The Forsaken

Chapter 17 – Twilight’s Arrival

Anon

The last ten days had passed by both very slow and very fast.

Midnight had backed out of his decision to leave the shadows and decided to hide his wings under Illusion magic once again. The other mares seemed to be very understanding of his decision and had ‘Pinkie Promised’ not to say anything, whatever that meant. We did enjoy the rest of the tea party with the mares so I could get to know them better and I felt like I was really starting to make real friends.

I mean… Aloe and Lotus are nice, but I could never truly be friends with my boss… could I?

Midnight had, smartly, delegated the remaining tasks of the Summer Sun Celebration to the other five mares. Applejack was in charge of the food, Rainbow Dash was in charge of keeping the sky clear, Rarity was in charge of decor, Fluttershy was to organize something special with her animals, and Pinkie Pie was in charge of the welcome committee… with the order to throw a massive party for whomever Princess Celestia sent to conduct the final checklist. He seemed to know who that would be but he wouldn’t tell me who it was.

Midnight did pick up all of my clothes up from Rarity’s boutique and I was pleased to finally have them all, hiding the wedding dress for safe keeping. He wasn’t happy when I wouldn’t let him see the dress, but he understood the human version of the tradition of the stallion not seeing the dress until the bride was wearing it on the big day, as I explained it to him. It was a white lie… he could see the dress, just not me wearing it. But… I didn’t want him to know about the changes I made to it before he saw me wearing the dress for him.

Midnight had taken advantage of having delegated away the boring tasks to take care of other preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration that only he could do. He was as secret with what he was doing as I had been about the wedding dress. The vast amount of preparations he seemed to be making might could have been a set up for an epic prank but he always left the estate wearing his armor. I wasn’t happy with the constant battle Midnight seemed to have with monsters from the Everfree Forest, but that was part of his life. He must have been good at it too because most the ponies in town seemed to know not to go into the Everfree, but they also didn’t seem to realize how dangerous it was at the same time.

Not that I had much time to complain about it. The spa had been packed from open to close, with me having to work extra hours and no days off all the way until the day of the celebration itself. Ponies wanted to look their best with the Princess coming to town so there was no time to lose. It got so bad that Aloe had to remind ponies that there would be no time for touch-ups so any mane cut or dye job would have to be a one-time service until after the celebration was over.

After all the insanity of the preparations was over, it was finally the Eve of the festive and Midnight was resting. It was the first time in 10 days that we had time for each other. Sleeping in the same bed did little for you when you didn’t have the time or the energy to be intimate, although it still felt nice to sleep next to someone that actually cared for you.

We were sitting on the couch in his living room and he was resting his head in my lap while I caressed his mane. I wanted to say something but there seemed to be no way to start the conversation… the silence being so much more appealing.

I had two secrets I needed to tell him at some point, but the time still wasn’t right. Part of me felt bad for withholding anything from him but the rest of me knew that the timing had to be prefect. I finally worked up the courage to speak when we both heard a knock at the front door.

Midnight groaned. “Whoever it is… tell them to buck off.”

I giggled at how grumpy he sounded. “Your Grace should be ready to receive visitors on a day like today. Who knows… it could be the pony that Tia sent to do the final checklist before the party starts.”

He seemed to perk up at the possibility. “Very well. Go see who it is.”

He lifted his head off my lap, and I got up to answer the door. When I opened it, there stood a lavender coated unicorn with a purple and pink mane. The mare seemed startled to see me, as so many ponies did when they first saw me.

I cleared my throat. “May I help you?”

The unicorn’s ears folded back. “Oh. Um. I’m looking for Uncle Midnight… is he home?”

My eyebrows raised. That’s the same thing Shining Armor said, more or less.

“You wouldn’t happen to be the younger sister of a Captain Shining Armor, would you?”

She beamed. “Yes! You’ve met my brother?”

I smiled back. “He came by a couple of weeks ago to test the security of Ponyville for the celebration. He said he had a younger sister but didn’t give your name. My name is Anon, by the way. And you are?”

The mare seemed mortified by the breach of etiquette. “Oh, I’m so sorry. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my number one assistant, Spike.”

I raised an eyebrow at Spike. “Is that a dragon?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes… I hatched him as part of the entrance exam to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

I couldn’t help myself. “So does that make Spike your son?”

Twilight cleared her throat softly. “Legally… maybe. However… not… technically. I didn’t lay the egg, obviously. Both me and Shining Armor kinda see him as a younger brother… although I did mostly raise him myself with only a little help from my mom and Princess Celestia.”

I didn’t want to poke fun at what might be considered a touchy subject for her. “Midnight is in the living room. I trust you know the way?”

Twilight nodded as her and Spike both walked into the house. Spike was right behind Twilight when Twilight turned to ask me a question, still walking towards the living room in what had to be muscle memory.

“So… how long have you been here?”

I answered honestly. “I’ve been here about a month. Midnight saved me from Griffon slavers. We’ve grown quite close…”

Twilight blushed at the implication and automatically turned to go into living room. She opened her mouth to ask another question but stopped when she saw my eyes go wide in shock. Puzzled, she turned to look at the living room proper.

The room was covered in blood. The walls. The floor. The ceiling. The curtains were slashed, as if done with a sword. And Midnight. Midnight was hanging from the chandelier with a rope around his neck, looking like part of his flank had been eaten… fresh blood dripping from the wound.

Twilight screamed. She backed up as quickly as she could but bumped into me, as I was now blocking the door. I would normally have expected a pony to be able to push me out of the way but she hit what appeared to be a shield that formed around me. Startled by the shield, she jumped again and turned to face me.

A sword magically appeared in my hands and my voice took on a magically artificial dark tone. I felt like I was being played like a marionette but I could do little but go along with it.

“Foal! You have walked into my trap! Midnight is going to be a fine dinner but now I have dessert and a snack as well!”

Twilight’s horn glowed with a lavender aura, and she popped out of existence with Spike only to pop back into existence in the same spot.

“What? Why didn’t my teleport work?”

I smiled darkly. “The Estate is enchanted. Only Midnight could teleport himself, others and objects in and out of the Estate. Now that I have eaten him… I absorbed his power. And once I eat you and your little dragon… nothing will be able to stop me! Not even Celestia!”

A dark, maniacal laugh escaped my throat and I started to swing the sword towards the terrified unicorn in a motion that reminded me of a toy soldier. It felt horribly unconvincing and looked ridiculous, except that Twilight was so scared that she couldn’t tell that it wasn’t natural.

With another glow of her horn, she shot a beam of pure magic at me, just to watch it get deflected by the shield. I walked towards her slowly and for every step I took forward, she took a step back. I was literally backing her into a corner. Spike was backing up with her, staying by her side, equally unsure what to do.

Then… it happened.

Midnight crawled out of a shadow in the corner and just waited. I had never seen him use shadow teleportation but that was as creepy as it was cool… and silent. Unlike the bright flash of light and the magical popping sound of a regular teleport, shadow teleportation made no noise and produced no light. I smiled as the prize was within reach. One last step…

Midnight grinned as well, and he pounced like a dog on his favorite toy. He grabbed Twilight from behind, wrapping his forelegs around her stomach and lifted her into the air. She screamed again, eyes bulging out of her head and all four of her limbs shot outwards and were locked into place. If it wasn’t for her breathing, she could have passed as a wooden pony.

I found myself free of the marionette magic and lowered the sword to the ground. Twilight was breathing hard, gasping actually, and her limbs were still locked into place. Without moving her head, her eyes rotated to look behind her at who was holding her, and Midnight just smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Good morning, kid. Nice to see you again… it’s been a while.”

Still breathing hard, her limbs went limp and she sighed. “I’m not a goat.”

Midnight barked a laugh as he put her down on the floor and then hugged her properly. Twilight giggled a little with the release of nervous tension as she returned the hard earned hug. Spike just seemed relieved that it was over.

Midnight looked at Spike. “My. You’ve grown a lot since the last time I saw you. Here. Have a ruby.”

Midnight pulled the gem out of a magical storage portal and gave it to the dragon. Spike took a bite out of the gem eagerly and then cleared his throat. “So, umm… what is all this?”

Midnight looked around the room. “Oh this? I’m thinking about turning the estate into a haunted house for this year’s Nightmare Night. I’ve been playing around with a few ideas… so, what do you think?”

Spike looked around. “Very convincing. A little warning would have been nice.”

Midnight rubbed the dragon’s head. “A little warning wouldn’t have given a genuine reaction.”

Twilight had finally composed herself. “I’ve missed you. I haven’t missed your pranks… but I’ve missed you, Uncle Midnight.”

Midnight smiled at her with a warmth that I had rarely seen from him. “I would have visited more often but your studies took priority. Your magic is fairly well rounded now from what I understand, but you’ve been ignoring your combat studies… otherwise… that should have been easy for you to get out of. Do you have an explanation?”

The final part of his statement, and his question, sounded a touch stern. Like a teacher accusing a student of not doing her homework and waiting for an explanation as to why.

Twilight looked away, as if… embarrassed? Ashamed? When she did speak again, she sounded a little defensive.

“I haven’t been ignoring combat magic… it’s just that the School for Gifted Unicorns only offers one basic magical self-defense class. Most of the school is dedicated to the advanced forms of general spellcasting, Academia, or focused on the advancement of magical theory. The most gifted try to craft entirely new spells or improve existing ones. If I wanted to learn more combat magic… I’d have to take classes at the War Mage College or study on my own. I know you sent me some books on combat magic… but my directed studies and following Princess Celestia’s guidelines have taken priority.”

Midnight nodded. “I understand that you must fulfill the Princesses’ expectations however you must understand that a pony like you is a target. To be the Princesses’ person student… I won’t always be here to protect you. You’re not a filly anymore and I hope you can protect yourself but you need to understand that there isn’t always a Royal Guard to save the day. Your brother may be the best but… you will eventually need to be your own hero.”

Twilight softened at the rebuke. “I know. I’m actually hoping to get the checklist done early so I can look into more about Nightmare Moon. She’s supposed to return soon… maybe even tonight… and I don’t think anypony is ready for her.”

Midnight drew her back into another hug and whispered. “Good. You’ve learned your lessons well. I hope that you make some friends today that can help you with your endeavor.”

Twilight pulled back. “Friends? Even you, the Grand Lord General of all Death Lords… thinks I need friends?”

Midnight gave one curt nod as a reply. “I counted all the Death Lords as my friends… even the ones I had to kill myself. For all my power. For all my wisdom. For all the blood on my hooves… there are just some things you can’t do alone. I mean… just now. That prank. I couldn’t have pulled that off alone. Friends can strengthen you. Enlighten you. Inspire an idea you’d never come up with on your own. You could live a thousand years and not know everything. I assure you that for all of Celestia’s wisdom, even she doesn’t know everything. I do wish you the best of luck in your quest for both knowledge and to protect Equestria… but don’t think you have to do it alone.”

Twilight looked at the floor and seemed to be considering Midnight’s words. “I never thought I’d need more than Spike. He’s helped me a lot of over the years and I guess living alone in a tower at the castle… a stone’s throw away from the school itself was never going to allow me to make friends if I didn’t want them. I mean… I know a lot of ponies from the school… but I can’t claim to really be friends with any of them.”

Midnight tussled her mane like he would have to a filly. “I can’t make you make friends. But… I can encourage you to try to make friends before your mom tries to set you up on a date. You deserve to make your own choices.”

The look of shock that crossed Twilight’s face was priceless. “You don’t think…”

Midnight snorted. “I’d bet you half of your annual royal stipend that Velvet already has a list of candidates complete with pictures and yarn lines tacked up on a pegboard trying to figure out how to make you cross paths. I know your mother cares… but she’s obsessed with grandfoals. Your brother is taking a long time to settle down… so don’t think she won’t bump you to the front of the line with her own special type of meddling.”

Twilight shuddered at the thought. “Come on Spike. We have a lot of work to do today.” She glanced back at Midnight. “And thanks for both the advice and the warning. I’ll work on that.”

Midnight trussed her mane again just because he could. “No problem, kid. Just doing my job as your godstallion. Now go and have some fun while working on your checklist.”

Twilight huffed as she left the living room. “I’m not a goat!”

Spike giggled at her as he followed beside her. “I don’t know, kid. You do have a horn.”

Twilight snorted. “Blah.”

Spike laughed harder. “See? Now you even sound like one!”

Twilight’s frustration was at war with her sense of humor. “Fine! Let’s just get everything done.”

They let themselves out and I heard the front door shut behind them. I gave a Midnight a look.

“My arms are going to be sore after all that swinging of your sword. That thing is heavy!”

Midnight smiled. “Well then. Let’s go to the bedroom and I’ll rub you down. We’re going to need some rest before tonight.”

As I followed him up the stairs to the master bedroom, I thought to myself…

You have no idea how right you are…