Chapter 5: The Truth Comes Out
The girls had all gathered together to hear what the big news was that Twilight had to tell them, Fluttershy went to get them and made it sound urgent. Applejack was the first to speak once they were all together. “All right Twi, what’s all this about?”
“Yes, why was it so urgent that we had to come here?” Rarity asked.
Twilight began to explain. “As you all know, Fluttershy went over to Midnight Star to try and talk with him, she offered to hire him to do a self-portrait of her, she led him to her house where he made a sketch of her with her animals, once he was done, he left quickly. Fluttershy noticed a book he left behind by accident, thinking it was one of the art books I lent him, Fluttershy brought it to me. Upon inspecting it, I found that it was a journal, Midnight Star’s journal.”
Applejack gave a stern look to Twilight. “Now Twilight, I hope you didn’t go snooping in his personal belongins.”
Twilight continued. “I did actually, and I found something very disturbing, that’s why I called you all over here.”
“So what is this ‘disturbing thing’ that you found that you had to call us all over here?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts. She opened them and revealed her findings. “Midnight Star…..is the son of King Sombra.”
The girls all gasped in unison. Pinkie was the one to break the silence. “Are you…..sure about that? How could he be the son of that mean old King Sombra?”
Rainbow Dash then jumped in the air with a glare in her eyes. “Well what are we waiting for, if he’s the son of Sombra, he must be here to cause trouble and get revenge for what we did to his dad! I say we head over there and kick his sorry flank out of here before he does anything bad!”
“I agree, that brute Sombra was so mean to those beautiful crystal ponies, I say we head over there and give him a piece of our minds!” Rairity exclaimed.
Fluttershy tried to object. “But, don’t you think we might be over reacting, I mean…..he hasn’t done anything wrong has he?”
Applejack chimed in. “Maybe not yet, but do ya want ta give him the chance to? I’m with Rainbow and Rarity, let’s go get that nasty varmint and give him what fer!” The girls all then headed out the library, with Twilight carrying Midnight’s journal in her magic grasp, Pinkie and Fluttershy were the only ones who thought this was wrong and that the others were just jumping to conclusions. Four mares with glares, and two with worry on their faces marched through town to Midnight Star’s house.
Midnight Star was just about to get started on the painting for Fluttershy. “All right, time to get to work on this, I just know she’ll love it, she did like my painting of the sun set.” Before he could get started, there came a loud knock at the door. “NOW WHAT, why is it that every time I’m about to get started on a painting, I get a visitor?” Midnight walked to the door and opened it. He was greeted by six mares, four had scowls on their faces, while two others wore expressions of worry. “Oh, its all six of you, what do you want this time?”
Twilight levitated his journal into his view. “MY JOURNAL, how did you get that?!” He asked with surprise and anger.
Twilight began. “You left something behind at Fluttershy’s.” Twilight then slammed the journal on the ground in front of him. He looked down at it and back up at the ponies with confusion on his face. “We know who you are Midnight Star.” Twilight said with malice in her voice.
Fear became evident in Midnight’s face, his eyes shrank to mere pinpoints. “You….you read my journal, didn’t you?”
Rainbow answered. “That’s right, we know you’re the son of that evil King Sombra, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll clear out of here pronto!”
Midnight just hung his head to the side with a frown and narrowed his eyes. Rarity spoke next. “Did you really think you could keep this a secret for long, you are not welcome here.”
Applejack then came in. “That’s right, we don’t want no evil son of some evil tyrant in our town!”
Midnight then lifted his head and glared at them. “So that’s it, just because my father was evil you think I am, If you would just let me explain-“
Twilight cut him off. “We don’t want to hear anything you have to say, you would just try and trick us to let our guard down.”
Midnight’s glare grew fiercer. “I AM NOTHING LIKE MY FATHER, YES HE WAS EVIL, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN I AM! Do you have any idea what I’ve been through because of this?! For five years I’ve wandered from town to town, always having to move because eventually, some pony figures out who my father was! I have no intention of moving again, if you want me gone, you’re going to have to get Celestia herself to come and arrest me, but I haven’t done a single thing wrong since I first set hoof in this town have I?! You have no idea how much pain I’m in because of what my father did, of what he…….became.” He got quieter at this point. The girls soon began to realize that they may very well have made a mistake as their expressions softened. “I don’t intend on moving, as long as you just stay out of my way, I’ll stay out of yours and we won’t have any problems, GOOD DAY!” He then slammed the door shut, leaving six guilt ridden ponies outside.
They just stood there in silence for a moment, thinking about what Midnight said. Applejack was the first to break the silence. “Girls, I think we may have made a mistake here.”
Rainbow Dash agreed. “I think you may be right.”
Twilight walked up to the door and knocked, she spoke as nicely as she could. “Midnight, could you come back out, we’re sorry for accusing you of being evil.”
Inside, Midnight was slumped down on his haunches with his back against the door. “JUST GO AWAY, IF YOUDON’T WANT TO HEAR MY SIDE OF THE STORY, THEN I DON’T WANT TO HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY EITHER, JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” Midnight was practically crying at this point.
The girls realized they weren’t going to get to apologize to him today, so they all just left quietly to their houses, they figured they could try again tomorrow since he said he wasn’t going anywhere.
Midnight Star just stayed where he was as tears ran down his cheeks. “It’s not fair, it’s just not fair……why do I have to be judged based on what my father did, this is the first town I felt comfortable in enough to finally write in my journal again.” He then levitated his journal in front of him, he glared at it with tears still fresh in his eyes. “I never should have written in this stupid thing.” He then used his magic to open it and tear out every single page in it and ripped them all up in anger.
In his continued fit, he got up, made his way over to the center of the living room, lifted the table up of the ground with his magic and tossed it to the side with such force it broke. “RRRAAAAHHHHH!” He then turned his attention to the couch and bucked it, causing it to turn over and end up upside down. “IT’S NOT FAIR! WHY, WHY DID MY FATHER HAVE TO BECOME WHAT HE DID?!” He then turned to the blank canvas and used his magic to break it apart. “WHY? WHY?” His attention then fell on the first painting he made here in Ponyville. He levitated it up and glared at it.
He was about to tear it apart too, but a thought came across his mind that stopped him. He remembered the kind Pegasus he met earlier today, she was the first to see his finished work and showed great interest in it. He also remembered that when the ponies came over and told him that they knew who his father was, she and Pinkie were the only ones not glaring at him. Now that he thought about it, they actually looked worried. “I can’t stay here, no matter how much I want to, I just can’t, those ponies are going to tell everyone in town who my father was and I’ll never get any business. I really will have to move out, but where would I go from here, I’ve already been to every town in Equestria, I have nowhere else to go.”
More tears started to form in his eyes as he realized what this meant. “Guess I can no longer call Equestria my home.”
The next morning came, Fluttershy just finished with her breakfast when she heard a knock on her door. “Goodness, I wonder who that could be?” Fluttershy fluttered over to her door and opened it. When she did, she saw no pony around, but instead, a rectangular flat object wrapped in brown paper with a red ribbon floating in front of her. “What could this be?” She wondered to herself. As soon as she took hold of it, the enchantment holding it afloat dissipated. She opened the wrapping and saw a beautiful picture within. Her eyes widened in surprise, it was the painting of a sunset that Midnight made his first day in Ponyville. “Oh my goodness, what is this doing here?” She then quickly scanned the area for any sign of him, but he was nowhere to be found. Fluttershy got worried as to what this could mean, she placed the painting in her house and quickly flew off to Mdinight’s house.
Fluttershy came up to the house that was Midnight Star’s, she approached the door, but then stopped when she saw a sign on the front door. It read ‘For Sale’. “Oh no, Midnight, oh please still be here somewhere.” Fluttershy then flew off to the library to tell Twilight what she found out.
Twilight and the others had already agreed to meet up at the library to try and meet with Midnight Star to apologize for their actions yesterday. They were all just waiting for Fluttershy to show up. As they waited, there came a knock at the door. “I’ll get it.” Said Spike, he walked over to the door and opened it. “Hello, who’s there?” No pony was around, Spike then noticed a stack of books on the ground in front of the door. “Wait, these are the art books Twilight gave to Midnight, but what are they doing here?” Spike picked them up and brought them inside. “Hey Twilight, it looks like Midnight Star returned those books you gave him.”
Twilight then turned her attention to Spike. “What do you mean Spike?” She then saw him carrying the books. “But, why would he return them all of a sudden, especially after what happened yesterday?”
Fluttershy then burst in through the door. “Twilight, girls, Midnight Star is gone!” They all let out a gasp.
“WHAT, what do you mean he’s gone?!” Twilight asked with worry.
Fluttershy explained all she found this morning. “So that’s when I came over here to tell you all.”
“But I thought he said he wasn’t going to go away, why would he say that and just leave?” Pinkie asked.
Rarity spoke up with a possible answer. “It was because of us, we drove him away with our ridiculous assumptions.”
“We just gotta find him and let him know how sorry we are.” Applejack cried out.
“He can’t have gotten too far, I’ll find him.” Rainbow said as she flew out the door. The others followed behind. Spike stayed to watch the library.
Rainbow flew high up to get a good view over the town to try and spot Midnight Star, the others just waited down below for Rainbow to spot him. She desperately scanned the area for any sign of Midnight star so that she and the others could apologize and try to convince him not to go. “Come on, where is he?” She desperately asked herself.
Midnight Star was trudging along, making his way away from Ponyville. It wasn’t the first time he had to leave a town behind, but the ponies there were so much nicer than anywhere he had been, not to mention how persistent those six ponies were being when they tried to make him their friend. That just made it all the more painful to leave it behind. “Maybe once I find a new country to live in, I won’t have to worry about others knowing who my father was, chances are his reputation never left the boundaries of Equestria.” Midnight Star had decided that it was now best to leave the country he loved and called home behind.