All Hail, Midnight Sparkle!

by MisterEdd

At the Stroke of Midnight

There was a brilliant white flash and Spike found himself hurtling through a pillar of darkness and clouds of writhing light particles. Hitting an invisible wall, he awoke back in the Crystal Empire with a deep gasp, jerkily yanking himself forward into a sitting position. His head rocked around atop his neck, eyes glancing in multiple directions while his equilibrium worked overtime to correct itself. Digging his claws into the earth, Spike remained stationary long enough for the vertigo to subside, his double vision clearing enough to where he caught a glimpse of Sombra awakening, the stallion lifting himself on trembling limbs and groaning aloud. A series of pops and cracks accompanied his jerky movements.

"Við skegg föður míns...ugh." Sombra shook his head, dark mane tumbling around his face before peering at his draconic companion. "Are you alright, Spike?"

Raising a claw to answer, Spike suddenly felt something punching his innards and he rolled over, wincing as he emptied the contents of his stomach. Two minutes later, and he was empty though the queasiness sadly remained. He stared down at the mess curiously.

When did I have carrots?

"Don't get discouraged."

Spike turned his head upward to find Sombra standing next to him.

"The same thing happened my first time mind-probing too."

"Right...thanks." Dusting off his knees, Spike hauled himself to one foot, his other leg fully asleep. "I'll just..."

He quickly lost his balance, nearly falling face-first into the ground when a red aura caught him and held him in place. Unsurprisingly, the glow around Sombra's horn served as confirmation as to the reason he was currently suspended. Spike chuckled awkwardly and gave Sombra a thumb's up.

"Heh, th-thanks."

One corner of Sombra's mouth tilted upward in a half-smirk.

"Anytime."

His expression darkened. "Now come on, let's join the others. This isn't over yet."

~*~

Midnight drew in a prolonged inhale through her nostrils and exhaled it loudly.

"Oh now this is exquisite," she grinned and then tapped her chin with a hoof inquisitively, eyes drifting downward to examine the new limb. Shaking her head slightly, she continued on her train of thought.

"Now where was I? Where was...? Oh! I remember..."

A coil of crackling dark blue energy slithered around Princess Luna's throat and she was slowly dragged once more into the air.

"...You were going to tell me where you hid the Crystal Heart."

"Midnight..." Luna gasped.

"Aunt Luna!" Princess Cadence wept.

"Stop it!" Princess Celestia shouted weakly. "Leave her alone!"

Midnight whirled on Celestia. "You're in no position to order me around, Tia. Now be silent, or I'll start removing your teeth, one at a time." Her gaze darted to the Element Bearers, who were all still crowded around the unconscious Twilight. "And the rest of you better not try anything funny or it's good night forever to your precious Princess Luna."

Not one of them made a move.

"Good. Now tell me where you hid it! Where is the Crystal Heart?!"

"...c-candy shop...behind..." Luna wheezed. "...behind counter of...r-rock candy station..."

The energy dissipated and Luna was dropped unceremoniously like a sack of potatoes.

"Was that so hard?" Midnight smirked sinisterly. "Thank you ever so much, sister."

Lightly kissing Luna's brow, she then addressed the others: "And thank you all for being so accommodating. I'll remember this when I'm queen-..."

A cone-shaped mass of bubbling black and purple energy slammed into Midnight, tossing her a block away and into the side of a house hard enough to leave a cobweb of cracks in the structure's surface. Before she could comprehend what was going on, a black aura gripped her, squeezed, and launched her back towards her starting point. Two blasts soon followed: one sending her flying into the air and the second actually arching down to smash her into the ground. All heads turned to find a smoke-like mass snaking over to the fallen alicorn, a pair of green eyes burning within. To no one's surprise, the mass melted away to reveal a very agitated looking Sombra, purple vapor trailing from around his eyes as he shot Midnight a startling death glare.

"Sombra?" Midnight slowly rose and gave her wings a quick beat. "Sombra, dear, what are you doing here? How are you here?"

"Thanks to them, I managed to break free of your little spell," he declared venomously. "You trapped me in a false reality, gave me things I could never have, preyed on my hopes and dreams."

"Ah, ah, ah, aren't you forgetting something?" Although Midnight's voice was level, her expression, along with the bead of sweat that ran down her temple, betrayed her nervousness. "I wasn't the one that freed you from Slumberland." She pointed at the group of ponies watching the proceedings. "You were living out your fantasies until they dragged you out of it, they forced you back into the fray. Meanwhile, I was the one who gave you everything you ever wanted. If anything, you should direct your grievances towards them."

Sombra's ireful gaze never wavered, crimson eyes narrowing at her. "No...you condemned me to a torture worse than death. What I had...it was and never could be real. To think, I found someone crueler and more devious than I."

Midnight sighed, "You know, I was actually beginning to like you. Oh well."

Torrents of light shot from Midnight's horn, pelting her foe, who had reverted once more to his shadow form, the magic beams harmlessly flying past him as he wove his way past them. Any holes that'd managed to puncture the shape instantaneously repaired themselves before it reformed itself into Sombra's regular pony form. Planting a foreleg on the ground, Sombra conjured a shadow that snaked towards Midnight and a series of tendrils erupted upward, grabbing at the mare's torso, wings, horn, and muzzle. Undaunted, Midnight released several arches of light that formed a giant cage around her before spinning like a top, eviscerating the tendrils and sending them back to their master. Sombra responded with a massive magical blast that scraped across the ground and crashed point-blank into Midnight, covering the nearby land in a thick layer of smoke.

Once the smoke cleared, however, Midnight stood unscathed, the attack failing to make any perceptible damage.

"Well that was disappointing," she remarked glibly.

How? How could she be able to withstand such attacks without even a scratch?

Reaching out with his senses, Sombra detected the subtle usage of dark magic hanging like a cloud around Midnight. It was a technique, one old yet effective, the kind he never learned but was familiar with and kicked himself for not recognizing it earlier. Despite his rage, he had to give her credit for utilizing it in such a useful way. Drawing in the thaumaturgical energy around him, Sombra released it in a large dome, pushing it past the dark alicorn and drawing it back into his horn. With his de-cloaking charm in effect, the spell could be seen as plain as day, much to the horror of everyone in attendance.

Wriggling, semi-transparent appendages flowed from out of Midnight's chest, reaching out over the battlefield like many pulsating serpents and plunged deep into each princess. Summoning an elongated black blade from out of his shadow, Sombra swiftly hacked through the tentacles in one slice, letting them disengage from their host and sputter on the ground before vanishing in pops of mist. As if awakening from a coma, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence each staggered to their hooves, regaining their previously lost vitality. Celestia patted her chest where the tendril once lapped at her flesh like a leech.

"What was that?"

"Very old, very potent maleficium," Sombra explained, somewhat impressed by Midnight's ingenuity. "The Vita Furantur hex, if I'm not mistaken. By feeding on your collective life forces, Midnight was able to reverse any and all damage that she took while keeping you three weak and defenseless."

Something darted towards Sombra and it was only through his split-second dodge that he managed to evade the barbed projectile, one of the edges managing to cut through his left cheek before sailing past him and embedding itself into the ground. Ignoring the wetness seeping down his neck, Sombra turned to find Midnight launching herself in the air, an array of similar spears spinning around her beating wings in interlocking rings.

"Before I was merely angry. Now I'm furious!"

The spears rained down upon everyone, spurring them to separate and seek cover. Rainbow Dash hefted Spike and Twilight beneath each armpit as she zoomed beneath a slanting piece of crystalline debris and waited out the storm. Applejack spun and kicked at the spears, shattering them with her earth pony strength while Pinkie Pie dodged several in an odd, jerky kind of movement that resembled dancing. Rarity deflected some with a raised barrier, a move mimicked by the princesses. Fluttershy wove past the blades raining down on her when her hoof caught in a small hole and she faceplanted into the path of oncoming projectiles.

"FLUTTERSHY!" Rainbow screamed.

The yellow pegasus clamped her eyes shut and held her forelegs out, only to notice the lack of body-piercing agony. Reopening her eyes, she found Sombra standing over her with a kite shield formed out of red energy protecting them both. Dissipating the shield, Sombra peered down at Fluttershy.

"Are you alright?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Good."

Vanishing in a cloud of smoky darkness, Sombra reappeared in front of Midnight, his black aura keeping him afloat. His eyes were pure green and twin hazes of purple flowed around the edges.

"You're going to pay for that," he growled.

"Make me," she challenged.

"Gladly," a third voice jumped in, followed by a beam of golden light that narrowly missed Midnight's head.

Celestia soon joined the battle, followed closely by Luna and Cadence, their horns emitting magical rays that exploded around Midnight. Gold, black, light blue, and dark blue pillars assaulted her from all sides and apart from a small grimace, she showed no signs of negative reaction from the onslaught. Diving, weaving, flipping, Midnight evaded what attacks she could and deflected the rest, now forced to go on the offensive against her four assailants. Aside from the thrill of battle, Midnight, in a twisted sort of way, relished the attention that they were giving her. After more than a millennia of being trapped in another's body, she was finally her own mare, receiving recognition that she'd longed for, even if it meant being as hated and feared as she was.

Besides, she knew something they didn't.

~*~

Back on the ground, Spike and the other ponies were congregating, watching the battle unfolding above them with a mix of awe and trepidation. It wasn't every day that they were privy to a full display of the princesses' abilities in a combat scenario and despite the circumstances, they were all a bit titillated by the event. Spike, like the foals of Equestria, had grown up hearing stories of Princess Celestia as a warrior but to actually witness it, along with the normally sweet Princess Cadence and the elusive Princess Luna, was a truly remarkable experience. And then there was Sombra, the one-time despot and villain, now fighting for Equestria's freedom. The irony was not lost on the drake, though he was more concerned with the welfare of the princesses and his new friend.

Huh. King Sombra is my friend. That'll take some getting used to.

Spike then noticed that both he and Twilight were still held tightly in the crooks of Rainbow's forelegs.

"Hey Rainbow? Could you let us down now?"

Her snapped down in confusion, almost as if she'd forgotten all about them.

"Oh, r-right."

Allowing Spike to wriggle free, Rainbow and Applejack gently laid Twilight onto the ground, being certain to cradle her head. It pained Spike beyond words to see his sister-figure like this and wished that she'd just wake up already.

"What's wrong with her?" Rarity inquired.

"Yeah, she looks really, really bad," Pinkie pointed out sadly.

"Sombra and I managed to help Twilight get control of her body back but she's still out."

"Uh, Spike? If that's th' case, then ain't she supposed t' be gettin' better?"

Applejack brought up a good point. The unconscious alicorn's pallor had gone to a grayish violet, her chest rising and falling with aching deliberateness, expelling little huffs of strained breath. But wait, Twilight had broken free of Midnight's hold over her and expelled her from her body, so why did she still look so frail? She should be awake and healthy by now!

As if reading Spike's thoughts, Twilight let out a moan and slowly blinked her eyes open. The pupils, once bright and full of life, were now dull and listless, like a dying octogenarian's. She turned her head over and released a hacking cough, shivering as she did so. Smacking her lips, she smiled weakly up at Spike.

"Spike..."

She turned her head to glance at the others.

"Girls...it's so nice to see you all."

"It's nice to see you too, Darling."

"Darn tootin', Sugarcube."

"Are you alright?"

Twilight nodded at Fluttershy. "I think so. I'm just...very tired."

Rolling over, Twilight began to stand, only to collapse onto her belly. With some aid from Applejack and Rainbow, she was on her hooves, albeit using the two like a pair of crutches.

"Wh-where is Midnight?"

Spike pointed a claw at the sky.

"We need to end this. Now."

Comments

[Viper Pit]

Very good battle

[MisterEdd]

10652523
Thank you!

[Redwolf777sg]

hopes and dreams