Splitting aMid the Night

"Arise, sleeping princess."

"Ugh, it's morning already?" Twilight rolled around in bed, trying to latch onto Midnight. However, she only succeeded in rolling too far, off the edge, and onto a strategically placed pillow. Once a friendly hoof and kiss had helped her up, she shook the sleep off and said, "It really is. I dreamt about you."

"How so?" asked Midnight as they made their way downstairs, passing brief segments of light where the sun reached inside.

"There was a tiny voice, your voice, whispering commands. Mostly nonsense. Still I obeyed it." Once they were seated at the kitchen table, letting their magicka work, she nestled her head against Midnight's shoulder. Somehow, her horn managed not to suffocate Midnight. "It led me through a lot of fog, into some round room with the Elements embedded into the walls – or rather, large representations of them. The door had slammed shut behind me, and before I could find a way out, you woke me up. Silly, really. Did you have a similiar one?"

Each of their spells delivered a cup of coffee to the other. A clarity-inducing sip later, Midnight whispered into the ear that was still just below her, "Sparkle, I stopped dreaming about when you came into my life. Well, at least at night. Then again, I actually did have one tonight. What would you know... I saw a Pyrrhic victory. Dozens, if not hundreds of ponies had fallen, all of them wasted. Ponyville was layered with them. It hadn't been a savage beast or anything, everything had been inflicted with hoof and magic. Yet the greater good was saved, for the day."

Twilight held the next mouthful of coffee for several seconds, eyes slightly flinching, before answering. "I suppose it would've been too much to ask you for a dream somepony like I would have, would it?"

"Beats the one I used to have every night for years." Noticing that Twilight did not show any intention of responding, Midnight continued, "Ten years ago. Mother's death. Compared to her, what is a bunch of ponies I don't care about?"

"That's still how you think of them? Tools, if not enemies soon-to-be?" Twilight sat up straight, robbing Midnight of her warmth, though there was no accusation, neither in her expression nor tone. "Even though you don't want to admit it, you're a likable pony. Those ponies are your friends, and a lot of them would stand for you if needed."

"This world showed me only pain and cruelty. Why should I expect anything different?" After a blink, Midnight found the same silken warmth wrapped around her again. "Yeah, you. Who else? Still, I expect that we'll dismiss Pinkie today if all goes right."

Midnight tried to rise, but Twilight held her tight, determined to press into her all the love and comfort she could provide. "Then I'll be there to pick her up. Great, I've been waiting for an opportunity to catch up with her and do a little girl talk." Her horn glowed for but a moment, then she said, still maintaining an adamant grip on Midnight's neck, "Let's go!"

"Like, now? I doubt I could really carry your weight, you're probably bigger than I." Midnight took a tentative step away from the table, finding Twilight to be no burden at all. "Featherweight spell, applied to an entire pony, probably lasting until cancelled. I'd say I'm impressed, but I stopped questioning your magic by now. Well then, giddy up!" She bucked, tossing the weightless Twilight into a proper riding position, and headed for the door. "Why do I have a bad feeling about leaving you and Pinkie alone... mind your head, would you."

"Alright, let's have a look then. Bend forward, would you kindly?" As soon as Pinkie obeyed, a soft blue glow encompassed the bandage on her head, making it unravel itself. "No new blood, wound is coming along. Great, the nurse would send you off like that." Pinkie stirred, but was thwarted by a hoof coming not from Midnight, but from Twilight sitting on the other end of the bed. "Stay down until I tell you to move, please. However, luckily for you I am a unicorn, so we'll speed the process up a bit. Technically, I have to ask for permission to use magic for each patient, but who cares. Hold still." The same glow returned, covering Pinkie's wound with a layer of magic while regrowing the skin below. "That should about do it. How are you feeling?"

"Kinda normal, like an itty bitty Pinkie pony should feel." Pinkie Pie looked herself over, folding in ways that physics shouldn't allow. "I still have four legs, cloud candy mane, still pink as ever. Yup, I'm fine."

"And yet you wonder why I don't like her. Alright, side effects may include dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, water retention, painful rectal itch, hallucination, dementia, psychosis, coma, death, and halitosis. Magic is not for everyone. Consult your sane nurse before use. Considering we don't have that, I'll have to do." Without as much care as might have been advisable, Midnight turned Pinkie's head, making her face Twilight. "Any difficulties making her out clearly? The different colours of her cute little mane strips, anything being blurry? Nothing like that, right?" Pinkie shook her head, her flying mane creating far more adorableness than should be possible for a pony of her age. "Great. Clinically speaking, you're free to leave whenever you want. Sparkle can help you round up your stuff. If you'll excuse me, I have to pretend to be working." Midnight leaned over the bed, stealing just another kiss to remind herself why her heart still beat. "Stay safe, especially you." She rose and turned towards the door.

"Hey... thanks." It wasn't Pinkie's voice speaking; It was the gentle melody that only Twilight could produce. "I know that it's your job, but we still appreciate your gifts and your work. You always make it look like you're only doing this because you have to, yet I feel like there's somepony else inside of you, a Midnight that does not let anything pull her down. Don't let that one disappear."

Already on the doorstep, Midnight paused. "Anything for you."

... Sister.

That should be it for him. Great, I'm off at last. Any objections?

Silence accompanied Midnight as she moved away from the clinic, unbroken but by the songs of late birds.

Right. I guess she's gone now. All for the better, now at least I'll know I'm talking to myself. Midnight, what have you become. What will you become.

She passed endless fields of wheat on both sides, stopping for a moment as an eagle threw its shadow onto the seeming surface of grain from far above. A slight wind caught up with her, swirling around her with usual grace, neither cold nor hot but her exact temperature. As it played with her mane like with the stalks around her, she had no difficulty seeing past the veil of illusions and watch the true flow of energy surrounding her.

Magic, in its pure form. Perhaps more than that. Without her, would I ever have discovered all that is about this place? Would I have found it altogether? Still, even if I am its princess, then what? Everything I ever wanted is here. Would I have come to realise my own desires, that I need Sparkle as she needs me?

The roadside fields turned into simple houses as Midnight entered the outskirts of Ponyville. With water now flowing in and around it, the fountain that marked the town's beginning could even be described to be quite beautiful. Perhaps she'd already passed her old home, perhaps it was only on the horizon. She wouldn't know it if she saw it. Thus, she kept walking, not allowing any further distractions.

Then they came. I arrived, everything changed. If I hadn't been thrown into a wild clique with those two, would things have been different? Would I have worked up the courage to talk to her without them? The mare I once was would have. The mare who fought for a bright future despite all odds. Maybe none of it would have happened, maybe I would have indulged myself more in the Flow earlier. Maybe the mare I once was would have become the one to lead the many into a better world, where words like physical and reality hold no meaning to those with the will to transcend them. Now, I've become something different. Who knows what. There are worldly matters holding me back now. Perhaps they remember the mare I once was. Nopony else would, I made sure of that, didn't I.

At long last, she arrived at the library. The sun still had some way to go towards the horizon, yet most of the library's lights were on. "And then you showed up," Midnight whispered to herself. "You curious soft lunatic. The pony I once was knew that you'd bring her only trouble. Perhaps she was right. Cute little mare that you are."

"Welcome back." Twilight greeted her as soon as she stepped past the door. Besides her floated a steaming cup not of coffee but sweet cocoa which wouldn't take no for an answer. Midnight didn't mind the chocolate nor the hugs that came with it, seeing as she hadn't had either for half a day. "I'm just still so glad you're here for me and all of us."

"Impressive, Sparkle," said Midnight once she was allowed to catch a breath. "You managed to get rid of Pinkie, predict exactly when I'd come home – though I walked pretty much through all of Ponyville on the way – and caught me with the two things I love most, you and empty calories. Oh yes, and you would almost have hidden half of Ponyville's population under an invisibility spell if such petty magic deceived me. Impressive as I said, but I wouldn't have expected any different from you."

"Very well. She's caught on, everypony." The glow around Twilight's horn vanished, revealing a surprising lot of ponies and party supplies lined up along the walls. "Pinkie wanted to organise an I Didn't Die And Twilight Has Something To Say party, mostly in your honour. I helped her a bit. You have to teach me that little trick of yours once in a while, sweetheart." She mocked Midnight with a momentary kiss on the nose and whispered, "Rest and enjoy yourself, princess. You have more than earned it. Don't be worried if I slip away for a moment or two, I've still got some work to do, other than you."

"May I be worried as to what else you're brewing after we're already engaged?" Despite Midnight's high expectations, she was still baffled to watch Twilight move every object in the room, including ponies, into place with a single spell. "Then again, who am I to care. Don't be gone for too long, Sparkle."

"That is what you were doing in the meantime, then?" asked Octavia, sipping from a wine glass held up for her by a violet light. "An impressive lot, especially to win Twilight's proposal."

Suppressing the urge to silence her outright, Midnight still looked around. The noise had risen to a fair level, so nopony was close enough to overhear them. "How do you even know about that? Did she tell you?"

"We already knew," said Vinyl Scratch, storing her glass on Octavia's back. "Why did she not tell you."

Midnight took a gulp out of her own glass. She knew that drinking wine fast was as much a sin as sweetening it, but she needed both at the moment. "Somehow, I liked you more when you weren't doing such creepy things."

"We share an ancestry, you know." Octavia's face told that the alcohol was coming to her. She was concealing it well, except for the colour rising on her cheeks. "I source from Canterlot as do you and Twilight. It was easy to squeeze a secret or two out of an old friend."

"So you were actually in contact with her, presumably the entire time since we returned. You didn't mind..." Something broke Midnight's concentration, causing her to drop out of her sentence. "You felt that?" Nopony else seemed to be affected, except perhaps for Vinyl whose eyes had diluted slightly. "Anyway. As I was saying, and you didn't mind to tell me any of that while I was desperately trying to get her attention, did you?"

"It was interesting to watch, at least. Did you see us leaving you alone, though?" Another disruption tore through the library, creating a brief moment of silence in the middle of all the noise. "So it ends. How long is Twilight going to take?"

"She told me she'll be setting something up, I don't know what. I guess I could–" A surge of energy washed over them, lighting all of Midnight's nerves and robbing her of her senses. By the time it wore off, black lotus plants sprouted around them, through the wooden flooring. Through the windows, she could make out a purple glow as the energy flowed away, spawning even more loti in its wake before dissipating. "No," whispered Midnight, unable to muster the strength for any more. "No, not you too..."

All magic forgotten, she sprinted up the stairs, the line of other hoofsteps behind her pushed out of reality. About half a second later, the top greeted her with the sight she had known would be there, yet prayed not to encounter. There Twilight was, full of grace and beauty as always, now reduced to a lifeless pile sunk against the wall. Midnight did not even need to approach her to know the dire truth for certain; Twilight's skeletal paleness told her everything. Behind her, the shelved books contained a simple message of three words, "All will burn", written in the ruby blood that had just before coursed through her.

Midnight awoke, finding her legs still carrying her on a fool's errand through Ponyville. Bit by bit, she remembered the previous events. After seeing what had become of Twilight, she had turned around and left the library. Nopony had tried to stop her, all of them too shocked to care. She couldn't tell where she'd been walking or for how long. Her mind was empty, save for a focused thought of direction. Looking up, she saw the clinic in front of her and was about to turn back when she felt an odd pull from the garden behind it, beckoning her. Within the tiny patch of flowers that piled on behind the clinic, the single lotus was in full bloom. For once in a lifetime, its blossom was fully opened, spreading torrents of charged energy in all directions. Midnight knew what she had to do.

The lotus' true form within the Magic Flow showed almost no difference, at first making her wonder if she'd lost her gift. However, it clearly siphoned energy in from the Flow to dispense glory through its counterpart. Also, behind her, she spotted what she'd expected. The same pearl white coat, the same loathed blond mane. "You've arrived at last," said Daylight, exactly as she sounded in Midnight's memory. Without waiting for a response, she walked past Midnight, traversing the void on a path that formed under her hooves. "Walk with me. We have a lot to do. I assume you have plenty of questions. As long as it doesn't hinder us, feel free to ask them."

Midnight tried to keep pace despite the path crumbling behind Daylight, gliding on a combination of willpower and wings where matter disobeyed her. "For starters, just one. How much did you plan this? Your death, my suffering, all the blood that has already been spilled. It seems like a lot of coincidences. What are you even, dead or alive?"

"I thought she'd taught you not to ask pointless questions as what, my darling. That our enemies caught me ahead of time was an inconvenience, but nothing more. Perhaps I have left this world, but I live in a million more. The only question is where." The void below them shifted, taking the form of a loose cloud cover. Further below, uncountable dots of light marked unicorn castles spread across the infinite mountain ridges. "The rest was tragic, but sadly unavoidable. We knew there was no use to your gift for as long as you remain burdened by physical holdbacks. They had to be removed, for the greater good, if we couldn't utilise them to guide you on your way."

"Holdbacks like an innocent filly? Like the one pony I ever loved, who could break the veil you laid over my life? How do you want to justify them?" She couldn't see Daylight's face long enough before she turned away, but Midnight was near certain to have seen her flinch. "Speaking of which, did you enslave her as you enslaved me?"

The scenery changed again. Now, they walked high above endless flatlands shrouded in mists, with an enormous tower being the only disturbance in the pattern. "She became a hindrance. If the greater good is to occur, we had to dispose of her. We have had an agent with her for months, one whom she trusted above all else, even you. It was only a technicality to take control and make that day be her last."

Tired of flight, Midnight forced ground to appear beneath her. Now that she could see her up close, Daylight differed more and more from what she remembered. She looked old, surreal even, having lost a fair bit of mane density. "You didn't answer my first question. How did you plan this? Why me, of all ponies? Why now?"

One last time, the landscape shifted. Its plains rose and fell, forming oceans and islands, swamps and valleys, mountains and forests. Except for one or two differences, it was almost a copy of Equestria viewed from above, with the harmony between its part emanating an aura of serenity. "You have a gift, more than you realise. From a young age onwards, you mastered spells that others just couldn't. You are this cycle's princess. The filly you were couldn't have handled such power. You are ready, and you must use it."

"How?"

"We're getting there. In fact, this might be the place. Behold, the edge of reality." Their surroundings had disappeared, replaced by an endless sky of stars that seemed to shift position whenever she turned. Within them, Midnight saw visions of other worlds, born and razed within the time it took her heart to beat once. They were walking more on the confidence to have solid ground beneath them than any actual fact, yet their direction was clear. Just ahead of them floated an ball of pure energy, easily double her size, brighter than the stars. "That is your way to the Celestial Dawn."

"You're screwing me. Hang on." As Midnight approached, the orb whispered to her, not into her ears but into her mind. Upon touching it, the images that rushed into her head left her with no doubt. "Twilight's power, released and concentrated. I don't even want to imagine what you would have me do with this. Not to mention what it would do to me."

"I see she did not manage to tell you the most important story of all. Before what they let remain of history, Equestria was a beautiful place, a place of equals. Then they came. Without the power to resist their superiority, the ponies of Equestria had no choice but to submit." Daylight embraced her, though the gesture seemed hollow despite her genuine mother's care. "Midnight Glow Lullamoon, my child. With what is tearing at you, what you are would live for a few more weeks, at best. Admit it to yourself, you would already be dead if I hadn't pulled you out of there. We're merely speeding up the process, and ensuring that your husk won't serve the same protocol it was created to destroy. Absorb her power and return to your world. Destroy those who would stand in our way. Once they are cleared, the energy you forced back into your world will dissolve and disperse the essence of who and what you are. Equestria would no longer differ between unicorns, pegasi, or earth ponies. Without their supremacy in power, the false rulers will have no more say over their flock, and the ponies will be free at last."

Midnight retreated away, afraid to be corrupted by the energy if she stayed too close to it. "So this is your justification for the murder of innocents? Your own daughter, two more lives wasted for a cause that you can't prove? Together with thousands that'd die in the outburst and the resulting chaos?"

"Those with the capabilities will guide the rest into the glorious future ahead of them." The orb flared out, dampening the stars surrounding them. It wouldn't be able to sustain itself much longer. Daylight once more approached her and laid a leg over her shoulders. "There are no innocents in this war. Besides, why would you care? Lead others into a brighter tomorrow or die knowing that you wasted everything."

"No. This will end on my terms." Midnight shook her off and set to circling around the orb. "What you're proposing is genocide, there's no excuse for it, no rationalisation. A few months earlier, I might have agreed, but I've learned over that time. Everypony deserves freedom, even those that you consider our enemies. They deserve the right to choose their own fate."

"They deserve an end, once and for all." Small eruptions broke out of the orb yet again. As mere sparks of its power broke off and disappeared, the connection to other worlds weakened, some of the stars extinguishing. "If you continue to refuse now, the false princesses will not be stopped, and the cycle of oppression will continue."

"So be it, Mother. I refuse to be part of this. Freedom must come without bloodshed, or it will not come at all." Midnight did not need to turn around to know she'd reached her effect. The disturbances reaching her told her more than enough.

"Very well. Rot, for all I care, and know that you alone denied Equestria everything it fought for. The cycle continues." As Daylight faded out, so did the last of the stars around them.

Midnight was shrouded in darkness except for one light source. She knew exactly what she had to do. With but a thought, she commanded the orb of energy to join her own and began channeling it right away. As she wove a spell without equals, she felt the pure power straining each of her limbs. She could only hope to finish it before the spell took its toll. With all of her power concentrated onto a single point, Midnight set her horn down and released. The effect instantly threw her back, unable to stay upright as all strength had been drained from her. It didn't matter either way. She had forced open a pathway between both realities, stable and independent. With the amount of power put into it, she knew it wouldn't disappear, not that day, nor the next year, nor any time before Equestria had learned everything they could from it. She gasped for breath as even the portal's soft blue glow left her. Perhaps they'd find her in time, perhaps not. She didn't care.

And then, Sparkle, the dream was over. You taught me that evil and good are just words. In the end, any that would willingly inflict harm upon others are merely failing to vent the pain that is within their own soul. In the awakening, I am alone. Mother left me behind. You chose to die rather than see the monster that I'd become despite all. Yet you gave them the greatest gift of all, the power to know what they deserve. Your sacrifice gave them everything, but Sparkle, wherever you are... I'll be with you.

Midnight was free.