The four alicorns left the cell altogether, exiting out the heavy iron door though Sombra summoned two guards to stand by and watch Chrysalis.
They decided to take a break and adjourned to the nearest sitting room in the castle and ordered brunch from the castle chefs. While waiting for their food, they sat together in lush and comfortable sofas and armchairs, an antique coffee table centering the room, and for a moment nopony talked, until…
“We can’t do that again.”
The three princes looked to the only princess among them, Cadance looking troubled as she looked at each of them in turn. “Don’t get me wrong, I will never forgive Chrysalis for all that she's done and what she tried to do. But… the way the three of you besieged her mind like that!”
Cadance sighed as she rubbed her temple, Shining Armor leaning over and wrapping his wing around her shoulders, as they let her have a moment to figure out exactly what she needed to say.
“The mind, it’s… Well, Luna once told me that your mind is your last sanctuary, your final refuge from the troubles around you. To violate that last resort of safety is…”
“You’re right,” Sombra responded, knowing exactly what Cadance was saying. “…I have been guilty of violating the sanctity of others’ minds back when I was corrupted by the Whisperer…
“For me, the breaking of a sentient being’s mind and will was an art. An art I took a malevolent pleasure in perfecting… After Midnight freed me of my madness, I swore never to use what I learned for anything but to safeguard the security of this nation.”
Hearing Sombra’s words and how heavy they were, Shining Armor instantly felt like garbage.
“Sombra, I… I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have suggested it if-”
“What’s done is done,” Sombra waved a hoof as he sighed, “and while I took no pleasure in what we did to Chrysalis, I would do it again if it meant protecting Equestria and her citizens. Cadance is right that we cannot attempt to compel Chrysalis in the same manner again. But if even then she refuses to talk, I’m uncertain of what else to do…”
“We could consider negotiating with the changelings,” Midnight suggested although he didn’t sound exuberant about his own suggestion, “perhaps some kind of peace treaty in exchange for the release of Chrysalis.”
“That’s assuming Chrysalis would honor the peace treaty,” Shining Armor pointed out, "and I would find it laughable for her to have even a sliver of honor.”
“Even if it’s not the most ideal course of action, it is an option,” Sombra nodded his head in consideration of his apprentice’s suggestion.
*Knock-knock-knock*
“Enter,” Sombra invited, and the door opened to reveal ponies from the castle kitchen staff.
“Your Highnesses, it is with great pride that we are here to tantalize your palates,” announced Cast Iron, the master chef of the castle culinary staff, an earth pony known for his legendary gut being able to eat any meal.
He clapped his hooves and three of his cooks proudly pushed in carts with clochettes covering the meals, but then-
“OOF!” HEY!” MY MASTERPIECE!!”
The three cooks were knocked aside by two royal guards as they’d rushed in, their expressions dire.
“What is the meaning of this you-” Cast Iron was about to rip into them but Sombra stopped him.
“Cast Iron, please!” Sombra looked to the guards and gestured them forward.
They did so, one of them whispering an apology to the cooks for almost ruining the food they’d prepared, and they bowed before one of them said, “Your Majesties, we- It’s… We don’t know what- It's... it's disturbing to say the least.”
“Calm down, soldier,” Sombra bade them before asking, “What’s happened?”
The guards looked at Sombra’s gentle face before sharing a look, both of them appearing to be wordlessly telling the other to be the one to break the news. Finally, the guard who’d apologized to the cooks sighed as he and his fellow guard stood up, and he said, “Your Majesties… it’s the prisoner.”
Almost at once, the four alicorns’ eyes widened in trepidation.
Cast Iron and his kitchen staff were dismissed while the four alicorns followed the guards back to the dungeons.
“We don’t know what came over her.”
“At first, we heard some kind of bang sound. We took a look through the window into her cell, but…
“We were too late.”
Midnight and Shining Armor shared a worried look, Cadance hanging back, fearing what they were about to find, Sombra the only one looking as impassive as a statue, as they stepped through the metal door, into the observation room that led to Chrysalis’s cell. The window was currently opaque, and they all gathered in front of it, the guards standing at the window’s sides as one of them held his hoof up to the switch by the window’s frame.
“Just a little warning, Your Majesties,” he hesitated, “It’s… Well, it’s not for those of weak constitutions.”
“…Show us,” Sombra ordered, Midnight Shining Armor, and Cadance standing at his sides as the guard flicked the switch.
The window cleared… and Cadance gasped in horror, backing away from the window until her rump touched the opposite wall. Shining Armor whispered, “Merciful Haydes…”
Midnight took a deep breath through his nose, subtler in how disturbed he was while Sombra remained as stone-faced as he was in the hall.
The other guard cleared his throat and hesitantly said, “…We think the first banging sound we heard was… She took a running start from one side of the room, but… it was the second bang that did it.”
Cadance hurried out of the room, unable to take any more, Shining Armor going after her, while Midnight and Sombra remained and stared through the window into the cell where Chrysalis lay dead, her head cracked open like a walnut, the mushy pale green insides spilling out and quivering like gelatin.
A spot on one of the walls was stained with green blood and had an impression in it, indicating considerable force had been applied.
The guards hesitantly looked again, as one of them commented, “You have to really want to die to do yourself in like that…”
“…I will inform Princess Celestia of this incident myself,” Sombra declared, only for a cleared throat to cause him and Midnight to turn around and see another guard standing in the doorway.
“Actually, Your Majesty, she… already knows,” he stated, looking might uncomfortable. “She wants you both in the throne room. Now.”
Earlier the throne room had felt uncomfortably warm, like that kind of summer day where the heat is just unbearable. That kind of summer heat where even the indoors felt so sticky and humid, and worst-case scenario: Itchy, often in very uncomfortable places.
Now?
It was chilling. The atmosphere felt similar to the unease instilled by the sight of the blue flame of a cutting torch. Like standing naked in the snow where the cold that surrounds you equated the condemning stares of an anonymous crowd. It was like standing alone in the middle of a frozen wasteland and you could see death coming in the form of a blizzard.
Luna stood by her sister as Celestia was taking deep breaths, almost heaving really, like she were on the verge of going supernova. Midnight and Sombra stood before her but Celestia’s infuriated look was directed at the sapphire blue alicorn standing next to her husband.
“One suicide I can at least come to terms with, considering the circumstances and how suddenly it happened… but a second the following morning?! And under our watch?! I can deal with all kinds of issues and crises, but this- This is absolutely unacceptable!!”
It was just them in that room. Celestia close to eruption, her sister Luna by her side trying to cool her big sister’s temper, Sombra looking very uncomfortable, and Midnight unsure of what to think, but he was not going to simply roll over and take it like a whipped puppy.
He almost spoke but Sombra got the first word in.
“Celestia, please! Don’t blame Midnight for this, he-”
“No, Master,” Midnight interrupted, his own gaze locking eyes with Celestia, daring her, “Let her have her say, let her express her disappointment and blame me for all that’s wrong in the world!”
“How dare you…?!” Celestia whispered dangerously, standing up from her throne, looking down on Midnight as she approached him, neither of them breaking their glare-off until he was looking up at her as though he were a colt pouting in front of his mama.
“I have tried my best to mentor you and help you ever since that Summer Sun Celebration! You think it was your earning your wings that made me so proud of you on that day?
“No. What I was proud of, was a young ten year-old colt taking an initiative without ulterior motive, driven by that pure and simple desire to help others!”
Celestia sounded on the verge of tears as she raised a hoof to Midnight’s cheek, “You saved everypony that day when you lowered the moon, all on your own! You earned your wings and that gave me the strength to raise the sun and preserve the balance of the magic that keeps this world whole!”
*SMACK*
Sombra, Luna, and Celestia gaped at Midnight, who’d knocked Celestia’s hoof away, as he stared up at her with a look of pain and resentment.
“And then you forced upon me a responsibility I never wanted… You erased my life in Canterlot, hid me away from my friends, from my uncle, I missed my grandmother’s funeral because of you!
“I watched a friend I loved like a brother bleed to death in front of me, and the isolation you forced my family into made us vulnerable to the witch who tore my family apart! My mother is a prisoner in her body, my brother had to grow up thinking he was an orphan, and my father left his sons who needed him on a quest for revenge!
“And if that weren’t enough… you preyed on my desire to punish.”
“You needed a purpose!” Celestia protested, Sombra and Luna watching this unfold, unsure of how they should intervene.
“I couldn’t bear to see you, sitting in your room, staring aimlessly out the window for hours on end! You needed something to provide you with fulfillment, a way to help others and do good!
“How many lives have you helped or saved, doing what you do? How many crimes have you solved, how many ponies have you helped fine closure? The criminals you put away!”
“And the monsters I killed…” Midnight reminded her with a heavy heart. “The serial killers, the rapists, the corrupt, and the collateral. Do you remember that sting operation the Hoods and I did in Vanhoover two years ago?”
“You shut down a drug-trafficking ring, and stopped the production of Blue Magic,” Celestia recalled. “You put a lot of drug-dealers and their clients out of business! And in jail!”
“And during the sting I killed two thugs who were about to kill one of my agents. If I had hesitated for even a second she would have died,” Midnight reminded her, “One of them was some stallion named Hard Knocks! …I made his son an orphan.”
Celestia gasped and bit into her hoof, taking a moment before she asked, “…Why did you never tell me this?”
The look Midnight gave her suddenly made her feel small.
“You didn’t ask.”
“…Midnight, I- I don’t quite-” Celestia tried to say but Midnight cut her off.
“You. Didn’t. Ask,” he echoed as he stepped towards her, and she impulsively stepped back in response. “You listened to my report, nodded in satisfaction that justice was served, and dismissed me, saying, what was it again? ‘That will be all, Midnight’.
“You didn’t even notice the look on my face, you didn’t look at me even once as I gave the full report. You didn’t even ask about the casualties I caused! And why not?”
He gestured to Celestia, inviting her answer, she tried to say something but instead opened and closed her mouth like a fish desperate for water, so Midnight answered for her with look so furious it made the others in the room cringe.
“Because you didn’t want to know. You didn’t want to involve yourself any more than necessary to preserve your image of a good and gracious princess, beloved and pure. You didn’t want to immerse yourself in the muck I walk through and come out with your perfect white coat besmirched.”
Celestia stuttered, trying to say something but then Midnight growled, “You made me your weapon, Celestia!”
“Midnight, that is quite enough!!” Luna couldn’t take it anymore as she stepped in with a stomp so hard it chipped the tile beneath her hoof.
“Stay out of this, Luna!” Midnight snapped at her, causing Sombra to step forward, looking cross but considerate.
“Midnight, we understand that you’re hurting, but you need to calm down-”
“Calm down? Calm down?! Oh I haven’t even begun!” Midnight then turned his glare from his master to his original target.
“Because we both know the filthy tangled mess that gorgeous white coat hides underneath.”
“ENOUGH!!” Celestia couldn’t take it anymore! “You have overstepped your bounds and abused the power I’ve given you and I will not stand for your disrespect to me, to my sister, or to my husband!!”
“Why?! Because I don’t worship the ground you walk on like Twilight does?!” Midnight snapped. “Because I don’t hang on your every word, worry about making even the smallest mistake and quake in my hoof boots of how you might punish me for it?!
“You might have Twilight wrapped around your hoof, but I see right through you!”
“I’ve never pretended that Twilight is perfect nor did I ask her to be! I only asked that she do her best,” Celestia refuted, “I’ve mentored her to the best of my abilities like I tried with you-”
“Well, congratulations on your epic failure where she’s concerned!” Midnight smiled sarcastically.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” demanded Celestia.
“Twilight knows everything!” Midnight glared so intensely it was condemning, “About me, about the Brotherhood, and especially about you!”
Celestia looked like she’d been slapped in the face.
“What did you tell her…!?”
“Oh the pictures of my dossiers were worth more than any words I could have used to explain it to her,” Midnight responded, “so I let your words explain it… Your signatures! Not only did she find out about the Brotherhood, that I lead it, and of all the crime and corruption you kept her ignorant of, she knows that you are aware of my covert ops and that you approve them!
“Learning her teacher, a mare she loves like a second mother planning executions through somepony she cared about?! She looked like her whole world had been turned upside-down,” Midnight couldn’t help but let out a small yet disturbing giggle as he despaired, “And then she called me a killer. And I don’t know where that leaves us… I really don’t.”
“…You had no right!” Celestia was beginning to pace, “At the very least, you should have informed me first! I could have-”
“Kept her in the dark?” Midnight interjected, “Continued to spoon-feed her the utter horseapples that all in Equestria is perfectly hunky-dory? Deny the lying, the cheating, the killing you’ve orchestrated out of moral vanity?!”
“You may very well have caused more harm in telling her truths she was clearly not ready to hear!” Celestia accused.
Those words were the final straw. The arrogance, the self-righteousness, he was not going to let her off with a slap on the hoof. Midnight gave Celestia one final look of bitterness before opening his mouth and shouting with all his heart.
“THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME DIE!!!!”
Those words tore into her soul like a rusty dagger, twisted and serrated for good measure. Celestia was rendered speechless as she looked at Midnight like a mare whose whole life had been shattered from doubt and emotional turmoil. She’d brought it upon herself, but never figured it would come in this ugly moment.
The smaller alicorn returned her gaze with one of pain and hurt as tears trailed down his cheeks.
He looked away, crying, “You should have just let me die… At least if I were gone then Twinken would have grown up with a mother and father… They would still be here and they would be just fine!
“And Twilight… Twilight wouldn’t have looked at me like I’m a monster! You hid me away from my life and everypony I knew and loved in Canterlot! And I wouldn’t have to live knowing what a constant reminder I am of your own guilt and shame! …And what a disappointment I am to you.”
Celestia tried to respond but all that came up was a throaty gurgle. She backed away, falling into her throne, completely unable to respond as Luna hurried to her sister’s side, and glared at Midnight saying, “I think that’s quite enough from you! Sister…”
Midnight turned away from them but then he noticed the look on his master’s face. Sombra looked torn, a tear going down his own face, he was looking at a mess between the love of his life and the apprentice he loved like a son and he didn’t know how to make it better.
The sight of his master’s emotional turmoil just rubbed salt into the wound, and he started making for the door out of the throne room-
*KNOCK-KNOCK*
The knocking stopped Midnight in his tracks and the door opened to reveal Shining Armor now clad in his old Captain of the Royal Guard purple and gold armor, his wings extended, a bold gaze in his eyes.
“Midnight,” he noticed his friend and then the dreary situation going on in the throne room. “Uh… I… came here to tell you all that I am organizing an expedition to the energem mine that was attacked.”
“Shining Armor, don't be ridiculous!” Sombra looked at Shining Armor as though he were suddenly the village idiot.
“Ponies died there! There’s no telling what the changelings are up to-”
“Because the only source of information we had offed herself and it was my stupid idea to try to force her to talk!” Shining Armor argued.
That outburst of his caused Celestia to look up, confused, as Shining Armor went on.
“Right now, there is a real threat out there, planning Goddess knows what, and instead of taking action we’re standing around here, arguing with each other and doing nothing!
“But I know my duty. With or without your approval, I am going to lead an expedition to that mine and find answers, because like my best friend standing right here” – he gestured to Midnight – “I am a Guardian of Harmony and a Prince of Equestria. Midnight? Would you like to come along?”
For a moment Midnight said nothing but he peered in Celestia’s direction. He looked at her not with contempt but with weariness. He looked to Shining Armor and nodded, “Let’s go. But now without being prepared.”
He and Shining Armor faced Sombra as Midnight said, “Master, Shining Armor and I will lead this expedition to the mine, because he’s right. We must take action and we need answers.”
“…Well, with you two on the case,” Sombra gave them a reluctant smile yet encouraging all the same, “I think we can have faith that everything will be alright.”
Midnight and Shining Armor nodded in respect before they left.
Sombra looked to his wife and sister-in-law at the throne, knowing he had his work cut out in comforting his `Tia.
The medical staff was going about their business as usual, unaware of a patient stirring in bed. Groaning from the late morning sun pouring in, Twinken moaning as waking awareness flooded in and drowned out the bliss of sleep.
He sat up, stretching and yawning before he opened his eyes… and realized, “Th- Wher- Where am I?”
The hospital room was sparse and boring, as hospital rooms tend to be. It was only the pile of presents and cards and a box of treats set at the foot of his bed that added any color to give the room so personality.
Twinken levitated some of the cards to him, the first one he looked at was from Fluttershy. Apparently, her present to him was an invitation to come by the cottage sometime where he could pick a critter to be his own pet! Another card was from his friends, signed by the rest of the Cutie-Mark Crusaders, little messages scrawled here and there on the card, wishing him happy birthday, never give up, stuff like that.
But then Twinken noticed something beside him, on the drawer beside his hospital bed. It was a little white box with a golden ribbon, and he instantly remembered it, “Midnight’s present!”
He levitated it towards him, and held it in his hooves.
That night, at the party, Twinken had learned from Midnight that they are truly brothers, not just adoptive brothers but they were each other’s flesh and blood. Midngith had promised to answer all of his questions but then…
It was a blank!
Twinken thought and thought but for some reason he couldn’t remember what happened the rest of the party, or even how he got here in this hospital!
Shaking off the confusion, Twinken stared again at the present. He was hesitant and yet he didn’t know why. Inside this box, he was sure Midnight had given him something special, but… He already had so many questions to ask Midnight the next time he saw him and wasn’t sure opening this present without midnight there would be the right thing to do.
And yet…
His red aura enveloped the present’s ribbon and lid before he knew it was happening, but he let it happen. The ribbon was undone and laid aside… and ever so slowly did he raise the lid to see…
A beautiful medallion!
It had the engraving of a crescent moon and in the middle was a starcut shiny black stone. He levitated it out of the box when he noticed the tiny latch on one side and realized, It’s not a medallion… it’s a locket!
He willed the latch to unlock and slowly opened the locket to see what was inside.
Twinken gasped, tears well up in his eyes, and he couldn’t help but smile!