Tales of Midnight: The Colony

by NA_SolarEclipse

Chapter Five: The Family

Night was falling fast. I saw the moon poke over the horizon before Edge started to slow down. We had been at a quick pace for quite a while, so I simply though he was stopping to rest.

“Alright then girl. Here we are. Welcome to the Colony, home sweet home.” He said in the darkness. Of course, he had the luxury of using his illumination magic.

I looked around the shadows a bit, not seeing anything at all. “Really? This is…the Colony?” I gave the clearing we were in another look around, but I couldn’t see anything but trees and dirt.

This elected a laugh from Edge. I was starting to think that I wasn’t that funny and that he was just being an ass, but kept my thoughts to myself. “Yup! This is the place, guess the brutes aren’t back yet after all. Guess they either had some trouble with the last of those zebras or… never mind. Here they come now.”
Edge turned my attention back the way we came, what I saw surprised me. A huge mob of illuminated unicorns were all trotting our way, some were holding what looked like bags of things and some had… zebras? There was the orange unicorn I had seen earlier in the lead, not carrying anything. Great leader.

I moved out of the way as Edge met the mob of eight or so unicorns. “Well, I see that you were successful Blight. Supplies I presume?” It was as if it was a status report or something. Was this guy some kind of general or something? I crushed that idea quickly though, he was a criminal just like me.

The orange unicorn in the lead nodded a few times, giving a toothy smile. “Yeah boss. Them zebras had all kinds of food and materials. You were right, just like always.”

My jaw dropped before I could even stop it. Edge was the leader in this place? “Of course, supplies. And I presume that you will be putting those zebras back were you found them?” Edge gestured toward the two zebras that some of the unicorns carried unconscious.

Blight, the orange unicorn, suddenly changed his tune. “Aww! Come on Edge. We’ll just have fun with ‘em a few times before we kill ‘em.” My skin crawled as soon as I realized what they were talking about. “We’ll even let you have first go at ‘em too! Promise!”

However, Edge seemed to be as disgusted by the idea as I was. “No Blight!” The orange pony in question backed away from Edge’s raised voice. “You know how I feel about this sort of thing. I’m not going to stand for a Colony of rapists. Now either you let them go and forget about it, or I’ll see how you like it when some pony sticks something where you don’t want it to go. Like my hooves up your ass. Got it?” By the time Edge was done, Blight had positively shrunk into the ground. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh to hell with this Edge! You and your damn ethics. You obviously don’t know what it’s like to go without for so long. We’ve got needs Edge, and some of us have been here longer than you have. So screw you and your ethics!” One particularly sickly looking green unicorn threw his captive zebra to the ground while several others kept Edge held back.

I simply watched from the dark, but something caught my eye. The zebra mare had a small Mohawk and a single small braid down her neck. This was the zebra that was talking to me earlier. She didn’t deserve this, no pony did. Throwing all doubt away, I ran from the shadows and kicked the green unicorn in the mouth, effectively knocking him on his back and freeing the zebra mare. “GO!” I yelled at the zebra, but she simply sat there and stared at me horrified as I was surrounded by spears pointed directly at my neck.

“Who the hell are you?!”

“Give me a reason not to kill you”

“What the hell are you doing?”

Accusations of all natures were thrown at me at once, I couldn’t focus on them all. I stood bravely over the zebra mare, even though I was scared out of my mind on the inside. “Well! That is an excellent way to make a first impression Midnight.” I searched the aggressive unicorns for the source of the voice, trying to find who was talking. But I knew that voice already. “Every pony I’d like you to meet Midnight Star, she’s the one we freed from that camp today. Give her a round of applause won’t you?” With some pushing and shoving in the crowd around me, Edge made his way to my side and pushed back the spears pointing at me. “What do you say we give her a big welcome to the Colony hmm?”

“Midnight Star?”

“What is this? Some kind of trick?”

“Why’s Edge standing up for her?”

I stayed silent, glaring at the group of unicorns before me. None of them looked happy to see me. “She’s tryin’ to ruin my fun!” The green unicorn complained, getting back to his hooves.

Edge stepped between me and the green unicorn. “Your ‘fun’ is a crime worse than anything any of us has committed scum. Some of us probably had our reasons for stealing, maybe even for disrespecting that Platinum broad back in the day. But for absolutely no reason whatsoever do you have the right to become worse than the animals that damn Platinum crown has sentenced us to be.” The green unicorn wavered slightly in his gaze, looking down to the ground angrily. “Now, Midnight here, has some integrity. She may be here, but she’s not taking advantage of any pony helpless to stop her. In fact she’s saving a zebra, one of the one’s that had her captive, from being exploited in the most disgusting of ways.” Was he trying to guilt this guy into not trying to rape this zebra? If so, it seemed to be working quite well. He looked genuinely disgusted with himself. “Now, what are you going to do with these zebra?”

Blight quickly sided with Edge. “We’re going to let em go boss.” With that, the other unicorns holding zebras captive let them go, allowing them to run into the darkness away from the scene. But the one I was standing over stayed.

“Good.” Edge nodded to the other unicorns. “Now! All of you delinquents put those supplies in the stock tree. Need to get to work on putting them to use tomorrow.” Some groans could be heard in the group of unicorns, but the ones with supplies moved away out of sight. “The rest of you go to sleep. We got work to do tomorrow, and we can all meet miss Midnight in a bit better circumstance alright? She’s family now and I don’t want to hear complaints about it. Now go! Ya did good today, gonna do better tomorrow yeah?”

With a groan, the crowd answered with a less than enthusiastic “Yeah.” They all started filing away out of sight and in between trees in the darkness.

Finally feeling less attacked, I let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks Edge. I don’t know what came over me, I just….didn’t want to see that happen.” I stepped away and gave the poor zebra mare some breathing room, but she didn’t move. She just regarded me with wide eyes and a terrified gaze.

“Just because they are idiots doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous Midnight.” The tables had turned, and suddenly I felt like I was being lectured instead. “That was a great stunt you pulled, but just be glad I was there to pick up the pieces. That could have ended very badly for both of you two if I didn’t say something.”

“But I-”

“Just wanted to do the right thing?” Edge took the words right out of my mouth. “Look that’s noble and all Midnight, but noble is a little something that most of these ponies aren’t. A lot of them are probably thinking of having you as their next victim if they get a chance. Alright? If you think this is some adventure story where the heroes get rewarded for their bravery, you’re wrong Midnight. Here, we struggle to survive and sometimes have to do things we aren’t proud of to do so. Taking from the local tribes is just one thing we have to do to keep from falling to savagery to survive. It’s not right, and if I could have it my way we wouldn’t be doing this. But then again, if I had things my way none of us would be here. We’d all be in prison, happily rotting away for the rest of our lives rather than fighting for survival. So the next time you think about doing something risky or dumb, just remember that I won’t always be there next time to help you.”

Edge turned away and started off towards where the others went, lighting his path with magic. In the remaining shadows of the night, I looked back down at the zebra mare. “I couldn’t let it happen. I couldn’t watch that happen again. I-” Before I could continue, the zebra simply got up and ran away into the darkness as well. I sat there for a moment and thought of following her, but that wouldn’t lead me anywhere but to my probable doom. My best bet was following the fleeting light of Edge turning the corner of some trees. “Wait!” I called after him, quickly galloping to his side. “Where am I supposed to sleep tonight?” Edge stopped and turned to me with a raised eyebrow. “It’s just that, I don’t really think it’s safe for a girl like me to sleep out in the darkness. I don’t want to give some of your friends that opportunity to….take advantage of me.” I put on my best ‘hopeless mare face’ to try and convince him, even though it was really probably sillier looking than sad.

After a few moments of him being skeptical about my question, he finally caved. “Alright, tell ya what. Since you’re new and I’m the one that keeps these bastards in line, you can sleep in the empty hovel beside mine. Sound good?”

I gave the brown stallion a short nod. “Alright, lead the way Mister Edge.” I almost said Edgeworth, but I didn’t want to test him right after he agreed to help me.

He simply returned the nod and kept going the direction before I had interrupted him. I followed him a short distance before he stopped. “Alright, here it is. Sleep tight girl.”
Earlier when he said ‘hovel’, I had no idea that he meant ‘hollowed out tree that was still standing.’ I figured that he at least meant a small shack or something that had an actual roof over it. “Is this it?” I asked quite obnoxiously before I could even stop myself.

Edge laughed a bit, once again reminding me that I should try comedy. “Hah, no it’s not. That’s just the front door, on the inside you’ve got marble hallways and fluff pillow beds.” I gave him a frustrated look. “What? Did you expect us to live in extravagant homes like royalty?”

Honesty I expected something a little better than trees. “It’s uh… got character?” I ventured hopefully, giving him the best smile I could muster for the situation. “How long have you ponies been living like this?”

Edge simply gave an unknowing shrug. “Longer than I’ve been here. These guys were doing this since before I came along around three years ago. Now just take it and get some sleep. If any of those ruffians give you any trouble just give me a yell, I’ll come by. Now good night.” Edge turned and cantered over to his own hallowed out tree. When he thought I was out of earshot, I could hear him mutter. “Such a princess.”

Without any light of my own and Edge stopping his illumination spell, I was left in the dark. But it wasn’t so bad, the sky was clear and the moon was waxing past its third quarter. The stars in the night sky twinkled in their own sinister way, as if laughing at my reliance on light to see. I retreated into the hallowed out tree that Edge brought me to and tried to get comfortable. For the first few minutes, I couldn’t find the reason I was unable to let myself relax. Then I remembered I still had Warner’s backpack on.

I shrugged the now slightly worn down pack and laid on my side and put my glasses on top of it, keeping my eyes on the open side of the tree. I didn’t want to leave myself so vulnerable if some night predator decided to come eat me in the middle of the night or to give one of those other stallions an opportunity. After counting the stars in my view for a good long while, I finally fell to sleep.

I heard the sound of birds singing, but they weren’t tweeting or singing really. It was more of a lame honk or something. Something with such a voice should never be allowed to sing. I forced my eyes open to the dim morning light and seagulls flying overhead. “Stop that noise please.” I moaned at the birds. “You shouldn’t be allowed to make noise.”

I tried getting up, but my body ached more than it had the previous morning. I thought I had managed to stand up in the hollowed out tree, but hitting my head on the low ceiling of my tree hovel threw me back down to the ground. Rolling out of the wooden prison, I managed to make myself stand up. “Stupid tree.” I muttered, levitating my glasses onto my muzzle and strapping the back pack to my back. It had become similar to my glasses in that I hardly felt that it was one once I had it. Even if it was uncomfortable to lay down in.

I made a quick visual sweep of the Colony now that it was actually lit, albeit dimly, by the sun. Within other hollowed out trees, I could see the sleeping forms of other unicorns. Some of them were recognizable from the night before, the orange Blight and nameless green one most notably. This place was kind of a dump to be honest. Nothing but mud and hollowed out trees. Of course they were in a somewhat circular shape, making it at least feel kind of like a town. That feeling quickly fell away when I considered that these were all former criminals.

In the distance, I could hear the sound of waves and the smell the wetness of the ocean. I followed that sound and smell past some trees to my right and found a small beach looking out to sea. It was an absolutely beautiful view looking at the rising sun on the horizon. The sky was painted a shade of orange that bled into the ocean, making the sight quite bright for the morning.

“Ponies don’t often get to see something so beautiful in their entire lifetimes.” I quickly whipped around to the voice behind me, but saw nothing. “Having never seen anything but the sunset, it really makes the sun rise all that more special.”

“Where are you? Who are you?” I asked out to the empty beach, turning in circles to try and find who was talking to me. “What are you?”

“Well, that’s really up for debate. Some call me a criminal, others call me a smuggler. Me? I like to think of myself as a painter and a visionary.” I continued to spin around, looking for the voice. “Oh and if you want to get technical, a Pegasus.”

I looked up to see the smiling face of a yellow Pegasus looking down at me with green eyes. His orange mane was mixed with some streaks red, looking like lazy fire sitting on his head and tail. He quickly descended to my side, prompting me to back away a few paces. “Why were you-?”

“Looking out to the ocean? I like to look out and think that somewhere out there, my family is looking for me; trying to find their wrongly convicted son and brother. But I know better. Those bastards disowned me as soon as they heard that I was in unicorn hoo-”

“No! Why were you spying on me? That’s really weird you know!”

Upon hearing my words, the yellow Pegasus put on the most offended expression I had ever seen on a stallion. “Oh! Oh goodness don’t flatter yourself girl! I was simply looking out to the ocean, thinking of how well I could capture it in painting. Then you showed up and ruined my view! I simply wanted to start conversation since clearly I wasn’t going to have my previous purpose for coming here fulfilled.” I gave him an unconvinced expression. “Honest! I’m a painter, that’s what I do.”

“Really? You paint huh? Well then, show me. Go ahead and paint a picture right now with the brush and canvas that you don’t have.” The yellow Pegasus’ eyes shifted side to side uneasily. “Also, didn’t you just say that you were thinking about your family that disowned you? I’m somehow not surprised they did since you like to sneak up on ponies and throw out lies to cover up the fact that you’re creeping on them.”

The yellow Pegasus gave out an exasperated sigh. “Alright, fine. You got me. I was totally creeping on you. But I didn’t mean to! I was simply stretching out my wings and then this pretty unicorn mare just waltzes out on the beach! What’s a guy supposed to do, just ignore that and keep on his marry way?”

“Well you could at least walk over to her instead of flying around where she wouldn’t think to look! And another thing….you think I’m pretty?” I couldn’t filter the words fast enough, they just spilled out.

A smile crept on the Pegasus’ muzzle. “Of course! How could one ignore such beauty before them? Truly, you are a gift to my eyes.” Well, he certainly was a romantic. “Have you not heard such things before?”

Honestly, no. “Of course I just…haven’t been uh, in best of company recently.” I really had to brush up on conversational norms. Especially in the case of this guy clearly flirting with me. While it was flattering, I just didn’t really know how to take the notion.

“I see.” The yellow Pegasus said nodding. “Well, let me tell you that you will be hearing it a lot my beautiful friend.” That’s okay, I didn’t need that kind of attention. I think. “Stick with Sunset Gale and all of your problems will go away.” He continued, answering my next question.

“Alright uh, Sunset Gale. Are you with the rest of the ponies here in the Colony?” I wanted to move on from the whole ‘flirting to distract me from how creepy you were’ talk and actually learn something about this place if possible.

Sunset gave another exasperated sigh, clearly not wanting to move on. “Yes, I am with the Colony. I was apparently caught in airspace belonging to some Princess of Platinum or something and they put me on a boat, tied my wings, and shipped me to the wonderful place you see here. I would have been able to get a good sense of direction and where this place is, but they blindfolded me so I couldn’t see where they were taking me. Now, this place is all I really know. Been at least two and a half years here.”

Well, that was certainly different than my voyage here. “They brought you here because you were in their airspace?” I asked a bit confused. Was there such a thing? Airspace belonging to unicorns didn’t seem right.

“Yeah, brought me down with some sort of pulling magic. They called it telekinesis or something, and started barking something about my transgressions against the crown and found some vegetables in my bags that they found illegal or something. We Pegasus don’t find peppers to be illegal by any stance, so I know they were just trying to find some reason to punish me for coming close to their fancy rock city.”

That was dumb, there wasn’t any kind of law against peppers. “Well if it really was peppers you were holding, they really had no reason to do anything. Sending you to a settlement for criminals is a bit of a racist overreaction.”

At least Sunset brightened up a bit at that. “See? I knew that they were just being racist! Edge tries to tell me that there is a strict policy that the crown has against anything grown aside from strictly food produce, but I knew better. Peppers help us Pegasus stay warm in the winter when we have to move around those damned freezing clouds for the snowfall to let the land refresh itself. It had been getting colder sooner in recent years, and I just wanted to get those to my weather team as quick as possible. Clearly, using a shortcut over whatever city they called it was a bad idea. Otherwise I’d be with my team moving clouds, not all the way across the ocean in zebra lands hoping that something doesn’t kill me.”

Didn’t the Pegasus control the weather? If that were the case, why was it getting colder quicker in recent years? I didn’t think about it too much, Pegasus problems not mine. “Well, what is it that you actually do here beside look at the sunrise and creep on mares having a look around?” The sass wasn’t needed, but I felt at least a little justified.

Sunset had a laugh at that, again reminding me that I was apparently the most hilarious girl that any pony had seen. Seriously, I wasn’t that funny. “Ha-hoo. Oh goodness, if that were my day job I’d be less than useless. No, I don’t just spy on beautiful mares all day.” I could only suspect not, I hadn’t really seen any other mares here aside from myself and the zebra prisoners last night. That could be the reason that he was being so flirty, but I didn’t point it out. I didn’t mind it that much. “I actually keep tabs on zebra movements, addressing possible threats and reporting them to Edge. I’m a lookout essentially, but I like to think of myself as a sort of over watch instead. Sounds better my way.” The way he said it made it sound more like a military position. “While they haven’t been hostile to our being here as of late, I think that the raid on that camp yesterday probably gave them a reason to hunt us down or at least retaliate.”

This much was true, but it would have ended badly for me had they not done something when they did. I still had to ask Edge about that. “Well enough, I don’t suppose you know anything about a ship wreck that happened recently?” If Sunset Gale was a scout of sorts, perhaps he could lead me to where Warner and Sharpe were. Certainly they could deal with the company if they were still alive.

“No, can’t say that I have. Why you ask?”

I thought a moment. Perhaps it wasn’t best that I tell him about Warner and Sharpe. Then again, having a flying set of eyes looking for them or the boat could be more effective than trying to find it on my own eventually. “I was transported here by boat as well, but it wasn’t by a royal ship or anything. I was transported by a ship called the Silver Sapphire, I don’t know where it crashed. It wasn’t close to sunrise or sunset when I woke up and I wasn’t even near the boat. Anyway on the boat were two other ponies, one’s name was Wa-”

“Sunset are you harassing that girl? Is he harassing you Midnight?” I turned to see who had interrupted me, seeing Edge cantering over to where Sunset and I were standing. “You have to forgive him, he suffers from diarrhea of the mouth.” The large, brown stallion stopped a few feet from the both of us giving us a look over.

“I’m really sorry Edge I…”

“We were simply getting to know each other. He wasn’t bothering me, not really. We were discussing how we got here actually.” I don’t know why I stood up for this stallion I hardly knew, but he was certainly grateful and gave me a knowing side glance.

“I see.” Edge contemplated for a moment. “Well that’s all fine and dandy, but I think it would be good for you to meet the rest of the Colony. You know, make a better name for yourself other than Edge’s little pet. They found your stance on the situation last night to be quite….offensive? At any rate, I think it could do all of us some good if we got to know you a little better.”

That concept frightened me. I didn’t want to stand in front of a bunch of stallions and tell them why they shouldn’t use me as their personal play toy. I wanted to go out and search for Warner and Sharpe, or at the least stay here. There was definitely worse company than Sunset. “Aright Edge, lead the way.” I answered softly.

“Good. Come with me, you too Sunset.” Edge said assertively, beckoning both Sunset and I to follow him back to the tree line that contained the Colony’s main circle.

If anything, the ponies of the Colony were true to Edge’s word. About twelve of them had formed an impromptu crowd awaiting my arrival. There were whispers among them, but they weren’t too obnoxious. I was still scared that they might suddenly have a change of heart and charge me with those spears they used to stab and cut down the zebras yesterday, or something else entirely. Most notable of the crowd were two stallions sitting at the front: Blight, and his green friend from last night. Really they were the reason that I was most terrified, but I had to get over that pretty quickly.

“Good morning to all!” Edge’s voice boomed from right next to me. “This here is Midnight Star if you haven’t already heard or seen her. Now I know some of you are…focused on the fact that she’s a mare, but I want you to try and see past that for what she is: another member of our little family that we have here.”

As far as introductions go, I could have had worse than Edge. As the brown stallion stepped to the side, I stepped forward in his place. “Uh, hey there. I’m Midnight Star. How are all of you today?” I asked uneasy. Still worried about them thinking about killing me or worse.

“This isn’t the place for you!” I heard a yell from the back, clearly one of the stallions last night that were against Edge’s view on things. “You wouldn’t last a day here!”

I wasn’t going to let myself be made a fool of. “Really now? One day hmm?” I had in fact survived a day by myself, even if nothing particularly interesting happened. You know, aside from black magic and stuff. “How about this: if I survive for more than a day here, you guys will hear me out hmm?” No answer. “Actually I’ll do you one better. I’ll not just survive here with you ponies of the Colony, I’ll make things better. With the right know how and conviction, I’m sure we could make this a much better place to live. What do you think of that hmm?”

There was silence for a moment, as if they were actually considering my words. “Who are you to tell us what to do?” Great, not what I was looking for at all.

I had just about enough of this voice in the back. “I’m Midnight Star. I was sentenced to the Colony recently for the crime of attempted murder of Princess Platinum. If I can get close enough to slit her throat, I’m more than sure that I won’t have a problem finding a way to make you break.” I threatened back.
There was silence. Most of the ponies looked at me with either a look of fear or disbelief. Several muttered things under their breath, but none of them spoke up. Edge stood at my side, addressing the muttering ponies. “See? She’s one of us after all. We’ve all done something that is despicable one way or another, so it’s best that we not try to turn on one another. In fact, it is best if we all try to work together to make things better. What do you say we give Miss Midnight a chance to prove her worth?”

Instead of silence, Edge’s words were met with nods and cheers. He really had a lot of gravity for choices made here. It was amazing how he could get these outcasts and thieves to band together so easily. I looked up to the brown stallion and whispered. “Thank you.”

He gave me a small side nod. “Alright! I want you to sort through to supplies we got from yesterday’s raid, make sure that it’s all useful things that won’t just end up being a waste of time.” Obeying his words the ponies of the Colony, all twelve or so, filed over to the hollowed out tree where they had put the loot from yesterday. As they went about their business, I felt a weight get lifted from my shoulders. “Midnight, I actually have something I want you to do.” Edge said quietly once we were alone.

“Alright, what’s that?” I guess I was going to have to prove my worth sooner rather than later.

“I want you to go to the camp we raided yesterday and make sure that there isn’t anything left there that could be used. If there’s any kind of tools or food, bring it back here. I know that they probably did a good job, I just want to make sure that nothing was left. Alright?” Edge wore an expression of concern, obviously trying to give me something to do away from the Colony while the rest of the ponies were settling with the thought of me staying.

I gave the tall Edge a firm nod. “Alright, got it. I’ll go see if anything was left.” Giving me a confirming nod, Edge went off to join the other ponies sorting through things. I wasn’t one to procrastinate, so I made my way in the direction I had come from last night. I had to prove that I was worth keeping to the Colony and if that meant searching through the burnt remains of the zebra camp I destroyed, so be it.

It had taken a good while, but I finally found my way back to the devastated zebra camp form yesterday. The cool morning had given way to a much warmer daylight. It would have felt better if it wasn’t so dry out here, I was surprised that the grass around me didn’t just burst into flame from the sun baring down on it. Of course, I could help it…but that wasn’t my thoughts prevailing. It was hers.

Passing through the now burnt tree line, I found that not everything was destroyed. There were a few of the cone tents still standing, not burned or destroyed. It was remarkable really. How could they have avoided the beauty of my fire spreading? NO! I shook my head quickly, as if that would shake out that little voice in my head that continued to undermine my thoughts. I knew it wouldn’t though.

I walked towards the burnt remains of the pole I had been tied against. If I had the opportunity to do it over again, I would have rather just died than caused so much pain. Sure Edge and the Colony were going to attack anyway, but I still felt responsible for how brutal this was. Grass burned to ashes, scorched zebra corpses laying unmoving, and even the vacant tents were all reminders of how much suffering I could cause.

It was amazing.

I walked over to one of the three cone tents and entered solemnly. I was here to look for any remaining supplies after all. No surprise, it was mostly empty. There were some grass mats, but that wasn’t something I could fit into my back pack. Other than that, there was simply the center branch keeping the cone tent up. A quickly searched the second and found nothing, but in the third there was a small sack made of some kind of animal leather. The idea of using something else’s skin as a container repulsed me, but I looked inside anyway. Within was a wooden mask, like the ones that I had seen the zebra wear. This however was different. It was smaller, and could just fit over my face. Also, it seemed kind of eerie. As if this thing had life of its own, but was simply unable to be happy.

I felt wrong to just leave it. I slung the back pack to the ground and opened it to put it inside, but I stopped. I found myself pulling out another one of the black books without my knowing. One moment I was going to put the mask inside, the next I was opening one of the black books and staring at the words that marched across the page.

“No.” I said to myself and shut the book, leaving it on the ground. I finished putting the mask in my back pack, but stared again at the book laying there.

“It’s rude to leave a book lying on the ground you know.” A disembodied voice echoed through my ears, sending chills down my spine. “Honestly, I wake you up before you get killed by ruffians and you just throw me on the ground like some discarded toy. Inconsiderate!”

I slung the back pack over and put my forelegs through the straps, putting on the most indignant expression I could. “I never asked for you to do that. I very well could have woken up by myself, given the time to do so. I think that I would have been just fine without your help.”

“Oh, but that’s where your wrong Midnight. Without me, you would have met a very different fate yesterday.” The book gave a cold, unearthly chuckle that echoed long after it was supposed to dissipate. Then again, I wasn’t an expert on how long books were supposed to laugh.

“How do you know my name? How do you know what the day is?” I demanded quickly. “Why do you keep talking to me?”

There was silence for a while, I almost gave up and left but the book finally answered. “Quite simply, I knew you before Midnight. I knew you and your parents.”

I couldn’t find an answer for that.

“A few short years ago your parents received a black book, me, and found a way to convey some of my secrets to you before you knew about black magic. Well, it short for my understanding of time. For you, it was almost a third of your life ago. I believe you were seven.”

I took a step back from the book. “What are you saying?” No answer. “How could you have possibly known my parents?” Still nothing. “What do you mean some of your secrets?”

“There we are! That’s the question I was waiting for. You see, black magic isn’t as simple as you or I would like it to be. It’s not just words on a page, it’s more like…understanding. Understanding that is passed from one pony to another through the writing. I’m sure you’ve noticed that Inferno’s book is empty? That’s because her understanding is now yours. Maybe one day when the time comes, you will pass that understanding back into the book and allow another pony to be blessed with its power.”

That made a bit of sense as to why the book was blank when I woke up. “Well, what if I don’t? What if I don’t pass the…understanding back into the book?”

“Simple. The spell dies with you.”

I let that sink in a moment. Magic that couldn’t be understood unless the last known learner wrote it down? That seemed rather unnecessary and inefficient. “Alright, then what did you mean earlier when you said that my parents passed some of your secrets to me? If I have an understanding of your magic, why are there still words in your book?”

The book responded by giving another unearthly chuckle that made me shiver like I was freezing. “They only scratched the surface. They didn’t receive that full understanding of the magic I’ve been…chosen to bare. You can use a part of my magic to see in the darkness, as that is the portion of my cur- uh…spells that you have an understanding of. There’s more in here than just seeing in the dark Midnight.” Why would a book stutter like that?

There was something else on my mind though. “Why is it that a voice seems to change my thoughts whenever I think about what that spell did? It’s like she’s trying to get out or something.” It was one of the more unsettling things on my mind. It was as if I was losing myself slowly.

“Oh that? Quite simply, that’s just her voice echoing through your understanding. It’ll go away after a few years.” Well that didn’t sound good. “But I can actually make that better.”

“I doubt that. The last time I thought one of you black books could help, I ended up burning down a zebra camp.” I didn’t want something else like that to go completely wrong.

“Alright, one: this place was going to be burned down anyway by your friends. Two: I can simply silence her voice. You may think it’s complicated, but it’s really not. All I have to do is stop her echoing voice. Like stopping a bell from continuing to ring really. Simple as that. You just need to be able to touch it, and you can’t touch her voice. But I can.”

Was it really that simple? “So you can make her stop ‘echoing’?” That certainly sounded like a plus. Getting my own thoughts back in my mind was always a plus. “But what’s the downside?”

“What downside? You’ve already grown a need for glasses my dear. You’ve already received any sort of ‘downside’ that you could get from my spells. So quite simply, there is none.” I still had a feeling that he was lying. If it even was a he.

“I still don’t see why I should ask for your help. I don’t think that anything could possibly help me in my situation here.” I really was a little curious. A little. But I didn’t want anything to do with any more black magic, it had caused enough trouble.

“Don’t you want to know what your parents were like?”

I stared at the book in silence. “What do you mean? I grew up with my parents in the Gold family. I know who my parents are.”

“You are so lied to my dear. So very ignorant. You don’t even know who your parents were. You’re convinced you were born into that wretched Gold family aren’t you?”

“Family isn’t where you’re born into, it’s where you find your home and friends.” I defended, knowing that it was a weak excuse. I didn’t have any friends when I was young.

“A lot of good that is isn’t it then? Born into a family wanting to use you from the beginning, no friends aside from your criminal companions and that boat pony, and left to die in zebra lands that will be the end. Tell me again how much your ‘family’ cares about what happened to you Midnight.”

It had a point. The closest thing I had to a friend was Warner, who was just transporting me here before his ship crashed. Somehow, the only pony that ever really showed any heart for me ended up being punished. “What’s your point?”

“I can show you your parents Midnight. They’re here with me.”

“I don’t believe you.” The idea was absolutely insane.

“The reason they were able to pass some of my spells to you is that they sacrificed themselves to do so. The Gold family simply used that to convince you that they weren’t your real parents. You’ve been lied to for so long that my truths seem to be nothing but fake.”

“Prove it!” I yelled at the book, anger really getting the best of me.

“As you wish, my dear.” With that, the book opened back up and a sickening cold sensation washed over me like a freezing breeze. Black smoke oozed out of the pages of the black book, blocking my eyesight and taking away my senses one by one. First sight, then hearing, then feeling. Soon I was numb to the world around me and felt nothing but the blackness.

My eyes shot open and I stood up from the cold flooring beneath me. Wait flooring? I looked around and tried to assess where exactly I was. On the ceiling was marble tiles, and the walls were another variety of stone. I was in some kind of foyer, but something was wrong.

I was upside down, standing on the ceiling and looking down at the floor.

A quick inspection confirmed my suspicion, as chandlers were hanging away from me and had candles pointing down at me. But their flames weren’t moving. It was as if they were frozen in one spot. I tried moving, and to my surprise I could without falling up or down or whatever the other direction was. I walked around the ceiling-floor a bit and got used to the strangeness of it all.

I stopped my tentative trot on the ceiling and looked around again. The colors of the candles were greyed over, and the ceiling I stood on was a dull black color. Scanning the foyer stairs again, I suddenly recognized them. This was the Gold Manor.

My realization was cut short as the foyer doors swung open and a black mane and white coated stallion barged in. I crouched down low, as if crouching on the ceiling upside down would help. “I can’t believe our luck! This is the perfect opportunity! This truly is a work of the gods!” He yelled almost fanatically.

A mare with a grey coat and charcoal mane walked in, shaking her head at the stallion. “What if something goes wrong? She could be hurt or killed! Do you want to be the one responsible for a young girl being put to her demise?”

“With the proper plan, nothing will go wrong. We just have to-” The stallion’s words were cut off mid-sentence, and he froze in place. I waited for a moment, waiting for him to continue but he simply wasn’t moving. He wasn’t even breathing. It was as if he was like the candles.

“Odd isn’t it? They always stop in the strangest of places. Stranger now though. Then again, why shouldn’t it? You’re here now.” A low, smooth voice crept into my ears. Chilling me to the bone.

“Hello? Where are you?” I pleaded out into the grey upside-down house. “Why am I here?”

“Just find your way to the dining room my dear. Everything will make more sense there.”

I didn’t want to follow what this voice was telling me, but I didn’t have much of another choice. It was either that or just sit here and stare at the frozen ponies on the floor. So, with doubt in my mind I made my way towards the stairs. Walking on the ceiling above them was strange, but I had to do it. The stairs went up a few steps and then split left and right. I knew that the dining room was on the right, so I cantered along the ceiling above that flight of stairs and came to a hallway. There were many doors on both sides, and led to different rooms that belonged to different members of the Gold family. I would have taken the time to explore each one, but in all honesty I wanted to leave as soon as possible.

About halfway down the hallway ceiling, I heard voices all around. Yelling voices that wanted me to stop and listen, but I did no such thing. In my passing I heard several arguing.

“That’s not how things work here!”

“I hate it here!” I felt like I knew that voice, but I didn’t stop.

“Now you see, the trick to getting them to bend to your will is simply to play their game until you have them right where you want them.”

“Isn’t that manipulating? Isn’t that wrong?”

“Not here it isn’t. It’s only manipulating if it’s the more powerful force making the weaker bend to their laws, not the other way around.”

I shut out the whispers as I climbed over the wooden molding that separated the hallway ceiling from the dining room. I didn’t want to hear them anymore.

“Welcome, my dear. Isn’t it great to remember what has so long been forgotten?” I spun around to look for the voice, but couldn’t find it. He was still hiding. “Just watch, this is important. For you at least. I could care less.”

I looked down at the dining hall, obeying the voice like a good little tool. At the large grey dining table were three ponies. One was the black and white stallion from before, the other was the grey and charcoal mare. The third…was me.

“Now do you understand what you must do?” The stallion asked quietly.

“Yes father. It’s the only way. I understand.” I wanted to shout at myself, but I couldn’t make myself open my mouth.

“You do realize that you can never speak of us until it is your time to pass the torch?” The mare said, almost whispering.

“We’ve been over it mother, I cannot be caught no matter what. Trust no pony.” I remembered this. It was the last time I saw any of the Gold family. I thought that these ponies were my parents but now looking back, I hardly recognized them.

I watched the young version of me walk away from the table and to the hallway behind me. I started to follow, but a voice stopped me. “Wait, no stay for a bit more. This is the best part.” I turned back to my not-parents and waited.

“I can’t believe she bought all that.” The stallion murmured. “I can’t believe that worked!”

“Are you proud of yourself? You single hoofedly trained that poor orphan into believing she is a killer. She’s going to die out there if she gets found out!” The mare’s voice boomed and echoed against the walls.

“If! If she gets found out. If she gets found out I have no doubt that Platinum will strike her down like the criminal she is going to be, but if she’s successful? If she is successful, our family will be the one ruling over the unicorns instead of that stupid Princess Platinum! Either way, we stay innocent. The law can never track her to us, we aren’t related! She’s the perfect catalyst!”

Those words struck through me like a bolt of lightning. My whole life was a lie, and I didn’t even know about it. Accepting that I was a failure was one thing, but finding out that my life was a catalyst? That was a whole other level of wrong.

“You see now Midnight? They never cared about you. All they saw in you was opportunity for them. They had you brainwashed to believe you were going to change the world, but all they wanted you to do was give them the power. It’s a justice really, you being sent to the Colony. The alternative is an Equestria ruled by unicorns that only want power for themselves. You may have seen this place as worse than death, and Clover saw it as a second chance for you to live. But really your sentence is the better choice from letting the world fall to pieces at the hooves of greed and corruption.” Tears rolled down my muzzle as the voice echoed through my ears. This was not at all like what Inferno, this was worlds more painful than smoke.

“I’ve seen enough.” I whimpered, falling to the lowest level of pathetic I could see. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

The voice chuckled, echoing eerily in my mind. “My thoughts exactly.”

Suddenly, the world fell away and I found myself falling into more blackness. There was no up or down, only the dark. It was somehow soothing, if only because it meant I was falling away from what I had just witnessed.

As quickly as everything around me disappeared, it suddenly came back in a blink. Instead, I was not on the ceiling anymore. I was on black and white marble tiling that seemed to go on forever. It went on and on in its patterned eternity until it met a black horizon. I looked around for a moment, trying to get any kind of sense where I was.

“Hello there Midnight. It’s good to see that you can stand even in such a realization.” Was I standing? I had become numb to what I felt and didn’t really care. “Now we come to the main event of this little trip down memory lane.”

I looked behind myself and saw a massive throne. Large marble pillars towered above the actual throne, and made it look more like a pillar structure than a throne. Upon the actual throne was a grey stallion with white mane. He looked board sitting on the throne. “Who are you?” I asked weakly.

“Oh, that’s not important. Not yet anyway. What’s important now is that you understand something. Your parents loved you very much before they were silenced Midnight. You were their pride and joy, and they wanted so many things for you to accomplish in your life. They wanted the world to be at your hooves, just waiting for you to take it.” I stared into the pitch black eyes of the pony on the throne. “And now it can be.” The pony got up from his throne and started to canter over to me.

I couldn’t even bring myself to run away. “What do you mean?”

“You think the world is run by the light, but no you’d be wrong. You think that the light gives everything life in the world, but you’d be misguided. You see, before the light there was the shadows. The shadows that are ever present in the world. Ever present even in your mind.” The stallion was mere steps from me, looking down at me. He was about a foot or so taller than me, making me feel rather small here on this empty plane of marble. Even when I wanted to run, I stayed and stared into the blackness of his eyes. “The shadows that hide, the shadows that consume, the shadows that in the end are everywhere. That is what I give you now Midnight: the shadows.”

I shook my head, trying to grasp the concept and finally snapping out of his black gaze. I back peddled a few steps, but didn’t run away. “What do you mean?” I pleaded, repeating my earlier question. I tried to move back more, but I suddenly couldn’t. A quick look at my hooves and I found that the darkness was literally holding me in place. “Where are my parents, you said you’d show them to me.”

“Up until now, you thought your parents were the very ponies that led you into what you are now. Do you really want to see your real parents?” He sounded as if he was just trying to infuriate me.

“Yes! Of course I do!” I yelled back.

“As you wish my darling.” With a black glow of his horn, a gnarled pile of blackness surfaced on the endless marble. It looked like it used to be something, but it wasn’t anymore. Six legs stuck out of the pile as if they were just twisted and thrown into a pile. “This is what your parents looked like before they met their ends. Of course, their ends were by my hooves but who is really keeping track?”

I wanted to scream. This pony was lying to me! I opened my mouth, but couldn’t scream. I couldn’t make a sound.

“Now then! Shall we move on to more important things?” With a stop of his hoof, the pile of black vanished into thin air.

Fighting the inability to talk, I shook my head quickly. I didn’t want anything else to do with this pony.

The grey pony however continued anyway. “A cloak to hide from the ignorant, an energy that needs only itself to multiply, a weapon that can silence your opponents with the slightest of touch. Speak its name and you will know ‘Blackmore’, me.” The grey stallion somehow formed a blade from the surrounding darkness and cut one of his forelegs, bleeding a sticky blackness that hissed as it reached the marble tiling below. “Calm down now Midnight, this’ll only hurt for an eternity.”

With a blinding quickness, Blackmore’s shadow sword turned around and cut my foreleg open as well. Immediately my leg screamed out in excruciating pain. I wanted to scream out and fall to the marble tiles, but I couldn’t. I simply whispered: “Blackmore.”

The sick, hissing blackness that oozed from Blackmore’s leg then floated over and began to flow into my own injury. It felt like my blood was boiling all throughout my body. Starting at my right foreleg, spreading to my chest, then to my stomach and other limbs, then to my neck and face. I felt like my body was going to melt.

“The shadows, though they may always be there need something to give them form.” Blackmore spoke up casually while his acidic blood flowed throughout my body. “Blood is the most effective of forms, as you can manipulate it with ease and it will listen only to you. All you must do is make yourself bleed and the shadows will obey. Not only that my dear, but simply calling to them with my name will make them bend to your will. Others will lose sight of you, as all they will see is the darkness. The last gift of my spell is seeing past the shadows as if they were never there, but you already knew how to do that.” As he continued to speak, he stared to fade away. As if his form and being were flowing straight into my leg wound. “Don’t become too reliant on the shadows though Midnight. They will try to consume you if you let them. Don’t let them control you Midnight. Your parents did and they no longer have being.”

“Wait, what?” I demanded. But by the time I had asked, he was gone. Blackmore was gone.

I fell to the marble tiles in absolute pain. My ears roared as if I was standing near a waterfall. My eyes leaked black tears onto the tiles. My lungs stung like a thousand tiny needles were piercing through them.

Somehow through all the pain, I heard a voice whisper. “We’re sorry Midnight Star. We’re so, so sorry.” I looked up through my black tears, trying to find the source of the voice. “We know you will do better.”

I felt like I knew that voice, but I couldn’t put my hoof on it. It was so distant, yet so close. When I tried to speak out though, I simply screamed in pain. I screamed as loud as I could on the marble tiles that went on forever. I screamed until the tiles fell away and all I could see was blackness. I screamed until I couldn’t hear it anymore.