All Hail, Midnight Sparkle!

by MisterEdd

Darkest Night, Brightest Dawn

It'd been too long since Princess Luna had enjoyed a good fight. In the old days, it wasn't uncommon for a fight to break out every ten minutes or so, whether they were a duel to defend the honor of oneself or a loved one or a simple good ol' fashioned brawl for the sake of it. And Luna reveled in it. During her reeducation on modern Equestrian etiquette, however, Luna had been thrown for a loop when she discovered how much the times truly had changed. Now, if somepony bumped into you on the street or used a derogatory remark, you couldn't knock them flat out without being arrested on the spot. Although pleased with many of the changes brought about within the past millennium, the restriction on violence made Luna's rare moments of free time, well, frankly speaking, boring.

This, however, was not even close to what she wanted.

Luna, much like any normal pony, desired many things for herself. One such desire was recognition for being the Princess of the Night and Guardian of the Dream Realm rather than just as the revered Princess Celestia's sister. Granted, she'd been accepted back into society but despite the best efforts of Celestia and Twilight Sparkle, she still felt like an outsider in her own home. Sometimes it was as if she wasn't merely Princess Luna but rather one of the Royal Sisters. She understood that her absence meant that her sister had to pick up the slack for the both of them and thusly became Equestria's almost-deified public figure and defender but it didn't mean that she wasn't in the least bit jealous of that fact.

A smaller, more simple desire was to be given the chance to bludgeon a foe with a war-hammer without being reprimanded. The thing about wish fulfillment was that sometimes Fate, gods, goddesses, et cetera, had a really wicked sense of humor. To that end, Luna received her wish for a worthy battle befitting a warrior of her caliber, albeit in the form of her newly-discovered dead twin sister. Who was also a powerful and megalomaniacal enchantress Tartarus-bent on conquering the land. And subjecting the inhabitants into loving and obeying her via the magic of the Crystal Heart.

Sometimes...I hate my life.

Shaking off the metaphorical dust, Luna leapt into action, joining Celestia and Cadence, along with their former foe Sombra, in battling Midnight for the freedom of Equestria. Conjuring a pair of arming swords, she attacked one of Midnight's shields while Sombra hacked away at the other with an ebony battle-ax, the green glow of his eyes burning intensely. Cadence was keeping a telekinetic hold on Midnight's left hind leg, straining with the effort of attempting to wrangle her. The young mare was not a combative spell caster, due to both her upbringing during peace times and her position as the Princess of Love. Luna supposed that Cadence could've used her love magic to pacify Midnight but then again, the latter had thus proved herself incapable of feeling anything other than contempt and cruelty so that idea went out the proverbial window.

Celestia sent out a length of golden rope that ensnared Midnight's right foreleg and coiled around her barrel. Uttering a snarling grunt, Midnight combined her two shields, the constructs swirling to create a large bubble around her before expelling it outward in a multi-directional shock-wave. Celestia and Luna had managed to enact their barriers just in the nick of time so it was only a slight nudge for them. Cadence would've taken the full brunt of the blast if not for Sombra, who'd managed to convert into a shadowy cloud and zip over to her side, a black wall keeping the pair of them safe. While Midnight was distracted, Luna took the opportunity to land a hit on her, striking her in the stomach and followed it up with a one-two combo on her right and left cheeks respectively.

Following her sister's lead, Celestia unleashed a continuous double-pronged stream from her horn, knocking Midnight right into Luna's beam, assaulting her on two fronts. Throughout the whole ordeal, Luna was conflicted by her dueling animosity and admiration for the mare's combat prowess but she was a warrior and warriors had no use for such emotions whilst deep in the thick of battle. She shoved her thoughts to the side, concentrating on keeping Midnight's attention focused on her and Celestia. A black claw wrapped around Midnight's torso while a bubbling aura seized her around the throat. Cadence joined Sombra, her own blue magic creating a series of chains around her wings and limbs.

From elsewhere, the combatants heard:

"Now!"

Six glowing mares ascended into the air, a corona of white light surrounding them. Midnight, recognizing the familiar formation, thrashed and struggled against her captors like a wild beast but they all held fast in spite of her frenzied motions.

"No, no! Let me go! Not agaaaaaaain!"

A geyser of rainbow-colored energy leapt out of the sextet and struck the dark alicorn, wrenching a cry of anguish out of her. Luna, followed by her compatriots, relinquished their hold on Midnight, allowing the Elements of Harmony to do their job and purging Equestria of the villainess. The force of the impact sent Midnight slamming into the ground, the mare's screams refusing to abate as the kaleidoscopic beam ensnared her within a swirling helix. Luna frowned at this display.

Why aren't the Elements working? Something should've happened by now.

Just then, Spike levitated towards the six bearers, the golden heart-shaped gem radiating a powerful luminescence of its own.

A new Element?!

Gilded light erupted from Spike, the pillar joining its brethren and wrapping around Midnight. Now powered by a seventh Element, the rainbow beam transfigured into an egg-shaped structure, cutting off Midnight's protestations. Their task complete, the Elements depowered and allowed their bearers to touch down on solid earth. Luna soon joined the ponies and dragon, along with Celestia, Cadence and Sombra. Together, they all stared puzzled at the swirling, iridescent ovoid.

"So what is it?" Applejack questioned.

"It looks like...an egg?" Pinkie ventured, equally confused.

"What do we do-...?"

Rainbow's inquiry was cut off, a low rumbling emitted from the egg before it cracked and exploded.

Everyone shut their eyes and reopened them once the brilliance subsided. In place of Midnight, they found a unicorn filly curled up in the fetal position. Her coat was a dark purple, her mane black with violet and dark Persian-blue streams. With a light moan, she opened her eyes, revealing twin orbs of light sapphire. Slowly, the filly stumbled to her hooves in little rocking motions.

"Is that...Midnight?" Rarity asked in disbelief.

"It's Midnight as she really is," Twilight replied cryptically. "The real Midnight."

Something patted Luna on the foreleg and she found Spike staring up at her expectantly.

"You should go over to her."

She looked down at the drake, then over at the filly.

"What...what would I even say?"

Spike smiled warmly. "Say what comes from your heart."

Sighing, Luna reluctantly made her way over to the filly, still wary of her foe even in her diminutive state.

"Midnight..."

Hearing her name, the filly spun around and aimed her horn at the newcomer, the appendage draped in a cover of brilliant mulberry light.

"What do you want?" Midnight demanded, her eyes filling up with tears. "Haven't you taken enough from me?"

Luna stopped in mid-step. Twilight's words finally made sense. This wasn't some terrifying enemy to Equestria. This was just a hurt little filly lashing out at a world she thought had done her wrong.

"Midnight, please stop. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Stay back!"

Undaunted, Luna continued her stride until she was directly in front of Midnight. The filly's breaths came out in short, ragged bursts. Plopping down, Luna took a seat and studied her twin sister.

"Why do you want to hurt me so badly?"

"'Why'? You're asking why?!" Midnight shrieked incredulously. She sniffled, "Because it's not fair! How come you, and everypony else, gets a chance at life? How come I'm the one that doesn't get to be happy?" Midnight's horn powered down, tears tumbling down her cheeks. "I didn't do anything wrong," she resumed, all traces of anger vacating her voice. "I was being punished for something but I didn't do anything!" Her weeping intensified. "I just wanted to live."

Luna nodded, then peered back at Spike. He smiled and made a shooing motion.

She lightly patted Midnight on the back, the motion causing the filly to jump.

"Wh-what are you doing?!"

"Shhh, it's alright." Luna leaned over and drew Midnight into her embrace.

"No! Let me go!" The filly growled, squirming in Luna's grasp. She kept at it until finally going limp, even nuzzling her face into Luna's chest. "This...it's so...warm."

"It's called, 'a hug.'"

"'A hug...' it's nice..."

It then dawned on Luna that Midnight had never experienced affection before. Perhaps her animosity was due to never knowing what love and kindness felt like and thus she lashed out. Luna drew back so that she could observe Midnight, whose features had softened greatly. Perhaps this could've all been avoided if she'd tried to talk to Nightmare/Midnight, to befriend her and hear her side of things instead of fighting her. Perhaps, she could've even convinced her to abandon her plans of domination.

"Midnight, I'm sorry for what happened to you. You didn't deserve it and I didn't want it. If I could've switched places with you, so that you lived instead of me, I would've made it so."

Midnight sniffled. "Do you mean it?"

"I do...my sister."

One of Midnight's hooves turned white, then transparent before vanishing altogether.

Luna gasped in horror. "What's happening?!" She jerked her head around. "What is this?!"

"An eidolon is a spirit of wrath and vengeance," Sombra answered solemnly. "Her anger was the only thing keeping her tethered to this realm. Without it, she has no reason to be here."

"Well, you have to do something!" Luna pleaded. "Please, somepony do something!"

More and more of Midnight continued to dematerialize. "Thank you, Luna. F-for being there..."

"Midnight, don't, stop!"

"He's coming. I felt his evil back at the castle," Midnight wheezed.

"Who's coming?" Midnight didn't answer; she was fading fast, now only reduced to a head. Luna shook her head, feeling her eyes fill up with tears. "Midnight?"

The filly peered up at Luna through half-closed lids. "It doesn't...it doesn't hurt...anymore..."

With that, Midnight was gone.

Comments

[Weirdly Normal Human]

Curse you for making me want to cry...

[PearlyDoesStuff]

F. o7

[Thranx]

Aw poo. Now, she's gone. Well, at least she's in pony heaven now.