Chapter 1
Midnight Star

The room was dark, the only source of light from the gap under the door. I was barely awake, and the sound of my breathing was the only sound to be heard, that is, until somepony knocked on the door.

“Midnight, are you up yet?” a young mares voice called through the door.

A tired groan was my only response.

“Midnight!” the voice called louder.

“Mmm… What?” I moaned from inside my dark bedroom, wondering what in Equestria Misty Veil wanted.

“Mum wants to see you, like, right now, so get up. I’ll see you later sis, I’m off to work,” the voice called, then I heard the sound of trotting hooves leaving the door.

I groaned again as I switched on my bedside lamp, slowly sitting up and rubbing the sleep from my eyes with white hooves. Yawning, I stretched and flapped my wings a few times, then checked my pipbuck for the time, 8am. I didn’t want to get up, I’d wanted to stay in bed and mope ever since my dad had died last month, but mum wanted me, so I guess I had to get up.
Dragging myself out of bed, I stretched some more, then pulled on my red and blue jacket. It was too bright and gaudy, but I had to wear it, everypony in Stable 35 had to wear it.

Eventually I opened my bedroom door, squinting at the brightness of the hallway beyond. Slowly I made my way down the hall to the living room, where my mum sat. She was a pegasus, like me, with a white coat and a two toned blue mane, which was tied in a bun with a black ribbon, the symbol of a widow. She sat on the couch reading some sappy romance novel from the Stable’s library, but she put it down when she heard me coming.

“Good morning Midnight,” she said with a smile.

“Morning mum,” I replied flatly. “Misty said you wanted me?”

“Yes dear, I’d like you to go out and socialise for once, you can’t stay cooped up in your room all the time. You also need to plan your 17th birthday party for next week,” she told me.

“I told you I’m not having a party" I exclaimed with a groan " I don’t want one, and I certainly don’t need one, especially not on that day…”

“Fine, I’ll combine my birthday party with yours then, like always. I’m not letting you miss out on having a party,” she said, dismissing my complaints. “Now go to the cafeteria and have breakfast, your sister and I are not going to bring you food anymore.”

I sighed, knowing it would be useless to argue with her. “Oh fine,” I huffed, then turned and left, not seeing the sad smile on her face.

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I wandered slowly towards the cafeteria, not glancing at the happy, colourful murals covering the walls of the halls. The Overmare had tasked Stable’s the team of ponies talented in painting with creating lovely murals on the walls in any place somepony might go, and every year the murals were changed. I myself was okay at painting and arts in general, but it wasn’t my special talent, so I couldn’t help them.

I thought back to what mum had said. Our birthdays were on the same day, and when I was younger, I’d have a party during the day, and she would have hers at night, but the last few years I hadn’t bothered having a party of my own, preferring to combine mine with mum’s. This year though, I didn’t want a party at all, and maybe never again…

“Hey Midnight Star,” a voice called from behind me. I grimaced; I had not wanted to run into Maple Swirl today, well not ever really, that unicorn hated me with a passion, but loved tormenting me. I just hoped Rosebloom wasn’t…

“We thought you must have disappeared, or died, we’d hoped it was the latter,” another voice sounded. I sighed, why did those two have to nearly always be together, it was bad enough with just the one of them.

“I’m not in the mood for your bullying,” I said, speeding up.

The two unicorns easily caught up and walked beside me. “So,” the pale yellow coated, red maned Rosebloom said. “I see your still the most useless pony in the stable then.” She was just starting to show signs of being pregnant, and no doubt she would use it to her advantage to get extra food or to get out of work or something.

“I guess you couldn’t sleep well enough to get a cutie mark in it,” the chestnut coated, honey maned Maple Swirl added.
I frowned and walked faster, but they kept up.

“How old are you turning soon? 17? Wow, that must be a Stable record or something, we all got our cutie marks years ago, and you still don’t have yours. How does it feel to be so useless?” Rosebloom taunted.

“I’m not useless,” I hissed through my teeth, but I knew they were right.

Everypony had their cutie marks by the time they were 12, I still didn’t have one. I’d tried everything possible, from maintenance stuff, to karate, to singing, to cooking, and I could do all of it fairly well, but not well enough to gain a cutie mark in any of it.

It was Stable rule that nopony could start working until they had their cutie mark, and I could tell that everypony was getting annoyed with me getting things everypony else got without the hard work. The only reason anypony put up with me was because the Overmare was my great-something grandma, but that didn’t stop Rosebloom and Maple Swirl, and a few others, from bullying me.

“Oh of course you are useless Midnight Star, but your younger sister on the other hoof, well, I’m glad she’s not useless, or she wouldn’t be able to make me my wedding dress for my wedding with Star Hoof,” Maple Swirl said with a grin.

“Oh don’t brag Maple dear, remember, Midnight here had the biggest crush on your coltfriend in school,” Rosebloom said, then laughed. “But then she also had a crush on my husband too.”

“Oh yeah, didn’t she, like, tell Sunset Helm that she loved him the day before your wedding?” Maple asked, as if I wasn’t there. I really wished I could have kicked their teeth in.

“Yeah, she did, but luckily he loves me and would never leave me for the likes of her.” She smirked, as if some particularly evil thought had crossed her mind. “Who would want Midnight Star anyway? She’s a useless blank flank, and besides, her wings are way to big and ugly for such a small pegasus.”

I folded my wings tighter against my sides. I’ll admit, I was smaller than most mares my age, but I wasn’t that small. She was right about the wings though, they were bigger and differently shaped than other pegasus wings, they looked more like the wings of the old princess ponies, plus they were purple tinged, not white like the rest of my coat.

The pair kept gossiping as if I wasn’t there as we approached the atrium, mostly insults and laughing at things I had done in the past. Couldn’t they just grow up and go live their lives, rather than help to make my life a misery?

The atrium was huge, 10 storeys high with a massive oak tree growing in the middle and a few clouds near the ceiling. It was the only place in the stable big enough for a pegasus to properly fly, though there were only three ponies in the Stable who were able to fly, me, my mum and the Overmare. Quickly planning my escape, I slowed a little. The two mares didn’t notice and kept walking, and were soon ahead of me as we entered the Atrium. Spreading my wings, I took off, surging up, up, up, till I was sitting up on one of the clouds. Below, Rosebloom and Maple Swirl had just noticed I was gone, not that they seemed to care, they laughed and continued on to the cafeteria.

I sighed and laid on my back to stare at the ceiling, painted blue in an attempt to mimic the sky. As much as I hated them, I knew what they said was true, I was useless to the Stable, and everypony knew it. It was in the rules of Stable 35 that nopony could start working until they had their cutie mark, so I couldn’t work until I had one.

I wished my dad was here, he could always cheer me up when I was down. He was a popular stallion, the Stable’s number 1 musician, and all his songs were played over the radio, except the few he made just for me. He was the best dad anypony could ever have, and I hated that he was taken from me so soon.

My mum was also a popular mare in the Stable, a talented seamstress. Misty Veil had taken over as the Stable’s best seamstress when mum retired last year. I sighed, and then heard my stomach grumble. I needed to eat, but I didn’t want to go to the cafeteria anymore because Maple Swirl and Rosebloom would be there. That only left one place I could go to get food.

Jumping off my cloud, I swooped down onto a little balcony, at the top of the Atrium, from which somepony could easily see everything that was happening in the Atrium. I opened to door behind me and stepped through into a cosy apartment, the Overmare’s apartment. Going to the little kitchen, I got an apple and started munching on it as I looked around the apartment.

It was the only apartment in the Stable with a kitchen, everypony else had to eat in the cafeteria. Other than that, there was a lovely fireplace, which I had sat in front of many times before, and a big, soft couch, perfect for a nap. Framed photos of ponies long gone decorated the walls, giving a snapshot of history, and a bookshelf took up a whole wall, filled with story books, photo albums, history books, and the Overmare’s private collection of romance novels. There were 2 doors in the room, one to the bedroom, and one to the Overmare’s office.

Finishing the apple, I threw the core down the rubbish chute and went back to the balcony door, planning to leave, when a voice sounded behind me. “Oh, Midnight Star! What a pleasant surprise!”

“Hey grandma,” I replied with a smile as I turned around, only to be embraced by my great-something grandma, who was also Stable 35’s Overmare.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me grandma, it makes me sound old,” she said, smiling.

“Would you rather I call you Overmare Princess Cadance?” I asked with a smirk.

“No way, just call me Cadance,” Cadance replied, pulling me to sit on the couch with her. It was easy for her, since she was a big, strong alicorn and I was just a smaller than usual pegasus.

“It feel’s weird to call you that though, it always has and it always will,” I protested.

“Oh fine, I give up, you can call me grandma then,” She said with a smile. “Now where have you been hiding? I haven’t seen you since your dad passed.”

My slowly brightening mood plummeted to darkness. “Umm… I’ve been in my room…”

Noticing my change of mood, Cadance pulled me into another hug. “You know death is an inevitable part of our lives, right dear?”

“I know… But why did he have to die so soon, couldn’t you have saved him?” I asked, a tear in my purple eye.

“You know I can’t save a ponies life Midnight, I don’t know any healing magic that powerful. What I do know is that your father, Harmonic Tune, was a fine stallion, who is in a better place now. I also know that he wouldn’t want you to be moping around, especially not so close to your 17th birthday party.” Cadance gave me a tight squeeze then let me go.

I sighed and nodded. “I guess.”

“Now, why did you come to visit?” Cadance asked.

“Umm, to get something to eat I guess,” I replied as my tummy rumbled again.

She sighed. “Rosebloom and Maple Swirl are giving you trouble again?”

“As always.”

“Midnight, you need to start standing up for yourself.”

“It’s a bit hard to do that when I have no friends, and I’m the oldest blank flank ever, and I’m the only pegasus to ever have alicorn wings. Nopony in the Stable likes me, they merely put up with me.” I told her.

“That’s nonsense, there are plenty of ponies who like you. You need to stop letting what those two unicorns say get to you,” Cadance told me sternly.

“Okay grandma…”

“Now, let’s have some brunch, you can help by cutting apples, we’ll have apple fritters!” The pink alicorn smiled as she trotted over to her kitchen.

I grinned. “Okay!” Everypony in Stable 35 knew that my grandma’s apple fritters were to die for, though most ponies only got them when she made them for parties. I, on the other hoof, got them nearly every time I visited Cadance in her apartment. She once told me that she had gotten the recipe from her good friend, Applejack. Cadance told me lots of stories from the war and before, like about how Stable 35 had been built big enough to house and feed the entire population of the Crystal Empire for over 1000 years.

Every pony in the Stable had crystal pony ancestors, but because the Crystal heart had been destroyed in a zebra attack, no-pony was crystally anymore.

In school, we got taught about how Princess Cadance had given money to Stabletech to ensure that our Stable would be completely self-sustaining, and she had been there to oversee its construction. As a result, our stable housed a small apple orchard, a wheat field, a cotton field, a farm for chickens, cows and sheep, and extensive vegetable gardens.

So I helped Cadance make apple fritters, then we sat on the couch in front of the fire to eat them. We had a plate piled high with fritters

“Can you tell me what happened to your husband?” I asked. I had always been curious about the subject, wanting to know about what had happened to the stallion in her photos.

Cadance sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. “I knew you’d ask about that sometime, personally I thought it would be sooner… Well, Shining Armour was everything you could want in a stallion and more, he was kind, caring, but most of all he loved me. Before the war, we were happy. We had two foals before the war, Valiant Knight, a unicorn who looked just like his father, and Serenity, a pegasus. She had a white coat like her father and my mane colours.”

“When the war started, they were old enough to help their father, and so they did. 12 years before I evacuated the Crystal Empire into this stable, I had another foal, Skyla, who was an alicorn and had similar colours to mine. She was your great great great great great great grandma. In that last fight when the zebras attacked the Crystal Empire, Shining Armour knew we were outnumbered.”

“Valiant had been murdered by zebra assassins two weeks earlier, and Serenity had been caught in an explosion at the edge of the city that morning, along with a dozen or so soldiers. Shining Armour put out the evacuation signal soon after, then made me leave him to take Skyla to the Stable. I tried to stay with him, but he wouldn’t let me… He told me that he would fight until our empire was safe, and then he would come and get me… But… We both knew he couldn’t win this fight, there were just too many zebras and not enough soldiers, but I held on to the shred of hope that he would come out of it alive...”

Cadance sighed, pausing for a moment. “Skyla and I were the last ones outside of the Stable when a bomb went off. Looking back, I saw that it destroyed half the castle. Shining Armour had stayed in the castle to direct our army, so I knew he couldn’t have survived. We went inside and I closed the Stable door. Many bombs went off a few minutes later. The ground shook, and we heard the rumble, but the Stable protected us, and we’ve been in here ever since.”

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I left Grandma’s apartment a while later, heading for the Sewing Room, which is where all the stables clothes were made, and fixed. Grandma had tasked me with taking a bunch of apple fritters to Misty Vale and so she could stop working and have a snack break for once.

Entering the Sewing Room, I found the Stable’s one Tailor and three Seamstresses hard at work. Misty Veil was hard at work on what I assumed was Maple Swirls wedding dress. Nopony noticed me walk in, they were too busy. Walking over to my little sister, I set the fritters on a table and watched her work.

Misty Veil was a unicorn, like our dad had been. Her mane was blue with a black streak, and beautifully styled. Her coat was light grey, again like dad. Her cutie mark was a bride’s veil, and her special talent, subsequently, was creating beautiful dresses and suits for weddings, though she also made other beautiful clothes for parties and such. I always envied her for her cutie mark, it wasn’t fair that she would get hers before me, she was 3 years younger than me!

“Your work is beautiful as always, Misty,” I said with a smile.

She jumped, startled, then turned and smiled at me. “Finally out of bed I see, and to what do I owe this visit?”

“Grandma’s famous apple fritters,” I replied, tapping the big bag on the table next to me.

“Yum! But you know you shouldn’t call her grandma anymore, right? Your too old for that,” Misty said as she joined me at the table.

“It feel’s weird to call her anything else, plus, you’ve only just turned 14, you should still call her grandma,” I told her.
She shook her head, and then smiled. “Each to her own I guess.”

“I like the dress, but I’m guessing it’s for Maple Swirl. Figures she’d want you to make the best dress possible, she only cares about herself.” I muttered the last part.

“Hey, I don’t like Maple any more than you do, but it’s my job, so I have to. I’m just glad I didn’t have to make Rosebloom’s dress, mum said she was such a bridezilla!” We both laughed at that. “You know… Mum really doesn’t want you to miss out on having a party.”

I sighed and looked away. “Look, I’ll celebrate hers then, just not my own.”

“Okay, it’s better than nothing I guess,” she sighed, then smiled. “Time to eat I think. Hey Cotton Top, Threadbare, Lace, it’s snack time!” The stallion and two mares stopped their work and walked over.

“Oh, hey Midnight,” the ever-whispering Lace said, and smiled. She was a fragile-looking pale cream unicorn with a pale pink mane and pale green eyes, everything about her was pale. She was one of Misty’s best friends.

“Hey,” I replied. “I’ve brought my grandma’s special apple fritters!”

“Thanks Midnight, much appreciated,” the blue, brown maned earth pony Threadbare said. He was an expert in mending clothes, and also Misty’s coltfriend.

Cotton Top smiled at me. “Yes, thank you.” She was an earth pony, with a brown coat and a puffy white mane. She was the oldest seamstress working in the sewing room, at 26, while Threadbare was 16 and Lace was 14 like my sister. There was another seamstress, but she was away to have her foal.

“No problem, it’s the least I can do for my sister and her friends,” I grinned, then ate a fritter in one gulp. “I’ll see you all later!” I headed to the door, as a chorus of ‘bye’ rang out behind me, followed by the sound of hungry ponies eating.

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The week before my birthday passed much too fast for my liking, but it was inevitable that it would feel too fast, considering what was going to happen. There was only an hour until the party started, and mum had made sure I was ready before her.
Instead of my usual Stable 35 attire, I wore a lovely dress. It was midnight blue with black patterns, and tiny white crystals sewn on to look like stars in the night sky, or at least, what we in the Stable thought the night sky looked like. It looked like a thick material, but was actually really light, and suited me perfectly, meaning that it didn’t only look great, it was functional, so I could run or fly if I had to. Misty Veil had made the dress especially for me, her birthday present to me. She had also made mums dress, which I had yet to see.

Misty was fixing up my mane in curls, and then gave me some purple eye shadow. “There! No stallion will be able to resist you tonight Midnight!” She grinned at me, and I found that it was a contagious grin, as I too was soon grinning.

“Midnight, can you please come here dear?” I heard mum call from her bedroom.

“Okay,” I called back, then stood and went into her room.

“Oh Midnight! You look so beautiful!” Mum exclaimed, hoof to her mouth and tears in her eyes. I didn’t reply, I was too stunned by how lovely she looked. Her dress was exquisite. The hem was black, then lightened to midnight blue, then lightened to sky blue, then to white at the top of her dress. Her blue mane was untied and wavy, laced with tiny white flowers, and she wore diamond earrings.

“Come here dear,” She said with a smile. I slowly walked over, and she gave me a small black box.

Opening it I found a pendant on a silver chain. The pendant was a small teardrop shaped diamond, but inside the drop, was a tiny, midnight blue crystal shaped like a perfect little star. “Oh, mum…”

Mum just smiled and took the necklace and put it around my neck. “It’s perfect,” She whispered. “It’s been passed down through our family since Princess Skyla.”

I stepped forward and hugged her, and she hugged me back. We stayed like that a while, until Misty came in to tell us that it was time to go. She wore a lovely grey-blue dress, though nowhere near as beautiful as our dresses, so as not to outshine the guests of honour at the party. Mum had organised it to be my party as well as hers.

We headed off to the party hall in silence, and were soon joined by Threadbare, who looked very handsome in his suit. He told us we were the most beautiful mares he had ever seen, which made us all smile, Misty especially. As we walked, I tried to rid myself of negative thoughts. I didn’t want mum to worry about me, because that would make her upset, and I didn’t want her to be upset tonight.

Eventually we made it to the hall, where the party was just beginning. The hall was done up beautifully as always, with balloons, streamers and a big disco ball which reflected the colourful lights as it spun. The Stable’s DJ, Noise Works, was in the DJ booth, playing music. There were various tables spotted around the room, covered with the best food the Stable had to offer, and there was a bar which served alcohol.

Ponies had to be 17 to drink, so I would be having my first taste of alcohol tonight. I just hoped I wouldn’t get drunk, I’d seen enough drunk ponies to know it probably wasn’t a good idea. Cadance was in the hall, and she walked over to us. “Happy birthday to you, you beautiful mares. Misty, you have really outdone yourself with those dresses; they look almost as if my old friend Rarity had designed them herself!”

Misty positively glowed at the praise. Rarity was the designer Misty had gotten most of her inspiration from as a filly, it was the best thing anypony could say to her about her work. Cadance continued to talk with us for a while, and then left us to go talk with the other ponies in the hall. Mum left us to join her friends, and then Misty went with Threadbare, probably to kiss or something, and I was left alone.

In Stable 35, a pony’s 17th birthday was one of their most important, along with their 10th, 25th and 35th. I should be happy, I was 17 now, but I couldn’t kick that sense of dread I had felt all week. It was reasonable, the dread I felt, because of what would happen tonight, but I should at least try to be happy, for mum’s sake.

An hour later, the party was in full swing, and for once, I was the centre of attention, and not in a bad way. Misty had been right, the single stallions, and some of the taken ones, were paying me a lot more attention than usual, talking to me, and getting me drinks, asking me to dance. I found I was actually enjoying myself; it was like they had all forgotten that I was just a blank flank with weird wings. For a while I could forget what was going to happen, forget that I had been dreading this day ever since my dad had died. I felt happy.

“Care to dance Midnight?” the handsome green earth pony, Jellybeans asked me, holding out his hoof. His mane was red, yellow and blue, and his cutie mark depicted the jellybeans he was so brilliant at making.

“Yes,” I said with a smile, taking his hoof. He was my latest crush, and there had been many before.

“You look beautiful tonight, Midnight,” he said, leading me to the dance floor. I smiled in reply. This was like a dream come true; I was dancing with a stallion I liked, everypony was being nice to me for a change, and for a while I could forget what had happened, what was going to happen, and just enjoy the moment.

Of course, all good things have to end, and it ended for me when I saw Maple Swirl, Rosebloom, Star Hoof and Sunset Helm entered the hall, two hours late and probably only here to drink, and ridicule me. The attention I was getting suddenly died, like a bright, lively flame doused in water. Maple and Rose were the most popular mares in the stable, and everypony did what they said, so when they came in, nopony dared give me anything that resembled positive attention. ‘Well, there goes my good time,’ I thought to myself.

Not wanting to be bothered by them immediately, I joined my mum and her friends and quietly listened to them talk about things that were going on in the Stable, like how Crystal Apple was caught sleeping with Tango, who was Dream Wish’s husband, and how Celery Leaf had managed to somehow grow blue celery. All the while I kept tabs on where Maple and Rose were in the hall, and thankfully, they stayed away from me.

“Having fun?” Mum asked, as I had been thinking and probably had a faraway look in my eyes. “We aren’t boring you are we?”

“No, of course not mum, I’m having a great time,” I smiled, hoping it looked convincing.

She frowned slightly, but then smiled. “Good, I’m glad!” And with that, she resumed talking with her friends. Cadance soon joined in the conversation with them, giving her views on why Tango might have cheated on his wife. I zoned out of the conversation for a while, until the harpist, Heart Strings spoke up.

“I believe that strapping young stallion, Jellybeans, has his heart set on Sugar Bell, Diamond Heart told me he was asking about a ring,” Heart Strings said.

‘Well,’ I thought, ‘looks like another stallions taken.’ I sighed. He’d probably just danced with me to be polite.

Hearing me sigh, mum looked at me worriedly, but I quickly smiled at her, and she soon resumed talking. How could she still be worried for me, when she should be worrying about herself.

Another hour passed and Rosebloom left with Sunset Helm. That relieved me somewhat, but that still left Maple, who had spent most of her time by the bar, probably getting smashed, as she did at most parties she attended. I had sampled quite a few of the drinks on offer, but had only found one of two that I actually enjoyed, so after a small glass of each, I was feeling a bit light-headed and decided to stick to the punch from then on.

Eventually the clock ticked over to 11:40pm, and it was time to cut the cake. The cake was beautiful, and massive. Five chocolaty tiers of pure, decadent, cakey goodness, and it had been created just for me and mum. Both mum and I were given large knives, and we cut the cake whilst Snapshot snapped away, documenting everything with photos as the ponies around us sang happy birthday. This signalled that the party was coming to an end.

As I stood with mum, eating delicious cake, the realisation that the night was almost ended hit me like a train. Putting down my cake, I turned and hugged mum. She seemed a little startled, but hugged me back. “I’m sorry,” I whispered into her ear. “Goodbye mum, I love you.”

“I love you too my dear, always know that. If you must go, then go now,” she whispered, squeezing me tight before kissing my cheek and letting me go. “Goodbye, Midnight.”

I turned and left the hall. I was a coward and anypony who saw me leave knew it. I should have been staying with mum, not leaving her side, but instead I was running away, unable to face what was to come. Unluckily for me, Maple Swirl had seen me leave, and had decided to torment me.

“Well well well, look at you, what a pretty little pony you are tonight! He-heh” I heard her behind me and shuddered. “But being really pretty doesn’t stop you being a freak, he-heh, little Midnight, or a coward!” I could tell she was drunk by the way she talked, going from harsh to sweet sounding every few words. Also, she tended to giggle a lot when drunk.

The lights in the corridor dimmed quite a lot, signalling midnight. I kept walking, but I was quivering.

“Ooh, not very long now. He-he-heh. Soon little Midnight’s mummy will be deady bye byes!” I stopped, as did she.
“Shut up,” I hissed through my teeth. I was shaking now, both from anger and a great sorrow.

“No way! The virus is killing her as we speak, little Midnight, as it will kill you, and me, and everypony else in this bucking damned Stable!” Maple laughed.

“Shut up!” I growled, but she kept on going.

“It makes no sense how this virus we’re born with knows instantly to kill us after midnight on our 35th birthday, but hey, he-he-heh, not like we’ll ever figure it out, especially not you little Midnight, no, your gonna die as a blank flank, in fact, you shoulda died tonight with your mummy!” She was overcome with fits of giggling at this point.

I couldn’t take it anymore. It was a long time coming, years of tormenting had led to this. “I said, Shut Up!” I yelled. It all happened in a split second, in a fit of anger and hate, I struck out with my hind legs as hard as I could, bucking her straight in her giggling muzzle. She gave a shriek and fell to the ground, sobbing. Looking back at her, I saw her nose was bloody and probably broken, and three or four of her teeth now lay on the ground. In my mind, it was what she deserved after all she’d done to me.

I started to move away when I heard a shout. “Maple!?” I backed away as Star Hoof rounded the corner. He saw Maple Swirl first, a look of utter shock on his face, and then he saw me. The shock changed to rage. “I’ll kill you, you bucking bitch!” He shouted, and then launched himself at me.

I took the only sensible option available and galloped for my life through the semi dark corridors of Stable 35. “Get her Starry, kill her!” I heard Maple cry out behind us. Star Hoof was the Stables best dancer, and he was therefore fast and light on his hooves. There was no way I could outrun him, my only hope of escape would be to fly away. Realising this, I changed course for the Atrium. Sensing the change of direction, Star Hoof galloped faster, wanting to catch me before I could escape, all the while shouting obscenities at me.

He tried grabbing me with his weak telekinesis, but I was able to break free each time. I wasn’t athletic, and it really showed now as my breathing became laboured. I was terrified that he would catch me. He’d probably tear off one of my wings in his anger. I couldn’t let that happen.

He was nearly on top of me by the time I got to the Atrium. Snapping open my wings, I leapt into the air, heading straight for the thickest cloud. I felt a violent tug on my tail. Looking back I saw that Star Hoof had grabbed it in his mouth, hate glinting in his acid green eyes.

Panicking, I flapped my wings harder, only to have him pull at one wing with telekinesis, pulling me slowly down. A plan formed suddenly in my mind, I stopped flapping my wings so hard so that I was pulled down into striking range. Lashing out with my hind legs, I smashed Star Hoof in the face and horn. He lost his grip on my tail with a shout of pain, and I shot up into the cloud above me.

I lay in the cloud, shaking as I got my breath back. Below, Star Hoof was shouting at me. “You better just come down Midnight! The longer I have to wait, the worse it will be for you!” Peeking out, I saw that he was attempting to climb the tree to get to me. He was obviously drunk, for one my tail smelled of alcohol, and he was having a hard time keeping hold of the tree. “Get the buck down here! You can’t stay up there forever!”

I knew he was right, my only way out was to get past him, and I dreaded to think about what would happen if he caught me. What was I going to do? Then it hit me, the Overmare’s balcony! Hearing a grunt from below, I looked down and saw that Star had a hoof stuck in some branches and was trying to free himself.

Now was my chance, I leapt from my cloud to the balcony and slipped straight through the door before Star could notice I’d left the cloud. I breathed a sigh of relief, and headed to the front door of apartment, intending to head home. Mum would be able to calm my racing heart.

I stopped dead. The dread returned like an avalanche. Mum was probably dead by now.

Stable 35 was cursed with a mystery disease, a virus that caused a pony to die at midnight on the day they turned 35. The Stable’s scientist had tried to cure it, to find out what it was, but they had failed. Despite that, they had managed to cure many other diseases, so the ponies of the Stable were generally very healthy.

Cadance had made it a tradition to make a ponies 35th birthday their most special, with a massive party, which ended at 11: 45pm, when everypony said goodbye. Cadance then took the pony away to some mystery place, where she… cremated the pony after they died. She wanted to spare us the sight of what the virus did to the pony. The family of the pony was then given the jar of ashes to place in the family shrine in the Stable’s massive mausoleum.

I felt tears in my eyes as I realised I was never going to see my mum again. I felt worse than when my dad had died, because at least then I had had mum to comfort me, but now all I had was Misty, and she was going to move in with Threadbare next week, so I would be left alone. I shook as sobs wracked my body. I looked around the apartment, hoping grandma Cadance would walk in and comfort me. That’s when I noticed it.

The bookcase by the bedroom door was standing open like a door. I couldn’t believe it, a secret passageway behind a bookcase; it was like something from a corny mystery novel. My sobs silenced for a moment as curiosity took over. I headed down the passage. This must be where Cadance took the ponies who were about to die so that she could say goodbye. Maybe… Maybe mum was still alive, and I could give her one last hug…

The passage was dimly lit, and long, and frankly creepy. After a few minutes I came to stairs heading down. The further I went, the hotter it got, and just as I thought it would never end, I came to a door. Bright light seeped into the passage from underneath the door, I had a really bad feeling about what was behind, and I could hear a strange sound coming from beyond, it sounded like… laughter?

Cautiously, I pushed the door open, revealing a large, bright room. I felt thick, hot air wash over me. The walls and floor were white, and there were shelves with various things on them, and at the other end of the room was some machine full of fire, but I barely took any notice of them, I was too busy staring at the scene in front of me.

My very alive mother was huddled in the far corner of the room, shaking in fear, her wings completely crippled and useless, two of her legs broken, and her nose bloody. She was covered in cuts and bruises. Standing over her was my grandmother, Princess Cadance, and yet, it wasn’t her. Her coat was now dark pink, and her mane and tail were also much darker, and flowing as if in a constant breeze. She was giggling, her face that of an insane pony. “Now now my dear, don’t struggle!” I saw she was holding a wicked looking knife in her telekinesis. It was covered in blood. “I promise it will hurt less if you don’t struggle!”

Mum tried to back away further into the wall, pleading for the torture to stop, but Cadance just smirked, revealing fangs. Through her tears, mum spotted me standing at the door, and her eye’s widened in horror. Downward the knife sliced, somehow cutting off a fore hoof. The hoof fell to the floor with a wet thump, as blood rained from the wound onto it. I felt sick to my stomach. Mum screamed a terrifying, blood curdling scream. Cadance just laughed, seeming to enjoy herself.

Without thinking, I launched myself at Cadance with a scream, only to be wrapped in her telekinesis and held in mid-air. “Oh I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Midnight Star,” she said icily, turning towards me, her magic slamming the door shut behind me. A beep from the pipbuck on my leg told me she’d somehow turned it off, probably so I couldn’t send out a message for help.

“You monster! How could you!?” I screamed at her as tears rolled down my cheeks.

“Oh, quiet easily actually my dear,” she said with a cruel smirk.

“Wh-why, Grandma… Why?” I sobbed, the anger in me subsiding as sorrow and terror took hold.

“Oh I’m not your weakling of a grandmother, no.”

“Th-then who are you?” I whimpered, unable to move.

“Well, most would call it the Jekyll and Hyde syndrome, but I am Cadance’s, well, other half, so to speak. Umm, think of it this way, I am to Cadance what Nightmare Moon was to Princess Luna, her evil, dark side. I like to call myself Nocturne, I think it sounds nice. But Cadance won’t ever know of me, all she ever remembers is watching her precious little ponies walk down that hall to die, then I take over.”

“Why?” I asked, tears dripping down my muzzle. Mum had stopped screaming now, but had thrown up over herself and was shuddering in pain.

“Because StableTech gave Cadance a task she could not do, but I could. It was the death of Shining Armour and her kids, and the hate and sorrow that she felt that brought me to life, but I was much too weak to do anything. It was only after the death of Skyla that I was able to take over occasionally and complete the task given to her when she became Overmare.”
“Wh-what task was she given?” I asked quietly, quivering in fear.

“My my, aren’t you a curious little filly, your facing imminent death, and yet you still ask questions. Okay then, I’ll tell you. Quite a few of the Stables in Equestria were set up to be experiments, and this one is no different. Stable Tech wanted to know what effect a dramatically shortened lifespan would have on ponies, so they tasked poor Cadance with killing off any pony who reached age twenty five, under the pretence that it was an illness caused by a disease that the zebra’s had unleashed with their bombs. She obviously refused, but once Skyla died at age 35, I had the strength to take over and complete the task, though I made the age 35, to match the Stable number. Cadance believes it is a real disease killing ponies off, because once they go down the hall, their never seen again. She doesn’t know why she sends them down the hall, just that she has too, to spare the other ponies from seeing them dead.”

I was shocked, it was so much to take in. Grandma wasn’t actually killing my mum, it was this evil monster living inside of her. I was suddenly certain that I would be joining mum’s fate.

As if bored of talking to me, she looked away, back to my mum, who had passed out. “Damn, it’s no fun when their unconscious.” She pouted, like a filly that had realised her bag of sweets was already empty. Grabbing mum in her telekinesis, Nocturne threw her into the flames to be cremated.

I shuddered, tears still streaming. “W-will you kill me?”

“No, I can’t. Cadance loves you too much to let me kill you outright, so I will give you two choices. One, you step into the furnace, without me having to force you. You could refuse, but you would stay locked in here to starve to death... Or maybe until you get hungry enough eat your dear old mothers hoof, or I could bring your little sister down here for you to munch on.” She smirked, and then giggled manically, waving the bloody limb in front of me.
“And… And the second option?” I asked her, trying not to gag.

“You leave the stable and I tell everypony you committed suicide because you were so distraught over your mum dying.” She put me down and I heard the door opening behind me as Nocturne telekinetically straightened my dress, which was surprisingly unharmed after everything that had happened tonight. “I think you’ll agree that option two is best, nopony gets hurt, and you don’t die. If you choose it, go and get the things you want to keep, and then meet me at the Stable door, I’ll have saddlebags for you with supplies. If you tell anypony, or try and get help, not even Cadance will be able to stop me from killing you.”

I just nodded, turned, and left, back down the hall. I felt… Well, I didn’t know how I felt. Emotional whiplash was probably the best way to describe what I had gone through since leaving the party. As I reached the end of the hall I remembered Star Hoof, was he still waiting to ambush me? Had he figured out that I had escaped? Deciding to check, I went out to the balcony and peeked over the edge. It seemed he had given up on scaling the tree, and was now pacing between the two Atrium exits.

I left through the Overmare’s Office to get home, and soon arrived at the empty apartment. Misty was staying with Threadbare tonight, so I had the apartment to myself. Inside my mind, a battle raged as I tried to decide what to do. I realised that my only option was to go along with what Nocturne had said.

Looking through my belongings, I picked only a few things to take. A family photo, the necklace mum gave me, the dress Misty gave me, and the harmonica dad had taught me to play. I also grabbed my water bottle and filled it, a blanket and my dad’s small tool kit. Thinking a moment, I grabbed dad’s dagger, it was a family heirloom, and I really should leave it for Misty, but who knew what I would find outside the stable. Donning a jacket over my Stable barding I sighed as I walked around the apartment for the last time ever, tears in my eyes. I guess every pony had to leave home sometime, I’d just never imagined that I’d leave so fully.

As I walked to the Stable Door, I pondered what I would find outside the stable. Would the remains of the Crystal Empire still be there? Would there still be snow? Were there even ponies still alive out there? I flinched when I heard a noise behind my, fearing it was Star Hoof, but relaxed when I saw it was just a cleaning bot. I watched it float past.

I met with Nocturne soon after. She gave me the saddlebags she had promised, and I put my things in. Inside I also found plenty of food, more water, plenty of medical supplies, another, larger dagger, and a gun with plenty of ammo. I’d never held a gun before, let alone knew how to use one. Seeing my apprehensive look, she smirked at me. “Better safe than sorry, wouldn’t you agree? It’s time to go, Midnight Star. Who knows, maybe with you gone I can take full control.” She seemed to remember that she’d turned off my pipbuck, so she turned it back on with a flick of magic.

And with that, she walked over to a control panel, typed in a password, and opened the Stable door. There was only inky blackness beyond and, gathering my courage, I stepped out of the stable for the first time in my life.

Author's Note

The story need's a name! Name ideas in the comments please!

Only constructive criticism please.

Thanks for reading ^.^