//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Urgent Mail // Story: The Legend of Midnight Hour // by Stratocaster //------------------------------// Urgent Mail The next morning, Midnight awoke peacefully at around 10:00. He felt something amiss when he listened for the sounds of Noon muddling about downstairs as he usually did when making breakfast; the house was eerily silent. He got out of bed and proceeded down the hall to his brother’s room, which turned up empty like the night before. Midnight felt a brief moment of worry since Noon always came back home at that time to restart the clock when the sun was centered. But he put his worry away reminding himself that Noon could easily do his job from anywhere. After a quick shower and a bowl of cereal, he stepped outside and went over to check his mailbox. As he stepped up to it, he noticed a roll of parchment paper tied with a string lying on the ground next to the mailbox. Midnight looked from side to side thinking that the mailpony had dropped it when making his delivery. Disregarding the parchment, he opened the mailbox and found nothing out of the ordinary: the Fillydelphia Inquirer, the latest issue of Unicorn Monthly, a subscription ad for Pegasus Boutique which he ignored, and a notice from the Fillydelphia Department of Water which he assumed was Noon’s fault. He then turned his attention to the lonesome parchment and carried it inside with the rest of the mail. Once inside, Midnight curiously stared at the roll of parchment at the kitchen table, wondering why the sender had not simply sent whatever the message was in an envelope. Without further questioning, he untied the string and unfurled the parchment. The stylish penmanship of the text was neat and almost seemed printed by magic. Midnight read aloud to himself. “Dear Midnight Hour, It has come to my attention that an event took place last night involving a high source of magic. I am told that you are responsible for this particular event. I request that you visit me in Canterlot as soon as you receive this letter. We must discuss a serious pressing matter. Signed…” he gawked at the signature. “PRINCESS CELESTIA?!” Just like that, Midnight was filled with alertness. Without considering what he was doing, he frantically took off out of his home and down the sidewalk five houses down. He knocked spastically on the door of his friend’s house and waited uncomfortably for it to open. When it did, Stir Fry looked at him with tired eyes. “Midnight,” he said with a yawn. “What’s going on? Why did you have to wake me up this early?” “Fry, you’re not going to believe this!” blurted Midnight. He stuck the parchment letter in front of Fry, who read the text to himself and then gasped. “Princess Celestia?! You…you got a letter from Princess Celestia?!” “I know; I was surprised too! It just showed up next to my mailbox!” “Well that’s fantastic! You’re probably the luckiest pony in Fillydelphia right now. The Princess requests an audience with you!” “Yeah but, I don’t think she’ll be too happy; I think I’m in serious trouble.” “Why? What happened last night?” “Why don’t we talk about this with Andromeda?” Midnight and Fry both went over to Andromeda’s house where she greeted them both warmly. But Midnight skipped the friendly addressing and told her that they needed to fess up about what had happened the night before. She made a pot of tea and sat in the living room with the boys where she told Fry about her and Midnight’s incident with Workhorse. After Fry absorbed the info, Midnight then told Andromeda about his letter. “Princess Celestia?!” she exclaimed. “Midnight, this is unbelievable!” “Apparently, she must have caught wind about us disposing of the robot.” Midnight said. “But how could she know about it?” she asked. “There must have been somepony who saw us and told her.” “If you ask me,” suggested Fry. “It was probably that weird Mr. Mechanic. I mean who else would’ve been around with that machine?” “That’s a good point, Fry,” replied Andromeda. “But the only thing I’m wondering is why I didn’t get a letter from the Princess like Midnight. I’m the one who suggested getting rid of it.” “It’s probably because I’m getting all the blame from destroying it.” Midnight answered. “Mechanic probably just got steamed from that and went to the Princess, that is, if he’s the one who told her.” “That rat,” spat Fry. “Instead of just talking to you two, he had to go turn it into a whole big deal and get you in trouble. That just burns my tail!” “Whatever went down last night,” continued Midnight. “All I know is that Princess Celestia wants to see me right away. So I guess I’m off to Canterlot.” “I’m coming too,” replied Andromeda. “I share just as much blame as you.” Midnight only looked sympathetically at her. “Don’t worry, it’s hardly any blame.” Just then, the doorbell rang and Andromeda went to the door. She answered it and standing before her was Marigold, who happened to live next to her and knew her well. “Andromeda,” she urged. “Something big is going on.” “What is it Marigold?” asked Andromeda. “Everypony is talking about it, scared,” she answered. “All the railroads outside Fillydelphia have been closed off.” “You’re kidding,” gasped Fry. “Why would they do that?” “I heard it’s because of something that happened over in Baltimare.” Marigold told him. “Now we’re not allowed outside the city as decreed by Princess Celestia.” “First she wants me to come to Canterlot,” pondered Midnight. “Now she doesn’t want anypony to come? This is messed up.” “What do you mean?” asked Marigold. He showed her his letter without a word. “Princess Celestia?!” she exclaimed. “She invited you to Canterlot?!” “More like she summoned me;” he replied. “Last night, I was performing a fire spell for Cassiopeia when the spell accidentally destroyed that robot from town square. Then Andromeda and I got rid of it in secret. We think Mr. Mechanic was nearby and ratted me out to the Princess. Now we think she wants to punish me.” “Midnight, that’s awful.” Marigold sympathized. “But the Princess would never be so cruel as to summon you during whatever is happening right now. Something bad is going on in Equestria and I think going to see her will give us some answers.” “But we just need a way of getting to Canterlot since she closed the railroads.” Andromeda added. “Hey, why don’t we ask Takeoff?” proposed Fry. “He has a chariot that can take us over to Canterlot.” “Then that settles it;” said Midnight. “Andromeda, Takeoff and I will fly to Canterlot.” “Count me in.” Fry said to him. “Me too.” Marigold added. “You guys don’t need to get tangled into this mess.” Midnight told them both. “I think you should stay in the city where it’s safe.” “We’re your friends, Midnight,” replied Fry. “We got your back all the way.” “Whatever happens, we want to make sure you’re okay.” Marigold said. “I want to come too!” Everypony looked surprised to see Cassiopeia standing on the staircase and appeared to have been eavesdropping on them. Andromeda walked over to her. “Cassie, this doesn’t concern you.” She said to her softly. “Why don’t you stay with one of your friends until I get back?” “But I’m scared,” her sister whimpered. “And I don’t want anything to happen to you or Midnight. Please, please, please let me come!” Andromeda looked at the other three for an answer and they simply shrugged. She sighed and looked back at her sister. “Okay Cassie,” she said deflated. “You can come with us.” Midnight noticed Cassiopeia’s eyes watering a bit. “Don’t worry Cassie,” he said with a smile. “I’ll be alright.” The four of them plus Cassiopeia walked on down to Takeoff’s personal garage. Along the way they noticed that the streets were unusually quiet since most ponies were at home in fear of whatever caused the railroads to close. When they reached the garage, they saw that the large door was open and that Takeoff was pacing in front of his red sport-class chariot which sat inside with his cutie mark emblazoned on the front. He saw the group and acknowledged them. “Hey, where’s the party? You guys know the railroads have been shut down?” “Takeoff, we need to ask you something.” Midnight told him. The group filled in Takeoff on the event from the previous night and the letter from Princess Celestia. All the while, he retained his expression of dumbfounded shock. “Princess Celestia?!” he yelped when they finished. “I don’t believe this! Why would she want to punish you at a time like this?” “That’s what we’re hoping to find out.” Midnight answered. “But since we can’t get there by train, you’re our only source for transportation. We need your chariot to fly to Canterlot.” “Are you insane in the mane?!” bellowed Takeoff. “I’m not taking anypony out of the city when the railroads are sealed off. We’ll get in even more trouble than you are already in!” “It won’t matter if we’re being summoned by the Princess.” Andromeda told him. “Everything will get straightened out once we talk to her. Please Takeoff, this is an emergency.” “Forget it,” pouted Takeoff as he crossed his hooves while hovering. “My chariot isn’t for smuggling ponies no matter what princess sent for them.” “Please Mr. Takeoff, I’m scared.” Cassiopeia looked at the floating bulky Pegasus with doe eyes. After staring back at her for a bit, he landed and spoke to everypony. “Alright, get in.”