Life for Midnight has been great. Fall soon came and Midnight was able to fully enjoy the seasons changing like a normal pony. More and more ponies in Ponyville were getting used to him, although there was that selected few that were still cautious. But Midnight did not care as long as he was with Oracle.

Sparkplug was galloping out into the outskirts on Ponyville. He was looking up at the clouds and carrying something that was wrapped in his tail. Eventually, he stopped and looked up. Rainbow Dash was lying down on a small cloud above him. Sparkplug's broken horn sparked with magic and electricity and a bolt fired from it. It blasted straight through the cloud and zapped Rainbow. She fell to the ground slightly charred. She got up quickly and shook off the ashes, "What in Equestria was that for?!"

"Sorry Rainbow…not really…" he replied. "But I heard from a pony that you are a fellow prankster, would you like to see the greatest unicorn prank ever?!"

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened and she began to smile. Sparkplug unfurled his tail and placed the object down on the ground. Rainbow Dash's smile and excited expression changed quickly to a frown and a disappointed expression. The object that Sparkplug had looked like a large rubber band, but this one was light blue and had a few sparkles on it.

"THAT…is the greatest unicorn prank ever?" asked Rainbow in disbelief.

"This…my dear foolish and blind Pegasus, is the Magic Diffuser" replied Sparkplug. "Simply place this ordinary band onto a unicorn's horn and the victim will instantly lose control of their magic abilities."

Rainbow Dash's smile returned, "And I know just the unicorn for this prank!"

---

Midnight was at the Library with Twilight. He was going to return the book she gave him, but instead he wanted to know more. He wanted to know if he could use other spells besides the forbidden ones. But, sadly Twilight did not have anything on hand. They needed to go to ask Princess Celestia for permission first. Fortunately for them, she would be in town today for the grand display of a new statue.

"Twilight…how do you exactly know the Princess?" asked Midnight.

"I was a student in Canterlot" she replied. "I was very skilled in her teachings and soon became her most faithful student."

Midnight was surprised by this. He would have never guessed that Twilight was THAT close to the Princess. After the last book was placed away, Twilight and Midnight began to leave. Outside of the Library and hiding above in the branches were Rainbow and Sparkplug. However they managed to sit up too high in the tree to see properly. They heard the door open and Rainbow pulled back on the band. He let it go, and the magic inside activated. It wrapped around a pony's horn, but it wasn't Twilight's horn. Rainbow Dash and Sparkplug popped their heads out and gasped. The band was around Midnight's spike. Rainbow Dash was going to fly off but Sparkplug grabbed her tail, "No wait…this might be good…"

---

Before going to Ponyville for the statue revealing, Midnight walked towards Oracle's house. A few black sparks flew from Midnight's spike but he was in too good of a mood to even notice. Once he joined Oracle, they set of for Ponyville. Midnight was happy that he was finally accepted into society. On occasion Midnight just looked at Oracle. Every time she turned away quickly and blushed. Midnight was confused by her actions. "Oracle…why do you do that…?" he asked.

"Do…do what…?" she asked nervously.

"You just turned away…after I looked at you. Is there something wrong?"

"Oh…uh…look it's the ceremony!"

Oracle ran ahead of Midnight and further into town. Midnight sighed, still curious of her actions. But, while he was going a large loose black spark flew in front of him. Midnight looked around to see where it could have come from. Another loose spark appeared but this one was much larger. Midnight looked at his reflection in a nearby window. His spike was beginning to spark.

"What's going on?" he asked himself. No pony was around him; they were all crowded in the center of town. Princess Celestia just took the stage and began to make her speech. Oracle was near the back and looking side to side. "No…I have to contain it…" A loose bolt of magic shot out of his spike, ricocheted off of the window, and hit a potted plant near the flower shop. Midnight simply began walking to the crowd of ponies. Oracle's eyes finally landed on him and a smile returned to her face. But the smile vanished when she saw him. Midnight was trying to contain whatever magic was uprising, and it was giving him great pain. Great pain is very hard to hide.

"Midnight…are you alright…?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah…I…I'm fine…" he replied in pain. "Just…w-watch…the ceremony…"

"Midnight…"

A scream caught everypony off guard as they turned. Daisy, the flower shop owner, was running towards the group. A loud roar was heard behind her, and the ground began to shake slightly. Behind her was a giant plant. It resembled a flower but had massive jaws like a Venus flytrap. The roots at the bottom were pounding the ground as it traveled. The crowd began to disperse, including Oracle. But, Midnight couldn't move; he was in too much pain. "I…I…I can…" he couldn't finish those words. Suddenly, his horn exploded in black light. Black fire and lightning struck the houses and ground, catching everything on fire. Ponies began to try and put it out. Directing away from the houses, Midnight attempted to run. But instead, his magic created a small tornado that began to wreck devastation through the town. A quick stomp of his front claws caused the entire ground to shake. But pieces of the ground began to come up and level some of the buildings, including the stage Princess Celestia was on.

While all of these disastrous events were happening, Oracle stood there and watched. Midnight was releasing so many dark spells that they seemed in control more than Midnight. Every time Midnight tried to hold it back, another large spark formed and another dangerous spell was cast. She couldn't take it anymore. Oracle ran through the scattering ponies and the uprising disasters. Midnight was crouched against the ground, clawing into the dirt and holding back cries of pain. Oracle couldn't stand to see him like this. "Midnight…please stop!" she pleaded. "Your destroying the whole town!"

Midnight's eyes never opened, but his mouth did. "Oracle…r-run…!" he barely managed to reply. "G-Go b…before…you get…hurt!"

"ENOUGH!" shouted a voice.

Everypony in town looked up to see Princess Celestia flying overhead. Her horn began to shine like the morning sun and her rays cast down onto Ponyville. Every small disaster and dark magic spell began to fade away. Midnight's spike sparked for one last time before finally dying down. The band that was once covering his spike snapped and laid on the ground. The pain went away, but not the guilt for what he has done. Midnight saw Oracle with a face of concern, but more expressions scared him. Ponies he thought were his friends or at least friendly to him were giving him the evil eye. Midnight crouched down in fear, "…sorry…"

Princess Celestia landed directly in front of Midnight. Her landing was anything but graceful. Her stare was anything but soothing. In fact, her stare was making Midnight even more scared than before. "Midnight…" she said sternly. "You have abused the right that I have given you. I allowed you to research on the spells of dark magic, and look what it has done." Midnight was able to divert his eyes away from the Princess to look around him. Several of the building were either upside down or sideways, burnt to a crisp, or leveled from the ground. His gaze immediately entered Celestia's eyes once more. "I directly told you that those spells were to be used with control, not from random mischief!"

"But…I…I…"

"Do not interrupt me when I'm speaking!" Her voice was enough to scare Midnight silent. Oracle could do nothing but just sit there and watch. "Midnight, I always thought you were a nice pony. But this has just placed you in the one place no pony wants to be." She let out a sigh before continuing, "Midnight, from reckless use of magic that nearly destroyed the town and the citizens in it, I hereby banish you from Ponyville and Canterlot! You shall never step hoof in these areas again, and if I hear from anypony that you were here, I will personally deal with you! Understand?!"

The crowd of ponies was agreeing with the Princess, yelling at him to get out. Midnight couldn't believe his ears. His heart just sunk; everypony he was friendly to and the Princess now wanted him gone. Midnight turned to Oracle, her expression just shattering the remains of his heart. Tears were in her faded eyes and beginning to cover her glasses. Oracle stepped closer to Midnight, but he stepped back. He not only stepped back, but he put a fair distance between him and her. He took another look around, "I…I'm…I'm a monster…" Midnight opened his wings and flew off into the forest. Oracle wanted to chase after him, but he was going too fast. The group of ponies cheered at his departure but stopped quickly. Tears fell from Oracle's eyes as she just replayed what happened in her mind. Something caught her eye as she was staring down. She walked over to it and picked it up. It was a band, a glittery rubber band. She needed answers, and this band could help her. "Midnight…you're not a monster…"