Midnight, Celestia, and Shining Armor had made their way into the war room, all three remaining silent until the door had closed to block out any sounds that would come in or make their way out of the room. After a few more seconds to find a seat, Shining Armor began.

"I have reports from within the dragon nation that an unknown being of great power has surfaced. It is bipedal, and looks to be........... human." Shining stated as he pulled out a folder with several pictures inside. Spreading them out onto the table to let the two Alicorns see them.

"Human?! There must be some mistake!" Midnight stated in slight shock as he was pulling the pictures to him, pausing as his eyes looked upon a slightly blurry photo of a human female in an ancient stylized outfit.

Celestia was next to pull one of the photos to here as she began to look over it. "It seems that the stories from long ago may have been exaggerated on this beings physical prowess."

"What do you mean?" Both Shining and Midnight asked in slight surprise.

"I am referring to the stories about her having the ability to use magic to manipulate her form. This information was prevalent in a lot of the old history books relating to when she attempted to take over the world. However, they never mentioned her true form since most of the beings who saw her in that form, were quickly killed off." Celestia stated as she continued to squint slightly toward one of the photos she was floating in front of her.

"Sounds like she wants to keep as little information about her away from the public eye as possible." Midnight hummed quietly as he rubbed his chin in thought, his eyes never leaving the picture floating in front of him.

"What other information has our teams found out about her?" Celestia asked Shining as she placed the photo back onto the table.

"Unfortunately not much. All that we know is that she is gathering quite a few sacrifices through unknown means. How she is doing this so fast is beyond our comprehension." Shining stated as he mulled over the information that he had received earlier.

"Tia, I hate to say this right now since it is still before our big day, but maybe we should take her on now, in full force." Midnight stated as his expression became hardened.

"Do you think it to be wise though? I mean, what if she is more powerful than we first thought?" Celestia asked, a feeling of worry spreading through her gut.

"Well......." Midnight paused for a moment as he mulled over the possibilities. "What if I send clones to test her? You know, to get a little inside knowledge on her abilities?"

Shining and Celestia looked to one another before looking back to the dark Alicorn and nodding. "Just don't do anything that would give her an edge when fighting you if the need arises." Shining stated seeing him nod.

"Not a problem. This is mainly for intel gathering anyway. I'll just have some fun messing with her." He snickered seeing Celestia's face contort to annoyance. "What's wrong Tia?" He asked giving a grin.

"Your version of 'fun' is not what I would have expected you to do in this instance." She groaned.

"I didn't say I was going to have fun WITH her. I said I was going to have some fun MESSING with her." Midnight chuckled for a moment. "Somepony needs to get their mind out of the gutter." He snickered seeing her face burn a bright red.

"O...........Kay............... did not need to hear that." Shining Armor stated as his face burned red as well.

"Oh God you two are just so innocent, it's adorable." He snickered as he stood and began to head to the door of the room. "I'm going to head into the garden for a few minutes so I can make the clones. I'll be back shortly."

After that, Midnight left the war room leaving the two embarrassed ponies behind.

"Do you think he will succeed in gathering enough information to aid us?" Shining asked.

"I hope that he does Shining. He is one of the few ponies that are capable of unrestrained combat and intel gathering. If he cannot, then I am afraid nopony can."

Midnight arrived into the palace gardens fairly quickly, as one of the windows into the throne room had been left open to allow air to circulate freely due to the amount of working ponies being held within. He landed quietly into the garden, taking in a deep breath and relishing in it. The flowers had all but bloomed, giving a beautiful scenic view as well as a very pleasant aroma. Countless flowers spread far and wide within its confines spreading more of the aroma far and wide as the wind swept over them. The dark Alicorn gave a smile to seeing it all before finally turning into a more serious mood, his horn lighting up as he quickly made six clones of himself.

The six stood there at attention as Midnight began.

"Alright, you know what to do, but before those plans are set into motion, I need two of you to step forward." He stated, nodding to the two at each end of the line, both coming forward and nodding back.

"I know this is rather sudden." He stated as his horn lit up and he placed a large shield around the two before him, they looking to him in concern. He nodded to the one on the right as he spoke. "I want you to attempt the armor spell onto him." Midnight stated as he nodded to the other clone within the shield. The others on the outside watching in slight fascination.

The clone gave a nod as his horn lit up and he vanished into thin air reappearing as a set of armor unlike any other Midnight could have ever fathomed to think up. Before him stood himself, decked out in thick black armor covering most of his body. It crept up his frame as a solid piece, but moved with him. It's color seemed off though as it was flat black that would seemingly ripple in the light giving off a gloss sheen ever so often. On his back however, were two ethereal fire wings that glowed a deep crimson red. The armor, as it moved onto his head took on a more sinister look of a dragons head. This then made him glance downward to his hooves seeing that they had been replaced with taloned dragon paws with four toes similar to that of a bird of prey. The clone pulled one of them up and flexed them, testing to see if they would work, and did.

"I can feel............ these talons!?" He stated in slight shock.

"Good, use them to your.........." Midnight was cut off as the two clones disappeared from reality in a blink of the eye.

"Dammit! Just as I thought........" Midnight trailed off. "Using the armor spell on myself causes my magic consumption of multiply at a rapid pace. I think it would be best if the rest of you only use that as part of a suicide blast. understand?" He stated causing them to nod. "Good, now head toward the dragon lands, I will make another clone and forward the information to you if anything new arises."

The remaining four clones quickly took flight and teleported to the dragon nation without another word. Midnight looking out into the open sky as he mulled over what would happen in the near future.

High above the dragon nation, the four clones all appeared in a flash of light and began gliding in a circle as they all opened a magical telepathic link to one another.

"Alright, spread out and report your findings." One of them spoke up in the link, they all taking different directions away from each other.

It had taken the better part of five hours before anything was said. within the link. The clone that had made his way west had run across a lone human female, walking toward the ocean. She was maybe five miles from the shore line and was making slow progress.

"West clone reporting. Subject sighted, all units report to my location." He stated within the link. Within a few seconds the other three had stealth teleported to his location, all four taking refuge on a cloud that was floating high above the ground below.

"Let's go with plan A and see what happens." One of the clones stated as the western clone nodded and dove off the cloud, his horn lighting up as he glided down to the earth below.

"Full communications active." He stated as the group could now hear any and all other voices around him. He paused for another moment as his horn lit up once again, turning him invisible. He continued gliding until he was several hundred yards in front of the human. When he was within a hundred yards of her he turned visible, causing her to momentarily stop walking before picking up once again.

After a minute of walking toward one another, they both stopped around twenty feet from one another. Midnight's clone taking in what he saw and relaying the images back to the clones via his spell.

"Well now, it seems that my prize has come to me instead." The woman spoke out as she crossed her arms, giving a smirk.

"Your prize?" Midnight asked.

"Of course! I want to rule this world and over all of those within it. You are said to be the strongest creature currently residing her, besides that idiot God of Chaos of course." She waved her hand dismissively in the air. "But he doesn't matter. The only thing that stands in my way is the Alicorn currently residing on the throne to Equestria. Once I have your power, I'm sure everything else will be far easier to take care of." She giggled softly.

"And what makes you so sure you can defeat me?" Midnight chuckled as his horn lit up just in time to place a shield around himself before a rock bounced off of it and shattered into dust.

"Awwwww, and here I thought it was going to be easy to kill you. Oh well, I guess a little playtime wouldn't hurt." She giggled madly as she interlocked her fingers and cracked her knuckles. Pulling them apart and to her sides as fists, the bracelets on each wrist glowing brightly as the wind picked up around her. "Hows about a game of tag, horsey?!" She cackled causing the clone to cock a brow at her for a moment, then for his eyes to go wide as she disappeared. He was about to blink but was interrupted as he watched his force field cave inward in front of him before he was launched backwards and into the sky.

"TAG! YOUR IT!" She yelled as she stood there once the blow had finished, a loud shock wave exploding outward in every direction. She watched as the clone vanished from sight through a cloud. "Tell me it wasn't that easy." She groaned, giving a little pout as she looked into the distance to see the clone barreling back at mach speed. She began to clap her hands while jumping up and down with glee. "YAY! A playmate that can take a beating! I do think I am going to enjoy this." She cackled madly as her bracelets began to glow brightly, raising a protective barrier around herself just in time for the clone to ram into it at mach two with his own shield up and active. Magical sparks bouncing off from the impact between the two.

"Nice hit love, but you're going to have to do far better than that if you think I'll perish from just a single hit. Come on, show me what your made of." The clone chuckled only to cause her to pout.

"Such a way with words, I do believe I may have a rival in the grammatical sense." She smirked. "But let's see if I have a rival when it comes to kicking ass." She grinned evilly as she quickly raise both hands and pointed them toward the clone. "Lets see how you like this."

The clone had little time to react as his magic reserved was forced to the limit in supporting the shield and detection spell that was surrounding it to determine her fighting strength. A massive energy blast exploded forth from her hands for only a few seconds, hitting the clones shield. Just before his reserves died he sent one last thought to his three other counterparts. "This bitch is fucking strong!" And then nothing.............

The Twilight princess smiled as she looked forward seeing nothing in place of her former foe. "Such a shame, I bet he would have been fun to torture." She sighed as she continued walking.

Back in Canterlot, Midnight paused in his steps as the information from the first destroyed clone made it to him. Celestia and Luna both noticing this and taking to his sides as he spoke.

"Luna, Celestia." Was all that he said before a telepathic link was opened between the three of them.

"I take it there is information has arrived that is only for our ears?" Luna stated as they continued walking, speaking only through the telepathic link.

"Unfortunately." Midnight stated with a little anger behind his voice as his horn lit up, casting a vision spell on to each of the princess' left eye. He replayed the memory over for them causing them both to stop in their tracks for a moment, then continuing their trot.

"This............ is pretty bad." Luna stated as she replayed the images over again from both angles. One being high above and magnified, and the other from the destroyed clones perspective.

"If this being has this much power already, then we may have to have an army to defeat her." Celestia stated in a slight panic.

"I still have three more clones there. So we will be getting more information before she takes them out. Don't draw any conclusions until that moment arrives though. Because........... we may very well be at an advantage, rather than a disadvantage." Midnight stated as they continued on their way.

The wedding was now less than forty eight hours away, And their newest enemy just an ocean away. What will happen to them in that time. Noone will know for certain.