After being chased around for a few minutes by several bolts of cloth and four overly energetic foals. They had finally gotten to cold to continue the chase and huddled together as they were placed onto Midnights back between his wings, his fire mane roaring up and around them to keep them warm. As the day progressed however, he noticed that they began to get more and more quiet until finally all talking ceased. He looked back to see all four of them sound asleep, huddled together in a small pile. Placing a small shield around them to block out any sound that could wake them, he gave a slightly worried glance upon seeing Marina's guise having fallen once she had fallen asleep. It shouldn't be a problem though while he was carrying her and the other foals though. Or so he hoped.

A short time passed by as Midnight continued his trot around town, making sure that everything was safe and that no unexpected visitors had shown up. It didn't take long before he ran into a pony he hadn't seen in a while.

"Heya Trixie." He smiled to the blue unicorn as she turned to see him.

"Well now, I haven't seen you around in some time, have you been hiding from Trixie?" She asked while cocking a brow at him.

Midnight gave a heavy sigh lowering his head slightly. "No, it's just been hectic as of late. Royal duties, along with planning my wedding, then foal sitting today. I honestly don't have much time to myself anymore."

Trixie gave a saddened smile as she came up to the Alicorn, giving him a gentle hug. "Now now, I'm sure you will find time to relax, you are free to visit me anytime you want. I can help out with just about anything, if you need help that is." She smirked.

"Heh, being an Alicorn has its perks doll. The only time I need help is when I have a hundred things to do, and I'm human." He chuckled softly before seeing Trixie's odd expression. "Sorry, I think I mentioned before that when I'm out of magic I turn human again."

"I think I recall you saying something along those lines, But I never thought you to be serious about that." She asked while cocking her head to the side slightly.

"Yea, it's a lot of fun when you can't use magic and have to do everything by hand, or hoof. I basically turn into an earth pony once I deplete my magic reserve. It sucks to be honest. I've gotten so used to using my magic and wings to do everything I need to do, that when it comes to physically doing something, I tend to get annoyed at the tasks." He chuckled again.

"I understand that much. I am sure you've heard about unicorns getting a magic cold before correct?" She asked, seeing Midnight nod in knowing what she was referring to. "Well, when I have caught one of those colds in the past, I had to avoid using magic for a few days, and up to a week or more. Doing everything by hoof was such a chore. But it was nice to finally get a hooves-on approach to doing something that needed done." She giggled slightly. "So don't worry, I have felt your pain before." She smiled softly as they continued walking along.

"So what are you doing out in this blistering cold?" He asked giving her a smirk.

"I just had to come out to grab a few items I needed in order to cast a new spell I've learned. I'm just lucky that the Ponyville herbs'n'alchemy store carried what I needed, although they aren't as fresh as I had hoped." She sighed as she opened her saddlebag to look at a few of the more dried out items. "Still though, they should work fine for what I need to do."

"Glad to hear it......." He paused for a moment as something occurred to him. "Hey Trixie." He began, catching her attention once more. "Remember when I shared my spell list with you before?" He asked, getting a nod in confirmation. "You got my armor spell to in that list, have you happened to cast it as of yet onto anypony?"

Trixie placed a hoof onto her chin in thought for a few moments before answering. "No, I believe I would remember though if I had. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but Equestria may be going to war soon against a new enemy, and I'm going to need all the help I can get. That is, if your interested?" He smiled nervously to her.

"But of course I am, What kind of pony would let her fans get hurt, plus having to show off my talents against the forces of evil will greatly increase my fan base." She giggled.

"I can see that happening." Midnight chuckled. "You are quite a pony after all." He smirked seeing her blush slightly. "Anyway, I'll drop by your house shortly, I'd like to check out that spell and see one of my own as well in action."

"I should be in the middle of casting a spell within the next few hours, so If I don't answer the door, your free to come in." She smiled up to him.

"Alright then, I'm sure I can find a pony to foal sit temporarily in the mean time."

"Why not bring them along? I'm sure they can be entertained from a few spells that I possess." She giggled. "I am a show mare after all, entertaining the community is what I do."

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt. But I can't watch all four of them and do what I need to at the same time. Two is hard enough, four is next to impossible." He laughed. "But I'm sure we could handle them. Just let me check with Pinkie to see if it's ok."

"I'll see you then." She smiled as she trotted ahead toward her home.

After coming back to Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie and Braeburn had still not returned. So giving the foals back to the pink earth pony was out of the question for the time being. "I guess they will just have to come along for the ride." Midnight chuckled seeing the foals chatting quietly with each other on his back. Pinkie had advised him that the Cakes had left for the day to go on a small outing with a couple of other friends to Canterlot to gather a few items for the shop. This left Pinkie in charge of the shop and the foals until they returned.

Upon heading out from the confectionery shop, Marina and Starlight awoke from their nap, the changeling quickly turning her guise back on as she yawned, while Starlight stretched his little wings out. After a short trip back to Trixie's house, Midnight gave the door a knock, awaiting a response from within. After a minute of nopony answering he gently pushed the door open, making his way inside. After looking around in the darkened house for a moment he noticed a glow coming from around a closed door, and made his way over to it.

"Trixie? I'm here." He spoke softly as he opened the door to see Trixie with her eyes closed and her horn lit up as a transmutation circle was illuminated on the ground before her with several items placed in the center of it.

"I'll be done in a few minutes, please wait in the living room if you will. I put out some snacks for the little ones if they are hungry." She spoke without opening her eyes, still concentrating on her spell.

"I'll wait for you then." He said as he exited the room, the two foals on his back staring back at the big magical circle on the ground.

A few minutes passed by before Trixie had finished with her spell and came out of the room to see two foals sitting quietly on the living room couch, munching happily on some cookies and milk. Midnight had taken the opportunity to look at a completely filled bookshelf that was almost overflowing with books.

"You have quite the collection of spell books my dear." Midnight said as he heard the hoofsteps of the show pony coming into the living room.

"Those spells are mainly for showy spells, nothing more really." Trixie giggled softly as she sat onto the couch next to the foals who smiled happily at her as they finished their little treat.

"From a few of the titles, it seems to me that a few of these are offensive spell books. I saw a couple of defensive spell books as well." Midnight chided as he brought a couple of them over to her.

"Well, a lot of the spells I use are great for show if you can cancel them at just the right moment. They sometimes burst in an array of sparks and such. Mixed with a shield spell, they can do the same over a wider area. But casting multiple shield spells and offensive spells is very tiring." She sighed as she took one of the books from Midnight, opening it to a specific page and handing it back to him to show him the spells in question.

"Wait..... You cast multiple shield spells along with offensive spells?" He asked looking rather surprised.

"Yes....... why? Can you not do the same?" She asked while cocking a brow.

"I can but only a few at most. I can't pull off more than a few at once." He chuckled feeling a little embarrassed.

"Hmm, does that mean you can't make an inverse shield either?" She asked with a smirk causing him to cock a brow in question.

"You mean a shield that will allow things to get in, but not out?"

"Yes, the applications are quite intriguing if you get into a scuffle that you can't get away from." She grinned.

Midnight stood there for a moment as he thought that over, his eyes going wide at the possibilities of using that particular spell in a fight.

'Damn, I should have thought of that before. I can trap an enemy inside the sphere, and when they cast an offensive spell, it will backfire and hit them. Plus I can hit them with my own spell to increase the damage or destroy them.' He thought while giving a confident smirk.

"Trixie, who exactly do you make an inverse shield?" Midnight asked, causing her to take a seat onto the couch and pull out a small book littered with bookmarks and notes.

It took a couple of hours to complete the training that Midnight had to endure to teach him how to invert a shield spell, but once he had learn the spell, it was probably going to be his most powerful spell next to his armor spells. Speaking of which, Midnight looked to see the foals laying quietly on the couch asleep. He smiled down to them as he floated a small cover onto them then turned to Trixie.

"Hey." He began in just above a whisper. "I wanted to try something with you, but never got the chance before." He said causing the unicorn to blush furiously.

"W-what?!" She squeaked in surprise.

"Come on, let's go outside so we don't wake the foals." He chuckled softly as he headed out the front door, Trixie hesitantly following him as she closed the door behind her. The two stepping off the porch and onto the snow covered ground.

"Midnight, isn't it a bit cold to do anything out here?" She spoke as her face was still burning red.

"Not really, It won't take long, I promise." He smiled to her causing her to give a deadpanned expression.

"Seriously? Were you just thinking about yourself when you asked me to come out here?" She spoke with a huff.

"What? No! I wanted to try the armor spell with you. What did you think............I meant?" He trailed off before his mane began to turn a slight pink. "Trixie!? Your a naughty pony." He chuckled giving her a wink.

"WHAT?! N-n-n-n-n-no! I wasn't thinking of rutting with you?!" She shouted before clasping both forehooves over her mouth as her entire body began to burn a bright red. Midnight laughing loudly at the comment.

"Ok heh heh, I think I've embarrassed you enough for today." He chuckled as his horn lit up. "Time for a makeover." He smirked as he turned into a bright light, vanishing into thin air and reappearing as a set of armor and a large staff onto the azure unicorn.

Trixie blinked for a moment as she stood on her two hind legs, a staff standing next to her while being held in a single hoof. She began to lean forward to go back onto two legs but just began to walk as a biped, giving a slight gasp.

"Niiiiiiiice, this set of armor is pretty powerful in offensive magic, I can feel it. Not much for defense though." Midnight's voice resonated from the gem that clasped her cape together around her neck and onto her chest.

"Midnight?" Trixie spoke out, hearing but not seeing the Alicorn.

"Right here doll." He spoke up making the gem glow brighter on her chest.

"Wait? Your ON ME?!" She squeaked out as she turned a bright red.

"I'm your armor, so yes I am on you. Not like you weren't ready for a little touchy feely a few minutes ago." He began to chuckle but stopped as he could feel her anger boil a little. "Sorry, sorry, shutting up now." He said before the armor glowed softly, vanishing into thin air before turning back into his Alicorn form.

"So, that was interesting. Now do me." Midnight smiled widely only to see Trixie gawk and blush a bright shade of red. "What I meant to say was, please use my armor spell and turn into a set of armor on me." He said giving a facehoof.

Trixie gave an annoyed snort as her horn lit up to cast the spell. Her figure disappearing and reappearing as a set of light armor on Midnight. It wasn't very elaborate but still showed that it could be used as light armor. Several links of armor covering the bottom of his legs, while a light breastplate covered his torso. On his back was a cape that split down the center, held together by small chains looped through small holes to allow his mane to flow freely through. The cape fell over his flanks slightly as it waved about in a wind that did not exist. It was semi-transparent, allowing those who looked closely enough to see through it. The decorations on the cape were not elaborate but showed Trixie's and Midnight's Cutie Marks on it at the bottom of each corner of it. As Midnight continued to observe the set of armor, several gems about the size of a baseball began to float around him. Each a different color being green, red, blue, yellow, and diamond.

"This is pretty cool, power level for spells has increased, light armor, and these five gems, hmm." He thought as he looked at them. "I'd like to test these gems out but I don't want to risk causing any noise to wake the kids. Rain check on testing everything out?" He asked Trixie, the gem clasping his cape together lighting up for a moment as the armor evaporated and turned back into Trixie.

"I guess that will have to do." She spoke with a blush, turning her head away from the Alicorn. Midnight sneaking over to her and speaking into her ear softly.

"Don't forget the rain check." He chuckled as he watched her jump from feeling his breath in her ear.

"S-sure......." She trailed off as she stiffly walked back into the house, Midnight following so he could gather up the foals.