Splitting aMid the Night

Midnight was certain to be asleep, which was confirmed by the darkness surrounding her, with the small exception that it had lost much of its darkness. Now, it was more of a shapeless mass, illuminated by a small sun somewhere above her, and there appeared to be birdsong off in the distance. Perfectly in tact with the avians' song, her self approached her, "It's nice, isn't it? Your, ah, friend was here before. Prettied the place up a little, so you'd say at least. One could say she... bled her personality? Either way."

"Sparkle? In my mind? Why am I even acting surprised?" Midnight attempted to pierce the dark with but her normal vision, fairly fruitlessly. "Where's she now?"

"Not here anymore. However, you may be able to follow the same path which she used to leave."

As Midnight wandered, she discovered a rift surrounded by flowery grass from which sunlight and song came forth in increased form. It showed a small hill at summer, holding a tree which just so protected the swing attached to one of its strong branches from the afternoon sun. With held breath, Midnight stepped through, instantly enjoying her decision. The sounds of the gentle river at the hill's foot could lull Midnight to sleep if she weren't already doing that, and by the sounds of it, the host was present, too. She started to make her way towards the top where Sparkle seemed to be, but was halted by a hoof on her chest.

"Wouldn't you want to savour the moment for a bit? Not every mind needs to be tabula rasa, you know. Although I'd honestly prefer yours to this. Still, amazing that you actually got in, isn't it? This wasn't supposed to be just yet, but screw him. I mean, it was no question that she'd be able to intrude your mind, but you? Well, I suppose she's always been open to influences. Ghosts from the past. Incarnations of the Flow." Noon's attention was momentarily grasped by a lotus bloom before their hooves. "I believe I may have been here before myself. Lovely place. Don't worry, I don't think she noticed me. Anyway, she wasn't nearly as much fun as you are, princess. So, shall we go visit them?"

"Them?" Midnight asked as they began their ascension up the hill. "Anyhow, what do I have to do for a moment's rest from you?"

"Miss Night, visiting certain place without your aetherial guardian can be, well, dangerous isn't really the right word, I need something stronger... basically, it's nothing you wanna do." She silently kept walking, only grasping her mistress' confusion when she saw her expression. "What? Did you honestly believe to be unique? Whilst it is true that we are a dying race - well, half of us are ghosts in the practical sense, so it is so per definition - there are still many more ponies who hear guiding voices than there are who would admit that. Be it a deceased familiar, a sprite of imagination, or a shard of one's own mind which has become one with the Flow, almost everypony has one, and they all listen, even if they tell themselves it's just instinct. Even your little friend does, that's what I'm getting at."

Finally, they reached the hilltop, fully exposing themselves to the slight breeze that made the tree's leaves whisper soothingly. Below it, there was Midnight's friend, love interest, and all-time favorite pony ever, being pushed on the swingset like a little foal by a pony somewhat reminiscent of Midnight's own mother, except that she possessed wings instead of a horn together with a silver, not white, coat. While memories of her were scarce, Midnight was fairly certain that Daylight hadn't been emitting sparks of glittering gold, either. In conclusion, Midnight did not care about her, especially not when Twilight was there literally two feet further, with whom she quickly began to do what she had to do, unburdened now as Twilight's disease didn't seem to carry over into her dreams.

"Uh, by the way," the two lovers simultaneously uttered, pointing towards the respective pony unknown to them, "who's that?"

"Just a little pet peeve," they responded to each other.

"Yeah, just an old friend," the silver pony explained.

"Ignore us while you go and do buckety stuff," Noon added. She then turned back towards the pegasus with whom she appeared to have been in conversation and said, "You've given me quite a workload."

"Handled it well, I see. You did bring my death, after all. I think it's only justified."

"And so did you," Noon chuckled. "But that's in the past. Took me a bit, but the little princess really is coming nicely. You said we'd meet again, though we may not recognise each other."

"You two do realise I can still hear you, right?" Midnight called over before returning to Twilight who seemed too lost in the moment to care.

"And that we did, didn't we?" the pegasus said as both shades started to fade out.

"Guess so," Noon muttered before they were entirely vanished. As she dove back down to pressure their muzzles together, Midnight couldn't say she minded much to be left alone with whom she loved. Nothing mattered to them but having each other and Midnight was certainly going to use every minute until the dream was going to end.

It took Midnight a few minutes after waking up to fully encompass her newfound bliss, but once she did, she knew that the dream was never going to end. It was over, she had her, and with her, everything she'd ever wanted. Midnight's tale could end here, but she wasn't going to give up without enjoying what she fought for so dearly. Later, at least. Right now, as the Sun just barely clawed its way over the horizon and gently poked into the room through almost, but not entirely, closed curtains, the sleeping beauty on whose side the beam glimmered up dust motes was simply too peaceful to disturb. Thus, Midnight slowly maneuvered her way out of bed without making a sound, then conjured an old spell to muffle her steps she'd picked up during her youth. She had practiced it a hundred times for unnoticed access to the cookie jar, certainly she could pull it off another time. Unfortunately, she had walked halfway to the door before remembering that she had practiced it a hundred times because she had also failed it equally often, resulting in her silent trips towards treats or, in this case, out of a room with a sleeping special somepony, always being anything but silent.

"Mmh?" Twilight mumbled, stirring ever so slightly, leaving Midnight to decide the old battle of fight or flight. If she was quick, perhaps she could Blink her way out. Sadly, she was not quick enough, though her hoof making contact with her face from the realisation that Blink would also have been a very valid tool for exiting the room in the first place may have made enough noise to speed the process up significantly.

"Sorry," she whispered, coming to her beloved's side to stand up for her crimes.

"It's alright, I gotta rise anyway, I have to," she argued, but Midnight wouldn't let her finish.

"You have to rest and that's all you gotta do. Come on, Sparkle, even you must admit that you're in no condition to work. And you're gonna rest if you want it or not. If you don't wanna do it for me, do it for yourself." Midnight began to slowly accustom the room into day mode, opening curtains and even a window to allow sight of the sunrise.

The lavender unicorn, much against her supposed tendencies of early activity, sighed and turned away from the light with as little movement as possible, ending up flat on her back, her forelegs stretched out to either side. "I'm not going to lose you, am I. Don't you have to go to work or something?"

"That is a point you got there," Midnight said, returning to the bedside and pulling the blanket straight, obviously not meaning for anything coming out from below it soon. "Fortunately, the Nurse is also on shift today and, for me, the clinic is pretty much literally a second away. I think she'll understand. Besides, it's something like two hours before my shift starts. Plenty of time for you, maybe go fetch my toothbrush from over yonder." Twilight's halfheartedly suppressed groan confirmed to Midnight the power of her argumentation. She briefly kissed her on the forehead and asked, "Feel like you can handle breakfast?"

"Coffee. Enough of it. Toss in some toast, maybe an egg."

"Herb tea, simple toast, topped with healthies. Got it." Midnight turned to leave. Upon reaching the door, she stopped, "Anything else?"

"Midnight," a weakened voice answered, "I really hate you being right about what's good for me. Glad you're here for me, even though it's been official only so briefly yet. Love you."

With spring in her step that had been amiss for so many years, Midnight went down the steps and headed into the kitchen. Surprisingly, her friend had quite some stocks in everything needed, even of what Midnight wouldn't have expected her to even allow within her house. She went to work, glad to have so drastically misunderstood Twilight as the foods chosen this way were significantly easier to prepare.

We need to talk.

You'll warn me if I accidentally burn the tea, right?

But certainly, princess.

Alright, not like I could prevent it anyway.

If you would, I'd take physical form. It's easier this way to bring across what I need to describe to you.

If you want, though, since when do you need my permission for that?

All for the well-sake of communication.

Out of the border of Midnight's vision, Noon walked into the kitchen, stretching herself and inspecting the cooking utensils in use. "Ah, how wonderful this world can be, even if I'm just pretending to be within it. Oh how much I'd like to check out the places which you cannot see. If only that was possible. Anyhow."

"To the point, please. I've kinda got something boiling here, y'know."

"G and I had a talk. G said, let's get this douche H out of the way and live the lives we deserve together." She watched for Midnight's reaction, receiving the expected indifference. "No, seriously, we agreed on mostly one thing. Do you know any of your destiny, filly?"

"Teleport merrily around the place, heal ponies, be useless throughout?" Midnight said, pouring hot water into two cups. "Without even using magic half the time?"

"Reminds me, you should be able to cast anything again. Your spark actually came back yesterday already. How misfortunate that I must have forgotten to tell you. So no, your glorious muffling spell was, in fact, your own incompetence. But to stay focused, I'd argue with that being your destiny, princess." After apparently searching the empty air for something, Midnight's self hooked in a hoof in the still as empty room at horn height, tugged, and revealed a seemingly twodimensional disc of sweet blue colour. "I'd argue that this is."

"What in the name of stellar plot did you fetch out again?" Midnight tried to inspect the object as well as she could while still preparing a lovely breakfast with the other eye. It didn't seem to have any texture, weight, or other physical properties. In fact, it didn't appear to even exist in the strict sense, allowing her to gaze through it and see the library in a familiar hue.

"This, my dear, is a rift. The border between your world and the Flow isn't always as strict as it'd appear, understandable since one is the other and all, and this is what happens when the borders converge. Now, Pegasus Eye? Cheap. It's just transporting a tiny little part of yourself into the Flow far enough to allow the rest to see that. Well, it's a little wibbly wobbly, but the point is, you haven't truly been in the flow yet." She leapt upwards with the grace of a being without the need for respect to the laws of physics, balancing perfectly as she laid on the nonexistant object hovering below her, "And this little thing is your way inside. Towards your destiny."

"You're screwing me." Midnight magically picked up a tablet and set to carrying away everything back upwards. "Even if you're not, what if I didn't want this? I've got Sparkle, that's all that matters to me now. Besides, I could think of better entrances than her - my soon-to-be - kitchen."

"Ah, you're lacking imagination," Noon cooed. "There are plenty around. If you look, you'll find them. I can promise to you, once you do step through, everything will change, and you're gonna wish you'd done it earlier." Both the hole and the pony on it vanished, leaving Midnight staring at thin air. Out of nowhere, a voice whispered to her as though its source was still present, "Then get a move on! She's waiting!"

Surprisingly few minutes later, Midnight was back in the library's top room, sitting on the edge of the bed of the not-so-sleeping beauty who was currently munching on a slice of toast much like Ruby Pinch would, with the exception of using magic instead of hooves. They hadn't spoken much, partially because one of them always seemed to be busy with her part of breakfast, partially because Midnight wouldn't know what to say. There was no need for any words, she was perfectly comfortable simply sitting there with a comfortable cup of tea, staring into morning's Ponyville in silent contemplation.

It appeared, however, that Twilight was not. After swallowing what was left of her breakfast, she asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"You, mostly," Midnight admitted. "No, really. This is our first day of really being together, so I'd say at least, and we haven't been friends for too long either, and you've already taught me so much. You showed me that there is good within this world, as well as where to grasp it. As well as magic - well, actually not so much. Still. Reminds me, you'll hate me for this, but I'm afraid I have to." She lightly tapped Twilight's horn, "Until you're healthy again, I'm prohibiting any spells that you couldn't have done as a foal. Of course, not like that'd shrink the selection by much, if the legends are true." Midnight gave her time to blush, which she promptly did. She had a wonderful way of reacting to having her ego appealed to, one which she followed strictly and reliably, all of which only made her all the cuter. "Cleaning up magic is messy. Don't try anything you could screw up by a sneeze attack, alright?"

"I'm fine, I just," Twilight began, but never got to finish the second part of her sentence due to being ambushed by vigourous sneezing.

"Yeah. Because of that. Be careful, I don't want to lose you." Once again, Midnight got up and left for the lower regions of the library, carrying the same tray with her and knowing by instinct that she wouldn't stay alone for long despite her specific instructions.