Splitting aMid the Night

"Without its master's commands, the restless princess will become an even greater threat to the plan. Control must be maintained. Midnight must always be."

Death took longer than expected. It didn't matter; Darkness had already consumed all of her senses and was gnawing at her mind. The pain had faded, knowing that there was nothing it could tell her any more. It wouldn't be much longer. She'd find peace at long last.

"So be it. Wake up, robot. Your task is not yet complete."

Something was off. She couldn't tell whether it was reality or only illusions out of her mind, but she saw colours forming and blurring before her. It was still dark, cutting down line of sight to only a fraction. She drew one long breath into a seeming void within her lungs. It carried endless thorns as cold air collided with boiling blood. Points connected and lines sharpened. She panted as her senses returned, only to sputter and force another breath. She could feel energy coagulating around her horn despite her not giving it any orders.

No! Stop! End this madness! Just leave me to die!

She recognised the structure her magic formed, the one to prolong her suffering. However, despite her best efforts, it finished and she was whisked away across time and space, into the one room she wanted to see the least. She held the hope of at least being alone there, which was quashed with the duett of falling hooves and an aged voice. "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you." Darkness encroached again. Perhaps there was still time to finish the job. "Don't worry, you're going to be fine. Just stay with me!" Her magic didn't obey her any more. The sole attempt to use it proved too much as her mind lost its grip on reality and plummeted into the emptiness within.

Darkness lurked above. Of course, she knew it to be only an illusion, a test of will. Midnight could finally see, beyond the shroud of reality and into the endless sea of stars which it covered. She watched as realities drifted by, autonomous yet interdependent. She was beyond this one world, ready to claim her destiny in all the others. Yet her chains remained, in the form of flesh as well as a squeaky voice that stole the stars away from her. "She's coming back!" It carried an unusual, warped tone; Its cheer and optimism had vanished but for a spark hidden in its furthest depths. Its owner was afraid, Midnight could feel it. Scared to lose the established order of life, to lose her.

"No, don't deserve this... not more than her," mumbled Midnight. She tried to move, to little avail aside from agony. "Send me back!" Her eyes fluttered open; Pinkie Pie stood by the bedside, almost leaning over her. Near the door, Rarity wasn't sitting in her chair as much as on it, stiff as a statue. On the side, the window showed her a dark sky like she'd seen before, but starless, clouded by illusions of reality.

"You're safe now, not that anypony would blame you for slipping like that, it was really raining, like really really, could have happened to anypony. Ooh, I know, we should do a Got Away party! Let me see what I've got here." Pinkie folded around and began rummaging around in her tail, pulling out streamers, party hats, and baked goods every few seconds.

Though the growing stack of supplies was quite impressive as it grew far beyond Pinkie's whole body size, Midnight soon managed to tear her eyes off of it. "She is literally pulling a party out of her plot. Wonderful. Anypony wanna remind me why I'd want to stay in this world? At least the murderer isn't here." She met Rarity's eye, and with it the cold blame and hidden fear it contained. "Alright, alright. Ugh." She threw the one leg which still obeyed her above her head on the pillow. At least she could use magic to steal sweets from the pile on the table. "How long have I been out? Feels like an eternity."

"If it tells you anything, the dawn is imminent." Rarity rose like a cat and prowled towards Midnight. "Also, Fluttershy is resting because she just returned from a trip to Canterlot. Just to visit Spike, let me assure you. She was here right after coming back, though. She wouldn't leave you until she herself fell asleep." She bent down and whispered in Midnight's ear, "Perhaps there is more to ponies than you want to realise, princess." Upon Midnight's reaction, she chuckled, little more than a purr. "It'd be foolish to assume that only you have talents, wouldn't it? Don't try to explain why you did this. Enjoy your second chance. Some ponies aren't lucky enough to get one."

The door clicked and slowly opened. Midnight knew how it was, the close second pony she wanted to see the least. She didn't want to have to encounter her, she needed an escape route. She called upon the best spell to come to her mind, yet, when Nurse Redheart entered, she was still there and in plain sight. "Dammit, now not even my magic will obey me! Oh wait, I never could pull off invisibility in the first place. Nevermind, carry on, everypony."

"Glad you're awake." Nurse Redheart's voice was empty. It held no emotions, neither positive nor negative, only a detached sense of business. Midnight was genuinely afraid to imagine what it concealed. "A few members of the emergency teleportation unit had a look at you while you were out. Five fractures across three legs, a few damaged ribs, one of them truly broken, only minor damage otherwise." She walked up to Midnight and read her vital signs. "It's like a miracle. Every bone fragment was still in place, so you'll be back as soon as they're healed."

"Ah, wonderful." Midnight tugged at one of the bandages covering her legs. "Even though I had to get help from those newbs."

"Even though that much was obvious, why is it that you don't like them?" Rarity retreated back to her previous seat, her gaze fixated on Midnight. "They are Equestria's finest paramedics, after all."

"It's not that I'd dislike them out of principle. In fact, I once helped them out, guess why." Lacking other options, Midnight used her single healthy leg for gestures. "The problem is that they're a disgrace to any true teleporters. Didn't see any of them able to do a single mile without pausing halfway, and that is without equipment. You know how there are little huts all the way down from Canterlot? Those are for them."

Nurse Redheart took a step away from her. "Sorry to interrupt your merry chat here, but you'd know best that you need a lot of rest right now. I'll be bringing you a soporific, we can start the day once you wake up from that, alright?"

"Do what you must, Nurse." Midnight tried to wiggle, but could entice only even more pain. "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

One moment, conscious only of a sense of repose. The next moment, hearing the trudge of her own hoofsteps. She sighed and squinted into the glare ahead.

"Welcome to the Animus."

At least some things remain.