After picking up the foals from within Trixie's home, Midnight left, making his way back to Sugar Cube Corner. Once he arrived, Pinkie met him at the door, and was immediately tackled by the twins back into the shop, both giggling loudly as they made contact.

"Thanks for taking care of them Midnight, I can tell your two has had fun with them today." Pinkie smiled as Marina and Starlight gave a slight pout at seeing their friends going back to the pink earth pony.

"Yea, they have been a hoof full. I'm just glad Marina is older than Star, Having two brand new foals would be an adventure all in it's own." Midnight chuckled. "Still though, I can't wait to have more." He smiled as he watched his two foals getting more comfortable on his back. "So how did your little get together with Braeburn go? Any plans for the future?" He grinned seeing her blush.

"Well, we're still getting to know each other right now, but we go so good together that I'm pretty sure that he may be the one." Pinkie beamed happily.

"Well, you let me know how things progress. Cause if it gets to the getting married part, I want to personally throw you and him a party." Midnight chuckled seeing her eyes light up.

"OH but I should throw the party for us." Pinkie giggled loudly at the idea.

"I admit that would make things easier since you are the party queen, but how about taking a break and letting your friends throw one for you so you can enjoy it without worrying about how everypony feels about it. I promise to make it the best party that I can." He smiled to her before she moved in, giving the Alicorn a warm hug.

"Thanks Midnight." She smiled warmly to him before turning and heading back into the shop with the foals in tow.

Midnight turned back into the street as he gave his wings a gentle flap. "We ready to go back home kids?" He asked as they both shouted in glee as he took flight. "So how should we go back to the castle? Teleport? Or race?" He smiled as he heard them both shout.

"RACE!"

"Alrighty then! Hold on tight!" Midnight shouted as his horn lit up, placing a shield around all of them so that the drag of the wind wouldn't pull the foals from him as he gained speed through the sky. After a few seconds, breaking the sound barrier as a trail of flames scorched the sky behind him.

After almost a minute of flight, the dark Alicorn landed in Canterlot with the two foals who were both squealing loudly at having experienced their first Sonic Flamebow. Midnight chuckling at them as they flew around him making loud zooming sounds as he walked into the castle. The guards giving him a nod and bow of the head before smiling at the two foals antics.

Upon entering the castle however, not all was well. A guard had made his way through the castle and to Midnight as he entered the castle so that he could quickly bring him into the war room. The foals were given to one of the castles caretakers along the way.

As he entered the war room, he was greeted with nervous expressions as he took a seat next to Celestia and across from Shining armor and Whip Lash who seemed quite a bit worse for wear.

"What's going on? And what happened to you Whip?" He asked as his once smiling face turned to that of seriousness and worry upon seeing the bandaged unicorn sitting next to Shining Armor.

"Now that you've arrived before we could send out a letter to find you, the meeting can begin ahead of schedule." Whip Lash spoke out as Shining began to bring the map laying on the table before them to life, zooming in on one of the nations Midnight had not yet visited since his arrival in Equestria,

"This is the nation of the Minotaur. Just recently I had been dispatched to their kingdom to help prepare them for war against The Elite Six." Whip Lash began but stopped as Midnight spoke up.

"The Elite Six?" He asked.

"Those are the ponies you spoke of that have gathered the elemental spells." Celestia spoke up causing Midnight to nod in understanding.

"Yes, and unfortunately, one of them attacked the Minotaur nation earlier yesterday while we were their. My detachment was severely injured, and two perished at the hands of a stone unicorn. I managed to go hoof to hoof with him for a short time, but his skill and power were far beyond my own. Even with your new training Midnight, we weren't able to deter him in the slightest. In the end my detachment fled with me back to Equestria. Recent word from the Minotaur nations has stated that its military is falling fast to this elemental pony of stone, and will not last for much longer." Whip Lash sat back into his seat quietly as he felt himself getting a little dizzy. Upon realizing that his wounds were far more severe than he had let on, Midnight began to use his healing spell on the unicorn, his expression slowly loosing the expression of pain and suffering to that of being more relieved from the pain.

"I thought that Kindle said that there were still two more ponies that had yet to become successful with their research into their spells." Luna stated.

"Apparently the group redoubled their efforts in trying to find what they needed in order to cast the spells." Midnight spoke up as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"This isn't good at all, we need to send out several detachments to the Minotaur nation to fight off the invader. If he has killed two of my guard, then there is no telling who else the fiend will kill to accomplish his goal." Celestia announced while slamming a hoof onto the table in a fury.

"Normally I would agree with you Tia, but this time I have to disagree." Midnight stated causing them all to stare at him in astonishment. "If a single pony with this much power is taking down a nation all on his own, and is one of six in a group. I think it would be wiser to wait until the others have shown themselves and attacked other nations before we make a move." He spoke in a monotone, devoid of any emotion.

"But what about all of the lives that will be lost? Don't you care about them?" Celestia spoke up, her tone being annoyed and hateful upon hearing him say this.

"I do care for them, and every living thing on the planet. But we can't rush in to aid every nation that is being hit, especially if only one of those six have shown themselves. It could be a trap that we would be deliberately walking into for all we know. Then we would be wiped out before we could defend ourselves. No, this time we have to take extreme caution, and study our enemy as they reveal themselves. You will need to find out all of the elemental spells being used so that we can find their weakness as well. That information alone can give the other nations a handicap against each pony they face." Midnight stopped for a moment to go over what he had just said, taking in a deep breath to continue.

"So for the time being, we will need to keep the Equestrian military on full alert, Each detachment will need at least two of each pony race so that in case of an attack, one of them can take down information and relay it to us so we can formulate a plan."

"Just one of them?" Luna spoke up in a slightly shuddering tone.

"You speak as if more of my guard will fall at the hooves of these elementals." Celestia spoke up with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Listen, and listen well. This is war, and there will always be casualties during such times. If this was a simple meeting between nations leaders, then it may not result in bloodshed. But we are dealing with a highly aggressive force that will end the life of any and all who oppose them. Do not under any circumstance face them alone or even in a small group. We need to go all out on each of them. If possible we need to hit them one at a time and destroy them before they can find a way to fully oppose us." Midnight snapped back with a loud snort.

"Destroy them? I would think it be more appropriate to just capture them and punish them for their crimes." Cadence spoke up garnering everyponies attention.

"I'm sorry to say Cadence, capture is not an option." Shining Armor stated flatly as he lowered his gaze to the table with a sigh. "These ponies are lethal, and will stop at nothing, even taking multiple lives, in order to gain power."

"He's right, it is sad to say, but the only option is extermination. As you stated before Tia, they will eventually go insane. A being with that much power, carelessly throwing it around in that state can and will destroy much of the world and end many lives." Midnight stated as well.

"So what shall we do in the meantime? The minotaur nation is under great distress because of this individual pony. We have already sent word that this is a rouge pony that does not belong to our nation. This way they will not send their military into our lands." Luna asked.

"The only thing we can do is send some pegasi to spy on that pony from a distance. We will need any and all information we can get to help in the process of killing it and prevent as few civilian casualties as possible." Midnight stated causing them all to give nervous expressions.

"What will we do until they decide to all come forth?" Whip Lash spoke up.

Midnight leaned forward onto the table, placing his forehooves together as he placed them under his chin. "We gear up, and prepare every city, town, and village, for war."

After agreeing to what needed to be done, they began to make plans of action against the oncoming war. They could no longer relax, it would be a short time until Heart's and Hooves day, along with Winter Wrap Up. So preparing for the holidays along with the planning of starting spring was going to be difficult. Time would tell however if their plans would work, or fail and doom the world.