(Castle of Darkness, Midnight's Bedchamber)
Deep in Everfree Forest was once the ruins of the castle of the Two Sisters,
now it was the Castle of Darkness, Midnight Sparkle's fortress.
It only was occupied by Midnight herself, mainly cause she was either too scary or too dangerous.
she pushed everypony away from her, leaving her alone to her studies and to her own maddening mind...
Despite being a dark and foreboding place, The Castle of Darkness Midnight built from the ruins of the castle of the two Sisters was actually pretty comfy.
It was large enough to instill a sense of power, but small enough so that she wasn't constantly getting lost in her own castle. She was right at home in this new universe's castle.
If you went down the right hall coming in from the entrance, you would enter the hallway to Midnight's bedchambers, her sacred room that she spent her rest periods in. It usually was a quiet place...
But at the moment, it wasn't. Midnight had been throwing a fit ever since her Nightmare Moon copy was shattered by that infernal Freedom Fighter.
To say Midnight was angry that she had lost was an understatement.
She was furious!
She was outraged!
She was sick with anger!
All of that fury stemmed from the fact she had lost one of her precious minions to the Guardians of the Sun, somehow they beat a foe that was far passed their skill level...
Midnight snarled out loud, "Impossible! I created that construct with all the power of Nightmare Moon! How did they defeat her! How?!"
Midnight shot a blast of purple electricity at her purple crystal chair, reducing it to ashes. She then reconstructed it and then threw it across the room.
She muttered to herself, "I am not going to lose to a bunch of pathetic ponies who believe they can take me on... I need a new plan of attack. I need somepony they haven't faced before..."
A voice in Midnight's head spoke, it was an old voice that was much more kind, "Burning Star may have joined up with them, thus meaning that he could have provided information on how to beat Nightmare Moon. He went through the "Nightmare Ponyville" crisis, so a Nightmare is an easy task for him to eliminate. You should have thought of that before sending your creation after the Guardians of the Sun, Midnight."
Midnight cursed at the voice, "I do not need any of your lip! In fact, how did you get out of my mental prison?"
The voice suddenly faded away, and Midnight was left alone in her room again, still fuming.
She growled, "Gah... I need to find some pony that Burning Star has never faced before, somepony who is easily manipulated by the promise of power..."
Midnight walked out to her throne and conjured up an orb of vision, in which she could see her enemies.
Those annoying Guardians of the Sun, that insolent Burning Star, and her worst enemy, Princess Celestia.
The coward who would rather send her minions to do her dirty work than take the fight on her own.
She said to herself, "Oh Innocent Princess Celestia, I will have my revenge, my old mentor. You may have an Alicorn from my world on your side, but I will have the last laugh! Just you wait!"
Midnight began to survey Burning Star's home, searching for any signs of Dark Beings, only finding the evidence of the Shadow King wherever she found Dark Magic...
Typical stuff.
Until her demonic eyes fell upon a small unicorn stallion.
He was small, barely taller than a filly, and had a dark navy mane and tail. His horn was rather short about for a unicorn... then again, her horn was twice the size of a Unicorn's... so there really was no comparison.
Midnight reached out with her powers in order to analyze his Magic prowess... she found that he wasn't very versatile, but his magic reserves were gigantic, almost as large as hers.
She tried to inject a little jolt into him to wake him up, but she was immediately sent flying by a wave of power that extinguished the torches in the room, she was sprawled out on the floor, a little dizzy.
Midnight rushed back to the orb and said, "What... What was that? I've never felt so much power recoil before. Who is that pony?"
Midnight's astral presence scanned across the unicorns room, it was a small gray room.
She immediately recognized the environment as an urban one, she was correct.
It was a Manehattan apartment, and a rather crappy one at that.
It had a single window, and a small pony shaped lamp that had the cutie Mark of her old form, Twilight Sparkle. His apartment was filthy, and the sight of dirty books and laundry made Midnight look on with pity, even she had standards.
She looked at the name on his journal, Stygian
She thought to herself, "What kind of a name is Stygian?"
She wracked her brain to try and remember who Stygian was, then found it.
Stygian was once the Pony of Shadows, a godlike dark entity that rivaled her in terms of power...
She had found the perfect weapon!
The small unicorn woke up from his slumber and Midnight turned her projection invisible, hoping not to be found.
Stygian looked around his small apartment, sensing a powerful magic presence and he said, "Hello? Is somepony there?"
Stygian ignited his horn and cast a revealing spell, he was searching for whoever was causing such a magical spike.
Midnight poured the might of her powers into her astral body, but she was found and Stygian freaked out and fired a concussive Blast of light blue magic, shattering the window and breaking the small table and countertop in his kitchen.
Midnight immediately made herself visible and grabbed the small unicorn in her magic and ripped open a portal and threw him through it.
Stygian blacked out from the sheer release of Magic as Midnight pulled him to her.
(Castle of Darkness, Throne Room)
Stygian landed rather ungracefully on the hard stone floor, skidding to a stop right at the foot of Midnight's throne, she gave him a round of applause for the slide.
"You didn't stick the landing, but your sliding made me chuckle a bit. I bet your wondering who I am, where you are, and why I called you here. I'm sure you also are wondering how I know you..."
Stygian snorted in rage, "What in Tartarus's name is wrong with you! And yes, who are you?!"
Midnight pinned Stygian to the floor with her magic, before lifting him into the air, saying, "Well, aren't you cute? You think you have any value right now? You don't, but what's inside you does. I know you, Stygian of Hollow Shades. The proposed 7th Pillar, the Dark One. Some of your various titles, Stygian. But many ponies know you as... The Pony of Shadows."
Stygian shrank back at the mention of that name, "Don't bring that up, please, miss...?"
Midnight Sparkle dropped the unicorn and said in a oddly caring tone, "I am your savior, your empress, your new mistress. I am Empress Midnight Sparkle. You have something that interests me, Stygian, also... you're kinda cute."
Stygian blushed a bit before responding to the Alicorn, now noticing who she resembled, "Wait a sec, Twilight? Is that you?"
Midnight suddenly slapped Stygian across the face, drawing blood. She roared, "I AM NOT TWILIGHT SPARKLE! NEVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN! SHE IS DEAD, ALONG WITH ANY FRIENDSHIP SHE HAD LEFT IN HER HEART!"
Stygian suddenly felt very scared, and he cast a small shield around himself, which was shattered instantly by Midnight slamming her hooves into it.
He backed up against the wall, saying in fear, "Please! Whatever you want! I don't have it anymore! The Pony of Shadows is gone, banished to Limbo! Why did you bring me here?!"
Midnight lowered her voice when she realized she was scaring him, she apologized, "I am sorry for that, I am still... sensitive to that name, please, have a seat, if you would?"
Stygian was suddenly lifted up and placed in a chair on the side of Midnight's throne, he said to the Dark Alicorn, "Why are you so... bipolar? No offense, but your making a bad first impression on me. W-What do you want from me exactly?"
Midnight Sparkle lifted Stygian to his hooves and gave him a pat on the head, saying, "I want to help you achieve your full potential, Stygian. I bet Starswirl didn't tell you this... Did you know that your magic reserves are absolutely gigantic? You have enough Magic capacity to rival Celestia. My question is this, why is it almost completely empty?"
Stygian sighed, "My body had to develop those reserves as a backup source of power when I was the Pony of Shadows... I had nearly-unlimited magic at my beck and call, but it corrupted me. When The Pillars and The Elements of Harmony freed me from the Pony of Shadows control, he wasn't completely gone. His body was destroyed, but there is a small possibility that he is still within me... I did not tell Starswirl about it, for fear he might banish me to Limbo again."
He got on his knees, "You won't do that, right?"
Midnight spoke to the small unicorn in an almost motherly tone, "No, my dear Stygian. I would never harm you, such a special pony deserved your dark powers, but you must temper them with a strong will. You did not have that all those years ago, but I can sense that you have it know. And that's what I need from you, a partner."
Stygian raised an eyebrow in intrigue, "What do you mean? Are you just going to take advantage of my knowledge of the Pony of Shadows like everypony else has?"
Midnight shook her head and cooed in his ear, "No, my dear Stygian. I am here to offer you freedom, to help you control the Pony of Shadows, to become the greatest partner I've ever had. Ponies often say that it is lonely at the top, so I want you to stay with me, Stygian. I will care for you as if you were my child, and you will help me destroy Celestia."
Stygian went wide-eyed at the mention of that, he then shouted, "WHAT! You want me to destroy C-Celestia of all ponies? Why?"
Midnight said in a harsh tone, "Because she is the real monster, she sits in her warm palace all day, eating cake and weaving her plans to subtly tighten her grip on this land. She makes feelings like rage and hate taboo! I offer freedom to feel any feelings you want, Stygian. That and so much more..."
Stygian was shocked by the venom in Midnight's voice when she spoke about the Princess of the Sun, he said in response, "Why do you not like them so much, Empress Midnight? I understand how somepony would have a little disdain for the princesses, but full on hatred? I can't understand that."
Midnight's narrowed again, she had been planning not to hurt Stygian, but he was making her more and more angry by the second.
And past experiences have told her that she is a little unstable when she is angry.
Stygian picked up on Midnight being angry and said, "I don't intend to offend you, Empress. But I don't see why you are so angry at Celestia. If she lied to you, then yes it would hurt a lot, but you have to forgive her at some point, right?"
Midnight Sparkle roared out, "She used me! She used Twilight as her pawn, and she probably didn't even care that I wrote to her so often! I hate her because of that! In my darkest hour, she did nothing."
Stygian was starting to feel bad for Midnight, he had always been great at finding lies and truths, and her words had been true.
Stygian suddenly said, "Can I offer some help to you, Midnight? I can use a spell to find out what is troubling you and start helping ease you mind. Would you like that? And if I don't find anything, I'll help you out by letting you transform me into the Pony of Shadows again. Ok?"
Midnight nodded and fell asleep, as she would be to active for Stygian to get in awake, and Stygian used a inner sight spell on Midnight and tried to find the source of the insanity that was Midnight Sparkle.
(Midnight Sparkle's Mind, ???)
Stygian appeared in a dark void of some sort, he had to push past her conscious mind in order to get to her subconscious, he saw pretty much nothing he found interesting,
aside from a section labeled "Sunset x Midnight"... but he quickly ran past that section.
He ended up inside of some sort of tree that was arranged like a library, and he immediately recognized this as the Golden Oaks Library, the former home of Twilight before Tirek destroyed it.
The Unicorn called Starlight Glimmer of his universe had caught him up on the past few events, so he knew that if he was going to get any answers, it was here.
(Midnight Sparkle's Mind, Golden Oaks Library)
He walked up to the door and knocked on it, he hollered, "Hello? Twilight?"
He heard a faint voice, "Go away... I already failed to stop Midnight, I don't need anypony else mocking me for it. Leave!"
Stygian called inside, "Twilight? It's me, it's Stygian. I want to talk with you, please let me in. You helped me, I figured I should return the favor."
Twilight Sparkle opened the door just a bit to see Stygian's small smile, and let him in.
Stygian entered the tree-library and saw piles of magic books and tons of inscriptions on various chalkboards, he knew only one of them, the Limbo Seal.
Stygian said to Twilight, "Um... don't you think that you should try and send out some sort of mental cry to alert Celestia?"
"Twilight Sparkle" shook her head, tears visible on her cheeks, "What good will it do? Midnight has control of my body and powers, I'm trapped in her mind, there is nothing I can do, Stygian... she even blocked out my contact with her mind. So she can't hear us right now."
Stygian took a tissue from Twilight's beaten up desk and wiped her eyes, "Well... I can do something, although it goes against anything Starswirl taught me. I can help defeat Midnight Sparkle. But this plan will require her to earn my trust, which means I will become the Pony of Shadows..."
"Twilight's" spirit went wide eyed, "What! Are you crazy?! The Pony of Shadows was nearly impossible for us to defeat, and you're suggesting that we use its power to stop Midnight?"
Stygian cracked a wide smirk, "I don't intend to play to her side forever, Twilight. If I learned anything from being the Pony of Shadows, it's that you can't allow it to control you, I still have a piece of it inside me. When the time is right, I will try to free you from her mind and we can rip open a portal to Limbo and seal her there!"
"Twilight" shook her head, "If you are forgetting, I know that spell, ergo... Midnight does as well."
Stygian snorted, "Horseapples. Then I'll have to buy some time by fighting alongside her until somepony can stop her, she mentioned other ponies from our world. Who came over?"
Twilight Sparkle responded to the small unicorn, "Quickfire, one of the Masters of Nature. Hiller, the Protopony. And my co-ruler, Burning Star."
Stygian went wide eyed with glee, "Yes! That's it! Burning Star can defeat Midnight, I sensed he was partially responsible for taking her on in Canterlot and nearly destroying her. I'll talk with him later, don't worry, ok? We will both make it out of this."
With that Stygian exited Midnight's mind and reappeared in front of the Dark Alicorn, saying "You are too focused on Celestia and Canterlot, Midnight. Set your sights on a smaller target, like... Manehattan for example, yes its geographically larger, but it isn't as heavily defended."
Midnight giggled, "Brilliant idea. Manehattan is already a huge pit of negative energy, it's the perfect target and I know who will be leading the charge. You!"
Stygian's eyes shrank to pinpricks, "W-What?"
Midnight nodded and cupped Stygian's face with her hoof, "Oh yes, proving yourself to be powerful by destroying an entire city, I like your thinking, Stygian."
Stygian suddenly realized he had not thought this through completely.
She reared up, preparing to cast a spell, "Now then, are you ready to become the Pony of Shadows again?"
Stygian sighed, knowing that this was going to suck, then nodded. "Of course."
Midnight conjured up a circle of runes underneath Stygian and opened a portal to Limbo in front of them.
She chanted, "Pony of Shadows! I resummon you to retake your former host, Stygian, servant of Empress Midnight Sparkle! Come and take your host back! Hahahha-haha-!"
A black-gray orb appeared out of the portal, and flung itself towards Stygian, who was writhing with pain as his body was again overtaken by the dark being.
When the screaming stopped and the smoke cleared, Midnight looked on with awe at her new minion.
Before her stood a massive black stallion made of pitch black smoke. His eyes were blank white slits and his horn was curved and razor sharp, so were his teeth. Smoke and shadows eminated from his hooves and other parts of his body, and large black wings emerged from his backside.
Stygian heard a familiar voice in his head,
"Welcome back my friend. I knew you needed me, Stygian. I've always been the Hyde to your Jekyll."
Stygian responded, "I am no longer your puppet, Pony of Shadows... You have been sent into me by Midnight Sparkle."
The Pony of Shadow's mind roared back, "Wait a sec, Midnight Sparkle? I thought I felt her presence pass through dimensions, I thought we were clear when we said we didn't need any pony to be our friend! That we were our own masters!"
Stygian responded with a smug tone, "We will not be letting her rule this world. I'm in charge, and your being used for my goals! I plan to defeat her when we have the chance..."
The Pony of Shadows mentally smirked, "Well then, I guess we should introduce ourselves. So let's act natural, shall we?"
Midnight noticed the Pony of Shadows was standing still for a long time, so she asked it, "Uh... Stygian? You in there?"
The Pony of Shadows answered with a loud growling voice, "I am. Tell me, why have you summoned me, Alicorn?"
Midnight Sparkle smirked and answered in an evil voice, "I have returned you to your host in service of me, I ask of you to destroy the city called Manehattan. I wish to make an example of my powers, you would make an excellent minion!"
The Pony of Shadows lashed out in rage, shooting razor sharp arrows of darkness into the walls of the castle and barely missing Midnight's head. It said in a defiant voice, "I AM NO ONES MINION, YOU WILL PERISH FOR THAT ASSUMPTION YOU ALICORN SCUM!"
Midnight quickly put the Pony of Shadows in a shield, using a lot of her magic to restrain him, all the while the dark being thrashed about like a raging dragon.
She shouted at the dark monster, "STYGIAN! Get ahold of that thing, now!"
Stygian heard Midnight's shout and forced his body to calm down, and The Pony of Shadows stood silently... a thousand yard stare on its face.
Midnight contacted Stygian via telepathy and said, "Thank you, you have to have a better control over that beast!"
Stygian snarled back in the Pony of Shadows voice, "I am in control! I was... just making sure all his powers were there, I... apologize for the scare Empress. It wasn't very appropriate to frighten the very being that is keeping me alive."
Midnight huffed in frustration, "Hmph. Test you powers on our enemies, not me."
The Pony of Shadows bowed before Midnight, saying, "I am at your service, your highness. But won't my attack on Manehattan cause a wild spike in magic?"
Midnight wasn't paying attention as she smirked and threw her head back in laughter that shook the rafters of the castle.
She said to herself, "Soon, Celestia. Soon I will have my Weapon that will bring darkness to your world, and any other world out there! Hehee-haah-hahahaa!"
While Midnight wasn't paying attention, Stygian silently set his plan into motion.
He said to himself, "Perfect, all I have to do now is play to her side until the time is right to strike. When that time comes, Burning Star must be ready, everypony must be ready for her wrath. This gamble better pay off..."
(Canterlot Castle, The Solar Spire)
The Solar Spire was a special place high atop the city of Canterlot, this was where Celestia could channel the full power of the sun to defend her kingdom, destroying anything with beams of pure solar energy she let loose from the sun itself!
She was up there now... it was nearly midnight, and she was looking through her telescope, watching the location of her old home, whatever or whoever this "Midnight Sparkle" is, she would be stopped.
A voice like a growl came from the roof. "I see you are also watching our enemy, Princess... it seems you aren't as dumb as I thought."
Celestia turned to the roof and saw nothing, then turned around and fell on her flanks from fear.
Standing in front of her was a pony-shaped life form, its yellow-orange eyes stared down the solar princess. It had wings of metal across his back, and it wore some sort of jacket that concealed its body.
Celestia asked the obvious question, "so we finally meet, You're the one that has been killing those gangster ponies, and dropped a body at my private residence's doorstep, who are you?"
The pony-shaped lifeform said, "I wanted to get your attention, here you are, here I am. Now I'm going to say this once, Keep your Guards off me, and I will continue to do their jobs. It's not like they can do it well anyways..."
Celestia snorted and began to ignite her horn, it was quickly grasped by the pony-like organism's front leg, cutting off the magic flow.
The masked pony said to the princess, "Also, send a message to the Guardians of the Sun... tell them I'm going after Midnight as well... I am warning you, Celestia. Stab my back, and I rip out your spine... see ya."
The pony pushed Celestia inside and dropped off the ledge and flew off into the dark streets before Celestia could get a good look at him or her.
What she did see was a carving on her balcony
"CM..."