Author's Note

It's been too long, my creativity had been in a real slump for quite some time. I think it's time I remedy that.

Chaper Three

Silence…

This was all Midnight heard as he awoke from his day long dreamless slumber and slowly sat up and got to his hooves.

As he arose from the bed, stretching and yawning a little, he went out into the general area of the night guard barracks, where a peculiar sight would draw his curiosity. A pitcher, but what one would expect within such an object was not what he would see.

The contents of the pitcher were of a crimson color, thicker than water.

The contents within were the gathered blood of the few donors that would know of his existence.

Another thing he noticed after examining the pitcher of blood was a letter sitting next to it. The delicate inkwork that adorned the folded parchment with his name suggested that it was written by Luna herself as he picked it up and read it to himself.

‘Midnight,

For your health and wellbeing I have started early on collecting donations day and night, as I have made my sister aware of your return and she too has promised to keep your resurrection under wraps. For you, in this pitcher, is the blood of the donors, it should be enough to sustain you for the night, we have more set aside in an emergency stockpile should you need it.

You will need to drink the full pitcher for it to be enough to last through the night.

In other effects, we have instructed the guard to give you the same respect as they would the high cardinal of the night guard. In other words, should you have need of the guards services, they will be yours to command.

Your Sovereign

Princess Luna'

Soon after he finished, he dropped the letter on the table, he knew Celestia despised the undead, so he thought to himself. ‘Why now… why, when I am the one undead, would she choose to be supportive.’ he looked at the pitcher of blood and knew what he had to do, but it didn’t change the fact that he hated having to do it. He picked up the pitcher, held it to his parted lips and tipped it back, slowly drinking down the blood that it held.

Once he had finished the pitcher of blood, he set it down on the table, wiping his lips with a grimace at the first taste of blood, noting just how rich in iron it was. It was now that he knew one thing for certain, he had to be wary of silver, for he knew that silver was, and still is, the most effective deterrent against undead.

Being under Luna’s protection eased his worries, but did not completely erase them.

He no longer had time to ponder what had happened to him, as he heard hoofsteps coming down the hall as he made to meet with the ponies making those sounds as he stepped out into their view. “I trust you stallions have a valid reason for disturbing my thoughts.”

The two stallions stopped and looked at him, one seeming particularly nervous, drawing Midnight’s attention as he recognized him.

“Ah… hello, how’s your head.”

The unnerved stallion shrunk away a little, only to get ribbed by the larger stallion standing next to him, making the shaking pony stand straight and stock still. The larger of the two stepped forward. “I am Legate Silent Wind, Sir. Forgive him, Acolyte Swift was taken by surprise last night. Couldn’t say how.”

“I know, I was the one who surprised him. Now, I believe the princess’ orders were to never speak of what happened last night, am I correct?” Midnight replied with a bit of a scowl.

The Legate, while good at hiding it, was a bit shaken. He knew what a scowl meant when it was for disobedience of orders. “Forgive me, sir.”

Midnight sighed. “Acolyte Swift, approach.” he commanded with a calm, yet firm tone.

“S-sir…” the stallion spoke as he stepped forward, not speaking another word.

“Allow me to extend my sincerest apologies for attacking you. All I needed was a way to reach Princess Luna without causing alarm in general. But I say this now to both of you… “ He stood straight on all four hooves. “Follow my orders to the letter, and I can guarantee that you will be more likely to survive in the case of a mass attack. Failure to follow my orders will result in discipline by my hoof." he looked at the two stallions. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Sir.” The two spoke clearly as they stood stock still before him.

“Now, I will be needing an escort to the smith to retrieve my armor. Lead the way, Legate.”

“Aye, Sir.” the stallion replied as he turned around and started walking, the Acolyte walking beside him as Midnight followed the two. As they walked, Midnight addressed the two with some questions of his own, in regards to recent vampire attacks.

Each question he asked were only given yes or no answers to, saying that they had only heard rumors of recent attacks and foalnappings.

After a few hours of asking and answering questions as they walked. The three stopped in front of a dark, heavy metal set of doors where an intense chill could be felt. “Our armaments are cold forged, which is a much more difficult and delicate process than the forging process of the day guards smith. Go on in, he’s waiting for you.” The two guardsponies said as they pushed the doors open where a flaming forge that, which should be emitting an intense heat, was indeed deathly cold.

The pony working the forge was hammering away on what currently looked more like a rod of metal than a sword.

Midnight nodded and waved to the two. “Wait outside and stand guard, no one enters.”

As he entered, the two stallions backtracked and closed the doors behind them, leaving Midnight and the smith alone. Midnight began his trek closer to the smith and cleared his throat. “Frostwind… Is that you, old friend?”

The pony working the forge perked his ears, stopped hammering and set his hammer down, and, in a scottish brogue, replied. “Aye lad, th’ princess told me about ye comin’ back from th’ dead n’ I thought she was a jokin’." He admitted. "But now I see she weren’t messin’ ‘round, and I suppose ye be here fer ye armor.”

“I was told you’d have it ready by the time I woke this evening.” Midnight replied. “I trust you have it ready as expected?”

Frostwind laughed, and looked at Midnight. “Lad, I had ye armor ready several hours after I started workin’ this ‘ere forge. I just had tae make some adjustments to it tae keep th’ silver from harmin’ ye.”

Midnight gave a laugh of his own as he spoke with his old friend. “You always did care about your customers, living or undead.” he said with a smile, before he looked at Frostwind a bit more seriously. “I need to know something though…”

Frostwind looked at him curiously and cocked a brow. “And what might that be laddie?” the smith asked simply.

“Bonded artifacts… have you heard of them?” Midnight asked, as he looked around the smith’s work area, noticing the various pieces of armor and weaponry.

“Bonded artifacts… aye, them I have heard of. Very rare those are, even rarer are those who come back alive with one.”

Midnight looked at Frostwind with a serious gaze. “Tell me, where can I find one of these bonded artifacts? I have a feeling that it may help in my… mission.”

The smith looked at Midnight in shock. “Y… ye aren’t serious… are ye lad? Goin’ after them’s like goin’ after a pissed off manticore, more trouble than you’ll ever realize. The road to findin’ them is long and deadly, even for a vampire.”

“Frostwind, my friend, I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t serious, now please… can you tell me where they are, or at least where I can find someone who knows where one is?” Midnight asked again.

Frostwind sighed, he knew Midnight too well to think the stallion was a fool delving into the unknown without any thought for preparation. “Ye’d best go start getting yerself ready… It’s gonna be a long trip. Yer armor is just on the other side of the armor rack. It’ll be a few days before ye’d be ready, so I’d suggest gettin’ some trainin’ before ye go.”

“Always looking out for me, good to know I still have friends I can count on.” Midnight said as he took the chest piece off the rack, observing how it seemed to give off a faint glow in the moonlight as he put it on, noticing that it was a little large on him. Next was the leg guards, he slid his hooves into them one at a time, noting how they too, were a loose fit before he looked at the helm, taking a moment to observe just how it was crafted, and looked at the rest of his armor. All of it having distinct, sharp looking edges that gave an intimidating look that dared any foe to touch him, before he donned the helm.

He could have swore he heard a small cackle from the smith. “I forgot tae mention one thing… the first fitting comes from the smith and can be… startling.” Frostwind closed his eyes for a moment before they glowed an icy blue as he opened them.

The next words from the smith were but a whisper on the wind.

“Adapto.”

A sudden chill overtook the room, making it feel colder than before as Midnight suddenly felt the chestplate tighten around him snugly, making a perfect fit around his form as the leg guards followed suit around his legs and finally the helm molded to a perfect fit around his head.

Midnight looked himself over and noted that, while the armor had the same color scheme as the Night Guard armor, the design was truly anything but.

Now that it was fitted, it looked a bit more elegant, yet still held the intimidation factor.

“Licentio Nocte”

As suddenly as those last words were whispered by Frostwind, Midnight would feel a strange sensation as it felt as if something had bound to his soul, as if it was bending itself to his will. “This… this is bonded armor… how did you…”

“Make it... “ Frostwind interrupted. “I did and I didn’t… a contact came across a bonded core on the corpse of a bandit an' I made the armor with the core in mind.” he said as he tapped the crest on Midnight’s armor. “Me friend in the north inlaid the core through a very delicate process of which I am not at liberty to discuss.”

“That’s… vague… but I guess that’s all I’ll get on that… and it only responds to latin?” Midnight asked curiously.

“Nah… magic inside jus’ seems to respond better an’ rolls off th’ tongue better.”

“So… I guess I’ll find out in time what this armor does for me.” Midnight said as he moved about, expecting to have some form of limitation, only to find himself with a full range of movement. “At least it’s comfortable on top of being functional.”

“Well lad… ye’d best be on yer way now… wouldn’t want ye missin’ on yer trainin.” Frostwind gave a chuckle. “I’ll see ye again my friend.”

“Be well, old friend. Luna’s grace guide you.” Midnight gave an appreciative nod and turned to leave.

"Silent Wind, Swift, resume escort detail, we're heading to the training yard." Midnight ordered.

"Aye, sir." The two stallions replied sharply before taking the lead.

Swift cleared his throat before asking "I take it you seemed to know the smith, considering your conversation with him."

Midnight gave a slight smile. "Yeah, we were good friends as young colts." He explained as he began to talk about his friendship with Frostwind, telling about the trouble they had gotten into and the adventures they'd had as colts. "It was always his dream to work the frost forge, and I'm glad he was able to achieve his goals."

"It seems like you two were best friends, explains why he'd make that armor for you." The Legate replied.

The conversation would continue a while longer before the three would reach their destination. "Alright, looks like this is my stop for the day. Unless you two want to be my training partners, you're dismissed."

"Sir, any chance to train is an opportunity best seized the moment it is given, I am with you." Silent Wind spoke clearly.

"Make that two of us, Sir." Swift added soon after.

"Alright, we're in this together." Midnight looked to the two guards as he approached the doors. "Learn everything you can and use what you know to improve yourselves, even if we are set to spar against one another." Midnight said with a confident grin as he opened the doors to the training yard.