//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: The Midnight Watch 
// Story: Shadow of the Past, Brought Forward Once More 
// by Super Ponyman 
//------------------------------//

(Canterlot City, Around Noon, Two Weeks Later)

It was a beautiful day, sun rising again over Canterlot City, a day like this would normally be remembered for it’s beauty in a season relatively filled with sea-born thunderstorms thanks to the Bucking Bay, but this was a clear day. A day that most people would cherish…

But today, Canterlot City was in mourning. Specifically the CCPD, Anti Magic Force, and many others who were rescued by the Silver Angel, Savior. It had been two weeks since he had died, and The funeral procession went down the undamaged streets of the city, with many of the Police, Anti Magic Force, and even some of the less hostile cults coming out. This was a surprise to the public, as they mostly assumed all magic users were either insane, or possessed a innate sense of superiority. 

Turns out, not all of the magic users banded into hostile cults and followed a belief of magic users above No Mags, the term used for non magical humans. They referred to themselves as clubs or Associations as to give off a much more pleasant, or at least approachable image to the public, Some of them were indifferent, even friendly to the people. Although there were only two of them and were rather small, they did their best to protect everyone, no matter the cost.

The first of these groups and the larger one was the IMMA (International Magic and Mysticism Association), which was associated with the UN and was explicitly an organization dedicated to protecting Mages from the public eye, and they distanced themselves often. 

However, Saviors death swayed their agenda to begin educating those who wish to learn about magic, as well as founding a branch to back up the IP (International Police), known as the PPNM (Police for Protection of No Mags). They were led by an unknown leader, and they have had early success 

The lesser known organization was a group native to Equestria Alpha that came at special request of Sunset. It was a group of Unicorns from Equestria’s version of Canterlot, straight from Solar University. They were known as the Guides, and while their name was rather basic, they were far from that. 

They were explicitly scholars and professors, and they had to get used to the human world quickly in order to help teach more humans about Equestrian Magic, and study Terran Magic as well in order to incorporate and fuse the two into something new. 

Overall, Savior’s death had both caused a great deal of sadness for the city, but it also lit a fire in them. 

The people of Canterlot could never do what he did, but they would do what he did and preserve down this dark path, forever searching and being inspired by the light in everyone 

Even though, the light in two people was slowly dying out…

(Canterlot Square, Saviors Memorial)

Saviors death was tragic, and most people wanted to think of it less as a tragedy, but more as a heroic sacrifice. Thus, the funeral procession was one celebrating his accomplishments and deeds rather than his shortcomings.

After Savior’s funeral, an obelisk began to be built in his honor. It took a couple of days for some of the Magic users brought from Equestria to carve the thing using magic. For the people of Canterlot, Those days were spent in sad squalor, waiting for the monument to be unveiled. Which it was, during an unexpected thunderstorm.

Despite the rain pouring around them, the crowd that was present during the unveiling felt their spirits slightly lifted. 

Shining Armor stood in front of Savior’s memorial, a giant obelisk carved from marble almost 20 feet tall. It was inscribed with Savior’s motto.


Here Lies Savior
The Silver Angel of Canterlot

”I don’t believe in Impossible, and neither should you. Keep moving forward, no matter what tries to stop you, and find your own path.”


King Sombra found the words cruelly funny, stating to Shining.

”How fitting. An foolishly idealistic notion for someone who died for his ideals of “Doing what’s right”

Shining could feel the sarcasm in his voice, which soured his mood, ”A more fitting quote would be “Don’t cry for me, your tears are wasted on someone who didn’t make a difference. Move on and find who’s responsible and make them suffer.” Gra-hahaha-HA!” Sombra roared with evil laughter, giving Shining Armor a slight headache.

”Could you not be completely heartless for once, Sombra? I for one have faith that Savior is watching over us from wherever he went.” Shining snipped back, his voice filled with cold fury that immediately caused his eyes to turn a disturbing green.

King Sombra snorted a laugh, ”Oh don’t start with that. I’ve died many times in the past, Shining Armor, trust me when I say there isn’t an afterlife. If there was I would know.”

Shining Armor growled, ”Considering all the evil acts you have done, I wouldn’t be surprised if the only reason you haven’t been sent straight to hell is because the universe knows it’s too good for you.” 

Sombra was strangely silent upon Shining’s retort. 
But the captain could tell he was thinking of some sort of response. 

Eventually, Sombra responded, his voice both confused and a little insulted. ”What are you implying? That what I’ve done in the past was unnecessarily cruel? Shining Armor, what I did to my people I did because I was KING. I was above them and they were subject to my Will!”

Sombra’s voice began to speak again, ”I did do things you would consider cruel, but I considered them necessary. You must remember Shining, I am from a different time, a more dangerous time… where monsters roamed Equestria. If not for me, they would freeze to death or be eaten by the monsters of the Frozen North. I isolated my kingdom and protected it using my powers. If anything, the people should have been more grateful I didn’t allow them to freeze and starve in the cold.” the Shadow King smugly remarked, earning a groan from the Officer. 

Shining rolled his eyes, “Yes I’ve heard this story before, Sombra. You did terrible things in the name of what you call necessity in the past, but it’s what I call trying to justify your actions as something else other than what they truly are in the present, evil and needlessly cruel.” 

Before Sombra could shout back, Shining took off Sombra’s horn from around his neck and placed it in his pocket, before getting into his squad car and pulling out of his parking space. He shoved the horn into the glove compartment, it wasn’t good to wear it while he was driving. Sombra’s lingering influence made road rage a significant problem for him. Plus it would be quite ironic for a cop getting pulled over for reckless driving. 

He swore he could still hear King Sombra’s mocking laughter in his head, even after taking the horn off and getting it out of sight. Gripping the wheel harder, Shining tried to relax only to feel a chill go up his back. 

Sombra was not happy, he could feel it due to his connection with the horn. Every day he spent wearing it that connection will get stronger…

Until Shining’s will would no longer be able to hold out and Sombra would take over his body. He would no longer exist and the Shadow King would be reborn, free to do whatever he wished to the people close to him.

Shining swore that would never happen, he would never give in to King Sombra’s corruption, and if the moment came where he would be on the very edge of his will to resist…

He had a plan to stop Sombra permanently, but it would cost him everything. 

But that was not important right now, right now he was heading to the hospital, to check on his cousin and sister. 

Twilight had also went to the Hospital for some reason, saying to her brother that she was going to analyze and possibly identify the reason behind Dusk’s seemingly miraculous recovery, although Shining had several possible theories himself.

All of said theories involved an old foe that he thought was long gone, but somehow had returned, and as cliche as it sounded… It was dangerously plausible that Eclipsio had survived his supposed death six months ago.

Although the question was now was… how did he do it?

How exactly could he have survived if he did indeed survive? According to what he learned from Burning Star and his sister, A Reaper (or some sort of magical entity related to Death) cut him to pieces and he shattered into essentially nothing. 

Burning Star admitted that even he would have been killed by that Reaper thing, so it was reasonable to assume that Eclipsio, who seemed to be on the same level as the flaming Alicorn would have died as well. 

In Hindsight, he probably should not have assumed anything and tried to find hard proof sooner instead of starting his own personal investigation a month ago.

Now, his cousin was in the hospital and has gained magical power somehow, and his sister was slowly losing her mind due to a twisted projection of her inner desires and frustrations. Oh, and Sunset Shimmer hadn’t come into work in 3 days, citing her absence as “Grief Leave”, and Blaze Shine had personally declared war on the CCPF.

Now his fellow Officers were being hounded by the Knights of Fire whenever they went on patrols. 

Normally, the CCPF would be able to deal with some inexperienced and untrained cultists, as most were just human kids suckered in, but some were dangerous rouge magic users from Equestria, disgraced students, unruly Unicorns and Pegasi, and genuine insane people that flocked to those that promised to reward their chaotic impulses. 

Needless to say, Shining was stressed and that stress was starting to boil over. He needed some semblance of relief, and going to practice magic tended to do that. As dark as Sombra’s magic was, the fact that it was powered (or at least fed by) negative emotions made it extremely good as a stress reliever. 

Sombra had mentioned to him to continually test and experiment with his magical power whenever possible. Despite his unquestionably evil nature, he was a exceptional teacher. 

Shining had asked if he had trained or taught anyone in the past, Sombra said ”Yes, only one, he tried to usurp me when I taught him all I knew. Needless to say I destroyed him and swore off teaching.”

”Magic, or at least Equestrian Magic is drawn from within the self, Any good magus knows that it isn’t the spells that win duels, it’s their brain and their creativity. That Brings me to another point. Light or Dark Magic is subjective points of view. Light Magic draws more from strength of self and positive or calmer emotions, while Dark Magic obviously draws from raw strength and more intense emotions such as anger or most potently, Hatred.”

As for which is stronger, they are fairly similar. Most Dark Magic that I use can do similar things to Light Magic, and generates even greater results, but it takes considerable knowledge to harness it, as it is incredibly inflexible to most Unicorns and Alicorns. Light Magic is far more flexible and adaptable than Dark Magic, hence the reason why it’s taught rather than Dark Magic.” 

While he drove to his training grounds, he also began to think on what Zeron ranted on about, while he was able to brush most of it off as insane rambling, several choice words he used were sticking in his head.

”The Alcorni Race? What in the name of Faust is that?” he thought, as Sombra chimed in suddenly.

”Shining, I’ll humor you, I will tell you what I know, however little it may be. It sounds like the name of the Alicorns before Ponies had a definitive name for them. In Ancient Ponish, Alicorni is a term used to describe things “Of an Alicorn Origin”. Such as the Alicorn Amulet and even my Scythe of Umbra. However, I’ve never heard Alicorni be referred to as a Race, let alone an Empire.”

This worried Shining, if Sombra, an Ancient king of Equestria hadn’t heard of this, then he was dealing with something new. He began to think, considering everything he knew and learned from Twilights own research and Burning Star’s notes he left. 

Quickly he remembered something regarding Burning Star’s notes regarding Alicorns, mainly regarding him in particular. 

He knew Burning Star had been human, or at least some sort of human, judging from his knowledge of Earth and how easily he ran around in a human form. 

”Shining, I may be an Alicorn now, but I was something much different when I was younger. I hope you never find out what I was, because if you did, then your world is in grave danger.”

Sombra butted in to his thoughts, ”Burning Star’s remark about him being something different also intrigues me as well. I am not without curiosity, The idea of there being a predecessor to the Alicorn Race is certainly new to me. Granted, My Equestria does not have this Burning Star character, as far as I know. Perhaps it’s unique to his world?”

Shining played with the idea in his head, from what his sister has told him regarding Burning Star’s world of origin and comparing it to the notes on the Equestria of the other Twilight’s origin and Sombra’s origin, the two have some significant deviations. 

The soft rumble of the road did much to soothe his head. Driving always did calm his nerves, despite the other person in his head. 

”If we consider the fact that the multiverse does truly exists, as evidenced by the past several events we have gone through, it’s entirely possible that whatever this Alicorni Species is could, and most likely is from another universe. How did they manage to leave their influence behind without me knowing? I would have noticed anything of Alicorn level power on Equestria.”

The young man responded, a slight smile on his face. ”It could be that you haven’t been looking in the right places, or sensing for the right thing, Sombra.” Shining responded to the king, turning onto Stardust Speedway to head to his practice site in the old hunting grounds of the Everfree Forest. ”Lets drop the subject for now, we are almost there.”

Sombra’s spirit went silent as Shining drove down the road, verdant green pine trees blurring by him as he drove. 

As Shining Armor’s car came to a stop in a small grotto off the road, he got out and took in the fresh air of the forest, feeling the cool breeze on his face.

The Everfree forest was his sanctuary, a safe place to practice and hone Sombra’s dark magic, slowly turning him into a truly powerful master of the Shadows. The shade of the trees and underbrush provided excellent sources of power to draw from. King Sombra’s Magic naturally was stronger in the dark, so training out here helped Shining use his power to the fullest.

While he stood there, he thought of Twilight, and Dusk, and everything that happened in the past few weeks. It seemed like a blur to him, to be honest.

His thoughts were suddenly cut off by Sombra's commanding voice, ”Enough, Your sister has stated that she will look after your cousin, I am confident that someone as powerful as her will have no trouble looking after a no-Mag for a couple hours. Come, I cannot wait to use my Shadowcraft magic again.”

Shining took one last look back towards the road, towards his path back into the light of the day, then looked down the path in front of him, covered by the darkness of the trees and bushes…

And walked down the dark path, his heart heavy and mind growing more corrupted by Sombra’s own twisted thoughts with each step. 

(Canterlot City University Hospital)

The Canterlot City University Hospital was the largest hospital in the city, playing host to over 1500 beds and nearly 500 staff members in the building at all times. It was placed on the very edge of the City Ruins. Despite the treacherous location and proximity to the place where their city has been essentially partially leveled, it was still in pristine condition.

The hospital had, through some miraculous stroke of either luck or straight up divine intervention, survived the battle between Burning Star and Prince Eclipsio, and naturally was a hotspot for the sick and wounded, as well as the only place in the entire city that was a universal sanctuary for anyone.

The reason for this was that about 2 months ago, each of the three cult leaders met in a meeting with the hospital staff, essentially trying to muscle them into being their own personal hospital and cutting off contact with the rest of the city. 

Naturally, Savior stepped in and put his foot down…

Crashing down.

From the roof of the building onto the meeting tent where the leaders were. 

Negotiations were made on a more even playing field from there (meaning at gunpoint), and it was agreed upon that the hospital would remain a neutral zone for everyone, that no blood shall be spilled on the hospital grounds lest they suffer the wrath of Savior.

But now with Savior gone, the factions had a chance to chase out any non magical person in the building and claim it as their own. It would be wasting an excellent opportunity not to do it now.

Already the Followers of Midnight, led by Professor Greyhound, were preparing to infiltrate the building under cover of night. They would subdue the people and begin to move them out of the building and into one of the other hospitals via teleportation, before locking the place down. 

Greyhound knew It was cruel, immoral, and quite frankly evil of her to lead people to raid a hospital. But, she didn’t care, she had learned of Twilight, the bearer of their savior and goddess, Midnight Sparkle was in the building.

What better way to show their groups devotion than to secure a safe place for her and other magic users to rest and heal? 

As for the No mags? Greyhound knew There were plenty of other hospitals in Canterlot, but in her fanatical state she didn’t care for what happened to them right now.

Right now, all that mattered to her was seeing her goddess in her true form. 

Even if it killed her…

(Room 203, Post Op Ward)

Twilight inside of one of the Post Op ward’s private rooms, staring at the unconscious body of her cousin. Her acute sense for magic was on fire, as if several needles were being driven into her skin at all times.

Dusk practically was radiating magical energy.

Familiar magical energy.

So much so that it was distorting the air around him, although this was unseen to everyone with untrained eyes. 

To Twilight, the magical energy was disturbingly familiar. It stunk of their recent foe, Prince Eclipsio. Every bit of magic emitting from her Cousin made her hair stand on end. 

The demon of her own creation snarled, ”If it is Eclipsio, we should kill your cousin now, I don’t have to tell you that. The fact I’m saying it says that you have been considering it.

”Wonder what that says about you, Twi? Hehehehehe.” Midnights voice echoed in her head.

Twilight gasped, horrified with herself that she was even considering that option. She was a good person, not some murderer like Eclipsio was.

Midnight spoke again, ”If Burning Star were here, he’d do it. He does whatever is necessary for the “greater good”. she hissed out that last word, ”After all, he’s also partially responsible for Eclipsio being here in the first place.

Twilight Sparkle was in no mood to hear Midnight twisted rhetoric, and tried to ignore her as much as she could. Well, as much as you could ignore someone who was a voice in your head.

Midnight cackled, as the air around Twilight suddenly distorted and writhed and a projection of her appeared in front of her, although only Twilight could see her. Midnights wings sat folded on her back, and her arms were crossed in front of her, as if she was bothered by Twilight ignoring her. 

Which she probably was, obviously 

”Listen, Partner… I have been thinking as well on the current situation we have. With Savior gone, cult activity is going to skyrocket, especially the Sons of Eclipsio. Despite the loss of their leader, they seem more organized than ever. I wonder why…” she remarked too smugly, eyeing the unconscious body of Twilights cousin with disgust, like he was some sort of bug.

Twilight responded, her temper quickly turning sour. “I know why already, Midnight. Zeron was using a familiar-like form so he didn’t have to be there in person. From what I’ve read It’s a common tactic used by particularly powerful Unicorns. According to what Princess Twilight told me herself, their adversary King Sombra used one during his return when he attacked the Crystal Empire. You think Zeron did the same?”

Midnight smirked and let out an amused chuckle, ”You think he wouldn’t? Twilight, come on, use the head that I’m currently living in, Someone as wanted as Zeron probably wouldn’t risk showing his actual face to the public, he would have every police officer and magic user in a ten mile radius coming for his head.”

Twilight was about to continue when Midnight put a finger to her lips. ”Shush, I already know this already, I’m you. But more importantly, I sense magic nearby… and it isn’t your foolish Cousins.”

The Magical Demon rose into the air, her wings unfurling and a gust of wind blowing loose papers around the room. Her eyes went alight with purple energy as Twilight began to feel the pulse of arcane energy springing to life. She closed her eyes and began to feel for whatever was causing the disturbance. Purple-black Waves flew out from her body, rippling outwards like the surface of a pond. 

Twilight recognized this, it was amagical equivalent of sonar, as pinged along the strangely empty halls it finally picked up on something moving on the floors below.

Multiple somethings…

But, only Midnight recognized their faces, and immediately flew into Twilights body and tried to take control of her. Twilight resisted as best she could until Midnight practically screamed in her head ”Twilight! Stop fighting me! There’s someone else here, and it isn’t your brother.”

“Who is it, then? The girls? Some Hosptial staff?”Twilight asked her dark alter ego, but she had a feeling who it was.

”No, we both know who it is, or who it might be at least. It’s a group of magic users, most likely a Sons of Eclipsio cell come to raid the Hospital since Savior isn’t around anymor. Most would be appalled by their lack of morals,.” she replied, irritation in her voice

Twilight was about to praise midnights sense of morality when Midnights voice quickly turned to mocking as she said. ” but considering morals don’t apply to me, I really don’t care. What I do care about however, is the blatant lack of any sort of technique these cultists use.If they are not going to be a challenge for me, I may as well just crush them under heel and be rid of their annoyance.”

Twilight sighed, “I’m giving you control for just this once Midnight, deal with these Cultists Non Lethally. Please.” She then triggered her transformation, letting the demon’s form reveal itself as Midnight’s consciousness took charge. Purple black magical energy writhed around her as the air began to distort from the sheer presence of Midnight’s form. 

”Yes, Mom. I don’t even want to kill them, wouldn’t be all that fun to do it. I’ll just bully them until they know their place. Won’t that be nostalgic, Twi? Hm?” Midnight snarked, giggling at Twilight’s twinge of fear, remembering all the awful things she went through. 

Twi’s own consciousness fled into the back of their head and Midnight flew out the hospital room, sealing the door with a powerful magical barrier. 

Whilst normally she could care less if Dusk lived or died, since he had magic in his body now, powerful magic… her opinion had changed slightly towards sparing the nitwit, if only to study and possibly learn the magic that currently ran through his veins. 

(Canterlot Hospital, Main Lobby)

Midnight flew through the halls with the speed and ferocity of a runaway tornado, weaving around hospital staff and knocking them over with the heavy gusts of wind that she generated. 

Eventually she flew down the stairs and ended up in the main lobby area of the hospital, and took in the scene.

It looked like a warzone.

Or alternatively, the school six months ago when Black Sun decided to try and interrupt their little field trip. 

The doors were blown open, lying in multiple pieces all across the room. Scorch marks dotted the walls and several bodies lay on the floor, breathing but not moving. Several people dressed in Purple and Black Robes with Midnight’s signature horn insignia on their breast stood ominously in the doorway, arcs of magical energy dancing across their bodies. They each had hoods concealing their faces, making Midnight roll her eyes. 

”Well I guess I was wrong about it being the Sons of Eclipsio. It’s my own personal stalker cult. Lovely, some people that are slightly less useless than them.”  she said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Multiple medical staff rushed down the stairs, but were stopped when Midnight put up a wall of magical fire.

Not to keep them safe mind you, more so that they didn’t run out and get themselves killed in the crossfire. 

One specific robed figure stood in front of the rest of them, dressed in the same style of robe to the rest of the cult members, only this one’s robes had gold lining, this person removed their hood and Midnight got a glimpse of the leader of the Followers of Midnight, Greyhound.

Greyhound was a middle aged woman, her grey hair already had white in it and was tied up in a bun on the back of her head. A pair of glasses sat in front of her intense steel-grey eyes that seemed to be staring right at Midnight. Her face was calm at first, but when Midnight spoke, it twisted into a manic grin.

“At last.” Greyhound said, voice sounding ecstatic. “at last my friends, behold the being that will bring us to a new world order. Behold Midnight Sparkle!”

The other cultists began bowing and kneeling before Midnight, saying words of worship, making her scoff and roll her eyes again.

”Oh give it a rest, while I may enjoy being worshipped, I’d prefer if it’s by a group who deserves my attention for said worship. Which is certainly not you.” she said as she landed, wings folding around her arms. 

Greyhound looked equally disappointed, although she was looking at her fellow cultists. “Apologies Goddess. I have tried my hardest to follow your message of acquiring magical knowledge and devoting myself to the advancement of it, but the unfortunate fact was that despite my best efforts. Some simply just won’t understand our message.”

She continued to speak, pacing back and forth in front of her entourage, who looked like they had been hurt by her words. “These men and women I brought with me are the most capable members I have trained, I hoped to have impressed you. But clearly they still need work in your eyes.

Midnight looked at Greyhound, her face neutral, but her mind taking notes on her possibly greatest stalker. Hell, both her and Twi didn’t really know how to address a stalker to begin with… 

Twi’s mind chimed in, ”Midnight, this situation is already volatile. There are people hurt and some most likely need medical attention. I’d recommend you drop the wall of fire and let these people do their jobs.”

Midnight did not listen, and only silenced the complaints of the various medical staff with a silencing charm. She did not have time for this nonsense.

”Well Greyhound, this has been lovely, truly. But I have a new magic to study and a useless cousin to keep safe… would you kindly crawl back to whatever hole you and your cultists came from and please die in it?”

Greyhound shook her head, “As much as you’d like that of us. I’m afraid I’m going to have to disobey that specific command. I’ve come here to show my devotion to you. By capturing this hospital and turning it into a temple in your name. Would that not be a glorious thing?” She said, eyes wide and crazy. 

Midnight simply sighed, letting the crazy old lady playing at cult leader lose herself in her delusions. In the meantime, she quickly cast a few teleportation spells and transported the wounded bodies of the people on the floor away, and unceremoniously dropped them on top of the various staff, earning several shouts of pain. 

She then snapped her fingers and sent a burst of magic to knock the kneeling cultists out, before sending another to essentially punt Greyhound out the door. She bounced off the pavement and slammed into a fallen street lamp. 

Surprisingly, the old woman got up, not even looking winded. She then ignited her hands into purple balls of magical fire before saying, “Yes! I see now, you wish to test my own loyalty and talent through a magical duel. I like this way, I really do! Hehehe!” 

Midnight strut out the door and stared at Greyhound with a exasperated expression, trying to ignore the growing headache caused by Twilight trying to wrest back control. 

”Midnight, you need to send these cultists away, before they cause any more damage to the building. Let me take the wheel, im certain I can create a spell that could easily-“

Midnight cut the connection as she sensed Greyhounds magical energy spiking rapidly, seeing magical energy gathering in front of her.

“Behold! A favorite of my spells, Destruction Wave!”Greyhound roared as a wave of bright white arcane power about as wide of a car screamed towards Midnight.

Midnight lazily put up a shield and the blast pinged off of it, colliding with the exterior of the hospital. The falling debris did not harm her, of course, but it did get her covered in dust.

When she emerged from the wreck, covered in soot and building pieces, Greyhound was suddenly struck square between the eyes with a blast of magic that took her off her feet. 

”Is this all you can do, Greyhound? I’d think the leader of a cult, devoted to me especially, could do better than a simplistic blast of molecular destabilizing magic.” Midnight snarked, brushing herself off. 

Midnight was annoyed, and started to prepare an attack of her own as a magical charge enveloped her left arm, forming a jagged purple lightning bolt in her hand. 

Midnight was about to throw it when Greyhound sent another Destruction Wave towards her, it again harmlessly pinged off of Midnights shield and crashed into the hospital’s exterior. 

Midnight, seeing the cultists finally get up decided she had enough fun watching Greyhound make a fool of herself, and she finally began her attack. 

With a lazy wave of her hand, multiple arcs of purple-black lightning shot forth with a loud crack. They slammed into Greyhound, and arcs of electricity rippled across her body. 

Greyhound responded by trying to flee from the barrage of lightning, but Midnight conjured a spell circle under her and a whirlwind erupted, tossing her into the air. 

Greyhound floated there, helpless in the air as Midnight took to the air and hovered in front of her, eyes fixed on Greyhounds face, which was shifting from insane to pant ruining terror. 

The type of terror that people only feel when they are about to die.

Midnight then spoke, her tone deadly serious, ”Alright, enough of your sad display. You want me to tell you what I really think about you? Well here’s my two cents on your little group.”

With a snap of her finger, Midnight teleported each and every one of the cult members outside and woke them up with a loud bang as her hair essentially exploded into a magical inferno.

”I think you are all pathetic, incompetent idiots who essentially worship the concept of me rather than me specifically! If you were true believers of my cause you would be out there, taking what you know and using it to take more magic for yourselves! Because that’s what I do. I take magical knowledge and use it to strengthen myself to obtain even more. I DON’T WASTE MY TIME TRYING TO TEACH OTHERS WHEN THEY NEVER WILL POSESS ANY TALENT WHATSOEVER!”

Greyhound cringed at Midnights words, they certainly stung, especially to one so devoted to the being. She remained silent though, still holding out her faith. 

After finishing her tirade, Midnight summoned a rift and dropped the cultists and Greyhound into it, transporting them somewhere else in the city. Where? Midnight didn’t care, she just wanted to get them out of her sight. 

Midnight then landed on the ground, and proceeded to walk back inside the hospital. With a radiant flash of purple light, Midnight’s form disappeared and Twilight was herself again. 

Twilight staggered forwards, her feet off balance from suddenly being given back control of her body. Midnights form was always taxing on her, She looked around at the destruction that littered the hospital lobby, and onto the destruction outside. 

Rubble littered the street and pieces of the building were lying crumbled in front of the driveways, blocking the entrance for vehicles. Lampposts leaned against the building, uprooted from their bases, and cars were flipped over and wrecked. 

Midnight had spared nothing in terms of destruction outside, considering her very presence warped reality around her. Even now Twilight was still trying to force Midnight back into the back of her head and preventing a re-emergence. 

In short, it was a mess. It would probably take days to remove all the debris from the driveways and front of the hospital. Twilight grimaced, all of this destruction within only about 2 minutes of Midnight being active. 

If she couldn’t get her other side under control, this little outburst against the Cultists would look like a small mess. 

”You will NEVER control me, Partner, and try to repress me only is what got you into this mess… you’re just making me stronger, Twilight.” Midnights voice echoed in her head, hissing like an angry cat.

Twilight immediately felt Midnight’s mind try to take over her own, dropping to her knees as her other half began to manifest once more. Her wings erupted from her back and her energy horn grew. 

Twilight shuddered, falling to the floor and thrashing about wildly. 

“Stop it! Stop it! stop It!” She howled, shutting her eyes tight. 

She screamed skyward, pushing as hard as she could to silence Midnight’s voice. A torrent of magical wind kicked up around her as Twilight and Midnight wrestled for control of Twi’s body…

Eventually, after what felt like hours but was really mere minutes, Midnight relented and Twi pushed her as far as she could into the back of her mind. 

She chanted a Mental Shield Incantation to shut Midnight’s voice up… and at last her mind was quiet. 

A sense of peace returning to her, Twilight looked at herself, she was covered in sweat and dirt from the fight with Greyhound and she felt exhausted. Her hair was undone from its usual ponytail and hung loose down to her shoulders. her glasses were cracked slightly and she’d have to get replacement lenses now. 

Midnight in her haste had failed to cast a personal shield around herself and now multiple scratches and abrasion lines crossed her arms and legs from all the flying debris and damage. Thankfully Twilight saw no blood, but she’d check in with some of the doctors in the hospital once they were finished treating the wounded Midnight had literally dropped on them. 

“Midnight… I’m running out of time.” Twilight said to herself as she walked towards the stairwell, heading up to floor her cousin was on and back to his side to stand vigil over him. Putting these thoughts behind her, she ascended the stairs.

To any outside viewer, Twilight appeared calm and collected again, that what happened was a one time thing you weren’t meant to see… 

In the depths of Twilights mind, Midnight writhed and seethed and grew stronger with each passing day.

It would only be a matter of time before she’d be the one in control and Twilight was the one stuck in her head.

Only a matter… of Time…