Splitting aMid the Night

And that is where my personality split went complete. Stupid little filly...

Midnight gasped. She was reminded of her own power about herself. If the demon was a part of her. She still couldn't recall Sparkle. The filly had been wiped from her memory entirely.

It's better that way. I had started seeing her everywhere. Like that time in the cafè with the little filly...

Or had that only been somepony who happened to have Sparkle's coat color and mane style? Midnight had barely been able to see her face, especially with the distance she'd been watching from. Still, that couldn't possibly have been her. Wrong colors. Also, that mare had already had her cutie mark. Maybe it had been Sparkle. But why should she go into camouflage like that? What was she hiding? Midnight made a mental note to run some magic detection spells across Sparkle while she wasn't looking. She kept searching for details that would disprove her hypothesis, but all Midnight found was blur. Her memory had started to lose accuracy. Maybe she could...

Demon! If you can make me forget whom I love, why can't I forget Mother? Wouldn't that be helpful? Healthier for the shell, perhaps?

Silence was all that answered her.

Oh right. That thing. Hm, can I still use Pegasus Eye?

Midnight tried and tried, but eventually she realised that there was little chance to find the trigger if she didn't know where in her brain to search.

So no easy identifying friend, foe or target. Awesome. I didn't want that anyway. Maybe I could just look inside me to see what's wrong.

That sounded like a good idea, but going through what she had read up on pony psychology, Midnight realised that she, as the main part, could not enter herself, like Sparkle had. There certainly was one way, but Midnight didn't think of that. But maybe she could do that. She was sure that Noon was only playing with her. Maybe she should play along with herself. That'd severely drain her self-esteem fund. It'd mean giving in to the demon and admitting she was too weak to do it without Noon's help. It'd mean saying the truth. Midnight was nothing but yet another unicorn. A useless body to add to the count when Canterlot would get raided at last.

Through some miracle or perhaps a bit of demonic influence, Midnight remembered Daylight's burial. The promise she had made to herself that day. So she worked on that. At least it was something to keep her mind busy, not to mention all of the recent events had worked together to make Midnight fall behind a bit. She was still ahead, of course. But only a bit, and if she didn't keep working with her known discipline, she'd fall onto level with the rest of the class. The rest. The great, the glorious, the highborne, the morons. Midnight preferred the last name. It accurately reflected reality. All but herself relying on their natural talents, even if they didn't have any.

All but herself and Sparkle. Studying had been a lot more fun when it had been together with the filly. Midnight's mind drifted off to happier times. When her sanity was still at least somewhat intact. But even those memories reminded her of how broken she was. All she could see when focusing on her friend, her cute face, her small horn, even the flank Midnight didn't want to admit looking at, was a lavender blur hiding all details. That got a bit ridiculous when Midnight reached the point where she had been trying to learn more about the young one. Very much more. Her entire vision was filled up with one blurry color.

It was surprising to her that Noon hadn't even let her keep those moments, those where she could have brought a happy relationship upon both of them and failed. But maybe learning another detail was the solution to the problem. If she had another anchor to remember Sparkle with, everything would return.

Free your mind and the body will follow.

Looking back to its creation, Midnight's plan was a silly one. Silly and foalish. Surely she'd find another way around to block out that memory too. Still, it was the best she had. And maybe Midnight wanted to do it, even if it wouldn't help. Monday morning. Nopony was looking. Her friends were close enough to lure them into open conversation. If it was going to happen, it'd have to be right then and there.

"Hey, Sparkle!" Midnight called out, a bit too loud, but not so that it'd draw unwanted attention. Little Filly (Midnight kept acting out their apparent age difference so much that had become a valid name for her) turned her head. There was that face again. That cute, charming, hated, loved face. Midnight had tried to regain her memories by simply looking, of course, but that didn't help. Even seconds later, the same color was over it that was over every image of Sparkle she had.

"Huh?"

Smooch.

Midnight had done it. She could feel her memories returning to their accurate form. It had only been so quick, but still on target. Her cheek or forehead wouldn't have done. Midnight owed aiming for her lips to her not-so-demon-only love, as well as maximum effect. Little more than a second after the deed, Midnight could see the areas she'd avoided redden up. This was reality. There was no doubt. Midnight wasn't as suicidal after all. She still had hallucinations to deal with, though. She looked around to see if anypony had seen it. That'd be fatal. She had time. Sparkle's brain would need so long to comprehend what had just happened. Just before she could speak out her doubts, Midnight silenced her with a hoof.

"Ssh. I just won ten bits from V. Nothing behind it. Unless... do you want there to be?"

"Uh, I... um... not if you don't want. Glad I was of service?"

If only Midnight had had the courage to speak out what her heart was screaming. Everything would have been so great. But she decided to stick to the plan. She nodded and trotted back to the group of ponies she called her friends. "Hey V. If that cute filly over there asks, you lost ten bits in a bet with me. Alright?"

V's face twisted into a terrible grin as he opened his saddlebag lying a few paces away and levitated a little money into Midnight's. "You can have them. Brave stuff you've done. That was only a dare, right? Don't force me to interpret!"

Midnight felt her face heat up a tiny bit as more blood per time flowed through it. Using a conversation style available only to mares (that being waving her hoof dismissively and ignoring any further questions), she got through the break.

Took you long enough. Do you think she liked it? I do.

And she's back. Took YOU long enough.

I'm always where the action is.

If by 'action' you mean 'trouble'. You're only always there because you're causing it. Hey, coming to think of it, got any tricks to help me enter myself?

Bad filly. Good fillies don't think about such things.

I could avoid thinking about clopping all day long and now you have to come and ruin it all. Mentally, of course. I've heard some ponies have great castles built in their minds. What if I wanted to see that?

Maybe there is a way. Oh how lucky you are. Did you know there are almost no ponies on record who managed to see their own minds?

I shouldn't be a part of those because you shouldn't be a part of me.

Just what I'm saying. Make us whole! uhm, just kidding. Maybe if you give me a cookie I'll look into finding a way you can use to squeeze your generous flank inside your mental world.

When did you get cooperative?

When you gave me what I wanted. Now go and eat a cookie. I'm hungry.