Done by a Single Night

"Well? I'm pretty sure you don't completely understand everything that has happened," Twilight said.

"Yeah, I fell asleep again and had another dream."

Fluttershy laughed at the understatement. "So, what would you like to ask first?"

"Umm... well, when I first fell asleep the room was a Victorian mansion, but just the last time I came, it had changed into a cloud tower..."

"Wait, you visited the mansion multiple times?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Err, yeah, haven't you?"

"Umm, we both only visited once, and that was just for the contract..." Fluttershy said timorously. Damn, outside the Dark Hour, she's a whole different pony, all shy and stuff, and- wait, what am I saying? Other way around... Shoot, its getting to me...

"Well, maybe I got lucky?"

"I don't know Rainbow, once you activate your potential, strange dreams tend to tell you things... You never get told something for no apparent reason. Unusual nightmares or things like that always mean something."

"Ah... so, why did it turn into a cloud tower?"

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "Hmm..." After a few moments of silence, her head sprang up. "Aha! So, Rainbow, I think the reason why-"

"Wait a sec, this sounds like its going to be a long talk, let's go sit down at the table." I gestured them over and they sat down at my kitchen table. "Be right back, just gonna check my mail."

Surprisingly, there was quite little in my mailbox. Nothing but today's newspaper, a box with a muffin in it, and a brown, unlabeled package. Derpy must have gotten rid of the stuff outdated. I'd thank her next time I saw her.

I popped the muffin in my mouth, and brought the box over to the table.

"Uh, pardon me for asking Rainbow, but what's that?" Fluttershy cautiously extended a hoof in the direction of the box.

"Erm, I'm not sure... let's find out!" Using a technique I didn't know I could do, I managed to swipe my hoof across the string tying it together, and somehow cut it. Now loosened, it fell off. I tore through the package greedily.

In it there was a box. I was about to open it, but withdrew. "Oh, I'll open it later." I tossed it up into the roof, and it sunk through into my bedroom. The cloud mass quickly recoagulated. "So, what were you saying Twi'?"

"The room clearly has been used for quite some time. I mean, paleo-pony era buildings are pretty out of style. So maybe it updates?"

"Uh, Twilight?" Fluttershy's voice was feeble as ever. Or rather, as feeble as before. "I mean, not that I think you're wrong or anything, but I thought the room was located on the inside of a cave..."

Something snapped in Twilight's head, and it did so ferociously. I could see a fuse or two get blown. "That's it! Its customized for each pony! That could also explain weapon off-states!."

"Say what?"

"So, as you have probably noticed, when it is not the Dark Hour, our weapons look quite more... pedestrian. Like, Fluttershy has a vegetable knife instead of a one-hoof-long-black-iron-Lethe-tempered-double-edged-blade-of-destruction." She paused to catch her breath.

"Ah, so its an illusion to stop ponies from going crazy and arresting us."

"Well," Twilight pondered. "I guess it kind of is an illusion, but it also kind of isn't. When magical weapons are outside of The Dark Hour, they do indeed assume the look of household objects, but... they are still weapons nonetheless. Maybe its because of detecting the Veil? But, that wouldn't be true as then safe spots wouldn't... hmm. I never really thought about it..."

"Wait, what's the veil?"

"The Veil. During the Dark Hour, the world is enveloped in a strange mist-like fog called the Veil. It is a kind of medium for Shadows to travel through. But, instead of being errant like fog, it avoids selective areas. Like, my house. Shadows don't seem to be able to get near it. But, its radius of protection is extremely small, as you can see."

"Can you at least try to not mindbuck me so repeatedly?" She was making no sense.

Fluttershy laughed quite quietly. "I'll try to sum it up. So uh, every day, after twelve, there is a "hidden" hour, called the Dark Hour. During it, monsters called Shadows come out and try to feast on pony flesh. Now, as a defense mechanism, most ponies "play dead" and turn into coffins, except for us. We are able to protect ourselves with these things called "Personas", and stay awake during this hour.

"Now, when we say Dark Hour, you have to realize that it isn't just an hour long. It can be longer, under certain circumstances that I won't really get into. But just realize that it can last much longer than that.

"Anyways, back to the Veil. Every Dark Hour, this fog thing comes out to help Shadows travel. Shadows are unable to leave the Veil. Now, this is generally a good thing, but you have to remember that the Veil literally is everywhere. There are only some places where the Veil doesn't flow. Some areas are always protected. Other times, there are just sporadic paths that change every day. So um, yeah, that's err, it..." For somepony who had just delivered such a large speech, she was still pretty quiet.

I let that all sink in. "I... think I get it... Well, time to open this package!"

The package seemed to know I was going to open it. As if by magic, the lid was suddenly enveloped and thrown off by a purple glo- oh, wait, never mind...

"Wait, Twi? I have another question."

She dropped the lid. The package was filled with packaging peanuts, so I didn't know what was in it still. "Yeah?"

"Why didn't you use magic to protect yourself?"

"Same reason why you can't fly. Well, kind of not the same reason. That's because the Veil doesn't want anyone to escape. Anyways, during the Dark Hour, normal magic cannot be used. Of course, you've probably noticed how there are exceptions, like Fluttershy's teleportation spell thing and how your Persona could use a fire spell."

"Hmm. Oh. I feel as if we're stalling. Let's open this thing!"

The peanuts flew out and in the box were four things. The glass from the Velvet Room that I didn't drink from, the two halves of the Shadow's mask, the deck of Tarot cards Canvas gave me, and some... shiny thing. I took the cup out and set it on the table.

In front of my eyes, it suddenly filled up with the golden liquid, the water level slowly rising. I still didn't know what the buck the drink was. But its refilling was very slow. It only rose a tiny bit from the bottom of the glass, about half the width of a pencil.

Apparently Fluttershy knew what the drink was. "Is that-"

"Indeed." Why is it that they always know something I don't?

"Is it what?"

"That is the drink of life."

"A what?"

"It goes by many names. Amrita, Ichor, Nectar, the Elixir of [Chinese Legend Dude Name], just to name a few. Just shut up and drink it, you need to taste it yourself."

I rose the glass to my muzzle and cautiously took a sip. Which was practically drinking all of it. It tasted very... familiar, just like... Oh no. It can't be.

The cup slipped out of my hand in shock. It fell onto the floor, and passed through. Fluttershy saw this, and jumped out my window, racing down at pretty fast speeds for her. Which was still kind of slow.

I however, was still in shock. That flavor... there's no way it can be…

Twilight knew exactly what I was thinking however. "Taste brings back memories?" She said, knowingly.

"H-how did it- how did you-" I was unable to form any words, currently.

"The drink will take the flavor of whatever you hold dearest. Anything that will make you happy. For example, when I taste it, it tastes of a vanilla milkshake, specifically one from Smooth Whip's shop down in Canterlot..." She sighed, reminiscing. "Boy, Moondancer and Lyra and I had good times there, back in school... One day I need to take them back there... Anyways, while you may not feel it, it will help patch you up when you're hurt a bit. Just minor injuries, like snapped tendons."

"Minor?" Somepony did that once in flight school. Damn, it looked like it hurt bad. Guy couldn't move. And he definitely didn't have a cloud of butterflies waiting to catch him.

"Don't worry about it," she said.

Fluttershy had come through the window. She held a glass in her hooves. It wasn't shattered, which I found odd, looking at how long it took her to find it.

"It... didn't break," she said curiously. She went over and set it on the table, and it began its slow fill again.

"Should I be worried about it? Like, will it overflow and start seeping through the floor and fall down? Because I think Applejack would get really mad at me..." Whatever you do, long as you live, absolutely never. Ever. Try to prank her by filling her watering can with red wine.

"Well, I'd assume that it would naturally stop filling when full, and would only fill on a relatively flat surface. Why it fills at all beats me however."

"Hmm. Well, I'm hungry. What about you guys?"

"I could go for some food," Fluttershy said.

"Well, when I cook it, its nowhere near food. Its more like... something that has been created with cooking ingredients. Wanna eat out?"

Twilight shrugged. "Why not."

We went down to Twi's favorite sandwich shop. Waiters there are fancy, but what they serve isn't. Which is good, because I hate fancy restaurants.

Though we were indeed at a sandwich shop, I ordered instead a fillet of fish. I asked for some liquid rainbow. Much better than most hot sauce. But does leave a strange aftertaste. And makes your tongue itchy somehow. Its a very strange thing to use as a condiment in general... which is why I usually use a distilled version.

"What is that?" Fluttershy said, pointing at my plate.

"A fish... haven't you ever tried them before?"

"Staple of Las Pegasus. High revenue rates. Extremely hard to fillet." Twilight took a bite of her daisy sandwich. I noticed she ordered it soggy. Heh, I must've gotten her to like the flavor. Pretty odd, if you ask me...

"Uh, no, I mean the rainbow... can I try some?"

"Sure." I cut the fillet in half and gave her some. She ate it with two butterknifes. Hopefully nopony else noticed. Twilight took a sip from a vanilla smoothie I didn't realize she had before.

"So, Twilight."

"Yesh?" she responded, mouth filled with soaked sandwich.

"Before, when you were telling me about the drink of light,"

"Life," she corrected.

"Gezheundheit. Anyways, you said something about drinking vanilla smoothies with your friends Lyra and Moondancer."

She set down her sandwich and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Back when I was at Celestia's school for gifted unicorns, I actually did have friends before. Lyra and Moondancer. But when Celestia started to tutor me more privately, I got to see them less and less... I don't think she really knew about them. Lyra, as you know, came here to Ponyville. But Moondancer... I've lost touch with her..." She looked at the table thoughtfully. "I really wish I knew where she went off to..."

I finished my dinner and began my walk home. It was a perfectly normal day in Ponyville. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were busy trying to fire a watermelon at a scarecrow. Applejack was busy trying to convince them not to. Derpy Hooves was delivering mail. Spitfire was going into Carousel Boutique and- WAIT WHAT!?

Author note: Soon I will be releasing a oneshot for Labor day.