C7: To the Victor
Much time had passed and Twilight began stirring. She groaned and struggled to open her eyes. With a moan, she thought, “The gloomspawn really hurt.” Her memory was hazy, but she remembered watching Midnight running away with the gloomheart. She gasped and her eyes burst open wide and she started looking around.
The others were already getting to their hooves. Rarity came over to Twilight, helping her steady herself. “Are you alright, darling?”
Twilight turned to Rarity, “Where's Midnight?”
Rarity looked around. “I don't know. Hopefully she ran away when she had the chance.”
Applejack stumbled a bit as she approached Twilight. “Then what happened to the gloomspawn?”
“No,” Twilight gasped, pointing in the direction that Midnight went. “I saw Midnight run away with the gloomheart. They'll follow her like a timber wolf to get it.”
“What?” Fluttershy gasped. “Why would she do that?”
Rainbow Dash flew up, saying, “We gotta find her.” She started to fly in the direction that Twilight pointed.
After a few moments of flight, Rainbow Dash said, “We gotta find her.”
Midnight spat out the Gloomspinner and waved, “Hi Rainbow Dash,” as she watched the blue pegasus pass by.
“Hi Midnight,” Rainbow Dash said non-chalantly as she passed by Midnight, saying, “I hope she's alright.” She blinked and facehooved. After a u-turn, she flew back and grabbed Midnight, lifting her off the ground.
Midnight murmured something, but Rainbow Dash couldn't understand her with the Gloomspinner in her mouth. She held her as steady as she could and flew her into the waiting hooves of the other ponies, joining them in a group hug.
Midnight smiled and sighed, spitting out the Gloomspinner, “You're all okay.”
“We're okay?” Applejack asked. “Where did ya run off with that there gloom-thingey?”
Midnight tried to struggle out of the group hug and failed. “Well, I figured that they would follow me, allowing you all the chance to escape.”
“Us escape?” Fluttershy gasped. “Why didn't you escape?”
Midnight was able to struggle out of the group hug this time. “It's because it was my fault that you were all in danger in the first place.”
“What do you mean, darling?” Rarity asked.
“Well,” Midnight hung her head. “I lied. I knew that there was a sign that said that the forest was dangerous. I just thought that other ponies were afraid of walking into a dark forest. I figured my shadowsight would get me through and I would be fine.” She looked up at her friends, “But you girls came out to get me when you knew that there was something really dangerous.”
“Well,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “We would have probably had to have taken care of the Gloomspinner eventually.”
Pinkie Pie hugged Midnight, “And everything turned out alright, right?”
“So, how did you do it?” Twilight asked.
“Do what?” Midnight asked.
The ponies all pointed to the Gloomspinner laying on the ground motionless. Twilight used her magic to levitate it into the air.
Midnight giggled. “Oh, that. I ran into a cave and tried to smash it with a rock. When that didn't work, I noticed that it was kind of squishy and tasted like oil. So I used my paint drying spell to dry it out. It looks like it worked.”
“It sure did, sugarcube,” Applejack said.
“You saved us,” Fluttershy said.
“You saved Ponyville,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Maybe even all of Equestria,” Twilight added.
“Hi hoof,” Rainbow Dash said, landing next to Midnight and holding a hoof up. After not getting a response, she added, “Don't leave me hanging.”
Midnight shook her head. “I'm not a hero. I just got lucky.”
Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. “You shouldn't belittle yourself like that, Midnight. You are a hero, to us, at least.” The others agreed.
Midnight held up a hoof and Rainbow Dash hoof-bumped it. “You were awesome, Midnight.”
“And very brave,” Fluttershy added. “And reckless,” she gently scolded.
“Just remember, being reckless is still my job,” Rainbow Dash said proudly.
“Now...” Pinkie Pie said, squeezing in between the two with a cake from nowhere, “we can have your party?”
The other ponies groaned and Midnight replied, “Oh no. It is way too late, even for me. I want to go to sleep and forget this night ever happened.”
Pinkie Pie sighed disappointingly, “Oh,” and blew out the candles on the cake. She approached Midnight, their eyes only inches apart as the pink pony announced, “We will have a party for you. You won't know when it is or where it will be, but beware, it's coming.”
Midnight blinked and took a step back, “Scary.” She flashed a wicked smile. “Great.”
“Great?” Rarity muttered.
“So,” Rainbow Dash said, “that means that you can't put yourself in danger until we do.”
Midnight nodded. “Only if you can find me a nice hilltop to view the sky that is safer than the one I found.” She held out a hoof for another hoofbump.
Rainbow Dash complied, “Deal.”
“Well,” Rarity interrupted, “we should be getting back to Ponyville. I need to get my beauty sleep.”
Midnight groaned and hung her head. “More walking.”
Rainbow Dash tapped her shoulder. “I can always fly you back?”
Midnight gasped, shaking her head. “No way.” She started walking towards Ponyville, “I'm walking.”
Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and rubbed her head. “That's good. My head still hurts from the sonic rainboom into the ground.”
Pinkie Pie hopped along. “We have to plan a new 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for Midnight.”
“Don't worry,” Rainbow Dash said. “We will.”
“There is one thing we can do in the meantime, ladies,” Rarity said.
The six ponies hugged Midnight and said, “Welcome to Ponyville.”
Midnight smiled. “Does this kind of stuff happen every day here?”
“Nah,” Pinkie Pie said.
“Seems like every Saturday that this occurs,” Twilight pointed out. She thought for a moment on that. “I might have to do some research on that. It strangely sounds correct.”
Midnight rolled her eyes and with much sarcasm, “Great, I get to look forward to monsters and dragons attacking Ponyville every week.”
“No dragons have attacked Ponyville,” Fluttershy pointed out.
“Well, if you count Spike turning into a full grown dragon and demolishing the town,” Rarity said.
“Not to mention Cerberus showing up in Ponyville,” Twilight said. “Which is most likely where this little one came from,” she indicated the Gloomspinner floating in front of her.
“Ah thought ya said that ya didn't see that anything had left the gates of Tartarus?” Applejack asked.
Twilight shrugged. “I didn't think so at the time, but I was sleep deprived.”
“A likely story,” Midnight teased.
“Yeah, well...” Twilight glanced at the thing floating in the air. “Did you want the honors of putting the Gloomspinner back where it belongs?”
Midnight shook her head. “Not really interested in visiting the gates of Tartarus at this time in my life.”
Twilight nodded. “Okay, that's fine. Pinkie Pie?”
“Yes Twilight?” Pinkie Pie beamed in anticipation.
“I may need a ball for Cerberus, have any?” Twilight asked.
“No,” Pinkie Pie answered.
“No,” Twilight said. “I thought you had balls stashed all over Ponyville.”
“This is not Ponyville,” Pinkie Pie answered.
“Oh,” Twilight rolled her eyes.
The group walked in silence for a while until Midnight broke it with a question, “So, how did you girls meet?”
Rainbow Dash flew next to her. “Well, that's a tale.”
Twilight nodded. “It all started when...”
*
Later on that evening, when the ponies had all snuggled into their respective beds, Midnight was taking the time out to draw one more picture. This one was of her and her new friends together sharing a fun moment of eating cake at a party that she didn't have this evening. Once she was finished with the drawing, she sighed and put it away. “Maybe another time,” she said to no one in particular. She turned out the light and rolled over in bed, hoping to get some sleep.
Upon a hill, a pair of teal eyes watched as the light in Midnight's studio went dark. She sighed, stretching her midnight blue wings and flicked her star speckled mane. With an air of finality, Luna launched herself into the night sky, disappearing in a flash of light.
END