Splitting aMid the Night

Midnight came out into the cool morning air, only to find that it wasn't quite as airy as usual when a blast of water assaulted her face. Condemning the water to a few years in civic duty, she wiped herself dry with a foreleg and went back inside for the moment.

It is snowing.

My face has noticed. Now if only I had a way to circumvent walking through this mess. You know, like suddenly just appearing there.

Yes, if only.

Um, like teleportation? Blink? What my rump says I'm good at? One thing, at least.

Which you don't have right now. Have a look under the skin. There is more than just snow storming around. The Magic Flow itself is in turmoil, and until it has calmed, unsafe to travel through.

So you're saying that...

No skipping for you this time. Except for frolicking in the snow, that is.

Of course. Can't have a single day of luck, can I.

Midnight sighed, leaning against the wall. She was about to leave when she remembered what had happened last time she had crossed a blizzard, and that had been a much shorter distance. She muttered a curse aimed at her lacking immunity against the most common of diseases and put on the simple brown raincoat that hadn't seen use for over half a year. Perhaps the snow would at least deter would-be patients with minor infections or injuries that they would survive for at least another day.

She wouldn't have come to expect it, but Midnight had to admit that Ponyville held some beauty while submerged in snow. Even more so when she was finally at the clinic and didn't have to let herself be buried under a growing layer of the stuff. Looking out of the windows, she found the clinic to be a bit too sterile. In order to change that, she conjured a phantasmal mistle toe above the entrance, just for the odd chance that Sparkle came again. She had been visiting rather often in recent times. On the other hoof, there had been a lot of reasons for her to come. On the ground before her, Midnight just then noticed an insignia like those worn by murderers. She didn't want to hold a grudge, however, and thus just tossed it into the nearest bin and went to announce her arrival to Nurse Redheart. However, all she found in the office were the things she'd need lying on the table together with a note containing a reminder of the nurse's adress for emergencies.

Oh yeah. Solo shifts so she can have more free time. That's why I am supposed to be here in the first place.

You know, for the between times when you're not trying to have your way of how it should run with yet another mare.

I'd also take her if she was transformed into a filly for no particular reason other than because it's magic and I'd have to raise her as my daughter.

Make her an alicorn princess while you're at it to finish up the ridiculosity, right? Though, I guess it'd fit. You might not be a full blooded princess, but if you choose your mates carefully, you should be able to, within a few dozen generations, maybe, generate another. Isn't that a fun prospect for the next one thousand years?

Let me guess, both Sparkle and Shimmer are also close to the perfect combination and I should really really shag them? Wouldn't that mean that we're actually like close relatives and I thus shouldn't?

Nobility obliges. But no. Life's not a story. In fact, Shimmer's only at ten percent and Sparkle doesn't manage to muster more than thirty either. Of course, this data is unconfirmed. Care to get a few thousand foals and test it?

Am I a bunny?

Given that you insist I am a fwuffy widdle wabbit, I guess that does make you a rodent too, mother. Hey, if you three start now and get fifty or something a year each, you'd be done in just forty years.

Three mares reproducing with each other? Don't be silly. Even if that was possible, the result would be an abomination. Not to mention nothing but the full concentration will show.

Do it anyway. Just for the fun of it.

"Gah, there's nothing going on anyway," Midnight said to her two selves. "It's not like two carriages are about to crash into each other due to the bad weather and create tons of patients for me."

No matter how hard she listened, all Midnight could hear was the quiet tapping of more violent snowflakes against the window. A soft clopping, as if coming from weakened hooves, made her ears perk up, but she had to attribute that to Ruby Pinch moving around her room.

Odd. That always works in the movies.

The show must go on. Get your plot moving, would you kindly? Oh, look at that. Look at that, I said. The Flow's calmed now. Traversing it is safe again.

I knew that before you said it.

What, did you finally manage to control Pegasus Eye by yourself? Good, that'd free up time for me to mastur- your other parts. It'd mean my perception uplink is broken, though. Usually a good buck will fix the problem...

Midnight's eyes darted left and right and up and down until she began to feel nauseous and held them closed with a hoof.

Nope, that's still fine. Then how did you know if not through seeing the world?

Because things like that happen all the time to me! Even the world itself hates me. I wonder if Ruby would like me teleporting in behind her.

For normal ponies, fun is defined as both parties having a good time.

Bah, where's the fun in that?

Didn't sound like that with her.

That's something else entirely.

Thus, Midnight began her workday, eager to see what new adventures she'd encounter on the way. Something always seemed to happen to her, it was only a matter of time until the next thing came up.

Slightly tired, but mostly disappointed, Midnight ended her shift. Countrary to her expectations, nothing of interest had happened at all. There had been no emergencies, neither with new nor with staying patients, no signs of unnoticed affection coming from Sparkle, nothing that would allow her mind to stray from work. On the bright side, she was glad to see that Ruby Pinch had gotten better again, though she still had a way to go. There had been a few foals Midnight thought she was supposed to know bringing Ruby some homework. That had to be the true meaning of friendship, she thought. Voluntarily walking through a blizzard just to help out a friend. Even more, it served her as another proof that friendship was useless.

Why should anypony want to give up advantages or even risk endangering themselves for somepony else without personal benefit?

Ask yourself. Oh wait, you just did. Why do you cure the sick and wounded?

I get moneys for it! Plus, I'm not really at risk. Ha, silly non-immunes. Besides, watching ponies suffer is fun.

Villains thinking of themselves as heroes are fun to drive insane, but you are just ridiculous. You and your imagined immunity versus weaknesses. Gaze outside. What do you see?

Through a window, Midnight could see that the snow had finally left off. The world it had left behind wasn't drowned in snow, but there was enough of it to cover most of the landscape, turning its previously full and diverse color spectrum into simple white. The Sun had disappeared behind the horizon, trading places with the Moon, which now dimly illuminated single snow flakes as they floated down to rejoin their brethren. It was rather romantic simply to look at. It would be even better for a calm walk outside with a very special somepony, followed by drinking hot chocolate inside with lots of cuddling against the heat, followed by then falling asleep in each other's forelegs while whispering loving things.

How romantic of you.

Midnight realised herself how she had been thinking and felt her face heat up. As a countermeasure, she quickly picked up her bags and went to walk home, not bothering to put on her coat. It was cold at first after she had been inside for so long, but after the first few steps, she managed to acclimate so that it was a bearable, if not even enjoyable, type of cool.

Evenings like this one have a thirty-seven percent higher chance of being the first day in two ponies' relationship, closely following extraordinarily warm spring days after a cold period with forty, though that oddly affects only pairings with one of each gender. Tsk, thinking they're better than us because they let ponykind survive.

Fun got serious. I wonder how Serious is doing. It's been so long since we last met. Where did he go, anyway? Castle bureaucracy? As if I could know. Left him behind when coming here like everything else I ever wanted to get the one thing that truly matters to me.

Night is darkest just before dawn. I promise you, dawn will come.

She's going to be called Daylight, not Dawn or anything, silly.

Oh look, hoofprints.

Midnight looked around. There was a trail of hoofprints leading in the opposite direction of where she had to go. They appeared to be fresh, but it was too dark to see where they came from or ended.

Yeah, so? That only proves that somepony walked past here some time after the storm. Nothing else we can draw from it. But, let me guess, they're Sparkle's and lead back to my house where she tried to confess to me while I wasn't there. Stuff like that seems to happen daily.

Coincidentally, they are really hers. See the truth, if you kindly would. In the Aether, a simple hoofprint can serve as a blueprint. Wishes can come true if not uttered, but verily desired.

From one set of tracks, a phantasmal Twilight Sparkle grew. She looked heavier than usual, but Midnight couldn't care less as they quickly shared a loving moment.

Normal ponies can't see those, you know. Imagine what you look like to them. This is just a mirage, remember that. A mirror image of your deepest desire. Some mirrors won't be content with showing you your world. They'll want you to become a part of theirs.

Suddenly, Midnight felt legs around her shoulders. She imagined it'd simply be a loving hug, but when she opened her eyes, she realised the phantom was slowly sinking into the ground, taking her along. She struggled to break free, kicking Sparkle in the chest. Surprisingly, she let go right after that, staring at Midnight with a shocked expression while she was falling to pieces like a broken piece of glass. As Midnight shook her head trying to contemplate what had just happened, her vision returned to the normal world.

That wasn't necessarily supposed to happen. Sorry about that. The Flow isn't always like that, though. Mostly, it is peaceful and serene. You'd understand if you were one of its direct children. You could do that by getting your ethereal form. Hint hint.

First you spend weeks convincing me we're me, and then you're suddenly something else again?

What speaks against me being both? We are all the Flow incarnated. It is yours to pick up the chance and claim your birthright. Everything you see here, kindly excuse that I bring you back into the Flow so quickly if you would, it is not just enhanced perception or a parallel dimension. This is a reality, waiting for you to make it your reality. Everything you've ever seen or done in the Magic Flow, it actually is, and you just need to grasp it. All of it - I - could be real!

Hang on. You're not real. Neither in this world nor any other. It is only I and a part of me that thinks itself too autonomous. I am alone.

You may be alone for now, but rapture awaits you.

Rapture. It is only a dream, for there is nothing to be gained out of this damned world. And it is only when the dream wakes that the sleeper realises this.

Dream of rapture, mother. May you never wake.