The Demon Brother Chronicles; Book 1: Midnight Illusion

     Midnight woke up to Sun peeking through the curtains of the guest bedroom window. When he opened the window, he let out an inaudible sigh. It was very peaceful there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the birds were chirping. There was then a knock at the door. He opened the door to see a smiling Lyra. He grabbed his notepad. Good morning miss Heartstrings. he added a smiley face to the end indicating he was in a pleasant mood. Lyra giggled.

     "I told you you don't have to call me that! Good morning to you too, by the way." She now noticed that his eyes were both all light grey. "Say, why are your eyes light grey?" She asked, curiousness entwined with each word.

All shadow ponies like me have, wellhadgrey eyes. he wrote.

     "Well now that my first question is answered, here's the second one. Hungry?" She asked, lifting up a plate of salad. Midnight gave a curious look as he took the plate from her. He cautiously picked up a few leaves on the fork and inspected them. "It's not poisoned, if that's what you're thinking." She laughed as he visibly relaxed and took a bite. "Well?" She asked.

     He swallowed and put down the plate, proceeding with picking up his notepad. I give it a nine out of ten. It tastes fairly good.

     "Why not ten out of ten?" She asked with puppy dog eyes.

I'm not very fond of salad. he wrote. Nonetheless it was good.

     "Well today seems like a pretty calm day. I'm just going to go talk to Bon Bon. Care to join me?" She asked, looking up into his eyes.

Sure. I don't mind, but I'm going to put on some new clothes and clean up. I feel like i slid in cheesecake batter and lemon pudding*. Do you think you could tell me where the shower is?

     "It's just across the hall. I'll see you in the kitchen." She then left and went downstairs. He then grabbed his personal toiletries and a new pair of clothes and hopped into the shower.

     "Lyra, I don't see why you needed him other than the whole throwing knife incident." Bon Bon complained.

     "We went over this yesterday Bonnie. My ex is out to get me for turning him in." She rebutted.

     "But why a mute bodyguard? Why not one that could talk?" Bon Bon said.

     "He was the only one available at the time." She said. It was about that time she saw Midnight in a tee shirt and shorts with the word BOO in bold on his notepad. She grinned.

     "What is- AAAAH!" Shouted Bon Bon as she saw the notebook quickly levitate in front of her, causing her to fall backwards. Midnight quickly dropped the notebook on the table the two mares were leaning on and caught Bon Bon. "That was uncalled for!" She exclaimed.

Serves you right for not trusting me. he wrote.

     "How did you-" Lyra grabbed her arm.

     "He can hide in shadows. I'm guessing he was ready pretty fast and was eavesdropping. Speaking of which..." She then punched Midnight in the arm hard as she could, but she brought back her hand and rubbed it from hitting him so hard. "How did that not hurt???" She said, cradling her sore hand.

Years of physical training. he wrote. Now I understand that you two may have questions, and that i will answer any and all openly. So who is first?

     Bon Bon was the first to speak up. "Why are you mute?" Midnight was visibly taken aback. "You said you'd answer anything openly..." She began.

No, its not that, its just that last time somepony asked me that they wound up in the hospital for a month. You must be very brave. Since you are miss Heartstrings best friend, I suppose I could tell you. Alas, that story is a sad one, so you'd better read fast. The mares both nodded Roughly ten years ago, I owned an assassination business with my current business partners. We Only killed those such as corrupt nobles or psychopaths, etc... and at one time, there was rumors of Celestia being corrupt.

     "I know those rumors.' Lyra muttered.

A Griffin noble hired us to take out Celestia, and we truly thought she was evil. It turns out he betrayed us, wanting to get rid of us for killing his corrupt nobles. Both my partners escaped unscathed, but not me. Oh no, the guard caught me. They slit my throat with a dagger. Due to my healing power and Celestia's magic, I was saved.

     "So Celestia was nice." Bon Bon said unamused. "Next question."

Thats not it. She then actually took me to the royal dungeon where she tortured and questioned me, punching me every time I didn't use my voice. She gave me the minimal amount of food which was a few leaves of lettuce, and a glass of water. The way I grew tolerant to pain was by her hitting me. Since i was mute, I could do nothing but deal with it. When she got all she wanted from me, she left, and came back a few moments later with a whip. At this point, Bon Bon covered her eyes, and Lyra readied a trash can.

She whipped me five times for each corrupt pony, griffin, or zebra I had killed. I earned myself a total of 565 whips. You can even see the scars from it. He lifted his shirt and showed the mares his back, which prompted Lyra to bring the garbage can closer to her face. He began writing once again. Celestia then whipped me twenty more times from attempting on her life giving me a grand total of 585 whips. My back was practically ripped to shreds, and I was out cold on the floor, blood running everywhere, the only thing keeping me alive was my advanced healing powers. Celestia had even planned my execution.

     Lyra couldn't hold it in anymore, and barfed, and Bon Bon kept shuddering seemingly while muttering a chant over and over. If it weren't for her sister, I wouldn't be here right now. Princess Luna took me in as a nervous wreck, refusing to eat anything she gave me because I thought it was drugged, so she made the food right in front of my eyes, saying calming, reassuring words all the while. Lyra then put down the trash can and Bon Bon gave her full attention to the paper. Midnight started writing on another page of paper. Luna too, knew how all the nobles were corrupt and she nursed me back to full health. Once I was better she let me stay a few more days before giving me three choices. One, was to become part of the Pony Protection Program, or P.P.P, where I would get a new name and have my coat changed along with starting a new life with a new family. The second, was to become the captain of the royal guard, where I was assured pay, and Luna would be able to keep a close eye on me, or have a government funded bodyguard business Celestia didn't know about. I presume you know which one I had chosen. She then said that I would always be welcomed back as a guard if I ever wanted, and I headed back to my partners who thought I was dead. So know you know how I became mute. He finished and let the mares finish reading before taking his notebook back. Both Lyra and Bon Bon were on the brink of tears.

     "I...I'm so sorry midnight. I-I didn't realize how horrible that would be for you I'm s-sorry I even brought it up." Bon Bon stuttered.

Its not your fault you were curious. Just don't bring it up again, please. She nodded. There was then a knock at the door. Midnight opened it to find a white stallion with red hair and red eyes looking down at him.

     "Is Lyra home?" He asked in a heavy Prench accent. He glanced back at Lyra who mouthed, NO!.

I'm afraid not, sir. He wrote.

     "Liar." The stallion spat, pushing past Midnight into the house, looking around. "I suppose you're her new, stupid coltfriend? Well let me tell you I am better than you, and I'm taking her back. Midnight then grasped the stallion's throat with an astonishing grip for a small stallion. He then forced the stallion out the door, to Lyra's relief.

     "NO." Stated Midnight, which caused him to grasp his throat in pain. Lyra and Bon Bon were both equally shocked to hear his gravelly voice as clear as daylight.

     "Ah. So the wimp can talk, eh?" The stallion said, rubbing his throat. Well that wont be for very long." He said, advancing towards Midnight very quickly.