Part 3 of The Witching Hour. After two long years in Ponyville, the answers to several very important questions are finally going to be answered and some of those answers have come looking for Midnight.
Captain Midnight Storm of the Bearer Guard, tasked with protecting the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, has her hooves full. Between dealing with new recruits, rogue ponies, and the whims of alicorns and her charges, it's enough to make anyone want to get away.
So what will she do when the things she's been looking for come looking for her?
Join Midnight, Sapphire, Squeaks, Windrunner, Honeycomb, and the rest as they make new discoveries, deal with old foes, and embark on a journey that will change everything for not only them, but all of Equestria in part 3 of The Witching Hour!
Midnight Storm, Captain of the Bearer Guard, a branch of the royal guard meant to protect the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, paced at the head of a procession of new recruits, examining each one with a critical eye. None of them looked directly back at her, except maybe one or two of the really fresh ones in the back, and they gulped when one of only three known kirins in all of Equestria bored her draconic eyes into theirs. When her exploits and the actions of the bearer guard as a whole had come to light after the wedding of Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor, it had been inevitable that there would be a rush to join the bearer guard. Midnight took it as such and was even glad to see the ranks of her guard starting to swell. On the other hoof, it still felt like she hadn’t fully recovered from the wedding/invasion/wedding-again and what she sorely wanted at that point was to be back home in Ponyville, curled up by the fire with her marefriend Sapphire Breeze and adopted daughter Squeaky Wings tucked under her wings. She had to forcefully keep herself from glancing longingly in the direction of home.
Standing in formation behind her were First Lieutenant Windrunner, Corporal Scarlet Claw, and Private Long Spine, there to help her go over the new blood. Lieutenant Hazelnut was in charge in Ponyville while the captain and first lieutenant were in Canterlot for this crucial business. A little ways off to the side stood a group of five black and honey colored changelings, four of whom were in armor of their own. The fifth was obviously female, as tall as Midnight with a honey-colored mane that was topped with a small crown, and doing her best to look as regal and aloof as a queen was expected to look. Midnight and Windrunner could easily see how nervous their housemate really was.
“Thank you all for applying for the bearer guard,” Midnight announced once she’d gotten a good look at them all. There were sixteen applicants from the solar guard, nine from the lunar guard (not thestrals but they were used to working at night), five from Celestia’s secret service/maid staff, and ten new recruits, fresh from signing their recruitment papers; a total of forty applicants in all. “I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you over the next couple of weeks. To start off with, those of you who are here after requesting a transfer from another guard branch, you will be retaining your rank for the purpose of strengthening the chain of command.” This wouldn’t shake things up too much as the two highest ranking transfers were sergeants with another couple of corporals and the rest being privates. Having operated so long with so few members, Midnight didn’t want her current sergeants and lieutenants to be overwhelmed by a flood of new trainees or having their orders questioned or countered by those who felt they were owed seniority. This was a good mix. “Keep in mind, however, that this is a onetime deal. Your friends who might be on the fence about jumping over with you won’t get the same deal. They’ll be brought down a rank just as if they were switching to the other guards after this. Furthermore, we’ve established a training ground for the fresher blood we have here today,” a round of snickering went up among the already established guards, “and all of you are going to attend it.” The snickering immediately stopped. “This is not meant to be an insult or questioning your abilities but a stack of papers can only tell me so much. I expect all of you to show the recruits how a guard should perform.” The older guards’ smiles came back a little at this. “Any questions before we move out?” Midnight asked.
One of the privates from the solar guard raised a hoof.
“Yes, Private… Dapper?” Midnight said, after looking at his name tag.
“Ma’am, will we be assigned to a particular bearer?” he asked.
“I hear the yellow one used to be a model!” One of Dapper’s fellow solar guards whispered excitedly.
Catching this, Midnight snorted and snapped her wings out loudly. “A good question, private. At the moment there is no such segmenting of the guard due to our lack of numbers. However, this may change in the future. If that happens, note that ANY requests for a particular posting will not only be dismissed, but HEAVILY frowned upon.” To her satisfaction many of the younger stallions looked abashed. “Any other questions?”
One of the mares from the secret service raised a hoof. “Ma’am, why are these… changelings here?”
Midnight had expected the question to come up. It was no mistake why Honeycomb and her four guards were there with them; the kirin had set the situation up specifically. She and Honeycomb, with the princesses’ blessings, had come up with a sort of “exchange program” to help her guard come up to snuff. As Honey was a queen, she needed guards, no matter how peaceful the new hive wanted to be. As only one of the old guards from her mother’s hive had survived and the guards from Chrysalis’ hive thought her a traitor, three of the civilian changelings that had pledged their loyalty to her had stepped up. As they had no idea how to fight, part of the reason why the Bearer Guard and the bearers themselves had been able to mow through so many during the invasion, Midnight had offered to train the new guards, replacing them with two of her own for a week at a time. In exchange for this, each changeling owed the bearer guard an equivalent amount of time of service. So, if a changeling spent, say, a total of one month in training with the guard, that changeling then owed the guard one month of service to be called on whenever the guard needed them. It was a way to keep a small hoof-full of magic users, not to mention their own hoof-full of spies, on call without actually having them in the guard until a significant amount of unicorns could be brought in and/or trained.
Despite the princess’s decree at the wedding, there were still some vocal nobles who wanted all known changelings to be banished, imprisoned, or worse and while Midnight could give a flying feather about what the nobles wanted, Celestia had convinced her it would be far less of a headache in the long run if the changelings were kept officially out of the guard for now. There was also some legal talk about how they were both citizens and their own nation that gave Midnight a headache the first time she tried to wrap her brain around it. With them moving to Ponyville and under Midnight’s direct supervision, the cries had died down considerably but there was still resentment for what happened.
That was why Midnight had chosen to meet her new guards here rather than in Ponyville. There was one more thing she needed to know before signing off on this new crop of guards.
“Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?” Midnight said, standing straight and fanning her wings out. “You want to know if you’ll be serving with changelings in the bearer guard, correct?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the mare said.
“Will that be a problem?” Midnight asked with a raised eyebrow.
“They attacked us!” one of the other secret service mares spat, pointing a hoof at them. She looked quite angry and Midnight recognized her as one of the ponies they rescued from the crystal caverns below the city. “You know they captured many of us and drained us for weeks! They should all be locked up or banished! They’re dangerous to ponies!”
“And what about dragons?” Midnight asked calmly. “Or pony-dragon hybrids? Griffons? Hippogriffs? I think there are a few ponies down in the dungeons for violent crimes against other ponies. At what point do we differentiate between the individual and the group?” She stared them all down. “I’m going to make this as plain as possible: the bearer guard does not care what species you are, what tribe you are from, where you grew up, who you know, what your gender is, or what you think of others. Here, we are all the same and discrimination for any reason will not be tolerated! If you feel that you cannot put aside any issues you have with working with another guard for any of those reasons, then I suggest that you step out of line now so your name may be struck from the list and you can report back to your old unit!”
After a moment of hesitation, six solar guards, three secret service mares, and four from the lunar guard stepped out of line to the side. “This only applies to guards looking to transfer,” Midnight snapped as five of the recruits made to leave as well. “You new recruits have signed up with the bearer guard, so you will serve with the bearer guard. If you choose to do so, you can wash out during training, however I will have to put in why you did so and I guarantee the next recruiter you meet will not be pleased with what I have to write about you.” Looking behind her, Midnight nodded to Windrunner and the buffalo-raised pegasus nodded in return and went over to the new line to strike the names from their list.
She’d expected as much but it still bothered her that so many, over a quarter, including one of the sergeants, had left because of something as trivial as a difference of species. Perhaps everything was still fresh and raw after the invasion and this hadn’t been the best time but the guard needed to be filled with those who could see both the forest and the trees.
“Now that that’s settled, are there any more questions?” Silence. “No? Then get your things together and get ready to move out, our train leaves in an hour!”
“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” the remaining guards chorused, falling out to gather their belongings.
“Corporal?” Midnight said.
“Ma’am?” the hippogriff answered, stepping forward.
“Take over for the first lieutenant so she can organize everyone here.”
“Yes ma’am,” she said with a nod, moving over to Windrunner’s side.
“Private, please assist the first lieutenant,” Midnight said to the dragon, whose features had been passed down to the second known kirin in Equestria. She’d caught Honey’s eye and knew the changeling wanted to talk.
“Yes, ma’am,” Long Spine said, also seeing that the two mares wanted to speak in private.
Once he was gone Honey came up to her. “You didn’t have to do that,” she said, letting the thin venire of queenly aloofness drop to show the worry underneath.
“I did,” Midnight said, “I don’t want their kind in my ranks.” She wanted to draw Honey into a wing-hug but this wasn’t the privacy of their home. Honey was family as much as Windrunner was and Midnight would just as soon comfort her as she would Sapphire or Squeaks. Here, though, she had to stay the professional captain. “I remember how ponies looked at me when I was traveling, when they found out what I was. How can I command guards who look at me or one of my officers with fear and disgust? Like how Arbor Knot and Bimini Twist used to.”
The changeling flinched at the mention of those two particular stallions but pressed on. “It’s still fresh for them and they wouldn’t join the guard if they thought like that, knowing you’re the captain in charge. You’re a hero to them.”
Midnight snorted and rolled her eyes. “I’m actually normal now, go figure. No, in that case they’re only here out of hero worship or because they think being in the bearer guard is the fastest way to fame and glory. That’s not what we’re about and I refuse to deal with such manure if I can help it. Those trainees will be a hoof-full but they’ll shape up whether they like it or not.”
“Not everyone has the same view of the world that you do,” Honey reminded her.
“Well too bad. My guard, my vision, my rules. If doing my job right means excluding the thick-minded, so be it,” Midnight said with a snort and air of finality. Clearly the kirin meant to be stubborn about this.
Honey rolled her eyes but there was a small smile on her face. “I just wish you wouldn’t put a target on your back for my sake.”
Again, Midnight snorted, but this time a bit of worry leaked into her voice. “I’ve got bigger, more flammable concerns than a few ponies not liking my choices in company.”
Honey nodded in sympathy. A week after the wedding, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had arrived in Ponyville with an absolutely ENORMOUS dragon in tow. The normally stoic kirin had looked up at the dragon like a small foal who thought they’d done something wrong. After introducing herself as Shoal, a dragon Midnight had met when she’d left to follow the dragon migration, she’d asked Midnight if it was true that she was the captain of a branch of the royal guard. When Midnight had confirmed she was, Shoal announced that she would join the bearer guard as well, to the shock of all, including the princesses. “I have nothing to do now that the migration is over,” the dragon explained as they all looked up at her with a universal look of shock, mouths hanging wide open, “and I’ve never met a kirin before Midnight and I’d like to get to know her and her kind better. If she’s part of a royal guard, then joining it would make it easier. Besides, I have some experience in guarding things.” She’d then given Midnight a sly wink.
Midnight had opened and closed her mouth like a fish for a solid minute before sheepishly accepting Shoal’s proposal. What else could she do; deny a dragon bigger than her wyvern form that could easily flatten half the town before possibly being stopped? Celestia and Luna also stopped gapping like a couple of large-mouth bass and asked if Midnight was really okay with letting Shoal join the guard. Midnight had agreed and as Shoal excused herself to find a spot in the Everfree Forest to set up her new home, she told them that she’d list Shoal as a specialist. Making the dragon a private would be laughable as Midnight would like to see any of the current guard try and give her an order and making her any other rank didn’t feel right. On a level, Midnight knew that Shoal wasn’t being threatening or bullying her way around, though brazenly announcing that she would now be part of the guard did smack of that. However, Midnight still couldn’t help but be intimidated and part of that was because she didn’t know how she’d handle Shoal if the dragon ever truly got angry. She was confident she herself could take down any of the others in a one-on-one fight if need be but the entire guard combined would probably only annoy the dragon further in the same situation. In the end, Midnight could only hope that time and familiarity would make any kind of necessary disciplinary actions easier to hoof out or not be needed at all.
Honey was about to try and dispel the dark cloud she could see hanging over her friend when a pegasus solar guard swooped down and landed next to them. “Captain Storm, I have an urgent message from the Princesses!” He announced loudly, saluting with a wing.
Startled out of her musing about angry roaring and towns on fire, Midnight quickly composed herself before addressing the guard. “Go ahead, corporal; what is it?” she asked, trying to see if he was carrying a letter of some kind.
“The Princesses request that you come to the throne room as soon as possible. They express their apologies as they understand you are accepting your new recruits today,” his gaze strayed over the two separate groups that had been made, “however, something very important has arisen and they need to speak with you right away!”
Midnight grunted and looked over at Windrunner, who was looking back at her. “First Lieutenant, keep them ready to go, but don’t let them leave the castle grounds just yet. Something’s come up and we might need them here.”
“Understood, ma’am,” Windrunner said.
“Will you be fine staying with Windrunner?” Midnight asked, turning back to Honey.
“Of course,” Honey assured her, then her look became impish, “I also have Mantis, Verpine, Buzz, and Trill with me but if you don’t think that’s enough…”
Midnight rolled her eyes but a smile finally came back to her face. “Fine, fine, point taken; I’m just a little protective after, well, that,” she motioned to the dismissed guards.
Honey chuckled but before she could tell the kirin to get going, she saw a unicorn racing up to them. Midnight turned at the confused look on Honey’s face and also saw the dark grey mare with a dark purple mane and tail running up to them. Seeing their attention on her, the pony came to a skidding halt right in front of them. “Please, please, please tell me I’m not too late!” she panted, her dark green eyes pleading. “I accidently broke my alarm clock and-!”
“You’re here to join the bearer guard?” Midnight interrupted. She could see the messenger was a bit fidgety. Either he was a real stickler or the urgency had been downplayed so as not to make anyone panic.
“Yes, ma’am!” the unicorn said, sitting straighter and saluting, “Umbra Shroud, reporting for duty!”
“First of all, Umbra Shroud, you’ve pretty much missed my entire introduction, which I will not be repeating and reflects poorly on your time management skills” Midnight said sternly, making the unicorn wilt. “That said, do you have any issues working alongside changelings, dragon, hippogriffs, or any other non-pony species that may happen to be accepted into the guard?”
Umbra blinked, then looked over Spine, Scarlet, and finally rested her eyes on the five changelings.
“Well!?” Midnight snapped, making Umbra jump.
“N-No ma’am, no problem what so ever!” the unicorn quickly assured her.
“You took your time answering and you don’t sound so sure,” Midnight said, sounding unconvinced and glaring the unicorn down.
“I have no problem working with any creature ma’am, be they changeling, hippogriff, dragon, or anything else, ma’am!” the unicorn quickly said, “I’ve just never seen a hippogriff or dragon in the flesh before and I didn’t expect to see changeling here, ma’am!”
“Learn to expect the unexpected, trainee! You have your enlistment papers?”
“Yes ma’am, they’re right-.” Umbra began reaching to open her saddle bags but quickly found her world spinning as Midnight grabbed her saddle bag strap with a wing claw and practically threw her towards Windrunner.
“Fresh blood, first lieutenant! Make sure she gets in order with the rest of them!” She yelled. Not waiting to see if the unicorn kept her hooves, Midnight turned back to the messenger and opened her wings.
“Maybe practice the drill sergeant routine on the way?” Honey suggested, looking both disapproving and amused.
Midnight winked and sent a bit of love at Honey, who quickly stored it away. A few days after the wedding, she and Squeaks had managed to get Honey to tell them how to send her love by choice. While both wanted to know as a way of showing Honey they were more than willing to accept her as what she was, Squeaks also wanted to know so that she could give Honey as much love as possible so that “you can kick as much flank as mom next time!” Midnight’s other reason was for times like now, when she couldn’t openly show any kind of warm emotion towards the changeling.
With a quick hop and a flap, she was airborne and following the solar guard towards the castle.
“She doesn’t like me,” Umbra said fatalistically as she opened her bags.
“Bad timing,” Windrunner said. “You said you have your papers?”
“Yes ma’am, I have them here… somewhere…” the unicorn continued to dig, brushing aside a few large mason jars. “Just graduated from Celestia’s school and was still cleaning out my room… here!” Triumphantly, she pulled out the papers and held them up before hoofing them over to Windrunner.
“Stand with the others over there,” Windrunner said after skimming the papers over. “I suspect we’ll be moving quickly once the captain gets back, so be ready to move.”
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“No one is going anywhere,” Midnight proclaimed loudly, making Twilight skid to a halt, the royal sisters’ eyes to widen, and the four solar guards in the throne room to give her a quick, surprised look. To this, Midnight simply kept her gaze steady and sat down, doing her best to look as unmovable as a mountain.
“Midnight, didn’t you just hear Princess Celestia? We have to get to the Crystal Empire as soon as possible!” Twilight urged, not understanding how somepony could disregard the princess’s orders like that.
“I heard her,” Midnight said evenly. “She said that we’re to go north to a place we’ve never been to and have been told only the littlest bit about, to solve a problem that has barely been defined, and even though all the bearers are supposed to go; only you can help solve the problem, and all this is some kind of test. THAT is what I heard. If that’s all the information and help she’s going to give us, then you’re not going.”
“You can’t just stop me from going!” Twilight protested. “Princess Celestia, she can’t-!”
“I am captain of the bearer guard!” Midnight snapped, her voice rising to project throughout the throne room to drown out any argument. “My duty is to keep the bearers of the Elements, that’s you and your friends, Twilight, safe at all times and this barely explained plan puts you all in unnecessary danger, therefore I will not approve of you or any of the others going.”
Twilight made to argue further, but Celestia raised a wing. “Please, Captain Storm, share your concerns.” The alabaster alicorn looked a bit miffed while Luna seemed to have a bit of a smirk.
“First of all, what exactly are we going there to do? You mentioned an evil king and a curse; who is he, what is he after, though I will concede that’s probably obvious, did he return with the empire, how did he curse the empire in the first place, and what do we do if he does in fact show up? You said that Cadance and Shining Armor are already there; what have they reported? Is everything sunshine and rainbows or has everything hit the fan from the word go? How are we getting there if this place just reappeared after a thousand years? Why in the Makers’ names would you ever call this a test if all of Equestria is at stake? That’s not a test, that’s a crisis! Finally,” here, Midnight took a breath and reined her volume back in, “why are you sending the bearers without the Elements?”
Again, all eyes focused in the kirin.
“Fair questions, dear captain,” Luna finally said, breaking the silence. “I believe I can answer some questions, at least. It is true that Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor are already in the empire and have sent us word but there is an issue they are having that they cannot adequately explain. We wish for you and the bearers to go to the empire to assist them and shed better light on the subject. We suspect that the curse King Sombra cast on the empire is what is causing the issue.”
“We have no idea if he returned with the empire, though he most likely did,” Celestia continued, “That, of course, is what the bearer guard is for.”
“And I would agree if it wasn’t for the fact that a unicorn made an entire empire disappear! Obviously this is no ordinary unicorn. I’d ask again what we’d do if he shows up but I think the answer to that is pretty clear by now.” Midnight raised an expectant eyebrow at the princesses.
“You shouldn’t need the Elements for this,” Celestia said evenly.
Midnight closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “That is the biggest load of bull buck I have ever heard,” she said. This time both Twilight and the guards gasped at her outburst. Celestia raised her own displeased eyebrow while it looked like Luna covered up what sounded like a bark of laughter. Before the princess of the sun could respond, the ebony kirin continued. “Three times now Equestria has nearly been doomed, either to eternal night, chaos capital of the world, or changeling invasion ground zero. The first time, the Elements, the only things that could save Equestria, were out in the middle of the Everfree and not in Canterlot or sent with Twilight when you sent her off to Ponyville. Blind luck got the right ponies to the right place unharmed to kick-start the Elements into working again. The second time, your big, impressive vault did diddly to keep Discord out and thank the makers he actually let us get to them instead of chucking them into a volcano or burying them in a hole at the bottom of the ocean. The THIRD time,” Midnight raised her voice as both Celestia and Twilight tried to cut in, “we didn’t even get them because they were STILL kept in the vault where they were as useful as a bunch of paper weights! Less, even! You started the bearer guard because without even one of the bearers, the Elements don’t work. Well, they won’t work either if the bearers can never get a hold of them! Now we actually have the chance of being a head of the game and being properly prepared for a crisis, which this is, and you want us to just skip along up there without them? Ever hear of the phrase “better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it”? Unless you want Equestria to be turned into a wasteland of evil crystals, you will give Twilight and the other bearers the Elements.”
Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “Do NOT assume to make demands of us, Captain Storm. You have been given your orders.”
“Do not call endangering the lives of everyone in Equestria a test, Princess Celestia,” Midnight retorted. “I won’t let everything we love and hold dear be destroyed because you want to give your student a gold sticker!”
The silence that followed was palpable.
“A moment, if you will,” Luna said, breaking the silence and lighting up her horn. As soon as the glow winked out, she turned to her sister and began talking… with no sound coming out. Yet Celestia turned and began talking back to her, more like arguing from the looks of it, with no sound coming from her either.
“Midnight… how could you-!?” Twilight started, only to stop when the kirin turned her head and stared her down with one eye.
“Smarty Pants,” Midnight said simply to which Twilight flushed, remembering when she thought she was late with a friendship report. “Twilight,” the kirin continued, “you are one of, if not the, book-smartest ponies I know. If I need to know some fact or how to do something by the book, you’re the first being I’d come to. That said, involve Celestia in any way, shape, or form, and you suddenly get hit by the stupid stick so hard you’re facing backwards. The times she visited Ponyville are good examples.”
Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it, opened it again, then closed it once more.
“Twilight, think of the times that Equestria itself has been in danger, then think about all the times the Elements were needed to defeat that danger. After you do that, think about how a unicorn created a curse that even the princesses couldn’t break that banished an entire empire, an empire that can affect all of Equestria. Think about all that, really think about it, then tell me we don’t need you and the others to wield the Elements for this.”
Only after Twilight had sat back down and Midnight could see her seriously thinking over what she’d just said did the kirin turn back to face the throne and the two alicorns still arguing. She was right, she was sure of it. Equestria was more than likely in danger and the six mares most likely to save it were under her protection. No matter what anyone said, including the princesses, she considered her word the final say about how to handle the danger the bearers would face. If that meant being stubborn to a fault about certain things and getting folks angry at her, then so be it.
Finally, the two princesses seemed to come to an agreement and Luna’s horn flared with magic once again.
“We have discussed the points you have brought up, Captain Storm,” Luna said, her voice audible again, “and we agree that the Elements should be given to the bearers as a safety measure for this mission.” Luna gave Celestia a look that made it seem she wanted to say more on the subject but didn’t. “Furthermore, Princess Celestia will escort Twilight Sparkle to the royal library to collect several books that have mention of the empire and notes on the possible spells or combinations of that King Sombra might have used on it. Please understand that, as the empire disappeared so suddenly, not many records of it were kept and even more have gone astray since then.”
Midnight nodded. “Thank you, your highnesses.”
“Are there any other concerns you’d wish to voice, Captain Storm?” Celestia asked, her voice not quite back to its normal tenor just yet.
“No, your highness,” Midnight said, “I believe all my concerns have been satisfied. I will return to my guards and brief them. Once Twilight and I have returned to the train station we will make a quick stop at Ponyville and be on our way.”
Both princesses nodded. “While Princess Celestia takes Twilight Sparkle to the library, I will take you to the Elements, Captain Storm,” Luna said as both she and Celestia descended from the raised throne. “I would also like to hear your opinion on your newest crop of guards.”
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“I’m sorry,” Midnight said once she and Princess Luna were seemingly alone in one of the castle’s hallways. One never knew when the royal walls had ears anymore. “I just-.”
“No need for apologies, dear Midnight, in fact I should be thanking you for being so blunt on the matter. I had similar worries myself before yourself and Twilight Sparkle were called to our audience but my sister did convince me things would “work out”. If only we had such convictions when dealing with the many Queen Platinums over our own issues.” A faraway look crossed the alicorn’s face briefly.
“Why was Celestia so against using the Elements anyway?” Midnight asked, emboldened by Luna’s words.
Luna looked over at the kirin, as if studying her. “Twilight Sparkle has potential, Midnight Storm, potential to become more than what she is now, perhaps even greater than that. My sister and I both see it but perhaps my sister is more eager than I realized to see the Bearer of Magic bloom into her full radiance and hoped this experience would speed up the process. Pushing too hard, too fast, however, may in turn ruin what is sought to flourish and your “reality check” has possibly done more good than you realize. I cannot reveal to you just what potential my sister and I hope for the young mare, as it is only a theory we share and if Twilight were to know it could disrupt her push towards it. I only ask that you trust us so far as that we only want the best for her and for Equestria. But, to truly answer your question, I believe my sister thought that by using them, Twilight would not truly advance toward her destiny, only repeat past events. I disagreed but as I have already said, my sister did convince me that all would be well in the end if she was sent without them. All this said,” Luna went on, her voice becoming more eager, “how have you found your new guards to be? Satisfactory, I hope?”
Midnight cringed a bit. “Yes… and no. I had to dismiss thirteen of the ones who were looking to transfer.”
“Why so many?” Luna asked, genuinely surprised at the number turned away.
“I may have pressed some buttons sooner than I should have,” Midnight admitted, “but I brought along Hone- Queen Honeycomb and her personal guard along to oversee things, as technically she is under my supervision until this stuff with the nobles finally blows over. Those thirteen didn’t like the idea of working alongside changelings and I told them that if they didn’t like it I didn’t want them there. I’m probably projecting my own experiences on things too much but if they can’t get past working alongside changelings then how long before they refuse to listen to orders from Scarlet or work alongside Spine or even refuse an order from me, all just because of what we are? I can’t have anyone like that in my guard who might jeopardize everything because of some stupid complex.” She flinched when Luna snorted in disgust but was surprised by what she said next.
“I am in complete agreement with you, Captain. Attitudes like that should be shamed into private until they are no longer able to be passed down through the generations and die out entirely.” She looked side long at the kirin. “Celestia still has not told you the entire story of how your forbearers left Equestria so long ago?”
“Only that they are all… that none of them survived,” Midnight said, wondering where Luna was going with this.
Luna sighed. “My sister and I long for the days we once knew with all the ones we loved with us again. We both know those days are long past but my sister especially wishes to recreate them as best as possible. Your commissioning as a captain is one such example. With that wish, however, come old fears as well. Celestia fears that history might repeat itself if she tells you exactly what happened with the why being her greatest worry. I will not go behind her back and tell you myself, though it is my belief that knowing what happened will not change anything.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because we live in a different time with different ponies, dear Midnight. Just because one pony let their fear of what might be drive them to do terrible things does not mean that another will do the exact same thing more than a millennium later. Ponies of this time are worldlier, understand things better, and are usually more rational.” Midnight silently snorted at that last bit. “To live in fear that one will repeat the actions of General Steel Spark is to live a foal’s fear. I have tried to convince my sister but she will not budge on the matter. Perhaps, after this latest crisis, as you so aptly put it, is over, you may force the issue with her? I have heard that often “ripping off the band aid” is the best way to proceed in such cases.”
“I can try,” Midnight said, “but if knowing all the details won’t change anything, then would it be worth it to push Celestia to tell me?”
“A fair point but it would help ease my sister’s feeling on the matter in the end. Perhaps at a later time when matters are calmer you and she can talk.”
Midnight nodded and they walked out of the palace and across the courtyard to the vault in silence. The windows and doors had been fixed since the attack and even the burn marks from attack spells had been taken care of, both inside and out. “Did this General Sparks at least pay for what he did?” Midnight finally asked as Luna leaned forward to unlock the door that Twilight had tried and failed to.
“Not for as long as you might have liked,” Luna said after a moment, “but I can assure you that it was appropriately just and painful for his crimes. I was there when your grandfather… sentenced him.”
The visions of what an enraged wyvern could do to a pony that were playing in Midnight’s head were interrupted when the box containing the Elements was gently shoved into her chest. A quick check revealed that they were indeed there. “Thank you, Princess. I’ll make sure that the bearers get them and everything and everyone gets back home in one piece.”
“I would expect nothing less from one of your talents, Midnight Storm,” Luna said with a nod. “Now return to your troops; Equestria once again has need of you.”
Midnight lowered herself in a formal bow, wings outstretched, then, to Luna’s surprised, face-hoofed. “One last question,” the kirin said, “how are we getting there?”
The bitter winds of the frozen north seemed to cut into Midnight as she and Shoal flew above the train. Even as a wyvern and almost constantly swallowing her fire to try and stay at least a bit warm, the cold was almost unbearable. Shoal was obviously having the same problem, as she was almost constantly breathing out fire in front of herself and flying into the super-heated air in her own attempt to stay warm. Even so, Midnight and Shoal had put themselves into this position by choice and, hopefully, their little self-imposed gauntlet was almost over.
They had departed Ponyville late the day before, after collecting the rest of the guard and the bearers, who Midnight and Twilight briefed on their mission. There evidently was a guard post up by where the Crystal Empire had rematerialized, which was how the news had reached the princesses, and also was the reason the train system went so far north. Since all that supposedly was up there was a guard post, no other passengers were going to such a remote outpost and the bearers and their guard had free run of the locomotive, able to relax however they wished without bothering anyone else. After Midnight had given each bearer their respective Element, Twilight had hunkered down and started reading the few books Princess Celestia had given her, re-reading things out loud for the rest of them if they seemed like things the rest of them should know or be aware of. Midnight used the ride, just as long as the one to Appleloosa, to get to know her guards better. Trainee Umbra Shroud had approached her after everyone had gotten settled and once again apologized for being late earlier.
“I got to packing late last night since my friends wanted to throw me a going away party and-.”
“It’s fine,” Midnight said, now in a slightly better mood. She at least had Arina back with her, though that was only because Sapphire had insisted that she take the spider with her. Arina had stayed back in town while Midnight had gone up to Canterlot in case something happened and when they’d returned only to say they were leaving again on official business, her marefriend had practically pushed Arina into Midnight’s saddle bags.
“You need her more than we do,” the blue pegasus had told her with a goodbye kiss. “Just promise to be careful.”
“And take care of Honey!” Squeaks insisted when Midnight gave her a hug.
The new changeling queen and her four guards were coming along for two reasons. The first was, as she and her changelings were, technically, a separate state, this was the perfect opportunity for the new changeling queen to cut her fangs on diplomacy while those she trusted, and could look to for support, were around. Celestia had caught Midnight before leaving the castle and suggested the idea. Since Honey going also meant that the four changeling guards with her could be brought along as well without a fuss, Midnight had no objection. Honey had been nervous at the idea, naturally, but after a few hours of practicing negotiations and deals with others on the train, she was becoming more relaxed with the subject. The second was that, out of the immediate view of those that would flip their lids, Midnight would fully integrate the four changeling guards into hers for the remainder of the mission, getting them as up to speed as much as her new recruits would be.
“What’s your special talent?” Midnight continued. She was cataloguing everything about her new recruits she could in an effort to figure out where best to place them around town. If one of their talents was a good match with one of the bearers, she would station them to patrol around that bearer’s home and the places in town they most frequented. Private Dapper, for example, had an eye for fashion like Rarity but in a more practical sense. What clothing stitches, for example, were more suited for outdoor wear or material and style of boots that were best for traipsing through a swamp. Others, such as Sergeant Brick Break, the only one of the two new sergeants to stay on, had a brick wall for a cutie mark and was just like one; hard to move and hurt like Tartarus when he hit you, so his profile said. He was more suited to general patrols around town and watching the outer edge of the Everfree Forest.
Umbra shifted her body so that she could show off her cutie mark, which was a black orb with what looked like purple smoke around it. “Shadow magic. My “Moving in the Shadows” spell is the one I’m best at but I’ve been practicing others.”
““Move in the Shadows” spell? Shadow magic?” Midnight asked, looking around at the others. The few other unicorns in earshot just shrugged.
Umbra’s way of answering when Midnight looked back at her was to look around then place her hoof in the closest shadow to her. Her horn lit up a dark green, then the shadow just seemed to… swallow her into it. Before any of them could react, something inside the shadow moved, racing around the train. The entire time the movement stayed within shadows and only moved through those that were connected, never jumping from one shadow to the next. Once the movement had managed to make one circuit around the car, Umbra popped out of the first shadow she’d disappeared into. “I’ve been trying to do other things, like send packages by themselves or reach for something through shadows, but right now that’s my best spell.”
They all blinked at her, then Midnight scribbled down in her notes: Night patrol/espionage. Have her see Twilight to improve skills. “Thank you, Trainee Shroud. I think you’ll be a great value to the guard.”
“Thank you, Captain Storm!” Umbra said with a salute and a smile fit to burst.
Before bed that night, Midnight had personally interviewed all the new recruits and had shared her notes with her sergeants and lieutenants to get their opinions of them.
Of course, there was still one recruit she needed to officially go over and she was currently high above the train, apparently okay with being up there all night.
Midnight had found it hard to figure out what to do with Shoal while they had returned to Ponyville to pick everyone up. The distance to the frozen north was, in Midnight’s opinion, too far to fly without rest and the train would not be stopping, so at some point the dragon would fall behind and possibly even become lost or arrive far too late to help with whatever they encountered when they arrived. When Midnight had approached the dragon and asked her to stay and keep an eye on the town for them and had been forced to explain why at Shoal’s inquiry, the older creature had given her an amused snort. “A nap to us is a decade or two to you. I’ll have no problem keeping up with the train and even flying through the night,” she’d assured the kirin, who finally accepted this as the train whistle announced final boarding. So, Shoal flew above them, not once losing pace with the train as she promised, even during the night. Midnight had finally decided to join her in the air when one of the conductors had made their way to the back to announce they were about an hour away from their destination, a little ashamed at leaving the dragon out in the cold without any company and as an excuse to stretch her own wings and wyvern form.
They’d discussed what Twilight had told Midnight before the snow, which had started about an hour earlier, went from a soft, pastoral falling to a whipping storm and the two had stopped in order to concentrate on keeping an eye on the train and staying aloft without freezing. There was the option for Midnight to return to the train but as they were surely almost there and the idea that a wyvern and full grown dragon arriving with the train would be a good show of force, she’d decided to push on. Thankfully, the small station, if one could call the ragged platform and small guard shack a station, soon came into view and Midnight and Shoal landed with heavy thuds as the train came to a stop. The two gave the offloading beings a show of blue and light purple fire as they toasted themselves with their own fire directly, momentarily driving the snow and cold away.
“Alright everyone, make sure to stay together!” Midnight called out once everyone had gotten off the train, which immediately began to back out of the station, “keep the bearers in the center. Shoal will stay on the right and I will stay on the left. Make sure to stay between us so no-one wanders off!”
“Someone is supposed to meet us here!” Twilight yelled over the howling blizzard, reminding Midnight that Celestia had sent word ahead of their arrival.
“We can’t stay out for long in this storm!” Midnight told her.
“You won’t have to!” a familiar voice called out and they all turned to see a pony-ish shape materializing out of the snow.
“Shining!” Twilight called happily, running up to her brother.
Midnight snorted. “Next time paint yourself neon green so we can see you!” she huffed, lowering her head to get a better look at him. He’d gotten very close before they’d finally seen him.
“Good to see you too, Captain Cranky,” he shot back up at her good naturedly. “But you’re right; we need to get out of this storm as soon as possible; there are things out here besides the cold that you don’t want to meet,” he said ominously, but smiled when he saw the Elements his sister and her friends were wearing. “Which makes me glad you’re wearing those. Follow me back to the empire!”
“Um, what kind of things?” Fluttershy asked, the cold not being the only thing making her shake now as they all marched forward.
Shining sighed. “Let’s just say the empire isn’t the only thing that’s returned.”
“Called it,” Midnight said. “You owe me five bits, Corporal Spread Eagle.”
“We just HAD a crisis!” the pegasus shouted. “Can’t we have a break!?”
“No, now clam up and keep walking unless you want to be an even more useless popsicle!” Wild Mane snapped.
“Cadance and I have a shield up,” Shining called back, “however this storm has been raging ever since the empire returned and it’s been battering against our shield.”
“How do you know it’s this unicorn, King Som-bat then?” Rainbow asked.
“Sombra,” Shining corrected, “and because storms don’t slam into the shield over and over again in one spot every few minutes.”
As if to punctuate his point, an eerie howl rose over the din of the storm. Midnight turned to see a large, inky black cloud rising up from the ground behind them, two eyes of green and red staring back at them. She roared, which got everyone’s attention, then twisted her body around and let out a gout of blue fire that slammed into the black cloud, making it howl in pain.
“We need to get back to the empire!” Shining called out as Shoal followed Midnight’s example and hit the cloud with her own fire. Their attacks didn’t exactly hurt the cloud but they were staggering it.
“Everyone form lines between that thing and the bearers!” Windrunner called out. “Unicorns and changelings in the back, flyers above!” Swords, spears, and hoof blades were drawn as the bearer guard got into position. Faced with an actual threat for the first time, many of the trainees and even some privates who previously had visions of glory now shook with a bit of fear.
“Don’t tell me you lot are all afraid of a cloud!” Sergeant Brick Break yelled when he saw this. “I thought you all had more bones than that!”
“You all knew what you were getting into!” First Sergeant Wild Mane joined in, “and the first one to run will answer to me or my ghost, got that!?”
“Sir, yes sir!” came the resounding call back and the two sergeants were glad to see many of them stop shaking and hold their weapons more tightly.
The cloud, tiring of the fire the two largest opponents were pouring into it, at first seemed to fall back to the ground. As the bearer guard was about to cheer in apparent victory, the cloud shout up and forward, past the wyvern and dragon and towards the defensive line. Both flyers and ground-pounders let out a defiant yell and charged the cloud, swinging at it with their weapons while the magic users charged their horns. The weapons, of course, did little against it, but the cloud had stopped its charge again to deal with the new threat. It seemed to reach out and smack the offenders away one by one, like one would do to annoying flies. Some, like Long Spine, were only momentarily stunned before moving back in to hack and slash at it again, while others, like Privates Dapper and Ditch Digger, were sent flying back. They all came rushing back in but a few had been hit hard, landed awkwardly, or both and a few were already starting to show injury and even some odd black crystals were growing from where the black cloud had hit them. Midnight and Shoal attacked from behind, unable to breath fire in case their companions got in the way, they began to claw and bite at the cloud, their size doing more obvious damage to it but still not making it retreat. Black crystals began to grow on their faces and claws as well and neither felt any real pain from them, more like that pins and needles sensation before going numb. ‘We’ve got it distracted; any time, Twilight!’ Midnight thought, seeing the black crystals and the prickly to numb feeling creeping towards her eyes.
“Twilight, Ah think they have it pinned!” AJ shouted. “We kin use the Elements on that varmint and stop’im fur good!”
“Yeah, that’s why we have these things after all!” Rainbow agreed, batting at her own necklace.
“But, Princess Celestia said only if we really need to!” Twilight protested. After they had left for the library, Celestia had told Twilight that not every problem they faced could, or should, be solved by blasting them with the Elements. She told the unicorn that she and her friends should only use them if they absolutely had to.
“And we don’t need to now!?” AJ said, motioning at the battle, were several other guards had just been sent flying.
“We can retreat to the empire!” Twilight said, pointing towards where they were trekking to, a blue, magical glow occasionally peaking through the whipping storm clouds. “You said he can’t get us there, right?” she asked Shining Armor and he could see the pleading in his little sister’s eyes.
“We can,” he agreed, then motioned at the battle. “But they might not be able to. What if some of them are hurt and can’t make it back? They’ll freeze to death out here if we leave them or he might kill them outright.” He could see how what he’d just said cut into Twilight and he also knew how much she looked up to Princess Celestia and would follow her every word. However, he had learned a few things from his new wife, like how alicorns weren’t the infallible goddesses society made them out to be and how Celestia liked to make plans. Celestia might have said to hold off on using the Elements, for whatever reason, but she wasn’t here and lives were on the line. “Twilight,” he picked up her chin so they were looking directly at each other, “you are the Element of Magic, your friends are the Elements of Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, and Laughter. Your job is to protect Equestria from evils like the one your guards, your friends, are fighting right now. How can you call yourselves the Elements of Harmony if you turn your back on them now?” He poked the Big Crown Thingy that sat on her head. “This is your destiny, no matter what anyone else says. Show me you’re the ones that saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Queen Chrysalis.”
Twilight looked up at him, taking in what he’d said, running it through her mind, mixing it with what both Midnight and Celestia told her, and finally coming to the conclusion she knew was the only right answer.
“You’re right,” she said, her voice wavering a bit. “You’re right,” she repeated, more firmly. “Girls, gather around; we have an evil cloud to disperse.”
Unaware of the situation behind them, the magic users began firing off their own magic blasts at the evil cloud as more of their fellow guards began to fall or be pulled off to the side, unable to fight anymore. “We’re about as useful as the others against that thing!” Corporal Lance Breaker yelled as their vollies went right through the cloud, punching holes that were just as quickly closed back up.
“We have to keep trying!” Honey called out, taking an involuntary step forward as Midnight took a rather vicious hit to the head that made her stagger back. The black crystals were covering most of her head now and the wyvern let out a cry of anguish that nearly made Honey leap forward to put herself between her friend and the evil cloud.
Umbra was in agreement with both sentiments but had no better idea what to do except just keep shooting beam after beam at the monster. Then, like a bolt from the blue, she had an idea. “This is supposed to be that evil unicorn king, right?” she asked no one in particular.
“Yes,” Honey answered shortly.
“Well, a lot of old tales say that evil beings used dark magic, including shadow magic. What if that’s not a cloud, but a huge shadow?”
“That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard,” one of the others called back.
“What are you thinking?” Honey asked, not sure where the unicorn was going with this.
“I can use my shadow magic to get in there and maybe hit him from the inside!” Umbra said.
“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” Corporal Lance Breaker shouted. “Stay in line and keep firing!”
“I have to try!” Umbra shouted, charging forward.
“Trainee!” the corporal yelled after her.
“Umbra, get back!” Honey also called out.
Umbra ignored them both, charging up her horn as she ran towards the black mass. She had just reached her fellows who had pulled back a bit to reassess their strategy when there was a loud *thoom* and a bright flash of white behind them. Skidding to a halt, Umbra turned around to see a double ribbon of rainbow flying up into the sky. The ribbons met and one large rainbow ribbon shot out and at the black mass.
“Hit the deck!” Midnight roared out, also having seen the incoming rainbow with her one still uncovered eye, and flung herself away. All the other guards still fighting did so as well, Shoal shaking the ground as she landed. That was nothing to the overwhelming blast that impacted the black mass, which let out the most bone-chilling howl as it seemed to just disintegrate under the rainbow. Another flash of white light and the mass was gone; even the weather seemed to calm where the blast has impacted. Blinking, they all saw that the only thing left of their adversary was a small black puff that was twisting about like someone very drunk trying to walk properly and making similarly unhappy noises. After a moment of staring at it, something clicked in Umbra’s mind and she fished out one of the mason jars she’d accidently took with her, popped the top off, then ran forward and caught the small smoke cloud in the jar, quickly closing the lid over it. The smoke cloud struggled inside the jar, but could barely shake it at best.
“Nice job, Trainee,” Captain Midnight said, trotting up next to her and once again a kirin. She looked battered but victory was keeping her on her hooves. All the black crystals that had grown on her were gone as well.
Umbra smiled and saluted. “Thank you, ma’am!”
“Gather up all those that can’t move!” The kirin called out to the rest, glad to see that the crystals that had grown on everyone else had disappeared as well. “Shoal will carry them the rest of the way!” She looked up at the once again standing dragon who nodded at her. Looking back over at the bearers, she could see them all hugging each other in celebration. Snorting something between approval and annoyance, she looked back over her troops. “The rest of you, let’s get to some shelter already!”
-----------------------------
“So,” Cadance said, tapping the mason jar she was holding and watching the small black cloud spasm about angrily. “This would be King Sombra? And you took care of him so quickly?”
“In the… smoke, apparently,” Midnight said, also eyeing the jar. She’d prefer it if the pink alicorn would gently put the thing down already and have it sent down to dungeons. To be buried. Hopefully with a nice, thick capping of cement poured on top. Just to be safe. She looked tired and the kirin wasn’t very trusting of the alicorn’s magic just then. She did smile however. “And that just shows you how valuable it is to use all the resources available to you,” this aimed at the purple unicorn standing beside her, who rolled her eyes.
“Alright, I get it! You were right; happy?” Twilight whispered back to the kirin, who was trying not to grin. “The Elements will have rendered him completely harmless,” Twilight assured them both. “And with Sombra taken care of, undoing his spell shouldn’t take too long at all, though I wonder why it didn’t dispel like those crystals when the Elements hit him…”
“That’s excellent news,” Cadance said, finally putting the jar down next to the throne and walking shakily off it. While both she and Shining had been powering the shield that had protected the city ever since they’d arrived, being an alicorn Cadance had put in the lion’s share of the effort and it was showing. Midnight had winced when they’d first entered the throne room; the princess had looked as drained as when Chrysalis had been sucking the love out of her right before the wedding. “Hopefully I’ll be able to take a breather now.” She winced and the magic around her horn flickered. “I’d love to know how they kept the weather at bay before they disappeared. Sombra may not be attacking anymore but it’s still a chore to keep the storms out.”
“I’ll handle it from here,” Shining said, moving over to let his wife lean against him. “Twily, I know if anyone can figure it out, it’s you. Celestia may have given you some books but there’s actually a library a little ways from the palace. I’d bet our old Sibling Supreme crown that you’ll get better answers in there.”
Twilight’s eyes immediately lit up. “Library? They have a library? With all kinds of books that may have been lost to history!?”
Shining chuckled. “And it’s big, too.”
Midnight’s ears went flat as the purple unicorn next to her screeched with joy. “You did that on purpose,” the kirin growled accusingly.
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Shining said innocently.
“Oh, this will be so exciting! Imagine rediscovering lost history, old spells that have been forgotten!” She gasped loudly, “the cataloging!”
Spike sighed loudly and let his face fall into his claws.
“Anyway, while Twilight hunts down the on button for the No-Freeze-To-Death system, I’d like permission to leave six guards here, take the rest out to where we left Shoal and begin getting my new recruits trained. If the big bad is no longer a threat, I’d like to have them do more than stand around like life-like statues for the locals to gawk at.” On the way in they’d seen quite a few large statues lining the streets, shaped like ponies the size of Midnight and in armor. Midnight figured it was just how an evil king would decorate.
They also had to leave Shoal waiting in the fields outside of the city proper, right by the edge of the shield. Even with the city streets as wide as they were, the dragon would probably never make it to the palace without kicking at least one building by accident. Even if she flew there would be the issue of where to place her tail and Midnight privately wondered how long she could stay standing in one position before wanting to shift even a little. Beyond the problem of fitting her into the city was just how the locals would take to her and pretty much everyone she broached the subject with on the way in agreed that panic would be the default for most residents at having such a large dragon descend on them out of the blue. So, once they were out of the cold and getting reorganized, Midnight approached Shoal and laid out her reasons for asking her to stay put as respectfully as possible. The dragon agreed without an issue of any kind, that she understood why there’d be an issue with her joining them to the castle and said with an easy air that she’d try digging up some gems while she waited.
“That sounds reasonable,” Shining said as he let a few of the palace staff take Cadance out of the throne room and Twilight trotted back towards the main throne room doors and her friends. “Which six did you have in mind?”
“My First Lieutenant Windrunner, to lead, and then Honeycomb and her own guards,” she motioned after Twilight where the five changelings in question were standing with the Mane Six and trying to look like they belonged. “They make great plain-clothes guards.”
“Uh-huh,” Shining said, giving the changelings and Midnight a skeptical glare. “I believe a few of those applied for your guard already.”
“And most were promptly kicked out because they refused to work with another species.” Midnight growled, then sighed and continued before the unicorn could comment. “Shining, almost all the ponies I met before coming to Ponyville treated me like a monster when they found out what I was. I will not let those same ponies into my guard where they’ll treat others like that. I think you can understand the issue with discipline if a private won’t listen to their sergeant because they have scales.”
To her surprise, Shining sighed as well and nodded. “I reread your file after the wedding; I kinda glanced over those parts the first time when I was looking for a reason for someone more experienced to be head of the bearer guard. I can understand why you feel that way; I even agree with you after being in different nations with Cadance.” He looked at the changelings again. “You trust them?”
“I let one sleep in the same house as me, so with my life and the lives of my family, yes,” Midnight said.
Shining nodded. “Princess Celestia said they’d be joining you for some political reason.”
Midnight huffed. “It’s complicated.”
“Well Cadance specializes in that, so when she’s feeling better I’ll arrange a meeting between them before you head back to Ponyville.”
It was Midnight’s turn to nod. “Thank you. Arina!” she called out. The spider, currently standing on Honey’s back, came to attention. “Go with Honey, Windrunner, and the bearers! I need eyes on them while I break the trainees in.”
The spider chirped and saluted.
-----------------------------
“That was good thinking, keeping your pet with them,” Umbra said as she and Midnight continued their patrol, heading for the palace. Around them, crystal ponies went from booth to booth, getting snacks or souvenirs that were a staple at the Crystal Fair. So said the book that Twilight had dug up, anyway.
They’d only been drilling for about three hours when Arina had called her. Midnight had closed her eyes and opened them to find herself, or more appropriately Arina, face-to-face with Twilight. After a minute of Twilight going “Hello?” and “Is she on?” and Midnight becoming frustrated enough to yell “YES!” and startling some of the recruits out of formation, resulting in a storm of colorful admonishment by Wild Mane, Honey finally convinced the unicorn that glowing eyes meant a connection. Awkwardly, through Arina, Twilight had explained that apparently the way to keep the empire safe was if everyone in the empire was happy and the best way to do that was to hold the Crystal Fair, which was meant to “renew the spirit of love and unity in the empire so they could protect it from harm” or something like that. In Midnight’s opinion a defense based on the mood of its populous was, well, dumb to put it nicely. All it would take was one bad day for everything to go south faster than Rainbow. Then again, the empire had somehow survived for centuries before Sombra, so there must be some reliability to the system and if all it took to power the shield on its own was some funnel cake and trumpets, who was she to judge?
It also didn’t help that the drilling out in the fields had felt a little slap-dashed to her. She had finally gotten Celestia and Luna to agree to turn over the old Castle of the Two Sisters to her to make into a training ground/fort inside the Everfree right after Shoal had arrived and she would not waste that little gain. The alicorns had told her that some rooms in the old ruin were off limits for now and that they would put together a recovery party to remove certain long abandoned items from it but that was a condition Midnight had no problem with; from the start over half the castle was hers to do with as she pleased and she already had a few ideas. Once the Crystal Empire was properly propped back up and in working order, they could get back and put some of those ideas into action.
So the guard had rounded itself back up, marched back into the city, and helped the bearers and Spike set the fair up. Most of the guards had been put to running various stands alongside the bearers while Midnight had selected seven of them to patrol in two-person groups with her to keep order and act as quick responders in case anything came up. For the most part, the patrollers were all the upper brass of the guard, with Midnight, Windrunner, Hazelnut, and Wild Mane making up the leads of each patrol and Honey and two of her changelings making up three of the seconds. Midnight needed Honey and her changelings to wander around so they could be the “barometer” to tell them how much happiness was going on. The changeling queen was with Windrunner, so that any ill news could be spread to the other officers quickly. Midnight’s second was trainee Umbra Shroud, who was making herself a standout among the new recruits and who the bearer guard captain wanted a word with.
“No luck, trainee, all planning, which is something you’re going to have to learn to do if you want to be an officer one day.”
“Ma’am?”
“You ran headlong at Sombra like you were going to impale him with your horn, which went against your orders and common sense. Care to explain?”
The unicorn’s ears folded down as she ducked her head and looked away from the stand Rarity was manning, making some kind of bowls or hats or bowl-hats, expecting the captain to look angry again. Instead, when she looked up, she found the kirin with a simple, expectant look on her face, as if she’d just asked for the time. It gave Umbra a little more confidence in her answer. “I thought that he was more shadow than cloud,” she explained, “and I thought that if that was the case, maybe I could dive into him and hurt him from the inside.”
“Not exactly a bad idea,” Midnight said, flicking an ear as she mulled that over, “but what if he really was just cloud and you simply dove through him? Even if you didn’t end up encrusted in those black crystals, what would you have done then?”
Umbra pondered that for a few seconds. “I… don’t really know…”
“And what if I was counting on every magic caster we had to stay in line and keep doing what they were doing? You just charging in could have made a perfectly good plan fall apart, which means many more of your fellow guards could have gotten hurt or worse. Didn’t you remember how much pomp I made about giving the bearers the Elements?”
Umbra’s ears flattened again. “No, I forgot about that.”
“I never planned on us beating him ourselves,” Midnight explained, “since I don’t know how to beat a magic user who can make an empire disappear for over a thousand years. What we were supposed to do was distract him long enough for the Elements to power up and take him out. Seeing as they were able to strip away the evil from Princess Luna, after banishing her the first time, and turning an insanely powerful being using chaos magic to harmless stone twice, I figured they would have the magical power to stop him. Thankfully, Twilight didn’t let me down.” Her face twitched and Umbra wasn’t sure if it was a small smile or annoyed frown that played briefly on the captain’s face.
“And if the Elements didn’t work?” Umbra asked tentatively.
“Then hopefully your little stunt would have worked,” Midnight said, “from what I’ve seen, if the Elements don’t work, nothing will.”
“So… then why-?”
“Why is there a guard? Because the Elements are for the Big Bads, powerful evils like Discord and Nightmare Moon and Queen Chrysalis, stuff that only an even more powerful magic can contend with. We, on the other hand, are for all the other stuff that the Elements would be overkill or just wouldn’t work on, such as land disputes, large carnivores, or the bearers themselves doing something stupid. I’d say that I’d simply tell everyone if we’re going to rely on the Element or not, but I think we already have a system like that.”
“We do?” Umbra asked, and was surprised to see a real smile spread on the kirin’s face.
“The louder Corporal Spread Eagle whines, the more likely we are to need them.”
That got Umbra to laugh and Midnight to chuckle out loud as they approached the center of the plaza directly underneath the palace, where the Crystal Heart centerpiece was located. The mirth at the corporal’s expense didn’t last long when she saw Twilight, Rainbow, AJ, Shining, and Cadance all standing around the now covered centerpiece and looking like something important just broke. “Everything alright?” Midnight asked as came up to the group.
“Y’all know that thing Twilight made, supposed to be the center of the fair?” AJ asked, gesturing at the covered crystal.
“Yeah?” Midnight said, issue after issue, both small and large starting to run through her head. Was it the wrong color? Was it actually supposed to do something? Were there supposed to be more? Was it supposed to be a specific kind of crystal? Was Shoal somehow eyeing it all the way from the barrier?
“Turns out it’s a real relic,” Shining said, “and we have no idea where it is. Without it, there’s no way to power the empire’s natural protection.” He looked worriedly at his wife, who was back to powering the shield.
“There was a page missing,” Twilight said, becoming more frantic as she re-scanned the book for probably the hundredth time. “How could I not notice there was a page missing!?”
“Twilight, calm down,” Cadance said, laying a wing on her sister-in-law. “I know you’ll figure it out. Just take a deep breath and let it out slow. The storms are nothing compared to King Sombra; we have all the time in the world.”
Shining caught Midnight’s eye and shook his head. Clearly the pink alicorn was under more strain than she was letting on.
“One other thing, Trainee,” Midnight told Umbra with a long-suffering sigh, “ALWAYS expect things to get worse.”
Jewel Joy hummed to herself as she dusted the throne room. This was the last room she needed to clean before she could call it a day and join in the festivities outside. Like the rest of her people, it was hard to believe that a thousand years had passed since the Equestrian princesses had tried to liberate them from King Sombra’s reign of tyranny, which still only felt like yesterday. She and the others had been wandering the palace, not sure why, when a new alicorn and her unicorn husband arrived in the empire and said they were there to help. While the crystal ponies had been weary of the two at first, not to mention the guard ponies they had brought along with them, Princess Cadance using her own magic to raise the empire’s shield and continuing to do so to the point of exhaustion had convinced most that they were indeed there to help.
Announcing the fair, along with the rumor that the Crystal Heart had been found and was going to be unveiled later, was enough to bring back the shine to most crystal ponies, from what Jewel could see from the palace windows. What was more, apparently the new group of Equestrian guards that had shown up had also encountered what was left of King Sombra out in the frozen wastes and finally destroyed what was left of him! The only crystal ponies to know about that were the palace staff, at the moment at least. In the few hours that it took to spread among them, the fair was also announced and it was presumed that with the unveiling of the Heart would also come the news of the evil king’s final defeat.
With a last sweep of the duster, Jewel looked around and admired her work. The throne room looked spotless and ready for the princess when she returned from the fair. She was about to leave through the staff side door, partially hidden in the corner off to the side of the throne when a glint near said throne caught her eye. Turning, she saw that a jar had been left there, seemingly forgotten by the base. That was odd, not only because it was unexpected, but also because how many ponies had been there throughout the day and no-one had thought to take it away? Maybe the princess liked jam and asked for a jar to be kept available, even by the throne? Curiosity peaked, Jewel went over and picked the jar up.
Whatever was inside was black as night and seemed to be swirling, like a storm cloud. Maybe it was some kind of magic thing used by alicorns and unicorns? Makers knew that magic users where always coming up with weird things in their castles and towers and whatnot. She was just about to chalk it up to a weird magic user thing and put it down when a face smacked against the inside of the glass. Jewel had a brief image of glowing green and red eyes and a mouth with fangs before she let out a shriek and threw the jar high into the air, bolting into the servant passageway she’d originally been leaving through. Running as fast as she could, her hooves loud as could be on the stones of the passage, she never heard the sound of breaking glass back in the throne room. It wasn’t until she came huffing into the kitchens that she finally stopped to catch her breath.
“Oh, Jewel, you silly filly,” she admonished herself when she had a minute or two to think. “Sombra’s defeated; the princess said so! That was probably just some magic user’s version of a history book; makers know that they have to do everything by magic. It’s probably enchanted to be unbreakable as well.” Perfectly willing to believe she knew enough about unicorns to mark that down as fact, she made her way out of the kitchens and towards one of the castle exits, feeling everything would be fine.
NOTHING was FINE.
In fact, this was probably the most opposite of fine as any situation could be! And that was how he, King Sombra, rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire, felt, so it was true! First he’d been challenged and defeated, DEFEATED, by those two prissy princesses from Equestria and in desperation his last act was to banish the empire along with him, to prove to those princesses that what was his would STAY his. Then, after the thousand years the spell was supposed to last, the spell finally broke and both he and the empire came back into existence. He would have taken his rightful throne immediately if he hadn’t come back in the middle of the frozen wastes, and as a magic cloud, the snow and freezing winds battering him constantly and keeping him from returning to his true form. Then ANOTHER of those damned Equestrian princesses showed up and made a barrier around HIS empire! But the arrogance didn’t stop there! Yet another group from Equestria arrived, though these had at least the nerve to face him in battle, a battle he should have won! Instead, they had attacked him with some kind of new magic that had stripped him of his power and left him so dazed and confused that they’d captured him in a jar! He swore that when he regained his power, he’d find who ever had done that and make them BEG for the sweet release of death.
Thankfully, those silly crystal ponies were as skittish as ever and it only took a quick, childish trick to arrange his freedom. The arrogance of the Equestrian ponies would be their undoing.
First, he had to get his own power back.
To his frustration, the small amount of power he did have wasn’t enough to open the staircase hidden right in the middle of the throne room. That was probably for the best, all things considered. The cursed door at the bottom might be too much for him as he was now and it would do him little good to be caught in his own trap to be found and imprisoned all over again. Thankfully, he had a few other plans arranged in case such an unexpected turn of events befell him.
By the time Jewel Joy returned to clean up the broken glass, the small, dark cloud was gone, flitting through the castle and out onto the streets, always sticking to the shadows to avoid detection. The gaseous king almost gagged at the sight of so many decorations and his crystal pony slaves enjoying themselves, as if they had any other purpose other than carrying out his will. He controlled his disgust and set it aside for later. Perhaps he would make examples of a few of them to help hammer home how frivolous such things were once he was back in power.
Once he was clear of the last of the buildings, he raced for the twin crystal towers that acted as the gateway to the empire. What no-one knew was that one of the ways Sombra had gained his power was by bonding with a dark crystal he had discovered early in his climb to being king. By sacrificing some of his power to create more at any given time, he could amplify his powers in a “sacrifice one, get two in return” sort of deal. As he was, he’d only be able to make a crystal barely the size of a bit and would take far too long to aid in his recovery. Even if a pony had uncovered that little trick of his, they still wouldn’t know that he’d infused the gateway towers with some of his dark crystals, making them instant power generators. With their help, he could be strong enough to remake his body in a few hours, rather than a few months on his own.
Taking one last look around as arrived and seeing that the only possible threat was one of the dragons that had attacked him earlier and she was digging in the ground a good distance down the parameter of the shield, he dove into the ground between the towers. Two shadows spread out from the spot he dove into and when they reached the towers, they changed into two pillars of dark crystal, radiating their magic back to him. He could feel the magic running through his small form, which was already growing larger by the second.
Very soon now, he would be the ruler of the Crystal Empire once again. Maybe, even, of all Equestria as well.
-----------------------------
“Anything?” Midnight asked the two gouts of green flame that resolved into changelings.
“Negative, ma’am,” Trill said.
“Not a secret button or lever to be found,” Buzz added.
“Of course,” Midnight said resignedly, motioning for them to move on. She hoped Twilight was right about no one having the guts to try looking in the castle while Sombra was in power; the Heart could just as easily be hidden underneath someone’s cellar or buried just past the edge of the city. Tartarus, Sombra could have just been a smart villain and destroyed the thing and lied that he hid it. All that meant was that the castle was as good a place to look as any other, so she, Umbra, and two of the changelings had followed Twilight and Spike inside to try and narrow the hunt.
Before they had done that, however, they had needed to get everyone on the same page. Heading back out into the city after the unfortunate discovery, Midnight and Twilight had spread the word to their friends and guards about the missing relic and how important it was to keep all the crystal ponies happy and occupied until the Heart could be found. Unsurprisingly, many of the guards wanted to help their captain in the search but Midnight had declined all of them, citing the importance of the faire being fully staffed. The only reason that Umbra, Buzz, and Trill were with her was because Honey had convinced her that a few more eyes and hooves involved in the search would not affect the faire. “And between Umbra’s ability to move through shadows and our ability to change forms means that they can get into places either you or Twilight can’t,” she argued, which was a pretty good point.
Twilight had tried to argue against Midnight or anyone else helping right from the start, again citing what Celestia had told them, but gave in when Cadance told her that Celestia wasn’t here and that protecting the empire took precedent over any test from anyone. Even the betrayed look Twilight had at that couldn’t sway the pink alicorn and she had pointedly asked Midnight to help the unicorn in any way she could. Midnight had been more than happy to agree to the request.
Oddly enough, Midnight was more concerned about finding the Heart than she was about the crystal ponies finding out they hadn’t actually found it. She had found that her guards, at least the ones that came aboard before yesterday, could be very entertaining, whether it be Dandelion with his stories or Wild Mane with his very creative drill ideas. Entertainment had become an even simpler affair once they all realized that the crystal ponies lacked any unicorns or pegasi among themselves, so the guards with horns began putting on little impromptu magic shows and the ones with wings did simple aerial stunts. Midnight had overheard Dandelion talking with Blackberry about using all these things to put on a play about the major things that had happened since they were gone. It was that kind of initiative (she’d only told them to keep the ponies occupied, not how to do so) and creative thinking that let Midnight know how good the quality of her guards were and that, short of a catastrophe happening directly in the middle of the faire, everything would be fine until they found the Heart.
She was also a bit bummed that she couldn’t see the jousting tournament that Wild Mane had dragged a few of them off to join. She couldn’t tell if the look on Spread Eagle’s face was resignation or pleading.
All that said, she’d also made sure that a few guards stayed close to AJ and the fake Heart, just in case a crystal pony or two got a little too curious for everyone’s own good.
She and the changelings were following Twilight, who had just emerged from another room, down the hall towards the throne room when a motion caught Midnight’s eye. Turning, she jumped and let out a small swear as Umbra and Spike popped out of a shadow on the wall.
“Sorry, ma’am,” Umbra apologized, “just reporting that there’s nothing of interest on the north side of this floor, outside of the servants’ passageways.”
“That shadow traveling is so cool!” Spike gushed. “It’s like everything is in shadow, but you can still see perfectly!”
“Fascinating,” Midnight grumped, “and there was nothing in those passageways?”
“Nothing odd that we noticed,” Umbra said, then looked past the kirin and at the distracted unicorn trotting away like nothing had happened. “Ma’am, are you sure we’re doing the right thing? Miss Sparkle did say that the princess told her she needed to do this alone.”
“The princess can tell her whatever she wants,” Midnight snorted, “without that Heart, the entirety of Equestria, including the bearers, are at risk, and our job is to protect the bearers at all costs, even if it conflicts with what Princess Celestia tells the bearers to do.”
“I actually like that,” Spike said, making sure his voice didn’t carry and let Twilight overhear. “Celestia always has Twilight’s best interest in mind, but…”
“Why would she though?” Umbra asked innocently. “I mean, she’s the princess’ direct student; why would she be paranoid around the princess?”
“Well, it kinda has to do with some of her classmates. See, when Celestia made Twilight her personal student, it kinda ruffled a few of the nobles’ feathers,” Spike explained.
Umbra nodded. “I heard about that. Princess Celestia hadn’t taken on a personal student for a good ten years by then if I remember correctly, don’t remember if anyone said why, and suddenly she took a fancy to Twilight. A lot of the noble ponies attending the school were upset that a filly from some middle class family was chosen instead of them.”
“Yeah, and they vented by convincing Twilight that if she made even one mistake, Celestia would drop her like a bag of rotten fish.”
“Celestia didn’t do anything to stop that?” Midnight asked, surprised that such a thing would happen right under Celestia’s muzzle.
“They never said it when she was around and Twilight wouldn’t dream of broaching the subject with her or wanted to be known as a tattletale,” Spike explained. “I didn’t even know until a few months before we moved to Ponyville. They stopped once they saw Twilight wasn’t going anywhere and there were even some foals who didn’t mind that Twilight was Celestia’s personal student but by then the routine was already that. Twilight would study everything she could like crazy, Celestia would quiz her on something, Twilight would pass with flying colors, then she’d go back to studying.”
“And Celestia would struggle to figure out what to test or even teach her on, hence the random test times and subjects,” Midnight said, looking at the purple unicorn ahead with a twinge of pity. “I get the feeling that sending her to Ponyville to learn about friendship was her way of saying “I found something you can’t learn about in a book and that I know you know nothing about!”.”
Spike nodded. “It was also because Nightmare Moon was returning and we needed the Elements to beat her but, yeah, I can see her thinking that, too.”
“Of course!” Twilight suddenly shouted, making them all look up to see her running into the throne room. Picking up the pace, they followed her inside.
“What did you find?” Midnight asked as they spread out.
“Was the Heart hidden in here all along?” Spike asked.
“Possibly, but not in this throne room!” Twilight said with a hint of playfulness.
“You taking riddle lessons from Discord now?” Midnight asked her, to which the unicorn snorted at her.
“This is the same castle, but it was different when King Sombra ruled it,” Twilight explained, making her way over to the throne.
As Midnight followed, she noticed something; more appropriately bits of something on the floor, bits of a familiar something. “Recruit Shroud, how strong are those mason jars of yours?”
“As strong as any normal mason jar,” she said, she and everyone else noting the flat, to-the-point tone of the kirin’s voice. “Why, ma’am?”
Midnight scooped up two things off the floor with her wings and held them up for everyone to see. They were the top and bottom of a very broken mason jar.
“Are… those…?” Spike asked.
“Yeah,” Midnight confirmed, throwing the pieces away and looking towards Twilight. “Whatever your idea is, better start working on it.” The unicorn nodded and turned back to the throne as Midnight turned away with a long sigh and closed her eyes. “Son of a buck me running,” she mumbled. Her face pinched in concentration, then she opened her eyes, which were now glowing, and turned back towards the broken glass. “Arina, tell Honey Sombra’s escaped and that she needs to warn the princess and tell the rest of the guards quickly but quietly.” After a few more seconds she blinked and the glow faded.
“What do we do?” Spike asked.
“We find that Heart. He was hit with the Elements of Harmony; he can’t have gone too far or gotten powerful enough in a few hours to do much. That said, that’s too close to “what could possibly go wrong?” for my tastes. Better to get the Heart as soon as possible.”
As soon as she said that, the center of the throne room floor seemed to just melt away, revealing a staircase leading downward.
“Where did that come from?” Trill asked, looking over the edge.
“I figured Sombra would use his dark magic and the property of the crystals found here to hide the way to the Heart,” Twilight said, adopting a lecture tone. “You see, the crystals found here can-”
“Twilight, escaped evil king, missing relic, whole empire at risk?” Midnight said with a raised eyebrow. “How about we learn about the magic properties of crystals as well as worry about how you used dark magic after only seeing Celestia do it once later and you cast that spell that makes things weigh less so I can fly you down?”
Twilight raised her own eyebrow. “Sorry, and how do you know about the Feather Weight spell?”
“You nearly hit me with the bolder you threw into Whitetail Woods that day; scared off the deer I was hunting, too,” Midnight told her flatly.
“Oh… sorry?” she said, cringing and casting the spell on herself.
Midnight waved it off with a flick of her wing, then they all flinched as the sound of distant roaring came through the windows. “And now Shoal is up to something,” Midnight said with a snort. They all went to the windows and looked out past the city toward where the roaring was coming from. In the distance, they could see the large dragon stamping and flaming at things on the ground. “What in the world is she doing?” Midnight wondered aloud.
Trill transformed into a hawk and stared back out at the scene. She quickly turned back, her eyes wide. “She’s, uh, stomping and breathing fire on black crystals that are coming out of the ground,” she reported. “And it looks like for every one she smashes, two more grow.”
They all stared at her for a second.
“Okay, everyone into the dark pit of evil,” Midnight said, hopping into the air, grabbed Twilight, who tried to protest, and dived down the stair case and out of sight. The others went after her, Umbra grabbing Spike and diving into the shadows to follow her captain and the two changelings down.
It was a fairly long way down and Midnight was sure that it was as deep as the palace was tall. “How did we miss this?” She asked aloud, picturing the outside of the palace and not seeing how they’d missed a pillar this big going into the ground.
“It’s the crystals!” Twilight shouted back with a bit of panic in her voice. Midnight wasn’t flying down as much as she was diving down and Twilight was anticipating the floor any second now. “They-!” She was cut short by the bottom rushing up at them out of the dark and Midnight snapping her wings open to slow their decent, angling so that her dive turned into a tight spiral that bled off their speed until they landed with the same amount of force as if they’d jumped the last five steps. “Maybe next time we can glide down all the way?” Twilight asked wobbly, her stomach catching back up with her.
Midnight only grunted in apology as she looked up. The others were barely halfway down, so maybe she had gone a little fast. “So, where to now?” she asked, looking around. “Oh, wait, I see it,” she said, spotting a single doorway.
“Hold on a second!” Twilight warned but Midnight had already reached out a hoof. Without warning the door shot off to the side, as if avoiding the kirin’s touch.
“What the-?” Midnight said, before jumping at the door, which once again shot away from her.
“King Sombra was a unicorn who ruled over what are basically earth ponies,” Twilight explained, “if somepony got this far, he wouldn’t let it be easy for them.” She charged up her horn. “Hooves won’t work, but magic…” she shot a purple bolt at the door, which made contact with the door and seemed to stun it. “There, see? Not every problem can be solved with-”
Light flashed from the gem at the top of the door, washing over both of them, then the door itself opened.
-----------------------------
“What is she doing?” Wild Mane asked as he and several others watched the distant dragon seemingly throw a tantrum outside the city. Most of the crystal ponies where at the jousting tournament, where it was currently Rainbow Dash against First Lieutenant Windrunner for about the fifth time. Neither could get the better of the other, apparently. That also meant that a number of the guards manning the stalls or who had already lost could take stock of what was transpiring outside the city limits.
“Maybe it’s a dragon thing?” Recruit Amber Armor suggested, making everyone look at Private Long Spine.
“Don’t look at me; dragons don’t flip their lids for no reason. Petty reasons, sure, but not over nothing.”
“You don’t think it’s…” Night Sky looked around to make sure there were no crystal ponies in ear shot, “Sombra, do you? I mean, Mid- the Captain said he’d gotten loose. Maybe Shoal caught him trying to escape?”
“He was a wriggling little dust cloud; how fast can he be to avoid her stepping on him?” Mane asked.
“Hey, does anyone know what’s up with the black crystals slowly spreading towards the city?” Scarlet asked, landing among them.
“Wait, you can see that far?” Blackberry asked.
Scarlet pointed at her eye. “Eagle vision, perfect for catching a snack from cloud height.”
“Black crystals? Just like the ones that sprouted when we fought Sombra out in the snow?” Hazelnut asked, to which Scarlet nodded.
“So, what do we do?” Tight asked.
“We keep the crystal ponies calm, like we were ordered to,” Mane said. “Keep them at the tournament, lure them over to the game stands, shove pies, cakes and drink in their eyeballs, but do not let them see those crystals coming! If they panic, it’s all over! Private Spine, tell Princess Cadance and Queen Honeycomb what’s going on; powerful magic may be all we can use against it. Sergeant Blackberry, take two and head out to Shoal and see if there’s anything we can do to slow down those crystals ourselves. Now get moving!”
“Sir, yes sir!” came the reply and the guards began scurrying to follow orders.
“Sergeant Blackberry, First Sergeant Mane, Private Spine, a word,” Hazelnut said, beckoning the three over before they could run off. “Mane, I want you and Spine to go out and help Shoal.”
“Sir, you’ll need us here when things start going south,” Mane protested.
Hazelnut didn’t correct his wording to if. “And if anyone here is strong enough to bash through those crystals, it’s you two. Blackberry, you inform the princess and the queen, make sure Arina lets the captain know what’s going on, then join in keeping the crystals back. We need that Heart a lot sooner than expected.”
“Um, sir?” Scarlet called down from where she was hovering. She was pointing towards where the black crystals were growing into the city limits. “New problem.”
-----------------------------
“Whoa!” Spike said as he fell off of Umbra. “That was trippy at the end!”
“Yeah,” Umbra agreed as she wobbled. “Okay, so, that’s why I was told never to do that at night; no clear place to leave.”
“Um, are they okay?” Buzz asked and the two looked over to see the changelings waving their hooves in front of a stationary Midnight and Twilight.
Umbra and Spike went over to them, legs spread wide as to keep their balance until the last of the affects of a seemingly endless void of shadows had on them wore off. Both the kirin and unicorn were facing an open door that lead to nowhere and their eyes were glowing green and red, like Sombra’s had. Twilight was saying things like “I don’t understand” and “The test, my studies?” while Midnight was simply repeating “No, no, no, no” over and over again. Both of them had tears streaming down their cheeks and it looked like a bit of flame was on Midnight’s breath.
“What happened?” Umbra asked.
“We found them this way,” Trill said, “them and that open door.”
“This must be one of Sombra’s traps,” Spike said, moving over to inspect the door. “I’ll bet Midnight or Twilight opened this and it did something to them.”
“What do we do?” Buzz asked, eyeing the flame that the kirin, now slightly hyperventilating, was producing.
“Um, well,” Spike said, eyeing the crystal at the top of the door, “let’s try… this!” Grabbing the door, he slammed it shut into the door frame. The crystal up top shone red for a brief second, then winked out.
“SQUEAKS! SAPPHIRE!” Midnight screamed, a tongue of blue fire shooting out of her mouth.
“PLEASE PRINCESS!” Twilight yelled.
Both their eyes returned to normal but the glow was replaced by wild, intense staring. Twilight recovered first, her pupils dilating back to normal then wider due to the darkness. Midnight’s draconic eyes stayed pinpricks until they landed on the closed door, then they narrowed.
“Captain, are you-?” Buzz asked, before jumping back with the rest of them as Midnight shot a stream of blue flame at the door. It wasn’t just a shot or a dousing of a few seconds; the kirin breathed fire on the door for a full thirty seconds before finally stopping. For whatever reason the door never tried to jump away like it had done before but stayed like it was rooted to the spot, though through the flames it looked to them as if the door was trying to get away, twisting and shaking. When Midnight finally stopped she was breathing hard but shakily. Spike moved to her side and wordlessly placed a comforting claw on her leg. Her eyes snapped down to him but they quickly refocused back to normal.
“Sorry,” she finally breathed out, “it was just… what happened after that door opened…” she turned away, but not before Spike saw her eyes become wet again.
“A doorway that leads to your worst nightmare,” Twilight explained, wiping away what remained of her own tears. “Sombra made sure that even a unicorn wouldn’t make it through; a unicorn using normal magic, anyway.” Even Midnight didn’t say a word as Twilight cast dark magic for a second time, this time at the crystal above the door. The entire door shuddered for a second, then swung open to reveal what looked like a blue-white hall.
Buzz stuck his head carefully around through the doorway. “It’s another staircase,” he reported, “this time going up.”
They all filed through the doorway and looked up… and up. “Alright, I’m calling it: crystal magic is a load, a hack, a cheat,” Midnight snorted, her normal snark beginning to trickle back into her voice. The stairs went so far up they seemed to disappear into the ceiling. Around the outside wall were divots where more of the large pony statues were placed, following the stairway up.
“Just because YOU never studied it-” Twilight mumbled, starting up the stairs, only to become airborne as Midnight picked her up again.
“We don’t have time,” the kirin said with a grunt, “and casting that Feather Weight spell again would be helpful.”
Twilight did so while the changelings got airborne again themselves and Umbra and Spike hopped into the shadow on the underside of the stairs. This time, with the one continuous shadow, there was no chance of getting lost. They all started up, this time everyone keeping pace as they rose through the chamber.
“Darn it Lieutenant, where is everypony?” Applejack muttered aside to Hazelnut while doing her best not to look worried herself. The amount of crystal ponies surrounding the fake Heart were growing bigger by the minute and nothing they were doing or offered could sway them to leave. Rarity had just shown up, saying she was both out of supplies and that no one was coming to the booth anyway. She also turned to look at Hazelnut expectantly. Beside them, there were only a few of the new recruits with them to keep the crowd back. Everyone else…
“There’s a bit of a problem at the outer parts of the city that required our attention,” he said, “something that will make all of our current posturing moot if not taken care of.”
“What could possibly be more important than this?” Rarity hissed through her big, bright, dazzling smile that was keeping several crystal ponies at bay.
The look Hazelnut gave her in return almost made her smile falter. “Do you remember those statues we passed by on the way to the palace?”
-----------------------------
“How about, grh, the next time we go someplace, gah, and they have menacing statues all over the place, damn it, we just start smashing them on sight?” Long Spine said as he grappled with one of the now animated statues. As the black crystals had made it into the city boundaries, some kind of darkness had leeched out of them and onto (into?) the pony statues. The statues had turned black, their eyes glowed green, and they had immediately attacked anyone nearby, which so happened to be all of the guards sent to help Shoal, who was still smashing the bigger crystals out near the boundary. It was hoped that her efforts were actually holding the dark tide back, making it put more effort and resources, whatever those were, into rebuilding the larger crystals and slowing its push into the city itself. Even if the effort was slowing it, the darkness and dark crystals were still inching forward, still adding more statues to the fight with every few feet consumed. It wasn’t just their size that was making them a problem, either, but just how solidly built they were. Being a dragon, Spine knew his gems, crystals, and special stones, and these statues were solid all the way through and made of some tough stuff. It had taken several kicks, punches, and bites just to cause a few cracks in his opponent. Others were just dodging and trying to land precise blows where they could.
One bit of good news was that they were susceptible to magic and a few of the more powerful magic users were trying to smash one statue into another, hoping their strength could be turned into a weakness. It was the only advantage they had so far and the idea now was to try and herd the big brutes into a target-rich environment to be pounded into rubble. It was easier said than done.
“As much as I would like to agree,” Mane shouted as he dodged another attack, “next time they might actually be part of the culture!” Spinning around, he planted his front two hooves and bucked for all he was worth. The statue turning towards him was off balance just enough that his two back hooves sent it stumbling backwards, right into the statue Dandelion was levitating. The resulting collision cracked and chipped the back half of Dandelion’s while Mane’s fell to the ground, the impacting side shattering, leaving half a statue to kick and attempt to right itself in vain. “And then we’d be fighting the locals,” he finished, watching as the statute on the ground was finished off by Night Sky and Dark Cleaver falling out of the sky on top of it, eight hooves smashing what was left. Wordlessly, they scooped up a few of the bigger chunks and took off, joining other flyers in pelting their opponents from above. While not as effective as the unicorns and their magic, they were able to attack while relatively staying out of harm’s way. Some were even going back further into the city to see if the statues were more vulnerable before they were activated.
Mane grinned as the statue Dandelion had been wrestling with smashed into another one, this time breaking completely and cracking up the other pretty good. “Come on lads! They ain’t invincible! Kick’em ‘til they’re dust!”
The words had just left his mouth when a loud roar went up and everyone turned to see Shoal starting to come towards them, the ground shaking with every step. “She’s chasing something!” one of the pegasi recruits, Autumn Pillar, if Mane remembered correctly, called out and soon a small eruption of more black crystals could be seen speeding towards them, the female dragon in hot pursuit. As they watched, the dragon leaned forward to try and either swipe at the approaching column or flame it and as if in response one crystal shot out and slammed hard into her lower jaw, snapping her head back and making her trip. She hit the ground hard just at the edge of the city with the black crystals still surging ahead.
“Oh, buck me running,” Mane growled, then turned towards where Windrunner had just dived on another statue. “First Lieutenant! You need to head back to the palace and let the others know what’s coming!”
“I will not leave you all here!” she shouted back, ducking under a swipe and shooting up to buck her attacker in the head.
Mane charged and bucked the same statue in the head as well, cracking it and leaving it vulnerable to Windrunner’s second hit, which crumbled the head and left the rest of the body to collapse. “We can hold here just fine! The others need to know what’s happening!” He repeated. “They need to be ready! You’re the fastest flyer here! You’re the only one that can get there in time to make a difference!”
Windrunner looked around one more time, then nodded. “Fighting retreat!” she said as she went airborne. “Move back towards the palace! Funnel them into the streets! If we can get them clustered and close, Honeycomb, Princess Cadance, and Prince Shining Armor should be able to help!” With that she turned and took off towards the palace, a dust-brown trail marking her flight.
Mane grunted and took up a rear guard position along with Brick Break, Long Spine, Scarlet, and Dandelion while the others began falling back down the streets. Between the statues still pressing on them, the ones being animated to life on either side of them, and the quickly approaching column of dark crystals, he wasn’t sure just how much fighting this retreat would be able to do. As he ducked from another blow, he just hoped that the captain and the bearers could snatch another victory from the dark jaws of defeat.
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With a huff, Midnight, Twilight, and the changelings finally flew up and out of the staircase. A second later, Umbra and Spike popped out of a nearby shadow. Looking around, they realized they were in a room open to the sky, which meant they were really high up. That made sense, seeing how long it took them to fly up there. “Are we at the top of the palace?” Trill asked aloud, moving over to the edge to look.
“If we are, then getting back should be a breeze,” Midnight said, relief clear in her voice as she pointed to a spot in the middle of the open room. There, suspended a little ways off the floor, was the Crystal Heart, spinning lazily. “And of course it turns out it’s easy to find,” she flexed a wing, “if any of us had just decided to take a perch up here...”
“Umm, ma’am, you should see this!” Trill said with a look of concern, beckoning the kirin over.
As Midnight, Buzz, and Umbra went to see what was going on below, Spike motioned for Twilight to go to the Heart. She did so, slowly and in awe of the relic before her. She could feel the magic pulsing around it and it gave off a feeling of euphoria that Twilight knew they’d found the real Heart and everything would be fine.
“TWILIGHT!” Midnight yelled.
Twilight snapped out of the trance she’d found herself in and noticed the pattern below the Heart was ringing out in an alarm. She’d stepped right on the pattern and, realizing her mistake, she jumped for the relic, hitting it and knocking it clear of the pattern’s area just as a wall of black crystal spikes shot up around its parameter, trapping the unicorn. “The Heart!” Twilight called out.
“It’s out here with us!” Midnight called back. As the kirin went to pick up the Heart, she saw a pulse come out from the cage and travel down the stairs. “Uh oh,” she mumbled, heading over to look down. As the pulse went down the stairs, it touched each statue along the way, activating them. “Yeah, we’re in trouble,” she said, turning back to see Twilight try to teleport out of the cage, only to be magically sucked back in, “deep trouble.”
“I’m sorry,” Twilight called from inside, “I saw it and I was just so eager to get it. And knowing what’s outside…”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Midnight told her, “I wasn’t paying attention to where I should have been. I should have just flown over and grabbed it myself.” Looking down at the Heart, Midnight scooped it up, seemed to growl at it for a second, then shoved it into Spike’s claws. “Umbra, are there enough shadows for you to get down the side of the palace safely?” One of the things she’d seen in the brief moments before Twilight had gotten caught was that dark crystals were already growing on the side of the palace. That, and almost all of her guard was backed up to the palace with those now animated statues acting as moving walls, forcing them back even further. She already knew what she’d be facing in another minute.
“I… I think so,” Umbra said hesitantly, hoping her captain wasn’t really considering such an option. There were quite a few open spots between shadows.
“Good.” The kirin pushed Spike towards Umbra, “then take Spike down the side and get the Heart to Cadance. Everything depends on getting the Heart to where it needs to be!”
“But Twilight needs to-!” Spike protested, looking back at the cage.
“Go, Spike!” Twilight called out, peaking between the spikes. She bit her lip, then nodded at them. “Midnight’s right; we can’t waste anymore time!”
“But, what about Celestia’s test?” He called back.
“Forget the test, lives are at stake!” Twilight called back. “If you can’t get the Heart to Cadance, there won’t be a test to fail!”
“But-!”
“GO!”
Spike took one final look at Twilight, the look on her face was clear how torn she was over what she just said but determined, and nodded. “I’ll do it.”
“Good,” Midnight said from her position at the top of the stairs. They could all now hear the sound of crystal stomping on crystal getting louder. “Recruit; get him and the relic down there as fast as you can!”
“But you can fly him down!” Umbra protested, “it’ll be faster!”
“I’ll also be more obvious! Use the shadows, get the Heart to Cadance, and put an end to this!”
Umbra tried to protest further but Midnight had already turned back to the staircase, which had ominous crystal pounding coming from below. Buzz and Trill transformed into a buffalo and minotaur respectively as Midnight activated her armor. Taking one last look at her captain, Umbra hefted Spike and the Heart onto her back, then dove over the side and into darkness.
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‘Midnight, where ARE you!?’ Honeycomb fretted as the scene below the royal balcony continued to unfold. Everything had been fine, relatively, until Pinkie had accidently knocked over the covered fake Heart, which meant that the crystal ponies now knew they didn’t have the real one. Word had spread quickly and soon almost the entire city was encamped below the palace. Things had only gotten worse when the sound of fighting had carried from where Wild Mane and the rest had run off to try and hold back encroaching black crystals that were the released King Sombra’s doing.
Shining blamed himself for that. He’d been so focused on his wife’s health and the actual running of the empire, in lieu of the fair fixing what was supposedly left of Sombra’s curse, that he’d just let Sombra cool his jar at the foot of the throne, never imagining he’d escape.
Windrunner had come and told them that the bearer guard was making a fighting withdrawal back to the palace in hopes that the narrower streets and that Honey, Cadance, and Shining Armor could help with their magic from the safety of the balcony. Honey could; she’d been saving away the love she’d been getting from everyone at home and hadn’t needed for food for just such an occasion. With everything Midnight and the others had been through before, it just seemed prudent. Cadance, however, was in no shape for a fight and was still holding up the shield so that the weather didn’t also weigh in on the conflict while Shining was helping her with his own magic. Honey had told the pegasus that she’d do what she could when the time came and for her to get back to the fight. Windrunner had sped back to the fight as fast as she had come. Honey had then asked Arina to tell Midnight what was happening and ask if they’d found the Heart yet but Arina only shook her head after a minute of trying. The kirin was ignoring her, apparently, which wasn’t a good sign.
Then the fighting had come into view, then was only a few blocks away, then was just one. The crystal ponies below all retreated under the palace, as if it was a shelter from the coming storm. Everyone could only imagine the pandemonium that would happen when the fighting finally reached them. Applejack had to restrain Rainbow from joining in the fight while Rarity and Pinkie comforted a panicking Fluttershy. “Send everyone down to help,” Shining told one of the guards on the balcony with them, “you won’t do any good up hear just watching.” The guard saluted and he and his companion disappeared into the palace to round up the rest of the guards.
“That won’t work!” Rainbow complained. “We need Twilight to use the Elements to blast these guys or the Heart to banish them or whatever it does!”
“What else do you want us to do?” Shining asked her, biting back his anger, “None of us can just tap our hooves or flash our horns and just make them appear!”
“I can help,” Honey said, moving to the balcony railing.
“Your highness, please don’t go so close!” Verpine said, moving to block her way.
“We have to keep you safe,” Mandible added.
“As Prince Armor already said, we aren’t doing any good just standing around.” She nodded at him and he did the same in return, searching her face to see what she was getting at. “Rainbow and a few guards might be able to add a few hooves to the fight but we all know that’s just delaying the inevitable. We know that these things, however, are susceptible to magic.” Verpine and Mandible stepped out of her way but still flanked her as she stepped to the railing and lit her horn, its sickly green glow ominous. Calling upon her stores of love, she fed them into her magic, feeling the power surge to the magical conduit. Picking a point just forward of her embattled friends, she focused on it, took a deep breath, then shot at it. The beam flew over the defenders’ heads and impacted one of the statues in the front row, obliterating it immediately and smashing into the second one, which was bored through to impact a third that was sent flying back into more. When the beam finally died, at least ten statues had been accounted for and a ragged cheer went up among the defenders.
“Alright! Go Queen Honeycomb!” Rainbow cheered.
“Excellent work, darling!” Rarity agreed.
Honey didn’t say a word as she focused on her next group of targets. Her second and third blasts were equally destructive to the statue horde, then on her fourth blast a thick crystal shot up out of the ground and took the hit, barely even cracking. They all watched as a black mass rose from the top of the crystal then resolved itself into a pony-like shape before becoming an actual pony, one with dark grey fur, black mane, burning red eyes, and dark royal regalia.
“King Sombra,” Cadance said, her teeth clenched in both concentration and anger.
“So the feller did have some power tucked away somewheres,” AJ said. “How else could he have gotten so powerful so quick?”
Honey didn’t answer as she shot another beam directly at the former despot. The dark king simply raised another pillar of crystal to deflect and absorb the blast. She fired another blast that ended with a similar result.
“I don’t think that’s working,” Shining said.
“It’ll have to, until Midnight and Twilight arrive,” Honey said as she made another shot.
The balcony fell silent as they all wondered where the two that had pulled them out of so much before were now.
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Spike and Umbra danced out of the way as another dark crystal emerged right by where they were standing. Taking a leap of faith as another crystal followed the first to completely monopolize the space they were just occupying, they landed awkwardly on another crystal pillar but caught themselves in time not to slip off. Catching their breaths, both of them looked down at the scene below and shivered. Things were NOT going well for their friends. Those fighting the statues were now being pushed back under the balcony and Honeycomb was in a long-distance duel with the reborn Sombra. If either of them had wings or if Umbra could teleport they could be with the others on the balcony handing Cadance the Heart in the blink of an eye. Instead, they were forced to jump from one crystal to another in the hopes of finding another shadow to jump into. The last one they were in spat them out as a crystal grew over it and into the light.
“I don’t see any other place to go from here,” Umbra said with a rising note of panic in her voice. “What do we do now!?”
“Wait, I think I see Rainbow down there with them!” Spike said. “That’s perfect! HEY! RAINBOW! EVERYBODY!” he yelled, waving the Heart over his head for them to see. Now, perhaps in the moment, Spike simply hoped Sombra wouldn’t see or hear him or maybe he thought if he did, Rainbow would be able to get to them, or at least the Heart, before the evil king could do anything about it.
As it turned out, everyone including Sombra did hear him. It was also at that very moment that four of Sombra’s statues smashed through the doors and walls of the balcony, sending bits of the palace everywhere, including directly into the center of the Wonderbolt hopeful’s forehead, knocking her out cold.
Sombra let out an angry roar and began growing more crystals under him, raising him up toward the two helpless heroes. “That is MINE!” he roared at them.
“Uh, if you really want to start panicking now, it’s all good,” Spike told Umbra.
Back on the balcony, Honey was at a loss about what to do. If she focused on keeping Sombra away from the Heart, the statues would overwhelm them, despite what the bearers, Shining, and her own guards were doing but if she turned to deal with the statues, then Sombra would reach Spike, Umbra, and the Heart.
“They need wings,” Cadance, who had drifted over while her husband was occupied with the statues, said. She still sounded tired, but there was a spark in her eyes as she looked up at the Heart.
Honey blinked at her, then the words sunk in. “Right!” she said. Before she shot off the ground, a thought occurred to her. Leaning over, she touched her horn to Cadance’s and pushed a little bit of her magic into it. The sound of alicorn’s sharp intake of breath was lost as her insect wings buzzed for all she was worth up towards the dragon and unicorn. She wasn’t Rainbow, but she still shot up like a rocket.
Sombra saw her rising up to challenge his claim and he shot a bolt at her, then another, and then another. Honey blocked them all as she rose, one eye on Sombra, the other on her friends. She was just about even with Sombra and tried to shoot off her own bolt at him when Sombra shot off two bolts in rapid succession at her. Honey blocked the first one but hadn’t been expecting the second. She jerked from the hit and her shot went wild, hitting the crystal under Umbra and Spike and sending them both plummeting. “NO!” Honey shouted but was hit with another red bolt from Sombra before she could fly after them.
Sombra’s triumphant laugh followed Umbra and Spike down as they fell towards the ground. It would be easy enough for him to collect the Heart, which would most likely survive the fall. More than likely they wouldn’t. “Spike, I’m sorry I couldn’t get you to the others!” Umbra said into the rushing wind, “I’m sorry I couldn’t do what Captain Storm asked!”
“I’m sorry too! Midnight was right; you’d make a great guard!” Spike called back. He hugged the Heart to his body. Maybe it’s magic would protect them at the last second?
He’d never find out as something flew into them both and Spike found himself backwards on Cadance’s back with Umbra hanging onto her front legs. “Are you two alright?” Cadance asked as she banked back towards the palace.
“NO!” Sombra roared from above.
“I think so,” Spike said, coming to grips with the idea that he and Umbra weren’t going to be cleaned up off the pavement.
“The Heart?” Cadance asked, to which Spike shifted to show her. She nodded. “Good.” Soaring over the fighting, Cadance landed in the middle of the crowded crystal ponies still under the palace. All around were scared faces, looking to her and the two with her for hope.
“The Crystal Heart has been returned! Use the light and love within each and every one of you to ensure that King Sombra does not!” she called out to them, then she took the Heart from Spike and levitated it to the center spot below the palace. Two thin columns shot out from above and below and were like magnets that grabbed the Heart and held it in place without Cadance’s magic.
The crystal ponies, their faces beaming now, bowed to the returned Crystal Heart, their coats gleaming once again like they had at the faire. Where they bowed, crystal blue light shown in the streets and flowed until all the streets of the empire glowed bright.
Up on his crystal pillar, Sombra whirled and fumed. “No! They can’t! NO!”
The light suddenly shot back to the Heart, as if sucked in, and the Heart began to spin rapidly. After a few second the spinning crystal sent out a shockwave of white light. To those that weren’t crystal ponies, the wave that washed over them made them sparkle and shine as if they were. The dark crystals and animated statues, however, crumbled to dust as the wave struck them. For a second after it hit Sombra, it seemed to have done nothing to the tyrant, then blue cracks swiftly broke across his body and with one last roar of anger, he two broke apart, his horn, the only surviving piece, flying deep out into the tundra.
The castle itself glowed and let out its own shockwave, this one pushing back the winter storms that Cadance had been keeping back all this time and sending streams of light high into the sky that then spread out far into the distance over Equestria.
A roar of hundreds of cheers resonated throughout the empire.
-----------------------------
Midnight growled as she impacted against Twilight’s cage. A statue had blindsided her while she was busy with another and sent her skidding across the ground. Using the temporary lull in the fight to catch her breath, she looked over at where Buzz and Trill laid and looking as beat up as she felt. The damn things were just so strong! She was sure she’d have to see Minuette when she got back home after trying to bite through the throat of one of them. That wasn’t to actually kill it, it being made of crystal and all, but a chunk out of the neck would have made it easy to buck its head off.
Getting to her hooves, she readied herself for the next, and most likely final, attack when there was a loud *THOOM* and a wall of light came from below and washed over her and the statues. Both they and the crystal spikes imprisoning Twilight disintegrated while the unicorn, changelings, and kirin became shiny like the crystal ponies. It also gave the combatants a boost as Midnight didn’t feel as if she’d been in a fight as much as a stroll through the woods. Buzz and Trill were also on their hooves, looking no worse for wear than if they were doing the same. The first burst was quickly followed by another, and the entire palace lit up before shooting off colored beams into the sky.
“They did it!” Twilight cheered, rushing over to the side to look.
Midnight and the changelings followed at a more sedate pace as they looked themselves over. While Twilight and Midnight also had their manes done up by the Heart’s magic (hers was in a braided ponytail), the changelings’ head-fins stayed the same. “I take it this means we won?” Trill asked as they looked down on a sea of shining crystals.
Midnight let out a deep sigh and sat back on her haunches. “Yes, this means we won, yet again by the skin of our teeth.”
“You know it’ll never be as easy as flicking our tails, right?” Twilight said.
Midnight shrugged. “There’s no reason it can’t be or at least as easy as possible. Heck, if it wasn’t for that jar breaking we’d be doing this with everyone else and not coming off a big dose of adrenaline from fighting for our lives.” She signed again. “And of course during her first mission she has a hoof in saving Equestria. I don’t know if that rookie is going to be the headache to end all headaches or a gift from the Makers.”
“They did great,” Twilight said, her voice becoming a bit sad, “and Umbra will be a great guard. Hopefully I’ll get to see her promoted to First Lieutenant one day.”
Midnight raised an eyebrow at her tone, then rolled her eyes and stretched her wings. “Come on, let’s get down there; I want a tall glass of ice cold apple cider and a bowl of sapphires after today.” She opened her wings and grimaced. “And someone remind me that I never got us a medic.”
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“Sorry I wasn’t more helpful,” Shoal said as she kept pace alongside everyone else back to the train two days later. With Sombra destroyed for good this time and the crystal ponies back to their version of normal (the shine was getting annoying), everyone had agreed that further training could be put off until they were back home and their various wounds healed up. Midnight had talked with Shining about how best to move forward with Umbra, as she had no idea if there was an award or medal or some kind of promotion for her actions in the empire. Shining had told her that there was no precedent for a recruit to be in the position Umbra was, so what was done was up to her and Celestia to decide. Shining did, however, praise Honey for going hoof to hoof with Sombra and giving Cadance the boost that let her catch Spike, Umbra, and the Heart and save them all.
Honey, who had been seated nearby at the time, ducked her head and blushed. “I just did what I could.”
“You, your friends, and my sister need to stop saving my flank like this; it’s getting pretty embarrassing,” Shining had playfully whined.
Back in the present, Midnight waved a wing. “You took a sucker punch to the chin and you kept those dark crystals from spreading further; you did a good job as far as I’m concerned,” she told the dragon, then looked over at Honey, who was walking along side her, “and you are going to have a story to tell Squeaks.”
“I still don’t think I did all I could,” the changeling queen protested. “If I had put more power into those first few attacks or flew faster…”
“You did fine, your highness,” Verpine said.
“Listen to her,” Midnight agreed, “between that and securing that travel deal with Cadance, I’d say your first diplomatic mission was a success.”
Honey ducked her head and tried to hide her smile behind her golden mane. “Thanks.”
During their two days of rest, it had been discovered that the Crystal Heart radiated pure love itself, which helped explain their initial euphoria when they found it. That also explained why all five changelings had been found gathered around it like ponies around a campfire during a particularly cold night. The deal Cadance and Honey had come up with was that the changelings could travel to the empire a few at a time to collect some of this wellspring so long as they converted some of the love they gathered into “changeling nectar”, basically love in a tangible, honey-like form, to be used by the empire for various experiments and projects. It was hoped that whatever could be created from that could become a new export for the empire. As love as a food source had been so scarce for such a long time, none had thought to bring it up until Honey’s talk with Cadance.
As they got onto the train platform, the ponies bringing up the rear happened to catch their eye. “I hope everything will be alright,” Honey said as Twilight hugged her brother and sister-in-law goodbye. “She still seems so worried.”
Midnight snorted. “Please; if Celestia has an issue with one of the brightest minds in all of Equestria and the bearer of the Element of Magic not doing exactly as she asks her to, she can take it up with me. We wouldn’t have even found the damn Heart if it hadn’t been for her. I still say she doesn’t need Celestia’s approval for anything and shouldn’t even need to study under her anymore.”
Honey shook her head in amused exasperation. “You’re not a sword or even a battle axe; you’re a war hammer.”
Midnight simply shrugged. “Whatever gets the job done.”
-----------------------------
Sapphire put the bowl of fruit down in front of the thestral filly and patted her head with a wing. “Eat up.”
“When’s mom, Honey, and Windrunner getting home?” Squeaks asked, taking a bite of apple, “she said they were supposed to get back today.”
“Well, the train could have been delayed for any number of reasons, or they could have gotten on late,” Sapphire told her as she sat down with her own dinner salad, “what’s important is that we know they’re coming home.”
Squeaks nodded and took another bite of her food.
‘The light show was a bit dramatic,’ Sapphire mused. The ribbons of color that had shot out of the palace had shone all the way down to Canterlot and Ponyville and both she and Squeaks had agreed that it had to mean everything up there had ended well.
They were each a few bites further along when the doorknob to the side door jiggled and clicked open and a welcomed voice called out “Squeaks? Sapphire? We’re home!”
Squeaks let out an excited squeak and ran for the door. Sapphire followed at a more sedate pace but was as equally excited to see her friends and marefriend come home. Squeaks barely let them put their bags down before literally flying into her mother’s forelegs. “Mom!”
“Come here, small fry!” Midnight said, wrapping both forelegs around the thestral and squeezing her tight. “I missed you Squeaks.”
“I missed you, too, mom,” Squeaks said with a strained voice as her mother crushed her to her chest. She didn’t mind. Nor did she mind Arina hopping down from Midnight to hug her head with all eight legs.
“And what about me?” Sapphire asked playfully, only to be grabbed by Midnight’s wings and dragged over for a big kiss. “I see,” she said once she was let up for air. Honey and Windrunner chuckled at the exchange.
“Long story,” the kirin said as she put Squeaks down so she could say hello to the others, “glad you’re here to hear it,” she said in a lower tone so the others wouldn’t hear.
“That bad?” Sapphire asked, frowning in worry.
“Like I said, long story but what it comes down to is that we kept Equestria safe for another day; until the next thousand year evil in a can pops out,” Midnight told her, picking up her duffle bag and heading towards their room.
“How did everything go with Twilight?” Sapphire asked as she followed, remembering what Midnight had told her before they left.
Midnight grunted as she dropped the bag on the bed. ““Oh Twilight, far better that I have a student who understands the meaning of self-sacrifice than one who only looks out for her own best interests,” sure thing Miss “Only you alone can do this”. At least I got her to agree to let the bearers keep the Elements with them at all times now; Luna helped with that. Also, the new hooves and recruits handled the situation well, so the bearer guard should be a well-oiled machine before too long. I still need to go back and see Celestia about what to do with Umbra.”
Sapphire frowned. “What happened?”
“Nothing bad, she just helped Spike bring the Crystal Heart to Cadance, which is what stopped the evil king from taking over the world-” two quick chirps came from the living room “-and I think she should be rewarded for that.”
Sapphire hummed thoughtfully. “I remember that there were some unofficial ranks in the guards, something like “squad leader” or “platoon leader”, like everyone is the same rank but someone is designated as the leader of the group. Maybe something like that?”
Midnight nodded. “I’ll have to ask Shining and Night Skimmer about that; I was too busy with everything else going on to really have a proper discussion with Shining at the time. I also need to remember to find us a field medic.” She sighed and drew Sapphire into the shadowy embrace of her wings. “Besides that, Twilight is still Celestia’s student, Equestria is safe, you and Squeaks are safe,” she nuzzled the pegasus, “the bearer guard is ready for whatever’s next, and even Shoal is more easy going and willing to listen than I thought. With all that in mind, tomorrow actually seems like it’ll be nice.”
Sapphire looked down at the thestral filly, unconsciously mimicking her marefriend’s signature raised eyebrow. “Squeaky, your mother and I just talked with you about this.”
“I know but it’ll take so long to get everything out!” Squeaks protested, waving her front legs wide to emphasize just how long, “It might take days! We’ll need everybody to get everything out!”
“And so you need a sleepover to get everything done?” Sapphire asked. The pegasus was sure this had more to do with Midnight going camping without her than actually cleaning up the more than likely large mess they had left at the new home for the changelings.
Squeaks ducked her head. “It’ll help make moving stuff faster if we don’t have to be home?” she tried.
Before Sapphire could poke a good number of holes in the suggestion, the side door opened and Honey came in. “Hello,” she said, a note of tiredness in her voice, “just popping over for lunch.”
“Hello,” Squeaks and Sapphire chorused. “How are things going?” Sapphire asked as she returned to putting away the morning’s dishes.
“Fine so far,” the young changeling queen said as she stuck her head into the fridge, “Mostly just requests to try and apply at one business or another or asking if they can start a business of their own.”
“Ocelli wants to be a farmer,” Squeaks added.
“And they feel that they have to get the okay with me before they start anything,” Honey said, coming out of the fridge with various sandwich ingredients. “I will say that the girls have been very helpful with coming up with ideas for everyone to try out, even if that means more changelings asking for permission.”
Squeaks gave her a half smile, the kind a child gives when another adult brings up a topic a parent has just been reprimanding them about.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, Squeaky, it doesn’t bother me that much and everyone is looking forward to hearing more ideas the next time you and your friends come over.”
“About that,” Sapphire said as she got out the bread for Honey. “Midnight and I had a talk with Squeaky about how her and her friends are treating the embassy. They’ll be cleaning up whatever messes they’ve made and stop using your new home as a playhouse before it becomes a problem for the changelings living there.”
Squeaks wilted a bit and Honey just looked at her, the sandwich ingredients floating around her.
“I thought Midnight already told you?” Honey finally said. “She said she’d try and come back after the interview.”
Now it was Sapphire’s turn to stare. “Tell me what?”
“She and I talked for a bit this morning right before she interviewed those field nurse applicants. I was bringing two of my changelings to be interviewed as well, they want to train to be nurses, and she told me about your talk with Squeaky. I told her and I thought she tell you that it isn’t a problem at all.”
“You might be okay with it Honey, and that’s fine, but it is an embassy; it won’t look very well to political visitors if crayons and cut up cardboard are scattered all over the floor,” Sapphire said, her voice falling back into the practiced tone she had back when she was still working in the Canterlot Palace.
Honey looked over at Squeaks for a second, then put down her partially created lunch. “Sapphire, can I talk with you in the living room for a second?”
The pegasus nodded, following the changeling into the living room, where Honey looked back towards the kitchen to see if the filly was trying to listen. When she was sure she couldn’t see any ear tufts poking out from around the kitchen doorway, she began, “When the invasion happened, you remember it was the entire hive, not just the soldiers of the hive, right?” Sapphire nodded. “Well, how many foals did you see?”
The pony’s orange eyes looked up at the ceiling in thought for a moment. “I don’t remember seeing any, but why would there be any foals helping in the attack? I mean, I know things were desperate but surely they wouldn’t have had foals help?”
Honey shook her head. “It was desperate, so desperate a move that when I say the whole hive was involved, I mean the WHOLE hive. You didn’t see any foals during the invasion because there weren’t anyfoals left to take part.”
Sapphire’s eyes grew wide.
“There haven’t been any changeling foals for almost ten years now,” Honey continued, “and any that were born didn’t last long. Birthrates during a famine drop. Drastically. Not only is the general want to have children low, but it becomes hard for the mother to get pregnant if she wants to be. If she does, her own life in put in danger by her body needing to split the small amount of food she can get between her and the new baby.” Honey shook her head. “So many miscarriages… and even if both the mother and baby make it to birth, the stress might take one or both of them or the baby doesn’t even make it a year because they can’t feed another mouth. When I was expelled from the hive, I was one of the youngest changelings left.”
She looked past Sapphire and towards the kitchen again, this time as if looking directly at Squeaks through the wall than looking for her. “Yes, we have a new home with lots of love and food but there was still this dark mood among my changelings, something I couldn’t figure out how to dispel until Squeaks and her friends came over for the first time.” She smiled at Sapphire. “Nearly every single one of my changelings came to me afterwards and said that the sounds of foals playing in the hallways finally made them feel like everything would be alright again. Not the influx of love, not the abundance of food, but the sound of children playing. Since then they’ve been the center of attention every time they visit.”
Sapphire finally found her voice. “Honey, I’m so sorry, I had no idea…”
Honey waved the apology away. “How could you have known? I know how the girls can get sometimes, so I understand you were just trying to help. I think that restricting them to one closet is reasonable, though.” Unexpectedly, the changeling snickered. “You should have seen Maxilla’s face when she opened one of the closets! I didn’t think a worker’s eyes could shrink like that!”
The cartoon-like image of a changeling opening a closet door only to be buried in art supplies also made Sapphire start to snicker as well. “Alright, well, if that’s the case then I won’t stop Squeaky and her friends from going over,” the pegasus said once she’d stopped, “But I do insist they keep their messes contained and clean up after themselves.”
“Agreed,” Honey said with a nod.
“I wish Midnight had said something sooner,” Sapphire muttered, “you’d think with our talk last night, she’d want to let me know right away.”
There was a knock behind her and she and Honey looked to see Squeaks peering around the side of the wall with an animated Arina on her head holding up a scroll.
-----------------------------
“And why exactly did you decide to apply for this position?” Midnight asked the mare across from her. As luck (good or ill) would have it, today was the only day most of the applicants that had gotten back to her for the field medic position could make it to Ponyville for an interview, so she and Autumn were already late for the camping trip with AJ, Rainbow, and Rarity and their sisters. Autumn had, thankfully, occupied herself by building towers, pyramids, and the like with whatever she could get her hooves on, aided by the two changelings Honey had dropped off earlier. As things had recently proven to move quicker than the kirin liked, she’d decided to see the applicants and be a bit late to the trip than try and organize another day with the various sergeants and lieutenants that commanded the units they came from.
“I heard this outfit gets into a fair number of scrapes while my old one barely gets into any. Gets real boring sitting in an infirmary all day with no patients or just one malingerer; dulls the skills, too. I wanna do what I’m good at.”
“I see,” Midnight said, looking over her file once more and noting her cutie mark; a lump of what she could only assume was iron ore, her namesake, with a pale red cross behind it like so many other nurse ponies had. “I understand you come from a family of medical workers?”
Iron Ore nodded. “My mother was a nurse at our town’s hospital while my dad built the best prosthetics in Equestria.” She swelled a bit at this proclamation.
“I take it that’s where you got your leg from?” Midnight asked, motioning to Ore’s rear left leg, metal and starting just above where her knee would have been. It had been designed so well and her gate so normal that Midnight hadn’t realized she was wearing it until she went to slide into the booth and it became glaringly obvious.
Ore nodded. “This is his most recent model, with a little input and work by myself. Lost the leg to a timberwolf when I was a filly and once mom stopped crying and said I would make it, dad brought me into his forge and strapped my first peg on. The hardest thing to get used to was walking without a knee for a while until dad finally cobbled together one that had a functioning knee joint that could take the abuse.”
Midnight had noticed the many small scars in the mare’s pale yellow fur and her admission to playing and/or working rough meant that she’d be good in an all-hooves-on-deck situation, which suited Midnight just fine. “You mentioned you worked on your most recent prosthetic; does that mean you also know how to work a forge?”
“Oh yeah, spent a lot of time in my dad’s forge when I wasn’t helping mom after I got my cutie mark and learned a thing or two. Anyone here losses a limb, I can crank another out for them no problem.”
“Good to know,” Midnight said, “and with the dangers of being a guard out on the borders, I take it that’s why you enlisted?”
“Yep,” Ore said, “I would have hopped aboard during that first recruitment call but I wasn’t really sure about you guys at first. Then I heard about what happened up north and I knew I had to keep my ears open in case you asked for more hooves.”
Midnight smirked. The vibe she was getting from Ore was as if she was half Redheart, half Vinyl Scratch and was better than anything else she’d gotten from the other candidates. Most had a lazy attitude, worse than she’d seen with Spread Eagle and Dandelion and seemed to think most of their days would be spent much like Ore had described. The kirin was not going to have idle hooves in her guard. “Well, I suppose I only have a couple more questions for you, then. First, what would you do if, say, I’d been hurt and was flailing around and not letting you get close enough to work on me?”
Ore raised an eyebrow. “I’d have someone knock you out so I could save your dumb flank.”
Midnight had to cover up her snort of laughter at the blunt answer. The ones from the table next to the booth weren’t so quiet. “A-Alright then, my second question is: would you be okay with two aids who want to become nurses themselves one day?”
The kirin didn’t even have to motion for the peg-legged earth pony to look over at the two changelings. “As long as they do what I tell them and do it right, I won’t have a problem with it.”
There had been a quick little debate between her and Honey about if the two changelings would be held to the same trade system they’d come up with for the changeling guards. Midnight had finally just said that, as aids-in-training, they were excluded for now. She’d only apply the condition if they went on to become combat medics.
“Good. As you’re the last one I’ve interviewed for the position, I can safely say that you’re the best I’ve seen.” She made a few quick scribbles on her file. “Welcome to the bearer guard, medic. As we don’t have anyone else on the official medical roster, I’m going to allow you to retain the rank of lieutenant to help you throw some weight around just in case you need to; though I get the impression rank isn’t that big of worry for you.” They exchanged smiles. “Your two new assistants, Doppler and Cricket, can show you to the barracks where you can meet Lieutenant Hazelnut and give him your transfer papers. He’ll get you sorted and set up. If you have any reason to get a hold of me, see our Liaison Officer Sapphire Breeze.”
“Got it,” Ore said, taking the papers.
“Pinkie,” Midnight called back to the counter where the pink pony was stationed, “please let everyone else know a candidate has been selected and give them each a cupcake, my treat, for coming out today? Also, can I get two dozen doughnuts to go?”
“Five “Thanks for coming” cupcakes and two dozen doughnuts to go, got it!” Pinkie acknowledged, disappearing for a second before reappearing and hoping over the counter, a tray of pastries held in her mouth.
Getting out of the booth, Midnight stretched and patted Autumn with a wing. “Some sweets for the road and as an apology for being late, and we’re off to camp!”
-----------------------------
“Alright Pillow Knights, listen up!” Sir Squeaks said as she marched back and forth in front of her fellow knights. They were currently gathered in the great hall of the Lady Commander of the Watchers from the Shadows, preparing for their next epic quest. “We have been commanded by Lady Commander and Lady Sapphire to retrieve supplies left behind on previous quests. I have been told that leaving them where they are has begun attracting all sorts of dangerous bad guys and monsters who are terrorizing the fair people of this land. We must retrieve all the supplies and return them to the one safe fort left for them. Any we can’t fit there will have to be brought back to our own keeps. Any questions?”
“Yes,” Sir Pinchy said, raising a hoof, “Will we have to get to all the supplies tonight?”
“I was told that the sooner we get the supplies, the better,” Sir Squeaks told her.
“How dangerous are the bad guys and monsters?” Sir Sunny asked.
“Remember that we are in the Mountain Range of Infinity Possibilities,” Sir Squeaks told her, “They can be anyone or anything! We must keep our guard up at all times!” Reaching into her saddle bags, Sir Squeaks produced several colorful orbs. “If we run into something so hard that even we cannot handle it, these summoning orbs will allow us to call upon our most trusted allies!”
“What about the Watchers from the Shadows? Can’t they lend a hoof if we need it?” Sir Spike asked, looking back at the Lady Commander in her Great Seat and her second in command stationed next to her.
“They are the Watchers from the Shadows, Sir Spike! They do not help, only watch!” Sir Squeaks reminded him, “Though they can tell us things,” she amended.
“This is gon’ ta be a tough one, ain’t it?” Sir Pipsqueak whispered to Sir Spike as Sir Squeaks continued.
“As long as we don’t have to deal with anymore eight-headed, eighteen-legged, eight-web-spraying-tailed spider dragons again, I’ll be happy,” Sir Spike whispered back. They both looked down the row of Pillow Knights, Sir Pinchy in particular, with apprehension. “There is something wrong with these fillies,” he muttered.
“Not all of them, guv’,” Sir Pipsqueak said, quickly looking at and then away from Sir Dinky.
“You have to admit,” Sir Nocturne Bolt said from Sir Pipsqueak’s other side while stifling a yawn, “they’re never boring, at least.”
“If there are no more questions!” Sir Squeaks called out, scanning the line of knights. Sirs Spike, Pipsqueak, and Nocturne returned to attention. “Then, let’s move out Pillow Knights!”
-----------------------------
“Lady Commander” Honeycomb did her best to hold back a laugh as the troop of foals began marching out of her office. “You have to admit, she imitates Midnight very well,” she said to the “Watcher from the Shadows” standing next to her.
“Indeed, your highness,” Mandible said. The head of her guard rarely smiled, she’d come to find out, but the foals had a way of pulling a few out of him during their visits. She could see him trying to fight one down now. “If she keeps it up, she might even be a guard captain one day.”
Honey shook her head. “Squeaky may be good at imitating her mother, but that’s all it is. She’s too sweet for the job. I say a small business owner, maybe even a rival for Sweet Apple Acers eventually.” Both changelings snickered at the idea of an adult Squeaks with a mango cart starring down Applejack and an adult Applebloom and their apple cart in the middle of the town market. Speaking of food… “I think several large pizzas will do for dinner, the usual orders. Get them in about two hours or so; the loot the “monsters” and “bad guys” drop when they’re beaten should be enough to hold them over until then,” she told him, and this time his smile was obvious. It was at times like this, when she saw her changelings genuinely happy, that made the young queen forget all the tedium and stress of being a ruler for a little while.
“It shall be done, your highness,” Mandible said with a small bow. “It is nice to see their numbers grow as well,” he added as he pulled a pen and pad out of his saddle bag and began scribbling down the pizza order. He and another changeling, probably either Buzz, Trill, or Verpine, would fetch the food later.
Honey nodded. This had been a rare meet up of almost the entire Pillow Knights. The CMC couldn’t make it this time for obvious reasons, but all the others had. The CMC, Sunny Days, Peachy Pie, Pipsqueak, and Spike had joined them after last Nightmare Night while the four thestral foals had officially joined over the winter when nights were longer and they could be up earlier to play with the others.
If Honey had to point a hoof at any of them for the increase in material in her embassy’s closets, it had to be the CMC. Their numerous cutie mark-related antics naturally made for a lot of different supplies for various things that needed to be stored somewhere. She agreed with Sapphire and Midnight that she’d let the foals have a bit too much freedom in that respect but she also liked the way Squeaks had made a meeting of the Pillow Knights out of the necessary chore. The young thestral was learning a thing or two from her mother about problem solving, as well as how to lead. Speaking of the kirin…
“I hope Doppler and Cricket are doing okay on the campout with their new boss,” Honey said, sighing as she looked over the paperwork she still had to finish that day. If she had known how much paperwork was involved with being a leader, she’d have chucked the crown Princess Celestia gave her off the side of Canterlot Mountain and hid in the castle in the Everfree. How the princesses dealt with it all was a mystery to her.
“They’re not on the trip, your highness,” Mandible told her. “I saw them at the barracks with the new field medic a little after lunch.”
Honey flicked an ear in curiosity. “That’s strange; I would have thought Midnight would have wanted to bring the new medic along. Half the guard is on this campout.”
Mandible nodded. “True, but it is in Whitetail Wood; I would think that there’s very little chance of harm out that way.”
“Careful,” Honey said as she picked up her pen, “those are dangerous words, my little changeling.”
-----------------------------
“…and then, the Olden Pony asked, “Who’s got my rusty horseshoe?”” Rainbow said, trying to sound like a withered old mare. Around the fire, the CMC looked scared, AJ looked worried, and Rarity looked a bit off-put. Further away, at the closer tents and smaller campfires of the bearer guards’, those that had been listening barely batted eyelashes. These looks were emulated by their captain, who was roasting marshmallows and let out what she thought was a quiet snort.
“Aren’t you s-scared?” Autumn asked her older sister from the perceived safety of inside the kirin’s wing.
“YOU DO!” Rainbow shouted right behind Midnight, making all the fillies scream and the other two bearers jump. Midnight’s reaction was to inspect the cooking sweets.
“S’mores are ready,” she said as if nothing had happened.
“Oh, come on!” Rainbow huffed, “you can’t tell me that wasn’t scary!”
“That wasn’t scary.”
“It wasn’t?” Autumn asked in a small voice deep within the folds of her sister’s wing.
Midnight smiled down at the single eye she could see in the darkness. “Not one little bit. “Oh! I’m an old stooge who’s done lost something most ponies would have replaced by now! Where’re my cats!?”” she said, doing a bad impersonation of an old mare herself and making a dopy face. Everyone but Rainbow chuckled. “What, are we supposed to be scare of mom when she loses a hair clip next?” This made Autumn really begin to laugh.
“Alright then!” Rainbow shot up face to face with Midnight and poked her in the chest. “Why don’t YOU tell a scary story then?”
The fang-filled grin that spread across the kirin’s face was enough to make everyone in sight of it go quiet. “If you insist,” Midnight purred, further cementing in everyone’s mind that Rainbow had just made a big mistake. “Windrunner!” Midnight called and the pegasus in question flew over.
“Yes, captain?”
“Before I tell this story I just remembered that Mane and Umbra wanted to see Autumn; something about the building plans we have on the old castle. Can you bring Autumn over to them real quick?”
“Of course,” the pegasus said with a bow, then reached out her wing for Autumn.
“Are you going to wait for me?” Autumn asked.
“Of course!” Midnight assured her as she gently urged her towards Windrunner, “now hurry before it gets too late!”
Trusting her sister to wait until she got back and wanting to hear about building part of a castle, Autumn willingly hopped onto Windrunner’s back. Midnight watched them go, quietly admonishing herself that she’d just lied to Autumn but knew it was for the best. She had a feeling that scary stories would get told on this trip and had set things up with some of the others to get Autumn away in case they got too much for the filly. The Olden Pony was nothing in her opinion, but the few stories she had locked and loaded would probably give the adult’s nightmares. Should she have sent to CMC away as well for that reason? Possibly, but if the bearers weren’t going to stop a second story after their sisters were already spooked and on edge from the first, that was on them.
“Well now, our story begins-”
“Aren’t we waitin’ for Autumn ta get back?” AJ interrupted.
“-in a place not like this one and at a time of day not like now…” Midnight continued.
-----------------------------
“Good job… everyone…” Sir Squeaks said, flopping back onto the ground with a huff and a puff, “another… monster… defeated… by the glorious… Pillow Knights.”
“I am gonna scorch the CMC’s tails when they get back,” Sir Spike grumbled next to her.
“Seconded,” agreed Sir Ember, who was face down in the dirt with the largest load of supplies strapped to her back.
“I could go for a rest,” Sir Dinky said, raising a tired hoof.
“And some food,” Sir Pinchy seconded.
The team of Pillow Knights had just spent several hours hiking through the Mountain Range of Infinite Possibilities and had encountered many a brigand and monster both to and from the various stashes of supplies. This particular rest was after defeating a cragadile just after picking up the latest supplies, and they had already faced off against a bugbear and a quarray eel and another band of outlaws just getting to this cache! And they were only just over halfway done! Sure, they were getting a lot of loot from all the bad guys they were beating but it was still tiring work and they’d already used up most of their summoning orbs!
“While I don’t condone burnt tails, perhaps a stern talking to is in order?” Lady Commander of the Watchers from the Shadows said, stepping out from a shadow with one of her faithful watchers in tow.
Despite her tiredness, Sir Squeaks got to her hooves and saluted, wearily followed by the rest of the knights. “Lady Commander, I am pleased to announce that over half the supplies collected,” she frowned, “but not at the rate we had hoped for.”
“I am aware,” the Lady Commander said, “however, perhaps some rest and a feast will help you regain your strength? I have arranged for several platters of golden cheese pies to be at my hall waiting for your valiant return. Several of my watchers have found a monster and bandit-free route back there to aid in your journey.”
A chorus of cheers met this announcement. “To the hall!” Sir Star Glider proclaimed, standing up and flapping her webbed wings. The call was taken up by the rest and quicker than their earlier complaints would indicate, the Pillow Knights were on the march again, moving down the path the Lady Commander had indicated.
-----------------------------
“I think my changelings are getting a bit too overzealous with this quest,” Honey said aside to Mandible as the foals trooped down the hall and towards the stairwell. “Also, I think we underestimated just how much was in those closets.”
“Maxilla did almost get seriously hurt,” Mandible reminded her, “but I agree I had hoped it was not the norm. I also agree that the others should tone down the amount of “encounters” the foals are having; it’s making it longer for each closet to be emptied. Maybe we could empty a few ourselves?”
Honey shook her head, “No, the foals are determined to clean up their own mess, which should be applauded. I do have an idea, though: lessen the encounters and instead of dropping loot have the “defeated” bad guys offer to help the knights with their quest. We “watchers” stay just watching and the supplies get moved quicker.”
Mandible nodded. “I shall spread the word. I will admit to agreeing with Spike and Ember; the CMC should be here to help clean up. Most of this is their mess after all.”
“Oh, I’m sure the others will think of sufficient payback,” Honey told him with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “Let them be in ignorant bliss for now.”
-----------------------------
Apple Bloom would rather be anyplace else right then, doing anything else. Heck, she’d take a full chores list from Granny over sitting here around the campfire listen to Midnight weave a tale so scary she was sure she was going to have nightmares for weeks. The kirin had splashed some dirt onto the fire, reducing the flame and darkening the area to the point her black body was hard to see and only her eyes stood out, lit by what was left. Her tale was one of a group of teens entering a long abandoned structure to explore and even make fun of the evil that was supposed to be inside. One by one they had been picked off by the unseen entity they had roused and angered, until only one young mare was left, being chased down by the entity that was mimicking her friends’ voices as it went after her. She had just jumped through what she thought was the front doors to the place, only to find it sealed off into a dead end.
“Stay with us, Flora…” Midnight said in the darkness, distorting her voice into something that was both wet and creaky, “Be one with us… forever and ever…”
Apple Bloom took a quick look at the others. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked just as scared as she felt. Applejack and Rarity looked like they were trying, and failing, to hold it together while the look of indignation and superiority Rainbow had started off with was visibly cracking.
“‘No! Please!’ Flora begged as the bulging mass of what had once been her friends filled the doorway, blocking her only means of escape. ‘I… I just want to go home, please!’ ‘Forever and ever, Flora…’ the black mass said, now in all the voices it has consumed, ‘forever… and ever…’” Midnight closed her eyes, the mare now completely gone in the darkness. They all thought they heard the snap of leathery wings. “NOOOOO!!!”
*SPLAT*
There would be a running bet for the rest of the trip among the guards if the screams had been heard all the way back in Ponyville.
Midnight had landed right behind them, small bags of ketchup held in her hooves that exploded as she landed on them. The CMC were screaming their little lungs out, Rarity joining them, AJ was half screaming, half cussing at the hybrid, and Rainbow looked like her soul had just left her.
“DANG IT, MIDNIGHT!” AJ roared, “WHAT IN THE TARTARUS-?!” She was interrupted by the CMC when they all stopped screaming at once, then bolted to the bushes on the edge of camp they had marked as the latrine. The adults watched them go for a second, then AJ and Rarity crossed their own hind legs. They quickly followed, Rarity trying to look as dignified as possible while AJ continued to glare death at the kirin.
“So, Dash,” Midnight said as she breathed life back into the campfire, restoring the light to the area, “was that scary enough for you?”
“It… was alright,” the pegasus said, her dismissive attitude back. Midnight could see her legs shaking as she tried not to cross her own back legs, however.
Before the Wonderbolt hopeful could be called out, Windrunner returned with an unhappy-looking Autumn on her back. “You said you would wait!” she accused as Windrunner landed.
“I’m sorry, baby sister,” Midnight apologized, “but you were gone a while and I figured you were having more fun talking about the castle.”
“I still wanted to hear the story,” Autumn complained, “can you tell it again?”
“NO!!!” chorused the bushes.
“Alas, dear little sister, we are outvoted. Tell you what, though: mom sent along your favorite book for me to read to you if you wanted and I also brought the book I read to Squeaks at her bed time. How about I read your favorite book first and then you can pick out a story from the other book?”
Autumn looked form her sister to their tent and back, torn between wanting to hear the ghost story and her favorite all-time story. “Okay,” she finally said, “but can we hear the story again tomorrow night?”
Midnight looked back up to see the five marching out of the bushes, the two older ponies attempting murder through vision alone. Dash was going behind the bushes herself as discreetly as possible. “Maybe now that Dash has heard a proper ghost story, she can tell a better one tomorrow,” Midnight hedged.
----------------------------
Sir Spike groaned as he patted his extended belly. “I can’t eat another bite,” he moaned, putting a grease-covered bit of gem on his tongue and slurping it up.
Sir Squeaks made to admonish her fellow knight for eating too much, but a burp came out instead and she covered her mouth with a blush and quick “excuse me”. Darn that hay-way-an golden cheese pie and the way the pineapple and cheese blended together just so perfectly! “We have fed and watered, fellow knights!” Sir Squeaks finally proclaimed, “We must return to our quest!”
“A moment, Sir Squeaks,” Lady Commander said with a raised hoof. “You have done so much for us, I felt it would be best to reward you not just with a dinner but a show as well.” With a wave of her raised hoof, two more watchers entered the hall with various items.
“But we cannot let our quest go unfulfilled!” Sir Squeaks proclaimed. “It would besmith… besmooth…”
“Besmirch?” Lady Commander offered.
“Besmirch our good names as knights!” Sir Squeaks finished.
“Not to mention what those back at our keeps will do to us,” Sir Pinchy groused, poking at the crumbs on her plate.
“Well, this has been a special quest for you all,” Lady Commander said, “so I took the liberty of contacting your keeps about extending the time to complete your quest. As it is the season when the Academy is closed, they have all permitted an extension. You now have a full day more to gather everything up from around the Range. Be successful, and you will all be handsomely rewarded.”
A cheer went up in the hall. “If that is the case,” Sir Squeaks said when the cheer died down, “we will use this time to plan for tomorrow! The areas we head to tomorrow are the farthest and possibly most dangerous! To our quarters!”
One of the watchers began to juggle.
“After the show the Lady Commander has so nicely provided, of course.”
----------------------------
“Handsomely rewarded?” Mandible said after everything was cleaned up. “I would have though letting them stuff themselves silly on pizza would be reward enough.”
“I have a feeling that they’ll see making their own sundae, even just a single bowl, as just such a thing,” Honeycomb said as she flipped through another page. “Plus, there’s the other thing I’m coming up with.”
“Ah, yes, that game Spike spoke with you about.”
“Yes. Ogres and Oubliettes. Apparently it’s a lot like what our heroic Pillow Knights do, only more structured.”
“And more about rolling dice and writing things down, if I understand the young dragon correctly,” Mandible said, giving his queen a look that would be a raised eyebrow in a pony.
----------------------------
“Ma’am, Princess Luna’s carriage is approaching,” Sergeant Star Claw reported, distracting Midnight from the final touches for the night’s campfire. They had hiked for the most part the second day, stopping every once in a while to observe some wild animal they stumbled across or a particular nice patch of flowers. At lunch AJ and Midnight had shown the fillies how to whittle (AJ with a knife and Midnight with her tail) and later that afternoon AJ and Rarity had shown them how to tie knots. Now they had just about finished setting up camp for the evening, showing the foals how to do certain jobs around camp. Tomorrow they’d reach Rainbow Falls, spend the day there, then make the return trip. The rest of the bearer guard had diligently kept up with them, a few “scouting” ahead to pick the next stop for the night and start camp early.
Midnight felt some worry well up as the blue-purple carriage came in to land, pulled and escorted by several thestral night guards. What in the world would make Princess Luna come out here directly?
Everyone bowed as the princess of the night stepped out. “Well met, all,” Luna said as they rose, “Fear not; there is no emergency,” she continued as Midnight stepped forward, worry just noticeable on her face. “However, there is an issue here I must address.”
“How can we help?” Midnight asked, standing more at attention and readying herself for action. To her surprise, Luna gave her a look that was a mix of tiredness, amusement, and disappointment.
The blue alicorn snorted. “I’m not sure if you are aware, Midnight Storm, but part of my duty as the princess of the night is to help ponies sleep peacefully, which at times means entering their dreams so as to calm nightmares.”
Midnight cocked an eyebrow. “No, I can’t say I knew about that.” She gave a quick look past the princess to the thestrals, who shrugged back. Apparently this wasn’t a widely known thing.
“Well, last night I encountered quite the series of nightmares, all from a particular group of ponies.” Luna’s gaze moved from Midnight to the bearers and their sisters and back again.
Midnight suddenly felt several intense gazes upon her and when slowly turned her head and looked at the bearers herself the death glares aimed directly at her were almost tangible. “Not my fault they can’t handle Trotting King,” she muttered as she looked back at Princess Luna. “And maybe if someone could tell a better ghost story than an old lady losing a horseshoe!” she called back to the unhappy group.
Luna shook her head in exasperation, a small smile playing on her muzzle. “Be that as it may, though your own brand of ghost stories might be on par with Mr. King’s I have to ask, officially, that you tell no more of them, at least with foals around. The nightmares they create are most… extraordinary on a normal nightwithout help.” The smile turned into a frown and she shook her back right leg and flank involuntarily. “Also a literal pain to deal with.”
Midnight wondered how a nightmare could cause actual bodily harm but instead just sighed and nodded, deciding on the path of least resistance. “Understood, your highness.”
Luna nodded. “Thank you, Captain; that will more helpful than you can imagine. Now, I don’t mean to intrude on your campout any longer, but I must simply ask to try one of the S’mores I’ve heard so much about.”
As the blue alicorn made her way to the table they’d set up, something uncomfortable began forming in Midnight’s mind. “Princess!” she called out after the alicorn, quickly following after her, “a quick question, if I may.”
Luna turned back to her. “Yes, captain?”
“You just said that one of your duties is to guard ponies form their nightmares, correct?”
“More stop them before they get out of hoof, but yes,” Luna nodded. The small smile starting to spread on the kirin’s muzzle was not reaching her eyes.
“And your sister was supposed to take over your duties while you were… away, correct?”
Again, Luna nodded. “Yes, she was, however-” she was cut off by Midnight getting just a little too close.
“So, where was she when I was having my nightmares?” The tone was still sweet, but her fangs were extended.
“Uhh…” Luna said, starting to sweat.
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The great hall of the Lady Commander of the Watcher’s from the Shadows echoed with the sounds merriment and metal on metal as the Pillow Knights celebrated the end of their longest and most epic of quests to date. All the supplies from the various stockpiles had been retrieved and all the monsters and bandits they had encountered had been defeated. Oddly enough there were fewer of each on this second day and most had begged to be an extra hoof in carrying supplies instead of simply running away and dropping loot behind them, but no-one had really complained.
When they had returned with their final haul, the Lady Commander had told them that their reward was not yet ready, however she had something else for them until it was. “It is a simulation of sorts,” she had told them and when she had revealed what it was, Sir Spike had become very giddy. “This will help you plan adventures when you are all unable to go on them yourselves for one reason or another. I believe Sir Spike has heard of and even used this before, so I will leave it to him to explain.”
Sir Spike had taken to the simulator with a will, taking upon himself the role of “Dungeon Master” and explaining how to use this new tool until their reward finally arrived. All agreed that, after an adventure such as the one they just had, using the simulator for a while would be a welcome break.
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Honey smiled as the children continued to play with O&O as they ate their ice cream. Spike had come up to her while they were all making their sundaes and thanked her for introducing the others to the game as the only other ponies he’d ever played it with had been his adoptive big brother Shining Armor and, surprisingly, Big Mac. “I mean, I kinda wanted to ask the others when they invited us to be Pillow Knights and all,” he’d said as Honey helped crush some gems for his bowl, “but I guessed they’d be bored just sitting around rolling dice and writing things down. Now I can actually run the bigger games and use the stronger enemies I’ve been holding back on!”
Honey mulled over what she had read herself of the rules as she ate her own treat. While the game was meant for everyone, Honey had presented it to Squeaks as she was the leader and as a direct gift. She’d already come up with her own bard and druid characters to play with alongside Squeaks’ paladin and hoped they could convince Midnight, Sapphire, and Windrunner to play sometimes as well. Honey’s opinion on what they’d choose? Midnight would be a barbarian, Sapphire a cleric or a monk, and Windrunner a ranger or rogue.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Sapphire entered the office, saying hi to the children and coming up to the desk. “I just wanted to see how things were going,” she said, “I take it everything’s done?”
Honey nodded. “Everything is either in the closet next to here or is gone. No more near-death experiences due to overstuffed closets.” They both chuckled.
“Speaking of near-death experiences, take a look at this,” she pulled out a letter from under her wing and passed it to Honey, who saw it was in Midnight’s distinctive wing-claw-writing (she never used her mouth like pegasi or earth ponies). “She’s going to get into real trouble sooner or later.”
Reading through it, Honey barked out a laugh that made all the foals look at them. Honey waved them back to the game. “Oh, that’s funny,” she said, passing back the letter.
Sapphire shook her head as she took it. “Whenever she talks about those books I swear it’s like she wishes it was Nightmare Night all year ‘round. I get she likes horror novels, but King can just get… messed up some times.” She sighed, “And some would say she’s getting a little too comfortable with the princesses. I mean, I get she’s angry that no-one stepped in to help with her nightmares but snapping at the princess like that…”
“I get the feeling that they actually like having someone treat them like normal ponies, with anger or otherwise” Honey said, quickly glancing at the few other changelings in the room, “I know I certainly find it a relief.”
Sapphire gently shook her head and looked over at the foals. “What are they playing, by the way?”
“Ogres and Oubliettes. Spike loves the game and I figured it would be a nice way to keep up their adventures in case one of them got sick or too hurt to run around with the rest,” she picked up a sheet of paper, “or if an adult wanted to join in who didn’t want to run around with pillows strapped to themselves. By the way, do you think you’re more of a cleric or a monk?”
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They landed hard in the branches of a high tree, exhausted from the long flight during the night. The lightening of the eastern sky had been a welcome sight as it meant the four of them could finally rest their wings. The two thestrals laid on a branch together while the two other creatures, looking like a cross between a pony and an owl, roosted on separate ones. “Not that I’m not glad that we’ve made it so far south so soon,” the male pony-owl said with an exhausted huff, “but can we go a bit slower tonight, or take a few more breaks?”
The male thestral looked up and gave him a smug grin. “I thought owl harpies were strong? Ow!”
His companion had hit him in the ribs. “Back off, Shade! You know Orestes isn’t like the rest of his rookery.”
Shade rubbed his side. “I know, I know, Marina, but can you blame me after what happened?”
“I can if you take it out on friends,” she scolded. Her anger was fleeting and she sighed and rested her head and Shade’s whither. “And Snow Bank is the one who has a solution; try to remember that.” They both looked over at the other owl harpy of the group, white as driving snow with eyes as blue as the sky. Her mouth was also becoming as dark as mud with the chocolate she was already tearing in to.
“How much farther do you think it is? To Equestria?” Orestes asked her.
Snow Bank licked her lips and flapped her wings as she finished her candy and settled on her branch better. “It’ll be a few more days still, I think; we still got a ways to go before the great southern swamp and that will be another night of straight flying.” She dug into the bag at her hip and pulled out a candy cane which she promptly stuck in her mouth. “After that I’m not sure how big Equestria is.”
Shade sighed. “So, we’re just going south without any idea of exactly where we’re supposed to be going?”
Snow blinked at him owlishly then dug into her bag again, this time pulling out a scroll. “Patriarch Firestorm does. He said to start…” she consulted the scroll, “someplace called Manehattan and go from there.”
“And do we have any idea where Manehattan is?” Orestes asked as she put the scroll away.
“Nope!” Snow said cheerfully, “But I’m sure we’ll find it eventually.”
The other three groaned.
“And why is this Midnight Storm so important to the Patriarch again?” Marina asked. “I mean, with her name I guess she’s part of the clan but you said she wasn’t a wyvern.”
“No,” Snow said, her eyes shifting from playful to determined as she turned her head back towards the south, “not exactly.”
“Do you think Shoal will be back soon?” Windrunner asked as she, Midnight, Private Ghostly Fire, Private Milk Run, and Lieutenant Steel Ore made their way through the Everfree Forest from the Castle of the Two Sisters (current unofficial title: Fort Brown Alert) back to town. Midnight and Windrunner were returning to Ponyville after observing the ongoing training going on there, the privates were on their way to relieve some of their comrades on shift in town, and Steel Ore was heading back to the current barracks for more supplies. Midnight wanted training to be hard so that her guard was ready for the next evil-in-a-can that decided to pop up and required the elements to put down. After what they all went through up in the Crystal Empire, no-one argued with the regiment. Midnight throwing herself into the training as well, thus leading by example, helped with motivation enough that even the usual suspects were barely complaining. Even Ore was more impressed than annoyed at all the, mostly small, injuries the guards were accumulating, her only complaint being that her medical station still wasn’t moved into the old castle.
“The princesses say there was a lot left behind when Celestia moved the capital to Canterlot,” Midnight had explained to the exasperated medic, “and that it’s going to take time to just set up a sorting system in Canterlot Castle to deal with the influx, let alone organizing a recovery group and actually getting everything out of it before we have full run of the place.” Midnight shared Ore’s frustration at how slow their new HQ was being set up, right now only useful as a training area, but the princesses had also informed her there were very dangerous traps set up in certain, forbidden areas and she didn’t want any of her guards setting them off unnecessarily. Better to just tell everyone they were restricted by the princesses and not to go there under pain of severe punishment. Makers knew who would hear the word “traps” and decide to be an amateur Daring Do. Making sure that particular word didn’t reach a certain rainbow-maned pegasus was half the reason alone.
“As long s she’s back by the time the princesses arrive, she can take all the time she wants. Not like we can really use her in training anyway when she can just sit on the castle to win,” Midnight said with an eye roll. The two privates chuckled. Shoal was off picking up a large seafood order from Long Line, at Midnight’s and the princesses’ request, for an upcoming meeting with delegates from Saddle Arabia. Since they didn’t have access to seafood considering their country was a desert, Celestia and Luna had thought it would be a good idea to impress the delegates they were bringing back with them with such rare treats. It was felt that with Shoal flying high into the cold sky, the large amount of fish would stay fresh longer, so she’d been asked. She agreed, saying she’d leave early and take her time getting there so that she could see more of Equestria. “You think Doppler and Cricket will be okay back there?” Midnight asked, turning to Ore.
“Those two? I don’t know if it’s because they’re such great mimics or because they’re naturally gifted but they’re taking to the job like ducks to water. At this point I’d be comfortable letting them handle some of the more serious stuff on their own; a few cuts, scrapes, and bruises should be pieces of cake for them.” She looked particularly proud of her assistants.
That was good to hear. It always made Honey feel good to know one of her changelings was doing well in a new job and would be one less thing for her to worry about. Midnight was always glad to hear it as well, each time reinforcing her own personal belief that, for all its flaws, Ponyville was indeed the little slice of heaven she’d come to know it as.
She was just thinking of making that evening a little more romantic with Sapphire when Private Tart Cart came flying down the path toward them like a roc was on her tail. “Captain, First Lieutenant!” she huffed as she came to a halt mid-air in from of them, “something is going down in town! Someone is attacking some of the bearers! Corporal Scarlet Claw and Sergeant Brick Break are already on the scene with some others and they said to come back and get you!”
“First Lieutenant, head back and get the rest! Double time it! Lieutenant, get your supplies and meet us in town ASAP! Privates, you’re with me!” Midnight barked her orders quickly and was on the wing with the others in seconds. “What’s the nature of the attacker?” she asked over the leathery snap of her quickly beating wings.
“Unicorn mare. Was flinging spells left and right until some of the bearers stepped forward, they seemed to know her. Almost immediately she began attacking them, though she seemed more intent on humiliating them than actually hurting them,” Tart reported.
Midnight flicked through a mental list of who she knew the bearers as a whole could have bothered enough to warrant this and was coming up blank. Luna was an alicorn, Discord and Screwball were chaos creatures, Sombra was dead, and Chrysalis was a changeling queen. Yes, Chrysalis could be in disguise but why draw attention to herself like this when Midnight was sure she’d rather pick off the bearers, and probably Honeycomb and herself, one by one and from the shadows? The only other non-threats to Equestria she knew of with bad blood with the lot of them were that griffon, Gilda, and the Flim-Flam Brothers, neither of which were both a unicorn and female. “Anyone pick up a name?”
“She was shouting a long title and rolling her Rs a lot, but I didn’t hear any name clearly,” Tart explained. “She’s pale blue with a frosted blue mane, if that helps.”
It didn’t. Regardless, they needed to get to town ASAP and the buildings were just coming into view through the trees.
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“This shade of brown should only be used for accents!” Rarity shrieked as Midnight and the others made it to the gathering in town square. She and the three privates had picked up some other guards on the way there who confirmed that the word was spreading to everyone, on duty or not, to get their flanks to the scene and be ready to fight.
They came in over and through the crowd, who parted to let them pass when they saw who it was. “What’s going on here?” Midnight called out as she landed, then saw AJ and Pinkie with Rarity as they retreated towards the edge of the crowd.
“Oh, Midnight! Thank goodness you’re here! Look what that BEAST put me in!” She stepped away from the other two and posed for Midnight to see. The kirin just stared at the dress with a raised eyebrow. While her mother might be someone in the fashion industry, the eye for it had not been passed down to her eldest. “I demand you lock her up and throw away the key!”
Midnight looked towards where Rarity was pointing and saw a powder blue unicorn with something red and black around her neck facing off with Scarlet and Brick Break who looked ready to strike but didn’t move. “And what else has she done?” Midnight finally asked just as Twilight, Spike, Dash, and Fluttershy made it onto the scene, followed by several more guards and the town’s tiny, three-pony police force.
“Well, she jus’ showed up in the square and did somethin’ to the cupcakes Pinkie was carryin’ and they started attackin’ her, then when I told her to cut it out she bound me up in mah lasso and spun me like a top!” AJ said. Now that Midnight looked there were indeed some frosting smudges all over Pinkie and AJ looked a little green.
“Alright, we’ll handle it,” Midnight told them, walking around them towards Brick Break and Scarlet and tried not to look annoyed. Tart Cart had seemed worried but from what she’d been told it sounded like some dumb prankster. Then again, the two guards already on scene had to be ready to attack because of something. “Report,” she said as she came up to them.
“There’s something weird about her, captain,” Brick said, not relaxing from his combat stance. “When she first attacked Miss Pie the corporal and I jumped at her but she just pushed us away with her magic like we were nothing. Don’t know any normal magic user that can do something like that.”
“It’s the necklace or amulet or whatever she’s wearing,” Scarlet provided, “whenever she uses magic both it and her eyes light up along with her horn.” She shook her head. “She won’t let us get close enough to grab it and after we try she attacks another bearer. Her name’s Trixie, by the way, with an obnoxious title she keeps repeating.”
Midnight nodded, wondering what was going to happen this time, then addressed the mare. “I am Midnight Storm, Captain of the Bearer Guard, and it is my duty to inform you that by assaulting the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony without provocation, you are committing a serious crime. Cease using magic immediately and surrender yourself or you will be stopped by force.”
The mare, Trixie, ignored her and looked at something over her shoulder. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Twilight Sparkle.”
“You call all that “great and powerful”? That’s the same lame tricks you did last time!” Rainbow called out.
Trixie powered up her horn and Midnight indeed saw the eyes and amulet light up but she stood her ground, getting into a combat stance with a growl, shifting the unicorn’s attention from the pegasus to her. Powered up or not, this Trixie’s magic would do diddly to her and after confirming for herself that the mare was indeed not coming quietly, she’d fly over, pin her to the ground, yank off the amulet and have the others cart her off to the police station where she’d be dealt with. As expected, she felt the magic envelop her and in another second she’d shrug it off and enjoy the look of confusion on Trixie’s face before she took her down.
What she didn’t expect was for the magic to get a firm grip on her, pick her up, and throw her into Scarlet, the two of them bowling into more guards who’d just arrived. This was quickly followed by Rainbow wobbling by overhead, one wing significantly larger than the other. Picking herself and then Scarlet up, she grunted as she watched Trixie turn her magic on Snips and Snails next. “Okay, not good.”
“Midnight, only an alicorn-!” Scarlet said.
“Or a changeling queen can do that to me, I know,” Midnight finished for her, not liking the implications. “That amulet needs to come off yesterday. Pass the word: three-sixty staggered attack. Someone has to get through and rip it off her. I also want all the unicorns we have to hit her with as many stunning spells as they can.”
Scarlet nodded and turned to began informing the others of the plan.
Midnight moved towards Twilight, who Trixie was approaching. “Me and you, a magic duel. Winner stays while the loser has to leave Ponyville forever!” Trixie said, her eyes glowing read again.
“Forget it! I’d never make a deal like that!” Twilight shot back.
“And even if she did, I wouldn’t allow it to happen anyway,” Midnight said, coming up and standing next to Twilight. “Once again, stop resisting and come quietly. You’re outnumbered and no matter how powerful you think you are, there’s more of us than you can possibly hope to handle.” All around them the members of the guard closed in, both in the air and on the ground. Each was a different distance away, that way even if she used an area of effect attack, not everyone would get caught in it and some would make in to her before she could cast another one. All of their unicorns had their horns glowing and ready. Midnight raised an eyebrow at her. “Your call.”
Trixie acted like she was thinking about it. “Hmm, how about… NO!” Her horn glowed and Spike was quickly compressed into a ball that started bouncing all on his own.
The guard sprung forward, all aiming to dog pile the mare to stop her as stunning spells flew. Trixie used her magic to knock the closest of them back and deflect the first volley of spells but the others bore in, slamming into her from all sides, only to bounce off of her like she was rubber. As she charged in herself, Midnight saw that Trixie had a layer of red magic all over her that the others were just bouncing off as they tried to tackle her that was also deflecting the stunning spells, making others duck and dodge out of the way. A clear shot opened up and both Midnight and Spine, who’d come in at a different angle, shot jets of fire at her hooves, hoping the heat would at least make her focus on the flames enough that she’d drop her shield to deal with it.
No dice. She simply let off another AOE spell that pushed back the flames as well as another charge. “Enough!” Trixie yelled, “You all need a TIME OUT!” Another blast and this time all the guards were locked into several lines of magical stockades, with Midnight and Spine having muzzles strapped to their faces and the unicorns having magical suppressants stuck on their horns. “My business is with Twilight Sparkle and NO-ONE is going to interfere!”
“Why are you doing this!?” Twilight yelled, shocked Trixie was letting things get this far.
“Because you humiliated me! After what you did with that Ursa Minor I became a laughing stock, practically run out of every town I visited after that! I had to take a job on a rock farm just to get by!”
“You’re lucky a rock farm would take in the likes of you!” Pinkie shouted from where she was trying to free one of the guards alongside the officers who’d stayed back to let the guard handle the overpowered unicorn. “Especially if they knew how you’d start acting! And another thing, I-!” she was cut off when her mouth was magically zipped up and a lock snapped onto the zipper.
“I want revenge, Twilight Sparkle, and I’ll keep casting spells on everyone in Ponyville until you agree to duel me!”
Twilight looked around at her friends and the guard. All except Fluttershy had been targets of whatever “revenge” Trixie had in mind, though from the sound of it Twilight was her real target. Alarmingly, the Bearer Guard was completely incapable of stopping her, her magic even blowing Midnight over like she was nothing. How had Trixie gotten so much more powerful?
“Well?” Trixie pressed.
“Fine, let’s duel,” Twilight begrudgingly agreed, giving everyone an apologetic glance. Several more guards had arrived but they were either putting themselves in front of the other bearers or trying to free their fellow guards.
“Excellent! Remember: winner stays, loser is banished forever!”
“Fine!”
The crowd backed up a little as the two mares took up positions. Midnight watched from her place in the magic stockades, fuming. Every other time the guard had gone into action, they’d been able to do something, be it holding off Discord’s s’mores army, beating back changelings, or holding large, animated crystal statues back from overrunning and entire empire. Now, somehow they weren’t able to do anything against a unicorn on an ego trip! Granted, she’d somehow gotten an amulet that let her gain the power of an alicorn and it made Midnight wonder how a fight with Nightmare Moon would have gone down, but for them to stand against such previous foes only to be swatted aside as easily as annoying gnats by someone so seemingly innocuous leaving their only hope in Twilight rankled something fierce. The muzzle didn’t help.
She grunted as Blackberry bucked at a spot of the magical stockade between her and Long Spine. “Sorry ma’am, but the weapons aren’t having much of an effect,” the sergeant apologized, motioning to where several others were hacking away with swords and hoof blades to little, if any, affect. If she could, she’d have told them all to stop and to just keep an eye on any possible openings Trixie might give them. Maybe when she and Twilight finally got the duel going she’d let her guard down enough for someone to sweep in and remove the amulet.
“DRAW!” Trixie yelled and shot a magic bolt at Twilight. Midnight struggled in her bonds again but nothing gave way or even budged. From what she could see Spine was even trying to lift the stockade but that, too, was failing as if Trixie had bolted them all to the ground. She huffed as she gave up the struggle and watched the magic fly. Twilight was Celestia’s student after all; even against someone with alicorn magic Twilight should be able to find a way to beat her, right? And it was thanks to her that Nightmare Moon and Discord had been defeated, so…
Trixie took another shot but instead of aiming at Twilight, her red beam struck a nearby Snips and Snails who were both lifted into the air as the red magic enveloped them. When it cleared and they were let back down, Snips was now a baby and Snails an old stallion. Jaws dropped and several gasps could be heard. Midnight had certainly never seen Twilight practice magic like that, though such spells didn’t seem that farfetched to the kirin. Twilight had done that time spell the week Cerberus had come to town, after all.
“An age spell? But only the most powerful unicorns and princesses can do magic like that!” Twilight said in a tone Midnight did not like the implications of.
Trixie merely buffed her amulet with a smug smile. “Are you saying you give up?”
Twilight gave a resolute huff and activated her magic, lifting Snips and Snails into the air again and trying to reverse Trixie’s spell. From the very beginning it was obvious Twilight was struggling and Midnight and the others once again began to try and break their bonds. Twilight’s magic flared as it began to envelop the two, putting all her magical strength into the spell. Then her horn flickered, grew brighter, flickered again, then gave out entirely, dropping Snips and Snails, unchanged, to the ground and leaving Twilight magically spent.
“Trixie IS the most powerful unicorn!” The powder blue mare crowed. “And since you’ve lost, you have to leave Ponyville FOREVER!”
Plans began rushing through Midnight’s head. ‘Okay, so Twilight has to leave; not a big deal as Trixie can’t really enforce it. Even if we can’t figure out a way to take her down ourselves, both Celestia and Luna will be here in a few days and I’d bet gems she can’t take them BOTH on. I can ask about anti-alicorn measures after that, though they might not want to share that kind of stuff. And to Tartarus with the amulet, if she has no horn then she can’t… wait…’ Midnight was suddenly aware that she and every other guard were now floating. Looking around, she also realized that the stockades were gone as well. Twilight was also being levitated with them.
“You fools!” Trixie said with a sneer, “she’s already-HEY!” Somehow, some way, Private Umbra Shroud had sneaked in close to Trixie through the shadows on the ground and now had a grip on the amulet around Trixie’s neck. It wasn’t coming off, however, and Trixie’s horn flared. “And you stupid guards can GET LOST TOO!” She yanked Umbra away then used her magic to hurl all the guards and Twilight away from the square and over the houses and buildings of the town. As they flew, the flyers’ wings still stuck in Trixie’s magical grip, Midnight could see that they were being tossed towards the Everfree on the North-East side of town where there was a plain between the town and the forest.
As soon as they soared over the last house, Trixie’s magic finally released them and the flyers quickly got their wings together and bolted to help their non-flying comrades before they slammed into the trees or the ground. Midnight caught Corporal Lance Breaker while Private Gusty Glow was able to catch Twilight. As everyone safely landed on the ground, there was a flash of magic over the town and what looked like a ginormous fishbowl lowered itself over it. Midnight and several of the others shot forward to try and get back under it but it landed with a *THUD* before they could. Midnight growled as blue flares erupted from her hooves and everyone got clear as she transformed. When she was fully wyvern she first tried to pick the dome up but she could barely get a grip as the bowl had sunk into the ground when it landed. She tried hammering it with her body, claws, and tail, followed up with a sustained blast of fire but she barely left a mark on the glass. Huffing and growling, she changed back into a kirin.
“First Lieutenant!” Midnight called out, looking around for Windrunner. If a wyvern couldn’t do much, maybe a wyvern AND a huge dragon could, seafood be damned. “Windrunner!” she called again when the dusty brown pegasus didn’t show.
“Ma’am!” Sergeant Star Claw said as he came forward, “when Trixie threw us, some of us went wide.” He cringed and said apologetically, “I saw the First Lieutenant and a few others hit some houses.” Everyone flinched sympathetically.
“Now what?” someone asked.
“Now we figure out a way back under that dome,” Midnight told them, “obviously my brute strength alone won’t work and without the First Lieutenant or Rainbow Dash no-one will be able to catch up with Shoal before she’s already on her way back.”
“Can I just point out that even if we get back in there that we still don’t know how to take this Trixie out?” Spread Eagle said.
“Can I point out that you’re not helping?” Wild Mane growled.
“Well, even if we get back in there, what’s stopping her from turning us all into babies or feeble old ponies? How are we supposed to stop her then? Drool on her?” He asked.
“Something’s strange about Trixie,” Twilight said, “even as boastful as she was last time, now it’s like she’s just plain nasty.”
“It was that amulet she had,” Scarlet said, “it lit up whenever her horn did; in the same color, too.”
“Hmm… I think I might have seen it before…” Twilight said, tapping her temple as she tried to remember.
As she thought, Midnight closed her eyes, only to stagger a moment later as if she’d been slapped.
“Captain?” Night Sky asked but Midnight waved her away.
“I was trying to contact Arina but the second I tried it felt like something hit me. The barrier must be magic-proof, too.” She snorted at it, sighed, then turned back to face everyone. “Alright, what we’re going to do now is head back to the castle, regroup and recover, and tonight we’re going to probe the edges of this barrier. If there is a weak spot in it, it’ll be safest to find at night. As for what we’ll do when we get back inside,” she looked over at Twilight, “there’s a good chance Twilight Sparkle has a book in her library that identifies what Trixie has that’s powering her. She finds out how to stop it, we do it, end of crisis. We might even get lucky and those left on the inside will come up with something at the same time. If all else fails, we’ll simply have to wait for Shoal and the princesses to arrive. Let’s move!”
-----------------------------
“Well your highness, all I can ask is that you don’t put me out of a job,” Lieutenant Steel Ore said as she did a finale once over of her patients. First Lieutenant Windrunner, Sergeant Brick Break, and Privates Strawberry, Smooth Stone, Autumn Pillar, Tart Cart, and Umbra Shroud had all been brought in after having been thrown into buildings instead of out of town like the rest. While nothing was life threatening, some would take a while to heal. Honeycomb had been just starting lunch with Sapphire and Squeaks when the remaining bearers and some of the changelings who worked in town had come running by carrying the wounded, one changeling stopping in to tell them what happened. When Honey saw how bad her housemate and the other guards were hurt, she immediately went about casting healing spells on them. From what her changelings had breathlessly told her, they couldn’t afford to have anyone down for the count.
“I only want to help,” Honey told the medic, “and I hope the others are okay.”
“Doppler and Cricket never made it back, so I assume they’re still out there with the others,” Ore said, “if any of them are hurt, those two will do a good job patching them up.”
“The real question is what do we do now?” Sergeant Brick Break said as he finished testing a previously hurt leg. “We can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
“But what can we do, sergeant?” Sapphire asked, absently stroking a worried Squeaks with a wing. After hearing about what had gone down, Arina had tried to connect with Midnight, only to jerk back like she’d been hit by something hard. It had made both ponies even more concerned and the young thestral had kept the spider on her head. “Trixie has the power of an alicorn; how exactly do you expect to fight that?”
“Well, to be fair, Queen Chrysalis took on Princess Celestia and won, so…” he said, glancing over at Honey.
Several changelings, all of whom had been able to fit into the mostly empty barracks, bristled. “Queen Honeycomb is not your backup plan, nor do you have any right to ask!” Mandible said hotly.
“And yet this town is our home and the ponies have been more than welcoming, not to mention that yourself, Verpine, Trill, and Buzz all owe the Bearer Guard service,” Honey retorted. “As the sergeant said, we cannot just stand by and do nothing.”
“Beatin’ her is only half the battle, Honey,” Applejack said, “even if ya do, we don’t know how ta remove that amulet she’s usin’.”
“Maybe beating her is how it comes off, like it recognizes someone’s stronger than the pony using it now and will want a new owner.” Rainbow suggested.
“That’s too risky; if she takes Honey out then we really don’t have a backup plan,” Windrunner said. “The best thing we can do is lay low until the captain comes up with something." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Aren’t the princesses supposed to be arriving in a few days?”
Sapphire nodded. “With delegates from Saddle Arabia, though. If they have to fight, it might cause an international incident if they get hurt.”
“We could always blame Trixie and let them punish her,” Private Smooth Stone suggested, but a look from her superiors wiped the grin off her face.
“If we can’t do anything to directly stop that fashion monster, then why don’t we try and find out what exactly that amulet is?” Rarity suggested. “Surely Twilight has a book on such things?”
“There isn’t exactly a “Dummies Guide to Evil Amulets”,” Spike said, “we’d have to check every book in the library until we found it and that will take a while.”
“So? It’s not like Trixie is summoning us or anything,” Dash said.
“ATTENTION PONYVILLE!” Trixie’s voiced boomed from outside, “THE GREAT AND ALL POWERFUL TRRRRRRIXE DEMANDS THAT APPLEJACK, RAINBOW DASH, RARITY, PINKIE PIE, AND FLUTTERSHY ALL REPORT TO THE TOWN HALL IMMEDIATELY! FAIL TO SHOW UP IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES AND ONE OF YOUR HOMES WILL BE USED AS A NEW PIG FARM! THAT IS ALL!”
“Eh heh,” Rainbow mumbled as they all gave her a look.
“What in tarnation does she want now?” AJ grumbled.
The members of the bearer guard looked torn. “We can’t just let them go,” Tart Cart said.
“And what are we supposed to do?” Strawberry asked.
As everyone looked around, unsure what to do, flashes of green light came from the crowd of changelings and there were now doubles of the summoned bearers in the room. “Wait!” Honey said, realizing what they were doing.
“As you said, your highness, this town has done a lot for us,” the changeling who had turned into Applejack said, “and we can’t just sit back and watch.”
“We promise to be as careful as can be,” the Fluttershy double said.
“Besides, we have no idea what we’re looking for in those books, so how useful would we be doing that?” the Pinkie with the unzipped mouth added.
“HMMM HM HMMMM!” Original Pinkie mumbled, her mouth still zipped up. Honey reached out with her magic, fumbled with the lock on the zipper, then popped it open and unzipped her mouth. “THANK YOU!” Pinkie cried, immediately stuffing her mouth with a cupcake.
The Pinkie double made sense; only the remaining bearers, Spike, and the remaining guards knew what Trixie’s amulet looked like. At least until the others got a look at it. Honey bit her lip, not liking the idea of putting her changelings in who knew what kind of danger but she finally nodded and turned to Mandible. “You and Buzz go with them. If Trixie does anything too harsh…”
“Understood, my queen,” he said with a bow.
“The rest of you, that barrier is keeping the town’s best magic user and the rest of the guard from returning. Get in disguise and see if it has any weak points. Report back immediately if you discover anything. Above all, be safe,” Honey stressed.
All the remaining changelings bowed and flashed green, entering their pony disguises.
“Alright,” Windrunner said, “the sooner we start searching, the sooner we find out what we’re dealing with.”
Spike let out a defeated sigh. “Reshelving is going to be a nightmare.”
-----------------------------
“Anything yet?” Midnight asked a while later as their march through the Everfree continued. She and Twilight had fallen into step together as the group walked along one of the paths she and her guard had carved through the forest. There weren’t many and they more or less formed a box shape that one could connect from Midnight’s home to the castle to Zecora’s and then back to town with a few deviations here and there for reasons. Currently they were on a path that cut through the center of the square to get straight back to the castle instead of the long way past Zecora’s hut.
“No, sorry,” the unicorn apologized, “it’s like it’s right there on the tip of my tongue but I just can’t get it.”
Midnight hummed in understanding.
“I hope everyone back in town will be alright. I know you’re probably really worried about Sapphire and Squeaky,” Twilight said.
To her surprise Midnight made a so-so motion. “I am and I’m not. Trixie seemed to just be after you bearers, you most of all, and with you gone I think that my girls will at least be safe as long as they don’t cross her and I know they’ll both keep their heads down. Plus with Honey and her changelings still in town, I think they’ll be safe,” she snorted, “but yeah, I’m not thrilled leaving them there.”
“You did get a bit violent as a wyvern back there.”
Midnight snorted again, then tilted her head just enough to look up at the sky.
“What are-” Twilight started, turning her own head to look up.
“Don’t look,” Midnight snapped and Twilight quickly looked forward again. “It’s probably nothing but that blue bird has been following us ever since we came into the forest and I don’t like it.”
“Have you fought with birds like that before?” Twilight asked. Despite living next to the Everfree and visiting a friend IN the forest, she’d never taken the time to properly study the flora and fauna of the area. She made a mental note to see about changing that.
“No and it looks less like it’s stalking us and more like it’s just observing us. Never seen a bird do that before, though. I doubt it’s Trixie’s as it’s blue, not red, but…” the kirin trailed off, then motioned for Scarlet to come over. When she told the hippogriff what was going on, her fellow hybrid took a discrete look of her own.
“It’s definitely following us, which isn’t normal,” she agreed, “what’s more, it’s a phoenix.”
“But it’s blue,” Midnight pointed out.
Scarlet shrugged. “Animals can be different colors, like albinos, for one example. I saw a green phoenix once.”
“So why would it be following us?” Midnight asked.
“That I have no idea. It’s not stalking us, more just like following us, like if one of us were its owner.”
Midnight’s ear twitched. As a rule, you always felt like something was watching you in the Everfree, usually because something was watching you more often than not, so while not ignoring the feeling outright, she’d chalked it up to the normal feeling of the forest. Now, however…
“Want me to slip off and check?” Scarlet asked, coming to the same conclusion.
“We both will, me on the left and you on the right. When we pass under some canopy, we move. Stay on the side of the path and let everyone pass, then count to sixty. If nothing shows up, then fine. If not, everyone is less than a minute away. Pass the word.”
As Scarlet melded back into the group, Twilight asked, “won’t that be dangerous? What if it’s a manticore or another owlursus?”
“Scarlet and I will be on opposite sides of the path in the trees but still very close to each other. If one of us get’s jumped the other will be right there. Everyone is going at a walking pace now so if we get in trouble you all will be less than a minute away if you run. Worse comes to worse, I can still go wyvern.” Midnight told her.
“Just be careful; we still have Trixie to deal with.”
In a few minutes the whole group knew the plan and Midnight and Scarlet were in position. As soon as they passed under some branches and were out of sight, they both ducked off the path and, as silently as possible, shot up into some tree branches and hid as best as possible. The group soon passed and both hybrids went into hunting mode.
By the count of thirty Midnight was beginning to think she had just been paranoid and that the phoenix was just weird when something moved in the undergrowth near her. As she focused on the spot she could see leaves and grass rustling but not much else. She could make out that there was something, but not its size or intent. She caught Scarlet’s eye and pointedly looked down below her where the thing was passing under her tree. The hippogriff made a slight nod of understanding and tensed. Midnight also tensed as she prepared to spring. Closer now, she could see that it was smaller than her but close to the size of a normal pony. It had plants covering it so it was difficult to tell what exactly the thing was.
Well, only one way to find out.
She stepped off the branch as if she was about to fall on a deer and several things happened immediately. The blue phoenix came rocketing into the trees, squawking and aiming right for her. Scarlet launched from her own perch across the path right towards them, making her own screech to startle it away from Midnight, and whatever was below realized it had walked into an ambush and tried to jump out from under Midnight. The blue phoenix was indeed startled out of its attack and Scarlet was even able to grab it as she passed while Midnight angled herself at the last moment. She wouldn’t fall directly onto of whatever it was, but she’d still be close enough to grab it when she landed. In fact she landed on part of whatever was covering it, tripping the thing as it tried to bolt away and allowing her to get a good, firm grip on it with her jaws before she tossed it onto the path where it took a hard landing, the noise of the bird and hippogriff drawing the rest of the guard back quickly. She pounced on her target, again biting the covering, which she realized it was a cloak covered in well-made camouflage, and pulled back in an attempt to rip it off and expose the stalker. Whatever she’d gotten a hold of under the cloak felt like a pipe or thick stick and gave her a good grip.
“Okay, okay, I’ll take it off! Please don’t rip it!” came a voice from inside. A rather young, male sounding voice.
Midnight only growled and held firm as the stranger attempted to untangle itself. After a few more struggles he popped out of his disguise and backed up, looking around at the guards now surrounding him and the ebony kirin with his cloak still in her fangs. “It looked like something important was going on back at the town and I just wanted to wait until everything calmed down and we could talk!” he explained.
Silence answered him. All the guards’ eyes had gone wide at seeing him and now most were looking between him and Midnight, whose own eyes had gone wide at seeing what he was. She even dropped the cloak which made a sound like wood when it hit the ground. The blue phoenix cawed and came down, landing on his head, while Scarlet landed next to Midnight, blowing onto her claws. “Little puff ball tried to burn me! Gonna need to see Ore about- holy heck! He’s a kirin!”
He was. His build was much like that of Ember’s if not the same colors, with the main body much like that of a pony’s, or maybe a zebra’s as he sported black stripes, with his front legs ending in claws, draconic wings, and a draconic tail. He even had spikes running along his back and tail, which ended in a tuff. His coat was grey and his mane and tuff were black while his wings changed from grey at the roots to black at the tips. Like Ember his fangs stuck out and his ears looks more like fins, both of which were pierced with studs and his right eye was blue while his left was orange. He was also young, about early teens if Midnight had to guess, and he had a necklace around his neck. A rather familiar looking necklace with half a rose at that.
Both sides remained silent, not sure what to say to the other, until Lieutenant Hazelnut cleared his throat. “Ma’am, I hate to remind you, but there IS a situation going on back in town. Perhaps, um…?” He motioned towards the young kirin.
“Oh!” he said after a moment, “my name’s Norik. This is my pet phoenix Lhikan.” Lhikan cawed.
“Norik and Lhikan can come with us so you both can talk later?”
Midnight blinked. “Ah, um, yes, lieutenant, that’s probably for the best right now.” She turned back to Norik. “Sorry about your cloak, I, um, don’t think I damaged it.” She offered it back to him with a wing claw and he took it back with a nod and put it on, leaving the hood down this time. “Right, everyone. Show’s over so let’s get back to business; we’ve got a long rest of the day and a long night to follow.” This was answered by noises of accent and the group began making its way back down the path again.
As they marched, Spine came up beside Midnight. “A grey kirin with a necklace? Sounds an awful lot like a certain kirin we’ve been asked to keep an eye out for,” he said quietly.
“Yeah, but the stripes are throwing me off. Eden didn’t say anything about stripes. And as improbable as it is, he could have just come across that necklace,” Midnight whispered back. Norik was watching her as they walked.
Spine grunted and looked up and back. “Norik, right?”
“Uh, yes!” he answered, looking up at the dragon.
“That’s a nice starting horde you got there. Where’d you find it?”
“You mean my necklace? I’ve had it all my life. My master said it was with me when he found me.” He fiddled with the jewelry as he talked.
Spine gave Midnight a knowing smile and the kirin snorted back at him, then turned to look back at Norik, too. “Sounds interesting. Why don’t you come over here and tells us about where you’ve been all your life. It’ll make the walk go faster.”
“O-Okay!” and he hurried up to walk beside her.
‘Today’s gonna be a weird one,’ Midnight thought as she and Norik began to talk.
“The town looks almost as empty as when Zecora first showed up after we got here,” Spike said, closing the curtains of one of the library’s windows and turning back to everyone gathered inside. Stacks and stacks of book littered the floor and tables as they were skimmed through and rejected. Even books that seemed to contain no information on magic were being picked through in case there was some mention of the amulet the author found necessary to add for some reason.
“A lot of ponies saw what Trixie can do and the whole town probably knows by now,” Windrunner said as she flipped through another book.
“And any who didn’t will have to have noticed the dome by now and figured something isn’t right,” Smooth Stone added, picking another book off a shelf.
“And are trying not to be noticed so Trixie won’t target them next,” Honey said with an uncharacteristic growl in her voice, levitating three books in front of her, all three open with pages turning. When word had come back that Trixie was physically abusing the “bearers” (making them do non-stop manual labor and throwing them into things or threatening their families if they refused), it had been a group effort to keep her from charging town hall, horn blazing. She’d been mollified some by Mandible assuring her he’d set up a sort of rotation system so that none got hurt too badly and that Ore would start taking care of any injuries immediately, but it had taken Squeaks curling up next to her while Sapphire joined the search for a weak spot in the barrier to keep her in the library.
The filly wasn’t too scared of the events unfolding, she’d been through enough by now that she was almost used to something like this. In fact curling up to Honey was mostly to convince the young changeling queen to stay. That didn't mean she wasn't worried, however. With her mother “missing” outside the dome and Sapphire jumping in to help as well, she felt a bit lost and left in the shuffle. As she also didn’t know what to look for in the books and couldn’t skim as fast as the adults, keeping Honey put in the library was something she felt she could do to help. She also had Arina with her still and even if she couldn’t get in contact with Midnight, having the spider close was good enough. “What do you think mom is doing right now?” she asked.
“Thinking about how to get back in, I would think,” Honey said, “immediately followed by how to deal with Trixie.” Despite the hardness in her voice, one of her insect-like wings slid out from under its protective shell and gently patted the young thestral’s back. It wasn’t as soft as Sapphire’s feathers or a smooth rub like Midnight’s leathery wing, but it was a nice feeling all the same. The changeling looked a little better after doing it, too.
“This really doesn’t seem to be getting us anywhere!” Rarity blurted out as she tossed another book onto the rejected pile and picked up the last book on the shelf she was working on. “True, Twilight has the largest book collection in Ponyville, but not every book in Equestria! We’ve been at this for hours and have gone through nearly the entire library; what if she really doesn’t have anything on Trixie’s amulet?”
“Ah hears ya, Rarity, but we can’t stop looking now," AJ said, going through another book. "‘Sides, if she doesn’t, how’re we supposed to get out of here to check places like Canterlot or Manehattan?” She cast a quick glance at Honey as if the changeling had an answer to that particular question. Unlike Midnight and Arina, Honey didn't have any sort of mind-link with her changelings and would know when they came back and they'd learn about it at the same time she would.
“Twilight has a copy of every magic book there is. Every. Book. She has to have it here somewhere,” Spike said, glancing up at the stairs to the upper floors. “Well, except the ones from the forbidden section of Canterlot Royal Library,” he added. “I’m gonna go check if she left any upstairs in the bedroom from one of her late night reading sessions.”
“Well, hopefully it’s not in one of those forbidden books but considering what kind of magical item it is…” Brick Break muttered.
High up on one of the top-most shelves, Fluttershy picked up another book, this one on history, and began flipping through it like she’d done with quite a few before.
“Maybe we should wait for the princesses to arrive, special guests or not,” Tart Cart suggested. “Sure she beat Twilight but she can’t beat actual alicorns, and especially not two.”
“Um, everyone? I think I might have found something?” Fluttershy said quietly, hefting the book she was reading.
“I won’t hear that kind of talk, private,” Brick Break said, “our job is to protect the bearers, which includes keeping the town they live in safe, so get back to looking.”
“This sounds a lot like Trixie’s magic,” Fluttershy continued, hovering lower and turning the book so the others could see... if any were looking in her direction. A certain thestral filly's ears did flick in her direction.
“How are we supposed to fight against alicorn-level magic, even if we do find anything?” Autumn Pillar protested as he finished another book.
“There’s a picture here of her amulet…”
“Don’t you start either, private, or I’ll have you peeling potatoes ‘til the whole town’s sick of ‘um!”
“It’s called the Alicorn Amulet…”
“You’re not helping, sergeant.” Windrunner said.
“It’s says anyone who wears it…”
“Ma’am, talk like this can lead to mutiny!”
"Ain't no pony sayin' we give up, Break!" AJ yelled, tired of the arguing. She was getting mighty tired of flipping through books as well. "And the last thing we want is folks gettin' hurt on our account! I'd rather wait for the princesses mah'self before letting Trixie-!"
Arina suddenly jumped onto the closest table and began chirping loudly and angrily at them, flailing her front legs like she was possessed. Surprised at the interruption, everyone looked at the spider who, once she saw all eye were on her, pointed at Honey and Squeaks, who had been joined by Fluttershy. Honey looked up from the book the shy pegasus was still holding and gave them all a relieved smile. “I think all that looking has finally paid off,” she said, motioning for Fluttershy to show them as well.
As always, the butter-yellow mare looked nervous, but still turned around and showed them what she’d found. “I-It’s called the Alicorn Amulet and it grants its wearer with the magical power of an alicorn. However, it also corrupts the user and not just anyone can take it off. Only the wearer can remove it due to its magical lock. It was apparently lost a long time ago, but…” she finally trailed off.
“Well, we finally know what it is at least,” Rainbow said.
“With no better idea how to beat it,” Umbra lamented.
“We need to get this to Twi ASAP. She’ll be able to come up with something,” AJ said.
“Except we still don’t know how to get through the barrier,” Rarity pointed out.
Honey’s smile fell and she looked at the front door. As if on cue, a knock came from it and Trill, keeping station at the door in her pony disguise, peaked out. She quickly moved out of the way and Sapphire and two changelings swiftly slipped inside. “We found a way under the dome!” One of the changelings announced and all the tension in the room seemed to deflate at once.
“Thank the makers, what’d ya find?” AJ asked.
“The river. The edge of the dome goes under the water but doesn’t go all the way to the bottom,” Sapphire explained, “as long as Trixie doesn’t see us, we can go in and out that way.”
“So what are waiting for? Let’s get out of here and go get Twilight and the others!” Rainbow said.
“But we still don’t have a plan,” Windrunner pointed out, “and if Trixie sees any of the guard she threw out back in town, she’ll know something’s up. We should have a plan before everyone comes back inside. At least now one or at most a few of us can leave and get in contact with the captain so we can coordinate.”
“So which of us should go?” Spike asked.
“Midnight will probably have regrouped everyone back at the castle,” Sapphire said, “it’s the only place nearby that’s out of site of the dome and still safe to regroup.”
“Then let me go; I’ll be back before you can say sonic rainboom!” Rainbow said.
“Except that’s out in the Everfree Forest,” Brick Break pointed out, “and like it or not, the guard can’t let you fly over it by yourself.”
“Then I’ll go with her,” Windrunner said, “the faster we can communicate, the better.”
“Then you should take Arina with you,” Squeaks said, presenting the spider to the pegasus, “once you’re outside the dome, I’ll bet mom can connect with her again and that’s even faster.”
“Not that much faster,” Rainbow muttered as Windrunner took Arina with a nod.
Honey nodded and turned to the two changelings who’d come back with Sapphire. “Go with them and stay with Arina just on the other side of the dome. If and when Midnight sends a message, one of you bring it back here. Stay disguised as animals so you don’t draw attention. I’ll talk with Mandible to set up a rotation and let everyone else know.” Both changelings bowed and so did Trill when Honey looked pointedly at her.
“Alright, let’s go already!” Rainbow urged, waiting by the front door.
“Please be careful!” Fluttershy called after them as they slipped out.
-----------------------------
“You know they took another picture at the wedding, right? Of all of us in uniform?” Scarlet told Midnight as they took a break from training. The kirin merely grunted as she took a sip from her canteen. “I don’t get why you dislike it, anyway. I mean, without it your mom wouldn’t have found you, I wouldn’t have found you-”
“You were coming to Ponyville, how could you have missed me?” Midnight asked.
“-Eden wouldn’t have found you, and now Norik wouldn’t have found you. I don’t know about you, but I think it helping find another kirin is worth some others finding you, too.”
Midnight sighed, growled, and drank from the canteen again. “Old habit most likely. Always reminded to stay out of sight for my own safety and then suddenly my face is everywhere for folks to see. It also feels like my life was quieter before it; some days I wish I could go back to being a simple wood cutter and mom.”
“Come on,” Scarlet said, waving an arm to indicate the entire site with everyone training as well as Twilight, Norik, and his pet phoenix off to the side, “you can’t tell me this isn’t cool. Besides, would a normal wood cutter and mom be able to stand up against Discord? Or fight a changeling queen? Or lead a group like ours?”
“Are you done making points?”
“Only if you’re done pouting.”
“Just get back in there.”
The hippogriff playfully stuck her tongue out at the kirin before getting back into the fray. While the guard’s unicorns couldn’t do all the spells Trixie had been doing, they could still do magic and in the interest of using the daylight they still had before nightfall, Midnight had everyone training to get past the unicorns’ defenses. If they couldn’t brute force their way through Trixie's magic, they needed to learn how work and dodge around it. At the very least it would keep them from easily being swatted away and remain a collective thorn bush in her side for longer. Heck, maybe a battle of endurance would be what took her out… if she couldn’t put them all in stockades again.
Turning, she made her way towards where Norik and Twilight were sitting and talking. More specifically, she was angling to what remained of the dead deer laying on the opposite side of Norik where Twilight couldn't see for a quick bite before going back in herself. When they’d made it back to the castle, the kirin had still been frustrated by the situation they were in, despite the talk she and Norik had on the way and she’d went and did a quick hunt to get rid of the last of it while Doppler and Cricket tended to the few bumps and scrapes the group had. They’d panicked when Windrunner had showed up, told everyone a fight was on, and bolted back to town with every guard hot on her heels, and they’d started to try and pack EVERYTHING. By the time they’d gotten onto the path back to town, the guard had been kicked out and they’d come across each other on the path. The changelings were apologetic about their tardiness but Midnight has told them that this time it was alright as it was better they had medics on both sides of the barrier.
Midnight had come back from her quick hunt with a rather large deer that she’d shared with the other meat eaters before setting up the last bit of training they’d have that day. Fresh food in her belly had soothed the last of her nerves and she’d jumped in to it as well. While normal unicorn magic wouldn’t do anything to her, she wanted to try her hoof at flat out dodging spells aimed her way. She was getting better.
“Really!? There’s a zebra living near here!?” Midnight overhead Norik exclaim as she got close.
Twilight was nodding. “Yes, her name’s Zecora and we’ve known her for almost two years now. I’d say she knows more about the Everfree Forest than anyone else.”
“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Midnight said, reaching the carcass and tearing some of the remaining meat off, then used a bit of fire to sear it before chewing and swallowing the morsel. Not as good as it would be seasoned and properly cooked, but it hit the spot. “She’s been living in here longer than I have.”
Twilight’s face turned slightly green as she watched Midnight eat while Norik looked thoughtful. “I wonder if she’d be willing to keep teaching me from where my master left off.”
“Won’t hurt to ask,” Midnight said, laying down next to him to observe her guard.
Norik’s “master” was the zebra who’d found him shortly after he was abandoned by Eden’s parent’s servant. And yes, Midnight was now sure he was Eden’s son. As it turned out his stripes were painted on (really well done), and it was his way of trying to look more like his guardian (Midnight wasn’t too fond of calling him his “master”, though Norik didn’t have a problem with it) according to Norik. Without them, and with the necklace, there was no way he wasn’t. The fun wasn’t going to end this time with just Trixie going down, Midnight realized.
The stripes weren’t the only things he’d gotten from being raised by a zebra. The studs in his webbed ears, for example, were from training under his guardian, as well as the stick he had in his cloak, the very same one Midnight had bitten into. His guardian had used it to help him train in self defense, though Norik himself admitted he had a ways to go in that department. His cutie mark could also be a testament to his tutelage as it was a potion bottle with a heart behind it, which Norik said it meant he was good with healing potions. Midnight couldn’t help but think how Twist’s mother would take it and had let out an amused snort at the memory.
As to why he was out looking for Midnight in the first place, that was a happy accident during an otherwise miserable time for the young kirin. His guardian has passed a little less than a year ago of old age and peacefully, thank the makers, but to lose the only parental figure he’d ever known had been a severe blow, as it would be to anyone his age. He’d wandered the scrub land around were he’d been raised with his phoenix Lhikan, which he’d adopted almost a year before, before finally venturing into a small pony town just to see other living, sapient creatures. He’d walked past a news stand and had seen the front page article and picture of Discord’s defeat, seeing Midnight in the picture just like his mother, Scarlet, and Midnight’s mother all had. He decided right then to try and find her, thinking that if he couldn’t find another zebra then at least he’d meet someone of his own kind.
Growing up away from society, however, had its disadvantages and he didn’t know how ponies would react to him just asking a question, so he decided to try and figure out where he needed to go on his own. He finally learned that Ponyville was to the north, just south of Canterlot and had headed in that direction, which wasn’t wrong strictly speaking, but instead of heading north-east straight towards Ponyville, he went directly north and first ended up in Los Pegasus, then Tall Tale, and then Van Hoover before realizing he’d gone too far north and turned east, hoping to run into Canterlot and then just go south from there. Poor colt ended up at Neighagra Falls and had to come south from there, squeezing between Canterlot Mountain and the Foal Mountain Range before finally coming in sight of Ponyville, only to have a great big dome drop down and cut off the town from the outside world. By luck he’d happened to stumble across Midnight and her guards as they entered the forest. They all knew the rest.
“There is one more thing,” Norik had said when he’d finished his tale of travel, “I love my master and wouldn’t have traded him for the world… but, if it’s possible, I’d like to learn about my birth parents some day. I want to know why they abandoned me.”
“I will do everything I can to help,” Midnight had promised. Had he'd shown up almost any other day, she would have sent Windrunner to Canterlot with the news as soon as she found out. Obviously, these were less than ideal circumstances nor was Windrunner available. She’d rather finish dealing with Trixie before Eden got involved or have Norik bombard her with a million questions while she had to think of a plan.
“That deer was very good,” Norik said as Midnight got comfortable, “I’ve never had it before.”
Lhikan cawed in agreement and did a quick, flying hop onto Midnight’s head. “Hey, he likes you!”
Midnight looked up at the bird. “I’m going to tell you what I told that other phoenix on the dragon migration: so long as you don’t drop anything wet and nasty on me, we won’t have any problems.” Lhikan looked down at the kirin he was perched on, cooed, and stood back up straight. Midnight snorted and decided to ignore the bird.
“So, what did you hunt when you were with your teacher?” Twilight asked, not thrilled with the subject but unable to reign in her curiosity. Midnight wasn’t the only one who didn’t like using the word “master”, apparently.
“I didn’t hunt,” he said, “not like this, anyway. We didn’t have anything bigger than rabbits where Master lived and he didn’t allow me to take anything I couldn’t finish in one meal.”
“So what did you catch?” Midnight asked.
Norik shrugged. “Bugs, mostly. Crickets, grasshoppers, grubs, cicadas… what?” Both mares were looking at him like they were going to be sick. “You… never ate bugs?” He asked Midnight.
“No,” she said, trying not to sounded disgusted when she realizied he was serious. “I grew up in Manehattan and there were always rats, pigeons, and stray animals to take if I wanted.”
“Oh,” he said, looking down at his claws.
A quiet moment passed.
“Uh, what about gems? You ever get to have any of those?” Midnight asked, trying to fix the awkward situation.
Thankfully, Norik’s ears perked up. “Yes! There was a cave near Master’s home that had gems in the walls. I’d go and dig one out whenever I wanted one. Funny story; Master found out I like them when he couldn’t figure out what I wanted when I was still a baby. When he put me down for a minute to see what else he had in his stores, I made my way over to a nice gem he’d found once and when he turned around, I was already half done with it.”
Midnight chuckled. “If it wasn’t for my dad, I’m pretty sure mom would have found out when I tried to eat one of her earrings. What’s your favorite kind?”
Norik thought for a second. “Diamonds, I think.”
“Sapphires for me. One specific Sapphire, as a matter of fact,” Midnight said, wistfully.
“Really?” Twilight asked, an eyebrow raised.
“I don’t-” Norik started but was interrupted when Private Primrose shouted out “Incoming from town!”
The entire guard went on alert and the fliers took to the air, Lhikan hopping off Midnight as she went airborne and flying back to Norik. Any worry soon flooded out of them when they recognized the rainbow and dust-brown trails streaking towards them.
“Rainbow!”
“Windrunner!”
“Figured you all were out here,” Rainbow said as the two of them came to a hover.
“Were you kicked out as well?” Midnight asked.
“No ma’am,” Windrunner said with a salute, “the changelings found a way under the dome using the river; we can come and go as we please as long as we’re not caught.”
“That’s a relief,” Midnight said, then gave her a pointed look.
“Sapphire and Squeaks are both fine, as is Arina and Honey,” Windrunner assured her. “Speaking of Arina, she’s with a couple of changelings outside the dome, so you should be able to connect with her anytime now.”
Midnight nodded her thanks, then landed and shut her eyes. When she opened them they were glowing and she made a few calming noises before closing them again and her eyes returned to normal.
“And not only did we escape, we also know what we’re dealing with now,” Rainbow said, producing a book from her wet saddle bags. Someone must have placed a spell on the book before they went into the water because it was dry unlike the bags.
Passing the book to Twilight, the unicorn opened it to a bookmarked page and gasped. “The Alicorn Amulet! I knew I’d seen it someplace before!”
“So, guessing from the name, I take it grants the wearer with the powers of an alicorn?” Midnight asked and there were unhappy mutterings among the guards.
“That, and only the wearer can remove it,” Twilight said.
“And she has no reason at all to remove it,” Midnight said, feeling her mood becoming more dour by the second.
“Worse, it corrupts the user the longer it’s worn, makes them more paranoid. It’s not that she won’t have a reason not to, she won’t be thinking rationally enough for us to try!”
“Oh, happy days,” Spread Eagle mumbled. Wild Mane smacked him up upside the head.
“So, we can’t force it off and we can’t reason it off, so even tiring her out won’t work,” Midnight said with a heavy sigh. “We’re gonna have to wait until the princesses arrive.”
“Are you kidding!? Who knows what Trixie will do before they get here!” Rainbow shouted.
“And what do you want us to do, Dash!?” Midnight snapped back. “How exactly are we suppose to take on someone who’s basically an alicorn!?”
“You stood up to Discord, Chrysalis, and Sombra! How’s this different!?” She shot back.
“We never took them on directly! And I lost against Chrysalis!”
“Did you try-!?” Norik said loudly, trying to be heard over the yelling. When everyone immediately stopped and looked at the young kirin, he flinched back.
“Wait, you guys found another kirin?” Rainbow asked.
“Focus Dash,” Midnight said, then nodded at Norik to continue.
“Well,” he started again, “it sounds like the only thing you’ve done is try and overwhelm her, both by force and by magic. Have you tried tricking her?”
“That’s gonna be a bit of a problem since she’s apparently getting crazier by the hour,” Midnight said.
Norik rubbed his chin. “Well, you said there’s a zebra living here in the Everfree; she might have an idea about how to trick her. Master said that the best way out of a problem was to think it out.”
Midnight and Twilight shared a look. “Couldn’t hurt to ask at this point,” Midnight said with a sigh and a shrug.
“She’s surprised me before,” Twilight agreed.
“Then over the trees and through the poison joke to Zecora’s house we go,” Midnight quipped.
-----------------------------
“No wonder you’re dower, it’s an abuse of power!” Zecora said once they told her their plight. Midnight, Twilight, Norik, Rainbow, and Windrunner had all come to Zecora’s home to talk with her. With night fast approaching, Midnight had them and only them ride on her back while she was in wyvern form to both get there and return to the castle without any risk of a wild animal attack. The rest of the guard remained at the castle to make final preparations to hike back to town in the dark. They nearly scared Zecora half to death when they landed right next to her home.
“And we have no idea what else we can do,” Midnight told her, “I want to wait for the princesses but if she’s going mental fast, we might be waiting too long. We’ve tried everything we know but we just can’t take on someone with alicorn-level abilities.”
The zebra looked at them all in turn, her eyes finally falling and holding on Norik, who took a step back at her intense gaze. Maybe she didn’t like that he’d painted stripes on himself? He'd only known his master so while he might not have minded, perhaps other zebras did. Then she smiled.
“Young kirin raised by my kind, tell us what is on your mind,” she asked gently.
“Me? Mine?” He said, looking around at the now expectant faces. He gulped. “L-Like I said before, you haven’t tried tricking her into taking it off. I know she’s getting harder to predict but that doesn’t mean she can’t be. We can start with what she wants. If we can fool her into thinking we have it, she might give up the amulet in exchange.”
“She’s already beaten Twilight,” Midnight said.
“And she’s lording her new power over Ponyville,” Windrunner said, then quickly explained what the crazed magician had been doing since the guard and Twilight had been gone.
“Well, I definitely don’t want to hear anyone say the changelings aren’t pulling their weight,” Midnight noted when Windrunner was done. “So she’s beaten Twilight and rules Ponyville. What else could she possibly want?”
“Power is forever greedy, she’ll be becoming more and more needy,” Zecora said.
“What, like she’ll want more power?” Rainbow asked. “What’ll she want next, the throne?”
“Or something more powerful than the Alicorn Amulet,” Norik suggested thoughtfully.
“What’s more powerful than an amulet that basically lets you be an alicorn?” Midnight asked, suddenly imagining Trixie with the power of a draconequus and suppressing a shiver. Having Discord and Screwball in her shed, practically looking over her shoulder while she prepared her catches, hadn't endeared her to the chaotic creatures like she suspected Celestia wanted.
Norik shrugged. “Anything. Trixie doesn’t know what you have, so you can grab any old thing and say it’s more powerful.”
Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it as a thoughtful expression crossed her face.
“That’s all well and good but she’s not gonna want to trade based off our word alone. We can’t exactly use a trinket to do a successful age spell or whatever else she comes up with to prove that it’s real,” Midnight told him.
“No,” Twilight said slowly, “but who says we can’t fake it?”
Midnight gave her a raised eyebrow. “How?” she asked simply.
“Yeah, Twilight, how?” Rainbow agreed.
Twilight quickly explained the plan taking shape in her head. “And we can all thank Norik here for giving me the idea.”
“Me?” he asked sheepishly.
“Brute force won’t work, so trick her, right?” she asked with a wink.
“To borrow and butcher an Applejack-ism, butter my tail and call me a lobster,” Midnight said, impressed, “that just might work. However, that’s only if she sticks to using those kind of spells.”
Twilight smirked, “Once “I” get going, there’s no way she’ll think of any other.”
Midnight shrugged. “If that’s settled then, I’ll let Arina know so everyone can be ready tomorrow morning.”
As the kirin’s eyes glowed, Zecora smiled at Norik. “The gift of fresh eyes, can always lead us back to clear skies.”
-----------------------------
Trixie’s dream of fluffy blueberry waffles was shattered when the loud, harsh blasts of several horns playing reveille jolted her awake so badly she fell out of the grand bed that had been made for her and set up in town hall. “Usurper in town hall, get your flank out here and face the consequences of your actions!” an angry female voice shouted from outside. If she didn't know any better, that voice sounded familiar.
Grumbling furiously at how she’d been woken up, Trixie pulled herself to her hooves and used her magic to blow the front doors open. “WHO DARES WAKE UP THE GEATEST AND ALL POWERFUL TRIXIE!?” she screamed, not even bothering to roll her Rs. “YOU!” she snarled when she saw the entire bearer guard lined up outside, Midnight in front in uniform with the evil buglers right behind her. “I threw the lot of you out of town yesterday! How did you get back in!?”
The irritatingly smug grin on the kirin’s muzzle grew. “I would say that’s for me to know and you to find out, but here comes the how now.”
Trixie nearly choked as Twilight Sparkle came out of the crowd of guards. Other ponies were coming outside as well, the loud bugle calls and shouting having woken them up. When they saw who it was, however, many quickly woke up fully and began to spread the word. “Twilight Sparkle! How did you and your guards get back into Ponyville!?”
“First of all Trixie, I want everyone to know that you cheated in that duel!” Twilight called out.
“Cheated!? Me!? I would never!” Trixie gasped with obvious fake innocence.
“Yes, you did, using the Alicorn Amulet!” The crowd of growing ponies began muttering to themselves as Twilight went on. “But this time around we have an even playing field. See, while I was exiled, my friend Zecora showed me a more powerful amulet than yours, one from far beyond Equestria’s borders!” Thrusting her chest forward, everyone could see an amulet around Twilight’s neck with a light green stone in the middle. “It let me get back through your barrier without you knowing and now I’m demanding a rematch!”
Trixie sneered. “Even if I believe you, why should I agree? I already beat you once.”
Twilight smiled. “Sounds to me like you’re afraid to face me again. Isn’t the fact that I’m standing here proof enough I’m telling the truth?”
Trixie eyed Twilight and heard the crowd muttering again, then saw the kirin’s grin become even more obnoxious. “FINE!” she finally shouted, “Another duel! Same wages as last time and we’re picking up where we left off!”
“Fine by me,” Twilight said with a shrug.
Trixie ground her teeth and her horn flared. Shooting out of the crowd came Snips and Snails, who Trixie quickly transformed into a baby and old stallion once again. “Beat that!”
Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated, her horn and amulet glowing a sickly green. She shot a beam of magic at the two who briefly disappeared behind a puff of magic smoke. It quickly cleared and Snips and Snails stood there, back to their original ages. The crowd and guards cheered while Trixie looked on, bewildered at how Twilight could have reversed her spell.
“My turn,” Twilight said, “and I think I’ll use more than just two ponies.” Turning her head back the way she came, her horn lit up again and the rest of the Mane Six came floating out, caught in the sickly green magic, and were placed down nearby. “Let’s see…” Twilight said, squinting an eye in concentration, then shooting another beam of magic. A puff of magic later and AJ and Rarity were young fillies while Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were old mares. Another blast of magic and they’d all traded ages. Another blast, another age change. Five more times Twilight changed her friends’ ages, all without breaking a sweat. “Don’t go away thinking I’m done yet; I’ve got another idea!” Another blast of magic and there was now two of each of her friends, who she promptly played with by changing their ages again. Not once did she seem to struggle or even break a sweat.
“How… how are you-!?” Trixie gasped, not able to comprehend how Twilight was doing all this without becoming completely drained.
“You know, I could really go for some music. How about it Pinkie?” A blast of magic and there was a third Pinkie now, playing ten instruments at a time and bouncing around without a care in the world. “You know what? I’ve got one more idea.” Twilight’s horn flared again and this time it was Midnight who was dragged into the duel.
“Uh, Twilight, what are you doing?” the kirin asked, worry clear in her voice.
“A kirin is much harder to work with than just five ponies, so let’s see how strong this amulet is.” Twilight said with a smirk.
“Now hold on a minute, Twilight! We never agreed-!” But Twilight just ignored the kirin and blasted her. Clearing smoke reveled an angry kirin foal. “Turn me back this instant!” She squeaked. Daws came from the crowd and even a few camera flashes went off. Another blast and now Midnight looked like a kirin version of Granny Smith. Another blast and she was back to normal. “When my head stops spinning, I’m gonna…” Another blast of magic, and now Midnight’s colors were inverted, with a white coat and orange mane and eyes. Then she had a blue coat and black mane. Then she was polka dot, then plaid, then finally back to normal.
Again, through all this, Twilight never looked like she was under any stress to perform her spells. It was like she had enough magical reserves to go on for ages! Or, at least her amulet had enough. “You know, I think I’ve got one more idea I want to try. How about I change a mare into a stallion half her age and with a different color?” Before Midnight could protest she disappeared in another sickly green smoke cloud and what came out… was a young, male kirin with grey fur and black hair. A final shot and the captain of the bearer guard was herself again.
“I… hate… you…” she said as she took dizzy steps back to where she’d originally been.
“Well Trixie, think you can beat- hey!” As Twilight had begin to gloat her amulet became surrounded in red magic and was yanked off her neck, flying towards Trixie.
“With this amulet I could rule not only Ponyville but all of Equestria! The Great and Powerful Trixie will be forever known as Queen Trixie!” She pulled on the Alicorn Amulet, breaking the lock and quickly putting the new amulet on. “Gaze upon your new ruler!” she shouted to the assembled crowd.
Out of said crowd a rainbow streak shot out and snatched the Alicorn Amulet out of her hoof. “GOT IT!” Rainbow yelled, waving the amulet over her head for all to see.
“Hey!” Trixie shouted.
“GET HER!” Midnight roared, but it wasn’t the Midnight that was standing in formation. A whole new Midnight had just appeared from around the back of the town hall, along with doubles of most of her guard. Only a few that were in the original formation broke and charged with the rest.
“Fools! I have this new, far stronger amulet to take care of you with!” Trixie shouted, aiming a magic beam at the onrushing guards. What came out of her horn, though, was not the sickly green magic Twilight had been using but her own original pink magic that just rolled off the oncoming kirin like oil over water. “What!?” Trixie squealed, turning to try and bolt but the wave of angry guards slammed into her like an avalanche and before she knew it her legs were bound and a magic suppressant ring was jammed onto her horn. A few had been stored at the small police station but no-one had been able to use them while Trixie still had the amulet.
“Wanna hear some fun facts?” Midnight said once the other guards stepped back to show the mare had been properly restrained. “Fun Fact number one: that amulet you stole from Twilight? Fake.” She stepped on it, crushing it to pebbles. “Fun Fact number two,” she continued, spinning Trixie to see the original line of guards and Twilight, who all became engulfed in sickly green flames and were revealed to be changelings when the flames dispersed. Even the bearers and their doubles became changelings, with Twilight becoming a taller changeling with a honey-colored mane and tail. Only the Pinkie playing the instruments stayed a pony. “You were fighting changelings the entire time. All smoke and mirrors to get you to take the Alicorn Amulet off and you fell for it hook, line, and sinker.”
“But, what about Snips and Snails and the pony with the ten instruments?” Trixie asked.
“The normal-age Snips and Snails were also changelings,” the real Twilight said, stepping forward out of the crowd. “The real Snips and Snails will have to be changed back to normal by the princesses when they arrive.”
“The princesses are coming here!?” Trixie choked out.
“Yep,” Midnight said, “as well as a dragon bigger than me in my wyvern form. Maybe you’ll get to meet her as well.”
The powder blue mare looked like she was about to wet herself.
“As for the ten instruments, that’s just Pinkie being Pinkie,” Twilight elaborated.
“Alright everyone, show’s finally over,” Midnight called out to everyone present, “I want four of the guard to escort Little Miss Throne Usurper to the brig in the barracks where she can wait for the princesses to decide what to do with her. Everyone else, let’s get town hall cleaned up before our special guests arrive.”
-----------------------------
“It would seem that saying thou hast had an exciting week would be an understatement,” Luna said as she, Midnight, and Celestia drank tea and coffee together. Twilight was entertaining the delegates from Saddle Arabia by floating some of Fluttershy’s animals through the air while they dined on the seafood Shoal had brought back. Midnight had a couple of lobster tails with butter waiting for her at home that she planned to enjoy once the debriefing was done.
“Eeyep,” Midnight said after a swig of her coffee.
“And a new kirin found as well!” Celestia said happily, “Lady Eden will be overjoyed to finally meet her son! I assume you haven’t told her yet, since she’s not here right now, but have you told Norik?”
Midnight’s ears flattened a little. “No, I’ve been waiting for the whole debacle with Trixie to finally be over with. I don’t want or need Eden barreling in here while I’m still concerned with that particular problem. Speaking of which,” she pulled a box out of her saddle bags and pushed it towards the two princesses, “I believe you’re the best ponies to entrust this to.”
Levitating the box and opening it, both alicorns’ eyes went wide when they saw what was inside. “By the makers,” Luna sighed, “after all this time!”
“Yes, and I’m glad it’s finally back in our possession,” Celestia said, closing the box and teleporting it away, to the vaults in Canterlot Castle, Midnight guessed. “That artifact dates back all the way to the days Discord ruled Equestria.”
“Something else he cooked up?” Midnight asked, her fangs poking out and making a mental note to throw a few animal guts onto his stony face.
“Actually… that was our doing,” Celestia confessed. “It was a part of a plan we, General Steel Spark, and your aunt Storm Vine came up with. We thought we could overwhelm Discord if we just had more ponies with abilities on par with alicorns, so the idea was proposed to create powerful magic items normal ponies could wear and together face off against Discord.”
“There were to be three items made for each,” Luna continued, “the amulet to increase one’s unicorn power, enchanted shoes to enhance one’s earth pony abilities, and a helm to make one a master of flight. They would be duplicated as many times as we felt would be needed.”
Midnight felt a hole start in her stomach. “So… the others…?” she prompted.
“Only the one amulet was created, carefully grown and tended to by your aunt and her team,” Celestia said, assuaging the kirin’s fears. “It looked like it had promise but the pony testing the amulet became corrupt and tried to take on Discord by himself. With such a spectacular failure, it was decided to scrap the project.”
“Thine aunt and General Steel Spark almost came to blows over the matter,” Luna added with a snort. “Perhaps twould been better for all in the end to let her maul him.”
“The point,” Celestia said, “is that we got it back after his fall but it quickly disappeared again in the aftermath. With it back in our possession, we can see to its destruction or permanent sealing.”
“And what about Trixie?” Midnight asked. “The amulet may have made her power-hungry, but she still put it on in the first place.”
Celestia nodded gravely. “She put the amulet on with the intent to cause harm. That cannot be overlooked. Her actions afterwards are subject to some debate as per the nature of the amulet but there will still be consequences.” The alabaster alicorn smiled, “that said, if she fully cooperates with helping us back-track the amulet as far back as possible, I believe that can count as some time spent.”
“You are still too lenient, sister,” Luna huffed, “but learning where it has been all this time will be interesting, if not help right any wrongs it might have caused down the ages.”
“I do have something else to ask,” Midnight said, seeing the conversation begin to wander in a new direction. “We were effectively fighting an alicorn this time around,” she said when both alicorns turned their attention back on her, “and we were woefully unprepared for it. With every other threat we’ve faced we’ve been able to do something while this time we might as well have sat on the sidelines and ate popcorn. Is there… is there anything we can do or be given so that next time we can actually do our job?”
The sisters looked at each other again and then back at the kirin with sympathy. “Other than the amulet, we don’t know of any kind of magic or items that can help with that,” Celestia said apologetically.
“At least not in the way thou are wanting,” Luna emphasized. “There are traps that one can make to combat such powerful magic-users, but they must be placed ahead of time and anyone can trigger them. They can be deadly if someone with weak magic activates them.”
Midnight sighed. “I figured that was the case, not to mention that would be something of a national secret if you did know anything.”
Celestia tapped a hoof on her chin. “Wasn’t there a book from Starswirl’s library about powerful enchantments?”
“He had several arcane books filled with who knows what,” Luna said, “it is possible he had a spell or two that would be of use here. Do we still have them?”
“More than likely still back in our old castle,” Celestia said, then gave the kirin a smile. “We can see what we can do to speed up the recovery effort of our old home. If all goes well, we can at least do something to help with your armor.”
Midnight shrugged. “As long as something is done before the next crisis, I’ll be happy. That, or next time Shoal will be around to sit on them.”
-----------------------------
“Nervous?” Midnight asked as Norik stood straighter. They were standing on Ponyville’s train platform and the train from Canterlot had just come into view.
“A little,” the younger kirin said. “I mean, are you sure…?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Without the stripes you’re exactly as she described and with that necklace of yours there’s no doubt.” She pointed to the half rose hanging around his neck.
She’d sat down with Norik the day after the princesses left with the delegates and Trixie and told him everything she knew about Eden and what she’d told her about her kirin son being taken away. He’d hung on every word and when she was done had stayed in thoughtful silence for a while. When he finally spoke again he’d asked Midnight opinion about his mother.
“Eccentric and prone to a few of the more aggravating tendencies of the nobles but she has a good heart,” she’d told him. “I think she really wants to meet and know you as your mom, not for social points.” Her eyes had tabled. “That said, just prepare yourself; the second she gets my letter she’ll be here so fast it’ll make Dash envious.”
Once Midnight had sent the letter she’d busied herself with getting Norik ready for his mother’s arrival, getting him cleaned up from his long trip, getting him properly fed, and convincing him to hold off reapplying his stripes so it would be easier for his mother to recognize him. She also began preparing herself mentally for Eden’s reaction. She’d made a promise right before the royal wedding to help host another hybrid gathering and with her son now found, Midnight was sure Eden would want to get it underway as soon as possible.
She’d also seen to it that Lhikan was presentable, visiting Fluttershy with Norik to give him a brief checkup and clean up. “He’s not going to bite, is he?” Midnight asked Norik as Fluttershy cleaned his feathers, remembering how they first met.
“He shouldn’t,” Norik said, “he’s tamer than any other animal I’ve met.”
“What about if she rushes at you once she gets off the train?” Midnight asked, picturing the scene and needing more reassurance.
Norik blinked, then his eyes grew wide with understanding. “I think I better talk with him before she gets here,” he said.
“Good idea,” the older kirin agreed.
Midnight had sent the letter first thing in the morning via express mail so it would get to Canterlot that day. In late afternoon a pegasus courier had arrived at her house with a return letter from Eden, saying that she was going to be on the first train into Ponyville the very next morning. With the meeting set, Midnight had gotten them all to bed early so they’d have time for some breakfast before Eden arrived.
Despite Midnight’s assurances, Norik still felt his omelet move uncomfortably in his stomach. Everything seemed to be happening so fast.
The train squealed to a stop in the station and the train doors opened. A few ponies exited and entered the train, then a trio of mares exited with the one on the middle matching the description Midnight had given him; a light green unicorn with a rose-colored mane in a somewhat fancy but not too out of place dress. The three of them looked around, then one of the mares taped the unicorn’s whither and pointed towards them.
As they approached, Midnight noticed that Eden was obviously holding herself back from bolting right over to them. It had to have taken all her willpower to wait until this morning to arrive instead of the very last train the night before or even take her private carriage all the way down the mountain. It impressed the ebony kirin. It also looked like she barely had any makeup on and what had been applied had been to cover up a pony that had barely slept at all the previous night. “Eden, Sun, Dancer,” Midnight said with a nod as the three came over, “it’s good to see you again.”
“As it is to see you, Captain Storm,” Eden said, her searching eyes never leaving Norik. Her voice had a note of tiredness to it that confirmed her lack of sleep.
“My Lady,” Sun whispered, trying to help keep her mistress’s appearance up.
“May I introduce,” Midnight started, knowing and sympathizing that Eden didn’t give a damn about her appearance or manners right then, gesturing to the smaller kirin next to her with a wing, “the kirin known as Norik. Norik, this is Lady Eden Rose.”
“H-Hello, Miss Rose,” he said.
“Hello, Norik,” Eden said back, her eyes still searching his features.
When that was all they said, Midnight spoke up again. “I think you have something that will put any last doubts to bed?” She gestured with a wing again at his chest.
He started and fumbled to bring the half pendant up for them all to see. Eden’s gaze peeled itself away from him to look at the pendant, then with her magic slowly lifted up her own half pendant up to his. They touched and easily fit together, both halves making a full rose. Tears began streaming down her face as a smile grew. “H-He’s my son…” she choked out, “h-he’s my baby!” With that she lurched forward and threw her forelegs around him, startling them all and nearly throwing Norik off balance. Lhikan squawked indignantly and flew over to Midnight as Eden began bawling into Norik’s shoulder. Not sure what to do, he looked over at Midnight who simply gestured back at him. Focusing back on the crying Eden, he gently patted her with a claw.
“It’s good to meet you, too… mom.” As he said it, feelings began to well up inside his chest. Memories of how he’d seen other foals interact with their parents and how he and his master never quite had the same bond, the loss of his master and feeling more alone than he ever had before, the hope the picture of Midnight had given him, the shock to find out someone had been searching for him his entire life. All of it welled up inside of him and as he began to hold her tighter he could feel tears running down his own cheeks. “It’s good to finally meet you, too.”
The office felt oppressive to Umbra Shroud as the two ebony creatures looked her over. Silently the unicorn cursed herself for taking the path through the market that led her into the group of changelings shopping. Then again, she’d never seen the changelings shopping the market for breakfast.
“So,” Captain Storm said, the tone of her voice making it clear she was not happy about what she had heard, “are you going to explain yourself or just keep sitting there like someone pulled out your tongue?”
“Captain, I don’t think getting angry is going to help matters,” Queen Honeycomb said. While the captain was obviously angry, the queen simply observed her. “I was there when you told the recruits that they had signed up for the bearer guard and would be serving in it whether they liked changelings or not. I’m surprised it took this long for something to happen and this is probably the tamest issue we could have asked for.”
Midnight grunted and some heat left her eyes but she still looked down at Umbra disapprovingly. “I had hoped that after getting to know them, having actually fought alongside them, attitudes would have changed.” The kirin’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe I should put together a new PT routine as a punishment for those who can only see someone for their species.”
Honey was about to say something against the suggestion when Umbra finally spoke up herself. “I don’t hate the changelings. I just… I just don’t feel that I should be around them.”
Midnight’s wings began to spread in anger but Honey spoke first. “It’s because you feel guilty about something, correct?” she asked. When Umbra nodded the queen shot the captain a look and the kirin let out a long blast of air out of her nose while giving her a confused look in return.
The changeling’s horn glowed sickly green for a second and the captain looked like she realized something. When she turned back to Umbra her expression had further deflated into one of simple annoyance. “To avoid any further confusions and miscommunications, can you please explain to us why you feel that way, private?”
Umbra fidgeted and refused to look at either of them. The air in the office became more oppressive and the gazes bore deeper into her. She knew she had to explain herself but the memory of that day… “The day of the invasion, I was doing some last minute shopping as I was already planning to apply to become a guard,” she finally blurted out. “When the changelings broke through the barrier, I only hesitated a second before jumping in to fight them. They went down easier that I thought they would, so I just kept plowing through them.” Here Midnight and Honey shared another look. “It wasn’t until one started to try and crawl away from me with fear in its eyes did I stop and look at the ones I had taken out already. I hadn’t gone at them that hard, or so I thought, I’d just hit them a few times to try and let others get away, but they were all down around me like I’d beaten them senseless. I… I even thought I might have…” she trailed off but neither changeling nor kirin pressed her.
When she trusted her voice again she continued. “Since there were no other ponies around that were being attacked, I tried to see if there was any kind of first aid I could do to try and make up for going overboard. That’s when the magical pink wall came through the city. I saw it hit other changelings and either send them flying or hard into walls and I tried to get the ones I was helping into cover but where I was there weren’t that many shadows and it came on so quickly… I… I was still trying to help when the guards came around and sent me away and they brought the changelings I was helping to the castle as prisoners. I hurt them badly and then I failed to protect them.”
Honeycomb let out a long sigh. “For what it’s worth, Private Shroud, the invasion of Canterlot was literally a “do or die” attempt and most of the changelings at that point wouldn’t have cared how badly they hurt a pony. You, like many others, were simply defending yourself and your fellow ponies against an unprovoked attack and not even we can hold a grudge against you for that. If we did, we’d have to have one against Captain Storm and quite a few of my changelings hold her in high esteem; some even call her a hero.”
It was Midnight’s turn to fidget as Honey smiled at her. “I was just doing what I thought was right,” she mumbled.
“The point is that no changeling here feels animosity towards you,” Honey told Umbra.
Umbra nodded but still looked downcast. “One of the changelings I ran into earlier said she remembered me from Canterlot. If she did then she must have been one of those I took down and… how do you apologize for doing that? For being responsible for what happened to the friends she was with?”
“The same way we changelings did after the invasion,” Honey said kindly, “You start with “I’m sorry” and show you mean it with your future words and actions. It won’t always work but it’s better than letting negative emotions fester when they don’t have to.”
Umbra nodded. “Understood ma’am.”
“Alright private, we’ve taken up the last of your morning patrol time,” Midnight said, looking at the clock above the office’s doors, “go turn your equipment back in and get some rest. I think Sugarcube Corner is having a brunch special of some kind.”
“And, if you would be so kind, please take the changeling outside the office with you,” Honey added, “she can pick up brunch for me while she’s there.”
Umbra bowed to Honey, saluted Midnight, then opened the door to the office. Right outside was a changeling who nodded to her timidly. “Hello again, Private Shroud. I hope you don’t mind that it’s me you’re taking.”
Umbra recognized her as the changeling that had recognized her that morning, meaning that… “N-No, I don’t mind,” Umbra said meekly as the office door closed behind her.
“Something nice and chocolaty should perk her back up,” Honey said once she was gone. “Good thinking. Princess Cadance sent me a paper a Van Hoover professor published about how chocolate can improve one’s mood considerably. She’s interested in seeing what would happen if it and changeling nectar was mixed together.”
“Confound that private,” Midnight grunted, “got me all worked up.”
“You still let what Bimini and Arbor did get to you,” Honey admonished.
“I had multiple Biminis and Arbors in my life, Honey. That’s not something you “just get over”.” She sighed again. “Ponyville’s helped, though. So has Sapphire, Squeaks, Windrunner, you, and everyone else who’s made this town home.”
Honey smiled and looked down at the paperwork on her desk. “How’s Norik, by the way? I haven’t seen him around today or yesterday.”
“Up in Canterlot with Eden learning about his heritage while his new cottage gets built. Now that I think about it, I’m glad he and Ember are neighbors rather than housemates; makes it feel more like a community.”
Honey frowned at the paper she was reading. “I hope that doesn’t mean Windrunner and I need to find new homes ourselves.”
“Now who’s being uptight?” Midnight said and they both chuckled.
“You don’t mind Eden sometimes living next door?” Honey asked.
Norik’s new cottage was located on the opposite side of the original cut into the Everfree Midnight had made, making it the neighbor on the opposite side from the thestrals’ homes and far enough down to be across the road from the changeling embassy instead of the barracks. Seeing the frame of it going up made Midnight realize she really was part of a neighborhood. When she’d first arrived, it had just been her run-down house and the school a ways off. Now she had neighbors on either side, Ember, Spine, and Forest across the road, then barracks and the embassy to the left of them. There was also Shoal camping out behind her just within the forest.
“She’s there more for Norik, so I don’t really mind,” Midnight said thoughtfully. “Him being around might even put her off asking about another hybrid ball, for a while anyway. Hey, why don’t we have a block party to welcome him home once it’s done?”
“A block party?” Honey asked, looking at the kirin and tilting her head in confusion.
“Yeah, they’re these parties where the entire block comes out to have a good time. I remember seeing them back in Manehattan. Maybe I should ask mom if there was more to them.”
“You’d have to run it by Pinkie,” Honey told her, going back to her work, “she already promised him a “Welcome to Ponyville” party.”
“Right,” the kirin agreed, standing up and stretching. “Well, better to talk with them both sooner than later. Hopefully Sugarcube Corner isn’t too swamped with that sale.”
-----------------------------
Midnight blinked, wishing she had made it to Sugarcube Corner. She could have gone for something extra sweet right then as she looked up at Celestia and Luna. That or earplugs so she could beg plausible deniability. “I’m sorry, could you say that again?”
“As we can’t find any other way to help you incase another powerful magic user attacks,” Celestia began.
“And because she feels guilty about trapping him in stone for another fifteen hundred years,” an obviously unhappy Luna added.
“I think it would be best to release Discord and try to convince him to be our friend once again, or, at the very least, an ally we can trust to help,” Celestia finished, her voice just a little bit harder after Luna’s interruption.
The two had landed in Midnight’s yard, each with a set of guards, as the kirin was leaving the changeling embassy and had asked to speak to her and the bearers about a very important matter. Once the bearers, and thus the rest of the guards, had been assembled, including a curious Shoal who was laying along the edge of the woods, Celestia had told them why they had come. Squeaks and Ember, who had been playing in the living room when the princesses landed, had been told wait by the side door. Arina was with them, sitting like a second bun on Squeaks’ head. The changelings had also seen the commotion and had come out to watch. Honey had made her pleasantries to the Equestrian royals but stayed with her people.
Midnight blinked once again, then turned to Windrunner. “Did I dream the last time he was free? There were dancing buffalo and cotton candy clouds and he stole my wings and tried to turn me to his side, right?”
“Yes,” the dust-brown pegasus said simply, a hint of anger in her voice.
She turned to Sapphire next, “and he implied threatening you and Squeaks if I didn’t join him, too, right?”
“He did indeed,” Sapphire said, giving the princesses and uncharacteristic glower.
“I would also like to point out that he and his companion has escaped from his stone prison once already,” Celestia added, “and that there’s a high likely hood they will escape again.”
“In fifteen-hundred years,” Midnight said flatly, “and I’d like to think by then the Elements will be passed down properly and that those that have to deal with him next will be ready.”
Around them nervous eyes swept back and forth between the two mares. The entirety of the guard was made up of ponies and creatures that had only ever known Celestia as THE princess of Equestria, someone to be shown deference and only the utmost respect. Seeing Midnight talk to her like she was an annoying neighbor was a bit of a shock to them. Besides Sapphire and Windrunner, the bearers and Spike looked on like this was all normal. As the Solar and Lunar guards that had come with the princesses were treating the situation the same as they were, the Bearer guards collectively decided to take their cues from them and sat back and watched the exchange. Shoal had an odd mix of amusement and contemplation on her draconic face.
The alabaster alicorn took a deep breath. “As someone who has actually lived longer than that, I can safely tell you that any plan we make today will more than likely be useless when the time comes. How many plans have you made in your life that fell apart?”
Midnight made to say something, then only grumbled as she had a point. Still, the very idea of releasing the draconequus and chaos pony made her want to bite something.
Luna cleared her throat. “There is also the case to be made that thou would prefer to take care of the situation permanently now rather than simply “passing the bit” on to thine future generations. While no kirin hast yet died of old age,” here she grimaced, “both ponies and wyverns do grow old and pass in time.” She leaned forward to whisper, “even we are not convinced of our own immortality.”
That point made Midnight grumble even more. Luna was right; now that the choice had been pointed out to her she’d rather deal with them now than leave it to those in the future who may or may not be ready for them, no matter how much the idea rankled. However, what chance did they really have of making Discord and Screwballs see things their way?
“With all due respect, your highnesses,” Twilight said, moving forward, “just how are we supposed to convince them to be allies?”
“They both seemed pretty determined to make Equestria the chaos capital of the world,” Rainbow added.
A shadow fell over them and Shoal’s enormous head lowered itself into their midst. With her size all were surprised that they hadn’t noticed her move to lean in. “I remember what Firestorm told me about when he first ran amok, something called “Discord’s Folly”; I also am aware of his escape and second try to rule Equestria. I’m curious as to why you would trust him at all.” That caused a good bit of murmuring in the crowd of guards.
“Discord wasn’t always trying to take over Equestria; in fact he was a good friend at one point,” Celestia told the looming dragon. ““Discord’s Folly” was something that could have been avoided entirely had myself and the rest of his friends done better by him instead of letting the Queen Platinums treat us the way they did. Now he could be free as he always wanted to be if he agreed to aid us.”
“As much as I am loath to agree, I do,” Luna said. “Had Discord been allowed to roam as he wished back then, it is unlikely he would have taken the route he eventually did. I do not agree that his actions would have been so innocent back then as my sister believes, but far more so than they became. Firestorm and I shared this opinion. I also agree with my sister that imprisoning him has and will do nothing to help him. Had I myself been sent back to the moon after my return, I, too, would still have all my bitter feelings, possibly more after being banished twice.”
Midnight chewed on what the princesses had said as they talked with Shoal. If they didn’t get through to Discord and Screwball they ran the risk of chaos taking over once more, putting everyone they cared about in danger. However, even a bitter but willing ally with that kind of magical power would make Equestria, as a whole, orders of magnitude safer. It was a high risk, high reward gamble with the odds stacked against them and Shoal was right about wondering if he would even consider agreeing to it. Even if he felt he owed her aunt’s memory something, that hadn’t stopped him last time.
As she thought, Midnight looked around at the others who had been around when Discord had gotten free. It was almost a universal look of apprehension that she could see, except for Pinkie and Spike, who looked just happy to be there and downright terrified respectfully. “What makes you think we’ll even have a chance to convince him or that he’ll even stay around to hear us out once he’s free? Actually, how are we even freeing him to begin with?” Midnight finally asked.
Celestia turned her attention to the gathered bearers. “You all have your Elements with you I assume?”
Six Elements appeared from saddlebags and onto their respective bearer. “When we heard you wanted us, we all figured we’d need’um, your highness,” AJ said.
Celestia’s horn lit up and a beam went to each Element. When it struck, the beam first enveloped the Element, then the bearer wearing it. The magic held them for a few seconds before dissipating. “That spell will allow only the bearer to remove their Element. As long as you each are wearing them, Discord or Screwball cannot take them away again. As for how you are to release them, simply focus the Elements on them once again. Discord and Screwball will not want to leave a threat to themselves in our hooves, so there is little chance they will run away while we still have them.”
Luna turned to Midnight. “We would also like you, Midnight Storm, to be the one to pass finale judgment on if they have truly turned over a new leaf.”
Midnight raised an eyebrow. “Why me? Even if it would be better to get this all resolved now, I’d just as soon fail them the second we release them.”
“Because not only will you be honest with both these two and us, but you will also make him work for it,” Luna told her and Midnight couldn’t argue with that.
Midnight looked around at everyone assembled. All looked resigned to what was coming next and though she wanted to argue the issue more, she couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t just going around in circles. There really was no getting out of it. “Alright, I guess we can go ahead with it,” she said with a resigned sigh.
“Excellent, and thank you,” Celestia said, looking around. “Where is Discord and Screwball, anyway? You have been talking to them like I asked, right?”
At the question the kirin had seemed to freeze in place and both Sapphire and Honey began looking at her with disappointed “I told you so” looks.
“Yes, I have been talking to them,” Midnight said slowly, turning to look at her marefriend to whom she gave a pleading smile. “Just, uh, could you go grab me some bleach and a bucket of water real quick, Sapphire? It can, um, get a bit messy where I set them up.”
Sapphire continued to stare at her with tabled eyes for a few more seconds before turning and heading back into the house with a “give me a minute.”
The princesses looked at each other then back at the kirin who looked like a foal trying, and failing, not to get caught doing something they knew they shouldn’t. A few of the bearer guards seemed to know what was going on and either shared Sapphire’s disapproving look or were trying to stifle their chuckling. When Sapphire returned a few minutes later with the bucket and cleaner Midnight once again flashed them the guilty smile, said “I’ll just be a few more minutes,” and slipped into her shed.
Luna immediately let out an un-princess bark of laughter that she quickly stifled. It took Celestia a moment to remember what Midnight had the shed for and when she did she adopted a similar look to what Sapphire was wearing. Several others also caught on and more chuckling was quickly silenced. From inside a muffled string of curses could be heard as well as splashing and the sound of wet fabric smacking stone. Several minutes passed like this until the door to the shed opened again and Midnight sheepishly came back out, dragging the stoned Discord and Screwball with several very obvious brown stains all over them. It didn’t get past anyone that their faces in particular were a darker shade of brown than any other part of them, including their shirts with the last jabs at Twilight and Celestia.
“I talk to them every time I’m in there,” Midnight told the princesses, the guilty grin seemingly glued onto her face at this point.
“I hope those conversations were productive ones,” Celestia said evenly.
Midnight only continued to smile while she gulped. The few in the crowd who still didn’t understand what was going on were finally informed by those around them and there was a combination of chuckles and distressed noises.
“Well, I suppose we should get this over with,” Twilight said, stepping forward with the other bearers.
Midnight silently thanked the makers for the unicorn and she moved to stand with Sapphire and Windrunner as the bearers got into position. She knew better than to find comfort in her marefriend at that moment and added an additional prayer to the makers and the past kirins that what they were about to do wouldn’t end up with them all drowning, literally, in desserts or dancing bovine.
Twilight and the others formed a circle around Discord and Screwball, the bearer guards forming up behind them in turn, ready to jump between the chaos creatures and their charges if necessary. Shoal shifted to lean over them all protectively, partly blocking out the sunlight with her bulk. Midnight wondered if she would simply lean forward and squash the two with a claw if they tried anything, then she wondered if that would even work. Sapphire retreated to the side of the house and Midnight could see her ushering the foals inside. A wall wouldn’t be much of a defense against the draconequus and his minion, however keeping them out of sight made Midnight feel a little better. Arina, who had jumped off Squeaks’ head when Sapphire went to them, crawled up her master’s leg and took her usual perch at the base of the kirin’s horn. The little arachnid was determined to stay by the kirin as she had also heard the stories about when Discord and Screwball were last free, even if all she could do was by them all a second by jumping at his face if things went south.
“Do we even have a plan about what to do to convince them?” Hazelnut asked. Everyone looked around at one another.
“It’s not like they didn’t have friends before,” Scarlet piped up, “but maybe we can remind them what it’s like to have them again? Maybe then they’d be willing to help?”
“Yeah, and who’s going to volunteer to get all buddy-buddy with them?” Spread Eagle asked.
“Are you?” Mane asked.
“Enough,” Midnight called out, cutting off the arguing early, “we’ll all pitch in if we have to. This isn’t just to give the guard a magical boost but to help all of Equestria in the long run.”
Midnight saw Celestia give a thankful nod of her head.
“We still need a plan,” Night Sky pointed out. She and the other two thestrals had been asleep when the princesses arrived and had been yawning up until they’d been told their task.
“Each Element represents an aspect of friendship,” Twilight said. “We can start by trying to teach or remind them of how each one is important and see how that goes. It’ll be tough trying to figure out what they’ll respond to best but…” she shrugged.
Midnight returned the gesture. “Unless someone else has an idea it’s the best one we’ve got. Like you said, let’s get this over with.”
No-one else offered any alternatives.
Once they were ready, Twilight’s horn lit up, activating her Element. This, in turn, activated the other Elements and the six ponies were raised off the ground like the last few times they used their power. A ribbon of rainbow began to emerge from each Element, connecting them together and seeming to make Twilight’s Element grow brighter, then another ribbon of rainbow shot out from it, impacting Discord and Screwball. Almost immediately glowing cracks began to form all over the stone duo and the image held for a second. Then the stone exploded, though the pieces disintegrated before they could reach the ring of onlookers and the two chaos creatures were free.
Midnight, who had adopted a combat stance, was ready for them to try some kind of attack or escape, not fully believing the princesses that they would leave a threat alone until they were ready. To her surprise, the rainbow blast dissipated to reveal the two of them stretching as if they’d just gotten out of bed.
“Well, it’s about time somebody got us out of that stone block,” Discord said as he twisted himself into a knot then undid himself. “What a relief!” he snapped his lion paw and a dandelion by Celestia’s hoof tried to bite her.
“Discord,” Celestia said, ignoring the weed trying to eat her hoof, “we have decided to let you out early on a parole of sorts.”
“Yes, yes,” the draconequus said, snapping his eagle claw and turning a bird flying over head into a pie with wings, “I heard the whole thing from inside the shed, even through the new earmuffs Midnight was so thoughtful to get for me. I don’t even care that they’re a half-year early for Hearth’s Warming.” The kirin flinched guiltily but held her ground. “And I have to agree that the very idea Screwball or I would want to help you is simply ridiculous… but also hilarious!” he started guffawing loudly.
Screwball blew a whistle and changed in the blink of an eye into a train conductor’s uniform. “All aboard the express line to Regretsville!”
“Would thou prefer to spend yet another fifteen hundred years as a pigeon roost?” Luna asked harshly.
“A thousand years on the moon would be a nice change of pace,” he said with a smirk.
Before the blue alicorn could light up her horn Celestia stepped between them. “This is a one-time deal, Discord. Though there are several reasons to have you free, your previous actions give us every reason not to trust you. You either agree to use your powers for the benefit of Equestria or be sealed back up by the Elements again. As Midnight Storm will effectively be your parole officer, you already have one hoof back in stone, as it were.”
He grimaced at the alicorn but shifted his gaze to the kirin. “Ah yes, out resident kirin. Congratulations on finding more, by the way, though there still being no sign of any wyvern clans is disappointing.” A light bulb literally went on over his head. “Oh! Maybe we can make a field trip out of it!” He slid up to Midnight with a cheshire smile which the kirin returned with a disgusted snarl. Arina chirped angrily and raised her two front legs threateningly. “Roughing it in the wilderness, eating s’mores by a campfire, finding the Storm Clan, telling each other juicy secrets…” he shot Celestia another smirk which turned into a frown as a loud snort came from above.
“As I understand it, part of the reason you turned on everyone the first time was because you weren’t allowed to leave your home,” Shoal growled. “While I can sympathize, this time you need to prove yourself before going anywhere, especially with Midnight.”
Discord eyed the dragon baring her teeth at him while everyone else who wasn’t thought of as immortal backed away. “Well, well, well, it seems the captain of the Bearer Guard has a guardian of her own,” Discord said, “I would certainly like to know why that is.”
Shoal merely snorted again. “You’ve been warned,” she growled, raising her head back up.
Midnight eyed the dragon herself, curious as well about the sudden protectiveness the dragon was showing. However, she had more pressing concerns to deal with and made a note to ask Shoal about it later. She pushed the draconequus off her. “I take it you know why we’re giving you this chance?” she asked him.
Discord beckoned Screwball over, who had now adopted a secretary’s outfit and hoofed him a piece of paper, which he put on broken glasses to read. “I believe it was for, and I quote, “can’t find any other way to help you incase another powerful magic user attacks,” and “she (Tia) feels guilty about trapping him (yours truly) in stone for another fifteen hundred years”. Didn’t stop her last time but I guess we’re letting bygones be bygones.”
“For the sake of the greater good, we are certainly going to try,” Midnight said, “and Celestia is right; I’m ready to put you both back into stone right now unless you’re willing to cooperate.” She pointed up at the flying pie circling overhead then at the still snapping weed. “Starting with changing those two back to normal.”
Discord looked at the things he’d changed, then back to Midnight, making various thoughtful expressions. She suspected several of them were an attempt to make her laugh but this was one time she was actually grateful for her default grumpy nature. When he finally realized she wasn’t even going to have a lip twitch, Discord let out an unhappy snort and snapped his lion paw. Instantly the dandelion was back to a normal weed and the pie was returned to its original avian self. “Fine, Midnight Storm, I’ll play along with this enterprise of yours. It might actually be entertaining to see what you and the others come up with. Of course, who knows how long it’ll take to convince me to be a mister goody-goody two-sh-”
“One week,” Midnight said flatly.
Discord blinked. “Excu-”
“One. Week,” the kirin repeated, adopting the tone she used as a captain. “If I don’t think you’re taking this seriously after one week, then I’m telling the bearers to stone you and Screwball again. You’ll spend one day each with a bearer, going over what their Element means, then on the last day I’m going to go over everything that has happened and if I don’t like what I see I’ll give you one last chance. If you fail even that last chance then I’ll write an apology note to whoever has to deal with you after fifteen hundred more years. Have I made myself as clearly understood as possible?”
Discord and Screwball just stared at her silently. Around them, everyone held their breaths as their captain just told the embodiment of chaos and disharmony what he was going to do like he was a new recruit. To their shock, even Screwball’s, a genuine smile grew on the draconequus’ face. “She definitely inherited her aunt’s fiery command, eh, Celestia?” he said, impressed. “Alright then, Midnight Storm, one week it is.” His smile became a smirk again. “And since you’re my parole officer, I guess I know where I’m staying in the meantime!”
Midnight’s eyes went wide. “Wait, no, I never said-!”
But Discord had already scooped her up and was giving her a noogie. “Well it only makes sense! I mean, if I was to stay with someone else and was making their life miserable, how would you know?”
“By asking them!” Midnight snapped, twisting and trying to bite the claw assaulting her head. Arina also jabbed the claw with her front legs but Midnight’s own attempts to strike back were making her attacks go wide. “And I thought you hated making sense!”
“True,” Discord agreed, dropping her, “but for the next week I’m supposed to make sense, aren’t I?”
Midnight only growled at him. One way or the other, she was going to get Celestia for this. Maybe after this was finally over with she’d finally get the full story about what happened to the kirins out of her, whether she wanted to tell the story or not.
-----------------------------
Midnight groaned internally while externally she simply stared with indifference at the scene before her. As expected, her housemates weren’t too keen on hosting the chaos creatures but understood that it was pretty much unavoidable at this point. Someone needed to keep an eye on the two of them and as Midnight could in theory give the word at any time that they were done, it was best that they were there. Midnight also didn’t like exposing Squeaks to the two of them either, at least while they were still being judged. If, by some miracle, they actually decided to change for the better then she’d consider letting them be around her daughter. For now it would be the one night in the same house and then she’d be staying with her grandmother until it was over one way or the other.
Or that was the plan but before Midnight could ask her mother Honey insisted Squeaks stay with her and the other changelings at the embassy. “Not that your mother wouldn’t do everything in her power to protect her, but she’d have more eyes on her at the embassy, not to mention more horns ready to go,” Honey told her. It hadn’t been missed by anyone that all four of Honey’s guards had come over to the house with her when she’d come home for dinner, nor had the other changelings buzzing around outside gone unnoticed.
“My, my, Midnight; you wouldn’t happen to have a spare crystal heart in your bedroom, do you?” Discord had asked.
“When the changelings all drool just like punch-drunk fools, that’s armoire!” Screwball had sung.
Midnight thanked Honey and agreed to that instead. True, Honey and her changelings probably couldn’t do diddly to stop Discord if he was serious but it made her feel better that Squeaks was going to have so many beings watching out for her. In retrospect, it also didn’t put her mom, baby sister, and Orange in harm’s way either.
That wasn’t what was bothering her right then. The dancing dinner set that was using the dining room table as a stage was. “I hear that friends like to go out to dinner and a show but an even better friend gives a show at home!” Discord said, clapping as the bowl of peas began doing a jig.
Seeing that Midnight was trying to keep herself calm, Sapphire spoke up first. “That’s very thoughtful of you, however having the dinnerware be the show makes it hard to enjoy the dinner,” she explained.
“It would also make it easier to get food onto our plates,” Windrunner said, grabbing the bowl of mashed potatoes, which was doing some kind of dance involving fast kicking, and pulling it towards her so she could finally get a scoop. She’d been trying to grab the serving spoon out of it for the past minute.
“Potatoes keep dancing or go to gulag,” Screwball said, wearing a black, furry hat with a red star in the center and a steel mustache.
“What’s a gulag?” Squeaks asked, unable to get a hold of the container of strawberries for similar reasons.
The container became enveloped in a sickly green glow and was yanked back to the filly. “Something that has no place at the dinner table,” Honey said from her place between the thestral and chaos pony, putting some fruit on her own plate after Squeaks got her share. The changeling queen hadn’t taken too kindly to the draconequus and his minion after hearing how he’d threatened them all the last time he was free and his joke about her “cheese legs whistling as she flew” hadn’t helped her opinion of him. Screwball hadn’t helped either when, while waiting for dinner, she’d gone “fishing” for changelings by tying a small figure of Cadance to the end of some string attached to a pole and letting it down near the side door. When Honey had seen the “lure” she’d snapped it off the line and destroyed it. While neither Discord nor Screwball would admit it, both Honey and her housemates assumed it was a dig at the changelings for the invasion.
Even Arina wasn’t spared being around the chaos creatures. At one point she’d been climbing a wall to get to one of the few webs Midnight would allow inside the house when out of nowhere all eight of her legs had roller skates on them and she slid down the wall back to the floor. She’d spent the next few minutes trying to cross the living room to the kitchen while her legs constantly went out from under her with Discord and Screwball hiding behind the fireplace, holding back their laughter at the spider’s expense. Only when Midnight had come into the room, wondering what that noise was, which was the clacking of the mini-skates on the wooden floor, did the spider finally get a reprieve.
Needless to say, everyone was getting tired of the two of them very quickly.
“Discord,” Midnight finally said, her voice calm but with a hint of danger to it no-one failed to miss.
“Yes, my dear friend Midnight?” he asked, batting his eyes innocently.
“Do you know what the word “hangry” means, by any chance?”
“Ooo! Ooo, OOO!” Screwball shouted, leaning so far over the table that she was at risk of falling onto several of the dancing dishware. “It’s when you’re angry because you’re hungry!”
“Correct. And do you see any food on my plate?”
“Can’t say I do,” Discord said, popping up from under the table next to her with a magnifying glass and a deerstalker hat. “You should hurry and have something.” With that he snapped his eagle claw and all the dancing bowls and plates immediately stopped.
“THANK you,” Midnight said, fangs extended as she grabbed the plate of wild turkey.
“Of course! Wouldn’t want my best pal going hungry, would we?” He zipped back to his seat and began eating like nothing had happened.
Sapphire patted Midnight with a wing as the kirin ripped into her meat like it was the draconequus’ head.
“And that’s how our gala dresses were made,” Rarity finished explaining, displaying her own. The two chaos creatures she was telling the story to looked about as entertained as Midnight, but she’d lived through it so it couldn’t be said they were bored for the same reason.
Rarity had volunteered to be the first bearer to work with Discord and Screwball, which had amazed Midnight at the time. Now she wondered if the unicorn had just wanted to talk their ears off.
The day after this would be lessons with Applejack, then Fluttershy the next, then Rainbow, then Pinkie, and finally Twilight. The day after that would be when Midnight judged their progress. In order to keep track of things Sapphire had given the kirin a clipboard with a notepad which Midnight had out and ready to use. In the boutique with them were a number of Bearer guards who’d ended up drawing the lots for spending the first day with Discord and Screwball. Everyone had to participate so it wasn’t a matter of if they had to deal with the assignment but when.
Today she had First Sergeant Night Sky, Corporal Spread Eagle, and Privates Dapper, Shale, Gusty Glow, Ghostly Fire, and Cranberry. The day after tomorrow would be the day she’d have Shoal with her and the kirin was looking forward to it. Even if she knew the draconequus could juggle the dragon, her large presence helped her feel more at ease, just like Honey with Squeaks. She’d only be able to be around when they saw Fluttershy due to her size and Fluttershy living near the Everfree Forest, so that day was already going to be interesting.
“So, what’s it like-?” Night started to ask.
“Headache inducing and making me regret life choices,” Midnight said, cutting her off. “Dinner was a production and getting to bed was like pulling teeth.”
“Wait, you had to put him to bed?” Gusty asked.
“Basically,” Midnight groaned. “We all went to bed at our normal times but those two decided they didn’t want to sleep and stayed up, loudly. I had to threaten them to finally get some sleep.” She yawned pointedly. “Then getting them up was just so much fun because they turned the spare guest room they’re in into some kind of infinite space for themselves. When I went in to wake them up I almost lost my balance and would have gone floating away. Then getting them over here was like herding cats.”
“Well, now that you know what to expect, then tomorrow should be easier,” Dapper said, trying to lighten his captain’s mood.
“While I appreciate the optimism, private, I’m going to err on the side of caution,” Midnight said. At least she had dinner to look forward to; Sapphire had promised to make her favorite dishes as something to look forward to each day while they were dealing with Discord and Screwball.
“Generosity towards ones friends means giving of yourself without expecting anything in return, darlings,” Rarity was saying, “so I think today’s lesson should be the two of you thinking of someone you’d like to be friends with and thinking of something you’d like to give them simply because you want to, no reason required. And it should be made by yourselves, not bought; it’ll be more special that way!”
“How much do you want to bet this goes sideways?” Spread Eagle whispered to Cranberry. Night Sky gave him a look and Cranberry wisely ignored the corporal.
“Something to give to a friend that we’ve made ourselves?” Discord repeated thoughtfully.
“Yes, darling, and make sure it’s from the heart!” Rarity encouraged.
“Can we give them our hearts?” Screwball asked, opening a door to her chest and pulling out said organ.
“Uh, well, let’s try to not be so literal,” Rarity hedged, scooting back. “You can even just give your time helping your friends, say with chores or shopping. I know I’ve very much appreciated inputs on my designs from my friends from time to time.”
“Oh, okay! Can I try that?” Screwball asked while Discord eyed Midnight. The kirin returned his look with an annoyed frown.
Rarity hesitated but finally nodded and brought over a design sheet with her magic. “I suppose that would be fine. You were around when the princesses were young, so I’d be interested to see some style designs from that time.”
“I have an idea!” Discord said. He made a black sheet appear and stuck his upper half under it. Different building noises came from underneath the sheet, as well as animal noises.
“Done!” Screwball said a few minutes later.
“Ooo, may I see?” Rarity asked and the chaos pony gave her the design back. “Oh, this is very nice! A few frills here, some lace there, maybe I can accent this with some gems here, here, and here. What colors do you think would be good with amethysts?”
The grin Screwball was suddenly sporting made everyone watching nervous. “How about… these!” She’d summoned a trunk and whipped something out of it and onto Rarity. The guards all made to run to the dressmaker’s side but stopped when they saw what had been done.
Rarity was now wearing a dress similar in design to what Screwball had given to Rarity, only the colors were neon orange, mint green, and mud brown. Rarity took one look at what she was wearing and shrieked.
“THESE COLORS DON’T MATCH! THEY DON’T MATCH! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!”
The guards all relaxed as the white unicorn ripped off the dress like it was going to poison her, Screwball laughing her head off the whole time.
‘Figures,’ Midnight thought dully, bringing her clipboard up, only to find a present sitting on it.
“My turn!” Discord announced and the kirin felt a sinking feeling in her gut. “I thought about it and I think that I came up with something not just for you but everyone back at the house, especially your pet spider!”
The sinking feeling got worse and she began to cringe away from the box. “What’s that?” she asked.
Discord reached over and took the lid off. “A second spider! I figured Arina was lonely being the only one and you get a second pet!” Inside was not a spider. It was the biggest, hairiest, dark brown tarantula Midnight had ever seen. “His name is Jeff, by the way.” “Jeff” began scuttling towards her.
Midnight came by the boutique later to fix the front door. And replace the curtains. And a couple of mannequins.
-----------------------------
“So, do you think today will go any better?” Hazelnut asked as Applejack got ready for her turn with the chaos creatures. Having just explained the events of the previous day, Midnight gave him a flat stare.
“I think that’s a “no”, lieutenant,” Spine said.
“At least there’s no way he can do that again when practicing Honesty, right?” Scarlet tried.
Midnight let out a small jet of fire as she opened her mouth. “I don’t put anything past those two,” she said.
“When y’all lie, folks learn not to believe ya,” AJ started, “an’ when folks don’t believe ya, they don’t trust ya, even when yer tryin’ ta be sincere. When yer honest, folks trust ya and like ya.” She motioned to two boxes with holes cut into them. “Trust takes time ta build but we only have a day and have ta start somewhere, so Ah’m gonna start by puttin’ stuff in here and telling ya what it is and then yur gonna stick your hooves, uh, and claws in here ta see if Ah’m telling the truth. Then we’ll do it a few more times with the others here,” she nodded at the guards, “then we’ll give you two a shot. All ya have ta do is be honest the whole time.”
“And we can put anything in the boxes?” Screwball asked.
AJ gave them both a look. “The point here is ta be honest, not freak folks out. Just put simple stuff in there an’ don’t go lyin’ about what it is.”
“Don’t lie about what’s in the box, understood my dear, honest apple farmer,” Discord said with a bow.
So they started, AJ putting things like apples and tools in the boxes while they weren’t looking and telling them after they turned back around, having them put their appendages in to check. Then she did the same with the guards, with the entire process going smoothly.
Then it was Discord’s and Screwball’s turn to put things in the boxes.
Discord snapped his claw and Screwball tapped her box, then turned to the others. “Midnight dear, would you be so nice as to lend me your hoof for this?” Discord asked with a grin.
“Not after what you pulled yesterday,” the kirin growled.
“What’d y’all put in there, Discord?” AJ asked pointedly.
“I honestly did not put a spider in the box,” he said.
Discord’s smile turned into a frown and he snapped his claw again. “I was being honest,” he grumbled.
“That’s called lyin’ by omission,” AJ said.
“Fine,” Discord said with a huff, “now there’s slugs inside the box; happy?”
“Not exactly,” Midnight said.
“I put jellyfish in mine,” Screwball said, also disappointed she couldn’t get one over on them.
AJ sighed. “Well, we gotta check if they’re tellin’ the truth.”
“Do we really need to?” Midnight asked, eying the box.
“They’ll get a lower score if they aren’t, right?” AJ pointed out.
Midnight grimaced and reached a hoof into the box.
-----------------------------
“It almost sounds like they want to be turned back to stone,” Shoal observed.
“I think they’re trying to see how many buttons they can push until I’m just ready to snap, then step back and start acting all innocent until they can start again,” Midnight grumbled.
Today, Fluttershy was going to attempt to have Discord and Screwball show kindness by… having a tea party in her front yard, apparently. She was originally going to have it inside her cottage but when she learned that Shoal was going to be joining them she’d begun moving everything outside.
It was rather funny that a shy pegasus that had refused to leave her house during the dragon migration and who had made going up Smokey Mountain more of a chore than it needed to be was now attempting to figure out how to serve tea to a dragon. She was okay with Spike because he was still a baby, by dragon standards, and she’d been okay with Spine because he’d been so nice from the start and still wasn’t grown, but Shoal was bigger than even that red dragon they’d tangled with back on the mountain and Midnight had expected to tell Shoal that she needed to either leave or sit way back in the forest and observe from afar. To her surprise, Fluttershy had been okay with letting the dragon stay. “Shoal isn’t mean like other dragons,” Fluttershy told her when Midnight pointed it out, “yes, she did just come to Ponyville one day and said she was in the guard without asking but other than that she hasn’t been pushy since and she doesn’t go roaring and stomping and breathing fire all over the place. I wish more dragons were like her.”
Shoal had chuckled at that, though the effect only made the butter-yellow pegasus start nervously sweating at the sight of her huge fangs. “You and me both, little one,” Shoal told her.
“So we’re just sitting outside drinking tea all day?” Screwball said as Fluttershy laid out the last of the snacks. “This will be easy.”
“Considering the past few days, giving you an easy one won’t count for much,” Midnight growled. She had Sergeant Brick Break, Corporal Rock Bottom, and Privates Ditch Digger, Speckled Snow, Amber Armor, and Port Stanchion milling around the property as she didn’t trust either Discord or Screwball to not mess with the animals in some way while they weren’t looking.
“Now, now, Midnight, that’s not very kind of you,” Discord said, wagging a disapproving finger at the kirin.
“No, it’s not,” Fluttershy agreed, “but you haven’t been very kind to Midnight and the others either from what I’ve heard.”
Discord snorted. “So just how is a tea party supposed to teach me about kindness?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it since the day we released you two and I’ve come to the conclusion that kindness is sort of the root of all friendship. I mean, being generous is considered being kind, as is being honest and loyal, and it’s kinder to laugh with ponies than at them. Magic is what happens when all of the others come together, but kindness is where it starts. I know they’ve been through two tests already and have to face several more, so I thought it would be kind to give them a break and just talk.”
“A rather deep sentiment,” Shoal said, impressed.
“And boring!” Screwball said, rolling her swirled eyes. “Can’t we, I don’t know, give a duck a second head or something? They could eat twice as much bread crumbs, so wouldn’t that be a kindness?”
“Actually, bread crumbs, crackers, and other bread foods aren’t very good for ducks and other water birds. Like carrots for bunnies, they should only be given as occasional treats,” Fluttershy informed her.
Screwball just blew a raspberry.
“To be honest, I want to hear about when Discord was friends with the princesses and the other creatures over a thousand years ago,” she continued, “I bet those we some fun times.”
Discord huffed. “It wasn’t that special. They were pretty much as stuffy back then as they are now.”
“”Pretty much” isn’t the same as “exactly”, so they’ve must have changed somewhat since then,” Fluttershy pressed gently. “Why don’t you start with why you became friends with them in the first place?”
Discord continued to look annoyed at the whole situation while he dunked his teacup into a cookie, took a bite out of the tea cup, then picked the tea out and used it like a napkin to wipe his mouth, then tossed it away, the tea becoming confetti when it hit the ground. When he was finished, a thoughtful look crossed his face.
“Luna did have a better sense of humor back then. There this one joke that never failed to get her going like a loon!”
As the draconequus began telling his story, Midnight felt something large bump into her side. Looking around she saw the side one of Shoal’s talons gently pushing into her. She looked up at the dragon who motioned with her head for the kirin to come up into the sky. After apologizing to the group for interrupting Discord’s story and saying Shoal needed her for something, she flew up to meet the dragon while Discord continued where he left off. “Is something wrong?” Midnight asked as she became level with the dragon’s head. Had she’d spotted something the others hadn’t?
“I just want to check if everything is going alright,” Shoal said, “when I heard what Discord and Screwball had done since they were let loose, I got a little worried.”
Midnight raised an eyebrow. “I appreciate the concern but, and I don’t know how to word it any better so sorry in advance, but why would you care? I mean, those two making my life miserable wouldn’t really affect you.”
To her amazement, Shoal actually looked embarrassed. “It’s… well… I already told you I know both your father and grandfather and I see a little of both of them in you, so I was… I guess I was trying to make up for something, as it were.”
“Oh,” Midnight said sheepishly, not sure how else to respond. She never expected that Shoal had joined the Bearer Guard because of some sort of guilt or debt, not with how aloof she normally seemed. “Well, if we ever run into them I’m sure they’ll be glad you’ve been helping me.”
Shoal smiled warmly and leaned closer to Midnight but then seemed to realize what she was doing and pulled back. “Thank you, and I was serious about letting me know if those two are pushing you too much. I may not have magic but I think I’ll still be able to get my point across.” She lifted up a claw and flexed it.
“No problem,” Midnight told her, then looked back down at the table where the three she had left were still talking. Well, Discord and Fluttershy looked animated. Screwball looked bored. “I better get back down there.” They both nodded and descended back to the ground.
Discord was laughing and Fluttershy was giggling as they came back down. “A-And then we moved on to the piñata, and Luna drew for the first swing, right? So, Celestia had already swiped some cake off her plate, saying that since it was her birthday she deserved another slice, so just as Luna was about to take her first whack at it she used her magic to switch the bat she was using to a morning star and just destroyed it, candy and favors flying everywhere! Celestia screaming at the top of her lungs that Luna ruined the party, Firestorm trying to chide Luna for cheating while trying not to laugh himself, and Vine just sitting there and eating the candy like everything was fine.” He wiped a tear away and looked over at Midnight. She was surprised for a second time at the look on someone’s face that day; Discord looked genuinely happy at the memory. Happy and little sad. “She had that same stoic look you always seem to have but she had a smile behind it. It would take a little more effort than usual to get her to actually laugh but I’d get her to do it eventually.”
“See? Those were fun times,” Fluttershy said. “I can’t help but think you’d want to have more of them, though getting the princesses to join in again might be a little difficult.”
Discord took a sip of his cookie. “Those two have gotten too serious for my tastes anyway.”
“Well, you’ll only find new friends to have good times again with if you’re allowed to stay out of stone, so that’s something to keep in mind. You never know who you might meet if you can wander around on your own again. I know I’d like to hear more stories from you.” The pegasus smiled up at him, then gave Midnight a pointed looked.
The kirin sighed and took a sip of her own drink. “If he can not do what he’s done the past two days, I would be more inclined to agree. I would also appreciate it if dinner could be had without incident.”
“Ponies are such killjoys,” Screwball grumbled.
Discord finished his cookie without looking at any of them.
-----------------------------
“And you’re sure he didn’t do anything?” Rainbow asked for the umpteenth time.
“Yes, Rainbow, like I’ve said from the start, nothing happened to Fluttershy or her animals,” Midnight said, trying to sooth the Wonderbolt hopeful. “Yesterday went smoother than any of us would have expected it to. I’d even say that we follow Fluttershy’s example and give him a chance.” They all looked towards the two chaos creatures waiting nearby doing various small chaotic things with their magic. “Though they’re still on thin ice.”
They were all at the entrance to Ghastly Gorge, where Rainbow had set up her test. It looked like an obstacle course of some kind and Midnight was surprised the pegasus had gotten it all together. She also wasn’t sure if she should be impressed by how it looked or concerned. A carpenter Rainbow was not. Midnight had only allowed the course to be set up where it was because she and Shoal had already scared away all the quarray eels that had called the area home; they’d all left when Shoal had made a particularly big specimen dinner and shared it with her. While Shoal seemed to relish the meal, Midnight could take it or leave it.
Speaking of Shoal, she was with them again as it turned out Rainbow’s test wasn’t in town. She was currently sitting at the midway point of the course, perched at the edge of the canyon wall looking down at them.
“Right, well, let’s get this over with,” Rainbow grumbled, flying over to the two. “Okay, listen up! Loyalty means a lot of things, including not leaving anypony behind when things get tough. So today, you two are gonna run this obstacle course.”
“Is that all? This should be a cake walk!” Discord said, snapping his claws and turning the stone leading up to the course into cake.
“There are still rules you have to follow!” Rainbow said, “First of which is no chaos magic! Knowing you two, you’d just turn everything to food and eat your way through or something.”
Discord groaned and snapped his claw again, turning the stone back to normal. “Always with the rules! Chaos doesn’t have such confines, you know. And I feel that I have to remind you all that I’m a being of chaos! Maybe you should try a few days of not flying and see how you like it.”
“The rest of us aren’t chaos creatures, so could you just bare with us?” Midnight asked with a sigh. “It’s also only for maybe an hour at most, and I’ve seen several creatures bare with such restrictions before.” She flapped her wings pointedly.
“We can also fly naturally,” Discord pointed out, flapping his own wings back at her. Midnight shooed them out of her face and they went back to the draconequus to reattach.
“I’ve set up some traps for you if you decide to just fly over everything, so that’s not gonna work,” Dash said with a bit of pride in her voice.
“She and Pinkie are good with pranks,” Midnight warned.
“Fine, no chaos magic, what else?” Screwball asked.
“The second rule is that you need to take a partner with you through the course and you don’t win unless both of you pass the finish line. You can pick from anyone here,” Dash told them.
“Anyone, huh?” Discord asked, looking down at a flustered Midnight.
“Dash…” the kirin said dangerously.
“Hey, I can’t just have them grabbing Joe-Pony from anywhere!” Rainbow argued, “and since you all are guards this shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
“I assume the “anyone here” includes yourself?” Midnight asked with a snort.
“Fair’s fair,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “As long as they stick to the rules I can’t complain.”
Midnight rolled her eyes and let out a long breath, then stuck her hoof towards Discord. “I assume-”
“You bet I do!” He said, grabbing her hoof and shaking it. “You know me so well already, best pal!”
She gave Rainbow a half-hearted death glare.
“Then I choose…” Screwball said, eyeing the other guards standing nearby, all of which looked nervous. “Windy!”
Windrunner disappeared in a puff of green smoke that made a rude noise then reappeared in a pink puff of smoke that made a toy horn sound.
“I’m so excited,” the pegasus said dully.
“It’s just to the other side,” Midnight said, trying to reassure her, thought with her fangs poking out it was probably also to try and reassure herself. “We’ve made it through dinner for the past few nights, so we can get through this.”
So they began. The course itself wasn’t too bad, the worst being them having to climb up some ropes to reach platforms at certain points but nothing they weren’t already doing in daily training at the old castle.
What made it all difficult was Discord and Screwball, who were acting like not having chaos magic made them crippled and weak. “Midnight, my friend, can you please help me up this rope?” Discord asked at one section, hanging limply from the climbing rope. “It’s just so hard without my magic!”
Midnight wanted to turn around and buck him up the rest of the way but helped him like she would anyone else. She was rewarded with his tail smacking her head several times before he finally scrabbled up onto the platform the rope led up to. ‘Fluttershy, you have a kind heart and I think your method is good but at this rate I’m going to go back to wanting to rip a chunk out of him before the day is done!’
They were a few more obstacles down the course when something pink shot by over their heads. “To heck with this, I’m done!” Screwball yelled as she flew by.
Windrunner was chasing after her but staying low. “You’re forgetting the pranks and you’re leaving me behind!” she called out after the chaos mare.
“Like some stupid pranks are going to stop me!” she called back, “and as for leaving you behind, I don’t-!” She was cut off when several pie-shaped objects shot out from empty quarray eel holes, hitting and covering her in white goop.
“That stuff is meant to gum up your wings!” Dash called out from above where she’d been watching them go. “I’ve got the remover at the finish line, but only if you do the course like you’re supposed to!”
Screwball pulled a hoofful of the gunk off herself and threw the wad up at Rainbow, who dodged it easily. The chaos mare sunk back to the ground, swearing under her breath as Midnight and Discord passed her and Windrunner caught up.
“You’re not going to suggest that I try flying as well, are you?” Midnight asked as they reached the next part of the course.
“If I did so while we were still in the course, you’d fail me, wouldn’t you?” Discord asked as he began climbing over a log.
Surprised how straight forward he was being, Midnight could only shrug and keep pushing forward. When they finally reached the end, beating Windrunner and a still cursing, muck-covered Screwball, Midnight raised hoof. “You actually did a good job, even with that wet noodle routine you were pulling.”
Discord actually looked surprised she was giving him a compliment that was genuine, even with him deliberately making it harder for her.
“Well, I am a good friend after all,” he said taking the hoof and shaking it.
Midnight let a corner of her mouth quirk up in an almost-smile, then turned to talk to Rainbow. Before she could say anything, however, a whole lot of something familiar splashed down on her and she stood there frozen for a few seconds. Finally turning to look behind her, she saw Discord, now dressed in a black and blue sports jersey with a big, silver number thirteen on it with a matching sports baseball cap holding an upside-down drink cooler with its top missing. White goop was dripping from the cooler.
“Team Midnight for the win!” He crowed, throwing the cooler away and doing a victory dance.
Midnight just turned away and made her way over to Dash, who was already getting all of the anti-goop stuff ready.
In his dancing, Discord apparently missed the large shadow descending on him. Everyone jumped when Shoal landed, Discord going flat under one of her feet. “That wasn’t necessary,” She growled down at her foot.
A lion paw popped out waving a white flag and a muffled “Duly noted,” could be heard.
-----------------------------
“Have you had a chance to talk with the changelings one on one yet?” Midnight asked as they made their way to one of the town’s parks. While Mr. and Mrs. Cake were easy going ponies, they didn’t like the idea of two chaos creatures doing who knew what in the place where they made their living, not to mention anywhere near the twins, so they’d asked Pinkie to have her test someplace else. Midnight couldn’t blame them, even if Discord seemed to actually be doing better. Screwball, on the other hoof, was acting nastier each day, so keeping her outdoors was probably for the best.
“Yes, captain,” Private Umbra said. At Midnight’s insistence she was walking with the kirin while the other guards had formed a loose parameter around Discord and Screwball, who were having a heated discussion of their own over… something. Midnight had chosen not to try and listen in. In her mind, if those two were focused on each other than it meant they wouldn’t do anything chaotic to those they were passing by. Hopefully.
“And?” Midnight pressed. Umbra hadn’t been able to join the changelings at Sugarcube Corner due to the princesses’ arrival and the guard needing to be present for Discord’s release and making a plan on how to handle the situation. Once that had been taken care of, however, Midnight had taken the private to the side and told her that she wanted Umbra to make time to speak with them and resolve her issue. “I need every one of you in top mental state for the coming week, so I want you to talk with the changeling you met and see for yourself that everything is alright. To be honest it’ll be one less thing I have to worry about myself,” the kirin had told her.
“I know what Queen Honeycomb said, but she wasn’t there, so I thought Antenna would still hate me for what happened,” Umbra explained back in the present.
“Even though she smiled at you when you left Honeycomb’s office?” Midnight pressed.
“I thought she was being nice because the queen was there.”
“Well, how did it go when you two finally met up!?” Midnight asked, exasperated.
Umbra flattened her ears at the tone in the kirin’s voice. “We finally met up in another of the parks, someplace relatively private but still public. When we did, I just couldn’t keep it in and just explained everything. I told her how sorry I was that I hurt her and her friends, that I couldn’t save them from the blast Shining Armor and Princess Cadance made, and that I was forced to just stand by while the guards hauled them away. I told her that I was sorry I failed them so badly and that I was trying to do better as a guard.”
Midnight could see the wetness in the unicorn’s eyes and when she spoke, her tone was much gentler. “And what happened after you told her all that?”
Umbra half grinned. “She hugged me! She hugged me and told me that I had nothing to be sorry about, that had her and the other changelings gotten the upper hoof they wouldn’t have extended the same courtesy, and that those with her who survived and hadn’t been blown out of Canterlot sided with Queen Honeycomb partly because I tried to help them.”
“So pretty much what Honeycomb told you,” Midnight said, “but I guess you needed to hear it from Antenna for it to really sink in.”
Umbra nodded. “She’s invited me to join her for another outing after the whole thing with Discord is over. It feels good, knowing they really don’t hate me like I thought they did.”
Midnight nodded. “One less thing for me to worry about, and just in time.”
Pinkie had come into view, waving her front hooves like a madmare as if they couldn’t see her. “Over here! OVER HEEEEEEERE!” she yelled.
“Yes, Pinkie, we can see you clear as crystal!” Midnight shouted back.
There was a snap and Pinkie turned into clear crystal. “Ooo! See-through-y!” Pinkie said, looking down at herself. A second later her Element shined and she turned back to normal. “Aw! Well, it was fun while it lasted!”
Midnight turned to glower at the draconequus and found him looking between his claw and Pinkie. “Huh, well that’s disappointing,” he muttered. Midnight only shook her head and turned back to the party pony.
“So, Pinkie, what are we doing today?”
The pink pony smiled wide. “Today we’re making ponies SMILE!” she shouted, confetti and toy horn sounds going off as she said the last word.
“Are we sure she isn’t a chaos pony?” Sergeant Blackberry asked quietly.
“And how, exactly, are they going to accomplish that?” Midnight asked, giving her sergeant a look.
“There are all kinds of ways to make ponies smile, with the best way being laughter!” Pinkie explained with a giggle.
“Can we just make each other laugh? We’re good at that.” Screwball said.
To their surprise, Pinkie adopted a serious look. “Laughter is only best when everyone is joining in. Laughing at somepony isn’t funny, it’s being a bully! So, you’ll only get passing grades if you make everyone involved laugh, not just each other. Fluttershy told me that you genuinely laughed when you talked about making others laugh, so just think back to how making others laugh made you feel good and go for that!”
“I see a certain yellow pegasus has a blabber mouth,” Screwball said, annoyed. Then she grew a mean grin, “but we all know what snitches get!”
“Screwball, of course she’d tell her friends how it went.” They were all surprised to hear the rebuke come from Discord of all creatures. “I mean, ponies are all buddy-buddy like that, which you should remember. I bet they all talked about each of their ‘tests” went,” he said as a dismissive follow up. He snapped his claws and the two of them were in pajamas on beds, chins resting on their front legs while their back legs stuck up in the air with slippers on them. “I’ll bet they did so while having a slumber party between talking about makeup and dresses and boys… maybe girls, too.”
Midnight couldn’t help but notice something was off with his tone when he first rebutted Screwball, however.
Pinkie was already giggling. “It was kinda like that, only without pajamas and beds and at a café. And see? That’s a good start! Now maybe you could do something that would make both you and Midnight laugh!”
Midnight groaned. Just once she’d like to be left out of whatever test the bearers had cooked up. “Can he try it on someone else?” she asked.
“From what I’ve heard it sounds like you need a laugh most of all, Middy!” Pinkie said.
“Don’t call me “Middy”,” the kirin growled, “and don’t you even THINK about it!” she yelled when she saw the grins on Discord’s and Screwball’s faces. “Say it even once and you automatically get stoned!”
“Don’t threaten us wid a good time, man,” Discord said with an accent, now wearing a beanie and sporting a thick mustache.
“You gotta stay mellow, man. Don’t freak out, man,” Screwball said slowly, now sporting a beard and mustache, glasses, and a bandana. Both were also wearing shirts with the number 420 on them.
Midnight looked back at Pinkie, fangs grown out, and waved at hoof at the two chaos creatures.
“Oookay, maybe we should leave Midnight out of this one,” Pinkie said diplomatically. “How about we just start things off with a joke? As long as it isn’t a mean one.”
Discord flashed back to normal, thought for a second, then grinned. Another snap and he was now dressed in a three-piece suit with a fez hat between his horns. Another snap and he had a microphone in his eagle claw. With a voice that was somehow both gravelly and a bit high pitched he said, “my ex still misses me, but her aim is getting better!”
Nobody laughed.
“Her aim is getting better!”
“No stealing jokes!” Pinkie yelled, “or at least use good ones!”
“I got it!” Umbra said. “I think?”
Midnight just groaned.
-----------------------------
The blink was a long and slow one. “Twilight,” Midnight said in an even tone, “I expected something more… original from you. Why are we just repeating what we’ve been through for the past five days?”
The kirin was referring to the set up the unicorn librarian had put together both inside the library and right outside. It looked like she’d taken a little something from every other bearer’s test and slapped it together.
“Well, I had hoped to find a reform spell to help if Discord and Screwball were still unruly after all the other tests…” she started, looking unhappily at her bookshelves.
“Wait, wait, wait, there are reform spells?” Midnight asked, “As in spells that change a person on a fundamental level? Shouldn’t those kinds of things be locked away someplace only the most responsible folks can get to?”
“Oh, they are!” Twilight said with a nod. “They’re locked away in the Canterlot Library Restricted Section and I think only the princesses have access to them. I just wanted a hint of how they are done so I can try and nudge them in the right direction is all.”
Midnight leaned forward, her eyes disturbingly wide and focused on the purple unicorn. “Smarty. Pants.” She said, poking Twilight in the chest.
“Oh, come on, Midnight! It could possibly get that-!”
“SMAR. TEE. PANTS.” The kirin repeated, poking her with every syllable.
“It wouldn’t get that bad!” the unicorn grumbled.
“What’s “Smarty Pants”?” Wild Mane asked, picking up on the reaction his captain was having.
“Yes, what exactly is that?” Discord said, leaning in with Screwball leaning over his head. “It sounds like a chaotic good time!”
“Nothing either of you need to know about,” Midnight said, pointing up at the chaos creatures, “and something I need to brief the rest of you on in case we have a repeat,” she told Mane.
“I won’t-!” Twilight started.
“Can we focus on what we’re doing today?” Midnight asked, interrupting her again, “and be told why this looks like a make-up exam?”
“Am I going to be allowed to explain!?” Twilight asked exasperatedly. When all Midnight did was blink again and look at her expectantly, the unicorn finally did so with a huff. “All I know about the Element of Magic is that it appears when all the other Elements are present and is the spark of friendship. As the two of you,” she pointed at Discord and Screwball, “have been practicing with the others all week, I felt that combining them together might do something of the same. Furthermore, they aren’t exactly the same or even in the same order.”
She pointed towards a small table with four chairs around it. “We start off with Kindness, where they have to get to know someone for fifteen minutes. I think Fluttershy is right that kindness is a good starting point for friendship. Oh, and you’ll pick someone that isn’t Midnight; you’ve been including her all week and using her would be cheating in a way, so you’re going to have to learn about someone new.”
Discord and Screwball grumbled. “With her attitude she shouldn’t be considered training wheels,” Discord said, “more like a mountain bike on an obstacle course. And since she’s our parole officer, wouldn’t it be best to actually get to know her better?”
“You’ve been living with me ever since you got out,” Midnight growled, “so you’ve had plenty of time already. And even if you did spend that time genuinely interested in me, then this would again be too easy for you. Either way, I’m not a part of things this time. Thanks for that, by the way,” Midnight told Twilight.
“From there you move on to making someone laugh,” Twilight continued, “and then do the truth game you did with Applejack. From there you’ll just design a dress for someone and only a dress design, no gifts! Finally, go through the obstacle course outside with someone. This is all based on how you do, not how fast you can do it. You’ll get a better score if you take your time and do everything correctly.”
“Spoken like a true teacher’s pet!” Screwball said.
Discord chuckled and snapped a claw. With a flash, Twilight was wearing a fake dog muzzle and ears and a cardboard cutout of a crudely drawn Celestia was standing next to her. “My Twilight does so good!” Discord said in a horrible attempt to imitate the alicorn. “Does Twilight want pets? Yes she does!” He proceeded to tap the cutout, hard, on Twilight’s head.
“Can we PLEASE get this started!?” Midnight demanded, giving the draconequus a death glare.
“Fine, fine, just having a little fun is all, no need for such a hostile attitude,” Discord said, snapping away the cutout and fake dog parts. He grabbed Wild Mane and proceeded to join Screwball at the table, where Private Sundial had already been seated.
Midnight dragged a hoof down her face.
The first fifteen minutes of the test passed smoothly enough, the four at the table attempting small talk of any kind to keep the flow of conversation going. When the talking was done Discord and Screwball attempted to make their conversation partners laugh, which was done relatively smoothly, despite Mane’s attempt to keep a straight face.
They’d both passed Pinkie’s test the day before rather easily once they seemed to work the snide out of their systems. Well, Discord did, at any rate. Screwball seemed to have snide for days and in the end had just barely made them all laugh while Discord was doing it like a pro. Midnight even thought he’d turned over a new leaf at that point for a minute. That changed when he’d been back to his old self at dinner but this time she could see a real change in his actions, like he was being a pain almost because he was expected to be, rather than from true malice. Laughter and Kindness seemed to be getting through to him the most and maybe he was starting to change, or at least be reminded of how things used to be, like Fluttershy had said.
It was at the Honesty part that things started to go downhill in Midnight’s opinion. While Private Clover was reaching her hoof into the box to feel what was supposed to be a rubber chicken, Discord looked over at the observing kirin and unicorn and gave them a smile Midnight didn’t like.
“It’s kinda funny, don’t you think? Wanting me to be truthful when dear old Celestia hasn’t been, though it’s more like a lie of omission but our apple framer friend says that’s just as bad,” he said as Clover pulled her hoof out and confirmed he’d told the truth.
“What are you getting at now?” Midnight asked as she rolled her eyes.
“Well, I remember you telling me while Screwball and I were still in stone that Celestia and Luna confirmed that all the kirins from when I had yet to be a pigeon roost were dead and that it was the General of Equestria’s army Steel Spark that was responsible.”
“I remember telling you that right before slapping a fresh squirrel hide onto your face,” Midnight confirmed. She ignored Twilight’s stare of disgust and horror. “What? Angry that Celestia actually told me something before you could drop it on me?”
“Well, I’d be lying if I said I wish I’d been the one to tell you,” he said with a wave of his claw, which snapped and something else appeared in the box. “But I can at least tell you she didn’t tell you something about his legacy, something I’d want to know if I was charged with protecting certain someponies.”
Midnight and Twilight shared a confused look. “What’s in the box, Discord?” Midnight asked, annoyed.
“What’s in the box!?” Screwball yelled, startling Dandelion just as he was confirming that his object was a lemon custard pie.
“Just something in black and white I think you should know,” he said, knocking on the box before moving over to start designing a dress. “It’s a scroll, by the way.”
“As per Twilight’s rules, I’m not getting involved,” Midnight said with a dismissive snort.
“Think of it as extra credit!” he called back.
“Ooo!” Twilight said, her eyes widening with excitement.
“Seriously!?” Midnight snapped at the unicorn, but shook her head and went over to the box anyway. “I swear if there’s something in here that’s hairy with too many legs…” But Discord was indeed telling the truth and she pulled a thick scroll out. It began unrolling as soon as it was free and finally stopped a few steps away from Twilight. Turning the scroll around she read what was at the top of the page. “Steel Spark Family Tree,” she said as Twilight joined her.
Below the title was what looked like a standard family tree, with lines under two different names converging to point at one or more names that continued down the scroll. Steel Spark was at the top, connected to somepony who Midnight assumed was his wife with a single name below and between them that had to be their child. Going down the tree, both Midnight and Twilight noticed that one line was colored purple and was leading from Steel Spark himself down the ages. They focused on this line, not sure what the draconequus was getting at until Twilight spoke up. “Hey, this is my great-grandfather!” she said, pointing to a name once they were near the end of the scroll. As soon as she said it, Midnight knew exactly where this was going and a few more names down the line confirmed it.
Twilight was related to Steel Spark through her mother’s side.
“I’m just saying,” Discord said from above them, making them jump, “It seems like a sick joke to make Storm Vine’s grand-niece look after the oh-so-great granddaughter of her murderer.”
Looking back towards the dress designing station, Midnight saw a pinned up dress design with a stamp of approval by Private Duster, who was standing by it and now looking nervous.
“And it makes me curious,” the draconequus went on, “if you would have still agreed to the position if you’d known all this before.”
Midnight looked back at the scroll, looked over at Twilight who was giving her a nervous look as well, then back up at Discord. “This was your grand plan? Using a family tree to get me to distrust Celestia and Twilight? Then what, I’m just supposed to join you because you added a few details to stuff I already know?”
“Stuff you had to figure out on your own by reading between the lines of Celestia’s “point of view”, as it were. At least I would have been a straight shooter from the start,” he told her as he approached the obstacle course. He pulled a bow and a bent arrow out of thin air and shot at the course. The bent arrow spin like a Frisbee until it hit a target behind him. “Put a sword right through her chest himself, as I understand it.”
“Midnight, I’m so sorry, I didn’t-!” Twilight started, but Midnight plugged her mouth with a hoof.
“Do you hate non-ponies?” Midnight asked.
“Of course not!” Twilight said once Midnight removed her hoof.
“Do you plan on betraying me and the two other known kirin?”
“Again, no!”
“Then this is all just him stirring a pot. You’re not Steel Spark, I’m not Storm Vine, and this isn’t fifteen hundred years ago,” Midnight said as she rolled up the scroll. “Just have Spike send this to the princesses; fifty bits he swiped this from some archive.”
“So, you’re not mad? You don’t feel like Princess Celestia was keeping things from you?” Twilight asked as she levitated the scroll to a nearby table.
“I’ve gotten an impression of Celestia and how she feels about what happened back then,” Midnight said. “I also feel that she’s been tip-toeing around it to the point that the only thing I’m annoyed by is her not just saying it and letting me decide how I feel about it myself and getting on with my life. I can understand why she’d like to keep this particular detail hush-hush but we’ve known each other long enough that this doesn’t change anything.”
Twilight looked over at the draconequus as he fell off a platform. “It’s like he’s trying to make you angry,” she said, unknowingly echoing Shoal.
“Yep, and I think I’ve figured out why,” Midnight said, a fang poking out.
The next day found everyone who had been at Discord’s and Screwball’s release back in Midnight’s yard, all sans the princesses, who would be coming by later due to royal duties and had sent a letter telling them not to wait, about half the guard, who’d hear the results later as Midnight wanted to start getting them back on normal rotation, and the changelings. Honey wanted both her people and Squeaks someplace relatively safe in case Discord and Screwball decided to put up a fight. Shoal was resting in the trees beside the cliff behind the house. Midnight, Discord, and Screwball sat in the center of the gathering, the two chaos creatures waiting just like everyone else for the kirin’s final judgment.
“Right,” Midnight said, going over her notes one last time when she saw everyone that needed to and could be there was. “Let’s get this over with. When it came to Generosity, you both failed horribly. When it came to Honesty, you actually told the truth but were still nasty about the whole thing and did try to lie. So, pass and fail. Kindness… you pass. I don’t know how, but reminiscing about your past made you actually okay to be around.” She looked up at Discord, eyes narrowing. “By the way, I’m gonna circle back to that, so keep it in mind. Loyalty, I give it both a pass and fail as well. We finished the course but you just had to be what we call a sore winner. When it came to Laughter, you pass. Maybe that’s not surprising to some but the fact that you made others laugh while not hurting anyone surprises me. When it came to Magic, that’s another pass and fail. You did everything you were supposed to but the whole Steel Spark family tree thing was uncalled for and was not in the spirit of friendship.”
She looked back up at Discord and Screwball, then surprised everyone when she threw the clipboard away. “My final verdict? It doesn’t matter what we do because it won’t fix the real issue. Both you AND Celestia won’t let the past go and are determined to make it everyone else’s problem.” Discord’s eyebrows went up in surprise but she pressed on. “That dig at Twilight’s ancestry was what made me realize it. You’re so angry at being rejected by all your friends when you went tyrant and then found out your actions caused the death of the kirins that you can’t accept that we’re not as bitter and resentful as you are, so you do everything you can to try and split us apart. Celestia’s barely any better, thinking she can recreate how things were and feels our bonds are so fragile that revealing what happened will turn me against my friends. Luna, who spent a thousand years on the moon, understands the world moves on better than you two and, frankly, it’s pathetic.”
Stunned silence hung over the yard.
“Daaaaaamn!” Rainbow loudly whispered.
“We’re the pathetic ones!?” Screwball yelled, “Oh yeah, it’s real pathetic of us to live our lives how we see fit, not confined to how you ponies want us to be!”
“Screwball, shut up,” Discord said evenly, still staring down at Midnight.
“You want to know what’s pathetic? You ponies living such boring lives, blindly following rule after rule that someone else made up!” She got down into Midnight’s face. “Ponies that let your kind die, by the way! What makes you think they won’t do it again!? Because you’re friends!? Really helped last time!”
A lion paw clamped itself onto Screwball’s head and pulled her back. “I said to shut up.” Discord said dangerously, then turned back to Midnight, pushing the chaos pony away in the air. He stepped forward to tower over the kirin and the earth shook as Shoal got up on her hind legs to tower over them all in response. Midnight just stared up at him, her face not one of anger or fear, but of plain disappointment, and that was somehow worse to everyone watching, including Discord. “You have no idea what it was like, living under the Platinums, having everyone turn on you when the point was to make Equestria a better place to live and, yes, take my own freedom,” he said. While he looked angry his voice was just as calm as Midnight’s face and that, too, made everyone around nervous. “You don’t know what it’s like to be stuck in stone for one and a half millennia, knowing that one of your closet friends was killed because some idiot lost his marbles at the idea that one of my kind could be born again, only to discover that not only does he have living descendents after all these years but that the one being who is still around who’d been there was teaching them as if it wasn’t a problem at all. I’ll admit that I did some selfish things but with how screwed up this world is why give a damn?”
“Because it’s not as screwed up as you like to think it is,” Midnight countered, her eyes briefly flicking over to Sapphire and Squeaks, “and there’s always a reason to give a damn, even when you don’t think there is. I may not have gone through all you have, but I’ve had my share of low points to know that to be true.” The draconequus and the kirin stared each other down. “When the princesses get here, I will talk with them and the bearers to decide if we let you stay free or not.” Midnight finally said.
Discord snorted and the anger on his face dissolved into once of acceptance. “Not that it seems to matter anymore but there’s one more thing that I know Celestia didn’t tell you about your aunt and the other kirins.”
Midnight raised an eyebrow. “You certain about that?”
“If she had then that would have been the first place we went after you all freed me,” he told her. “I’m quite sure Celestia would have used Storm Vine’s grave as a way to guilt me into cooperating.”
Despite herself Midnight’s ears perked up. “And just where is this grave you claim exists?”
“Right smack in the middle of the old castle you and your guards are currently using as a base. How overgrown it is I have no idea, but it’s there. With all Celestia apparently left behind, I know she didn’t have time to relocate over thirty graves. Go and check if you don’t believe me; you can ask her when she gets here what stupid reason she had for not telling you sooner.”
“I could just wait until she gets here and then we could all go together,” Midnight pointed out.
“After what you just said about the two of us, do you really trust her to just take you there as soon as you ask or will she just waffle again, promising to take you later when she’s ready?” the draconequus asked.
Midnight snorted but silently agreed. It would be faster to check for herself now than wait for Celestia and Luna to arrive and then push through the alabaster alicorn’s hemming and hawing until she agreed. If what he said was true, then what she said of traps scattered through the old castle might have been a cover as well.
“What’s the point of telling her this now?” Shoal rumbled form above.
Discord grinned up at her. “Like Midnight said, I’m a bitter old draconequus and I want to throw something in Celestia’s face. I’ll even sweeten the pot; if the graves aren’t where I said they were, then just turn us back into stone, no discussion needed.”
“WHAT!?” Screwball shrieked.
“Deal,” Midnight said, then turned to the bearers. “Either of them puts a body part out of line while I’m gone, stone them anyway.”
“You really trustin’ him?” AJ asked, eyeing the chaos creatures as they began to argue.
Midnight shrugged. “Not much I can actually do if they try to escape and enough guards are here that you should get the Elements going in time if he tries to attack. More than that,” she looked back at the two, “I think he is telling the truth, both about the graves and his wager.”
“Well, if you’re sure, then be careful, darling,” Rarity said. “Those old ruins may or may not have traps, but they’re still falling apart in places.”
“She’s right,” Sapphire said, coming up to them, “please be careful.” Arina, who was on Sapphire’s back, chirped worriedly.
Midnight nuzzled her and patted Arina with a wing. “A few loose bricks don’t worry me. Besides, I won’t spend too long looking if they’re where he says they are. I’ll be back before you know it.” She took off, gaining altitude so she could be level with Shoal before heading towards the castle. “They try anything, squish’m,” she told the dragon. Shoal nodded with a smile and the kirin took off over the forest.
-----------------------------
“It should just be down this way,” Midnight said as she and Private Primrose moved through the halls of the old castle. The kirin had landed in the courtyard and grabbed the first guard she’d come across to join her in looking for the graves. While she was sure she could handle anything they came across, an extra pair of eyes and someone she could send for help wouldn’t be a bad idea. Even Arina wouldn’t be able to help if Midnight herself was knocked out.
While the castle halls could branch off in many directions and she hadn’t seen anything from above, the halls were straight enough that Midnight was sure they were closing in on the center. In fact, she felt this hallway was curving around it and they just needed to find another hall to their right to get there. They hadn’t run into anything like traps yet, just a few scurrying mice or rats and more cobwebs than Midnight cared for. There had been a few noises from deeper in the old castle that neither pony nor kirin liked. Just because they hadn’t run into any traps didn’t mean there weren’t real dangers.
As they moved Midnight used her fire to light the torches still hanging from the walls and after lighting yet another one, she noticed something about the wall opposite it. The brick all looked the same but a line of stone broke up the pattern. Following it, she found that the stone line looked like the start of a new side hallway leading to the center of the castle. Whoever had bricked the entrance up had done a good job of disguising it if one didn’t notice the entranceway frame. “I think we’ve found it,” Midnight told Primrose, “just stand back a ways.”
When Primrose was clear, she gave the wall a firm buck. There was the tiniest give in the brick and the wall felt less solid than it looked. “That’s promising,” Midnight grunted and bucked again, the wall beginning to bulge inwards noticeably where her hooves hit. She bucked again after checking to see how the wall was moving and then a fourth and fifth time. On the sixth buck her back legs went through and she scrambled forward in case the entire wall came down. It didn’t and the old mortar seemed to hold the rest of what she hadn’t bucked away in place. With the frame still intact, none of the brick in the rest of the hall seemed to have been affected, either.
Now, with more confidence she wasn’t about to drop a ton of bricks onto their heads, Midnight motioned for Primrose to help her move more of the wall out of the way, in some cases they were actually able to pull back the wall as if the mortar was made of some kind of putty. Once enough of it had been cleared away, Midnight could see light and green at the end of the new hall they’d just opened up and her pulse began to quicken. “Careful, private,” Midnight said, though it seemed like she was saying it more to herself than the pegasus, “we don’t know the hall’s condition or why it was bricked up. Let’s stay of the tips of our hooves.” Primrose nodded and they began moving down the new hall.
There wasn’t much different about this hall than the other ones, made of the same bricks and with old torches hanging from the walls but there was a scent of fresh air and living plant life that wasn’t present in most other parts Midnight had been in. She couldn’t make much out of the space beyond the end of the hall as there was what looked like vines covering most of the end of it but she could just make out what looked like a sunny, overgrown lawn just beyond. If that was true, then there had to be some kind of illusion spell over the top of the castle to stop anyone from coming in from above.
She was just wondering why the princesses would want to hide the graves of the kirins when something felt off about her next step, like she’d just stepped on something that wasn’t like the rest of the floor though it all looked the same. “Back!” Midnight yelled, beating her wings backwards instinctually, Primrose doing the same.
Primrose, who had been behind her, got clear.
Midnight did not.
She slammed against a wall that hadn’t been there before as the floor under her began to glow in a circle that she was now trapped in. The wall she’d slammed into was invisible but when she placed a hoof against it the spot shown with the same glow. “Damn it,” she growled, then turned to the worried Primrose. “Go back the way we came, exactly, and get the word out that I set off a trap in here,” she ordered calmly. “Have a message sent to the princesses the second someone is able to. Twilight might know how to disarm it but then again she might not.” From the looks of it, she’d set off a similar trap to the one that Twilight had back in the Crystal Empire. That hadn’t dispelled until Sombra had been defeated, so it was a coin toss if Twilight could do this one herself. If this was anything on the level like the lock Celestia had used for the Elements, she didn’t fancy the unicorn’s chances.
“Yes, ma’am!” Primrose said with a salute before flying back down the hall the way they’d come. Midnight wasn’t too worried about her predicament; this look like it was just designed to hold her and with someone knowing what was going on she wouldn’t be there that long. Just in case, she closed her eyes and focused on contacting Arina to get the message out sooner.
That was when she began to itch all over.
-----------------------------
“The princesses are coming!” Shoal, who had stayed standing ever since Midnight left, announced. Everyone looked in the direction of Canterlot and saw two chariots approaching, one gold and one dark blue with pegasi escorts.
“I don’t like this,” Sapphire said to Windrunner, “she should have been back by now.”
“It takes time to look for something no-one else has apparently found,” Windrunner told her, “and she’s nowhere as fast as Dash or myself. She’s still within an acceptable time to be gone.”
“I still don’t like it,” the blue pegasus told her, “call it a hunch.”
“I see you’re not stone again,” Celestia said as her chariot landed, “that’s good to see.”
Discord smirked. “Well, when Midnight gets back we’ll see how long that lasts. At least I’ll get a laugh before I go.” He shot a look at a fuming but silent Screwball.
“Where is your parole officer?” Luna asked as she stepped off her own chariot and nodded at the assembled creatures, “she should be here to let us know what thine fate is.”
His smirk grew into a grin. “Back at your old castle, making up her mind. I can’t wait to see your faces when she asks you why you haven’t told her how Storm Vine’s grave has been under her nose this whole time.” There was silence as the two alicorns stared at Discord, shock and horror growing on their faces. “That’s the look!” Discord said and started laughing.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done!?” Celestia yelled.
“Gotten one last petty lick in before I’m turned back to stone!” he guffawed.
“You just sent Midnight into a trap meant for thee, moron!” Luna yelled.
That got him to stop laughing. “What trap?”
“We weren’t sure how long you’d stay in stone,” Celestia said through gritted teeth, “so we set up several traps around their grove and sealed it off soon after everyone left! We thought it would be the first place you’d go after you got free!” She and Luna were already taking wing.
Sapphire was about to hop into the air as well when Arina started chirping wildly. Turning her head, she saw the spider’s eyes glowing and she was waving her front legs to get their attention. “It’s Midnight!” Sapphire called out, “she’s contacting Arina!” Everyone turned to look at the spider but before she could communicate anything she suddenly jerked like she’d been hit and nearly fell off Sapphire’s back. Windrunner caught her and the spider let out one more long, weak chirp, like she’d just run herself ragged. Sapphire felt a hole in her stomach.
“She has activated the trap!” Luna said, distressed. “It’s already draining her magic!”
“So? It’s not like she has much magic to begin with,” Discord said with a dismissive wave of his lion paw. “It’s not like it’s gonna take much.”
“That trap was designed for you!” Celestia snapped. “It won’t just stop when it drains her magic, it’ll start draining her life! That trap could kill Starswirl! You have such vast reserves we had to make it that powerful!”
Once again, there was silence.
“Oh,” was all he could say, realization sinking in.
Shoal took off without a word, her wings creating a wind storm as she took off. Sapphire and Windrunner were in the air next, followed by every other flier present. Those stuck on the ground began running down the path.
“Let us pray thine need to be vindictive has not resulted in another kirin’s death!” Luna snarled as she and Celestia took off for the castle.
Discord stood there for another second, things he hadn’t felt for a long time rising back to the surface. Feelings he’d long suppressed and turned into others. “I… I didn’t…” he said weakly, then grabbed a silently snickering Screwball and shot off after them. They’d run into Private Primrose and other guards on the way, coming to confirm what the three immortals feared.
-----------------------------
Midnight couldn’t think straight for very long now nor keep track of how long she’d been in the trap. At first she’d simply felt more and more tired, like something was sapping away her energy. She hadn’t been able to keep in contact with Arina for very long, just enough to let the spider know she needed help before the connection was abruptly severed. Soon after the pain had started to build and she found herself weirdly being both tired and in pain at the same time. It was like she wanted to just lay down and close her eyes but was also being hit with hammers all over her body which was keeping her awake but making her even more tired, keeping things going in an ever worsening loop. Whatever the trap was doing to her, it wasn’t going to end well.
‘Hurry up, Primrose! I really don’t want another hospital visit!’
The pain increased again and she heard herself gasp, then heard several other gasps and cries of alarm.
‘Oh thank the makers!’
“Midnight! Midnight, can you hear me!?” she heard Luna shout.
She forced an eye open and fought the tiredness and the pain to keep it open. There was Celestia and Luna, looking at her from the other side of the trap’s barrier. She could see that Sapphire, Windrunner, and a whole bunch of others were with them, mostly her guards but she could see a few of the bearers in the crowd as well. Almost out of sight she could just make out Discord’s mismatched head coming into view. Had he known about the trap or was this as much a surprise to him? All she cared about right then was getting free.
“I… would like… to come out… now…” she gasped, every word a strain.
“We’re working on it,” Celestia assured her, both her and Luna’s horns glowing brightly as they worked on the millennia-old spell. “Just hang on a little longer!”
“How much longer does she have!?” Sapphire asked, lifting a hoof as if to reach for the kirin.
“Do not touch it!” Luna snapped, “if you do it will drain you as well!” Several of those who had gathered close pulled back at that. “The spell is old and complicated. Twill take time to unravel it enough to pull her out.”
“What about unicorn magic?” Twilight asked, “can we help?”
“Unicorn magic will just be absorbed as well!” Celestia said, a drop of sweat beading down her face.
“What if we batter her out of there?” Someone suggested. “We should be able to push her out of it with a log!”
“If it was that easy she could just walk out of it!” Someone else retorted.
“It won’t let her out; you’d just be making things worse!” said yet another voice.
As Discord watched from his place at the back of the crowd, his eyes looked past what was going on to the green curtain of vines and the open space beyond. Storm Vine was there, her grave anyway. He hadn’t seen her since he and Screwball had first been hit by the Elements and he’d never seen her grave, though Celestia had told him about it.
Midnight had been right. He hated to admit it, but she was; he was nothing more than a pathetic, angry, vindictive fool. At the time he’d thought he’d be making Equestria a better place to live for everyone if they would just listen and he’d even had a brief moment of “I told you so” when Celestia told him what had happened barely a month after his imprisonment. It had swiftly turned to guilt, which he redirected into anger because how was it his fault that Steel Spark was just as much a raging speciesist as his beloved queen? When he and Screwball had gotten free, he’d gone right to trying to punish Equestria for what it had done to him and his old friends. He hadn’t even tried to see Storm Vine’s grave then; he just cared about getting what he considered justice. Justice that had ended in nothing but pain for everyone the first time he tried. Now, because he just had to have one more jab, because he wanted to be justified for how things had turned out, Storm Vine’s grandniece, right in front of her grave for makers’ sake, might… might…
The shouting nearest the trap was getting louder, then he heard Screwball yell “What are you-!?”, then there was pushing and more shouting and then his lion paw had been jammed through the wall of the trap and was reaching for one of Midnight’s hooves.
“Discord!” Celestia yelled, “what are you-!?”
“Keep working on it!” he groaned as he pushed further into the trap. Already he could feel his magic being drained but he ignored it. “Give me your hoof!” he shouted at the kirin, “or your wing, tail, anything!”
Midnight had closed her eye but now opened it again, locking her blue draconic one with his red and yellow.
“I didn’t know it was here!” he continued. “This was never what I wanted! None of it was!”
“Get out of there, you idiot!” Screwball yelled, grabbing his wings and trying to pull him back. “You seriously want to die for her!? She hates you!”
“I won’t die,” he grunted, “I can come back; she can’t!”
“Yeah, but I-!” Screwball stopped as her hooves passed through his wings. Her whole body had become translucent and was slowly fading as the chaotic magic that came from Discord which had created her was absorbed by the trap. “Oh, you all can suck donkey ba…” Her voice faded away as she did.
“Don’t weep for her too much,” Discord said as he got another inch closer to Midnight, “she was just a manifestation of…” He grunted, now in pain. The trap was working faster than he thought it would and he was now in up to his shoulder. “She fed off my anger. She would have been gone either way if I accepted what you were trying to do! Midnight, meeting in the middle would be a lot of help!”
The blue eye stayed locked on his for another second, looked down at the paw, then looked back up at him. Their gaze held, then her hoof began to slide over to him. They were an inch away from each other, half an inch, a quarter… one last hard push by both and Discord’s paw firmly grabbed Midnight’s hoof. Half his chest and his dragon leg were now in the trap as he began twisting to pull the kirin out. He was sweating hard with the strain of pulling Midnight out while fighting to hold on to his magic reserves. Celestia and Luna were right about how powerful this trap was. He’d have to ask them later why they didn’t try this on him all those years ago.
“Almost… there…” he told the kirin. His paw and her hoof were near the trap’s edge now. He could feel the resistance of the trap wall but already had a plan ready to go. Once he’d pulled her close enough, he extended his still free eagle claw and the tips of the talons began to glow. “If I ever do one thing right, it’s going to be… THIS!” He brought the claw down on the outside of the trap wall. When it connected, it blew the side wide open for a second and Discord used that moment to fling Midnight clear of the trap and into waiting hooves. The momentum, however, pushed him fully into the trap and it closed around him. “Yeah, this is gonna suck,” he grunted. At the same time, though, he smiled as he saw practically everyone outside the trap converge on the kirin, all sorts of emotions on their faces.
“Discord… you…?” Celestia said as she continued working on the trap.
“Just… keep working on it… Tia…” he said, grimacing at the pain and exhaustion. “I used… a lot of magic and… and I have a lot of… making up to do…”
-----------------------------
Midnight woke up sometime later, mercifully in her own bed and not in a hospital. She felt like a towel that had been wrung out far too much and was sore and tired. Even though she’d just woken up her body was already begging to go back to sleep. She wanted to fight through the tiredness to get up and show everyone she was alright but something warm and furry at her side stopped her. Looking down she saw Squeaks curled up and sleeping at her side.
No, she wouldn’t get up. It was a sudden epiphany to her that getting up to show she was alright would have the opposite effect because she wasn’t alright. That trap had done a number on her, whatever it did, and doing anything besides fully recovering was just going to make the ones she loved worry all the more. They didn’t deserve that but she felt they did need to know she was getting better. She was just about to lean over and wake Squeaks up so she could let someone know when the door softly clicked and swung open. Sapphire was bringing in a glass of juice when she saw the kirin was awake. She quickly put the glass down on the night stand and examined Midnight.
“Are you alright?” she whispered, gently stroking her marefriend’s face with a wing. The soft feathers felt like a balm to Midnight.
“Tired,” the kirin admitted, “and more wrung out than I’ve ever felt in my entire life. I just wanted to let you know I was up, even if I want to go right back to sleep. How long…?”
“Three days,” Sapphire told her, “which is about how long the princesses said you’d be out for, given your healing ability. They said that once you woke up and could eat you should start to recover faster but they think it’ll take at least two weeks for you to fully recover.”
Midnight nodded. “What about Discord?”
Sapphire bit her lip. “Drained, just like you. The princesses managed to finally undo the spell before it could do anything permanent to him but he’s apparently knocked out just like you. I can’t believe he actually did that, risking his own life to get you out of there.”
“I can’t believe it only took a week and a few harsh words to get through to him,” Midnight said, laying her head back down on her pillow. “Then again, I thought I felt something change in him the day we saw Fluttershy. How’s Screwball taking it? She seemed pretty pissed last time I saw her.”
Sapphire flinched. “When Discord rescued you, she just… disappeared. Apparently her existence was tied to Discord’s magic and his feelings of anger. Between rescuing you and the trap, he just couldn’t maintain her anymore.”
Midnight blinked at her owlishly. “I’d say that chaos creatures are weird but… chaos.”
Sapphire nodded. “If you think you can stay up, I’ll get you something small to eat.”
“I think I can do that much,” Midnight agreed.
“And then straight back to bed!” the pegasus told her with a determined eye.
“As long as it’s not for the rest of my life, I’ll stay in this bed as long as you want me to,” Midnight assured her then frowned when she saw Sapphire get a funny look on her face. “What’s wrong?”
“You should stay in that bed recovering for as long as possible… but when you can, I’d like you to see Shoal. She’s been hovering around the house ever since we brought you back here and asking us every time we go outside how you’re doing,” the pegasus explained.
“She’s been weird ever since we let Discord out,” Midnight mused, “but I’ll talk to her. Ask the princesses if sunning myself will help my recovery; I might be able to do both at the same time.”
Sapphire nodded and got her some buttered bread which she quickly wolfed down then went back to sleep. She woke up on and off for the next couple of days, only eating and drinking when she woke up with a bit of conversation when she stayed up longer to break the monotony. Once she was able to stay up for more than an hour, she convinced Sapphire to let her lay out in the sun. The heat of the summer sun felt good and while she nodded at Shoal, who was hovering near the cliff behind the house, she barely stayed awake long enough to get properly situated before passing out. It wasn’t until she woke up several hours later as the sun was beginning to set that she finally talked with the dragon.
“So, what’s been going on for the past week and a half?” Midnight asked.
Once again the dragon looked embarrassed. “After what’s happened, I don’t think you’d appreciate me asking you to wait, would you?”
“Is it something that would really, truly shake me to the core?” Midnight asked with a grin.
“It… just might,” Shoal confessed. “But since you’re still recovering now might not be the best time.”
She’d meant it as sort of a joke, figuring that Spike, Spine, and her to some extent had just set off some kind of motherly instinct in the dragon. The look on Shoal’s face told her it was a bit more serious than that. “Well… unless you’re about to tell me you know where my dad is, I don’t see how it could affect me much.”
Shoal looked unsure and didn’t say anything for a few minutes, then took a steadying breath. “It’s about why I know your father and grandfather,” she said. “I… met your grandfather Firestorm about a century after his clan left Equestria. I never subscribed to the whole thing about how dragons are supposed to be fierce and independent while wyverns are supposed to be weak and have to rely on their families to get by. I was quite a mommy’s girl when I was still young; I always like the idea of having a close family like wyverns did. I was big even back then, so when I met him, I found him out in the open and alone, so you can guess how nervous he must have been.” She chuckled at something only she could see. “But he got over that nervousness soon enough, as well as a few other things. By this time I was following the clan around, from a distance so as not to antagonize them but close enough to not lose them.”
“So, did you end up babysitting my dad after he was born then? I’m surprised my grandmother would allow a dragon to babysit her son, even if you were on good terms with the clan.”
There was a twinkle in Shoal’s eye. “The clan never knew I was there, I don’t think. If they did they never saw me as a threat as I always kept my distance. Your grandfather came by to see me as often as he could. Then, one day, he arrived to find that I’d built a nest with a single egg in it.”
Midnight blinked and her eyes started getting wide. “Wait…”
“I can’t tell you how entertaining it was to see him freak out when he saw it. I felt sorry for him when he agonized over how to tell the clan and I suggested he wait until the egg hatched first before telling them. It was a good thing, too, because when the egg finally hatched out came a perfect little wyvern with blue horns and a blue belly. About the only thing he got from me was his size because according to Firestorm, Little Windy was big for a hatchling.” She snorted in amusement, “Windstorm was big for a wyvern his whole life. When I finally stopped following the clan he was a good head and neck taller than any other wyvern in the clan with larger wings to boot.”
“Wait, you and Firestorm… but Firestorm is my… and Windstorm is… but you and Firestorm…” She knew exactly what Shoal was telling her but it was like her mind refused to let the dots connect. “But I look like a kirin born from a wyvern. If you’re… if my dad is half dragon, then shouldn’t I…?”
Shoal shrugged. “For some reason your father’s wyvern genes were always more dominant; again, except for the size. Apparently that stayed true when he and your mother made you.” She looked down at Midnight with concern. “You’re not… angry, are you? I didn’t want to say anything at first because I wasn’t one hundred percent sure but since I am now, I couldn’t help but get protective over my granddaughter.”
Ganddaughter. Holy sweet makers.
“I’m not mad, just…” Midnight rubbed the side of her head, “wow, this is… this is a lot to take in. I never knew mom’s parents either. Suddenly I get how Squeaks was feeling when she first met mom.”
“You were quite a shock yourself when we met at the dragon migration,” Shoal said and things began to click for Midnight. Shoal’s sudden interest in her when she told her she was from the Storm Clan, that motherly smile she’d given her when they’d finished talking for the first time, her wanting to join the Bearer Guard for seemingly no reason. It all suddenly made sense.
“So, now that that’s out of the bag, what do we do now?” Midnight asked.
“I’d still like to be part of the Bearer Guard, even if I haven’t been as much of a help as I’d hoped I’d be,” Shoal said, rubbing the back of her head.
Getting knocked out by crystals, not being around when Trixie took over the town… yeah, Shoal hadn’t exactly given the best impression the first few times they could have used her help. Then again, Midnight had lost to both the hydra and Chrysalis while she was a wyvern and no-one gave her a hard time about it. “It’ll happen,” Midnight assured her.
Shoal smiled and leaned over, nuzzling Midnight with the bottom of her jaw. It was surprisingly gentle for such a large creature and Midnight leaned into it, growl-purring. To her surprise Shoal made a growl-purr of her own, vibrating the kirin’s whole body.
“I should head back inside,” Midnight said with a yawn, “Sapphire will worry if I don’t go in soon.” Shoal nodded with a smile. As she reached the door, Midnight turned back to the dragon, who cocked her head questioningly. “Um, by the way, should I start calling you grandmother now, or grandma, or…?”
Shoal chuckled. “I don’t mind if you keep using my name, especially as Captain of the Guard, but it would make me happy if I was called “grandma” every once in a while.”
Midnight smiled. “Then good night, grandma. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Shoal smiled back. “Good night, Little Midnight. Sleep well.”
-----------------------------
The four of them stood in the Kirin’s Grove, the first real visitors the place had in probably over a millennia, other than whoever had come and cleaned up the place recently. The vines over the entrance were gone, the grass was cut, weeds pulled, and trees trimmed. At a glance one would think they were up in one of Canterlot Castle’s gardens. Midnight and Discord still looked a bit haggard but they were both staying awake for the most part for the past few days so it was agreed they were recovered enough to visit. It helped that the princesses were there for support if they needed it.
“So, this is my great aunt Storm Vine,” Midnight said, looking up at the statue in front of her. The graves were arranged in a “U” shape, with Storm Vine’s grave sat at the top of the half circle part. She agreed with the others that it was a very life-like statue, almost as if what had happened to Discord had happened to her and the rest of the kirins as well. If only that had really been the case. She also had to agree that she really did look a lot like Storm Vine; paint the statue blue and black and you’d probably confuse it for a statue of Midnight except for the tail blade.
“Whoever did this work did one heck of a job,” Discord said, looking around at them all. “Put some paint on them and it would look like they’re just frozen in time.”
“That’s part of the reason we sealed it up,” Celestia told them, “it hurt too much to look at them. I caught myself almost patting a cheek, telling them to stop playing around.” A tear trailed down her muzzle. “Even after all this time…”
“That was when we set up the trap,” Luna said, “we feared thee would someday break out and thought thou would come here first.”
“Any reason you didn’t use it on me the first time?” Discord asked. “Seems like it would have been a lot less trouble to cast instead of hunting down the Elements.”
“For one thing, the area has to be prepared, which you would have never fallen for,” Celestia explained. “For a second, we only figured out how to power up the spell as much as we did about a hundred years after you were imprisoned and had to come back and reapply it.” She turned to Midnight and bowed her head. “We have already discussed it and have decided to push up how important it is to clear the castle of all traps and information left behind. While no other traps of that strength are here, there are still plenty more and none of us wish to put your guard in any more danger than it needs to be.”
“I appreciate that,” Midnight said with a nod.
“There will be architects and masons as well, to shore the castle up into a proper, safe fortress,” Luna added.
“I know the rest of the guard will appreciate that, too,” Midnight agreed.
There was a soft *tink* sound and the three looked back at Vine’s statue to see Discord up close to it, his eagle claw holding something. “She kept it,” he said softly as they came over to see what he was doing. In his claw was a kirin-shaped pendent with a gem that looked to be many different colors set in the center. “After everything, she kept it.”
“What is it?” Midnight asked.
“A present I gave to Vine right before I had my… episode,” Discord told her. “I expected her to throw it away. Even I didn’t know what it could do, so it wasn’t like she had a reason to hold on to it for something.”
“She did express a desire to be rid of it at first,” Luna told them, “but then decided to hold on to it on case thine senses were found. After we imprisoned thee, she was kept too busy to the end to decide what to do with it.”
“I think it became a symbol of hope for her, so we put it here with her,” Celestia explained. “It’s good to see it has survived the long years as well.”
Discord gave Midnight a sideways glance. “It’s not exactly my place, but it would be nice to see it on a kirin again, especially one that is related to Storm Vine.”
Midnight looked up at him, as did the two alicorns. Then the sisters looked back at the pendent, then to Midnight, then back to the pendent again. “It would be nice…” Celestia said slowly.
“May thy be once again reminded that she is not Storm Vine?” Luna said with exasperation. “Next suggestion will be to dye herself green!”
“If I agree to wear it,” Midnight interrupted, “will you stop comparing us? If she was here I’d bet she’d be just as annoyed by it.”
Discord and Celestia looked away with fake coughs. “I can agree to that,” he finally said.
“I can as well,” Celestia agreed.
Luna rolled her eyes but charged up her horn and gently, carefully, undid the clasp behind the statue’s neck and levitated it over to the living kirin. Midnight move her mane to expose her neck and Luna wrapped the necklace around it, redoing the clasp so that it stayed put once she released it from her magic.
Midnight looked down and examined it. She was never that big on jewelry, preferring to eat it or simply not deal with it. This, however, felt right. “You know, if we ever find the Storm Clan, I think grandpa will be happy to see me with this.”
“We can dye you green, too, and give him a heart attack,” Discord suggested.
Midnight flambéed his tail but it was a smaller fire than she would have used before.
-----------------------------
Marina watched as the female owl harpy absently bit a chunk off her peppermint stick. Snow had been in a mood for more than a week and they'd all noticed. They’d arrived almost two weeks ago and had spent the first couple of nights just exploring it. They were barely used to the small houses made on the northern side of the Great Swamp; sky scrapers covered in lights were a marvel to them. Once they started looking they found out quickly that if you weren’t a pegasus, unicorn, or earth pony you stood out like a sore talon. Even if Midnight Storm looked generally like a pony, there were several things about her that would stand out, even here and they’d found nothing that came close to looking like her. There weren’t even any ponies with black fur; at best a few had dark grey coats.
“I’m sure we’ll find her,” Marina tried to assured Snow, guessing at what was bothering the owl harpy. “It’s just a really big place to look.”
“Yeah,” the owl harpy muttered as she finished chewing. It was known that some creatures took requests and orders from the wyverns as almost sacred and could be fanatical in carrying them out, even if it was something as simple as delivering a message. She couldn't imagine Snow as one of those, not after the way she'd acted on the flight south, but perhaps feeling that she was so close to her objective but no longer making progress was finally getting to her.
Snow huffed, put the remainder of the candy in her pouch and took off, Marina following close behind. They were checking the shadier parts of the city tonight, both figuratively and literally, including some of the docks. If Midnight had become a fisherpony and was working one of the boats, that would make it harder to spot her than it already seemed to be.
“I’m surprised that there’s only the three kinds of ponies around here,” Marina said as they flew, trying to engage Snow in small talk to try and get her mind off of what was bothering her.
“Patriarch Firestorm said that very few others stayed behind. They probably all have left by now or have died out,” Snow told her.
They flew on for several more hours, looping back around several times to see if they saw anything new from a different angle or if their quarry had come out of a building. Ponies were steadily leaving the streets so it would be easier to spot her if she came out after everyone else went to bed.
Just as they were looping back around again, they saw Shade and Orestes flying towards them. “Hey! What’s up?” Marina asked as they got close.
“We found something!” Shade said and they all descended to a nearby roof. Upon landing, Shade motioned to the male owl harpy and he put down a large piece of paper with writing and black and white pictures on it.
“This was left blowing about in a park,” Orestes explained.
“Orestes, we can’t read that,” Marina reminded him.
“True, but this is easy to understand.” He turned the paper over and pointed to one of the pictures with a talon. In it was a crowd of ponies in a line all dressed in the same outfit. Well, most of them were ponies; three were thestrals and one looked like a griffon, but the one to the side…
Snow’s light purple eyes went wide and she fished out the picture she’d been given. Holding it up to the picture on the paper, she got even more excited. “That’s her! That’s Midnight!”
“Okay, great, but where is she? Like Marina said we can’t read whatever they’re saying about it,” Shade pointed out.
“I’ve been studying a few maps that are at that place with the tracks those loud machines roll on,” Orestes said, “and I recognize a few of the words, particularly these two,” he pointed to “Canterlot” and “Ponyville”. “According to the maps, they’re both due west of the city.”
“Good job, Orestes!” Marina said.
“Hate to admit it, but she’s right,” Shade said. Marina smacked him with a wing.
“Alright then,” Snow said, her mood visibly improving, “let’s head west.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Midnight grumbled as she stared down at the letter she’d just gotten. Windrunner and Hazelnut, who were with her observing the guards training in the courtyard, gave her a questioning look but she just waved them away with a wing. It was her first day truly back on the job after recovering from the trap she’d set off just over two weeks ago and already the princesses were asking her to do something. At least it wasn’t to babysit Discord, even if he was “reformed”.
While all the uninterrupted cuddling with Sapphire and Squeaks had been a nice change of pace, she’d been determined to get back to work when she started staying awake all day and didn’t feel like she’d been hit by the express train. It just wasn’t in her to lay around all day, even if it was what made her housemates, marefriend, and even daughter feel better. As the reports she’d gotten while recovering had made it seem like all was quiet and calm back at the ruined castle, she felt that she could, at the very least, sit in and observe how training was going and possibly do some paperwork. After discussing it with Sapphire and promising she’d take it easy she’d gone ahead to the old castle.
Not without escort, however. Her grandmother had shepherded her to the castle practically the moment she’d stepped outside and had made a place for herself just outside the walls of the training yard closest to where Midnight usually observed from. While the kirin was grateful to not have to deal with any of the forest's native predators, she still didn’t like feeling babied. Then again, there really wasn’t much she could do or say to stop the dragon so she lived with it.
The revelation of her true relationship to Shoal had made the times she was awake interesting in ways the kirin wouldn’t have thought of before. First there was the fact that she was finally learning things about her father that she could never have from the few years her mother knew him, like how adventurous he was and how it drove her grandfather crazy at times. Next was how Squeaks took to learning that the giant dragon that could flatten Ponyville just by tripping was in fact her great grandmother. Points to the little thestral; she DID talk with Shoal, though from the perceived safety of under Midnight’s wing as the kirin sunbathed. Finally was how Summer and Shoal got along. The unicorn had been just as shocked as her daughter and had been nervous to approach her newly discovered mother-in-law. Summer had come over to pay her respects but soon found herself swapping stories of Windstorm with Shoal, who wanted to know how her only hatchling had met his wife and how he was doing the last time Summer saw him. By the time Midnight had started going back to the castle, Shoal was seen as another member of the family.
Her guards welcomed her back and it was obvious that no-one, that she saw training, anyway, was slacking while she was recovering. She stopped at the Kirin’s Grove to pay respects to her aunt and the other kirins, then went to her office and began going through the more detailed reports when she felt tired all over again. Ever since the Kirin’s Grove had been opened, guards had supposedly seen things moving in the shadows. No-one had ever gotten a look at it but those that had seen it out of the corners of their eyes agreed that it was small so everyone wrote it off as some kind of mouse or rat that had been disturbed and that was that.
At least until Dandelion had seen it. Then the shadow grew, had glowing yellow eyes, made stones slide and wood beams creak, shook old suits of armor, and stalked guards wherever they went. He may or may not have also claimed it was the ghost of her great-aunt, released from her tomb to haunt ponies.
To Midnight and others, mostly the lieutenants and sergeants according to the reports, this was just a load of stories from a bored guard. To the rest it was enough to convince them that the old castle, if not out-right haunted, at least had something moving around in it that none of them wanted to meet while alone. It was frustrating to give a guard a patrol only to find them later either asking others to join them or for them to have conveniently found other work they just had to do instead. Midnight had cornered him when he’d come back from patrol that day and forbid him to tell any more stories. If she found out he was still flapping his gums, she threatened to give him a post in the darkest, most scary looking part of the castle they were free to still roam around in and keep him there until the stories died out or he grew old and retired, whichever came first. The corporal had emphatically promised to keep his mouth shut. It wouldn’t stop the stories right away, not with them being spread throughout the guard already, but it would bring down the fervor and, in time, become something just to spook future recruits.
Now, to be fair, there were legitimate threats scattered through the old castle, as Midnight had learned first-hoof. There were other traps that needed to be disarmed by either Celestia and Luna themselves or highly skilled unicorns for starters. A lot of magic was still in the castle, either having seeped into the very stones themselves or from the many magical books that had been left in the library, which attracted magical creatures like bookwyrms and mistforms. The books themselves could be traps or have sensitive information. Other creatures could have moved in as well in the thousand-plus years the castle sat as ruins, like cockatrices or mimics. Even the ruins themselves could be a hazard with crumbling stone bricks and rotting beams that could fall onto someone without warning. The guards had enough on their plates with what could really hurt them without being spooked by shadows and campfire stories.
Thankfully, that had been the worst of it and the following days passed with relative ease. Midnight was even starting to fly again, though not without everyone telling her to take it easy and not to push herself so soon. The itch to get back into the air again wasn’t helped when Ember finally did so under her own power at the same time. The little kirin just wouldn’t stay on the ground after that and it made the older kirin want to be airborne even more. Maybe once she was fully recovered she and Sapphire would go on a flight to Canterlot and back; just a day of thermals and breezes and maybe a picnic in the clouds. It was a wonderful thought.
Speaking of kirins, Norik was also adapting to life in Ponyville and seemed to be doing well. His cabin had been finished during the week Discord and Screwball were undergoing their little reform and Midnight had sent a letter to Eden to keep her son in Canterlot until the issue had been resolved. After the incident with the trap, Eden had brought Norik back to Ponyville and the teen had practically made a bee-line to Zecora when they’d been told what had happened.
Apparently his teacher had told him about potions that could restore magic and energy in ponies and he wanted Zecora to teach him how to make it. The zebra agreed, but only on the condition that he only made enough of it for one dose. “A sip a day is all that you may,” the zebra had warned Midnight when she and Norik had come by with the potion, “otherwise those you love will fret; you will be just like Trixie with the amulet!”
“It can corrupt me if I drink too much, got it,” Midnight said as she had inspected the green liquid. It didn’t look all that appealing to begin with. One taste, though, and she wanted to chug it all right then and there, not to mention she felt almost completely better and could have flown to Canterlot and back at full speed. Thankfully they had only given her the sip from a separate small glass and Sapphire had already hidden it by slipping out the side door and given it to Shoal to hide in the woods. Midnight eventually placated herself by eating through more of her gem stores than she normally did and despite feeling better stayed rested up in the house. Games with Squeaks helped pass the time. She kept up the swallow a day just on the off chance that an emergency happened but one thankfully never did and Zecora disposed of the potion once Midnight’s original allotted recovery time was done. While she was grateful to both Norik and Zecora for the pick-me-up, Midnight suspected it was why she was fidgety near the end. Once she was officially off sick-leave she’d gone and hunted down the biggest buck she could find.
Despite that, because of what had just gone down with Discord and Trixie before that, not to mention the almost back-to-back runaround that had been the changeling invasion and the Crystal Empire’s return, she was ready for the rest of the summer and maybe even the fall up to and past her birthday to be nice and quiet.
So of course the princesses decided to drop something else into her lap in the form of a letter popping out of a puff of smoke from the dragon fire lighter Midnight kept in her saddle bags. Midnight had caught it in her wing claw as it fell from the puff of smoke and let out a sigh of resignation and thought of asking Shoal if wyverns took naps as long as dragons did. Deciding that she was an adult with adult responsibilities, she broke the seal, unrolled the scroll and began reading.
Captain Storm,
We hope you are doing well and have made a full recovery. With what has recently happened we are reluctant to pass this along but we’ve received a request from the chief of Hollow Shades police, Night Stick, that you come back to Hollow Shades to help with an investigation of attempted break-ins happening around the town. While this would normally be something you wouldn’t be bothered with, the apparent culprit(s) are not ponies nor are they kirins (unfortunately) but something else altogether. He feels that you and your guard would be the best ones to help with this matter and Luna and myself agree. Not only are you able to turn into a wyvern and your grandmother is a dragon, but your ranks have some of the most action orientated guards of all three branches. If anyone could be relied upon to get such a job done in full, it is the Bearer Guard. We again understand you have just finished recovering, however we know your officers and know how capable they are and they’ve already proven they can handle themselves when they escorted Twilight and her friends up to the Crystal Empire recently. You yourself do not need to go and you can assign an officer to go in your place. Chief Night Stick will understand. Please reply as quickly as possible.
-Princesses Celestia and Luna
“All the things happening around here recently and they want to send us off to do police work in another town?” Disgust was clear in her voice and both Windrunner and Hazelnut looked at her again. “Don’t worry about it,” she told them, pulling out a piece of paper and writing a quick letter back to them.
Princesses,
Absolutely not. This is the BEARER Guard. If Chief Night Stick is so worried about a creature stalking the town that doesn’t sound like a kirin, send some Solar and Lunar guards. I’m sure they can handle running off some animal. The Bearer Guard has more important things to keep an eye on.
-Midnight
The short note disappeared in the flames of the dragon fire lighter that she quickly put back in her saddle bags. She snorted, just realizing what Sapphire would say if she ever read the letter she’d just sent to the Equestrian Royalty. “I’m not getting a real break anytime soon, am I?” she grumbled.
“Is everything alright, ma’am?” Hazelnut asked.
“We can handle things here,” Windrunner offered.
Midnight waved a wing at them. “Nothing the Bearer Guard should have to worry about and I’m fine,” she assured them, giving her wings a quick flap and standing up straighter. “All we need to worry about right now is getting everyone to do their job properly without jumping at shadows.”
Windrunner and Hazelnut both rolled their eyes and looked back down at the drilling guards. A minute later, a sound came from Midnight’s saddle bags and another puff of smoke came out of them, becoming another scroll and being caught by Midnight before it fell. The kirin stared at the letter for a few seconds with tabled eyelids, then opened it just as Windrunner was about to say something.
Captain Storm,
Based on the report of what you and your guards saw last time you were there, about these “giant owls”, it’s clear to us that whatever is living in the forest around Hollow Shades would be more than a match for the Solar and Lunar Guard, even with the experience of the thestrals of the Lunar Guard. I believe I should remind you of the owlursus you encountered some time ago as an example of why the Solar and Lunar guard might not be able to handle the situation in the best of ways. The Bearer Guard has the most physically powerful fighters in its ranks, as well as the most experienced when it comes to dealing with wild creatures, so it only makes sense that it would be the Bearer Guard who takes on this assignment. There’s no need to send the entire guard or, again, even yourself, as you do protect the most valuable assets in all of Equestria. However, a detachment to perform a full investigation with the HSPD is warranted. Lives may be on the line if what happened to the farmsteads out there are to be believed. If something truly worrying is indeed happening out there, we will not hesitate to send reinforcements as soon as possible. One of your lieutenants leading a small team should be enough to investigate the matter.
-Princess Celestia
P.S.- Luna volunteers the thestrals of the Lunar Guard if you feel that helps in any way.
Midnight sighed resignedly as she finished reading. “She has a point,” she muttered. For a few seconds she contemplated just going there with Shoal to burn the entire forest down, then decided she was once again being overdramatic. Instead she began mentally going over the roster to choose who to bring with her.
“Captain?” Hazelnut asked.
“We’ve gotten a request from Hollow Shades via the princesses to help in an investigation there for something that is stalking the town. As there’s a chance that what is there could be on par with an owlursus, the Bearer Guard is the one getting the assignment,” Midnight told her two lieutenants, pulling out the first letter and handling them both over. “I’ll make up a small team to bring with me while the rest of you stay here.”
“According to this you don’t need to go,” Windrunner said as she finished reading the letters, “and you really shouldn’t. You just finished recovering from that trap.”
“I can handle it,” Midnight told her dismissively.
“Sapphire will agree with me,” the pegasus said, turning to fully face her. Shoal’s head lifted from where she was laying and cocked towards them. When Midnight stopped looking into the distance and turned to look at her directly, she continued. “You just had most of whatever magic you have sucked out of you by a trap that could have killed you and while you may be recovered that’s no reason to immediately jump into another situation. Lieutenant Hazelnut or myself can put together a team and go ourselves while you stay here and keep an eye on the bearers. You didn’t have a problem with us going to the Crystal Empire on our own.”
Midnight studied her First Lieutenant and friend, then sighed. “Windrunner, whenever the bearers have gotten into real, serious trouble that requires the Elements, when have I NOT been physically injured? I’ll grant that when Discord got free the first time it was you who got hurt worse, but I still got my share of scrapes. When Chrysalis invaded I took a good beating and those crystal statues weren’t going soft on me and now just this last time when we set Discord free, well,” she motioned towards herself. “Not to mention the hydra, Spike during his greed-growth…”
“Little Spike went through a greed-growth?” Shoal asked, leaning over to hear better.
“I promise to explain later,” Midnight deflected. “I think the only times I wasn’t hurt was with the owlursus and the bunyips.”
“You’re trying to say that you’d actually be in more danger here with the bearers if something went down than out hunting some unknown creature in a pitch-black forest?” Hazelnut supplied.
“Basically, if the angle you’re going for is my safety,” Midnight agreed.
“And you wouldn’t throw yourself into the fight while out there?” Windrunner asked a little hotly.
Midnight raised an eyebrow. “And I wouldn’t do the same here?” the kirin countered.
“Well… you..” Windrunner stammered, trying to argue. “Fine, you have a point there,” the pegasus conceded. “But you’re also the one that usually comes up with a solution or, at the very least, keeps everyone’s head level enough to think straight. If you’re not here, things could go sideways faster than Rainbow.”
“So you’re saying that, contrary to what the princesses think and that I agree with, my officers are not capable?” the kirin asked casually.
“Midnight!” Windrunner practically growled. “Why won’t you let us do this? You were hurt and don’t need to go! Shoal should hold you down until the train leaves!”
Said dragon chuckled.
“Because I need my best and brightest here where they can actually do some good if something goes wrong, not running around a pitch-black forest where there might not be anything at all!” Midnight snapped back. “I want to go, not only because I firmly believe that there’s a reduced risk of me getting hurt again so soon if I leave the bearers in your care, but because no-one else is going to have the audacity to tell Night Stick and the princesses to go jump off a roof if it comes down to that. How long are either of you going to stay in Hallow Shades even if you don’t find anything just because this was a request from the princesses?”
The heat died in Windrunner’s eyes and both she and Hazelnut looked guilty.
“Exactly,” Midnight said, “Sapphire’s right that it’ll get me in trouble one of these days but I feel it’s necessary to push that particular envelope on a regular basis. Weird as it sounds, I think it’s good for them, too. I know Luna appreciates the discourse over being surrounded by yes-ponies.”
“That is because they are practical thinkers,” Shoal said, “and practical thinkers get tired of yes-beings easily. Is there any chance I could be part of your small team? As I understand it, when you dealt with the owlursus you needed your wyvern form to end the problem; I could be a good substitute in case more than that comes up.”
Midnight examined her grandmother thoughtfully. “Knowing Hollow Shades, there’d be panic. That said, having you just step on whatever is out there would make things easier. As for me not having a problem with you all going up to the Crystal Empire,” she said, turning back to Windrunner, “that was you performing normal guard duties, so of course I’d have no problem with it.” From what she’d heard from Windrunner, she hadn’t missed much except some exasperation. From what she’d heard from Arina, Squeaks had saved her a headache by not sneaking off with the CMC.
Windrunner sighed, knowing she’d lost the argument. At least her friend and captain would have a Tartarus of a body guard. “Sapphire won’t like this,” she warned again, “and shouldn’t you take more than a small group? Shoal can’t be everywhere you can.”
“I’d feel better keeping most of the guard here in Ponyville, where the fan seems to be getting thoroughly caked as of late,” Midnight said. “I’ll take a carefully chosen team with me so that we have some advantage over whatever is going on out there and that can hold out if we really need those reinforcements.”
The two officers looked back at the courtyard. “Maybe take Dandelion to get him out of here?” Windrunner suggested. “It might help with the ghost stories issue at least.”
“Not a bad idea but this IS Hollow Shades; he’s just as likely to come back with even MORE stuff to make everyone jumpy,” Midnight said, rejecting the suggestion.
Hazelnut nodded. “He would.”
The kirin sighed. “I’ll let Sapphire know, get that out of the way, then go over the roster tonight. I should have a list ready in the morning.”
The pegasus and the kirin did indeed argued about Midnight going when she’d been told what was going on. She had to admit, just like Windrunner, that the kirin made good points and the idea of Shoal watching over her helped sway the pegasus. “I want two more ponies to go with you as well then, since you’re not going to listen,” she finally demanded.
“Okay, who?” Midnight asked, genuinely curious.
“First, I want Lieutenant Iron Ore there. I want at least one medic there because who knows how tracking down a creature like the princesses are describing will end up. That, and I like how she stands up to you.”
The kirin nodded. “Fair enough; I did like her answer during the interview.” Despite herself, Sapphire chuckled. “And the second?”
“Me,” Sapphire said, “I’m going with you. I trust Shoal to keep your best interest in mind but I want extra insurance. The more voices telling you not to do something, the more likely you are not to.” Sapphire sighed and nuzzled her marefriend. “You just have this way of making me worry.”
“It’s not like I go out of my way,” Midnight told her, nuzzling her back.
“No but I wish you’d think of how Squeaks and I feel about it more often.”
“Duly noted,” the kirin said, growl-purring.
-----------------------------
They nearly woke up late the next morning and had just made it to the training yard as the guards were changing shifts. Midnight rounded up her chosen roster and took them to the side to brief them on the mission. Windrunner and Hazelnut took the officers to the other side to explain what was going on.
Midnight’s choices were First Sergeant Night Sky, Corporals Scarlet Claw and Lance Breaker, and Privates Amber Armor, Autumn Pillar, Milk Run, and Bright Dawn. Night sky because she had been to Hollow Shades before and had seen what was most likely the cause of the trouble as well as her night vision, Scarlet for her tracking abilities, and the others to round out the main part of the team with a single earth pony, two pegasi, and two unicorns.
Buzz and Trill were there because Honey had been asked at dinner if she could keep an eye on Squeaks while they were gone, thus finding out about the mission. She liked the idea of Midnight going about as much as Sapphire did and had forced her own two choices to be added to the list, namely two of her guards. To be honest Midnight liked the idea of having two changelings on this mission as they could sneak around so much better than any of them could. It might even be safer for them to enter the forest, though she’d only send them in if she really had to.
Arina was going as well, of course. Midnight, Sapphire, Night Sky, Buzz, and Trill all had dragon fire lighters and Sapphire pointed out that if anything was going wrong in Ponyville there would be ample ways for them to get told about it, so leaving the spider behind didn’t make sense. Midnight pointed out that the smoke and noise would be worse than silently telling Arina to give her a minute but caved when Sapphire further pointed out that Arina could sneak around places much better than any of them could sans the changelings and they could give her backup. This brought the team up to fourteen members. It wasn’t as easily divisible as Midnight had hoped if they needed to split up for any reason but it would have to do.
“The mission for our little group here is to head out to Hollow Shades to investigate possible hostile creatures poking around the town,” Midnight explained. “The plan is to go in, discover whatever has gotten the natives’ dander up, deal with it appropriately, and then get back ASAP, hopefully in time to help with whatever has gone side-ways this week.”
“Why are we going?” Private Armor asked. “Shouldn’t we be here, protecting the bearers?”
“Corporal Claw,” Midnight said, turning toward the hippogriff and seeming to ignore the private’s question. “When we fought the owlursus, about how many guards would have been needed to subdue it had I not gone wyvern?”
Scarlet thought for a moment. “I’d say at least a couple dozen? It wouldn’t make things easy so you could even need double or triple the numbers to finally take it out.”
Midnight nodded. “And the Solar and Lunar guard can’t just send over fifty guards to a town at the drop of a hat, not to mention that would all be just for one creature. I was given reports that there may be more than one of whatever is out there.” The reports she’d been given when she told the princesses yes had indicated more than one pair of eyes being seen.
“If it’s such a dangerous creature, then how come there haven’t been any reported casualties?” Private Milk Run asked.
Midnight nodded at him as well. “What anyone who hasn’t been to the town before won’t know is that there have been many attempts to set up farms out of and around the town, just like Sweet Apple Acres is not within Ponyville proper. Every single one of these attempts have failed and the owners of these farms either leave the town in a big hurry… or are never seen again and their fates can only be guessed at. It is believed that whatever is getting those farmers is what is now poking around the outskirts of the town.”
Something that stood out to her in the report the princesses had passed along was that there hadn’t been another attempt to set up a new farm in a while. If something had started seeing ponies as a somewhat regular food source out there, it wouldn’t be surprising that it would start sniffing around the town. It was possible that it wasn’t doing more than peeking through windows because the presence of so many buildings spooked it in return. If that was the case, that would only hold off the inevitable for so long.
A quiet descended over the group until Corporal Lancer Breaker spoke up. “Y-You mentioned that Specialist Shoal will be coming with us,” he motioned to the dragon on the other side of the castle wall, her head poking over to listen, “but what about Private Long Spine? Shouldn’t he be going with us? If these creatures are starting to come into town, she won’t be able to help us.”
“While it’s important for us to be as safe as possible, I cannot take so many with us that the bearers can’t be guarded sufficiently. Private Long Spine will remain behind so the guard here at home has some muscle.”
“What about Private Umbra Shroud?” Night asked. “Wouldn’t her ability to move through shadows be helpful in a place like Hollow Shades?”
“She had problems back in the Empire with almost getting lost in very shadowy places,” Midnight explained. “Hollow Shades is practically made up of shadows, so it’s better to keep her here.”
“And I assume that Corporal Dark Cleaver and Sergeant Star Claw are staying behind for the same reason as Private Spine?” Night added.
“Correct. That said, we will be having help when we arrive. The princesses have offered to send some Solar and Lunar guards to help, five thestrals and six ponies to be precise. The thestrals will be extra eyes and ears at night and the ponies will patrol during the day, hopefully reassuring the townsfolk that everything is under control,” she paused for a second, “and that Shoal isn’t going to eat them.” She’d asked for guards from the other two branches to be in the town with them so that someone could help Night Stick and his police keep the townsfolk calm while her guard did their work. She didn’t need fear-rattled ponies in her ear when she needed to focus.
The brief explosion of snickers quickly died away and took some of the tension with it.
“Also, we have the changeling guards Buzz and Trill going with us. I’ve seen first-hoof how they can change into animals that can toss some weight around, so we won’t be completely helpless if the creatures move further into town.”
“One more thing, captain,” Night Sky said. “The last time we were there, the three of us saw those big owls over the forest. Wouldn’t it be better to have more flyers if that turns out to be the case?”
“Except we don’t know for sure,” Midnight pointed out, “so I’d rather have a well-rounded team so we won’t be caught flat-hooved. Specialist Shoal can handle whatever we can’t.”
“I’ll do my best,” the dragon said.
“So, if there are no more questions, then everyone get ready and meet up at the train station in one hour.”
The group dispersed and Sapphire sidled up next to her. “I’m glad that you’re saying that Shoal will take care of things, but I’m still worried you’ll jump in to help her if there’s more than one of whatever is out there.”
“Not to jinx things but unless Shoal somehow can’t handle an entire flock of those oversized owls, I doubt I’ll need to go wyvern,” Midnight told her, trying to dismiss a sudden thought of a gang of dragons descending on the town.
-----------------------------
They met Chief Night Stick and the Solar and Lunar guards at the train platform when they arrived in Hollow Shades later that evening. “Chief Night Stick,” Midnight said with a nod.
“Captain Storm,” the officer replied with a nod of his own, “thank you for your help with this. Ponies have been getting more and more jumpy; a unicorn just blew a hole in his wall last night when he thought he saw something outside his window. Speaking of ponies being jumpy,” he looked up into the sky, “is your, um, special weapon close behind you?”
“Shoal is going the long way around,” Midnight told him. “She’ll be landing in the woods nearby after dark. If anything is waiting near the town, she’ll scare them off. Before dawn she’ll move towards one of those abandoned farms to hopefully stay out of sight. Speaking of which, I’d like the location of those farms; if what is bothering the town now is the same thing that caused ponies to abandon them, I want to steak them out to see if they’ll come back if Shoal doesn’t flush them when she gets here.” She was about to turn and address the officers of the other guards when she added, “the ground is going to shake a bit when she lands as a heads up.”
Night Stick nodded in understanding. “Since you’re going into those woods, I suggest you remember what I said the last time you were here and NOT get separated. For me, anyway, something as big as a dragon close by actually make me feel safer in a way.”
Midnight nodded back to him, then she turned to the thestrals of the Lunar Guard first. “Lieutenant Star Chaser, it’s good to see you again.”
“Yourself as well, ma’am,” Chaser said with a slight bow, “I can only assume you want us to act as scouts during the night.”
“I do but your group and Night Sky will be the tip of the spear should things go down tonight. I plan to have the same schedule I kept the last time I was here; awake for half the night and then half the day. As you most likely won’t see any ponies out and about after dark you probably won’t have to deal with the public that much. You lot, on the other hoof,” Midnight turned to the Solar guards.
“Sergeant Sharp Eye, ma’am,” the head of the group of Solar guards said, saluting with a white hoof.
“Sergeant, you and your guards are going to have one of the toughest jobs here: keeping the townsfolk from panicking. If they do they could hurt themselves, each other, one or more of us, or even give whatever is stalking the town a chance to make a move. I don’t see a need to have you go into the woods but still be prepared to just in case. If we have a worse-case scenario go down, it’ll be all hooves on deck.”
“Understood ma’am. Will any of your guards be joining us during the day?” he asked, looking at the rest of the Bearer guards present. His gaze swept over the changelings but didn’t linger on them, Midnight noticed.
“More than likely we’ll be spending the day time patrolling the abandoned farms, so only tomorrow morning before I get up should the two guards mingle. Only if someone gets injured enough out there will they come back here and at that point I doubt our medic will allow them back on patrol so soon.”
“Damn right,” Iron Ore said just loud enough to be heard.
“In short if we start truly combining the guards, things are going south in a hurry,” Midnight continued. “That said, do keep an eye out anyway; who knows what these creatures may be up to and since ponies here barely even look at the forest, they might be missing something very obvious.”
Sharp Eye nodded. “We’ll keep an eye out, ma’am. I was in Canterlot during and after the changeling invasion, so I understand how a spooked populous can get.”
“Really?” Midnight said, studying the earth pony carefully. Arina, who had been sitting quietly on her owner’s back, leaned over to see him better and made an unsure chirp.
“Yes, and I can assure you I personally harbor no ill-will towards them, as do none of the guards with me,” he told her, his volume dropping a few levels. “Captain Holly was rather specific on that point.”
“I appreciate that, sergeant,” Midnight said, “it gives me one less thing to worry about. Now,” she said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “with your permission, Chief, we’ll set up in the inn again. As the Bearer guard will be moving out to inspect the farms tomorrow, we shouldn’t be a problem for the inn-keeper for long.”
“Rumchata was pleased with how you all acted last time,” Night Stick said, “so I doubt he’ll have an issue with your group staying again.”
“Let’s hope this stay ends on a positive note as well,” Midnight said, motioning for them all to move off the platform.
“So you’re going to stay up for most of the night and wake up late the next morning?” Sapphire asked as they made their way into the town proper.
“It means not being around for the morning shift change, I know,” Midnight told her, “but considering I have better night vision than normal ponies I feel I should spend some time with the thestrals on night patrol like I did last time. I’d stay awake better the first half of the night than I would be woken up in the early hours of the morning.”
“That would better explain the sleeping on the train,” Sapphire admitted, having been worried again about her marefriend’s health when she’d immediately conked out once the train left Ponyville.
Before they had left Ponyville, they’d gotten into another argument, this time about what Sapphire would be doing while they were in Hollow Shades. Midnight wanted her to stay with the guards back in the town while Sapphire said she was going to go wherever Midnight was going. She’d already packed her personal set of hoof-blades.
“Why are you being so stubborn about this!?” Midnight had finally yelled. “You know what happened when the owlursus came to town!”
“Because something is going to happen!” Sapphire shot back. “I don’t know what it is but with Norik arriving in town and Shoal turning out to be your grandmother and finding your great aunt’s grave; I just know something is going to happen with you and your family and I… I want to be there with you when it happens. I need to be there. It’s like what I felt when you went away to the dragon migration, only worse. Call it a premonition or whatever but I know something is going to happen.”
Midnight had brought Sapphire in for a hug and wrapped them I her wings. “You know I would never abandon you and Squeaks,” she told her as they nuzzled, “not even if it meant losing my dad for good. You two are my family, too, you know.”
“It’s not just you choosing to leave us behind,” Sapphire said. “You’ve had more close shaves than I want to think about.”
“Yeah, I have,” Midnight agreed, “and it can’t be easy for you. All I can say is to let me focus on what needs to be done, and I should be able to come home each night. Other than the trap, all the other times have been to defend you and Squeaks, am I right?”
Sapphire had nodded. “I think that’s why this last time especially made me scared; because it was over something not worth risking your life for.”
“Makes sense,” Midnight agreed again and sighed. “Just promise me that when I tell you to do something, you’ll do it without hesitation. If I tell you to haul tail, I better see a blue trail like Rainbow’s or Windrunner’s going over the horizon. If you’re not in danger, then I won’t have a need to be in the meat grinder again, right?”
“Right,” Sapphire had said with a nod.
Back in Hollow Shades, Midnight leaned in conspiratorially as they approached the inn. “Had this not come up, I wanted to take a day to just spend time together, whatever we wanted to do. How about I make it a week?” she whispered, the last sentence being in a seductive tone. She smiled as Sapphire leaned into her. Arina, sensing her third wheel status, ducked into the saddle bag opposite of Sapphire.
“Normally I’d say to just keep it a day, but yeah, I’ll take a week,” Sapphire said, nuzzling her neck. “A nice, long week.
Midnight growl-purred.
-----------------------------
“So, this is one of the farms?” Milk Run asked as they landed, the cart holding the non-flyers creaking ominously in the quiet woods. The farm house they’d come down in front of looked older than any of them expected it to. What wasn’t covered with overgrown plant life was rotting or peeling and had the look of being abandoned for decades instead of the few years reported. It was the kind of place that foals would whisper was haunted and adults would keep clear of, both because of the structural instability and because they couldn’t help but feel the foals were right. It would have been right at home in one of Midnight’s horror novels.
“And the place we’re going to stake out tonight,” Midnight told him, carefully moving closer to the building. There might not be ghosts but there could certainly be something living in there that would put up a fight. She was thankful she already had her armor pieces on and ready to deploy.
The previous night had mostly been a bust. When Shoal landed things had indeed been sent running but nothing big had moved between the town and the dragon, so any hope of catching their mystery creature first thing was down the drain. The thestrals reported that they could see the giant owls far out into the forest, flying over the trees and Sky said there were more of them then last time but they weren’t coming anywhere near the town. Buzz and Trill, who had changed into thestrals themselves, agreed. Arina, who had been skittering between houses at the edge of town, hadn’t seen anything either. With Shoal there now, they probably wouldn’t anyway and they debated if the increase of numbers was due to Shoal scaring them up, like a cat jumping into a group of crows or pigeons. In the end nothing much else happened and without knowing for sure that the owls were responsible Midnight didn’t want Shoal going after them, so the next day after she’d gotten up they went ahead with the next part of the plan.
Not wanting to go into the trees and risk getting lost unless they absolutely had to, Midnight had arranged to rent a large cart to carry the non-flyers. If worse came to worse, Shoal could just pick it up and carry them all in it. It’s presence outside the house might also signal to whatever was out here that ponies were back and occupying it again, thus giving them a reason to come out of the trees. This would be further encouraged by Shoal staying where she was from the night before unless she heard any kind of loud commotion coming from the direction of the house. If she did, she’d be on the scene in a heartbeat.
“I want the place swept from basement to attic before we set ourselves up for the night,” Midnight told them as she carefully moved up the stairs, “the last thing we need is for something to pop up among us while something outside has our attention.”
They all followed her up the stairs and into the house, the front door being wide open. When they got inside, they discovered it broken in pieces on the floor and a closer inspection of the hinges showed they were almost pulled out of the frame. It was obvious something and broken the door down. “Looks like someplace you’d enjoy,” Sapphire said as she looked around the interior of the house which looked just as creepy as the outside.
“Someplace I’d enjoy reading about maybe,” Midnight corrected, moving down a dark hallway, “never said I wanted to live one of them. Everyone keep a partner!” she called out as they began to move into different rooms, “the last thing we need is for someone to get lost or hurt and no-one know about it!”
They cleared the first floor with only a few floorboards breaking in some places. Buzz found a set of unused candles while Private Pillar found a lantern and some oil for it. Midnight decided to save the candles for when night fell and the lantern for when they checked the basement and the attic. When Private Armor found some more oil, Midnight had them fashion some torches from thick sticks they found by the fire place in the living room and rags made from cloths they found in the kitchen and pulled off from the furniture and lit by her fire.
With the first floor done, they checked the basement/cellar with Midnight in the lead, a tongue of flame on her lips for both light and in case something was living down there. They all jumped out of their skins when a raccoon bolted out of the darkness only to get caught by the fire blast Midnight shot out. Other than that there were no other signs of life down there but cobwebs and mice dropping. They did find some planks of wood, nails, and tools down there, however, and took those upstairs to board up some of the windows to make it harder for anything to follow them inside. Midnight made sure to close up her armor before ascending the stairs back to the first floor. She would have taken the raccoon up with her as well so as not to waste food but she’d been more liberal with her fire in the heat of the moment. Whoever eventually discovered the charcoaled animal was welcome to it.
The second floor went about as easily as the first did though the beds and closets meant there were more corners and dark places to check. Several ominous dark patches on the walls and covers sent shivers up their spines but they cleared the rooms nonetheless. Once that was done they all picked rooms to set up in and prepared themselves for clearing the attic.
Midnight sent Private Pillar and Scarlet back outside to fly up to the attic windows at the back and front of the house to check if they could see anything first. They didn’t but reported that enough sunlight was going into the attic that they should be able to see well enough without the torches. Midnight decided to bring the lantern to check the darker corners anyway; the low ceiling of the attic rant the risk of getting caught on fire if they brought the torches.
They entered the attic with as much trepidation as they had the basement but when they made it up the flight of stairs and into it proper they eased up when Scarlet and Pillar were proven correct about how easy it was to see up there. Nothing was up there except more cobwebs an old furniture but Corporal Breaker gave them all heart attacks when he suddenly screamed like he’d seen a ghost. Spinning to see him, for a second they all thought he had seen a ghost when he pointed at something white a floating in front of him. As it turned out, it was just a mannequin covered in a sheet and Night Sky pulled it off and knocked it over to avoid any more jumpy nerves. “Definitely a good idea not to bring Corporal Dandelion,” Midnight muttered and everyone made a noise of agreement.
“Okay,” Midnight said once they’d regrouped back down on the second floor. “With the point of all this being to find out what has been stalking the town and it being believed that whatever happened to the farmers disappearing are linked, what we’re going to do is get this place ready for tonight. I want as many of the windows and doors on the first floor boarded up and blocked by furniture as possible. Once that’s done, get the second floor set up with the candles and even the torches, if they’re placed safe enough, to be lit once the sun goes down.”
“So, the plan is for us to become bait,” Ore said, giving Midnight an unhappy raised eyebrow.
“In a sense,” the kirin confirmed. “That’s why I want the first floor blocked as much as possible. The front door was broken down but the only evidence of… what happened is on the second floor. None of the windows were broken in, so whatever attacked can’t fly. It’ll try to come in via the first floor again, which will give us plenty of time to figure out what it is and either mount a defense or get Shoal over here to help us evacuate. If we have to we can back up into the attic and throw things down the stairs to block it off long enough to get the ground-pounders out of the windows and down to the cart and take off with them.” She turned to Scarlet. “While we’re doing that, I want you and Buzz or Trill to head outside and see if you notice anything unusual; game trails, footprints, anything that shouldn’t be near a settlement like this. We might get some idea of what we’re dealing with before we might face it tonight. Use the attic windows so we don’t have to worry about leaving someplace open on the first floor.”
“Will do,” Scarlet said, grabbing Trill and heading up into the attic.
“We should also get a fire going in the fire place,” Buzz added, “smell will carry farther in these woods than light.”
“Good point,” Midnight agreed, “see to that after the first floor is closed off. Arina, your job is to stay on the roof and keep an eye out from there. You might be able to see details but just seeing a shadow approach the house will be enough of a warning.” Arina chirped and hopped off to scuttle up the attic stairs behind Scarlet and Trill.
“Is this a smart idea; turning us into bait?” Sapphire asked as everyone began to move down stairs.
“Better than wandering around blindly in the dark woods,” Midnight told her before beginning to go downstairs herself.
“You didn’t say it’ll be alright,” Sapphire said.
“Because I don’t think tonight will be,” Midnight told her with a serious look.
Darkness fell quickly once the sun was below the horizon, the magical property of the trees surrounding the farm house swallowing what little light was left. Everyone was on edge and watched out of windows to try and see if any shadows moved towards the house. Midnight had thought that whatever was going on out here had mostly been in ponies’ heads with a few random attacks by known wildlife to keep the fear going. The broken front door had changed her mind along with the increased activity of the giant owls. Too much was now pointing to something indeed stalking around and while she didn’t like being bait, much less with Sapphire there as well, they’d made preparations for themselves to get out of the situation if things went pear-shaped, so now all they could do is wait and see.
Midnight had stationed herself in the room closest to the stairs leading to the first floor. With her fire and armor she’d be the first line of defense if something got in. Just as night had fallen they’d built up the fire in the fireplace so that they shouldn’t have to go back down to stoke it until at least past the kirin’s namesake and by then if something was going to attack it would have done so by then. Probably. Whatever had attacked the first time might have waited for everyone to go to bed, so having all the lights on might just be both a lure and deterrent. No-one was willing to let the lights go out, however, so it might take more than one night to coax whatever was out there into the open.
Sapphire was on the bed with Midnight, her hoof-blades on and ready. Everyone except Night Sky, the changelings, and Arina were waiting in a room as well. It really didn’t seem like anyone could sleep, though some tried before night fell. Nerves were too high from anticipation and fear to allow it, the reputation of the area and what they’d seen and expected exacerbating the issue. Night, the changelings, and Arina were on the roof, keeping an eye out for anything approaching. Night had reported via Arina that Shoal was up and looking in their direction, apparently able to see the light from the second floor despite the trees. That was good; they might not need to make a noise or send a signal for her to realize something was wrong.
Scarlet and Trill hadn’t found anything outstanding. Tracks were all over the place but most were either dog or wolf prints, probably timberwolf tracks. She thought she found one set of tracks that were weird but with all the other tracks in the dirt it was impossible to tell if they had simply been distorted or not. “If they’re shaped how I think they are, then they’re like a crescent moon but at the same time the gait is off, so it could have been more than one of them moving in a single line,” she explained.
“Any idea what it could be?” Midnight asked. She’d never heard of a creature with such a footprint and apparently neither had Scarlet or Trill.
“We never had anything like that back near the hives,” Trill said.
“It might be some kind of deer,” Midnight guessed, “predators don’t move in lines like that and the prints sound like an exaggerated form of cloven hoof. Unless there’s anything else than that’s all we can learn for now.” There wasn’t and both were currently in position.
“If Princess Luna hadn’t forbidden you to do it, this would be a great scary story to tell for Nightmare Night,” Sapphire said, trying to lighten the mood.
“That it would,” Midnight agreed as she stared at the top of the stairs. The room they were in had no windows, so that was all they had to look at. Midnight’s ears were pointed forward, carefully listening to any noise other than the crackling of the fire coming from downstairs. “I doubt Luna will let me scare an entire town, however, after how stressful just taking care of three foals’ dreams was.”
“Maybe you could write your own stories then?”
Midnight snorted in amusement. “Ah yes, the famous Midnight Storm; accomplished writer, captain of the guard, woodcutter, and handymare. What WILL my next title be?” They both chuckled at that. “You should get some sleep, by the way.”
“I’m fine and that’s what I should be saying to you,” Sapphire countered.
“I got to sleep until the late morning, so I’ll be fine until the early hours. I’d feel better if you at least tried,” Midnight encouraged.
Sapphire huffed but laid more fully against the kirin, her head resting on Midnight’s neck. Midnight made a growl-purr and Sapphire felt herself relax even more at the sensation. “I want to be ready in case something happens,” she protested.
“Between Sky, the boarded up first floor, and me, you’ll have plenty of time to wake up,” Midnight assured her, nuzzling her cheek.
Sapphire gave in, allowing her eyelids to droop. She’d just rest a bit with them closed, not fully sleep, so she’d be ready in case anything happened. She let them close.
-----------------------------
They flew open again when Midnight growled and stood up on the bed, Sapphire flopping onto the cover. “What’s happening!?” she asked, somewhat groggy from waking up but hurrying to her hooves as well. She could hear weapons being readied in the other rooms.
“Night’s seen something,” Midnight told her, loud enough that the others could hear as well. “Several somethings approaching the house from the woods. She can’t make out what they are exactly, but they’re all a little bigger than me. They also have glowing eyes.”
“That’s comforting,” Steel Ore said from down the hall.
There was an almighty *BANG* from downstairs and it felt like the entire house shook. Sounds of distress came from the other rooms. “Get ready!” Midnight called out to them as she hopped off the bed and took up position at the top of the stairs, her armor extending out to cover her. Sapphire followed her out and saw the others coming into the hallway as well, armor on and swords and hoof-blades at the ready. While spears would be good in keeping attackers at a distance, in a confined space like inside the house they’d be more of a hindrance, though a couple at the top of the stairs wouldn’t be a bad thing. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with, then we can decide to fight back or pull out,” Midnight said as another hit shook the house and a clicking shriek could be heard as some wood cracked.
“I think whatever is strong enough to be breaking through what we put up warrants a tactical withdrawal, Captain,” Scarlet said.
Midnight assumed she was thinking back to the owlursus but a third hit and breaking wood brought her attention back down to the first floor. Bits of wood and furniture were now scattered at the bottom of the stairs and large shadows were dancing in the firelight. She raised a wing in a hold motion as she waited to see what their intruders were. Throaty clicking and careful steps came from below and the firelight was blocked as something came to the foot of the stairs.
The creature was large, bigger than Midnight like Sky had said, and its body was covered in what looked like dark purple armor. Large spikes were sticking out of its back and it had six legs, each ending in a two-talon foot shaped like a crescent moon. On its armored face were six small, glowing yellow eyes and the purple armor seemed to extend over the fang-filled mouth to created an upper and lower pair of fangs. On either side of its jaws were tusk-like protrusions shaped like a blade and from its mouth flicked a long, snake-like tongue. It had a long, armored tail that had spines of its own and, possibly worst of all, there were two more Midnight could just see poking their heads around the back of the first.
“ATTIC!” Midnight yelled, shooting a stream of blue fire down towards the monstrosities. The clicking shriek came again, this time sounding of pain, and Midnight continued to breathe fire down the stairs as she backed up. Everyone else was backing up as well but, as scared as they had been, finally facing down an enemy gave them something to focus on, so none of them bolted for the attic stairs. They kept pace with their captain, even as one of the creatures forced itself through the flames to the top of the stairs and roared at them. Its natural purple armor was already blackened and it seemed to try and not let one spot take all the fire for long. Bright Dawn began firing off stunning spells immediately and while they weren’t stunning it, the creature flinched back from the impacts whenever they hit a burned spot.
“Wasn’t there a large dresser or cabinet near the top of the stairs?” Scarlet asked, glancing back towards the attic.
“I think so,” Sapphire said, keeping a hoof raised so as to be ready in case the creature got too close to Midnight. The fire and magic was keeping it back but it was advancing at pace with them retreating. It was a good thing that they’d agreed to wait at the top of the stairs and let Midnight decide what to do; the original plan of storming downstairs and fighting whatever tried to get in at the barricades would not have gone well. Even if they had startled these beasts at first, it was obvious the advantage wouldn’t have lasted long.
“Amber, with me! Let’s get it ready!” Scarlet said, hurrying up the stairs, the earth pony close behind.
The other creatures were on the second floor now, staying behind the first and letting it take the brunt of the fire.
“Never seen anything like those before!” Ore shouted as she backed up the attic stairs, glancing behind her to see what Scarlet and Amber were doing. When she broke off and hurried the rest of the way up, the rest followed her, leaving Midnight in the attic doorway at the bottom of the stairs.
“Midnight, get clear now!” Scarlet yelled as she and Amber began tilting over the heavy cabinet.
Midnight let out one more blast of fire before turning and charging up the stairs as well. The cabinet just missed her tail as it fell and flew right for the first creature as it stuck its head into the doorway. There was a clicking shriek followed by the crashing sound of the cabinet slamming into the doorway. Thankfully, it didn’t splinter apart but stayed wedged in the door frame.
“Good thinking,” Midnight said, “but that won’t last long, not with three of them. Everyone, out the windows! Flyers to lift the ground-pounders out to the cart. Once we’re clear, either Shoal or I are burning this place to the ground while the cart takes off.” She looked at Sapphire but the pegasus only nodded. Another clicking shriek and an impact on the cabinet, quickly followed by the sound of splintering wood. “NOW!” Midnight yelled.
Scarlet shot outside, then reached back in for Amber. Then Autumn Pillar went out and reached back in for Lance, then Milk Run with Bright Dawn. In their hurry to leave and stay together they’d completely forgotten about the second window going out the back of the house. In retrospect, that might have been a good thing, for just as Night was pulling Ore out, the rear attic window blew open and one of the creatures, an unburnt one, charged in, roaring. Midnight whirled to face it and met it with a fire blast that went low, the creature just able to jump over it by staying in the center of the attic where the roof was highest.
It made a clicking growl at her, which Midnight returned with a growl of her own, fangs fully extended. They both got into combat stances and eyed each other, unable to circle due to the confined space they were in. Midnight knew she couldn’t stay and fight, however, and there really wasn’t a reason to. The cabinet wouldn’t last much longer and as soon as she was out she could burn the place down or just yell at Shoal to do it, taking all three creatures out and putting an end to this whole thing.
“Come on, Midnight, the others are clear!” Sapphire said from by the window.
“Just go!” Midnight called back, “I’m right behind-!”
*CRASH*
From below it sounded like the cabinet had exploded, distracting the kirin for a split second but that was all the creature in front of her needed. With her armor and fire, Midnight seemed just as dangerous to the creature as it did to her but there was something else still in the attic with them that wasn’t such a hard target. It leaped forward but not directly at Midnight, landing instead to the side of her, crashing into the interior of the slanted roof and swung its armored head into her, knocking her to the side and into the railing for the stairs, which surprisingly held. Midnight caught a glimpse of one of the creatures below, its burnt body halfway through the cabinet and snapping up at her when she heard Sapphire scream and her blood ran cold.
Spinning around, things seemed to go slow again like they had back in the wedding chapel when Chrysalis had taken a shot at her family. The creature was bent over Sapphire, her rear right leg in its mouth, fangs already glistening with her blood. Sapphire was swinging wildly at its head with her blades but the blows were barely scraping its armored hide. By instinct, Midnight knew the next thing it would do was shake her, both to disorient her and possibly, horribly, sever her leg to make it easier to feed. At the very least it would make the bite a much more grievous wound if she were to somehow get away. She shot forward at them, every fiber of her body screaming to stop it before it could begin. The creature saw her and swung its head, Sapphire still in its jaws, around to face her. In fact, it almost looked like it was using her as a shield to absorb Midnight’s attack. She came at the beast like it had done at her before, however, and went low, Sapphire going over her head as she got under the swinging head. Normally, she would have used her fangs to attack the neck but with the creature’s armor she wasn’t sure she could break through that way. Instead she kept her head bent down and jammed her head upwards, her back legs pushing for all they were worth.
She impacted and drove the creature into the roof, her forelegs, hoof-blades extended, came up as well and drove into the creature’s underside. It wasn’t a soft, vulnerable target, but it was soft enough that the blades went in instead of breaking on impact. The creature let out another clicking shriek of pain but this time it was accompanied by a wet, choking sound. Midnight felt something land by her back legs and, with a roar, she twisted and flung the flailing creature back towards the attic stairs, where it slammed into one of its comrades that had just gotten up them. Following the momentum, she twisted back around, saw the light and dark blue pile on the floor, grabbed it, and shot out the front window. As soon as she was out something large and blue flew over her head and the next second the top of the roof seemed to have been blasted away. A second after that light purple fire blasted the exposed attic like a meteor. Had she been looking, Midnight would have seen the blast punch through the attic floor and boil into the rest of the house, gutting it, but her eyes were only on the massive blue claw currently holding up the cart and the medic inside of it.
A space was cleared and she practically threw Sapphire into Ore’s forelegs. “It bit her! Check her leg, is it still there!?”
“Move, damnit!” Ore yelled back, pushing the kirin to get a better look at the wound. Sapphire whimpered at the all the jostling and Midnight moved forward to hover over her but Ore pushed her away again. “Do you want me to do my job or not!? I said get back and give me room! And put that armor away before you stab one of us!”
“I’m okay!” Sapphire assured through gritted teeth, “I’m still here! Let Ore look at me!” She winced and suppressed a yell as Ore handled her leg to see the extent of the bite.
Midnight forced the armor to disengage and made to step forward again but another look from Ore kept her in place. “How bad is it?” she asked. From where she was it looked like four big stab wounds, two on the outside and two on the inside of the leg with the two on the outside directly above and directly below Sapphire’s cutie mark, which she could barely make out through the blood. Arina hopped onto Midnight’s head and chirped unhappily, hugging the top of the kirin’s head with all eight legs.
“Bad,” Ore said, opening her med-kit. “Those fangs damn-near went clean through. She’ll be off that leg for at least a week and who knows how much longer after that to fully recover. Might have nicked the bone, too. I think they missed the main arteries at least, because there isn’t as much blood as there should be if they did. We’ll still need to get her to a doctor to know for sure, though, and possibly operate.”
Unable to move forward to nuzzle her, Midnight reached a wing out and rubbed Sapphire’s cheek with it. The pegasus seemed to ease a bit at the touch and the knowledge that Sapphire would be fine in the end finally started bringing the adrenaline down. Looking back at the house, she saw the devastation Shoal’s fire had wrought, then looked down at the ground around the now destroyed house. “Did they get away?”
Shoal snorted in satisfaction. “I blasted them directly. Even if they somehow did, they didn’t make it out uninjured or very far.”
Midnight sighed and looked back at her group. “Well, at the very least we answered some questions. With Sapphire hurt I say we return to town, regroup, and get her proper medical attention. I want to say that the problem is solved, especially after what Shoal did but…” she shrugged tiredly.
“Even if I did,” Shoal said above them, “the problem actually isn’t solved yet.”
Midnight looked up at her grandmother and was about to ask what she meant when she saw two figures perched on one of her horns. They looked just like two huge owls at first glance but then Shoal moved her head and the light of the fire let her get a better look at them.
They looked like ponies, only their normal legs had been switched out so that the front two legs were now wings and the back two were that of a bird’s. “Grandma, what…?” Midnight asked staring up at the two. The others followed her gaze and made various sounds of surprise when they saw the two as well.
“Well, there’s the owls,” Sky said, “kinda.”
“This is Orestes and Baris,” Shoal explained, pointing to each one as they were named “owl harpies, and they approached me just before you were attacked. They know about the creatures and were asking if I could help them and their rookery. As it turns out there’s more than just those three roaming the forest.”
The two owl harpies left her horn and came down to perch on the other front claw Shoal kept raised for them. Closer and in better light, Midnight could see that they also had bird-like tails and that their ears looked like a smaller set of wings. “It’s true, there’s more than just those three,” one of them, Orestes, said. His pony head and torso were grey while his wings were a darker grey and the inside of them were a pattern of dark grey and cream. His ears were patterned orange and cream while his mane was a reddish brown. The other harpy, Baris, had a similar coloration to Sapphire; a light blue pony head and torso with his wings and mane a dark blue, and the two colors were also present in his feathered ears. About the only difference in color were his eyes, which were green. Midnight could also make out a set of double fangs as Orestes spoke. “We were going to ask Miss Shoal for help defending Baris’ rookery when she saw what was going on at this house.” He eyed the burning remains. “They’re not fire-proof, at least as far as we know.”
“Wait,” Lance Breaker said, “What do you mean by his rookery? You aren’t together?”
“It’s a bit of a story,” Orestes said, “but I arrived here with another owl harpy and two thestrals a few days ago. We’re looking for-”
“Captain,” Ore interrupted, “I’ve got the wound patched up but Miss Sapphire really should be somewhere that can give her a better look-over.”
Midnight nodded. “Look, we have someone injured so we really need to get back to town. If you come with us you can explain everything clearly back there.” She looked up. “Shoal, damn the possible panic, just get us back to Hollow Shades as quick as you can.”
The dragon nodded and turned towards the town. The owl harpy that hadn’t said anything yet, Baris, began “speaking” to Orestes, though the noises he was making were more akin to odd bird noises, and he looked agitated. Orestes said something back to him in the same bird-speak, then turned back to Midnight. “Baris says he’s not comfortable with going into town. His rookery is sure that the ponies blame them for the attacks and they’ve seen how they treat outsiders.”
“If he wants help then he’ll deal with a few weird looks,” Midnight told him, “as for the townsfolk blaming them, we know better now. I’m not risking more lives by charging headfirst into more of those things without a plan.”
Orestes nodded and told Baris what she said. The other owl harpy looked uncomfortable but seemed to settle down, a resolute look on his face.
“By the way,” Orestes called out as they neared the town. Midnight had noticed he’d been eyeing her with interest. “My friends and I are out here looking for someone. We were going west from a place called Manehattan when we got caught up in all this. You wouldn’t happen to know a “Midnight Storm”, do you?”
Midnight’s eyes went wide as she looked back at him but Shoal was putting the cart down at the edge of town before she could answer and getting Sapphire medical help took priority. Star Chaser and her thestrals were already descending towards them. “Captain?” the thestral lieutenant asked.
“Tell me you know where the town doctor, hospital, whatever is at,” Midnight asked.
-----------------------------
“Who’s the one that needs to be careful?” Midnight asked as the doctor left the room. Thank the makers, Sapphire major artery hadn’t been cut, though it had been close. Like Ore had thought, the fangs had grazed the bone, which meant she was going to be sore for a while after the wounds healed.
The pegasus gave her a huffy look but it was only for a second before she pressed her head against the kirin’s and let out a long sigh. “That was scary,” she said.
“No kidding,” Midnight agreed. Chaser had led them directly to the town doctor. It was no hospital like Ponyville had but the stallion knew his stuff and had patched Sapphire up the best he could. Thankfully there was no sign of any kind of venom, confirmed by Baris when Midnight stuck her head out to ask for the doctor. Right now he recommended rest and staying off the leg after that for at least two weeks to let the wounds heal properly. They were deep and would take time. Arina, still perched on Midnight’s head, chirped softly and hugged Sapphire’s head with her four front legs.
“And you have to go back out and face them again,” she said unhappily.
“Shoal is staying closer this time and this rookery knows more about them. I have to be right that so many buildings around has kept them at bay up until now because otherwise I can’t explain why they haven’t wreaked havoc on the town by now.” She pulled back and looked out the nearby window into the dark of the early morning. “Thank the makers they can’t fly. As that’s the case everyone that can’t fly is staying back in town. Chaser is getting Night Stick and I’m telling him to let everyone know to stay close to the train station. I’m also asking Luna to send a train to stay just in case. After this who knows how bold they might get.”
“The rest of you are going to that rookery out in the woods?” Sapphire asked, looking worried. Midnight was proposing to head out into the woods that contained a known threat with even fewer allies than were at the farm house.
“Chaser and her thestrals are staying here in town to be eyes at night. I’m going to have Buzz or Trill stay behind as well so they can have some muscle. As for us, we’re going to drill Orestes and Baris on the situation, then head for the rookery at first light. From the sounds of it those things are nocturnal just like them, so traveling by day should be safer.”
“Hopefully,” Sapphire added.
Midnight nodded. “Hopefully. In the mean time stay here and stay safe. If it turns out there needs to be an evacuation…”
“I won’t ask to stay behind,” Sapphire told her, leaning forward and nuzzling her. “You’ll have enough to worry about. Midnight, that owl harpy, Orestes, said he and his friends were looking for you.”
Midnight silenced her with a kiss. “One problem at a time,” she told the pegasus. “Besides, if this is, amazingly, what I think it is, there’s two alicorns that would be really pissed if they found out I kept it from them. Rest, my beautiful fortune teller.”
“Anyone tell you you’re really smooth at the bedside?” Sapphire said, kissing her back.
“I must have been the sexiest thing in the world after the hydra attack,” Midnight said with a grin, which didn’t go away when Sapphire gently smacked her with a wing.
“Be careful,” Sapphire told her seriously.
“I promise I will.”
Midnight let out a long breath of air through her nose once she left Sapphire. From the looks of those waiting, the doctor had already told them that she would be fine. They needed to get back in the game now. “Chief Night Stick?”
“They should be here soon,” Night told her. “Chaser went to get him personally after we told her and the other thestrals what’s out there.”
“But do we know what we’re dealing with?” Midnight said. “About all we know is that they’re big, spiky, covered in natural armor, have fangs and too many eyes, and that there’s more than three of them. Not exactly enough information to make a plan around and now that we know this rookery is out there Shoal and I can’t just burn the forest to the ground.” She turned to look at the two owl harpies expectantly, both of whom were talking to each other in that bird-speak again, when she caught sight of their ears flipping up and down as they spoke and found herself unable to look away. She couldn’t explain it but right then she found she couldn’t take her eyes off their movements. It took Arina chirping at and poking her to get her to quit starring. “Uh, Orestes, what can you tell us about those things?”
Orestes nodded. “Baris’ rookery doesn’t have a name for them, exactly. The best translation is “strange beasts”. They started showing up about thirty years ago, periodically coming down from the mountains around every two to four months, and they’re highly vicious to any prey they come across. Ever since they first arrived, the harpies have had to stay aloft all night whenever they come down from the mountains to hunt or else…” he trailed off, no explanation needed. “It’s been pretty bad for the old and the young. If you get sick that’s practically a death sentence as well. The trees around here are just short enough that they can jump up and snag anyone roosting too low or get up into the branches. Sometimes there are clouds they can rest on but that’s about their only reprieve.”
“And how was Shoal going to help? Let everyone roost on her for the night? I mean it would work but she can’t stay here forever,” Midnight pointed out.
“No,” Orestes said. “We didn’t approach her the first night because we didn’t know what her intentions were. Once it was obvious she wasn’t going to burn the town or the forest, the general asked us to go and see if she would help. Right now just chasing them away would be good enough, just to give the weaker ones a chance this time around.”
“General?” Midnight asked.
“He’s like the governor of a thestral colony, their leader,” Orestes explained, nodding towards the thestrals present.
“We had a governor-general,” one of the thestrals started but Midnight silenced him with a look.
“So you wanted Shoal’s help to drive them off,” Midnight said, “but I have to ask why the rookery never left if these beasts have been a problem for a while. Wouldn’t it be safer and easier to just leave rather than risking it all whenever they come around?”
“Harpies of all kinds are territorial,” Orestes said with a shrug, “it’s actually causing a problem at home. They won’t leave unless something extraordinary happens. If there was a wyvern clan around here they were under the protection of we could appeal to them to make the rookery move, but…” he shrugged.
Midnight ignored the looks she could feel on her and pressed on. “Do they have any weaknesses? Are they vulnerable to sunlight? Where do they sleep during the day?”
“Best bet is to get them on their backs and come at them that way, otherwise they’re walking boulders with spears on their backs. A dragon could crush them, throw them, burn them to ash,” he motioned vaguely in the direction of Shoal, “that was why she’s a makers send.”
“The captain could also-” Milk Run began but he caught her warning look and shut up.
“And where are they during the day?” Midnight asked quickly.
“No-one knows; they’ve been too afraid to follow and once the sun comes up they all rest and sleep, getting ready for the next night. It’s also a lean time, as most prey is either run off or eaten by them.”
“Then that’s where we’re going to have to start.” She gave an attention grabbing snap of her wings. “All flyers in the Bearer guard are going with you to the rookery. I want everyone to get some sleep before we leave at first light because once we make ourselves known to the rookery, we’re searching for their day-time hiding holes. If we can catch them while they’re asleep, this should make things a lot easier.”
“Captain Storm,” one of the thestrals near the doors called out, “Lieutenant Chaser is here with Chief Night Stick.”
Midnight nodded at them, then caught Orestes looking at her with surprise and recognition. “We came here to do a job,” she told him, “and we’re not leaving until it is done or something more important comes up, though that something better be an Equestria-ending threat for me to abandon lives. Once this is all over, I’ll approach you, understand?”
Orestes nodded. “I can’t promise Snow Bank will be as understanding. She’s the one who really came looking for you; the rest of us just kinda got swept up.”
“Tough spit,” Midnight said, turning to Chief Night Stick as he entered. “Chief, we’ve got a Tartarus of a situation.”
-----------------------------
Even with the light of dawn spreading over the forest it was still pitch-black below the very top of the canopy. Midnight snorted and tried to ignore the idea of small yellow eyes watching her from below. The “strange beasts” couldn’t fly, so as long as they all stayed aloft there was nothing to worry about. She would soon have less to worry about back at town, too. Luna had gotten back to her quickly and not only was a train being sent as soon as possible, but it was being sent with twenty more guards from both the Lunar and Solar guards as reinforcements. She’d breathed a sigh of relief until she’d gotten to the bottom of the letter saying that two shipping containers would be sent with the train as well. As these appeared to be creatures that were unknown even to the princesses, they wanted to know just what the beasts were capable of. While dead specimens were fine, if it was at all possible to capture a live one or two…
Midnight had wondered to herself who’d been in the room with Luna when she’d gotten her letter and decided to bite Puzzle Mixer later just out of principle.
Ahead of them, she could just make out shapes descending into the trees. If Shoal hadn’t been flying above and behind them, Midnight was sure at least a few of the owl harpies would be rising to meet them.
“There’s a bit of a clearing the rookery is set up around,” Orestes said. “Shoal can land there.”
“It would be a bad first impression to land on somebody,” Midnight called up to the dragon, who nodded and angled herself towards the clearing just then becoming visible. They all slowed to avoid her as she landed, though she stayed up on her tip-talons and looked behind her to see where her tail should go. Seeming to understand her predicament, several owl harpies took to the air again to get out of the way. Once they were clear, Shoal let herself fully rest on her feet and allowed her tail to fall into the trees. Midnight and her guards swooped down to land by her talons, Orestes landing just a little ways off, while Baris angled towards a cluster of treetops nearby.
“You know, a few of my old school buddies would call this a “First Contact” situation,” Private Pillar said, clearly trying to lighten the mood. None of them were exactly happy about being back in the woods so soon.
“Which is?” Scarlet asked.
“It’s something from old sci-fi comics about meeting a new alien species for the first time,” he explained, “and this is kind of like that. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve never heard of owl harpies or even regular harpies before today. Tonight? This morning? Whatever.”
Midnight only grunted as she looked around the edge of the clearing. She could just make out shapes that were staying under the canopy and from a few angles she could also make out eye-shine. Those eyes she could see were moving in a way that showed they were looking between them and Shoal and back again. Speaking of eyes, she wished right then that she’d taken Arina with her. She’d left the spider back in town so that if anything happened there she’d know right away. “Remember that we’re here to help, not start trouble.”
“Not exactly in the mood to be making trouble, captain,” Milk Run said, looking around nervously.
After a few seconds two shadows detached themselves from the cover of the trees and two thestrals came winging down towards Orestes. “Where have you been!? We’ve been worried sick!” the thestral mare yelled as she landed. “We thought the dragon might have done something to you two!” She eyed Shoal with a mix of fear and annoyance.
“Yeah; were there some fat mice running around you guys just had to catch or something?” the thestral stallion added.
Midnight eyed the two of them, wondering if their colony had driven them away on account of their coloration. The mare especially looked about as brightly colored as Squeaks with the same cream-colored fur but with a blonde mane and tail, bright orange wings, and green eyes. The stallion wasn’t as colorful but she couldn’t see the colony liking him either with his light, blue-grey fur, blue-white wings, orange mane, and green eyes. Night seemed to understand what she was thinking because she motioned for the kirin to bend down. “We were always told our colony was special from other thestral colonies,” she whispered, “that was why we were taught to hate “light-borns”. We kind of figured that any thestral we’d meet from another colony would be different that way.” Midnight nodded and hummed in understanding.
Orestes winced. “Things… came up. The short of it is that the dragon, Shoal, is going to help us, as are they,” he motioned to the Bearer guards.
The two thestrals stared at them for a second. “Wait, Orestes, that’s-!” the thestral mare started, looking directly at Midnight, but Orestes stopped her with a wing.
“She said once the beasts are taken care of, then she’ll talk with us Marina. She’s their leader, actually. Even Shoal listens to her.”
“Wait, seriously!?” The thestral stallion said, looking between the two.
Orestes shrugged. “Weird but true, Shade.”
“Well, we can’t just keep this from Snow; this is her whole mission!” Marina said.
“Yeah, but the way she’ll react…” Orestes said, cringing.
“How will who react?” asked a tired voice. All three of them whirled around to see another owl harpy, this one pure white with a blonde mane and light blue eyes, which she was currently rubbing with a wing. She was also different from the males in that her tail was that of a pony’s. Absently, she popped a peppermint into her mouth. “Hey Orestes, glad to see you’re safe. I guess Baris is talking with General Ocax? Maybe we can get some good sleep with the dragon here now.” She looked up at Shoal, then looked down to her talons as if apprising her.
That was when she saw Midnight and the others. She blinked owlishly at the Bearer guards, then blinked slowly again. Her eyes flew open like she’d just gotten a shot of concentrated caffeine and she began hacking on her candy. Shade quickly smacked her back, causing the minty snack to go flying. Once she was able to breathe properly again she began attacking her pouch like it was struggling prey, quickly pulling out both the photo she’d originally been given and the newspaper picture they’d found in Manehattan. Looking between them and the kirin standing in front of them, she let out a squawk of joy. “WE FOUND HER!” All the Bearer guards took a startled step back and before her three friends could stop her she’d launched herself at Midnight. Scarlet was closest and moved to stop the owl harpy but Snow just dove under her and kept going. Midnight had just enough time to rear up and put her forelegs out before Snow barreled into her, almost knocking the kirin onto her back. “WE FOUND YOU! WE FOUND YOU! WE FOUND YOOOOOOOOOOOU!”
“That’s nice but can you get off of me!?” Midnight yelled, trying desperately to keep Snow from, she guessed, hugging her to the point of strangulation.
“But we found you! Gra-Patriarch Firestorm will be so happy to see you when you come back north with us!”
A loud snort and gust of wind from above made Snow stop and look up, her field of vision being filled with the front of Shoal’s muzzle before the huge head turned sideways to look at her with a single, hard eye. “Is there a reason you’re trying to strangle my granddaughter?” the dragon asked coolly.
“Oh I wasn’t trying to strangle her, just hug-!” and then Snow froze, smile now seemingly plastered onto her face. “Wait, granddaughter?” she asked, abandoning her efforts to hug and hoping back down to the ground.
“That’s correct,” Shoal confirmed.
“But… that doesn’t… wait…” Snow began using her wing feathers to count and point to things only she could see, muttering to herself as she did so. Finally, just as she was going cross-eyed and Marina was reaching out to her she let out a long “oooooooooooooh!” and her face went back to bubbly happy again. “I got it now! Makes perfect sense!”
“It… does?” Midnight asked.
“Yep!”
“How?” Shade asked, looking between Shoal and Midnight.
“It just does!” Snow said before jumping at Midnight again, this time able to wrap her wings around the kirin in what was indeed a strangling hug. “We can leave for the Clan as soon as everything here is settled, right? I mean, you’ll need to pack first of course, but then-!”
“NO!” Midnight snapped, able to finally push the surprised owl harpy off her. “I mean, just one step at a time, alright? I can’t just drop everything on a bit and go running off to makers know where.”
“Oh, the clan is up north, past Equestria’s borders,” Snow explained. “Almost a straight shot north if you go along the coast.”
“That’s nice but I’m not changing my mind. I have family here to think about, not to mention the princesses are going to want to know where their old friend has been all this time.”
That finally seemed to sober Snow up. “Right… but you ARE going to come up to see the clan, right?”
“Is my father up there as well?” Midnight asked with a raised eyebrow.
Now Snow seemed nervous. “He is,” she said, not looking Midnight in the eye.
“Good enough,” she said, turning her head back towards the trees. “Now, looks like we can get things started around here.”
Everyone looked in the direction Midnight was and saw a small swarm of owl harpies coming towards them. They could see Baris at the front, chattering away with a female owl harpy and a wizened, old owl harpy male that Midnight had a hard time believing could stay flying all night long. He must have had help each night, which couldn’t have been easy, or they’d kept finding a cloud for him. If that was the case, she really hoped that they’d stuffed all the rookery’s children on it with him. They also confirmed that apparently all female harpies had pony tails and that all males had bird tails, specifically hawk-like ones.
They landed in front of the group, eyeing Shoal wearily, then the old owl began to speak but it was in the same bird-call speak that Baris had spoken in. Midnight was just about to turn to Orestes to ask him to translate when the female owl harpy spoke up. “This General Ocax of Turka Rookery, I daughter Asli. He speak, I speak. You speak, I speak.” Her body was a dark coffee color while her wings were a dark green, as were her mane and tail, and her eyes were a bright yellow. General Ocax had the same color scheme only dulled and grayed with age.
Midnight nodded. “Okay,” she said but still looked over at Orestes.
“Most here only speak the harpy language. Being away from a wyvern clan, they don’t speak the common tongue. However, some have hoped to be friendly with the town ponies one day, so they’ve picked it up as a sort of hobby,” he explained.
“I speak best,” Asli said, her chest puffing out just a bit. “New friends help.”
“I don’t mean to offend,” Midnight apologized, “we’re just not used to dealing with other species and their own languages.” She motioned to herself with a wing. “I am Midnight Storm, Captain of the Bearer Guard.” She then indicated those with her in turn. “This is First Sergeant Night Sky, Corporal Scarlet Claw, Privates Autumn Pillar and Milk Run, Specialist Shoal, and Buzz, on loan from the Honeycomb Hive Royal Guard. There are more of us back in town, but they cannot fly and I still need to protect the ponies there. Those of us here will help you drive away the “strange beasts”. When they’re gone I can personally report to the princesses on the situation here and we can put some sort of plan to work to keep both your rookery and the town safe going forward.”
Asli blinked once Midnight was done, her ears going flat, tried out several of the words Midnight had used, then looked defeated and spoke to Orestes in the harpy tongue.
Orestes gave her an apologetic look and then apparently repeated what Midnight had just said, pausing at points to find the words that best lined up. Finally the group all nodded in understanding and gave them thankful looks.
“We very happy you help,” Asli said, “(strange beasts) very bad, hurt, kill, many in years. You send away, they never come back?”
“We can send them away for now, but we’ll need to come back with a better plan to keep them away,” Midnight told them.
They all nodded once this was translated. “Is best for now,” Asli said. “What you do?”
“Well, first I need some questions answered, if you can.”
Midnight jerked awake as she was touched and blinked unhappily at the darkening world around her. “Captain, the sun is setting,” Private Pillar said. Midnight yawned and sat up, cursing silently to herself as she got ready for another long night.
Just as Orestes had said, the owl harpies didn’t have much of an idea where the beasts retreated to during the day, only that it was often back towards the mountains to the north-east. The Bearer guard had taken wing while Shoal pushed through on foot towards them and after some time they made it to the base of the heights. They hadn’t stirred anything up on the way, at least nothing big, armored, and purple, which meant that either they came and went from the mountains every night or there were other places they hid in the forest while hunting in it. They could see several caves higher up but a quick look showed they went deep into the rocks. With Shoal unable to follow, only Midnight would have a chance at fighting any beasts they came across and then she’d only be able to take on one at a time while the rest would have to try and hold the others off. Going in after them really wasn’t an option.
Scarlet suggested waiting outside the caves for them so Midnight and Shoal could ambush them as they left the caves, sighting that she could see that the mouths of the caves looked worn down from use. However, she had to admit that she couldn’t tell if they’d been used recently or not and it was hard to believe that they trekked hours to and from the rookery each night. No, they had to be coming from somewhere else, possibly even resting in some of the abandoned farm houses and it had just been their luck to pick one that hadn’t any staying in it at the time. That might explain why they attacked the first night they set up.
By the time they arrived back at the rookery it was getting close to noon and they were all exhausted, having stayed up almost the entire night before and going all the way to the mountains and back that morning. Midnight had given a brief report to a groggy Asli, then told everyone to catch some sleep and to do so around Shoal, who barely seemed bothered by staying awake so long. She’d wake them when the sun started to set so they could prepare for the night.
She did one more thing before she clocked out with them and that was to check in on how things were going back in town via Arina and from what the spider told her everything seemed to be going alright. Sapphire was back at the inn with her leg all wrapped up and when Arina asked if she should wake the pegasus up so Midnight could “talk” with her the kirin declined, sighting that they both needed sleep and that knowing she was safe and sound was enough for now. Midnight had then asked about the train and reinforcements and Arina told her that both had indeed come, a lieutenant from the Solar guard leading them. That made Midnight grimace as now the highest ranking person from her guard in the town was Corporal Lance Breaker but Arina assured her that the new lieutenant seemed to be on the same page as the sergeant, at least while there was a bigger problem to deal with. He also wasn’t butting heads with Star Chaser but working with her as Midnight found out as she “talked” (had Arina write out what she said) with the two of them. With the guards in town nopony was panicking, yet, but it was clear everyone was nervous and keeping as far away from the woods as possible. When Midnight told them that her team hadn’t been able to catch the beasts sleeping, Lieutenant Cover Clash said he’d start building barricades between houses that faced the forest so that if the beasts came their way they wouldn’t have an easy time coming into town. Chaser added that she’d have her thestrals fly in pairs over the first few lengths of the forest to act as early warning.
Midnight explained to them about the owl harpies and if it would be possible to send the children and old of the rookery at the very least to town as soon as they could. Both lieutenants had shared unsure looks and Clash had told her that it would be difficult to handle a defensive line and take in refugees, even if they were different species and coming in different ways. One could distract from the other and throw everything into disarray, not to mention it could draw more of the beasts towards the town than would have originally done so and Trill, who had already successfully tried turning into an owlursus to aid in the defense, could only handle so many of them at a time. They all hated to admit it but the owl harpies were going to have to deal with the SNAFU for at least one more night. At least on their end they had Shoal.
It was only after she had broken the connection that she realized something: Shoal hadn’t encountered any of the beasts on her own until they’d been attacked. The first night she hadn’t seen any of them despite almost nightly occurrences before that as per the reports, then she hadn’t seen any until coming to their rescue the night before. They might not have seen any near the caves because they’d sensed her approaching. If they kept Shoal near the rookery, the beasts probably wouldn’t attack that night, which was good, but would that then mean they’d attack the town instead? It was a dilemma that made the kirin feel sick because she realized she was trying to figure out who to better protect. When she approached Shoal with the problem the dragon had thought for a minute.
“If they don’t like me, then what if I go and stay half way between here and the town? I should be close enough to there to scare most away but still close enough to here to help.”
“That’s fine but if you come back here that might give them a chance to run towards the town once you do,” Midnight said, rolling the situation around in her head once again.
“Well, why not go wyvern then? You should be able to do so now since you’ve recovered,” Shoal pointed out. That was true and she’d been prepared to do so the previous night but only after everyone had gotten clear of the house. There was a chance the rookery could get clear of the area as, if that was the route they went, she’d probably have to burn the entire area to the ground. However, if the owl harpies were as stubborn as Orestes said they could be, or were even more so, they might refuse to leave their home and not get out of the way. They’d put up with these attacks for thirty years already. Then again, if they could find some clouds and keep them over the rookery…
In the end Midnight decided on an emergency meeting with Asli and the general as soon as Shoal woke them up. The plan would be that as soon as the beasts started to attack all the owl harpies would fly for Shoal or quickly gathered clouds, leaving the Bearer guard at the rear to harass and slow the beasts down. Once they were clear, Midnight would go wyvern and torch their pursuers. That should scare whoever was left off and keep them away long enough to implement a more permanent solution. It was only after deciding on that did she finally go to sleep herself.
Looking up at the sky after Shoal as she flew off, Midnight grunted before yawning again. The darkening sky was clear of even the smallest puff and if they couldn’t see one, they didn’t have time to hunt any down. Stretching her wings she jumped off the ground, aiming for the clump of treetops she’d seen Asli and her father fly off to. They came up from the canopy themselves when she got close, General Ocax showing himself to be a stronger flyer than Midnight had realized. Then again, he’d probably had to do this most of his life.
“What is plan?” Asli asked.
“Wait until strange beasts get here,” Midnight told her, “then, fly to Shoal. Bearer guard stays behind until new dragon gets here. New dragon burn strange beasts, drive them away, everyone safe.” She wasn’t trying to talk down or dumb to the owl harpies but she needed them to get the idea fast so they could spread the word and be ready to go as soon as possible.
Once she translated this to the others, several including herself didn’t look too pleased. “We not leave home,” she said, “we fight if can.”
Midnight shook her head. “Other dragon come, need space to fire. You stay, you get hurt. You come back when other dragon done. You ask us for help, this help we give.”
Again, they didn’t look pleased but the idea of getting in the way of a dragon shooting fire had to appeal to them even less and they unhappily nodded in agreement. It was easier than she'd expected but she could sense some resentment.
As she turned back towards the clearing she saw the four that had come looking for her climb into the sky as well. She nodded at them as she flew past and they immediately fell into formation behind her. She gave a look back at them but didn’t say anything. When she landed, the other guards formed up around her and she told them what the plan for the night would be.
“That’s a load off my mind,” Private Pillar said in relief, letting his spear droop a little, “I thought you were going to have us duke it out with them or something.” Everyone but Midnight and Buzz had traded out the weapons they’d used in the house for spears when they got back to town. None of them wanted to get in close quarters with those things.
“I only wanted guards with wings for a reason, Private,” Midnight said, then turned to Buzz. “Trill can manage an owlursus; any chance you can do something like that in a pinch?”
The changeling tapped his chin, then grinned and disappeared in a flash of sickly green fire. In his place stood a slightly smaller, black and gold version of the strange beasts. Several owl harpies nearby squawked in fear and he quickly changed back. “That’s about as big as I can get but it should be enough to hold a couple back for a little bit.”
Midnight nodded, hoping she wouldn’t have to see it again that night.
“Wait, I don’t get it,” Shade said, “how are YOU going to take out so many of them by yourself?”
Midnight hadn’t used the term “go wyvern” in her plan because the rest of them knew what she meant when she said she’d take care of them herself and she hadn’t told the owl harpies because that would be too complex and long of a thing to try to translate and explain when time was precious. The four of them would better understand and it would only take a second but she didn’t know how they would take it or how many questions they would ask that would waste time. “You’re just going to have to trust me,” she said, “and I promise to explain afterwards. For now please go with the owl harpies once they start heading towards Shoal. If you all get killed, I can’t go north.”
The four of them looked at each other, then nodded. “Don’t get killed, either,” Marina said, taking off along with Shade and Orestes. Snow simply looked at her, head cocked to one side, for a few more seconds before nodding with a smile and taking off herself.
Midnight turned back to the others.
“Bearer Guard, are we ready?” she asked.
“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” they answered.
-----------------------------
As with the previous night, the wait itself was horrible. Midnight thought that the beasts would attack almost right after darkness fell, however she was told soon after meeting with Asli that it took some time before the rookery was usually attacked. Most of the owl harpies used that time to get in what hunting they could, especially those with little ones to feed. Perhaps the beasts stayed awake longer into the morning than they had originally thought or perhaps they all really did go back and forth to the caves despite how long the trek was. She was also regretting not telling Snow’s group what was going to happen as it now looked like she’d just shooed them away for nothing. She’d have to make it up to them with a big buck once they got back to Ponyville or send an express request to Long Line for a seafood feast.
Without the sun there weren’t any thermals so she didn’t stay aloft as long as the others and their magically-powered wings. When she got tired she landed on the top of a tree on the edge of the clearing and looked around at the typical goings on of the rookery and, honestly, it wasn’t much different from Ponyville, just with no open air market. Young played, adults and teens went about work and chores, and there was a palpable sense of community, only just by night.
“This must seemed very odd to you,” Marina said, landing next to her, “having grown up around ponies.”
“Actually it’s very familiar with just a few things missing or different,” Midnight told her. “I take it things are like this back at your home up north?”
“For the most part,” Marina confirmed, “like you said, with a few things a little different.” Her face grew focused. “If we decided to move here, to Equestria, would we be accepted?”
“Depends where you want to settle,” Midnight told her. “Orestes said you four came west from Manehattan; I can tell you that trying to settle there would be a mistake.”
“It certainly didn’t seem welcoming,” Marina agreed, “and I guess you left there for a reason.”
“Not as good a reason as you might think but I would have eventually,” Midnight said. “I’d just avoid the cities altogether if I were you. My personal, biased opinion? Live in Ponyville. It’s a nice, quiet town with ponies that will be your friend at the drop of a hat. It’s a real special place.”
“Which is why you live there now,” Marina said.
“Pretty much. I guess the territory dispute is between Orestes’ rookery and your and Shade’s colony?”
“Actually, I’m from the Brightwing colony. Shade is from the Silverwing colony and Orestes is from the Roma rookery and the problem is between those two; I just got swept up in everything,” the thestral explained.
“Ah, so you’re asking for them,” Midnight said but Marina shook her head.
“We ran into Snow as we were escaping a patrol from Roma. Once we got away and Snow insisted we tell her what that was about, she said that if we helped her find you she could guarantee us safe passage back north to see the wyverns and make an appeal to intervene. Usually they only do so when situations become violent but Snow says she has an in. Don’t know how unless the Storm Clan secretly favors the Greka rookery, though Snow doesn’t really sound like she’s from there. She knew about you, though, and even has a picture of you she says she got from the Patriarch himself, which, seeing as it’s one of you as a foal…” She shrugged. “She must be telling the truth but I’d like a backup plan.”
Midnight snorted. Having a picture of her as a foal that they’d gotten from her grandfather proved her father was up there or at least had been. Snow said he still was but had been acting shifty when she said it. Maybe she got along fine with her grandfather but not her dad? Hard to believe but not impossible. “Well, I can try to do what I can up there, but you’re welcome in Ponyville if it comes down to that,” Midnight assured her.
“Thank you,” Marina said with a nod. “Hey, if it isn’t too much trouble, is there any way you can tell me what you’re going to do? I take it you thought things were going to happen a bit faster than they are.”
Midnight let out an unamused laugh. “Heh, yeah, I figured things were going to pop off any minute. You see, the thing is-”
From across the clearing to the north-west, several harpies took to the air, screeching an alarm that all other owl harpies immediately took note of and began getting into the air themselves. Midnight and Marina looked at each other and almost laughed. “The thing is we’ll see in a bit?” Marina asked as she began flapping.
“Pretty much,” Midnight agreed, taking off herself and aiming for the airspace over the trouble. On the way her guard joined her, Night telling them that she could just see familiar shapes on the forest edge. “Let’s get this started,” Midnight told them and dived down. Half a tree up from the ground she leveled out and breathed fire along the edge, lighting up the area and making the advancing beasts jump back, roaring out shrieking, clicking noises. She pulled up just as one jumped out at her, its fangs missing her tail by a few inches. Those that tried to advance despite the flames were met by the tips of spears that raked across their armored faces, hoping to take an eye or two out in the process. The guards moved as quick as Midnight and pulled up before the line of fire ended, giving Midnight space to score another line of fire, this time with her armor fully deployed. Several beasts pushed through the fire on the ground but took direct hits from Midnight as she shot past from both her fire and her now armored tail. She had the grim satisfaction of hearing one of them scream in pain as her tail-blade made contact, taking out an eye herself. Others raised clicking shrieks of pain as spears found exposed targets.
It wasn’t all their way, though, and Milk Run swore as his spear was wrenched from his hooves to be broken in half by one of the beasts. “Sorry about that, ma’am,” he said as he joined up with Midnight after another pass.
“Better the spear than you,” she said, taking a minute to examine the scene. Her fire was doing an okay job keeping them back in the trees but she could just make out more moving in the dark cover just out of sight towards the direction the owl harpies were flying. Those that had been in the far north-east of the rookery were just flying past them now, several guiding young or elderly or even weighed down by infants. “Another few minutes and I should be clear. Help any stragglers to move faster and stay up. Anyone who loses their spear, help get everyone clear!” This last bit she called out to the three remaining with spears, which quickly dropped to two as Scarlet got a little too eager to stab and practically shoved the spear into a fang-filled mouth. The beast howled in pain but still took the spear with it as it turned away from the flames. The hippogriff gave her a guilty smile as she went past to help Milk Run.
In the distance Shoal was standing up, wings outstretched and impossible to miss. Her eyes flicked between the trees below and the owl harpies coming towards her, some of which were just then reaching her. Some owl harpies had stayed around at the start, choosing to ignore Midnight’s call for all of them to leave and echoing Asli’s want to fight but when they saw how Midnight and her guards fought they turned for Shoal; using any weapon shorter than a spear, like a pair of talons, was almost guaranteed to get one grabbed. There was also the fact that, with her armor fully deployed and all the fire reflecting off of it, Midnight herself looked almost as scary to them as the beasts did. Snow, Orestes, Shade, and Marina, who were at the southern end of the clearing, helping in whatever way they could, would later agree that the kirin looked like she was made for battle then.
There weren’t as many beasts as Midnight had expected, though she couldn’t see how many were staying in the trees. She hoped more were just staying out of sight to hunt the harpies rather than attacking the town if any had went in that direction. Twelve were testing her fire line and only one or two hadn’t been hurt yet. They could see some trees rustling under the flying owl harpies like something big and heavy had hit them or had tried to jump into them, but the beasts’ targets were staying high so even if the beasts managed to climb they wouldn’t get anything. They also couldn’t see how close they were getting to Shoal but the dragon wasn’t attacking anything around her, so that was a good sign.
Unfortunately, both Pillar’s and Night's spears were soon taken out as well and it was down to just Midnight to keep this particular group contained. This made the beasts below bolder, despite all of them missing at least one eye, and a few charged through her latest line of fire. When she pulled up again, she saw that the sky around her was clear. “Good; let’s get this over with,” she muttered but as she was starting to concentrate she heard a squawking from the tree line behind her. Turning to look, she saw a young owl harpy, not even able to fly yet, hoping from branch to branch after the last of the fleeing group of adults. She swore at the same time the beasts below saw the colt (Midnight could see the bird tail) and it became a race to see who would get to him first.
A leaping beast won the race, its jaws biting into and splintering the branch the young one was on, sending him tumbling to the ground. Midnight angled herself and caught him as he fell but was jerked to a stop and yanked backwards by another beast that had gotten a hold of her armored tail. It threw her back into the clearing and she curled into a ball to protect the child and lessen any injuries and she felt herself hit at least one beast before rolling onto the ground. She shot up and roared, unleashing another stream of flames to keep the beasts back. The child quickly got up, too, and tried to hind behind one of her legs. Had he not been there, the kirin wouldn’t have sweated the situation. Even if they piled on her, she’d just throw them off as she grew. She knew she could even survive long enough for the others to wonder why she wasn’t growing and come back to check but she couldn’t keep the child safe for that long. She roared again as the beasts approached through her flames and deployed her hoof-blades, lowered her head, spread her wings, and arched her tail. Even if it was only one or two, she’d take them like she had the one in the attic.
Then another beast, this one black and gold, barreled into the others from her right, sending two to the ground and getting tangled up with a third. A screech from above and both Orestes and Scarlet came swooping in, talons raking the faces of two more. The distraction was enough for Midnight to turn around to grab the child but Snow was already there, the young one held gently but firmly in her talons. “Knock’em dead!” she said before shooting off into the sky. Turning back to where Buzz was fighting, she jumped into the fray herself, getting under one that was coming in to attack him from the side and did exactly what she’d done in the farm house attic, throwing it into another beast that was coming for her. She dodged a bite by another one and dove at Buzz’s opponent, this time diving in under the side and driving her blades into its belly. The beast screeched and tried to get away, getting clear of Buzz in the process. “GO!” Midnight yelled, her hooves bursting into blue flames. He got the message, changed back, and took off like a rocket straight up like Honey had done in the Crystal Empire, another beast’s jaws just missing him.
She put out the flames to give him another few seconds to get clear and she was rewarded by being grabbed by the tail again and flung further out into the clearing once more. Again she rolled when she landed, stopping on her hooves and dodged a beast that had run after her, her tail blade swiping its legs as it went by. Apparently they weren’t as armored as the upper body and she was rewarded with the beast falling over screeching with blood oozing from its cut legs. She turned her attention back to the other beasts who were closing in more carefully and did something they’d never seen another creature do: smile at them. "I wonder if you taste as good as bunyip,” she growled as blue flames erupted from her hooves again, this time engulfing her in an ever-expanding wall of flames.
-----------------------------
Snow was just passing off the owl harpy foal to its thankful mother when a bright light flashed behind her and everyone watching grew wide eyes, some even making noises of amazement. Turning around, she saw briefly a pillar of blue fire the size of a wyvern, then it dispersed with the flap of two large, black wings. A wyvern did indeed revealed itself, roaring as it was released from the burning blue tower. The black wings came down, the tips impaling into the ground to provide stability as the head and body leaned forward and released a tsunami of blue fire almost directly at its feet. The blue fire engulfed the clearing, then the wyvern moved its head so the stream started to blow into the forest. When it was done the wyvern stood back up and roared, the raging blue flames illuminating her black hide. Her large black wings beat as she roared, fanning the flames beginning to engulf the trees.
“That’s my granddaughter!” Shoal called out with pride as she took a step forward. Waving her front claws to shoo owl harpies out of the way, she bent her own head down and blasted the forest below with her own light purple fire, shooting a line that almost met the blue one despite the distance. Even the light absorbing trees couldn’t overwhelm the amount of fire light and beasts were seen trying to escape the two-front conflagration in any direction they could. Both the wyvern and Shoal blasted the forest twice more, moving their heads side-to-side to burn a wider area and catch more of the beasts. It had cost the entire western side of the rookery and a good portion of the forest beyond that, but it was clear that the beasts had suffered greatly as clicking shrieks rose up from the blue and purple inferno.
Despite that there was very little cheering going on, that mostly coming from the Bearer guard. “That’s Midnight for ya!” Scarlet practically crowed, “always able to pull a win! I’d like to see those beasts come back from that!”
Midnight finally went down on all fours and came over to them, the owl harpies giving her a wide birth as she came close. “Is everyone alright?”
“How did you do that!?” Shade yelled.
Asli flew up to Midnight’s now massive head. “You are wyvern?” she asked, her tone both amazed and suspicious.
“It’s complicated, kinda,” Midnight confessed, “but we’ve got time now, so I guess I can-” she stopped and her eyes began to glow.
“What she doing!?” Asli yelled, backing away.
“Being called by Arina! Something’s going on back in town!” Scarlet said, taking her place close to Midnight’s head. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
Midnight’s eyes stopped glowing and her head whipped around to look towards Hollow Shades, nearly hitting Scarlet in the process. “The town is under attack. Not by many, but enough that they don’t think they can hold. Shoal, stay here and watch over everyone; I’m going to help.”
“Understood,” the dragon said as a few owl harpy mothers and their children began to carefully rest on her horns.
“Should we come, too?” Scarlet asked.
“No, not unarmed as you are. That attack you and Orestes did was reckless.” She smiled. “Thanks for that.”
“Anytime,” the hippogriff said with a grin.
With that, Midnight moved away from them all and took to the sky once she was clear, flying low.
“Seriously, she can turn into a wyvern!?” Shade yelled. “How is that even possible!?”
Snow simply watched her go, already having a conversation in her head with Patriarch Firestorm.
-----------------------------
The two privates, a unicorn and an earth pony, were doing there level best to keep their spears pointed over the top of the barricade while not losing them. They’d been warned that an attack might come but they also knew they were dealing with animals. Big, armored and nasty animals, but animals all the same so there shouldn’t be any kind of coordinated attack. Heck, just taking one out should have scared the rest off.
But they were wrong.
The beasts had hit three separate points, hard, with very little warning from the thestrals above. So hard, in fact, that the order had come down almost immediately to pull back to the secondary defenses to regroup and reinforce. They’d done so just in time as three beasts had climbed over or busted through the first barricades and quickly advanced on the second. From what they’d heard, that changeling that the Bearer guard captain had left behind had turned into some sort of owl-bear-thing and was giving the three on the street to their left a heck of a time, with help from the guards there, of course. The three beasts in the street to their right were being harassed by the thestrals as that particular part of the barricade wasn’t as sturdy as the others. The members of the Bearer guard that had stayed in the town were assisting that flank.
That left the barricade they were at, now the center, with no extra support. At the moment the spears were the only things keeping the beasts back as the guards quickly jabbed at them and pulled the spears back before they could be pulled out of their hooves. They’d scored a few hits and even managed to take out an eye but the beasts were getting bolder and already they’d lost three spears.
“We’re going to have to pull back soon!” the earth pony shouted as another spear was grabbed and torn from a guard’s grip, nearly pulling that guard over with it.
“If the center falls the flanks are screwed!” the unicorn shot back.
“We’ll be screwed if we stay here!” the earth pony yelled. He jabbed his spear again but this time his aim was a little high and the point skated off the top of a beast’s armored head. It rushed forward, getting in under the pony’s reach and jumped up at the barricade, catching itself with its front two legs and heaving itself up to roar in the guards’ faces.
The moment held, then the world behind the beasts became as black as under the trees and the earth beneath them shook. Out of the darkness something larger than even the beasts appeared and the beast on the barricade was suddenly jerked back amid a rising cheer from the other two streets. Up and up the beast went, flailing with its tail caught in the jaws of a dragon, who proceeded to chomp down on more of the tail once it had reared back up fully. It snorted in disgust and pain then jerked its head back down, throwing the beast to the street below where it impacted with a sickening *splat*.
The other two beasts, seeing what happened to their buddy, charged at the barricade, this time to escape the dragon. The guards tried to hold them back but they, too, got a hold of the top in their mad scramble to get away. A huge claw reached out and scraped them back down the street, the dragon hissing a bit as the spines on their backs pricked it. One beast was rolled onto its back and the claw came down on it, crushing it with another sickening sound. The third beast tore back down the street towards the forest, scrambling over the first barricade like it was barely there and making the guards thankful once again that they’d abandoned it. The draconic head followed the beast and a few seconds later the forest beyond was lit up with blue fire with more cheering coming from the street to their right. A cheer then went up from the street to their left and the draconic head went that way. Before long any sounds of the beasts from that street were silenced.
“I’m putting in for some leave,” the earth pony said as he fell back onto his haunches, barely holding his spear up. “The extra pay was NOT worth it.”
“I just want a stiff drink,” the unicorn said.
-----------------------------
All told, things could have gone a lot worse. No owl harpies, thestrals, or guards were killed and only a few were hurt. None of the townsfolk even saw the beasts, though the fighting hadn’t gone unheard and there’d been a few that had rushed the train in a panic. Night Stick and his officers had quickly stopped them and kept the peace until the fighting was over, though many were still staying by the train station, just in case.
Midnight had just finished going over the post-battle details, including chaining up and muzzling the only surviving beast (barely) for transport, with the two lieutenants when she saw Shoal and the whole of the Turka Rookery approaching the town. Chaser and Clash eyed the approaching dragon and swarm but Midnight assured them they were friendly and would take care of them, so the two officers went to deal with their respective guard issues. She met them at the edge of the town by the barricades, her guards coming down to meet her first. “We tried to explain the best we could,” Night said as they landed. “The concept of cutie marks is a little lost on them.”
“They understand that you can change into a wyvern at will,” Scarlet added, “but are still fuzzy on the details. Beyond wyverns changing size and a few other examples, even our new friends from up north aren’t used to magic as an everyday thing.”
“It’s a bit hard to comprehend that you can just do that,” Orestes said, landing with the others. “I wonder if all kirins can do that.”
“From what I’ve been told only two other kirins in history have had that special talent,” Midnight told him.
“Well, I think we’re all glad you have it,” Shade said. “We haven’t seen any more live beasts and a lot got caught in the fires you and Shoal made.”
Asli and General Ocax landed next and the old owl harpy said something. “You said other dragon come. You no said wyvern come. You no said YOU wyvern,” Asli said, a bit accusatory.
“I didn’t mean to hide it,” Midnight told them. “I thought there was a lot less time to prepare for the attack and I needed you to understand why you needed to get out of the way so none of you would get hurt by me.”
“But you still wyvern? You part of clan?” Asli pressed.
“Technically, yes,” Midnight said, “I’m going to meet them soon, anyway.”
“She’s the granddaughter of the Storm Clan Patriarch,” Snow said proudly. “She’s definitely part of the Storm Clan!” She proceeded to repeat herself in the harpy tongue and louder for others above to hear.
Asli and her father looked at each other, then nodded. “Father’s many fathers stayed long ago, wyverns leave,” she said. “Father’s many fathers told wyverns come back, wyverns never did. All fathers sad they not go, don’t know where wyverns are now.” She and Ocax bowed and so did the many owl harpies in the air above. “Please, we pledge to Storm Clan, pledge to you, to take us under wing like other harpies. We serve well.”
Midnight flared her wings and took a step back. “I’m sorry but what?” she asked, looking over at Orestes and Snow.
“Harpies and other races are protected by wyvern clans,” Snow explained, “you saving them puts them in the debt of the Storm Clan and as you’re the only representative of them here, they’re pledging their loyalty to you. What she was telling you was that the Turka Rookery was left behind in Equestria when the wyverns left and they heard a rumor they would return, so they didn’t think about leaving their home until it was too late and they didn’t know where to go. Now that a wyvern is in Equestria again, they want to follow it.”
“Wait, so, am I their general now or something?” Midnight asked, not liking the situation one bit. Being the captain of a guard was one thing, taking responsibility of an entire community was something else.
“Actually, you rank above him as a Matriarch. Sort of,” Snow said.
As Midnight just stared at the white owl harpy, Scarlet nudged her with an elbow. “First thestrals, then a couple of dragons, and now owl harpies; what do you plan to add next?”
“A fried hippogriff,” the kirin growled, then turned back to Snow. “Look, I don’t know what they’re expecting but I’m not ruling over anyone. I command the Bearer guard but that’s not the same. We’ve stopped the beasts so their rookery should be safe now.”
Snow sighed heavily. “You don’t understand; the bond and respect between the wyverns and certain races run deep, to the point that wyvern word is considered law by many.” She turned to her companions. “If the Storm Clan was to decide to move back down here to Equestria, would anyone stay up north?”
“Nope,” Shade said without hesitation.
“Few, if any,” Orestes added.
“The real question is who would want to be the first ones after them,” Marina said.
Snow nodded and turned back to Midnight. “Even though their home has been saved and they were ready to fight for it, this changes things for them. They’re going to want to follow you and make a new home wherever you live.”
“I didn’t see this myself, staying apart from the clan as much as I did,” Shoal said, “but Firestorm did mention from time to time that he had to settle disputes between species and how many the clan had taken under their wing. It sounded like whatever his decision was, they agreed to it.”
Midnight rubbed her temple. This definitely wasn’t how she’d seen things going after beating the beasts.
“Please,” Asli spoke up, “we not just ask you for help; we help you, too. We do what you ask, we even join guard.”
Midnight sighed, suddenly very tired. “Look, I just need time to think about all this. Between the beasts, suddenly knowing where my clan and father are, and this being dropped on me, it’s a lot to take in. First Sergeant Night Sky, please let the lieutenants and Chief Night Stick know that you’ll be in charge of the Bearer guard for the next several hours and to come to you in case something else comes up that isn’t an emergency.” She looked back at Asli. “For now just stay with Shoal just in case, I’ll give my answer later.”
Once everyone agreed to this, Midnight took off in the direction of the inn. ‘Didn’t think I’d want bed so badly again so soon but makers I need some time to think about all this.’
-----------------------------
“So…” Hazelnut said as he watched Rarity race by, “does this count as an emergency or…?” Both he and Windrunner were in town hall, along with most of the guard left in Ponyville and five of the six bearers. Twilight and the rest of the guards were back at the town library, trying to figure out what was wrong with the five and how to fix it.
Earlier that morning Windrunner had received a report from Night Sky about how things at Hollow Shades had gone down and what was most likely to happen in the near future. She also told them not to send anything directly to Midnight until about noon unless it was an emergency as she had a few things to sort out there and didn’t need things on her plate now that could be held off until later.
It had been right after sharing this with Hazelnut and Wild Mane that the first indications of something being wrong manifested themselves in Rarity running up to them. “Morning, darlings! Fine day for a race isn’t it? Anyone want to race? If you don’t that’s fine, racing is sweaty work and I myself am starting to sweat like a PIG, but that’s just how it goes!” They’d all looked at each other and then asked if she was fine, which she told them she was but then Mane had noticed that Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark was where Rarity’s ought to be and they’d asked her to come with them. When she’d refused, saying that she needed to find someone to race, Mane had simply thrown her onto his back and told the others to help keep her up there. Believing that whatever was going on with the unicorn had to be affecting the other bearers, they all decided that Mane and Hazelnut would commandeer the town hall to keep them all in one place while Windrunner would pass the word to the other guards and start rounding up all the other bearers.
The next bearer they found was Applejack, who was digging around randomly looking for gems on the outskirts of town. Pinkie was discovered by Tight Fit trying to help around the Apple Farm in AJ’s absence, while Fluttershy was found in Sugar Cube Corner, trying to make the morning patrons laugh. Rainbow took some time to find, as they first looked in on every cloud they could see and then a few flyers started heading out towards Cloudsdale when Angel Bunny ran up to them and led them back to Fluttershy’s cottage, where Rainbow was trying to take care of her friend’s animals and succeeding as much as Fluttershy was making ponies laugh. Only Twilight, who was led into the town hall at the same time as Rainbow, seemed unaffected, both in that she still had her own cutie mark and she wasn’t acting strangely. It was after some brain storming together with her that Twilight thought she knew what the problem was and admitted that she’d tried a spell from a book Princess Celestia had sent her the night before and had simply thought nothing had happened. She and a few guards had gone back to the library to try and figure out if there was a way to reverse the spell.
“On the one hoof the bearers did it to themselves,” Windrunner said in a conflicted tone, “but that’s something we’re supposed to defend them against, too.”
“But is this truly an emergency?” Spine asked. “Unless there’s a time limit before this becomes permanent, this should be something that can wait until the captain and the others get back. It sounds like a lot has gone on where they are and bothering her with this might distract her from what needs to be done out there.”
“But there’s Solar and Lunar guards out there as well and she made a point to go so that if something like this came up a proper choice could be made,” Honey pointed out. She’d gotten up with Windrunner and knew the situation in Hollow Shades. Her changelings had joined in the hunt for the bearers when that problem had been discovered. “I say we let Night know what’s going on and she can pass the information along at the proper time. With any luck Twilight will have this all fixed by the time Night lets Midnight know, thus no issue.”
“I hope you’re right, Honey,” Windrunner said, nodding at Hazelnut to do just that.
“Alright, so let me get this all straight,” Midnight said, looking around at the assembled group. Asli, General Ocax, Snow Bank, Orestes, Shade, Marina, and Sapphire, as well as all the members of the Bearer guard currently not asleep, were gathered in the first floor dining room of the inn just before noon. All of the nocturnal creatures were tired from being awoken but knew this was important and had gotten awake quickly.
“Because I’m from the Storm Clan and can turn into a wyvern, the Turka Rookery wants to pledge allegiance to myself and the Storm Clan and is not only willing to leave their ancestral home to follow me back to Ponyville but is also willing to do anything to stay in my good graces. Correct so far?”
“Yes, we pledge,” Asli said, accompanied by a noise of ascent from her father.
“And there’s no way to persuade you all otherwise?” Midnight asked.
“We have been long time with no wyverns to follow,” Asli said, her voice begging. “We do what you ask and help as we can. We pledge this.”
Midnight let out a long sigh and Sapphire patted her hoof. “It’s not ideal but it might only be for a little while, at least until you see the clan,” she offered.
“So no getting out of having a huge flock of owl harpies following me home. Fine, I’ll take you under my wing,” Midnight told them. “And the FIRST thing you ALL are going to do,” she followed up with quickly, interrupting Asli’s and Ocax’s happy noises, “is learn the common tongue so everyone can communicate properly. Once that’s done we can see what the next step will be.”
“Some join guard?” Asli asked, an eager look in her eye. “Some wish to learn to fight, learn to protect ourselves better!”
“One step at a time,” Midnight told her, then turned her attention to Snow. “And you are here because my grandfather sent you to find me, right?”
Snow nodded excitedly. “Yep! I even have a note from him and the picture he gave me to recognize you!” She dug around in her pouch and pulled out three items. First was obviously the note, the next was an old picture, and the third was a crumpled newspaper clipping.
Midnight first inspected the note, a scroll, really, and it indeed said for Snow to go south into Equestria to look for his granddaughter and to start the search in Manehattan as that was the place her father had left her and her mother. It seemed legit enough and the picture helped with that a lot. It was a picture of her when she was barely two, smiling and reaching up for the camera. A taloned foot could just be seen in the corner.
“Aw,” Sapphire said, leaning in to look at it, “you were so cute back then!”
Several guards tried to look as well but Midnight put it face down on the table. “I can just remember my dad taking a picture of me before he left, so this checks out. Did my grandfather say why he wanted to see me now? What about my dad? Why didn’t he send for me to come north?”
“The Patriarch just said it was time to meet you,” Snow said, not looking Midnight in the eye again. “As for Windstorm… I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why can’t you talk about my dad?” Midnight pressed, “What’s going on?”
“I just don’t want to,” Snow said, still not looking her in the eyes.
Midnight studied the white owl harpy as her friends eyed her with confusion. She really couldn’t imagine her father doing anything to warrant such a reaction but then she remembered what she’d been told about how the other races saw the wyverns. Maybe they’d found something in another group’s favor that hurt her rookery and she blamed her father for it or he’d taken some kind of action against her rookery. She wanted to press Snow but could see that it wouldn’t get her far. “You’re not going to elaborate, are you?”
“Nope.”
“You know how suspicious that sounds, right?”
“Yep.”
“I’m going to find out either way what’s going on if I go north, right?” Midnight asked. Snow just nodded and stuck a candy cane in her mouth. Midnight nodded with a sigh and picked up the newspaper clipping.
“We found that in Manehattan,” Orestes said. “We used it to figure out you were in a town out west.”
Midnight merely stared down at the photo of her and her guard at the wedding, her only outward reaction being a blink.
Scarlet leaned over and nudged her with an elbow. “Wanna bet another wyvern clan finds you with this one?”
“Well, there’s no way I’m not heading north,” Midnight finally said, putting down the clipping and pointedly ignoring Scarlet. “But there are things I have to take care of first. As Captain of the Bearer Guard, I have a duty and responsibilities to protect Equestria’s greatest defenders. I trust my officers but we need a game plan first. Second of all,” here she looked at Sapphire, “I have family here in Equestria that I can’t, and won’t, just up and abandon for who knows how long to just visit on my grandfather’s whim.”
Now Snow looked back at her with interest. “You have family besides your mom?”
“Yes. Besides her there’s my baby half-sister, then my daughter, and my marefriend, not to mention those close enough that I consider family. It’s not just working responsibilities, but familial ones I need to sort out, too.” Snow’s ears flicked up and down in thought and once again Midnight couldn’t help but stare at them. She stopped when she felt Sapphire poke her in the side. “Anyway, that’s where things stand, so it’s going to take some time before we can go.”
There was a small cough behind her and Midnight turned to find Night Sky standing there, a note in her hoof. She’d been one of the last to get to bed and Midnight felt bad for just dropping responsibility on her to go to sleep herself but she really had thought about things rather than just going to sleep, her racing mind only allowing her to doze. “I’m sorry ma’am but,” here she cut herself off to hide a massive yawn, “it might take a bit longer than you think.”
“Ponyville,” Midnight said, letting out a long-suffering sigh as she took the note.
“It’s not an emergency, per se, but if you’re planning to head back soon it’s something you should know. There’s been no change since this morning,” Night told her.
Midnight read the note, then passed it off to Sapphire and gently let her head flop down on the table. “I don’t know which is worse,” she groaned, “someone attacking the town or leaving them to their own devices.”
Sapphire let out a sigh of her own. “If I tell you Celestia was involved, are you going to say something nasty to her the next time you see her?” When Midnight looked up, the pegasus pointed out the part where Twilight had gotten the spell from a book the princess had sent.
“Yes, Sapphire, I most likely am,” Midnight told her, not even in the mood to try and make it snarky. “I’ll even slander her now and put bits on her sending Twilight the book because I was gone.”
“From what you told me that Luna told you, I wouldn’t be surprised either. Can you at least promise me you won’t go charging into Ponyville like a rabid bull?”
“I promise not to be rabid,” Midnight said and Sapphire rolled her eyes.
“Now I’m really interested to see how your daily life is like,” Snow said, “and to meet the rest of your family!”
“Let’s get everyone up and ready,” Midnight told Sky, “everyone can sleep on the train. We’ll need it before walking into this.”
-----------------------------
“We, uh, we can call this an emergency now, right?” Blackberry said as they all looked at the mark in the floor. Just a minute before, Twilight Sparkle had been standing there, properly finishing the spell that had set everything off that morning. She’d figured out how to help her friends after nearly giving up and had spent the afternoon getting them to do the things their real cutie marks symbolized and, one by one, they’d become their old selves again. Putting their Elements on seemed to help them finally reach this epiphany. Once they had, Twilight seemed to have an epiphany of her own and they’d all returned to the library where she’d proceeded to redo the spell properly before the guards could stop her. The other Elements had all shot colored beams at Twilight, who’d been engulfed in a spinning ball of light, then disappeared in a flash, leaving behind a scorch mark on the floor where she’d been standing. It was oddly shaped like her cutie mark but the present guards and other bearers were slowly panicking too much to really notice that.
“The captain’s going to have our hides for this,” Mane said. “Damn it! I should have tackled her before she did it!”
“You could have messed up the spell if you interrupted it, sir,” Corporal Rock Bottom told him. “Better to let her finish and deal with a predictable outcome. Interrupted spells can do things you don’t expect.”
“So do spells that you have no idea what they do in the first place,” Hazelnut said.
“Twilight thinks faster than Rainbow can fly,” Spike said, “half the time even I don’t know what she’s about to do until she does it.”
“So, what do we do now?” Spine asked and the remaining bearers all looked at them.
“Spike should send a letter to the princesses,” Windrunner said, “they sent her the book in the first place. All we can do now is wait for them or Midnight to get back.”
Spike did just that and they all filed out of the library into the darkening streets. Midnight’s train along with Shoal should be arriving any minute now and the princesses had a track record of responding to Spike quickly. In fact, Windrunner could swear she could hear the train pulling in when there was a flash of light in the sky over the library. Shielding their eyes, everyone looked up to see Twilight’s cutie mark hanging above them, glowing like a star on top of a Hearth’s Warming tree. The cutie mark descended, landing between them and the library, then flashed again, disappearing and revealing a certain purple someone.
“Twilight? Is that you?” AJ asked, astonished.
Indeed it was Twilight and for the briefest second all the guards breathed a sigh of relief. They all stopped and went wide-eyed when the unicorn stood up and opened her wings.
“Ah… Ah’ve never seen anthin’ like it!” AJ said, still amazed.
“Ha! Twilight’s got wings!” Rainbow cheered. “Awesome! A new flying buddy!”
“Wait, she’s got wings but still has a horn?” Blackberry said. “But, wouldn’t that make her-?”
“An alicorn!” Rarity gushed. “I didn’t even know that was possible, darling!”
“You look just like a princess now, Twilight!” Fluttershy said, meekly touching the unicorn’s new wings.
“Do you know what this means!?” Pinkie yelled. When they all looked at her blankly she yelled “ALICORN PARTY!!”
“Can we take this one step at a time?” Windrunner said. “Twilight, what happened?”
Before Twilight could answer there was another flash of light and Princess Celestia appeared. “What happened, First Lieutenant, is that Twilight has reached her full potential as a unicorn and has ascended. Fluttershy is partly right, but the rank of princess is-”
“ARE YOU BUCKING KIDDING ME!?”
Everyone jumped and spun to see the recently arrived Midnight, Sapphire, and guards, who had booked it from the station the minute it pulled in. She was looking between Twilight, Celestia, her guards, the other bearers, and back towards the station, where they could see Shoal and a veritable cloud of strange ponies coming towards them. “I’m only gone for… I’ve had to deal with all THAT…” she motioned to the flock coming towards them, “then I hear about them,” she motioned towards the bearers, “and now there’s THIS!?” She motioned towards Twilight.
“Midnight, we figured something weird was going on, just take deep breathes,” Sapphire said, attempting to hold her and pat her with a wing.
There was another flash of light and Luna teleported onto the scene. She first looked at Twilight and the bearers, then the swearing Midnight, then at the flock of owl harpies now hovering above them, then finally at her sister. “Thou really couldn’t have waited a few days to send the book, could thee?” she asked, eyes tabled.
-----------------------------
“Are you calm?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Are you going to yell or attack anyone in there?”
“No ma’am.”
“Are you lying in order to have a chance to bite Princess Celestia?”
“I’ll have a better chance when she thinks this has all blown over.”
Sapphire sighed and rolled her eyes. “At least you’re honest.”
“I try,” Midnight said.
It was the day after Twilight had become an alicorn and they’d gotten back to Ponyville. Once the two princesses had gotten everyone calmed down (mainly Twilight and Midnight) and understood the scope of all that was happening, they invited everyone involved to Canterlot Castle to stay the night and they’d hold one big meeting in the throne room to get it all sorted out. Midnight had spent the previous evening and night calming down by venting to herself in another room, eating all the sapphires she could order, and getting a full night’s sleep with Sapphire tucked under her wing. When she’d woken up she felt a lot calmer but the weight of everything that had and was about to happen still weighed on her. Sapphire was great at helping talking to her to keep a cool head and get everything organized before they went to wait outside the throne room. The princesses already had the reports from Midnight and both lieutenants so they knew what had transpired in Hollow Shades and would be up to speed with almost everything.
Snow and her companions were also brought up to the castle when the princesses had been told they brought word from the Storm Clan. Midnight assured them that the alicorns were just eager to hear from their old friend. Snow in particular looked nervous and she wondered what the harpy’s deal was. Shoal had taken charge of the Turka Rookery back in Ponyville and had explained to them that Midnight had to go up to Canterlot for a day or two but would return and help them get integrated properly into the town. Until then they’d be staying with her out in the relatively safe Everfree Forest. Midnight had told them to stay close to the edge of the forest and even roost on some of the houses if it made them feel safer while she was gone. She didn’t think the town would get too worked up, not with the majority of Bearer guard still in town to let ponies know the situation and them sleeping out in broad daylight. Asli had insisted on coming along, pointing out that whatever affected Midnight would affect her rookery as well, so she was standing there with them.
As they were in Canterlot, only a few of the Bearer guard needed to be there to watch the six bearers. The Solar and Lunar guard, as well as the secret service, would keep an eye on them with the few who were there while the rest would keep their homes and families safe. Right now that contingent was Midnight, Windrunner, Blackberry, Scarlet, Long Spine, and Umbra Shroud. Sapphire’s main roll was keep Midnight calm until the meeting started.
They were in the waiting room as well keeping an eye on the bearers as they talked. Twilight seemed calm enough, talking to her friends like she normally did, but any time the word “princess” was brought up in reference to herself, the purple once-unicorn seemed to get nervous. Midnight would have thought that becoming royalty would have been a dream come true for someone who studied under Princess Celestia for most of her life. Then she remembered how she felt about the idea of “ruling” over the Turka Rookery, how Honey felt about being the queen of her own hive, and all the normal stuff she herself had to deal with on a normal day running the Bearer guard, and she realized that Twilight knew exactly what being a leader entailed and it terrified the poor girl. How could it not, though? She was a student and a librarian before this and leading her friends in certain situations was completely different.
“How do you think this is going to change the guard?” Sapphire asked, following her gaze.
“Honestly? I have no idea,” Midnight admitted. “As a princess, she’ll need her own guard, however she’s still a bearer, so she still falls under our protection. That idea of splitting the Bearer guard into six different guards might be how we go forward. I feel sorry for whoever has to be in Pinkie’s.”
The door to the throne room opened and a Solar guard announced the princesses would see them now. As they proceeded inside, Midnight noticed that both she and Twilight were at the head of two different lines. Behind Twilight were the rest of the bearers, who seemed to be giving her space because of her new title and looked like a bunch of petitioners whom she saw following around the other princesses before. Sapphire was walking, as best she could with three good legs and the fourth still wrapped up, beside Midnight while Snow, Orestes, Shade, Marina, and Asli were behind them, looking as nervous as Twilight and her friends. Bringing up the rear behind both were the other five Bearer guards.
Celestia was on the throne with Luna standing beside her and both watched their approach with kind eyes. “Well met, everyone,” Celestia announced when they came to a halt near the bottom of the throne. She nodded at Midnight first. “Princess Luna and I have reviewed the reports and I can confidently say we are glad that you went out there yourself, Captain Storm. We know that you have excellent officers but neither they nor any of ours would have been able to achieve the results you were able to. You have our deepest gratitude.”
Midnight nodded. “Thank you, your highnesses.”
“As most of what we need to discuss here today revolves around yourself and those you’ve brought with you, I would like to address the other concern in the room first.” She turned to Twilight and the newest alicorn stood up straight. “Twilight, while you have made me so proud I almost can’t put it into words, I feel there is something everyone is assuming, yourself included, that I must address and that is that you are not a princess. Not yet, anyway.”
Twilight looked visibly relieved but still had a frown on her face. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked. The other bearers made distressed and confused noises as well and even Sapphire looked confused.
“But she’s an alicorn, isn’t she? Doesn’t that automatically make her a princess?” Dash asked.
Celestia shook her head. “While it is an understandable assumption to make, given the precedent of my sister and I and Princess Cadance, being an alicorn does not give one the right to rule. That was the whole reason behind Discord going down the path of evil in the first place. My sister and I were given the title of princess when we defeated Discord and there was no-one higher in rank than us when the fighting was over. Cadance’s rank was more of an honorific until the Crystal Empire returned. Her family is the last to have ties to the old ruling families that were overthrown by Sombra. If we bestow the title on her at all, it will be an honorific like Cadance’s originally was.”
“That kinda makes sense, thinkin’ back to how the Hearth’s Warmin’ tale goes,” AJ said.
“Speaking of Discord,” Midnight spoke up, “I’m surprised he isn’t here. I’d think a new alicorn would be cause for at least a little chaos.”
“Once he knew of our sister’s plans, he angrily stormed off to spend time in Las Pegasus,” Luna informed them. “He was not thrilled with a descendent of Steel Spark being allowed to wield such magical power.”
“He’ll come around,” Celestia said, though she didn’t look like she believed her own words. “Either way, we have a different title in mind for you, Twilight, and hope your friends will accept it as well.” Ignoring the confused faces of the bearers, she turned her attention back to Midnight. “To begin with, we already have specialists working on studying the “strange beasts” you brought back from Hollow Shades. Once we’ve learned ways of deterring them that don’t include skyscraper-sized dragons and burning half the forest down, we’ll implement them immediately to keep Hollow Shades safe. Until then, a guard presence will be sent to supplement Chief Night Stick’s police force and there will be a ban on extending the town or building any farms."
“Next, about the owl harpies thou brought back,” Luna said. “While they have not been known to us, they are still citizen of Equestria and enjoy all that entails. However, we also know the bonds between certain races and the wyverns. While it is another burden, we ask that you indulge the Turka Rookery for the foreseeable future.”
Midnight sighed but nodded. “Asli’s asked if some of them can join the Bearer guard. In all honesty I don’t really mind and it’ll make night patrol easier on the few thestrals we have, however if they simply join up with the Storm Clan when I’m finally able to see them, then we’d be back in the same position so I don’t see much of a point.”
Asli, who’d been listening to Orestes translate this entire time, drooped at this.
The alicorns shared a look. “I think you will find them more loyal than that, Midnight,” Celestia told her. “I would say let them join and let them prove that themselves.”
“I will then,” the kirin said and behind her Asli perked back up.
“As for these messengers,” Luna said, “step forward please. We would speak to thee about thine mission.”
Snow looked nervously up at them, then looked to Midnight as if she was a life line. When the kirin motioned for her and the others to step forward, she reluctantly did so.
“Do not be afraid, my little creatures; you are among friends here,” Celestia assured them.
“We merely wish to confirm that thou are indeed from the Storm Clan. Captain Storm reported thou had a letter and a photograph?” Luna added.
Nervously, Snow reached into her pouch and procured both the scroll and photo. Luna’s magic enveloped both.
“I-I don’t think you need-!” Midnight started, trying to grab the picture but it flew past her and up to the princesses. She winced as they both looked at it.
“Aw, Midnight; you were so cute as a foal!” Celestia said and the kirin growled unhappily and muttered under her breath.
“It has been some time, but I am sure this is Firestorm’s claw-writing. Do you not think so, sister?” Luna said, exchanging the letter for the photo.
“It certainly looks like it,” Celestia agreed. “And you can confirm the photo is genuine, Midnight?”
“Yes, I can,” the kirin growled, ignoring the wing Sapphire hit her with.
“Then I believe that there’s no doubt that Snow Bank is telling the truth,” Celestia announced, returning the items to the owl harpy. “How is Patriarch Firestorm, by the way? He was a good friend of ours when the clan was still in Equestria and we’ve both missed him and others dearly.”
“The Patriarch is doing fine, as far as I can tell,” Snow said. “He doesn’t talk much about the past, though.”
The sisters both nodded. They could understand wanting to leave certain things in the past buried and leaving healed scars alone. Celestia turned to Midnight. “Our next question then is what do you plan to do, Captain Storm?”
Midnight stood straight again. “I wanted to arrange things here for an extended absence. While Twilight not being crowned a princess makes things less complicated for the moment, I can only assume the trip to and from the clan will take some time, not to mention I don’t know how long I’ll be there for. I’ll try to get back as quick as I can, but…” she trailed off, looking at Sapphire with a sad expression. With the pegasus injured as she was there would be no way the kirin could take her with her, meaning she and Squeaks would be home alone without her again and that stung them both.
Both alicorns looked at each other again and smiled. “Thankfully, Captain, there will be no need for such measures,” Luna told them.
They all looked up at them in surprise. “But, your highnesses, what do you mean? The bearers…” Midnight said, waving a hoof at the six of them as if they hadn’t been noticed.
“We are aware,” Celestia assured her. “From the moment we met, Midnight, I had a feeling things would come to this, so I’ve made certain preparations for it.” She turned to the bearers. “Twilight Sparkle, though you will not be given the title of princess, we would instead grant you the title of Plenipotentiary and have you and your friends serve as ambassadors from Equestria to the Storm Clan. As the six of you will be going, should you accept, that will mean the entirety of the Bearer Guard will be going as well, negating any need to split their forces. Will you accept this mission?”
The throne room was dead quiet.
“That. Is. AWESOME!” Dash yelled, doing a loop in the air. “It’s almost like a going on a real Daring Do adventure! Daring Do and the Lost Wyvern Clan! We’ll be famous!”
“Slow your roll there, partner,” AJ said, then turned to Celestia. “We’d all love to go yer highness an’ help Twilight and Midnight, but we all have jobs and families that we can’t leave either. How will the farm get along without me?”
“That’s true,” Rarity added, “I have several orders to fill.”
“And I can’t leave some of my animals right now,” Fluttershy said.
Midnight sighed. She knew what the princesses had offered would be too good to be true. And even if they’d all agreed right there, how were they supposed to all get up north, anyway? Traveling by hoof and keeping everyone together would be a nightmare of logistics .
“If thou would “hear us out”,” Luna said, “we would like to offer a bribe of sorts.”
That caught everyone’s attention.
“First, you will all be paid for your work as ambassadors, so there should be no loss of income for any of you,” Celestia started. “Applejack, we are prepared to hire for you twenty new workers to work the Apple farm in you absence, to be trained by you before you leave so that you know the farm is being taken care of properly.”
“That’s mighty generous of ya’ll, princess, but I’m still a might uneasy about leaving the farm ta anyone other than an Apple. Can I talk with mah folks first?”
Celestia nodded. “Rainbow Dash, we will send a letter to the Ponyville weather team excusing your absence.”
“Alright!” Dash said, doing a little dance.
“Pinkie Pie, we are prepared to compensate the Cakes for whatever loss of business your absence will cause.”
“If you’re giving us all a week to get ready, I can smooth things over with the Cakes easy-peasy,” Pinkie assured her. “I can also do all the parties I’ll miss ahead of time!”
Celestia smiled and turned to Twilight. “We can send someone from the royal library to look after the Ponyville library until you return.”
Twilight nodded thankfully.
“Now, as for Rarity and Fluttershy,” Celestia said, “what if I said there was a way that you could both work on your trip and take care of your animals? Would you agree to it then?”
“I suppose…” Rarity said, “but how am I suppose to take my whole boutique with me?”
“If I could take them that would be fine but how?” Fluttershy asked.
Celestia smiled. “There is a project that has been in the works for some time now. Shoal nearly ran across it when she came to Canterlot Mountain looking for you,” she told Midnight. “We’ve retooled it from its original purpose and, by fortune, it is almost complete. If you will follow us, we can explain.”
Stepping down from the throne, Celestia and Luna made for a side door out of the throne room. Everyone looked at each other, gave some variation of a shrug, then followed them. They quickly began descending through the castle, taking paths and stairs that even Twilight hadn’t seen before. Midnight started wondering if the sisters were leading them down into the crystal caves under the castle. They did, sort of, though the passage ways they went through were more recently cut and well maintained. “Where are we going, exactly?” Midnight asked as they went through yet another doorway.
“Originally this project was meant for myself,” Celestia said. “When Cadance took over ambassador duties, I began having it remodeled for her use. However, she liked to travel by train; said it helped make her seem more down to earth to those she met with, so it was going to go back to use for myself and Luna.” She smiled down at the kirin. “Then you came along and I had the perfect use for it.”
“And that would be?” Midnight asked. They all could now hear the sound of working and machinery up ahead. It sounded like a lot of work was being done in a large, open section of cave.
Celestia and Luna stopped by a large set of double doors where the noise seemed to be coming from. “For this,” Celestia told them, using her magic to swing open the doors and motioned for them all to go through.
Ears flattened against the noise, they went through this last doorway, which opened up onto a balcony of sorts.
Their jaws all dropped.
“For the royal airship Return of Harmony!” Celestia announced, her foreleg sweeping towards the largest airship any of them had ever seen. Midnight guessed it was even bigger than Shoal, if it could be believed, with enough length and decks that they could all move their entire houses into it and still have room for a few more. Ship builders and what they presumed to be sailors crawled all over it, inspecting parts and installing things and testing out machinery. The air sacks that would lift it were missing but the spares that would attach the ship to them were there and on the rear of the ship were three huge propellers. Just the size of it alone certainly made it seemed fit for royalty.
“Rarity, we can provide you with extra large dragon fire lighters that will send large packages to us to ship out on your behalf,” Celestia said with a raised voice to be heard over the tumult of work. “And Fluttershy, your animals will have plenty of room to move about in one of the cargo bays and can easily be brought up on deck for fresh air!”
“Oh my! Traveling on a royal airship!? That’s such an honor! And I can certainly bring enough materials to get my work done!” The white unicorn gasped. “Why I could even come up with a whole new line of nautical designs! I could take the next summer season by storm!”
“I guess there’d be enough space,” Fluttershy said, “and I know some of them would like a ride in a royal airship.”
“I can have one of the animal caretakers from the castle look after any that want to stay behind,” Celestia assured her.
Midnight was just amazed at what she was seeing. Celestia really had been preparing for a day like today, when the Storm Clan, and one of her closest friends, was found again. There wasn’t just enough room for the bearers and her to move in; there was enough room to garrison the entire Bearer guard, sans Shoal of course, and a shipboard crew besides with rooms to spare. This also solved practically every logistics problem she’d thought of, especially after Celestia had said she wanted all the bearers to go in this trip.
“Kinda hard ta say “no” after bein’ shown this,” AJ said, looking sheepish.
“I don’t know how any of you can say no!” Rainbow yelled, doing another loop in midair. “This just keeps getting more awesomer!”
‘This is really happening,’ Midnight thought as she watched the bearers tell the princesses they’d agree to her terms. ‘After all this time, I’m really going… I’m going to find…’ She looked at Sapphire, who had laid a wing on her and she realized her cheeks were wet. “I’m gonna find him,” she told her, “I’m finally going to find him.”
“We’re going to find him,” Sapphire corrected.
Midnight felt another wing on her shoulder and she turned to find Celestia looking down at her. “Does this all work for you, Captain Storm?” she asked.
“It does indeed, your highness,” Midnight told her, “and thank you. Thank you so much.”
“No, Midnight, thank you. And when you find your father and Firestorm, tell them how much Equestria, we, miss them.”
“I will Celestia,” she said, turning back to look at Return of Harmony. “I’ll tell them everything.”
