Midnight was in complete panic. He was out in the open, surrounded by ponies, and he had nowhere to go. Zecora turned around and led the others in. Midnight crouched as low as he could to the ground and surrounded himself with his open wings. Thankfully for him, the black insides of his wings and the darkness of the forest was enough to hide him. Zecora looked around but didn't see him anywhere. "He should be here, it isn't right. Where are you little Midnight?" she said. Midnight wanted to tell Zecora, but not the others. He thought for a second that she wasn't going to hurt him, but his fears caused him to shove it out of his mind. Twilight walked beside Zecora, "I got this Zecora." Twilight focused hard while her horn glowed. A small light emitted from it, illuminating the entire area. Midnight was revealed to be in the middle of the group. Everypony but Zecora stepped back. Midnight saw everypony and tried to run. But everywhere he tried to run; there was a pony there instead.

"What is that thing?" said Rainbow Dash.

"That thing looks dreadfully awful!" said Rarity.

"It's a monster!" shouted Spike.

Midnight was completely scared out of his mind. He flapped his wings just to jump over the crowd of ponies and ran off. Everyone ran and screamed the other way except for Twilight and Zecora. Twilight's horn glowed, capturing all of them in her spell. She and Zecora looked at them with anger. "Are you ponies mad?! I thought you were all kind! Who knows what toll those screams had on his mind?!" Everypony was still too scared but Twilight wasn't. She walked in the same direction as where the…pony…ran. A small pond was in a clearing, kneeling beside it was Midnight. Twilight eventually found him. He was crying, but his tears were muffled. She slowly walked towards the strange pony. She took note of his distinct features; bat wings, bird talons, and spikes along his snout and mane. Twilight accidentally stepped on a small twig and the pony took notice. He looked behind him and became instantly scared again.

"Please, if you're going to hurt me make it quick!" he said. "Do what you want! Cut my mane, try to pierce my wings, cut me, just make it quick please!"

Twilight was surprised, "I'm not going to hurt you!" Midnight lifted his wings and looked at her in surprise. Twilight slowly walked closer to him, but he cowered in fear. "It's alright, I won't hurt you" she said, "See…" Twilight stretched out her right hoof towards him. Midnight saw this, and began to stretch his right claw out. It took a lot of time, but they eventually met and they shook hooves…er…hoof to claw. "It's a pleasure to meet you" she said, "My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's your name?"

"I…I…I'm….Midnight…" he replied.

Wow…he's even quieter than Fluttershy…

Midnight moved his claw in a circle in the dirt. An awkward silence filled the area. Twilight spoke up, "So…why are you so afraid?" Midnight looked at his body and back. Twilight saw his gestures and took it as an answer. Another awkward moment of silence passed through. But this time, Midnight broke the silence. "I still don't think you should be around me" he said. "Anypony that is seen with me gets hurt. I can't go anywhere without somepony scream or run away in fear."

Twilight's sad expression flashed with an idea. "Stay right here Midnight, I think I know somepony that can help" she said. Midnight nodded and Twilight ran off. Midnight knew she wouldn't be back; she was just trying to trick her. But, something inside of him told him to stay there and she will come back. Twilight ran out of the woods and saw her friends. But, she also saw a group of ponies. They all had this expression of fear on their face.

"I'm serious, this thing had HUGE bat wings and claws!" said Rainbow Dash.

"It jumped over us and ran away, but it's going to come back and eat us!" said Pinkie Pie.

"That is enough!" shouted Twilight.

Everyone turned around but Pinkie Pie tackled Twilight. She got up and hugged her tightly, "Twilight your alive!" Twilight struggled against her, "Pinkie Pie let go!" She did as she asked and Twilight turned to Spike, "Spike, send a letter to Princess Celestia telling her…"

Spike pulled out a quill and paper and started to write, "Got it! I'll inform the princess of the monster so she can…"

"No Spike, not that kind of letter." Spike stopped writing and looked at her. "I need you to write a letter to the Princess saying that I need her and Princess Luna's help."

"What are you planning Twilight?" asked Rarity.

Pinkie Pie screamed, "The monster hypnotized her to bring the princesses as its meal!"

All of the other ponies screamed and ran around in circles. Zecora stepped up to her, "Forgive me Twilight, I have tried. But these six have told nothing but lies." Using her magic, Twilight grabbed the quill and paper from Spike and wrote on it herself. She rolled the message up and gave it to Spike, "Send it…" Spike blew green fire on it and the message flew away. Soon after, the royal carriage came with both princesses. Princess Celestia is a grand white Pegasus unicorn with a mane and tail that shined the colors of a rainbow. She had a sun mark on her flank and a golden necklace around her neck. Princess Luna is a dark Pegasus unicorn that has a mane that sparkles like a dark blue aurora. Her flank was black and it had a white crescent moon marking. A black necklace with the same marking that sparkled as well.

"I'm glad you could make it Princess" said Twilight.

"Twilight, my most faithful student, I arrived as quickly as I could" said Princess Celestia. "I have great sorrow for the pony you mentioned."

"Wait a second, you said it was a pony?" said Rainbow Dash. "Princess, that thing is definitely not a pony. It's some kind of…monster or something!"

"Rainbow! That's no way of treating Midnight!" said Twilight. "Please Princess, I ask for the aid of Princess Luna."

Luna looked confused, "Me, why do you need me?"

"Princess Luna, remember your first Night Mare Night? How everypony was sacred of you?" Luna nodded and Twilight continued, "Well, Midnight is experiencing the same thing. But, he finds that everypony will hurt him instead of just running away. You of all ponies know what he is going through. I believe you of all ponies can help him cope with his looks."

Princess Luna nodded and followed Twilight. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash flew in front of them, "Hold it Twilight. How do we know you're not trying to lure the princess to her doom?!" Twilight rolled her eyes and continued, "If you're so worried, how about you come with us?" Rainbow looked back but swallowed her fear and nodded. The rest of Twilight's friends came with them as well.

Midnight stayed where he was. He was waiting for a sign that the pony called Twilight was coming back. Then, he saw her horn. He was slightly happy, but he saw more movement behind her. He started to back up, "W-W-Who's behind y-you…?" Twilight walked to the side, "Midnight, allow me to introduce you to Princess Luna."

Midnight was confused who Princess Luna was. But, a larger pony stepped in. At first Midnight was scared, but then he calmed down. Her mane sparkled like it was the night sky. Her eyes were full of a caring emotion. Midnight calmed down completely as she approached. Luna bowed but Midnight did nothing. Both Twilight and Luna were surprised by this. Suddenly, Rainbow shot through the treetops and came face-to-face with Midnight. "Hey pal! You don't treat the Princess like that!" Midnight shot back to run but he slammed into a tree and passed out. He awoke in the forest, but everyone was surrounding him.

"Man that was a stupid move" said Rainbow.

"I thought it was funny" said Pinkie Pie.

Midnight shot up again but he saw Princess Luna. All of his fear drained out of him and he was as calm as can be. Twilight walked up to Midnight, "Sorry Midnight are you alright?" Midnight nodded and Twilight walked to the others, "Let me introduce you to the others."

A tan pony with a yellow mane walked up and placed her hoof out. "Howdy, I'm Applejack" she said. "It's a pleasure to meet ya." Midnight grabbed her hoof and shook it. A completely pink pony walked up, "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! You know, I've never seen somepony like you before. I mean look at you! You got wings, spikes, claws, funky mane, weird m…" Applejack roped Pinkie Pie with a rope and stopped her from talking. A Pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane flew down next to him. "I'm Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in Equestria!" she said with much confidence. A yellow Pegasus with a pink mane walked up slowly, "……uh…hi…I'm Fluttershy…" Midnight stepped back from her and everypony was surprised. A white unicorn with a lustrous mane walked up, "My name is Rarity, quite a pleasure I'm sure." Finally, Spike walked up and waved, "My name is Spike, nice to meet ya."

"I-I'm glad to have m-met all of y-you" said Midnight. "But why are y-you trying to h-help me?"

"We heard from Zecora about what troubles you were showing" said Twilight. "We couldn't just stand around and not help you."

"And now I can see why Midnight's fears were even greater than yours" said Princess Luna. "Look at his mark…" Everypony turned and looked at Midnight's flank. Midnight's ears drooped as everypony looked. "That mark on his side is the Heart of Darkness" continued Luna.

"What's so special about that?" asked Rainbow.

"It sounds mighty spooky if ya ask me" said Applejack.

"The Heart of Darkness is a very rare cutie mark" explained Luna. "The mark can be only given when a very kind pony commits a very evil crime."

As soon as Luna said that, Rainbow got between her and Midnight. Midnight backed up slowly, keeping his distance. "I'm not proud of my mark" he explained, "I rather have one of your cutie marks. But I will assure you that it was all from a good reason…"

Twilight walked up and patted his back, "Nopony will judge you for that. Will we Rainbow?" Rainbow grunted as everypony else laughed. After some more reassuring, Midnight was lead out with the others. They came to the clearing but Midnight stayed behind. Luna stepped forth to the people, "Citizens of Ponyville. You have no fear in this new creature. For his name is Midnight and he will cause no harm. He is more afraid of you than you would be of him. Please welcome him in joining our fair town."

A small applause was heard but it wasn't much. Everypony there was curious of what Midnight looked like. From what the others have said, he looks like a monster. Midnight heard Princess Luna speak and started to walk out. He doesn't know why, but Midnight had this feeling inside of him when he looked at Luna. He stopped at the edge of the trees where the last bit of darkness was. Everypony out in the group was waiting for him to step out. He checked the eyes of the ones that greeted him. Everypony was waiting as well. Midnight took one step out and immediately there were gasps. He forgot that his front two legs were bird talons. He continued walking, revealing his other demonic features. Princess Celestia gasped, but it was only towards his cutie mark. Midnight walked to the center of the group and tried to smile. Some ponies were scared and others were surprised. Midnight looked at the ground in sadness and turned to head back into the Everfree forest. But, something caught his eye. There was a small filly on the roof of a building in the background. It was a Pegasus filly. She was hanging on by the edge of the roof. Midnight ran towards the crowd of ponies and jumped over them. They parted away from him, but he didn't care. The small filly lost her grip and she began to fall. Midnight's straight spike glowed with black energy and so did the filly. She was floating barely a few inches off the ground. Midnight placed her down nicely, "Are you alright?" The filly nodded and she was quickly reunited by two more fillies.

"Scootaloo, when are you goin to learn that jumpin off a roof won't help ya fly?" said a small yellow filly. She sounded like she had the same accent as Applejack.

"Sorry guys, it won't happen again" she replied.

They all hugged and giggled. Midnight smiled but realized he did it out in the open. He turned to the crowd who were all now applauding. Princess Celestia walked to him, "Midnight, what you did was completely selfless and noble. You have proven to me that you are no threat."

"But…my cutie mark…" he said.

"Your cutie mark doesn't matter. What matters is the way you behave around others. If you dwell on the past, you can never live up to the future."

Midnight nodded and was approached by the seven that came before. They all greeted him with kindness and praised him for his kind deed. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia headed back to their carriage. Before they left, Princess Celestia turned to the group, "Midnight, you are welcome to stay in Ponyville. But try not to cause too much trouble." Midnight nodded as the carriage went off.

"So Midnight, ya got a place to stay 'ere in Ponyville?" asked Applejack. Midnight shook his head as he talked to his friends. "Well, you're more than welcome to stay with my family till you get a place of yer own." Midnight was shocked, "R-Really?" Applejack laughed, "Why sure, what er friends for?" Midnight couldn't believe what he was hearing. Not only did he have just one friend, he now had ten. Maybe even more if he counted the one he saved. Everyone said their goodbyes and Midnight followed Applejack to her home.