Splitting aMid the Night

Midnight awoke into blinding light. She was no longer in the bog, though the exact question of where was still beyond her. The pains under which she had eventually passed out was gone, replaced by only a feeling of endless comfort, together with perhaps a little weightlessness. She soughed from only the very top of her lungs and rolled around. After a few seconds of utopia, it dawned onto her that, in order to move, there had to be a physical world around her body. Her eyes shily fluttered open and she accepted the reality for once more enveloping her. One step at a time, the events of the previous day returned to her, together with the cognitive abilities to make senses of them.

You! I know you're there!

Down.

She turned onto her back and looked around. On the end of the bed, her body sat without making any dents into the mattress. A lone strand of her endless blue mane swirled lightly despite all windows being closed as if it drew wind from another world. Given Midnight's previous experiences, that could very well actually be the case. It was very discreet, almost invisible, but she could spot within her other self's face a smile which hadn't been there for well over a decade. "You've done it. You've found yourself somepony, to impress me, to replace me." Noon let out a single appreciative laughing pulse. "You even kindly did it without me pushing your butt all the way to the finish line. Not to say that I had no say, of course..."

Midnight quickly sat up, "Don't distract. What were you doing yesterday? Where were you?"

Noon mimicked with disturbing accuracy Midnight's habit of playing with her own mane until she had thought of a viable answer, "Are not the better questions where I was interfering and what I was? What is reality but the dream of another?" Midnight tried to rise, but was held down by an imaginary hoof which she could not push aside. She'd struggle further, but in that moment, the bed fell into her back and its comfort convinced her of staying for a little longer. "Stay, talk. First off, those things were not my work. A little before that time, about when you set off with Sparkle, I was digging through our mind, as usual. Unfortunately, the crater is where it was and it'll stay there until it receives professional help - perhaps even after then. However, the crater is not entirely destroyed. With enough care, I can enter and explore it. Imagine, princess! All that you thought lost to time, to barely contained insanity, most of it can be salvaged! Talents which you forgot you ever possessed. Like, say, seeing more than you're supposed to at will."

"I've had Pegasus Eye for months now. You're talking around the issue."

"Yes, but only with my help. With workarounds. You can steer it yourself, haven't you noticed? Anyway, I'm getting there. For as much salvage as there is, there are also dangers. Solidified craze. Do you understand? I know you love to call me a demon, but... well, those dudes are the actual demons of your mind. While I'm digging, sometimes there may be a chain reaction which temporarily wakes them. Nothing bad, really. Except, if something like yesternight happens."

"What do you mean happened?"

Noon sighed, then returned her look to meet Midnight's. "You were snooping. Wandering outside the usual partitions of reality and, well, abstinence. So once your mind realised that, it pulled you back here. Here being the only place I know, of course. I, the etherous guardian, the dream whose dreamer died to see her daughter flourish, a ghost which never died. That's not usually a problem, either. Really, you don't notice it, and it's just a protection mechanism of the healthy mind - apparently, you do still have one. Anyway, as I said, since you don't usually notice what happens within the mental world, that never matters, though it does limit your adventures within the flow. Unfortunately, just as your consciousness returned to the hall, it was, uh, swarming with demons from the crater whom I was trying to subdue once again. So... how do I put this? Well, your mental self - not me - also has blood within it. Had, at least. Quite a lot, too. You'd be surprised to see how much they got out with the juicer before I managed to at least force you to drift out."

"Did you at least get something neat for me out of this mess?"

"Well, I did probably prevent you from worse. A mind can only take so much, you know? Perhaps they could have made you activate a last ditch defense effect and, well, your mind is broken as is. It could not stand that. It'd have collapsed, burying within itself all reason, going entirely insane. At best. Did you know that it's possible to die in your own mind? If you give up, your body just kinda follows and shuts down..."

"Something else?" Midnight said, once again trying to escape the bed.

"Sadly, there's one other thing," Noon said and poked Midnight's horn. "Your magic. Don't ask me for exact details, but you won't be able to use it for... some time. Don't worry, just a while. A few days, maybe just today."

"What?" Midnight jumped straight to her hooves and ran over into sight of the mirror. There was nothing visually different about her. She tried to brush away a minor imperfection in her mane, but the brush simply stayed where it was, refusing to move. Everything remained stationary, except for a desperate drop of liquid running down her cheek. "What have you done? Fix it!"

"Princess, your magic, your spark if you will, is currently on Mirrodin, where you tried to run from her. It will return, but only in time. Besides, it's not all of your power."

"Eh?"

"Look. Focus on the inbetween, the Magic Flow. If you would ask kindly enough, it'll bend down and lend you of its strength."

Given her situation, Midnight didn't know what she had to lose. She did a few meditative thoughts, contacting the Flow as she had learned to do. When she reopened her eyes, the brush was obediently gliding through her hair, surrounded by a soft aquamarine glow. "Wow, that's... not my usual colour, but it'll work, I guess."

"Don't get overexcited though, there's a limited arsenal of things you'll be able to use." Noon also came off the bed and walked up behind Midnight, using the thus designated comb to treat her tail. "In essence, picture every spell you've learned at school. Yeah, not those. But who cares. As Blink and levitation draw on reality manipulation from the Flow itself, those will still be usable. But, and this is important, so listen, Mend is not directly Flow-based. You can NOT cast it for now. Don't get yourself or anypony hurt."

"Wonderful. Well, as if I'd used any other magic anyhow. Anything else?" Midnight stood up and went for the door.

"Take care," Noon said from behind while slowly disintegrating into small orbs which rejoined with Midnight herself.

At the top of the stairs, Midnight paused, finally having a moment of alone time to collect herself. It appeared that she'd be able to coexist peacefully with Noon, if she couldn't get rid of her. That was likely a good thing. She couldn't use most of her magic in the near future. That was certainly very bad for her. Still, all that could drag her down paled in comparison to the fuzziness that had nested in her insides the previous evening. At long last, she had reached her goal. Now she could lay back and enjoy the rewards. With newfound motivation, she quickly dropped down into the lower rooms, pleased to find that Vinyl and only Vinyl was present in the kitchen.

"Morning," the musician greeted as she walked in and sat down. "Had fun yesterday?"

She knew. She had to know. Nevertheless, Midnight decided to bank on the chance that she did not. "Yeah."

"Thought you did. Haven't seen somepony who could stay all sadish in the face of adorable widdle bunnies. Tavy said you and Twilight found each other to spend the evening together. Always nice to have some good friends, right?"

"Absolutely."

"What's the matter with you?"

Midnight lifted up a cup, evocating energies she was not used to. "This still contains coffee. That's the problem."

"Ah yes," Vinyl said, the oddness clear in her voice. "Must have enjoyed yourself yesterday, haven't you. Twilight even carried you here after you passed out."

I just fell asleep?

To them, you did. They don't know what actually happened. Trust me, it was more than a dream.

"Yeah, it was a pretty awesome night."

Moments after making that statement, Midnight had to wonder if perhaps a smile or a sentimental look had managed to slip to her surface. At the very least, Vinyl Scratch seemed to imply so, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just... stuff." It was possible that the white unicorn was informed and just discreetly making a fool out of her, but she didn't want to give anything away before it was time.

"Mhm. Reminds me, kissed a filly yet?"

Tell her now?

Nah. Funnier this way.

"Stop that." Midnight could only hope she was successful at masking her facial expression into displeasure, hiding the glee that still held up her mood beyond any pulldowns.

"Any plans on what you're doing today?"

After empyting the cup's remaining contents in a single chug, Midnight lightly tapped her chin as she genuinely had to think about whether she did. "Don't think so. Sparkle's... somewhere, doing stuff, so she said... Celestia, I don't have many hobbies besides her, do I. Well, I guess I could spend the entire day with Ruby Pinch, as I do four days a week, work a bit on my drawing, perhaps just sit around doing nothing pretending to be productive... ooh, that's my favorite pastime!"

"I hear ya, sis. Actually, Tavy is probably in the same place where your Sparkle is, too. Somethin' about Manehattan bloodline. Didn't really listen. Not that I'm not happy for 'em, of course."

"Yeah, if you say so. Guess I'll be heading out then, no need to sit around here. Else I might do something stupid out of boredom, like, I don't know, jump off the roof or start a novel I'm never gonna finish."

"Tried that," Vinyl said staring into the depths of her own cup. After a few agonising seconds, her eyes made contact with Midnight's and she hastily added, "The second one, of course. Good thing I noticed what the heck I was doing in time."

"... yeah. Anything else?" Midnight rose and made movements for the door.

"Dishes."

"Dammit," she murmured, turning around and going to work to clean up her part of breakfast.

A few hours later, Midnight stashed away a half-finished draft of the Ponyville library into the seemingly endless depths of her saddlebags, sighed from boredom, and set off in a random direction. She didn't know what to do next or why she had suddenly lost interest in the drawing, though the sun's high position in the sky could possibly be linked to the issue. Since it was the second day of spring, many ponies were out enjoying the relative warmth. She didn't pay much attention to any of them as she made her way through the crowd. They certainly thought of themselves as ponies, but Midnight couldn't help thinking of them as sheep, mindless, pointless, wandering around passing their time with nothingness, never having any particular goal or purpose in mind.

Noon kindly reminded her of her hypocrisy, but she didn't have much time to think about that as suddenly, a self-confident voice she hadn't heard in an eternity called from behind her, "Midnight Lullamoon! Are you just going to walk past me like that?"