Rarity found herself running along a finely made stone pathway, one that ran between two parts of what appeared to be a giant forest of some kind. The trees seemed almost ancient, as if they had been the first living trees in all of Equestria, and they glowed as if they contained magic of their own. She did not recall how she came to this forest exactly, but she knew she was running from something and she wasn't about to look back and see whatever was following her. She just had the feeling that is she turned to look at what was behind her then she might slip and fall, leaving her vulnerable to her enemy.
Besides the fact that she was running for her life she absolutely loved the night sky, a dark sky with no clouds and full of bright shinning stars. The moon was the fullest she had ever seen it before; the white sphere hung in the sky, giving light to those who traveled under it's night. The only strange thing that Rarity noticed was the black spirals that gathered in the center of the moon, branching off as if something celestial was happening. She figured that if something were happening to the moon then something would also happen to the sun, but she was not a master of magic who would think like she was currently.
"ARCHERS." a clear and calm voice shouted.
The single word kicked Rarity into high gear, making her turn around to see that she had been running from a pack of ten timberwolves. Not only did the thought of somehow outrunning the beasts come to mind, but so to did the thought of the fact that she hadn't caught their scent the entire time. Though she was now boxed in; with the dreaded timberwolves behind her and what appeared to be a fully armed caravan of soldiers right in front of her, blocking her path. Not to mention that the soldiers were armed with what looked like bows, each one nocking an arrow and taking aim at Rarity.
Rarity considered dropping to the floor and getting some stones in her fur, but she was really hoping that the soldiers were actually aiming for the timberwolves. She looked past the soldiers and noticed the familiar batpony mare that some of her friends had met before, the one called Mistwing. She decided to take a leap of faith and threw herself to the ground, closing her eyes as she waited for either the arrows to pierce her or the howls of the timberwolves in defeat.
"Fire!" Mistwing shouted, the arrows flying over Rarity and burying themselves in the chests of the waiting wolves, "Now mages, burn them down."
Flames jumped out from the assembled group, reaching across the open road to the stunned and waiting timberwolves, who were no friends of fire. The wolves exploded into an inferno of flames, running back the way they came as bits and pieces burned up thanks to the intense heat. Mistwing chuckled and her soldiers went back to making sure the cart was ready for transportation, leaving Rarity alone while she waited for something to happen.
"You can get up now Miss," Mistwing said, approaching Rarity as the mare picked her head off the ground, "Do not be alarmed, I am not an enemy. I come in peace."
"I know you come in peace darling," Rarity said, standing on her legs again as she brushed off as much stone as she could, "After all, if you weren't peaceful you would not have followed Pinkie back from beyond the grave and you most certainly would not have allowed Rainbow to try and best you in the skies. You would not have saved me from those dreadful timberwolves and for that you have my eternal thanks."
"It was how my husband taught me to behave," Mistwing explained, beckoning to the soldiers with her wing, "He told me that it was better to be loved by one's subjects and to help them whenever they are in need than to turn a blind eye to their troubles and leave them to burn alone. I find that, by helping my subjects, I can encourage them to help others that are in need and contribute to the overall happiness of everypony.
Some will say that by helping you, a complete stranger to Midnight's kingdom and his ways, I am encouraging others to help other strangers. I want the ponies that serve Midnight to see that he is kind, generous, and, above all else, a Prince that they can trust with all their hearts and their lives. He is the kind of stallion that many have already gathered behind and defended our very kingdom against his evil and untrustworthy brothers and sisters."
"Wait a minute darling," Rarity said, shaking her head as she collected all of this information, "Are you telling me that the Lord of the castle is a stallion by the name of Prince Midnight?"
"I can imagine your surprise," Mistwing shrugged, as if the truth had no impact on her anymore, "after all, Midnight has been trapped in the Dreamscape for over two thousand years thanks to the trap set for him by his family."
The way Mistwing said the word family gave Rarity the idea that whoever Midnight's family was had done something that caused both of them a great deal of pain, because she could tell Mistwing dripped the single word with venom. Rarity had no desire to truly stay any longer at the moment, for she had triumphed where her friends had failed. She had discovered the stallion's missing name so the Princesses could track him, though that also meant that she was really in the Dreamscape and not in the Everfree Forest.
"My husband wishes to speak with the last Element of Harmony before you leave," Mistwing continued, sighing slightly as Rarity turned to look at her, "He only wishes to speak with you before you wake up, so that you might have something useful to tell your friends the next time you all see each other. I am, at times, confused as to the methods that my husband uses, but right now I know he wishes to see the one who calls herself the Element of Generosity."
Rarity stayed silent and followed Mistwing to the caravan that was waiting, only turning to thank the pony who helped her up onto the seat. She and Mistwing spent the next ten minutes, or what felt like ten minutes, in silence as the soldiers walked around and made sure nothing popped out of the trees. Rarity knew nothing was going to attack them, figuring the good Prince would not have his wife, his troops, and the cargo they carried harmed by anything he could conjure up. She just watched the trees and kept her mouth shut, waiting for whatever information Mistwing choose to share with her and got nothing in return.
"So," Rarity finally asked, daring to speak to the mare while they rode along, "What are your thoughts on your husband's plans?"
"Oh, not much really," Mistwing sighed again, something that Rarity noticed was a habit of hers, "I mean, he's recovered so much of his former power and yet all he cares about is leaving this place and everypony he remembers behind. The truth is that since the majority of us in here have been dead for over two thousand years means that we'll have no bodies to return to when our Lord escapes from his prison. But Midnight has no need for an army anymore, now that he has discovered what went wrong two thousand years ago he plans on not making the same mistake again.
I have tried hundreds of times over the last few days to change his mind, telling him that it isn't worth it to lose everypony he has ever cared about in his entire life. If he were to leave this place, leave the Dreamscape and the wondrous power that it has, he would also be leaving behind me, my brothers, and the ponies that look up to him for guidance. I told him that we could start over, expand our kingdom as if we had never gone to war with his family in the first place, and live out our lives in the comfort of each others embrace.
All he cares about now is leaving all of us behind so he can enter Equestria once more and continue life as if nothing had ever happened. He should just stay here with me, with the ponies that have grown to love and respect him, and not just cast us aside like he is. If there was anything in the entire world I could wish for it would be that my husband would stop this foolish quest of his and stay here with everypony."
Rarity looked over again and noticed that tears were running down Mistwing's face freely, that she wasn't doing anything to prevent them from falling at all. She felt sorry for the poor mare, it wasn't her fault that her husband wanted to leave the wondrous Dreamscape and reenter Equestria again. Midnight, she decided, was going to get an ear full when she met him soon. It wasn't right for him to just leave everything he had spent so long creating and restoring behind because he felt like it.
"Don't worry darling," Rarity said, trying to comfort the poor mare, "I'll try to talk some sense into this stubborn husband of yours. Who knows, maybe he'll reconsider leaving everypony behind and come join you all again."
Mistwing gave a laugh and Rarity smiled, knowing that even if she failed to talk some sense into her husband she still made the mare laugh on her own. But their moment was short lived as the caravan came to a sudden and complete halt, right in the dead center of what appeared to be a clearing. She could have sworn that they were heading to the castle, like her friends had done in the past few days, and not someplace as empty as this.
"Where's the castle?" Rarity inquired, climbing off of the wagon she had been riding on for who knows how long, "Where is the castle that Prince Midnight rules from?"
"You mean Fort Arcanium?" Mistwing asked, "The fort is over two thousand years old and, seeing how it hasn't been in the real world for so long, it has likely been reduced to dust. Nothing lasts forever and thanks to my husband trying to leave us here we're all slowly turning back into memories and, eventually, pure dust. The fifteen of us that you see here are the last remaining remnants of Midnight's once grand army, the one called the Abyssal Legion. The rest of his soldiers have turned to dust, just like the ponies that loved and trusted Midnight with their very existence."
The air in front of them shimmered for a few seconds before settling down, but what Rarity saw before her was enough to make her believe something magical had just happened. Crouching before the sixteen ponies was an alicorn the size of Princess Celestia, but the pony in question was a stallion with a short spiked blue mane and tail. His purple coat, what she could see because of the armor blocking most of it, had burned spots in several places as well as holes blown in the suit he was wearing.
His wings were spread out low to the ground, giving Rarity a glimpse of the chains that were wrapped around all four of his legs. Chains that glowed with an eerie color and seemed to burn the very flesh they rested on, if the really red areas of his legs were anything to go by. She could tell that the stallion had tried to leave the area several times and the chains kept him from going anywhere, forcing him to assume the position of what she suspected was a fallen angel.
"Is that him?" Rarity asked, turning around to find that she was utterly alone with the stallion now. Mistwing and her soldiers must have reverted to dust like she had said they would, mostly due to the fact that they had successfully delivered Rarity to her destination.
"'Is that him?'" the stallion copied, looking up to face her and revealing his red colored eyes, "If by 'him' you mean Prince Midnight, Lord of Fort Arcanium, Master of the Abyssal Legion, and the first bearer of the Element of Magic, then yes, I am him. You, on the other hoof, are the current bearer of the Element of Generosity, the Lady Rarity. You have done much with your friends in the last three years then most have done in the first couple years of their working lives."
"I'm not a lady," Rarity insisted, making her way around the stallion's left side as she wondered how he couldn't escape, "and I've only done as much as I have thanks to my friends. Why haven't you escaped from this place? You seem to have the power to do so much and yet you can't leave."
"Ah, the question that has been the same one asked a thousand times," Midnight chuckled, twisting a chain with his hoof as his eyes rested on Rarity, "I have asked myself that same question for the first few years of my imprisonment and by my family whenever they choose to visit me. The answer, one found thanks to being here for over two thousand years, is so simple that it makes me wonder how it took me so long to figure it out. It was the Elements of Harmony that bound me to the Dreamscape and the only way escape my prison is to break the bonds keeping me here.
I have done nothing to any of the newest bearers of the Elements of Harmony, the ponies that you have befriended and have fought next to for the last three years. One by one the chains have fallen from my soul, bringing back my magic and my state of mind that I had thought that I had once lost. Now all that remains is to shatter the final chain so I can leave at long last and rejoin my family back in Equestria."
"So that's why you can't leave yet," Rarity said, noticing some sort of necklace around the stallion's neck, "You need me to shatter the Chain of Generosity so you can finally escape."
The stallion started laughing, as if what she had said had been inaccurate and completely incorrect.
"I do not mean to say that you are entirely incorrect," Midnight spoke, "but I do not need you to break the Chain of Generosity for me. All I will ask of you is that you take this necklace off of my neck and shatter the cursed gem that rests in the center. That will likely shatter the chains for me and we can both move on as if we had never truly met each other."
Rarity took another look at the necklace, a golden necklace with several symbols made in silver, and the very gemstone Midnight wanted her to break. The gemstone was a bright red ruby, one that held a bright inner flame as she spotted several runes swirling around his neck. She actually wondered how she, a unicorn who didn't know any magic that could shatter something like the necklace that she was staring at.
"You do not know a spell or enchantment that can shatter the necklace," Midnight said, a look of surprise appearing on Rarity's face as a special scroll appeared in thin air, "Inside this scroll is an enchantment that can help any unicorn learn how to break something like this blasted necklace. The only reason I have not used it on the necklace myself is the fact that nothing happens, as if the collection of runes prevent me from doing it myself. I need somepony to shatter it for me, and that has to be you."
Rarity held the scroll in her magic, wondering if she should actually help the stallion escape from his 'prison' and allow him to reenter Equestria. But seeing how she didn't know what his crimes, if there were any, were she just shrugged and unbound the scroll. The energy burst out of the scroll, tearing the necklace into a thousand shiny pieces and shattering the gemstone into almost pure dust. The chains that held Midnight down shattered, bits of iron flying as the stallion stood at his full height.
The ground shook violently as a tremor hit it and the very sky darkened with the blackest clouds Rarity had ever seen in her entire life. The very forces of nature were acting violent as the ancient trees turned into a blazing inferno and red lightning clashed with the ground itself. Rarity stumbled and went down on the ground hard as a chasm opened up between her and Midnight, who was making no effort to move at all. He was just staring up into the sky, almost as if he was in a trance, and Rarity looked up to see whatever had caught his attention.
Then she saw it; the swirling vortex in the center of the sky that seemed to be the cause of all the sudden chaos in the Dreamscape. Whatever the vortex was doing was disrupting the way the world worked and was reducing the dream area to what she suspected was rubble. Somewhere in the area a volcano went off and Rarity could smell the ash in the air as more destruction rained down on where they were.
"The time has finally come at all last," Midnight said, bringing his eyes down on Rarity, "Thanks to you I can finally rejoin my family in Equestria. I'm sure Celestia and Luna will be shocked to watch my arrival tear apart everything they spent hundreds of years trying to cover up. Now, witness the end of this dream area as I depart at last."
Before Rarity could even say anything Midnight burst into the air, soaring straight up into the waiting vortex as the rest of the dream area fell apart. It made her realize that he had been holding the entire area together with his magic and now that he was leaving he was abandoning everything. She wondered if she was going to end up surviving the collapse of the dream area, but the moment she closed her eyes she woke up in Canterlot.
She looked out of the window of the room she had fallen asleep in earlier that day and her heart nearly stopped beating for a few seconds. Ascending to the sky in what must have been Canterlot Park was a pillar of blue magical energy. She knew that without a doubt it had to have been Prince Midnight returning to their world after two thousand years of being away.
And it was her fault that the prince had finally escaped his eternal prison.