Chapter 1
Chapter 1
It was a warm and breezy evening in the town of Ponyville, and the sun was just beginning to set in the distance. The gentle breeze smelled of spring, which had only recently arrived. Merchants were beginning to close up for the day, as the last shoppers wandered from stall to stall. The town seemed as if it were about to tuck itself down to sleep for the night, which Pinkie Pie didn’t care for too much. She had only recently gotten off work for the day, and was out looking for any of her friends that may be about. She hadn’t seen any of them around Sugar Cube Corner, which was strange; usually at least one came by.
It had been a boring day at work as well, no special orders or anything, just ponies asking for the same boring things. She spent most of the day staring off into space, hoping to see the familiar faces of her friends. She was now at the last line of stalls in the market row, near the edge of town. She was about to turn back, when somepony caught her eye…a pony she’d never seen in Ponyville before. A stallion with a light blue coat and a streaked silver and white mane approached the town from the west, almost completely wrapped in a dark and worn traveler’s cloak. His face was travel stained and weary, and even his horn seemed to droop.
Hah, now there was something to do, she thought. A new pony to welcome to Ponyville and to make friends with! She was about to run over and introduce herself, when she remembered her fiasco with Cranky Doodle. For some reason, there was something about the stallion’s squinted amber eyes that told her that he may be a teeny tiny itty bitty bit the same as Doodle was. She thought about it a moment, her brow creased. She continued on like that, sitting in the middle of the street, unaware of the fact that the stallion had approached her himself.
The stallion cleared his throat. “Pardon me miss, but could you tell me where I could find the inn here?” He asked quietly.
“Huh, what?” Pinkie Pie mumbled, not even looking up.
“The inn, could you tell me where I would find it?” He asked again.
“Oh, you just go down this road a few blocks, and turn left down Stirrup street, it has a sign out front, you can’t miss it.” She said absently, still deep in thought.
The stallion looked the contemplative pink pony over, then nodded his head once, “My thanks, sorry for bothering you.” He mumbles, and began to walk off.
“No problem…” She said absently again. “Wait a minute…” She quickly looked up to see the strange stallion now walking AWAY from her. “Hey, wait up a second, I’ll just show you where it is!” She said, quickly catching up to him. “Hi there, I’m Pinkie Pie, what’s your name?”
“Midnight…Midnight Rush, nice to meet you.” He responded, giving the pink pony another look. “And it’s okay, you don’t have to show me the way, you seemed like you were busy anyway.”
“Oh, no no no no no, I wasn’t busy at all. Actually, you sort of helped me out with what I was thinking of!” Pinkie responded, giggling slightly.
“Oh? And how was it that I helped you?” Midnight asked.
“Oh, I was just thinking about how I was going to come up and say hi!” She said, “You see, I saw you walking down the street and didn’t recognize you, and if I didn’t recognize you, that means you must be new here in Ponyville, because I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville, so I was gonna come say hi, but awhile ago another new comer came here to Ponyville and when I tried to go up and say hi to him he got all cranky and yelled at me, which when you think about it is kinda funny too, because he was a cranky donkey named Cranky Doodle Donkey! Can you believe it, talk about ironic!” She couldn’t believe how well this was going, and here she was worried over nothing.
“Huh, that is something, I’ll give you that.” Midnight said, looking more than a little nervous. Nopony had ever just walked up to him and started talking as much as this mare had! How she’d breathed through all that was a mystery to him. “So…you just like to say hi to ponies or something?” He asked awkwardly.
“Well yes, but I really like to say hi so I can be their friend too! I like making friends, and I think you can never have too many.” Pinkie replied, bouncing along side him. “As a matter of fact, that’s why I was thinking about how to say hi, because when I did it wrong with Cranky, it took me awhile to figure out how to make up for it, so I wanted to get it right the first time.”
“Ah, I see.” He said quickly, figuring if he didn’t give her too much room to reply the conversation might die down. He’d never been a very talkative pony, and he realized all too quickly that Pinkie was in fact a VERY talkative pony.
They walked along in silence for several minutes before Midnight caught Pinkie looking around. “What is it?” He asked her.
“It's nothing, at least I THINK it's nothing...I keep hearing this strange clanking noise...” Pinkie said, still looking around. “I've never heard a noise quite like it, and it seems to be really REALLY close, but I just can't find it.”
“Huh, how 'bout that, I don't hear anything...” Midnight replied, pulling his cloak a bit tighter around him.
“Hmm...maybe it's just me then...” Pinkie said, still distracted.
After a few blocks they made the turn to Stirrup street.
“So, what brings you to Ponyville? You don’t seem to have too much packed.” Pinkie asked, noticing he only had a couple saddle bags with him.
“Just bedding down here for the night, actually. I’ll be leaving bright and early for my true destination tomorrow.” He answered.
“Oh, and where’s that?” She quit bouncing, and tilted her head.
“Canterlot, unfortunately.” Midnight replied a bit ruefully.
“Oh, are you’re going to see a friend?” She asked, growing more interested in the conversation, her eyes wide. “It’s always so wonderful to see friends after not seeing them for awhile, speaking of which, I wonder how Little Strong Heart is doing? She was a buffalo I met down near Apploosa. Do you know where that is? Well neither did I until my friend Applejack needed our help moving an apple tree down there to give to her relatives. They were ponies though, not buffalo.”
Midnight was already growing tired of the many questions and wild conversation curves being volleyed at him by the pink mare walking beside him, but not wanting to be overtly rude he grudgingly answers. “No, I’m not too familiar with the southern reaches of Equestria, and I’m not going to meet a friend; actually I’m going to meet with someone I’d rather not.”
Pinkie looked puzzled, “If you don’t want to meet with this pony, why travel all the way to Canterlot to see them? It seems kind of silly unless you’re going there to try and make friends with them.”
“I don’t have a choice in the matter; this pony’s the only one that can give me what I want.” He replied, and he could already see the next inevitable question forming on her lips. “Before you ask, it’s none of your business, so please don’t.” He said a bit more harshly than he’d intended to.
“Oh, okay…sorry if I’m being too nosey.” She said a bit listlessly.
Again, they walked on in silence. Midnight cast a glance over at Pinkie while they walked. Her head was down, and she was deep in thought. Her eyes seemed troubled, and she was barely paying attention to anything else, nearly walking headlong into a passing apple cart being hauled by a big red stallion.
Midnight sighed inward. “I’m sorry if I offended you Pinkie Pie, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. It’s just that it’s personal, and I don’t like other ponies knowing my private life.”
Pinkie looked up at him, “No, its okay, I’m sorry too, if I’ve been asking too many questions. It’s just that I can’t seem to help it, when I meet somepony new, I just wanna learn all I can about them as quickly as I can, so we can be best friends.”
“Huh…well, that’s not really a bad thing, I guess. It’s just the super fast straight foreword approach might not be the best way to go every time.” He said helpfully, still afraid he’d offended her. Midnight had a nasty habit of doing that, even though he almost never meant to.
“Yeah, that’s kinda what you caught me in the middle of when you asked me where the inn was, I was thinking about how to get to know you without being too much of a pest about it.” Pinkie looked up, and around at the town. She then gave Midnight an embarrassed little laugh. “Speaking of which, we passed it a few blocks ago.”
Midnight gave Pinkie Pie a startled look, then couldn’t help but burst out into laughing. The two began to retrace their steps, now idly chatting about little things, that is to say, Pinkie chatted, and Midnight listened. Midnight thought to himself a bit as he listened to Pinkie go on about the time she tried to bake some muffins with a friend of hers. This really wasn’t all that bad. It took a bit of getting used to, but it was pleasant to talk to others about unimportant things. Midnight didn’t get to do that all that much…hardly ever really, and the way Pinkie instantly treated him like a long lost friend made him feel very welcome. “And that’s how Equestria was made! Oh look, here it is!” Pinkie said, pointing to the inn, a large green two story structure with wide white double doors.
“Huh? Oh right, the inn.” Midnight said, snapping back to reality. It seemed to warp around Pinkie as she talked. “Well then, thank you very much for leading me here Pinkie…eventually anyway.” He said Wryly. “It was a pleasure meeting you.”
“No problem Midnight, HEY, if you’re ever in Ponyville again, you should come and find me, and we can hang out or chat or play games or party or…well something!” She said excitedly.
“I’ll keep that in mind Pinkie.” He chuckled, “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight Midnight!” She said and began to bounce down the street.
Midnight watched her go, and was about to walk into the inn, when his stomach gave a little lurch. He realized that he hadn’t eaten a thing since breakfast, and was suddenly ravenous. Pinkie had taken notice of his rumbling stomach and halted her bounce. She quickly shuffled backwards to him. “Hey, you sound like you’re hungry, wanna know a place or two to eat?” She asked, her eyes seeming to glisten with anticipation.
“Uh…yeah, I could defiantly eat, so sure.” Midnight replied.
“Great, follow me, I’ll take you to one of my favorite restaurants!” Pinkie shouted, and took him by the foreleg, and would have dragged him forward in her excitement, but the second she tried, she was pulled off her hooves by the force of her own pull. She quickly got up, and gave Midnight a perplexed look. “Wow, you’re a lot heavier than you look!” She remarked.
“Well, yeah a bit,” He laughed, “I’m betting you didn’t account for this.” He said, and turned up a corner of his cape, revealing an armor clad hoof. The metal was onyx colored and very thick.
They began walking down the street, Pinkie slightly in the lead. “Wow, I’ve never seen armor like that, not even on the captain of the royal guards when I went to Canterlot!” Pinkie said, marveling at his armor.
“I’d be surprised if you’d had, this armor only comes from where I’m from.” He said, covering himself up again.
“Yeah, where’d you come from…and why would you need armor so big and heavy? It’s not like there’s that much fighting in Equestria…oh is that it, are you not from Equestria?” She asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
“No no, I’m one hundred percent Equestrian, just from a little corner of it, most ponies don’t know about.” He replied. “We don’t exactly hide, but we also aren’t really known for anything.”
“Really? I thought you’d have been known for that super heavy armor. I mean, how can you stand wearing it? If I wore something like that, I’d probably break!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Yes, the first time I put it on, I was nearly crushed by its weight myself, as a matter of fact, I'm still getting used to it.” Midnight said, eyeing his full plate barding armor. “It's why I'm wearing it now, this armor's still pretty new to me.”
“But isn’t it hot in all that?” Pinkie asked, “I mean, it’s been pretty warm outside, and you’re even wrapped in a cloak. How can you stand all that?”
Midnight shrugged, “It's just what you have to deal with when in armor. You’re right, it is pretty hot, but it’s something all knights have to become accustomed to. And I wear the cape because I’ve found that heavy armor makes most ponies in inner Equestria a bit nervous. I wear this to put others at their ease.”
“Inner Equestria?” Pinkie gave him a perplexed look. “There are different Equestrias?”
“Not exactly, just other parts of it. Everything close to the capital is known as Inner Equestria, and beyond that is Middle Equestria. There’s still a lot of unexplored territory in Middle Equestria…probably why places like Apploosa are still being founded out there.” Midnight said. “There’s more to Equestria than most ponies ever guess.”
Pinkie looked over and pointed out the restaurant she’d been taking him to. It was a little place, with many tables outside so that ponies could dine in the sunshine. They quickly sat down at a nearby table, and was looking over their menus. “So there’s an inner and a middle…does that mean there’s an Outer Equestria?” Pinkie asked, then turned to the expectant waiter, “I’ll have the Daffodil and Daisy sandwich please.”
Midnight looked up quickly; Pinkie was a little sharper than he gave her credit for. “I’ll take today’s special.” Midnight said to the waiter, who quickly jotted down their orders and went inside. “Sort of, it’s mostly a mountainous region that’s uninhabitable. The only area that’s not covered in mountains is frozen over by a thick ice that never melts, remnants of the Windigo’s wrath during the Times of Mistrust. We claimed it as a natural barrier for the country, but I doubt anypony lives up in the Iron Ring.”
“Wow, you sure do know a lot about things up there.” Pinkie remarked. “Are you a scholar or something?” Midnight couldn’t help but burst out laughing at Pinkie’s last statement. “What’s so funny, why are you laughing at me?” She asked quickly.
Midnight tried his best to stop laughing, but he couldn’t help it. “No no, I’m sorry, it’s just when you asked me if I was a scholar, it struck me as funny!” He said, wiping tears from his eyes, “Where I come from is right by the Iron Ring, so everypony knows about it.” Pinkie was giving him a suspicious look, and he wasn’t sure how much more he could take when their food arrived. “Thank The Lady, I thought I’d faint from hunger!” He quickly dove into his food. Pinkie gave him a hard look for another second or two, then shrugged and began eating as well. He let out an inward sigh of relief, crisis averted.
They both quickly ate their meals, and then began the walk back to the inn, once again chatting about little things. “So I'm guessing that that armor of yours is what was clinkie-clanking.” Pinkie said.
Midnight chuckled, “Yeah, of all the advances that have been made to armor, clank resistance hasn't quite been made yet.”
It didn’t take long for them to make it back, where once again, they said their goodbyes. The sun was fully down now, and the stars shone brightly. “Not a bad day at all.” Midnight murmured to himself, as he turned from his contemplation of the stars, and entered the inn.
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It was late, how late Midnight couldn’t say. The cool night air chilled him to the bone as it brushed against his body. He’d had the dream again, and just like every time it had woke him up with the same bitter taste in his mouth and covered in a cold sweat.
He groggily walked over to the window and looked up at the night sky. The Lady had done a fine job this evening, it was a beautiful night. It had been a beautiful night then too. “Hmph, no matter how far I get away from there, I can’t escape the memories, can I?” He asked the sky. It was a ritual of his, he would often talk to the night. He could tell her anything, and she seldom said anything in reply…she just listened. Midnight needed that from time to time.
The dream was still just as painful as it ever was. He winced slightly, as the burning began, that usually accompanied the dream. A burning sensation all along the sides of his flanks, from back to hind leg, a pain like none he’d ever felt until that day, and every day since. He sighed, “It’s not like I can do anything about it this late…” He muttered, and put it out of mind. After a few minutes, the pain began to fade, as he calmed himself.
He turned his attention to Ponyville, looking over all the houses and shops. It was strange, it normally took him much longer to banish the dream. “It must be this place…” He murmured. It was a peaceful place, quiet as well. “Well, maybe not too quiet.” He said wryly, remembering his earlier encounter with the pink mare. “Still, it’s not a bad little place. I might just stop over here for a day or two on my way back.” He sighed once again, and returned to his bed. After only a few moments, he was once again asleep. Comforted by the night, as he always was, and by the warmth Ponyville seemed to offer him, in the form of a friend.