• Published 23rd Jan 2020
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The Witching Hour - Looking Forward to the Past - Chaotic Ink



Part 3 of The Witching Hour. After two long years in Ponyville, the answers to several very important questions are finally going to be answered and some of those answers have come looking for Midnight.

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Ch.4 - Basically Tuesday

“Darn it Lieutenant, where is everypony?” Applejack muttered aside to Hazelnut while doing her best not to look worried herself. The amount of crystal ponies surrounding the fake Heart were growing bigger by the minute and nothing they were doing or offered could sway them to leave. Rarity had just shown up, saying she was both out of supplies and that no one was coming to the booth anyway. She also turned to look at Hazelnut expectantly. Beside them, there were only a few of the new recruits with them to keep the crowd back. Everyone else…

“There’s a bit of a problem at the outer parts of the city that required our attention,” he said, “something that will make all of our current posturing moot if not taken care of.”

“What could possibly be more important than this?” Rarity hissed through her big, bright, dazzling smile that was keeping several crystal ponies at bay.

The look Hazelnut gave her in return almost made her smile falter. “Do you remember those statues we passed by on the way to the palace?”

-----------------------------

“How about, grh, the next time we go someplace, gah, and they have menacing statues all over the place, damn it, we just start smashing them on sight?” Long Spine said as he grappled with one of the now animated statues. As the black crystals had made it into the city boundaries, some kind of darkness had leeched out of them and onto (into?) the pony statues. The statues had turned black, their eyes glowed green, and they had immediately attacked anyone nearby, which so happened to be all of the guards sent to help Shoal, who was still smashing the bigger crystals out near the boundary. It was hoped that her efforts were actually holding the dark tide back, making it put more effort and resources, whatever those were, into rebuilding the larger crystals and slowing its push into the city itself. Even if the effort was slowing it, the darkness and dark crystals were still inching forward, still adding more statues to the fight with every few feet consumed. It wasn’t just their size that was making them a problem, either, but just how solidly built they were. Being a dragon, Spine knew his gems, crystals, and special stones, and these statues were solid all the way through and made of some tough stuff. It had taken several kicks, punches, and bites just to cause a few cracks in his opponent. Others were just dodging and trying to land precise blows where they could.

One bit of good news was that they were susceptible to magic and a few of the more powerful magic users were trying to smash one statue into another, hoping their strength could be turned into a weakness. It was the only advantage they had so far and the idea now was to try and herd the big brutes into a target-rich environment to be pounded into rubble. It was easier said than done.

“As much as I would like to agree,” Mane shouted as he dodged another attack, “next time they might actually be part of the culture!” Spinning around, he planted his front two hooves and bucked for all he was worth. The statue turning towards him was off balance just enough that his two back hooves sent it stumbling backwards, right into the statue Dandelion was levitating. The resulting collision cracked and chipped the back half of Dandelion’s while Mane’s fell to the ground, the impacting side shattering, leaving half a statue to kick and attempt to right itself in vain. “And then we’d be fighting the locals,” he finished, watching as the statute on the ground was finished off by Night Sky and Dark Cleaver falling out of the sky on top of it, eight hooves smashing what was left. Wordlessly, they scooped up a few of the bigger chunks and took off, joining other flyers in pelting their opponents from above. While not as effective as the unicorns and their magic, they were able to attack while relatively staying out of harm’s way. Some were even going back further into the city to see if the statues were more vulnerable before they were activated.

Mane grinned as the statue Dandelion had been wrestling with smashed into another one, this time breaking completely and cracking up the other pretty good. “Come on lads! They ain’t invincible! Kick’em ‘til they’re dust!”

The words had just left his mouth when a loud roar went up and everyone turned to see Shoal starting to come towards them, the ground shaking with every step. “She’s chasing something!” one of the pegasi recruits, Autumn Pillar, if Mane remembered correctly, called out and soon a small eruption of more black crystals could be seen speeding towards them, the female dragon in hot pursuit. As they watched, the dragon leaned forward to try and either swipe at the approaching column or flame it and as if in response one crystal shot out and slammed hard into her lower jaw, snapping her head back and making her trip. She hit the ground hard just at the edge of the city with the black crystals still surging ahead.

“Oh, buck me running,” Mane growled, then turned towards where Windrunner had just dived on another statue. “First Lieutenant! You need to head back to the palace and let the others know what’s coming!”

“I will not leave you all here!” she shouted back, ducking under a swipe and shooting up to buck her attacker in the head.

Mane charged and bucked the same statue in the head as well, cracking it and leaving it vulnerable to Windrunner’s second hit, which crumbled the head and left the rest of the body to collapse. “We can hold here just fine! The others need to know what’s happening!” He repeated. “They need to be ready! You’re the fastest flyer here! You’re the only one that can get there in time to make a difference!”

Windrunner looked around one more time, then nodded. “Fighting retreat!” she said as she went airborne. “Move back towards the palace! Funnel them into the streets! If we can get them clustered and close, Honeycomb, Princess Cadance, and Prince Shining Armor should be able to help!” With that she turned and took off towards the palace, a dust-brown trail marking her flight.

Mane grunted and took up a rear guard position along with Brick Break, Long Spine, Scarlet, and Dandelion while the others began falling back down the streets. Between the statues still pressing on them, the ones being animated to life on either side of them, and the quickly approaching column of dark crystals, he wasn’t sure just how much fighting this retreat would be able to do. As he ducked from another blow, he just hoped that the captain and the bearers could snatch another victory from the dark jaws of defeat.

-----------------------------

With a huff, Midnight, Twilight, and the changelings finally flew up and out of the staircase. A second later, Umbra and Spike popped out of a nearby shadow. Looking around, they realized they were in a room open to the sky, which meant they were really high up. That made sense, seeing how long it took them to fly up there. “Are we at the top of the palace?” Trill asked aloud, moving over to the edge to look.

“If we are, then getting back should be a breeze,” Midnight said, relief clear in her voice as she pointed to a spot in the middle of the open room. There, suspended a little ways off the floor, was the Crystal Heart, spinning lazily. “And of course it turns out it’s easy to find,” she flexed a wing, “if any of us had just decided to take a perch up here...”

“Umm, ma’am, you should see this!” Trill said with a look of concern, beckoning the kirin over.

As Midnight, Buzz, and Umbra went to see what was going on below, Spike motioned for Twilight to go to the Heart. She did so, slowly and in awe of the relic before her. She could feel the magic pulsing around it and it gave off a feeling of euphoria that Twilight knew they’d found the real Heart and everything would be fine.

TWILIGHT!” Midnight yelled.

Twilight snapped out of the trance she’d found herself in and noticed the pattern below the Heart was ringing out in an alarm. She’d stepped right on the pattern and, realizing her mistake, she jumped for the relic, hitting it and knocking it clear of the pattern’s area just as a wall of black crystal spikes shot up around its parameter, trapping the unicorn. “The Heart!” Twilight called out.

“It’s out here with us!” Midnight called back. As the kirin went to pick up the Heart, she saw a pulse come out from the cage and travel down the stairs. “Uh oh,” she mumbled, heading over to look down. As the pulse went down the stairs, it touched each statue along the way, activating them. “Yeah, we’re in trouble,” she said, turning back to see Twilight try to teleport out of the cage, only to be magically sucked back in, “deep trouble.”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight called from inside, “I saw it and I was just so eager to get it. And knowing what’s outside…”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Midnight told her, “I wasn’t paying attention to where I should have been. I should have just flown over and grabbed it myself.” Looking down at the Heart, Midnight scooped it up, seemed to growl at it for a second, then shoved it into Spike’s claws. “Umbra, are there enough shadows for you to get down the side of the palace safely?” One of the things she’d seen in the brief moments before Twilight had gotten caught was that dark crystals were already growing on the side of the palace. That, and almost all of her guard was backed up to the palace with those now animated statues acting as moving walls, forcing them back even further. She already knew what she’d be facing in another minute.

“I… I think so,” Umbra said hesitantly, hoping her captain wasn’t really considering such an option. There were quite a few open spots between shadows.

“Good.” The kirin pushed Spike towards Umbra, “then take Spike down the side and get the Heart to Cadance. Everything depends on getting the Heart to where it needs to be!”

“But Twilight needs to-!” Spike protested, looking back at the cage.

“Go, Spike!” Twilight called out, peaking between the spikes. She bit her lip, then nodded at them. “Midnight’s right; we can’t waste anymore time!”

“But, what about Celestia’s test?” He called back.

“Forget the test, lives are at stake!” Twilight called back. “If you can’t get the Heart to Cadance, there won’t be a test to fail!”

“But-!”

“GO!”

Spike took one final look at Twilight, the look on her face was clear how torn she was over what she just said but determined, and nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“Good,” Midnight said from her position at the top of the stairs. They could all now hear the sound of crystal stomping on crystal getting louder. “Recruit; get him and the relic down there as fast as you can!”

“But you can fly him down!” Umbra protested, “it’ll be faster!”

“I’ll also be more obvious! Use the shadows, get the Heart to Cadance, and put an end to this!”

Umbra tried to protest further but Midnight had already turned back to the staircase, which had ominous crystal pounding coming from below. Buzz and Trill transformed into a buffalo and minotaur respectively as Midnight activated her armor. Taking one last look at her captain, Umbra hefted Spike and the Heart onto her back, then dove over the side and into darkness.

-----------------------------

Midnight, where ARE you!?’ Honeycomb fretted as the scene below the royal balcony continued to unfold. Everything had been fine, relatively, until Pinkie had accidently knocked over the covered fake Heart, which meant that the crystal ponies now knew they didn’t have the real one. Word had spread quickly and soon almost the entire city was encamped below the palace. Things had only gotten worse when the sound of fighting had carried from where Wild Mane and the rest had run off to try and hold back encroaching black crystals that were the released King Sombra’s doing.

Shining blamed himself for that. He’d been so focused on his wife’s health and the actual running of the empire, in lieu of the fair fixing what was supposedly left of Sombra’s curse, that he’d just let Sombra cool his jar at the foot of the throne, never imagining he’d escape.

Windrunner had come and told them that the bearer guard was making a fighting withdrawal back to the palace in hopes that the narrower streets and that Honey, Cadance, and Shining Armor could help with their magic from the safety of the balcony. Honey could; she’d been saving away the love she’d been getting from everyone at home and hadn’t needed for food for just such an occasion. With everything Midnight and the others had been through before, it just seemed prudent. Cadance, however, was in no shape for a fight and was still holding up the shield so that the weather didn’t also weigh in on the conflict while Shining was helping her with his own magic. Honey had told the pegasus that she’d do what she could when the time came and for her to get back to the fight. Windrunner had sped back to the fight as fast as she had come. Honey had then asked Arina to tell Midnight what was happening and ask if they’d found the Heart yet but Arina only shook her head after a minute of trying. The kirin was ignoring her, apparently, which wasn’t a good sign.

Then the fighting had come into view, then was only a few blocks away, then was just one. The crystal ponies below all retreated under the palace, as if it was a shelter from the coming storm. Everyone could only imagine the pandemonium that would happen when the fighting finally reached them. Applejack had to restrain Rainbow from joining in the fight while Rarity and Pinkie comforted a panicking Fluttershy. “Send everyone down to help,” Shining told one of the guards on the balcony with them, “you won’t do any good up hear just watching.” The guard saluted and he and his companion disappeared into the palace to round up the rest of the guards.

“That won’t work!” Rainbow complained. “We need Twilight to use the Elements to blast these guys or the Heart to banish them or whatever it does!”

“What else do you want us to do?” Shining asked her, biting back his anger, “None of us can just tap our hooves or flash our horns and just make them appear!”

“I can help,” Honey said, moving to the balcony railing.

“Your highness, please don’t go so close!” Verpine said, moving to block her way.

“We have to keep you safe,” Mandible added.

“As Prince Armor already said, we aren’t doing any good just standing around.” She nodded at him and he did the same in return, searching her face to see what she was getting at. “Rainbow and a few guards might be able to add a few hooves to the fight but we all know that’s just delaying the inevitable. We know that these things, however, are susceptible to magic.” Verpine and Mandible stepped out of her way but still flanked her as she stepped to the railing and lit her horn, its sickly green glow ominous. Calling upon her stores of love, she fed them into her magic, feeling the power surge to the magical conduit. Picking a point just forward of her embattled friends, she focused on it, took a deep breath, then shot at it. The beam flew over the defenders’ heads and impacted one of the statues in the front row, obliterating it immediately and smashing into the second one, which was bored through to impact a third that was sent flying back into more. When the beam finally died, at least ten statues had been accounted for and a ragged cheer went up among the defenders.

“Alright! Go Queen Honeycomb!” Rainbow cheered.

“Excellent work, darling!” Rarity agreed.

Honey didn’t say a word as she focused on her next group of targets. Her second and third blasts were equally destructive to the statue horde, then on her fourth blast a thick crystal shot up out of the ground and took the hit, barely even cracking. They all watched as a black mass rose from the top of the crystal then resolved itself into a pony-like shape before becoming an actual pony, one with dark grey fur, black mane, burning red eyes, and dark royal regalia.

“King Sombra,” Cadance said, her teeth clenched in both concentration and anger.

“So the feller did have some power tucked away somewheres,” AJ said. “How else could he have gotten so powerful so quick?”

Honey didn’t answer as she shot another beam directly at the former despot. The dark king simply raised another pillar of crystal to deflect and absorb the blast. She fired another blast that ended with a similar result.

“I don’t think that’s working,” Shining said.

“It’ll have to, until Midnight and Twilight arrive,” Honey said as she made another shot.

The balcony fell silent as they all wondered where the two that had pulled them out of so much before were now.

-----------------------------

Spike and Umbra danced out of the way as another dark crystal emerged right by where they were standing. Taking a leap of faith as another crystal followed the first to completely monopolize the space they were just occupying, they landed awkwardly on another crystal pillar but caught themselves in time not to slip off. Catching their breaths, both of them looked down at the scene below and shivered. Things were NOT going well for their friends. Those fighting the statues were now being pushed back under the balcony and Honeycomb was in a long-distance duel with the reborn Sombra. If either of them had wings or if Umbra could teleport they could be with the others on the balcony handing Cadance the Heart in the blink of an eye. Instead, they were forced to jump from one crystal to another in the hopes of finding another shadow to jump into. The last one they were in spat them out as a crystal grew over it and into the light.

“I don’t see any other place to go from here,” Umbra said with a rising note of panic in her voice. “What do we do now!?”

“Wait, I think I see Rainbow down there with them!” Spike said. “That’s perfect! HEY! RAINBOW! EVERYBODY!” he yelled, waving the Heart over his head for them to see. Now, perhaps in the moment, Spike simply hoped Sombra wouldn’t see or hear him or maybe he thought if he did, Rainbow would be able to get to them, or at least the Heart, before the evil king could do anything about it.

As it turned out, everyone including Sombra did hear him. It was also at that very moment that four of Sombra’s statues smashed through the doors and walls of the balcony, sending bits of the palace everywhere, including directly into the center of the Wonderbolt hopeful’s forehead, knocking her out cold.

Sombra let out an angry roar and began growing more crystals under him, raising him up toward the two helpless heroes. “That is MINE!” he roared at them.

“Uh, if you really want to start panicking now, it’s all good,” Spike told Umbra.

Back on the balcony, Honey was at a loss about what to do. If she focused on keeping Sombra away from the Heart, the statues would overwhelm them, despite what the bearers, Shining, and her own guards were doing but if she turned to deal with the statues, then Sombra would reach Spike, Umbra, and the Heart.

“They need wings,” Cadance, who had drifted over while her husband was occupied with the statues, said. She still sounded tired, but there was a spark in her eyes as she looked up at the Heart.

Honey blinked at her, then the words sunk in. “Right!” she said. Before she shot off the ground, a thought occurred to her. Leaning over, she touched her horn to Cadance’s and pushed a little bit of her magic into it. The sound of alicorn’s sharp intake of breath was lost as her insect wings buzzed for all she was worth up towards the dragon and unicorn. She wasn’t Rainbow, but she still shot up like a rocket.

Sombra saw her rising up to challenge his claim and he shot a bolt at her, then another, and then another. Honey blocked them all as she rose, one eye on Sombra, the other on her friends. She was just about even with Sombra and tried to shoot off her own bolt at him when Sombra shot off two bolts in rapid succession at her. Honey blocked the first one but hadn’t been expecting the second. She jerked from the hit and her shot went wild, hitting the crystal under Umbra and Spike and sending them both plummeting. “NO!” Honey shouted but was hit with another red bolt from Sombra before she could fly after them.

Sombra’s triumphant laugh followed Umbra and Spike down as they fell towards the ground. It would be easy enough for him to collect the Heart, which would most likely survive the fall. More than likely they wouldn’t. “Spike, I’m sorry I couldn’t get you to the others!” Umbra said into the rushing wind, “I’m sorry I couldn’t do what Captain Storm asked!”

“I’m sorry too! Midnight was right; you’d make a great guard!” Spike called back. He hugged the Heart to his body. Maybe it’s magic would protect them at the last second?

He’d never find out as something flew into them both and Spike found himself backwards on Cadance’s back with Umbra hanging onto her front legs. “Are you two alright?” Cadance asked as she banked back towards the palace.

“NO!” Sombra roared from above.

“I think so,” Spike said, coming to grips with the idea that he and Umbra weren’t going to be cleaned up off the pavement.

“The Heart?” Cadance asked, to which Spike shifted to show her. She nodded. “Good.” Soaring over the fighting, Cadance landed in the middle of the crowded crystal ponies still under the palace. All around were scared faces, looking to her and the two with her for hope.

“The Crystal Heart has been returned! Use the light and love within each and every one of you to ensure that King Sombra does not!” she called out to them, then she took the Heart from Spike and levitated it to the center spot below the palace. Two thin columns shot out from above and below and were like magnets that grabbed the Heart and held it in place without Cadance’s magic.

The crystal ponies, their faces beaming now, bowed to the returned Crystal Heart, their coats gleaming once again like they had at the faire. Where they bowed, crystal blue light shown in the streets and flowed until all the streets of the empire glowed bright.

Up on his crystal pillar, Sombra whirled and fumed. “No! They can’t! NO!”

The light suddenly shot back to the Heart, as if sucked in, and the Heart began to spin rapidly. After a few second the spinning crystal sent out a shockwave of white light. To those that weren’t crystal ponies, the wave that washed over them made them sparkle and shine as if they were. The dark crystals and animated statues, however, crumbled to dust as the wave struck them. For a second after it hit Sombra, it seemed to have done nothing to the tyrant, then blue cracks swiftly broke across his body and with one last roar of anger, he two broke apart, his horn, the only surviving piece, flying deep out into the tundra.

The castle itself glowed and let out its own shockwave, this one pushing back the winter storms that Cadance had been keeping back all this time and sending streams of light high into the sky that then spread out far into the distance over Equestria.

A roar of hundreds of cheers resonated throughout the empire.

-----------------------------

Midnight growled as she impacted against Twilight’s cage. A statue had blindsided her while she was busy with another and sent her skidding across the ground. Using the temporary lull in the fight to catch her breath, she looked over at where Buzz and Trill laid and looking as beat up as she felt. The damn things were just so strong! She was sure she’d have to see Minuette when she got back home after trying to bite through the throat of one of them. That wasn’t to actually kill it, it being made of crystal and all, but a chunk out of the neck would have made it easy to buck its head off.

Getting to her hooves, she readied herself for the next, and most likely final, attack when there was a loud *THOOM* and a wall of light came from below and washed over her and the statues. Both they and the crystal spikes imprisoning Twilight disintegrated while the unicorn, changelings, and kirin became shiny like the crystal ponies. It also gave the combatants a boost as Midnight didn’t feel as if she’d been in a fight as much as a stroll through the woods. Buzz and Trill were also on their hooves, looking no worse for wear than if they were doing the same. The first burst was quickly followed by another, and the entire palace lit up before shooting off colored beams into the sky.

“They did it!” Twilight cheered, rushing over to the side to look.

Midnight and the changelings followed at a more sedate pace as they looked themselves over. While Twilight and Midnight also had their manes done up by the Heart’s magic (hers was in a braided ponytail), the changelings’ head-fins stayed the same. “I take it this means we won?” Trill asked as they looked down on a sea of shining crystals.

Midnight let out a deep sigh and sat back on her haunches. “Yes, this means we won, yet again by the skin of our teeth.”

“You know it’ll never be as easy as flicking our tails, right?” Twilight said.

Midnight shrugged. “There’s no reason it can’t be or at least as easy as possible. Heck, if it wasn’t for that jar breaking we’d be doing this with everyone else and not coming off a big dose of adrenaline from fighting for our lives.” She signed again. “And of course during her first mission she has a hoof in saving Equestria. I don’t know if that rookie is going to be the headache to end all headaches or a gift from the Makers.”

“They did great,” Twilight said, her voice becoming a bit sad, “and Umbra will be a great guard. Hopefully I’ll get to see her promoted to First Lieutenant one day.”

Midnight raised an eyebrow at her tone, then rolled her eyes and stretched her wings. “Come on, let’s get down there; I want a tall glass of ice cold apple cider and a bowl of sapphires after today.” She opened her wings and grimaced. “And someone remind me that I never got us a medic.”

-----------------------------

“Sorry I wasn’t more helpful,” Shoal said as she kept pace alongside everyone else back to the train two days later. With Sombra destroyed for good this time and the crystal ponies back to their version of normal (the shine was getting annoying), everyone had agreed that further training could be put off until they were back home and their various wounds healed up. Midnight had talked with Shining about how best to move forward with Umbra, as she had no idea if there was an award or medal or some kind of promotion for her actions in the empire. Shining had told her that there was no precedent for a recruit to be in the position Umbra was, so what was done was up to her and Celestia to decide. Shining did, however, praise Honey for going hoof to hoof with Sombra and giving Cadance the boost that let her catch Spike, Umbra, and the Heart and save them all.

Honey, who had been seated nearby at the time, ducked her head and blushed. “I just did what I could.”

“You, your friends, and my sister need to stop saving my flank like this; it’s getting pretty embarrassing,” Shining had playfully whined.

Back in the present, Midnight waved a wing. “You took a sucker punch to the chin and you kept those dark crystals from spreading further; you did a good job as far as I’m concerned,” she told the dragon, then looked over at Honey, who was walking along side her, “and you are going to have a story to tell Squeaks.”

“I still don’t think I did all I could,” the changeling queen protested. “If I had put more power into those first few attacks or flew faster…”

“You did fine, your highness,” Verpine said.

“Listen to her,” Midnight agreed, “between that and securing that travel deal with Cadance, I’d say your first diplomatic mission was a success.”

Honey ducked her head and tried to hide her smile behind her golden mane. “Thanks.”

During their two days of rest, it had been discovered that the Crystal Heart radiated pure love itself, which helped explain their initial euphoria when they found it. That also explained why all five changelings had been found gathered around it like ponies around a campfire during a particularly cold night. The deal Cadance and Honey had come up with was that the changelings could travel to the empire a few at a time to collect some of this wellspring so long as they converted some of the love they gathered into “changeling nectar”, basically love in a tangible, honey-like form, to be used by the empire for various experiments and projects. It was hoped that whatever could be created from that could become a new export for the empire. As love as a food source had been so scarce for such a long time, none had thought to bring it up until Honey’s talk with Cadance.

As they got onto the train platform, the ponies bringing up the rear happened to catch their eye. “I hope everything will be alright,” Honey said as Twilight hugged her brother and sister-in-law goodbye. “She still seems so worried.”

Midnight snorted. “Please; if Celestia has an issue with one of the brightest minds in all of Equestria and the bearer of the Element of Magic not doing exactly as she asks her to, she can take it up with me. We wouldn’t have even found the damn Heart if it hadn’t been for her. I still say she doesn’t need Celestia’s approval for anything and shouldn’t even need to study under her anymore.”

Honey shook her head in amused exasperation. “You’re not a sword or even a battle axe; you’re a war hammer.”

Midnight simply shrugged. “Whatever gets the job done.”

-----------------------------

Sapphire put the bowl of fruit down in front of the thestral filly and patted her head with a wing. “Eat up.”

“When’s mom, Honey, and Windrunner getting home?” Squeaks asked, taking a bite of apple, “she said they were supposed to get back today.”

“Well, the train could have been delayed for any number of reasons, or they could have gotten on late,” Sapphire told her as she sat down with her own dinner salad, “what’s important is that we know they’re coming home.”

Squeaks nodded and took another bite of her food.

The light show was a bit dramatic,’ Sapphire mused. The ribbons of color that had shot out of the palace had shone all the way down to Canterlot and Ponyville and both she and Squeaks had agreed that it had to mean everything up there had ended well.

They were each a few bites further along when the doorknob to the side door jiggled and clicked open and a welcomed voice called out “Squeaks? Sapphire? We’re home!”

Squeaks let out an excited squeak and ran for the door. Sapphire followed at a more sedate pace but was as equally excited to see her friends and marefriend come home. Squeaks barely let them put their bags down before literally flying into her mother’s forelegs. “Mom!”

“Come here, small fry!” Midnight said, wrapping both forelegs around the thestral and squeezing her tight. “I missed you Squeaks.”

“I missed you, too, mom,” Squeaks said with a strained voice as her mother crushed her to her chest. She didn’t mind. Nor did she mind Arina hopping down from Midnight to hug her head with all eight legs.

“And what about me?” Sapphire asked playfully, only to be grabbed by Midnight’s wings and dragged over for a big kiss. “I see,” she said once she was let up for air. Honey and Windrunner chuckled at the exchange.

“Long story,” the kirin said as she put Squeaks down so she could say hello to the others, “glad you’re here to hear it,” she said in a lower tone so the others wouldn’t hear.

“That bad?” Sapphire asked, frowning in worry.

“Like I said, long story but what it comes down to is that we kept Equestria safe for another day; until the next thousand year evil in a can pops out,” Midnight told her, picking up her duffle bag and heading towards their room.

“How did everything go with Twilight?” Sapphire asked as she followed, remembering what Midnight had told her before they left.

Midnight grunted as she dropped the bag on the bed. ““Oh Twilight, far better that I have a student who understands the meaning of self-sacrifice than one who only looks out for her own best interests,” sure thing Miss “Only you alone can do this”. At least I got her to agree to let the bearers keep the Elements with them at all times now; Luna helped with that. Also, the new hooves and recruits handled the situation well, so the bearer guard should be a well-oiled machine before too long. I still need to go back and see Celestia about what to do with Umbra.”

Sapphire frowned. “What happened?”

“Nothing bad, she just helped Spike bring the Crystal Heart to Cadance, which is what stopped the evil king from taking over the world-” two quick chirps came from the living room “-and I think she should be rewarded for that.”

Sapphire hummed thoughtfully. “I remember that there were some unofficial ranks in the guards, something like “squad leader” or “platoon leader”, like everyone is the same rank but someone is designated as the leader of the group. Maybe something like that?”

Midnight nodded. “I’ll have to ask Shining and Night Skimmer about that; I was too busy with everything else going on to really have a proper discussion with Shining at the time. I also need to remember to find us a field medic.” She sighed and drew Sapphire into the shadowy embrace of her wings. “Besides that, Twilight is still Celestia’s student, Equestria is safe, you and Squeaks are safe,” she nuzzled the pegasus, “the bearer guard is ready for whatever’s next, and even Shoal is more easy going and willing to listen than I thought. With all that in mind, tomorrow actually seems like it’ll be nice.”

Author's Note:

And that's that for the season opener! This ride has begun in earnest.

In all truthfulness, this was the season I was looking forward to the most, not because it has my favorite episodes in it (hello season 2) but because this is the season where pretty much everything I've built up in the past two seasons gets paid off, as well as putting all the writing skills I've learned up to now being put to the test with half the season being original, not-based-off-an-episode chapters.

I'm looking forward to what this season brings.