Chapter 5: The Crusade
Midnight had to admit, Twilight's wards were probably the best he had ever seen. He had been looking them up and down trying to find a weakness, not because he wanted to escape, but because he was bored. He had been awake for two hours waiting for Twilight to unlock his room. After poking and prodding the enchantments, he decided that making an assistant would be a good idea. Not having hands was a difficult thing to adjust to.
He was about three quarters done when he heard the fizzle of spells being removed. His door opened to reveal an irritated unicorn.
“Why were you messing with the wards?” she asked accusingly, “You assured me you wouldn't be trouble.”
“You hid a tamper spell in the wards?” Midnight said with a smirk, “I'm impressed. I never noticed it. I was really just bored. If I found a weakness, I would have told you so you could fix it.”
“Really?” came her dubious reply, “Well come on. Spike made breakfast.”
“Spike... the dragon?”
“Yes, is that a problem?” Twilight gave him a curious look.
“No,” he lied, “I'm sure you've trained him well.”
“Trained who well?” came a young boy's voice from the kitchen.
Midnight's eyebrow raised. Twilight never said anything about a son or brother.
“Uh... her pet dragon,” Midnight answered the child.
“Pet?... Pet! Who you calling a pet, buster?” a short, chubby lizard with purple and green scales stormed out of the kitchen wearing a frilly pink apron. “I'm nopony's pet! I'm Twilight's number one assistant. Wait... you're that monster that came out of the door!”
“He's not a monster Spike,” Twilight started, “He's from another world. Perhaps they have dragons there too?”
Midnight nodded, “Y-yeah... but... they're much bigger, even hatchlings, and are just mindless beasts... very dangerous, mindless beasts.”
Spike glared at the stallion, “Well, I'm not a mindless beast.”
“I apologize,” Midnight sighed, “I shouldn't have assumed dragons here would be as brutish as in my world.”
“They usually are,” Twilight stated, “We've had to deal with a few, but I raised Spike myself.”
“So you're like his mother?” The pony and dragon gave each other a sidelong glance, Spike groaned and face palmed while Twilight giggled.
“Why does everypony say that? Twilight's only eight years older than me,” the dragon said indignantly.
“He's more of a little brother,” Twilight ruffled his head-fin. He batted her hoof away and glared at her.
Midnight laughed at the display, “You two remind me of how me and my brother used to be back on Determis.”
“Brother?” Twilight looked at him in concern, “I figured you didn't have anyone.”
Midnight's smile turned sad, “My brother and I haven't spoken in years. He's a military engineer, and I'm a fugitive. He'd drop everything to follow me, but then he would be a fugitive too. I couldn't do that to him.”
“I'm sorry to hear that,” Twilight said sympathetically.
“It just means there's no way I can drag him down now,” Midnight let out a sigh, “But I do miss the idiot.”
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Twilight and Midnight spent breakfast talking about their siblings. Midnight was surprised to find that her brother was a soldier and married to a princess. Even after they finished eating, they continued talking.
“...so he opened the door, and bam! Water balloon full of shaving cream to the face! He was so pissed, he chased me around the yard with a club,” Midnight finished his story. He sighed and got a sombre look in his eyes, “I miss those days.”
Before Twilight could respond, there was a very enthusiastic knock at the door.
“I'll get it.” Twilight flashed to the door and opened it.
“Hi Twilight!” said a familiar filly voice, “Is Mr. Midnight here? He said he'd go crusadin' with us.”
“Well... I have some things I need to do. Unless somepony else can accompany you, it'll have to wait until around two or three,” Twilight told them.
“That's why I am here, darling,” Rarity poked her head into view. “I figured you would be busy, what with the developments of last night, so I volunteered to chaperone the crusaders and our... patient.”
“Thank you, Rarity,” Twilight beamed, “It will be easier to get everything done without Midnight and the girls here. No offense, but you are still adjusting to life here and require supervision.”
Midnight laughed, “No offense taken. I understand what you mean. I am rather clueless of this world.”
“Have fun, and try not to destroy the town,” Twilight called out as the five of them left.
“Come on, I have better control than that,” Midnight called back.
“Oh, I'm not talking to you,” she said with a chuckle.
Midnight looked back at her in confusion. If she wasn't talking to me... He looked at the three fillies, all three of which had nervous smiles. What did I get myself into?
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Midnight stood there, jaw agape, mimicking Rarity's expression. A large wooden bird sat on a giant slingshot in the middle of a clearing of Sweet Apple Acres.
“This... this is amazing,” Midnight finally managed to say. “Is this an airplane?”
“No,” Applebloom replied matter-of-factly, “It's a big wooden bird.”
Midnight laughed, “An airplane is a large machine that flies. If this is suppose to fly, that's what it is.”
“Ya mean Ah'm not the first to make one of these?” she asked with a touch of sadness.
“In this world you might be, but I'll have to ask Twilight. I think it's impressive that you came up with this regardless, though. In my world, it took scientists and engineers to make this thing. To think that a child could do it too.”
“I helped with the design!” Sweetie piped up.
“Of course you did, Sweetie,” Rarity gave her sister a placating smile.
“Mr. Midnight,” Applebloom approached the stallion, “We were hopin' to test it out. Can your magic protect us if it crashes?”
“Yeah, I can,” Midnight smiled, realizing their plan.
“Alright,” Scootaloo pumped her hoof, “Come on!”
The three fillies scrambled into the machine.
Midnight turned to Rarity with curious expression, “So, Sweetie Belle helped design this? You must be proud.”
Rarity gave a warm smile, “She probably added some glitter somewhere. I love my sister to death, but she's not exactly the brightest foal.”
Midnight was rather upset by that. “I think she might be-”
“Hey! Don't touch that!” came Applebloom's voice, a bit worried.
“Huh?” squeaked Sweetie Belle.
The sound of metal breaking was immediately followed by the sling shot launching the plane into the air. The sounds of screaming fillies pulled Midnight out of the shock.
“Rarity, get help!” he ordered, “They're heading toward that forest!” His seal glowed dimly as his hooves were wrapped in a pale blue aura. With a kick of his back leg, he slid across the ground like he was skating on ice.
“Midnight!” Rarity called, “That's the Everfree!”
He didn't care about the name, but by the way she said it, he figured this forest must be dangerous. He pushed himself faster. He watched the plane drop below the tree line, kicking up debris as it crashed. Tapping into his mana pool, he formed an air jet to accelerate himself further. He had to get to them quick. For all he knew they could have been seriously injured.
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Applebloom groaned as she sat up, clutching her side. She wasn't really hurt, but it was going to be one nasty bruise in the morning.
“Y'all okay?” she called into the darkened cabin.
“I'm stuck,” came Sweetie Belle's voice.
“Ugh...” Scootaloo's groan was woozy.
“Scootaloo, you alright?” repeated the yellow filly as she pried the piece of lumber from her unicorn friend.
“My head...” was her response.
“You girls stay here. Ah'm'a go see where we are,” Applebloom announced, “Ah'm pretty sure we crashed in the Everfree, but we might not be far. Hopefully we can just walk out.”
“Be careful,” Sweetie said.
Applebloom kicked the door from its hinges and stepped outside. She looked around for any sign of how far in they were. Her attention was broken by a rustling behind her.
“H-hello? Midnight? Rarity? That you?”
A bush seemed to explode as something surged from it, barreling toward the filly. Applebloom was frozen in fear and confusion.
From behind her, she heard somepony shout her name.
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Soon, but not soon enough in his opinion, he entered the woods. His reflexes came in handy as he dodged and weaved the numerous trees. Branches and vines tore at him, cutting him all over. He swerved around a tree only to find another too close to entirely avoid. His side slammed into the trunk, sending him careening out of control. Midnight tumbled head over hooves for several yards before slamming into a broken tree.
He gasped for air, trying to regain his bearings. A terrified scream brought him back in full. He was at the start of the trail of destruction left by the plane's crash. At the other end, a large mud-brown insectoid creature of some kind slithered with a snake like lower body toward Applebloom. It had two large scythe-like forearms, one reared back, ready to strike down the farm girl.
Without thought, Midnight formed two mage-form wings and fired off an air jet, launching himself at the creature. Tears began forming as the monster swung his weapon forward. He realized he wouldn't make it in time.
“Applebloom!” Cried another familiar voice.
Midnight watched as Scootaloo threw her body into her red maned friend, knocking her out of the way. A painful screech shortly followed as the sharp blade of the beast tore through the filly's face. Midnight watched as she hit the ground, writhing in pain. Just as the monster reared back to finish the job, the blue alien slammed into him, a mage-form shell held in front of him. The beast flew into a copse of trees and Midnight quickly checked on the young pegasus.
The injury was bad... real bad. A stasis spell was all he could do to keep the filly from bleeding out, as the monster was back on its feet and charging the new threat. Its bladed arm came down on Midnight, meeting a shimmering blue shield held in the mage's left hoof. He brought up his right, forming a scimitar, at the beast's head. It moved back, only receiving a grazing blow. Its second killing limb descended, Midnight barely blocking it with his sword. Unused to fighting in his new form, the force staggered him. The monster quickly took advantage. It surged forward, knocking Midnight to his back, and raising up. It slammed its entire weight onto the pony's shield, cracking it. The blade pierced through the barrier and into his left lung.
His breath became painful, as his vision swam. He struggled to maintain the shield, but when the beast reared back again, the pain broke his focus and the spell failed. He didn't want to die, but thought it might be for the best. At least without him, the others didn't have to play warden anymore. He watched as the blade began its descent...only to get caught by a rope. Is his state, it confused him, until he saw a lavender bolt of light slam into it.
“Rainbow, get the Scootaloo out of here, now!” he heard a vaguely familiar voice say, “Pinkie, get Midnight!”
“Hold on tight, Middy,” Pinkie's voice was serious. The sudden change in velocity sent him uneasily into unconsciousness.