Splitting aMid the Night

After a set of rather invigorating dreams, Midnight was woken up not by the light of day slowly advancing on her to rob her of her bliss, nor by her alarm clock taking the direct approach and just launching a full on attack. Instead, it was a gentle, rhythmic tapping that brought her back to the physical world. She kept her eyes closed and tried to block it out, but it grew louder and faster by the minute.

Eventually, she gave up the fight and rolled out of her bed with an unusual lack of grace. Groaning, she tried to pick herself up, but quickly decided that gravity was an undefeatable foe and that dragging herself along the floor would be the preferred method of movement. She levitated the brush from her nightstand and scooted over to the mirror, taking in the full aroma of dust and hairs in the process. Surprisingly enough, it was big enough to allow her to view herself even while lying on the carpet, which turned out to be far more comfortable than expected.

Trying to bend it into any kind of shape turned out to be quite a challenge given the pure length of Midnight's mane. She couldn't explain just why it was that long. After all, she had approved of it reaching down to her shoulders not too long ago. Then again, that had been back at Canterlot, more than three months earlier, and it had grown in the meantime as should have been expected. She made a plan to visit a barber when she had time the next day.

Without a conscious energy feed to sustain it, her illusion spell was continously losing power, reducing the pink to a quarter of the total width. Midnight tapped into some of her magic to make sure it stayed like that for the foreseeable future.

She felt another need arise within her, which, unfortunately, meant taking the stairs down, which, in turn, meant having to stand up.

A few minutes later, Midnight moved one room back from the door, having reached enough consciousness to be described borderline sentient. She was pleased to find that Octavia had taken on her duty of making breakfast. Shortly after however, her pleasure was dampened when she looked out the window and discovered the source of the noise that had not lost intensity since she had come down.

"Bah," she exclaimed. "Who allows such weather?"

"Perhaps the pegasi at the weather staff do."

"Yeah, but that is just seriously unswag," Midnight complained as she sat down at the table.

"Un... swag?"

"Canterlot slang, Tavy," Vinyl Scratch explained as she came into the room. Walking towards a free chair, she gave Octavia's neck a sneaky peck of her lips while passing by, which earned her a displeased look from the earth pony.

"There are minors present," she hissed.

Midnight theatrically looked around with a hoof above her eyes to block out the sun that wasn't visible anyway. "Who exactly could she mean, Scratchy?"

"Hey. That's my nickname for her. On a related note, you are now a minor until she stops being so darn romantic. I had no idea ponies in Canterlot were so vulgar."

"Well, if they really were, then I wouldn't be here. Just snobs trying to act all high class without ever getting their hooves dirty," Midnight clarified with a spoonful of cereal floating in front of her.

"Speaking of dirty hooves, I sincerely hope that this rainfall will be cleared up before I have to head out. Gray fur is a pain to clean."

"I'm the white one here. With that attitude, I think you really belong into Canterlot. But don't worry, if you get your hoofsies dirty, we'll just run you through the washing machine once and get you all shiny again. Same goes for you, M'ight. Although we'd probably have to wash you separately. Magenta leaves terrible stains," Vinyl said grinning widely.

Midnight inspected her right front hoof while chewing. After swallowing, she replied, "I can just Blink right to the clinic, I suppose. I always thought it to be more of a pure purple if not even violet. Complements my hair nicely, I think. Even though the mix makes me stand out like a bacon in the crowd."

"I think you mean..."

"Because hay bacon is delicious. Any more questions?"

Vinyl Scratch lifted a hoof with all due seriousness. "Where can I get one of you for personal use?"

What a mess. Yay for space-time breaking!

Magic, filly.

Midnight sighed and prepared to Blink. She wasn't exactly used to teleporting across entire towns, but, while other methods of transportation relied on moving ponies through the unrestricted way in the Magic Flow, thus having energy consumption and failure risk directly tied to distance travelled, Blink just replaced her at the given location, making its range nearly infinite.

However, when she opened her eyes, she found herself still in the middle of Ponyville, some distance away from her home, though. The rain kept falling, starting to wet her in every place possible. Occasionally, a lightning bolt could be heard in the distance.

Hum. Why exactly am I here?

I have no idea. The Flow just pulled us out halfway.

Well, given the rules of classical drama, something very important that will open up an unexpected side plot is about to happen. My life's been kind of like a badly written story lately, anyway.

And thus, Midnight waited for the important event. And she waited. Out of boredom, she began a game of tic tac toe with herself, which turned out to be a lot less boring since she had a second personality within herself. But mostly, she waited.

I don't think something's gonna happen. This was a lot of wasted time and dryness for nothing. Should've known life isn't a fairytale.

Coincidentally, just as Midnight started to teleport away, an extremely loud bang tore her out of concentration. Unbound by a spell, bits of magic burst away from her horn, dripping to the ground like sparks from a fire before vanishing. How much she would give to get rid of those pointless instincts, yet she knew it wasn't possible. The matching lightning bolt had flashed without observable delay, implying it had struck a location very close to her. She couldn't find any visible damage to the environment, though an incredibly high screeching noise became louder and louder.

When she discovered the source of the noise, Midnight knew it was already too late. However, she instinctively fired up her magic in an attempt to at least slow the falling pegasus. Needless to say, while the landing was as graceful as it can be when falling face first, the impact was still so strong that it made Midnight clench her teeth from the combination of shockwave and sounds emitted.

It was Fluttershy, one of Twilight's friends. But there was something about those white robes she was wearing that rung a bell in Midnight's mind. She quickly dismissed the thought for the preferrable option of lending first aid. And perhaps second and third, too.

"Wu... wah?" she mumbled.

"Simple. You were struck by lightning, I think." Midnight rolled the pegasus onto her stomach, spotting a charred area on her back. "Yep. Following that, you crashed and missed me by a hoof. Fortunately for you, I can take you to the clinic in seconds. Understood?"

"Uh huh." It was clear that Fluttershy wasn't fully present, as had to be expected. Shock could do terrible things to a pony's mind. Thus, Midnight heaved her onto her back and started evocating Blink. She had never tried using it with passengers, but bringing luggage along with her had worked, so she didn't see why it shouldn't with a living being on her back.

When her moment of dislocation, being here and there at the same time, had passed, Midnight was relieved to find that the ragged breathing coming from behind hadn't stopped.

Apparently, Fluttershy even found enough strength within herself to speak up, "Why out here?"

"Because teleporting directly into another's house is about as polite as bucking in the door. Don't worry though, you're in safety now," Midnight responded.

"I knew that the moment I heard your voice..."

The rain kept getting even more intense, soaking both Midnight and her new patient. Dripping, she made her way into the clinic.

"Hello dear, how... oh. Made a new friend, I see?" Nurse Redheart looked out of one of the chambers when she heard Midnight enter.

"Are you always that funny when there are lives on the line?"

"Gotta keep the morale high. Bring her to the examination table and get those clothes off, I'll be with you in a second."

Executing her orders wasn't too hard, given that Midnight already was halfway to the office, which doubled as an examination room. She carefully put Fluttershy onto the table and undressed her through levitation, trying her best not to think about the value of such a gesture in a rotten society like the one she was born in. The robes had absorbed some of the blast, but she had still received her share.

Just what is it with the white? Tell me what I cannot see on my own!

The answer is where you look last and when you know it, you'll wish you didn't have it.

Diagnosing patients was a lot less exciting when they weren't on the brink of death, Midnight found. At least they didn't make such a big mess. Blood was incredibly stubborn to clean off. She finished setting up Fluttershy in the room next to Ruby's.

"Okay, I guess we should notify friends and closeby relatives and whatnot. I'm guessing you want Sparkle and the lot to know. Anypony else? Siblings? Your parents still alive?"

"Well, yes, they are, but they live in Cloudsdale," the pegasus explained like a good patient before snuggling herself back into the pillow, releasing a small sigh of relief. How that mare could reach such states of concentrated cuteness was far beyond Midnight.

"So I don't think there's really any need to tell them. Maybe a short notice to not put you under stress, but it's not enough to make them come here. Unless you want to, of course. I should really leave such decisions to the patient. Do you know how lucky you are, filly?" Midnight walked to the corner, picking up and inspecting the strange costume Fluttershy had worn with her back still turned to the bed.

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"What I mean is that not everypony has both parents or even any at all left."

"Are you saying that... I mean... I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Midnight put the cloth back onto the chair it had previously been set on and slowly, if not even dramatically, returned to Fluttershy's side. The pegasus sensed something was off and retreated into the covers. "Funny. You should be, of all ponies, the one to know. If I may ask, what were you doing before your crash landing? Commited another murder?"

Fluttershy looked genuinely afraid of Midnight. She didn't mind too much. They had told her she was afraid of even her own tail, anyway. "I d- don't understand what you mean."

"Denial will only make it worse. Come on, girl, we both know what you did. Sun yellow unicorn with hair of such a beautiful color... my color... does that ring any bells? I'm just asking because... do you know who wears such robes?" She waved a hoof at the outfit, "Murderers, that's who. Or should I rather say... assassins?"

"I... you..."

Midnight pressed a hoof down on Fluttershy's chest, fixating her in place. "I think you remember. Yes, I am Midnight, daughter to Daylight. You see, there's something ironic about this whole situation." She increased the force with which she pushed down onto the pegasus, who responded by squirming in panic and rapidly fluttering her wings, trying to escape. "For years, I was haunted by you. Or who I thought you were. Every night, I'd see you, the cold darkness within which the hood hid your face, the teasingly frilly pink of your tail. And I wondered. What kind of monster could do such a thing? Who would dare rob a filly of her mother without the possibility of even saying goodbye? I saw a deranged murderer. Yet..."

She leaned in with even more force, starting to hinder Fluttershy's air supply. "She was a threat to society. Please..."

"Did she murder anypony? Did she ruin the life of even one family? Did she give young fillies heavy cases of schizophrenia?"

Fluttershy weakly shook her head no. Tears came up in her eyes as she silently expressed her deepest regret.

"I thought not. For years, I wanted to confront the pony that did this. Not just to exact my revenge. No, I wanted to ask her a simple question. I bet you can guess it. Correct! 'Why?'. And now that I have you at my mercy..."

Robot, don't force me to step in. I mean... Midnight. You are not a murderer! Don't give in to hate! Don't lower us to her level!

No, of course not.

"Now that I have you at my mercy, what do I see? I expected a monster, an abomination of a pony, a twisted mind with no conscience. But instead, I have a meek little pegasus, Element of Kindness, begging for her life at the hooves of somepony that just saved it."

Fluttershy's air reserves were dwindling while Midnight made sure she had no chance of refilling them. She desperately tried to struggle free, but to no avail.

"And all I have to say to you is..."

Cliiffhangeeer!

"Thank you. I have every reason to hate you, but instead, I just want to thank you. It sounds odd, but without your brutal murder, I would never have done this, I would never have achieved that, I would never have come to Ponyville to chase after my true love." Midnight felt a weak push against her hoof, a last ditch effort. She considered keeping it where it was for a moment, but quickly let go, giving her patient a moment to breathe before throwing herself back onto her in a hug neither of them expected.

"You're... welcome," Fluttershy whispered with what strength remained inside of her.

"Oh, by the way, missy. We're not even by far. And if you tell anypony what I just said, I'll reconsider backing out of the whole revenge thing."

"So it is true, between you and Twilight?"

Midnight put herself back onto four hooves. "Yeah. If only she'd notice."

"Looks like I have to repay somepony ten bits."

"Ha ha. Very funny. I'll go tell your friends. Enjoy your stay."

Do you know what I realised? 'Evil' is just a word to describe what is done for the greater good by whom it personally affects. Under the skin, it's just simple pain. But for you, mercy is victory. You sacrifice. You endure. And when given the chance... you forgive. Always. Her brotherhood believes that this world is irredeemable, but they are wrong, mother. We are utopia, you and I. And in forgiving, we left the door open for any to follow. I can't say I'd have that kind of greatness.

Yeah yeah, stop hyping it. My past was terrible, but I'll make up for that by creating the perfect future, and being imprisoned for a revenge murder nopony can prove even had a reason isn't part of it. The past must rest. Now all I need is Sparkle.

Or Shimmer. Three days have passed, why not hit her up?

Maybe.