Splitting aMid the Night

Midnight awoke to the sun's gentle touch upon her cheek. Together with the whispers of the wind and the light tickling of the grass it mobilised below her, it combined to lull her into a feeling of extreme harmony. It took several seconds for her to muster the will to break the illusions and rise. Beside her, Noon sat on a small rock.

"Isn't she just amazing? Even in her sleep, she makes the world around her seem perfect." Midnight lazily strolled around. The air was warm, but far from hot. In the blooming trees, countless birds exchanged songs.

"Oh, this isn't her mind, not this time," Noon explained as she rose to follow Midnight. "This is a little plane called Lorwyn by those who know it. I spent some time here when you had mu- were a foal. It's quite lovely, isn't it. I figured the new you would like it."

Midnight quickened her pace, only occasionally stopping to smell the flowers or adore a butterfly. "And could I kindly ask why you brought me here? It's great to get out of the cold once in a sometime, but as I know you, there's a reason for it."

"You're too leery of ponies who want to help you. Why do I always have to have some evil trick lying around?"

"Because you usually do!" After Midnight's energetic call, something rustled in the roadside bushes. After inspecting the road that appeared to have just popped up below her hooves, Midnight threw all caution to the wind and went to investigate.

As she approached, a tiny figure quite literally jumped out at her. It was small, maybe as big as a rabbit were it to stand on two legs. Its glowing bright eyes looked ready for battle, until it saw Midnight's friendly expression and quickly mimicked it. "Oooh! You a walker? Come, follow!" the creature emitted in a voice high enough to fit its size. Just as soon as it had said that, it darted off away from Midnight with an impressive display of speed.

At least, it probably was impressive for somebody that small. For Midnight, it was little more than a fast trot. Besides her, Noon floated along without effort. "Why can you- why do I even ask. Okay, better question. Care to explain what the little one is? Besides incredibly adorable?"

"Kithkin. Tiny townspeople, always happy, fit perfectly into Lorwyn. Just don't screw with one and expect to get away." Noon flew a few light stunts at her current altitude to let suspense build before she'd reveal the secret. "They've got the Thoughtweft. What one kithy - they don't like to be called that, by the way - knows, all do. More or less, they're a single mind, spread across many bodies. An amazing concept."

They continued to travel in silence for some minutes. The Kithkin that lead them had astounding stamina, Midnight thought. Then again, cubic expansion dictated that he'd - she assumed that genders existed amongst their race and that this one was male - likely be a better runner than her. She wasn't certain how bipedalism influenced the calculation, though. She'd never bothered to ask her math teacher about that specific permutation of the problem.

After many bends and curves which began to wear out even her obviously very well exercised legs, a small village came into sight. In fact, if only her shoulders were on par with the others who used to be her class, Midnight would probably be able to look over some of the rooftops from the tiny elevation which the path took before leading inside.

As she followed the chittering Kithkin to the market square, solitary doors and windows popped open around them. Once the square was actually in sight, there was already a mass following them, each wearing symbolic clothing to be a cook, blacksmith, or healer, to name a few. It was a tiny, adorable mass, but one nonetheless. "What exactly do they have in mind?" she whispered to herself.

"They'll celebrate, what else? After what others did long ago, Lorwyn's inhabitants love meeting new walkers. Just don't tell them that you're not actually even a mage." Upon Midnight's expression, she added, "Oh, don't you worry, I'm non-existent to them. You, of course, have to watch what you say. Coming to think of it, with how odd this entire thing already is, perhaps you are a mage. From my guess, aligned blue-red, or purple, ironically."

"And that is?" Midnight asked, trying to ignore the rabble around her without making that fact obvious to them.

"You're decent at teleportation, manipulating the world to your interests simply by telling it how it has to be, that sort of thing. Plus no morale and the insatiable desire to understand the world. That's blue. What is red about you is that you don't stick with blue's patterns. You enrich your mind with chaos, allowing to comprehend things beyond understanding. Albeit that this alignment also often bears to insanity. Well, big surprise." She set on the ground besides Midnight, walking through the tiny gaps that continuously formed and closed in between the Kithkin. "So in conclusion, you're a nutjob, but the world bends to your need to understand it. Just a regular purple mage."

Midnight had a feeling that she'd just been heavily insulted or complimented, but she preferred to focus on the adorableness surrounding her. Eventually, they reached the square, but only she stopped there.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll be off then. There are a bunch of - well, individuals, they're neither ponies nor people, really - whom I need to catch up to. That and find out more about you." Noon slowly strode towards the edge of the village.

"Wait, I thought they couldn't- eh?" Midnight called after her, only afterwards realising what that'd mean for her current situation. Surely, they'd have to think her insane now, something she almost certainly probably was not.

"Reality. What is it but the dreams of another? You have much to learn if you're to pick up her legacy, filly." She faded out after passing the last house. One particular Kithkin dressed in long, colourful robes waved at the spot where she'd been.

"Anyway. You wouldn't know what she means by that?" Midnight asked into the mass before her, carrying more sarcasm in her voice than hope for an answer.

"Sorry, no. But she nice," the same Kithkin that had previously caught her eye answered. "We sure her plans good for your world."

An even smaller one offered itself to her hoof, accepting rubs as graciously as a trained hamster, except without the murderous teeth. As she caressed the one, the entire mass seemed to warm up even more to her. "I suppose I could stay with you adorables for a bit. What's on the plan?"

"Huh, that was quick. I suppose a hive mind does provide efficient workers." Midnight sat at the middle of a long, even for her standards, feast table. All around her, Kithkin dashed to and fro, carrying plates and platters. Several pots big enough to cook one of their own species whole were spread out, gently boiling over dried wood. She'd been sceptical when they'd emerged out of one of the houses bearing what looked to be weaponry, but they apparently just hosted bigger species so rarely that their only set of tableware in the proper size doubled with ornamental purposes.

She didn't want to rob them of their daily food, but the stocks seemed to be never-ending, even after serving her. Somehow, they managed to put on vegetables that'd shame Equestrian farmers. "How do you even farm those?" she asked one that happened to be close to her while occasionally nibbling on a carrot longer than a Kithkin's body.

"Uh," it replied, seemingly looking around for support, "magic?"

"Hey, I'm the one doing magic around here, tiny."

"Actually, did not yet," another objected. "Will you kindly show?"

Something distant told Midnight that she was following a very bad plan, but such notions had never been able to put her off. She let her eyes wander for inspiration on what would prove an impressive spell for showing off, eventually landing on the horizon's mountains. As she inspected their snow-covered tips, an idea overcame her and she shaped energy to accommodate it. After but an instant, a bolt of literal lightning shot forth from her horn, cracking the air and impacting somewhere far away. She looked after it with a dangerous mixture of shock and awe, the same that was visible on the townspeople's faces. They'd never been taught to harness anything near lightning at school, and she now understood why. It was a force far too terrible to be used by anyone, pony or otherwise. Then again, as long as she watched her aim and didn't accidentally shock one of her new friends, none of whom would be able to survive it, what could go wrong if she used it a little?

So be it. That's enough. Dream over.

Just as it had in Lorwyn, the sun already had its grasp on Midnight's face when she awoke, arm in arm with the world's best unicorn. She could attempt to wiggle herself out without waking her, but her chances of success didn't seem to be any higher than before, so she decided to go with the simple route and speed up the inevitable.

"Mh." Twilight rubbed the still persistent sleep out of her eyes whilst acquiring basic bearings. After a minute of thus letting excess adorableness escape, she continued, "Do you always wake up ponies around you?"

"Well, yes." Midnight vanished in a flash of magic and reappeared beside the bed levitating a few vanity items, brushing her mane. "At least if they keep sleeping longer than me. I mean, jeesh, shouldn't you always be first, since you're older than me by at least like twe- oh mother of Celestia, I regret everything I've ever done."

With Midnight back in her place, Twilight's expression brightened again, though the malice that she had previously expressed hadn't really faded at all. "Nah, I'll gladly let you be first in some things. More fun for all that way."

"Oi, you were first," she countered while reinforcing her mane's colouring spell. "Besides, I'm a nurse, it'd be weird if I didn't. If I made a living sitting in a cottage all day and substituting social contact with animals, I'd be a murderer, or perhaps a writer. Anyway. Apparently, I'm off today, and you're healthy again. Yay! So, any plans for today? Stuff that an unfettered pair of ponies in love should do on a sunny Thursday?" She strode to the bedroom window in order to get a better idea of the weather outside. At long last, nature – or the local pegasus squad – had realised that it was spring. The blue sky bore only a few shade-providing clouds while the sun dispensed life-giving warmth equally to the air and the ground below. Every plant, ranging from the tiniest daisy to the branches of the mighty tree she was in herself, gladly took up the rays, appearing with seemingly lost glory. Down in the streets, ponies of every age went about their business, making variable amounts of unnecessary noise. She opened the window to let in a wonderful cool breeze which sadly also carried the ruckus from below inside. "Wait a moment," she said once the thought crossed past her mind, "why are there foals playing? Isn't it something like schooltime or stuff? Thinking of it, how did Toothpaste get time off for a camping trip?"

"Well, it is Author's Day," Twilight said, joining her at the window to restore much desired skin contact. To Midnight's puzzled looks, she explained, "The day in the year when we think of the true heroes in society who get far too little credit for providing us with reading material all the time. Legend has it that one of them once thought it up themselves as an excuse to not have to send his foals to school. Either way, it's celebrated across the empire, and you wouldn't argue with free time, would you?"

"As a matter of fact, I would, as I would expect you to," Midnight said, leading those six legs which were not across somepony's shoulder downstairs, "because my job cares absolutely nothing about holidays, and neither should yours. If you were doing any work in the first place, that is." Seconds later, Midnight had to stop to recover from a light pain that had mysteriously appeared in the back of her head. "Ow. But back to the point."

Twilight disconnected and leaned back against the sink, "Spike'll be coming home today, aside from that, I guess your imagination is the limit."

An imagination to which the world itself bends. I believe your idea could work, though the only way to know for sure is trying. With how much luck you had recently, what speaks against trying it a little more?

Perhaps. But I fear to draw her into business that is not hers. We... are patient.