Darkness Rising

by Nurarihyon

Chapters

Memories
Bladewing
Tournament of the Sun pt 1
Tournament of the Sun pt 2
Tournament of the Sun pt 3
Challenges

Memories

Challenges

Midnight Silver was not a happy pony, a fact that the two guards standing before him were painfully aware of.

“What do you mean you lost the package?”

“Well, you see, we were on our way back from the smithy, and there was this mare who wanted our help.”

“Yeah, she said there was some sort of brawl going on at Cider’s Crescent.”

“So naturally we had to go see what was what.”

“And when we got there the brawl had already sorted itself out, but the mare you see, she wanted to pay us for our time.”

“Now we knew we had to get the package back to the palace quickly, but we couldn’t just say no, we had to keep up the public image of the guard and all.”

“Right, and since she didn’t have any spare bits she offered us a small drink, seeing as she was the owner of the establishment.”

“Not even a drink really, more of a sip.”

“A small sip.”

“Out of a large flask.”

“That was repeatedly filled.”

“From a large barrel.“

Midnight decided to stop the train of mindless babbling before it could get any farther.

“I get it, now what happened to my package?”

The two shuffled nervously and glanced at each other before continuing.

“Well, you see,”

“We had the package when we went into the Crescent,”

“And we know we didn’t lose it there,”

“But the trip back to the palace was a bit more tiring than we had remembered,”

“So we decided to stop and rest on the way,”

“And next thing we knew we were at the gates to the palace with splitting headaches,”

“And then the day guard found us,”

“And now we’re here.”

Midnight continued to glare at the two ponies for several minutes after they had stopped talking. To the casual observer it might have seemed like the captain of the lunar guard was simply letting the guards in his office stew in their own guilt. The truth, however, was that he was floored by their utter stupidity. The only thing keeping Midnight’s face straight was years of dealing with the inane ramblings of Canterlot’s more entitled nobles.

Finally Midnight got his thoughts together and spoke. “So what you’re telling me is that you picked up the package, got sidetracked by a request from a pretty face, got roaring drunk, and then proceeded to lose twenty-five kilograms of moonsilver while attempting to crawl back here?” The two guardsponies flinched as Midnight’s voice rose. “That moonsilver is worth ten times its weight in bits, and you two lost it because you can’t be trusted to complete a simple errand without attempting to drown yourself in liquor!” The two ponies backed up, their eyes widening in fear as Midnight rose up from behind his desk, his face a mask of rage. “If you two have any hope of keeping your jobs past tonight, I suggest you go out and find that metal and get it back here before the changing of the watch!”

“Y-yes sir!” the two managed to stammer out in unison.

“I SAID GO!”

As the two ponies scurried out of the office, Midnight lowered himself back into his seat and raised his hooves to his temples.

“It’s been four years and I still can’t get competent help. Why did I even agree to take this job in the first place?” Midnight’s vision flashed back to that night four years ago when Princess Luna asked him to become captain of her guard. Midnight could barely believe that the princess was actually talking to him, let alone offering him a position he could only have dreamt of obtaining. Midnight snorted. ”Some dream this turned out to be. More of a nightmare than anything else.”

Midnight’s reverie was interrupted by a crystal on his desk that suddenly began to flash and vibrate. Midnight cursed under his breath before he tapped the crystal with his horn, opening the communication link. “This is Silver, go ahead.”

“Captain, this is lieutenant Night Breeze. I’m calling to report an intruder making his way towards your current location.”

Midnight suddenly sat bolt upright. ”An intruder? What pony in their right minds would try and sneak into the castle proper?”

“Why has he not been stopped, lieutenant?”

“It’s Blueblood sir.”

Midnight let loose a string of epithets that could have scorched the ears off of a griffon before replying. “Thank you for the warning lieutenant, carry on with your shift.”

Midnight silently composed himself against the coming ordeal. The lieutenant had been correct in labeling Blueblood as an intruder since the castle was closed off after moonrise, but since he was a noble, Blueblood was technically allowed to demand entry at any time.

Didn’t mean that Midnight had to like it.

Midnight settled himself into his chair while he watched the door. ”I almost wish that it had been a real intruder. At least then I wouldn’t have to put up with the prince.”
Finally the silence was broken by a knock on the door. Midnight took one more deep breath before speaking in a tone of voice carefully devoid of emotion.

“Enter.”

For a moment nothing happened, and Midnight dared to hope that perhaps Blueblood had decided that it wasn’t worth his time to come bother him this late and turned around. His hopes were dashed, however, as Blueblood’s voice called through the wood of the door, “Aren’t you going to open the door for me?”

Midnight ground his teeth together in frustration before he replied to the noble. “I’m a bit busy, you’ll have to let yourself in.”

Midnight could hear Blueblood’s sigh through the door, an impressive feat considering the door was made of solid oak six inches thick. Nothing happened for another moment, and then the door clicked and swung open, admitting prince Blueblood in all his self-servicing glory.
Blueblood raised an eyebrow when he saw that Midnight was simply sitting at his desk, but decided not to comment.

“Good evening captain Silver. I hope that I haven’t caught you at an inopportune moment?”

Midnight narrowed his eyes at Blueblood. “Not as such, no, but I’ll admit that I am curious as to why you saw fit to come see me at this late hour.”

Blueblood lifted a hoof to his chest in mock surprise. “You wound me, captain. Is it really too much to assume that I merely wanted to visit one of the stallions responsible for keeping the peace during these tumultuous times?”

Midnight merely glared at Blueblood.

Blueblood lowered his hoof and sighed. “Really captain, you should be honored that I even considered coming here. The least you could do is to try and be civil.”

Midnight snorted. “Fine then, let me try again.”

“O prince Blueblood, what an honor it is to be visited by your divine presence. Tell me what you wish of me and I will drop everything to satisfy you. Would you like me to clean your hoof? Or maybe you would prefer a back rub? Or perhaps your eminence would prefer that I wipe the feces from all of your plot-kissing off of your face?” Sarcasm practically dripped off of every word Midnight spoke.

Blueblood grit his teeth, if it had been anyone else who had spoken to him like that he would have had them arrested at the very least, but unfortunately as one of the two captains of the guard Midnight was assigned the same stature in the eyes of the law as any noble.

Blueblood sneered at Midnight. “It seems that you’re as barbaric as ever, captain. I’m really beginning to worry about you, perhaps I should try and get those trips you’re so fond of cancelled. After all, interacting with all those changelings”-Blueblood said the word as if it tasted particularly foul-“can’t possibly be good for your social skills.”

Midnight's glare deepened, “You wouldn’t dare.”

A look of triumph entered Blueblood’s eyes. “Oh, but I would, dear captain. However, I am a reasonable pony, so how about a wager?”

"Why would I care, even if you did, the princesses aren't simply going to stop trying to make peace because of a few nobles."

Blueblood shot Midnight a smug smirk, "True, but there are plenty of better options for an ambassador other than a guardspony, aren't there?"

Midnight looked at Blueblood suspiciously. “Fine, what kind of wager?”

“Oh, a simple one, really. As you know, the Summer Sun Festival is next week, and this means that the exhibition tourney will be held. I want you to announce a challenge against me during the matches.”

“And what happens if you win?”

“If I win, you have to give up on your idiotic goodwill missions to the changeling hive and allow someone better suited to take your place.”

Midnight almost threw Blueblood out then and there. Blueblood knew that Midnight held the few chances he could get to act as an ambassador to the changelings more dear than any material good that Blueblood could have offered. However, Midnight saw a chance to knock the pretentious noble down a peg.

“Fine, but if I win, you have to join me on my next trip.” Midnight grinned and Blueblood involuntarily backed away. “Unless you’re frightened, that is.”

Blueblood snorted at the accusation. “I’ll agree to those terms, but trust me when I say that I have no plans on leaving Canterlot any time soon.” With that Blueblood turned and stormed from the office, whatever complaint that had originally brought him there totally forgotten.

Midnight frowned to himself as he turned to the ever-present paperwork on his desk. It was true that the Princess' decision to allow one of the Captains of the guard to act as an ambassador wasn't a popular one, but it was also true that Midnight was essentially only a captain in name at this point as he'd been slowly giving more and more duties over to the pony he had picked to replace him so that he could start devoting more time to the work with the changelings, which he considered far more important than sitting behind a desk all night.

Midnight spent the next several hours working on the paperwork before him. As the captain he was required to read every report from the previous night made by his guards, condense them, and then present them to the Princess before the end of the night. Midnight was only interrupted once more, by the two guardsmen from earlier as they returned the moonsilver that they had lost.

Eventually Midnight was alerted to the coming of dawn by a small clock on his desk, and with a sigh he gathered up the reports on his desk with his magic and left his office.

===================================================================================================================

Princess Luna barely managed to stifle her impulse to yawn as the small earth pony in front of her throne continued to complain to her. Every night Luna held court so that the ponies of Equestria, and Canterlot in particular, could come and petition her for aid, justice, or for some sort of favor. The one thing all these ponies shared in common, however, was their inability to state their point without giving at least a fifteen minute speech first.

“One would think that over a millennium the language of court would have gotten simpler, but unfortunately for me, it seems to be just the opposite. I wonder if Sister ever thought about doing something to fix that, maybe a royal decree that all proposals must be under three thousand words, or a mandate that no one pony may stand before the throne for more than ten minutes, or-“.

“Um, Princess?”

Princess Luna jerked out of her reverie and looked down on the pony shuffling nervously before her. Apparently he had finished his speech while she had been lost in thought. “Ah, yes. I’m afraid that I cannot grant your guild any exclusive rights to…ah-“

“Griffonian silk worms, your Highness.”

“Right. I’m afraid that I can’t grant your guild exclusive access without more information, so if you would like to have this further considered, please have all your relevant files delivered to the palace, and I’m sure we can figure out a solution.”

The earth pony bowed and left the throne room, allowing the doors to close behind him with a resounding thud.

Luna sighed and stared at the doors. She had done so much to connect with the modern age, she had even managed to master modern grammar after years of studying, but she still missed the old days. When the matters brought before the Court of the Two Sisters had been matters of life and death, when the most complicated worry the kingdom faced was whether or not the Timberwolves would attack again.

Luna shook her head and snorted. Thinking about the past would only drag up painful memories. Instead she got off of her throne and stretched before nodding to the secretary who was stationed beside her throne. “Organize the notes from tonight and have them put in the records before the night is out, afterwards you are free to go.” As the secretary ran to do as she was told, Luna began to walk towards the stairwell behind her throne.

As she walked she considered the events of the night. In addition to the petition from the tailors guild, Luna had been required to listen to the usual requests and ramblings of the ponies who thought that they could get a more favorable solution from royalty than they could from their local magistrates. Every now and then, however, Luna would get a complaint or a request that would sit in her mind for weeks. Unfortunately for her, the nobles of Canterlot had been coming to her with just that sort of complaint every night for the past month.

Luna frowned as she remembered the particularly unsavory stallion who had been selected to speak to her on the behalf of the nobles tonight. He had been a Pegasus with a coat the color of old plums and a mane to match, the pony’s voice had sounded as if it had been designed to put entire classrooms to sleep, and Luna couldn’t shake the feeling that he had somehow thought himself better than anypony else in the room, herself included.

Impressions aside, the stallion had once again stated what the entirety of the nobility was whispering behind their hooves: that the peace talks with the Changeling Hive were going nowhere, and that the ambassador’s position was becoming increasingly irrelevant. There was some dissention among the nobles on this issue; some believed that talks should continue with a different ambassador, some thought that the changelings weren’t worth the effort of making an alliance, and others were of the opinion that Equestria should treat them as a parasitic menace and eradicate them. On the issue of Midnight Silver, however, they were all united.

Luna entered her room and went to the small bar on the wall to pour herself some wine before she laid down on the cushions in front of her fireplace. “Speaking of Midnight Silver, he should be here soon to give me the nightly report.”

As if heralded by her thoughts, Luna heard the tell-tale click of hooves on the marble floors of the hall outside of her door. Without a thought she grasped the handle of her door in her magical aura and pulled it open, revealing her captain of the guard with his hoof raised to knock. To his credit, Midnight didn’t take long to recover to the surprise of the door opening before he could knock, and turned the motion of his hoof into an exaggerated step forwards into the room.

Luna took a moment to look over the captain of her personal guard. Unlike the other night guards there was no armor covering his dark blue coat, black mane, or his cutie mark of a sword wreathed in black flames. His horn caught and reflected the light from her fireplace, the sharp tip of his horn seeming to glow with the reflected light.

“Good evening, Captain. I see you have the night’s reports.”- Luna gestured to the stack of
papers hovering beside Midnight-“I trust that everything went relatively smoothly.”

Midnight gave a curt nod to the princess. “You would be correct in that assumption. There was a small issue with two guards who had managed to lose a package of moonsilver, but it was recovered. Other than that there were no abnormal issues.”

“Is there any news from our outposts?”

Midnight brought the papers in front of himself and began to look through them. “Our units stationed in the Whitetail woods report an increase in manticore activity, but the increase is in line with previous seasonal patterns, so there’s no need to worry there. The reports from the major cities are all fairly tame, low crime rates, general contentment, the usual.”-Midnight flipped to the next page before continuing-“The soldiers on the border report no unusual activity from our neighbors, and all that the units on the coast have to report is that the relations with the Quilinese are going smoothly. The only report of interest is from Ponyville. Apparently several ponies reported hearing strange sounds in the dark last night, and one pony visiting the town graveyard reported seeing something strange moving between the gravestones. Investigation revealed nothing of note, and it was concluded that local fauna was responsible for the disturbances.”

Luna raised an eyebrow, Midnight was rarely this curt with his reports. “Is there anything else?”

Midnight cleared his throat before placing the papers on a nearby table. “There is one thing. I was visited by Blueblood a few hours before I came here.”

Luna frowned. Very few ponies liked Blueblood, but due to his status he was given a sort of grudging respect by the majority of the citizenry, a respect that Midnight refused to give the prideful noble. “Tell me you didn’t hit him again.”

Midnight shook his head. “No, in fact he came to me with a challenge. He wishes to face me during the exhibition matches of the Summer Sun Festival next week. I accepted.”

Luna narrowed her eyes. Midnight had stopped participating in exhibition matches after he became captain, so it didn’t make any sense for him to accept this challenge. Unless Blueblood was holding something over him that was.

“And why exactly did you accept this challenge?”

Midnight sighed before speaking. “He threatened to force the issue of my missions to the Hive.”

Luna hissed as she drew in a breath through her teeth. She had been able to ignore the majority of complaints from the nobles, but if Blueblood were to officially put his weight behind the complaints then Luna would have no choice but to act on them or risk alienating the nobility.

“However”-Midnight bared his teeth in a predatory grin-”If I win, he has to join me on my next trip.”

Luna blinked. “Are you trying to start a war?”

Midnight laughed, a low chuckle that was more suited to a pony plotting world domination than a guard captain. “Not at all. I actually think that dealing with Blueblood will make Chrysalis more willing to enter into an official agreement with Equestria.”

Luna raised an eyebrow at Midnight’s claim. “And how, exactly, did you reach that conclusion?”

“Simple really. I figure that Blueblood’s presence will help foster a sort of camaraderie built by mutual suffering.”

“In other words, you think that she’ll do almost anything to keep from having to deal with him a second time.”

Midnight’s grin widened. “Essentially, yes. Though I must admit, I also feel that Chrysalis will have a fair bit of fun playing around with him.”

A grin formed on Luna’s face to match Midnight’s. “So we buck two trees with one kick. Chrysalis becomes more open to negotiations, and Blueblood gets knocked down a peg. I like it.”

Luna turned and gazed into the fire, her grin slipping away. “However, I still want you to be careful. Your personal relations with the changelings may be strong, but we need to strengthen our nation's relationship with them. Do not forget that.”

Midnight bowed his head to Luna, the informal mood that had grown between them disappearing as quickly as it had formed. “Of course.”

Luna nodded. “In that case, you are dismissed.”

Midnight bowed again, then turned and left the room. As the door clicked behind her Luna couldn’t help but shake her head. “I hope you know what you’re doing Midnight Silver. I have felt the night stirring, and though I can’t tell what it heralds, I fear that it may be more than we can handle alone.”

Author's Note

Please feel free to tell me what you think.

Bladewing

Memories

Queen Chrysalis tapped her hoof while the drone in front of her cowered.

“So. What you’re telling me, is that Midnight has agreed to a bet with one of the most insufferable nobles in Canterlot, and if he loses this bet, he will no longer be coming to our hive?”

The drone winced at the barely contained annoyance in Chysalis's voice.

“Y-yes, my queen.”

Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed.

“And if he wins, he drags that miserable pile of wasted space to our hive on his next visit?”

“T-that is what was reported, my queen.”

Chrysalis growled and slammed her hoof on her throne, causing the drone to jump.

“If this was anyone else I’d have him assassinated just for thinking about doing something this brash.” Chrysalis ground her teeth and gave her command. “We will continue to watch Canterlot for any other unusual developments. Be sure to report to me immediately if anything of note happens.”

“Of course, my queen.”

After the drone had left the room, Chrysalis stood up and walked towards the wall behind her throne. She paused briefly while her magic flared, causing the organic wall to open up to allow her through, closing again once she had passed.

“Of all the stupid, idiotic, half-witted things he could do, he chose this? Why? It’s not like him. If he was this stupid I would never have let him survive past his first diplomatic mission.”

Chrysalis continued to mull over her spy’s report as she entered her own personal chamber, the one place in the hive where the walls featured something other than the pulsing green veins and glossy black patches that made up the rest of it. Here was where Chrysalis allowed herself to be relaxed. Here Chrysalis didn’t have to worry about providing for and protecting her hive.

The walls were sculpted in such a way that the glowing green pods that provided light throughout the hive served as a backdrop to the mementos that Chrysalis had accumulated over her long life. Chrysalis laid her hoof on each of these as she passed, making a circuit around the room. Every now and then she would pause and gaze at a particular item.

“Ah, I remember this one like it was yesterday. That darling stallion’s horn still shines just like a pearl in candlelight. Too bad it was the only thing that shined about him. Perhaps if his love hadn’t been so tainted by hubris I would have let him keep it, or at least I might have waited until he had died before I took it.”

As Chrysalis passed each item her predatory grin only grew, each piece a memento of some sort of conquest. However, her grin vanished as she came upon one last item. Unlike the others, which sat on pedestals that could be considered works of art themselves, this one sat on an unadorned pedestal. Chrysalis hadn’t wanted anything to draw the viewers’ attention from the item itself, for unlike the other items, this one didn’t represent a conquest, but rather it served to remind her of something she didn’t understand.

Sitting on the pedestal was the head of a very large timberwolf. The visage of the beast was marred by large burns and it filled the room with the smell of burning wood whenever it was moved. Chrysalis frowned as she recalled the event that lead to her acquiring this particular item.

=====================================================================

It was a quiet night. Nothing was moving in the vicinity of the hive, most of the larger predators of the Everfree had already learned that the changelings were too difficult to get at to make decent prey, and the smaller animals knew to stay away to avoid the hunter drones. Chrysalis had been deep within the hive, sharing a dinner with several of her higher ranking drones and one particularly irksome pony. She was currently glaring at the offending equine, a stallion named Midnight Silver, as he ate his meal. The infuriating pony was supposed to have been offended at the meal offered him, not to mention she had fully expected him to ask why the changelings ate food at all since they lived off love. But no. This pony not only refused to ask the question that any non-changeling would, and thereby create an incident she could use to her advantage, but he actually sat down and ate the food she had had prepared for him! Ponies weren’t supposed to eat meat!

Chysalis's angry musings were interrupted by an alarm over the hive mind. Her eyes widened and she leapt up while giving commands.

“Gather the warrior drones, I want squads one through ten on the surface now! The rest of the warriors need to get to the hatchery and make sure that the nymphs and eggs are safe, the hive is under attack!”

She was just about to rush to the surface to direct her warriors when she heard Midnight begin to rise. She gritted her teeth as she turned to face him. Of course he would demand that she see to his personal safety before anything else, just like any self-entitled pony.

“Follow the drones to the nursery, they will keep you safe there, now I have to go defend my home, so stay out of my way.”

What Midnight said next shocked her into speechlessness.

“Why would I do that? I’m going to my chambers to get my armor, and then I’m going with you.”

Chrysalis couldn’t help but stare at this pony in her surprise. She shook her head after a moment and was about to reply when Midnight interrupted her.

“What are you waiting for? You’re under attack, go!”

While Chrysalis would have liked to strangle him for daring to tell her what to do, she didn’t have time, so she just turned and ran towards the commotion, certain that Midnight would either get lost, or if he managed to get to the fight, would just turn tail and run back into the hive.

As she ran through the tunnels that lead towards the surface, she forced herself to push the annoying stallion from her mind, and by the time she burst through the hives entrance she had managed to restore her focus entirely. Unfortunately, what she saw happening before her threatened to shatter that concentration.

The forest had been thrown into chaos, everywhere she looked there were timberwolves fighting her warriors, and they were winning. For every dead timberwolf she saw, there were three mauled corpses that looked vaguely like her drones. Any attempts at communication were drowned out by the howling of the timberwolves.

Chrysalis silently cursed her hive’s inability to communicate anything more complicated than vague impressions over their hive mind before she jumped into the fight. Immediately she was attacked by three of the wolves, but she made short work of them, her magic tearing through their wooden skin as if it were paper. Unfortunately this drew the attention of several more wolves who quickly figured out that if they took her out, then they would be able to take the hive and all of the prey inside.

In seconds they were on her, attacking her with all of their fury. Chrysalis fought back with just as much ferocity, ripping through her attackers with reckless abandon. Her drones took advantage of the wolves’ distraction to make a counterattack, forcing the beasts that weren’t focused on Chrysalis back towards the tree line.

The minutes seemed like hours as Chrysalis fought timberwolf after timberwolf, and while she was still unharmed, her strength was quickly waning. She had just knocked the last of her attackers to the ground, breaking its spine, when she heard a deep growl behind her. She whirled to face the wolf, and stepped back, her jaw dropping at the thing that she saw.

Standing before her was an alpha, twice the size as the rest of the wolves in his pack. A timberwolf alpha was a terrifying sight. She jumped back as the beast snapped at her, caustic sap slinging from its jaws to burn away at anything it landed on. Chrysalis tried to fire a bolt of magic at it, but her spell fizzled. She had used up too much strength fighting the horde of wolves that had already attacked her. The wolf noticed her sparking magic, and let out a deep, stuttering growl. After a few seconds Chrysalis realized that the sound was actually laughter. This beast actually dared to laugh at her!

Chysalis's outrage gave her one last surge of energy, and she let loose a beam of green magic at the wolf. The bolt tore through its shoulder and bark exploded from the wound. Several of the pieces actually managed to embed themselves in Chysalis's chitin, but she didn’t even notice. That last blast had taken the last of her energy, and it was all she could do to remain standing.

The beast howled in pain, then leveled its eyes on Chrysalis, the glowing red of its animating magic flickering in anger. It let out a low growl, one that could never be mistaken for laughter, and leaped at Chrysalis, claws reaching out to rend her limbs, and mouth gaping to crush her skull.

Chrysalis closed her eyes as she waited for the impact, but her eyes snapped back open when she heard a crash and the crackling of roaring flames, followed by the beast snarling in anger and pain. When she opened her eyes she saw the beast struggling back to it's feet, one of it's legs completely covered in black and red flames that burned away at both the wood of it's body and the magic that gave it life.

Standing at the entrance to the hive was Midnight Silver, but instead of a unicorn with a midnight blue coat and a black mane with streaks of silver, Chrysalis saw a demon. Midnight’s armor was black with silver linings, and the amethysts embedded into the breastplate glinted in the shape of the crescent moon. Every joint seemed to flare out into razor sharp edges, and greaves glinted wickedly at his fetlocks. His face was hidden by a helmet shaped to resemble the head of a raging dragon.

The great beast’s howl of pain ripped Chysalis's attention back to reality, and using a reserve of strength she didn’t know she had, she began to direct her warriors.

“Squads two and four, focus on starting fires to drive the timberwolves away! Squads five and six, tend to the wounded! Squads three, seven, eight, nine, and ten, focus on keeping them away from squads two and four until they get their fires up! Squad one go he-“ Chrysalis was cut off as she was slammed into a nearby tree by the flying body of Midnight Silver.

The two scrambled to their hooves and turned back to the battle, only to have their vision blocked by the burning mass that was the alpha.

Chrysalis began to shout at Midnight. “Typical! I expect a pony to actually be useful and they fail miserably. I thought that you had that beast restrained!”

Midnight coughed and spat out a glob of blood before he replied. “Well, I’m sorry for not being able to keep a beast four times my size occupied by myself! Though considering that you were about to become its dinner before I showed up, I don’t think that you really have room to complain!”

“Listen here, you pathetic excuse for a fighter, I will not tolerate your speaking—“ Chrysalis was cut off mid-rant by the enraged snarling of the alpha as it leapt at the two.

Chrysalis and Midnight jumped out of the way, but were unable to completely avoid the beast. Chrysalis was flung away by the impact of the beast, but Midnight was not so lucky. Once her vision had cleared, Chrysalis saw him backing away from the alpha, blood leaking out of the armor covering a leg he was obviously favoring. Despite the pain, he was still fighting, bolts of black fire shooting from his horn to strike the approaching alpha, which by now was covered in black flames, and lashing out with one bladed foreleg whenever the beast got to close. The alpha’s muzzle was quickly gathering a collection of slowly oozing gashes, but they still weren’t enough to deter it.

Chrysalis cursed under her breath, “Squad one, provide assistance to the Equestrian diplomat!”

Chysalis's drones attempted to follow her orders, but by then the heat coming from the blazing form of the alpha was too overwhelming, and it forced them back.

Midnight saw this and called out to Chrysalis, “Don’t waste troops on me!”

Chrysalis spared only a second to look at Midnight, and in that second she could see that his situation was dire. His movements were becoming sluggish, and it was obvious that he had lost more blood than was healthy, but if he wanted to commit suicide, then it was his business.
Chrysalis turned towards her drones and once again began shouting orders, pushing the diplomat from her mind to focus on the other wolves.

Chysalis's drones fought with a new ferocity now that their queen was in the battle with them. Where once the wolves were ripping through changelings left and right, now they were finding themselves forced back into the forest. As Chrysalis continued to direct the battle, it became more and more apparent that the changelings would win, but it was also clear that the cost of that victory would be great. Even as they were forced back, the wolves continued to kill. By the end of this battle the forest floor would run green with changeling blood.

Chrysalis was considering this when a loud crack echoed through the forest, causing every head to turn towards the battle that was being fought between Midnight and the pack alpha.
Midnight was obviously worse for wear. He was at his knees, the armor on one of his forelegs bent at an angle that clearly showed that his leg was broken, blood leaking from the plates of his armor where large wooden fangs had punctured the metal, but the alpha was even worse off.

The alpha was struggling weakly against the chain that ran from Midnights horn, through its throat, and into a nearby tree. The beast was clearly in its death throes, large chunks of its body crumbling into ash as the fires diminished. Finally the beast stopped struggling, and let loose one last defiant howl as its body crumbled away. The howl was punctuated by the thump of the beast’s head hitting the ground, somehow still intact after the fires that had destroyed the rest of its body had completely faded away.

The timberwolves were the first to react, turning tail and running back into the forest with frightened yips.

The changelings, seeing this, began to follow, only to be brought up short by the voice of their queen.

“Don’t follow! They have lost their leader and we cannot gain anything from them, even if we were to capture them all.”

The drones stared out at the forest for a few moments longer, still suspicious of the darkness, but eventually they began to return to the hive, only a few remaining as sentries.

Chrysalis was watching her children when one of the drones walked up to her.

“My queen, do you wish for me to retrieve the diplomat?“

Chrysalis looked down into the face of one of her drones, absently she noted that the markings on his chitin showed that he was a medical drone. “No, you go tend to the rest of the wounded. I will see to the diplomat myself.”

The drone bowed low before she ran into the hive, impatient to start her work. Chrysalis watched her go, her gaze lingering on the entrance to the underground hive for a moment before she tore her gaze away and walked over to Midnight.

As she stared at the now unconscious form of the equestrian diplomat, she considered what she should do. This pony perplexed her. She had never seen or heard of a pony who fought like that, or a pony who would willingly put in the effort to learn how to fight at all.

As she lifted him in her returning magic she couldn’t help but speak to his unconscious form.

“You are a horrible diplomat.”

Chrysalis blinked and shook her head before turning away from the wolf. That had been three years ago, and Midnight had only proved her point time and again. He made a horrible diplomat, he would only make token advances when it came to the treaties that they were supposed to be creating, and he didn’t even try to get in her good graces.

Then again, if he had tried he’d probably be dead.

“Of course, it’s probably because he’s not a good ambassador that he’s managed to become as accepted as he is.”

Chrysalis climbed onto her bed, her frown turning into a slight smile. While Midnight hadn’t bothered too much with treaties, he had made it a personal objective to gain acceptance from not only Chrysalis, but from the entire hive, even going so far as to learn their language so well that he might as well have been born into it. He would throw himself into the work of the hive, and even though the changelings had been wary at first, he had proven that he was just as capable as any changeling.

In the end, his efforts had paid off, and he was now seen by most as being as much a member of the hive as he was an Equestrian.

Chrysalis’s thoughts were beginning to fade away as she drifted to sleep when an alarm rang through the hive mind. She was up and walking back towards the throne room in an instant, running through the possibilities in her mind.

“It’s not as urgent as an alert caused by a major attack or a severe accident, but it’s more urgent than a minor incident, so that leaves the scouting parties.”

Chrysalis entered the throne room, and was stopped by the sight of a drone standing before the throne, waiting for her to see to him. He tried to turn when Chrysalis entered, but he fell halfway through it.

Chrysalis winced. One of his legs was obviously broken, and she could see blood oozing through cracks in his chitin, staining it green. Chrysalis rushed over to him, laying her hoof on his back when he tried to rise.

“Don’t try to stand, just tell me what happened.”

The drone struggled for a moment before he slumped back down.

“I was guarding the corpse disposal team as they went to the burial grounds. We were about halfway there when—" The drone winced in pain and Chrysalis heard a creaking sound coming from his chest.

“Slow down and try not to push yourself.” Chrysalis waited while her drone caught his breath. When his breathing became easier she spoke again. “Now, tell me what happened.”

“Yes, my queen. We were nearly halfway to the burial grounds when we were attacked.”

Chrysalis inhaled sharply at the news. Nothing had dared to attack her children on the path to the burial grounds for years, so why would there be an attack now?

“What did this?”

The drone sighed and lowered his head.

“That’s the problem, my queen. We don’t know. We were simply walking down the path when—“ the changeling took a shuddering breath and shook his head, as if he didn’t want to speak. Unfortunately, Chrysalis couldn’t afford to let him stop.

“When what? I need to know what happened.”

The drone shuddered and continued. “We heard a bell. A single clear note that rang through the forest and resonated in our heads. As soon it had faded—“

The drone shuddered again, but continued.

“As soon as it faded, the shadows themselves attacked.”

Author's Note

Hope you enjoy

Tournament of the Sun pt 1

Bladewing

As Midnight walked into the smithy, he was assaulted by sounds and smells. Ringing hammer blows and hissing water combined with the acrid odor of burning metal resulted in a mixture that just screamed metal-working. For several moments Midnight just stood in front of the door and watched the smiths work. Eventually, however, a young earth pony noticed him and walked over.

“Can I help you?”

Midnight looked at the pony. “Possibly. I need to speak with Bladewing.”

The young stallion snorted. “Well, that’s not going to happen. Bladewing doesn’t have time to talk to some random pony off the street.”

Midnight sighed. He was already annoyed because Luna had forced him to take the next night off so he could rest for the tournament, and he had no patience to spare.

“I’ve known Bladewing for years, so I’m hardly ‘some pony off the street’. Just get out of my way and I’ll find him.”

The apprentice stomped at Midnight. “Hey, you’ll treat me with some respect. Just ‘cause you claim you know Bladewing doesn't mean that you can just waltz in and start ordering us around.”

“I didn't start ordering you around until after you decided to act like an ass. This is your last chance. Move.”

The apprentice narrowed his eyes. “Make me.”

“All right.”

Midnight’s horn began to glow as a green-flecked purple aura surrounded the apprentice. The pony shouted as he was lifted into the air and over a barrel, but before Midnight could drop him, a voice echoed through the forge.

"Midnight! What in the name of the nine kings are you doing?"

Midnight gently put the apprentice back onto the ground. The apprentice shot him a dirty look before quickly trotting off.

"Hello, Bladewing. I see that you still haven't figured out how to avoid hiring morons."

Bladewing angrily stormed up to him, his beak clacking in annoyance.

"How dare you say that!" he said, getting into Midnight's face, "The Royal Moron Society pays good money for me to hire those people, and you know it! Maybe you should be paying a bit more respect to your local idiots!"

The two of them stood there for a while, angrily glaring at each other with fire in their eyes.
Midnight was the first to crack up.

"Th-the Royal Moron Society?" he choked out, barely remaining upright as his body was wracked with laughter, "Do you have to—do you have to take a test to get in?"

"Yeah!" said Bladewing, joining Midnight with a deep, jovial laugh, "And maybe—and maybe if you pass the test, you can't join!"

With that the two fell deeper into their laughter, and were unable to speak again for a short while. The ponies working at the forges just rolled their eyes and continued their work, unfazed by the antics of one of their boss’s favorite customers.

Finally the two caught their breath, and Bladewing spoke up. “So, my question still remains: what are you doing here? You’re normally asleep at this time of day.”

Midnight took another moment to gather himself before he answered, “Well, I’m partaking in the exhibition tournament at the Summer Sun Festival tomorrow, so Princess Luna has ordered me to take tonight off, stating that she wants me to at least attempt to get some sleep tonight instead of going into the fights dead on my feet.”

Bladewing blinked. “Wait, you’re going to be in the tournament? I thought you gave that up years ago. Something about there being too many ponies there just to show off rather than fight.”

Midnight sighed. “Well, that is true, and I still don’t particularly want to be involved, but I’ve been challenged to a duel.”

“Who by?”

“Blueblood.”

Bladewing’s eyes seemed to bulge when Midnight named his challenger. “You mean those rumors are true? I thought that Blueblood’s challenge was just something the nobles made up!”

“Unfortunately not.”

Bladewing shook his head. “I don’t understand, why would you accept? There’s absolutely no possibility he can give you any kind of challenge. Tartarus, you spar with the griffon and minotaur ambassadors, you’ll just mop the floor with him!”

Midnight just shrugged. “Apparently he’s confident that he can win. Besides, after he made his threat I couldn’t really decline.”

Bladewing narrowed his eyes. “Threat? What threat? Your job’s too secure for that hhratch to be able to get you fired, and you have no family within his reach, so what could he possibly threaten you with?”

Midnight closed his eyes and took a deep breath, unconsciously rubbing his forelegs together, feeling the divots in his leg from where the changeling magic had altered him after he broke his leg fighting the Timberwolf.

“Well, he isn’t overly fond of my trips...”

Bladewing’s brows furrowed together at Midnight’s words. “What do you mean your-“ Bladewing’s eyes suddenly lit up, only to narrow into angry slits once he realized what Midnight’s wording coupled with his rubbing his foreleg meant. “-He didn’t.”

“He did.”

Bladewing clacked his beak in anger. As one of Midnight’s few close friends, he was one of the few individuals who knew just how close Midnight was with the changeling Hive.

“That little piece of chiithi! I should-“ Bladewing was interrupted by Midnight stomping his hoof.

“You should leave him to me. And on that note, how’s my armor coming along?”

Bladewing hissed as he forced air through his beak, his naturally volatile temper still riled by the insult to his friend, but he was able to answer calmly all the same.

“It’s nearly done. In fact, I actually need your help to finish it.”

Midnight nodded once. “All right, let’s get it done. I want it ready for my matches.”

Bladewing led Midnight through the forge and into his private workshop. As Midnight entered he noticed an immediate change in the atmosphere. Instead of the smell of burning coal and molten metal, the inside of Bladewing’s personal forge was suffused with the acrid scent of magic. Midnight looked around, as even he was rarely allowed in his friend’s inner sanctum, and took note of multitude of special tools and utensils, most of which were covered in softly glowing runes.

“All right, before we get started, I’m going to need your payment.”

Midnight tilted his head at Bladewing, “Really? You never ask for payment until after you finish working.”

Bladewing ruffled his feathers. “That’s normally true, but in this case I need your payment before I can even attempt to make the final touches to your armor.” To emphasize his point, Bladewing gestured at his forge with one wing, which was very obviously unlit.

Midnight frowned. “After my last payment you should have had enough charged crystals to last you for years.”

“They would have, if you hadn’t asked me to work on that.” Bladewing lifted one talon and pointed behind him, where Midnight’s armor stood on a rack.

Unlike his previous suit of armor this suit was much more suited for mobility. The entire thing gleamed with the silver sheen of nightsteel, an allow made from moonsilver and regular steel, and was significantly lighter than his old plate armor. Rather than covering every inch of his body this armor only consisted of a helmet, a series of linked plates that would cover the wearers stomach and back, and two separate plates for each leg, each of which was supposed to have a blade on it, though said blades were conspicuously missing. Each plate was covered in a crawling vine motif.

“Really? It took that much abyssal fire to forge my armor?”

Bladewing snorted. “Do you have any idea how much magic it takes to overwhelm that moonsilver alloy’s natural resistance? I had to use up a crystal a day just for the engravings.”

Midnight grunted. “Huh. Didn’t expect that. So where are the crystals then? I can’t charge them if I can’t see them.”

Bladewing walked over to the forge and pressed several bricks. After he pressed the last one, something clicked and a door opened up in the wall next to it. Bladewing reached in and pulled out a simple wooden box and opened it, revealing five crystals sitting in the velvet-lined interior.

“Here they are, now do your stuff so we can get working.”

Midnight, however, was more interested in the security Bladewing felt was necessary for the crystals. “Don’t you think that a hidden cabinet is going a bit far with these?”

Bladewing glared at Midnight. “No, I don’t. I also don’t think that the numerous anti-theft wards I had placed on this box were going too far either. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a hold of a crystal charged with abyssal fire legally? If I sold even one charged crystal I could feed a small town for a year, now stop dithering and charge the crystals so we can get started.”

Midnight stared at Bladewing. “And the reason you charged five of these for this job is?”

“Because your armor keeps you alive, and you don’t trust anyone else to do your metalwork. Now charge the crystals.”

Midnight shook his head, but his horn lit up with his magical aura, which slowly turned into pitch black flames as he fed magic into the crystals. “If what you say is true, then I should just go ahead and sell a couple crystals myself and retire.”

Bladewing snorted as he watched Midnight work. “We both know that you would go insane if you retired.”

Midnight just chuckled as he finished feeding magic into the crystals, one of which Bladewing removed before closing the box and putting it back into the wall. Carefully, he took the one that he still held and placed it into a small divot in the bottom of his forge. He then reached over and grabbed a small silver hammer with a simple ouroborous design engraved on its head, and used it to tap the crystal. When the hammer met the crystal a single pure tone echoed out, and Bladewing leaped back, just in time to avoid the explosion of black flames in the forge.

“One thing I hate about your spells, Midnight, is that they always tend to explode when stored.”

“Well, I only know combat magic, so it only makes sense that when it’s stored that it would act like a bomb.”

Bladewing grumbled under his breath as the fire settled down. After the fire was under control, he walked over to a table and grabbed several tools along with sizable chunk of moonsilver.

“It will take a while for the moonsilver to melt, so make yourself at home until we can get started.” With that Bladewing turned back to the forge, working on the metal.

Midnight decided to look around a bit, as he didn’t come back here often. Even though he and Bladewing were rather close, they tended to keep their professional lives to themselves, and most of what Bladewing did in his personal workshop he was very protective of, something Bladewing would brush off with a claw wave and a few mumbled words about trade secrets when questioned about it.

Midnight made his way around the workshop, inspecting the various tools and half-finished projects strewn about the room. As he was looking around, something caught his eye, and he picked it up in his magic.

The item that Midnight held up in front of him seemed to be a section of a scale-armor tunic, and showed all the hallmarks of an expert craftsman’s work. However, Midnight didn’t care about the quality of the piece: he was much more interested in the mark engraved into one of the silvery scales.

Midnight shifted the piece of armor to bring the mark directly in front of his face, allowing him to focus on it better. What midnight saw was the image of a sword wreathed in a crawling braid of fire. Right beside each end of the cross guard, a wing spread away from the blade, and right below the pommel a gryphon’s claw stretched downwards. Midnight frowned. He was very familiar with the markings on the armor, though he was mildly surprised and annoyed to see them in this way.

“Bladewing,” Midnight said in a dangerously calm voice.

Bladewing, oblivious to the warning signs in Midnight’s tone, grunted in response, too focused on his work to actually speak.

“Why is my cutie mark engraved into this piece of armor right in the middle of your maker’s mark?”

Bladewing’s head shot up and he almost dropped the rod he was using to keep the iron pitcher full of melting moonsilver in the flames. “Uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Midnight dropped the armor and shot a glare at his friend. He was mildly surprised to see a sheepish look on the gryphon’s face, but he didn’t show it.

“On this armor, in between the wings and talon of your makers mark, is my Cutie Mark.”

Bladewing used one talon to rub the back of his head while the other kept the moonsilver in the fire. “Oh, that. Well, it’s not technically your Cutie mark since I didn’t bother to color it. See, the flame isn’t black and the hilt and crossguard aren’t red, so it’s not yours.” Bladewing’s eyes shifted right and left as he spoke, trying desperately to avoid Midnight’s own eyes.

Midnight glared at Bladewing. “You know damn well that’s not how that works, and you also know that the use of a pony’s Cutie Mark by anyone other than that pony as an identifying mark without permission is highly illegal. So why is mine sitting in the middle of your maker’s mark?”

Bladewing sighed. “What do you want from me, Midnight? I’m tired of making horseshoes, nails, and farming tools. I’m a weaponsmith, for Dawn’s sake! But most ponies don’t need or want weapons, and the predatory races who reside here that might want weapons refuse to buy them in a country as peaceful as Equestria. However, as one of the few ponies who is willing to spar with the ambassadors of the predatory races, you are recognized as being a warrior by most of them that would possibly want weapons, so I thought I’d add your mark to mine to add a little recognition, you know, get my name out as someone who can make weapons.”

Midnight continued to stare at Bladewing, not buying his sob story one bit.

Bladewing groaned. “Fine. I thought that it’d look good, all right? That’s all. Are you really going to make a big deal out of this?”

Midnight shook his head. “No, I’m not, but if you ever want to try something like this again, ask first. I’d really hate to try and bail you out of jail.”

Bladewing rolled his eyes and turned back to his forge. Midnight continued to look around the shop while Bladewing watched the moonsilver melt. After about thirty minutes Bladewing called out to Midnight.

“All right, the moonsilver’s ready. I need you to bring the casting mold.”

Midnight nodded and levitated the piece in question over to the table while he walked over himself, ready to do whatever it was that he needed to do to get this done.

“All right, now I need you to place the tip of your horn on the center of the magical array that I’ve engraved into the bottom of the mold, then focus on the feeling of casting a spell, any spell, but don’t actually cast it.”

Midnight gave Bladewing a somewhat confused look, but nevertheless did as he was asked.
Bladewing got closer to Midnight, who couldn’t see him holding the crucible full of molten moonsilver over Midnight’s horn.

“Now stay very still, this is going to hurt.”

Midnight didn’t get a chance to ask what Bladewing was talking about when his entire world became engulfed by the searing agony that was running down his horn. He wanted to scream, but his throat had closed up. He tried to jerk away, but the magical properties of the molten moonsilver running down his horn had mixed with his incomplete spell and held him bound to the array. Finally, after an eternity that lasted all of ten seconds, Bladewing stopped pouring. The moonsilver finished flowing down Midnight’s horn and he was able to jerk away from the armor and let out an eardrum-shattering roar of pain.

Once Midnight felt he had himself under some semblance of control he whirled on Bladewing. “What the HELL are you doing? Give me one good reason not to roast you from the inside out! Gah, I think I can taste magic…”

Bladewing simply stared at Midnight as he stuck the remaining silver back into the fire.
“Hey, you’re the one that wanted to be able to channel your flames through the blades on your greave plates. In order to link the array to your magic I had to mix a magically potent metal with your own magic, and this is the best way to do that. Besides, your horn’s no worse for wear and the array came out perfectly, so relax.”

Midnight started to reply, but instead stopped to check and see if Bladewing was telling the truth. He reached up and prodded his horn before he ran a small flow of magic through it. To his surprise, Bladewing had spoken the truth. There was no charring, no reduction of magical conductivity, nothing.

After he had confirmed that his horn was still intact, Midnight walked back up to the armor to get a closer look at the new silver ingot that would wind up being forged into more nightsteel in order to make the blades that would go on his legs.

Bladewing spoke from behind Midnight. “It’s permanently linked to you, and only you. Now, if you want to channel some magic while you’re in armor, you can activate the link and the blades will burst into flames. Though I should warn you, you are still the source of power for the spell, so you use the same amount of energy to cast the spell the second time as you do the first, which means you’ll need to be more careful with your reserves.”

Midnight grumbled a bit before he sighed. “Fine, but you should have warned me, though I am happy that it worked.”

Bladewing chuckled as he brought the crucible back out of the forge. “Glad to hear you say that, because now it’s time to make the other ingots. Get ready on the next mold.”

Midnight swore.

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long, but here's the third chapter. Please feel free to tell me what you think.

Tournament of the Sun pt 2

Tournament of the Sun pt 1

Princess Luna smiled as she looked around herself, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells that made up the Summer Sun Festival. In the years since her return, she had come to enjoy the holiday that once filled her with jealousy and rage, having now found the ability to appreciate the effort that the ponies under her and her sister’s care put into the event. It also didn’t hurt that in the years since her return a Winter Moon Festival had been created, but that was neither here nor there.

She was on her way to the royal box at the arena to meet her sister and her protegé when a very loud, very familiar voice caught Luna’s attention.

“What do you mean I can’t wear my armor? Since when did you forbid the use of protective equipment in these matches?”

Luna hurried to find the source of the yelling, and quickly found it in the form of her Captain of the Guard angrily berating a cowering pony who was presumably in charge of getting the contestants ready for the exhibition matches.

“U-um… well the rules, the rules say that armor is forbidden due to an unfair advantage…”

“What! Unfair advantage? This is supposed to be combat, there is no such thing as fair and unfair!”

“U-uh-um I-“

Luna decided to step in and relieve the poor pony.

“Midnight Silver, that is enough. The rules are the rules, and you cannot change them. Your armor will remain off.”

Midnight turned to Luna as the panicking pony quickly fled the scene.

“Why? Give me a good reason as to why I cannot use armor.”

“Simple. These matches are meant to showcase the skill of the fighters to the best of their abilities. As such, it has been deemed appropriate to attempt to place the fighters on even footing. This is also why Unicorns are prohibited from simply using a field of telekinesis to render their opponent unable to fight.”

“And what exactly does that have to do with armor?” Midnight didn’t bother to comment on the decision about telekinesis. As far as he was concerned, that rule was a major improvement.

Luna shook her head at Midnight. “Let me ask you a question in return. If a contestant were to enter with truly well-crafted armor, but no ability to fight, how would they win?”

Midnight cocked his head to the side, not sure where the Princess was going with this. “Well, I suppose that they could just stand there until their opponent tired themselves out trying to get past the armor.”

Luna gave Midnight a pointed look.

Midnight sighed. “Ah. I don’t like it, but I guess I see your point.”

Luna’s pointed look turned to one of curiosity as a thought crossed her mind.

“I must ask, however: why did you feel that your armor was necessary? Do you doubt your own ability?”

Midnight shook his head. “No, Princess, it’s nothing like that. I simply prefer to fight in my armor. Well, that and I may have recently had some improvements made to it that I was hoping to try out.”

“Midnight, I wouldn’t want to see you trying any so-called improvements on innocent ponies like these. Save those for our sparring sessions, I’d prefer not to have to go over any obituaries tomorrow.”

Midnight opened his mouth to reply when a trumpet sounded from inside the arena. He looked towards the hastily-constructed building and shook his head.

“I think that was the call to start the matches.”

Luna followed Midnight’s gaze. “Indeed.”

Midnight began to walk towards the entrance, his face an odd mixture of excitement and apprehension. Luna watched him go before she herself began walking towards the arena, though she was heading for a set of stairs that were guarded by two of her sister’s personal guard. The two ponies moved aside as Luna came close, and closed ranks again as she passed into the stairway.

Luna clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Honestly, I’ll have to talk to sister about how lax her security is. I wouldn’t have thought that it would only take a few years for the guard to forget about the changeling invasion. Even with our tentative peace, they should know better than to let anypony into a high-security area without testing them, no matter who they look like.”

Luna finished her inner monologue just as she topped the stairs and entered the viewing booth where her sister was in the middle of a conversation with Princesses Cadence and Twilight. She stood watching them for almost a minute before she loudly cleared her throat.

All three of the alicorns looked up when they heard Luna, but only Twilight and Cadence looked at all embarrassed about having ignored Luna, even accidentally. Celestia however just smiled with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

She motioned to a cushion beside her with her wing as she spoke. “Hello, sister. I hope you’ve been enjoying the festival?”

Luna trotted the few steps to the cushion and sat down next to her sister. “Indeed. It’s always nice to see our ponies out enjoying themselves, but I will admit, I’ve been a bit distracted today.”

Celestia hummed and looked towards the field below them. “Now why would that be, dear sister?”

Luna shot a look at Celestia, wondering just what she was getting at. “You know very well why. My captain of the guard is competing in these matches today.”

“Mhmm…but that’s not what has you worried, is it?”

Luna sighed, finally understanding what her sister was getting at. “No, it’s not. As I’m sure you’re aware, Prince Blueblood has challenged Midnight to a duel during these matches.”

“Surely you don’t think that your captain could lose?”

“Normally, no. In fact, in any other circumstances I’d have already called paramedics to be on standby for Blueblood. However, I haven’t heard anything about Blueblood entering the matches themselves, which leads me to believe that he intends to have the duel after Midnight has tired himself out fighting.”

“Well, you’re right about Blueblood not being on the roster to fight… I hope that if your captain comes to the same conclusion that you have that he doesn’t throw the matches so he can be better rested.”

Luna snorted. “Midnight wouldn’t back out of these matches if his life depended on it. He signed up to fight, and he’s going to fight, end of story.”

Celestia nodded. “Good, I placed a lot of bits on him to win the whole thing, and I’d hate to lose them over something like this.”

All three of the other alicorns cried out at Celestia’s statement.

“You bet on my captain?”
“You bet on these matches?”
“You didn’t bet on my husband?

Both Luna and Twilight turned to look at Cadence, who was staring unbelievingly at Celestia.

Twilight spoke first. “Wait, Shining’s here?! Why didn’t anypony tell me?! I’ve got to go see him right now, it’s been so long and we’ll need to talk about all the new books I’ve gotten and the new ogres and oubliettes rules and how he’s been and how I’ve been and-”

Twilight had gotten up and began to rush for the stairs while she rambled, but she fell just short of the stairs, a golden aura surrounding her tail and keeping her from going anywhere.

The golden aura was matched by the magic surrounding Celestia’s horn. “Now Twilight, you know that you can’t go rush out to meet the contestants at this point, even if one of them is your brother.”

Twilight frowned at this, but didn’t argue. She was well aware that the rules of the matches stated that the fighters were to be left to themselves after they had reached the preparation areas, and that nopony was allowed in to see them regardless of status.

Cadence walked up to Twilight and helped her up while she spoke. “Also, why are you so surprised he’s here? You knew I was coming, and he’s my husband, it only makes sense that he’d be here.”

Twilight was silent for a moment after she was back up. Finally she murmured something under her breath.

Cadance tilted her head in confusion. “I’m sorry, what?”

Twilight’s murmuring got a little louder, but Cadence still couldn’t hear her.

“One more time, Twilight.”

“I thought he was staying behind to run the empire, okay! I thought that he would try to avoid the pomp and circumstance that would come with a visiting royal consort during the celebration by avoiding the celebration itself.”

Cadance was about to reply when a horn sounded from the arena below, announcing the
beginning of the tournament.

Celestia and Luna both took hold of one of the other two alicorns and dragged them to their seats, ignoring their cries of indignation.

After they had brought them to their seats Luna waved her hoof at them. “Shhhh. It’s about to start.”

Twilight was about to say something when Celestia’s magic forced her mouth closed. “She said shhhh.”

Midnight sat alone in one of the many waiting rooms provided for the participants of the tournament, seemingly lost in thought. In reality, however, he was simply listening to the sounds of the other competitors getting ready for the matches. The rules forbade any of the fighters to interact before the bouts themselves so as to make sure that all were on somewhat equal footing when the fights began, so Midnight was using his other senses to get what information he could.

His ear twitched as he heard the familiar sound of talons on a grindstone, indicating the presence of at least one Griffon competitor. Behind that sound he could hear the clanging of metal as one competitor worked with what Midnight could only assume were their weapons.

Midnight wrinkled his nose as the overpowering musk of a Minotaur wafted over the canvas walls of his room. All in all, Midnight couldn’t tell much more about his competitors than that there was a wide range of species participating, but then again, that was the point.

The tournament had originally been an event for knights of Equestria to showcase themselves before their Princess, but as war became less familiar to Equestria, it had become more of a chance for the other races of the world to experience Equestria while still allowing them to indulge in their predatory natures. Of course, that wasn’t to say that ponies were in the minority during this tournament. Perhaps due to the fact that so many other species had begun to travel to take part in the Summer Sun Tournament, even more ponies were participating now than when the Tournament served a more practical purpose.

For some ponies, however, it was a place to settle scores or to simply practice the skills that they had developed in a world that rarely needed them.

Midnight shook his head, having gotten lost in thought, and refocused on his surroundings. This time, however, his attention was immediately caught by a very quiet snoring coming through the left wall of his room.

“Who would be sleeping before matches?”

Midnight, his curiosity piqued, rose and walked over to the wall, raising his snout to try and get a whiff of the sleeper’s scent.

“This smells…canid? Odd. As far as I’m aware the only known sentient canine species is the Diamond Dogs, and they flat out refuse to interact with Equestria outside of what is absolutely necessary, so what-“

Midnight’s thoughts were cut off by the sounding of the horn that signaled the start of the tournament, and the sudden sound of many creatures rushing to finish their final preparations. Midnight simply shook his head as he went to stand by the door and wait for his first match.

“That will have to wait until later, though with any luck I’ll face whoever that is in one of the matches and find out then. I’m sure Chrysalis would be interested in finding out about a new species nearby.”

Midnight didn’t have to wait long for his match as there was only one fight before his in this round, so before too long one of the arena workers came to fetch him.

The worker’s arrival was announced by the creaking of the wooden door at the front of the room. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the small earth-brown Pegasus jumped in surprise to find Midnight standing right behind the door. The attendant brushed a wisp of her grey hair out of her eyes as she spoke.

“Umm, Midnight Silver? Your match is about to begin, so if you would follow me.”

Midnight nodded. “Lead the way.”

The pony turned and led Midnight through the halls of the Canterlot arena. Both remained silent as they walked, the only sound the clopping of their hooves against the stone floor.
Finally they arrived at the entrance to the arena proper, and the attendant stopped and turned to Midnight.

“Your match will begin shortly, so please wait here.”

Midnight nodded and walked up to the gate. As he waited he noticed that the attendant seemed to be shuffling awkwardly beside him.

“You know that you are free to leave, right?”

The attendant jumped at the sound of Midnight’s voice.

“O-oh, um, yes but I was just wondering…are you really going out there without any armor or weapons?”

Midnight frowned. “I was told that I was forbidden to bring my armor into the arena.”

The Pegasus sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. “Well, it is true that metal armor is forbidden, but leather armor is not only allowed, but is provided for all participants who didn’t bring their own. As for weapons, as long as it’s not attached to metal armor, a horn blade is permitted, as well as any telekinesis-wielded weapon.”

Midnight stared down the pony in front of him, though he wasn’t attempting to intimidate her, but was actually somewhat stunned that he hadn’t been told this before now.

“Ah. Well then, if there is enough time, I would very much appreciate a set of leather body armor, and if the arena is also willing to supply weapons I would very much appreciate a dagger and horn blade.”

The attendant stammered her reply, feeling put-off by Midnight’s gaze.

“O-o-of course, j-just let me take s-some measurements…”

Midnight simply nodded at the attendant, who immediately took some measuring tape from a bag on her side and began measuring Midnight’s body and horn. After she finished she immediately rushed off to retrieve the requested items.

Midnight shook his head as the grey tail of the attendant disappeared around a corner and settled in to wait.

It took about five minutes for the attendant to return with a bag balanced between her wings. When she reached him, she put the bag down and began pulling items out and letting Midnight grab them in the black flames of his magical aura. In only a couple of minutes Midnight stood in a set of plain manticore leather armor that wrapped around his torso and over his back, and had a set of pads protecting his haunches and shoulders. Affixed to his horn was an obviously well-made, but otherwise plain, blade. This was matched by the six-inch dagger that hung in a sheath at his side.

Midnight nodded to the attendant.

“Thank you, I appreciate your help.”

The attendant nodded back, and turned back around, the now empty sack back on her back.

“You’re welcome, good luck.”

Midnight watched the attendant until she disappeared back around the corner, and turned back to the gate just as it began to open.

Midnight walked through the tunnel past the gate, and emerged just in time to hear the announcer informing the audience of just who would be fighting.

“And now entering the field is Midnight Silver, captain of Princess Luna’s Night Guard and personal guard of the same Princess, who will be fighting against Stonefist the Wise, official ambassador to Equestria from the Minotaur clans!”

Across the arena Midnight spotted the Minotaur in question, walking towards the center of the arena where the fight would begin. Midnight made note of the appearance of his opponent. Oddly bright patches of scar tissue interrupted his slightly mangy brown coat, and his face seemed to be covered in so many scars that it looked like a poorly-made quilt. Stonefist’s rather intimidating appearance was completed by the various bones hanging from the belt holding his loincloth and the spiked mace that rested on his shoulder.

When Midnight met Stonefist in the middle of field, he bowed his head.

“Hello, ambassador, I look forward to an invigorating match.”

Stonefist snorted. “Unlikely, no mere pony can stand against the might of the Minotaurs. This will not last long.”

As Midnight raised his head he had his teeth bared in a smile, the unexpected appearance of his fangs causing Stonefist to blink in surprise.

“I’m so glad you said that, it’s been ages since I had a decent steak, and now I have a reason to take one out of your side.”

Stonefist began to growl out a response but was interrupted by the announcer.

“Now, before we fight, the faculty of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns has graciously agreed to provide safety enchantments to prevent any kind of penetration from the combatants’ weapons”—Midnight saw Stonefist’s mace briefly glow white as he felt his hornblade and dagger tingle at the same time—“and to provide stabilizing wards on the contestants themselves in case the unimaginable happens and they need to receive emergency treatment.” This time Midnight’s whole body tingled as Stonefist’s body glowed. “And now, without further ado, let the battle begin!”

As soon as the announcer finished, Stonefist roared and swung his mace down towards Midnight, who jumped away at the same time, turning his head to protect his eyes from the earth thrown up by the mace crashing into the ground with enough force to leave a crater.

Midnight immediately rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding Stonefist’s mace as he ripped it back out of the ground. Midnight then attempted to get in close to Stonefist and reduce his mace’s effectiveness, only to take a direct blow to the side from Stonefist’s mace. Midnight was thrown through the air and landed nearly twelve feet from where he had been. He hissed through his teeth as he felt the bruises against his ribs left by the blow, suddenly very thankful for the manticore leather armor and the protective enchantments.

Both combatants stood facing each other over the distance between them as they caught their breath. Midnight knew that in a match of raw strength he had no chance, and he didn’t want to dig too deeply into his magical reserves just yet, though he would if he had to.

Suddenly Midnight smirked as an idea came to him, immediately attempting another rush after drawing his dagger and levitating it behind him. Stonefist snorted at the seeming idiocy of his opponent and lifted his mace to swing, when suddenly Midnight struck. Midnight had noticed that when Stonefist went to swing, he slid both his hands down to the base of his weapon, which, while increasing the power behind the blow, also made it much harder to control. As Stonefist brought his mace down in an overhead arc, Midnight slammed the head of the mace with the pommel of his dagger, using enough force to throw the heavy weapon off course, drawing Stonefist with it.

The mace slammed into the ground to Midnight’s right and Stonefist was sent tumbling by the momentum of his botched strike. Midnight chased after him, and just as Stonefist tried to rise, he turned and delivered a hard buck right to the Minotaur’s head, knocking him out instantly.

Midnight stood over his opponent, panting with a wide grin on his face. This was what he loved, the rush of battle, the blood pounding in his ears, the taste of the earth coating his tongue. This was what it was to be alive.

Midnight was broken out of his euphoria by the voice of the announcer drowning out the sounds of the crowd’s cheering.

“Round one goes to Captain Silver!”

Author's Note

Feel free to tell me what you think.

Tournament of the Sun pt 3

Tournament of the Sun pt 2

Midnight stared silently at the wall of his waiting room as a nurse poured magic into his side. Currently he was being looked over to make sure that no real damage had gotten through the shields that had been put in place during his bout. Absently he noted the slight scent of antiseptic that always came with the cooling touch of healing magic; apparently he had been hit harder than he thought.

While the nurse worked, Midnight’s gaze slid from the walls of his room and over to her. The mare’s appearance practically screamed nurse. Her light pink coat blended with the white of her mane and tail, and even her cutie mark was a generic red cross. It was almost as if she was the idea of a nurse ponified.

After a few more moments, the glow surrounding the nurse’s horn stopped, and Midnight felt the magic fade away as she took a deep breath, somewhat winded from the extensive process of magically probing a pony’s insides.

“Well, it seems as if the shields held up fairly well: you only had a bruised rib, which I fixed up. I would advise you not to do anything stupid to hurt yourself again, but given our current circumstances, I’d say the fact that you’re going to hurt yourself again is a given. Why you ponies feel the need to do this I’ll never understand.”

The nurse continued to grumble to herself as she walked out of the room, slamming the door as she left. Midnight waited for a moment just to be sure no one else was coming before he sighed. His gaze moved up to the ceiling as he contemplated his last match.

“Whatever happened to honorable fighting? Why can’t two fighters enter the ring and test their skills against each other solely for the thrill of it? Now it’s all posturing and posing. Even the minotaur ambassador, a bull from a race known for its warriors, was more interested in looking strong than in actually fighting. If he had actually paid attention he wouldn’t have let me win so easily.”

Midnight allowed his thoughts to drift as he stared at the ceiling and listened to the faint sounds of combat from the arena. Eventually though, the mare who had given him the armor returned.

“Um, Captain Silver, sir, your next match is about to begin, so if you would, um, follow me again.”

Midnight grunted as he got up, and he stretched his legs as he began to follow the mare to the arena gate once again. Soon they were standing in front of the arena entrance once again, waiting for the announcement that would cue Midnight’s entrance. They stood in silence, Midnight stoic and unmoving while the mare beside him fidgeted nervously.

After a few moments, the mare broke the silence. “Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a beetle?”

Midnight’s ear twitched at the seemingly odd question, but he responded casually, “Often, their lives seem so simple.”

The mare to his side seemed intent on looking anywhere but at Midnight as she responded, “Perhaps, but they work so hard, they must be tired all the time.”

Midnight turned his head to look closely at the mare as he responded, “Well, I’d gladly allow them rest at my home; the doors are always open to weary workers after moonrise.”

The mare finally turned her eyes to him, showing Midnight a brief flash of blue replacing the normal features of her eyes. “Oh really, and where might a worker find you for such rest?”

Midnight nodded to the changeling next to him. “Twenty-three Lunar Way, though I would prefer if the workers used the east entrance.”

The changeling nodded and looked back towards the entrance to the arena. “Well it’s been nice talking to you, but it seems that you’re up now, so I’ll leave you be.”

It was true, the announcer was at that moment revving up the crowd for Midnight’s next fight. Without another word, the changeling turned and walked back into the winding corridors of the colosseum. Midnight shook his head and began to walk towards the light of the arena.

“Judging by how nervous she was, she had to be new at this, so why would Chrysalis send a barely trained agent into Canterlot just to talk to me? I don’t like this.”

Midnight’s train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the roaring crowds as he finally entered the arena. He set about clearing his mind as he made his way to the center, and soon found himself face to face with a tall, heavyset earth pony. The stallion stood a head taller than Midnight himself and was built like a brick wall, which was interestingly enough his cutie mark. His golden coat was marred by a few scars, evidence of many years working a dangerous job, which, by the omnipresent smell of coal coming off of him, must have been mining. His mane further supported this, as even now there was coal dust coloring the otherwise-white hairs.

The stallion--Midnight thought that the announcer called him Dusty but couldn’t be sure, as he had begun to ignore announcer--nodded in respect to Midnight. Midnight grinned and returned the nod.

“I’ll worry about that messenger later; this looks like it’s going to be a fun fight.”

They both lifted their heads and looked each other in the eyes, measuring up their opponents for the fight. Suddenly, as the announcer yelled “Fight,” Dusty charged the short distance and rammed his shoulder against Midnight’s shoulder. The burly stallion grunted in surprise as Midnight dug his hooves in and pushed back, matching him push for push, but that surprise only lasted a moment before he put more of his impressive bulk into the contest, slowly pushing Midnight back.

Midnight dropped and rolled to Dusty’s left, then stomped his hoof as he got up, his hoof lighting up briefly along with his horn. Dusty pivoted and attempted to buck Midnight, but Midnight didn’t give him the chance as he jumped back and away from Dusty’s deadly hooves. Dusty turned back around and began to chase after Midnight, but Midnight’s horn lit up once again, and the place where he had previously stomped his hoof suddenly exploded right under Dusty, sending him rocketing into the air. Midnight watched as the burly stallion fell to the ground with a heavy thud, and waited for Dusty to rise.

Dusty did not disappoint, but instead of charging like Midnight had been expecting, he bowed his head.

In a deep voice that filled the arena without seeming to shout, Dusty spoke, “I yield.”

Midnight blinked, but then relaxed his posture. He watched as Dusty walked towards him, obviously favoring one leg. Dusty stopped in front of him, but instead of anger at losing, there was a twinkle of laughter in his eyes.

“You’d make a good miner, captain. Not many unicorns could hold up against a push from an earth pony like me, even if I did go a little easy on ya at first.”

Midnight chuckled. “And you’d make a good soldier. But I figure that we’re both pretty happy with our lives. It was an honor to contest against you, Sir Dusty.”

Dusty laughed. “I ain’t no sir, and I’d hardly call it a contest, but I’ll take the compliment. It was an honor, and I hope to see you keep fighting through the finals.”

They both smiled and shook hooves before they walked off to their respective ends of the arena, the thundering of the crowd echoing in their ears.

“That’s not possible.”

“Twilight--”

“That’s not possible.”

“Twilight!”

“I’m not listening because that’s not possible! La la la la--”

“TWILIGHT!”

Twilight fell back onto her rump as Luna brought the full force of the Royal Canterlot Voice to bear on her. Her mouth continued to work like she wanted to say something, but no sound came out. Luna on the other hand was standing tall above Twilight, glaring her down.

While watching all of this, Celestia idly commented, “Good thing we sound-proofed this booth.”

Luna was the first to speak after Celestia. “Twilight Sparkle. Listen to me: everything you just saw has a perfectly logical explanation.”

Finally Twilight regained her voice, “Logical? He almost out-muscled an earth pony, and then he somehow cast magic through his hoof. Explain how that’s logical!”

Luna shook her head. “As I was trying to explain earlier, Captain Silver’s time with the changelings has led to him learning some of their magic techniques. Namely, he has learned how to internalize his magic, allowing him to seemingly cast spells through parts of his body other than his horn--which, by the way, he still had to channel some magic through in order to cast the spell. As for his muscle, that’s just a result of guard training. I know for a fact that your brother could do the same.”

Twilight frowned. “But, no matter how strong a unicorn or pegasus may be, they shouldn’t be able to contend with an earth pony’s enhanced strength.”

Luna sighed, “And they still can’t, or did you not notice that after his opponent stopped holding back, Midnight was unable to stand up against his brute strength?”

Twilight had the grace to be embarrassed at the reproach, however that lasted only for a moment, “Well, then what about that spell he used? Explain that.”

Luna glared at Twilight, her frustration beginning to show as she started to slip back into old Equish. “We have already informed thee of how this works. The captain internalized his magic to cast a--”

Twilight shook her head, interrupting Luna. “Not that. I mean, explain why the fire in that explosion was black. I know that there are types of arcane fire that have unnatural colorations, but I’ve never heard of black fire.”

Luna nodded, her ire beginning to fade as she realised why Twilight was confused. “Ah. That would be a type of arcane flame known as abyssal fire.”

Twilight frowned. “Abyssal fire? I’m fairly certain I know all of the arcane elements, and I’ve never heard of abyssal fire.”

Luna was about to speak, but Celestia interrupted her, who had turned from watching the current match between two pegasi to join in the conversation.

“Ah, yes, well I can explain that. You see, Twilight, abyssal fire is normally very hard to control, and is also normally highly illegal to use. The last unicorn able to legally use it died nearly twenty years ago, and she had always attempted to remain outside of the spotlight. As such, any information on it is kept in the restricted section of the royal archives.”

Twilight’s eyes grew wide as Celestia spoke. “What? Why would any form of magic be illegal?”

Celestia smiled. “Let me answer your question with another question: what do all forms of arcane fire and mundane fire need?”

Twilight tilted her head as she considered the question. “Well, mundane fire needs heat and oxygen to ignite, and fuel and oxygen to be sustained. However, the nature of arcane fire allows the heat to be replaced by magic and for the need for oxygen to be surpassed entirely, so then the thing that both mundane and arcane fire have in common would be their need for fuel.”

Celestia raised her hoof to her mouth as she giggled. “While that’s a bit more in depth of an answer than I was needing, you are correct, all types of arcane fire need fuel, and unlike all other types of fire abyssal fire doesn’t use conventional fuels.”

Twilight frowned. “Well, then what does it use?”

“Magic.”

Twilight’s frown deepened. “Well, yes, all arcane fire consumes at least some magic, but what else does it use?”

Celestia shook her head. “You misunderstand; magic is the fuel for abyssal fire, nothing else. Abyssal fire burns magic, and the heat it produces is proportional to the magic power being burned, though the more complex the spell it's trying to devour the more power the caster themselves need to pour into the spell.”

Twilight’s frown slowly turned into a look of open-mouthed shock as she processed what her teacher had told her.

Eventually she regained her wits and spoke. “B-but something like that could theoretically destroy any spell we know of! Assuming the caster had access to enough power of course.”

Celestia nodded solemnly. “Yes, it could do that among other things, but that’s not why it’s illegal, as there are any number of ways to get past even the most powerful or intricate of spells and enchantments that are actually far more efficient than the use of abyssal fire. The reason it’s illegal is because, if used without caution, it can burn through the magic of any living being.”

Twilight paled. “Wouldn’t that mean that--”

Celestia nodded again. “That it could effectively drain the life out of a pony? Yes, and any other creature for that matter.”

Twilight shot to her hooves, suddenly filled with anger, “Then why is he using it?! Nothing good can come from allowing anyone to use such dark magic!”

“Twilight Sparkle! Calm yourself. You of all ponies should be aware that there is no such thing as ‘dark’ magic. Magic, in all of its forms, is just a tool.”

Celestia nodded at Luna as she glared at Twilight, who had gone wide-eyed at Luna’s rebuke. “She is right, Twilight. In fact, the only reason that abyssal fire is illegal is because it would be simply too easy for somepony to make a mistake that could result in disaster. There are at least one hundred fire-spell mishaps a year, and those are bad enough. If abyssal fire got out of control like some spells do, it would be a catastrophe.”

Twilight nodded. “Right, I’m sorry, but that still doesn’t explain why he’s being allowed to use it.”

Luna rolled her eyes as she turned back to the arena, where a new fight was beginning. “Well, other than the fact that it is possible to get a license to use abyssal fire, a fact which my sister didn’t mention, neither my sister nor myself would even try to stop him from using it unless he suddenly became a threat.”

Twilight tilted her head again. “Why?”

As Celestia went to join her sister and Cadance, who hadn’t bothered to join the conversation at all, she responded, “For the same reason we wouldn’t try to stop you from using magic, or your friend Applejack from running her farm.”

Twilight blinked. “Wait, are you saying that the use of abyssal fire is his special talent?”

Luna sighed and looked back at Twilight, clearly tired of this conversation. “In a way, yes. It would be more accurate to say that his special talent is the use of arcane fire in all of its forms, except for coldfire. He just prefers to use abyssal fire in most combat situations, as its draining effects are extremely useful.”

Twilight furrowed her brow as she processed this information. Most of it made sense, but one thing stood out to her as odd.

“If his special talent is the use of arcane fire, why can’t he use coldfire?”

Luna shook her head. “I’m not completely sure, but my best guess is that he can’t cast the extreme cold spell that changes the fire from pure to cold. However, that’s just my theory. Now please, let's just watch the tournament.”

Twilight processed this information as Luna turned back to the fight, and after a moment shrugged and rejoined the other alicorns to watch the rest of the matches.

Author's Note

Finally, a new chapter! Feel free to comment

Challenges

Prolouge

One thousand years ago Princess Luna was overwhelmed by envy and transformed into the monster known as Nightmare Moon. She then attempted to dethrone her sister Princess Celestia and cast the world into eternal night. The battle between the two was fierce, and in the end Princess Celestia was forced to banish her sister from Equestria, condemning her to a millennium of exile on the moon as punishment for the crimes committed she had committed. For many ponies that is all there is to the tale of the Nightmare wars, but there is one last remnant from those times. One other who was banished was quickly forgotten, becoming no more than a footnote in a long forgotten history book. After all, it was unimaginable that anything other than a princess could have survived a thousand years of banishment.

Deep beneath the surface of the world, in the farthest reaches of Tartarus, a disturbance is felt in the darkness. At first it is nothing more than a ripple, but as it begins to travel through the caves it quickly gathers in strength. Soon it leaves Tartarus behind, and spreads throughout the night of Equestria. The ripple-become-wave passes over the homes of ponies both great and small. It travels though lone huts and great cities. Finally the wave of power reaches the edges of Equestria, and as if it had hit a great wall it suddenly begins to travel back to its source. The wave rockets back over the sleeping ponies, it tears through streets and glides over homes, and as it passes it pulls the essence of the darkness with it, herding it back to the source of that original ripple.
Finally the wave of power roars back through the caves of Tartarus and converges on its source, and in an explosion of darkness something drops onto the stone floor with a thud.

The last remnant of the Nightmare wars has been freed.

Author's Note

Thanks to iisaw for editing and encouragement.