Sins of the Father

by Robobrony


Chapter 6: A Day of Painting

Chapter 6: A Day of Painting

Midnight just sat up in his bed as the morning sun rose, his mind filled with worry and fear. “That nightmare seemed so real, my friends, my home,…….my dad, I saw him in there after I saw myself turn into him. What could this all mean? As if this wasn’t bad enough, first these blackouts, seeing my dad in the mirror for a moment, and now that nightmare, what am I going to do?” Midnight then crawled out of bed and went to his bathroom to clean himself up for the day. He just let the warm water of the shower flow over him as he stood there in thought for a while, hoping the soothing warm water would wash away his troubles.

After a while, he shut off his shower, climbed out and dried himself off. He just sighed as he made his way out of his room. “Maybe I should just get to work on another painting for my friends, I think that party scene Pinkie wanted would be good.” Midnight got to his living room and levitated another blank canvas on the stand. He was about to work when he just remembered something. “Hold on, every time I’m about to start on a painting, I get a knock at the door.” He then thought to go to the front door and see if any pony was approaching. He opened the door and saw Pinkie Pie there with a hoof raised as if she was about to knock on the door. “Just as I thought.” He said out loud.

Pinkie gave a bright smile as she greeted Midnight. “Hey there Midnight, how’d you know I was here?”

Midnight Star gave a bit of a smirk. “Lucky guess.”

“Really, wow, your good, can you guess WHY I’m here?”

Midnight then gave a real smile as he answered. “No, sorry, that’s as good as it’ll get, you’ll just have to tell me why you came by.” With Pinkie’s smile, Midnight felt some of his worries melt away from his mind.

“I came bye to invite you to a party I’m having later today, I figured a good party would cheer everpony up with all the strange bad things going on around here, so what do you say, you wanna come, It’s gonna be at Sugarcube Corner at 12:00.”

Midnight was a little disappointed that Pinkie’s party was going on today when he had a lot of work to do. “Sorry Pinkie, I wish I could come, but I have a lot of work I need to do with making paintings, plus, I have a date with Luna tonight.”

Pinkie let out a long drawn out gasp at this bit of news. “*GAAAAAAAAAASSSP* YOU’VE got a date with princess Luna, congratulations Midnight, this is great news, we just have to throw a party for it, oh you’ve just gotta come, I can set it up right now!”

Midnight shook his head. “I’m sorry Pinkie, but I was about to get started on the painting you asked me to make, then I was going to make the other paintings the other girls asked me to make. Plus, Rarity said she’d have a suit ready for me at 10:00 and I need to pick it up. I would definitely like to come to one of your party’s but it will have to be on a day when I won’t be so busy.”

Pinkie frowned at this news. “Awwwwe, really, ok.” Pinkie then brightened up when she got an idea. “We can just have a party tomorrow then to celebrate. You won’t be busy then will you?”

“No Pinkie, I won’t be busy tomorrow, I would love to come to a party with you tomorrow.”

“ALL RIGHT! I just can’t wait till tomorrow then! See ya later alligator.” Pinkie cheered then rushed off.

Midnight smiled as he shook his head at Pinkie’s antics. “That pony sure likes to party.” He then went back inside and got to work on the painting for Pinkie. Midnight got to work on Pinkie’s painting and remembered what she asked for, a fun looking party scene with all her friends, including him, having fun. Midnight then remembered something else. “How am I going to make something like that when I’ve never been to a party, maybe I should have accepted Pinkie’s invitation to that party, at least then, I’d have some idea as to what a party looks like.” He then rushed to the door, hoping Pinkie hadn’t gotten too far off to where she wouldn’t hear him call her. “PINKIE PIE!”

In an instant, Pinkie was standing right in front of him. “Yes Midnight, what is it?”

“WHOA, dang you’re fast, listen, I thought about it and decided maybe I could attend that party your throwing today.”

Pinkie smiled so big at Midnight. “Really, you’ll come?”

“Well, since I’ve never been to a party before, I figured it would be good inspiration for me to make your painting.”

“ALL RIGHT! I’ll come by and pick you up ten minutes before the party starts, see you then Midnight, bye.”
Pinkie then rushed off again.

“How does she do that?” Midnight wondered to himself. He figured he might as well get to work on another painting instead for Twilight. He could take a sketch of Rarity for her self-portrait when he picked up his suit. After some thought, he decided the best scenic painting for Twilight would be one of Ponyville. He remembered seeing a great view of the town when he first approached it. He could see the town from atop a hill that also had a view of Canterlot as it rested on the side of the mountain. He remembered seeing a rainbow just under the castle that was being made by the sun shining through a constant waterfall from the city. “HA, that’s just perfect, I’ll make that for her, I just know she’ll love it. Midnight then got to work and started on Twilight’s painting.

By the time he was finished, it was now almost ten, the time when Rarity told him to come by and get his suit, he cast his paint drying spell on the painting and smiled at his completed work. “There we go, perfect.” Thanks to his work, he had completely forgotten his troubles for now. Midnight left his house with his saddle bags packed with his sketch pad and coloring pencils and headed for his neighbor, Rarity.

Midnight entered Rarity’s boutique and found her just now coming down stairs. “Hey Rarity, I’m here for my suit.”

Rarity smiled upon seeing Midnight. “Midnight, darling, how good to see you today, your just in time, I just finished with your new suit for your date tonight. Follow me upstairs and I’ll show it to you.”

“Sure thing, I can’t wait to see it.” Midnight followed her to her workroom upstairs.

“And here it is, what do you think?” Rarity floated the suit in front of Midnight to see. It was a black suit with a white under shirt and a black bow tie, it had gold cufflinks with small white diamonds embedded in them.

“WOW, Rartiy, it looks amazing, you really are a talented clothes designer, I can’t thank you enough for this.”

Rarity blushed at Midnight’s compliment. “Oh now, it was nothing, I’m just glad you like it.”

“Like, it, I LOVE IT! I’m going to look so good in this, thank you.” Midnight was getting a little teary eyed without realizing it as he looked at the suit.

Rarity took notice of this. “Midnight, what’s wrong, why are you crying?” She asked with concern.

“It’s just that, well……no pony had ever given me anything before, I-I just don’t know what to say other than thank you.”

Rarity smiled again at Midnight. “Your quit welcome dear, I’m glad I could make you happy.” Rarity floated the suit to Midnight after folding it neatly.

Midnight took hold of it with his own magic and placed it in his saddle bag. “Rarity, since I’m here, I figured I could go ahead and get a sketch for your self-portrait, what do you say.”

“Really, right now, oh but, this is so sudden, I need time to prepare.” Rarity said, feeling a little panicked.

"Rarity, relax, you look beautiful just the way you are, besides, I already have an idea for what I would like to do for your painting, and you don’t need to wear a dress, just you.”

“Oh, I don’t know dear, are you sure?”

“Hey, who’s the artist here? Trust me, you’ll look great. I want to capture your natural beauty. Now, go lie down on that red sofa you have, cross your forelegs, and look right at me.”

“Well, all right, if your sure.” Rarity smiled as she did as she was told. She climbed on her red sofa, crossed her forelegs, and looked at Midnight with half lidded eyes.

Midnight brought out his pad and pencils, and began to sketch. After a while, he finished. “There we go, ok Rarity, all done, you can get down now. I’ll get to work on this soon.”

“Thank you Midnight, I’m looking forward to seeing your work.”

“I take it you’ll be at Pinkie’s party today?”

“Of course dear, I wouldn’t miss it for the world, I could use something to take my mind off of that break in yesterday, it still troubles me abit.”

“I’ll have your painting ready for you then, as well as every pony else’s. See you then, bye.”

“Good bye Midnight.”

Midnight Star then left for his house and got to his living room to start on Rarity’s painting. “You know, I think it would be a good idea to present these paintings to them at the party, I can surprise them with my works there, no way I’ll be able to finish them on time though if I work on them one at a time. I only need to make two more, then I can work on Pinkie’s at the party. I’ll have to exercise all my focus in order to make Rarity’s and Rainbows at once.” Midnight then set another blank canvas on his stand and levitated another one next to it. “This is going to take all my focus and concentration.” He began working as best he could to accomplish his goal. He maneuvered two brushes on one canvas for Rarity’s and two more on the other for Rainbow Dash’s. He kept looking between the two to make sure they were going according to his vision.

It took a while, but he managed to make the paintings he wanted. “WHEW, I did it, man that was hard, but I succeeded.” He recreated Rarity’s painting from the sketch he made, and the one for Rainbow Dash was just how he pictured it. It was one of her flying through the clouds with a determined smile on her face with a rainbow trail behind her in the blue sky. One of her front hoofs was stretched out while the other was tucked under her. “I hope Rainbow likes this one.” He then cast his paint drying spell on the two works then proceeded to wrap up all three paintings for transport. Another thought then came to his head. “Maybe I could also give that painting to Luna at the party as well.” He decided to pack that with the others as well, so he levitated it up, wrapped it, and put it in his bag with the others.

He saw that Pinkie would soon be arriving to take him to the party. He packed up the paintings in his saddle bag, his art supplies, and got his bags on his back, he then secured his stand on his back with the saddle bag strap. Right on time, Pinkie came knocking. Midnight then opened the door to greet her. “Hey Pinkie, I’m ready to go.”

“Great, but what’s with the bags and the stand?”

“You see, before you got here, I managed to make three other paintings for the others and thought it would be a good idea to present them to the girls at the party, I also figured I could make your painting while at the party, so I packed another blank canvas, and other supplies to make it. I hope that’s ok.”

Pinkie just smiled. “Of course it is, as long as you remember to have fun there and it doesn’t take you long to make it.” The two then headed for Sugarcube Corner.

When they arrived, it looked as if the party was already in full swing, every pony was already chatting and playing games. There were streamers all over the place with balloons, party hats on every head, delicious looking treats set up on the tables, and a big chocolate cake at the center of the table. The games set up were pin the tail on the pony, bobbing for apples, and many others. It looked as if half the town was here, Midnight also saw his six other friends, as well as Luna, all together. “Wow Pinkie, this looks great.” As soon as he spoke, all the other towns ponies stopped what they were doing and looked in his direction with unpleasant stares. This made him very nervous. “Uh……..hey everypony, how’s the party going?” Right away he heard a few whispers from the crowd.

“What’s he doing here?”

“He’s got some nerve showing his muzzle here.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised Pinkie invited him, but how are we supposed to enjoy this party with him here.”

Midnight immediately grew a frown. “Pinkie, maybe this was a bad idea, I should probably just head back instead.”

Pinkie smiled at Midnight. “Nonsense, come on, let’s have some fun.” Pinkie dragged midnight over to where the others were so they could chat.

Spike was the first to greet him. “Hey Midnight, glad you could make it to the party.”

Twilight was next. “Yes, it’s good to see you again.”

Luna was next. “We are most pleased that you could make it.”

Midnight had a nervous smile as he responded. “Yeah, great.”

Rainbow took notice of this. “Is something wrong, you don’t look so good.”

His smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown. “I’m not so sure I should have come, all the other ponies just glared at me as soon as I entered. Maybe it would have been better if I hadn’t come at all and stayed home.”

They all felt sorry for Midnight, Applejack decided to try and comfort him as she stepped forward and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Now come on sugar cube. It’s like the princess said, it’ll just take time fer the others to come around and see you fer who you are and not fer what yer father became.”

Midnight looked to applejack with a sad smile. “Yeah, your right, I guess I should try and not let what they say get to me, besides, I have you eight to back me up right.”

“Right!” The six girls answered in unison.

“Indeed.” Luna answered.

“Don’t worry Midnight, we’ve got your back.” Spike answered last.

Midnight really perked up at this. “Oh, that reminds me, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, I have your paintings
here for you, I hope you like them.” Midnight then opened his bag and levitated the three paintings out and over to their respective recipient.

Twilight was surprised by this. “You finished them already? Wow, thank you Midnight.”

“Thank you so much Midnight.” Rarity thanked.

“Yeah, thanks dude.” Rainbow then gave her thanks as well. They each unwrapped their paintings and let out a gasp upon seeing Midnight’s works of art.

Twilight was the first to compliment. “Wow, Midnight, this is amazing, it’s absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much." Twilight then held the painting in her magic grasp and gave midnight a hug.

He was surprised by this. “You….like it that much, thank you, I was hoping you would.”

Twilight then released him to look at him. “You did a wonderful job.”

Rarity was next to compliment. “Midnight, you were right, you managed to make me look absolutely gorgeous, thank you so much.” Rarity then hugged him as well while holding the painting in her magic grasp.

“Thank you Rarity, I’m glad you like yours as well.”

Finally Rainbow dash gave her thanks. “DUDE, you really captured my awesomeness in this, I look so totally AWESOME!” Instead of a hug, she just went for a hoof bump.

Midnight gladly returned it. “I’m really glad you all like your paintings, I worked really hard on them.”

“Like them, we love them, you are an amazing artist Midnight.” Twilight stated.

“I’ll say, these paintings are beautiful.” Fluttershy complimented after seeing them.

“They sure are somthin, you did a great job on them partner.” Applejack complimented.

Midnight then remembered the other painting he brought. “Princess Luna, I have a painting for you as well.”

Luna was surprised by this. “You do? What is it?”

“It isn’t the original, but I was able to recreate it.” Midnight levitated his last painting out of his saddle bags and in front of Luna for her to take it.

Luna took hold of it with her magic as she eyed the wrapped painting. “What do you mean Midnight?”

“Open it and see.”

Luna unwrapped the painting and was stunned at what she was looking at. “Midnight, is this….”

“It’s a copy of my very first painting, the one that helped me earn my cutie mark, I though you would like to see it, and……keep it as a thank you gift.”

“Midnight, I….I don’t know what to say, thank you so much.” Luna was overcome with such joy with being presented with such a beautiful painting of her night that, without even thinking, she quickly pressed her lips to Midnight’s.

The sudden lip contact from the princess of the night caused Midnight’s eyes to widen in shock. He couldn’t believe it, Princess Luna was kissing him.

The girls, except for Rainbow, gasp in shock. Rainbow just looked away while Spike proceeded to make gaging motions with his claw. The girls just ‘awwwwed’ at the scene. This also drew the attention of the other ponies at the party who were also shocked, but not in a good way.

Luna pulled away upon realizing what she had done. She blushed with embarrassment. “OH MY, please forgive me Midnight, I…I don’t know what came over me. I am very sorry.”

Midnight was still in shock as he tried to respond. “I….um…th-that’s all right Luna, um, I….I really liked it." “IDIOT, you don’t just say something like that after a pricess kisses you by accident. Was it an accident? OF COURSE IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!”

Luna blushed more from Midnight’s compliment. Before anything else could be said, one of the ponies spoke up. “HEY, what’s the big idea kissing the princess like that? You’ve got some nerve pal!”

The group turned their attention to the pony who spoke up, the other ponies seemed to agree with the statement as they all started up. Luna decided to address them to keep things from escalating. “Calm yourselves, I am the one who kissed him, I was merely overcome with such joy and gratitude from a wonderful gift he gave me that I just kissed him, go back to enjoying the party and please don’t cause any trouble for him.” This seemed to calm the crowed as they went back to the party. Luna turned back to Midnight to address him. “Midnight, I am sorry for the trouble I caused for you, I hope you can forgive me.”

“It’s fine Luna, you defended me, and I am grateful for that, I’m also glad that you love my painting so much. I should get to work on Pinkie’s painting now so I can start enjoying the party.”

Luna smiled at Midnight. “Very well, thank you again for it, it is truly magnificent.” The others all went to enjoy the party so Midnight could get his work done quickly.

He set up his stand, got the blank canvas set up, and prepared his paints as he scanned the scene. He watched for a moment as the ponies all enjoyed the party and the treats before starting. “All right, I know what to do, time to get to work.” Midnight then proceeded to start his painting and capture the party scene before him.

As he did, he also noticed that the girls, whose paintings he gave to at the party, took it upon themselves to show off his work to the other ponies there. He certainly didn’t expect that. “Guess I should have seen that coming, they really are trying to let every pony see me for who I am, and not what my father became.” “Who are you trying to kid, they will never see you for who you are, you saw how they all reacted when you first entered the place, they will never accept you. You are just wasting your time.” Midnight just ignored those thoughts, he was in too good a mood to let those thoughts get to him.

After a while, he finished the painting and cast his quick dry spell. “Hey Pinkie, I’m finished with your painting!” He called from across the room.

Pinkie and the others rushed over to look at it. “WOW Midnight, you did another great job. OOOOH, It looks like so much fun, I just want to dive in there and party in there.”

Midnight couldn’t help but laugh. “HA Pinkie, it’s just a painting, first of all, that is impossible, second, if you did manage that, then you would be missing out on this party.”

“Oh yeah, good point. Well anyway, it still looks great, thanks Midnight.” Pinkie then gave Midnight a big hug.

Midnight returned the gesture as he wrapped his forelegs around her. “You’re welcome Pinkie.”

After releasing her hug, Pinkie picked up the painting and held it up over her head and called out as she went to the center with the others following. “HEY EVERY PONY, LOOK AT THIS PAINTING MIDNIGHT MADE!”

Midnight just hung back with a big smile on his face as the others followed her. “You know what, I don’t care if the others accept me, I’ve got such great friends in those ponies, they really care about me.” “We’ll see about that.” Before Midnight could respond, he was once again assaulted with another dizzy spell. “No, no not now.” He wobbled in place and he closed his eyes. With no pony looking, he changed, his horn became red and sharp, his eyes began emitting that same dark purple mist from the sides, and when they opened, they were that same green color again. “Heh heh heh, let’s see how friendly they are after this.” His horn began glowing black. The lights in the building all went out, making it impossible for any pony to see anything. The crowed all began to chatter as this happened.

Midnight then continued with another spell, but it was too dark for any pony to see what he was doing, it didn’t matter anyway as they were all still confused about how this happened. Luna tried to calm the situation as she addressed the crowd. “Every pony, please remain calm, I’m sure it is merely a temporary black out.” After she said that, the lights came back on and every pony could see again. but the scene that greeted their eyes was not pleasant.

Midnight’s eyes fluttered open after and saw the carnage of the once fun scene. “No, what happened.” The cake had been ruined, it looked as if it had been aged and was rotten looking, as well as all the treats on the table. The streamers were shredded, the balloons were popped, the table clothes were ripped, the pin the tail on the pony game had been torn to pieces, and the bobbing for apples tub was taken apart to leave water on the floor with rotten apples littering the ground. “NO, it can’t be, am I really the one responsible for all this?”

The ponies all looked around in horror. Pinkie was practically on the verge of tears as her party had been completely ruined. Twilight spoke up. “No, who could have done such a thing so fast?”

Luna again took charge of the scene. “Every pony please remain calm! We will figure out the perpetrator of this heinous crime.”

One of the party goers spoke up. “We already know who’s responsible for this, it’s that new pony Midnight star, it has to be, he is the son of that despicable King Sombra.”

Another agreed. “Yeah, ever since he arrived here, all this bad stuff started happening. It has to be him.”

Midnight was too shocked to say anything as he continued to try and contemplate what was going on. The girls, Luna, and Spike all stood in front of him to defend him. Spike was the first to speak up for his defense. “You don’t know that, there’s no way he could have done this!”

Rainbow agreed. “YEAH, so why don’t you all just back off and leave him alone.”

Another patron spoke up. “Oh, and I suppose you have proof that he didn’t do all this!”

Twilight was next. “Do YOU have proof that he did?!”

“We don’t need proof, it’s clear as day that he’s the one responsible for all this.”

Applejack was next. “Now look here, Midnight Star is a very nice, kind, and generous pony, there is no way he would do all this!”

Pinkie then stepped in. “Yeah, so why don’t you all just stop being such meanies and leave him alone.”

Luna finally decided to speak as well. “ENOUGH, Midnight Star is not the one responsible. Whoever is doing this is using dark magic, and Midnight has none of that, he is NOT the one causing all these bad thing in Ponyville.”

Midnight just continued to go through his mind. “Maybe I am responsible for all this, every time I black out, something bad happens. Am I really the one doing all this, why, what’s happening to me?”

Fluttershy stood next to Midnight and saw the fear in his eyes. “Midnight, are you all right?”

“I……I…….I have to go!” Midnight then rushed past all the ponies and galloped back home.

Twilight tried to call after him. “MIDNIGHT, WAIT, WHERE ARE YOU GOING!” No use, he didn’t hear her. “Come on girls, we’d better go talk to him.” The group then left the party after Midnight.

Midnight burst through his door, slammed it behind him and raced upstairs to his bathroom. He leaned against his sink with his head hanging down as he panted. “*PANT* what’s………what’s happening…….to me?” He looked up to look at himself in the mirror only to be greeted with a familiar face. “NO, Not again, you’re not real, you can’t be!” It was his dad again, smiling wickedly at him. “GO AWAY!” He screamed at the reflection.

Something then surprised him, the face spoke to him. “Now why would I want to do that, It’s about time that you and I had a nice father to son chat my boy. HA HA HA HA!”