After convincing Oria enough, she finally came out of her tunnel. Midnight wasn't sleepy at all so he could stay out with Oria as much as he could. Oria was just Oracle, but she asked to be called that as she was a Torch Hound. Oria became like she was because of Zecora. She felt guilty changing Oracle to what she was, so she believed she made a potion that could reverse the process. Unfortunately the potion caused Oracle's form to change again. Zecora thought when she changed back she would be her old pony self, but every time Oracle took the potion she changed back into her half peacock self. Midnight stayed beside Oria the entire time. He was still very grateful that Oracle was even alive. But, once the sun started to rise, Oria began to dig a hole.

"What's wrong Oria…?" asked Midnight.

"It's the Torch Hound side of me…" she explained. "Torch Hounds do not react well with light, so that's why we stay underground."

Oria finished her hole and she eventually climbed inside. Midnight walked towards the hole with a sad expression, "How long will this last…?" Oria's head popped up from the hole, "Don't worry Midnight, the effects of the potion will end tonight. So about when the sun rises again, come and find me in my house." Midnight nuzzled Oria a little before she ducked back down into the whole. Midnight smiled intently, finally finding the one he cared for.

---

As Midnight headed back into town, a stallion wearing a fully body cloak began to walk into town. Only a bit of his snout and legs were visible. His coat was red, almost blood-red. As he walked through Ponyville, he turned his head to either side of the street. He eventually made it into town square, where a lot of ponies were roaming around. A small apple stand caught the stallion's eye. As he walked over to it he avoided confronting any other pony. Applejack was watching the stand as she was selling some apples. "Excuse me…may I have some apples?" he said.

Applejack turned around with a warm smile. The stallion never bothered to reply the kind gesture. "Howdy there partner, I'm Applejack" she replied. "I don't think I have never seen you 'round these here parts."

"I'm a traveler…I never stay in one place for so long. I would like to purchase some apples, but I'm afraid I have no money…"

Applejack smiled as she set a bag full of apples beside the stallion. "Nonsense, everypony deserves some of these fine apples. You're new 'ere, so I'll let you have some on the house!"

The stallion seemed surprised by her being so kind. But, he grabbed the bag with his mouth and began to walk away. A piece of his cloak was caught onto the cart and was beginning to pull off of him as he walked away. He struggled against the pull of the cart, but what he did not want to hear was a loud rip. The cloak was pulled off of him, revealing the rest of his body. He was coat was a unicorn with a blood red coat and his mane was pitch black. This caught him entirely by surprise, him trying to find somewhere to hide. But a lot of ponies began to take notice of him. A smaller filly began to laugh at him, "He has no cutie mark!"

Other ponies began to join in with her laughter. This set the unicorn off. His horn began to glow red and he glared at the smaller filly. He approached her quickly and pointed his horn at her. The small filly stopped laughing as well as the rest of the ponies. "You have a problem with a blank flank?" he said coldly. Before the unicorn could try anything, a lasso roped around the smaller filly, pulling her away from the menacing stallion. He turned to see Applejack with the rope in her mouth.

"What in the hay do you think yer doin'?" yelled Applejack.

"All of you ponies are the same" he said. "Once you see one thing different about somepony else, you criticize and mock them for it. Have you ever considered they are different because of a reason they could not control? You can keep your apples; I don't want to be bothered anymore."

The unicorn began to walk away in anger. The crowd of ponies was scared, but there was one that wasn't. Rainbow Dash was just flying overhead when she saw the commotion. She flew down and landed in front of the unicorn. "Who do you think you are threatening ponies like that?!"

"Don't get in my way Pegasus, I have no quarrel with you" he said.

"Are you sure? Because to me your probably just jealous of all the ponies that have cutie marks. You probably don't even have any special talent…"

The unicorn's horn glowed red, but this time it was very bright. Fire began to swirl around him before flying towards Rainbow Dash. Rainbow quickly flew away, but the unicorn kept using his magic. The fire attacks did not hit Rainbow, but they hit the surrounding houses. Some ponies began to try and douse the flames. Applejack was trying to help out as well. Twilight and Midnight ran to the scene completely stunned. "Applejack, what's going on?!" exclaimed Twilight.

Applejack turned quickly, "Twilight, oh thank goodness! This new unicorn showed up and started all of this 'ere mischief. We need a spell for this fire, quick!"

Twilight started to think, but Midnight stepped forward instead. "I know what to use!" he exclaimed as his spike began to glow. A beam shot out from the energy surrounding his spike and hit the sky. A large dark thundercloud began to form. It quickly spread across the entire town, covering everything with darkness. Lightning struck the ground beside Midnight, but then rain began to fall. The fire from all of the buildings quickly extinguished. The rain continued to pour for a little while longer, but then the clouds began to clear up. Rainbow Dash landed beside the other three as the one unicorn came back.

"Who are you and why are you doing this?!" exclaimed Twilight.

"My name is Fire Star" he said. "And if you must know, it's to show you all that I do have a skill. You ponies have mocked me for the last time!" As he was saying this, his horn was still glowing. The water around them began to flow into two puddles that lied beside him. "You ponies count so much on your Cutie Marks that you are inconsiderate to those who do not. I have been laughed at near every place I traveled to. I'm tired of being considered a freak just because of a stupid mark!"

Midnight felt the same sympathy for him as he did Oracle. It wasn't exactly the same thing, not nearly even slightly. But being laughed at and caused to constantly move reminded him of his troubles. The water started to rise up and formed into closed fists. Midnight stepped forward, "I do not think you're a freak."

Fire Star stopped commanding the water and looked confused, "What do you mean? I have no Cutie Mark. I…" His eyes widened once he saw Midnight clearly, "What the heck happened to you?!"

"I was born like this, and I have been through worse than you. I was ridiculed like you, but instead of laughter it was screams of fear. I was attacked at least three times in every place I traveled to. It was because of my looks, and I ran away because of this…" Midnight turned to the side to show his Cutie Mark. Fire Star was surprised to see that. While studying his elemental magic he read something over that mark. The water fell back down into puddles as Fire Star seemed to calm down. Before Midnight could say another word, Fire Star ran off away from town. Everypony cheered for their small victory, but Midnight did not count it as a victory. He extended his wings and flew in the same direction as Fire Star. It was pretty easy to follow him, his red coat stuck out easily. Midnight dove down while his spike began to glow. He landed right in front of Fire Star. Fire Star stepped back in surprise but aimed his horn at Midnight. Nothing happened and Fire Star was surprised.

"Why isn't my magic working?!" he exclaimed.

Midnight simply pointed to his straight spike, "My magic may be forbidden, but it comes in handy. I didn't want to hurt you, I just wanted to talk." Fire Star nodded and Midnight ceased his magic. "Like I said before, I was injured while you were being laughed at. Honestly, I would trade your place in a heartbeat if I wanted to. But…I don't want to anymore…"

Fire Star looked confused, "But I thought that Cutie Mark was a curse…"

"It is, but the pony that has it is not. I thought that I would be a major threat to everypony, but the friends I've made changed my views. What I have doesn't make me a curse. I can act freely; I am not bound by my mark. You forgot that although ponies have special talents, they have other talents as well. They are not limited to their mark; their mark only shows what they are best at."

Fire Star seemed to understand, but he still seemed unsure. Midnight opened his wings to begin his leave, "Just think about it." With that Midnight left Fire Star, heading back to town to clean up. Today would be worth it when he saw Oracle again tonight.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to my friend Collin in deviantart for allowing me to use his OC Fire Star http://turnaboutking.deviantart.com/