Splitting aMid the Night

Well, I could... what's the time?

Midnight rolled over in her bed. Her alarm clock said it was seven in the morning, but somehow, she felt like it was lying. As soon as she turned back around, the concept of the number seven in the given context had already escaped her again.

So, I gotta... wait... Dad. That's ri... no, I'm in Ponyville, remember. So I have to... I'm late for work. No, I'm too early... I'll just... focus!

We... are focused.

Very funny. Help me out here. I must get to... gah. Okay, slowly. How much time do I have?

No more than a month, with your attitude.

So it's seven o'clock... aah, that means... if only I could get a clear thought together.

Welcome, welcome to my world. You have chosen or been chosen to relocate to the creative mind. Enjoy your stay.

Midnight saw stars in her vision. This was definitely not good. But how could she figure out a way to escape that trap if all attempts at forming a plot were forcefully abandoned every two seconds?

I'll just start my day, things'll get clearer eventually, I guess... that means... roll over on my left side, then stand up.

You're cute when you're idiotic. Guess why I'm staying with you.

Get. Off.

Oh, I'd forgotten how grim you can be. Well, it's been a quite long stay in the land of happiness and candy and pooping rainbows, hasn't it?

Best hours of my life.

I saw what you did there. Hey, how about you tell Filly how she's the mare of your dreams and what you've done with said mare tonight. I'm sure she'll fall for you instantly. Or call the local authorities for threats of violence, rape and murder.

Slowly, Midnight managed to assume the correct position of step one, ready to follow it up with step two. However, in her current state, that took far more time than she would've liked in order to properly coordinate her movements. Four legs were just impossible to control.

I don't remember any such thing, being the innocent filly I surely am. Then again, I hardly remember anything...

It is foalish to assume the chain of memories being unbreakable. With just the right will, it can be spliced and rearranged, for it is as volatile as yourself, as we are the shifting nothingness of the Flow incorporated. Remember when Shimmer begged for mercy after you had come down together with the filly and everypony knew you had done funny stuff up there? Of course you do.

I... that didn't happen, I know it!

Midnight's memories fit together perfectly. Love's Bloom, seein the rest of the flowers, getting closer to Sparkle, then suddenly being torn out of the afterglow of a thousand emotions, caused by pheromone-induced hormone release. Yet, it all felt unnatural.

What more is reality than a pile of recollection, broken into fragments which try to align themselves in hopes of forming a continous, non-paradoxal story? I remind. We are the sum of our memories. The stories we live. The tales we tell ourselves!

Why have fake memories... when you can have real ones?

Finally, she managed to make her muscles execute the necessary movements to bring her out of her bed. Just as her hoof touched the ground, all of the shattered thought fragments that had previously prevented any rational conclusion from being drawn in her mind vanished, leaving behind only the cold, empty space that she was used to.

I am a shadow in darkness.

Let there be light to drive back the night!

Back to, Night. There be. Let Light drive.

Nay, she has passed on, thus her guidance is lost forever.

What if I told you... it didn't have to be?

The brush stopped halfway through clearing an especially tough knot in Midnight's mane, but she quickly regained her composure and commanded her magic to keep oscillating up and down.

No, there isn't. Where are we, in some kind of romance novel where everypony is always happy and the ghosts of the past return not to ail their former protected, but to aid them?

Her spirit has moved on since we were addicted to her whispering, but that doesn't mean Daylight must be gone. You have the power, Midnight!

Necromancy? My talent is healing and teleporting stuff, not tearing ponies from their deserved rest.

You always assume the worst of ponies who just want to help you. And then you murder them. Speaking of murder, what if I could reanimate her personality?

At last you would have a use. But I know my tricks. It'd only mean descending into madness faster.

Oh no. Why should I want to do that? All I offer you is another chance with her. Give me the chance and I'll let her personality bleed into me. Won't notice a difference.

Except that she'd be a cardboard cutout because all I have of her is from the time when deep character analysis was impossible for me. Also, think about what reanimating an illusion of her would do to me. I'd retract back into my own mind, oblivious to anything around me, listening only to her voice while the others declare me insane.

We will be ready for the time you are ready to Bleed. Now don't miss your first day at work, tee hee.

You are ridiculous. We've still got...

Midnight looked at her clock and saw that the short hand had moved an exact sixteen degrees ahead.

... bad.

Behold, for I control time! Give me your virgins!

This one is reserved for one certain unicorn. Other than that, I've got nopony. Well, on the bright side, you seem to be pretty functional as a watch. I might keep you as a pet... and forget to punch holes in the box.

Midnight's chest muscles suddenly cramped up completely. Coughing in an attempt to remove whatever obstacle could be in her windpipe, she beat on her own body with her hooves in hopes of restoring functionality. It didn't work, though. As her oxygen supply began to diminish, sparks appeared in her vision again and she dropped to the floor, lacking the resources to keep her balance while still pounding.

She was safe. There was no way to asphyxiate to death without the use of any tools, as she'd just resume breathing normally as soon as she lost her consciousness. Then again, the demon seemed to also be fully present while she was asleep, so it could be possible for Noon to keep her in that position until she passed the treshold. But of course, she wouldn't do that. Not being the coward she was, who was actually afraid of death. What a laughable mind.

Midnight exited her room after shaking off the death grip and went downstairs, where Octavia sat alone in the kitchen. She gave her a short greeting and sat down to eat breakfast.

Remember, it is I that has experienced death, not you. Want me to bring us both there? I'm safe, you know. I've always been and will always be. You, on the other hoof, have only this one shell.

You are as mortal as I am, demon.

What if I am not? What if I have lived to see the kingdom of eternal chaos, the Princesses' cleansing, Nightmare Moon's uprise and defeat? Hey...

Midnight was not comfortable with the fact that she had technically no control over when Pegasus Eye activated. Through the window, she could see the shadow star.

What if this was how the world has been before the dawn of time?

Pointless. This still is as it is.

But ponies lived in the Flow itself. Imagine that! Look around. What you see is just a running memory, fed into our puny mind simultaneously to being stored for later use. And given how easy it is to tamper with the illusion of a past, do you really think there's any difference if the delay between recording and playback is zero?

I just ask other ponies if their observations mirror mine.

Reality is a question of definition. Imagine for a second... hey, I can show you directly.

On the window, through which the normal reality was visible again, two stickponies began to draw themselves. One of them was drawn in pure white, the other in a dark blue, slightly darker than the true color of Midnight's mane.

As a finishing touch, Noon added a horn and wings to both of them. Once complete, they began walking to the right without changing their location in the real world, instead moving the picture of grassy hills with snow-covered mountains off in the distance that was slowly being drawn around them.

After a minute of noiseless walking, the setting was fully assembled. Suddenly, Midnight could hear their clopping.

Once upon a time, in a reality far far away in the Multiverse, there were only two ponies and no other animalic life in the world. Those two alicorns called themselves Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Day after day, they travelled in hopes of finding other sentient life forms.

The stick ponies kept on walking, periodically flipping their twodimensional heads to the other side to signify looking around. The scenery was unchanging, though.

Sadly, their search was fruitless. That made them very sad. However, where other ponies would fall into pointless quarrel, they did not, for they were both without flaw. Few know, but their full names were Mary Celestia and Sue Luna.

Midnight's vision zoomed past the now empty chair where Octavia had once sat, until the drawing from her imagination was all she could see.

See with your brain and not your eyes. Seeing with the brain is often called imagination, you know. As I was saying...

The younger of the princesses, Sue Luna, though, wasn't quite as flawless as her elder sister. Up until the Day of Judgement, she would never admit it, but deep in her heart, she couldn't stop blaming everything on Mary Celestia.

Eventually, they found a spirit built of all kinds of body parts, many of which were yet unseen on the planet.

"Greetings", It spoke, "I am the embodiment of all that has once walked here, as well as all that ever will. You could say I am the world itself. I have been watching you, ponies, and I wish to propose a deal."

The white alicorn stepped forward. "What is thy desire?"

"I can create creatures to fill this world, beings with more shapes and sizes and an amazing variety greater than you could ever comprehend. Following that, I shall create ponies in your image, wielding a horn with which to incantate the power of the void, wings with which to crack the skies, or the strength of the earth itself, though never more than one per pony. Their minds shall be good and without sin, although... I do detect a darkness within one of you. Those descending from her shall be gifted with the ability to know evil, which means to see it, but also cause it."

Sue Luna followed to her sister's side. "So what do you want in exchange?"

"Oh, nothing, really. Only that you follow your hearts' desires."

"It is my wish to see these lands flourish with life," One of the sisters said.

"It shall happen, I promise. And you?"

"... Power," The corrupted one said before using her horn to literally backstab her sister. After that was done, she galloped off and out of frame to rule over the freshly created Equestria.

The wound wasn't vital, the alicorn would live. She had intended to betray, not to kill, after all. Still, the insult was bad enough without injury. Slowly, she rose. If she waited a day or two, she would surely be welcome as a subdued co-ruler... or she could overthrow her sister's tyranny and bring peace to their lands.

And thus, our fairy tale ends. Evil lurks within all, but it is usually overshadowed by greater evil. 'Good' is just a word to express you're not on top of the threat list. When those above you are removed, however...

That is how Nightmare Moon came to be.

I suppose. You're quite a rare breed, Midnight.

Well, she's been on the Moon for some time now. Of course there's less of her descendants left.

No, she wasn't.

You don't mean...

History is written by winners. What speaks against Lulu trying to liberate Equestria, then being banished so that Celestia could indoctrinate the public with her version of the story while everypony who knew what had happened was dead since generations?

What were we talking about again?

Definition, silly. In the current world, everypony with half a brain would agree that both Princesses are eternally good or at least that Celestia is good and Luna is evil. But what happens when you isolate them? Your standards get moved and ponies get sorted into different zones. All souls reveal their true nature when trusted, even when trusting is undeserved. And like that, nothing else is absolute. Talk about what happened at eight o'clock with somepony and you could both be talking about events more than twelve hours apart. If you describe something and then show them a picture, they will always make heavy adjustments to their mental picture. How can you still believe there is something such as a set reality?

We all live in our own fantasy and it is only when that is shattered that we see the real world. Like my fantasy of ponies being naturally good and incapable of taking a life while destroying two others.

By the way, do you know what happens at eight o'clock? You, over there, not here. Better get going.