Midnight watched in awe as Nightmare Moon was smothered by a whirlwind of magical rainbows. For a brief moment, a small, nearly insignificant part of her feared that she would also be targeted by it. Thankfully, it seemed like the Elements had deemed Nightmare to be a more significant threat, and possibly also because she had directly helped the Mane Six in defeating her.

"Awesome..."

The alicorn muttered under her breath. A wide smile still plastered on her face.

As the stunning light show reached its peak and began to power down, she took a quick glance at the artefacts adorned by the heroes of Equestria. Midnight thought back on how the necklaces and tiara of the Elements were seemingly made out of a different material than the ones she knew, as they were now a shade of purple that was oddly similar to her own regalia.

"Hm... wonder what happened there?"

She turned her gaze back towards the target of the Elements, who had gone quiet after a few moments of getting absolutely blasted by a rainbow cyclone.

Idly tapping the Helm of Shadows under her hoof, she considered getting a closer look at the now-purified Luna. The rainbow beams had disappeared, and the corona of light that surrounded the Mane Six dissipated not long after, knocking them out momentarily as they slowly levitated back down to the ground. It was the perfect opportunity.

Silently, making sure that her shoe-clad hooves barely made any noise, Midnight crept over to the unconscious form of Princess Luna. Sure enough, the blue alicorn was just as adorable here as she was in the show.

"D'awww... sweepy Woona. If only I had a camera..."

Oh well. Maybe if she could somehow get a camera before the Nightmare Forces retaliate, she'll be able to snap a picture of her.

The former human's ears swiveled towards the recognizable voices of the Mane Six murmuring behind her. For a brief moment, she felt a sense of fear pass through her mind, yet it was almost instantly washed away by a wave of excitement and delight when an idea popped up. One that would be risky yet incredibly rewarding if executed correctly.

Swiftly, she took every piece of Nightmare Moon's battle-regalia in her magic and leapt from her spot to hide behind one of the many pillars throughout the chamber. She'll let this play out by itself for a bit.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for Princess Solar Flank to finally reveal herself. The sight of the monarch-turned-diarch was definitely awe-inspiring, Midnight thought. Her height, along with her billowing mane and regal appearance certainly demanded respect and attention.

Still, that wouldn't deter her from executing her plan. She would likely lose the only artefact she currently has in her possesion, but the tradeoff was more than worth it if she managed to pull it off.

And it wasn't like she couldn't 'acquire' it again. There were still plenty of opportunities to take it back later.

Midnight continued to observe the historical scene with unrestrained anticipation. She would have yelled at Celestia to get on with it, but then that would ruin the atmosphere she was trying to set up.

Once Luna gave her apology and accepted her sister's hoof in friendship, Midnight smirked. The ex-human lit her horn, intending to teleport right on the dais where Nightmare Moon was supposed to stand back in the cartoon.

"It's all in the presentation."

"-and then, everything went CRACK!, and it was all flashy, and we tumbled and tumbled and tumbled, riiiight here-" Pinkie jumped slightly to her left, "-and then the Elements broke, which reaaaally scared us at first, but then they started to float round us like swoosh!-" she spun around in place, before immediately stopping, "-and we were all floating in the air and glowing-"

Thankfully for everypony there, the hyperactive pony was quickly silenced with an orange hoof placed on her mouth. Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Yes Pinkie, we got it, thanks." she replied curtly.

The farmer held her hoof up for another moment before lowering it ever-so-slowly.

Pinkie had a fairly brief neutral look on her face before immediately smiling. She gave her friend a rapid series of nods to show her understanding.

"You're very welcome!"

Noticing that she was finally allowed to speak again, Twilight took back the reins of their conversation. One that focused on a certain alicorn who had seemingly disappeared.

"Anyway, like I was saying, whoever Midnight Sparkle is, she definitely wasn't tied to Nightmare Moon. She was clearly working against her, considering what she's done. But we still don't know what her motives are."

Luna nodded in agreement, albeit less energetically considering her current condition.

"We cannot forget that she still possesses the helm. She may have aided the six of you in defeating me, but we should not immediately assume that she is our ally. Whoever wields that cursed item beyond this group shall be seen with great suspicion."

Celestia took a moment to consider their words, and chimed in with her own thoughts.

"I agree. However, we shouldn't approach her with animosity. That may dissuade her from cooperating."

The student replied with another nod, "Of course. We don't want to give her a reason to fight. Her magic felt very powerful and fairly unstable, it'd be hard to predict what would happen if it's deflected or absorbed by a shield."

The solar princess smiled. She couldn't even begin to express just how proud she was of Twilight. She may have her moments of... distress on certain occasions, but whenever her student starts to focus on a task, she was always quick to the chase.

"Very well then. Once my sister and I return to Canterlot, we shall find a way to-"

CRACK!

Out of nowhere, a blast of cyan magic the size of a full-grown alicorn formed atop the center dais of the room. Everypony present whirled themselves around to see what had caused it. Though for seven out of the eight ponies who were there, the sound and slight prickling sensation felt in the air were all too familiar.

The alicorn who referred to herself as Midnight Sparkle stood proudly upon the raised platform with a confident—yet somehow also cocky—smile. She flicked her wings to clear the displaced dust in the air before locking her glowing eyes on the lunar princess.

"Great to have you back with us, Luna! I gotta say, you always did look a lot better in blue."

To say the everypony was caught off-guard by her 'greeting' would be an understatement. For Celestia especially.

While the others were definitely surprised by how casual she was towards the younger princess, the eldest was utterly baffled by the fact that she acted like she knew who Luna was. From what Celestia could discern from the new alicorn's words, it almost seemed like she was even aware of what had happened all those years ago.

"'Have you back'..." the solar princess quietly repeated.

For an entire millennium, any form of knowledge of her sister had slowly been forgotten, with nopony beyond herself and a few very close acquaintances knowing she even existed outside of the tales shared during Nightmare Night.

Whoever Midnight Sparkle was, she definitely knew more than she let on. Assuming she intended to keep any information she knew close to her chest, that is.

And her magic... the sickening amount of overflowing magic throughout her form should have been enough to make her flare six times over. Yet here she was, with her primary magic conduits—that being her horn, wings, and hooves—thrumming with what should be uncontrollable energy.

Luna took a small step towards Midnight. Her legs briefly shook due to her weakened state.

"You... know my name?"

The warped alicorn smirked and tilted her head, "Oh, I know a lot of things. That's why I've shown myself here actually."

She turned her gaze towards Celestia. The older princess felt a strange sense of familiarity as they made eye contact. Midnight lightly bowed her head, but it was clear that the act was not done out of respect.

"Princess Celestia, now co-ruler of Equestria- heh," she covered a small giggle with a wing, "I just realized that rhymed! Anyway, I think you already know what I did by now, don't you?"

The solar princess pulled herself out of her reverie with a shake of her head. She looked back towards Midnight, who bore an expectant expression.

"Oh, yes, Twilight here has informed me of your... ah, 'exploits' during the altercation with Nightmare Moon. I cannot thank you enough for lending a hoof in saving my sister and Equestria as a whole."

Celestia thanked the enigmatic alicorn with a kind smile. While Midnight's motives and very existence were immensely suspicious, she still helped Twilight and her new friends in their objective. That, at very least, required some recognition.

Midnight sniffed with an amused look. She didn't seem have much humility, however.

"As you should, of course." the warped alicorn smugly replied, "I know this makes me sound like an absolute di-d-d-dirtbag- gah!"

The new alicorn stomped a hoof on the ground out of frustration, causing a set of glowing cracks to form right under her. The other ponies present gave her an odd look at the sudden stutter and outburst.

After letting out a clearly audible snort, Midnight took a few deep breaths before she practiced a certain breathing technique that only two out of the eight mares present would know about.

Twilight's eyes gradually widened as she began to put the pieces into place. The voice, the looks, the coat, by Celestia the bright magenta star on her peytral! It just wasn't possible!

...Right?

Various theories began to form within her trained mind, with each one becoming more and more disturbing than its precedent. She felt like her mind was shouting, telling her that 'by all accounts, this should be impossible!'.

On the other, less frantic hoof was Celestia, who silently took note of Midnight's mannerisms as she calmed herself. The way that the ambient magic briefly writhed as the warped alicorn's own magic flared according to her emotions was concerning, to say the least.

With a final lengthy exhale, emphasized by her wings making a steady 'calm down' gesture, Midnight opened her eyes and focused back onto the older princess.

"As I was saying, as someo-pony who took part in saving the world, I do think that a-" she leaned in, her magic shined for a mere moment, "-reward is in order?"

It was clear that everypony—save those who were too timid or oblivious to respond—wanted to give her a piece of their collective minds for such a bold request, but soon relented after realizing that she probably did have the right to do so.

Some even began to mull over the possibility of acquiring their own rewards, especially for a certain rainbow-maned pegasus of the group, whose eyes gleamed with excitement at the very thought.

Celestia held a neutral expression as she thought over Midnight's admittedly brazen request. It wasn't totally unexpected, really, as she did actually believe that the five ponies who had aided Twilight would have their own requests, and she was more than happy to outright give it to them if they asked.

The glaring problem here, however, was the fact that Midnight wasn't just your everyday hard-working pony. She was a—possibly—elder alicorn like her, and a powerful one at that. Based on what Twilight and Luna had claimed, she seemed to possess some form of a magic-stealing ability, which only made her presence even more concerning.

By denying Midnight of her request, it would probably dissuade her from cooperating with them, and possibly put her on uneasy terms with each other.

Allowing Midnight to receive a reward was also a big risk. Her motives were unknown, and her origins even more so. She could always limit the options for her reward to a few set choices, but that would mean the rewards for Twilight's friends would be fairly limited as well to make it fair.

Plus, it would probably make her seem greedy more than anything.

It was a tough choice. Let the mysterious creature of unknowable power have whatever it is she wanted, or deny her of her right and potentially lose their chance to get her on their side?

Celestia heaved a small sigh and looked to the enigmatic alicorn with the kindest smile she could offer.

"But of course. Each and every one of you deserve to be rewarded for your acts of heroism. You only need say it, and it shall be done."

The surrounding atmosphere felt colder as she finished her sentence, despite the sun shining brightly in the sky. Everypony could feel themselves involuntarily shudder as the haloes around Midnight's eyes flared.

The warped alicorn grinned. There was a glint of... something, in her eyes as she did so.

"Well gee... I don't know what to pick. So many things..." she exaggeratedly replied.

Celestia felt like holding her breath. Luna gave her a discreet nudge along with a particular look of 'what the hay are you doing?!' on her face.

Midnight brought her wings in front of her and steepled her feathers, idly tapping them against each other. She craned her head back and looked up in thought in such a way that it would be obvious it wasn't genuine.

A silent yet tense moment passed between her and the group of native Equestrians before she folded back her wings with a mock expression of realization.

"Oooh~ I think I've got it!" Midnight declared.

She she spread her wings off to the side and gestured grandly throughout the room.

"I would like to have the ruins of this once-beautiful castle be recognized as my home!"

...

"What? / Huh?"

Was all that Celestia and Luna could reply with respectively. Midnight's request hit them harder than a stampede of minotaurs, and both held back a sputtering response which resulted in their blunt yet rather expressive answers.

Midnight chuckled, "You heard me! Just give me this old hunk o' junk and we'll be done!" she flicked two feathers on one wing against each other, and somehow made a snapping noise, "Just. Like. That."

Taking the moment given to her by the stunned princesses, Applejack took a few steps closer towards the purple alicorn.

"Now hold on there, missy! I know ya helped save the world n' all, but even if it's all in ruins, this here castle's still owned by the Princess! Or uh, Princesses, I guess..."

Rarity stepped in right beside her and nodded whilst giving Midnight the stink eye.

"Indeed! They may not be using it anymore, but I doubt that's enough of a reason for them to just hoof it over so easily! Why, I wouldn't be surprised if every chamber here, no matter how ghastly and derelict they are now, held some form of significance to them."

Snapping herself and her sister out of their combined stupor, Celestia quickly gestured a wing towards the two mortal ponies.

"Now, now, everypony, let's all calm down. There is no need to start any arguments over this matter. Perhaps you could let my sister and I discuss this first?"

She turned back to Midnight with an uneasy look. Her mind frantically going back and forth on either saying 'yes' or 'no'.

Luna was just as concerned. Remembering all of the ancient, forbidden, and dangerous items or pieces of knowledge contained within the inner sanctums of their purposefully complex castle, it would be dangerous to allow Midnight access to these magical artefacts. Who knows what she could do with them?

Of course, denying her of this would also mean that they wouldn't have a specified location where she would frequent, meaning that it would make tracking her down more difficult. By having her take residence within the castle, they would have a landmark that they can use to potentially predict any of her future endeavors.

The lunar princess looked up to her sister, who just so happened to be doing the same. The two looked at each other before covering up their conversation with each other's wings.

"What do you think?" the eldest whispered.

The younger paused for a moment before replying, "I say we could. But what of the artefacts? We cannot leave them here with her running amok."

Celestia breath out a sigh, "Assuming she doesn't already know..."

Luna's eyes widened, "Right... she knows of what happened before...."

The solar princess sensed some distress based on her sister's reaction. She'll need to confront this when they return.

"She knows more than she lets on. Maybe she's here for the artefacts after all?"

"Not entirely out of the realm of possibility..."

Celestia tiredly rubbed her pastern on the bridge of her muzzle, "We just don't have enough information on her. And at this point, it's getting quite frustrating."

Luna placed a hoof on her sister's foreleg and gave her a smile, "Calm, sister. We will get through this together."

The older sister smiled warmly. It was good to have her back.

"Thank-"

"You know you could just ask what I'm going to do, right?"

The royal siblings froze as they heard a third voice whispering right next to them. The two slowly turned their heads towards the source, and witnessed the smirking face of Midnight looking back at them.

They immediately ceased their brief huddle by quickly pulling themselves away off of each other and out of Midnight's dark wings, making sure to avoid her claws as well.

She laughed heartily at their reaction, wiping off a tear with a pinion. The sisters gave her a shared glare, but were distracted by the laughter and giggling of a group of ponies not too far away.

The six heroes of Equestria seemed to have found the interaction to be pretty humorous. With their reactions ranging from contained tittering to full-blown cackling. Twilight, being the Celestia sycophant that she was, was trying—and failing—to hold back a series of giggles.

It wasn't until Celestia directly addressed her when she quickly reeled in her laughter and recollected herself.

"Twilight?"

The student wiped the sweat off of her brow and cleared her throat.

"O-oh! Um, well, you see..."

[A few minutes minutes ago...]

Midnight rolled her eyes as she waited for the two princesses to finish their little discussion.

Call it a hunch, but she was certain both of them were likely discussing the possible motives behind her decision. It made sense, of course, as she was an unknown addition to an event that had already been directed by fate itself. For all intents and purposes, she was never supposed to be there let alone even existing at all.

'Guess that's the fun part of getting the Human-to-Pony treatment. You get to f-fp-play around and eventually find out.'

Her eye twitched.

'You gotta be kidding me...'

Shaking her head, she focused back on the huddling royals before her. They were taking way too long.

She would have tried to get their attention by speaking up or loudly clearing her throat, until a mischievous smile spread across her face.

Making sure she wasn't noticed, she carefully trotted off of the dais and began to approach the occupied alicorns. The Mane Six watched her intently, trying to figure out what she was going to do. Rainbow in particular, readied her wings in case she needed to launch herself towards the former human.

Midnight looked at them with a smile still plastered on her face. She brought a wing near her mouth and made a shushing gesture with a feather placed on her lips before adding a cheeky wink.

Confused by her playfulness, the six heroes silently changed their game plan to be more defensive. Midnight didn't seem to be planning anything malicious, but her confidence in being able to stand so close to them was still worrying.

Without any form of acknowledgement from the sisters, she enveloped the both Celestia and Luna with both of her wings and managed to nudge herself into their conversation.

"And it pretty much ended with... well, that." the student finished with an awkward laugh.

Neither princess knew know how to react to such an act. It was obvious that Midnight wasn't exactly the most serious of ponies, considering her mannerisms during her interaction with Nightmare Moon and the way she presented herself earlier, yet they didn't really expect her to be the kind of pony to partake in small pranks.

Though to be fair, the taller of the two royals wasn't exactly beyond doing some herself.

As her laugh finally died down, Midnight continued on with her point.

"Alright, look. I know you two are probably freaking out over me just waltzing around this place like a k- er, filly in a candy store. I want to assure you that I mean Equestria no harm, and I just want to help you guys out with any future... let's just say, 'problems' you will come across."

The warped alicorn emphasized by leaning her head closer and pointing a hoof towards the sisters.

"Plus, I don't really have anywhere else to stay, and I know explaining my whole existence alongside Luna's going to be a hassle. I'd be better off here, where I can also probably fix the place up a bit."

She then proceeded to execute an odd series of gestures. One that was easily recognized by certain party planner of the group, who began to rapidly hop in place with a massive grin as Midnight continued the vow.

"SQUEE!"

"I promise I won't use any of the magical doohickeys and mumbo-jumbos stored in here to destroy or take over Equestria or whatever. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye- ack! Okay, that actually hurts..."

As Midnight gently rubbed her—purposefully—poked eye, the Royal Sisters shared a brief glance with one another. It seemed like their suspicion was unwarranted... for now.

And whatever incantation she did also appeared to have some very powerful magic attached to it. She was being serious this time around.

Celestia approached her with a tentative yet kind smile, and bowed her head. Luna opted to stay quiet, but followed along her sister's actions.

"We see that your intentions are indeed more noble than what we had surmised. And for that we sincerely apologize. It was... unwise of us to suspect you of anything without any proof."

Midnight waved a hoof and wing in her general direction as she chuckled.

"Honestly, it made perfect sense. Some random alicorn pops up out of nowhere, starts doing crazy sh-s-stuff, and suddenly wants an entire castle for herself? Who wouldn't be suspicious of that? You girls made the right call here."

Again with the casualness when addressing somepony who was supposed to rank higher. Though with her being an alicorn, everything has gotten quite muddied. Was Midnight even obligated to refer to her by a title?

A question for later, Celestia thought. She nodded in reply to the playful alicorn's words and proceeded to gesture a hoof towards her.

"Very well. For your acts of heroism in aiding the Elements Bearers in their goal of defeating Nightmare Moon and saving Princess Luna, I hereby declare you, Miss Midnight Sparkle-"

"You can just call me 'Midnight', by the way"

The solar princess held back an eye roll for being interrupted three times in one day. By the same pony, no less.

"Right..." she cleared her throat, "Midnight, I hereby declare you... as the Custodian of the Castle of the Two Sisters!"

Right as Celestia announced her newly-granted title, a wave of gold and teal magic suddenly surged across the very structure of the castle, briefly enveloping everything in a swirling mix of both auras.

Eventually, the dual-toned aura's color faded and turned to a pale white, before slowly showing a distinct light cyan color. A color that could be seen upon the body of one particular pony in the chamber.

Everypony, including the three alicorns, witnessed the sight with shock and awe. As far as the sisters remembered, in the entire history of the castle's existence for over a millennium, this has never occurred before.

Not during the celebration of the castle having been fully built, not during the defeat of their greatest enemies, not even during the return and purification of the lunar princess.

This was new.

Everypony was pulled out of their own internal thoughts when they heard a loud Clank! coming from Midnight's direction. It's starting to feel like a pattern at this point.

"And of course, to show that I do actually mean business, here's Nighty's helm for ya!"

She tapped the Helm of Shadows under a hoof, before picking it up in her magic and levitating it closer towards the royals.

Luna observed the icon of her folley with eyes of regret and resentment. Almost as if it on instinct, she carefully extended a hoof towards it.

Midnight's reaction was immediate, as she swiped the helm away into Celestia's direction.

"Upupup! While I won't act like I know what this thing can do, I really don't think you of all ponies should be touching it."

The sudden warning caught the lunar princess off-guard, but after a moment of hesitation, she nodded in agreement.

She could feel the overwhelming amount of dark magic within the helm radiating all around it. And considering her current state, it was entirely possible that even the slightest contact would cause some... ah, 'issues'.

Luna breathed out a sigh, "I understand. We should store it somewhere secure, then. Where nopony, except the few who are authorized, is allowed to access it."

The older princess nodded along. She gave Midnight a thankful look before taking the helm in her magic.

For a brief moment, a tide of hatred and resentment flashed through her mind, disappearing just as quickly as it came.

Celestia shook her head. Midnight's warnings were definitely not unfounded. She could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead the longer she kept it in her magic.

"Thank you, Midnight. We will make sure this helm is kept in containment. I can see why you were so cautious."

The warped alicorn waved a hoof dismissively. Her gaze appeared to be distracted, however. Perhaps even strained.

"Yuh-huh, totally, go deal with that or uh, something."

What an odd mare...

[A few hours later...]

Midnight chuckled sinisterly as she trotted through the decrepit ruins of the Everfree Castle's library. Her mind thought of each and every one of the dusty old books within its shelves, all filled with untold amounts of lore.

"All for me..." the former human murmured.

She trailed her a wing along the spines of a full row of ancient books, dusting them off and revealing a few of their titles.

Sure, she might have lost a very powerful and iconic artefact, but what she got in return was well worth the loss of an easily reclaimable item.

And to add to that, she had also—somewhat—befriended the princesses as well! Talk about being supernaturally lucky.

Midnight tapped a hoof on her chin, "Or maybe they're just stupid?"

After a moment of thought, she shrugged, "Eh, whatever. Still got what I wanted."

Her twisted horn flared to life, entire rows of books getting enveloped in her magic. One by one, they shot out of ther respective shelves and merged into a swirling tornado of literature that stretched through the open roof.

At the eye of the storm, surrounded by various books and texts, cackling uncontrollable with manic eyes, Midnight Sparkle realized that...

"Aw c-c-crabapples..."

She needed to find the toilet.

Swiftly, with the help of her wings, the warped alicorn zipped back through the library's entrance, leaving every book and scroll that she had taken to free fall, creating a localized dust storm within the library's main hall.

"WHERE THE FIZZ IS THE TOILET?!"

[Meanwhile...]

The two reunited royal sisters sat in a comfortable silence and shared a cup of tea within Celestia's personal chambers. The Helm of Shadows had been placed neatly upon a table the two were occupying right beside a tall viewing window.

Not being able to hold back her thoughts any longer, Luna finally decided to speak.

"Celestia, about what happened earlier..."

The older sister sighed and rested her chin on a hoof.

"It was the only thing I could think of at the time. Midnight made it fairly clear from the get-go that she already had her mind made up on staying there."

She folded her forelegs and slumped over.

"It was between saying yes and hoping that she was indeed saying the truth, or denying her and possibly causing a rift to form between us..."

The solar princess grunted and tapped her hoof as she listed off the things that had been irking her.

"We don't know where she came from, we don't know what she's capable of, and we don't know what her motives are."

Luna nodded solemnly as her sister continued to vent her frustrations.

Celestia straightened her posture and took a sip of tea to calm herself.

"She poses both a threat and an opportunity that we absolutely cannot ignore. So far, she has shown that she is willing to cooperate, but I doubt that meeting would have ended as well as it had if I denied her request."

The youngest mulled over the eldest's words for a moment before replying.

"But was it wise to trust her with that much access to the castle? Should we not have given her at least some restrictions?"

"And make her think we don't trust her?"

"You seem quite adamant in making her an ally, sister."

Celestia flinched from how blunt Luna's response was. Some things will never change, it seemed.

"I have envesioned many... 'trials', that Equestria will face in the future, Luna. Some more dire than others, even pushing our nation to the brink of collapse. And based on what she said, she knows about them as well."

She took another sip, and looked towards her sister right in the eye.

"You've seen a glimpse of what kind of abilities she possesses, haven't you?"

Luna turned her gaze towards the cursed helm on the table, and closed her eyes as she nodded.

"Passive magic absorption, magic disruption... her exposed conduits seem to be able to take apart a concentrated mass of magic and repurpose it for herself."

"And possibly magic corruption as well, judging from what happened at the castle. Her magic seemed to have overtaken ours."

The lunar princess leaned back on her seat and heaved a sigh.

"A dangerous set of powers in the wrong hooves..."

Celestia turned to look through a window, and took in the sight of a busy Canterlot.

"Only if we give her a reason to go against us. Which is less likely to happen if we tried to appeal to her. She could do so much for Equestria if we can get her truly aligned with us."

Luna raised an eyebrow as she took her own sip of tea, briefly blanching due to it having lost its warmth.

"I understand your goal of getting the upper hoof before any of these 'trials' occur, sister, but is it truly worth the risks that you are taking?

"She may claim that her motives are to help us, but what if she was lying?"

Celestia rested a hoof on the table and leaned forward, "The way she talked implied that she knows something about our past and the presence of the stored artefacts. I have a feeling she might have been present in the background for quite some time."

Luna tilted her head, "You are suggesting that she is as... old, as we are?"

It wasn't exactly a secret that the two sisters were ancient compared to your average pony. The way Midnight looked and acted around them showed the possibility of her being within their league.

The solar princess placed her cup back on the table to refill it. She then turned to her sister with a look of resolute determination.

"I don't think such things will matter for now. Whatever her age may be, Midnight may prove to be incredibly helpful in the coming years, and I will not squander this opportunity."

The younger princess looked down to her cup with a look of uncertainty.

"Very well. But please ensure that she is carefully monitored. While the binding incantation she conjured felt powerful, it may yet be another trick of her magic."

"Of course."

A plan was set in motion, and the future became less certain as a mare persisted to exist.

Author's Note

I think I went a bit overboard with this...

Here ya go, three chapters in, and we already have a 5k-er. My goodness.

While we did see the Royal Sisters' personal thoughts on Midnight this chapter, we'll see Twilight going bananas on the next, or perhaps even later chapter.

Since Midnight now has a base of operations, what should she start doing first? I've a few ideas, with a few involving a still-on-the-run Starlight.

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"