The Equestria Offensive

Grand Galloping Gala, March 6th, 11:17 P.M., 2013

As Midnight approached the V.I.P area, he could see a large crowd had formed around the entrance. The size and volume of the crowd made him fairly certain Rainbow Dash was inside somewhere. She’d become a veritable superstar in her short time with the Wonderbolts. Making his way through, he tried calling out for her, in hope that she’d recognize his voice and let him through this madness. Immediately he discovered that he was drowned out by the frenzied shouts of admiration from the rest of the onlookers. Not even half way to the entrance gate, a large brown colt blocked his way. Midnight tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

“Yeah? What do you want?” This pony was certainly not interested in talking, and much more focused on what was happening in front of them.

“Excuse me, but I need to get through.” The colt looked at him incredulously this obviously was not a good enough reason for him to step aside.

“I’d like to talk to Rainbow Dash, she’s up there right?”

“Yeah, it’s her. We’d all like a minute with her, but unfortunately that’s not an option for anypony here, now is it?”

“Well, no. I can see that, but I’m kinda her boyfriend, and I need to discuss something important with her. I think an exception can be made.”

“Come on, you’re kidding. Right? You want me to believe that cardboard box of a story?”

“What?”

“Everypony here knows that Rainbow Dash ain’t dating. Plus, she’s way to famous for a pony like you. If you had any business here, you’d be up there already.”

“Hey! I helped her get where she is today, I’ve known her since flight school in Cloudsdale when we were young! I don’t know where you get your info, but we’ve been together going on 2 years now.”

“Alright hot shot, make me believe you. Prove to me you’re with her and you can go anywhere you want.”

“Well, if I could get a second to see her that would be no problem!”

“Okay, fine. Hold up. Hey, everypony!” he had a booming voice that sounded over half the ponies around him, they all looked. “This foal claims to be dating Rainbow Dash!” They had stopped cheering and were now laughing at what they saw as the desperate attempts of another hopeless fan. A few of them called out:

“Yeah right.”

“Everypony knows she’s not dating.”

“Oh, but he says he can prove it!” the colt went on. “So let’s let him! How about it?” His sarcasm could hardly be laid on any thicker at this point. Several ponies stepped aside to let them pass, eager to see somepony make a foal of themselves tonight. Midnight ignored them and trotted on through to the gate. He could finally see Rainbow Dash now, she was all suited up in her Wonderbolts uniform, giving the crowd a show, dancing and generally showing off for them. Only when the cheering suddenly toned down did she notice something was going on and stopped.

“Hey, what gives? I’m still here, you can keep cheering you know.” She turned her attention to the gate in confusion.

“Dash!” Midnight called from the front of the crowd.

“Midnight! What are you doing out there? I guess your meeting with the Princess is done, how’d it go?” she asked as Midnight was let into the V.I.P. section, to the surprise of everypony in the crowd. The guard took care to only leave enough space for Midnight to squeeze through, everypony else still had to keep out.

“Thanks Dashie, I have something important I want to talk with you about.” he said, just before turning his head to smirk at the still shocked crowd, and then giving a grateful nod to the guard in turn. When he got to her, Dash pulled his head down and greeted him with a quick hello kiss. He wondered if he was just imagining the gasps he heard coming from behind him. Better make sure. He pulled Rainbow Dash back in and gave her another kiss full on the lips, which seemed to surprise her as well.

“Good to see you too, Midnight.” Dash remarked, blushing just a little. Midnight backed off and then gave her the sternest look he could muster given his current good mood.

“Question, Dash. Why did those ponies tell me that ‘everypony knows that Rainbow Dash isn’t dating?’”

“Well, you see. I didn’t want you to get caught up in all the fame, so I kinda denied that we were dating.”

“You just wanted to eat up all the attention, didn’t you.”

“Eh heh heh heh heh. Maybe...” Her cheeks turned brighter red as she scratched the back of her head. “So, what’d yah need to talk about?”

“That’s something I’d really like to talk about in private if that’s alright with you.” He motioned to the crowd. “ I think they can get on without you for a little while at least.”

“I can do that, the privacy comes with a few... extra benefits, too.” She said, giving Midnight a wink. Midnight couldn’t help but give a glance back to the crowd of adoring fan-colts, by now burning with envy of him, a pony they were coming to hate more and more. He couldn’t help but laugh to himself at the situation.

“I like the sound of that, but first we should get the important matters out of the way. Let’s go.”

“Okay, I’ve got a private room here to use for the show, follow me. We’ll be able to talk there.” Dash gave her fans a final wave as they left the V.I.P. area for the private rooms. A short way down the back hall, they came to a door featuring an over-sized recreation of Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark. She pushed open the door and let Midnight walk inside. It wasn’t as small as he would have expected, obviously the Canterlot Palace planners spared no expense when it came to their entertainers. Midnight stepped over to the large bed on the far side of the room and hopped on, landing in the middle of the mattress. Dash shut the door behind her and joined him.

“Hey Midnight, I have something to ask you first.”

“Alright, shoot.”

“Well, I was talking to Applejack on the carriage ride, her birthday is coming up soon. 2 weeks, so I was thinking what I should get her...”

“Okay... go on.”

“I promised I’d do ‘something special’ for her and it sort of involved you.” Midnight raised an eyebrow.”

“How exactly am I ‘involved.’”

“It’s her 18th birthday, Midnight.”

“I’m not sure I-”

“Oh come on, do I have to spell it out for you? I want you to have sex with AJ for her birthday. Got it?”

“What?! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! This is a trap isn’t it?! Well, I’m not falling for it! You’re testing my trust! Well, I figu-”

“Midnight! It’s not a trap! Really, do you think I’m smart enough to try and trick you into something like that? No, I’m not. I promised her that because I know I can trust her. I let her do it because we’ve been together for so long, I know I can trust you. Heck, we’ve been together long enough to start thinking about gettin married.”

First Vinyl, now Dash? This was certainly a day full of surprises.

“Alright, but only since it’s you asking.”

“Really? Huh, I thought it’d be harder to convince you than that. Okay then. Now what was it you wanted to talk with me about?”

“Earlier, when I went with Twilight to talk with the Princess, she asked me to join Equestria’s army. Dash, there’s a possibility of war with the Griffins, I could be fighting them in open combat.”

“Are you serious? War with the Griffins? I haven’t even heard anything about trouble with them.”

“Celestia’s kept it under wraps for a long time now. I’m one of the few non-military ponies who even knows about it. She trusts all of us to keep quiet about it too.”

“Don’t worry about it, I won’t tell anypony anything.”

“Good. But I still need to make a decision on joining in this war or not.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I’m thinking that my life here with you is too good a thing to just give up and leave. If it came from anypony else, I would say no, but the Princess herself asked me to do this. That kind of request is an honor I can’t just pass up so easily. Either way, she’s asked us to find a place to stay here in Canterlot until a decision is made, by me or by the Griffin king.”

“Wow, that’s a tough choice. Celestia has asked for our help before, you know, from Twilight and me and the rest of our friends, but never anything like this.”

“I know, I just don’t know what to tell her!”

“I really don’t think I can help you on this one, I’ve got nothin’. You’ll just have to wait until you can make a decision for yourself. Sorry I couldn’t give you an answer.”

“That’s okay, thanks anyway. I’m just glad we could talk about it at all.”

“No prob, Midnight.”

“I just don’t want to think about this any more right now.”

“I’ve still got another hour or so before the performance, that leaves us with plenty of time to come up with... something.” She traced a hoof over the patch of sheets between them. “That tux really looks nice on you," She said, "but I think it would look even better on the floor."

Midnight was happy to oblige, and the two of them sank under the covers.

An hour later an alarm went off letting Rainbow Dash know the show was beginning soon. She shot up and slipped into her uniform. “Aww yeah, now that was a heck of a warm up. I’ll see you after I’m finished with the show, alright? Later Midnight!”

Midnight hopped off the bed, grabbing the various pieces of his outfit that were strewn about the floor. A few minutes later he was ready to gather the rest of the girls to head to Dash’s performance. He took a different route out of the hall containing the Wonderbolt’s private rooms to avoid any more contact with the crowd. Soon he was outside, and soon after that, standing in front of Applejack’s stand, where she and Twilight had apparently made a killing earlier. Most of the stand had already been packed up, and there was hardly anything left that hadn’t been sold.

“Hey AJ, Twilight. Good, there isn’t much left to do here, Dash’s show is going to start soon. We should get everypony else and head over there.”

“Ah almost forgot about the Wonderbolts doin’ a show here every year. We didn’t really have much of a chance to see em last time around. Let’s get goin’ then, I’ve got this all closed up and locked. Who should we get first?”

“Let’s see what Pinkie Pie’s up to in the Gala hall, I’m sure everypony’s had enough partying for one night. It’s probably about time we rescued them from her.” Twilight suggested, starting off toward the Palace entrance. Midnight and Applejack fell into step behind her and the music steadily grew louder as they got closer to the hall. Midnight couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward walking with Applejack now, after what Rainbow Dash had agreed to between them. “I wonder if she knows I agreed to it yet.” he thought to himself as the three of them walked through the door. The scene inside was very much as they’d left it, with everypony parting just as hard if not more so. Pinkie Pie sure knew how to throw a good party, and everypony here agreed it looked like.

“Now how are we gonna find Pinkie in all this?” Applejack wondered as she strained to see over the waves of partying ponies and through the flashing lights. Midnight set himself to searching the crowd from their position and eventually came across a bright pink speck in the crowd, Or rather, on the crowd.

“Is...is she...crowd-surfing?” They all looked at each other, not exactly surprised, but it was still a sight to see, Pinkie pie bouncing across the crowd, probably having the time of her life. Twilight decided to try calling to her over the noise of the room.

“Pinkie!” No luck. “Pinkie Pie!!!” It became obvious near immediately that this course of action would get them nowhere. Time to use some magic. Twilight’s horn lit up with her signature purple glow as she searched the crowd to get a good view of Pinkie again. It wouldn’t help them at all if she picked up the wrong pony from the crowd. As soon as Pinkie came into view again, Twilight reached out and grabbed a hold of her with her magic and pulled her over the crowd and to them.

“Oh hi guys!” she said enthusiastically immediately after Twilight released her from her magical grip. “Can I go again Twilight? That was fun!” She could tell pretty quickly from their faces that they had other things to get to. “Soooo what’s up?”

“We’re all headed over to see Rainbow Dash perform with the Wonderbolts, the show is about to start so we came to get you and everypony else on the way.” Midnight answered her.

“Okie dokie lokie.” She bounced bast them and out toward the gardens.

“Well, I guess that means we’re getting Fluttershy next.”

In a minute they had all caught up with Pinkie Pie and were heading into the Palace Gardens. A short walk from the main hall, they still had time to find Rarity, wherever she was. As they entered, a cheerful tune could be heard through the gardens, somepony was whistling, most likely Fluttershy herself.

“Ah think she’s over in this direction.” Applejack said, pointing a hoof toward some high bushes that had been trimmed to resemble two ponies rearing up on either side of the path. Sure enough, they could see the yellow pegasus sitting on the far side of a small courtyard, surrounded by the garden’s animals. As Midnight stepped into the open area, the creatures took notice and fled back into the garden.

“What’s wrong? Did I...” Before she could finish apologizing for whatever she thought she had done, she spotted the four ponies at the edge of the clearing and smiled to them. “Oh, what are you all doing out here? Not that I’m not happy to see you, I just-”

Midnight put up a hoof to stop her. Her excessive politeness was endearing at times, but they only had a short while before the performance by now. “It’s alright Fluttershy, we know what you mean. We were all going to see Rainbow Dash’s performance, and we wanted to get everypony to come along, are you ready to go?”

“Oh, yes. Um... okay. Would you mind holding on just for a minute? I’d like to thank my new friend for helping me to meet all the garden animals. She gestured to the old pony leaning on a rake not too far away. She trotted over to him. “Um, sir? Excuse me but I’ll have to be going now. Thank you for helping me get acquainted with all the little critters.”

The elderly pony looked up. “Oh, sure. No problem at all, miss! Farewell!” He waved goodbye and went back to leaning with his eyes closed.

As soon as Fluttershy came back to join them, they were off. “Okay, that just leaves Rarity, and I think I can guess where she is.” Twilight said, turning to face a particularly colorful tower nearby. “She said she was meeting with some influential designers like Hoity Toity, so she should still be with them I think.”

“I hope so, we’re going to be running out of time if she’s not there. I don’t want to miss any of the show if we can help it.” Midnight said, eager to get on with finding her.

The group came up to the entrance to the tower and found themselves at a large, ornate door, flanked by two official looking ponies. They lacked armor, but still gave off the impression of guards. Midnight had had a less than successful time trying to talk his way into private areas before at the Cloudiseum, but he thought it over and decided he might as well try anyway.

“Excuse me, is this the tower being used by the designers commissioned for the Gala?”

The larger of the two looked at him after a moment, narrowing his eyes. “The rooms are private, please be on your way.”

“I’ll take that as a yes. We’re friends of Rarity, she’s speaking with the rest of the designers and we’d like to see her.”

“Unless you have an invitation from one of th-”

“Midnight? Is that you down there?” A voice came from above. Rarity was leaning over a balcony that jutted out from the tower several floors up. “Ah it is! And Twilight, and Pinkie... oh, everypony it seems! What are you doing down there? Come up, everypony! I’ll see you all in a moment.”

“Rarity we just wanted to te-” Too late, she had already disappeared inside. It looked like they’d have to go up and get her after all. Midnight gave the guard an expectant look and he opened the door for them.

Everypony filed in, and up the winding staircase inside. The entire tower looked very nice, inside and out. It was obviously set aside for the artists and designers hired on by the Princesses or other influential ponies in Canterlot or at the Palace. The walls were nearly covered with tapestries or paintings of all sizes. After several times around the center, they reached another door, this one more decorated than the last, which was saying a lot. It seemed to be the right floor, or rather, they hoped it was. Nopony was looking forward to any more stairs for the night. Midnight was about to knock when it swung in slowly to reveal the room inside. For a moment, Midnight was dumbstruck by the sheer amount of suits and gowns, all expertly designed with priceless materials and decorations. He couldn’t even guess at the value of the contents of this room.

“My friends!” Rarity exclaimed. She’d barely been noticeable at all in the sea of outfits, she blended right in with them in her self-styled dress. It matched the style of a good number of others, meaning they were probably her designs as well. “Come in, make yourselves at home. This is Hoity Toity, I think you girls might remember him from the time he showed up in Ponyville for my fashion show.”

Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack remained at the door while Pinkie pranced around the room, looking at everything. Midnight was surprised everything stayed in place with her so excited about it. “Well it’s nice to meet you, Mr.... Toity, but we have to go. There’s a show we have to catch soon.” He shook his hoof without a word of response and turned to Rarity. “So, are you coming? Rainbow Dash is performing.”

She seemed hesitant, giving Hoity Toity a nervous glance before he turned to one of her dresses he had had his eye on when they first entered. “Run along Miss Rarity, I will be here when you get back. I have heard good things about the Wonderbolt’s newest member, it should be quite a show.”

“Phew, alright. Let’s go then.” Rarity said, relieved.

“Let’s get going then, we only have a few minutes left to get there. The Palace amphitheater was not a long distance from the tower and the group made it with a bit of time to spare. The show hadn’t started at any rate. “Come on everypony, let’s find our seats. After making their way to the edge of the upper stands, Midnight was able to see down to where six seats in the front row had been reserved just for them. They had just gotten down to them when the announcer’s voice rang out through the stadium:

“Fillies and Gentlecolts! Get ready for... The Wonderbolts!” With that, the crowd erupted with cheers and streaks shot across the sky, storm clouds and rainbows.

After the show had ended, they all decided to wait in the courtyard outside for Rainbow Dash. After a few minutes, she showed up, still in uniform, practically glowing with happiness. The show had gone as perfectly as anypony could have hoped. “Did you guys see me out there? I was awesome!”

“That was incredible, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Bravo, Rainbow, a marvelous show indeed.”

“I ain’t seen anything like that in mah whole life!”

“I um... really liked it, Rainbow Dash”

“Yeah! You were all WHOOSH! And then Spitfire was all like WHOOM! And then you both went like-” Twilight put a hoof over Pinkie’s mouth before she was able to re-tell the entire show again.

“Thanks a lot girls, I’m glad you all enjoyed it. Now,” She said, turning to Midnight, “what did you think?”

“I think you have to be the only pony that can perform that amazingly while still staying that beautiful.” Midnight said, keeping his face as serious as possible while laying it on that heavy.

“Awwwwwwww.” The girls said collectively.

Rainbow Dash laughed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “My onyx prince! Thanks Midnight.” She laughed again at her own attempt at starry-eyed admiration, then turned to fly back to the stadium to catch up with the rest of the team. Midnight watched her go for a few seconds before remembering.

“Twilight, we have to go find our parents soon, we’ll need a place to stay in Canterlot while Celestia wants us here. I’d like to see if we could stay with them.”

“Well, I think we should take our leave, girls.” Rarity said. “We all have places to be as well it seems. We’ll see you two later, Twilight, Midnight. I hope all goes well with your parents.”

“Oh, I almost forgot. I haven’t seen them in so long. It’s been... even longer since they’ve seen you.”

“I know what you mean. Well, let’s get it over with then, do you know how to get there from here?” He still had a mental image of what their house looked like, but it had been so long, any number of things could have changed about it since he left.

“We’re gonna get going girls, we’ll see you later I guess. Bye!” They all turned their separate ways and departed to their temporary Canterlot homes. Most of them also had relatives living in the city, and Rainbow Dash had the Wonderbolts. Rarity had been invited by several different designers to stay with them, apparently she’d been a hit with them.

The route Twilight had decided on took them out past the main road leading to the Palace. Most of the guests were leaving or getting ready to leave by now. Several carriages pulled away as they walked past.

“So,” Midnight started, “where did Spike run off to? I didn’t see him all night”

“Oh, I saw him while I was at the stand with Applejack. He knows we’re staying in Canterlot and I told him that we’re going to our parent’s. I offered to let him come, but he said he’d prefer it staying at the Castle.” A few minutes went by with neither of them saying much, Midnight was still feeling nervous. Twilight decided to try to start up a conversation again. “I can’t believe how long it’s been since we were all together, I can barely even remember.” Twilight said. “I wonder how they’ll react when we get there.”

“I haven’t been thinking of much else this whole time. However it goes, I just want to get it done with. Now let’s just focus on getting there.”

“Midnight’s obviously not interested in talking about it, this must be really hard for him to go back.” Twilight thought as they passed down smaller and smaller side streets on the way to their childhood home. Their parents lived in Canterlot, but still a good distance from the Palace itself. Twilight was starting to get a little uncomfortable with the silence when they finally arrived at the doorstep. She could see Midnight still wasn’t sure about the whole thing so she was the one to go up to the door and knock. A few seconds later, the door was answered by a white mare with a purple streaked mane, their mother.

“Oh, Twilight, it’s so nice to see you. I didn’t know you were in Canterlot.”

“Well we were here for the Gala, so a visit here seemed in order.”

“We?”

“Yes, I’ve brought somepony you might remember.” Mrs. Sparkle seemed confused as she looked past Twilight to the other pony standing just off the street. She probably hadn’t recognized him, after being gone so long. His mane was a bit if a give away, but it probably hadn’t crossed her mind that her son would just show up one night after so long lost. Her eyes widened as she focused on him, standing in front of her.

“Hi, Mom.”

“M-Midnight? Oh sweet Celestia, I can’t believe it’s really you! You’re alive! Honey, come here, you have to see!”

“What is it? What’s so exciting there?” A stallion, a bit older than their mother, appeared in the entryway. He was a blue pony, a pipe in his mouth, which dropped to the floor when he realized who was standing at the door with his wife and daughter. “I... I never thought I’d see the day. My son.”

“I’m glad to see you too, Dad.” As much as he’d thought about this moment recently, he still couldn’t have imagined exactly what he was feeling now. He was finally seeing his family again. Finally with them after years of separation. He was just beginning to feel the tears welling up when his mother pounced on him, holding on like letting go was not an option any more. He felt her own tears hit the top of his back. He was home.

“Midnight, where have you been all this time? Where did you go?” His father stood back, simply smiling at the sight of his family reunited. Midnight was about to respond when his father picked up his pipe finally. “Come on, come inside, we can talk there. Honey, I think you can let him go now, he’s not going anywhere.”

“Just a few seconds more. Please.” She held him tighter for a moment before finally letting go.

They all moved into the living room and made themselves comfortable. Midnight was still trying to get his bearings on the situation. It had been so long, but it still felt just like home to him.

“I guess you know what I’m going to ask you first.” his father said from his green recliner. Midnight did, and looked to his sister before responding. “Why did you leave, Midnight?”

“I knew the question, and I think you already know the answer, Dad. You too, Mom. You were both there at Celestia’s test. You witnessed me kill those instructors when I lost control of my power. I couldn’t stay after that. I thought about Twilight and what a terrible example I’d be for her here. I didn’t know, I might have even hurt her, or hurt you. I didn’t want to take that chance after what happened. I took what I could and went to Cloudsdale. I felt like there was no other choice to be made. I lived there for five years. The rest is another story entirely.”

“But why did you leave so suddenly? You could have told us!” his mother said, springing up, “We were devastated when you left.”

“I know. I didn’t realize everything I was doing back then, I was so young. I just did what I thought was best, without really thinking it through all the way. I didn’t mean to just abandon you all like that...”

“It’s okay Midnight, your intentions were good. I think we’ve all moved on from that. I’m just happy to see you’re alive. You have no idea how much that means to us.”

“I’m just glad you’re not angry with me.”

“So, now that that’s out if the way, I’m curious to know how you’ve spent all this time exactly. What’s your life been like?” his father asked.

“Well let’s see...” Midnight had to think about it for a moment, he’d been busy living his life, never really expecting to be asked to recite it to anypony. But, the details came through clear after a few seconds of thinking. “Are you familiar with the Wonderbolts? The performance flying team.”

“Of course, your father and I watched them perform at the Palace from town just tonight, we only got back maybe an hour before you arrived. They were spectacular.”

“Alright, then have you heard about their newest member, Rainbow Dash?”

“Sure do, she’s quite the showpony. Why? Do you have some sort of interest in her?”

“The very morning that I arrived in Cloudsdale, I met little Rainbow Dash; heading on her way to her first day as a paper pony. She was saving up to go to flight school. Ever since the first day of flight school in Cloudsdale together, she was my best friend for years. We went through plenty of spectacular ups and downs in those years. Almost 3 years ago, I finally told her that I loved her, but, for reasons that would take me a long time to explain, I had to leave her for an entire year. The very day I came back to her, we began dating. We’ve been happily together for years now. I even helped get her to her life’s dream of being a member of The Wonderbolts.”

“Well that’s fantastic, you sure haven’t been wasting your time away.” his mother said.

“So, you’re what, 21 years old now? If you two have been together for so long, have you ever gotten ‘intimate’ with her?”

“Well, I, um...” Of all the things Midnight had imagined them talking about when he showed up, this was not among them.

“Oh sweet Celestia.” Twilight was quick to interrupt him, “Those two are at it every night.”

“Yeah, we- wait. How did you know that?”

“Oh please, Midnight. You two live together in a house made of clouds flying over Ponyville. If you two haven’t realized yet, clouds aren’t the best sound barriers. I’m pretty sure everypony in Ponyville can easily hear you two going at it every night.” Midnight was taken completely off guard by Twilight’s explanation, and turning his head, he saw their mother had much the same reaction, which did nothing to diminish his embarrassment. After a moment it looked like her initial reaction had worn off and she tried to make it a little easier on him.

“I-It’s alright. You’re a grown pony, it’s perfectly fine whatever you want to do at that age...”

“Ha Ha!” Mr. Sparkle was at this point cracking up at the sheer awkwardness he had constructed. Midnight remembered that about him now, he was nothing if not a joker. “You know, I think things were much the same between your mother and I at that age.”

“Honey I don’t think that’s something everypony should kn-”

“Oh, come on, honey. They’re our kids. I don’t think they have any plans on going out and telling their friends that they learned how much sex their parents had. Hell, I could tell them right now how much we’ve been at it since Twilight moved out, and they wouldn’t tell a soul.”

“Okay, dad. That’s enough. I know I don’t wanna hear anymore, and I’m pretty sure you’ve left a permanent mental scar in Twilight’s mind.” Sweet Celestia, he has the strangest sense of humor of anypony I’ve met.

“I’m sorry, forget I said anything.”

“Umm... sorry to interrupt or anything, but we didn’t just come to stop by and visit.”

“Oh? So what brings you then?” their father replied to Twilight’s vague statement.

“Well, Midnight and I have been asked by the Princess to remain in Canterlot while she attends to some business, and we immediately thought of you. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. Even longer for Midnight.

“Of course you can,” Mrs. Sparkle replied happily. “All you had to do was ask, we’d love for you to stay. It’ll give us more of a chance to catch up with Midnight as well.” Their father stood up from his chair and motioned for them to follow him.

“Come on, let’s get you two settled in.” They followed him down the hallway before he stopped and turned around. “Twilight, come with me, we’ll have to do a little re-arranging in your old room. Midnight, there’s something in yours I feel like you’ll want to see... alone.”

“Alright, well... you go on then.” It seemed like a strange thing for his father to tell him, what could be in his room that he wanted him to find on his own? He took a few more steps down the narrow hall before reaching his old room. At first glance it was apparent nothing much had changed. He’d left so suddenly and they probably wanted to keep it as he’d left it all those years ago. His sheets, the wall color, the rug. All of it was unchanged. Everything was in its place. It could have been just the day after he left if he didn’t know any better. All except one detail. Lying on his bed there was a framed picture. He walked to his bed to get a better look. It was them on their last family vacation together. Lining the frame were eleven roses. Going around the picture, each was progressively more wilted than the last, yet somehow preserved. Attached to each rose was a small card, tied on and carefully folded closed. He needed to know what they said. Quickly Midnight opened them in succession, starting with the oldest. Written in each was a short dated message:

We Miss you every single day.

July 20th, 2002

We pray to Celestia for your return.

July 20th, 2003

Forever in your parent’s hearts.

July 20th, 2004

We hope you’ve found a better place.

July 20th, 2005

Praying for your safety, Midnight.

July 20th, 2006

We hope everyday that you’re still

out there somewhere.

July 20th, 2007

You’re always in our thoughts.

July 20th, 2008

With every day, every year, and every

rose, we miss you more and more

July 20th, 2009

Wondering if we’ll ever see you again.

July 20th, 2010

After 10 years, we have lost no hope

that you will return.

July 20th, 2011

Midnight Flare, forever in our hearts, minds,

thoughts, and our dreams.

July 20th, 2012

He stood next to his old bed, silent, holding the newest rose in his hoof. His parent’s words running through his head. They’d never given up on him. He’d abandoned them, but he was never really let go of here. He didn’t know what to say, he couldn’t really even think of anything. Even if he could, it wouldn’t do what he was feeling justice. Tears began to well in his eyes. Somepony was coming down the hall now. He quickly wiped them away and set down the rose letter.

“Hey Midnight,” It was Twilight in the doorway. “I’ll be reading in my old room if you need me for anything.”

“That’s okay Twilight, I think I’m good now.” he said, not turning from the bed as he replied. He was sure she could hear something in his voice, but for one reason or another, she let it go and turned to leave. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Twilight.”