Light and Darkness – The Shadow of Midnight

by Rakoon1

The Watch and the Hook

In Neverland, at the throne room, Tinkerbell was dealing with Smee after his miserable attempt to abduct Midnight.

“I can’t believe that you failed to bring the Dark Twin!” she shouted. “How difficult is to capture a little filly in a vulnerable state when you have a squad of five zombie pirates?!”

“Please, my queen, it was not my fault!” Smee said, bowing to her. “She wasn’t alone. Purple Smoke was there. He distracted me and the zombie pirates and then we were attacked by the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Prince Star Knight from the back. They didn’t give us any chance to retaliate. Please, have mercy of poor Smee!”

Despite the rage and frustration Tinkerbell was feeling, she couldn’t help but feel that Smee’s situation was indeed out of his control. Purple Smoke was really a formidable adversary, despite the hate she felt for him for sealing her away in Neverland. And there was that Prince Star Knight. She had already heard rumors about him and how he defeated the Lord of Chaos.

Sighing, Tinkerbell sat on her throne and told:

“Very well, I’ll give you a second chance.”

“Oh, thank you kindly, my queen” Smee thanked, relieved, still bowing.

“However, this time, you cannot make any mistake” Tinkerbell warned. “I’ll make sure this time you’ll be able to bring me the target.”

“Okay, then I’ll prepare myself to bring you the Dark Twin” Smee said, preparing to exit.

“No” Tinkerbell told. “This time, the target will be another.”

At the beginning of the next day after Smee tried to abduct Midnight, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were together in Apple Bloom’s room, discussing what had happened in the previous day, more precisely the fact that Star knew about their dreaming cloaks.

“I can’t believe that you didn’t tell us about Star, Apple Bloom” Sweetie Belle said.

“Yeah, what happened with team work?” Scootaloo asked.

“Sorry, gals, but Ah end’d up forgetting ‘bout it” Apple Bloom said. “Don’t forget we were dealing with Silver Wind. Besides, it’s not like Star is going to tell everycreature.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle traded a look and then the latter told:

“Okay, we forgive you.”

“Do you have any other secret you liked to share with us that involves the mission?” Scootaloo asked.

“Well…” Apple Bloom started.

“Really?” Sweetie Belle asked, not amused.

“It’s not a big ov a deal” Apple Bloom replied. “It’s jest that Moonlight was with Star when he saw me with mah dreamin’ cloak.”

There was a pause and then Sweetie Belle said:

“It could be worse. I think we can trust in her as well.”

“I think you have more in your hooves than wondering who knows about your missions, girls” a voice said.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders turned and saw Purple Smoke.

“Really?” Scootaloo asked. “Couldn’t you wait until we recover from the fight of yesterday?”

“You barely fought” Purple Smoke replied. “You had help from Prince Star Knight, you quickly subdued the zombie pirates and Smee isn’t exactly a fighter, being that the reason why he run away the second his little squad was down.”

“Never mind her, Purple Smoke” Apple Bloom said. “Ya know how Scootaloo is. So, what do ya have fer us?”

“Well, it took me a while, but I was able to replicate my brother Time Turner’s retrocognition, so…” Purple Smoke told.

“Wait, wait, wait…” Scootaloo interrupted. “What is that, retrocogn…? I can’t even say the world.”

“Retrocognition” Purple Smoke repeated. “It allows the user to see past events. It’s basically the opposite of precognition. Anyway, because I can’t mimic a General’s ability to its fullness, so it took me a while, but I finally managed to figure out where the magic watch that was in Rara’s room is.”

“Really?!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “That’s amazin’! Finally a lead that can put us in the way to get in Neverland and rescue all those talents Tinkerbell abducted.”

“Where is it?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Still in Las Pegasus” Purple Smoke replied. “Apparently, one of Rara’s friends took the watch after the former’s abduction. Rara gave it to her after the latter had found it interesting.”

“And where does she lives?” Scootaloo asked. “Just tell us and we go there immediately to get the watch.”

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t see where she is” Purple Smoke replied, causing the CMCs to get a little down. “However, I know how she looks like.”

“And that means…” Apple Bloom asked.

“It means that I can get her scent” Purple Smoke replied, summoning a purple bubble. “And having in count that Prince Star Knight knows about the mission…”

“He can help us with the sage mode, just like he did with Midnight yesterday” Sweetie Belle concluded.

“Not quite” Purple Smoke said. “Prince Star Knight’s sage mode can only detect energy signatures. My shapeshifting ability can do a lot of things, but copying another’s energy signature without having a sample is not one of them.”

“So what how can Star help us?” Scootaloo asked.

“Of course!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, realizing what Purple Smoke was trying to say. “Star has a timberwolf. Timberwolves haves a very keen sense of smell.”

“Exactly” Purple Smoke said. “Now I expect nothing but success, girls. I trust in you.”

Having said that, Purple Smoke teleported way with a purple smoky light.

“Okay, gals, now we just need to ask Star if we can borrow…” Apple Bloom started.

But she didn’t finish as they started to have another dream vision that was quite peculiar to them. The first pony that they saw was Sunny that was in the academy’s greenhouse, however, as soon the dream vision was starting to finish, they saw Atlanta who was going to an empty room at an isolated part of the academy. When the vision ended, Scootaloo asked:

“Okay, what was that?”

“To me it looked like… a double vision” Sweetie Belle said.

“What?!” Scootaloo asked. “A double vision? Great, as if we didn’t have enough work. How the hell are we going to handle the watch and two talents at the same time?”

“We need to go for the watch” Sweetie Belle said. “We have to find it before that mysterious stallion or any of the Queen’s followers. That is if they haven’t find it yet.”

“But we can’t forget our duties for the endangered talents” Scootaloo said.

“Then we have tah split up” Apple Bloom told.

That caused the other two Crusaders to look at her.

“Really?” they asked.

“It’s dah only way we can do this more effectively. One of us deals with dah watch, while dah other two deal with helpin’ Sunny and Atlanta.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo traded a look and then nodded in agreement.

“How are we going to do this?” Scootaloo asked.

“Okay…” Apple Bloom said, thinking. “Sweetie Belle, since you already dealt with that mysterious stallion that is also after the watch, I think you should go after it.”

Sweetie Belle nodded and Scootaloo said:

“And what about us?”

“Well, since Sunny is normally at dah greenhouse at her free times an’ it appears she has a wood nature an’ a way with plants, her talent should be relat’d tah that and, if so, I’m dah most suitable tah help her” Apple Bloom said.

“Wait, so I have to deal with Atlanta?” Scootaloo asked. “That filly is even worse than Diamond Tiara when she was mean.”

“Then perhaps this is yer time tah help another filly tah find dah right way” Apple Bloom replied. “Scootaloo, don’t worry, Atlanta already has a Cutie Mark. Ya jest have tah help her find dah real way tah use her talent.”

Seeing that she would have any opportunity to deny this task, Scootaloo sighed and said:

“Fine, I’ll do it.”

Later that day, Sweetie Belle went to find Star, finding him at the shade of a tree at the gardens of the academy with Timber, with the latter lying beside his owner while Star petted his head and read a book. Approaching them, Timber raised his head, while looking at her. Sweetie Belle felt a little intimidated by Timber, despite knowing he was not dangerous.

“Hi, Star…” Sweetie Belle said. “I can see that you’re having a good time… with your pet…”

Star looked at her above his book and asked:

“What do you want?”

“What makes you think I want something?” Sweety Belle asked, trying to make an innocent look.

But seeing how Star was looking at her, she admitted:

“Okay, here’s the thing… I need to borrow Timber from you. We have a huge lead for our mission that I’ll follow and I need his sense of smell.”

“I would most certainly borrow him” Star replied.

“Really?”

“Yeah… Except that Timber usually doesn’t listen to strangers.”

Sweetie Belle looked at him and asked:

“Are you saying that because it’s for real or because you just want to go with me in the mission?”

“A little of the second, but mainly the former” Star replied, getting up. “You can try, but Timber won’t listen.”

“Okay, okay, looks like I don’t have a chance but take you with me” Sweetie Belle said. “We’ll go when you finish your classes for today.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t have any more classes today” Star said, while ordering timber to get up. “We can go now to… Where are we going exactly?”

“Las Pegasus” Sweetie Belle replied. “We should be going now before it gets dark.”

“Or… I could use magic to bring us there in a blink of an eye” Star told, while charging his horn with magic.

“Yeah, we could do that…” Sweetie Belle replied.

And so Star executed the teleportation spell that drove them to Las Pegasus in a blink. Once there, the three of them moved through the tops of the buildings, following Timber that was following the scent that Purple Smoke had given to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The timberwolf sniffed around and took Star and Sweetie Belle through all the city.

“Your timberwolf seems to have a stuffy nose” the unicorn commented, as they stopped on a building, while she straightened her dreaming cloak. “We have searched through all the city and nothing.”

“He must be a little confused” Star said, while petting Timber’s head. “In a city this big, there are a lot of scents for him to differ and follow. Besides, this pony who has the watch lives here. It’s obvious that her scent is everywhere.”

“But we have no time to lose” Sweetie Belle said. “We need to get that watch before it’s too late.”

“I understand that, but you can’t rush a timberwolf when it is tracking” Star said. “What we’re doing is looking for a needle in a haystack. We need to have…”

However, before he could finish, Timber started to bark. Seeing that, Star asked:

“What is it, boy? You found something?”

Timber barked in a way that answered Star’s question.

“Okay, Timber, take us there.”

Obeying, Timber started running, while jumping from building to building. Star and Sweetie Belle followed him. However, they didn’t know that, watching them, was the mysterious pony who started following them.

After a few moments, Timber stopped and started barking, looking down the building he was in. Star and Sweetie Belle landed beside him and then they look to where he was looking to. Walking by a street was a young unicorn mare who was holding the watch with her magic while observing it.

“Yes, that’s the watch!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, a little relieved. “Thank Celestia it wasn’t taken yet.”

“How do you want to do this?” Star asked. “Because I don’t think it wouldn’t fell well on us to steal another pony and I am the son of Princess Twilight and a hero and you are a famous singer loved by many.”

“We’ll have to wait for the perfect opportunity” Sweetie Belle said. “The moment she gets separated from the watch, we’ll move.”

However, as soon as she said that, the mysterious pony made a sudden appearance before the mare and snatched the watch from her, starting to run after that.

“You mean, like that moment?” Star asked.

“Whatever that makes you go after him” Sweetie Belle replied. “This time, I won’t let him run away.”

Having said that, she jumped and ascended to the sky.

“Timber, after him!” Star ordered.

And so Timber jumped off the building, landing smoothly on the street, and started heading the way the mysterious stallion had taken. The stallion noticed Timber running after him and so he went to an alley and climbed and jumped over the wall that was there, going to the other side.

After that, he returned to the rooftops, but Sweetie Belle and Star were after him there. However, the stallion was quite agile and was also able to dodge them. Stopping, Sweetie Belle shouted:

“Damn it, we lost him!”

“Don’t worry” Star calmed her down. “Timber is still after him. And believe me when I say that he won’t stop until he gets him. And, with my sage mode, I will be able to locate Timber.”

Timber run through an alternate way until he found the mysterious stallion descending from the rooftops. And, with the sage mode activated, Star was able to pinpoint Timber’s location and notice some disturbance in his aura.

“He found him” Star told Sweetie Belle. “Come.”

And they advanced.

After some time, the mysterious stallion landed in a deserted alley. After he did it, he heard Sweetie Belle saying:

“Nice landing.”

Seeing her and Star, he rose one of his front hooves which was revealed to be a hook, It appeared he was about to attack, but, before he could do anything, Timber appeared before him and growled at him, intimidating the stallion and stopping him from attacking. But that was not the only thing to happen. The stallion also startled and dropped the watch that fell on the ground and broke. Sweetie Belle took the watch with her magic.

“Oh no…”

“That’s not good” Star commented.

Suddenly, they hear the sound of wood being hit and they saw that the stallion had attacked Timber, breaking him into pieces.

“Timber!” Star called.

When Sweetie Belle when to see the stallion, she saw that he was gone.

“He disappeared again” she said, not wanting to believe their bad luck, turning then to Star. “Is Timber okay?”

“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine” Star told her. “Despite he doesn’t like to be broken in pieces.”

Timber’s pieces started to raise in the air then they assembled back together. In a matter of seconds, Timber returned to his normal self, despite he got a little cracky after doing that.

“It’s okay, Timber” Star said, petting his head to calm him down. “It’s okay…”

“I’m glad Timber is okay, however that stallion run away” Sweetie Belle said.

“At least you got the watch” Star replied.

“Yeah, but…” Sweetie Belle started, looking then to the watch. “It doesn’t work. It’s broken.”

“What do we do now?” Star asked.

As soon as he answered that question, the mysterious stallion landed a few hooves from them and said:

“It’s easy, you know? I can help you.”

Seeing him, Sweetie Belle and Star took defensive positions, while Timber started growling at him.

“Give me the watch” the stallion demanded, while starting to approach the trio. “I know how to make it work.”

“Now you want to help us?” Sweetie Belle asked. “It’s your fault that Rara and the others are locked up forever.”

“You’re wrong” the stallion replied. “I wanted to protect her.”

“By the way Sweety Belle is addressing to you, that is very unlikely” Star replied.

“Who are you?” the young unicorn asked. “And why should we believe you?”

“You can call me… Hook” the stallion replied, while raising his hook.

“How creative” Star commented. “Did you name yourself?”

Ignoring the young prince’s remarks, Hook continued:

“The watch is mine.”

“Prove it” Sweetie Belle demanded.

“I lost it trying to protect Rara from a kidnapper” Hook told. “That’s why I came back to look for it. But you got there when I was looking and… Well, you know what happened next, right?”

“Yeah, you forced me to chase you and fight you!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed angrily.

“I had no choice” Hook replied. “I had to hide or the Queen’s servants would have found me and captured me.”

“So… you’re running away from Tinkerbell” Sweetie Belle said.

Inside Star’s mind, in his and Kurama’s plane, the latter told Star:

“I don’t trust him. He’s clearly hiding something.”

“I know, and I don’t need to try to sense his emotions to know it” Star agreed.

“Even if you did that, it would be difficult for you to understand anything” Kurama said. “When it comes to beings that reside in realms that are overcharged with magic, like Neverland and Wonderland, that because they irradiate the magic from those realms that interfere with our ability.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate” Star commented. “In that way, I can’t anticipate. Looks like I’ll have to keep my guard up.”

“Don’t forget to warn Sweetie Belle about that neverlander” Kurama said.

“Yeah, I know, you don’t need to nag me about that” Star replied.

Coming back to reality, Star advanced and told Sweetie Belle:

“Please tell me you’re not believing in him.”

“Of course not” she replied. “But we need more information… and he can give it to us. Go on, continue.”

“The Queen of Neverland is a harsh ruler” Hook told. “I tried to stand against her, but… Well, I’m not strong enough. Because of that I was not able to protect Rara and the other talents.”

“What is Tinkerbell up to?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Why does she needs all those talents.”

“I would want to know why too” Hook replied with the same coldness that Sweetie Belle gave him, changeling it a little bit when saying the next. “But together we can free them.”

Sweetie Belle and Star traded a look with the latter saying:

“I don’t trust him and you shouldn’t either. However, I think there’s some truth in his words. He really is not a friend with the Queen. Perhaps if we keep an eye on him…”

Sweetie Belle nodded and then showed the watch to Hook, saying:

“Here… Too bad it’s damaged.”And, without it, we can’t open the portal.”

“Let me think…” Hook said. “I know who can fix it. The most excellent watchmaker in the Pony World.”

“I’ve never heard of him” Star told.

“Assuming that’s true, who is him?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“He’s a kind of hermit” Hook told. “That’s why he’s not very known by many. He lives in the Mount Everhoof, isolated from the rest of ponykind. He calls himself the Watchmaker.”

“And what makes this Watchmaker capable of fixing the watch?” Star asked. “It’s an object of magic that not even Purple Smoke doesn’t understand.”

“Not wanting to offend the General of Talent, but he has been out for a long time” Hook told. “During that time, the original Watchmaker was able to conjugate magic with the watch mechanics to create three watches capable of opening portals through space. Despite his descendants didn’t got his mastery and were not able to replicate the watches, the three the original Watchmaker created were passed down… that is until an anomaly in the seal of Neverland caused the Queen’s shadow creatures to travel out of Neverland and steal those watches. We need to reach the Watchmaker, before the Queen does.”

Star, despite knowing those words were true, couldn’t help but keep suspecting Hook’s intentions. He hoped that Sweetie Belle felt the same, but he could see that she was really thinking in going with Hook.

“Don’t tell me you’re really…” Star started.

But before he could continue what he was saying, Sweetie Belle interrupted him and told:

“Thank you for your help, Star. Thanks to you and Timber we were able to find the watch, but now we need to fix it so we can to go to Neverland.”

“And for that you need to go see this Watchmaker” Star said, looking then to Hook. “And he knows where he lives.”

“I know your concerns, but you don’t need to worry” Sweetie Belle told. “If he tries to do anything that represents a danger, I deal with him.”

Despite everything, Star couldn’t stop worrying about it, but he knew he had to trust in Sweetie Belle. After all, this was her mission.

“Okay… But I’ll tell the others so that they can go after you once they are done” the young prince told.

Sweetie Belle nodded to him and so Star placed his hoof over Timber and then teleported away. Once he did that, Sweetie Belle turned to Hook and told him:

“Okay, now you’ll take me to that Watchmaker.”