Chapters Canterlot was silent on this particular night. For all of the residents were fast asleep. Every filly, colt, mare, and stallion. They were all fast asleep in their beds, all snuggled up in the folds of warm and cozy blankets. All was silent.
The train pulled into the station for its last stop at Canterlot that night and a single pony in a cloak stepped out into the moonlight. Silently, this figure moved down the streets watched by a certain, princess of the night.
Luna had just finished her dream walking when she noticed this strange figure running through the night. Luna looked around the balcony, “Who could that be?”. The dark blue alicorn princess often mumbled to herself when nopony was watching.
“I really like your mane.” the voice was unmistakably female. Luna jumped as the cloaked figure spoke, levitating in front of the balcony surrounded by a red glow, the unmistakable aura of magic. The pony’s red eyes glowed from under the cowl, similarly doused in the same aura of magic.
The princess quickly got over the shock and was now only slightly confused, “Excuse me?” Had she heard the floating mare correctly?
“Your excused.” The floating mare had been staring at the dark blue alicorn the whole time. “Are you the princess called Luna? Of the moon?” She peered curiously at Luna.
“Tis true, my name is Luna. Now dispose of your disguise and reveal to me who you are.” Luna, now known to the mysterious pony, wished to know who the pony that was so bold as to arrive at Luna’s balcony unannounced and unwelcome.
“I am called,” She paused to lift the hood that hid her face, “Midnight Starsong and I have come seeking training in the art of the arcane.”
Luna looked at Midnight who was still levitating. The princess took in the cyan and purple mane and the dark blue coat similar to her own. Midnight’s cutie mark was a five pointed star, the top point red, the right point purple, the bottom right point yellow, the bottom left point cyan, and the left point green. The most curious aspect of this pony was not her blood red eyes, shimmering like rubies, but the lack of protrusion on her forehead. It was an earth pony that was levitating in front of Princess Luna.
Luna blinked to make sure that she wasn’t hallucinating, then spoke. “Come Midnight Starsong, let us speak.”
“Sure thing Luna, you got anything to snack on? Flying around always makes me hungry.” Midnight trotted right into Luna’s room and sat down on a cushion at the only table in the room.
Luna chuckled at the mare’s question, “I’m a princess at my castle, I can have anything that I want brought up.”
Midnight’s eyes lit up at Luna’s statement, “Then I’ll have,”Midnight paused for a deep breath, “Arubyasaphireanemeraldsometurquoise...” She went on to name a couple dozen kinds of precious stones, “...Andanapple.” She finished smiling and licking her lips.
Luna noticed the strange mare’s teeth, she possessed fangs! “You, are not like other ponies.” Luna stated cautiously.
“Nope.” Was the reply that Luna received.
Luna sighed calling her servant and ordered the collection of gems and two apples. The servant, a tall grey stallion with his mane slicked back simply gave the princess a quizzical look and a “Yes ma’am” before running off to get the unusual order, though he did take notice of the red eyed mare staring at him curiously.
“So,” Midnight looked around the room curiously, taking in all of the decorations of the immaculate room. “What did you want to talk about, Luna?”
Luna thought carefully about her next words, “Being an alicorn I have an undefined lifespan, and throughout my extensive life I have never encountered one such as yourself,” The princess began, eyeing the earth pony as she nodded to the statement, “Not even while dream walking. So naturally I am curious as to where it is that you have traveled from.”
Midnight smiled a toothy grin, once again revealing her pearly white teeth, fangs included, “I thought that you would be interested in my origin, but sadly,” Her look changed from one of curiosity to that of a lost soul, “I do not have much to tell, besides that I grew up in a thunder of dragons.”
‘This pony is just full of surprises.’ Thought luna, “I do not understand what you mean, Midnight Starsong. The fact that you grew up in a draconic society is a tale with of volumes of information by itself. You might need to teach spike a lesson or two about it.” Luna was very excited and it showed on her face.
“Do ponies really know so little about dragons?” A look of confusion now pasted itself upon Midnight’s face. “I would think ponies would know more.” She mumbled to herself.
At that moment the servant quietly walked into the room levitating a silver platter with quite a pile of assorted gems and another plate with two apples and placed them on the table. “Your apples and… Gems, malady.”
“Thank you very much, Tart Cookie.” Luna replied.
The grey unicorn bowed and walked out of the room, “Princess you’re too kind, how do you remember the names of every servant in the castle?”
“I have my ways.” Was the only answer that the stallion received. Luna waited for Tart Cookie to leave the room before asking her next question. “Who specifically raised you?”
“Dreconalfmere.”(Dray-con-alf-meer)
“Who?”
Midnight sighed “Dreconalfmere is the dragon that raised me.”
“So you’re saying that the dragon named Dreconalfmere is your father.”
“I don’t believe in speaking lies.” Midnight thought for a moment, “Though riddles are fine.”
“So you would speak in riddles in the stead of lies.”
“It is best to hide in plain sight, carefully observing your pursuers as they grope in the dark, as opposed to hiding in a cave, cold and dank waiting to be found out like a helpless child.” Midnight stated this cold and calmly, then she began to happily consume the gems, chomping down on them like they were candies.
‘It’s time to get down to business.’ Luna thought to herself, “Before, you mentioned that you wish to become my disciple. Please explain why.”
“Well,” Midnight paused to gathering her thoughts and finish chewing, “As I told you previously, I was raised by dragons, particularly Dreconalfmere, my father. While I did play with the other dragons much of the time, it was not the only thing that I did during my free time. I love to read, but unfortunatly Dreconalfmere does not have many books so I ended up reading the few that he had a great many times, there one in particular that I loved the most. Magic: A Beginners Guide, It was the first one I’ve ever read, and I’ve read it to many times to count since. That was where I learned levitation, fire ball, mending, and even some minor summoning spells.
“That was when I got my cutie mark, ever since that first spell I’ve had a thirst for magic! I am proud of my strength as well though, I’ve always been queen of the hoard.”
“Then I will take you under my wing, and teach you of the art of the arcane.”
Midnight flew into the air just barely missing the chandelier with a ground breaking “YAY!!!”
“But,” Luna continued unfazed, Midnight froze mid-cheer, “Before I can accept you as my disciple I must first give you a test.”
“I’ll take on anything you throw at me.” Midnight dropped onto all fours in front of the mare of the moon, a look of confidence and enthusiasm now dawned upon her face.
Luna smiled mischievously, taking a bite out of the apple from Sweet Apple Acres, “Then I won’t bother holding back.”
The tracks rattled as one of Equestria's seemingly only locomotive's sped northward toward the crystal empire. This particular passenger car was mostly empty with a total of five ponies, a group of four mares was loudly gossiping at the front section of the car while near the back end was a lone brown stallion in a hat reading a newspaper. A young red-eyed mare sat quietly and stared out at the ever changing snowy scene outside of the train.
Midnight Starsong. The dark blue earth pony soundlessly contemplated her name.
"Daddy, why am I so diffewent fwum the otha' dwagons?" The young filly stared up at the utterly huge jet black dragon splayed out upon the mountains of gold and jewelry that made up it's hoard.
Dreconalfmere slowly opened one of it's ruby colored eyes and rumbled affectionately, "What prompts your inquiry, my daughter." The entire cavern shuddered as the dragon spoke his words.
"I was playing with some of the otha' hatchlings and they stawted making fun of me because I'm diffewent and that got me thinking." The young filly's father narrowed his single open eye and blew steam from his nostrils, prompting her to quickly add "B-but I did put them in theiw place."
The dragon flexed his obsidian fins and yawned, showing off hugeness of his maw. "Midnight, the barrier between this day and the next, that which the stars sing of. If you no longer wish to be one as unique as yourself and only a boring clone of those ignorant weaklings with whom you consort with, then will it and it shall be yours. Keep in mind though, while you are not of my blood you are my daughter, and I do not love those reptiles who would suggest otherwise." The humongous adult dragon rose to his feet, gold and jewelry falling rom his black scales. In a large gust Dreconalfmere flared out his wings and bellowed, "Do You Not Wish To Be The Daughter Of The Black Dragon Himself!? The Thunderous Storm, The Blade Of Lightning! " The jet-black dragon bore down upon the little filly, literally towering above her at his full height of approximately 350 meters (OR 13,779.5 inches). The little filly, to her credit, stood without even the slightest of tremors, her ruby eyes fearlessly locked onto those of her father, "I The Leveler Of Mountains, DRECONALFMERE, Demand Your Answer. " The giant scaly winged magical creature paused for effect, and then commanded in a slow voice, so intimidating that it could fell fifteen gorilla warriors, and a mid-sized crocodile, "NOW. "
Young Midnight Starsong slowly blinked. And blinked. And blinked again.
Then she promptly broke out laughing uncontrollably and rolling along the floor of the cavern, completely destroying the dragon's air of authority and sternness, "Hah-hah-hah-ha-did you-heh-heh weally nee-hee-hee-heed to ask?" Tears were rolling down the sides of her face she was laughing so hard, "I-hah-hah-*cough* *cough* *cough* would nevew-hah-heh-*snort* want to not-hah be youw daughter."
As young Midnight uncontrollably giggled and snorted so too had the fearsome black dragon begun to laugh. It started as a silent chuckle, and rose into a low rumble, then grew into evolved into a thunderous bellow. Their humor stretched out for what seemed like and hour before the giggles resonating from both of them began to subside.
Dreconalfmere flopped onto the floor next to his daughter, resulting in a low strength earthquake. With a chuckle he conceded, "You always know when I'm bluffing, I knew that you would never give up that which makes up who you are. But now that I think about it, how did you know that I was bluffing?"
The dark blue filly showed the dragon her sharp teeth, and simply stated, "You always give big speeches when you bluff."
The fanged mare was staring out of the train window when something shook her from the privacy of cherished memories. Somepony was talking to her, it was one of the boisterous mares, "-pcakes?"
Midnight quickly took in the sight of the one who was speaking words to her. This mare seemed to be a gray pegasus, her blond mane fell slightly to the side. What really stood out though was the pair of golden eyes that appeared incapable of looking in the same direction.
"Please excuse me but I didn't catch what you were asking me, Ms." The smile of the gray pegasus appeared wholly genuine as one eye looked into Midnight's soul, while the other stared back at the group that was intently watching us.
"Which is better, muffins or cupcakes?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Well," The pegasus mare began without hesitation. "My friends and I were having a debate about it and since we're split the same on both sides we want an outside opinion." She blinked her golden eyes and now one was pointed at the lone stallion that was at the opposite end of the car from where her friends were staring intently at us and her other eye was now the one peering into the window of my soul.
"I prefer muffins, the frosting on cupcakes makes me sick and then I wouldn't be queen of the hoard."
At this she let out a huge cheer-"HORRAY!" and then bumped her head on the ceiling and spinning out like a pinball back at those friends of hers.
Midnight turned her eyes back towards window and just in time to witness the train pull into the station. While she and the other passengers were filing out of the car Midnight mumbled to herself, "Now where do I find that princess?"
"Why would you want to speak with our princess?" The unknown speaker's voice was filled with that condescending venom that befitted a filly who doubled as a tyrant. 'Chances are,' She thought with a sigh, 'it's a local.'
Slowly, ever so slowly the dark blue mare turned to face the speaker on the train station. The crystal pony who stood in front of Midnight wore upon her body a black and gold couriers uniform that matched her gleaming body. Upon her face was a scowl, "Why I am here is of no importance to you."
Midnight began to move around the golden courier but she stepped in the blue mares way. "You want to see the princess and I make it my business to know why foreign no ponies want to speak with the crystal princess."
Midnight moved to go around her again but she stepped back into the red eyed pony's way. "Now you're getting on my nerves," Midnight grumbled to herself at a near inaudible volume, "look, lady I don't know who you are but you sure are setting a bad tone for what crystal ponies act like." Now Midnight was projecting her voice to the whole crowd and soon had all of their attention, "Here I am just off of the long train ride I took to get to the Crystal Empire," The fanged pony gestured to the city, "and I whisper, whisper , 'I wonder where I'll find the princess?' and all of a sudden Ms. Goody Four Hooves over here," She paused to gesture the the golden courier who was standing right next to her like a deer in headlights, "Get's up in my face like I ate her last doughnut. I mean, the first crystal pony I ever meet is a complete jerk to me, and because this is the first crystal pony that I've met I will forever have an imprint that crystal ponies are jerks to those they don't know." Midnight stopped to look every mare, foal, and stallion in immediate site in the eyes. As you can imagine this took a while, "And that isn't something that you want a pony who has been sent here by Luna, The Princess Of The Moon to think." Pause for dramatic effect, "Is it?"
The silence boomed across the station as every pony stood and stared at Midnight. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a princess to go speak with." With a flash of her sharp-toothed smile at the stunned courier she turned to leave.
"You don't have to search anywhere," 'A new character has entered the stage' thought Midnight bitterly, "Midnight Starsong, I presume?" This new character was a white stallion unicorn with a blue streaked mane and purple armor. "Please follow me and I'll lead you to my wife." With that the knight in purple began walking towards the ginormous spire.
At an entrance to The Crystal Castle the guards were talking, "So I'm just sittin' at the bar, waiting fer me meal, when this furious mare just storms on up to me and practically screams-"
"Tall Tale!" The strong voice of the prince interrupted the two stallions, "How many times do I have to tell you that being a guard is not the same as being a bard!"
As Prince Shining Armor, begins to reprimand Tall Tale about his habits the other guard notices a night blue mare calmly trotting up to them. He thinks it'll be a good idea to show how good a guard he is so he steps in her way and forcefully demands, "Halt, who goes there."
The mare rolls her blood red eyes and tosses her purple/sky-blue mane, "What are you, blind?" she huffs loudly at the guard, "You should've seen Shining Armor leading me this way into the castle, but you were to busy not doing your duties as a guard and instead you're casually chatting with your friend, 'Tall Tale' was it?" 'She was obviously annoyed, and she had arrived right after Shining Armor,' thought the guard, 'But what if she's lying and is evil? Heh, if I stop her plan here then I'll go from zero to hero!' The guards mind made up he moved to apprehend this little pony-
-And was interrupted by Shining Armor, "Okay, Midnight let's go see Cadence." and with that the white unicorn and blue earth pony walked right past the guard into the castle, closing the door behind them.
The guard stared at the door as Tall Tale took his place next to it, "There goes my chance at heroism."
Tall Tale regards his colleague for a while. Eventually he speaks the single question on his mind, "You do heroin?"
The rest of the way to the throne room proved unquestionably quiet, save for the sound of hoof steps echoing down the near empty halls. When they arrived the huge double doors were magically thrown open, revealing a scene that Midnight was not expecting.
There were four playing cards at a table in the middle of the room. The tallest and most abnormal of them being the draconequus, Midnight noted to keep an eye on him. The other three were all alicorns and, by extension princesses. She immediately recognized Luna, and deducted that the white alicorn was her older sister Celestia. By process of elimination it is easy to see that the thin pink one is the Princess Cadence that you were sent here to see in the first place.
The first one to notice Shining and Midnight happened to be the draconequus who immediately appears next to her and the prince. "Ladies, our guest of honor has arrived," With his sudden appearance the white unicorn seemed to tense up. 'They must be on shaky terms.' observed the red eyed mare. The alicorns all turn to look at the three of you, "Shall I whisk us all away to someplace more appropriate and, more importantly by Pinkie Pie's standards, fun ?"
All royalty in the room simultaneously shouted "NO!" prompting a chuckle from Midnight and a frown of disapproval from the draconequus.
"Well fine, have it your way." He snapped with his bird claw and he materialized on a sofa by the table. "Aren't you going to tell us her name Luna? I thought that's what friends do when they introduce the other to some pony new."
"Discord, we are not friends," The princess of the night bluntly stated. Then with a sigh, "Though now that she has arrived it is only traditional that I introduce my pupil. Every pony I present to you Midnight Starsong."
"If she's your pupil, then where's her horn?" The draconequus now identified as discord spoke out again and burped out a whole presentation set into the middle of the room which he then appeared next to now wearing a lab coat and goggles. With a stick he pointed to the first item of the presentation depicting a unicorn's head and a diagram depicting how unicorns actually use magic. "As you all know a unicorn is able to use magic solely through their horn. It is the source of their power which is why pegasi and earth ponies have always been unable to use magic as unicorns do. You see the horn acts like a conduit of magic, with this conduit a unicorn is able to activate and pull magic from the astral plane of magic and channel it into a spell for a predetermined purpose. That is why she is unable to be your pupil."
Midnight yawned loudly as she walked over to where discord was standing showing off her sharp teeth, "Well discord, I'm sorry to burst your bubble but," the red eyed apprentice levitated herself to look discord strait in the eyes, herself surrounded by a red glow, "I. Just. Did."
Discord shrank away and grumbled, "I'm all for chaos but even I have rules."
That day every pony in the Crystal Empire heard a resounding "Really?"
"Excuse me."
"Normal ponies who live in harmony have rules, not creatures who live for chaos."
"Excuse me."
"Yes sister, and that would apply especially to one who would claim to be the master of chaos."
"Excuse me."
"I mean come on! What rules would you abide by of your own free will?"
"Excuse me."
"I myself am curious about these rules myself and would like to see them."
Midnight had had enough of being ignored by the group so she decided upon a different technique to get there attention.
The fanged pony sucked in as much air as she could and let out an ear-splitting roar that rattled the entire room. All living creatures in the room stopped to look at the pony's fierce visage. Any mice in the vicinity died on the spot. "Now then," Midnight said with a curt smile, "Why exactly am I here?"
Princess Cadence stepped forward trying to shake the ringing from her ears, "Well,"
That was when the rumbling started.
"That. We need you to go underground, into the crystal mines, to find and stop what is causing that seismic activity." The pink princess looked pleadingly at the mare of tho moon's new pupil, "If this goes on for much longer the entire Crystal Empire would most likely collapse."
"Okay, I'll do it." Midnight nonchalantly shrugged at the gathered royalty, "Sounds like fun."
"How did you manage to find such a unique one, Luna?" Celestia had already decided to inquire after her sister's apprentice had gone, "I'm curious about where she is from, never in all my years have I ever met an earth pony with unicorn powers, I've also never met a pony who could roar with more ferocity than a griffon either though."
"That is the thing, Sister." Though she was hiding it well, Luna was just as bewildered by her unofficial student as her sister, "It was she who approached me asking that I teach her magic, even though she already knows more than the average unicorn." Luna motioned for Shining Armor and Cadence to come closer, "And she was raised by dragons."
One second she was in the throne room of the Crystal Castle, the next she was standing in a large cave with no source of light. That is what it is like to be teleported by some pony else. Particularly Discord.
"Well that was rather rude of him." Midnight took account of her surroundings as her eyes quickly adjusted for night vision.
'Okay, start with the obvious.' She did a quick 360 degree turn, 'Cave, crystalline structures, cuts in the uneven walls.' The night blue mare smiled to herself, "This must be the Crystal mine, and mines are a system of pony-made caves underground that normally have a center of operations and branch out from there!"
With that conclusion drawn Midnight now needed to figure out which way she needed to go to get to that center of operations. From what the royalty had told her, there has been unusual seismic activity occurring. Therefor the cause of said activity would be at the heart of the mine. "AHA! LOGIC STRIKES! AGAIN!"
"Who are you?" The voice of a young filly echoed in Midnight's mind, sending a brigade of chills up her spinal chord. The darkly colored mare whipped around to find that no pony was behind her. Again the young voice rang out, "Are you here to visit us?"
The thoughts 'Us' and 'Visit' echoed in the red-eyed blue pony's mind, a different voice every time.
"There are many of us, imprisoned in this place. We have been for so long we have forgotten the warm embrace of the sun and the cool kiss of the moon."
Again, hundreds of voices echoed in the apprentice's mind saying things like, 'Many…' and 'So long..' and 'forgotten…'
With that Midnight had had enough of the creepy echoing in her mind. "Okay, I feel sorry for you and all, really, I do. But I hate it when things burrow into my mind. And I have a job to take care of and I can't spend all day listening to your problems when I need to make sure the entire Crystal Empire doesn't collapse and kill every pony." With that statement the fanged pony began her trek towards the end of the cave of the seemingly endless and dark cave.
"Are you trying to leave?" The question was also repeated by the echoing voices barely audible above the sound of Midnight Starsong's hoof steps.
"Nope." She answered with a knowing smile, "I am."
"No pony leaves this place," Began the disembodied voice of a little filly, "Because we never let them."
Upon her last word a fog began to rise from the stone cold floor, and out of that fog poured thousands of bones. "Well…" As the bones rattled to the stone they began to assemble themselves into a legion of skeletal monstrosities! "That is not a good sign." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"I cannot allow for such monstrous creatures to roam freely." Her voice completely steady she opened her eyes as the pupils narrowed like a reptilian and she charged the undead army while simultaneously cloaking herself in a sheet of roaring flames.
The front most skeleton simply stood there, completely stunned out of it's skull, as the flaming ball of pony hopped into the air and crushed the bear skull with a single well placed stomp. Bone dust billowed out as Midnight struck headfirst through more skeletons, scattering the bones as if they were bowling pins.
The boney limbs that reached out to grab the speeding pony were set ablaze by the fire left in her wake. Wherever the flaming mare set hoof the stone floor burned. In a minute the entire cave would be an artist's rendition of what the passageway into the depths of hell would look like. The bare bones fractured and snapped as the heat made them brittle.
The single live pony in this sea of undead shattered through dozens of skeletal creatures using the strength that she had developed living with a thunder of dragons for 95% of her life.
The massacre went on for quite a while, even with Midnight dispatching the enemies left and right. They just kept going, and Midnight was growing tired. Her movements became slower as she frantically panted for breath. Her flame cloak had begun to recede, becoming less fierce with every second, 'I can't keep this up forever!' She looked around as she tripped a skeletal hydra and the shine of a puny object reached her slitted eyes.
With nothing else to go on she began to work her way through the legion. Half-way there her flame cloak had completely fizzled out. This meant she had to work twice as hard to refrain from being hit.
As the pony drew closer to the small shining object the boney creations grew more frantic. One flailed and jumped in her way as she closed the distance. The earth pony shattered it with a head butt and was rewarded with a bone fragment in her forehead as she now stood over a small obsidian stone with magic emanating from it.
Without a second thought she used a fluid movement with her aching forelegs to scoop the stone from the floor into her mouth. Then she chomped on it.
It had proved to be an overly average lunch at the Crystal Empire Retirement Company(C.E.R.Co), the caretakers made the food for the elderly ponies, the caretakers brought the food to the elderly ponies, the caretakers fed the food to the elderly ponies, and the paint was drying particularly slowly on the western wall of the 'recreational room'. This was the place where all of the old ponies in the Crystal Empire sat mundanely for most of the day. "Yep, sure is recreational." Monotoned the sarcastically shiny crystal pony named Happily Joking.
She heaved a great sigh as was per her usual as she stared across the room so hard her eyes might pop out of the sockets. Happily Joking felt like the most condemned mare in the world at that moment, she felt like she was going to die from the lack of excitement. So instead of actually doing anything to fix her problems she instead decided to pray because she doesn't believe in solving her own problems. "If there really is any sort of deity listening to me now, then please, Please, PLEASE , release me from this unchanging boringnehe-he-he-he-heeeesssssss." She then thought for a moment tapping a hoof to her mouth, "And gift me with a pie."
Happily Joking looked up to the ceiling, full of hope, just in time to receive a creme pie in the face. When she wiped the pie off of her face reviling her frown, she turned back to the elderly ponies in a huff, and then proceeded to be amazed at awe inspiring sight that was not The Great and Powerful Trixie, but instead an intense game of poker that was being led by a beaming draconequus.
*Poof*
Midnight was sitting on the floor in the middle of the cave. There were no signs of battle, let alone a skeletal army. Simply a dark cave with rocks on the ground.
Actually it was pitch black but Midnight could see just fine. Slowly she got to her hooves and felt at her forehead. "Hm, no blood." She checked the rest of her body as well and found that there wasn't even a scratch on her.
The red eyed pony took one last look around and began silently trotting farther into the cave. The scenery didn't change much as she went, just rocks and grey walls of stone. It didn't take long for her mind to wander to her father, specifically a poem that he'd taught her. He'd made her commit it to memory long before she decided to leave. Without thinking she recounted the lines.
The shadows lengthen every second
Come to us, to the moon we beaconed
Four times thrice the bell it struck
Sixty seconds was all it took
Here and there and everywhere
Fire was spat and teeth were bared
All we knew when it had come
Was the eternal day was done.
Midnight remembered the day he had taught her that poem with much clarity.
It was the day of the annual summer sun celebration. She and her father were silently attending the summer sun celebration in the guise of a cloud. The tall white pony was about to raise the sun when at pre-teen Midnight finally voiced a question that had been bothering her. "Hey, Dad?" Her words, though barely audible to any onlookers, were loud and clear to the dragon's acute hearing.
Dreconalfmere didn't hesitate to answer her with the same volume, "Yes, my dear?"
The young mare took a deep breath before voicing her concern, "If they have a summer sun celebration, then is there a winter moon celebration as well?"
The old dragon took a moment to consider his daughter's question. Then he spoke, his voice never rising above a whisper, "The summer sun celebration, regardless of it's name does not celebrate the sun at all. Instead it is to celebrate the banishment of one of their princesses." He paused to peer down at the crowd of ponies gathered around a stage where Celestia raised the sun for them all to see. "It is in celebration of her own sister's banishment that Celestia makes a show of raising the sun."
"Who was her sister?"
"Not was. These days nearly all the ponies of this country know her as the monstrous Nightmare Moon, but her true name is and always will be, Luna of the night."
With this new information on the metaphorical table Midnight voiced the age old question, "Why?"
There was a long silence where the young mare hung on to every second while the ageless dragon cooly took his time.
"Because… It is her name."
"Dad, that doesn't make sense."
"Of course." The huge reptilian creature smiled smugly.
"…"
"Look the ceremony is starting."
Midnight snapped back to the present upon hearing an unidentified sound, 'What was that?' Her eyes began to glow as she scanned the area. The cave had opened up into a large cavern.
Large crystalline structures dotted the grey floor of the spacious cavern, all pitch black and shining darkly. They emanated an energy that silently shouted, "WE TASTE DISGUSTING, NOW COME AND EAT US. " Completely ignoring the nasty looking crystals and the menacing figure staring right at her, Midnight continued to observe the room.
The cavern was a perfect dome, completely smooth. Even the rocks appeared suspicious, as if they were carved to look like normal rocks but instead they just looked even more unnatural. The sound of heavy breathing began to permeate the air, the kind that would be used in one of those prank calls who's main purpose is to creep out the light of heart. The red eyed mare made a show of looking closely at a tiny pebble in front of her. She leaned her head close to it. Closer. Even closer. So close her head was literally on the ground and she had gone cross-eyed.
A small cough sounded somewhere in front of the dark blue mare.
"Bless you."
"Who is it that disturbs my home"
Midnight stood up and nonchalantly looked directly at the shadowy figure that had not moved from the very center of the large dome. "Oh, I'm sorry, didn't see you there." She took a whiff of the air and looked at the shadowy figure curiously, "Who are you again?"
"I AM KING SOMBRA! " He bellowed furiously and the icky crystals began to shine.
"Oooh. Riiight. King Sombra, that guy." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Never heard of him."
Author's Note
Sorry about the extensive wait, I've been busy running over school kids with my car…
In the library of a quaint little town sat a white unicorn filly with a book. Her green eyes flying across the lines, her developing brain gobbling up the useful information that lay upon the pages of the old tome. A purple baby dragon walked up to her from behind, "Hey Sweetie Belle, wha'cha readin'?"
"Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned her head to face the one who had interrupted her reading session." Sweetie Belle creepily monotoned, "I'm reading World Domination for Dummies explains Sweetie Belle while showing the curious dragon the cover of the book in her hooves."
"I thought Twilight disposed that book after Scootaloo tried to overthrow Princess Celestia."
"She did. I just pulled it out from the dumpster states Sweetie belle as she points to the garbage pile outside of the window."
The purple and green dragon just smacked his forehead with the palm of his claw, "Jeez, leave it to Twilight to leave it to me to clean up her mess. And why are being so weird?"
"The book states that those who dominate are unlike any pony else Sweetie Belle tells the annoying dragon while rolling her eyes."
The dark stallion was stunned, had this blue mare really heard nothing of him? He who had enslaved the inhabitants of the Crystal Empire, so many years ago. He who had threatened the fate of Equestria? "Who are you?"
"Tell you what, I'll make you a deal." Midnight Starsong began a slow walk towards Sombra as she spoke, "You answer my question and I'll answer yours. Easy peasy, right?"
The smokey unicorn's horn began to glow as he glowered at the red eyed mare walking up to him, "If any pony will be making deals it will be me."
The fanged mare tipped her nose up and adopted a more regal tone, "I am the one who will be the interrogator in this play! If you wanted that role, then you should have auditioned! That is what will become of ponies who procrastinate! They will be trapped for the rest of their lives under thousands of pounds of boulders, rocks, pebbles, sand, dirt, and dust!"
Suddenly the stallion summoned a cage of crystals out from underground to capture the posing mare. "Now you shall be taught obedience slave! Bow down to your master!" He then placed an enchantment of mind control upon the purple maned mare.
"Ah, no."
"What?! What did you just say?!"
"Don't you listen? I said no! Why would a prideful mare such as I bow to a creep like you? As a matter of fact, why would I bow down to any pony? Ah, did I also mention that I'm immune to mind tricks? I mean, come on! What kind of half dragon would I be if I wasn't immune to mind tricks?"
"Wait, did you-"
"Nope! No waiting!" With that Midnight struck the crystalline structure with the point of her hoof causing the entire cage to shatter into thousands of shards and slivers. A ball of fire materialized next to her, "Now then, I'd like to see how long it takes for a shadow to burn." With that she launched the fireball at the Sombra, unsurprisingly it went through him without the slightest amount of harm. Though the same cannot be said for the wall behind him which the flames clung to.
The dark stallion cackled at Midnight, "You think that you can defeat a shadow with physical attacks? Do not cause me to chortle."
"That was really old fashioned. I mean really old fashioned, but I guess that can't be helped, can it? Because you're just. A. Shadow." Midnight began to slowly stalk around the ring of dark crystals. Flames began to smokelessly lick from where her hooves touched the stone floor. "You do know what a shadow really is don't you? It's the absence of light, in the cut-out of an object that is in the light. A shadow is the epitome of nothingness." Midnight glared into the eyes of the dark unicorn as the light of the flames filled the entire cavern, enlightening all surfaces. "You are nothing…"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…"
King Sombra's shadow promptly shrank into oblivion leaving behind nothing but the tip of his horn which the red-eyed mare promptly burnt into nothingness. As the horn was destroyed the dark crystals also ceased to exist as they sank into their flickering shadows cast by the dying flames.
Midnight sat down on her hindquarters and let out a yawn, "Now that that's done, I think I'm going to nap for a little whi-" She was fast asleep before hitting the floor.
She felt the touch of cold grass on her back. It was soft, like a bed. The mare felt a breeze grace her cold cheeks as she listened to the sound of leaves rustling in the wind. It was nice, tranquil. She took a deep breath through her nose, crisp air filling her lungs. She began to mumble to herself, "Hmm, no scent. I wonder why?" She hummed a short tune to herself as she thought out loud, "Those trees sound pretty far off… Judging from the dampness of the grass it has probably rained recently, though for some reason I can't seem to find any mud underneath me. Maybe It's from a mist that blew over? It's possible with this breeze… Wait a minute. Wind? Grass? Trees? I didn't fall asleep in a meadow?
Midnight's blood red eyes shot open to find the full moon encompassing her entire field of view. She reached towards it with her hoof, as if to touch the lunar body. "It's so big." Was the only thing that the purple maned half-dragon could think to say.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Midnight was startled by the sudden appearance of the princess of the night. Luna was laying next to her, both of them staring up into the moon filled sky. They were silent for a while, and then Luna spoke up, "We trust that you were successful in your endeavor to stop the source of the earthquakes, Midnight Starsong."
Midnight waited a moment to answer, "Yeah, It was a slice of pie. I only had do defeat the shadow of some 'King Sombra' dude."
"So, he had a plan to cheat death and reincarnate himself through the use of a shadow, a husk of the castor imbued with a small fragment of their soul." The princess frowned up at the sky, "He must have planned to use the shadow as an anchor to this plain of existence, his lifeline per se."
"That means that those earthquakes were most likely caused by him attempting to pull the rest of his soul through the barrier between dimensions. Right?" Midnight silently congratulated herself for her deductive powers.
"Not exactly, but close." Luna paused for a moment to doodle on the moon, "It seems he was holding open the gates of the dead by less than a hair because there was still a part of his soul on this side of the gates. The shock waves themselves were a result of the fabrics that line the space between dimensions to begin to loosen, eventually a hole would have appeared and then some…thing might end up pushing through the hole into our dimension."
"So basically if I hadn't gotten rid of the shadow then things would have gotten very bad."
"Yes, that is what would have happened to put it in extremely simple terms."
"Cool." The pair then went back to staring at the moon in silence. After some time Midnight spoke up again, "When I wake up, how will I get back to the surface?"
"No need to worry," Luna's voice said that there was a definite need to worry. "We decided to send Discord to retrieve you while you and I had a chat."
Midnight unconvinced as she was, said this next sentence with complete and utter calm. "So, what you're saying is that at this very moment I am both unconscious and at the mercy of that draconequus."
"Yes."
"$#!+"
