MLP: The Second Chapter

They returned to the castle and went to Twilight and Flash's quarters. They found Midnight's parents, working diligently at new schoolwork for the students in the School of Friendship. They hurried about the room, straightening papers here and writing things down there. They were completely oblivious to the two new presences that had encroached upon their space.

Midnight shrank away, fearful of the punishment that was sure to come her way. Oh…I don't want another spanking, she said to herself, but, maybe when Mommy and Daddy hear why I was so rough with that foal, they won't punish me too hard. As soon as she said this, her mother looked up and noticed she and Starlight standing there. "Oh!" She said with surprise lacing her voice, "Midnight! Starlight! I didn't expect you back for three days!"

"Well, we had to come back early," Starlight said seriously, "we didn't make the train station. Midnight, would you care to tell your mother what you did?"

Midnight looked at the ground and then back at her mother, who eyed her with sternness. The young filly kept quiet for a minute as she gathered her thoughts. She knew she couldn't get out of this one. Starlight had been there, so if she tried to deceive her mother, her godmother would put the truth into the conversation. So, she sighed and gave in. She told her mother about attacking the larger foal, and about beating her up.

Her mother and her father both looked at her in shock. "Midnight…" Twilight finally said, "…I…I…I don't know what to say. Come over here, young filly!" So Midnight slunk her way over to her mother, with her mane drooping. "Don't you know better than that?" Her mother questioned

"But I…"

"No buts!" Flash said hotly, "the fact is, you do know better than that! You know you're not supposed to do that! Now, come here." She slunk over to him and he quietly took her and bent her over the bed. "You know why you're getting this, right?" He asked. She nodded silently. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but this is the punishment you deserve." At this, he administered one of the biggest spankings she had ever received. She squealed and cried at each hit.

When the punishment had been duly received, she turned and noticed that her father's eyes had filled with tears. He quickly pulled her into a hug and allowed her to cry freely into his shoulder. He hated having to do that to her. It completely crushed his spirit, for his love for his daughter was absolute. He wished that she would be a good filly and follow the rules and boundaries that they had set for her, but beating up another foal was a harsh crime and the punishment needed to be just as harsh.

"Daddy?" Midnight said when her tears ebbed.

He looked back at her, "yes, sweetie?"

"Why do you and Mommy have to spank me sometimes? Do you…" here she swallowed nervously, "…do you enjoy hitting me?"

Flash shook his head and pulled his daughter back into a loving embrace. "Oh, my dear Midnight. We spank you because sometimes you break the rules," he said, "but we don't spank you all the time, and we certainly take no enjoyment in it. In fact, it hurts us more than it hurts you."

"It does?"

"Yes, darling, it does. We love you, Midnight, with all our hearts. We don't like punishing you at all. We wish that you were a perfect little filly who would follow every rule to the T, but the fact is, you are a pony and ponies aren't perfect."

"But you and Mommy are…right?"

Flash shook his head again. "No, sweetie, we most certainly aren't. We make mistakes all the time. But we learn from those mistakes and we never let them guide our thinking. We take what we learned and we apply it in our everyday lives, which is something you need to do."

He finished his small speech and smiled at his beloved daughter. He looked at her rump and saw that it glowed red. He winced as pain shot through every pore of his being. He hated having to administer punishment, but sometimes a parent had to do what a parent had to do. He just hoped that Midnight understood that they punished her because they loved her and wanted her to learn the right manner in which to do things.

Unfortunately, Midnight's small mind was already manufacturing hatred against her parents. She backed away from the two ponies she thought she knew so well and dashed off to her room, slamming the door behind her. Twilight and Flash watched her go and gave each other incredibly anxious looks, wondering if this signaled the beginning of the fruition of Zecora's dark prophecy.

Behind that closed door, the gears of Midnight's little, yet brilliant mind were slowly turning. Brilliance can be a very dangerous thing, and Midnight was about to harness its power to fulfill a prophecy she didn't even know existed. She had the powers of manipulation and great oration on her side. She could talk somepony into doing anything, and she knew it. That, combined with her emerging hatred of anypony she saw as oppressive, was set to lead Equestria into ruin.

Mommy and Daddy just don't get it! She screamed internally as she examined herself in the full length mirror that adorned her wall. Mommy's a princess, so what could she possibly know about the small foals of her empire? She doesn't have time for them, or me! She used to…but now she's completely shut herself off from me! She leaves me with Starlight half the time. Daddy's no better. He's always consumed with working at the school and being with Mommy. I never get anything! NEVER, NEVER, NEVER! I have no friends!

She stopped short and mulled over that last thought. "I have no friends…" she said out loud. She, the daughter of the Princess of Friendship, had nopony to call a friend of her own. All she had were her mother's friends, and they hardly counted because they lectured her so much on the Elements of Harmony and what makes a good friendship. "Hmph!" The small filly squeaked, "they don't get it. NONE OF THEM DO!" She suddenly yelled, "and I'll make them pay. I'll make them all pay!"

As she spoke these vicious words, the bare spots on her flanks began to glow rapidly. Suddenly, cutie marks appeared. One was of the blazing sun, and the other was of a cold, heartless moon. Unlike the ones Princesses Luna and Celestia bore, these marks showed nothing of the peace and beauty of night or the wonder and majesty of the day. Rather, they spoke volumes about the blistering and deadly heat of the sun and the cold and foreboding ice of an evil moon.

Her transformation had been completed. She was a completely different filly. She was no longer the sweet, innocent foal that her parents had come to cherish. Instead, she had changed from Midnight Sun into Midnight Mare, a smaller version of Nightmare Moon. Only this pony didn't want to bring about eternal night…she wanted to destroy Equestria, and cast her parents into a fiery doom.