Splitting aMid the Night

Animal duty passed rather quickly. However, Midnight violently renounced the thought that it could be due to having fun, as was often and thus stalely quoted. She'd prefer to blame it on her mind entering a subconscious state during uninteresting tasks, like treating patients or foalsitting Mirage the day before. Either way, it was over at long last and she could stop pretending to care for the many and enjoying community labor, thoug she had to admit that their chant was rather catchy.

Weren't you supposed to do this without magic?

Exhibit A: Me caring about savages' ways. Oh no, it's vanished, perhaps because somepony remembered exactly why unicorns are the largest of the three populations.

Fluttershy signaled her crowd together and, after some compliments Midnight was sure couldn't be honest even from her, directed them to move back to town square. Thus, after glaring one last time at the little tortoise that seemed to always intentionally be in front of Midnight to make her step on it, a gesture to which the animal replied with only its usual greeting, she returned to town hall by means she was ever so glad to have. The other teams had already returned on their own and now formed a huge mass in front of the podium, humming with chatter, with Twilight Sparkle surprisingly enough being among them. Another discreet spell later, Midnight had miraculously appeared by her side. "Hey there, Sparkle," she whispered as she had not been noticed yet.

"Welcome back. Enjoyed yourself afterall?" Twilight returned without looking around. Apparently, Midnight was the only one who used that certain nickname, which just made it all the more special for her.

Y'know, you really should lose the habit of teleporting everywhere. I know that it's on our flank and such, but, truth be told, you're chubby enough as is.

Totally not, I... okay, maybe a little. Studying isn't good for a pony's shape! Doesn't magic count as workout?

Barely. It is not your energy you harness, keep that in mind. It's like counting rounds which another pony runs for you.

Yeah, I get it. Which painfully reminds me that my secret stash of empty calories has run dry. Guess I'll have to refill it somewhere, probably- oh Celestia, why there, why that mare?

We haven't seen any other supplier as of yet. Which doesn't necessarily say much given that you, as mentioned, always bloody teleport and if you do walk, for whatever reason, maybe you forget that you can tele, it's always the same line. Coming to think of it, who would build a hospital out of town? As in, so that normal ponies need five more minutes of their patient bleeding out until they get there?

I want candy. But I don't have any. Oh, dilemma. Wait, ooh, speech!

Indeed, the one Twilight had referred to as Mayor Mare had walked up to the stand where presumably her notes laid and was now trying to get the crowd's attention, a slow but steady effort. Eventually, everypony fell relatively silent and looked forward. "Good evening fillies and gentlecolts," she began in a tone that immediately caused Midnight's attention to wander. The night sky looked amazing again. At least, the portion that she could look at without rising suspicion did. She wondered for a moment why she didn't spend more time out when the stars could be seen. Something in the back of her head made her think of the Shadow Star, which was located where it had always been, silently illuminating a world that was everything without truly existing. It invited her, to remain, to discover its reality. But it was not Midnight's. She belonged elsewhere, in the real world, to Sparkle. She blinked back out of the Flow just in time to hear the Mayor conclude, "For those who stay after the feast, we've managed to engage Mister Slinger, whose play with fire has entranced many of our residents before."

Ooh! Fire! Ooh! Hanging out with Sparkle without her noticing it!

As the buzz of the crowd rose, Midnight's head remained disappointingly quiet. She wasn't worried for her personal fiend, of course. In fact, she was glad to have her gone, and she'd repeat that to herself as often as necessary. If her number one conversation partner wasn't around, she'd just content with her favorite, starting a conversation by saying, "Huh. Looks like there's more to this event than I thought. Where is everything, though?"

"Running Delivery and his folks have set their craft up a little outside of town. There's a hill with plenty of room just north out of the city. Have you been there before?" Twilight replied, luckily lining up besides Midnight as they both followed the crowd's general direction, right past the stage, the same direction where she had just seen the enormous star float.

"Nah. I haven't really been around town much, just noticed."

Twilight briefly stared at her before almost stumbling and refocusing on the way ahead of her. "Really? Well, there's so much you need to see, like, the Everfree Forest."

"Uh, Sparkle? That particular place, I've been there. You accompanied me on the way, even."

"Oh, yeah, riiight. Still, there's so many fascinating things around Ponyville. There's the crystal field, a garden of special plants gifted from the Crystal Empire, or we could go and visit the Ghastly Gorge."

Midnight took a moment to let the 'we' she had just heard slowly trickle into her head from her ears down before answering, "What's to see there?"

"It's... well, a gorge. Still, that can be pretty amazing."

"Tsk, for us sophisticated unicorns from Ye Glorious City of Canterlot, the entire world is a gorge," Midnight said, swirling her head and letting her mane fall freely for effect, thus filling both of her eyes with hair, tripping, and quickly falling to the ground headfirst. "My face is informing me that I hate gravity," she grumbled while being helped up.

"Arrogance and falls, isn't it? Maybe you want to write to the princess about it?" Twilight patted her on the back as they resumed walking.

"What is it with you and the princess? You're seriously still researching friendship for her, even though you're at least- no, I am going to watch what I say now."

"Smart filly," Twilight said, looking at her smugly through the corner of her eye. "Yeah, I am, though it's not quite as serious by now. It's more of an inside joke between us friends. Like your actual age."

"Odd, I thought everypony knew that I'm- ooh, foodstuffs! Actually, how does this work? Is it just a flatrate or what?" Midnight said as they went over the bend of the hill's top, revealing to them a little haven. Seemingly endless lines of tables bent ever so slightly under the weight of the dishes and bowls laid out on them. About every dish Midnight could remember having eaten before in her life was present, as well as equally many she had never seen before, and there was enough of everything to make sure everypony could have some from everything that they wanted. There were hay sandwiches and cheese cubes, dandelion salad and hay bacon strips, berry juice and scrambled eggs. Ponies of all shapes and colors were already busily taking their share from their preferred meals to their seats, a sight which made Midnight realise how little of Ponyville she actually knew. Surely she recognised Fluttershy and the Nurse and Octavia, who Midnight was certain had winked after seeing her and Twilight taking in the sights together. But there were more, many more than she thought the town even contained. She even thought to have seen Daylight for a moment, though it obviously turned out to be just another shinily white unicorn with golden mane, having a sun instead of rings emblazoned on her flank. The grass was surprisingly dry for being covered with snow just a few hours earlier and the air was warm enough to not freeze as the many torches set up in and around the camp provided a cozy lighting atmosphere.

"It's quite an amazing sight the first time, isn't it?" the unicorn beside her said with her voice carrying understanding, but no condescension.

"I've seen prettier things," Midnight replied with her eyes consciously fixated on a certain pony who unfortunately didn't seem to pick up on it. "But yeah, it's... something. Organised by you, I assume?"

Twilight blushed just a tiny bit, too little to notice if the young mare's look hadn't already been on her face. The two had been friends long enough for her to understand how good something had to be that Midnight couldn't formulate a cynical complaint about it.

Brush her mane aside and tell her that there's no need for blushing, tell her what's been troubling both of us so long, give her the real kiss she's been waiting for so long! Oh, why can't I do it?

"So, shall we get going then?" Twilight asked after hearing her friend's stomach rumble lightly.

"Actually, Sparkle," Midnight hazily began, more confused at her own words than Twilight looked to be, "could we go down there, as in, together?"

She gave Midnight an odd look, communicating she still didn't understand. "Uh, that's what I had in mind."

"What I meant was," she continued, trying to find the proper words, "like, make it a first date type of thing."

"I don't understand, wha- oh, uh, I... Midnight, are you saying what I think you are? Are you..."

"Yes. I'm in love with you, Sparkle. Basically since I first saw you, back at Canterlot. And if you'd take me, I'll gladly be forever yours."

The lavender mare looked down at the ground, thoughts clearly racing behind her crystal-clear eyeballs. Her face flared up as strongly as never before. "But- surely, you don't- I'm not- I mean, we can't..."

"Why not?" Midnight interrupted her, lifting her head back up into eye contact. "All it takes is the will to do the first step. I've learnt that the hard way. So, I've taken my first. Will you do the same?"

"I... well, I guess we could try, see what we can," Twilight said, unable to speak any more after that for that was the moment when Midnight was overflowed with anticipation and decided that their muzzles had better uses together than talking.

They certainly had had contact before, but it was simply something else now. Now that it was not taken, but shared by both in full consciousness, everything was ten times as intense. Twilight's lips felt softer than velvet, but even hotter than Midnight was feeling inside, and it took endlessly stretching seconds of contact until the knot in her stomach slowly unwound. Eventually, they disconnected, but Midnight felt like she had taken a portion of the warmth along with her. "Thanks."

"For what? I mean, I'm more the one to thank you... that was amazing," Twilight murmured with glassy eyes.

"No, thank you for finally making me say the words. Wanna go down now? Together?" Midnight offered her a superfluous, but anyway romantic, hoof to take.

She took it. Electric jolts almost as strong as those which had previously been running from her head down were now taking the opposite route up from her hooves. "O- of course. But, Midnight, let's keep this a secret for now."

They began walking down on three legs each, not daring to break contact. "I'll keep the secret as long as you wish." Midnight sighed happily, "But I'm not sure if they will, too." She gestured discreetly towards the crowd. Everypony who knew either of them was staring blankly at them without moving a muscle.

After a wonderful kiss, they shared an almost as great dinner, taking care to sit down far away from anypony they knew. There was no way to keep the secret, they both knew that, but that evening was not about anypony else, it was about both of them. Perhaps the food wasn't quite the way Midnight was used to, but she would've enjoyed eating even dirt, so long as she had the same pony with whom to share it. That was in the past now however, together with dessert, much to Midnight's dislike. Now, they had taken prime places on the hill itself on whose foot the show had just begun. It looked impressive, though Midnight cared little for it, not when she was right next to the somepony who made her insides burn stronger than the showponies' torches. A grey unicorn stallion was taking the lead in the middle, flanked by two maroon earth mares.

Naturally, the show was carried much more by the stallion than his assistants. He had just picked up and lit four orbs, eliciting various sounds from the crowd who were apparently unaware how basic such a spell was. Somehow, this rose an unsurpressable urge within Midnight, and she shot an invisible - to those without the true sight, anyhow - bolt over to his position, not to harm, but to disrupt the waves there. It struck to full effect, causing one of the balls to drop out of his spell. However, the at that point idle mares were all but slow to react and tossed it between themselves with the bottom of their hooves and back to him, not only not dropping out of beat but also making it look like this had been intentional from the start. All throughout, Sparkle had apparently held her breath, gasping lightly once the trick was finished.

Midnight felt bored, though she knew she had to be and actually was enjoying her first evening of many with Twilight Sparkle. At long last, she had done it. Nothing else was of matter. She had spoken up, her favorite mare had agreed, now her world was fulfilled. That did not change her current entertainment status, sadly. The only thing that came to her mind was seeing if Twilight would be as beautiful in this world as by any other named. At least if the world was named to be the Magic Flow, she could confirm that as a clear truth. She decided to see if Pegasus Eye would reveal anything else of interest. But, watching her like that, very quietly humming notes that floated by as motes of happy energy, it instilled something else in Midnight. A certain thought, one which stung more than any other.

"Yes, it hurts, doesn't it?" came a voice after Midnight had turned her head back towards the Shadow Star. She catiously looked back to the right and froze. Twilight was no longer laying there, replaced by a mare she knew was buried in Canterlot. She was not up to her old glory, however. Several badly healed gaps disturbed her snow white coat and she glared at Midnight with plain red eyes. "You've finally done it, haven't you? You've found somepony, to impress me, to replace me. Oh, old Daylight, never believing her daughter could become something. All the while our order dwindles daily."

"No... no, this is not real. You are not real! Get out of my head!" Midnight leapt back, desperate to return to the usual world. Unfortunately, the usual path simply refused to function. Without Noon, she was trapped within the Magic Flow.

Daylight rose and slowly approached Midnight. "Tell me, what's it like spending your whole life avoiding hard decisions? Finishing school which you never wanted into, finding a shit job in a hillibilly town, pretending to be productive? Our enemies, my murderer, your original problem, they all lie at your hooves. And what do you do? Do you take your revenge? Do you uphold what I literally died for you to achieve?"

"No. Get out. Begone, demon!" Midnight cried. From somewhere too far away to place, she heard a faint voice, echoing into infinity.

Don't be stupid. You can't defeat her. Run!

She did not waste another second to whirl around and burst into gallop. Meanwhile, from behind, Daylight snarled, "Yes, run, you can't escape what lies within you. You'll see."

For what seemed like hours, Midnight had been on the run, ever unable to shake off her pursuer. At long last, she was cornered against a cliff, and the demon was closing in fast. It was over, she was at an end. At least, until she spotted a familiar rift of light to her left. Out of other options, she quickly dashed through it. As soon as she had passed, it sealed behind her, forbidding passage in either direction. She inspected her new surroundings. It looked dark, unnaturally so. She was in some swamp, unlike any she had ever seen. Then, something moved behind her, projecting a flickering shadow onto her. However, there was nothing. Turning back around, she had to witness as the shadow itself revealed its true shape. She tried to run again, to escape, but she was surrounded just as quickly by demons, one more gruesome and with a crueler weapon than the last. There was no point in trying to break their line. Midnight bent her head down in defeat, ready to accept a swift demise. However, once she heard them cackle menacingly, she realised she wouldn't be met with such mercy.