***Facing the Dark: To Chase the Sun***
Chapter 1
Obscura
A black mare raced across the landscape, the sun steadily setting. A dark cloak covered her form as she sped onward. She looked behind her as she continued forward, panic sifted through her system, causing her to gallop faster. She panted heavily as the scenery became even more of a blur than before. Night would fall soon, and although she adored the night she didn't want to be in the Everfree Forest when the sun passed below the horizon. The thick woods were dissipating ahead, opening to small town. The creatures in this forest, although fearsome, weren't nearly as much of a concern as what she was running from.
Running; Midnight Winter could hardly remember a time when she wasn't running, or on the move. Even following her parents death, she was forced to run. Nothing else mattered, except reaching the town before the moon made itself known for the night. The town grew larger until she crossed the white bridges that allowed her a dry passage over the river. However it wasn't until she passed a large, decorated building labeled, Town Hall, that she stopped. Collapsing next to a fountain, Midnight tried to steady her breathing as it came up in gasps. Slowly, she came to her hooves and walked along the main strip of buildings in front of her. She walked in to the one building she was looking for.
"Hello! Welcome to Ponyville, how can I help you tonight?" the mare behind the counter asked.
"Hello, I would like to rent a room for the week." Midnight stated in a calm, smooth voice.
"Oh, of course, do you have a preference of what room you would like?" she asked politely. She was of average size for an Earth pony, with a cream coat. Her short azure mane and tail was neatly tousled.
"No, a single bed would be fine. Preferably on the top floor though, please." Midnight replied as she walked towards the desk. The mare nodded and explain the rates, however the black mare simply paid up front for the week.
"Alright, My name is Feather Down, and this little filly here is my daughter Flower Dust, she'll show you your room." Feather Down gestured towards the young foal would was scuffing the floor with her hoof, pink becoming prominent on her sandy colored fur. Rosey pink and sky blue wound its way through her mane and tail, both were slightly wavy. Taking the key from her mother, we walked down the hall that was immediately to the right of the counter. Lights lit the hallway with several red doors on either side. The stairs appeared to the left all the way at the end of the hall. Walking up 3 flights of stairs, we arrived on the 3rd floor, which consisted of only a few rooms. They continued to the end of the hall where a lone red door stood out in stark contrast to the orange red paint around it. The young Flower Dust unlocked the room and handed the mysterious mare her key.
"Here you go. Breakfast is from 6 to 10 o'clock, let us know if you need anything." the filly said smiling warmly. The black pony nodded her head and thanked her. Closing the door and locking it, Midnight Winter sloughed off her saddlebags and cloak, releasing her aquamarine and white, striped hair. It hung in somewhat of a tangled mess, all the way on one side of her head and neck, covering her right eye for the most part. Gazing around the room, she found it to be quiet pleasing. It was small, but was in beautiful hues of soft purples, blues, and pinks. The walls were a light blue color, the bed set a soft dark purple. Pink was the accent color as it was splashed here and there with various objects.
Grabbing her brush, she made her way towards the bathroom. After brushing her mane, she quickly washed her face of the day's grime. She paused, a long discolored scar of gray caught her eye on the right side of her face. Moving her hair out of the way she cautiously examined the stretch of skin, since her fur never grew back. It started at the middle of her forehead, creating a line that flowed across her eye down to the bottom of her cheek. Hastily, she covered it the scar back up with her hair that rested gently against it.
Huffing, the mare stood back to look at the rest of herself. She was rather small for a pegasi her age. What didn't help were her awkward and abnormally large wings that hung on either side of her. They cover most of her body, including her cutie mark. She lifted her wings, gazing at her cutie mark that was a fairly extravagant. A moon, with a sliver of a crescent slightly brighter, tertiles of a blue wisps coming from around the moon to the front where a large blue snowflake sat. Smaller snowflakes and dots of various sizes were scattered here and there evenly.
Looking back to the mirror, she suddenly no longer wanted to be in the confined space of the hotel. Carefully setting aside most of the contents in her saddlebags, she dawned on her cloak and bags and exited the room.
Leaving her hood down, as to blend more with the night life that was around her, she wondered to and from different areas of the town. A large tree, with the sign 'Library' caught her attention. It was odd to say the least, considering it looked more like a home then a library. Hesitantly, she knocked on the door.
"Just a second!" a young female's voice rang out. The door opened and Midnight Winter was in a bit of a shock at the sight before her. Quickly, but gracefully, she bowed her head.
"I did not know I was in the presence of an Alicorn in this town." Midnight said softly as she raised her head. The purple mare before her dropped her ears and looked aside at the mention of her title.
"C-Can, I help you?" she said almost nervously.
"May I come in?" the mare asked. The purple Alicorn's wings rose slightly at the question. However, the black pegasi was quick to notice.
"This is a library, is it not?" a smile tugging her lips. The purple mare looked around behind her before her wings shot tightly back to her sides, she laughed nervous.
"Of course, I'm sorry. I live here as well so sometimes I forget it's the town's library. Although now that I think about it, no one ever comes by..." she finished quietly to herself. "Oh! How rude of my, I'm Twilight Sparkle. You are?" she asked.
"Midnight Winter. It's good to meet you Princess Twilight Sparkle." the cloaked mare politely replied while slightly bowing her head again. However, the princess waved a hoof, almost rolling her eyes at the formalities while sitting in front of her company.
"Please, Twilight is fine. I've never seen you in town, are you new here?" she asked quickly changing the subject.
"Yes, I'm just passing through actually." the black mare nodded. "I'm on my way to Canterlot to meet with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."
"What for? Is there something I can maybe help with?" Twilight asked, concerned. Midnight opened her mouth to say something but closed it, she had been caught off guard with the offer. She wasn't sure if she should tell the Alicorn what her actual real goal was. Why should she tell her? Would she even care? Something in the purple mare's eyes that begged to know the dilemma that she was confronted with. Throwing worry out the window, she gathered her thoughts again.
"I'm sure you can, in fact you should probably accompany me, if you have the time tomorrow, that is."
"Ok, sure I can do that. What is this all about anyway?" the young Alicorn asked. The black mare paused before speaking once again.
"Although it is within my place to tell, I'm not sure I'm the one who should tell. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would perhaps be better suited to telling you." The purple mare giggled lightly after hearing Midnight speak again.
"Has anypony ever told you, you sound an awful lot like Princess Luna?" Twilight Sparkle asked the young pony. Midnight's cheeks flushed a soft shade of pink, and her ears flattened against her head before replying to the comment. Twilight watched the pony's reaction with accumulating interest in this new stranger. She was able to take a good look at the mare once in the bright light of the library. Her fur coat was a deep charcoal black, which was competing with the dark black of her cloak. The cloak covered her whole body, so she wasn't sure if she was an Earth pony or a Pegas. Her mane was of white with aquamarine color, in a pattern alternating between the two evenly. It was all gathered to one side of the mare's head and neck, covering the whole left side. The pony's jaw line was rather unique, her jaw was gently squared, but curved at the frontal bone. Her eyes were interesting as well, they came to a point at the bottom but, rounded at the top. There were several long, thick lashes at the top of her lids, and a few shorter, thinner, lashes on her bottom eyelids. The color of her irises matched the color of her mane, but faded into a deep blue.
"No, however I will graciously accept such a comparison to a pegasi like myself, thank you Princess Twilight." the mare bowed slightly as the lavender princess laughed a bit again.
"Now about those books? What is it I can help you find? Is there anything in particular?" she asked somewhat excitedly.
"Ah, yes actually. I'm looking for anything about the creatures that live here in the Equestria." Midnight Winter stated.
"Well let's see here..." the princess said as she turned towards the books.
And so the hours passed in such a manner, each enjoying the company the other brought. Both discussed the material they read from the books they pulled from the shelves and stacked around them. Each shared in their own experiences when subjects that they related to were brought up. A clock above the bookcases struck 11 a night. The two mares rose their heads, staring at the clock.
"Oh my gosh, I didn't know it was so late." Twilight yawned, "We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow, we should probably get some sleep." They both giggled, Midnight stood up, and gracefully bowed at the Alicorn.
"Indeed. I thank you again for accompanying me on the rest of my journey, although sudden and unannounced. I do have to ask however, why are you joining a normal pony such as myself?" the black mare questioned suddenly. The pinkish-purple pony looked thoughtful for a moment before answering with a smile.
"I suppose you just seemed as though you needed help. I'm still new at this princess thing, but I want to help as much as I can."
Midnight Winter's ears flattened against her head a bit and her head turned to the side, "More than you'll ever know." she whispered softly to herself. However, she quickly recovered and smiled at the Alicorn princess. "Well, I suppose I'll see you at the station for the first train leaving for Canterlot. Good night."
"Yes, good night too you as well!" Twilight yelled after the mysterious Pegasus.
The somewhat small town was dead. No pony life could be seen, some would find the situation creepy, however the dark mare stalked with her head up and eyes scanning to and fro. The night was lovely, clouds drifted lazily across the sky and Luna's moon shone brightly against the pitch darkness. The soft shades added to the dream like state until a pony she didn't want to across appeared out of thin air. The mare stopped and narrowed her eyes as the stark white stallion flickered into view.
"Slender..." she hissed through her teeth. The abnormally tall stallion, had no eyes or mouth. However, he had the ability to open where his mouth would be, but it wasn't the same as ponies who had lips. Slight shadows of where his eyes should have been only emphasized the fact that he had none. The black suit with coat tails, a white undershirt and a deep red tie attire were nothing new for the black pegasi.
"Ah, Midnight Winter, it's so good to see you again." he communicated telepathically, in a snake-like voice. A long, black tentacle of inky darkness appeared from around him. He bent his head to her level, as it grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. She jerked her head away definitely, huffing as she turned. She continued walking, right through brilliant white stallion in front of her, for it was only a projected image from her mind. He re-materialized beside her walking along with the black mare.
"Oh, don't be like that, besides we both know how this will end." the stallion hissed slyly. The black pony stopped and stared right where his eyes should have been.
"Oh really, then why are you here?" she questioned.
"Watch your tone young filly!" he spat, "You will know soon enough!" Calming himself, he bowed at her in a gentle-colt fashion, "Soon Midnight Winter, soon." With that he faded away.
