Splitting aMid the Night

Wake up.

"What?" Midnight asked. "Where am I?" She looked around. The sunbathed halls, the sound of rushing water in the distance, the marble flooring, the endless doors without label, it all seemed familiar. "Oh yeah. Haven't been here in a while, have I."

"You remember the insides of your mind. I am impressed." A door flung open, releasing Noon into sight. She joined Midnight's side and waved about. "Is it not glorious?"

"I thought that was a void."

Noon laid a hoof on her shoulder and led her straight towards one of the doors. "That's only a part, as logical as it being all of you seems." She kicked the door open, revealing a meadow filled with candy and pink fluffy bunnies. "Whoops, wrong door. That's your adorableness center. The void is this one." She opened another behind which featureless darkness stretched into eternity. "Okay, I lied to you about it. That's where your mind puts you while idle. Life support functions, basic consciousness, whatever it takes to keep you occupied. Hello world, so to speak."

Midnight tore herself free and looked up and down the hall. There was no visible difference between any of the twelve doors. "Aside from that, why is it supposed to be glorious? Looks normal."

"To think that you, first in millennia to be blessed with true sight, cannot see the obvious. Perhaps you would be advised to look in that direction." Midnight followed the hoof pointing at the wall, though she still failed to understand what was supposed to be special about it. "Nothing but empty wall and another door, right? Sometimes, nothingness is more than anything."

Midnight walked up to the door and gently stroked it to help herself think. "Wait, yes, this is supposed to be solid insanity. I remember. So I'm finally past it."

"So to speak, no." At Noon's touch, the wall between the door in front of them and the next one melted, revealing the same smouldering blue wilderness, though it was much smaller. "On the bright side, now that you've accepted your heritage, it has accepted you. This door leads to magic unknown to even great minds of your world. It will allow you to experience, even live, any memories that lie within you, yours and those from who came in your bloodline before you. Think of the possibilities." She flung open the door. There was only another void behind it, this time light grey with white lines streaking through it. When Midnight tried to go inside, Noon held her back. "A word of warning; When you step through there, everything changes. Nothing will be the same. Be certain that you can embrace your heritage, lest it consume you."

"Good morning, sleepyhead." The sweetest voice of all awoke her. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she was disappointed to find the usual breakfast banquet much smaller in size, perhaps due to that neither of them had gone for supplies in ages. Nevertheless, Twilight had managed to scrape together the essential, namely sugared milk with coffee. "You're alright, I hope? It's rare for even you to sleep this late," she asked while Midnight was indulged in the depths of the cup, setting herself on the bed's edge.

"Yeah, I just had a busy night. Another day in paradise," she replied once the first gulps of elixir had run down her throat. "How late is it, anyway?" Noon materialised on the other side of her, causing her to lay back and groan. "Ugh, now she's here too. Might not be able to respond to everything right away, just for your information."

Noon rose and paced around the bed. "I do not believe such secrecy shall be necessary. You intensifying your link between the worlds works both ways, you know. Ponies close to the Flow like you will be able to hear my advice if needed." She leaned up against Twilight and whispered in her ear, "Don't be alarmed, her dear. It is only I you're hearing." Twilight shivered for a moment as if cold.

"Out with it, what are you doing here?" Midnight figured that secrecy was unnecessary at this point, especially considering that Twilight would have no difficulty reading her mind anyway if she desired to.

"Oh, just the normal, say hello, greet you into this grand new day, find out what your friend is planning for today." She wandered around the room, not stopping at the walls but instead just scaling them as though they were firm ground. "Then I saw last night. My fault, really. I should've expected that. When a pony is given the power to relive her ancestry up to Those Who Came Before, her first impulse is obviously to see her own conception."

"You just heard that, didn't you." Twilight gave a few very stoic signs of confirmation. Midnight could feel her face becoming hotter than the coffee still within her magic. For the first time in an eternity, she wished for both the ability to vanish into thin air and the sociopathy to use it. "Oh well. Back to where you belong, before you'll do any more. Anyway, Sparkle, got anything for us today? I do believe that I'm off shift. Strangely calm week, this is. Odd."

"As a matter of fact, I do. The girls invited us to the lake, now that it's actually warm enough to swim. At least, those who aren't enjoying their honeymoon while I'm left wondering how to propose – hee hee, you fell for it!"

Five minutes later, Midnight added the finishing touches to two slices of toast. It wasn't much by any means, but she'd need some way of pacifying Twilight once she came down from the roof. Besides, her stomach was still threatening to murder her, so she would be able to kill two sprites with one spell. "Welcome back, Sparkle," she said when it was time for her master plan to commence. She stuffed Twilight with one of the slices and carried the other back into the main chamber. Once there, she set to eating it lying on the nearby couch. "Oh please, you wouldn't tell me you're still mad at me for that one tiny spell. Look, I even made you breakfast!"

"No, I actually am not," Twilight said as bits of twigs and leaves floated out of her flowing mane. "I'm too impressed with the spell lock you managed to put on me. That and your fuzzy little problem. Did you take some magic boosters without my knowledge?"

Midnight laid back once more. She'd definitely been awoken much too early still, her spine told her that. "That's a cute way to put her. I imagine other ponies wouldn't take her so lightly, might not even acknowledge her at all."

"Well, after this morning, together with the other stuff, I find it hard not to believe that she exists."

You know, I've changed my mind. I like her. You really are an adorable pair. Shame to see things illuminated after dawn.

I feel like I should be concerned about your adventures in reality. If it is the Magic Flow that gives you form, should I not be able to wrangle its power and deny you entry?

But why would you do that? Besides, try, try and fail. Due to your alignment, reality itself warps around you. While I may only exist in that dimension, your presence brings that closer to this one, allowing me temporary visits.

"Other ponies would have me locked away if I even mentioned as much as a slight notion of not being myself." When Twilight sat down beside her, Midnight took the opportunity and stole some toast out of her mouth. "You're an awesome mare, Sparkle. Just wanted you to know that."

All too soon, Midnight found herself putting the perfecting touches onto her appearance whilst Twilight stood in the doorway, moaning about how little time they had. Perhaps she should consider sleeping less in order not to awaken half an hour before having to go out. She pondered the concept, but it was unfortunately refused by an unanimous vote of one voice. "You coming? It's a bit of a way there, remember."

"Well, Sparkle, I guess I can speed things up a bit for us both." Midnight shut her eyes for a moment, breathed through, reached for the source of power lying just below her heart. When she looked again, she didn't cast a spell as much as she told reality how it had to be. With only a thought, a rift appeared in front of them. "Hey, this personal parallel dimension is really handy at times. After you."

Twilight hesitated, the conflict within herself obvious. "You really shouldn't misuse such power. Then again, who am I to tell such morales. Don't leave me waiting." Abandoning her doubt, she stepped through the ready portal. Once Midnight rejoined her within, she said, "The essence of the world. Simply the count of secrets still hidden from us is beyond imagination. I'll never get used to it as you are. Anyhow, which way? I've given up on the idea of mapping this place."

"This way." Midnight led her down a pathway which ran directly under the violet sun. She couldn't remember whether it'd been there before or if she'd only just created it. "Trust me, you just gotta... see the strings and how they run. Hard to explain." Twilight didn't respond, her eyes fixated on Midnight's sides as she walked. In due time, it dawned on Midnight what would be so interesting to see. "Yeah, that. I guess I'm now an alicorn when I'm within the Flow. She babbled something about heritage and that I'm its princess, but really, we've still got each other, that's what counts, right?"

"Dead. From this angle, alive. Rabble. In that view, royalty. Matter. Seen like that, energy. It is all but a matter of perspective," spoke a disembodied voice, coming from nowhere and resounding across all of the nothingness surrounding them.

I'm glad you're enjoying yourself too.

My people basked it its power before you took your heritage. As I heralded your reign, so do they now pass on bits of energy collected from this sun's glow. You might not want to cast any major spells, by the way, it could take a moment for your mortal body to adjust to how much you have available.

Twilight breathed through. "Alright, I'm in love with a princess. Ponies always said I was anyway, so it's only in order, I suppose."

"You know, there's still time to end this and find a less crazy mare. Won't hold it against you, I promise."

"No chance," Twilight said, latching onto her from behind.

While her newfound wings weren't real in the traditional sense, they certainly were sensitive enough to make her shudder at the sudden touch. "Hey, please don't touch – you know what, you asked for it. Hold on tight." A thought lifted them into the air, then determination carried them forward across the endless void until they met a small platform holding little more than a puddle. She knew it was the right place. At least the screams stopped once she set down. With but a wave of her hoof, the stars above vanished, replaced once again by the warming sun of reality.

The environment matched that from her memory with surprising accuracy. The pond barely big enough to allow swimming hadn't moved an inch, neither had the old tree next to it holding a swingset ready to catapult ponies into the water. What had changed was the company she encountered. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had a good reason not to be present, she remembered that much, and two others had come to replace them. On one hoof, Twilight's baby dragon made an appearance at long last even though he was busy adoring Rarity. On the other, a white-blue pegasus stallion was also present and also in conversation with the same pony. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was already circling in the water, beckoning Fluttershy to come join her.

"Disregard me, you seem to have a habit of making friends with the oddest ponies about," Midnight said as they travelled the short distance between them and the others.

"I know. Wouldn't life be boring without them?" replied Twilight, her eyes fixated on the stallion.

"Be quiet and kiss me before they notice us and we have to act decent."