The Midnight Shadow

by Burning Ember

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life
Length: 1754

A few days after the end of the story "ponies are animals too" one of Scootaloo's old friends starts going to school in ponyville and shares a big secret with Scootaloo and he belives his secret is safe but then again all secrets come

A few days after the events of the story "ponies are animals too" an old friend of Scootaloo's named Midnight Fire starts going to Scootaloo's school. While there he shares his biggest secret with her. Pretty soon though his secret comes out, he has been living in the Everfree forest for the past few years. After his parents die he lived in the Ponyville Orphanage for a few months but soon saw that he would never get adopted so he ran away and lived for a while in the castle of the two sisters ,but soon had to move out and build a makeshift shelter in a small clearing in the forest. Now he works in Sugar Cube Corner doing the trash and dishes and shopping for the store's supplies to get bits for the things he needs to live ,but the Cakes don't know where he lives or why he needs the job they just know he does so they let him work there after school everyday.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-11-25 15:31:37 UTC

Midnight arrives

A few years before the events of "ponies are animals too"....

In the Everfree forest two ponies stand next to a grave in a clearing filled with the most beautiful lilies you have ever seen and not just any lilies but  moon lilies which bloom every month in the light of the full moon then wither and die every new moon. The two ponies are standing side by side one a stallion with a black mane and tail with a red stripe down the middle of both, red eyes and a dark grey coat. The other was much younger and had the same mane and tail except the end of it's mane and tail looked like the nighttime sky and it's coat was a really dark blue and it's eye color was red with green flecks so it's eye color wasn't really distinguishable. It was the middle of the night and the moon lilies were in full bloom and they all seemed to have a slight glow to them. The younger pony was the first one to break the silence. " Dad why is mama's grave here?" It asked it's dad. " Well Midnight this was where me and your mom first met and these flowers only bloom here in this clearing." said the younger pony's dad. " What have the flowers have to do with mama being buried here?" asked Midnight. "These were your mama's favorite flowers and that's why we come here every month during the full moon because they only bloom during the full moon." said Midnight's dad. Midnight was about to ask another question when the two ponies heard a twig snap like something had stepped on it behind them at the edge of the clearing. As they turn to look what made the sound they see a pair of green glowing eyes open at the edge of the clearing. When they see several other sets of eyes open Midnight's dad says out of the corner of his mouth that when he says run to run as fast as you can for the exit. A few seconds tick by as Midnight gets ready to run then his dad yells "RUN!" and both Midnight and his dad bolt for the entrance to the forest and the timber wolves start chasing after them. As they run Midnight's dad sees the exit but also notices that the timber wolves are gaining. Realizing that they won't make it to the exit at this rate he yells at his son "Keep running I'll hold them off just go!" as he turns around to give his son the time he needs to escape. As Midnight keeps running he prays for his dad to make it ,but as he reaches the exit he hears his father scream and then suddenly the scream gets cut short. As Midnight walks on down the road in shock he passes a cheery sign that was just about the opposite of how he felt that said "Welcome To Ponyville!". Suddenly the exhausted Midnight collapsed and fell into a very troubled sleep.

The next morning Midnight woke up in a bed and thought "Thank goodness it was just a nightmare.". As he opened his eyes he sees he isn't in his room at all and says to him self "Where am I?". "Your in the Ponyville Orphanage." said someone next to him he hadn't noticed making him jump. He looked to see who it was and he saw a middle aged mare with a red mane wrapped in a tight bun and a red tail and a light grey coat and on her flank was a house with a heart in the middle of it. "Who are you?" Midnight asked. "I am Matron Kind Heart, but you may call me miss Heart. Now what is your name sweet heart?"said the mare. "My name is Midnight, Midnight Fire miss Heart."replied Midnight. Midnight was confused and ask "Where am I and why am I here?". Miss Kind Heart said "As I said before you are in the Ponyville Orphanage, but as to why your here is that you were for at the edge of town and before bringing you here the pony that found you asked everyone in town if they knew where or who your parents were. No one knew who you are or who your parents are so they brought you here.". As she said this Midnight remembered last night and realized it wasn't a dream at all and said "Oh no, my dad he is in the Everfree forest someone has to save him. He's fighting some timber wolves, please you have to help you have to help save him!". "Okay I'll get some ponies to form a rescue party and search for him. You just stay right here with me until they return." said miss Heart. "We were near the entrance when he started to fight them."said Midnight "Please save him he's the only family I have left.". Miss Heart left for a few minutes and returned, then after a few minutes a letter appeared and as she read it she softly said "Oh no.". When Midnight heard her he asked "So did they find him? Did they find my dad? Is he alright?". "Please Midnight sit down we need to talk." said miss Heart. "Why? What's wrong? Where is he, where's my dad, I WANT TO SEE MY DAD!" Midnight says with a yell. "Midnight I'm sorry your dad is dead." says miss Kind Heart sadly. Upon hearing this Midnight suddenly slumps and says in shear disbelief "No, no he can't be dead.". Then in great pain and not wanting it to be true he yells "NO! HE CAN'T BE HE JUST CAN'T BE DEAD! HE'S NOT DEAD H-HE SAID HE WOULD MAKE IT, he said he would make it." as he says this he starts to cry. "I'm sorry, Midnight but he really is dead."says Kind Heart as she rubs the young colt's back trying to sooth the sad colt's aching heart. "Where will I stay? I don't have any *hiccup* where to go." asks Midnight as he starts to hiccuping. "You can stay here after all you are an orphan now." says miss Kind Heart. "Really? I don't have any money to pay for rent." says Midnight as he starts to have a little glimmer of hope. "Hahahaha you are so silly, you don't have to pay to stay in an orphanage. If you are an orphan then you are free to live in an orphanage silly. Hahahaha rent, silly little colt." says miss Kind Heart laughing at just how silly the little colt was being. "You and me are going to be very good friends." miss Kind Heart says as the scene fades into darkness.

Dark Day Turned Joyfull

   Midnight suddenly snapped awake. He then remembered where he was, he was in his improvised shelter in the Everfree forest. Midnight groaned as he got up and stretched his legs and wings. Then he walked to his makeshift table and made himself a daisy sandwich for breakfast, ate then went to the stream for a drink. Then he walked a little way downstream to a small lake and took a bath. He then walked back to camp and started to towel off. He suddenly remembered that today was a special day it was his first day of school. It had been a few years since he had lived in the orphanage. After a few months he realized that he just wasn’t going to get adopted and ran away. For a few months he lived in the ruin of the castle of the two sisters but soon had to leave do to an infestation of hydras and he then made his shelter. It was mostly made of branches and leaves but he had managed to drag a few stone blocks from the castle for a foundation. He had hoped to make a fence this week to keep the predators out, but hadn’t managed to get the bits together for the axe, the hammer, or even the nails for that matter. He had managed to get a job at Sugar Cube Corner without having to tell the Cakes why he needed the job, but he just didn’t have the bits to make the fence. He had to follow a price based plan for basic necessities or he would have to go without food and bathroom basics and that meant that he wasn’t going to have the money for the fence at least until next week if not later. Midnight looked at the sundial that served as his clock and suddenly realized the time in a flash he grabbed his saddlebag and flew off for the schoolhouse.

He barely made it. When he came in Miss Cheerlie was just telling the class they had a new student. When Miss Cheerlie noticed Midnight was here she told the class to say hello. “Why don’t you tell the class who you are dear?” suggests Miss Cheerlie.

    “My name is Midnight Fire.” Midnight says quietly.

    “Class Midnight will be joining us from now on so be very nice to him.” says Miss Cheerlie. The students all reply with a chorus of “Yes Miss Cheerlie.”. Miss Cheerlie then turns to Midnight and says “You will be sitting in the desk next to Scootaloo dear so please take your seat.”. As Midnight walks to the desk indicated by the teacher he thinks to himself “Scootaloo, I wonder if it’s the same Scootaloo who I used to play with in front of the orphanage?”. As he takes his seat he looks over to see if it really was his childhood friend or not. Low and behold it was the very same Scootaloo he had played with for years. Sadly he was snapped out of his happy thoughts by the filly on his other side calling him a “blank flank”. Which thankfully he managed to ignore because if he hadn’t the filly might not be able to talk ever again. Any way it turned out to be a rather boring day and as he waited for recess he found his mind trailing off and remembering all the good times he had with Scootaloo. He was suddenly brought back to reality by the tolling of the school bell which meant that it was finally time for lunch and recess. The whole class got up and went outside and he got swept away with the crowd.