Impossible Mission - Sealing Tartarus

Monochrome and Ravewind stood in Twilight Sparkle’s library; Monochrome ran his hoof through his solid black mane, rubbing it against his broken horn getting off the sweat that was running down his forehead, Ravewind was putting him on the spot…again, and Mono was starting to get rather annoyed, keeping his emotions, and his magic in line was becoming a bother the past couple days and Ravewind’s constant pestering wasn’t helping in any way.

“Mono it’s been years now and I’m still the only one who knows, I can understand you being worried but Twilight’s different.”

Monochrome rolled his eyes, but the gesture meant little as his eyes were covered by the dark-tinted black shades that he always had on, even indoors, not that he had a choice in the matter.  “I know you don’t need to remind me just how powerful a prodigy like Twilight is, I’m a magic prodigy myself after all.”

“Yeah, but you’re a prodigy for a different reason, after all how many ponies can use Bla-“

Ravewind was cut off by Mono’s hoof being shoved over his mouth, at the same moment Twilight Sparkle the renowned Unicorn mage and one of Monochromes dearest friends walked through the door.

“Hey Mono, oh hey Ravewind, what are you doing here?”

Ravewind smirked and ran his hoof through his mane, which was black just like Monochromes, only significantly shorter with a stripe of red dye in the middle courtesy of Rarity.

“Oh you know, just helping my friend Monochrome set up a couple things.”

Monochrome sighed, Ravewind was the definition of different, while most ponies wore little to no clothing, Ravewind was always dressed in a short-sleeved, skin-tight, black body suit, complimented by a white pin-striped vest, Monochrome didn’t see the need for Ravewind to always be dressed like he was, but at the same time he respected his choice in clothing, specifically the colors which reminded him of his Yin-Yang cutie mark.  Ravewind’s mark was always covered by his suit, and this time around, do to today being a special occasion he was also garbed in his favorite black cape which featured two neat L.E.D light attachments for his Pegasi wings.

Twilight looked around the library in an almost paranoid fashion then dashed forward in between the two colts and whispered to them.  “Well when you two are done, do you mind helping me?  Today’s my birthday and I KNOW that Pinkie Pie is planning something, so I’m gonna find out what it is before she gets the jump on me like last year.”

Ravewind and Monochrome stared at each other briefly, and then looked at Twilight with really bad, really awkward smiles.  Twilight gave them each a confused glare, and finally Ravewind spoke up.

“Yeah, Twilight, about that…”

Ravewind looked at Monochrome who was already in the process of channeling his magic.  Small rings of dark grey energy began to form near Monochrome’s forehead in the shape of a horn, this was how Mono used any and all of his magic, since his horn was broken, and thus he lacked one, he made one temporarily using magic, and that horn served as him for any and all of his magic needs.  As energy began to pulse from Monochrome several of the books in Twilight’s library became highlighted with a grey magical aura and began to float towards her.

“Monochrome what in Equestria are you-”

Suddenly the books expanded and burst making several loud popping noises, Twilight found herself buried beneath several ponies who all at once shouted out “Surprise!” as they landed.

Twilight arose from the pile of disorientated ponies, her eyes were spinning and she was seeing stars, she shook her head and found herself, then looked around to see the other ponies laughing about the whole affair.  Surrounding the young mare were her best friends Apple Jack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and of course, Pinkie Pie, along with her newest friends who she had recently met, Monochromes buddies knows as Joe-Buck, Blazing Trail, Diamodozen, Shortcut, and of course Ravewind, and Monochrome himself, who rather than laughing simply stood there with a light hearted smirk on his face, satisfied that his little trick had actually worked.

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight having fully recovered quickly tackled her pink giggling friend.  “Did you plan all this?!”

Pinkie only continued to giggle her pink ‘Cotton Candy’ mane bounced around as she laughed.

“Of course not silly this was Ravewind and Mono’s Idea!”

Twilight looked up and over at the two colts.  “Oh is that so?”

Monochrome and Ravewind froze with awkward smiles on their faces, as they had no idea how to react.  Twilight’s smile sent the message Good job, it was a nice trick, but her eyes read I’m going to kill you in your sleep.  Finally Monochrome swallowed and cautiously began to answer.

“Yeah, sorry Twilight, we wanted to do something special for your birthday, you’re kind of the center of our little group here, and this is the first time we’ve celebrated anyone’s birthday since we’ve all became friends.”  That answer seemed to satisfy Twilight, as she dropped the more malicious look she had for a sweet and happy smile and nod.  Ravewind and Monochrome both heaved a sigh of sweet relief.

Pinkie Pie’s grin suddenly tripled in size.  “Aaaalright it’s not a Surprise Party without the PARTY so let’s do this!”  Pinkie moved her hoof up to her mouth and let out a loud whistle, out of nowhere Twilight’s door flew open revealing Pinkie’s Party Cannon, the cannon rolled a few feet into the room and fired.  Covering the entire entry way and the twelve pony friends in a thick layer of cake batter.  All at once everyone glared at Pinkie.

“Woops!” Pinkie Exclaimed.  “I Guess I did it again!”

And with that the twelve friends (even Monochrome) began to laugh, finally the actual birthday party had commenced.

As the party went on, the ponies began to spread out throughout Twilight’s Library.  Monochrome had walked onto Twilight’s balcony at the top of the tree house, it was night time, but Monochrome’s Shades were still on, and he found himself sentimentally staring at the moon.  What most ponies didn’t know was that Monochrome was Princess Luna’s apprentice much like Twilight to Princess Celestia.   When Monochrome was first banished from Canterlot and his horn broken, he often found himself sleeping by day and traveling by night.  The princess of the night took pity on Monochrome, believing that there was still much good potential in him despite his interest and “deformities.”  She watched over Monochrome like a guardian angel and in exchange, Mono often wrote letters to her about his adventures with his friends; much like the Friendship Reports Twilight sent.  Lately though, Monochrome stopped sending the letters, having found new friends that cared for him, but he still found himself watching the moon for hours at night, wondering what his Princess was up to.

Twilight Sparkle opened the door to her balcony and joined her friend.

“You alright Monochrome? The party’s downstairs you know.”

Monochrome shot Twilight a light smile.  “Yeah I know, I just came up here for some quiet is all, you know I don’t like noise.”

Twilight shook her head.  “There’s more too it isn’t there.”  She looked down lost in thought then back up at him.  “Are you thinking about Vinyl?”

Monochrome stopped looking at Twilight and looked back at the moon.  “I haven’t thought about her since she left, not much point in getting sentimental over something like that, it just makes you upset.”

Monochrome and Vinyl Scratch, otherwise known as The DJ-Pon3, were dating for a long time while Monochrome was in Ponyville, Mono and Vinyl had similar taste and interest in music and both were fascinated by each other’s unique eyes.  Monochrome in particular was fascinated at how Vinyl’s eyes shifted from bright red to dark magenta as day turned to night.  Sadly their Partnership didn’t last long.  A changeling commander by the name of Lord Catalyst sabotaged their relationship and almost ended their friendship; the two got through the ordeal but agreed that it was best just to remain as good friends, afterword Vinyl left Ponyville to go on tour with her friend Octavia, and Monochrome stayed behind.

“If it’s not Vinyl then what is it?”

Monochrome sighed, “It’s about my magic, you see I-”

Monochrome was cut off by a loud belching noise and a bright green flare, Twilight Sparkle’s assistant and friend Spike the baby dragon opened the door and quickly ran to the two.

“Twilight! Twilight! You’re gonna want to read this right away!”

Twilight scrambled through the scroll which was considerably longer than the scrolls she usually received, once finished she let out a large gasp.  “Come on you two! Gather everyone in the main area! We have a problem!”