Author's Note

I am going to try and post one chapter a week, but it will probably take up to two weeks per chapter.

Prologue

Thousands of armored hooves thudded heavily across the frozen ground surrounding a city made almost entirely out of crystals. The Midnight army had been formed over the past five months to drive out King Sombra, who had taken over the Crystal Empire. Under his reign all citizens were forced into joining his army. He had then sent his army marching towards Equestria.

When they arrived, Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria, cast a spell that froze the time around the entire army. This spell however depleted most all of her magical power. Being drained of that much power at once caused her to fall into a deep sleep. This left her younger sister, Princess Luna, in charge of all of Equestria. She also still had to deal with the problem of Sombra.

Her solution though, much differed from what Celestia’s plan would have been. Luna, being young and less experienced, decided that the fasted way to rid the land of King Sombra would be to build an army. Her decision was mostly based on the fact that Sombra’s entire army had already been detained, so there would be no interference. The main reason for her army wasn’t to fight, it was to try and contain Sombra within the boundaries of the Crystal Empire.

Her army didn’t consist of unicorns, pegasi or earth ponies, the main inhabitants of the land. It was composed entirely by a species only Luna knew existed at the time. They were the Sarosians, though most ponies called them midnighters, or bat-ponies. They were called this because of their bat-like appearance.

“Noir!” Luna called, signaling to the general flying behind her. “Has the city been surrounded?” From her position in the sky, she could easily see that it was, but it showed respect to Noir to ask.

"Yes princess.” Noir replied, flying up to Luna’s side.

Around the entire city there could be seen a wall of black and gray. This, was the Midnight Army. The largest force in all of the known lands. They numbered in hundreds of thousands, and were completely devoted to Luna.

“Good. Order them to stay in position while I go in to confront Sombra.” Luna commanded. “After they have been instructed you, and you alone may follow me.”

Noir proceeded to make a short series of high pitched noises, signaling to the commanders under him, than said. “It is done, shall we go?”

Luna looked over at him surprise evident on her face. “It always surprises me how fast you can speak in your language.” She stated. “Fine, let’s go.” Luna flapped her wings harder, then started to dive towards the city. For some reason she felt a little bit off balance, but she dismissed it as the awkward weight of her saddlebags and armor.

Right behind her Noir, in his skeletal, obsidian armor, could be seen following close to his leader. Within the first minute of their dive, they had already arrived at the castle positioned at the center of the city. The castle was a towering, black structure made out of dark crystals. Before Sombra’s reign it had been a beautiful, blue building, constructed out of pure crystal. Sombra’s dark magic corrupted the crystals, turning them dark.

Luna landed on a balcony located near the top of the crystalline castle. As soon as her hooves touched the ground though, she heard a voice coming out of the crystals.

“You should be more cautious princess.” The voice was a low, dark, mocking, sound. It seemed to emanate pure evil intent.”All that you brought with you was one commander? You underestimate me Luna.”

Luna looked around trying to locate where the voice had come from, but all she could see was Noir, hovering above the balcony. Without warning a beam of black magic shot out of the crystals and struck him in the chest, sending him sailing backwards and over the edge of the balcony. It was a silent fall for crystals had covered Noir’s body, and muffled the scream.

"You never know when threats can pop out from-" Sombra suddenly materialized out of the crystals in the ground behind Luna, causing her to wheel around quickly "-unexpected places... hmhmhm...." The dark lord chuckled evilly before continuing. "You of all people should know that Luna. After all, i'm here, aren't I?" The tyrant teased Luna in a venomous voice. Filled with hatred. His horn was aimed at Luna and before she could react he shot the same spell at her.

Luna dodged to the side, but was too slow. The spell hit her saddlebags, and the force ripped them off of her flanks and sent them flying out into the nothingness around the empire. Luna flinched leaving an opening for another spell from Sombra. This one however, she was ready for and dodged gracefully. Halfway through her side step she cast a spell at Sombra.

The spell was an unusual one that only Luna knew how to cast. It forced the target to fall into a deep sleep. With Sombra dealt with for the time, Luna was left to check on Noir and find a more permanent sealing spell.