I do not own MLP or any of the series in this fanfic

Chapter Eighteen: The Party

Ire sighed as she looked in the mirror, Rarity had done a good job working on her mane. Although the purple maned pony didn't seem to mind her irritable, Pinkie explained that there was another cranky pants in town. 'I wonder who she is talking about.' thought the grey toned pony as she put a black headband on that was right in front of her. She was going to leave the moment the fashionista had finished with her mane and tail but the pink pony wanted her to see a party for the first time.

"Hey there, you ready?" Pinkie asked poking her head from the stairs as Ire sighed and stood up saying sarcastically. "For what?"

"You're first party of course!" the pink pony explained grinning widely earning an eye roll from her other half as she headed downstairs. "Although this is a party for the tryouts for the school concert."

The grey scale pony rolled her eyes before following her perkier counterpart. She walked down the stairs seeing the ponies laughing and having fun. Her ears dropped as she tried to keep herself calm. 'I don't like parties.' she grumbled inwardly as she looked around. Suddenly she felt a tingle inside of her head causing her to look around. The ponies seemed to be having fun except for one. A pale blue unicorn sat off to the side watching everypony with a sad look on her face. 'Why does it look like everypony else is avoiding her?' the grumpy pony thought as she headed over to that side of the room.

"Why aren't you 'enjoying' the party?" Ire asked standing next to the mare causing her to jump.

"Pinkie Pie!" she yelped causing all attention to turn towards her for about half a second before the party resumed. "You scared the Great and Powerful Trixie."

"One I am not Pinkie Pie, I am her cousin Ire." corrected the angry pony with a slight glare. "And two I didn't sneak up, I walked up. You were too busy looking sorry for yourself."

"The Great and Powerful Trixie does not feel sorry for herself." gasped Trixie looking around for a bit. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does not feel that this party is suited for one such as she!"

Ire just raised an eyebrow as she stared at the show pony whose ears drooped before she sighed.

"Look I may not be my cousin but I still have a slight ability to know when other ponies are not positive." lied the greyish pink pony glancing over at the other.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie... isn't really welcome." the light blue unicorn sighed looking around the party. "I may have caused an incident, inadvertently of course, with a Ursa Major... according to them anyways. Also I took over the entire village under the influence of a corrupt piece of jewelry. The citizens haven't quiet forgiven me for that."

"Who cares what they think, they need all the help they can get to fight the darkness." grumbled Ire watching the suddenly disliking the party even more. "Who knows when it might creep up on a pony."

Trixie looked over at the grey scaled pink pony with a bit of confusion. Ire just raised an eyebrow before heading towards the exit. She managed to evade most of the ponies but Pinkie Pie just kept dragging her back. Finally when the party lasted until midnight did the grumpy pony finally snap.

"This is so annoying!" she yelled slamming her back hooves into a table knocking it over. All eyes were on her as Ire stormed out of the party. Pinkie chased after her worried.

"Ire!" she called out spotting the other pony who actually looked like she was in pain. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry Pinkie." mumbled Ire turning around. "As your opposite it seems anything fun and enjoyable can cause me harm if I stay in it for too long."

"Oh..." Pinkie said her hair going flat not liking the fact that the party caused pain to her other half. "Are you leaving?"

"I have to." sighed the irritable pony before offering the party pony a small smile. "I will never forget you Pinkamena."

The pink pony pulled the grey pink one into a hug holding her tightly a tear falling from her eye. When she pulled away Pinkie Pie pulled a scarf from out of her mane and wrapped around her double's neck who looked surprise.

"You're going to get cold." Pinkie revealed. "Besides Maude would understand."

"Thank you." sighed Ire before looking ahead of her towards the exit of Ponyville. "That map... it isn't normal. If the castle was made to help Twilight spread the magic of friendship then the map might help."

"I'll make sure she takes a look at it." affirmed the blue eyed pony before pulling her double into another hug. "I don't want you to go."

"Hey we will always be connected." explained the chaotic pony pulling away and placing a hoof against Pinkie's chest. "Here, as long as we don't forget each other we will always be in our hearts. Pinkie find as many allies as you can, I may not know all of Sombra's plans but I have a feeling the more the better."

"Alright." the pink pony sniffled watching Ire walk out of town before turning around to see her friends exiting Sugar Cube Corner looking around.

"Pinkie is everything alright?" Twilight asked just as her friend's hair went back to normal as she wiped away the tears. "Who was that pony?"

"She was new to town." said Pinkie turning around with a smile. "She was just a little cranky because she was tired. She left to continue her journey."

"Oh good, for a moment there I thought she was going hurt you or something." Applejack replied as both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stared at Pinkie. "Well the party is almost over if you don't get back in there."

"Actually I wanted to go visit the castle." the pink pony told her friends. "I mean please a castle that spreads friendship that means more friends!"

"Twilight!" called Comet racing up towards her. "Please help! Midnight collapsed and I don't know why! I know this isn't natural."

"We'll take him to the castle." the purple pony answered. "Perhaps one of the books Princess Celestia sent me has something on this."

"We should also check Aurora's library." suggested Rainbow Dash earning a surprised look from the Princess of Friendship. "What she's been alive since books were first created! There's bound to be something that Celestia doesn't have."

"Bring me to him." Twilight ordered and the black colt led the way to his house. The magenta eyed alicorn froze when she saw the stallion on the ground twitching in pain his cutie mark glowing. She knew that the medical ponies wouldn't be able to solve this mystery. With a quick teleportation spell they were in the castle. Twilight asked Comet to go find Spike in the library and watched as he rushed off.

"What's happening?" the purple princess asked looking at the grey stallion who opened one of his red eyes saying. "I do not know."

"You're awake!" sighed Twilight Sparkle moving to his side. "You're cutie mark was acting strange."

Midnight Sun glanced towards his flank before looking away from the one sword.

"I need to talk to you Princess Twilight." he said before glancing at the rest of the group. "Alone."

"Of course." replied the princess before looking at her friends who gave her a worried look. "Go help with gathering the books and I will be fine."

The black maned stallion waited until the girls were out of the room before saying. "You know how Sombra and I look very similar?"

"Yes, I nearly mistook you for him when we first met." Twilight said before casting a spell to make sure her friends couldn't listen in. "Are you two related?"

"No, we are connected." admitted the red eyed unicorn before shifting to show his cutie mark. "Don't you think it is strange that there is only one sword?"

"Not really." the violet pony answered before looking at it carefully. "But it does feel... off somehow. Incomplete. Wait, when you say connected..."

"I mean we are the same stallion." explained Midnight standing up weakly. "He is me and I am him. A long time ago I let my lust for power cloud my judgement and when a soldier told us about the Crystal Heart I thought I could use its powers. However I didn't realized I was being used by Discord and corrupted my being when he told me that I would never be able to study it. From the corruption Sombra was born having one of my cores as his own. Aqua Star preserved me and my core when she tried to save my light, I was stuck. So when Sombra separated from me recently he couldn't fully do it as one cannot survive without the other. Twilight, he has had a thousand years to practice his dark magic we need more allies if you want Equestria to last in this war."

"So you collapsing could be connected to your separation from Sombra." mused Twilight before a flash of light appeared and a familiar voice said. "That is exactly right Princess."

"Discord." the stallion growled suddenly on guard causing the draconequus to frown a bit before ignoring him as he cleared his throat then began to speak. "You see a pony with two or three cores can be separated with certain magics. These magics are dark and used by those who studied them or is the Dark One. There is always a drawback, even though they are separated they are connected. Their bodies are not used to the change and are weakened without the other core. So they will have bouts of pain and sometimes fall it, though they cannot die no matter how much they want to. The cores cannot survive alone and before you use this to your advantage remember that Aqua Star would have wanted him to live."

Midnight looked away at that before there was a knock on the door and Twilight went to open it.

"Twilight! You wouldn't believe what the table did!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed bouncing in the room as her friend took down the spell. "I got bored in the library so I went to the throne room and I noticed that all our cutie marks were floating around an area! Maybe we should check it out! It could be new friends we haven't met yet!"

"But..." Twilight started before looking over at Midnight who nodded. "Alright, we'll go. I want Midnight Sun to come with us. He has more experience in going on trips and I want to keep an eye on him. We need to get to the library. I need to speak to Comet."

"On it!" chuckled Discord before snapping his fingers transporting them directly there. The black colt was looking around the large library for the purple dragon before turning around as Twilight cleared her throat.

"Princess Twilight! Do you need something?" Comet asked earning a raised eyebrow from the purple princess. "Sorry, I can't find Spike."

"No need, I have a mission for you." the violet eyed pony said before leading him further into the library picking up a parchment and ink writing a letter. "I need you to deliver a message and find three... potential allies."

"Where do I need to go?" questioned the black unicorn before they stopped in front of a mirror.

"In there. I just have to..." started Twilight before levitating a diary into a slot causing the mirror to glow. "There. Find a girl called Sunset Shimmer and give her this."

"Why me?" the colt inquired looking a bit confused. "Why can't it be..."

"Because I need your talent of blending in." the princess confessed. "Since of your history of being a changeling you can adapt a lot quicker than anypony I know. Please."

"Alright." Comet replied nodding his head before taking the letter. "I'll try to find her and the three others?"

"Their names are Sonata, Aria, and Adagio." Twilight told him with a nod of her head, the black unicorn headed towards the mirror. "Stay safe."

"I will, you too. I will try to be back as soon as I can." he replied before heading through the mirror before the purple princess turned towards Midnight saying. "We better get ready for our trip."

Midnight Sun nodded his head before heading home to pack. Twilight sighed before feeling the emptiness of the castle crash down upon her. Her ears drooped not liking the feeling, she had been too busy to notice it until now. She didn't notice a pale silver light enter the mirror as she cast her magic to remove the journal.

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