(Base of Mt. Dragonshy)

The group of friends were making good time, having taken almost two hours to get close to the base of the smoking mountain. As they began to get close, something came to Sunburst’s mind concerning the portal.

“Uh, Midnight? Since we arrived in this world because of a faulty portal, does that mean we can’t use it to get back to our own Equestria?”

“I hope not,” answered Midnight, “if that portal doesn’t work, I’m not sure how else we’re gonna get home!”

“Best case scenario, the portal will be functioning when we get back to Ponyville, and we just need to recalibrate it for your world’s coordinates or whatever in the Multiverse,” Shining said. “Worst case scenario, the portal won’t connect to your world right off the bat and it’ll take a long time to fix it.”

“That, or we’re stuck in this Equestria forever,” added Midnight with a flat tone.

“The portal wasn’t just connected to your Equestria. If it can’t get you home, it can definitely get you to an Equestria with some different rules, but help all the same,” Shining commented. “And if that is the case, well, be ready to see three different Celestia’s walking around there.”

“Let’s just get this done with and hope for the best,” suggested Sunburst, and was answered by several murmurs of agreement.

“Sir, look up ahead!” Titan pointed to the ridge above them.

Shining looked up at the ridge and found two of the flight group circling above it while the other two were standing with Twilight and her friends there.

“Looks like we are halfway done. Let’s get up there and work from there. Double time.” Shining then took off at a brisk jog, his gargantuan gut bouncing with every step as the others followed closely.

Reaching the ridge, they found everyone present and accounted for though Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity all looked terribly annoyed while Fluttershy was being cooperative and Pinkie Pie was laughing it up with Flash Sentry. Twilight however was lying unconscious.

“Any particular reason why my sister isn’t awake?” asked Shining Armor with a rise of his brow and tone.

Cadance stepped forward and explained, “She was behaving odd as soon as we got in front of them. She looked like she couldn’t see us, and was confused as to why her friends stopped when we showed up. More than likely a subtle hypnosis that Daybreaker may have placed on her just in case to try to preserve her idea of a ‘perfect’ future.”

Shining took a deep breath and stabbed the end of his spear into the ground. He then walked over to a nearby cliff face and punched it, causing the immediate area to shake like a one second earthquake hit, and caused a rock slide elsewhere.

Midnight whistled, impressed at this Shining Armor’s physical strength while Sunburst’s eyes widened and he stifled a whimper.

“Damnit, Daybreaker!” Shining shouted in rage. He took several deep breaths before turning to Gregory and Nebula. “Anything further to report?”

“I took a flight around the mountain to find a quick way up for the ground bound members of the squad and I also found out that most of the smoke isn’t coming from the cave at the top of the mountain, but also something burning a little ways away, just behind the mountain,” Gregory reported.

Shining nodded in understanding.

“Alright. Flight team, go up the mountain and investigate the smoke there and act as you feel is necessary,” he said. “Titan, Sunspot, I need you two to watch this group and make sure Twilight stays asleep. No unnecessary damage to her though,” Shining commanded. “As for you, Midnight, you and I are gonna investigate the other smoke sources. Everyone understand?”

Everyone nodded though Sunburst sighed, “My name is Sunburst, thank you very much.”

“It’s a nickname, get used to it,” Shining responded. “Alright let’s move out.”

The flight team took flight and Titan and Sunburst walked over to the gathered mares and started keeping watch. Shining began walking with Midnight walking beside him.

“Do me a favor and occasionally tease Sunburst with that nickname I made up for him,” Shining requested to Midnight.

“I would, but Sunspot is the name of his father,” shrugged Midnight.

“Okay...I hope you don’t mind, but I need to vent a bit, and maybe talk about the different versions of Celestia there are,” Shining said.

“In my Equestria, Celestia is my godmother,” stated Midnight. “She’s the one who cast a spell on me as I was dying so that I’d be reincarnated. She made sure I would be born to her Captain of the Guard and his wife, the Madam Librarian of the Royal Library, Ignitus Enflame and Faerie Tail. Celestia and I don’t always see eye to eye but we still care for each other, and I am her agent, dedicated to protecting Equestria.”

“That is a far cry from what my Celestia has become,” sighed Shining Armor. “She was a control freak, trying to create a ‘perfect’ future. The slightest deviation from what she wanted would get her angry and lash out. A few weeks ago, shortly after a portal to an Equestria where there existed a clone of Celestia who called herself Celly, she broke and became a megalomaniacal mare called Daybreaker...thankfully, Luna intervened and now she is in that other Equestria where she is going through treatment.”

“Huh… To tell you the truth, I’m kinda guilty of the same thing,” Midnight admittd, feeling like he was walking on eggshells.

“Due to the unusual circumstances of my rebirth and the time-travelling journey I experienced leading up to it, I had to remain hidden for a number of years. Then, at some point, I had to… nudge events towards intended outcomes, because I had to make sure events played out as I’d experienced them in my past life. Don’t think too hard on it, it still gives me a headache!”

“That’s a lot tamer than what Daybreaker wanted to do when I was behind two deviations,” Shining said with a sigh and I eloped with Cadance rather than go through the whole wedding debacle, and she looked ready to cut off my boy bits. When I prevented her from disbanding the Equestrian Military and having the Royal Guard take over those places, she looked ready to murder me.”

“Whoa… Heh, did you ever tell her to go snort her own hot air?” chuckled Midnight.

“I wish I did,” Shining stated. “But the two more recent moments of her openly hating deviations were mostly directed at either Cadance or the Celestia Clone I spoke about. The deviations being that Cadance was made a Seventh Element Bearer, the Element of Love. The other was when she discovered the portal, and she broke there.”

“Get out! I’m a Seventh Element Bearer,” Midnight smiled hearty, “Element of Faith, as a matter of fact.”

“Neato,” Shining whistled in awe.

“Yeah, as in, if you believe in me, then there is nothing I can’t do,” Midnight nodded with a solemn smile, “and there is nothing I wouldn't do for my family and my friends, and especially my Twily.”

“That’s good, good…” Shining paused in his steps. “I’m picking up smoke. I think we’re getting close.” He moved into a brisk jog, until he got to a set of bushes just outside of a burning village.

Midnight focused, channeling his pegasus magic, allowing him to see over long distances and he gasped, “That village is in trouble! It’s being ransacked and I see some weird ponies running around stealing, attacking, and throwing torches onto buildings or blasting them with magic!”

“What about the villagers? Can you distinguish them from the aggressors?” asked Shining.

“Hmm… looks like some ponies are running into that nearby warehouse,” reported Midnight, “but the attackers are starting to turn their attention to the warehouse. They’re already starting to burn it!”

“Midnight, protect the villagers in that warehouse,” ordered Shining Armor as he grasped hsi spear and formed a shield spell to resemble a large round shield on his left arm.

“I’ll handle the ransackers…”

“Sir, yes sir!” Midnight took flight and zoomed straight for the warehouse while Shining Armor charged forward without hesitation.

(Midnight Third POV)

As he approached the warehouse, Midnight quickly used an x-ray vision spell to see that the villagers were either trying to bar the door while the rest were on the verge of panicking as they were beginning to notice the warehouse exterior was being set on fire. Choosing his target, he closed his eyes, wrapped his wings around himself, cloaked his whole body with magic… and span as he became a shooting star of power that burst into the warehouse through a wall where none of the villagers were close to, quickly accessing the building under siege.

The villagers all cried out in alarm as they turned to see the mass of magic that had exploded into their sanctuary… before it dimmed to reveal a bipedal equine figure on his knee before he stood up, raised his hand, and made a sword appear as he spread his wings in a mighty flap, a mystic gale blowing away the remaining magic along with all the fire on the warehouse!

“Don’t be afraid, I’m here to help. Everypony gather towards the back, I have some spells that will protect you as you make your escape.”

Although bewildered and afraid, the villagers did as they were told while Midnight whispered the spells, readying them for casting. Once the villagers had gathered at the back of the warehouse, he pointed with his fingers at them while his horn lit with magic, and the villagers felt a soothing sensation spread across their bodies, calming them somewhat.

“You’ve all been given Aversion Wards, apart from myself and each other, nopony will pay you the slightest attention so long as you don’t try to attract attention. I’m going to blow that wall open, and the moment I do, all of you run for the forest nearby and hide until the coast is clear.”

Without waiting for their words of agreement or protest, Midnight concentrated a pulse of telekinetic power and blew the wall open before shouting, “GO!!”

The villagers wasted no time arguing as they hurried away, and just in time as the front doors finally burst open and Midnight saw the attackers venture inside, led by a tall and grizzled-looking minotaur mercenary, hefting a heavy battleaxe.

Smirking, midnight held up his sword and whispered, “Find the Light… Ember and Frost!”

The ebony blade shined with the radiance of a star before it split into two, one sword a blazing blistering blue that seethed with burning fury, the other a chilly pale blue-white as it gave off a frigid cold that chilled one to the bone. Crisscrossing the blades, creating a crackling hiss of the contradicting extreme temperatures, Midnight smiled wickedly, revealing is fangs as his pupils dilated into the eyes of a predator and he asked with a sinister tone, “Who dies first…?”

He was answered by a yell to his left and he quickly side-stepped a Cat Rogue being thrown his way with a stab wound to his chest bleeding profusely and behind him approached the mighty Shining Armor, his spear raised and dripping with blood as well as crackling with a red energy and his mana-construct shaped as a shield on his left arm. Transparent though it was, it bore the symbol of Omega. The End.

For those who dare stand against him, Midnight thought with an approving nod.

Shining stood ready to fight and said, “Let’s end them… Spartan Rage!”

Two of the attackers rushed forward, only for one to get brained in the forehead by the edge of Shining’s mana shield and the other to get blocked by it in the same motion and quickly stabbed by the spear and bashed by the shield. Shining took a quick glance back at Midnight before killing the enemy he recently bashed. He then ducked under the first attacker’s swipe and then jumped behind him, smashing the back of the guy’s neck in the process with his mana shield.

Meanwhile, Midnight had casually walked to the side, waiting for his turn and an opening and seized his chance the moment he saw it. He had his eyes on a diamond dog only for the minotaur to push the mongrel aside and stab at Midnight with a halberd, only for Midnight to effortlessly smack the weapon aside and then ruthlessly cut the bull’s shoulder and the side of his abdomen with Ember, the minotaur screaming as he felt his very flesh cook as it was cauterized at the same time to prevent bleeding.

Seeing the diamond dog coming from behind the minotaur, Midnight pushed the bull aside and raised his wings out in front of him, the wings suddenly becoming shrouded and coated with a smoky substance that the diamond dog struck with an overhead strike of his sword only to be deflected and pushed back as Midnight’s wings flapped outwards and Midnight stabbed at the mutt with Frost, only for the dog to use a shield to protect himself. Midnight quickly hammered the shield aside with Ember and stabbed the dog in the gut with Frost, the dog screaming all-too-shortly as he was engulfed in frigid energy that froze him solid… and Midnight simply tabbed the frozen-over feral, causing the dog to fall back and shatter into pieces of frozen meat!

Hearing a scream, Midnight turned to see Shining Armor stab another enemy through the back with his spear and nail him to the ground. After pulling the spear out, Shining took a combat ready pose directed in Midnight’s general direction and thrust his spear forward. Midnight narrowly avoided the spear, and saw it was impaled into the minotaur’s gut, killing him.

Seeing another foe coming, Midnight rushed forward, using a flap to assist with his jump onto Shining’s shoulder to jump forward and come down hard onto the foe, a griffon, breaking his spear with Frost, quickly maneuvering himself around the birdcat and then impaling the griffon in the back with Ember, the blade erupting from just beneath the throat, and the griffon screeched in agony as he was engulfed in blistering fire that burned him to ashes. Just before the griffon completely disintegrated, Shining hammered his head with his mana shield, knocking his beak off as it burned.

Another attacker came forward ready to fight, but was distracted by seeing one of his comrades burning alive. Shining and Midnight looked at each other briefly, getting the same idea. While Midnight joined his swords together into a swordstaff, Shining rushed forward, jumped over the thug’s sword and stabbed him, pushing him towards Midnight. The alicorn span his swordstaff, creating a frightening display of beauty in the form of frigid cold and blistering fury as he easily knocked the enemy’s sword out of his grasp and struck him with a spin of the sword staff across the chest, leaving him uncertain as to whether he was burning or freezing, and stumbling towards Shining. He then hammered him with his shield and stabbing his chest, holding him in place, allowing Midnight to duck under the spear and slash at the foe’s legs. Shining pulled the spear out and elbowed his face, pushing the foe to the Alicorn standing behind him.

Instead of using his swordstaff, which he split back into two, Midnight raised his long leonine tail, manifesting a blade of solidified shadow from the tip and stabbed it forward into the bad guy’s shoulder, lifting him clear off his feet, letting him suffer for a few moments… before whipping around and throwing him towards the warehouse doors, causing them to burst open as he tumbled over a few times before finally dying.

The rest of the attackers saw their fallen comrade… as two mighty stallions confidently strode forward with grim looks on their faces. The two then stopped a short distance from the attackers, weapons raised to show they were ready for more. The attackers looked at each other and began to flee in a semi-organized fashion. A few, a Cat, a griffon, a unicorn, and a pegasus, ended up tripping over themselves or each other, and Midnight quickly seized the moment as his shadow stretched out and connected to the abandoned criminals and they found themselves unable to move.

While they panicked and complained, the two stallions again strode forward as Shining Armor asked, “How did you do that? It’s like what you did in their earlier with your wings.”

“I’m of lunar pony descent,” explained Midnight. “I can give substance to shadow using my mana and morph and manipulate it in various ways, including using shadow to render someone immobilized. What I did in their earlier, I used my own shadow to cloak my wings with solid shadow as shields, it’s one of my typical means of defense in melee combat.”

“Huh, that’s much cooler than what I can do with my shadow,” Shining commented, as he collapsed his spear, dispelled his mana shield, and then propped his hands up, making what looked like a dog shadow puppet with his shadow, prompting a chuckle from the sapphire alicorn, who reverted Ember and Frost back into their one sword form and absorbed it back into his body..

“Well then,” Midnight turned his gaze to their prisoners, giving them a sinister smirk, making sure they saw his fangs as he malevolently asked, “What do we do with all of you...?”

The thugs all expressed terror and panic and quickly started rambling all at once about ‘ponies in masks’ and ‘it was easy gold’ to the alicorn.Midnight narrowed his eyes before roaring, “SILENCE!!!!”

When they all clammed up, one of them whimpered and the others started groaning in disgust. A quick sniff and Midnight sighed with light frustration to realize one of the thugs had wet himself.

“I don’t care who, but one of you. Explain calmly and clearly, just what in the name of Faust were you doing attacking this village and why?”

“We’re part of a down-on-our-luck mercenary company, and some oddly dressed ponies came to us and offered us more gold than we knew what to do with, only if we were to attack this village.” the pegasus among the prisoners told Midnight.

Midnight looked to Shining Armor, certain he had questions too, and the large unicorn stepped forward, his massive arms crossed, “Care to describe these ponies?”

We couldn’t see who they were,” another merc, the unicorn, answered. “They wore these black cloaks that hid their cutie marks and were enchanted to hide their coat and tail colors. We couldn’t even see their faces. They wore white masks that had black stars and red tears painted on them.”

Shining took a deep breath and looked at Midnight.

“See if you can have these guys stored away or something so we can get them locked up,” he said, while pinching the bridge of his muzzle. “The next few days are going to be Tartarus.”

Midnight nodded before lighting up his horn and engulfing the prisoners within a bubble of turquoise mana and then tapping it with his fingers, causing it to pop, and the prisoners were gone with it.

“I sent them to my Alicorn Dimension,” Midnight explained, “All alicorns have them in my world; they’re these pocket dimensions in which we can store anything, as well as other interesting tidbits.”

“Can they get out?” asked Shining Armor.

“Only if I let them out,” assured Midnight. “Right now, they’re enjoying a cozy visit in a cramped dungeon cell. In my Alicorn Dimension, I can change the reality in it with but a thought, and make anything I imagine real as long as it’s within my Alicorn Dimension. I can’t make something there and bring it out here, however. It’d just fade from existence.”

“Well, at least you shaved at least one day off of the Days of Tartarus I’ll have to deal with,” Shining said with a bored tone. “Now let’s check up on the rest of the team and get the Days of Tartarus over and done with.

“What about the villagers?” brought up Midnight.

“And you added a week on them...congratulations Midnight, your vacation has been extended to help me with that,” Shining grumbled before starting to walk away.

“Hold on, let’s just give the all-clear, assure them that the threat has been dealt with and have some pattols remain for a while to give them a sense of security,” suggested Midnight.

Shining stopped and turned to give the alicorn a glare that could rival Fluttershy’s, and Midnight feared he might have said the wrong thing… until Shining responded, “You give the all clear, and I’ll send Nebula and Greg to handle the patrols. Other than that, I would like to take care of these next few Days of Tartarus ASAP.”

He then resumed his walk away while Midnight quietly phew’d in relief.

Midnight quickly found the villagers he’d sent to hide in the woods and gave the all-clear. Though they were understandably afraid and reluctant, he led them back into their home and assured them that their safety would be seen to, as some patrols would arrive shortly to watch over them for a while just in case anything else happened. Once that was done, Midnight joined Shining at the edge of the village and the big unicorn sighed, “Let’s go…”

Author's Note

This chapter is done in collaboration with Wolven5 and his story MLP: The Story Retold.