Splitting aMid the Night

"Don't you think we're a bit obvious here?" Midnight asked with shifting eyes. Other ponies might see a light-flooded meadow under clear sky with only a few ponies even in sight and less possibly paying attention, most of them busy with one respective other. Those other ponies would also feel the perfect blend between warm enough to lie in the grass and cool enough to stay out. Quite frankly, Midnight was one of those others, but that didn't stop her from having unjustified suspicions.

Twilight ignored her and continued setting up the picknick basket. "We kissed in front of darn near all of Ponyville, did I ever think it'd stay a secret?" She flopped onto her back on the blanket, still easily exhaustible. Midnight couldn't say she felt guilty in any way. She could've simply asked for help if needed. Likely, it was all play anyway. It was the bearer of the Element of Magic with whom Midnight was in love, after all, and she proved that by bringing nearby flowers to blooming through magic. Any normal unicorn would be awed by such energy, but standards sometimes had to be reset.

"I saw that, miss tired," Midnight murmured as she took her seat next to Twilight and, nearly as important, the food.

"Not mistress?" she asked in an innocent, notionless tone. She then sat up and set to unpack that which truly mattered as if she hadn't said anything at all.

"Uh, I, guess not. Not that I wouldn't probably accept, but that is moving a bit quickly, don't you think? Gotta give it at least, mh, with our recent tendency, a week. Reminds me, in our glorious four days, we haven't technically been on a date yet. Although, does this count? Let's see on the dating checklist." Suddenly, a scroll was pushed against Midnight's face. "I suppose that's one way to take me literally. Wait, where did you keep this?"

"The space between spaces, of course. It's a really useful storage place for lists that I can't carry around with me." Sometimes, she had to wonder whether Twilight even realised how little of a normal life she lived. The hypocrisy in those thoughts always turned her away from them, though.

It pleases me that you can guess that she means the Magic Flow at least if it's pressed right against your face. She probably doesn't understand exactly how far away from the physical she moves those things, and I do not expect you to kindly tell her, either.

A lady of proper heritage has standards.

Midnight took the scroll into her own magic and unravelled it. "Okay, ignoring your violations against the laws of pretty much every science ever, let's see. Secluded location, check, nearly alone but not alone enough to not have somepony who is friends with you but doesn't know about the two of you burst in, check, foodstuffs, check, and romantic flair. Kinda not check." Thus, Midnight pounced her love with the vigour of a toothless sabre cat and gave her best impression of one. After many long seconds, once she had to emerge for breath, she continued, "I guess we can call that check. But anyway. I'd suggest we move on to the eating part of eating out. There's time for everything else later."

"I'm not opposed to actually tasting food again. Let's get to it." They rolled away from each other and took away the first bit from the seemingly endless variation of dishes between them. Most of it was courtesy of Twilight's cooking arts, though Midnight claimed having done a great effort in packing bread, cheese, and the likes.

As time passed, their supplies turned out to put up very little resistance against two well-appetited mares. Thus, they soon had to move on to the shade of one of the nearby trees, one sitting and one lying. However, as she caressed Twilight's silken hair, Midnight could not imagine an activity she'd prefer to do instead.

Hey, luckydo. Nuisance, friend, and squeaky ahead. Maybe you should have gone a little further away from Ponyville's main road.

"Are you feeling that too?" she said, withdrawing her hoof to get Twilight's attention. "They're coming."

"Yes," she responded, looking up at Midnight with bottomless eyes. "Unbelievable how often it comes in handy that I marked him with a beacon spell, right?"

"Yeah, sure." Midnight shuffled to get the two of them into a slightly less conspicuous position before the others came into sight. Once they did, they would only find two friends relaxing in the wonderful weather. At least, they would if Twilight was any sort of cooperative, but she didn't seem to want to move at all, so they remained as they were. Soon, two white ponies and a dragon turned the final bend and saw and approached them. "Hey there Rarity, Sparkle's pet, and filly who I may distantly remember," she greeted them.

"Good day to you two too," Rarity responded. "I know that you shouldn't disturb young love, but would you kindly let me have a word with you in private, Midnight?"

"Sure, I guess." With a Blink, she moved to another tree which was out of hearing range, feeling too lazy to let her hooves carry her.

After just a few seconds of Midnight pretending to be curious, Rarity caught up with her. "Do I have to tell you that my vacation with them wasn't just cordial?"

"When are things ponies like we do ever?" Midnight said, blowing away a leaf that had landed on her muzzle. "This is probably about the Order, right? Well, make it quick and I might consider not ignoring you to death."

"You're always so charming, darling." Rarity circled around and leaned against the log herself, "As I was saying, while there, I met with our leader to discuss further plans. You know her, right?"

"Not personally. I did back when it was my mum serving the post, but we know how that worked out."

"Either way." She forced Midnight to look up and meet her eye. "She loves to speak in riddles, but she clearly mentioned your importance in our next steps. You should rethink if you don't want to coordinate with us. Finish what she died for."

Midnight broke free and took a step's distance, "See, this is exactly why I don't. This is not a war. It's a petty quarrel and there's no justification why it had to steal my mother. Call me if I can actually make an impact. If you're just looking for another body to toss into the grinder, forget it." With that, she teleported away from Rarity and from all those horrible thoughts, back to Sparkle, to happiness.

"So what's it exactly between you two?" the baby dragon asked as Midnight appeared behind him.

"Let's say I'm your mistress' night mare for hopefully forever," she pushed herself in before Twilight could respond.

What in the name of plot are you doing? There are individuals here younger than even you!

Oh come on, that's Canterlot dialect. Nobody will get it, except maybe Sparkle since she... maybe I didn't think this through as well as I should have.

"Yes. I was about to break it more gently to the assistant who has been with me since I was a filly," Twilight sighed as her love rejoined her side, "but I suppose it boils down to that. You could call it fate, or maybe a result of all the things we did together in Canterlot. I've invited her to share our home, everything else stays as it was."

"No need to be gentle. Tear it off quick, be done with the pain in moments," Midnight whispered into her ear.

"I'm not sure if that applies for everything as it does for bandages, Midnight," she discreetly hissed back.

Their audience of three gave various surprised reactions at the revelation, ranging from genuine to well posed. "What a twist!" Rarity commented.

"Come on, you already knew about this before even she did, didn't you?" Midnight said.

Rarity's pose changed from surprise into an understanding smile. "She gave me the duty to know about your well-being after all. Still, I'm glad to see you two came together at last."

Twilight's eyes raced back and forth between the other mares. "I don't have to understand that, do I?"

"Perhaps we're all better off if you decide not to, dusk mare."

Rarity asked for herself and her sister to be excused and set off on the last segment of the way to Ponyville. Perhaps she was being slightly rude, but Midnight had been camping often enough to know the condition they had to be in. Also, they were transporting a giant wagon of supplies and one of them had to pull it to the Boutique. Of course, Midnight could have ended their misery with a targeted teleportation spell, but if they didn't ask for help, she wasn't going to push herself.

"I still don't get why you had to- didn't you boast with being above such feelings like a week ago?" He made his way towards the softness of Twilight's leg, on which Midnight had hoped to have a monopoly.

Worst of all, she even seemed to enjoy his affection. "Well, Spike, that's how those things run, you never know. Some day, when you have a special somepony - or somedragon, maybe? - of your own."

His gaze turned to the view across Ponyville. "Yeah, someday."

Unfortunately, as the time which they had to enjoy life grew, so shrunk their creativity to use it. All too soon, night fell over Equestria and life calmed, even within the library. Somehow, Midnight just couldn't make herself like Spike for inexplicable reasons. Perhaps she was displeased with how often he didn't serve Twilight correctly, she thought. Or perhaps she was jealous when he did. She did have to admit though that he was great to fetch a book if she didn't want to strain her talents. Their evenings certainly could always be like that. Twilight being indulged in a few good books face first with Spike serving her so that Midnight had time to tend to knitting.

"Wait, since when are you into knitting?" Twilight asked, apparently awakening from her usual literature-induced trance for the first time since Midnight's needles had begun clacking.

"First off, I'd like to point out that this is your set which I found lying around somewhere." She entwined the needles into her started project and set it down into the basket on the ground besides her, "Mother once taught me how to do it. Got much easier once I could properly levitate, too. If only she could've seen me do it for longer. I was never really good or avid at doing it, but I could never truly quit either." For some unknown reason, a tear announced itself coming out of Midnight's eye and she had to pause for a moment to hold it back. "Anyway. The past is dead and buried. I shouldn't let it haunt me."

"Midnight." She crossed the room and laid a hoof on her shoulder as Midnight was once again wrestling the inexplicable tear. "You're acting strong and I know you want to forget what happened in the past, but I can see how it eats you up from the inside. You are not alone, you never have been."

"No, I don't need to, I don't want to. This is not your fight, Sparkle, I don't want to draw you into it." She pointed a stealthy hoof and murmured, "Especially not while your pet's listening in."

"Spike's not a pet," Twilight instantly countered in a slightly shocked tone, though the compassion and understanding hadn't faded from it. "By the same logic, are you the Nurse's pet?"

Midnight had only meant to relieve her pain with some cynicism, but if she was challenged to a discussion, she wasn't going to step down. "I get a monthly salary. Can he say the same?"

"Hey, coming to think of it, aren't you behind four rates of allowance since you left for Canterlot?" Spike's squeaky voice asked from outside the small world which their conversation had built for themselves.

"Great. You reminded him. But that's beside the point right now." Midnight was suddenly out of mood for anything and laid onto her back, but through persistence, Twilight drew her into a nevertheless loving kiss. "Come, I know a place where it's just you and me. Nobody else, so we can be free."

"Nobody else, so we can be free? I'd find that hard to believe." She took a deep breath. This was not one of the problems to be solved now. "Still, lead the way."

"Follow me," Twilight whispered and disappeared. She had used a very simple teleportation spell, Midnight could still sense its essence around her. It'd be easy to track its destination and follow with an example of what true teleportation was.

As it turned out, the direction was mostly upwards. She had her doubts, but she didn't know where she should turn if she couldn't trust even her beloved. Thus, she closed her eyes and followed. Once she reappeared, cold slammed into her, thwarted only on one side by what she had to assume was a pony. The first thing that came into her sight was an amassment of stars which she wasn't sure to have ever seen anything alike. Apparently, she'd landed on a small platform on top of the tree. "You never stop pulling surprises, do you?"

Twilight gently chuckled. "Not until the day we die. Enjoy it, you're the first pony besides me to see this. I made it some time ago, as a refuge for stargazing," she paced in a circle around Midnight, "or if I'm in emotional distress. There's also a small spell in place to dim the light falling in from Ponyville if needed. You know, nothing big."

"So I gotta talk now, right?"

"We can also spend the rest of the evening with the stars. I will not force you into anything." She laid down and put a hoof onto Midnight's heart, "But if you continue to repress all of this, it will consume you. You know that."

"I thought I'd moved on past it, or at least successfully fled." She briefly lost herself staring into the night sky. Ponies said that a new star arose whenever a loved one was lost. She wondered which one was Daylight's, "But the past apparently refuses to die."

"You can't move on until you've made peace. I've had to learn that too."

Midnight sat up, "I never really understood why she had to leave. What mother should have to abandon her child when she needed her most? Who could be cruel enough to force her to? I lost faith in ponykind. Mother was gone, I didn't trust anypony else. She always promised me glory, and I was determined to pick up that legacy." She rose and began walking in circles, unable to focus her rampant thoughts without moving. "So I devoted my entire life to school. Whatever I was meant to be, I'd need proper education for it, and the only entry to where I could get that was endless effort. Spent my days studying and working. Barely had any friends, never cared for any of them. That worked mostly, but I always knew I had to get away. Right after graduation, I'd move away into a calm town where ponies aren't as degenerate, and figure out a normal life from there."

"And then I came?"

"I used to have nightmares, pretty much every night. They forced me back to when she died, when I failed to save her. I felt worthless. No matter what, there were always ten ponies around who could do it better than me and without constant effort. I think the only thing keeping me alive was knowing that I had to finish school." She stopped, her gaze fixated on the brightly lit castle in the distance. "And then you came into my life. I'm not sure if that was for the better. The nightmares stopped, but I didn't want what was to be... to be a filly fooler. What would she think of me? I fell further down, depression, even tried to kill myself once. Eventually, I got on with it, and I guess you know what happened."

"We're getting off point here," Twilight said in a careful, recessive tone.

"I always aimed to be among the best, even though I knew that wasn't my place. So many things that I've done, accomplished, all but for the sake of pride alone! As much as I tried to forget Mother, I always stuck to what she taught me, what she expected of me. I tried to impress her, to be her." She stamped on the ground, causing her immaculate hair to fall down in front of her face. The illusions faded from it as she lost control, restoring it to the uniblue beauty that she'd hidden for so long. "Even my magic, every spell that I know, that which defines a unicorn, I learned only because of her. I am a proper unicorn, a proper unicorn needs to know plenty of magic, and I have to look the part. But for what? She's dead and gone. Nothing's gonna change that." Blinded by hair and rage, she continued with steadily rising volume "I only get to embarrass myself further when I show off how imperfect I am! Look at me, running around doing pointless crap in hopes of impressing a corpse, while my own life flies by!"

A silken touch on her chin brought her back into reality. "She didn't expect what happened with me, did she? Open your eyes, this is your life! The present lies waiting for you, as soon as you're ready to leave the past behind you." Their faces made contact once more, but it was different. Previous times certainly had been enjoyable, but they'd been merely foals' play. Now, Midnight finally understood the meaning behind it, a testament of true faith in each other. They stayed together for what seemed like and perhaps were minutes, neither of them willing to leave the other's warmth. "Thank you," Twilight breathed once they finally disconnected.

"For what? I'm the one to thank here."

"For making sense."