Chase, gift, gone

As the first flickers of morning sun crept into Twilight's room, she stirred, rolling over, hoping to be met with the warm body of the stallion she had fallen asleep with, however she simply fell into the empty space where he once lay, once again her midnight inturder had vanished, for how long she could not be sure.

Sitting up in bed she looked round, his saddle bags where gone, the only evidence of his existence being the scuff marks and sword embedded into the floor, picking up the sword he had given her in her magic, she tucked it under her pillow, only for a small object glinting in the morning sun to catch her eye.

Checking her nightstand she found a small gold box resting atop, picking it up and levitating it in front of her she gently opened the lid, inside was a small golden necklace, attached to it was a gold pendant of her cutie mark set in purple amethyst, picking it up in her magic she went to put it on, when she then spotted a small note with a simple message inside.

From Prance, with love.

Wiping sleep from her eyes she got out of bed, making her way to the mirror, setting eyes on her reflection, she couldn't help but admire the beautiful gift, yet be mortified by the state of her coat and mane, quickly setting to work, she prepped a healing spell for the cuts, all of which where only minor, after all Midnight always told her...

"you won't learn to fight till you have the marks to prove it,"

After a lengthy session in front of the mirror, taking extra time to remove all the nots and dried blood, she set off down the corridor, making her way down to the kitchen. As she got to the kitchen doors, she began to smell the sweet scent of pancake's, heading in she was quickly greeted by the purple dragon standing at the stove.

"Morning Twilight, dam you look rough, you sleep ok,"

"Morning Spike, what, errr, no, I slept fine," said Twilight nervously.

"Well, ok then, breakfast is ready," said Spike, gesturing towards a stack of pancake's he had layed out, Twilight sat down and began to eat as spike turned round, "hay what that round your n... BERRRRRRRRP!!!!"

Before Spike could finish, he burped out a plume of fire that quickly formed into a scroll, picking it up Twilight began to examin it.

"A message from the princess?" asked Spike.

"I wonder what she wants at this hour?" Asked Twilight puzzled, opening up the scroll, "let see, dear Twilight Sparkle, an argent matter has arisen that threatens the fate of the ponies of Equestria, we request that you gather the other elements of harmony, we will be arriving at your castle within the hour, signed Celestia and Luna."

"So I'm guessing breakfast is off then,"

"Sorry spike no time, we've got to gather the others, let's split up and get everyone to meet up here," and with that Twilight and Spike set off.

Within the hour Twilight and her friends, as well as princess Celestia and Luna, were all gathered in the main hall of Twilights castle, not wanting to waste time, Celestia kept the explanation brief with Princess Luna not saying a word.

"So, wait, let me get this mess straight, there's a highly trained, killer pony, that's been running around, killing for years, and y'all only recently found out about him," said Applejack, a confused look on her face.

"While I admit it's all sounds a bit strange, I am glad that that stuck up, self centred, royal ponce, Blueblood got some kind of comeuppance, however it might have been a bit extreme," said Rarity, hiding a smile at the news.

"Yes, well, you see, until now there was no connection to him and other incidents, however this recent one he was seen committing the offence, when you compare it to other repots it all fits," said Celestia, nervously reciting the pre-prepared response.

"Ok, so, what do you want us to do princess?" Twilight asked.

"Well, during the incident one of the photographers managed to grab a shot of him," at this, Celestia pulled out the photographs, heading one to everypony, "my plan is to send this picture to every tabloid in Equestria, asking that if anypony see's him to report where and when, if we can track his movement we can make it hard for him to work, eventually forcing him out, of corce this will take some ti..."

"It's HIM!!!!" Pinky pie gasped.

"What?" Asked everypony, confused.

"Well you see, this morning I got up early to collect the morning sugar deliver from the train station, when I see this pony," she holds up the photo smacking it with her hoof, "but I'd never seen him before, and you know when I've never seen a pony before that means there new, and if there new they must not have any friends, and so I was going to throw him a party, but then he told me he wasn't staying and he needed to get to Canterlot. But I asked when he'd be back, when he'd want a party, what type of cake he wanted but he just ignored me, no matter what I did," at this she huffed sitting on the floor.

"Wait so that means... Oh thank you pink one thank you, thank you, thank you," said Luna, speaking for the first time, "right so, he's heading for Canterlot, we must send a message to the guards to be ready at the station, if Pinkys right the train he's on must still be on its way if we hurry we can catch it before it gets there,"

"Well," said Rainbow Dash, "what are we waiting for, let's go kick some assassin tail,"

At this, the group left the castle and headed for the chariot that the princesses had brought, all except Twilight, who was rooted to the spot staring at the picture, seeing this Celestia approched her.

"Twilight, is something wrong?" She asked.

"No, no, nothing at all," Twilight smiled nerviously as she headed for the door, all the while thinking "I must find him,"

In no time Celestia's gold chariot was flying just above the train.

"Ok, here's the plan," said Celestia, "you six will take the back of the train and sweep through to the front, while me, Luna and six of my guards will sweep through from the front, if any of you spot him, don't fight him right out, wait until we are there with you, if you meet us before you see him then we will have to catch him at the station,"

At this the chariot move closer to the end of the train, ready for Twilight and her friends to jump.

"Good luck," Celestia yelled as the six jumped off and entered the train.

The six enter through the luggage car and, moving together, began to move through train, taking care to scan all the passengers. As they moved to the next carriage, only a few ponies where on board, but no sign of him, so the group moved on, the next two carriages where more crowded, but still no sign of the pony they where looking for.

As they enterd the fifth carriage Twilight could see Celestia's guards, at this she breathed a sigh of relief, all she had to do was search this carriage, prove he's not here and then no one would...

"Twilight, I think I see him, there in the corner," said Rainbow pointing to a blue coated, black mane pony sitting in the far corner of the carriage, wearing a black stealth suit. Twilight wanted to call out to him, tell him to run, hide, just get off this train, but she was too late.

One of the guards walked through the door into the carriage, scanning the crowd he quickly found his target, all too late. As the guard set eyes on Midnight, Midnight was already out of his seat, sword bearing down on the guard, before he plunged it into the soft flesh of the guards neck.

As the first guards body fell to the floor two more entered, swords drawn, ready to fight, but so was he, pulling his sword out of the dead guards neck he dived right at the two, deflecting a blow from one, while catching the other under his armor, slicing his neck, only to whip round and sink his sword into the other guards heart.

By now everypony had fled the carriage, leaving nothing but Midnight, three guards and the six friends, with Celestia and Luna trying to calm the fleeing crowd, watching the events unfold. As the last three guards faced down Midnight, the bodies of their friends bleeding out around them, they could only fear what would happen next.

As the three rushed him hoping to over power him, he jumped, flipped over their heads, jabbing one in the back, severing his spine as he landed. However as one of the guards span round, he slashed out, reacting Midnight dodged the blade, only for the tip of the sword to tear through his suit, exposing his deep blue coat and blank flanks.

Flipping his sword round in his mouth, Midnight stabbed the guard in the side, running the blade up, leaving the guard to drop in pain, clutching his dripping side. The final guard stood still, frozen in fear like a statue, Midnight turned, one look into his hard green eyes and the guards sword dropped, defenceless, as Midnight approached, ready to kill, he could of, if not for a rainbow coloured blur.

"I'll take you on," yelled Rainbow Dash, flying towards Midnight, hoof raised, a sword ready to meet her, until...

"STOP!!!!!!!" Twilight yelled, teleporting between the two, leaving everypony to stair, wide eyed, as Twilight defended the killer in front of them. Finally Celestia and Luna where there, starring along with everypony.

"Twilight, what... why?" Celestia asked, shocked by what she was seeing.

"Princess... I..." Twilight started, only to be interrupted by a tap on her shoulder.

"Twilight, did you open that pendant?" Asked Midnight, smiling.

Looking down, Twilight saw she was still wearing the necklace he had left her, holding it in front of her, she saw a small clasp on the side, opening it up she saw inside was a small inscription, two simple words.

"Marry Me"

Gazing into his eyes, she pulled him close, and whisper her response..."Yes"

"Do I know how to propose or what,"

Author's Note

Done ok...

Comment if you like it, or not

Next one soon

Enjoy