lot escape. Come back with reinforcements.” But before Pockets could complain, their cover was blown into pieces by a blast of magic. And there she was, a grinning Sweet Aroma ready to capture the two ponies and torture them for all the trouble they made her go through. Pockets was taking no chances, “Sorry batty.” She focused her magic and then released it into a harmless explosion that sent Midnight back, before looking straight into her cousin's hatred-filled eyes, “Here I am you bitch, now come and get me! “ “Arrgh, POCKETS!” Midnight shook her head, trying to clear her vision from the unicorns flashbang spell. “That does it. Spankings for everypony!” “Guess I'll have something to look forwards to tonight “ Pockets smirked as the pair of tentacles lifted her up. The magic soon engulfed the unicorn, protecting her in a cocoon of anger, “Ha! Is this really the descendant of Tall Tale?” Aroma said with a condescending tone. “Please… how pathetic! You are pathetic and a shame! I will put this magic to good use. Better pray you survive the extracting process!” Then a shadow was cast over her and she glanced up, to see Midnight Song dropping an entire crate on her from above. The deer screeched and sent the crate flying away with the aid of a tentacle, “Ha! You fool! I can already feel her power… her strength… Tall Tale’s magic runs through m—” She was frozen solid… “Eyuup… a power I control.” Pockets whispered from inside the cocoon, before a vibrant golden hue surrounded both herself and Aroma, “Prepare to eat my marefriend’s hooves you bitch.” Midnight let out a window-shattering screech as she dove on the doe, flipping in midair as she dropped down with a brutal axe-kick. The deer screamed as she crashed into the metallic floor, looking up at Midnight with a nervous growl that hid her fear. Her face had seemingly split in two, abundant fog sprouting from the crack. “Aww, did the widdle bitch get a booboo?” Midnight said as she picked herself up. “Now drop Pockets, cause after today, I’m starting to feel really stabby…” she drew her sharp wingblades and held one up. “You have three seconds to comply.” The deer simply chuckled, a cold, annoying chuckle that made her even more stabable, “She got herself into that mess. Such poor thinking, she really thought she could get in my head and get away with it. Hope you're ready to say goodbye to your marefriend, because you're going to need Tall Tale himself to get her out of that mess.” As she spoke, she looked at Pockets floating, immobile body, whose eyes shone with the brightest golden glow, a glow that slowly faded, “I’d like to help. But I should probably head back to my village and tell everyone the terrible news… My dear cousin has died… sad.” “I’m warning you!” Midnight screamed. “Let her go, or I’ll see what happens when you dissect a deer with a three foot mythril sword!” “Oh let me help you with that. This body was pretty, but it’s time to look for another one!” Her cackle was heard all over the factory, as the injuries in her face began spreading all over her body. Soon, Midnight’s vision was limited by the abundant fog that left her body. Once it died down, the only thing below her where thick threads of smoke that vanished into the air… and an immobile floating unicorn a mere twelve hooves away. Midnight screamed in rage as she slammed her hooves into the motes of smoke. The zombie guards that were still conscious fainted, much to Cereza and Quick’s surprise. The thestral turned to Pockets, looking at her. This was bad. She was no unicorn and had no idea what to do, and if that crazy bitch was to be believed, then Pockets was going to die soon. “Dammit!” Midnight yelled and grabbed her. “Come on! Fight it! Don’t let that cliché bitch beat you!!” But the only effect her yelling caused, was for Pockets’ eyes to close. “Midnight dear, let her go. We'll take her to the princesses and see what they can do.” Cereza said as she approached her, a few bruises spreading across her body. The thestral felt a comforting hoof pull her into a hug, a vanilla scented hug, “Don't worry, we'll solve this, together.” Quick said softly. “If Pockets dies,” Midnight muttered. “Then that bitch’s life is forfeit.” “She won't die, we'll make sure to do everything in our power to make sure she makes it.” Cereza said and grabbed the immobile unicorn, “Come, we must hurry” “Just you wait,” Midnight whispered in her mind. “We’ll fix you up Pockets. No doubt about it.” “Ahoy me hearties! Raise the sails, aim the cannons, let Davy Pones meet these landlubbers!” The wind howled and the seas roared, the eye of the storm right above the two ships that sailed side to side mere hooves away from the border of the giant maelstrom. The two ships knew where they were headed, they knew that if they kept course, the next thing they’d know would be the depths of the ocean. They also knew that if they dared to turn, their opponent would get a clear, game-ending shot on them. It had turned into a race against the clock, the first one to sunk their opponent would be the first one to escape the strength of the gigantic whirlpool, but if they took too long both ships would find its doom. “Fire in the hole!” The captain ordered. Even with her short stature, she stood valiantly with a confident grin that boosted the morale of the entire crew. She wouldn’t give up, she would never fall back, she would always face danger no matter what, Even if they were facing two of their more fearsome adversaries yet, mother nature herself, and the legendary pirate… Din Drako. “We won't let that nasty oversized lizard take us below, keep firin' me buckos, break their defenses 'n their skulls. this day be not our final day, this day be just t' day we become legends! So take aim and keep firin’!” She ordered. Her body unmoved by the debri that flew inches away from her face. And then she got an idea… a wickedly dangerous idea that if done right, might save their lives. But if done wrong, my doom them all. “Master Song, turn port, let’s ram these band ‘o pirates!” “But captain, the ship might not survive if we do that!” The incredibly sexily dressed thestral warned, doing her best to keep the ship stable even if the enemy’s cannons were making that task almost impossible. The unicorn in charge chuckled with a smirk, unsheathing her scimitar as she turned to the drake’s ship, “Oh me beautiful deep sea pearl, it'll survive, I be knowin'. 'tis ship has gone through hell 'n back, a lil’ bumper cars action won't do it harm. Now be off and do as I say!” “Aye aye cap’n!” She saluted before going crazy with the wheel, turning it all the way to the right, which of course, made the ship drift to the left and towards the nearby ship. The captain expected Drako and his crew to be shocked, to be stunned at her sudden and utterly ridiculous action… she didn’t expect them to do exactly the same thing. The draconic screeches were heard on her own ship even with the sound of the storm in the background, and she knew that she had made a mistake. Several large and slim scaly figures began to swing on ropes, going back and forth and getting closer to her own ship. She narrowed her eyes with an angry growl. Drako was no joke, that much was certain, “Prepare t' bows 'n redirect t' canons. Take these landlubbers below 'n whatever ye do, do not let them board t' ship!” The archers took aim, and began firing. A few enemy bodies fell to the depths of the ocean, yet several others managed to jump in and strike her forces down. This was bad, she had to take action! She prepared her scimitar and focused, her horn flashing and taking her away from her ship’s dock. And then, she reappeared and slashed, sending four of the drakes away. “Knock knock ye nasty lizard, come here and face me like a drake!” She shouted before slashing two other drakes. She dashed left and avoided the dozens of arrows that were fired at her, blocking the claws of two drakes three times her size with ease, her scimitar giving her an opening to strike back and injure their legs, immobilizing them. She stepped back as another drake tried to pierce her unbreakable defense, and saw with a grin how one of her ship’s cannonballs just blew him and several other enemy pirates away. She continued advancing and, taking down pirate after pirate, hopping over their heads and then stabbing them with perfect precision., made her way to the room of the big guy himself, the captain’s quarters. She bucked the door open and pointed with a victorious “Haha! Yer done fer Drako, kneel down to the mighty capt’n, Pickett Midnight!” Yet there was no giant dragon pirate captain monster in there. Instead, a creature Pockets had never seen before was just standing there reading a book with a pristine white cover and nothing else. No title, no picture, nothing, it was just a book. And the one reading it was just as mysterious. It was tall and slim, his coat of a cedar brown coloration, and he almost looked like a pegasus, that is of course if pegasus had two massive antenna hanging from the upper part of his head and two sets of giant transparent butterfly-like wings. Machines beeped softly in the castle’s medical room. Every single bed was filled, mostly by the Guards recovered at the castle and iron works factory. The private room, usually reserved for infectious cases was home to a different patient. Pickett Midnight lay there, still in the same state that Aroma had left her in. Midnight Song sat by the bed, utterly exhausted, but she had refused to leave the unicorn’s side since their return. How could she? The door opened softly, as Princesses Celestia and Cadence entered, Luna was holding a special Court to explain what had happened today. “Your majesty!” A doctor saluted alongside several nurses, “We've run all sorts of checks. So far the only thing we've been able to deduce is that she is in some sort of magical comma. We're sorry but… that's all we got so far.“ “Alright, we shall take over from here,” Celestia smiled. “Go and attend to our Guards.” The doctor and nurses nodded, leaving the room. Once they had, Celestia closed the door as her usual facade dropped, giving Midnight a concerned look. “How are you holding up Midnight?” “Oh gee,” Midnight replied with a dry tone. “I don’t know. My marefriend is in a coma. I couldn’t save her. Again! And the… the thing that did this is still out there. So yes Princess, I’m just fucking peachy.” Celestia decided to let the attitude slide, given the stress and concern that Midnight was under. Cadance moved to embrace the mare as the older alicorn looked over Pockets. “Alright then Miss Pickett, you have some very worried ponies waiting for you. Let’s see if we can wake you up hm?” The beeps of the machines attached to the unicorn were her response, the faint sound of her breathing being the only noise that left her body. Celestia lit up her horn as she started a basic scanning spell, perhaps sever the link that was transferring her magic to this ‘Aroma’. Yet she found nothing, no link, no trace of a curse, it was as if the coma had been self-induced, as if her own magic had locked her mind down. “Why would you do that?” Celestia muttered to herself. Some kind of self-preservation perhaps? In order to stop her life-force being drained? Speaking of, Celestia scanned her again, this time checking to see if her condition was worsening. Yet just like she had guessed, nothing seemed to change. “Her life doesn’t appear to be in any danger,” Celestia spoke gently. “But, I do not know why she sleeps. It’s as if she’s done this to herself. Luna might be able to forcefully wake her… but that may just cause more harm than good.” “She… did it herself?” Midnight echoed. her emerald eyes were red and bloodshot, yet she still seemed to have tears to spare. “Why? Why is she doing that?” “I do not know,” Celestia replied. “I only wish I could do something…” Suddenly, the sound of a small ruckus was heard outside. A ruckus that seemed to be getting closer and closer. Slam! A young crimson red earth pony with one hell of a pair of thick glasses broke into the room, shouts of “Stop that colt!” and “Intruder!” Echoed behind him, yet he completely ignored them. “Pickett! I need to help her!” He said quickly, ignoring the ponies in the room and rushing to her body before emptying a flask of green liquid into her muzzle. Midnight screeched as she tore across the room, knocking Cadence aside as she grabbed the colt and slammed him against the wall. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” she yelled, her hooves pressed against his throat. “G-Gah! Hel-help, fr-friend.” He gasped and stuttered before pointing at Pockets with a hoof. Her body was… glowing again? The colt found himself tossed aside as Midnight flew back to Pocket’s side. “Princess! What did he do to her?!” she said in a panicked tone. “I don’t know,” she said as he was caught in a golden bubble while she started to scan Pockets again. If it was a poison, she had to act fast to remove it. But it was far from being poison. In fact the unicorn suddenly began to show a stronger magical outburst, slowly raising to normal levels. “You have to listen to me!” The colt said from inside the bubble, “I need to finish the procedure!” “What? Do you think I’m going to let you kill her!?’ Midnight yelled as she slammed the shield with her hooves he was lucky it was there, the force she put into that blow would have reduced his head to paste. “Listen, my name is Ex—I mean… Steel Lance, I'm a royal guard trainee just like her! Me and my family analyzed the magic, and we managed to break one of the guards free of the love curse! “ He began explaining, “Right now Pickett’s body is growing unstable, but the… how do I explain this, safety lock has been broken! You need to let me finish. She saved my life, I want to do the same for her.“ Everypony turned to give the colt a rather incredulous stare. “If I may ask, how does your family know about an ancient and lost magic?” Cadance asked him. “I mean, even Celestia and Luna didn’t know anything about it.” The colt bit his lip, struggling to answer, “I-If I… answer this, would you promise n-not to expel me from the academy? P-please, that's all I'm asking.” Celestia said nothing, but made a gesture for him to go on. He nodded and closed his eyes. Suddenly, her soft furred crimson coat was changed into a black carapace exterior, his eyes turned into crimson reflection-less ones, with several holes across his legs and insect-like wings, all topped by a pointy horn that shone as the transformation ended, “That type of magic is familiar enough for us to understand. M-my name is Exo, and me and my family we… we are deserters of Queen Chrysalis’ cause.“ Then Midnight slammed the barrier with enough force to actually make it ripple. “If a monster like you goes anywhere near Pickett, I will tear that shell from your living body!” she screeched, slamming the barrier again and baring her fangs with a feral hiss. he could feel pure, unadlterage hatred and rage pouring from her like a fountain. “Listen! I know the harm my kind has caused, I know the pain Queen Chrysalis has brought upon you. But I'm not like them! I… I want to help. Princess please,” He turned to Celestia, his expression showing nothing but sincerity and worry, “You have to let me help her. I need to save her before it is too late. Look into my heart and see that I do not lie.” “You cannot be serious!” Midnight yelled. “Come on Princess, their kind cannot be trusted!” Celestia looked from Midnight to Exo. This was… a problematic situation. Yet… “Midnight Song,” she said. “As it stands, Miss Pickett is suffering from an unknown cause. and Emotive magic is something of a specialty of theirs…” “No!” Midnight stomped a hoof. “I will not let him anywhere near my Pickett! I will not let that thing ruin her like they ruined me!!” “Midnight Song!’ Celestia said sharply, but her authority carried a powerful weight, one that made even Midnight stop dead in her tracks. “I will be here the entire time. trust in me, and if he tries anything beyond saving her, you have my permission to act. But not beforehoof.” The thestral glared at the Changeling, and he could feel the rage, hate and… fear washing off of her in waves. It made his stomach turn. “Fine,” she replied. She took a step back and into Cadance’s hug, her magic trying to calm the thestral. “You heard my warning, do not waste it,” Celestia said as she released Exo from the shield. “I will not let you down Princess!” He nodded and ran up to the bed. Taking a deep breath, he focused on what he had to work with. Emotions… so many different emotions all condensed into one pony. He had to do this, he had to find her… “Come on… I know you’re there Pickett, we have a study session in two days and you do not want to be late.” He muttered under his breath.He had to… he needed to do this for the one who mere hours ago saved his life. At first silence… And then a wave of magic erupted in the room, a wave that soon concentrated into a beautiful golden trail that surrounded Exo’s horn, dancing around him with grace and beauty. “Oh gods… I feel kinda full already! Guess I’ll have to make room for des-dessert!” He grunted and with a mighty growl absorbed as much of her magic as possible. Pockets’ body began to levitate once more, her eyes fully open and glowing that same strong golden hue like they did in the factory, magic shooting out of her horn in both a rapid, yet elegant manner. “I… I can’t! It’s too mu-much! I can’t do this without help!” Cadance’s horn shone as he started to feel the magic seeping out of him. The mare drew all that she could, redirecting the flow harmlessly into the air. The magic began to stabilize little by little, slowly fading away as it went from Pockets to Exo, and from Exo to the Princess who in turn began to fill the air with that magical floral aroma. And after what seemed like an eternity… it faded, and Pockets fell to the bed with a small groan, her vital signs fully going back to normal. Exo fell to his knees and panted heavily, unable to believe he managed to do that, and also unable to believe he hadn’t puked yet. Then he was pushed aside as Midnight rushed up to Pockets. “Hey, are you okay?’ she asked gently, and Exo could feel all her rage and hatred vanish like a candle being extinguished. Her love was… it was beautiful. On another situation, he’d just smile and see it as cute. But after such a meal… such levels of love almost made him puke right there and then. “I… where am I? Th-the village is… is gone.” Pockets muttered and slowly opened her eyes, recognizing the chocolate-colored blur, “M-Midnight? Is that really you?” The bonecrushing hug might have been evidence enough, as Midnight held the small unicorn tightly, fresh tears soaking her coat as she cried with happiness and relief, the stress falling away, freeing a great weight from her. “Y-yup, that’s Midnight.” The unicorn said between gasps and grunts, “Gods I’ve missed you. An entire year without you is… kinda depressing.” Midnight sniffled and looked up. “W-what? It’s… only been a few hours…” Then she frowned and smacked her on the shoulder. Hard. “You bucking idiot! Do you have… have any idea… how scared I… I…” And now the bat was crying again. Pockets chuckled and hugged her back, shushing her gently, “It’s alright, it’s alright. Sorry to keep you waiting but I have quite the story to tell you. Besides, I had to keep that bitch out of my mind one way or another now didn’t I?” She said with a hidden grimace. Buck her shoulder hurt like hell! “If you’d… just run like I said…” Midnight sniffled. “Stupid smol hornhead. I hate you...” “No you don’t.” Pockets giggled and gave her cheek a gentle kiss, before hugging her again and noticing the two Princesses standing right there, “Aww, did you two come visit this poor helpless mare?” She faux-pouted before giggling, “By the way, Tall Tale says hi.” “Tall Tale?” Cadance echoed a she looked at Celestia, the elder alicorn equally as confused. “Oh sure, leave me to panic while you take a bloody vacation in your head,” Midnight muttered. “Just you wait, I’m going to be in charge of your next training session. And I have a lot of stress to work out.” “I’ll help you get some steam off later you scary, sexy beast.” Pockets giggled before gently pushing her away with a devilish smirk, “But first, lemme show you the new trick my good ol ancestor helped me master! Super badass butterfly wings GO!” And with a quick flash of her horn, the unicorn was airborn, two gorgeous golden wings flapping in the air and keeping her there, “I can keep them for up to like half an hour now, well… kinda, depends on how well I focus and I’m terrible at that.” Midnight just stared at her, her mouth open slightly as her mind battled to decide if this was hot, or just another way for her to get into trouble. “W-what the heck is going on?” Came a very, very confused voice at the sight of these massive magical wings. Pockets looked at the jaw-on-the-floor changeling with a confused blink, “And… who’s that?” “I...I’m Exo-I mean Steel Lance, well… Exo. Remember when I said that I had a secret nopony else could find out? Yeah…” He sighed. Then Midnight was looking at him, but that wasn’t the terrifying part. For some reason, he couldn’t feel her. If he was relying on his Emotion Sense, she’d be invisible to him. And that… that shouldn’t be possible! “Okay… well. I… guess my job here is done.” He said nervously and stood up. He was too tired to even figure out what was going on, “Now that you know I’m a changeling I guess I should probably go back to the academy and grab my stuff huh? And don’t worry, I won’t try to apply with another name again, I’ll just see if I can find some sort of cleaning-boy job or something.” Midnight took a step forward. “You,” she said quietly and he saw those fangs of hers. Those draconic eyes that shone softly in the barely lit room. “I’m not done with you yet.” Shivers ran down his spine when she said that, feeling scared, in danger, his instincts telling him to run into the crowd, disguise himself, and get as far away from that mare as possible.Yet he wasn’t the kind of colt to follow those, “Y-yes? I… I’ll get as far away from Pickett as possible if you w-want, there’s no need to… to be violent, so please.” “You saved Pockets,” Midnight said and then held out a hoof. “For that, I owe you. Pockets has told me about you, her first friend in Canterlot. So…” She blushed slightly and looked away. “She’d be upset with me if I sent one of her friends away.” “Indeed,” Celestia replied with an enigmatic smile. “I’m glad Steel Lance is alright. I look forward to seeing him at my academy again soon. Would you pass that message along to him, my little Changeling?” The changeling’s eyes suddenly flashed with a light of hope, “I… I guess I can do that.” He nodded softly, “I…” He wanted to do it… he needed to do it… he knew it was probably a bad idea but he just had to. So he hugged Princess Celestia. “T-thank you! My parents will be so proud of me, I…. I promise I won’t let you down Princess Celestia!” He said in happy relief. Celestia was a little taken back by the sudden affection, but smiled and pet him on the head. “Very good. Tell your parents I’d like to meet them at their earliest convenience. Now, disguise yourself and head home okay?” “I will, I sure will.” He nodded and quickly went back into his crimson disguise before heading towards the door with a wide smile across his muzzle, “They will be so proud! I have to tell my mom and dad! See you at school Pickett!” “Bye you crazy nerd.” Pockets chuckled and waved him goodbye, before turning to Midnight with a very proud smile. “What?” Midnight said as Celestia and Cadance took their leave. Luna would need to be informed of this development. “I’m proud of you.” She simply said. Midnight blushed and spluttered. “Pfft, what? What for? What are you talking about? Idiot.” “Oh you know perfectly what I’m talking about miss ‘She’d be upset with me if I sent one of her friends away’. The fact that Lance is still breathing means a lot to me.” She giggled and booped Midnight’s muzzle. The thestral folded her forelegs and pouted, blushing cutely. “Yeah well… Like I said, you’d be mad if I cracked your friend like an egg. He’s the exception, got it?” “Got it!” She smirked and pulled Midnight into a nice ol’ fashioned cuddle with her magic, “Oh I’m so happy to see you again. You wouldn’t believe the kind of crap Tall Tale made me go through. I am so very thankful that I’m here with you and not eating moss in the wilderness.” “I don’t think I wanna know,” Midnight sighed. Today had been… too much. She was exhausted and annoyed and stressed and thankful and happy and… She looked up at Pockets and then a smile crossed her face. Uh oh, that was her, ‘I’m hungry and you look like lunch’ smile. “So, you’re feeling better huh?” the thestral said as she jumped up onto the bed, pinning the unicorn to it. “Being a pain in my butt all day… Time I returned the favour.” Whyyyy was she licking her fangs… oh. “Midnight… please. I am not edible, well, technically I am but I assure you that my butt does not taste that good.” Pockets squeaked out, “I am frightened.” “You should be~” Midnight smirked. “Remember what I promised in the factory?” A hoof started circling Pocket’s flank. “My butt is not ready… my butt is not ready! Middy please!” And then, after the squeal of a lifetime, things went back to normal once more. The sun rose once more over the Canterlot Castle, the calm, peaceful, warming morning sun that Princess Celestia had raised for all her ponies to enjoy and start a brand new day. This same sun filtered through the curtains of one of the main suites in the castle, where two mares were staying at. The unicorn mumbled something under her breath and began to push against the sheets as she giggled, “Butts, yes… more butts, bring me all da booty…. nice thestral booties.” Her hooves moved against the sheets. Cold sheets. Hmm? Pockets reached out, trying to hug somepony that simply wasn’t there. And when she finally will one of her eyes to open slightly, her suspicions were confirmed. She was all alone in the bed. Her marefriend was nowhere to be seen. “Middy?” She muttered, glancing around the room with half-lid eyes, before calling out for her, “Batty? You here?” Yet there was no answer still. Glancing at the clock that hung from the wall, she realized she still had a couple more hours before her first class of the day. With an unhappy grunt and an annoyed sigh, she rolled off the bed and began to crawl all over the room’s cold flooring in search for clues that could tell her where her favorite thestral was at. She couldn’t really find anything. The room was still dark, due to the sun not being up yet. Maybe she was in the bathroom? After a quick check and using the facilities herself, she concluded that her batfriend wasn’t there. Then she spied the ponnequin that held Midnight’s armour. The plate that covered her body was still there, scuffed and bent from the previous battle. But her shoes and blades were missing… “Alright… think about this Pockets Doo, connect the dots, follow the clue, unmask the bat… wait nevermind.” She hummed, trying to find anything else to lead her to the sneaky batmare. And then she saw it… the ultimate clue, the one thing that would solve all her problems. The Sun! Or rather, the one who was currently raising it. So with a rather happy hum and a bit of a shortcut, which involved sneaking through ventilation systems, climbing up walls and hiding in suits of armour, she made her way up to Celestia’s office window! Because doors were overrated. She knocked on the window, hid under the frame, and waited… She didn't have to wait too long thankfully. The large glass doors opened as the regal white alicorn stepped out onto the balcony. Her mane and tail hung limp, a solid pastel pink instead of the usual prismatic hue. She yawned and rubbed her eye with a hoof before looking up at the night sky. “Booo!” Came a spooky yet adorable squeak as Pockets flew up with her butterfly wings in a matter of seconds, inches away from Celestia. There was a slight pause. Sleepy Celestia’s eyes widened and there was a gold flash of light. Pockets then found herself very, very cold as she'd been teleported to the snowcapped peak of Mt. Canterlot… “I… regret everything!” She squeaked while her body shivered from the sheer cold, “Halp!” With another flash, she found herself somewhere much warmer. Namely in the winged embrace of the Princess that just froze her. “I'm sorry,” she chuckled. “You startled me. Are you alright my dear?” “Y-Yes… I am fine just… just chillin’.” She giggled awkwardly at her own terrible joke, her body still trembling. Yet soon all that cold vanished when she began to feel the warmth that only the Princess of the Sun could provide, and the shivering stopped when a relieved sigh came out of her muzzle, “Good morning Tia, slept well?” “Up until a cheeky unicorn thought it'd be a good idea to spook me,” Celestia chuckled and booped her muzzle with a hoof. “Yeah… I didn’t think that one through.” Pockets chuckled as well, “But I have to ask you something super duper important! I woke up real early for once, maybe has to do with the fact that in the first time since forever the first thing Middy and I did when we went to bed was sleep, and when I did, I find out that my batmare is missing!” She explained in an incredibly over dramatic, yet amusing tone. “Oh my,” Celestia gasped, matching her tone. “That is quite the conundrum. What do you suppose might have happened?” Her eyes widened. “Do you think she ran away?” “I hope not! Then who am I supposed to mess around with on a regular basis!?” Pockets said with a loud groan before dropping her head on Celestia’s neck, “I dunno where she is and I wanna find her, but I’m too lazy to look all over the castle!” She lifted her head and gave Celestia the most adorable set of puppy eyes that would even make a puppy melt from the cuteness, “Do you think you can help me find her?” “I could,” Celestia tapped her chin. “However, I have another idea~” Pockets looked at her with a quirked brow, “Oh? What is it?” “Midnight has run away, but you needn't worry.” Her wings closed around her and the alicorn gave her bedroom eyes that put Midnight to shame. “I'll take good care of you sweetie~” Pockets’ blush couldn’t have been brighter. Was the Princess of the Sun herself flirting with her!? “U-Uhm… I don’t really follow.” She gulped nervously. “Such a cute little thing,” Celestia cooed as she leaned closer. Oh wow, her breath was cake-scented. “I could just eat you up. Mmm, maybe I might~” Scratch that, that blush most definitely got brighter. A part of her told her to stop this, this was wrong, this was Celestia for crying out loud! She knew how jealous Middy would be if she found out she and Celestia got frisky and didn’t invite her over. Another part of her told her to pick this up a notch and go ‘Flirty mode’ as well… but then again, her mind had been completely obliterated by the sheer sexiness that was Celestia. “I... wouldn’t mind.” She said with a really cute, sheepy smile. Then the alicorn pulled back and giggled as she looked at Pockets’ blushing face. “Midnight was right, you are simply adorable when you're teased.” Pockets’ blush vanished in an instant. Of course she was just teasing, gosh she should have seen it coming! “You’re cruel.” She huffed and crossed her arms. “I'm sorry, I had to see that face at least once,” the alicorn chuckled. “Also, Midnight is likely at the barracks training around now.” “You could have told me that from the get go ya know?” Pockets sighed yet couldn’t help but chuckle as well, “Also, shouldn’t you be up there raising the sun or something?” “Yes,” Celestia smiled and looked at her. “Would you like to watch?” Pockets’ jaw dropped, “Really?” Celestia nodded as she released Pockets and stepped up to the edge of the balcony. Her horn started to pulse with a rich golden aura as her mane flared, filling with solar energy as it took its usual appearance. She lifted off of the ground slightly as the dark skies made way for her glorious sun, the blacks and deep blues changing to a brilliant array of red and orange, the golden orb starting to peek over the horizon as the moon fell on the opposite side of the sky. With her daily task done, she floated back down to the ground as the aura around her horn dimmed. “ That… was awesome!” Pockets immediately said, “You… are awesome! Holy mother of butts you are freaking awesome!” She rushed to Celestia and hopped onto her back, “Can you pleaaase teach me to do that? Pwetty please?” “Well I could,” Celestia replied. “A normal unicorn could learn how to raise the sun. They used to before I did. Except… after a few times, you'd lose your magic. Permanently.” Pockets bit her lip, before pointing out what was truly important, “But imagine all the booty I'd get for being the awesome sun-raising Pockets! That's sooo worth it in my book.” She said jokingly, well mostly joking. “Hmm, so Midnight’s isn’t enough for you?” Celestia hummed. “I am immune to your loaded question! That's why Imma answer with another question.” She smirked, “As amazing as Middy’s booty is, and believe me I can't get enough of it, is there ever such thing as ‘too much booty’?” “I wouldn’t know,” Celestia shrugged. “It's been… hmm, five hundred years?” “Wait wait wait… five years!? Five years since you rocked the house, five freaking years since your last hanky panky? You can't be serious.” Pockets said in genuine surprise. “Not five, five hundred,” Celestia corrected her, seemingly unoffended. “Hoooly butts, I can't even go five days without it…” Pockets whistled, “How do you do it? Like, it’s not even me being a pervert right now, just really surprised. How do you go five freaking hundred years without getting funky? Are you immune to lust or do you just ignore it whenever you're feeling feisty?” Celestia smiled and leaned closer. “You want to know my secret?” “Heck yeah I do!” Pockets nodded. Celestia grinned and leaned closer. “Well, my secret is…” Pockets’ vision was filled with golden light and she found herself close to the barracks. Pockets blinked in surprise… and then the scream, “DAMMIT CELESTIA!” She swore she could hear the alicorn chuckling. Mumbling something about never trusting the sunbutt every again, she began to walk towards the training field to see if she could catch the wild Midnight Song on her natural habitat. Midnight panted as her legs worked faster and faster. She knew she could go harder than this. This was far from her limit. “I have… to be stronger… faster…” she muttered to herself. She'd woken up early when Pockets had kicked her out of bed, so rather than go back, she decided to train. With a loud screech, she bucked the training dummy into the air as she drew her blades. Ace was watching over her training, and decided to bring Moonlight along as well. Midnight drew her wingblades and as the dummy fell, she shot forward, little more than a blur as her blades neatly sliced the dummy in half. “Wow…” Moonlight whispered in awe, “She's incredible… will I ever get to be like that Mister Ace?” “Hmm, perhaps,” Ace mused. “Midnight is something of a special case however.” “A special case?” The colt quirked an eyebrow, before raising his damaged wing up, “Something like this?” “No, her wings are just fine,” Ace chuckled and tousled his mane. “Midnight has a… special ability. One that is dangerous if misused.” The colt looked back to Midnight, unable to believe that such a heroic mare could ever be dangerous, dangerous for those who aren't evil-doers that is. “Well… then I'll have to try even harder to become like her! “ He nodded firmly, “I will become strong and fast and then challenge you to a fight! I'll be the most heroic colt ever, and defend the weak and abused from evil!” With a firmly raised hoof that pointed forwards, and a determined and excited gleam in his eyes, it was obvious he was being serious, or as serious as a colt his age could be. “Hah! An admirable goal!” Ace nodded proudly and looked at Midnight as she charged at another dummy. “Midnight! Partial Release!” Midnight blinked once… then vanished in an instant. Reappearing in front of the dummy as she kicked it. The dummy was completely torn from its stand and was sent rocketing across the field. It impacted a wall over a fifty feet away with such force, that the simple wooden dummy actually cracked the reinforced concrete. The dummy itself ceased to be, exploding in a shower or straw and wood. And, missed Pockets by mere inches… “Score!” She exclaimed and raised her front hooves in the air, before hastily running up to Midnight and tackle-hugging the thestral into the ground, “Middy! Here you are! You won't believe the crap I've gone thro—” She never got to finish before the bat flipped her over her shoulder and pinned her to the ground, her blades against her throat before she blinked and shook her head. “Dammit,” she muttered and helped her up. “Sorry love, I was still in my Trance.” “And that’s what I meant by dangerous,” Ace pointed out. “As Pockets very nearly died there.” “Hey, I'd have felt super bad about it,” Midnight defended herself. “Oh yeah, that would have been the worst part, you feeling super bad about it. The fact that I could have exploded into a bazillion pieces is not a big deal.” Pockets taunted, before booping Midnight’s muzzle, “You should take better care of me, I hear new marefriends are pretty expensive.” “They can be,” Midnight nodded and kissed her. “I like my mini-marefriend as she is.” She stood up and looked at Ace. “Speaking of mini… who’s the rugrat?” Said rugrat was too busy bringing a plate with a water glass for the sweating mare, his eyes sparkling with excitement as he got closer. “Awww, he's like a mini-you!” Pockets giggled, “So cute.” Midnight took the water and downed it. “P’waahhh! Ahh, that hits the spot,” she sighed and rubbed his head. “Thanks kiddo.” The spark on his eyes was then replaced with a ‘Sempai noticed me’ look and a grin that spread from ear to ear. He quickly took a more serious stance and nodded at her, “My name’s Moonlight Steel, future hero and son of the mighty Aerial Ace!” Midnight paused in her drink… the following spittake was rather impressive. Though Pockets would disagree seeing as it was her face that wore it. “Not even midday and I'm already done with these shenanigans.” Pockets mumbled and snatched the glass of water from Midnight to have a drink of her own. “I'm also technically the son of Miss Cereza.” Pockets’ spittake put Midnight's own to shame, and of course all that water had to end on the thestral’s face. “I adopted him,” Ace said proudly. “And sort of put Cereza down as his mother. We're still hiding from her.” “I. What. You….” Midnight stammered as water dripped off of her frozen expression. “I… I just give up. I've gone from the top of a mountain to being non-stop teased by a Princess, and then almost killed by my marefriend. Yeah, I'm skipping this one.” Pockets grunted and walked up to a nearby bench, “You're on your own Middy!” Then she had a bat pounce on her, hugging her tightly. “NO!” Midnight said as Pockets felt something wet fall on her coat. “You… you can’t leave me… not again…” Pockets blinked in surprise, before chuckling softly and nuzzling the batmare, “Hey now, I’m not ‘leaving’ for realsies, I’m just going to sit down and relax a bit. You don’t have to worry about me, the bench monster ain’t gonna have a bit of me anytime soon.” Midnight wasn’t letting go anytime soon it seemed, her hug only got tighter. “Alright, cuddle time I guess.” Pockets chuckled and returned the hug, “My mare, there are many mares around but this is my mare, and my mare’s special.” “Damn right I am,” Midnight mumbled before reluctantly letting go of her. As much as she wanted to snuggle Pockets for the rest of her life, she needed to get answers from that griffon. “Alright Ace. You get once chance to explain.” “Right,” Ace nodded. “Um… let’s see here…” “Well… he adopted me.” Moonlight began, realizing that was a good point to start, “He walked into the orphanage looking for someone to take care of. And when no other pony had really wanted me because of my… defect.” His gaze lowered when he mentioned that little detail, “But he still picked me up.” Midnight noticed his wing, and her own twitched in sympathy. Still, Ace adopting a kid out of nowhere? That was random, even for him. “I needed this as much as he,’ Ace continued. “Ever since I graduated you as my student, my life has lacked… direction. I had no-one waiting for me at home, and no student to teach. No significant other to love…” The griffon sighed. “I’m not getting any younger Midnight. And yes, it was a spur of the moment decision, one that even i admit could have used a little more thought.” He leaned down and picked up Moonlight. “But I do not regret it, and I’d do the same again and again if I had to.” Yet before Midnight could say anything, a loud, frustrated groan caught their attention. A claw grabbed Ace’s shoulder and turned him around violently, “Alright, I’ve had enough of this feel-bad nonsense. We’re starting all over again Ace, you, me, the colt if you wish to, tonight, the Swan’s Nest. Dare to not appear and I will slash the masculinity out of you.” Cereza quickly said with an incredibly vibrant, and rather cute blush, “Don’t make me regret this dear.” And without waiting for an answer, she took off into the skies, leaving a sweet rose perfume aroma behind. Aerial Ace blinked slowly and tilted his head. “What… just happened?” “You just scored a date with a sexy griffon lady~” Midnight cooed and poked him in the ribs. “Nice going. Though I’d watch out. Quickie’s gonna get seriously jelly.” “She’s gonna be super duper pissed. You better watch your flank.” Pockets chuckled, “Oh this is gonna be goood~” Meanwhile, Midnight was looking at Moonlight Steel. “So kid,” she said as she looked him over. “What do you wanna do when you grow up?” The little thestral stood up firm and straight, and with a determined grin looked at Midnight straight in the eyes, “When I grow up, I will be a hero, I will fight for those who can’t fight, protect those who need protection, and make Equestria a better place!” He said with a nod, “I will become strong, and fast, and super duper awesome just like you, Midnight Ma’am!” He raised his little hoof and did a clumsy army salute, almost falling over from it. Oh, that was just about the cutest thing ever. Midnight wanted to hug the stuffing out of him. But no, she had to remain cool. She had an image after all. “Okay, so if this birdbrain is your dad, that makes me your auntie Middy okay? And over there is Big Sis Pockets.” “Wait… does that mean she and Mister Ace are…” He quirked a brow, “I didn’t know he had a filly, how old is she?” Aaaaand now Midnight was rolling around on the ground laughing. “I heard that!” Pockets shouted, “Low blow, Midnight, low blow!” “Well it has to be low to hit a shorty like you,” Midnight cackled. “Oh for buck’s…That was way too easy! Shame on you, shame on your cow, and shame on your butt!!” The small mare shouted before sitting on her butt with a cute angry pout. “I have a cow?” Midnight blinked. Well, whatever. Pouty Pockets was adorable. She turned back to Moonlight. “Now, I gotta get back to training. You gonna stick around and watch munchkin?” “Yes ma’am!” He nodded and sat down with attentive eyes that did not leave Midnight, “I will try and learn as much as possible from you!” “Good lad, you won’t learn squat from your dad. he’s old and useless.” “That’s rather harsh,” Ace frowned, as student and teacher shared a smirk. “Now… how shall I dazzle you?” Midnight hummed. After a day like yesterday, this was just what she needed to unwind. Well that, and a role only Pockets could fulfill~ The colt nodded and looked at her with glimmering eyes full of excitement and wonder. She was all he wished to be and more, strong, powerful, heroic… a thestral like no other.