Midnight Star is now a permanant resident of Ponyville, but for some reason, starts having blackouts.
Midnight Star is now a permanent resident of Ponyville, but for some reason, every once in a while, he has these blackouts. When he comes to, something bad has happened in Ponyville, is he responsible for it, or is something else going on? This story is a direct sequel to Secrets
Celestia and Luna were sitting in their throne room hosting day court, it was a rather quiet day that day as they addressed dignitaries from other countries and such. The last dignitary left just as a guard came in to speak with the sisters. He approached and bowed before them. “Your majesties, I have news on the latest sighting.”
Celestia rose from her throne, Luna following suit. “Report, what news do you have?”
The guard rose from his bow and began to speak. “The latest sighting turned out to be another dead end. The pony we searched for was gone, there was no sign of him.”
Celestia was disappointed by this. “Thank you, you are dismissed, please inform me as soon as there is another sighting.”
The guard gave another bow. “Yes princess.” He rose and left the throne room.
Luna looked to her older sister and spoke. “Sister, this pony is proving to be quite elusive, just when we think we find him, he disappears again. I fear we may never find this so called son of Sombra.”
Celestia looked back at her sister. “We will find him Luna, it is only a matter of time before he runs out of places to hide.”
Luna then had a thought. “Sister, if this pony is supposed to be evil, then why has he not made a move against us or our ponies?”
“I don’t know, but we cannot take any chances, he may need to stay in one place for a long time before he makes whatever move he has planned without being discovered.”
Luna then had another thought. “Celestia, what towns has he been to so far, if we narrow down what places he hasn’t been to, then perhaps we can predict where he will show up next?”
Celestia smiled at her sister’s brilliance. “That is excellent thinking. Let’s see, he has been to…..no.” Celestia’s face then became fearful as realization struck her. “He has been to every town in Equestria so far except for Cloudsdale, which is impossible for him to be at, and,”
Luna finished as she realized what her older sister thought of. “Ponyville. We must warn Twilight and her friends.” Luna said in a panic.
Celestia produced a scroll and wrote down a letter for Twilight.
My most faithful student Twilight Sparkle, I must inform you that for the past five years, we have been receiving reports of a pony who may very well be the son of the evil King Sombra. We have reason to belive that he may show up in Ponyville sometime in the future, please be on your guard, I will send some guards to be on the lookout for him soon, whatever you do, please be careful and stay away from him.
Signed, Princess Celestia.
Celestia then sent the scroll on its way to Twilight.
Ponyville
After some strenuous paperwork at Town hall, Midnight Star was able to get his house back. The girls were more than happy to offer their bits to help him buy the place back, but he didn’t want to trouble them anymore than he already had, an agreement was made that he would pay the mayor in monthly payments until the 2000 bits were paid. Midnight Star was more than happy with this since it meant he would have a home again. “I’m terribly sorry for all the confusion Mayor Mare, and thank you again for letting me have the house back, I promise that I will be staying for real.”
“That’s fine, as long as you manage to make the payments we agreed upon.” Mayor Mare said from behind her desk. Midnight Star was going to have to pay 100 bits a month for his house.
Midnight gave a thank you smile and left the office. The six Ponies who managed to convince him to stay were all waiting outside to hear the news. Pinkie was the first to jump in front of him. “Well, did you get it, did you, did you, did you?!” She hopped up and down in anticipation.
Midnight smiled at her. “It’s official, I’m back in Ponyville, I just have to pay 100 bits a month for the house until I make the 2000 bit mark to town hall.”
The girls all cheered. “YAHOO!”
Applejack then came forward. “Well shoot, congratulations partner, but won’t it be difficult to get up the first hundred bits before the end of the month when you have ta restart yer art studio?”
Midnight frowned a little at the question. “Yeah it will, I only have a few bits left. I still have some paint left, and my brushes, sketch book and colored pencils, but not enough to get me a new canvas to make a new painting. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Fluttershy then had a thought. “Well, I could pay you for the painting of that beautiful sunset you gave me, would that help?” She asked rather shyly.
Applejack then had a thought. “Yeah, and you still owe me a paintin I can use to advertise my business, I can pay you right now fer it before you make it.”
Midnight Star smiled big at their offers. “Thank you so much, that will help. Let’s see, for the sunset painting, I guess I can say about…..30 bits for it, does that sound reasonable Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy nodded her head. “Oh, yes, I can pay that, thank you very much Midnight.”
“No, thank you for your offer, and if you want, I could still make that self-portrait of you that you asked me for, but that will have to wait until I get my business really going.”
“That’s fine, I can wait.”
Midnight then turned to Applejack. “And as for your painting for advertisement purposes, I could say the same amount, does that sound fair?”
“Shoot, only 30 bits, I can pay ya a bit more fer it ya know?”
“I know, but I still feel awful for exploding at you like I did when you first asked about my family when I was at your house. I am really sorry about that by the way.”
Applejack gave a reassuring smile. “I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have pressed it when you said you didn’t want ta talk about it.”
Rarity then came forward. “You know darling, I would simply love a self-portrait myself, I would very much like to hire you to make one for me once you get more supplies for your art.”
Midnight Star then looked to Rarity. “Really, you would like to hire me to make a painting for you too?”
“But of course dear, I just know you could make me look fabulous in your art, what do you say?”
“I say you have a deal.”
Pinkie then started bouncing up and down in joy in front of Midnight. “OOH OOH, can you make one for me too, a fun looking party scene with all of us in it having fun?”
Midnight chuckled at Pinkie’s enthusiasm. “*Heh heh* I certainly will, I’ll be sure to do my best for you.” Rainbow Dash then came in. “And you can make one for me too, one that captures my awesomeness.”
Midnight then smirked at her. “I don’t know Rainbow Dash, I’m not sure even I can capture all that ego in my painting.”
Rainbow gave a bit of an angry look. “HEY!” It soon disappeared when she heard Midnight laugh. It was then that she realized he was joking. “Ha ha, very funny Mr. artist.” She said with a smirk.
That elicited every pony to start laughing. Twilight finally spoke up as well. “I would like a painting as well Midnight, perhaps a nice scenic painting for me. Looks like you’ve got your first customers already.”
Midnight Star glanced at all his new friends. “Thank you all so much, with all this business you’re giving me, I’m sure to have the bits I’ll need to not only stock up on art supplies, but also have the bits to make my first months payment.”
Rarity spoke again. “And once we have our paintings, we’ll be sure to let every pony know about how great an artist you are and let them see the wonderful works you make for us.”
Pinkie jumped in again. “Yeah, we’ll also let them know about how great an artist you are before you make our paintings.”
Rainbow chimed in again. “You’re sure to get lots of customers with our help.”
Midnight Star’s smile couldn’t possibly get any bigger. “Thank you all so much, I promise to make each painting a master piece for you all.” They all smiled back. Before leaving for their respective homes, the girls all agreed to go ahead and pay Midnight in advance for his work. They then parted ways from there.
While Midnight Star was busy at town hall with the paper work for getting the house back, Twilight had taken the time to inform Spike of everything that Midnight had told her and her friends. Upon hearing Midnight’s tale from Twilight, Spike felt sad for the guy and a little guilty for what happened to his father. Twilight assured him that Midnight would forgive him too, since he forgave her and her friends. Spike still had yet to meet him though.
Twilight arrived at her library and greeted Spike with a warm smile. “Spike, I’m back, did anything interesting happen while I was gone?”
Spike approached her with a warm smile of his own. “Nope, all quiet here, how did things go at the town hall, does Midnight have his house back?”
“He does, and me and the others are going to be his first customers to help him out and jump start his art studio.”
“That’s good to hear, I can’t wait to meet him myself.” After saying that, Spike felt pressure build up in his stomach, his cheeks puffed out and he let out a belch with green flames, the flames swirled and turned into a scroll.
“A letter from the princess!” Twilight exclaimed.
Spike picked it up and read it out loud for Twilight. Once he finished, Twilight and Spike felt a little panicked. Spike was the first to voice his concerns. “What do we do Twilight, Celestia already knows about Midnight Star and is sending guards here to find him.”
“I-I don’t know, we just have to try and convince Celestia that he isn’t a threat. Spike, take a letter please.”
Spike then ran to get a quill and parchment. Twilight began to dictate as Spike wrote out her words.
Dear Princess Celestia, the pony you are looking for is already here, his name is Midnight Star, but he is not a threat, me and my friends met with him and he is a very nice pony. He’s even a talented artist, It would take a long time to explain his situation, I would be more than happy to tell you all about him in person if you like, but please believe me when I say that he is not a threat.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
Spike then rolled it into a scroll and sent it on its way to Celestia. “I hope your right about this Twilight.” Spike said with concern.
Twilight then went to her room to gather a few bits for Midnight to pay for the painting he would make for her. She figured that this would also be a good opportunity for Spike to finally meet Midnight. She came back down and addressed him. “Spike, why don’t you come with me, this is a good chance for you two to meet.”
“Sure thing Twilight.” Spike happily accepted. He hopped on Twilight’s back and the two made for the door. Just as they stepped out, they were blinded by a brilliant flash. “What the!” Twilight exclaimed. Once she was able to see, Celestia and Luna were now standing before her.
Celestia did not look pleased. She spoke rather sternly. “Where is he Twilight?”
Twilight was stunned to see them in front of her like this. “Princesses.” Spike hopped off Twilight’s back and gave a bow. Twilight quickly followed suit. She got back up and spoke. “What are you doing here?”
Luna answered. “We are here for the pony you told us about. King Sombra’s son, the one named Midnight star, where is he Twilight?”
Twilight and Spike both grew worried. “Princess, he’s not evil, if you would just-“
Celestia cut her off. “WHERE IS HE, I am not about to risk the safety of my beloved subjects! Tell me where he is now Twilight Sparkle!”
Twilight was very fearful now. “Princess, please, calm down, he’s not dangerous!”
Luna took notice of the sincerity in Twilight’s voice, she spoke to try and get her big sister to calm down. “Sister, I believe Twilight may be telling the truth, perhaps you should take a moment to calm yourself.”
Celestia looked to her sister. “Perhaps you are right. Forgive me Twilight, but we have been trying to track him down for five years, then all of a sudden you send a letter telling us that he’s here in Ponyville. It is just very troublesome to try and track some pony down only to find a dead end, then have a positive lead suddenly pop up.” Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Feeling any better big sister?” Luna asked.
Celestia looked at her younger sister as she answered. “Yes, I do feel calmer. Now Twilight, back to the matter at hand, you say that this Midnight Star, who is the son of Sombra , is not evil, correct?”
Twilight smiled a little, glad that Celestia was finally ready to listen. “Yes Princess, he is a very nice pony, and a gifted artist. My friends and I all made the mistake of jumping to the conclusion that he was evil because of him being the son of Sombra.”
Luna then asked. “And how did you all come to find out that his father was Sombra?”
“It’s kind of a long story, but it may surprise you that Sombra wasn’t always evil either. That, however is a story for him to tell.”
Celestia looked to her student with a warm smile. “Would you be willing to take us to him? I would like to hear this tale myself.”
Twilight felt a little relief at this. “Of course Princess, I was just on my way to see him.” Twilight and Spike then led the two princesses to where Midnight Star was.
Upon their arrival, Twilight saw the others gathered at Midnight’s front door with Midnight talking with them. Midnight was smiling as he spoke with his new friends, he then looked up past them and saw Twilight approaching, but then grew quite fearful upon seeing the princesses coming up behind her. He quickly darted in his house and slammed the door, leaving the others with confused and worried expressions.
Twilight saw this and quickly ran up to the others. “Midnight, wait, it’s all right, they just want to talk with you.”
Midnight yelled from behind his door. “GO AWAY, THERES NO PONY HOME!”
Applejack turned to Twilight. “Twi, what in tarnation is goin on here, why did Midnight suddenly rush in like that?”
Celestia spoke to make her presence known. “I believe I am the source of his fears.”
The girls all turned to face the source of the voice. They all exclaimed. “Princess Celestia and Luna!” They all bowed before them.
Rainbow was the first to address them. “Princesses, what are you doing here?” She asked rather nervously.
Luna answered. “We are here to meet with your new friend Midnight Star. Twilight has already informed us of him and we decided to come and meet with him.”
Rarity gave Twilight a look. “Twilight, how much do the princesses know about Midnight?”
Twilight gave a sheepish smile. “Hehe, well, you see……um.”
Before she could answer, Celestia answered for her. “We know enough about him, for now. For the past five years, we have received reports of a pony who may be the son of King Sombra, we have been trying to track him down. Thanks to Twilight, we know he is here, but we will not take action until we hear what he has to say.”
Twilight then turned back to the door. “You see Midnight, they just want to talk with you, please come out.”
A moment passed before the door finally creaked open. “You promise that’s all they want, I’m not going to get dragged off to a prison or something?”
Luna answered. “We promise that we only wish to hear what you have to say and talk.”
Midnight then opened his door more and came out, the girls let him pass to stand before the princesses. As he walked forward, he had his head hung low. Once he stopped before them, he looked up at them and was then struck with utter terror. His eyes shrunk to pin points and started shaking quite noticeably. He then collapsed to the ground and covered his head with his hooves. “NO, PLEASE DON’T”
The girls cried out to him “MIDNIGHT!” They all gathered around him. The princesses grew concerned about this.
Rainbow was the first to speak to Midnight. “Midnight, what’s wrong, why are you so scared?”
Midnight answered back with terror evident in his voice. “Please don’t let them seal me away again, PLEASE, I haven’t done anything wrong I swear!”
Celestia and Luna loked at each other, confused by his words. Celestia asked. “Girls, what does he mean sealed away again?”
Rarity answered. “You see, when you went to seal away Sombra and turn him to shadow, Midnight was there on the balcony when you showed up, he was caught in the spell you used to seal Sombra away. He too was sealed away for a thousand years with his father.”
Midnight was muttering, but the others could still make out what he was saying. “Please don’t seal me away again, please don’t send me back to the darkness.”
They all looked at him with worry. Twilight came up beside him and put a hoof on his shoulder to try and calm him down. She spoke as sweetly as she could. “Midnight, it’s ok, they’re not here to seal you away again, I promise.”
Midnight didn’t seem to hear her. “Please don’t send back to the darkness, please don’t send me away to the darkness.”
The girls were very worried for Midnight. Twilight looked up to Celestia with a sad hopeful look. Celestia took a few steps forward to Midnight Star. “Midnight,” Upon hearing her voice, Midnight seemed to clench up more as he tried to make himself as small as possible. Celestia tried again. “Midnight Star, I am truly sorry for what happened to you, my sister and I did not know you were there when we sealed Sombra away. I swear to you on my honor as a princess, that I am not going to seal you away again. Please do not be afraid.”
Her words seemed to work as Midnight’s shaking let up some. He poked his eyes up from behind his hooves. “Y-y-you p-promise that you w-w-won’t seal me away?”
Celestia and Luna gave a warm smile at Midnight. Luna reassured Midnight. “We are only here to speak with you, we are curious about your past and wish to hear your tale. Will you be willing to share it with us?”
Midnight Stayed low to the ground. He looked back up at them for a moment and started cringing again. “I-I can’t, every time I look at you, I keeping thinking I’ll be sent back to that dark void of nothingness.”
Luna stepped forward. “Sister, if I may try and speak with him.”
Celestia nodded her head. Luna walked up to Midnight Star and got down on all fours to speak with him. Twilight stepped away to let Luna speak. “Midnight, I know what it’s like to be sealed away in darkness for one thousand years. It is indeed a nightmare, but it’s over now, you have nothing more to be afraid of.”
Midnight looked up at the night princess. “You-you know what it is like? How could you possibly know?”
“Some time after you and your father were sealed away, I started to grow jelous of my sister, I felt unappreciated by our subjects for sleeping away the nights while they played during the day. One day, my bitterness got the better of me and I was changed into a wicked pony who’s soul purpose was to make the night last forever. Celestia had no choice but to use the elements of harmony on me and sealed me away in the moon for a thousand years. I know what you have been through, and me and my sister are truly sorry for it. Even now, some of our subjects still see me as Nightmare Moon, and fear me. I know what it is like to be feared for actions that were not your own.”
Midnight Star perked up as Luna told her tale. “So, you know what I must have been going through myself when the seal finally broke and I was set free. To be judged by the actions of my father and not my own.”
Luna nodded. “I do, that is why we are willing to hear you out, please tell us what your story is, we will listen.”
Midnight Star still felt a little jittery around the princesses, but he looked at Luna with a smile. “Th-thank you princess L-Luna. I….I really appreciate it.”
Luna smiled back, Celestia then approached as Luna and Midnight Star got back up. The girls were all smiling now, glad that Midnight Star seemed less afraid. And so, Midnight Star told the princesses all about what happened to his family. How his mother died, what his father did when she died, how he became corrupted, how he had become the dreaded King Sombra that ever pony feared, and finally, about how he lost his father, which the princesses already knew about.
“So, ever since then, I’ve been going from town to town to try and start a new life for myself, but eventually, some pony manages to find out that my father was King Sombra and am forced to leave and find a new place. Finally I came here, and the rest is history.”
Celestia and Luna felt awful for Midnight Star, he really wasn’t evil like his father became, he was just dealt a bad hand in life. Celestia began to speak. “Midnight Star, I am truly sorry for all that has happened to you, and we are very sorry for having sealed you away with your father for a thousand years. If there is ever anything we can do for you, please do not hesitate to ask.”
Midnight waved a hoof in front of the princesses. “It’s fine your majesties, it was an accident. I just wish the ponies would see me for who I am and not who my father was.”
Luna then had a thought. “Well then, perhaps we should hold a town meeting and let everypony know about you so they can get the chance to know you instead of finding out on their own and immediately fearing the worst.”
Celestia agreed. “That sounds like a wonderful idea Luna, with us introducing you, the ponies are sure to accept you.”
Pinkie Pie then started jumping up and down in excitement. “Ooh, ooh, we could make it into a PARTY!” She cheered.
Twilight then chimed in. “We’ll all help let the ponies get to know you Midnight.”
Applejack then came in. “That’s right, we’d be more than happy ta let every pony know what a nice guy ya are.”
“And I could make a wonderful suit for you so you can make a good impression on them.” Rarity offered.
Midnight felt such joy now with his new friends, and the princesses themselves willing to help him be welcomed in Ponyville and recognized for who HE is and not who his father was. “Thank you all so much, this means so much to me. I can’t thank you enough.” Midnight Star was almost ready to cry tears of joy. He finally had the chance to be accepted by others.
Celestia and Luna had a meeting with the mayor to set up a town meeting in front of town hall. The place was all decorated with streamers and balloons all over the place. A stage was all set up in front of town hall for the princesses to address all the ponies present. Twilight, Spike and her friends were all on the side of the stage with Midnight Star as support. Celestia and Luna stood before the crowed, Celestia began her speech.
“My little ponies, it is wonderful to see you all here today, the reason I have called this meeting is to introduce you all to a new pony in town. I realize that me doing such is rather unusual, but this ponies background is rather unusual as well. For you see, he is the son of a terrible villain that we all know, but this pony is not like that villain. In fact, he is one of the nicest ponies I have ever met. His father was King Sombra.” Celestia paused a moment to let that information sink in.
The ponies all began to whisper and mutter amongst themselves.
Celestia continued. “I’ve had a chance to speak with this pony face to face and I can say with absolute certainty that Midnight Star is no threat. I would like all of you to help me welcome him here.” Celestia and Luna then stepped away from the pedestal so Midnight could take the stand. The crowed was hesitant to stomp their hooves in applause. Midnight himself was hesitant to get on stage. Pinkie put her hoof on his shoulder, causing him to look at her. She gave him a comforting smile to encourage him. He smiled back, he looked forward and walked up on stage, as he came forward, he saw Luna giving him an encouraging smile as well. With that, the last bit of fear he had of the princesses had disappeared.
Midnight got in front of the podium and began to speak. “Um, thank you your majesties, and thank you all my fellow Ponyvillians, I really appreciate such a warm welcome to this wonderful town.” He paused a moment, as he did, he heard a few silent comments made by some of the ponies in the crowd.
“Is he really the son of Sombra?”
“What is the son of Sombra doing here?”
“He really has the princesses fooled.”
“This will only end badly, I can’t believe Celestia and Luna are letting this guy stay here.”
“What are we going to do? He’s sure to cause trouble as soon as the princesses turn their backs on him.”
He continued on, feeling very nervous now. “*AHEM* um, anyway, I promise to not be any trouble here, I will do my best to be an outstanding citizen of this great town.” More comments were heard.
“Is he serious?”
“He has to be lying.”
“Why don’t the princesses just throw him in a dungeon or something.”
At this point, Midnight was sweating now. “Even with the princesses support, they still see you as the son of Sombra, they’re already judging you for what your father did. Face it, you just don’t belong here, or anywhere. You’ll never have real friends.” Midnight had no idea where that thought came from, but it just made him even more scared. “Um,…..I…uh……I…..thank you very much!” He then just ran off the stage past his seven friends and galloped home. The girls,Spike, Celestia, and Luna, all got worried about this.
Celestia bid the audience a farewell and followed her student and friends as they all rushed after Midnight. They got to his house just as he rushed in and slammed the door. Twilight was the first to come up to the door. She opened it and walked in with the others behind her to see Midnight curled up on his couch. “Midnight, are you all right, what happened back there?”
Midnight looked up to see his seven friends and the Princesses in his house looking at him with worry. “Who am I kidding? I’ll never be accepted, all they ever see when they look at me are all the terrible things my father did.”
Rarity tried to comfort him. “Don’t be silly dear, of course you’ll be accepted, it will just take time.”
“Didn’t you hear them out there, what they said about me while I was on the stage? Face it, I just don’t belong anywhere.”
Spike then tried to say something. “Don’t be ridiculous, they just need to spend time with you to get to know you, let them see the real you and they’ll forget all about your evil father.”
“SPIKE!” Twilight Scolded. “Don’t you remember, his father wasn’t always evil.”
“Oops, sorry Midnight, what I meant was, they’re sure to forget about what he did when he was evil and just accept you for you.”
“It’s all your fault, and you ponies that my father is gone in the first place, why am I even putting up with you?” Another strange thought came across his mind. He shook his head to get those thoughts out. He knew that they did what they thought was right to protect the crystal empire. “It’s fine, thank you for trying to cheer me up, but I think I just need some time alone for now.”
The girls felt bad for Midnight, but there wasn’t really much they could do for him. They all just left his house then and let him be. Celestia then addressed the girls. “I’m afraid I must be going now, I wish you all the best of luck in helping Midnight fit in.”
Luna then had a thought. “Sister, would it be all right if I stayed in Ponyville for a while to help Midnight Star, I really think it would help him to have some pony around who knows what he’s going through. I can still raise and lower the moon from here.”
Celestia smiled at Luna. “I suppose, things are usually pretty quiet around the castle, as far as I know, we don’t have a very busy schedule this week, so I see no harm in it, you may stay here for a while to help Midnight.”
“Thank you Celly.” Luna was pleased that Celestia would let her stay.
“Princess, Luna is more than welcome to stay with me in the library, I have an extra room she can use.” Twilight offered.
Celestia gave a warm smile to her student. “Thank you Twilight, I really appreciate that.”
Luna gave a warm smile as well. “Yes, thank you for your hospitality, we are most grateful for it.”
Twilight gave a bow. “It is my pleasure your majesties.” Spike also bowed, followed by the others.
Celestia then felt that now was the time to leave. “Take care my friends, I will see you all again soon. Good luck to you Luna, I know with your help, Midnight will be able to fit in in no time.” With that, Celestia lit up her horn and disappeared in a flash.
“Well, welcome to Ponyville, Luna!” Pinkie cheered.
“Thank you Pinkie Pie.” Luna said to Pinkie.
“So what are we gonna do tomorrow ta try and help Midnight get ta know every pony so they won’t be afraid of him?” Applejack asked.
Luna had a thought. “If it’s all right with you all, I would like to just take him on a tour of the town tomorrow so we can just talk, maybe a good chat with me will help some. It might also help for some of the towns ponies to see him with me.”
Rarity agreed with that. “That sounds like a marvelous idea, I do wish you the best of luck with that.”
“Come on Luna, let’s get you settled in then.” Twilight said to Luna.
“Lead the way miss Sparkle.” Luna said jokingly which elicited a laugh from the others.
The others then went their separate ways, still feeling sad for Midnight Star. Twilight led Luna to her house and let her in. “Here we are Luna, home sweet home.” Twilight walked in, followed by Spike, then Luna.
An hour after the girls left Midnight alone, he decided he should go ahead and use the bits they gave him to stock up on art supplies so he could get started on a painting or two for his friends. He gathered his saddlebags and headed out for the market.
By the time Midnight Star returned home, it was now late in the afternoon. The sun had set and the moon was starting to rise. Midnight stopped a moment to watch the moon rise into the sky and the stars appear. “I always did enjoy watching the stars, I can still remember the nights my dad and I would stay up late just to watch the moon rise and gaze at the stars when I was little.” He remembered fondly as a sad smile crept across his face. “I miss my father, the way he was before he changed.” He said quietly to himself. He then just continued on inside his house.
Midnight unpacked the supplies he bought and set up a blank canvas to work on tomorrow. Just as he was about to head up stairs, he was suddenly hit with a dizzy spell, he just seemed to suddenly lose the ability to stand straight, his vision started getting blurry. “What the hay, what…..what’s…going………..on.” He then blacked out.
Morning came and Midnight found himself in his bed. He awoke slowly as his eyes blinked open. He sat up and looked around his room. “What, what happened last night, I don’t remember coming to bed.” It was then that he heard a very loud, shrill scream. “THAT SOUNDED LIKE RARITY!” He was fully awake now, he jumped out of bed, raced down the stairs and out the door to Rarity’s.
He burst through the door and called out to her. “Rarity, are you all right, where are you?!”
“I’m upstairs in my work room!” She called, sounding a bit panicked.
Midnight ran upstairs to her and found her in her work room. “Rarity, what’s wrong, are you all right? I heard you scream form my room!” He looked around the room and saw a mess, all her fabrics had been ripped to shreds, the remains of some dresses hung loosely on some ponyquins.
“My work room, it’s completely destroyed!” She cried. She was right, even a desk was smashed, as well as many pencils broken and scattered across the floor, the curtains of her windows were ripped down, and a few sketches she had were torn up beyond recognition. “Who could have done such a thing?!”
Midnight decided to offer his help. “Oh rarity, I’m so sorry, is there anything I can do to help, maybe I can help you clean up?”
Rarity looked to Midnight, she was absolutely distraught. “All my hard work is ruined, what ever will I do?” She then did something that surprised Midnight, she embraced him in a hug and started to cry over his shoulder.
Midnight was surprised by this, he wasn’t sure what to do, so he did the only thing he thought was the appropriate thing. He just hugged her back, started stroking her back up and down, and spoke. “It’s ok Rarity, you can always fix everything back up, remake your designs and things. The important thing here is that you’re not hurt. I promise I’ll help you fix all this.”
Rarity pulled back to look Midnight in the eyes, she was still teary eyed, but she put on a sad smile. “Oh, thank you midnight, you’re very kind to offer.”
“Hey, what are friends for? Now come on, I’ll help you get the worst of this cleaned up.” Between the two of them, they managed to clean up the room in a matter of two hours, the place was now spotless, but now, Rarity would have to buy new supplies to replace what was destroyed.
Rarity then turned her attention to Midnight Star. “Thank you again for helping me clean up the mess Midnight, I really appreciate it. I simply must do something to repay your kindness.”
“You don’t have to repay me Rarity, I’m just happy to help, but do you know how this could have happened?”
Rarity then frowned. “I don’t know, I know I locked up my place last night, some pony must have broken in and did all this, but why?”
“I don’t know, but we definitely need to report this to the guards of this town. Come on, I’ll go with you.”
Rarity then remembered what Luna had said yesterday, about how she wanted to just talk with him some today. “Actually dear, I think I’ll be all right on my own now, but thank you again for all your help, I really appreciate it.”
“All right then, I guess I’ll just head home and get to work on a painting for one of the others. Take care Rarity.” Midnight then waved a hoof good bye and left.
“Who could have broken into Rarity’s place, and why would they make such a mess, it doesn’t make any sense.”“Who cares, it’s not your problem, it’s hers, let her deal with it and stop worrying about it. You only wasted your time helping her clean up.” There was another strange thought, why was he having these thoughts against his friends popping up all of a sudden. He just shook his head and walked in to his house to prepare for the day, unknowing of his date with the night princess was approaching.
After returning to his home from helping Rarity clean up a mess in her workroom, Midnight was about to get to work on a painting for one of his friends. “I think first, I’ll get started with Applejack’s painting.” He levitated a brush ready to dip in some paint when there came a knocking at the door. “Oh come on, why is it that every time I’m about to start work, I get a visitor?” He was a little annoyed by this but also somewhat glad, as it meant he was able to enjoy company after so long.
He went to his door and opened it to reveal princess Luna in front of him. He was very surprised by this. “Princess Luna!” He quickly bowed to her.
“Good morning Midnight Star, please rise.” Luna instructed.
“Uh, good morning your majesty, what brings you by to my humble home?”
Luna gave him a warm smile. “You may call me Luna, Midnight.”
Midnight gained a shocked expression that the princess was wanting to be addressed so casually. “Uh, as you wish pri- I mean Luna. So why have you come by, not that I’m not pleased that you did.”
Luna chuckled. “I came because I was wondering if you would like to take a walk with me so we may talk.”
He couldn’t believe it, the princess of the night wanted to just walk and talk with him. “Sure, um, ok, if you want, let’s go then.” Midnight walked out of his house and magically closed the door behind him to begin his walk with Luna. “So pri- uh, I mean, Luna, what exactly did you want to talk to me about?”
Luna smiled at Midnight as she began. “I was merely wondering if I could hear a little more about what your father was like before he…..well, changed. If you do not wish to discuss it, I will understand.”
Midnight looked at Luna curiously. “No, it’s fine, I don’t mind. It’s just that I do miss him a lot, how he was.” He sighed as he prepared himself. “When I was little, my father and mother were always fun to be around. We had such a great life. We used to go on picnics and enjoy the beautiful days. I remember on occasion, my parents would take me riding down rivers in boats. It was always fun. He always had funny jokes to tell to make me laugh whenever I was down, which didn’t happen very often since I had a good life. Sure I didn’t have any friends at the time, but that was fine, all I needed were my mother and father. I think my favorite memories are when I was little, my father let me stay up late with my mother and we would just watch the stars and moon in the night sky, they were always so beautiful.”
Luna looked to Midnight upon the mention of that. “You enjoyed my nights?”
“Of course, they were always so beautiful, in fact, it was because of your nights that I was inspired to make my first painting which helped me earn my cutie mark. I made a wonderful painting of the night sky and moon which got a lot of attention that earned me my cutie mark.”
Luna was very touched by this. “I…..I had no idea my nights could be so inspirational, I never even thought they could help somepony earn their cutie mark.”
“Well, they did help me, and I am eternally grateful to you Luna, I’m glad I have this chance to thank you. The nights you bring are just as beautiful as you are.” Midnight then realized just what he said to a princess. “I mean,….you know, I’m sure I’m not the only pony who thinks that though. I’m sure you have lots of stallions vying for your attention.”
Luna blushed at Midnight’s compliment. “Well, not really, as I said before, some of our subjects still sees me as Nightmare moon, thus I don’t have any suiters.”
Midnight looked to Luna, surprised. “Really, I find that hard to believe, if I wasn’t just a simple citizen, I certainly would have liked to at least try and see if I could ask you….on a……….date.” Midnight grew nervous as he said this.
Luna blushed again. “You would, well, that is most flattering of you, it may interest you to know then that a princess is allowed to see whoever she wishes, even if they are not noble.”
“Really, well that is promising, but even so, I doubt some pony as magnificent as you would want to waste your time with a pony like me.” Midnight looked away from Luna.
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Did this pony really have a crush on her? Would it really be ok for her to just see if he would be interested in dating her? With the way he spoke about her, it seemed pretty clear that it was so. She thought for a moment. With everything that she had been through, she found the one pony in Equestria she could relate to, his situation wasn’t exactly like hers, but it was very similar. “Actually Midnight, I wouldn’t mind it if you wanted to ask me out on a date……in fact, I think it would be very nice.”
Midnight looked to Luna with a very surprised expression. “You…..you would, really, I…..I don’t know what to say.” He paused a moment to let this information sink in. The princess he admired so much was practically asking him to ask her out, or she was asking him out. He finally came to a decision, this was practically a once in a lifetime opportunity, there’s no way he was going to pass it up. “Princess Luna, would you do me the honor of letting me take you out on a date tomorrow night.”
They stopped walking for a moment. Luna looked at Midnight Star with a smile. “I would very much like that Midnight Star, I would love to go out with you.”
Midnight Star smiled so big, his smile was threatening to tear his face in half. He was actually going to get to take a princess out on a date, and not just any princess, but the princess of the night who he admired so much. “Thank you Luna, I promise to do my best to make a wonderful night of it.”
“I’m sure you will.”
It was then that a pegasus flying overhead caught Midnight’s attention. It was a grey coated mare with a blonde mane and tail. “Excuse me a moment Luna, there’s a pony I need to speak with real quick. DERPY, HEY DERPY!” He spoke rapidly and shouted out to her.
Luna just smiled and waited for Midnight to do what he needed.
Derpy heard her name being called, she stopped in mid-are and looked to see who was calling her. She saw Midnight down below. She slowly and hesitantly came down and landed in front of him. She looked at Midnight with a frown and seemed to shy away. “Oh, uh, hey……Midnight was it?”
Midnight approached her with a sad smile. “Yeah, hey Derpy, um, were you at the town meeting yesterday?”
She looked at him with a strained smile. “Yeah, I was there, why?”
“Well, I just want to apologize first for slamming my door in your face when we first met, I felt really bad about it afterwards. I hope you can forgive me for that, and I hope that the fact of who my father was isn’t really too much of an issue, I would very much like it if we could be friends.”
Derpy had a real smile on this time, it was a small one, but it was there. “Really, you mean it?”
“As long as you want to be, sure.”
Derpy’s smile grew more. “Ok, I’d love to be your friend.”
“Really, so it doesn’t bother you that my father was Sombra?”
Derpy shook her head. “Nah, not really, I know not to judge a pony before you get to know them.”
“Thanks Derpy, I really appreciate that. I’ll see you around then right?” He extended his hoof for a shake. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. “What are you doing, why would you want to be friends with a klutz like her, look at her, she can’t even see straight. She probably gets the mail mixed up too.” Midnight pulled his hoof back a bit as he looked down, he shook his head to ignore those thoughts and put a smile back on with his hoof extended.
Derpy smiled back and extended her hoof out to accept his and shook it to confirm their friendship. “Count on it. Maybe some time later we can meet up for muffins, my treat.”
“Is she serious, muffins, is that all she thinks about, just tell her off and ditch her already.” Midnight had no idea where these mean thoughts were coming from, but so he wouldn’t raise any suspicion about them just yet, he ignored it and answered. “Sounds good to me, I can’t wait. See you later then.”
Derpy smiled as she waved goodbye. “Ok, later Midnight.” She then flew off.
Midnight then turned back around to face Luna. “Sorry about that Luna I-“ He paused a moment when he realized that Luna was gone. “Luna, where are you?”
Suddenly, Luna appeared right in front of him, as if she just materialized out of nowhere. “I’m right here Midnight.”
Midnight gave a frightened yell. “AAHH, what….how did…….where did you?”
Luna cut him off. “Invisibility spell, I figured it was best that I not be seen while you made a new friend.”
“Oh, ok then, well, shall we continue with our little chat?”
The two continued with their walk through town as they chatted. Luna told Midnight of all that she had been through during her reintegration back into her position as the princess of the night, while Midnight spoke more fondly of how his father and mother lived such happy lives. As they chatted, Luna could see Midnight’s attitude lift and be more positive. Lunch rolled around and the two shared a nice meal together, in a way, this was turning into a date, but neither of them said anything about it. During their lunch, Midnight thought it important to inform Luna about what happened this morning at Rarity’s. Luna grew concerned about the matter but was pleased to learn that she was just fine. Lunch was now over and they figured it was now time to part ways for the day.
“Thank you for this little chat Luna, I really enjoyed it, and I feel a little better about waiting to give every other pony a chance to get to know me.” Midnight had a huge smile on his face.
Luna returned the smile. “you are welcome Midnight Star, I look forward to our date tomorrow night.”
“Me too, until them, my princess of the night." He gave a bow before her before leaving.
Luna chuckled at Midnight’s display. She then turned and headed back to the library to inform Twilight of some excellent news.
Before Midnight got too far to his home, he was hit with another dizzy spell. “What the, not again……what………….is……this.” He blacked out again.
Luna just walked into the library and saw Twilight reading while Spike was busy sweeping the floor. “Greetings Twilight and Spike.”
They both dropped what they were doing and looked to Luna. “Hey there Luna.” Spike greeted.
“Hello Luna, how was your talk with Midnight?”
Luna smiled as she spoke. “Wonderfully, he feels much better about things now, in fact-“ She was about to tell them that she had a date with him when suddenly all the books started flying off the shelves…..litterally. they were flying all around the room like bats.
Twilight cried out in fear. “WHAT THE HAY, WHAT’S GOING ON HERE!”
Spike cried out as well. “I don’t know?!”
Twilight was about to cast a spell to try and stop them but one of them bumped into the back of her head and broke her concentration. “OW!”
“Twilight, let me try!” Luna then started to try and cast a spell, but she too was interrupted when a book crashed into her, disrupting her concentration. “AH! What in the name of Tartarous is going on here!” Every time they tried to cast a spell to fix this and make the books stop, they kept getting interrupted by books crashing into them. Suddenly, the books stopped moving and all the pages started getting ripped out on their own, the library started snowing with ripped pages.
Twilight cried out. “NO, not the books! What’s going on here?!” Soon, all the books fell to the ground with all the pages ripped out. Twilight just sat there, stunned and sad that all her precious books had been ruined. “I…….I don’t believe it, how could this have happened? Luna, what am I going to do? All my books are destroyed.”
Spike looked around at the carnage that lay before him. He nervously picked up a pageless book by the corner to look at it, then just dropped it back down.
“Twilight Sparkle, I am so sorry that this happened. But do not worry, I know a spell that can fix this.” Luna informed her.
Twilight looked up at Luna with a hopeful smile. “Really, you can use a spell to fix the books?”
Luna smiled as she lit her horn up with magic. In a brilliant flash, all the books came back together and were back on their proper shelves. “There we go, all better.”
Twilight was impressed with Luna. “WOW, princess, that was amazing, thank you so much for fixing everything.”
“Thank you Twilight.”
Spike then spoke up. “Yeah, that was amazing, but, how did this happen in the first place, what was all that?”
Luna took on a contemplative look. “I don’t know, but perhaps a full investigation is in order, this is not the first time something like this has happened.”
“What do you mean Luna?”
Luna informed Twilight of what Midnight told her about what happened with Rarity.
Back with Midnight, he found himself back in his house in the middle of the living room. “Wh-what, what happened…….how did I get here?” Midnight started to get worried. He was having mysterious black outs and strange negative thoughts that didn’t seem to be his own, what was happening to him, would it go away over time, or get worse, what if it happened during his date with Luna? What is a unicorn to do?
Midnight had just woken from another mysterious black out and found himself in his house when he didn’t remember coming home. “Ok, now I am REALLY getting worried here, what are these blackouts I keep having, I just hope they don’t happen while on my date with princess Luna.” Midnight couldn’t help but smile at that thought. “My date with princess Luna.” He still couldn’t believe that a princess was agreeing to letting him take her out on a real date and possibly persue a relationship with her. Then he remembered what he was about to do before Luna showed up. “Oh ponyfeathers, I forgot about that painting for Applejack. I’d better get to work on it before anything else happens.” Midnight then approached a blank canvas he had set up that he was about to use. He already knew what he was going to make for Applejack.
Midnight got straight to work on it and let himself forget his troubles for now. While he painted, he could forget everything else in the world around him, it brought him a kind of peace. There was nothing and no pony around but him and his work. He focused easily as he moved two brushes about the canvas with ease creating his masterpiece for Applejack to help advertise her orchard. After almost two hours of work he stepped back to admire what he made. It was a simple setting. The apple family home on a hill with the sun in the background with apple trees surrounding the house. A big wooden sign as an archway as a kind of entrance to the farm with the words ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ in red lettering.
Midnight admired his handiwork. “There we go, all done, I just hope Applejack likes it. Time to deliver my work.” Midnight then used a special spell he remembers coming across that makes the paint dry instantly so he could deliver his work right away. Another thought then crossed his mind as he looked at it. It brought him back to when he made his first painting that showed his special talent and earned him his cutie mark. While this painting wasn’t the first one he made in a long time, it was the first one he made ever for a friend. Inspiration struck, he just had to recreate his first painting for Luna, he just knew she would love it. “I am so brilliant, It’s a good thing I can still remember what it looks like. I just wish I still had the original though, but it was a long time ago, it’s long gone by now. Oh well, I’d better make it before I forget when I get back from delivering Applejack’s painting.”
Midnight gathered some brown paper wrapping he bought to wrap his work in when delivering it, he levitated the painting, wrapped it up with his magic and placed it in his saddle bag. He then levitated the bag and placed it on his back and headed to Sweet Apple Acres to deliver his work. “Applejack is going to love it.” As he exited his house, he noticed two royal guards outside Rarity’s place speaking with her. “This must be about the break in she had this morning, I wonder if they found anything?” Midnight decided to head over there first to check up on Rarity, the painting for Applejack can wait.
He approached the boutique and heard Rarity speaking. “Thank you again for all your help sirs, and good luck in your investigation.”
One of the guards spoke. “Thank you mam, we promise that whoever did this will be caught.” The guards, who were unicorns as Midnight could now see while they were leaving, headed off.
Midnight came up to Rarity and greeted her. “Hey Rarity, how are things, did the guards find any clues as to who broke into your house?”
Rarity gave Midnight a warm smile as he approached. “Oh, hello Midnight, yes, they did find one clue. It is a rather strange one, they said whoever did this used dark magic to destroy everything, they found trace amounts of it in the trash we cleaned up from the mess left.”
“Dark magic, that can’t be good, but how could there be a unicorn with dark magic here in Ponyville?” Midnight asked with concern.
“I don’t know, but whoever it is had to come from somewhere. I just hope the guards find them soon. Where are you off too with your saddle bags?”
“I just finished a painting for Applejack, I’m on my way over there to deliver it. I just hope she likes it.”
Rarity smiled again at Midnight. “Oh I’m sure she’ll love it, may I take a peek?”
“Well, I did already wrap it for delivery, but I guess I can unwrap it carefully and show you, then I can just rewrap it.” Midnight then used his magic to open his saddle bag, brought out the painting, and carefully unwrapped it before Rarity’s eyes.
“Why Midnight, it’s absolutely gorgeous. I’m so glad I finally get to see one of your works. I just know Applejack will love it.”
Midnight Star couldn’t help but smile at the compliment. “You really think so? Thanks Rarity, maybe after I drop it off and make another painting I have in mind, I can get started on yours, sound good?”
“Of course dear, before you go, I was wondering, how did your talk with Luna go?”
Midnight was surprised by this. “How did you know about my talk with Luna?”
“Luna told us she wanted a chance to speak with you for a while yesterday before we left, SO, don’t leave me in suspense darling, how did it go?”
Midnight was blushing a little thinking about how he managed to get a date with Luna. He decided that something this big won’t stay quiet for long, so he decided to tell her all about it. He told Rarity what he told Luna, about what his father was like, what they did together, all the fun things they did. Then he got to the part about how he earned his cutie mark, how it was Luna’s night that inspired his first painting which earned him his cutie mark. “So upon mentioning it, I kind of started letting on about how I had a crush on her but figured that some pony like me would never have a chance with a wonderful princess like her. One thing led to another and the next thing I know, I’m asking her out on a date for tomorrow night and she accepts. So, believe it or not, I have a date with a princess. “
Rarity was beaming at this point. “Why Midnight, that’s absolutely splendid, congratulations, oh I just know you two will make a great couple. WAIT, you simply must let me design an outfit for you before your date. You must come inside immediately so I can take your measurements and get to work on it right away!”
“That’s very nice of you Rarity, but right now, I really need to deliver this painting to Applejack. I’ll swing by later then and do that, I really appreciate it Rarity, thank you very much.”
“Not at all dear, think of it as a thank you for your help this morning. I’ll see you later then, ta ta.”
“Bye Rarity, I’ll swing by after I drop off the painting. See you then.” Midnight waved good bye to Rarity and set off for Applejack’s. On his way over, he figured at some point, he would go see a doctor about these black out’s he’s been having, he was getting worried about them, he didn’t tell any of his friends because he didn’t want to worry them either, this was his problem, it was probably no big deal either. Still, he worried about it on his way, he tried to forget about it so he could focus on the task at hand, deliver Applejack’s painting.
Midnight soon arrived at Sweet Apple Acres and passed through the archway onto the farm. He walked up to the farm house and knocked on the door, he was greeted by Apple Bloom. “Oh, hey Midnight Star, what’s up?” She greeted with a bit of hesitation.
Midnight could see it, she was still a little frightened from the last time he was here and screamed at Applejack for prying in his private life. He just had to say something to try and apologize to the little filly for scaring her. “Hey Apple Bloom, listen, Um, I’m really sorry for my behavior the last time I was here, I really didn’t mean to scare you and I am very very sorry for it, I really hope you can forgive me for it.”
Apple Bloom could see the sorrow in his eyes as he said this. She couldn’t help but give a small smile. “Well shoot, that’s all right, Applejack explained why ya’ll did that, she felt bad fer pryin like she did that caused ya ta yell like that, so no hard feelins.”
Midnight smiled back at the little filly. “Thanks Apple Bloom, I really appreciate it. Is Applejack around, I have something for her.”
“Just a sec, I’ll go get her.” Apple Bloom then rushed in the house to get her big sister, leaving Midnight at the door.
It wasn’t long before Applejack came and greeted Midnight. “Well howdy there Midnight, what brings ya by?”
“Hey Applejack, I finished that painting you wanted, I hope you like it.” He said as he opened his saddle bag and levitated the painting out, still wrapped up.
Applejack was a little surprised by this. “Shoot, you finished it already, DANG you work fast, I didn’t expect ya ta get it done so fast.”
Midnight chuckled a little. “Well, I do work fast when I have the proper motivation, in this case, it was a friend.” “Friend, HA, that’s a joke, can’t you see that they are just using you to get what they want, once you make these paintings for them, they won’t want you around anymore. They will always see you for all the bad things your father did. You’ll never have true friends.” Midnight looked away momentarily and shook his head to get those thoughts out of his head again. Why were these thoughts invading his mind, what was going on? He then remembered that he was in front of Applejack and opened the wrapping for her to see. “What do you think, pretty good right?”
Applejack smiled big upon seeing it, Apple Bloom was right next to her to see the painting as well. “Well I’ll be, that is an amazing piece of work, you captured our home percectly, and them apples look so amazing, it’s like I could just reach in there and grab one.” Applejack complimented.
“I’ll say, this is one fine piece of work you made fer us, we’ll be sure ta let others know it was you that made this here work of art when others see it.” Apple bloom added.
Midnight Star swelled with pride upon hearing such praise for his work, he just couldn’t be prouder. “I’m so glad you like it, I really hope it will bring in the customers for you.”
Applejack took the painting in her hoof and looked to Midnight with a grateful smile. “With something as amazin as this, it sure will. Thank ya kindly Midnight, I really appreciate it.”
“Ya, and any time ya want ta come by fer a visit, our door is always open to ya.” Apple Bloom added again.
“Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind, I’d better head back and get to work on another painting, I’ll see you all later.”
Applejack closed the door and went inside. Midnight turned around and headed out of Sweet Apple Acres, however, half way down the dirt path from the house to the exit of the farm, he was hit with another dizzy spell. “No, not another one.” He said silently, he wobbled in place as his eyes struggled to stay open, but to no avail. His eyes closed, his horn became a blood red color, curved, and sharp at the end. As his eyes were closed, a dark purple mist began emitting from the sides of his eyes. He opened them and they were now green, with slitted irises. He gave a wicked grin as he chuckled. “HM HM HM HM.” He looked around to make sure no pony was around. Once the coast was clear, he headed off to the side into the apple orchard.
He walked a good distance away from the house so no pony would see what he was about to do. His horn became enveloped in a black aura, black tendrils slowly snake their way to the surrounding trees and sucked the life out of them. The trees turned from a healthy brown, to a deathly black. The leaves fell off and the apples rotted almost instantaneously as they fell to the ground. Once the trees there were dead, he moved on to another part of the orchard and did the same thing. He continued this until almost half the apple orchard was now a graveyard of appletrees. His task complete, he left the orchard and headed home.
He arrived at his house and entered, he went to the middle of the living room and closed his eyes, his horn turned back to its dull pointed grey color, the dark purple mist faded from his eyes. Midnight’s eyes fluttered open and found himself in his living room. “Wh-what, not again. What is wrong with me?” Feeling a bit of a headache, he headed upstairs to wash his face, hoping it would provide some relief.
He entered his bathroom and looked at himself in the cabinet mirror above the sink. He turned on the water and let it run a bit. He dunked his hooves and brought his face close to the sink. He splashed himself in the face, grabbed a towel to dry off his face and lifted his head as he did. Midnight then lowered the towel from his face and looked at himself in the mirror again. But he was greeted with a sight that chilled him to the bone. What he saw in the mirror wasn’t his own reflection, he stared wide eyed as the face in the mirror smiled wickedly at him.
Midnight was looking at the face of his father in the mirror. “No, It can’t be………dad?” This sudden realization caused him to back up in surprise and trip over his own back hooves, he fell to the hard floor and bumped his head. “OW!” He curled up as he grabbed his head in his front hooves and clenched his eyes and teeth in pain. After a moment, he got back up and looked in the mirror and saw……..himself. The image of his father was now gone, all he saw was himself as he kept one of his forelegs on his head with one eye clenched shut. “But, I saw him, I know I saw my dad. Am I going crazy?” He cautiously raised his other hoof and slowly moved it to the mirror, just as it was inches away from the mirror, he retracted it a bit, then continued to move it forward until it made contact.
He unclenched his eye to look with both eyes. “Nothing, it’s just me, but why did I see my father in there? Am I really going mad?” Midnight was growing more and more worried. “Maybe Twilight can help, whatever is going on can’t be some simple medical problem.” Then he heard a knocking at the door. “Who could that be?” Midnight made his way down the stairs to the door. He opened it to be greeted by Rarity.
“Hello Midnight, I hope you haven’t forgotten about my offer to make you a fabulous suit for your date with Luna?”
“My date with Luna, with what just happened, I completely forgo, should I still go through with it? Maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me from the stress of everypony judging me for my father.” “Right, sorry Rarity, something happened that made me nearly forget, let’s head over to your place now.” Midnight responded with a smile.
“Are you all right, you seem a little distracted?” Rarity asked with concern.
Midnight continued with a smile. “I’m fine Rarity, there’s nothing to concern yourself with.”
Rarity smiled back. “Well, all right then, I just need to get your measurments and I’ll have a suit ready for you before your date tomorrow.” Rarity then led Midnight over to her boutique.
“I probably should still see somepony about these blackouts I’ve been having. I just hope it doesn’t happen during my date with Luna. Sweet Celestia, I still can’t believe I have a date with Princess Luna.” “Do you really think she likes you, what do you think Celestia will say if she finds out you, the son of the dreaded Sombra, is dating her younger sister? For all you know this could just be a way for them to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t do anything against their subjects.” “WHO ARE YOU!” He screamed inside his head,…….no answer. He just shook his head to try and clear his mind as he walked in to Rarity’s shop.
Rarity led him up the stairs of her shop to her work room. “All right dear, just stand still so I can get your measurments.” Rarity had Midnight standing in the middle of the room. She levitated some measuring tape, a note pad, and a quill in front of her. Midnight did as he was told and stood percectly still as she took measurements and wrote them down. “There we go, that didn’t take long now did it. I’ll have your suit ready by tomorrow at about 10:00.”
“Thank you Rarity, I really appreciate it. I’ll see you tomorrow then, there’s something I need to do now.” Midnight waved goodbye to Rarity as she returned the same. He headed out of the boutique and headed for Twilight’s library, he decided that whatever was going on with him really will be difficult for modern medicine, he was hoping Twilight might have an answer in one of her books about what he was experiencing. Right after he got out the door, he was hit with another dizzying spell. “No not again, please!” His eyes closed for a moment, then reopened, but were unchanged. “What, that’s weird, what was I-“ Then he remembered. “Oh right, I need to get to work on that painting I want to present to Luna.” Midnight headed for his house and went inside.
Meanwhile, at the library, Princess Luna had summoned two of the royal unicorn guards of the town to investigate the incident that occurred earlier. Luna addressed them. “Are you sure there is nothing else you can find?”
One of the guards spoke. “Sorry your majesty, but all we can find are trace amounts of dark magic, whoever did this is good at keeping themselves concealed.”
“I see, well thank you for your assistance anyway.”
The guards bowed. “Thank you your majesty.”
It was then that Applejack burst through the door. “TWILIGHT, LUNA, I NEED YER HELP!” She cried out with definite worry in her voice.
Twilight responded to her. “Applejack, what is it, what’s wrong?”
“It’s ma orchard, almost half the trees are dead, our crops are ruined, please tell me you can fix this princess!” Applejack asked feeling very distraught.
“Fear not dear Applejack, I will be able to do so. Please lead the way, guards, I will require your assistance again.”
The guards responded in unison. “Yes your majesty.” Applejack led Luna, Twilight, Spike, and the guards to her home and out to the orchard where the dead trees were.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this, how could this have happened?” Twilight asked as she stared in horror of the many dead apple trees.
Luna turned to the guards. “Gurads, begin scanning for anything that might lead to the cause of this.”
The guards responded in unison again. “Yes your majesty.” They then proceeded to scan the area with their magic to find something. After a while, they finished and one of them presented their findings. “Your majesty, I’m afraid it’s the same result as what we found at Rarity’s place and the library, all we could find were trace amounts of dark magic at work.”
“I see, thank you for your assistance again.”
Twilight then approached Luna. “Princess, what’s going on, who is doing all this?”
Luna wore a worried expression as she looked to Twilight and answered. “I don’t know Twilight, but whoever it is, will pay for their crimes.”
Applejack then approached Luna. “Beggin yer pardon yer majesty, I don’t mean ta sound rude, but, did you say ya’ll could fix this mess?”
Luna smiled at Applejack. “Of course Applejack, I will restore your trees.” Luna then closed her eyes and her horn lit up. A dark blue dome spread out throught the affected area, bringing the trees back to life.
Applejack was stunned by the display. “Well I’ll be, thank ya very much princess, I really appreciate this.”
“You’re welcome dear Applejack, anything for a friend. Now about what happened, did you see anything suspicious before this happened?”
Applejack thought for a minute. “No, nothin out of the ordinary.”
“Are you sure, no visitors or anything?”
“Well, Midnight came by to drop off the paintin I asked him ta make earlier today, but that’s all.”
Luna then thought for a minute. “Perhaps we should pay Midnight a little visit.”
Twilight then got worried. “Princess, please tell me you don’t think Midnight could have done this, there’s no way he would!”
Applejack agreed. “Yeah, he is our friend after all, he would never do somethin like this, how could he?”
Luna raised a hoof to silence them. “Calm down my friends, I merely believe that he may have seen something that can help us discover what happened here.”
Twilight and Applejack let out a relieved sigh. Spike then decided to speak up. “Well then what are we waiting for, let’s go.” The group then headed out to Midnight’s.
Midnight had just finished recreating his very first painting he made of the night sky. It was a beautiful scene, the moon hung in the sky looking full with stars scattered around the night sky as clouds lazily hung in the sky lit up by the moons glow. A small town rested below the scene as some of the windows were lit up by candle light with a few hills in the background. “Perfect, I just know Luna is going to love it.” Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “I wonder who that could be?” Midnight then made his way to the door to answer. “Oh, hello Luna, Applejack, Twilight, Spike, what brings you by here?”
Luna began. “Greetings Midnight, it is a pleasure to see you again.” Luna greeted with a smile. “I wish this was a casual visit, however there have been some incidents that have occurred today.” Luna informed Midnight of what happened at the library and at Sweet Apple Acres.
“Oh no, is there anything I can do to help you Applejack?” Midnight asked with worry.
Applejack smiled. “It’s all right sugar cube, the princess here already fixed the damage with her magic.”
Midnight gave a relieved sigh. “That’s good to hear, and the same with the library I take it?” Luna nodded. “That’s good, so what brings you bye?”
Luna began again. “I was wondering if you have seen anything suspicious while you were at Sweet Apple Acres. Maybe you saw some suspicious pony sneaking around or something.”
Midnight looked down and to the side with a hoof to his chin as he thought hard. “Hmmm, no sorry, I didn’t see anything, I wish I could be more help though.”
“It’s all right Midnight, I figured it was a long shot, what with the apple orchard being so big. The culprit could have entered the orchard from anywhere.”
“Well, I hope whoever did this is found soon. By the way, we’re still on for our date tomorrow night despite these incidences right?”
“DATE!?” Twilight, Applejack, and Spike exclaimed all at once in surprise. Even the guards were surprised by this as they seemed to wear shocked expressions.
Midnight looked to them and asked. “You didn’t tell them yet did you Luna, I guess I can understand with everything that has been going on. I suppose that means our date will be cancelled then?” He asked, hoping he was wrong.
Luna smiled as she answered. “No Midnight, our date is still on.”
Midnight smiled big at this news. Twilight then intervened. “Excuse me princess, but did we hear right, that you and Midnight are going on a date?!”
Luna smiled at Twilight as she answered. “Why yes, that was what I was about to tell you before we were interrupted by the books flying around. While we had our little chat earlier today Midnight ended up asking me out.”
“Well shoot, congratulations you two, I just know you two will make a great couple.” Applejack complimented. Spike just opened his mouth and stuck a claw in to illustrate his disgust. The two guards just kept their straight faces.
Luna responded to Applejack’s compliment. “Thank you Applejack, I am looking forward to it. Twilight, once we get back to the library, we should send a letter to my sister informing her of what has been happening here in Ponyville.”
“Of course Luna.” Twilight responded.
“I will see you tomorrow night Midnight Star, take care of yourself.”
Midnight smiled at his friends. “you two Luna, see you girls later.” Midnight waved a hoof at them as they left. Once they were gone he went back into his house and got ready to hit the sack, with everything that has happened, he felt pretty tired, it was getting late now after all. “At least I was able to recreate my first painting. I know princess Luna will love it.” He took one last glace at it before heading upstairs. He crawled into bed and laid his head down to sleep.
Midnight’s sleep was not a pleasant one, he had a horrible nightmare. He found himself in Ponyville, but it was in ruins, the buildings were falling apart or on fire, some of the ponies were in chains as they trudged along unhappily. “What, what’s going on here, what happened to Ponyville?” Midnight tried to talk to one of the ponies he saw in chains, but they didn’t respond to him. “Hey, Hello, can you hear me?” No response. He raced through the town, scanning the devastation. “What happened here? What’s going on?” He soon found himself at the center of town where he was greeted by a horrible sight. There were hanging cages in the center of town with pony figures in them, not one of them were moving. He moved closer and could soon make out their features, there was six in all.
“No, it can’t be, GIRLS, HEY GIRLS, COME ON ANSWER ME!” He tried desperately to call out to them. They were covered in scratches with bloody wounds. He saw that Twilight’s horn was broken off, as was Rarity’s. One of Rainbow Dash’s wings had been ripped off, leaving her to bleed to death as blood seeped out of where her left wing used to be, Fluttershy had both wings ripped out and was crying in pain. Pinkie’s mane and tail were completely straight as she looked out of her cage with lifeless eyes, no emotion at all present on her face. Applejack was no better, she had a huge gash across where her cutie mark was in addition to the scrapes and other gashes on her and the others bodies.
Twilight struggled to look in Midnight’s direction. When her eyes met his, she spoke. “Midnight, why did you do this, I thought we were friends.”
“WHAT, NO, I didn’t do this, I don’t know what you’re talking about! What happened to you all?” Midnight was practically on the verge of tears as he looked at his friends in such a horrible state. Suddenly, an evil laugh caught his attention. He looked behind him and saw……himself. “No, NO, THIS CAN’T BE REAL, YOU ARE NOT REAL!” His other self than changed into another form. “I………It can’t be, it just can’t be. YOU’RE DEAD!” His father just cackled maniacally at Midnight’s words.
“JOIN ME MY SON!” His father then turned into a dark mist and lunged for Midnight, feeling utter terror, he ran as fast as he could. The town of Ponyville soon disappeared around him as he ran from the dark mist. “JOIN ME MY SON!” His father reapeated.
“NO, I WILL NOT BE LIKE YOU!” He called back. The dark mist drew closer and closer, it was just inches away, just before it over took him, Midnight woke up in his bed with a start. “NOOOOO!” Midnight panted heavily as he sat up in his bed. “A dream, it was just a dream, or more like a nightmare. What is happening to me? What does this mean?” Midnight just lay in his bed unable to get back to sleep, he didn’t really need to anyway, it was almost morning. “What am I going to do?”
Midnight just sat up in his bed as the morning sun rose, his mind filled with worry and fear. “That nightmare seemed so real, my friends, my home,…….my dad, I saw him in there after I saw myself turn into him. What could this all mean? As if this wasn’t bad enough, first these blackouts, seeing my dad in the mirror for a moment, and now that nightmare, what am I going to do?” Midnight then crawled out of bed and went to his bathroom to clean himself up for the day. He just let the warm water of the shower flow over him as he stood there in thought for a while, hoping the soothing warm water would wash away his troubles.
After a while, he shut off his shower, climbed out and dried himself off. He just sighed as he made his way out of his room. “Maybe I should just get to work on another painting for my friends, I think that party scene Pinkie wanted would be good.” Midnight got to his living room and levitated another blank canvas on the stand. He was about to work when he just remembered something. “Hold on, every time I’m about to start on a painting, I get a knock at the door.” He then thought to go to the front door and see if any pony was approaching. He opened the door and saw Pinkie Pie there with a hoof raised as if she was about to knock on the door. “Just as I thought.” He said out loud.
Pinkie gave a bright smile as she greeted Midnight. “Hey there Midnight, how’d you know I was here?”
Midnight Star gave a bit of a smirk. “Lucky guess.”
“Really, wow, your good, can you guess WHY I’m here?”
Midnight then gave a real smile as he answered. “No, sorry, that’s as good as it’ll get, you’ll just have to tell me why you came by.” With Pinkie’s smile, Midnight felt some of his worries melt away from his mind.
“I came bye to invite you to a party I’m having later today, I figured a good party would cheer everpony up with all the strange bad things going on around here, so what do you say, you wanna come, It’s gonna be at Sugarcube Corner at 12:00.”
Midnight was a little disappointed that Pinkie’s party was going on today when he had a lot of work to do. “Sorry Pinkie, I wish I could come, but I have a lot of work I need to do with making paintings, plus, I have a date with Luna tonight.”
Pinkie let out a long drawn out gasp at this bit of news. “*GAAAAAAAAAASSSP* YOU’VE got a date with princess Luna, congratulations Midnight, this is great news, we just have to throw a party for it, oh you’ve just gotta come, I can set it up right now!”
Midnight shook his head. “I’m sorry Pinkie, but I was about to get started on the painting you asked me to make, then I was going to make the other paintings the other girls asked me to make. Plus, Rarity said she’d have a suit ready for me at 10:00 and I need to pick it up. I would definitely like to come to one of your party’s but it will have to be on a day when I won’t be so busy.”
Pinkie frowned at this news. “Awwwwe, really, ok.” Pinkie then brightened up when she got an idea. “We can just have a party tomorrow then to celebrate. You won’t be busy then will you?”
“No Pinkie, I won’t be busy tomorrow, I would love to come to a party with you tomorrow.”
“ALL RIGHT! I just can’t wait till tomorrow then! See ya later alligator.” Pinkie cheered then rushed off.
Midnight smiled as he shook his head at Pinkie’s antics. “That pony sure likes to party.” He then went back inside and got to work on the painting for Pinkie. Midnight got to work on Pinkie’s painting and remembered what she asked for, a fun looking party scene with all her friends, including him, having fun. Midnight then remembered something else. “How am I going to make something like that when I’ve never been to a party, maybe I should have accepted Pinkie’s invitation to that party, at least then, I’d have some idea as to what a party looks like.” He then rushed to the door, hoping Pinkie hadn’t gotten too far off to where she wouldn’t hear him call her. “PINKIE PIE!”
In an instant, Pinkie was standing right in front of him. “Yes Midnight, what is it?”
“WHOA, dang you’re fast, listen, I thought about it and decided maybe I could attend that party your throwing today.”
Pinkie smiled so big at Midnight. “Really, you’ll come?”
“Well, since I’ve never been to a party before, I figured it would be good inspiration for me to make your painting.”
“ALL RIGHT! I’ll come by and pick you up ten minutes before the party starts, see you then Midnight, bye.” Pinkie then rushed off again.
“How does she do that?” Midnight wondered to himself. He figured he might as well get to work on another painting instead for Twilight. He could take a sketch of Rarity for her self-portrait when he picked up his suit. After some thought, he decided the best scenic painting for Twilight would be one of Ponyville. He remembered seeing a great view of the town when he first approached it. He could see the town from atop a hill that also had a view of Canterlot as it rested on the side of the mountain. He remembered seeing a rainbow just under the castle that was being made by the sun shining through a constant waterfall from the city. “HA, that’s just perfect, I’ll make that for her, I just know she’ll love it. Midnight then got to work and started on Twilight’s painting.
By the time he was finished, it was now almost ten, the time when Rarity told him to come by and get his suit, he cast his paint drying spell on the painting and smiled at his completed work. “There we go, perfect.” Thanks to his work, he had completely forgotten his troubles for now. Midnight left his house with his saddle bags packed with his sketch pad and coloring pencils and headed for his neighbor, Rarity.
Midnight entered Rarity’s boutique and found her just now coming down stairs. “Hey Rarity, I’m here for my suit.”
Rarity smiled upon seeing Midnight. “Midnight, darling, how good to see you today, your just in time, I just finished with your new suit for your date tonight. Follow me upstairs and I’ll show it to you.”
“Sure thing, I can’t wait to see it.” Midnight followed her to her workroom upstairs.
“And here it is, what do you think?” Rarity floated the suit in front of Midnight to see. It was a black suit with a white under shirt and a black bow tie, it had gold cufflinks with small white diamonds embedded in them.
“WOW, Rartiy, it looks amazing, you really are a talented clothes designer, I can’t thank you enough for this.”
Rarity blushed at Midnight’s compliment. “Oh now, it was nothing, I’m just glad you like it.”
“Like, it, I LOVE IT! I’m going to look so good in this, thank you.” Midnight was getting a little teary eyed without realizing it as he looked at the suit.
Rarity took notice of this. “Midnight, what’s wrong, why are you crying?” She asked with concern.
“It’s just that, well……no pony had ever given me anything before, I-I just don’t know what to say other than thank you.”
Rarity smiled again at Midnight. “Your quit welcome dear, I’m glad I could make you happy.” Rarity floated the suit to Midnight after folding it neatly.
Midnight took hold of it with his own magic and placed it in his saddle bag. “Rarity, since I’m here, I figured I could go ahead and get a sketch for your self-portrait, what do you say.”
“Really, right now, oh but, this is so sudden, I need time to prepare.” Rarity said, feeling a little panicked.
"Rarity, relax, you look beautiful just the way you are, besides, I already have an idea for what I would like to do for your painting, and you don’t need to wear a dress, just you.”
“Oh, I don’t know dear, are you sure?”
“Hey, who’s the artist here? Trust me, you’ll look great. I want to capture your natural beauty. Now, go lie down on that red sofa you have, cross your forelegs, and look right at me.”
“Well, all right, if your sure.” Rarity smiled as she did as she was told. She climbed on her red sofa, crossed her forelegs, and looked at Midnight with half lidded eyes.
Midnight brought out his pad and pencils, and began to sketch. After a while, he finished. “There we go, ok Rarity, all done, you can get down now. I’ll get to work on this soon.”
“Thank you Midnight, I’m looking forward to seeing your work.”
“I take it you’ll be at Pinkie’s party today?”
“Of course dear, I wouldn’t miss it for the world, I could use something to take my mind off of that break in yesterday, it still troubles me abit.”
“I’ll have your painting ready for you then, as well as every pony else’s. See you then, bye.”
“Good bye Midnight.”
Midnight Star then left for his house and got to his living room to start on Rarity’s painting. “You know, I think it would be a good idea to present these paintings to them at the party, I can surprise them with my works there, no way I’ll be able to finish them on time though if I work on them one at a time. I only need to make two more, then I can work on Pinkie’s at the party. I’ll have to exercise all my focus in order to make Rarity’s and Rainbows at once.” Midnight then set another blank canvas on his stand and levitated another one next to it. “This is going to take all my focus and concentration.” He began working as best he could to accomplish his goal. He maneuvered two brushes on one canvas for Rarity’s and two more on the other for Rainbow Dash’s. He kept looking between the two to make sure they were going according to his vision.
It took a while, but he managed to make the paintings he wanted. “WHEW, I did it, man that was hard, but I succeeded.” He recreated Rarity’s painting from the sketch he made, and the one for Rainbow Dash was just how he pictured it. It was one of her flying through the clouds with a determined smile on her face with a rainbow trail behind her in the blue sky. One of her front hoofs was stretched out while the other was tucked under her. “I hope Rainbow likes this one.” He then cast his paint drying spell on the two works then proceeded to wrap up all three paintings for transport. Another thought then came to his head. “Maybe I could also give that painting to Luna at the party as well.” He decided to pack that with the others as well, so he levitated it up, wrapped it, and put it in his bag with the others.
He saw that Pinkie would soon be arriving to take him to the party. He packed up the paintings in his saddle bag, his art supplies, and got his bags on his back, he then secured his stand on his back with the saddle bag strap. Right on time, Pinkie came knocking. Midnight then opened the door to greet her. “Hey Pinkie, I’m ready to go.”
“Great, but what’s with the bags and the stand?”
“You see, before you got here, I managed to make three other paintings for the others and thought it would be a good idea to present them to the girls at the party, I also figured I could make your painting while at the party, so I packed another blank canvas, and other supplies to make it. I hope that’s ok.”
Pinkie just smiled. “Of course it is, as long as you remember to have fun there and it doesn’t take you long to make it.” The two then headed for Sugarcube Corner.
When they arrived, it looked as if the party was already in full swing, every pony was already chatting and playing games. There were streamers all over the place with balloons, party hats on every head, delicious looking treats set up on the tables, and a big chocolate cake at the center of the table. The games set up were pin the tail on the pony, bobbing for apples, and many others. It looked as if half the town was here, Midnight also saw his six other friends, as well as Luna, all together. “Wow Pinkie, this looks great.” As soon as he spoke, all the other towns ponies stopped what they were doing and looked in his direction with unpleasant stares. This made him very nervous. “Uh……..hey everypony, how’s the party going?” Right away he heard a few whispers from the crowd.
“What’s he doing here?”
“He’s got some nerve showing his muzzle here.”
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised Pinkie invited him, but how are we supposed to enjoy this party with him here.”
Midnight immediately grew a frown. “Pinkie, maybe this was a bad idea, I should probably just head back instead.”
Pinkie smiled at Midnight. “Nonsense, come on, let’s have some fun.” Pinkie dragged midnight over to where the others were so they could chat.
Spike was the first to greet him. “Hey Midnight, glad you could make it to the party.”
Twilight was next. “Yes, it’s good to see you again.”
Luna was next. “We are most pleased that you could make it.”
Midnight had a nervous smile as he responded. “Yeah, great.”
Rainbow took notice of this. “Is something wrong, you don’t look so good.”
His smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown. “I’m not so sure I should have come, all the other ponies just glared at me as soon as I entered. Maybe it would have been better if I hadn’t come at all and stayed home.”
They all felt sorry for Midnight, Applejack decided to try and comfort him as she stepped forward and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Now come on sugar cube. It’s like the princess said, it’ll just take time fer the others to come around and see you fer who you are and not fer what yer father became.”
Midnight looked to applejack with a sad smile. “Yeah, your right, I guess I should try and not let what they say get to me, besides, I have you eight to back me up right.”
“Right!” The six girls answered in unison.
“Indeed.” Luna answered.
“Don’t worry Midnight, we’ve got your back.” Spike answered last.
Midnight really perked up at this. “Oh, that reminds me, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, I have your paintings here for you, I hope you like them.” Midnight then opened his bag and levitated the three paintings out and over to their respective recipient.
Twilight was surprised by this. “You finished them already? Wow, thank you Midnight.”
“Thank you so much Midnight.” Rarity thanked.
“Yeah, thanks dude.” Rainbow then gave her thanks as well. They each unwrapped their paintings and let out a gasp upon seeing Midnight’s works of art.
Twilight was the first to compliment. “Wow, Midnight, this is amazing, it’s absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much." Twilight then held the painting in her magic grasp and gave midnight a hug.
He was surprised by this. “You….like it that much, thank you, I was hoping you would.”
Twilight then released him to look at him. “You did a wonderful job.”
Rarity was next to compliment. “Midnight, you were right, you managed to make me look absolutely gorgeous, thank you so much.” Rarity then hugged him as well while holding the painting in her magic grasp.
“Thank you Rarity, I’m glad you like yours as well.”
Finally Rainbow dash gave her thanks. “DUDE, you really captured my awesomeness in this, I look so totally AWESOME!” Instead of a hug, she just went for a hoof bump.
Midnight gladly returned it. “I’m really glad you all like your paintings, I worked really hard on them.”
“Like them, we love them, you are an amazing artist Midnight.” Twilight stated.
“I’ll say, these paintings are beautiful.” Fluttershy complimented after seeing them.
“They sure are somthin, you did a great job on them partner.” Applejack complimented.
Midnight then remembered the other painting he brought. “Princess Luna, I have a painting for you as well.”
Luna was surprised by this. “You do? What is it?”
“It isn’t the original, but I was able to recreate it.” Midnight levitated his last painting out of his saddle bags and in front of Luna for her to take it.
Luna took hold of it with her magic as she eyed the wrapped painting. “What do you mean Midnight?”
“Open it and see.”
Luna unwrapped the painting and was stunned at what she was looking at. “Midnight, is this….”
“It’s a copy of my very first painting, the one that helped me earn my cutie mark, I though you would like to see it, and……keep it as a thank you gift.”
“Midnight, I….I don’t know what to say, thank you so much.” Luna was overcome with such joy with being presented with such a beautiful painting of her night that, without even thinking, she quickly pressed her lips to Midnight’s.
The sudden lip contact from the princess of the night caused Midnight’s eyes to widen in shock. He couldn’t believe it, Princess Luna was kissing him.
The girls, except for Rainbow, gasp in shock. Rainbow just looked away while Spike proceeded to make gaging motions with his claw. The girls just ‘awwwwed’ at the scene. This also drew the attention of the other ponies at the party who were also shocked, but not in a good way.
Luna pulled away upon realizing what she had done. She blushed with embarrassment. “OH MY, please forgive me Midnight, I…I don’t know what came over me. I am very sorry.”
Midnight was still in shock as he tried to respond. “I….um…th-that’s all right Luna, um, I….I really liked it." “IDIOT, you don’t just say something like that after a pricess kisses you by accident. Was it an accident? OF COURSE IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!”
Luna blushed more from Midnight’s compliment. Before anything else could be said, one of the ponies spoke up. “HEY, what’s the big idea kissing the princess like that? You’ve got some nerve pal!”
The group turned their attention to the pony who spoke up, the other ponies seemed to agree with the statement as they all started up. Luna decided to address them to keep things from escalating. “Calm yourselves, I am the one who kissed him, I was merely overcome with such joy and gratitude from a wonderful gift he gave me that I just kissed him, go back to enjoying the party and please don’t cause any trouble for him.” This seemed to calm the crowed as they went back to the party. Luna turned back to Midnight to address him. “Midnight, I am sorry for the trouble I caused for you, I hope you can forgive me.”
“It’s fine Luna, you defended me, and I am grateful for that, I’m also glad that you love my painting so much. I should get to work on Pinkie’s painting now so I can start enjoying the party.”
Luna smiled at Midnight. “Very well, thank you again for it, it is truly magnificent.” The others all went to enjoy the party so Midnight could get his work done quickly.
He set up his stand, got the blank canvas set up, and prepared his paints as he scanned the scene. He watched for a moment as the ponies all enjoyed the party and the treats before starting. “All right, I know what to do, time to get to work.” Midnight then proceeded to start his painting and capture the party scene before him.
As he did, he also noticed that the girls, whose paintings he gave to at the party, took it upon themselves to show off his work to the other ponies there. He certainly didn’t expect that. “Guess I should have seen that coming, they really are trying to let every pony see me for who I am, and not what my father became.” “Who are you trying to kid, they will never see you for who you are, you saw how they all reacted when you first entered the place, they will never accept you. You are just wasting your time.” Midnight just ignored those thoughts, he was in too good a mood to let those thoughts get to him.
After a while, he finished the painting and cast his quick dry spell. “Hey Pinkie, I’m finished with your painting!” He called from across the room.
Pinkie and the others rushed over to look at it. “WOW Midnight, you did another great job. OOOOH, It looks like so much fun, I just want to dive in there and party in there.”
Midnight couldn’t help but laugh. “HA Pinkie, it’s just a painting, first of all, that is impossible, second, if you did manage that, then you would be missing out on this party.”
“Oh yeah, good point. Well anyway, it still looks great, thanks Midnight.” Pinkie then gave Midnight a big hug.
Midnight returned the gesture as he wrapped his forelegs around her. “You’re welcome Pinkie.”
After releasing her hug, Pinkie picked up the painting and held it up over her head and called out as she went to the center with the others following. “HEY EVERY PONY, LOOK AT THIS PAINTING MIDNIGHT MADE!”
Midnight just hung back with a big smile on his face as the others followed her. “You know what, I don’t care if the others accept me, I’ve got such great friends in those ponies, they really care about me.” “We’ll see about that.” Before Midnight could respond, he was once again assaulted with another dizzy spell. “No, no not now.” He wobbled in place and he closed his eyes. With no pony looking, he changed, his horn became red and sharp, his eyes began emitting that same dark purple mist from the sides, and when they opened, they were that same green color again. “Heh heh heh, let’s see how friendly they are after this.” His horn began glowing black. The lights in the building all went out, making it impossible for any pony to see anything. The crowed all began to chatter as this happened.
Midnight then continued with another spell, but it was too dark for any pony to see what he was doing, it didn’t matter anyway as they were all still confused about how this happened. Luna tried to calm the situation as she addressed the crowd. “Every pony, please remain calm, I’m sure it is merely a temporary black out.” After she said that, the lights came back on and every pony could see again. but the scene that greeted their eyes was not pleasant.
Midnight’s eyes fluttered open after and saw the carnage of the once fun scene. “No, what happened.” The cake had been ruined, it looked as if it had been aged and was rotten looking, as well as all the treats on the table. The streamers were shredded, the balloons were popped, the table clothes were ripped, the pin the tail on the pony game had been torn to pieces, and the bobbing for apples tub was taken apart to leave water on the floor with rotten apples littering the ground. “NO, it can’t be, am I really the one responsible for all this?”
The ponies all looked around in horror. Pinkie was practically on the verge of tears as her party had been completely ruined. Twilight spoke up. “No, who could have done such a thing so fast?”
Luna again took charge of the scene. “Every pony please remain calm! We will figure out the perpetrator of this heinous crime.”
One of the party goers spoke up. “We already know who’s responsible for this, it’s that new pony Midnight star, it has to be, he is the son of that despicable King Sombra.”
Another agreed. “Yeah, ever since he arrived here, all this bad stuff started happening. It has to be him.”
Midnight was too shocked to say anything as he continued to try and contemplate what was going on. The girls, Luna, and Spike all stood in front of him to defend him. Spike was the first to speak up for his defense. “You don’t know that, there’s no way he could have done this!”
Rainbow agreed. “YEAH, so why don’t you all just back off and leave him alone.”
Another patron spoke up. “Oh, and I suppose you have proof that he didn’t do all this!”
Twilight was next. “Do YOU have proof that he did?!”
“We don’t need proof, it’s clear as day that he’s the one responsible for all this.”
Applejack was next. “Now look here, Midnight Star is a very nice, kind, and generous pony, there is no way he would do all this!”
Pinkie then stepped in. “Yeah, so why don’t you all just stop being such meanies and leave him alone.”
Luna finally decided to speak as well. “ENOUGH, Midnight Star is not the one responsible. Whoever is doing this is using dark magic, and Midnight has none of that, he is NOT the one causing all these bad thing in Ponyville.”
Midnight just continued to go through his mind. “Maybe I am responsible for all this, every time I black out, something bad happens. Am I really the one doing all this, why, what’s happening to me?”
Fluttershy stood next to Midnight and saw the fear in his eyes. “Midnight, are you all right?”
“I……I…….I have to go!” Midnight then rushed past all the ponies and galloped back home.
Twilight tried to call after him. “MIDNIGHT, WAIT, WHERE ARE YOU GOING!” No use, he didn’t hear her. “Come on girls, we’d better go talk to him.” The group then left the party after Midnight.
Midnight burst through his door, slammed it behind him and raced upstairs to his bathroom. He leaned against his sink with his head hanging down as he panted. “*PANT* what’s………what’s happening…….to me?” He looked up to look at himself in the mirror only to be greeted with a familiar face. “NO, Not again, you’re not real, you can’t be!” It was his dad again, smiling wickedly at him. “GO AWAY!” He screamed at the reflection.
Something then surprised him, the face spoke to him. “Now why would I want to do that, It’s about time that you and I had a nice father to son chat my boy. HA HA HA HA!”
Midnight Star’s eyes fluttered open, only to be greeted with darkness. He looked around for any sign of anything, confused as to how he got to where he is. “HELLO!” He called out but no answer. He looked down at his hooves and noticed he was standing in a white circle of light. “What the hay, what’s going on here, where am I?” He tried to move, but his hooves remained firmly planted where they were. “Come on, move.” He struggled but couldn’t get anywhere. “HELLO! IS ANYPONY OUT THERE?” He called again, his voice echoed in the dark void.
This time, he was answered with a wicked laugh. “HE HE HE HE.”
Midnight became a bit more frightened at this. “HELLO! WHO’S OUT THERE, SHOW YOURSELF!”
A dark figure soon emerged before him. “Hello my son, it’s good to see you again.”
Midnight recoiled in fear, desperate to try and run, but his hooves were stuck where they were. “No, it can’t be, your dead, you’re not real, you can’t be real, GET AWAY FROM ME!”
“I’m hurt, is that anyway to speak to your father?” Sombra spoke with a bit of sarcasm.
“My father died ages ago, I don’t know who you are!” Midnight said felling a little bold.
“Your father’s body was destroyed, but as you can see, his spirit still lives.”
“How is this even possible, what are you?”
“It seems I need to explain myself in order to make you believe that I am real.” Sombra spoke with a low tone. “You see, when I saw those wretched……ponies, with that accursed crystal heart, I could see my demise coming. So before they could make use of that accursed relic’s power to destroy me, I cast a spell that would allow my soul to enter another vessel upon my body’s destruction. I chose you, who better to help me survive than my own son?”
“NO, this can’t be real, it just can’t be, your lying!” Midnight couldn’t believe what he was hearing.”
“What more proof do you need other than the fact that I am right in front of your eyes?”
“It’s true,….you are real.” Midnight finally accepted what Sombra was telling him. “But then….where are we, what is this place?” He asked as he looked around more at the dark void.
“I thought you would be smarter than this, this is your mind, or rather, our mind now. You see, even though we now share the same body, you are still the dominant mind…..for most of the time, we are only now able to speak like this because I have been gathering strength. The spell left me unable to do anything while in your body for a long while until I finally had the strength to do something.”
Midnight’s eyes soon widened in realization. “It was you, you’re the one who’s been taking control of my body whenever I have those blackouts, you’ve been tormenting my friends!”
Sombra Smiled wickedly at his son. “That’s right, I’ve merely been flexing my magic muscles. And also getting back at those wretched ponies for what they did to me.” Sombra then frowned. “If I had more time to cast the spell I did that put me in your body, I would have complete control over it, however, since I had to rush, I am only able to take control for short amounts of time. I need your help my son, if you ever want me out of your body, you will have to do as I say.”
“Why should I help you, I can just tell the princesses about you and how you’re inside my body, I’m sure they can come up with a spell to get you out of me.”
Sombra grew his smile again. “I would advise against it, while I am only able to take control of your body for brief moments in time, I will use that time to destroy one of your precious friends. In short, if you say one word about my existence until I see fit, I will destroy them.”
Midnight lowered his head in defeat. “no, you can’t.” He said quietly.
“I can and I will, unless you do as I say, you must convince those ponies that you are not their friend and leave this town. I have a way to get my body back, when my body was destroyed, only my horn survived the explosion, I can sense it. Even though it is far away and faint, I can still sense it. With that, I can use a spell to rebuild my body and get it back. My horn rests just on the outskirts of the Crystal Empire.”
“You…..want me to turn on my friends, I….I can’t, you can’t make me!”
“Have you forgotten, if you don’t do as I say, I will use the little time I have with control of your body and destroy them, you know I can son.”
Tears started to form in his eyes. “I…..I……..*sigh* all right, I’ll……I’ll do what you say.”
“There’s a good boy, now if I’m not mistaken, I believe you have some ex-friends to drive away.”
Midnight looked sadly up at his father. “Yes father.” The dark void disappeared and Midnight soon found himself lying on the floor of his bathroom. He got up as he shook his head. “Wh-what happened, was it all a dream?” He asked hopefully. He rose and looked in the mirror. To his disappointment, he saw his father smiling wickedly at him.
“No son, it was not a dream, remember, not a word about me or I will kill those ponies.”
Midnight said nothing, he just made his way downstairs and began packing, for a long trip with a heavy heart and tears starting to form. Soon, he heard a knocking at the door. He got his packed saddle bags with all his important belongings and art supplies and went over to the door. He opened it to reveal all of his friends and the lunar princess at his door. He was afraid of this.
Twilight was the first to speak. “Midnight, are you all right, why did you run out like that?” She asked with worry.
Rainbow was next. “Yeah, you saw how we had your back didn’t you? You didn’t have to let those others chase you out like that.”
Midnight took on a stern look as he looked over them. “You know what, forget it, it doesn’t matter, no matter what, I will always be seen for who my father was and not for who I am, I’ll never be anything more that the son of Sombra!”
Rarity came in next. “Darling, you know that’s not true.”
Applejack was next. “Come on now sugar cube, it’s like we’ve been tellin ya, it’ll just take time fer them ta come around.”
Pinkie then chimed in. “Don’t let those meanies get to you Midnight, you’ll always have us.”
Midnight was so touched on the inside by their words, but he couldn’t stay, he had to leave, for their sake. “Like I said, it doesn’t matter, because I’m leaving, I’ll never have a home, you ponies are all alike, I’m done with all of you.” He then just pushed past them and began his trek out of town.
Fluttershy tried her turn as well. “But Midnight,….you can’t mean that, surely you’re just upset over what happened at the party. Why don’t you just take a minute to calm down.”
Midnight glared at her on the outside, even though it was killing him on the inside. “NO, I will not calm down, I’ve had enough of this, just leave me alone!” Fluttershy recoiled at Midnight’s shout. Midnight continued to storm along.
Now Luna took a turn as she called out to him. “Midnight wait, please don’t go, surely we can talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
Luna then flew off and landed in front of him to block his path. She eyed him carefully.
He looked at the princess he had fallen for, this was going to be worse than becoming manticore fodder. “Luna, get out of the way.”
“Not until you tell us what is wrong, clearly there is something else bothering you, please tell us what it is so we can help.” The girls and Spike had all gathered behind him now.
He looked back at them and then back at Luna. “There’s nothing you can do to help, get out of my way now and let me go.”
Twilight tried again. “Midnight, please just talk to us, we’re your friends, let us help.” She was practically begging Midnight to talk. The desperation was evident in all their eyes.
Midnight had such a hurt expression pop up on his face that the others saw, but he quickly put back on his stern and angry visage. “THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO HELP, DON’T YOU GET IT! Just leave me alone and forget about me! please. I don’t want to hurt you.” He said the last bit under his breath with his eyes closed. Tears were starting to form in his eyes.
Luna tried again. “Midnight, please, you and I are going through similar things in our lives, why can’t you tell us what’s wrong.”
Midnight couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, his eyes were watery as he looked up at Luna with a frown, trying to maintain his stern look but doing a poor job at this. Luna saw the hurt in his eyes. He clenched his eyes shut. “I JUST CAN’T!” He then ran past Luna as fast as his legs could carry him and headed off, leaving his friends behind.
They all watched in sadness as their friend fled the town in such pain. They just couldn’t understand what would be bothering him so much that he couldn’t talk to them about it. Twilight approached Luna. “Princess,…..what’s wrong, why wouldn’t he speak to us?”
Rainbow Dash was next. “We can’t just let him run off, we gotta go after him and try to get him to talk.”
Luna looked to the girls as she spoke. “I agree my friends, when I looked into his eyes…..I…I could almost sense……..something, something inside him.”
The girls grew curious about this. Spike was the first to ask. “What do you mean something, what did you sense?”
“I…I don’t know how to explain it, or even if I can, but there may be more to this than we think, we must follow him and see if we can unravel this mystery, but first, I think it prudent to inform Celestia of this turn of events. I would like to accompany you all with this, but I fear my sister will need me back at the castle soon. It may be pointless, but I would like to ask her about this. Twilight, I ask that you and your friends go and pack quickly for a journey ahead. We shall all meet back at the library.”
Without hesitation, the girls all agreed and left for their homes to pack. Twilight took Luna back to the Library and wrote a letter to Celestia.
My dear sister, something has occurred here in Ponyville, as you are aware, there have been some strange and dark things going on here. However, that is not why I am writing to you. Something has happened with Midnight Star and has unexpectedly decided to leave Ponyville. Something has him hurting greatly, I don’t know what it is, but when I looked into his eyes, I sensed something inside him, something dark, I don’t know how to explain it. My heart is telling me to do all I can to help him, which is why I am asking you to let me accompany the girls in finding him and bringing him back home. If you do not agree with this, I will understand and come back to the castle. But I am asking with all of my being to let me go and try to help Midnight Star in any way I can.
Your sister, Luna.
Midnight Star had slowed down his pace after getting a good distance away from Ponyville. His tears had let up some but were still coming out in drips as he walked along with his head low. He looked at his shadow on the side and saw his father’s eyes looking at him. “Do not fret son, as long as you cooperate you and I can still rule over all the world, I know what you have been through over the past five years. I was with you the whole time. I am still your father and I do still care about you, you are my flesh and blood after all.”
Midnight Star looked away from his father’s eyes and faced forward. “If you cared about me, you wouldn’t be doing this to me, why did you have to turn to dark magic dad? You should have known that there was nothing you could have done to save mom. Where’s the father I loved and cared for me, where’s the father mom fell in love with and had me with her?”
Sombra narrowed his eyes from Midnight’s shadow. “THAT FATHER WAS WEAK, HE COULDN’T STOP DEATH OR REVERSE IT! I am strong, I will not be seen as weak again!”
When Sombra said this, Midnight seemed to get a thought, he turned his eyes to meet his father’s again. “Wait, weak, stop death? That’s what this whole thing was about wasn’t it? Before you turned to dark magic, you blamed yourself for mom’s death didn’t you? You tried to find a way to bring her back and the dark magic corrupted you. All because you blamed yourself didn’t you?”
“ENOUGH, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD ABOUT THIS! That father was weak and helpless, I am strong and powerful, I desire only one thing, to rule all! Not one more word about it, do I make myself clear!”
Midnight faced forward again. “Yes father, I understand.” “There must still be some good in him, I just have to believe and find some way to bring him back, I lost him twice already, I won’t lose him again, I just have to find some way to bring out his good side, or at least find some way to get the elements of harmony to be used on him so they can banish the darkness and bring back my real father.” Midnight was hoping he could find some way to bring back his father from the darkness that had enveloped him. For now, all he could do was continue on to the Crystal Empire and do as his father told him.
I can understand your desire to help Midnight Star, I will be fine with you going to help the girls find him to bring him back, but if what you say is true about him, I would advise that you all bring the elements of Harmony with you. I can take care of things at the castle while you go with the girls. I wish you all the best of Luck in finding him, take care.
Your sister, Celestia.
With Celestia’s blessing, Luna and the girls prepared themselves for their journey to try and find Midnight Star. Twilight took the elements of harmony from their protective glass case that sat in the library and placed them in her saddle bags, along with other supplies, none of them knew how long this would take or what to expect. The girls all met back up at the library and readied themselves.
It was then that Spike had a thought. “Hold on, how are we supposed to find him though, there’s no telling where he went by now, he must be a good few miles away by now.”
“Actually, I think he was heading north, towards Baltimare when he ran off.” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
“Then that’s where we’re going. Come on every pony, let’s go find our friend!” Twilight exclaimed.
It’s been a while since Midnight Star left Ponyville now, the sun was starting to set and he figured it was time to set up camp. “Guess we should rest for the night.” He said to no one in particular.
His father was looking at him through his shadow. “You know son, since we share the same body, you do have access to my magic, you could easily set up a place to rest with it.”
Midnight looked at his father’s eyes. “Forget it dad, I am not about to resort to dark magic for something like that, besides, you know this isn’t the first time I had to camp out if you have been with me these past five years.” He then proceeded to find some large branches, leaves and vines to make a makeshift tent. With his unicorn magic, it was relatively easy to set it up. He then gathered some rocks and twigs to make a campfire in front of his tent. He was smart to pack some of the food he had in his house for this trip, so he had his food situation covered for now.
He just sat in front of the camp fire and looked up at the night sky as the moon rose. “Hey dad, remember how we use to stay up late and watch the stars and moon come out?”
Midnight’s shadow rose from the ground and made a black pony silhouette with green eyes sitting next to Midnight. “Oh please, don’t get sentimental on me, I don’t care about the past, that all was a long time ago, no amount of remembering things in the past does any good.”
Midnight continued as he looked up. “But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still good to remember. Come on dad, I know you remember that, how we stayed up to watch the stars, how you made hot cocoa to keep us warm, how mom would-“
Midnight was cut off by his father. “I THOUGHT I MADE IT CLEAR NOT TO MENTION HER! She is gone and that is all there is to it!”
Midnight Star looked into his father’s green glaring eyes. He looked away with closed eyes and sighed. He reopened his eyes looking at the fire. “I know there’s still good in you, I know the father I loved is still in there or he wouldn’t remember anything about our past.” He looked back at the black mist that was his father. “I’m not giving up on you, I know your still in there, I will do what I can to bring you back.”
“I am who I am, that father is gone and you will just be wasting your time, I suggest you get your sleep, you are my only transport to get my body back and I can’t have you feeling exhausted.”
Midnight just shook his head, crawled under his makeshift tent and went to sleep.
The next day, after some walking, Midnight found himself in a town. From what he remembered, it was Baltimare. “Good thing I still have a few bits, I can use them to stock up on some more food for this trip. You see dad, it’s thanks to MY FRIENDS that I have some bits to get some food and stock up.” Midnight saw his father roll his green eyes.
“Just make it quick, some of the ponies here may recognize you and that will be troublesome, they may decide to call the guards and have you arrested, of course then, I will have to take control and deal with them should that happen.”
“If you do that, it will just make things worse for us, all we need to do is try and keep a low profile.” Midnight continued his walk through the market place of the stone town. As he walked, he heard a cry for help off to the side. He looked down an ally way and saw a mare being held at knife point by a large grey coated earth pony wearing a black sweater.
“Some pony, HELP!” The desperate mare Pegasus called.
“Just give me the money lady and no pony gets hurt.” The thug said.
Midnight saw the scene unfold and grew frantic. He looked to his shadow and spoke. “Dad, we have to help!”
“What for, it’s not our problem, it’s her own fault for being weak, why doesn’t she just use her wings to fly away?”
“She might be too stricken with fear to do anything, I can’t do this myself, you’ll have to help her.”
“Why should I, like I said, it’s not our problem.”
Midnight had to think quickly. “LOOK, you said that I’m the dominant mind here, if you want me to take you to where your horn is, than you need to do what I say, or I won’t go any further. Now take control and HELP HER!”
“FINE, but I will need more time than I am allowed to control your body, I will be able to maintain control for as long as you will it.”
“Fine, I will allow you control for as long as you need to save her.” Midnight then closed his eyes and the minds switched, his horn became red and sharp, his eyes began to emit the purple mist again and turned green. Sombra was now in control of Midnight’s body.
Sombra stormed into the ally and called out to the thug. “HEY, YOU, LEAVE HER ALONE!”
The thug looked over at the unicorn at the end of the ally. “Get lost punk, this don’t concern you.”
“You have no idea how much it does.” Sombra’s horn then glowed a black aura and levitated the thug up into the air.
“HEY! WHAT THE!” Was all he said before he was slammed into the wall and dropped to the ground. The thug wasn’t done yet. He got back up and glared at the possessed unicorn. “Oh, you’re gonna get it now punk.” The Pegasus mare just watched in awe as this mysterious unicorn came out of nowhere and was trying to save her. The thug started sprinting towards Sombra.
Sombra just smiled evily at the thug. “Foolish move.” Sombra reared up and slammed his hooves to the ground, causing black crystals to erupt from the ground and stopped the thug in his tracks.
“What the hay!” Soon, another black crystal erupted underneath the thug and wrapped around him, encasing his main body, leaving his front hooves and head untouched. “LET ME GO YOU CREEP!”
“You’re the one who thought it was a good idea to rob some pony and impede on my quest.” Sombra then levitated the thugs knife up off the ground and in front of him. “Now to deal with you for good.”
The thug saw the knife float just under his throat and grew terrified. “NO, please, I-I’ll never do it again, I swear. Please just let me go.”
“Why, so you can do this over again? I don’t think so.” Just as Sombra was about to slit his throat, his eyes suddenly closed and looked as if he was straining with something. The knife fell out of his magic grasp and fell to the ground. Midnight’s voice came back out from his mouth. “NO!” Midnight regained control and spoke. Once he had control of his body again, the black crystals broke apart and disappeared.
The thug fell to the ground with a thud. He looked up at the unicorn who glared down at him. “Please, just let me go, I swear by Celestia I’ll never do this again.”
Midnight continued his glare. “Get out of my sight, and don’t let me catch you doing this again.” Midnight stepped aside and let the earth pony thug run off.
The mare, who hid behind a trash can while the scene played out, finally came out and approached Midnight. “Thank you so much for saving me, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Is there anything I can do to repay you?”
Midnight Star smiled at the mare. “No thanks necessary mam, I’m just glad I was able to help. You take care now.” Midnight then strode off to leave the mare to her business.
The mare then called out to him again. “WAIT, can I at least get your name, I would very much like to know who my savior was.”
Midnight looked back with a smile and responded. “My name is Midnight Star mam, I need to get going now.” Midnight then continued on his way.
As Midnight walked his father looked at him from the shadow. “Why did you stop me, I was just about to deal with that thug like you wanted.”
Midnight Star kept his eyes forward. “It wouldn’t have been right to kill him, even if he was doing something wrong. It isn’t our place to punish some pony like that.”
“If that’s the case, then it isn’t our place to interfere like that either, so what’s the point?”
“It’s every pony’s place to do what is right, and what you did to save her was the right thing, but it isn’t our place to punish those who do wrong by being the one to sentence them, that is left to the royal guards.”
“This better not become a regular thing son, I detest this morale of yours.”
Midnight turned his eyes to his father. “Hey, your the one who taught me that, besides, you practically said it yourself, my body, my rules. If you don’t like it, then why don’t you just possess some other pony and be their problem?”
Sombra narrowed his eyes. “The spell that put me in your body trapped me in it until I can get my original body back. I am stuck with you and you are stuck with me.”
“Well then, I guess that means that until then, I’m pretty much the boss, but I don’t want you hurting other ponies in my body, so until then, every pony is pretty much a hostage. But then again, if you cause trouble, we’ll be thrown in a prison and it will be impossible for us to do this, because once I get control of my body if you try an escape, I’ll let the guards do what they must. I’m your only hope for getting your body back.” Midnight Star gave a confident smirk as he knew he was right and won the argument.
Sombra said nothing, he simply retreated back into the shared mind and left Midnight alone for now. “Don’t worry dad, I’ll get you back somehow, this may very well be a step in the right direction, convincing you to do a good deed.”
Hours passed after Midnight had left the city, Luna, Spike and the girls all just entered the city hoping to find a clue as to where he would be going. As they entered, the ponies who saw Luna bowed to her. Luna approached one pony at a stand in hopes he might have seen Midnight Star. “Excuse me good sir, might I have a moment of your time?” While Luna questioned him, the others went around asking others if they had seen their friend.
The girls regrouped and came together to report their findings. Luna started. “I’m afraid I was unsuccessful in my search.”
Twilight was next. “Me too, no pony had seen him, what about you Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy met Twilight’s eyes. “Sorry, no luck.”
Twilight then turned to Applejack. “What about you Applejack?”
Applejack closed her eyes and shook her head. “Sorry darlin, no luck either. What about you Rainbow Dash?” Applejack then faced Rainbow next to her.
“Sorry, no luck either, no pony around here saw Midnight.”
It was then that a mare's voice spoke up. “Excuse me, did I hear you say Midnight?”
The girls turned to face the source of the voice to see a pegasus mare. Luna approached her and responded. “Yes, we are looking for a pony by the name of Midnight Star, have you seen him?”
Upon realizing who she was talking to, the mare quickly gave a bow before speaking. “Yes your majesty, I have. I was on my way to the market when this brute of an earth pony tried to rob me, when out of nowhere this unicorn shows up and stomped that earth pony good. He was able to summon up dark crystals from the earth to trap the ruffian.”
“Interesting, do continue.” The girls all listened intently, hoping this mare would tell where he went.
“There was something odd about him though while he fought the thug. His eyes were a strange green color with some kind of purple mist coming from the sides of them, and his horn was red, curved, and sharp looking. Once he finished with the thug, his eyes changed to a silver grey color and his horn changed to a dull pointed horn that matched his coat in color. Also, he seemed to be talking to himself as he walked away. He was rather odd, but he did save me. Is he a friend of yours?”
Pinkie then jumped forward with a question. “Yes he is, did you happen to see which way he went?”
The mare thought for a moment. “I think I saw him heading north, towards the Crystal Empire when we were both done shopping in the market.”
Luna then spoke. “Thank you for your information mam, it was most helpful.”
The mare gave a bow. “I’m happy to be of service your majesty.” She rose from her bow and left.
“Now why in the hay is Midnight going to the crystal empire?” Rainbow questioned.
Applejack responded. “I don’t know ya’ll, but there’s somthin fishy goin on with what she said about Midnight Star.”
Rarity then spoke up. “I’ll say, green eyes, purple mist, red horn, and he summoned black crystals from the earth? Why does that all sound so familiar?”
Fluttershy came in next. “And why would he be talking to himself?”
Twilight then had an idea. “Oh no, girls, don’t you get it? Who do we know that had those features?”
Spike and the girls thought, but Luna interrupted, realizing what Twilight had come to. “Sombra, it can’t be.”
The girls and Spike gasped. Spike spoke up. “You don’t think he’s becoming evil like his father do you?”
Luna continued. “If he was, he wouldn’t have saved that mare.”
“Then, what could it mean Luna?” Twilight asked.
“What the mare said about what she saw of Midnight, may have given me an idea of what is going on. Remember when I said that when I looked into Midnight’s eyes, that I saw something dark?” The girls nodded. “The mare we just met, said he had descriptions that matched Sombra for a while, then afterwards, she said he looked as if he was talking to himself. With all these facts, I believe that Midnight Star is possessed by Sombra.”
“Oh my, poor Midnight, how could this have happened, I hope he’s all right.” Fluttershy stated.
“Of course he’s not all right, he’s being possessed by his evil father’s spirit.” Rainbow Responded.
“Then it must have been that awful Sombra that did all those nasty things to us in Ponyville.” Rarity Pointed out.”
“Of course, Rarity’s boutique, Applejack’s orchard, my library, Pinkie’s party, they all must have been Sobra. He must have taken control of Midnight’s body and did all those things.” Twilight pointed out.
Pinkie then pointed out in an angry tone. “Yeah, and it must have been that mean ol Sombra that did something to make Midnight Star have to leave, that must have been why he left the way he did.”
“What are we gonna do ya’ll, how can we help Midnight with this?” Applejack said as she took her hat off and held it to her chest.
Luna then pointed out the obvious to them. “Have you forgotten my little ponies, we have the elements of harmony, you six can use their power to free Midnight Star from Sombra.”
“But…..can we really do it, I mean…..Midnight already lost his father once before because of us, can we really do it to him again, even if Sombra is evil, Midnight may still want to try and save him somehow.”
The girls and Spike lowered their heads in sorrow, realizing that they may have to take away Midnight’s dad away from him again. Luna spoke to address the girls. “I realize this is not an easy thing, but it must be done, for the good of Equestria, and for Midnight Star.” Could the girls really do this to Midnight again, he may still love his father, how could they take away their friends dad from him again?
It has reached around mid-day since Midnight Star left Baltimare and was currently traveling along the road north towards Hoofington. He still had a long way to go before he reaches the city, from there, the northern cold wasteland that surrounds the Crystal Empire. “Come on Star, THINK, there must be some way to try and connect to dad. OK, he keeps talking about strength. Maybe I can get him to teach me some magic, make him think that I want to be strong like him.” Midnight now had a plan.
He looked to his shadow that was currently his own. “Hey dad,” His shadow then gained his father’s eyes and looked at him. “I was thinking, since you don’t like to act the hero, maybe you could teach me some magic and help me get strong like you. That way, I can be the hero if more trouble comes our way. I know you may not like the idea of me acting like a hero either, but it’s your own fault for teaching me such things when you were good.”
One of Sombra’s eyes raised in a sort of 'I’m not sure about that’ look. “So, you wish to be strong, you’re right, I don’t like the idea of you acting the hero, but I certainly don’t see the point in me acting a hero either. But if it is strength you desire, I suppose I can help you. Stop and eat, then we will begin your training. If you are going to rule beside me, I want you strong so no pony will dare threaten you.”
Midnight looked straight ahead with a smirk. “Gotcha.He still thinks that he can change my mind and join him, but I got him.” “All right then.” Midnight found a spot off the side of the road to stop and eat for a moment. After lunch, Midnight stood up and faced his shadow. “OK dad, I’m ready for my training to begin, but no dark magic, that will corrupt me and I want to stay who I am.”
Midnight’s shadow formed into a black silhouette of Sombra and stood next to him. “HMM, very well, but do not think this will be easy, I intend to turn you yet and I will make you a strong unicorn. Our first lesson will be a simple magic bolt, all you need do is focus your magic into your horn and let it build up. Then, once you feel you have sufficient magic in it, release it in a powerful blast. Try and blast that big rock over there.” Sombra pointed his shadow hoof to a rock on the left. It was really more like a boulder. “Once you are able to destroy a rock of that size, we will move on to the next part of your training. The point of these will be to push you to your limit and beyond. Once there, you will push further, that is the key to strength.”
Midnight faced the boulder and began as he was instructed. He focused his magic in his horn and let it build up a bit, then released it. The grey bolt of magic flew through the air and struck the rock. But all it did was leave a small scorch mark. “How was that dad?” He knew it wasn’t good, but he hoped that maybe it would draw his father’s good side out a bit with that question.”
“Tch, is that the best you can do, come on, I know you can do better than that, try again and this time, give it everything you got. DON’T disappoint me son.”
Midnight then looked back at the boulder and focused his magic in his horn again. He let it build up more this time and let loose. This time he left a much bigger scorch mark on the boulder, but it left Midnight feeling exhausted. “How…..was…..that…..dad?” He panted.
“You really are weak, that bolt nearly exhausted all your magic reserve, we’ll have to stop for now until you can build your magic back up and try again.” Sombra then faded back to the ground. “Let us move on, we will continue this training session at night fall.”
Midnight Star then just gathered his things and continued on down the road. “I’m sorry I’m so weak dad, but that is why I asked you for this, I want to be strong, since that’s what you seem to respect.”
“Strength is everything my son, the strong take advantage of the weak. Those who are weak become victims of the strong, if you are weak, then you will become a victim yourself, and I will not have my son become a victim. I will make you strong Star.”
“But not all those who are strong are evil dad, look at the princesses, they are strong and they do not take advantage of others, they use their strength to protect their subjects.”
“They are cowards despite their strength, they sit on their thrones and let their guards do their dirty work for them. There is more than one form of weakness son. The princesses display the other form of weakness. They prefer to let others do their work for them while they sit on their thrones and do nothing. I am strong AND I am not afraid to get my hooves dirty.” Sombra informed Midnight.
Instead of continuing the debate, Midnight realized that he would never be able to convince his father with just words. So he let it go for now and continued on.
The sun was now setting over the horizon, casting beautiful shades of yellow and orange over the skies and on the clouds. Princess Luna was getting ready to raise the moon for the night. The sun fell down and the sky grew dark to make way for the stars. Luna rose to the sky with her horn ablaze as she brought forth the moon to take its place in the sky. Her task complete, Luna floated back to the ground to join her other friends who watched in amazement at her task. “Princess Luna, I never get tired of seeing that.” Twilight complimented.
Luna smiled at Twilight as she responded. “Thank you Twilight, I do take pride in my duties.”
“That there was some sight yer majesty.” Applejack then complimented.
“Thank you as well dear Applejack.” Luna smiled at her as well.
“I don’t see why I can’t just fly ahead and catch up to Midnight and talk to him and get him to come to us.” Rainbow complained. She knew she could catch up to him in no time and felt frustrated that she was being held back by the others.
“Because dear, we don’t know the full story of what’s going on with him. Sure Luna pointed out that he may be possessed by his father’s spirit but we don’t know for sure.” Rarity informed.
“Rarity is right Rainbow, we don’t know what he’ll do if one of us approaches him.” Twilight said.
“Um, excuse me.” Fluttershy spoke up in her usual quiet tone, no pony heard her.
“So what, you think I can’t handle myself if he decides to try and attack me.” Rainbow defended.
“I didn’t say that Rainbow, but there is no telling what he is capable of right now.” Twilight fought back.
“Excuse me, um please.” Fluttershy tried again, a little louder, but she still went unnoticed.
“Twi's right Rainbow, there’s no tellin what he’s capable of or what he’ll do if’n we try ta approach him, it’s best that we do this together ta try and help him.” Applejack informed.
Rainbow then flew up to Applejack and got in her face while hovering. “OH COME ON! He’s our friend, he’d never hurt us!”
“Excuse me please, um I don’t mean to interrupt but…” Fluttershy tried again.
“SILENCE” Luna shouted in her royal canterlot voice to get every ponies attention. “I am sorry every pony but arguing will not solve anything, we must approach him together. Also, I believe Fluttershy has something to say. Fluttershy, what is on your mind?” Every pony and dragon now had their eyes on Fluttershy.
She recoiled a bit at the attention as she tried to hide behind her mane. “Well, um, you see, I was just wondering, if he is possessed by his father, and features of his father show when Sombra is in control, why did Sombra save that mare in Baltimare? It just seems strange to me. If you don’t mind me saying.”
The group began to contemplate what she said. Pinkie then started bouncing, thinking she had the answer. “OOH, OOH, I KNOW! Maybe Sombra has decided to be good now and is trying to be a hero.” The girls and Spike just gave her a confused expression. “What?”
“Sorry to disagree Pinkie, but I seriously doubt that.” Twilight said.
“That is a good point Fluttershy, that is most curious. Why did Sombra commit such an act, if it was Sombra.” Luna agreed.
Spike then decided to try and add something. “Maybe Midnight is able to use dark magic and used it to save that mare.”
“Spike, Midnight knows what would happen to him if he used dark magic, there’s no way he would.” Twilight argued.
“I’m afraid all this discussing about our friend, will not get us any answers, only raise more questions and make us worry more about him. For now, let us turn in for the night and try to cover more ground in the morning so we can try to catch up to him.” Luna said as she addressed the group.
Before they headed off to their tents for the night, Twilight then had a thought. “Princess, I just remembered something, couldn’t you enter his dreams and talk to him while he sleeps tonight? That way we’ll know what’s going on.”
Luna smiled big as realization struck her. “Of course, how could I have forgotten one of my abilities as princess of the night?! Twilight Sparkle, you are indeed a most brilliant student of my sister.”
Twilight blushed at the compliment. “Thank you Luna.”
“Very well, tonight, I will try and speak with Midnight Star while he sleeps to try and figure out what is going on. Good night my little ponies.” The group then retired to their tents and slept.
Some time, before their little discussion, Midnight was going through his father’s magic training. He had been at it for nearly three hours now. “Not bad, I can see your bolts getting stronger and you are not tiring as easily, but you still have yet to be able to destroy anything.”
“Thanks…..dad…..can we…….stop for the night now…….I’m tired.” Midnight panted, feeling exhausted again.
“Very well, you have made decent progress today, get your sleep for tonight, tomorrow morning, we will pick this up after your breakfast.”
“Thanks….dad.” Midnight then crawled into a tent he purchased at the market back in Baltimare, laid his head down, and fell asleep.
Midnight soon found himself floating through the air. “Wh-what, what is this? Where am I? DAD, IS THIS YOUR DOING?” He was floating through what could only be described as a starry sky. All around him were bright shining stars. He received no answer from his father. “Ok, what is going on here?” Soon, the moon appeared before him, full and glowing white. “What the hay.” He squinted his eyes as the moon was letting off a bright white glow. A figure then emerged from the Moon. “Dad, is that you?”
A voice responded from the figure. “Midnight Star, I have come to speak with you?”
Midnight recognized that voice. “Princess Luna, is that you?” Luna then made herself visible before Midnight.
“Midnight Star, it is good to see you, I am most pleased I was able to find you like this.” Luna was smiling bright as she looked upon Midnight. “Midnight, please tell me why you left Ponyville, you have us all worried sick about you.”
“LUNA, what are you doing here, you shouldn’t be here, you have to go, it isn’t safe for you.” Midnight tried to get her to leave.
Luna took on a stern look. “Midnight star, I am not going anywhere until I get a straight answer from you. Why did you leave, why did you abandon your friends?” Luna’s look softened to a somber one. “Please Midnight, tell me, me and the others are very worried about you, we are trying to catch up to you to help you.”
Midnight tried to keep his bold face. “I already told you, I am done with you all, stop following me and go back to where you came from, we are not friends.” Saying this was killing him inside. He was so touched that the girls and Luna were trying to find him.
“Midnight, if this has something to do with the other presence within you, you need not fear, it is unable to enter your mind, I can sense it.”
Midnight took on a look of surprise. “YOU………you know about it? But how, I never mentioned anything about it.”
Luna gave a sad smile as she looked at him. “Midnight Star, when I tried to stop you and looked in your eyes, I saw something dark within you. I know there is something inside you that is evil. Please tell me what is going on. Tell us all.” With that, the others appeared. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike all appeared behind Luna.
“What…..but……how are you all here, this doesn’t make any sense.” Midnight was even more shocked to see them.
Twilight was the first to approach. “Midnight, we’re your friends, we just want to help you however we can. We care about you. Why don’t you want to be our friend anymore?”
Midnight was starting to get teary eyed at seeing them here. “I…I don’t. I CAN’T TELL YOU!” He shouted to them all. “PLEASE JUST GO, it isn’t safe for you all!”
Luna came closer. “Midnight, as I said, if this has something to do with the other presence within you, you need not worry, it does not have access to your mind, we are alone here, it cannot hear us or interfere, now please, tell us what is going on.”
Hearing this, he couldn’t hold back any more. “GIRLS, SPIKE! I’m so sorry, I….I just couldn’t tell you before, he…he threatened all of you if I said anything. I just couldn’t tell you.” He ran to the girls and started a group hug with tears in his eyes. Spike joined in as well. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you all, you are the only friends I’ve ever had.”
They all had smiles on their faces as they hugged, glad to be briefly reunited with their friend. After a moment, Midnight calmed down and broke from the hug. “Ok, I’m ready to tell you what was going on.”
Twilight spoke up first. “Whatever is going on, I just know we can help.”
Rainbow was next. “Yeah, just tell us what’s going on.”
Pinkie chimed in next. “I just know we can do something.”
Rarity was next. “Dear, we will always have your back.”
FLuttershy came next. “You can always count on us, no matter what.”
Applejack came next. “We’ll be by yer side through thick n’ thin.”
Midnight smiled with a few stray tears in his eyes as he looked over his frineds. “Thank you, it is such a relief to finally be able to tell you about this.” They all stood before Midnight, Luna then came around and joined the girls and Spike. Midnight took in a deep breath and exhaled. “Sombra has returned.” He paused for a moment to let it sink in. “Before his body was destroyed, he cast a spell that allowed his soul to enter another body, my body. So now, I am stuck with the spirit of my father inside me, but he has a plan to get his body back. His horn survived the destruction and he has a spell that will allow him to use it to rebuild his old body so he can get out of mine. During this travel, I am trying to get his good side out and get him to fight the darkness.”
Luna cut in. “Wait, so you believe there is a way to save him?”
“I have to believe, I have to believe that somewhere inside that dark personality is my father, the one who loved me and raised me. I just know that he’s still in there somewhere, and I will do whatever I can to get him back.”
The girls smiled as they knew what they could do. Twilight decided to inform Midnight of what was in their possession. “Midnight Star, I believe we can help with that, we have the elements of harmony with us. I just know that with their power, we can purge your father of the darkness.”
“Really, you have the elements with you? THAT’S FANTASTIC, with their power, my father can finally be freed from the darkness!”
Rarity then chimed in. “So then where is your father’s horn?”
“Yeah, how does he know where it is?” Pinkie asked.
“Somehow, he’s able to sense its location, he said it’s somewhere in the frozen north near the Crystal Empire. I have to keep moving forward so my dad doesn’t get suspicious but hopefully, I might be able to slow down my pace so you can all catch up to us and you’ll be able to use the elements on him once he’s back in his body. Also, I’m trying to bring out his good side by acting as my magic teacher. I convinced him to think that I want to be strong like him.”
“Well all right then, sounds like we got ourselves a plan.” Applejack called out.
“Don’t worry Midnight, we’ll be ready for our part.” Fluttershy said.
Twilight then had a thought. “We will need time to get them ready and launch their power.”
“I can handle that, with the training my father is giving me, maybe I can stall him and give you all time to use the elements.” Midnight suggested. “I just know we can save my father together. I can’t thank you all enough for this. And Luna.” Midnight turned his attention to the night princess.
Luna met Midnight’s gaze. “Yes Midnight Star.”
“I’m sorry about our date getting cancelled, maybe when this is all over, you and me can try again.” He asked with hope in his voice.
Luna smiled at him. “I would like that very much Midnight. I’m afraid our time together is about done though, the morning is approaching.”
“WHAT, NO, it can’t be already!” Midnight was upset at this. “Can’t we just spend a little more time together? I don’t want to have to leave you all again.”
Twilight came forward to comfort him. “Relax Star, we’ll see each other again, I promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
The girls all repeated the actions of a Pinkie promise. “What was that?” Midnight asked in confusion.
Pinkie then hopped forward to explain. “It’s a Pinkie promise silly, when a Pinkie promise is made, you don’t break it.”
Midnight smiled. “All right then. I’ll see you all sometime again. I’m looking forward to it.” They all waved good bye to each other as Luna, the girls and Spike all started to move away and disappear, leaving midnight alone to awaken to the morning sun. His eyes blinked open and gave a yawn as he crawled out of his tent, he looked to the morning sun and thought to himself. “I promise to do whatever it takes to fix this mess, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Midnight had to hold back a chuckle so as not to draw attention from his dad. Another day has dawned with renewed hope in Midnight’s heart.
Two guards of the crystal empire were going about their rounds which had been extended a little further than before into the cold bitterness of the harsh wintery north. The magic of the empire kept the area nice and warm around the city while beyond the outskirts, it was icy and cold. “BRRR, remind me again why the range of our rounds had been increased to this cold area.” One of the crystal guards complained.
“Because we’ve received reports of a pony matching the description of Sombra’s son heading this way, we need to be on guard and ready in case he does show up here.” The other guard informed.
“That lousy Sombra, he got what he deserved for what he did to us, I can’t wait for his son to show up so I can teach him a lesson. It will be just like kicking Sombra’s sorry flank all over again.” The first guard said.
The second guard responded. “I hear that, but our orders are to take him into custody and present him to prince Shining Armor if he shows up.”
“No reason we can’t ruff him up a bit and say he tried to resist.”
The two talked as they went through their patrols of what they would like to do to the innocent Midnight Star if they should find him, it was the next best thing to getting after Sombra for them. As they continued, something caught the first guard’s eye. “Say, what is that over there?”
“Where?” The second guard looked to where the first was pointing. They saw a patch of ground that was not covered in snow, but from what they could see, it was also grey and looked like no life could grow there. They quickly rushed over and looked at the spot of ground and saw a red curved sharp object that seemed to be letting off a dark red glow. “What in the name of Celestia is that? It can’t be…”
“I think it is, it sure looks like it.” The first guard responded. “What should we do?”
“We must inform the prince and princess immediately.”
“But can we really just leave it here, we should take it with us.”
“Are you mad, look at it, it looks like it still has magic in it, there’s no telling what would happen if we try to move it ourselves.”
“Don’t be such a baby, here, watch.” The first guard then approached the horn and put his hoof too it, but as soon as he touched it, a black crystal started enveloping his forleg. “AAAHHHH!” the guard quckly backed up with the black crystal formation quickly growing more over his body. “GET IT OFF ME, HELP!”
The other guard became panicked, he didn’t know what to do. “OH NO, I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH IT! WHAT DO I DO?” Before he could come up with an answer, his friends body was completely encased in crystal now with a look of fear frozen on his face. He fell over to the ground with a clinking sound. “NO, SURE SHOT! What do I do, what do I do?” He then quickly turned around and headed back to the palace to inform the prince of the incident.
*****
Midnight Star was in the middle of a training session with his dad learning how to produce a shield for protection. “Good my son, you are holding the shield well, but it still needs a bit of work, I can sense it is still a bit weak. That will improve in time. You may rest now.”
Midnight released the spell and the shield fell. “Thanks dad, I can’t wait to be strong like you. I really appreciate you teaching me like this.”
“Like I said, I refuse to let my son be a weakling, don’t take my praise the wrong way. I am merely……” Sombra cut himself off.
Midnight looked to his father’s silhouette. “Dad, what is it? Is something wrong?”
“My horn, it’s magic has been disturbed. Those accursed crystal ponies must have found it. This will put a damper on my plans. CURSES, IF THOSE PONIES HAVE MY HORN, THEN HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET AT IT!” The purple mist in his eyes intensified as he shouted.
Midnight looked to his father with worry. “Dad, calm down, we can still get your horn back, it will just be a bit more difficult than anticipated. Look, can you teach me to be…..I don’t know, more….stealthy?”
Sombra looked to his son. “Hmm, are you suggesting a sneak attack?”
“No, I am suggesting that if you can show me how to be sneaky and quiet, I can sneak in there, get your horn and sneak out.”
It wasn’t clear, but it seemed as if Sombra was smiling at his son. “HM HM HM, it seems I underestimate you again my son, that is actually a good idea. Very well, we will have to forgo your defensive training and opt for stealthy spells so you can go forward with your plan. For now, it is late, I suggest you sleep now, you have worked hard with your magic.”
“Of course father, thank you.” Midnight then climbed in his tent and laid down for a good night’s sleep.
Morning came and Midnight crawled out of his tent, stretched, and went to his bag to get breakfast. They had already passed through Hoofington where Midnight was able to use the last of his bits to stock up on food for the rest of the trip to the frozen north, he was just a few days away now from the crystal Empire. Once he finished with his breakfast, his father’s eyes appeared in his shadow again and looked up at him. “Son, since we don’t have a lot of time for you to go through the training for you to learn the spells you’ll need, I may have to resort to other methods in order for you to be prepared.”
Midnight looked down into his father’s eyes. “What do you mean dad?”
“I may just have to give you the knowledge on how to use an invisibility spell instead of you doing it the hard way.”
“WHAT, you mean you could have just given me the knowledge on how to cast these spells from the very beginning, why didn’t you do that before?!” Midnight practically shouted at his father in frustration.
“Because learning the spells the hard way gives you a better understanding of how they work, thus allowing you to be more proficient in their uses. Simply being given the knowledge of how they work will not make you able to wield them as effectively. Given the circumstances, I will transfer my knowledge of the spells into your mind. You will be efficient enough with them for what we need them for.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Midnight wasn’t too sure about what his father said, but he knew his father was right, there was no way he’d be able to master an invisibility spell before they reached the crystal empire. “All right then, let’s do this.” Sombra’s eyes disappeared from Midnight’s shadow. Midnight soon closed his eyes without realizing it. His eyes opened and found himself in a dark void with his father standing before him. “Dad, what’s going on?”
“In order for the transfer of knowledge to happen, we must be in the same scape. Now come forward and tip your horn towards me.”
Midnight was a little hesitant, but did as he was told. He took a few steps forward towards his dad and stopped short. He lowered his head with his horn pointing to his dad. Sombra came closer as well. He touched the tip of his horn to his son and a surge of red magical energy flowed from Sombra’s horn to Midnight’s. Midnight felt a strange energy entering his head as this went on. It felt weird as knowledge began to pour into him, not just how to make himself invisible, but how to put ponies to sleep with a spell, or how to create illusions to fool other guards, as well as spells to disguise himself. Once the transfer of knowledge was complete, Midnight pulled his horn away and looked at his dad. “Whoa, what was all that, I thought you were just going to give me an invisibility spell?”
Sombra’s expression was neutral. “Invisibility may not be enough, I want you to be fully prepared and ready for anything you may encounter for this to work. I felt it necessary to give you the knowledge you now have. I trust you will not let me down.”
“Don’t worry, I want you out of my body just as bad as you want your own body back, so thanks for the new spells.” Midnight then found himself returning to the outside world, in control of his body again. He packed up his things and continued on his trek to the frozen north. He could tell he was getting close as it was snowing a little around him, and it was getting colder. “Why didn’t I think to get a coat or something?”
*****
Luna and the group had just woken up and were in the middle of breakfast. They were all still concerned for Midnight Star as they ate. “Um….Luna, do you know how far away we are from Midnight Star….if you don’t mind me asking.” Fluttershy asked.
Luna turned to the yellow Pegasus and answered with a smile. “I do Fluttershy, we are merely a few miles behind him, we will be able to get to him when he finds his father’s horn and be there for you all to use the elements of harmony.”
“That’s good ta hear, I’ll be glad when this whole mess is over and we can all go back home, I sure do miss ma family, but were doin this fer a friend.” Applejack commented.
“Say Luna, do you think tonight we could talk with Midnight Star like we did last time?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Please Luna, I am still a little worried about him.” Twilight begged.
Luna smiled again as she answered. “I do not see why not, very well, tonight, we shall meet with Midnight in his dreams again.” The group was happy to hear this. They all packed their things and got ready to continue on their travel.
*****
Night fell again and Midnight was getting ready for another night’s sleep. Before he did, he had to gaze at the stars again for a while. The moon was crescent tonight, surrounded by its sparkling bretheren. No clouds were out tonight in the sky above. “Another beautiful night Luna, thank you.” He said quietly to himself.
“I still don’t get why you waste your time gazing at a bunch of lights in the sky, it’s ridiculous.” Sombra commented from Midnight’s shadow that was being cast by his campfire.
“Excuse me for finding beauty in the night like YOU used to show me when I was young.” Midnight Star then turned for his tent and laid down for the night. Midnight Star soon found himself in peaceful slumber and was now floating in a space he recognized. “What, wait, this looks familiar.” Sure enough, the moon appeared before him, followed by a familiar voice.
“Thank you for your kind words towards my night Midnight Star.”
“Princess Luna, is that you?” He asked with a smile.
Luna, Spike, and the girls all appeared before him with smiles on their faces. Luna was the first to voice her greetings. “Hello Midnight Star, it is good to see you again.”
Midnight walked up to the group and greeted them as well. “Hey girls, and Spike, it’s great to see you again. What are you all doing here?”
Twilight was the first to answer. “We just wanted to check up on you and make sure you’re doing ok.”
Pinkie chimed in. “Yeah, we really miss you ya know. It’s so boring without you around.”
“I miss you all too, I just wish I could finally be done with all this. But I just gotta try and get my dad back.” His expression grew somber at his last words.
“We understand sugar cube, and like we said, we’ll always have yer back.” Applejack said as she put a hoof on his shoulder.
This got Star to smile again. “Thanks you guys, I appreciate it. There is something I need to tell you though.”
“What is it dear?” Rarity asked.
“My dad thinks that the crystal Ponies somehow found his horn, if that’s true, then this is going to be more difficult than I thought.” Midnight informed them.
“How does he know they found it?” Asked Rainbow.
“Earlier this morning, my dad said that he sensed the magic in his horn was disturbed, one of the crystal ponies must have stumbled onto it, which means that they will most likely lock it up in the palace somewhere.”
Luna was concerned about this. “I see, perhaps I can send word to my sister and have her pass a message along to Shining Armor and have him just toss it back to the snowy outskirts.”
Midnight disagreed. “That might not be a good idea, my dad may find it suspicious. I already have a plan in mind to get the horn, it is risky, but it will be worth it if it means getting my father back. My dad gave me the knowledge to use certain spells that will allow me to sneak into the palace and find the horn, I’ll sneak in, take it, and sneak back out. Then he can do what he needs to rebuild his body. That is when you six can come in and use the elements of harmony on him and free him from the darkness that has consumed him.”
“That is a most brilliant plan. You are a smart one Midnight.” Luna agreed. “Just be careful not to get caught by the guards.”
“I will, don’t worry. Thank you all for your support in this, it means so much to me.” Midnight smiled big to his friends. The group chatted for a while in the dream scape until it was finally time to wake up. Midnight was a little sad that he had to say goodbye to his friends again, but it was unavoidable. Morning greeted Star as he woke up and got out of his tent, ready for another day of traveling.
*****
The days went on as Midnight Star traveled and trained under his father to increase his magical abilities. His magic reserves grew considerably from the training his father gave him. Soon, he found himself in the frozen, snow covered north of Equestria. He gazed at the crystal empire before him, ready for his mission to retrieve his father’s horn. “This is it son, go in there and get me my horn, I want my body back.”
“Don’t worry dad, I know the drill. I will get your horn.” Midnight figured to start with an invisibility spell to sneak in and get into the inner recesses of the castle. He focused his magic and became invisible, no pony could see him now. He quickly but quietly made his way through the town to the castle. “So far, so good.” He stayed by a door to the castle and waited for a guard to enter or exit the door so it would not look like the door opened on its own. He didn’t have to wait long, a guard exited the castle and Midnight quickly made his way in before the door closed.
There was a large stair case before him, leading to the second floor of the castle, and two hallways to the sides. He ducked to the side away from the door. “All right dad, which way from here.” He whispered to his father.
“Hmmm, my horn is somewhere below the castle in the lower chambers, you need to find stairs going down.” Sombra informed Midnight.
Midnight opted to try the disguise spell in the castle. He dropped his magic concealment and used a spell to make himself look like one of the crystal guards. “Maybe like this, I can get some information.” He made his way and took the left hallway. Along the way, he came across a guard heading in the opposite direction from him. He grew nervous at the approaching guard, thinking his cover would be blown.
“Easy son, just stay calm, don’t draw attention to yourself.” Sombra informed his son from the shadow. Star just gave a light nod.
Midnight and the guard continued on their way, the guard passed by Midnight, giving him a nod, Midnight returned the nod and continued his walk down the hall. Star then gave a sigh of relief once the guard was gone. “WHEW, that was close.”
“Hey there.”
Midnight Star stood straight up and went wide eyed at the voice. He turned and faced a pony he never wanted to run into during this intrusion. “Uh,…g-good day your majesty.” Prince Shining Armor had come up behind him with his wife, princess cadence. Midnight quickly gave a salute to the two.
Shining Armor chuckled at the guard imposter’s nervousness. “Easy there soldier, why so tense?” He asked with a smile.
Sombra was glaring at the prince and princess from Midnight’s shadow, thankfully, Midnight was the only one who could see his father’s eyes and hear his father’s voice. “Sorry your majesty, just a little jumpy I guess.”
Cadence then stepped forward to greet the guard. “Say, I don’t think I’ve seen you before, are you new or something?”
Midnight grew more nervous but did his best to hide it. “Y-yes….princess, just started today. Guess it’s just…..um….first day jitters.”
Cadence then chuckled. “I see, well welcome aboard good sir, we’re glad to have you with us. I’m sure you’ll do fine, just try to relax a little.”
Midnight had to end this quick. He could practically feel his father’s anger toward the royal couple building. “Yes princess, thank you, please excuse me, I believe I am running late for my shift.”
“All right then, maybe later you and I can hang out some time, show you how to relax and not let the stress of the job get to you, I used to be a guard too you know.” Shinning offered.
“Sir, I would like that sir. Thank you, please excuse me.” Midnight gave a final salute before heading off and away from the prince and princess. “Ok, THAT….was way too close.”
“Accursed ponies, how dare they rule my kingdom, I will personally see to their suffering once I get my body back.” Sombra complained from Midnight’s shadow.
Midnight continued on his way and found a staircase leading down. “Dad, is it down there?” He asked quietly.
“Yes, I can feel it, we are so close now. Keep going, soon I will have my body and get my revenge on these wretched crystal ponies.”
Midnight followed his father’s directions and went down the stairs. They led to a long corridor far below the castle. Midnight followed the corridor and came upon a large pair of doors with two guards in front of it. “All right son, this is it, my horn is just behind those doors. Use a sleep spell on those guards and get in there.”
Midnight cautiously approached the guards. They took notice of him and the one on the left spoke. “Halt, I don’t think you’re supposed to be down here soldier, this area is off limits.”
Midnight then quickly dropped his disguise and quickly cast a sleep spell on the guards before they could react. The guards fell to the ground unconscious, allowing Midnight access to the room. Before Midnight tried to open the door, his father spoke. “Wait son, before you open it, let me take control, there are most likely magical security precautions on the doors. I’ll need to be in control to disable them.”
Midnight was hesitant but figured his dad was right. “All right, but be quick.” Midnight then let his father take control.
Sombra used his magic to scan the door and, sure enough, there were a few magical security locks in place. “Hah, child’s play, this will be easy.” Sombra scoffed. His horn lit up as he cast a few spells to disable the locks and allowed him access to the room. The doors swung open and Sombra stepped in. “There it is, my horn, at long last, soon I will have my body and reclaim what is rightfully mine.” He said with an evil smirk. In the middle of the small round room was a stand with Sombra’s horn sitting in plain sight. Sombra slowly approached the stand to retrieve his horn.
“Remember dad, we grab it, take it outside, and you remake your body there.” Midnight said from the shadow.
“Of course my son.” Sombra responded slowly. He came up and levitated the horn off the pedestal. “But whoever said anything about remaking my body?” He asked.
“Daaaad, what do you mean by that?” Midnight asked wearily. Sombra didn’t respond. He moved the horn closer to his current horn. “Dad, what are you doing?”
“I cannot simply rebuild a body, I must remake my body from another, with my horn, I can take full control of yours and take back my form.” As the two horns moved closer to each other, three strands of electrical like energy flowed between them as they were mere inches away from eachother.
“DAD NO, YOU CAN’T!” Midnight screamed from the shadow.
Before he could do anything to take control back, the two horns merged. Sombra laughed loudly and evily. “HA HA HA HA HA HA, AAAH HA HAH HA HA!” A black flame surrounded his body, it soon morphed and grew. Sombra had his form back with his grey coat, his black flowing mane and tail, his silver armor, and his red cape. “HA HA HA HA HA, GOODBY MY SON, YOU HAVE BEEN A GREAT HELP!”
Inside the mind, Midnight Star began falling into the black abyss as he watched his father slowly fade from his vision. “DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDD!” Midnight Star was gone, and Sobra was back.
Sombra cackled as he reveled in having obtained his form back and banished his son’s mind into the darkness to be devoured and destroyed. “AH HA HA HA HA, FINALLY, I have my body back, now to first get my hooves on that blasted crystal heart before the ponies know I’m here.” Sombra turned to leave the room and was confronted by the two guards that Midnight Star had put to sleep. “Hm, I figured my son’s sleep spell wouldn’t last long, worthless colt.”
The guards stood in horror before Sombra. One finally found the courage to speak. “It…..it can’t be…..Sombra!”
The other guard spoke up as well. “It can’t be, how has he come back.”
Before the guards could do anything else. Sombra lit up his horn with a solid black aura and fired it at the two guards, encasing them in a black crystal with a look of fear frozen on their faces. “HA HA HA , lousy fools, you will now be stuck forever living out your worst fears and nightmares. Merely killing these crystal ponies is not enough of a revenge for how they destroyed me. I will make them suffer greatly for what they did.” Sombra lit up his horn again and summoned a large black crystal from the ground, it rose up and stopped short of the ceiling. Sombra merged with the crystal and it began to rise again, plowing its way through the floors of the castle to the surface.
Outside, where the crystal heart was suspended between two crystal spikes, one on top and one on bottom, the ground began to shake with great force. The crystal ponies stopped in their tracks and began to worry. Thinking it was an earthquake, they fled in all directions. A large black crystal emerged from the ground with a black mist emmiting from it near the crystal heart. Sombra’s laughter could be heard from the crystal. His form emerged from the crystal and jumped out. Upon seeing him, the crystal ponies panicked more. “No, it can’t be!” One pony said.
“It’s impossible, he’s supposed to be dead!” Another said.
Sombra approached and eyed the crystal, licking his lips. “At last, the crystal heart, it is mine, I will no longer have to worry about this accursed thing.” He then took it in his magic grasp and levitated it over to him. In one bite, he swallowed the crystal whole. “Now to deal with Shining Armor and Cadence.” As he said this, more crystal guards emerged from the castle.
“Stop, in the name of the crystal empire!” One of the guards called out.
“I’ll deal with you lot later.” Sombra said with a smirk. In a black flash, he was gone.
Up in the throne room, Cadence and Shining Armor were worried about all the commotion going on, they had no idea what was happening. In a black flash, Sombra appeared before them. “That’s my Throne your sitting on you accursed ponies, how dare you take over my kingdome!” Sombra shouted.
*****
Twilight and the group were waiting just outside the borders of the crystal empire, waiting for Midnight star to return. As they waited, a rumble began to shake the ground beneath their hooves. “Wh-What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked.
“An earthquake, but this area isn’t subject to such things.” Luna stated.
It was then that a dark laughter could be heard in the distance. “What was that?!” Twilight asked worriedly.
“Something is wrong, we must go to the castle and see what is happening!” Luna exclaimed. Without hesitation, the group took off for the castle.
*****
Back in the throne room, Shining and Cadence were stunned to say the least. “WHAT, but how, we destroyed you?!” Shining asked in confusion.
“Something I plan to pay you back for you userper!” Sombra shouted as he fired a black bolt of magic at the two. Shining was able to put up a barrier around himself and his wife to protect them. Shining grunted as the bolt made contact with his shield. “Not bad, but do you really thing you can stop me?” Sombra scoffed.
Shining dropped his shield. “I plan on trying!” Shining said as he too fired a bolt at Sombra. Sombra just smirked. He quickly summoned another black crystal in front of him. Shining’s bolt was absorbed into the crystal, the crystal let off the same colored glow as the bolt for a moment before being fired back at twice the power. Shining was surprised by this and tried to put up another shield, the bolt was too powerful and shattered his shield and struck him in his chest, sending him flying backwards a good distance until he flew out beyond the balcony and towards the ground.
“SHINING ARMOR!” Cadence called out in fear as her husband was sent to plummet to his death. Cadence spread her wings to try and fly off to save him, but a black flash occurred before her. Sombra now stood before her, before she could react however, Sombra fired a beam of black magic and encased Cadence in the same black crystal as the guards he first encountered.
“Enjoy your eternal torment princess.” Sombra said mockingly.
As Luna and the group were galloping to the castle, they were met with a horrid sight. “SHINING ARMOR!” Twilight cried out as she saw her brother falling from the castle to the earth below.
Luna wasted no time and took action. She spread her wings and flew as fast as she could to catch Shining before he met the ground. Almost at the last second, Luna caught Shining on her back and carefully brought him back to the others. Luna levitated him off her back and gently set him on the ground on his belly. They all gathered around him, fearing the worst. Those fears were soon alleviated by seeing he was still breathing. “Shining Armor, can you hear me, what happened?” Twilight asked.
Shining’s eyes slowly opened, he was feeling a great deal of pain at the moment, but soon forgot it when he heard his little sisters voice. “T-Twily, is that you?”
“Shining, Thank Celestia……and Luna your all right. What happened to you, who did this?”
“S-Sombra, I don’t know how, but he’s come back. I tried to fight him, but he’s too powerful.”
“Easy Shining, you are greatly injured, one moment and I will perform a healing spell on you.” Luna offered.
“CADENCE, she’s still up there, GAHH HA!” Shining grunted in pain as he suddenly remembered his wife.
Luna cast her healing spell and Shining Armor was now feeling better. “Wait, what do you mean Sombra’s back?” Applejack questioned. Before her question could be answered, the crystal castle started to change, it’s once beautiful smooth, crystalline shine, started to dull and look sharp and menacing as it changed to black, looking similar to the black crystals Sombra would summon.
“The crystal castle, what’s happening to it?!” Rainbow asked as she looked on at the transformation.
“Like I said, Sombra has come back, Cadence is still up there, we have to help her.”
“Shining wait, did you see a unicorn with him looking somewhat the same as sombra, grey coat, black mane and tail, easel and paint brush for a cutie mark?” Twilight asked.
“No, why?” Shining answered.
The girls all got very worried at Shining’s answer. “There’s no time to explain, we need to get up there then, com on girls, let’s go.” Twilight ordered.
Luna, Shining Armor, Twilight, with Spike on her back, and the girls all galloped to the castle to find Sombra and try to find out what happened to their friend, Midnight Star.
“I sure hope nothing bad happened to Midnight.” Fluttershy said as the group galloped on.
Shining heard Fluttershy’s comment. “Who’s Midnight Star?” He asked.
“WHAT, Sombra’s son, how is that possible, and why are YOU all friends with some pony whose the son of that evil unicorn?” Shining asked in disbelief.
“There’s no time to explain Shining, Midnight is nothing like his father, and we need to stop Sombra and find out what happened to Midnight.” Twilight explained.
As they made their way through the castle, they noticed the continuing changes being made by sombra as all the smooth crystal like surfaces of the castle were replaced with black and sharp stones.
Eventually, they made it to the throne room were Sombra now stood before the throne with a wicked smile on his face. “Well, well, well, it looks like I have company…..and look, Shining Armor survived his fall, how nice, now I get to exact my revenge on you the way I wanted.”
Shining saw his wife encased in a black crystal sitting next to the throne. “What have you done to Cadence?!”
“OH, her, nothing really, I just froze her in a black crystal where she will forever live out her worst fears and nightmares. A fitting punishment for those who have defied me and tried to kill me, don’t you think?” Sombra responded with mock civility.
Twilight then stepped forward with a question. “Where’s Midnight Star, what have you done with him?!”
“You mean that worthless son of mine? HA, It was so cute how he thought he could reform me, I wanted my body back, but I could not simply make a new one from just a horn. I needed a whole body, all I had to do was combine my old horn with my son’s, from there, I simply banished his mind to the darkness to be devoured and disposed of and reformed his body into my own. Midnight Star is gone.”
The girls all gasped in fear. Luna also began to fear the worst as it was displayed on her face. Rainbow then took on a stern look and glared at Sombra. “NO, YOUR LYING, you have to be.”
“I can assure you I am not, I have no use for a son who has such ridiculous morals like doing what’s right and such. He was weak, hence was disposable.”
“How could you do that to your own son?” rarity asked through teary eyes.
“You monster, he cared about you, despite all the bad things you’ve done, he still loved you and hoped to make you good again!” Applejack cried out.
“You big mean meanie mean pants, give us back our friend!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“HA HA HA HA , I’m afraid that isn’t going to happen, he is gone now, and there is nothing you can do about it. I also took the liberty of devouring the crystal heart so the crystal ponies can’t use it against me. And don’t even try to use your elements of harmony against me, I know you need time to charge them, and my dark crystals can simply deflect any form of magic.”
“Then I guess it’s up to me to weaken you so we can use them.” Luna said with a stern expression. “Bring it on princess.” Sombra challenged.
Luna charged her horn for an attack, she fired a powerful magic bolt towards Sombra, Sombra managed to teleport out of the way and reappeared to the side of Luna, he then quickly fired a black bolt of his own, knocking Luna away and causing her to slide on her side. She looked to her wing and saw a black crystal encasing her wing, she quickly cast a spell to remove it and shattered it before it encased the rest of her form. “Not bad, try and handle this!” Sombra called as he quickly summoned a multitude of small black crystals and fired them off at Luna, she quickly put up a barrier that managed to hold off the assault of black crystals.
“I will not let you win Sombra!” Luna exclaimed from behind her shield.
“As if you can stop me, even you cannot hope to win.” Sombra’s horn flared to lice again. He summoned a large crystal from underneath Luna, she managed to jump out of the way just in time before it caught her. “Don’t you see, this entire castle is my weapon, I can summon black crystals from anywhere in here now. You cannot win!” Sombra called with a smile.
Shining Armor then decided to get in on the action and help Luna out. While Sombra’s attention was on Luna as he tried to summon his black crystals to knock her out of the air, Shining was about to try a sneak attack. He got up behind Sombra and fired a lightning spell at Sombra. Without warning, Sombra teleported away before the spell could hit him. Sombra reappeared in front of a very shocked and surprised Shining Armor, Sombra’s horn still glowing, ready for another spell. Sombra fired and Shining’s body was soon encased in a black crystal as well.
“SHINING ARMOR!” They all called out, his crystal encased form fell over with a clink on theground.
“NO, Shining!” Luna exclaimed as she flew down towards Shining.
Sombra took this opportunity of a distraction to do the same to Luna, he fired his beam and struck Luna right in the chest she too was encased in crystal. “PRINCESS LUNA, NOOO!!” Twilight called out. The girls all merely gasped and huddled in fear.
“HA HA HA HA HA, AH HA HA HA, not even the princess of the night can stand up to me! And now for you seven.” Sombra said as he turned his attention to the element bearers and dragon.
*****
“Where am I? who am I? What is all this?” A simple unicorn floated deeper into darkness with his head pointed down as he wondered these things. He had no memory of who he was. “Am I dead, or am I dreaming? Why can’t I remember anything?” His eyes were half open as he fell slowly.
“Midnight Star” A feminine voice echoed in the darkness.
Midnight’s eyes opened all the way. “Hello…who’s there?” His voice echoed in the dark abyss. He scanned the darkness for the source of the voice.
“Midnight Star” The voice called again.
“Midnight Star, is that my name, it sounds so familiar.” A point of light caught his attention off to the side.
“Midnight Star, come to the light.” The voice commanded, but held a kind of gentle tone.
“That voice, why does it sound so familiar.” Midnight tried to right himself so he could try and get to the light that the voice was emanating from. He began to float towards the light.
“Come into the light Midnight Star.” Midnight continued his path as the light began to grow brighter As Midnight drew closer and closer, the light grew brighter and brighter. Midnight had to soon cover his eyes with his left foreleg as the light grew unbearable to look at. After a moment, he lowered his foreleg and now found himself in a void of pure white. “Hello….is anypony here?” Midnight called out to the white while looking around as his voice still echoed.
A figure soon emerged as her form rippled into existence and took on a solid form. Standing before Midnight was a pale pink coated unicorn mare with a white mane and tail. “Hello my son, it’s good to see you again.” There was a heart shaped crystal floating next to her.
Midnight looked at her confusingly. “Son, what do you mean son?”
“Just what I said, you are my son, I suppose you don’t remember anything after being in that dark void for so long.”
“I….I can’t remember anything, you say you’re my mother, then you must know who I am?”
“I do, come closer and I’ll help you remember.” She said with a smile.
Midnight wasn’t sure about this, but there was something familiar about this pony. He cautiously stepped forward and drew closer to the mare before him. “Now this may tingle a little.” She advised as she lit up her horn in a pink aura and lowered it to his.
Midnight closed his eyes as he felt his head begin to tingle and surge with memories. After a few moments, the mare stopped with her spell and lifted her horn away from Midnight. He opened his eyes and looked at the mare before him. His mouth began to hang open as he remembered who she was. “M-M-Mom…..is it really you? But……but….MOM!” Midnight’s eyes filled with tears as he lunged for her and wrapped his forelegs around her and held her tight.
Heart String did the same as she embraced her son. “My little colt, I missed you.”
“MOM, I’ve missed you so much, I can’t believe you’re here.” Midnight cried into his mother’s coat, staining it with his tears. The two held each other in their embrace for what seemed like hours before they finally broke apart and just looked into each other’s eyes. “Mom, I can’t believe it, how is this possible, your dead.”
His mother responded. “The crystal heart has allowed me to be here, it’s magic was able to combine with the last bit of goodness within your father to allow me to speak with you. The only bit of light within your father the darkness that consumed him couldn’t touch was his memory of me.” She motioned with her head to the crystal heart, not wanting to let go of her son. “Somehow, it has allowed me to come here to see you and help you escape this place so you can go back to your friends. I have been watching over you for a long time my son, despite everything you have been through, you kept a good and strong heart, I am very proud of you.”
“But, where is here, what is this place?”
“This is the last light of your father that is left. I’m afraid that it will not last much longer.”
“But, doesn’t that mean there is still a way to save him then, to bring him back?”
Heart String’s sorrow became evident as she frowned. “I’m sorry son, but there is not enough left of him for the elements of harmony to save. However, they are the only thing now that can stop your father from his evil.”
Midnight also frowned. “So…..that’s it then, he really is gone for good…..isn’t he?”
“I’m sorry, I know how much you cared for him, and so do I, but there is nothing we can do for him. But there is something you can do for your friends, you have to go back and try to take control of your body so you can stall him long enough for your friends to use the elements of harmony against him.”
“What will happen if I get hit with the elements though, will it destroy my father again, will I get my body back?”
“I don’t know son, I wish I did, but even I don’t know what will happen. You must go now son, time is running short and your friends need you. Go to them.”
Midnight looked at his mother with teary eyes and a sad smile. “All right mom, I’m going to miss you, I love you.”
“I love you too son, and remember, I will always be watching over you.” The two then embraced each other for one last hug before they had to say good bye. They broke apart and Midnight found himself once again surrounded by darkness. He fought his way up and headed to his mind.
*****
Sombra stood over the six ponies and dragon as they cowered in fear. “HA HA HA HA HA HA, you are all doomed, I will rule all of Equestria!” Sombra redied his horn to encase the girls and dragon in his crystal prison. Before he could cast a spell, his evil smirk changed to clenched teeth and a look of surprise, he then quickly closed his eyes and looked as if he was struggling with something. “WHAT, NO, IM-Impossible. GRR GR”
“G-Girls…quick…..you…..have to…..use the elements…..of harmony….NOW!”
The girls stopped their cringing and looked at the scene before them, Sombra had spoken with Midnight Star’s voice. “Midnight…..is that you?” Twilight asked in surprise.
“Yes……hurry…..use the elements…..I don’t know…….how long I can……..stall him.” He grunted as he struggled to maintain control over the form.
“NO, Impossible…….you should have……..been consumed by…….the darkness.”
“GIRLS…….PLEASE…..you have to use them now.”
“But what will happen to you if we do?” Pinkie asked.
“JUST DO IT!” Midnight shouted in frustration as he continued to struggle for control.
“NO……I…..will not…….be defeated again.”
“HURRY GIRLS!”
Without another moment, Twilight brought out the elements from her saddle bag and levitated them to their respective owners. The girls then took up position and focused on their elements. Their bodies began to glow with the color of their element as they lifted up off the ground, their eyes closed. After a few moments, Twilight opened her eyes revealing pure white glowing eyes. The girls then shot up two rainbows that formed a double helix and combined into one big rainbow that shot forth towards Sombra. The rainbow hit it’s mark and encased him in a rainbow dome. “NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Sombra’s voice called out from inside the dome, a bright explosion of light burst forth, spreading out throughout the crystal empire and changing everything back, freeing all those who were encased in black crystal.
Back in the throne room, once the light show was over, the six ponies got up from the ground after feeling tired from using the elements of harmony. “Twily, you did it!” Shining Armor called as he ran to Twilight to embrace her in a hug.
Twilight quickly got up and hugged her brother. “Shining Armor, you’re ok!”
“Shining, Twilight, Thank Celestia your all alright.” Cadences voice then sounded as she approached the two.
Shining then let go of her sister and faced his wife. “Cadence.” The two then embraced each other in a hug as well.
Luna then approached the group as well. “Well done girls, you did it, but how were you able to get enough time to use the elements against Sombra?”
Twilight began to explain. “Midnight Star somehow came back and managed to fight with his father for control, it was him that got us the time we needed to use the elements……MIDNIGHT!” It was then that they all remembered him. The group all turned to where Sombra was. The sight was not what they had hoped. Midnight Star’s body now stood before them……encased in stone with his front half lowered and looked as if he were struggling, it also looked as if Sombra was trying to leave the body at the last second as his face was seen coming out of Midnight’s back with a mist behind his head. The crystal heart lay on the ground in front of him.
“No, Midnight, what have we done.” Twilight said as the girls all gathered around him with tears in their eyes. Even Spike was having trouble holding back.
“Midnight, no, I can’t believe this.” Applejack said.
“How…..how could this have happened?” Rarity asked out of disbelief.
“Midnight….no.” Fluttershy said.
“It’s not fair, Midnight was good, why did he get turned to stone, it’s not fair!” Pinkie bawled as she started a torrent of tears.
“Why….why did this happen to him, why?” Rainbow said as she was ready to cry as well.
Twilight slowly approached the stone statue of Midnight star as she cried. She stopped just in front of him and put a hoof to his cheek. “Midnight, I’m so sorry, I’m so……so sorry.”
Luna came up behind Twilight and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight,”
Luna was about to say something but Twilight cut her off. “Luna, how could this have happened, why didn’t the elements of harmony remove Sombra from Midnight stars body? Why did they turn him to stone too?”
Luna looked to Twilight with a frown. “I’m sorry Twilight, but I think Sombra’s darkness was greater than Midnight’s light, because of this, he was turned to stone as well.”
“Isn’t there something we can do to help him, there must be something? There has to be.” Twilight asked desperately.
“I’m sorry Twilight, but there is nothing we can do, Midnight Star is gone.” Luna said with a heavy heart. Twilight turned to the statue of Midnight once again, now joined with her friends, they just stood there in silence and cried over their lost friend.
*****
A few days later, Midnight Stars statue was moved to Ponyville where Celestia was about to give a speech in honor of Midnight star. Twilight and her friends all stood at the front of the crowd. Midnight Star was being placed at the center of the park.
“My beloved subjects, we are gathered here today to honor the memory of a kind pony who fell victim to many things. The first of which being prejudism. Because of his father being King Sombra, the evil unicorn king who took over the crystal empire a thousand years ago, he was hated and feared as if he himself were Sombra. This was a terrible injustice. Midnight Star was a kind, caring, and talented pony. All he ever wanted was to be accepted and find a home. Before his father’s defeat, Sombra used a spell that allowed his soul to enter Midnight’s body, because of this, he gave up his happiness to protect those around him. Sombra’s spirit threatened his friends if he did not do as he was told.”
“Due to unfortunate events, it became necessary to use the elements of harmony on him and froze him as you see now. Let this statue be a reminder to never judge one before you get to know them, no matter where they come from.” The six girls and Spike were all crying at this point, even Luna was feeling like she was about to cry. She had finally met a pony who knew what she was going through, and now he was gone.
The crowd dispersed after some time, leaving the six ponies, dragon, and the two princesses. “Twilight, I am truly sorry for his loss, he really was a kind hearted soul.” Celestia said as she looked at her distraught student who didn’t take her eyes off Midnight.
“It’s not your fault princess, he managed to save us, he gave us the time we needed to use the elements and stop Sombra. I still think it isn’t fair that he…..he had to.” Twilight couldn’t finish her sentence as she was too grief stricken. Her friends came together for a group hug as they cried.
Luna came to the front of the statue to look at it and read the plaque placed at the base. Midnight Star, the son of Sombra.
Friend, hero, artist.
Let not ones background be that which defines them. Always look deeper in ones heart for their true self.