//------------------------------// // Black Night // Story: TiM: Best of Intentions, Worst of Results // by Twidashforever //------------------------------// Ponyville Contrary to Twilight’s earlier statement, they were not painting the town red, or if they were, Twilight had a very different definition of it then Rainbow did. Rainbow decided she would add ‘lookup meaning to paint the town red’ to Twilight’s to do list. Spending several hours decorating the gazebo with red clothes, red streamers, and red blankets was not her idea of a fun time. Rainbow’s idea of fun involved her and Twilight doing anything that did not involve actual work, depending on your definition of course. “Are we done yet, Twi?” “No Rainbow, not yet.” ‘Hmm, only the thirteenth time she asked that question, a new personal best. She must be getting tired.’ Twilight thought, as she took to counting all the different questions Rainbow would repeatedly ask, despite the answers never changing. So far, in the last eight hours she had counted thirteen ‘are we done yet', fifteen ‘can we call it here’, twenty ‘How much longer, I’m bored', but only six ‘You want to take a ‘break'. (With the accompanying wink) Normally Rainbow would be a bit more frisky than that but it seemed their ‘earlier’ events had taken it out of the mare. Although, if Twilight was being honest with herself, only the fact it was Night’s wedding actually caused her to decline. This event was too important to get off schedule. “I think that’s it.” “Finally!” “Oh, no sorry, still one more item on the checklist.” “What could that possibly be? We did everything already.” “Double check the checklist.” “SON OF A….” “Rainbow.” “Sorry.” Twilight sighed, she loved that mare, but Rainbow’s brazen streak was something that just would not go away. She grew to appreciate it; after all, it was part of what made Rainbow, Rainbow. However, that did not mean she ALWAYS loved it. At times like this, it was more annoying than cute. “If you help this will go faster.” “Yeah, ok.” “Let’s see, Gazebo.” “Check.” “Streamers.” “Check.” “Plates” “Check.” On and on it went, until Twilight began to notice that Rainbow’s answers were coming a little too quickly. It was slight, but she seemed to be anticipating what Twilight would say. A quick glance up told Twilight that Rainbow was off in her own world. Twilight decided to test this theory. “Alligators.” “Check.” “Large take-home stuffed Celestia dolls.” “Check.” “Fifty hoof tall Luna statue.” “Check.” “Rainbow mare not paying attention.” “Check.” “Upset wife.” “Check.” “Rainbow mare not having sex with me again this week.” “Che… wait what?” “Rainbow! You weren't paying attention.” “I was too!” “Really, where are the alligators then?” “Oh, I thought you said ali-gation.” “Nice try.” Rainbow landed right in front of Twilight, she knew that Twilight just busted her and trying to lie would not win her any favors right now. “Look, I'm sorry alright. However, I'm beat, your beat, and we're done here. Can we just go home?” she put on her best puppy dog face. ‘I never should have done that to her so much, can't fault that she learned from the best.’ Twilight thought, her heart broke looking at her wife with those pleading eyes and cute pouting face. “Ok, Rainbow. I guess you're right. Let’s go home.” Rainbow flew up for joy, before quickly remembering that she had to play tired. Stopping mid-flight, she played it off by landing next to her wife and wrapping a wing around Twilight. Twilight responded by kissing her on the cheek. As the two walked home together, they stopped and took notice of the sunset on the horizon. “It truly is a beautiful sight.” “Yeah, it is.” Twilight took note that Rainbow had been staring at her when she said that. However, she did not mention it. Somehow, it just made the whole experience all the more memorable. …………………………… Shimmering Night could not believe the day was almost here. She and Bright Dawn had waited nine years for this moment. She wanted to curse her mother; Rainbow had prevented them from getting married all those years ago. Citing some law she herself had made which stated that anypony named Shimmering Night could not marry without both parents approval. It was ridiculous to say the least. Why Twilight and Celestia both went along with it she could only guess. It was not until yesterday that Twilight had finally told her the truth. Rainbow made it up. It took her several hours to calm down, then a few more to plan her revenge. She felt somewhat bad for including her Aunt Rarity and Twilight in on it. However, they had both known the truth so in her opinion it was justified. She ‘decided’ last minute to change everything from blue to red. Watching them spend the day fixing everything was wonderful. In addition, her ‘all natural’ (AKA no magic) wedding prevented Twilight from doing it all in a snap. They had to hoof change each and every sheet, towel, wrap, and plate from a blue one to a red one. She had told Rarity that the restriction did not include her and felt a little guilty when she found out Rarity had changed all the suits and dresses by hoof anyway. However, she could get over it; As Rainbow taught her, even the best pranks sometimes had collateral damage. Shimmering Night would not let those memories get in the way of tomorrow; she was finally getting married! What’s more, it was to a stallion of her choice. Ever since she could remember, others made her choices. This, this was her choice, she loved Bright Dawn and he loved her. So much so, it had nearly cost him his life for the privilege of marrying her. They both knew it was a risk, however, when she approached him with the idea of pranking Rainbow in that last race, he said yes in the drop of a hat. True, he was fast becoming the second best flyer in all Equestria but that was the problem. He could only ever hope to be second best. Mom, Rainbow, was the best. She would always be the best. Her wings gave her an advantage of flight by will. Not even Twilight had figured that out yet. If Rainbow willed herself to move faster, she would be faster. With the willpower her mom had, Night did not believe she actually had a cap on her speed. There was no telling just how fast Rainbow could actually fly if properly motivated. Bright Dawn never stood a chance. That was an issue they had put to bed last year, and tomorrow, she would put him to bed. The two never had a chance to do so before. Twilight had cast a special spell on him. He never knew, in fact, Night believed that only four ponies actually had the ability to detect that spell. What it did was a mystery, but she knew her moms and suspected it was there to ensure nothing funny happened before marriage. Most likely placed on him at the insistence of Rainbow. Whatever it was, tomorrow it would not matter. They would be married and could do whatever they wanted with each other. After all this time she wanted to do a lot too. Of course, that was an issue for tomorrow; first challenge was getting there. Something sleep would normally help with, tonight however, sleep seemed to be in short supply for Shimmering Night. As the clock stubbornly blinked two AM and she was still awake. As Shimmering Night paced around the room for the seventh time that night, she paused to enjoy the fresh breeze coming from the open window. She was hoping that Bright Dawn would soon come and sweep her off her hooves, ravishing her in the bed. She knew he would not, after all this time he would do nothing that would risk their marriage. Night supposed that in a few hours a different bright dawn would in fact come into her room. Not the one she wanted, but for tonight, the one she would have to settle for. Night paused to admire Luna’s moon. The warm glow seemed to relax every muscle she had. Until she saw something that caused the exact opposite effect on her. “Shadows, covering up the moon?” Night said to nopony in particular. The attack began seconds later, Night was unable to tell what was attacking Ponyville, but the explosions soon echoed through the town. “WHAT THE BUCK!” She flew down from the windows, seeking to help as many ponies as she could. While Shimmering Night could not claim to be the combat expert her cousin Radiant Star was. There was one unwritten rule in Equestria everypony understood without having to be taught. For most, it came as natural as breathing. YOU DO NOT FUCK WITH AN ALICORN. She easily blasted the first of the creatures that tried to attack her. It was some sort of shadow being, half corporal, half something else. Whatever it was, she could only see it when it was attacking. That bothered her; this would be a fight of reflexes, not power. She would have to be on her hooves for this. A scream from down the street soon distracted her. She took off in flight, several more of the shadow creatures attempted to intercept her along the way. Several more learned the unwritten rule of Equestria, or they would have, if she left them alive. When she arrived at the scene, the sight shocked her. A group of shadow creatures had two mares surrounded; what’s more, she knew those mares. It was Fluttershy and Ataxia. For all intents and purposes, Ataxia was Shimmering Night's second big sister. The unicorn mare with a purple coat, dark blue mane and the oddest cutie mark. It was three question marks which never seemed to be in the same spots each time you looked at them. They defied all logic, nopony ever actually saw them move, yet everypony agrees they seemed to always change. Night did not really care about it; it was simply yet another mystery of Ponyville. Which was the title of a book Night was writing, one that was currently on page three thousand with no end in sight. The fact Ataxia had a different mother and father was irrelevant to Night. Ataxia had always been there for her, and Night had reciprocated. She was as much a part of Night’s family as Aurora, Day, or even her moms. With access to unique and unexplained magic, that mare had a wild streak to her. One that only Fluttershy seemed to be able to calm Ataxia and Fluttershy had stuck together for years now. Ever since Applejack passed away, they had needed one another. Fluttershy and Applejack had been best friends for years. While their relationship was strictly platonic, they seemed to draw strength from each other. It had been hard on Fluttershy when Applejack passed on. For the past decade, Ataxia had been the town’s troublemaker. Everypony had tried to rain that mare in. She seemed to go around just making everyone’s day miserable. With her magic, she proved to be very efficient at it. Her mother, Rarity, would spend days apologizing for her behavior. However, Ataxia’s antics soon grew beyond her ability to fix. Twilight would have to step in to undo the damage. It was a taxing task for the alicorn. One she was unable to do every day due to the demands of being a princess. On one such day, Ataxia was at her worst. She started the day by floating houses around so she could play a game of air pong, whatever that was. When she got close to Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy had come out and demanded she stop. To everyone's surprise, Ataxia listened. Not only that, she put back all the houses. Something normally Twilight would have to do. The story goes the two went into Sweet Apple Acres and talked for a whole day. When they finally came out, they were inseparable. Nopony knows what they talked about, or why Ataxia would become so enamored with the yellow pegasus, but no one was dumb enough to start questioning it. For Ponyville, it was a gift from Celestia herself. Fluttershy had someone who could stay by her side. Ataxia had finally mellowed out a little. Needless to say, when Night arrived on the scene and saw Fluttershy lying on the ground, bleeding from a cut across her back and Ataxia trying desperately to defend her, Night’s mood quickly grew from concerned to pissed. Protecting the two in a force bubble, she got to work clearing the crowd. They were slippery little fuckers, vanishing at the drop of a hat and reappearing when her guard was dropped. However, Night was quick, quicker than they were. She artfully dodged a swipe at her flank while blasting two more with her horn. It took a few minutes but the fight was never truly in doubt. She was an alicorn. She would make all of them learn the unwritten rule of Equestria, one way or another. “Thanks Night. Can you look at Fluttershy? She has a nasty cut.” “Sure.” Night dropped the shield and began scanning Fluttershy’s wound. It was largely superficial; however, the bleeding was an issue. It seemed to nick an artery. “She should be fine; however, I need to close this wound so she won’t bleed out." “I don’t want to be a bother. I'm sure others need your help more.” “Nonsense Flutter’s, you need help now. Night can't help anypony else if she's worried about you.” “Oh, ok…” “Now hold still, you can’t move while I'm doing this.” “I got your back.” Ataxia turned and stood guard while her friend worked on Fluttershy, the attack had caught them both off guard and the damn things hit Fluttershy first. She had not been prepared then, NOW she was. “What are you two doing out here anyway?” “Flutter’s heard the explosions and wanted to see if she could help. I wouldn't let her come out here alone.” Night just nodded. Fluttershy was one of the heroes of Equestria, even with her advanced age she would never just sit by if some ponies life were in stake. “Hey Night, how much longer do you need?” “Few more minutes, why?” “Oh, no reason. Take your time.” Contrary to that statement, there was a reason, a WHOLE lot of reasons were coming down the street right at them. Around fifty of the shadow creatures were making their way towards them. Ataxia only caught sight of them in odd glances. Night really did need to concentrate for this, as such; she did her best to ignore the noises that soon came up. Some sounds were a little more difficult than other to ignore, sounds of buildings falling down, bugs going squish, train horns, and something that sounded like a clown squeak really got in her way, soon though, she was finished. She looked around at all the devastation Ataxia caused. From the looks of things, she had taken her training with Pinkie Pie to a completely new level. The street was covered in the weirdest objects. Including parts of the nearby buildings. “Wow Ataxia, you really cut loose didn’t you?” Ataxia turned and smiled at her friend, “Thanks, are you done… LOOK OUT!” A shadow creature had made its way behind Ataxia, it reached out with a swipe of its claw to eviscerate the unsuspecting alicorn. A fast blur slammed down into it, hitting the ground with enough force to leave a crater in its wake. Steam came pouring out of the crater, an indication of the immense speed the objected had been flying at. The sonic rainboom hit next. The object that arrived had created it in the sky. The rainboom left a colorful expanding ring from its creation point. If any ponies had still been asleep, they would all be awake now, as the force of the shockwave rattled every hoof-made building in Ponyville. Night looked down in the crater, new hope building in her chest. “Mom?” “Not quite.” “DAWN!” She jump into the crater, wrapping her hooves around the pony she so loved and dragging him into a kiss. Fluttershy just watched from the top of the crater with a smile on her lips. Ataxia stood guard, not wanting to let another creature get through. As the kiss ended, Night looked at Dawn with an upset glare. “What are you doing here?” “I thought I was coming to your rescue? Not that you need rescuing of course.” “Of course, I'm glad you are here.” “Me too, although, I do have to ask, why aren’t the sirens going off?” Night facehoofed, she had not even considered that. Ponyville had the best response system in all of Equestria. Designed and implemented by her mom, Princess Twilight Sparkle. They all knew the system worked, Twilight ran weekly drills on it. It was located in the safest place in all Ponyville, her parent’s basement. If it was not going off… Had something happened to her parents? “I don’t know Dawn but I need to find out, do me a favor and take Fluttershy and Ataxia to one of the bunkers. I need to find my parents to end this.” “But…” “No buts… I can't worry about you guys and them and I only trust you to take care of my friends. Do this for me, please.” Bright Dawn hated the look she was giving him. He was defenseless against it, sighing, he gave her one last warning. “Ok, but pinkie promise me you will be ok if I do this for you.” “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Besides, it’s not me that will regret this attack; I'll make sure of that.” She stood up and jumped out of the crater. Surrounding herself with a magic field she turned to Ataxia, “You know what to do.” Ataxia just nodded. When they were younger, the two had perfected this move. She tapped into the gift she had inherited from Spike, her father, and engulfed the shield in fire. Night nodded her thanks and flew down the street at top speed, straight for her parents’ house. Dawn made his way out of the crater and looked at the others. “C'mon let’s get to the shelter.” Fluttershy just nodded, her and Ataxia followed the pegasus down the street. Shimmering Night arrived at her parent’s house in due haste, several of the creatures had tried to cut her off; the fire shield took care of everything in her way. The sight of the house shocked her. There was not a thing wrong with it, she had expected it to be destroyed since the warning signal had not been given. All the fires, explosions, and destruction going on in Ponyville and this house was completely untouched. Well not completely; it was currently surrounded by shadow creatures that were trying to gain access to it. Relief flooded over her to see that they had not done anything to her parents. She thought to herself. ‘Fat chance of that, you guys are much too weak to break mom’s spells.’ “Hey! I don't think they are expecting you! Breaking and entering is illegal you know!” That got their attention; an entire swarm of shadow creatures stopped their attack and turned to her. Glaring claws and teeth at the alicorn that dared interrupt their mission. Night lowered the fire shield and raised her head. These creatures had attacked her home, endangered her friends, tried going after her parents, all of this on the day before her wedding. She was going to enjoy getting her revenge. “Schools in session boys, today’s lesson: Don’t buck with Ponyville!” ………………………… Twilight awoke with a start; somepony had broken the seal on the front door. This time it was not deactivated, rather broken open with raw magic force. There were only a few ponies capable of such a feat; the good ones knew how to deactivate it. That meant trouble with a capital T. “Rainbow, wake up!” “Five more minutes…” “No! Get up!” Rainbow opened her eyes, wiping the sleep from the corners. “What’s up Twi, you in the mood or something?” Twilight hit her in the shoulder, “Why is it always ‘that’ with you?” Rainbow playfully rubbed her shoulder, acting as if she was hurt. Twilight did not buy it for one bit. “Hey, if you were married to you, you'd feel the same way.” Twilight blushed at that before they both turned to the sound of hooves running up the stairs. Suddenly adrenalin solved Rainbow sleep problem for her. She jumped up on the bed, ready to defend her wife from whatever was coming after them. To her surprise, Night burst through the door. “Are you two alright?” Rainbow visibly relaxed, “Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?” Night just stared at them, “You don’t know? Are you kidding me?” Twilight spoke next, intrigued at that comment. “Know what? What’s going on?” Night just looked at her, disbelief crossing her face. She calmed herself and walked over to the curtain, as she pulled it back Night told them. “Oh, I don’t know, how about that all of Ponyville is under attack.” Rainbow’s jaw dropped as she took in the devastation of the town from the window. “How'd we sleep through that?” Twilight facehoofed. “The sound-proof spell!” Rubbing her head to try and sooth the headache she now had, Night sighed inwardly. ‘Only my parents…’ “Twi, what’s the plan?” “Depends, what's attacking?” The sudden change in mood seemed to affect everypony in the room. This was her parents at their best, this she could deal with. The other stuff, not so much. “They are some kind of shadow creatures. They seem to be able to turn insubstantial at will.” Twilight rubbed her hoof against her chin, “Shadow creatures huh? Ahh I know, Night go to the basement and trigger code 17-x.” Night nodded and took off down to the basement, grateful to have something worth doing. “What about us, Twi?” “I will need you to protect me, the code will work but based on the damages outside there will be some blind spots.” “Always.” Twilight shattered the bedroom window and the two flew out. For this to work, Twilight needed to be somewhere higher up. They flew up to the Ponyville clock tower. Several times a shadow creature would try to intercept. They never got within a hundred yards of Twilight. This was Rainbow’s element; she would die before a single one of them got within ten hooves of Twilight. Not that they would be capable of such a feet, to a mare like Rainbow, these creatures were nothing. “What’s the plan?” “Shh. I need to concentrate.” When they had arrived at the tower, Rainbow noticed that they had attracted quite a bit of attention. A little more than she felt comfortable with. Not that she couldn’t take them all on, however, doing that and protecting Twilight would be a lot harder. Suddenly the sirens started going off, Alerting everypony to the nature of what they were facing and the appropriate response to it. Over the years, the disaster preparation system had evolved. Going from a simple system of early warning to a system designed to counter some threats, including but not limited to: Creatures that preferred times when the sun was not out. As such, code 17-x was designed to deny them those times. Miniature spells placed around Ponyville were all activated at once. Flooding the area they covered in captured sunlight. The effect was instantaneous; multiple groups of the shadow creatures were completely wiped out. Born and bred from the shadows themselves, sunlight was an anathema to them. The ones caught in it were utterly annihilated, including those heading for the top of the clock tower. However, Twilight had been correct in her assumptions. There was too much damage to the system. Rainbow doubted that the system itself had been targeted; most likely, it had been collateral damage. There were still large concentrations of the enemy left. She turned back to her wife. “Whatever you’re doing Twi, hurry it up.” Twilight reached out with her magic. Her target was far, very far away. However, she had done this before, well not exactly this; she had reached out to it before. Last time had been to move the object. This time she merely needed a piece. The smallest fraction of it. The spell was hard work, she had to grab a piece small enough to not hurt anything, but large enough to do the job. Eventually she felt satisfied with what she had and started it on its way back. “Got it.” “Got what?” “You still don’t trust me?” Twilight gave Rainbow her best pouty face. Rainbow walked up and kissed her wife on the forehead. “With my life, now answer the question.” “Oh, I don’t think words will be necessary.” A miniature sun had arrived over Ponyville, one strong enough to snuff out the shadows. Yet not so strong as to negatively affect its inhabitants. Several shadow creatures tried to hide, to avoid the sunlight’s touch. At a simple command from Twilight, the miniature sun split apart and begin chasing them down. Every single shadow in the town was erased. Rainbow was impressed. “When did you learn that?” “It wasn’t easy, but when you went on your last around the world flight I had a little extra time. It’s amazing what I can do without you distracting me.” Rainbow looked hurt. “So, I'm just a distraction to you?” “My very sexy distraction.” Twilight pushed Rainbow on her back and kissed her softly on the lips. “By the way, Rainbow.” “Yeah?” “It’s the same for me, being married to you I mean.” Rainbow’s eyes got big as she recalled the conversation they had when Twilight woke her up. “Is that so?” “I just hide it better.” ………………… The Crystal Empire Radiant Star was getting pissed; He had been in constant combat with these creatures for an hour now, whatever they were. While it was easy enough to knock them down, for everyone he killed two more would take its place. Therefore, he took it as an endurance workout. The stallion was magically wielding six halberds at once. Each one taking on three separate enemies’. He could have done more; however, the room would not allow for it, he could not afford the distraction of his own weapons running into each other to affect his concentration. He had his mother to protect after all. “Mom, get to shelter.” “Not without you.” He was starting to wonder why he kept asking. Cadance would never leave without him. ‘Not after what happened to dad…’ “Fine, but watch your flank.” “Don’t worry about me son, they will find me a little more than they can handle.” As if in demonstration, she lowered her horn and annihilated a new group of enemies that just showed up. He had to admit, the power of an alicorn never ceased to impress. It was one less worry on his mind, Cadance could handle herself, it was simply his job to ensure she did not have to. Before he knew it, the battle was over. The last of the shadow creatures fell to his blades. No new ones rushed forward eagerly awaiting a taste of his blades. “Is that it?” Princess Cadance reached out with her magic, touching into the minds of the many ponies around the Empire, the crystal guards were well trained, they had responded in force with speed to the threat. There were very few civilian casualties. “I think that's it son, good job.” “A good job would have been preventing it from happening in the first place.” “Radiant, you can't stop every disaster. We've never encountered these creatures before. There's no way you could have known they were coming.” He hated her logic, it is hard to place blame on yourself with someone like ‘that’ around, someone who was always right. Fortunately, only his mom and aunt fell into that category, Cadance and Twilight were always right. Cadance walked over and hugged her son, the white unicorn stallion with the red mane leaned into her hug. He was an impressive ruler; ever since Shining Armor passed, he had taken up his father responsibilities with a drive she had never seen in him before. He had some big horseshoes to fill, Shining gave his life for his kingdom and family, and whatever it took, he was determined to do better. His blade work was by far the most impressive she had seen, but given his cutie mark of two swords clashing, that did not surprise her. The two were soon interrupted by the palace guards. ‘Better late than never’ Radiant thought to himself. He would have to up the readiness drills around here. It did not matter to him that this was the first attack in ten years; sloppiness would not stand under his watch. “Prince, princess. The invaders have been driven off.” “We know that, is there anything else?” “Your majesty’s, I regret to inform you, the Crystal Heart was taken during the fight. Radiant’s eyes grew as large as dinner plates, he suddenly found himself at a loss for words. All of this had been a distraction; they got what they wanted after all. “Thank you sir, we'll need to discuss this in private.” Cadance replied, sensing her son would be too lost in thought to process this news. “Your majesty.” The guard bowed and left, relieved that he was not blamed for the loss of the empires most treasured possession. Well third most treasured anyway. After a very heated debate, Radiant and Cadance found they both agreed on two facts, Twilight needed to know, and the heart needed to be found. What they disagreed on was the timing. “We should send the letter now.” “For the last time, no.” “Mother, this is a little more important than some silly wedding.” Cadance took offense to that, she stood to her full height and looked down on her son. “Listen to me Radiant Star, This is your cousin’s wedding. It's bad enough we couldn't make it. I will not see it ruined. I will inform Twilight of what has occurred here the very next day, but for now, I will NOT do anything to interfere with the love Shimmering Night and Bright Dawn have.” Radiant Star shrunk down, too late did he realize the mistake of what he said but just like everything else, once said there was no taking it back. However, he did not believe this line of action to be wise. “Are you sure that’s the safe bet?” Cadance looked down at her son, her demeanor quickly changed from stern to gentle; she reached down and rubbed his muzzle with hers. “Trust me son, always bet on love.” ………………………… ?????????????? “My lord, we have great news to report.” “Do you?” “Yes my lord, we have acquired the Occulous.” “That is good news, provided you empowered the crystal as well.” He looked down at the Dark Stone in his claw; no magic energy had been obtained to empower it. “My lord, I'm afraid we were unable to acquir-” A strong magical grip clasped around his throat. “Idiot! Without that power the master’s plan will never succeed!” “My loorrdd-” He tried to speak. “The next words out of your mouth better please me.” He dropped the creature; it collapsed to its knees gagging for breath. “My lord, the ones you sent us out for, they were too powerful. We could not hope to take their power.” “All that sounds like excuses to me.” “My lord, there is another, another pony who has the required power. One whose power would be easier to get.” “Is there? Tell me more about this one, if I like what you say I will spare your miserable existence.” “I live to serve, my lord.”