Of Magic and Clockwork

by Midnight_Tempest

Chapter 6: Up the Creek

The air felt damp, heavy and there was the sounds of creaking metal all around him, yet it was the slamming of the cell's door that brought Midnight back to consciousness. His head throbbed from the blow he took, but that didn't bother him. His personal effects were gone, all but his eye patch. 'No, not like this. It wasn't supposed to be this way. My cloak, its gone!' He looked himself over, multiple times, and calmed down slightly. 'What luck, the spell is still unbroken.' Midnight attempted to use his magic to teleport himself to safety, to only find that he couldn't even lift a feather from the ground. Something was sealing his magic away.

He had plenty of time to think, now. There were no guards outside his cell door, no guards in the hall either. 'It's the cell, made of a rare metal that nullifies magic. It seals away the use of magic, but does not break spells that were cast before entering the cell.' His analysis was correct as he had worked with a small amount of the material in his experiments, to think there was a cell made completely of it was astounding. The minutes and hours dragged on as Midnight attempted to discern the reason behind his current predicament. His temper finally reached its boiling point after the 5th hour in that cell. "I demand to know why I have been imprisoned! Where is my trial! I've done nothing wrong!" His words rang through the halls of the dungeon, and not another thing would be heard except for sobbing.

"Sister, it has been 5 hours since we brought him here. Should we not be speaking to him?" Princess Luna looked to her sister as they stood on the terrace.

"Not yet, Luna. But I do wish to inspect the belongings we took off of him." Luna nodded and walked back into the palace. "I have already taken the liberty of moving them to the general study, sister." Celestia smiled. "Very good, now we shall see if this stallion is guilty or not."

It was another 3 hours before the guards finally came for Midnight. He was held down and a 'cap' was placed over his horn, it was made of the same material as his cell. His hooves were cuffed and his mouth bound, and he was then dragged from his cell to meet with the Princesses.

The sun had already risen when he was brought before his jury. The looks on their faces told him all he needed, they had already found him guilty. Guilty of a crime he was never even told about, but a crime none-the-less. More tears began to fall from his face and his sobs were the only sound heard in the throne room. Princess Luna motioned for his mouth to be unbound.

"You truly are a coward, aren't you?" Celestia's words cut Midnight, but also confused him. "Your plans, your devices. You had been plotting this for a very long time, haven't you?" His tears stopped and his mind began to race, what is it that she is speaking of. "I'm sure you must know what happens to traitors..."

Traitor? The word danced around in his head and left a bitter taste on his lips. "I am no traitor."

"Do not speak your lies here, warmonger!" His notes and plans, all the pages about Scientia and her experiments, fell before him. "You seized the blueprints to your weapons when we captured you, you have been designing these devices for the ponies in the north and they are now on the march!"

'What? No... this cannot be possible...' Midnight struggled as the princess continued to describe his crimes. The guards gave him a firm hit that brought him to his knees. "These are not weapons! They were never meant to be weapons! I only wanted to make devices to make pony lives simpler, I would never make these into weapons!"

"Enough with your lies! How many of these devices does Sun-rock possess? How many flying contraptions did you make for his army!"

The mention of his brother was like a dagger to the heart. Why would he be mobilizing an army, what would make him do such a thing. Then the answer came to him, along with a feeling that he was drowning. "No... no... no no... no no no... nonononononono..." He slammed his head against the floor in anger, but not at his brother but at his own foolishness.

Midnight's reaction was too sincere, to pure to be faked. Princess Luna could sense this. "Sister, these actions do not seem to be of a warmonger or an arms dealer. I believe we may have the wrong pony..."

"No..." Midnight's voice was shaking with sadness and anger. "No... it was me... it was... me..." This confession came as a shock to Princess Luna, she was absolutely adamant that he was no criminal. "Look... look at my notes... pages 52 and... 53..." Luna walked over to the pile of paper and searched for the pages he mentioned, and showed them to him. "Yes... those... please read them aloud..."

Luna looked to her sister, searching for her approval. Celestia sighed and gave a nod. 'Item number 591, a device that I have dubbed the 'Magic Bleeder'. This device is made of a special metal that I have discovered in the Ever-free Forest. It can be found naturally in deep caves and needs no refinement, it can be used as is. The metal his an amazingly unique quality in that it can absorb magical energy at a uniform rate, as well as release that energy at the same uniform rate. This astonishing metal has brought my work to a new level, for now I have no fears of my devices exploding anymore...' The princesses were silent afterwards, it seemed that they had missed that important piece of information. "So what does this have to do with Sun-rock's army?"

Midnight lifted his head enough to look at the younger princess. "It is probably the reason behind the formation of his army. He would never do something like this without justifying it. He was always smart but I never thought he would be violent..."

Luna stepped closer to Midnight, kneeling down so she could hear him better. "You speak of him as if you know him, were you an acquaintance of his when you were younger?"

"I do know him, Princess. I know him quite well, or at least I thought I did." His eye locked with Luna's and his expression became very serious. "For you see, I am his brother..."

Luna stepped back in shock and Celestia began to deny his claim outright. "Impossible! Sun-rock had but one brother and he was declared deceased over 15 years ago, there is no way that you could be his brother." She ordered the guards to drag Midnight back to his cell.

He struggled, there was no way he was going to remain in that cell if war was going to engulf Equestria. "I am Midnight Tempest of House Scientia!" Princess Celestia turned away from him as he yelled out his name. There was only one thing she would respond to now. "History can, and mostly likely will repeat itself! Like the face of a clock, everything, including time, will come full circle!"

'Only a blood member of that family could know that saying. But he was declared dead. Was it all just a cover up for war?' Celestia stopped the guards and order the shackles removed, as well as the cap that was placed on his horn. "I must apologize for how we have treated you Midnight. The only time I saw you was soon after you were born." Her tone was full of regret and sorrow. "Oh... you have your mother's eyes... um... eye..."

"Thank you, Princess and no apologies are necessary. You are only doing your duty to keep Equestria safe, I am the one that should apologize. My ambition made me blind to the true dangers my experiments posed." He cracked his neck and raised a hoof to remove the eye patch. The sound of ticking and the turning of gears began, as the Princesses looked in shock. "But rest assured when I say this, I will stop this madness. Even if it's the last thing I do. Sun-rock only has one of my designs, and it is only a half finished design at best." A rush of magic energy began to form around Midnight. "I have the only completed device that has come from my experiments." The energy faded and revealed his final secret. "This, is my 'Ace in the Hole', your majesties."