Splitting aMid the Night

"Uhm, Midnight?"

This was unusual. Little Zeddie was stuttering. He was looking around cautiously and had lured Midnight into a secluded corner of the schoolyard. A single logic-defying vine that seemed to not care about the fact that it needed sunlight climbed the dark wall besides them. He wasn't that shy. Didn't have to, either. Midnight looked him over again quickly to ensure he was still as photogenic as always before. So what was it that disrupted him?

"Yeah?" If she had to be honest, Midnight wasn't really interested in anything he could say. But kindness commanded that she'd at least listen to him.

"Y'know, it gets kinda lonely around here after school... Especially when everypony's busy with their stuff." What was he talking about? Zeddie, unlike Midnight, had tons of ponies to surround himself with. She had only her father.

"Don't you have a fillyfriend for that kinda stuff?"

He blushed at Midnight's direct approach. Thinking back a minute, she noticed his cheeks may have been a bit red before already.

"N- no. Not yet, at least." Interesting. Midnight's attitude towards her sources was proven right again. But where was he going with this? If he was free, maybe she could try to seduce him for fun. She wasn't quite as pretty as him, she knew that, but there were certain weapons a filly could use.

"Speak, colt. Neither of us has spare time." She didn't think she was being too rough. Speaking the truth was more like it.

"Um, yeah, well..." He rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. Midnight still couldn't decipher his moves without applying overused clichès. Why didn't he get to the point?

"Ya know, I think you're really nice, so... Wanna go somewhere sometime?"

Oh. Of course this was what he wanted. Zeddie backed up against the wall, waiting for her to answer to him. Midnight answered with great care. Zeddie was just nice, to be fair. She had to be very gentle to him.

"No."

"What? Come again please?" He looked like he had genuinely not understood.

"No. Sorry, but Midnight doesn't date. It's not you, I just don't do that kind of stuff. But I'm pleased you think about me this way."

"Um... Okay..." Zeddie seemed to be on the edge of tears. "I'll just... be on my way then." His cheeks started to wet. Midnight had apparently underestimated his feelings for her. So she made him feel better the best way she knew. Ensuring nopony saw them to avoid terrible rumors, she flung her forelegs around him and held him tight.

"Don't cry. Please. That won't help anything," she whispered into his ear. She let go only when he seemed to regain his composure. He could have sworn there had been something soft on his cheek, if only touching for so long. "There. It's not your fault. It's me. I know this burns, but you don't have to fixate yourself on me, either. Hell, you can take any filly you please, no?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"Yeah. Even if those you have at your disposal don't cut it, you'll soon find somepony else that's actually pretty and won't hurt you like that."

"Y- yeah. I... I'm sorry I bothered you with that. Thanks for your help."

"My pleasure. Now go out there and get yourself a filly worth your time." They both walked back into daylight.

Saving ourselves for the little unicorn you'll never get, I see.

The filly I'll never want. It is you who took a liking of Sparkle, not me, and I won't let that change.

We am you, filly, grasp that! You may not want to feel it, but we are in love, not just me.

But I don't want her! And I'll prove it. It's probably better that way, too. Else she might suspect something from my constant advances.

At last it was friday evening. The week hadn't been easy on Midnight. She had dropped her bags in the foyer and trotted into the kitchen. Her father wasn't at home as usual. But maybe that was a good thing. She could think much more easily like that. She floated the filled water container over to the electric kettle and activated it. Earlier, she'd have gone out with her friends on Friday night, but she felt like just drinking a cup of tea alone. She leaned against their small square table. Alone. That had been her motto since Tuesday. For four days and counting, she hadn't been actively avoiding Sparkle, but trying to reduce interaction with her. That had proven itself trickier than expected, since they had grown rather close over the past month. Sparkle had even called them best friends once. Justified, they both agreed.

A relationship very friendly on one side and amorous on the other. No, like guardian and guarded. Midnight kept lying to herself. She knew that. The only problem was that she couldn't tell who was lying, Midnight herself or Noon. There was that feeling of comfort she got every time Sparkle was near. And Pegasus Eye highlighted her pink, whatever that could possibly mean. Midnight had a bad suspicion. But she obviously could avoid those things if she wanted to. And, after all, Pegasus Eye was not yet proven to be more than just a little illusion by Noon.

Midnight wasn't going anywhere with this. So, she had to make an assumption and work from there on out. That if she was in love after all? Noon had been telling her that for so long already. Working from that wasn't quite as easy either. Even if she was, Midnight couldn't possibly burden that cute little filly with a relationship that she surely didn't have time for and maybe didn't even want. Yes, maybe she didn't want her. That'd be preferrable. It would make her inner demon bring forth only grief and the pain of rejection whenever not repressed, but at least it'd be an easy solution. She could move on. There was no point going after just one pony. But first, Midnight would finish school and pick up a job. There were sure to be many ponies where she would work, surely it wouldn't be Canterlot. Preferrably a stallion to fulfill her biological obligation. Although she'd read of a way for unicorn mares somewhere... didn't Midnight already have a job assigned for her? Where was it? Ponyville?

There certainly was somepony she could love in Ponyville. That made matters a bit more complicated. Even if she wanted, she probably wouldn't be able to lose contact with Sparkle. It would be impossible to forget her. Midnight took the hot water, added a tea bag to it in a cup and started pacing around the room. What if Sparkle did want something from her? If she would respond to the quick, stuttered invitation to a first date with her renowned smile and a clearly positive answer?

What would Midnight do then? Hypothetically speaking, of course. There was never going to be such an invitation in the first place. Wouldn't that be what she wanted? No, it was not. Even disregarding what the major part of Midnight thought, there was one problem with the relationship that'd result. First, their environment. While filly fooling, as the dumb ones called it, was accepted mostly and Midnight frankly didn't care about what anypony but herself and Sparkle thought, what would Sparkle think?

There would necessarily be some ponies Midnight would love to buck off the mountain. Again, she didn't care, but how would those influence Sparkle? How would thinking about their possible reaction? Second, school. They both weren't ponies free to do whatever they pleased while having a personal assistant to do everything for her and a job that included only sitting on a pile of books that nopony ever wanted one from anyway. There was a ton of work coming for both of them. Well, at least for Midnight. Sometimes, she thought Sparkle had to have read through an entire library and memorised all of it, judging by how much she knew and could do. She simply wouldn't have time for a relationship. That was, assuming the cases that Midnight actually was in love with that filly, that she'd ask her out and that she wouldn't be refused. Like she had refused Zeddie just three days ago. Thinking back, that had been a bit harsh of Midnight. But at the same time, it had been the only right thing to do.

What else should she have done? Accepted a relationship that was bound to fail? Maybe she was taking things too seriously, but that reminded her of a possibility she hadn't thought about yet. If Sparkle wouldn't truly have feelings for her, but still do something in order not to hurt Midnight's feelings. That might even be the worst case. Midnight would live a happy life for maybe a few weeks at most, then things couldn't hold up anymore and they'd break up and not have the same friendly relationship as before ever again. That could not be allowed to happen. None of that could. Midnight would just continue on as usual, even going back to normal interaction with Sparkle because her farce of avoidance was pathetic.

Although she would observe her friend very closely. Not in a stalking kind of way. Observe facial features whenever talking to her, maybe say a few suggestive lines to test her reactions. Midnight just had to watch out in order not to overburden the filly. She was so young, it was unlikely she had ever had any romances in her life. Maybe the kind of thing one had in magic kindergarten which would be called good friendship by the mares they were now. Midnight sipped at her tea, which had turned blood red due to brewing for a little too long. It was a plan of some kind, at least. Better than cluelessly running away.

What are you thinking about so much? Go there, kiss the filly right on the lips before she can say anything, and give her a seductive stare. If she isn't your fillyfriend by then, she's totally into stallions.

And that was why Midnight was only following her own, rational thoughts.