MLP: The Second Chapter

Midnight Sun bounced cheerfully along at the hooves of her godmother, Starlight. She was intensely excited. Starlight had promised the young filly a great surprise and she was intensely excited about it. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! She thought, Aunt Starlight's surprise is gonna be amazing, I just know it!

The past two years had been sheer heaven for the filly. She was surrounded by ponies who loved her and had her best interests at heart. Her mother was an amazing pony, and she still couldn't believe that she was the daughter of a princess. When she became old enough to understand just how high of a position she held within the royal court of Equestria, she embraced it. She would go around pretending to be Celestia, and giving orders to imaginary ponies.

But, there was one exception to her heavenly life. She had also been in intense magic training ever since she could remember, and she hated it. Her mother and godmother had both insisted that her magic be kept under strict control. She didn't understand why, and, frankly, found it to be quite unfair. After all, the unicorns in her age range got to use their magic with great frequency. She had to follow a set of predetermined rules, and she absolutely despised them. She wanted to go out and use her magic for fun things, but her mother wouldn't allow it.

One time, a few weeks earlier, she had wanted to use it to go out and try turning a tree into a frog. She thought she knew enough about magic to be able to attempt a complex spell such as that, but her mother put her hoof down. She said that she wasn't old enough and didn't understand magic enough to do so. Hmph! Midnight thought as she walked along, Mommy doesn't get it. I really wanna use my magic to do stuff! I'm so bored of Mommy and Aunt Starlight's talks!

She opened her mouth and squeaked, "Aunt Starlight?" The light purple mare turned and eyed her goddaughter, "yes, Midnight?"

"Where are we going?"

Starlight chuckled. The innocent inquisitiveness of the young foal was very often the subject of a lot of adoration from the ponies in Ponyville, and she understood why. Midnight asked her questions with her blue eyes opened wide and a completely eager look on her face. Even simple questions, like the one she just asked, were asked with the great vigor and anticipation.

"I'm taking you somewhere that's very dear to me."

"Oh, I can't wait!" Midnight said as a smile returned to her face. She continued bouncing around Starlight, making it quite difficult to walk. "Midnight, you're right in front of me," Starlight said, "here, walk beside me. That way, we can both move forward."

"OK, Aunt Starlight," Midnight said as she assumed the position. Her little legs were tingling with excitement. She didn't know where they were going, but Aunt Starlight said it was extremely important. Important in what way, I wonder…pondered the young one. She had never been involved in anything so exciting in her young life.

They made their way through the center of Ponyville. As they walked along, other ponies stopped and cast kind glances down at Midnight. The filly soaked up the attention with great gusto, as many foals are wont to do. Soon enough, she forgot that Starlight was there and began bouncing from pony to pony, showing off just how cute she could be. She had unraveled the mystery of why ponies looked at her that way a few weeks before.

She had been going through town with her mother, when some ponies came out of a certain building. They gave Midnight a look that told her just how cute she was. Then, she figured out that she could manipulate these ponies through her cuteness. So, she had gotten down and rolled around in the dirt for a few moments behind her mother's back. The mares all giggled at how cute she was and gave her some candy. Her mother had turned and, seeing her daughter's rather dishonest behavior, immediately ushered her away from the scene. Midnight's bottom had hurt for a few days after the spanking that Twilight administered.

But now, Aunt Starlight was the pony in charge, and Midnight used this to her advantage. She ran around her godmother, playing and laughing with the ponies of the town. She hoped to get some type of reward out of the situation, but nothing ever came. What she didn't realize was that Twilight had sent a message to all the ponies of Ponyville, warning them that Midnight was behaving this way.

As they passed the Ponyville School, she noticed some of the foals playing in the yard. She longed to be able to attend school with them, but her mother had gotten in the way of that dream. She noticed the friendly looks that the children gave each other as they ran, screaming and squealing around the schoolyard. She sighed to herself. If only Mommy would let me go there, I bet I could have a lot of friends!

Once again, she found a situation with her mother to be quite unreasonable. If her mother was the Princess of Friendship, then why didn't she let her go where she could make friends? Wasn't that the entire point of a pony's existence? Her small mind worked the question over and over and over again, but she could never find a suitable answer. I guess Mommy just doesn't want me to have friends, she thought sadly.

Suddenly, she heard a squeal of pain and saw that one of the older foals had shoved a young one to the ground. The bigger mare got on top and began taunting the little one. "I've got you! I've got you!" She sang out. The younger mare cried out for help, but none was given. Instead, a crowd of young ponies quickly began forming around the scrap.

Midnight's mouth fell open in shock. How could those other foals just stand there and refuse to help the smaller one? She had never seen such a display of blatant unfairness. Her eyes grew hot with rage, and she gritted her teeth. She began pawing at the dirt with a furious hoof. Her tail stood straight on end, just like Rarity's cat, and her coat began bristling.

Suddenly, she let out a high pitched scream and raced into the combat zone. She threw the bigger foal off the young one and began assaulting her with vicious violence. "YOU BIG MEANIE!" She screamed as she hit the foal over and over and over again, "YOU DON'T ATTACK SMALL FOALS LIKE THAT! HAVEN'T YOU BEEN TAUGHT BETTER THAN THAT?!"

Starlight, turning away from her conversation with another pony, saw the commotion. Like lightning, she sped into the yard and took Midnight off the other pony, who by now was covered with bruises and was crying heavily. Ms. Cheerilee, the school teacher, had also emerged to find one of her students being attacked.

She and Starlight both gave Midnight angry looks as they helped the victim back to her hooves. "I'm so sorry," Starlight apologized, "she's never acted this way before. Please, come to the Castle of Friendship and have dinner tonight. It's on us."

The little filly nodded as tears continued cascading down her cheeks. Cheerilee looked at Starlight. "I want you to keep Midnight away from my school for a while," she said, "at least, until this all blows over." Starlight nodded, "don't worry. I'll make sure she's under control." "You'd better," Cheerilee said firmly before helping her student back into the classroom.

Starlight whirled around on Midnight in a rage. "What was that, young lady?! I mean, I turn my back for two seconds, and here you are beating up another filly!"

"But she had that smaller one down on the ground! She was going to hurt her! It was so unjust and unfair!"

Starlight sighed and her anger relented somewhat. Now she saw that the filly had a reason for being so violent. Still, that didn't excuse it. "I understand that, and I'm sorry that it was happening. But there are other ways you could have handled the situation. It didn't have to break out into chaos. I'm sorry, but the surprise is off. We're going right back home and you're going to tell your mother about this. Now, march, young filly."

Seeing that Starlight was set in her decision, Midnight had no choice but to turn her small hooves around and head back to the castle. On the way there, she had the chance to think. This wasn't the first time she had witnessed a bigger foal beating up a small one. Why don't Celestia and Luna do something about that? I mean, they're in charge, aren't they? So why don't they do something about it? Then her eyes lit up and she got an idea, or maybe…I could do something about it. Down with the big foals, she thought evilly. Her small mind turned dark as the thought arrived of her flinging the offending foals off a cliff and down into a lake below.

Meanwhile, Starlight was anxious to get Midnight back to the castle. Oh, Celestia, please don't let this be what I think it is, she thought nervously. These could be signs that the dark prophecy was coming true. They had never dared speak a word of it in Midnight's presence, not only because the filly wouldn't understand her destiny, but because it might spark a negative change in her. Now, the signs appeared to be emerging, and Starlight was completely frazzled. Please, she thought, please let it just have been a simple temper tantrum. If it wasn't, then Equestria might be doomed…