Splitting aMid the Night

Midnight ran, as fast as her little legs could carry her. It was still too slow. Her lungs burned and her legs cramped. She wanted to keep going, but could not make herself. There was no power left in her to run. More and more of her surroundings were consumed by the encroaching darkness until only the floor was still visible. If she wanted to be on time, there was only one way. Teleportation. She had been warned many times while practicing the spell on small orbs that it was too dangerous if not exercised until perfection and that she would have to wait until she was older until it was safe. This was a special moment. It did not matter whether she would hit her mark or teleport into a wall, she had to try.

A fragment of Midnight's mind found its way into consciousness. She knew this environment. There would be no paradoxes for her to exploit this time; It had happened exactly that way. Her mind shifted back. Attempt number one. The spell had grasped the air next to her. Attempt number two. The destination was behind her instead of at her goal. Attempt number three. Midnight closed her eyes, swallowed, and concentrated as hard as she could in the state of breathlessness and panic she was in.

It felt right. Midnight took a breath after going through the void of magic and stepped forward. When her hoof touched liquid, her eyes shot open. She was too late.

Pain greeted Midnight back into the world. Her muscles screamed at her despite only just sleeping. Light itself took a moment to arrive, leaving her with only the cold for company. Mere patches of warmth comforted her where the blanket had stayed on her body. She had to have been turning in her sleep again.

The nightmare that had caused it remained in her mind only for a fraction until she cast it out. No matter what her mind had put on her, there was no point in suffering longer than she had already. The first ten years had been enough.

Dead and buried. If only it could be...

She looked into the mirror. The window was still empty except for darkness and a few stars. The sun would not be up for a while, she figured. Of course, it was still the middle of winter, so that did not say much about the actual time. No matter what the time was however, class did not start until a good few hours after the sunrise on Fridays, so Midnight would still be able to squeeze in some more sleep. After careful consideration, she switched on the light and opened her favorite anatomy book. There were better things to do than going back to sleep and dreaming.

Just after the sun had begun descending from its peak, Midnight was already on her way back home. Class never lasted long on Fridays; She was still wondering whether it was a sign of mercy or of laziness from the teachers. Likely, it was both. A classmate accompanied her on her way down the marble stairs. She and many others struggled to remember his true name, so he went by the name of V most of the time.

"Yeaah, Manehattan. Bigger city than Canterlot, and right on the coast as bonus. What will you be doing in the holidays?" said he as they turned off towards their homes.

"I do not really have anything planned. Canterlot is fine." Intuition led her gaze upwards, just in time to see a crate falling from the sky. Perhaps something had launched it from the adjacent house's roof, perhaps it had been dropped by clumsy pegasi. Neither possibility changed how it was speeding towards the ground and thus V.

It was too late to react. She gathered as much magic as she could to push him away, knowing it would not be enough. She may yet be able to make the difference between life and death, at least. Time stopped, then accelerated as she unleashed the blast. By the next heartbeat, impact came. He was still caught, but not buried. For all the resistance it gave, his leg may as well have been a dry twig.

"Nnnh... Midnight?" V blinked up at her as she rolled him onto his back. He had to be in shock, unable to feel the pain yet. "Aaah, what happened?" It had apparently just worn off. Or perhaps he had spotted the pearl white fragments sticking out of his leg.

"Good news and worse news. You could not ask for a better pony than myself right now." Discovering the state of his wound, she bent in closer and wove a spell to stem the bleeding. "However, there is a limit to magic, and mushed bones are far outside of it. So I cannot do much." Looking up, she spotted another classmate leaving the school. "Yo, Zed! Emergency over here!"

Zeddie rushed over to them once called. "Made another patient again?"

"He managed to get hit by a cosmic coincidence. I am reading some heavy fractures here, but nothing else." She took a step backwards while still applying her magic to the wounds. Her mane was just too long for serious work, at least if she wanted to see anything. "Well? Get a call for help out, I cannot carry him there."

Zeddie nodded. "Got it." He ran off.

"Hey, wake up. Are you still conscious down there?" The only response she received was weak wimmering. "Quit it, large foal. You could have it worse; My magic also soothes pain. You can at least talk in exchange for bleeding all over me."

"Everything is pain." He made attempts to move and sit upright, but gave up a moment later. "To quote the raven sitting above us, nevermore with this."

"You pick the funniest times for poetry. I always hated poets though, so quit it." Losing interest due to boredom, Midnight let her eyes wander when her hooves did the same. "Hey look, there actually is a raven. Well, back to the previous topic. Anything specific you wanted to do in the city?"

V collected himself, then returned his focus to her. "Stay in the city a day or two. Afterwards, we would have taken a tour on the Night Sun, drive out into the sea, maybe go a tad south along the coast. The captain said she had something in mind for ponies like us. Whatever that means." He had apparently decided that he would rather rest his head on the cobblestone ground. "What's that noise?"

Midnight took another step away. "Another crate, it seems, this time headed exactly for your head because you have not won the lottery of coincidences yet and, honestly, I am not going to pull you away at risk of myself. Or it could be help arriving."

"We will take him to the hospital from here."

"I am no longer needed then." Midnight blew V a kiss and trotted away. "Goodbye, see you sometime later if you survive! Maybe I'll visit you!"

After leaving everyone behind her, Midnight was halfway home when she noticed flowers sprouting from bare rock into the sky.

Prismatic blooms. It has been too long for you to be dead, has it.

You have honed your skills. As I have improved mine.