The Midnight, Ray

Chapter 1

The Shadow of Anubis stumbles backward a few steps before sinking into the ground in a pool of darkness. A lone man stood defiantly before it with a look of pure hatred. "I have beaten your lackey, Anubis, now honor your end of the bargain!" Noel shouted, holding a long blackened claymore with the image of a wolf sculpted onto the pommel.

"Indeed, thou hast. We admit to being most impressed with thine ability.” The Lord of the Afterlife remarked casually “However, thou is a feculent youth lacking in respect. Did thou honestly believe we would allow thee entry into the afterlife based upon so mundane a task?”

"You dirty liar, that wasn't what we agreed upon!" Noel replied in fury but he recoiled when Anubis slammed his fist upon his throne causing an intense energy to surge forth briefly.

“DO NOT IMPUGN OUR HONOR, IMPUDENT IMMORTAL, WE KNOW WHAT WE HATH SPOKEN!” Lord Anubis roared in anger and then leaned back in his throne, calming himself “We promised thee an opportunity to reclaim what thou has lost but only if thou is capable of performing certain tasks. Defeating our Shadow was but an assessment of thine abilities.”

“Fine, whatever.” Noel spat “Tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it.” Noel flexed arms for a moment and did a few test swings.

“As thou wishes; observe.” The Lord of the Afterlife stated and then pointed down at Noel’s feet. What he saw made him panic.

“Wh-what is this?!” A loud crash of waves caught Noel off guard,looking down Noel panicked and struggling against the pool of darkness at his feet that he was currently sinking into “What are you doing to me?!”

“We are sending thee elsewhere for thine trials.” Lord Anubis replied calmly “Upon the completion of said trials, We shall grant thee what thou desires most. But I leave thee this question; upon thine return here, wouldst thou still desire it?” Noel growled and stopped his struggling.

“I will complete your task, Anubis, and I will take back what’s mine; this I promise you!” Noel cries of anger echoed before being fully engulfed by the shadows, which faded away immediately, leaving the Lord of the Afterlife alone on his throne.

“Dost thou truly believe that youth is capable of becoming what is needed?” He asked the seemingly empty air.

“Maybe he will, maybe he won’t.” A voice replied and a man wearing a long black cloak with the hood drawn appeared from beside the throne, walking calmly forward with his arms crossed lightly over his chest. “All we can do is set him upon the path; what he does from that point forward is entirely up to him. Will he become the greatest hero the world has ever known, or will he become its most terrifying of horrors? A god or the devil? Who’s to say?” The Lord of the Afterlife sighed in resignation, placing his right leg across his left knee and resting his beastly head upon one hand.

“Your kind is infuriatingly vague, Drifter.” He rumbled and the hooded man chuckled.

“Such is the way of Fate, My Lord.” He replied amiably and began to walk away “We know much but reveal little. That's how we have our fun."

• • •

It seemed to be hours later when Noel finally awoke to a splitting headache and a sore body, "Oww, Gonna feel that in the morning!" Noel said stumbling to his feet."I must have been out for a while, it's already dark out." Noel stood and began patting his back to find something. "Where's my sword?" Looking around Noel saw his buster sword in a stone post like it was put there on purpose.

Noel tried to pull out his blade out but gave up, unsuccessful, "What is this!?" Noel pulled at the blade with all his strength. Then he felt something, it was as if something had breathed on the back of his neck, "W-who's there!" he turned around and looked to find nothing but trees and bushes, "The darkness must be playing tricks on me again. Oh well." he muttered to himself continuing to try and remove his sword. Little did he know of the Alicorn hiding within the shadows.

• • •

"H-he knew I was here?!", said the mare that was looking at the figure from behind the safety of a tree. The figure was striking, standing on two legs and pulling angrily at the large sword stuck hilt deep into the post. He appeared like the entities that were said to live beyond the mirror stored safely away in a dark room deep in the Crystal Castle. “Is he a human?”

She decided to get a closer look and crept up to the very edge of the clearing.

• • •

"Come on!", Noel finally pulled his sword free of the stone and did a little dance before putting it into its holster on his back. "Now to find out where they sent me." To the moon princess’s surprise Noel jumped from the near by cliff into more of the forest and its dark terrors. Unbeknown to him, he had managed to attract a shadow in the shape of the moon princess as he proceeded deeper into the forest, Luna not far behind.

About ten minutes passed before Noel found some life, only this life looked to be a pack of wooden wolfs. Rey simply raised a brow and sigh, ready for anything that the wolfs could pull on him, Noel counted about eight of the wooden wolfs and pointed to the biggest one before speaking in a broken language. "" Luna watched in awe as the pack leader stepped forward and spoke right back.

"" Noel nodded slowly and smiled. Each wolf walking around Noel, sniffing his cloak and armor carefully, one lone wolf getting a bit to close to Noel's jewels.

" " Noel pushed the timberwolf away and faced the leader again. "" Luna watched and listened as the being before her seemed to be talking in a full conversation, the contents lost on the night princess.

"What in the name of my sister is he doing? Perhaps we should get word to Celestia while we can." Noel looked in Luna's direction and narrowed his eyes slightly, the wolfs sensed the sudden hostility and looked at the direction Noel was. Luna's heart started beating rapidly as her eyes locked on his, both not moving a inch. She was caught. Thinking quickly Luna jumped out of the trees and cried,"BEGONE!" A bright Light filled the area causing the wolfs to flee and blinding Noel, the next thing Noel notice was that he seemed fifteen feet above the tree line and moving quickly to an abandoned castle where he stopped and was released, after a short fall he scrambled to his feet rubbing his face. "Ow my eyes! You couldn't give me a heads up? God!" he cried while rubbing the spots out of his vision.

"Who are you?" Questioned the dark blue mare. Noel was hesitant, but decided to at least reveal his name, "Noel. Might you tell me your-?" but then something pushed against his chest something dark…something of unknown power. Much like his own, it was faint but he knew something or someone was watching.

The mare ignored his stammer and replied, "I am Princess Luna, goddess of the night and ruler of dreams. I have a few questions I want to ask you, will you answer them?"

Noel sat down and sighed, this could give him a moment to figure out if what he felt was the real thing. "Okay, shoot away."

"First, what are you?"

"I'm an Padshiy daemon...A fallen demon."

Luna looked at Noel with a calculating stare and continued. "Next, why are you here?”

Noel looked at the cracked stone floor and tried to say something but Luna saw his face, "You don't have to answer that right now. But you will later, understood?"

Noel nodded his confirmation as she walked towards the door, "Last question then we leave for-."

Noel shot up, a death stare aimed at the night Princess, Noel was close to figuring out the source! He only needed a few more moments. "I'm not going anywhere until I get some information myself!"

Luna was startled but she nodded and sat down before two large doors. "O-ok what is it you want to know?”

"Well for one, where am I?"

“Right now we are in the Everfree Forest which lies in the lower portion of the land Equestria." Noel’s brow narrowed as he glared at the mare before him. “The land you’re in is called Equestria.” He found the source and it was coming quickly.

“Duck.” Noel drew his sword as a buzzing sound started to grow, Luna raised a brow but was shoved out the way as Noel swung his blade sideways knocking a changeling to the side like a baseball when changeling collided with a wall it was knocked out instantly. "What in the seven hells is that thing?"

"That is a creature known as a Changeling."

"A Changeling?" Noel watched the insectoid as it struggled to get up. "You sure it's not a...blast what did the humans call it? Oh right! Pony."

Luna trotted up to said changing and raised a hoof intending to smash it until Noel's blade appeared under her chin. "What are you doing?" Luna, with a blank face, spoke with a even tone despite feeling the killer intent behind the blade.

"I should ask the same thing. It overwhelmingly funny you would attack another demon." This took Luna by surprise and she responded with narrowed eyes and lowering her hoof. "That's better. Now we how about I handle the changeling." Smiling, Noel withdrew his blade and turned to the changeling who struggled, getting only a weak hiss as their eyes met.

"What do you mean fellow demon? Only a few moments ago you had no idea what it was, why the change in attitude?" Noel's smile faded as he signed.

"Well for one both you and this one have a dark aura only yours is much bigger and um."Noel turned to the changeling and bent down near it. "Not to be rude but seeming how I'm new here, may I ask what gender you are? Naturally?" Both Luna and the changeling blushed and looked away. "To personal? My apolo-"

"Female." Noel smirked and held out a hand to the changeling and bowed his head.

"Well my lady, I am Noel, Fallen demon and a male. Do you have a name I may call you?" the changeling shook her head and simply continued to watch Noel. "Well that's new, a demon without a name. Oh, are you part of a colony or hive?" she nodded slowly. "Ah well that explains a bit more as to why your aura is scattered about."

"What do you see with this aura?"Luna questioned, getting a dark chuckle as if it was the funniest thing he had heard in a long time.

"Wow, a demon who doesn't even know, that's rich. But to answer you, it's the life force both angels and demons have. Ours is usually white or black while angels are usually yellow or red." running a hand through his brown hair Noel picked up the changeling, who decided against struggling, and smiled down at her.

"W-what are you going to do to me?"

"Well first I'm going to heal you, I did more or less smash you with the side of my blade."

"But I feel fine, what cou-" she was cut short when she noticed her back and a few ribs were sore. "Huh? How come I didn't feel anything before?" Noel smiled and kissed the changeling just below her horn leaving a glowing blue mark which shinned for a moment then faded with the changeling smiling happily."Feel better?" she nodded and hugged Noel.

"Thank you, but why he-"

"Yes, why help the creature when you could have ended it?" Noel's smile faded and two deep purple marks slowly etched around his arms and parts of his jaw.

"Your gonna stop calling people that." The changeling being held by Noel felt a sudden temperature change around him and felt her instincts telling her to run but her body ignored it and she simply watched while trying to make herself as small as possible despite being in his grip.

"What? We only said what is true. Those bugs attacked our niece, imprisoned her, locked her away, and attack our sister!" During Luna's little rant, Noel's body simply started to shake as he let out a dark chuckle."And what could be so funny about that?" she didn't get a response from him but instead the changeling.

"I think you might want to leave princess." Luna scoffed and rolled her eyes. Noel put the changeling down and rubbed her head a bit.

"I'll call you little Light." Right as he finished talking he appeared in front of Luna, who didn't have enough time to react before she found out what dirt tasted like as Noel slammed his foot down on Luna's head. "As for you little horse, what were those names you called Light? Creature? Bug? Well guess what." Luna spit and sputtered, looking up in time to see Noel's fist coming straight at her. "I'm the only creature around here!" In a blink he was on her and delivered a powerful left hook sending Luna flying into a few trees. "Light." The changeling ,now named Light, looked up at the new being in-front of her. The calm, peaceful looking being she saw before was gone and in its place, a creature that stood at a full seven feet with sickly purple lines covering its face and limbs. "Light." stammering , she cowered away a bit at the harsh tone he was using.

"Y-yes?"

"What do you think I should do to this bitch?" Light was confused but soon realized what he meant so she simply asked him to wait a moment so she could think. Noel smiled, his flat teeth replaced with a full set of fangs as said take your time and left to find Luna. Light's horn started to glow a neon green and she spoke in her hive-mind.

"You're highness! The legend is true, the lost god has returned to us!" There was a uproar of voices as Light watched as Noel threw Luna around like a rag doll, laughing the whole time. Then all at once the voices cut out and one spoke up.

"Bring him to us before Equestrians finds him first!" Light simply shook her head and closed her eyes, opening them again as they faded from a dull green to a pure white letting her hive see that the demon was currently bench pressing Luna's face into a few trees and proceed to throw her into the ground and drag her around on it. "It can't be-!" The voice was cut as a loud thud was heard from behind Light.

"She didn't want to play anymore." Noel stood behind Light as he held a brutally injured Luna under one arm. His once brown hair now sliver, his chocolate skin was decorated in sickly purple lines the on closer inspection held early traditional dragon writings. His eyes were the most shocking, they were a fiery ruby, much to their counterparts' sapphire blue. "I'm bored now, so what have you decided for the pony's punishment?" Light stumbled over her words as she looked at the lunar goddess, soon her queen spoke up through her.

"My mother wishes to see her." Noel raised a brow and shrugged. He didn't really care at this point, Oblivion was hungry and so was he.

"Lead the way. Oh and small question. Is there any food?"