I couldn't sleep. I don't know why though; I did my toiletries, had my glass of water and left my stuffed Ursa Major, Mr. Snuggles, out by my bedside to protect me. Wait, did I just say that out loud? Never mind... the point is I wasn't sleeping. I pondered for a moment why. Then it hit me. I was being watched.

I slowly got out of my bed and walked outside my bedroom. I reached the main hall to look around the area and make sure that nopony was actually watching me. After confirming my safety in the main hall, I went to go search outside. Doing so gave me chills, and since it was the summer season, I knew something was wrong. I looked around, now more frightened this time but still prepared for anything that might attack me. After seeing nothing and cautiously confirming my safety, I decided it was best to just head on inside before something REALLY bad happened. Never did I see a pair of glowing red eyes follow me back into my home.

XXXXXX

"Just what do you think you're doing up at this hour?" asked my mother who had caught me walking around the castle.

"Uh..." was all I could say to her slightly cross lavender eyes.

"Don't give me that look, just tell me!" said my mother in a slightly more cross voice than before.

"Well," I began nervously and awkwardly "you see, I had this feeling I was being watched, so I went outside to make sure that I wasn't. But, looks like nopony's there! Ha, ha... I'm gonna go now!" I turned around and made a mad dash for the staircase

"Hold up there, Mr!" said my mom, completely halting me in my tracks "What made you think that somepony was watching you?"

"I dunno... I just had this feeling is all" I answered honestly, knowing now I wouldn't be able to fool her.

"Hmm... alright..." my mom let me off the hook, much to my relief "Just go back to bed and don't come back down until the morning, okay?"

"Kay!" I said as I walked back up the stairs to my room.

"That boy..." said my mother to herself as she smiled and inwardly chuckled "Wait... he thought somepony was watching him? Odd... Oh, must be that Bass Drop again. I think I'll have a chat with Vinyl tomorrow."

XXXXXX

The secondary hall wasn't as grand as the main one, but it was circular and just about as empty as a jellyfish's brain. Get the picture? When Halley and I were younger, we loved playing video games. Heck, we still do! So whenever we'd get the chance, we'd roleplay boss battles in this room. I haven't told anypony, but sometimes we still do. The secondary hall may have been empty, but it was the most important room to me in a nostalgic sense.

The secondary hall didn't lead me to my room. In fact, it veered off into a completely different part of the castle. But, it was a nice place to just cool down. I decided it was best to visit here before hitting the hay.

"Ah, this place brings back good memories..." I said to myself as I marveled at the secondary hall in all its glory.

"Looks like it will also bring bad ones too..." said a calm and collected, but slightly monotonic male voice very foreign to me.

I quickly turned around to see who spoke those words. There standing right at the entrance to the secondary hall was a cloaked stallion that looked to be around his thirty's. He had a light blue coat and a brown mane with a red streak right down the middle. His eyes were deep blue and wore a seemingly expressionless face.

"Who the hay are you?!" I asked the intruder "And what the heck are you doing in this castle?!"

"My name is of no concern" the stallion spoke once more "However, I am here by the command of the high mistress to eliminate you. She'd do it herself, but she's still regenerating from her last battle.

"So you're out to kill me too, huh?" I asked "How many of you guys are there anyway?"

"Hundreds" he simply answered "And all of them believe you are disrupting the natural order of things. Thus, you must be destroyed."

"So, I'm guessing you're here to do that?"

"Yes" he once again answered as simply as possible "Although, I am beginning to question why I must eliminate you. You don't appear to be of any harm to our cause, but orders are orders I suppose. So, to fulfill my mission, you must be terminated!"

"Then I'll do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen!" I shouted as I prepared myself for the battle ahead of me.

"Very well then" the stallion spoke before he removed his robe, revealing his species to be that of Pegasus kind "I'll make sure your last battle is a glorious one."

Closing his eyes, he chanted a bit before the red streak on his mane turned blistering white. He opened his eyes to reveal anger and cockiness within them. It's like his personality completely changed!

"Okay kid..." he spoke in a cockier voice "Let's dance!"

Before I could react, the stallion teleported into thin air. I looked around frantically, but saw that he was gone.

"Up here!" I heard a voice shout. I looked up only to see the intruder flying in the air. Somehow though, he was charging a magical shot from his chest much like the mysterious mare from a few days ago did. In the split second I had to react, I saw that the red streak in his hair glowed similar to mine. Unfortunately, I had wasted my time to dodge to look at his hair and I got his magic blast handed right at me.

"AAAHHHH!" I screamed before turning to the hall's entrance and shouting "Hey! Anypony?! I need some help!"

"Don't bother" said the stallion with a sly grin "I put a sound proofing spell around this room before we began. You won't be able to escape from here until you're dead!"

"Alright then..." I said as I charged up my own spell, my mane glowing up in the process "Take THIS!"

I fired an energy ball at the intruder, but he dodged with ease.

"Is that all you got?" asked the intruder cockily "I expect better from the target the high mistress gave me personally. I guess that- wait... did your mane just glow?"

"Shut up!" I yelled at the light blue stallion "What do you know about it anyway?!"

"If you live though my onslaught, I might consider telling you..." the stallion said darkly.

"Alright, I think I've had just about enough of you!" I shouted as I readied a chain gun-like spell "Get out of my CASTLE!"

Hundreds of magical shots of energy came barreling out of my horn. The intruder dodged every single one, except for the last and largest of the shots. The knock-back sent him flying against the wall, resulting in the rise of dirt, dust and debris.

"Y'know, I never actually thought that I'd fight an actual boss here..." I commented to myself. I looked back at where the stallion had landed. The dust that had risen cleared and showed me that the stallion sustained little, if no damage whatsoever. In his mouth, however, was what looked to be an energy sword of sorts. The blade was a paler blue than him, and it had the curve most Saddle Arabian guards had on their swords.

"What is that?!" I shouted in a confused and shocked voice "And where in the name of Celestia did you get it?!"

The intruder spoke nothing as he began flapping his wings to gain height. As soon as he reached a preferred altitude, he dive-bombed me head-on. I narrowly dodged his attack, however. As he struck the floor, his blade got stuck in the floor. I took this chance to unleash a barrage of magical shots at him. He took every one.

He lay strewn on the floor like an abandoned stuffed toy. He had small burns all over his body, and his robe, which had gotten damaged in the crossfire, had tiny rips in a few places. He slowly but surely got up and stared at me. He coughed up a bit of blood. I didn't want to do this to him, but he did state he wanted to kill me, so I had no other choice.

Despite his injuries, he began charging a spell similar to my chain gun spell, but it felt different for some reason. Not wanting to learn physically what kind of pain this could do, I jumped out of the way just before the stallion let loose a barrage of very large and very fast energy balls.

"Hold still so I can KILL YOU!" the intruder shouted the last part of his sentence. I must've made him angry. Gee, I have absolutely no idea what I could've done to do that! Wanting to end this fight, I charged up one final shot of energy. I used a lot of my magic to do this, but I knew it was going to end this battle. I threw my energy ball at the stallion which forced him right onto the wall of the room.

The battle was finished.

The intruder slowly got up as he gasped for air. He was a total wreck now, but at least I knew he wouldn't do anything stupid in his state. He coughed up more blood, and as he did I actually felt a little bit sorry for him. It seemed as if he didn't wish to kill me, save for the last few moments of our battle.

"Why?" I asked him out of pure curiosity.

"W-what?" he stuttered.

"Why did you try to kill me?"

"Hahaha..." the stallion chuckled "Didn't I already tell you? I was sent here by the-"

"You know what I mean" I said "What brought you here? What despicable thing in your head forced you to do this?"

The stallion looked at me as if I had just asked him what life, the universe and everything was. To my surprise, he began chuckling.

"That is none of your business, kid..." he said "Well, I gotta go. You've defeated me, so I'll accept my defeat... for now."

"You don't have to do this, you know..." I said.

"Yes..." the stallion answered simply as he turned away, a fragment of sorrow in his voice "Yes I do..."

And with that, he teleported out of the castle. I heard the faint sound of a spell deactivating, meaning the sound-proofing spell dissipated. I wasn't paying much attention to that, however. What I was paying attention to was the object that had appeared where the intruder teleported. It was a normal-sized scroll with runic text on it. It would've been a normal scroll, if it wasn't somehow floating in the air, like something a... boss... dropped...

"What is this, a video game?" I said to myself in confusion. Nonetheless, I slowly but surely went to pick up the scroll. The second I touched the scroll, it shattered into a million pieces and flew straight into me.

-Midnight learned Balance! This spell allows the user to balance out the darkness or light in a pony's heart!-

"Well that was... odd..." I said, completely dumbfounded "Did those shards actually teach me a new spell? And what would I need it for anyway? Ah jeez... I think I need some sleep..."

I slowly walked back to my room, pretending that this whole thing never happened. But it did happen. What would this new spell do for me? Why would I need it? Why did that stallion give it to me in the first place? All these questions circled around my head, and they just prevented me from sleeping even more...

XXXXXX

The next morning, I was still in bed and surprisingly not sleepy, despite not getting nearly enough sleep last night. Today was Wednesday, which meant I had to go meet Blitz's mom, the famous Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash, for training. Training for what, you may ask? Nothing in particular. Since Blitz didn't want to be a Wonderbolt when he grew up, Rainbow Dash felt a little sad that nopony would follow in her footsteps. I didn't want to be a Wonderbolt either, but I decided it would be nice to allow her to train me. This whole thing began three years ago. Now, RD has a new filly foal that acts almost like herself when she was younger. But since the new foal's too young, I still have to meet with Rainbow for training. It's paid off though, since now I'm the fastest pony in all of Ponyville!

"Rise and shine, Midnight!" shouted Rainbow Dash, who had sneaked into my room. I jumped from Rainbow's loud voice.

"AH!" I screamed "Jeez lady! You can't do things like that!"

Rainbow Dash, as said many times before, is Blitz's mother. I was told that long ago, it was said her ego would be just about the only thing to survive the apocalypse. Now? Well, it doesn't really look like that's changed too much. She still goes on and on about how 'awesome' she is. Truth be told, I respect her for all the things she's accomplished in her career; The Sonic Rainboom, becoming the youngest Wonderbolt in Equestrian history (she's just a year younger than Soarin, though), and of course being the Element of Loyalty, which she undoubtedly followed. She's married to Soarin, and she has two kids, Blitz Wing and her new foal Whirlwind.

"Well you shouldn't be sleeping on a Wednesday anyway!" Rainbow argued "You know that today is training day, so let's go!"

"Ah baa, baa ma!" said Whirlwind, whom I just noticed was on RD's back.

"Yes, yes, I know kiddo..." Rainbow spoke to her newborn "But we have to go for Midnight's training first!"

"*pptthhh*" Whirlwind made a raspberry at her mother.

"Anyway, I see you at my house! Don't be late!" Rainbow Dash said as she flew off, probably back to her home.

"Yeah..." I said, knowing fully that she couldn't hear me "Ugh... why can't Whirlwind grow up faster?"

"Maybe because she's my stubborn sister who takes after my mother too much?" suggested the familiar voice of my friend. I turned around to see that Blitz Wing was sitting on my open window ledge.

"Hey buddy, what's up..." I began, before I realized what I said "WAIT! Don't answer that!"

"Ha, ha, ha... okay..." Blitz chuckled "I'm fine if that's what you were trying to ask................ the ceiling... "

"Ugh, mother of Celestia, dude!" I rolled my eyes "Anyway, what do you want?"

"I'm here for the next instalment of Daring Do" he answered me with excitement "Does your mom have a copy of it yet?"

"I don't think so..." I tried to remember my mother's inventory. Since the destruction of Golden Oaks Library 20 years ago, my mom insisted that her new castle library be open to the public. A new door was added to the library wall so ponies wouldn't have to go through the main entrance.

"Hold on... why didn't you go through the main entrance? Why talk to me about it?"

"I think I have the right to talk to my friend whenever I want, yeah?" Blitz stated "Besides, I need to know the inventory from somepony who isn't an egghead, a bookworm or a little sister."

"Point taken" I sighed "Anyway, the book's probably in-"

"Aisle three, shelf two, section four. I know it by heart!" Blitz interrupted, but he had a tendency of doing that, so I immediately forgave him.

"Alrighty then!" I said "Carry on!"

"Wait, what are you going to do?"

"It's Wednesday. Take a wild guess." I deadpanned.

"Oh... right... well, er, take care!" Blitz Wing said as reassuring as possible before he flew off to the castle library.

"He may be so different from her," I commented to myself "but you can see so much of RD in that guy... Well, I do believe it's time for me to hop outta bed!"

"Midnight..." I heard the familiar voice of my mother say. I turned my head to my bedroom door to see her standing there, looking as though she had something on her mind.

"Yes, mom?" I asked in a curious voice as I hopped out of my bed and went to go stand in front of her "Is something wrong? You're not pregnant again are you?!"

"No, no... it's not that. Not that at all!" my mother answered with a face that seemed shocked I would ask something like that on only my second question "I want to talk to you about... um... ah, how do say this?"

"Start by just saying it" I suggested "Maybe that'll get it off your-"

"It's about the mare that impersonated me..."

"Jeez, how many ponies are going to interrupt-" I began before I processed what she just said "Wait... what?"

"I'm sorry Nighty..." apologized my mother "It's just... I didn't want to upset you! I couldn't bear to see you like that! I just..."

"Mom, mom... it's okay..." I reassured as I patted her back "Better late than never, right? Just tell me what you need to say..."

"Y-you're right..." said my mom as she swallowed a bit before her explanation "Okay, Midnight. It's time for me to tell you everything... It's time to tell you the truth..."

Author's Notes:

Ah, the truth! Don't worry, this isn't a short story. I promise. BTW, that new spell we got? Never explained again! You're welcome.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading! If you liked it, be sure to leave a thumbs up and comment! Until next time, I'll see ya later Scraggsters!