Chapter 6

Mystery Mare

            Midnight walked out of the guest room’s bathroom, feeling relieved. Apparently, some things were universal for both species, humans or Equestrians. The coffee drink, juice, cider and various fruits worked their way through his system, prompting his first restroom break in his new body. He was a bit nervous at first; the… equipment was different than what he was used to, and the toilet longer and shallower that others he remembered from his human world. It also had a large, ceramic box with a pull chain connected to it, hanging above it on the wall. The proper way to use the toilet wasn’t too clear; however, nature called, and had to be answered, so he tried to make the best of it.

            After finishing, he returned to the mirror and, this time, looked at an aspect of his new body he neglected to check before. He stood on his hind legs, propping himself up on one foreleg against the frame of the massive mirror. He was almost too nervous to turn his gaze downward, but this was HIS body, after all. At least for the time being, he had to learn all he could about it. For the most part, he had all the necessary items he had on earth, albeit pony-proportioned. His maleness was hidden by a sheath, which didn’t surprise him that much. His other items seemed to be tucked up neatly underneath, probably for a number of purposes.

            He didn’t remember seeing anything that could be classified as ‘naughty’ on Dusty, having watched her as she left the room earlier. Even Sky Shield wasn’t exposed. However, when he turned around and swished his tail back and forth, he did notice a brief glimpse of his neithers in the mirror. This somehow didn’t bother him, though. Again, he reminded himself that ponies didn’t wear clothes, so perhaps catching a brief flash of another ponies most private of areas wasn’t all that uncommon. He assumed that the polite thing to do would be to not call attention to it.

            He did his best to make his mane look presentable in the mirror, not knowing what styles or fads of this strange society might be in fashion at the moment. He couldn’t do much with his tail, he imagined, so he just left it as it was. Quietly, he started singing to himself in the mirror as he straightened himself.

            o/` ‘The needle on my record player has been wearing thin…

            This record has been playing since the day you been with him…’ o/`

            He paused, something odd catching his ear. His voice had changed somehow. It was more defined, even the tone of those few lines seemed to hold better with each breath. He tried again, looking back through his memories for a song that might test this interesting facet of his new body.

            ‘The faster we’re falling, we’re stopping and stallin’, we’re running in circles, again.

            Just as things were looking up, you said it wasn’t good enough, but still we’ll try it one more time…’

            There was no doubt about it; he sang like a pro in this pony body! If it was the longer neck, more vocal cords or bigger lungs, he couldn’t tell, but he was enjoying himself immensely.

            “HA! This is fantastic! I never sounded like this before! OH! What other songs do I know…”

===

            Dusty and several other maids worked their way down the hall towards the guest room that housed Midnight. On the way, Dusty gave the group instructions to only clean the empty rooms and leave the one with Midnight to her. None of the other maids seemed to mind this, however, considering the rumors that were circling the palace staff and guards about the strange visitor who crash landed in the garden the other night. The fact that he had one princess falling all over herself and the other apparently very nervous was reason enough to keep their distance and stay out of trouble.

            “Pssst! Dusty! Is that you? Come over here! “ a whispered voice called from down the hallway. Dusty rounded the hall and saw Sky Shield, leaned down close to the door to Midnights room, his ear pressed against it. She trotted down to meet him, puzzled at his behavior.

            “Sky, what in the name of Celes-“

            “SHHH! Listen, and keep your voice down.” He whispered again, waving her closer with his hoof. She placed her ear to the door as some of the other maids came around the bend in the hallway.

            “Is he… is he actually SINGING?”

===

            Princess Celestia took a magical look through the wall from her hidden passage. She could sense not another pony anywhere on the current floor. With a slight flicker from her horn, the wall collapsed in on itself and she walked through, stepping through and quickly closing the passage behind her.

            “Nothing good can come from this human being here in Equestria. I only hope I can keep him segregated from as many ponies as possible until I can get him sent back to that open sewage ditch of a world of his.” she thought, shaking her mane and strolling down the hallway. She was only one floor above the throne room, so decided to return there and have her sister summoned by one of the guards.

            “Luna seems to be very enthralled with this little invader. Well, I don’t care what HE may say, I don’t trust him as far as I can launch a hydra. The sooner I can erase his memory and send him back to Earth, the better.”

===

            Twilight and her friends stood up, dizzy and confused. The process of teleportation was a complicated one, even for her, and more often than not resulted in disorientation.

            “T-Twilight, what just happened? Where are we?” Fluttershy squeaked from the floor, hiding behind her bangs and Rainbow Dash.

            “Darling, I think we’re in the palace in Canterlot again. It appears that we’re in the throne room.” Rarity said, pointing with her hoof. Gradually, the all turned to the large throne in the center of the raised stairs, Princess Luna sitting on the throne at the top.

            “Indeed you are! Welcome, subjects! It pleases us that you have responded to our request so promptly! We had feared that our prior transgressions might have discouraged thee from assisting us in our current dilemma!” Luna said in a loud, booming voice. She paused for a moment, expecting them to genuflect or respond humbly to her praise. Instead, they only stared at her, doe-eyed and speechless.

===

            Princess Celestia strolled through the foyer on her way to the throne room, still considering the next course of action she should take with her new guest, the apparent lost human. The very idea of his presence in her palace made her feel angry, as if this creature had appeared solely to aggravate her and cause her worry. To make matters worse, her sister had seemed to take an interest to the thing, feeling sympathy for its plight. She would have to find a way to separate the human-pony from her sister and any other ponies before he corrupted them all beyond repair.

            As she approached the main doors to the throne room, she paused.

            “Is that… yelling coming from my throne room?” she said to herself, a sudden chill rising inside her chest. She immediately ran toward the doors, half expecting the human-turned-pony invader to be there with his hooves gripping Luna’s throat. She reared up, kicking the doors in with her fore hooves and froze in place.

            “Ah, Sister Celestia! Join us in welcoming the Elements of Harmony back to our palace!” Luna said in the booming traditional Canterlot fashion. Before her in the center of the court were her star pupil, Twilight Sparkle, and all of her close friends from the other night. Celestia slowly started to enter the room, baffled by the very presence of her friends after only seeing them the night before.

            “Princess Celestia! So nice to see you again. We understand you’re having a little situation with an unexpected house guest?” Twilight said as she approached Celestia, a smile beaming on her face.

            Celestia stood, stunned as she realized the scene before her. Oh, by the heavens, why did she do this? She looked over the smiling faces of the Elements, each bowing to greet her. She looked up toward her sister, a smile growing on her face as well. It was all too obvious now; Luna had summoned them to meet the human! A slight sniff of the air revealed two very tell-tale odors; the first, a familiar scent of burning paper from a letter transport spell. The second, the heavy layer of magically torn space. Celestia did her best to mask her shock, putting on her best diplomatic face to address them all.

            “Welcome back, Twilight, everypony. It’s such a pleasure to see you all again, and on such short notice. Why, I wasn’t even aware all of you were coming.” she said, giving Luna a sideways glance, noticing in her eyes as she picked up on the slight gesture. “Did my sister summon you all here this evening?”

            “She sure did, Princess. We all heard about some poor, lost pony in a letter yer sister sent to us earlier, and just had to come help the lil’ fella out.” Applejack said.

            “Yes, Sister, we asked for the assistance of the Elements of Harmony in this matter most urgent to us!” Luna shouted, causing the group to once again cringe, their manes blowing from the force of her words. Celestia trotted close to her sister and leaned in close to her ear.

            “You know, Luna,” she whispered. “I haven’t used the Traditional Canterlot Public Speaking Voice in about 800 years. I found it tends to scare the life out of ponies. How about you just speak to them as you have been the palace staff now?”

            Luna looked down at the nervous grins on the faces of the group, realizing now why they had looked upon her with such confusion earlier.

            “Oh. I didn’t realize, Tia. Sorry.” she said normally, walking with her down the stairs. “Sorry about the voice, everypony. It’s, um… been a while since I’ve spoken to anypony not in a maid’s outfit or military armor. But yes; We… I welcome you back to the palace. I know you are all as eager as my sister and I to help our friend along his journey.”

            Celestia nudged her sister from behind, stepping forward to address Twilight and the others. “Thank you all so much for coming on such short notice. Your dedication to my sister and I are greatly appreciated. However, I need a moment to speak with her in private. If you will excuse us, we will join you all shortly in the foyer.” She spread her wings, shooing the group towards the doors of the throne room and out into the foyer. “We will be with you shortly.”

            As the door shut, the six friends only looked at each other in confusion.

            “Twilight,” Rainbow Dash asked. “what kind of mess did get pulled into?”

===

            Celestia shut the door and turned back towards Luna, a serious look on her face. Luna sat before the steps to the throne, sensing the mood of her sister change dramatically as she approached.

            “Luna, why in the world did you bring Twilight and her friends here? What could they possibly have to offer our guest?”

            “Midnight.” Luna said, matter-of-factly.

            “Excuse me?”

            “Well, he was getting tired of not remembering his name. I took him for a walk around upstairs for a bit and he saw that huge tapestry in the hall and absolutely loved it. So much, in fact, that he took its name as his own. So until he remembers his real name, we can call him Midnight Blaze, just like the tapestry. And I called Twilight and the others here to help him learn how to use his wings and unicorn magic. I mean, what better teachers than Equestria’s greatest heroes?” Luna smiled. It was almost as though she was telling Celestia the name of a new pet and the tricks she would teach him. Celestia felt a slight twitch in her eye.

            “Luna… I don’t think it’s such a good idea to allow him such free access to the palace and such knowledge. We don’t really know where he comes from, or his intentions. And I certainly don’t think it’s wise to introduce him to the six ponies that control the most powerful artifacts in all of Equestria.” Celestia said, putting it as delicately and gently as possible. Luna looked a bit surprised.

            “You… you don’t approve of my helping him? I thought you wanted me to be more out-going and open to other ponies, Tia.”

            “Oh, I do, Luna. But he’s claiming to not be a pony, at all. I mean, I’m only looking out for your best interest, sister.”

            “… you still don’t trust me…” Luna said, turning away.

            “What? Luna…” Celestia started, only to be cut off.

            “I know I’ve… been away for a while. I know I’m out of practice in dealing with modern ponies. But, I’m trying, sister. I’m getting tired of sitting in this palace all day and night. Midnight is the first other pony I’ve spoken to besides you and the palace staff. He’s lost, and needs our help. I thought you’d be proud of me for reaching out and finding him the best help available.” Luna closed her eyes, saddened by her sister’s sudden disapproval of her plan. She truly felt like her first attempt to help a friend, an act that her sister preached so adamantly, had been a failure. “And besides that, imagine if he was any other one of our subjects, a real pegacorn; don’t you think that not helping him learn to use his wings and his magic would be kind of… cruel?”

            Celestia felt awful. Her sister really HAD been stuck in the palace too long, trapped by her own fears over her subject’s opinion of her. This… Midnight had been the only creature she had talked to besides the staff since she had returned from the moon. Luna may have been naïve about the ways of the modern ponies, but Celestia knew she was no foal. Why was she putting so much faith and trust in this guest off theirs?

            “Luna, I’m sorry. It’s just that… we don’t know anything about these ‘humans’ that Midnight claims to come from. I just want to be sure that of his intentions, for your own safety. I just don’t want to see you hurt, little sister.” She nuzzled against Luna, wishing she could tell her all she knew about humans. If only Luna knew what she already knew, she would understand.

            “I know, Tia. But please, trust me this one time. He needs us. And I won’t be alone; I’ll have your friends with me. If they’re as nice as you always tell me, they’ll let me know if there’s any reason to be worried. In fact, why don’t we go up and introduce the Elements to him, together? They probably want to know exactly why they’ve been summoned.”

            Celestia grinned as her little sister. She had hidden away from everypony, up until now. Today, she even went so far as to invite the very ponies that defeated her alternate self, Nightmare Moon, to the palace. Had this… human really have had such an impact on her? Celestia still didn’t trust him, but if ‘helping’ him was drawing Luna out of her shell, she would allow it to go just a bit further.

            “Very well, let’s take them up to meet their new student.”

===

            “What do ya think is goin’ on in there, Twi?” Applejack said, adjusting the tie on the ponytail of her mane.

            “I don’t know, AJ. Usually, Princess Celestia is more organized than this. I hope everything’s alright.”

            “Of course, ‘everything’s alright,’ Twilight. It’s Princess Celestia. I’m more worried about her little sis. SHE summoned us here, after all. She probably messed something up, and wants us to help clean it up for her.” Rainbow Dash added, hovering above the group. Her want to help her friends had outweighed her distrust of Princess Luna, prompting her to come along. However, this secrecy between the two princesses now was making her suspicious again.

            “Now, Dash, perhaps there’s another reason for this. Maybe they have to make preparations for what they need us for or are discussing our rolls in their plan.” Rarity pointed out.

            “Yeah, whatever, Rarity. You don’t care WHAT’S going on, so long as you get to walk around the fashion district of the market place when we’re done.”

            “Now wait just a moment here, Dash!”

            As Rarity and Rainbow Dash began to argue, Pinkie Pie marveled at the pretty pictures and art throughout the foyer, hopping about as she tended to from painting to statue. Fluttershy, being the gentle soul that she is, decided to stay close to Pinkie Pie and away from the disturbance as possible. The entire room, much like the rest of the palace, held many priceless works of art, causing Pinkie to quickly turn her attention from one item to another.

            “OOH! Look at THIS! No, WAIT! LOOK at THIS!!! OOH, WOW! Fluttershy, check THIS out!” Pinkie bounded around from painting to bust, Fluttershy trying to keep up as she floated behind her.

            “I don’t know, Pinkie. Maybe we shouldn’t go wondering around while we wait for the princesses to come get us. W-we might in trouble if we… Pinkie?” Out of the corner of her eye, Pinkie vanished around one of the art works in the foyer, bouncing out of sight. Fluttershy turned towards a large marble statue of a unicorn Royal Guard on a pedestal, the last place she had seen Pinkie. She rounded the statue, expecting to see her friend there. Instead, she came face to face with a strange creature, wearing a frightening black and red mask.

            “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!!! MONSTER!!!” Fluttershy screamed, almost falling to the ground as her wings fluttered wildly, waffling as she turned and crashed straight into pinkie Pie behind her. Rainbow Dash and Rarity stopped arguing and turned their attention to the shaking ball of yellow fluff behind Pinkie Pie.

            “Ah, c’mon. What NOW, Fluttershy? See your ‘spooky’ shadow again?” Rainbow asked.

            “N-n-n-n-no! Th-th that! Behind the statue!” she squeaked, pointing with a trembeling hoof from behind Pinkies mane. The group looked near the base off the statue to see a black and red checkered mass, shaking in a ball near the ground.

            Rarity was the first to approach the thing, leaning down close to get a better view. Slowly, it rose to look at Rarity, causing her to draw back a bit out of surprise. The creature then leapt high into the air, flipping over all six of the friends, (including Rainbow Dash, who was still hovering above them) and landed on its hind legs.

            “What in tarnation is that thing?” Applejack asked, giving it a sideways look. The ‘thing’ was, in fact, a mare, dressed in a tight bodysuit from head to flank, covered in large black and red checkerboard squares. Even her tail was covered in fabric, split down the middle with red on one side and black on the other, a small gold-colored bell on the tip. On her head, she had a jester’s hat, with three points on it; two in the back and one in the center of the front. On her face, however, she wore a white mask, half a smiling face on the left and half a frowning face on the right.

            “OHH!  A COURT JESTER! That’s so COOL!” Pinkie bounced up above the group and dropped down a few feet in front of the jester, bouncing in place. “Hiya, I’m Pinkie Pie, party hostess extraordinaire! You got some GREAT moves! Would you be interested in doing some work outside the palace sometime? I could TOTALLY use a mare like you at some of my parties! Do you do parties? You should TOTALLY do parties! So, anyway, what’s your name?!”

            The jester didn’t answer. Instead, she started bouncing with along Pinkie, keeping time with every move. And when Pinkie tilted her head to the side, unsure of what to make of her at the moment, the jester tilted her head as well.

            “Ha! She mimicking you, Pinkie.” Twilight said, glad this served as a distraction from Dash and Rarity’s argument. Pinkie, however, didn’t find this mocking amusing, for some reason. In fact, Pinkie actually seemed a bit offended.

            “Oh, yeah, Miss Jokety JokePants? How about THIS?!” Pinkie took this simple miming of her honed, practiced signature moves as s challenge. She started going into the dance she did for her friends the day they met their zebra friend, Zecora. First, prancing on her hind legs, than waving her forelegs in circles and twitching. After leaning down and giving a furious tail-waving, she hopped up again on her hind legs. Much to her dismay, the jester copied every move like a mirror. Rainbow Dash started to laugh as Pinkie’s jaw dropped, the jester taking a bow to the group.

            “Looks like she’s got your moves down, Pinkie. She moves just like YOU!” Dash giggled for a moment, before she noticed the jester floating right next to her, her forelegs crossed exactly like her own. “What?! How are you doing that?!”

            Dash shifted back and forth in the air, then raised and fell in altitude. All the while, the jester mirroring her, even performing a loop-de-loop in perfect form with ease. From the floor, Twilight noticed a slight magical aura coming from the jester mare.

            “Oh, I get it now! She’s a unicorn! That’s how she can float and move like that without wings.” Twilight said with a grin. The jester did another loop-de-loop and landed in front of her, nodding her head as she pointed to the center point of her hat and took a bow. The friends clapped their hooves, all except for Pinkie Pie, who sat with her forelegs crossed.

            “Huh. I don’t see what’s so funny.” Pinkie sulked.

            Approaching hoofsteps from behind the throne room doors drew their attention. With a quick wave of her hoof, the jester mare stood up tall on her hind legs and rolled into a cart wheel back behind the large statue from where she came from, disappearing just as the doors opened.

            “Well, friends, sorry to keep you waiting. But now that we’re all ready, let’s go meet our new friend, shall we?” Celestia said as she stepped regally out into the foyer with Luna following behind. The six friends all gave words of agreement as they followed them up the stairs to the upper level where they would meet the lost traveler. Only Pinkie lingered for a moment, glancing back down the stairs in search of the jester mare. The room was empty except for the works of art and a few thin rays of light from the late afternoon sun.

            “There’s something familiar about that jester...” Pinkie Pie said to herself before continuing her bounce up the stairs.

===

            The Princesses and the six friends rounded the top of the stairs and began walking down the hall towards the room where the lost guest waited. The eight all slowed to a stop and stared at the sight before them. Dusty, Sky Shield and a group of assorted other guards and maids stood huddled outside the room, frozen in place close to the door. Cautiously, Luna approached.

            “What’s going on, everypony?’

            “Shh! Just shut up and li-li….oh my.” Dusty stuttered as she turned red, noticing now just who she told to ‘shut up.’ “Oh, my goodness, Princess, Luna, I’m so sorry!”

            “That’s alright, Dusty, but what’s going on? Is Midnight in his room?”

            “Yes, Princess, but you NEED to come over and listen. But be careful not to startle him.”

            Luna looked back to Celestia and the others ponies. They all slowly approached the doors, the rest of the guards and maids making room for them, but still trying to stay close enough to where they originally were. Carefully, they listened to the door.

            o/` ‘I see trees of green, red roses, too.  I see them bloom, for me and you.

And I think to myself…. What a wonderful world…..

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white.  Bright, sunny days, dark sacred night.

And I think to myself…. What a wonderful world….’ o/`

            “What is he… is he… singing?” Celestia whispered in Luna’s ear in disbelief. The voice was unmistakably Midnight’s, ringing off the high ceilings and walls of the guest room. The words echoed out of the room and through the small space between the one shut door and the one cracked open slightly, followed by the clopping of hooves. Luna peeked through the crack to see Midnight moving back and forth in front of a large mirror, half-jokingly, not really in time to the song.

            “Not only that, Sis. He appears to be dancing, too!” Luna whispers, just loud enough for all those now watching to hear. Quickly, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hovered near the top of the door and peered through the crack. Luna, Rarity and Applejack quickly hopped to the other side of the door and crouched near the floor, Twilight and Pinkie Pie looking from the other side with Celestia looking over both their heads. Midnight finished the song and bowed to the mirror, acting as if he were speaking to an audience.

            “Thank you! Thank you, everypony. Wonderful World, by The Ramones. Here’s another one of my personal favorites. Feel free to sing along if you know the words.” Midnight had been singing and at least TRYING to dance for a short while now, lost in a simple happiness he couldn’t readily remember he ever had before. He tried to rationalize the dancing and singing as a form of training, replacing certain words like ‘hand’ or ‘hair’ with ‘hoof’ or ‘mane,’ and dancing to get a better handle on controlling four legs at once. In reality, though, he felt more comfortable here than he could ever remember feeling back in his human world. These ponies were different than any of the humans he remembered, much nicer and much more trusting than he was used to. Not that he had any thoughts about harming anypony he met so far; he’d never dream of it. But he knew how a pony, turned into a human and lost on Earth, would be treated when found by any person of authority.

            o/` ‘You’re better than the best… I’m lucky just to linger in your light

Cooler than the flip-side of my pillow, that’s right.

Completely unaware, nothing can compare to where you send me

Let’s me know that it’s ok…. Yeah, it’s ok, in the moment when my good time start to fade…

You make me smile like the sun, fall out of bed, sing like a bird, dizzy in my head

Spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night

You make me dance like a foal, forget how to breath, shine like gold, buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild….

You make me smile’ o/`

            Midnight shuffled his hooves as he sang, putting on a good show for those watching secretly from the hallway. Pinkie jutted her head back and forth, trying to get a better view of the action in the room. Not being able to find one, she suddenly hopped up on Twilight’s back, almost knocking her over immediately.

            “Pinkie, what are you doing?” Twilight whispered. “You can’t stand on my back.”

            “Why, did you want to get up on my back, first?” Pinkie said, wobbling back and forth, almost falling as Twilight struggled to keep her up. Midnight continued to sing and shuffle along in the room as Pinkie struggled to keep her balance on Twilight. Eventually, Twilight’s knees gave way and she began to crumple under Pinkie’s weight, forcing Pinkie to reach up and grab Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy by the hoofs of their hind legs. They held her up for a moment, before Fluttershy lost her hover and fell on AJ and Rarity on the other side of the door. Dash was able to sustain altitude for a moment, but quickly dropped under the assault of a struggling Pinkie Pie, dropping her on top of Princess Celestia before falling on Princess Luna herself.

            o/` ‘Just the thought of you can drive me wild…

You make me smile.’ o/`

            Midnight finished his song just as a multi-colored mass of wings, horns, manes and hoofs crashed through the double-doors of the guest room, causing him to rear up and fall back over the bed away from the door. The maids and guards in the hallway gave a collective gasp and quickly rushed to help the eight felled mares up off the ground, just as Midnight raised his head over the edge of the bed.

            “Princess Luna! Princess Celestia! Are you alright?” he yelled as he ran around the bed to assist. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, realizing just what the cause of the commotion was in the first place. “Oh, no… did everypony hear me in here?” He shied away from them all and felt his face turn as red as his mane.

            “Oh, Midnight, I’m so sorry!” Luna said, quickly making to her hooves and trotting over to him. She nuzzled against his neck as he turned away slightly, embarrassed beyond words. “We couldn’t help but hear you in the hallway. I’m sorry we didn’t knock or let you know we were there sooner. You sounded really good, though.” she said, pulling away and blushing a bit herself. The rest of the group had managed to make it to their feet and regain their bearings. After motioning the guards and maids away into the hall and sending a stern look Pinkie’s way, Celestia trotted to stand beside Midnight.

            “Twilight, everypony; I’d like to introduce you to all to our new friend, Midnight Blaze. He’s the young stallion who Luna has summoned you to assist.” Celestia extended a wing over Midnight as the six gave him their brightest smiles and a round of greetings. “Midnight, these are some of our most trusted and greatest friends; Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. They’ll here to help you catch up to speed on using your wings and magic.”

            Midnight grinned at the six new mares before him. Sheepishly, he raised a hoof and slowly waved it back and forth a few times. “Hello… everypony.” He looked over the mares, stunned by their strangely colored manes and coats; cyan blue, butter yellow, deep purple, rainbow streaked, shining violet, carnation pink, bubble gum? He tried not to stare at any one of them too long, so as not to seem stranger to them than he already made himself by singing.

            “Midnight,” Luna said softly. “why don’t you and I explain to them exactly how you came to be in our care, hmm?” She sat beside him and placed her hoof on his shoulder. He felt lucky that he was still a bit red from embarrassment. Nopony in the room had notice the rush he felt from the gentle touch he received from the Princess.

            “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. But let’s get Dusty and Sky Shield in here as well. They’ve been a great help to me so far, but I don’t think they really know what I am yet.” Midnight said. Luna smiled and nodded at the idea. Midnight looked to the door to see bit Dusty and Sky peeking in from the hall. He gestured with his hoof, ushering them both into the room. Slowly, they entered and took their place beside the Elements. “Alright, ponies,” he said, grinning and turning back to the group. “I’ll try to keep this as simple as possible.”

===

            The jester danced through the halls of the palace, stopping momentarily at a lone serving cart near the kitchen entrance and snatching off a deep serving tray and half-empty pitcher of water. She spun and pranced with the items floating above her down the hallway to an old, dirty door with a rusty nameplate near the top that read ‘Boiler Room.’ The costumed mare kicked the door open with a hind hoof and peeked inside; brooms, mops, cleaning supplies and a maze of pipes. Otherwise, the large room was completely empty, as expected. She entered the room and turned to lock the single latch on the inside with the hoof of her hind leg, hopping inside to the center of the room. She dropped the serving tray with a loud CLANG. She poured the remaining contents of the pitcher inside and tossed it off into the darkness. Her horn glowed with an arcane aura as the tray levitated and tilted, the water staying on the bottom of the tray. Slowly, the water swirled and bubbled, becoming reflective, at first, before revealing the twisted image of a strange, menacing creature.

            “Oh, Tumbler! I haven’t heard from you since you arrived in the palace. How are you, my dear?” the creature said with a grin. The jester mare removed the right half of her mask and spoke.

            “Master, the Elements of Harmony are here! Princess Luna teleported them all here just about an hour ago. They’re all upstairs right now speaking with the princesses’ new guest.”

            “WHAT!” the beast yelled, sitting up in surprise. The jester reared back, fearful.

            “I’m… I’m sorry, master. Should I handle them for you, tonight?” she said timidly, cringing. The creature sat back down, rubbing its chin with a taloned paw.

            “No, no. And don’t worry, my dear unicorn. This is just a very unwelcome surprise, is all. I know it was out of your hooves. I’ll just have to step up my game a little bit, that’s all.” The creature pulled a green unicorn horn from a bowl and put it between his lips, point first. He let it hang there like a piece of straw for a moment.

            “It appears that Princess Luna is regaining more of her godly powers back faster than I expected. A mass teleportation spell is proof of that. This is bad news for our plans. I’ll be sending Grimdark and Klokwerk in with Crash and Burn. We’ll have to move our plans up if they are to still work.”

            “Yes, master. I’ll keep low here and wait, then?”

            “Yes, you’ll know when the time is right. Until then, dearie,...” the creature sucked the broken unicorn horn into his mouth and crunched it to pieces. “… keep smiling.” And with a flicker of magic, the image of the creature faded away.

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Alright, I couldn't help myself with the first couple paragraphs of this chapter!!!! C'mon, guys, like you never thought about THAT if you were to be turned into a pony? yeah, right! Anyways, meet #3 of the growing number of baddies our dear Midnight will have to face in this story. And more are on the way! I'll try to keep them all unique and just evil enough to fit into the MLP:FIM world. Thank you all who track and watch and like my fic. It means a lot to know my labor of love is liked in our wacky little fandom. Keep posted and thanks again! Next Chapter: Dreams of Memory Estimated time remaining: 14 Hours, 47 Minutes