Chapter 1
The air was filled with various types of smoke, jaunty music, laughter, loud conversations, and the smell of alcohol. Midnight Gleam was sitting around in the bar of the inn he and his companions were staying in. His brothers and sisters in arms, were the world-renowned mercenary company, The Darkness' bastards. He was drinking ale and snacking on a bowl of salty pretzels. His swords, Wit's End, and Nightrazor as well as several daggers and a hatchet were strapped to his saddlebags which themselves were weighted down with treasure and riches, as they had just completed a job to take out a bandit group that had been raiding local villages in the southern grasslands of Griffonia for months, stealing goods and taking captives.
After clearing out the bandit compound the mercenary leader spent the rest of the day treating wounded, releasing the captives the bandits had kidnapped, turning in the bounties on the surviving bandits, negotiating compensation for the job of clearing out the bandits, buying supplies for their return trip, stashing some of the money for emergencies and then taking his cut before distributing the remaining money to his company. The victorious mercs were resting and celebrating tonight before heading home to their base in Equestria come morning.
Their journey would be an arduous, week-long trek through mountains and rough terrain to the northeasternmost part of Griffonia, from there they would hitch the train from Talonheight down to Clawstone where he had docked the company's Airship, The Mareggan. After that, there was only a week long sail across the sea between him and Canterlot where a damn good paycheck was waiting for him, and sure the money would be nice, but he had another reason to make the trip as quick as possible. A very personal reason. His brother had gone and gotten married to his old foal-sitter. And Midnight wasn't invited, granted he was on his way to Griffonia from the continent of reptallia, where he had been exploring an unknown jungle and dealing with pony eating kobolds at the time but still, he would've sent a gift or something. And not being invited stung worse than the healing the company medic had given him after he received a neat slice on his chest from a lucky sword stroke from a bandit.
As the sunset filled the sky, and his men one by one went to their rooms for the night, some alone and some with some female company, Midnight stood, stretched, finished his drink, and polished off the pretzels before heading up to his room. In the morning the Darkness' bastards would begin their trek home.
Sunlight streamed in through a crack in the blinds of the window in his room, before landing rather annoyingly on Midnight's face, causing the black and orange-maned unicorn stallion to awaken with an annoyed groan. "Ugh, Princess Celestia is nice and all but why in the name of Faust does she need to raise the sun so damned early?" As he said that his deep amber colored magic started its morning routine of several simultaneous spells. The grumbling Unicorn was surrounded by a display of his magical prowess, his covers pulled themselves off of Midnight, then made themselves. While at the same time his toiletries were prepared. After stretching out the kinks he got from the bed he slept on, he walked into the bathroom and upon approaching the mirror, the sink turned on and his toothbrush floated off the counter, bristles already coated with toothpaste before flying into his mouth and starting to brush all the while his comb worked through the tangles in his mane before moving on to his tail. A flask of water drew near as his toothbrush finished its job and then rinsed itself off in the tap. He then took a swig from the flask before spitting out the water to rinse out the toothpaste.
Inhaling and then exhaling heavily, Midnight looked at the reflection in the mirror in front of him. The rust colored eyes, with the black and amber mist coming from the corners. The black and orange mane and tail, the black fur and above all else the traits that truly showed everyone who saw them what exactly he was; the long sharp fangs in his mouth and the smooth, curved, horn that went from bright orange at the tip all the way through amber and into black near the base where the bony extrusion met his skull. The curved horn and sharp teeth told anyone who knew anything about the relationship between magic and unicorn physiology that he was a unicorn who preferred dark magic and if that wasn't rare enough, he was actually born this way, as opposed to becoming this way through repeated dark magic usage over time.
Sighing, Midnight activated a cantrip he knew very well, so well in fact that he didn't even have to think about it, the spell was designed by him, and then refined by him for years. It used a small enough amount of magic to be almost completely undetectable and was efficient as well as powerful enough to hide his fangs and make his horn look like any normal unicorn. Finishing with his morning grooming rituals, he walked back into his room, put on his uniform, a set of Mythril half-plate with black and orange trim over a padded robe, pulling the robe's hood over his head. Midnight then trotted over to the desk where he had set a letter, picking it up with his magic, he cast a spell on it sending the letter to Princess Celestia to inform her that they would be arriving at the end of the next week. He then walked over to the corner of his room where he had set his weapons and saddlebags before putting them on and tightening the straps. Walking out of the room he had the key to the room he had rented floating beside his head.
As he walked down the stairs and entered the main room he saw his company eating breakfast from the buffet provided by the innkeeper, the other residents maintained some distance and sat mostly at the tables on the far side of the room form the mercenaries, Midnight walked to the table where his company were eating as a group, they were truly a sight to behold, a group of thirty heavily armed mercs from minotaur bulls to griffon males to earth ponies, a couple pegasi and quite a few unicorns, all of which included both stallions and mares; there was even a diamond dog. As he approached his second in command, a unicorn mare named steady aim called out to alert the others. "Attention! Captain approaching, hide the booze!" That got some chuckles, while Midnight grabbed a plate and piled it high with eggs, potatoes, gravy, hay bacon, and pancakes then floated a mug to the table and sat down at the only seat while filling the mug with coffee. He took a bite of his potatoes and gravy, washed it down with a gulp of coffee before speaking. "At ease ya idiots, here's what gonna happen, we're leaving today. We're gonna finish breakfast, pay what we owe the owner of this fine establishment, then we're gonna hike our asses through the mountains until we reach Talonheight. Then we're gonna get on a train to Clawstone, hop on the mareggan, Fly back home, and then we're all gonna get a big, fat payday. How's that sound?" his words were met with cheers, and stamping of feet and hooves.
After finishing breakfast and paying the innkeeper, the darkness' bastards made their way through town to the edge of the forest path that would take them to the base of the mountains they would be hiking through, they would get about a third of the way through the mountain trek if they ate lunch quickly and didn't stop for unnecessary reasons, and his men were just as eager to make it home as he was, so that wouldn't be a problem. As they made their way through the forest, the men chatted, joked and told stories to pass the time the walk would take. After four hours of walking, as the sun reached noon, the mercenaries stopped for lunch, after finishing their meal, they packed up and kept walking until they met the base of the mountain.
As Midnight started the climb, his men following him, he was consumed by thoughts of how to spend the little time he would have with his family, he hadn't seen any member of his family since he before he left for Reptallia, he had spent some time with Twilight, his younger twin, they both had been about to leave on an assignment from Princess Celestia, his, an expedition, and twilight, being sent to a small town called ponyville to oversee the one thousandth anniversary of the summer sun celebration. so, in other words, it had been a little over two years since he had last seen his family. And in that time a lot had happened, Twilight had defeated Nightmare moon, turned her back to Princess Luna, defeated friggin Discord, the literal god of chaos, Shining had gotten married and along with cadence and spike, had defeated one of the most powerful dark magic aligned unicorns ever, King Sombra. As the hike continued his thoughts turned to whether or not his family would like the gifts he got them, for his father, he had gotten an ancient astrolabe, for his mother, a fine necklace, made from silver and encrusted with emeralds, for his sister he had gotten a series of ancient scrolls to translate then study, knowing Twilight, she would obsess for hours and not stop until they were all translated and studied within an inch of their papery lives. For Shining, he had gotten a tribal dagger from the natives of Reptilia, for Cadence, he had gotten a bottle of the finest Prench perfume, and finally, for Spike, he had gotten a massive blood diamond. The hike could not end fast enough. Four hours later the Darkness' bastards had entered Talonheight and boarded a train for Clawstone.
P.O.V. shift: princess cadence, Crystal Empire, Crystal Palace
"Hey Shining, darling, do you know why auntie Celestia asked us to come to canterlot?" Shining looked up from packing his saddlebags to answer his wife.
"No babe, I don't know, all she said was that someone we both would want to see would be arriving in around two days." Cadence pondered what her adopted aunt could mean by that as she placed her saddlebags on her back while her husband did the same.
"Huh, I wonder who it could be." The couple then walked out of their room, heading for the train that would take them to canterlot.
P.O.V. Shift Twilight sparkle, Ponyville, Golden oaks library.
Twilight sat nursing a cup of coffee, while she and Spike ate the waffles Spike had made when suddenly Spike burped and a letter bearing Princess Celestia's royal seal came to be from a burst of flame and smoke. Grabbing the letter in her magic before breaking the seal and reading aloud. "Dear Twilight, I would like you and spike along with your friends to come to canterlot as soon as possible, someone you will want to see will be arriving in six hours time. Signed Princess Celestia." Two hours later the elements of harmony and spike had boarded a train for Canterlot. Upon arrival, they were greeted by a pair of pegasus guards.
"Greetings, Mrs. Sparkle, The princess has asked us to take you to her private dining hall, where the meeting will take place. If you would please follow us, we will escort you there posthaste." With that, the group of ponies made their way to the castle before entering and going down a hallway. Once they reached a set of double mahogany doors embossed with a sun decal they were ushered inside before being sat down at a long table with eleven seats. The friends sat down with twilight sitting down in the third chair from Princess Celestia's seeing as Princess Luna would want to sit next to her sister and for some reason, the seat next to Luna's was marked as reserved, probably for whoever the princess wanted her to meet. After a few minutes of waiting, the door Twilight and her friends had just walked through opened up to reveal Shining Armor and Cadence walking through.
Upon seeing each other Twilight and cadence did their little dance while Shining looked on in mild amusement. suddenly Twilight realized something. "Shining, Cadence, what are you two doing here?" Twilight asked in confusion.
"Well, Twilight, Celestia called us here saying there was someone we would want to see here. But speaking of Celestia where is she?" Shining said. Before anyone could reply, The doors leading to the solar wing of the castle opened and out walked Celestia herself along with somepony wearing robes and armor.
"I am right here Shining Armor, my sister will be along in a minute as well, but in the meantime, I have brought the pony who wanted to see you." With that, the pony accompanying Celestia brought down their hood revealing someone Twilight, Shining and Cadence hadn't seen in years.
"Hey guys, long time, no see, am I right?" Midnight Gleam was rushed by his siblings, Spike, and Cadence. Twilight was the first to speak.
"Midnight, where have you been? You said you would be gone a year, and it's been more than two! What were you doing and why couldn't you send a letter?" Shining nodded his head in agreement while midnight rubbed his head sheepishly, all the while, Twilight's friends watched in confusion.
"Well, to answer your question, my journey through the jungles of reptallia turned out to be longer than I thought it would be, then we picked up a contract to clear out a bandit compound in southern Griffonia, so the journey from Reptallia to Griffonia took about five months, a week of resupply and recovery, then another four months to get to where the bandits had been last seen, with another week to track them down, a very long day of fighting, and to finish it off two weeks of travel to get here. As for why I didn't send any letters, I was either on an airship over the middle of an ocean, halfway through a trek through a desolate mountain trail, fighting bandits, or walking through a forest to hitch a train, so pardon me." Midnight said with a snark. Before Twilight, Shining, or Cadence could question him further Rainbow dash asked something the majority of the room was wondering.
"Uhm, Twilight, hate to interrupt, but who is this guy?" Twilight turned to rainbow dash with a confused look on her face before realization dawned.
"Oh sorry, girls, this is my twin brother..." But before Twilight could finish Midnight interrupted her.
"Hello, ladies, I am Midnight Gleam, mercenary, explorer, adventurer, treasure hunter, servant of the Equestrian crown and Twilight's older twin brother. Pleased to meet you." Out of nowhere, a pink blur blindsided Midnight causing him to almost draw his sword in shock.
"Hi, I'm pinkie pie, I didn't know that Twilight had a brother, well I knew she had a brother, but I didn't know she had a twin brother too. I heard Twilight say she hadn't seen you in two years, that's so sad, I know I'll throw you a 'welcome home party' and then you can come to visit Twilight in ponyville, oh, but then I'll have to throw you a 'welcome to ponyville party'. But we'll need cake, what's your favorite type of cake, or are you more a pie pony, which there's nothing wrong with, mph." Midnight was saved from the pink ball of manic, sugar-fueled energy by Twilight stuffing her hoof in the party pony's mouth.
"Pinkie, there will be plenty of time to plan a party later, I'm sure Midnight just wants to relax." The dark furred Unicorn stallion just nodded and turned to Celestia.
"So, Celestia, where's the food, I'm friggin starving." All the ponies who hadn't known Midnight for a long time sat there slack-jawed at his casual attitude around the princess, who just giggled and sat in her seat, while Midnight, Shining, Cadence, Twilight, and Spike sat down, Midnight chuckling as he did so.
"We are waiting for my sister who.." At that, the doors opened once again to reveal Princess Luna.
"Are you referring to me, dear sister? I apologize for my tardiness, but I was just making myself presentable. Hello Twilight, Shining Armor. Cadence, good to see you, same to you spike, and it's always nice to see the ponies responsible for freeing me from nightmare moon. But you young stallion, you, I do not know, I can only assume you are who my sister wants me to meet." Walking forward to a respectful distance from the princess of the moon before dropping into a bow.
"Hello, Princess Luna, I am Midnight Gleam, son of Twilight Velvet and Night Light. Pleased to meet you."
"Hello, Midnight Gleam, pleased to meet you as well, I sense something about you, something I haven't felt since before my banishment. Tell me why do you hide what you are." The shock must have been evident because the lunar diarch smirked before continuing. "Yes, I can see through your illusion, I can always detect a dark mage, especially a natural one such as yourself, I was not known as the patron of dark magic for nothing." The mane six, excluding Twilight, gasped.
"Well Princess, I prefer to blend in, rather than stand out, dark magic does not have the best reputation, as you are well aware. But I suppose, among friends and family I can afford to not hide my true nature. With that, the magic keeping his fangs, eyes, and horn's true nature dissipated, revealing Midnight, for what he was. In front of the entire room, there stood Midnight, his sharp, smooth and sickle-shaped horn jutting from his head, his fangs glistening in the light of the sun, his rust-colored eyes emitting an orange mist. All the while Twilight's friends just stared in shock and awe at what could easily be interpreted as a mirror of their old foe, Sombra.
"So, yeah, like I said pleased to meet you."