The Nightblade

by There Is Nothing Here

Corruption

"I'm sorry sister, but I must do this. For Equestria!"

Celestia's horn shined bright and a blinding light flashed on the balcony of Canterlot's Main Castle.

"Celestia! I'll be back and I'll drown this world in eternal night!"

Princess Luna slowly faded away until the last shimmer of her body was gone. The white alicorn turned around and exited the balcony without a word. Her most trusted advisers and lieutenants followed her. All but one.

The earth pony, known as Midnight remained behind. He was Celestia's best and most agile assassin. Things were different back then, Equestria was not the civilized land as most people know. It wasn't a wonderful land full of happiness and friendship. The world was a dark place ever since Princess Luna had gone insane. She made multiple attempts to make the night last forever so that ponies everywhere would see the beauty of her creation.

As Celestia and Luna constantly argued over who would maintain control over Equestria. As Celestia was constantly at war with her sister, law and order fell out of place in Equestria. As a result crime in Equestria had increased due to the lack of security as most officials were constantly trying to quell their leaders arguments. One night, Celestia had called Midnight, one of her guards into her quarters. She said that she recognized his swift and agile nature, and as a result made him her assassin. He was to keep order in Equestria while the trifles with her sister continued. He was ordered however not to kill any pony unless ordered, or unless they resisted. Midnight gladly accepted the position. Celestia removed his armor and gave him a dark gray tunic for his body, a black cape and a small blade with a small image of a crescent moon inscribed on the handle.

For months to come, Midnight worked in shadows, bringing criminals to justice and eliminating any necessary targets in the process. But after a long time of strife and suffering, Luna had been banished, and "peace" was restored, for now anyways.

Midnight looked up at the moon in the night sky. The wind blew against his cloak, pushing the hood off of his head and exposing his long purple mane and black coat. He began to shiver from the cold breeze. He pulled his head back over his head and entered the castle.

---

The days following Luna's banishment were barely any different than the previous crisis. Crime continued to spin out of control, even beyond the control of Midnight and the guards. Celestia sat in her throne all day, rejecting any entries into her quarters.

Midnight was dealing with a few petty thieves down by the main gate when an officer approached him.

"Sir Midnight, Princess Celestia has requested your presence in the castle immediately."

"Fine, make sure these 3 are dealt with."

Midnight mostly spoke in a very hushed but serious and severe tone. He tossed the thief to the ground and dashed towards the castle. The assassin stopped in front of the castle door. He stuck out his hoof and slowly opened the doors. As he passed through the halls of Celestia's castle he noticed that no pony was in the castle, none of Celestia's lieutenants or her advisers. The castle was bare. He approached Celestia's quarters slowly and knocked on the door. Nothing. He knocked again, when he heard a whisper from behind the door.

"Come in."

The black pony opened the door and entered Celestia's room.

Celestia was sitting in the corner of the room, facing the wall.

"Princess?"

"Come here Midnight."

Celestia spoke in a very light whisper, soft enough that Midnight could barely make out what she said. He approached the alicorn.

"Do you think I did the right thing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Was it the right thing to do to banish Luna. I mean, she was my sister, maybe we could have worked it out."

"Princess, you saw what had happened to Luna, that... that wasn't your sister. That was a tyrant in the making."

Celestia turned around and stood up. She looked down into Midnight's eyes.

"What if she's right? What if this world is destined for darkness? What if Equestria is doomed to bow to the eternal night?"

Midnight didn't speak. He couldn't believe that the ruler of Equestria was acting this way. Something was wrong with her. The assassin remained silent, he just continued staring at Celestia.

Finally, the white alicorn broke the silence.

"You may go."

The Princess turned her head and exited her quarters.

"Something's wrong."

As Midnight left the castle he was stopped by Celestia's main adviser, Thalma.

"So what did the Princess want?"

"Nothing, leave me alone Thalma."

"Oh come on Midnight, don't hide things from me. I'm not stupid, tell me what she said."

Midnight began slowly walking away. Thalma grabbed Midnight and turned him around.

"You're gonna tell me what she said Midnight. I have higher authority around here than you do."

"If you don't let go of me, we'll see how much authority you have with a blade in your throat."

The mare released her grip from Midnight.

"So be it." Thalma hissed as she walked into the castle.

---

The next morning Celestia was going to be giving a speech in the town square to officially announce her plans after Luna's banishment. She had ordered her top advisers and guards to be at her side. Midnight, Thalma, Varkil, captain of the guard, and Talon, captain of the weather control.

While Midnight held a dear hatred for Thalma, he knew any conflict with her would upset the Princess. Besides, no matter how much he threatened her, Thalma was a powerful unicorn, her magical powers only matched by the Princess herself.

Midnight arrived at town square where Talon and Varkil were already waiting. Varkil wore his heavy silver steel armor. Everyone wondered how he could even move in it, it must have weighed a ton, then again, he was a very large stallion. Talon on the other hand wore his weather suit which protected him from lightning and the rain so he could easily maintain the weather.

"Where's the Princess?"

"She's on her way." Talon replied.

"And Thalma?"

"Probably right next to her, she's such a kissflank. I don't see how the Princess never notices that she's always under her damn hooves." Varkil replied.

Varkil always expressed whatever he had on his mind and didn't care what other people had to say about it. But given his size and strength, no pony really complained.

"Come on Varkil watch it. You wouldn't want any pony to hear you."

Normally Varkil would have had a reply, but as the Princess approached the stand he shut his mouth. And sure enough, Thalma was right next to her.

"Citizens of Canterlot!"

Celestia's voice boomed louder than a thunderstorm.The crowd shuddered and covered their ears as she spoke.

"I am sure you all know of Princess Luna's banishment. I want you to be aware that this had to be done to preserve peace! From now on, I shall govern the rising and setting of the moon and sun!"

Celestia continued on with her speech for quite some time, addressing new changes that would take place. Until she said something that really got every pony's attention.

"From now on I'm having much tighter security. Crime in Equestria has been out of control lately, so, my lead assassin has taken on the role to clean this up."

Midnight looked in shock at Celestia.

"He has already agreed to show no mercy to everyone and anyone who breaks the law regardless of the crime! And anyone who does so, will meet the tip of his blade!"

Midnight was an assassin, but he barely resorted to killing, and even when he did he preferred to incapacitate them by choking them but he rarely used his blade. He saved it for when a target realized his presence and began attacking.

The rest of the ponies looked at Midnight with disgust. No pony seemed to realize that Celestia had given him the authority to do so. Thalma let out a giggle as the crowd stared at Midnight. Celestia dismissed the crowd and walked towards the castle. Midnight approached Celestia and stood in her way, something no pony ever dared to do.

"What was that about?"

"What do you mean Midnight?"

"I never agreed to mindlessly kill every criminal, whether they be petty or evil."

Celestia's eyes suddenly changed and her tone immediately switched.

"You're going to do as your Princess commands you!"

The assassin backed away from the alicorn.

"Now please, go!"

Midnight walked away from Celestia with his head held low. What the hell was going on? He looked up and saw Thalma, standing right in front of him. The light green unicorn stood still with a big smirk on her face.

"You may not be able to get information out of. But the Princess is. I don't understand why you didn't tell me, it's no big deal that the princess thinks that this world is doomed to be enshrouded in darkness."

"Get out of my way Thalma, I'm not in the mood."

"Oooo what are you gonna do? Stab me? Get real Midnight, you can't and won't do anything to me."

Midnight hesitated to respond. If he kept arguing with her, eventually he would lose his cool and end up stabbing her.

"Come on Midnight. Do it. I can see the look in your eyes that you want to. Go ahead. Draw your blade, see how far it gets you."

Midnight could feel his hoof reaching for his blade. He felt the tip of the cold knife on the bottom of his hoof. Thalma's smile began to grow.

The black pony lowered his hoof and walked away. Thalma walked away, laughing quietly to herself.

As Midnight walked home no pony would even look at him. Based on what Celestia had said, he was to kill anyone who committed the slightest infraction, even so much as stealing a piece of food. He approached the front door of his house, when he felt a hoof on his shoulder. It was Talon.

"Hey, I know you're shaken up about that speech, but it'll all work out. I'll find out what the hell's going on here even if it means abandoning my duties as weather captain."

Midnight was happy to hear that some pony sympathized him.

"Oh, but I have bad news too."

Midnight lifted his head and looked Talon in the eyes.

"Celestia has ordered that Varkil executes all of prisoners in Canterlot jail. She also plans to do it in secrecy and she wants to tell the public a phony story about a jailbreak."

"No pony would believe that all the prisoners had escaped! And Celestia is crazy for even thinking about this! She's gone mad!"

"I know Midnight. But what can we do. Thalma will no doubt side with Celestia if we confront her, and me, you and Varkil stand no chance against those two. For now all we can do is lay low and gather information."

"This isn't right. Some of the ponies in Canterlot jail are just petty thieves that have been their for a few weeks! We can't just do no..."

Midnight stopped as Talon glared into his eyes.

"Don't lose your cool. You're one of the only sane ponies left in this town who can think for themselves. Every pony else here thinks you're a bad guy, but not Celestia for ordering it. So watch yourself. And, if there is a thievery, I suggest you do what Celestia orders."

Even though Talon knew the intensity of the situation, he still suggested that Midnight murder any wrongdoers. But what else could he do, stand up to Celestia himself? No, that would be suicide, especially in the state she was in now. For now, all he could do was obey orders and let this play out.

---

Midnight awoke the next morning, and went straight to Canterlot castle. He made every attempt to avoid any citizens, he didn't want to witness anything that would force him to... obey Celestia's orders.

As he entered the main hall he heard a loud noise from the basement. It sounded like a chunk of metal hitting the ground with tremendous force. He rushed into the basement, only to see something more horrifying than anything else in Equestrian history. There was a long line of ponies, shackled in chains, and at the end of that line stood Varkil and the elite city guard. Behind them stood Princess Celestia.

He knew what was happening, and he couldn't bare to watch it. Varkil looked at him, with a helpless look in his eyes. He was paralyzed with fear as Princess Celestia stood behind him, staring at him like a hawk. Even Varkil, who had been in the field of battle many times, was no murderer. He couldn't take slaughtering all of these defenseless ponies. Execution was a method never used by the ponies of Equestria, it was thought to be too cruel for another pony to mindlessly kill another. This violated everything that Equestria stood for, and the cause of it, was it's own ruler.

Midnight walked up the stairs as he heard the swing of Varkil's battleaxe followed by tons of bloodcurdling screams. As he reached the top of the stairs, Thalma stood at the top.

"Looks like Princess Celestia finally grew a brain. It was about time she ordered those worthless excuses for ponies to be killed. All they did was take up room and supplies that should be going towards important people like me, and maybe even you."

Midnight didn't answer her. He just continued walking. As he stepped outside, he felt no warmth. Even though the sun was out and it was a bright, sunny day, Midnight felt only the chill of death. He began walking towards his house, when he heard an alarm go off. He looked to his left, and saw a rogue pony jet out of one of the local banks with two large sacks strapped to his back, obviously filled with stolen money.

The rogue thief snickered as he looked behind him at the bank. But as he looked in front of him he froze in shock. He looked straight into Midnight's dark blue eyes. He felt as if death was staring him in the face. The thief dropped to the ground and begged Midnight not to kill him.

"Well Midnight. What are you waiting for."

Midnight turned around and there was Princess Celestia, watching over him.

"You know my orders... Do it."

Midnight began shivering vigorously. Everyone in town square was watching him, a simple sunny day to them had just turned into a public execution.

"Midnight, you're an assassin. You have my orders. OBEY THEM!"

Midnight shuddered at the Princesses booming voice. He slowly reached for his blade. The sun reflected off of the metal as he removed it from the case. He held it close to his face and looked at the crescent moon inscribed on the handle, he began to remember the day Celestia handed him that blade, as a symbol of justice, not murder and tyranny.

The thief looked up, at Midnight. A tear dripped from his left eye as he began to beg for his life.

The assassin felt so much pity for this one pony. He had made one mistake, and he was to pay with his life for it. No matter how stupid he was to do it when Midnight had orders to kill any thieves, he still felt so bad for this poor soul.

Midnight felt another presence behind him. And then one more. He looked behind him and Thalma and Talon stood at Celestia's sides. Thalma smirked and spit on the thief, she then looked at Midnight, and winked at him. She was such a bitch, and the black assassin would love for nothing more than the chance to get his hooves around that mare's throat. Talon looked at Midnight and then at the thief, and then back at Midnight. He had a helpless look in his eyes, the same look in the eyes of the prisoners as they were being executed.

Once more, Midnight looked at Princess Celestia. Her facial expression remained the same. Her face showed no emotion, no pity, no mercy.

"Do it."

Midnight looked at the thief and gripped the blade in his hoof. He raised his hoof in the air.

"NOOOOOO!!!"

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[There Is Nothing Here]

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